By Oluwakemi Ishola 

An FCT High Court, sitting in Maitama, presided over by Justice Suleman Belgore has granted an arrest warrant to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the arraignment of the immediate past Clerk to the National Assembly Mohammed Ataba Sani-Omolori.

Sani-Omolori alledgedly diverted 14 Toyota Hilux vehicles and 13 peugeot 508 valued over N400 million.

The official vehicles disappeared while Omolori was serving as Clerk to the National Assembly.

The Judge issued the order based on an ex parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking an order of the court for the arrest of Omolori.

The anti-graft agency through an application – marked M/8728/2020, filed before the court, alleged that the respondent had ignored its invitation for him to report to its office over an investigation of a petition that bothers diversion of 14 Toyota Hilux vehicles and 13 Peugeot 508 valued at over N400 million.

As part of its investigation activities, EFCC invited the Secretary of the National Assembly Commission, Adamu Mohammed Fika, Mr Oluseye Ajakaye and others to its office.

It further stated that those invited made revelations indicting Omolori, following this development, letters were sent to him on Nov. 4, 2019, which Omolori failed to honour.

EFCC added that it sent another letter to him on March 16, 2020, which he still failed to honour.

In view of his failure , EFCC stated that it was left with no option than to approach the court for warrant of arrest to be issued against the respondent.

After listening to the counsel for EFCC, Mr S.N. Robert, Justice Belgore granted the order sought.

“I have considered the application, I averted to Paragraph 7 of the supporting affidavit and Exhibit EFCC 4 wherein the respondent was said to have ignored invitations to report in the applicant’s office without any justifiable reason.

“It is clear to me that Section 3 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015 can be invoked in the circumstances of this case in granting this application and I so do.

“Warrant of immediate arrest is hereby issued against Mohammed Omolori, the former Clerk of the National Assembly forthwith,” Justice Belgore ordered.

Omolori was forced out of office by the National Assembly Service Commission after spending over five years in office.

During his time, there were protests by staff and legislative aides over non payment of salaries and allowances.

By Oluwakemi Ishola 

Oyo State Chapter of the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) has faulted the latest decision of Governor Seyi Makinde-led Oyo government to borrow One hundred billion naira. The party calls on workers to prevail on their union leadership not to accept any attempt to make them victims of the consequences of accumulating debts.

The SPN raised the alarm in a press statement and and made available to journalists in Ibadan by its State Secretary, Comrade Ayodeji Adigun. The party lamented that the fresh N100billion bond which was reported to be for the facilitation of the execution of 50km Iseyin-Ogbomosho road, the Ibadan circular Ring road and expansion of Ibadan airport road is the fourth loan facility the present state government has accessed in barely 14 months in office.

The statement reads:

“SPN is not enthused with the news of the 100 billion bond. This is not to say that the highlighted projects reportedly tagged priority projects for which the Makinde’s government purportedly got the latest loan are not important. We acknowledge the potential of these highlighted projects to attract a huge economic development to the State but obviously this should not be at the cost of plunging the State into an avoidable economic bankruptcy and bondage”.

“Already, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the total debt burden incurred by the successive governments in Oyo State including the late Senator Abiola Ajimobi-led regime before the advent of Engr Seyi Makinde-led government in May 29th, 2019 was over N126billion. This figure which comprises over N94billon of domestic debt and over N32billion of external debt did not translate into any meaningful improvement in the Infrastructural development and the well-being of the people of the State. As things stand now, this huge debt burden has now been increased by over N140billion by Engr Seyi Makinde-led government in just 15 months in office. Now, the debt burden of Oyo State hovers around N266billion”.

“This is a very worrisome figure of debt for the State and it means the State is now at the verge of being plunged into economic insolvency considering the cost required for the servicing and repayment of the newly issued N100billon bond alone on the top of the previous ones. At 12% interest rate which is the least for the bond issued by States, it will require nothing less than N20billion naira annually to service the bond while the cost of repayment annually range from N5billon to N20billion depending on the year for the repayment which usually range from 5 to 20 years”.

