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GBOYEGA OYETOLA SET FOR OSUN GUBER RACE

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Leadership in tough times requires

men with clear vision and a rare sense of service that will add values to the
populace and for the good of all.

At this point in Osun State, the

choice of Gboyega Oyetola, a
certified insurance broker, entrepreneur and politician as the gubernatorial
candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) is informed by not only his
intelligence and integrity but competence and character.

Oyetola, who hails from Iragbiji in

Osun State recently celebrated his 60th birthday, born September 1954, had his
primary and secondary education in Ifeoluwa Grammar School, Osogbo, and further
moved to the prestigious University of Lagos for his Bachelor’s degree and
later a Master’s degree in 1978 and 1990 respectively.

A man with cognate experience in

political administration and governance, having served in Governor Rauf
Aregbesola’s eight-year administration as the Chief-of-Staff since 2011.

Oyetola’s imperatives capabilities

as the Chief of Staff made him relevant and convincing, that he earned the
support and confidence of civil servants, politicians, youth and the
citizenry.

His innate characteristics depicts a

man who can lead, define and address issues without aggravating the problems.

At a time Osun State needed an

experienced technocrat that could confront the challenges of grappling
with the lean revenue, indebtedness,
contractual obligations, collapsed infrastructures and unpaid salaries, the
Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola-led administration required a strategist imbued with
integrity, competence, sacrifice and ability to wriggle the State out of
the scary economic predicament as a
Chief of Staff.

The searchlight beamed on Adegboyega

Oyetola to help initiate improvements, cultivate new innovations in the
provisions of infrastructure and to unwaveringly render corresponding services
to the state as a tested technocrat and successful businessman.

On assumption of office, he improved

upon the existing policies of the government and within a short time, the
administration confronted the hydra-headed challenges headlong and laid a solid
foundation of prosperity.

With his imperative leadership style

of distributing and applying material and manpower resources at every
opportunity, his philanthropic gestures travelled to places he has never been
to and endeared him to the grassroots and the people, portraying him as a
progressive politician who helped renew public trust and confidence in the government.

In recognition of his sterling

qualities in all spheres of life, he has been decorated with an array of awards
of leadership, outstanding performance and excellence in public service.

As the Area Manager at the Leadway

Assurance Company Limited between 1980 and 1987, he displayed obsessive
assertion to operations and ensured the product lines under his watch yielded
bountiful gains for the company.

In the sharks invested waters of

Insurance, he stayed afloat as the underwriting Manager between 1987 and 1990
at the Crusader Insurance Company Limited before he joined the Alliance and
General Insurance as Technical Controller till 1991.

As a man above average in his

ability and quality, he desired freedom and veered off corporate world and
flung his whole life into business.

With candour and experience, he

swiftly responded to the challenges of the new environment to establish
SilverTrust Insurance Brokers Limited, where he deployed dynamic interaction
and financial acumen to competitive advantage, battled ceaselessly over market
shares and created template for a profitable growth in the future for the
company.

His strategies; thinking and ability

to excel at all times prompted his appointment as the Executive Vice Chairman
at the Paragon Group of Companies, with interests in Oil and Gas, Mining and
Real Estate since 2005 until 2011.

Adegboyega’s business acumen and

ability to understand the fundamental practice of management threw at him the
Chairman’s seat of Ebony Properties Limited, having served as a director at
Pyramid Securities Limited.

Cerebral and enigmatic, he has

demonstrated bravery, sagacity and love for the people. His emergence as the
flag bearer of the party like his slogan ILERIOLUWA, is only divine, a pact
with God which reflects in the huge endorsements and acceptance he has been
enjoying from party faithfuls who are daily galvanising supports for him.

Oyetola is coming to the helm of

affairs in Osun with a roadmap towards setting explicit targets and creating
necessary growth that will safeguard the lives of the people, empower and
create jobs for the teeming youths, protect the integrity of the private
sectors, give life to start-ups, raise innovative entrepreneurs, give confidence
to investors and sustain the momentum of growth. For a purposeful leadership in Osun,
Adegboyega Isiaka Oyetola is fit to pull Osun through the current meltdown to
prosperity, peace and tranquillity.

