Presidency insists Buhari’s anti-graft battle will go on Share 0

Senators, others face legal tussle over Magu

Nothing will stop President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s war against corruption, the Presidency said yesterday.

It said that not even the strong resistance being put up by the opposition and its calculated actions to thwart the efforts at sanitising the system would force the government to give up on the crusade.

In a statement by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the Presidency recalled that Nigerians gave their votes in 2015 to Buhari because of his commitment to rooting out corruption as one of the cardinal policies of his election campaign.

He said: “Let me say one thing. Those whose illicit ways of accumulating money have been stopped will criticise this government, but all that will not derail the unfaltering commitment of the President, Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to the war against corruption.

“He is aware that this was one of the main reasons Nigerians, in their millions, put their trust in him; the main reason they voted him into power in 2015.

“To keep that trust of ordinary Nigerians who voted him into the office, he has vowed to give corruption a good fight. He will not let them down.”

The Presidential spokesman also admitted that so far, the battle to uproot corruption has not been easy as corruption has been fighting back.

“Corruption has been fighting back vehemently, finding accomplices in various forms and guises. Nevertheless, the Buhari administration will not relent,” Shehu said, adding that the days when corruption reigned indiscriminately were gone for good.

He said: “Nothing will return our country to those sad, old days of wanton thievery that have plunged us into the economic mess from which Nigeria is currently recovering. The war against corruption in Nigeria is one of those clashes between good and evil, where good is determined to triumph.”

He dismissed rumours that members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were being spared, saying that all are equal before the law.

Highlighting the various measures introduced to promote transparency by the administration, Shehu disclosed that upon directives by the President, the National Hajj Commission audited accommodation agents in both Makkah and Madina in Saudi Arabia. More than $16.7 million will be saved by the paying pilgrims this year.

The statement reads: “Each Hajj pilgrim is being saved between 600 to 1,000 Saudi Riyals, which is about N60, 000-N100,000, from accommodation, money that had lined the pockets of agents in the past. This year, houses are being rented directly from owners.”

Shehu praised ordinary citizens for embracing the whistleblower policy by “taking extraordinary risks to expose corruption”.

On the rehabilitation of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja and the relocation of flight services to Kaduna for six weeks, the presidential aide said the government and people of Kaduna should think hard to devise ways by which the social and economic benefits brought to Kaduna in this period would not depart the city with the reopening of the Airport in Abuja.

He said: “The government of Nigeria has done a big thing for Kaduna. You must show appreciation of this by supporting the administration.”

On the cash releases for capital projects in excess of a record N1 trillion in last year’s budget, Shehu praised Works, Power & Housing Minister Babatunde Raji Fashola with the record of being the first-ever minister to ride on all the federal roads across the nation.

He listed the Mambila Power Project, the Lagos-Kano, Lagos-Calabar and Port Harcourt-Maiduguri railway modernisation and the new Presidential Initiative on Fertiliser (PIF) as other projects dear to the President’s heart.

According to him, the impact of the PIF was already being felt in the reduction by half in the price of fertiliser.

Read More »

JAMB: Parents, candidates call for more centres, extension of time for registration

Some parents and candidates for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in Abuja have called on JAMB to increase the time frame for registration as well as registration centres.

In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday, they said considering the challenges faced so far, the number of centres and four week period for registration were not sufficient.

Mrs Vicky Anyembe, a parent who spoke with NAN at one of the accredited Computer Based Test (CBT) Centres said it took her child three days to register for the examination.

Aymembe said it took her child three days to register because of the slow internet at the centre.

“We have been leaving the house every day before 6 a.m to ensure we are among the first to register but no avail because the centre has been having poor internet.

“If you ask me, I will say we are not ready for this computerised process because people are suffering to register.

“Government should do something about it maybe create more centres to ease the process.

“Some of these children have to return to the bank because of one issue or the other and the bank is not close by; it is dangerous sending these children across the highway,’’ she said.

The parent also urged the government to take nearest of residents into consideration before picking centres, adding that whatever is needed for the registration to be successful should be within a given environment.