“Obviously, with this huge amount for the servicing of the N100billion bond and the previous loans to be deducted from the State’s revenue with over 80% of the it coming from the Federal allocation and considering the fact that the Federal allocation itself has recently dropped considerably owing to the decline in the international prices of crude, then the volume of funds available for the State will be drained away only by debt servicing. This will be at the expense of the provision of social services like education, health and the well-being of mass of workers and the poor people across the State”.

“The economic implication of this is that fees may be hiked across schools in the State while the health sector will suffer a deeper neglect than before hence, making the health institutions in the State weaker and unable to attend to the health need of the citizens. The sustainability of the implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage and prompt payment of salaries and pension is most likely to be threatened, thus compounding the current economic hardship the mass of the working but poor people in the State are going through at this present time”.

“This will mean a double jeopardy for mass of the working people in the state, moreover, the Private Public Partnership, PPP arrangement through which the so called priority projects are planned to be executed has shown on several instances to be a monumental fraud of using public resources for private profits. Therefore, the N100billion bond like the previous loans will end up being shared among the pro-capitalist politicians and not translate into any significant improvement in both the well being of the working people and level of Infrastructure in the State”.

“This is why the SPN calls on mass of the workers in the State to commence the process of prevailing on the leadership of their respective unions particularly the State’s leadership of the NLC and TUC that at no time should they accept any attempt to make the workers, youth and the poor in the state to bear the burden of the economic consequences of the debt burden currently hanging on the State. Civil servants outsides the core civil service like tertiary institutions across the State including the LAUTECH teaching hospital workers who are currently being denied the implementation of N30,000 minimum wage despite the huge noise and propaganda Engr Seyi Makinde-led government is making around the implementation of the new minimum wage must continue to demand the implementation in addition to the 2019 promotion which is yet to be implemented across tertiary institutions in the State”.

“SPN urges leadership of the workers organisation to begin to demand that the political office holders be placed on the salary and allowances earned by the civil servants. Also the exact amount of security votes earn by Engr Seyi Makinde-led government must be declared and same should be dissolved into the pool of funds available for the State to meet the economic need of the people of the State. Also importantly, is the need for workers to begin to demand that the execution of all public works in the State should be through a public work programme by the ministry of works that will be equipped with adequate manpower and machinery under a democratic control of the committee of elected representatives of workers and communities”

“With democratically run public work programme instead of the fraudulent PPP or contract system, placing political office holders on salaries and allowance of civil servants and scrapping of wastages and fraudulent emoluments like security votes and pensions for ex-governors, there might not be any need to borrow in the first instance. But these measures are not possible on the basis of a capitalist government. This is one of the reasons workers, youth and the poor masses should join the SPN which will run the government on a socialist programme which include above stated measures and agitate for the nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy under democratic management and control of the working people in order to raise adequate resources for social programme and infrastructure development” the statement concluded.

By Oluwakemi Ishola 

The gubernatorial candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the 2019 general elections in Oyo State, Engineer Oyedele Hakeem Alao, on Sunday threatened Governor Seyi Makinde of the state with legal action if the Governor goes ahead to borrow the sum of one hundred billion naira (N100bn) loan.

Alao while reacting to Gov. Makinde’s plan to borrow N100 billion naira loan to finance projects, said that he was shocked to hear that Oyo State Government decided to take another loan. Recall that Makinde had last year borrow N7.6 billion naira to finance Akufo and Eruwa farm settlements. He has also borrowed another N22.5 billion infrastructure loan this year. According to Engr. Hakeem, the projects could be financed gradually through internally generated revenue (IGR) if he (Makinde) had been visionary, creative and hardworking.

In a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan through his Media Aide, Omotayo Iyanda, Alao described the move by Makinde to borrow the loan as a way to throw the hardworking and innocent citizens of the state into a perpetual financial burden which might be difficult to be liquidated in scores of years to come.

