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Amaechi denies N53b missing money

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Former Rivers State gover­nor, Chibuike Rotimi Amae­chi, has debunked the al­legation that N53 billion was missing from the state Re­serve Fund, under his administra­tion.

Amaechi had described the Jus­tice Omereji –led Panel of In­quiry, set up by Governor Ezebu­won Nyesom Wike, to probe his administration, as a last-ditch effort to blackmail him.

Amaechi, who spoke through his media office, in a statement signed by Bekee Anyalewechi, said: “The mischief is all the more evident, as the funds referred to are funds from the Rivers State Reserve Fund, which was duly approved by the Rivers State House of Assembly, and whose expenditures were duly captured and accounted for.”

The statement, howev­er, said that the ongoing mud­slinging against him was aimed at diminishing the former governor’s towering stature, as a statesman and honest Nigerian.

According to the statement also, every expenditure made of the Re­serve Funds was approved by the extant laws, adding that Amae­chi also explained the purposes for which they were used.

The statement read in part: “The attention of the media office of former Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has been drawn to a statement cred­ited to the chairman of Mr. Nyesom Wike’s invidious panel of inquiry. The statement, credited to the panel’s chairman Justice Omereji of a miss­ing N53 billion is unfortunate and leaves much to be desired. The mis­chief is all the more evident as the funds referred to are funds from the Rivers State Reserve Fund which was duly approved by the Rivers State House of Assembly, and whose ex­penditure were duly captured and ac­counted for.”

It continued: “Ordinarily, we might not have responded to the mis­chief of Mr. Wike knowing that hav­ing failed with his various desperate tactics to stop the nomination of the Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi as a min­ister, he has embarked on this last-ditch effort, which is his trump card in the hope that it will diminish the for­mer governor’s towering stature as a statesman and honest Nigerian. How­ever, in keeping with former Gover­nor Amaechi’s ethos of transparent and accountable leadership, we will again repeat the facts of the matter.

“Between 2013 and early 2015, revenue accruing to the Gov­ernment of Rivers State was cut in half due to dwindling federal alloca­tion to states. From about an aver­age of N20 billion, the state began receiving between N9 and N10 bil­lion. By the middle of the first quarter of 2015, the state revenue dipped to as low as N6 billion. Salaries alone stood at over N9 billion besides other expenses. Government had set aside, the reserve funds as a rainy day fund and had need to fall back to it to fund salaries and projects. The details of the expenditure were very clearly captured and this information, which was already in the public domain was shared with the incoming administra­tion and the Omereji panel.”

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Oando Clean Energy, Cross River State, Sign MoU on Renewable Energy Infrastructure

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Oando Clean Energy (OCEL),  the renewable energy business subsidiary of Oando Energy Resources and the Cross River State Government have  signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the rollout of electric vehicles for mass transportation within the state at the ongoing 28th edition Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The move in setting up an electric vehicle (EV) assembly plant, is expected to create jobs for local indigenes as well as build a 100MW wind plant for power generation.

Representing the Governor of Cross River State, Bassey Otu at the MoU signing was the state’s Commissioner for Special Duties, Oden Ewa, saying the landmark agreement marked a significant step forward in the state’s journey toward a cleaner and more sustainable future. He said: “The MoU paves the way for the transitioning of our mass transit system to cleaner and less expensive fuels while also allowing for the use of our natural resource, wind, to provide electrification for our people.

“I commend Oando Clean Energy for their innovative solutions that address the impact of climate change in Nigeria and her citizens.”

According to Oando , it said,  as  a company, it has committed to ensuring that this journey to a cleaner and more sustainable energy future is as seamless and as easy as possible.

“This is by putting our confidence in, not only the technology but the partnership and ensuring that the Cross River State government and her people reap the benefits of generating power from sustainable sources”. The statement read.

Oando’s Clean Energy’s scope spans the entire 35 states of the federation and the federal capital, promising to create a cleaner, more viable energy ecosystem for Nigeria and the  people of Cross River.

In attendance at the side event were amongst others, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Abubakar Momoh;  Minister of the Environment, Abbas Balarabe;  Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Kunle Salako; Commissioner for Special Duties, Cross River State, Mr. Oden Ewa, among others.

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House Of Representatives Issues Warrant Of Arrest On Central Bank Governor, Cardoso, Accountant-General, 17 Others

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The House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Petitions has asked for a warrant of arrest to be issued on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Oluwatoyin Madein, and 17 others over refusal to appear before it to answer questions on their operations.

It was gathered that the issuance of the arrest warrant was sequel to the adoption of a motion moved by Fred Agbedi, representing Ekeremo/Sagbama Federal Constituency of Bayelsa State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the committee’s hearing on Tuesday.

Agbedi, while moving the motion, said that the arrest warrant had become imperative following the attitude of the invitees, adding that the parliament worked with time and the CEOs had been invited four times but failed to respond to the invitations.

Agbedi said that the CBN Governor, the AGF and the rest of the invitees should be brought to appear before the committee by the Inspector General of Police through a warrant of arrest after due diligence by the House Speaker, Rep Tajudeen Abbas.

The Chairman of the Committee, Micheal Irom (APC-Cross River), in his ruling said that the Inspector-General of Police should ensure the invitees were brought before the committee on December 14.
It was gathered that the petitioner, Fidelis Uzowanem, had earlier said that the petition was anchored on the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) 2021 report.

Irom said, “We took up the challenge to examine the report and discovered that what NEITI put together as a report is only consolidation of fraud that has been going on in the oil and gas industry.

“It dates back to 2016 because we have been following and we put up a petition to this committee to examine what has happened.

“The 2024 budget of 27.5 trillion that has been proposed can be confidently funded from the recoverable amount that we identified in the NEITI report.

“It is basically a concealment of illegal transactions that took place in NNPCL; they have been in a sink with some oil companies where some companies that did not produce crude were paid cash core, an amount paid for crude oil production.”

 

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FCTA uncovers illegal oil refining warehouse in Abuja

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In continuation of the city cleaning exercise, Authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) with operatives of security personnel have uncovered an illegal oil refining warehouse in Mabushi, opposite Mobile filling station on Ahmadu Bello way in Abuja.

 

The Director, Department of Development Control, FCTA, Mukhtar Galadima after the operation on Thursday, said the illegal refining site was discovered during the continuation of the city cleaning exercise.

 

According to him, about three to four plot of lands designated for commercial purposes have been converted to an area where oil and diesel are being adulterated and circulated to other parts of the city.

 

Galadima explained that the city sanitation task force will look into the provision of the law and make necessary recommendations to the FCT Administration for further actions on the plots used for the activity.

 

He said there was no arrest but the items used in carrying out the illegal refining have been impounded.

 

Galadima said, “During the continuation of our city sanitation exercise in Mabushi opposite Mobile filling station on Ahmadu way, we discovered an illegal refining site where oil and diesel are being adulterated, we have done the needful by moving the items to Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps.

 

“From what we have seen so far, about three or four pilot of lands designated for commercial purposes have been converted to unapproved activities, which we believe the owners are fully aware, there will be consequences.

 

“We are going to look at the provision of the law and make necessary recommendations to the FCT Administration”

 

He said the administration will continue to go tough on activities being carried out without government approval,  especially revocation of the titles.

 

Collaborating, Head, operations FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Service (DRTS), Deborah Osho said the city management team during the exercise also discovered that most of the areas in the Nation’s capital have been converted to illegal car mart and motor parks.

 

She disclosed that fifteen vehicles have so far been impounded since the operation commenced about two days.

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