News and Report

EFCC indicts Sirika, brother in new N19bn fraud

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has charged former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, his brother, Ahmad Sirika; and his company – Enginos Nigeria Limited, with over N19.4bn fraud.

The sum is said to be for several aviation ministry contracts from the former minister to Enginos Nigeria Limited, owned by Sirika’s younger brother, Abubakar.

The Sirika brothers and Enginos Nigeria Limited will be arraigned before Justice Belgore of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Garki, Abuja today (Tuesday).

It is the second criminal charge the EFCC will be filing against the ex-aviation minister.

He was last Thursday arraigned for N2.7bn fraud before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja.

Sirika was arraigned on six counts alongside his daughter, Fatimah; brother-in-law, Jalal Hamma, and Al-Buraq Investment Ltd.

The defendants pleaded not guilty while Justice Sylvanus Oriji granted them N100m bail each, with the condition that they must not travel out of the country until the end of the criminal case.

On Monday, EFCC insiders informed The PUNCH that the anti-graft agency had filed a second charge against the ex-minister, bordering on N19.4bn fraud.

In the copy of the fresh charges sighted by our correspondent on Monday, the EFCC alleged that Sirika, “while being the Minister of Aviation, on or about 18th August 2022, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did use your position to confer an unfair advantage upon Enginos Nigeria Limited, whose alter ego, Ahmad Abubakar Sirika, is your biological brother, by using your position to influence the award to him, the contract for the construction of a terminal building at Katsina Airport for the sum of N1,345,586,500.00.”

According to the EFCC, Sirika’s alleged action was a violation of Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000 and punishable under the same section.

In another count, the EFCC alleged that “on or about 3rd of November, 2022, in Abuja,” Sirika used his position “to confer unfair advantage upon Enginos Nigeria Limited, whose alter ego, Ahmad Abubakar Sirika, is your biological brother, by using your position to influence the award to him, the contract for the establishment of Fire Truck Maintenance and Refurbishment Centre at Katsina Airport for the sum of N3,811,497,685.00.”

In another count, he was accused of corruptly awarding a N615,195,275.00 contract to his brother for the procurement and installation of lift and air conditioners and power generators for the Aviation House in Abuja.

Furthermore, the EFCC alleged that Sirika, between August 2022 and May 2023 in Abuja, “had possession of an aggregate sum of N2,337, 840,674.16, which sum you knew indirectly represented the proceeds of criminal conducts of Hadi Abubakar Sirika, who was the Minister of Aviation at the time.”

It was revealed that the ex-minister’s younger brother, Abubakar, was earlier arrested and detained by the EFCC in connection with N3,212,258,930.18 paid to his company, Enginos Nigerian Limited’s bank account by the former minister.

 

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Nigerian Bank chiefs obtain N549bn insider loans in five years

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Directors and key management personnel of Deposit Money Banks borrowed about N549bn from their financial institutions in five years.

This is according to The PUNCH analysis of the banks’ annual reports filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited between 2019 and 2023.

However, the banks’ loans and advances to some directors and key management personnel as well as related party transactions dropped significantly in 2023.

These transactions dropped to N52.40bn for eight financial institutions compared to N111.31bn in 2022, indicating a 52.92 per cent decline in one year.

Financial institutions reviewed in the 2023 review include Access Holdings, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa, Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holding Plc and the FCMB Group.

This decline came amid the release of new corporate governance guidelines by the Central Bank of Nigeria which went into effect August 1, 2023.

In the circular dated July 13, 2023, and signed by Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Chibuzo Efobi, the guidelines which imposed responsibilities on the bank board and the executive compliance officers, supersede other previous codes, circulars and related directives, according to the apex bank.

The CBN guidelines on related party transactions said, “Banks shall establish a policy concerning insider trading and related party transactions by directors, senior executives, and employees, as well as publish the policy or a summary of that policy on their website. 22.2 The policy shall contain appropriate standards and procedures to ensure it is effectively implemented. 22.3 In addition to the requirements in Section 22.2, there shall be an internal review mechanism carried out by the internal audit function of the bank, to assess the compliance and effectiveness of the policy.

“22.4 Any director whose facility or that of his/her related interests remains nonperforming in any financial institution for more than one year shall cease to be on the board of the bank and shall be blacklisted from sitting on the board of such bank and that of any other financial institution under the purview of the CBN. 22.5 No director-related loans and/or interest thereon shall be written off without the CBN’s prior approval.”