Alao noted that the loan will hamper the economic progress of the state and comfort of the people. He added that any sensible man should wonder what has gone wrong with a governor who has spoken against his predecessor, late Senator Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi, in 2018, for taking a loan to the tune of N130bn in seven years.

Alao, who said that the people of the state deserved explanation on the loan from the Governor, however, threatened to take Makinde to Court, should he go ahead to borrow the loan.

He said, “Makinde, in just about 15 months in power, has taken roughly about N150bn if allowed to take the N100bn he has decided to take. In the genuine spirit of rescuing Oyo State from a leader who behaves like another emperor, we will see to how to stop Governor Makinde from this insincere reckless and clandestine move via litigation if he refuses to listen to voices of reasoning.

“I will drag Seyi Makinde and Oyo State Government to Court. He should remember that Oyo State is a collective patrimony and an inheritance belonging to all. He should stop behaving like he is the only owner of the state and all-in-all in power. If not, we, therefore, call on the EFCC and the ICPC to beam his searchlight on the GSM businesses and his cronies as related to the awards of the contracts in the interest of the people of Oyo and prosperity.

“It was disgustingly shocking hearing the amount in the bond that Governor Seyi Makinde has decided to take to finance projects that could be financed gradually through IGR if he had been visionary, creative and hardworking enough without throwing the genuinely hardworking and innocent citizens and residents of Oyo State into a perpetual financial burden which might be difficult to be liquidated in scores of years to come and hamper the economic progress of the state and comfort of the people.

“Any sensible man should wonder what has gone wrong with a governor who has spoken against his immediate predecessor, late Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi, in 2018, for taking a loan to the tune of N130bn in seven years. What has gone wrong with Engr Seyi Makinde who promised to turn Oyo State into a safe haven economically and increase the revenue base of the state to move the state into prosperity?

“How can a clear-headed leader attempt to take such a huge financial burden considering the debt profile of the state already? How can a leader who is not delirious have such boldness to take such a humongous loan burden to finance projects that cannot liquidate the credit? Has Engr Makinde and his team quickly forgotten that they said in 2018 that Senator Ajimobi had put Oyo State into a reckless and unprecedented debt situation in the 42-year history of old Oyo State and making Oyo the 5th most indebted state in the federation? Which one is unprecedented now? His or Senator Ajimobis and which, position will Oyo State occupy in the comity of states regarding debt profile by the end of the Makinde administration if he is allowed to continue like this?

“Even if he must take such a huge loan, the people of the state have a right to see convincing reasons to do so as it is not entirely wrong to take a loan to finance state projects but certainly not the types our governor attached the N100bn bond to. What will be the economic benefits of those projects to the citizens of Oyo State? The circular road project was muted and awarded by late Senator Isiaka Ajimobi as PPP, how did PPP then turn to the Oyo State project?

“We are not ignorant of the worth of the GSM business empire when he declared his net worth to the tune of N48bn and now we can see where the purported N48bn is coming from. We are also not in the dark on the award of the books contracts and some other projects to contractors from the Niger Delta instead of the Oyo State indigenes. More painful, the contracts were inflated. We challenge GSM to refute these claims and come out for public debate on all these.

“So much insincerity, fast game, ineptitude and controversies have been associated with this administration under Engineer Seyi Makinde. The UCH controversial Covid-19 N118m, the incorrect outburst by an aide about the efforts of his principal on provision of water in rural areas, cancellation of the third term of the 2019/2020 session without a deep thought about the implications of the decision, among others, are pointers to the fact that something is fundamentally wrong with this government.”

By Oluwakemi Ishola 

The Senate Committe on local content, Downstream petroleum and legislative compliance on Thursday resolved to invite the minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi on the issue of waivers in the maritme industry.

Also to appear before the committees after 7 weeks recess of the Senate, are the minister of state for petroleum, Timipre Sylva and the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari.

Indeed, the Senate committee is worried that foreign vessels have reportedly taken over the jobs of local vessels owners in the maritme industry as a result of waivers.

