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Illegal buildings: Lagos is victim of its own development – Tokunbo Wahab

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2 weeks ago

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The Lagos State Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab said the recent crackdown and demolition of illegal structures across Lagos State was an indication that the state is a victim of its own development.

Wahab stated this in an interview with Arise Television on Sunday.

He said the government of Lagos State is not battering its citizens but is rather just a victim of its own development, and as such, everybody coming into the state has got to come in and be responsible and be able to be accounted for.

“The truth is that no matter what the government does, there is a state of mistrust between them and the citizens globally. It is a global thing. My response to this is we are not battering them. You can’t say you are under the bridge and you want us to account for you. It is not habitable at all. It is not about battering people that are under privileged, we can’t do that. But it is about taking ownership. Lagos is just a victim of its own development.”

Speaking on the incident that led to the recent demolition of the illegal under bridge structure at Dolphin Estate Ikoyi, the commissioner said a whistleblower alerted authorities about suspicious activities under the bridge and following the tip-off, investigations uncovered a network facilitating illegal tenancy arrangements, with individuals, including women and young people, being exploited.

“The past few weeks and months, the state made a policy that we shall reclaim all our ungoverned spaces and we started out with Ijora under bridge, under national theatre, from there we went to Apongbon, Obalende, then a whistleblower called our attention last week Wednesday, he said he was jogging and heard voices under the bridge. He didn’t even stop, he slowed down and peeped in, took a video and sent it to my social media handle.

“Right there and then, I had to inform the governor that something was happening there and that we had to go, and he approved and the rest they say is history. What is not history is the fact that we have declared the ringleader wanted because somebody somewhere has been collecting rent and giving out spaces to individuals, women, young people and we have said to him that the long hand of the law shall surely catch up with him, no matter how long it takes us.”

He said efforts are underway to repurpose these spaces for beneficial use.

“We are also trying to put these spaces to functional usage. We have an agency called Glass pack. The role of that agency is to put these ungoverned spaces to proper usage to citizens.

“The one at Ijora, a design has been approved and it’s a CSR by a Lagosian who believes we can turn it to a football pitch and have some other games in there. Obalende has been taken up by one of the biggest telecoms companies in the country, MTN and the design is already in the works. Same thing we are going to do for Apongbon and the Dolphin area.

“So, what we are saying to the citizens is, don’t be vulnerable, no matter how desperate you are. If you have the means to pay two hundred and fifty thousand naira for a small space under the bridge, you don’t have to be in Ikoyi, you can go and live outside the Island or where you can pay for rent for a decent accommodation.

“We were even there yesterday and it was very emotional. We saw three young kids and I spoke to my colleague in the ministry of youth and social development and I said to him to take them to our homes and I will be personally responsible for them from now till they are able to go to the University and graduate and that for me is the path and way to go as a State.

“We are profiling each one of the tenants. I am not the one that will perform that duty. The agency under which they were arrested is profiling them. With the profiling they are going to remove those that were just there and then take the criminal elements or suspects to court on Monday.”

Wahab said several notices were served prior to the demolition as well as engagements with major stakeholders.

“I don’t demolish properties; I remove contraventions on the right of way of the drainage system or the canal and with respect to Mende…in 2021, my predecessor in office served them a notice and they had engagements that ran into months and years.

“In November 2023, we called a stakeholders meeting, we served notices before then and even marked buildings on the right of way and they came to my office and we had a meeting, played the video and they did admit that they were on the right of way but however pleaded that we reduce the right of way.

“On the issue of notices, they have been served enough notices. We served in 2021, renewed again in 2023, that is about six months ago. In my first life, I was a lawyer and notices are the first of every activity and we have served them and I am sure of that.

“If they have a genuine claim, they have a means to ventilate that claim and that is the court of law. The executives have done what they believe is overriding public interest.”

On government plans to curb reemergence of illegal structures in the future, he called on citizens to collaborate by reporting illegal activities, emphasising that the collaboration will aid the government in being accountable for the people.

“We have ramped up the capacities of our enforcement units, so they have to start pinning down officers in every area where we have ungoverned spaces and then we are relying on the citizens to take ownership and trust the government to do the right thing in the sense that when you whistle blow, the government will take steps of actions.

“With respect to those people who have no business to be where they are staying, what we are trying to push back in Lagos here is for us to be able to account for everyone that is in this space. For the sake of the generality of our citizens, if you come in and you are staying under the bridge, how do we plan for your education, for your health and for our own infrastructure to take care of you. If you are under the bridge, nobody can make plans for you.”

 

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EFCC indicts Sirika, brother in new N19bn fraud

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5 days ago

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May 14, 2024

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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

Published

6 days ago

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May 13, 2024

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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.”

 

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

Published

6 days ago

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May 12, 2024

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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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