Leading the pack in terms of major decline in loans to related parties and entities controlled by key management personnel was Fidelity Bank Plc, which went from N92.31bn at the end of December 2022 to N2.09bn at the end of last year.

In footnotes, the bank however said that some of the related parties like A-Z Petroleum Limited, Dangote Group and Genesis Group as of 31 December 2022, had “exited the related party relationship post 2022 financial year in line with CBN requirement.”

In 2022, the total value of insider loans for 10 banks including Access Holdings, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa, Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holding Plc, FCMB Group, Unity Bank and Sterling Bank amounted to N131.04bn.

Fidelity Bank led the highest for the year, followed by Unity Bank at N17.32bn and UBA at N13.74bn.

In 2021, the loans to related parties of these financial institutions rose to N139.16bn with Fidelity Bank and UBA leading at N97.73bn and N15.28bn, respectively. GTCO trailed in third position with N6.859bn.

Between 2019 and 2020, a total of N226.6bn was disbursed as loans. In 2019, eleven banks borrowed its key management personnel a total sum of N29.65bn. The figure also includes loans to companies related to the directors.

An analysis showed that GTCO lent N155m, Zenith Bank (N1.76bn), UBA borrowed its directors N297m, Wema Bank (N5.2bn), Stanbic IBTC (N95m), FCMB (N4.8bn), Unity Bank(N7.14bn), Sterling Bank (N10.12bn) to related parties.

In 2020, the figure increased by 564 per cent or N167.32bn to N196.97bn.

Checks showed that Access Bank lent the highest with a total of N174bn to its directors and companies related to them. This was followed by Unity Bank with N7.55bn. Third on the list was Sterling Bank with N6.01bn.

Other banks including Fidelity borrowed its directors N986.2m, GTBank (N67.9m), Zenith Bank (N1.797bn), UBA (N206m), Wema Bank (N2.82bn), Stanbic IBTC (N332m), FCMB (N3.2bn), Unity Bank (N7.55bn), Sterling Bank (N6.01bn).

Commenting on the trend, the Chief Research Officer at InvestData Consulting, Ambrose Omordion said “In my language, they say, it is the yam that you know that you use to make pounded yam. If an organisation feels that the insider or director can pay the loans given to them, then there is no issue. It is when they do not pay that is where there would be issues.

“Like what is happening now in the economy, banks are not giving loans to ordinary companies unless those with names because of economic headwinds. If they give loans to the public and they are unable to repay, Non-Performing Loans will rise. If the banks offer to insiders that would pay, it is better for them.”

 

The Punch

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News and Report

Court Orders Arrest of Ex-Naval Chief, Usman Jibrin Over Alleged N1.5billion Money Laundering Charges

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Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has ordered the arrest of a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, and two other officers over N1.5 billion money laundering charge.

 

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) dragged the trio before the court over fraud N1.5bn allegations.

 

The court issued the arrest warrant after hearing a motion exparte marked FHC/ABJ/CR/158/2023 and filed by ICPC counsel, Osuobeni Ekoi Akponimisingha.

 

In the motion, the lawyer submitted that Usman Jibrin Oyibe, Adam Imam Yusuf, Brigadier General Ishaya Gangum Bauka (first to third defendants), were investigated for allegations of money laundering and making false statements regarding diversion of funds in their respective military and paramilitary institutions, into companies in which they allegedly had stake.

 

According to him, at the commencement of the investigation into the allegations, the defendants were released on administrative bail on self-recognition because of their status as serving and former public figures and has since then refused to show up for possible arraignment in court.

 

The Lawyer prayed the court for a bench warrant against the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents (Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin Oyibe, Adam Imam Yusuf, and Brigadier General Ishaya Gamgum Bauka) in charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/158/2023 which is pending before the court for the purpose of arresting and bringing them to court for their arraignment and trial.

 

Listed as first to sixth defendants in the 17-count charge are Usman Jibrin Oyibe, Adam Imam Yusuf, Brigadier General Ishaya Gangum Bauka, Lahab integrated & Multi Services Limited, Gate Coast Properties International Limited and Ummays Hummayd Energy Ltd

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