The decision to summon them is sequel to the Senate Investigative hearing of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on Thursday in Abuja.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after, chairman of the committee, Senator Teslim Folarin (Oyo Central APC) said the Committee observed that the minister of Transportation is responsible for the issuance of waivers under the Act.

“There are areas under the Act, where the minister is responsible, for instance the issuance of waivers, that has nothing to do with the Director General of NIMASA. So there is no point asking the Director General” he said.

He explained that even in the funds, a lot of the questions will go to the minister, saying the Director General of NIMASA is more of operational officer.

“When we resume, the GMD of NNPC will also be invited. He wanted to come today but… so when we resume in September, the GMD NNPC and the minister of state for petroleum will also come.

“Because those are the two major players in our maritme industry. NIMASA and NNPC. NNPC is 70 percent, so there are a lot of grey areas that they need to shed light on.

“And you see the significance of this Investigative hearing is not to witch-hunt anybody. We are not doing that. What COVID-19 has done is to destroy the myth called globalization, because you can see every country is for himself”.

“So this tells us that we must begin to look inwards, a lot of money we want to retain it in the country and that is all about it and I think is the right thing to do”.

He maintained that the Committee is looking at the influx of foreign vessels, adding that there is an Act which says vessels have to be built in Nigeria, it has to be owned and manned by Nigerians.

“The Act was enacted in 2003, so what we are trying to do is to review the progress so far from 2003 till date, so if we don’t have enough Nigeria participation in the sector, what it means is that the Act is not working well. Because the Act was specifically enacted to look after the Nigerian interest.

“The NIMASA DG submitted his documents this morning and there is no way we would have gone through all these documents, but when we quickly went through, we saw some inconsistencies, for instance the names of foreign vessels are also the same names as the local vessels. So we need to find out, may be it was an error in his office.

“Nigeria under the local content Act, our people should have first option but rather than us having first option, it appears we are now taking the back seat, so we are now saying look we should be in the front seat and if we now need more vessels then the foreigners can then be given waivers. But a case where our people are now behind and have no hope is clearly unacceptable.

“I don’t want to preempt what the minister will say but almost certainly, from my experience of the system, a lot of the issues are institutional” Folarin concluded.

The establishment of Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) just approved by President Muhammadu Buhari would bring the best out of Nigerian youths; solve youth unemployment, and promote positive engagement of the youths, culminating in the realization of the much desired generational change in economic and political leadership of Nigeria, in no time.

The founder of Ojo Ola Oyo, a youth development movement, Alhaji Kehinde Olaosebikan said the actualization of the Fund initiated by the Minister of Sports and Youth Development Mr. Sunday Dare at this critical moment  confirmed that Nigeria has finally got the right person to run the affairs of her youths.
Speaking with journalists at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre, Iyaganku , Ibadan, Friday,  Olaosebikan stated that the Youth Bank, first of its kind in the history of Nigeria was the impetus the youths required to unleash their potentials in the development of the various aspects of the country and excel among their peers globally.

According to him: “approval for the establishment of the Fund is very heartwarming. It is the finest development coming from Abuja of late. The Fund, akin to a youth bank is what the ever ingenious, innovative, resilient and hardworking Nigerian youths need to unleash their talents, skills and energies in the development of themselves in various professions, vocations, sports and politics locally and across the globe. What have been lacking in youth development in Nigeria had been adequate inspiring leadership, apposite environment and funds for investment in ideas, skills and research.   The NYIF would bring out the best in them and lead to huge revolutions in virtually all facets of life.

“It is capable of fetching out the Mark Zuckerberg (Founder of Facebook at 19), the Mathew Mulleweng (Founder of World Press at 25), the Catherine Cook (Creator of MyYear Book at 15), the David Karp ( Creator of Yahoo at 21), the Sean Belnick ( Founder of Bizchair at 14) and the Emmanuel Macron who became French President at the age of 40, of Nigeria, in no time.”

At the Media Parley moderated by the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Oyo State Council, Comrade Ademola Babalola; Olaosebikan described Mr. Sunday Dare as a unique asset of the present administration stressing that he was “particularly impressed that Mr. Dare has remained totally dedicated, committed and focused on the assignment entrusted to him by President Muhammadu Buhari, adding real value to government as against the unbridled reports of sleaze and unwarranted dramas emitting from the seat of power.

“In a rear display of commitment, dedication, competence and brilliance in the discharge of duty, Mr Dare changed the not too palatable narrative in the Nigerian scene as the youths have already gone frenzy with the news of the establishment of the fund akin to a development bank exclusively for them.”
With the assurance given by the Minister that the Fund would be effectively and efficiently utilized exclusively for the youths, Olaosebikan urged young Nigerians to further sharpen their skills and start putting all the necessary papers and documents together preparatory to the take off of the Fund.

“This is the time to get set for the Fund. I know many of our youths are with bankable ideas, talents, skills and proposals. It is however of utmost importance to get all the necessary papers and documents ready now as the world belongs to those than plan for it now”,  Olaosebikan added.

While announcing the approval of the 75 Billion Naira Fund, the Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Mr. Sunday Dare had explained that the Fund would serve as “a sort of Youth Bank that will fund and support the innovative ideas, skills, talents and enterprise of Nigerian youths.  This is the first of its kind by any Nigerian government. President Muhammadu Buhari has demonstrated his unflinching support for the youth and his implicit confidence in their innovative talents, potentials and industry”.

By Oluwakemi Ishola 

We are worried about Governor Seyi Makinde’s politics of exclusion and his latest move to expand Oyo State’s indebtedness with the recently announced N100 billion bond bid in a manner that smarks of trademark dearth of transparency, accountability and fiscal discipline.

We are miffed by what, for all intents and purposes, is becoming a pattern of neglecting Oyo Zone under the administration of Mr. Seyi Makinde.

This intervention becomes imperative following the government’s rather opaque plan to seek a N100 billion bond to finance infrastructure development across the state, except Oyo Zone.

The government had stated that the bond would take care of the Ibadan circular road, Iseyin-Ogbomoso road and Ibadan airport expansion project, leaving Oyo and Ibarapa zones out.

Ordinarily, we don’t have a problem with the government approaching the debt market to raise funds for development. However, the government has to demonstrate transparency and accountability and be clear about the repayment plans so that we will be sure our state is not being run into a disastrous fiscal crisis.

Has the House of Assembly authorised the bond issuance? What are the details of the bond issuance? How much of the state’s revenue goes into the sinking fund to liquidate the debt?

Mr Seyi Makinde is on his 14th month as governor of our dear state and we have carefully monitored all his actions. At first, we did not want to talk but we are constrained to do so not only because of our generation but because of the generation yet unborn.

Within the 14 months in question, the state has borrowed close to N150 billion. To say we are not disturbed by the borrowing spree is to look helplessly while the state slides into bankruptcy.

We vividly recall that N22.5 billion infrastructure loan approved by the Oyo State House of Assembly on May 19, 2020. The N7.6 billion naira loan for the upgrading of two farm settlements in Akufo and Eruwa, to Farm Estates is still fresh in our memories. We are not against loan but we equally know many states are no longer economically viable. The problem, for us, is not the loan but it is what the loan is to be used for. We have got to a point that we can no longer fold our arms.

We will be talking from two angles – the neglect of Oyo township and the effect of borrowing on the continued existence of our dear state. We would not mind if Governor Seyi Makinde could tell us our offence in Oyo. The little thing that he has done in Oyo town, we have had to call him out despite overwhelming votes and supports he got from Oyo during his election.

We remember the January 5, 2020 inferno that ravaged our cherished Akesan Market. He only released a sum of N10 million to the traders several months after the incident in a rushed face-saving move, whereas he aided Moniya traders just in the wake of a fire incident there. We remember the issue of isolation centre. There are many other examples. In fact, Oyo has one of the highest numbers of abandoned projects in the state.

If the incumbent administration feels it cannot initiate new ones, it should help us complete the abandoned ones. The Erelu water project, which will take less than N500 million to complete, is there. The Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital annex has been abandoned for more than 10 years. The less than 7km road dualization project by Governor Makinde’s predecessor is there. The second phase of Oyo road dualisation is begging for attention. The proposed Atiba FM station is there unattended to let alone the abandoned Ilora Radio substation and Completion of Ilora-Imini linking Moniya-Iseyin Road. We have many of them but just to mention but few.

For us in Oyo Global Forum, it is sad and unfortunate that Oyo, out of the 5 major zones in the state, has been neglected by the Governor Seyi Makinde administration. Ibadan, Okeogun, Ogbomoso and Ibarapa have benefited from the incumbent admission while Oyo remains alienated and ostracised.

Then, just like others who have spoken against Governor Seyi Makinde’s penchant for taking loans at every opportune time, we are not happy with the state of things and we wondered if the Governor has advisers at all.

Big projects like Ibadan circular road, Iseyin-Ogbomoso road and the expansion of the Ibadan airport should have been handled through a public private partnership arrangement. The state should have sourced companies to do the projects and operate a build, operate and transfer model. That, we believe, would safe the state a lot of economic stress and ease financial burden.

From available record, what the Ibadan airport generated last year, 2019, was not even enough for maintenance cost. This is an airport that serviced less than 100,000 passengers in 2019.

Information has it that the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, had to nearly cough out N2 billion to subsidize its operations.

We are coming up with this intervention because we believe government must be held accountable. Anywhere in the world, government doesn’t wake up one morning and say it is issuing a bond through press statement. It is not done! There must be explicit details of how the debt would be liquidated without sinking into a deep fiscal crisis. This excessive borrowing, we recall, is similar to what sunk our neighboring Osun State into crisis some 5 years ago that the state had to resort to half salary payment.

While we call on the governor to have rethink on his politics of exclusion, we also want to advise him on fiscal discipline. Bigger projects should be allowed to be funded via PPP while smaller ones, which are of great economic importance, should be well thought out and funded through IGR. We believe that Governor Seyi Makinde would make amend. It is not too late. Oyo State never had it so bad!

By Oluwakemi Ishola 

The Senator representing Oyo Central Senatorial District, Oloye Teslim Folarin has fulfilled his promise by donating N2million to the victims of the razed Akesan Market.

This was disclosed on Friday by the three-term Senator’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Com. YSO Olaniyi. According to the spokesperson, the Two Million Naira donation was given to the victims of the razed Akesan Market through the Chairman of Oyo Metropolitan Development Association, Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu (rtd).

The ancient Akesan market, also known as Oja Oba, located at the centre of the town and few metres to the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty Oba (Dr.) Lamidi Adeyemi III, was razed by fire in the wee hours of Sunday, January 5th 2020, consuming all shops and goods worth over N20 billion.

It will be recalled that Senator Folarin, in the wake of the Akesan Market inferno, alerted the officials of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Resources and Disaster Management purposely for provisions of adequate relief and support items to those who have lost their livelihoods, properties and wares to the fire incident.

The lawmaker’s collaborative efforts with Hon. Hakeem Adeyemi, representing Afijio/Atiba/Oyo East/Oyo West Federal Constituency, resulted in the delivery of 1000 bundles of roofing sheets, 1000 bag of cement, 200 packets of zinc nails and 100 bags of “3” nails by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

“Senator Folarin was in london when the sad incident and he cut short his trip to London because of the inferno, promised the victims of his support and government’s assistance. He and his brother, Hon. Skimeh swiftly facilitated the Federal Government’s intervention through NEMA. The N2million is his personal contribution to relief the affected traders” Com. Olaniyi said.

Oloye Folarin while reiterating his commitment to qualitative representation of the people of Oyo Central in the Nigerian Senate, promised equitable distributions of dividends of democracy in the 11 LGAs of the district.