Mr Adams John, another parent, complained of overcrowding in the banks as a result of the limited number of banks within the area.

John said the process took his boys three days to complete their registration processes, and called on the government to device other means of making the process less burdensome.

“I suggest that we can go back to buying scratch cards so that the children can register at their own convenience within the given time frame by JAMB.

“Also the issue of limited banks has to be addressed if the authorities really want the candidates to register within the four weeks period; or there may be need to extend the time,’’ he said.

Master Sani Ismail, a candidate commended JAMB for the new innovations in the registration process.

Ismail, however, called for an extension of time for the registration.

“The process of registration is okay,   there has been an improvement but the problem we have is the time, it is too short.

“This is a nationwide examination; JAMB gave four weeks which is too short. I suggest that from next year they can make it two months so that people can register.’’

Ismail also appealed to JAMB to make the subject brochures available for students so they could cross check it before registering.

Another candidate, Miss Tope Adigun, said she had spent three days trying to register because of the slow internet at the centre.

Adigun called on the government to increase the registration centres, saying with the number of candidates we have this year and the challenge of poor internet it would not be sufficient.

“If we in the city are going through all this stress imagine what people in the villages will be going through,’’ she said.

Read More »

Buhari’s war against corruption unstoppable – Presidency

A presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration has vowed to fight corruption to standstill in spite strong resistance by some individuals and groups to thwart these efforts.

Shehu, who is the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, made this known in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday.

He stressed that the war against perfidy and corruption by the Buhari administration would not stop despite the opposition against it in some quarters.

The Presidential aide, who featured on a radio programme tagged, ‘Hannu Da Yawa’ at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Kaduna zonal station, on Saturday, maintained that the President declared rooting out corruption as one of the cardinal policies of his election campaign.

“Let me say one thing. Those whose illicit ways of accumulating money have been stopped will criticize this government but all that will not derail the unfaltering commitment of the President, Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to the war against corruption.

“He is aware that this was one of the main reasons why Nigerians in their millions put their trust in him; the main reason they voted him into power in 2015.

“To keep that trust of ordinary Nigerians who voted him into the office, he has vowed to give corruption a good fight. He will not let them down,’’ he said.

Shehu admitted that so far, the battle to uproot corruption from Nigeria has not been easy.

According to him, corruption has been fighting back vehemently, finding accomplices in various forms and guises but reassured that the Buhari administration will not relent.

“Nothing will return our country to those sad, old days of wanton thievery that have plunged us into the economic mess from which Nigeria is currently recovering.

“The war against corruption in Nigeria is one of those clashes between good and evil, where good is determined to triumph.’’

He dismissed the insinuation that some members of the governing party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) were being spared in the ongoing campaign against corruption, saying “all are equal before the law’’.

Shehu disclosed that upon directives by the President, the National Hajj Commission had carried out an audit of accommodation agents in both Makkah and Madina in Saudi Arabia, as parts of measures to promote transparency.

He revealed that a saving of more than 16.7 million dollars was realized from the exercise.

“Each Hajj pilgrim is being saved between 600 to 1,000 Saudi Riyals, which is about N60,000 – N100,000 from accommodation, money that had lined the pockets of agents in the past.

“This year, houses are being rented directly from owners.’’

Shehu also lauded those fearless ordinary citizens for embracing the whistleblower policy by “taking extraordinary risks’’ to expose corruption in the society.

On the ongoing relocation of international flight services to Kaduna Airport, the Presidential aide challenged the government and people of Kaduna state to devise ways by which the social and economic benefits brought to the state did not depart the city after the rehabilitation of the Abuja airport.

“The government of Nigeria has done a big thing for Kaduna. You must show appreciation to this by supporting the administration,’’ he said.

While referring to the “massive cash releases for capital projects in excess of a record of one trillion Naira under the 2016 budget’’, Shehu reiterated the determination of the Buhari administration to complete some developmental projects.

He said this is meant to uplift the quality of life of all Nigerians irrespective of their geo-political backgrounds.

He acknowledged the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola with the record of being the first ever Minister to ride on all the federal roads across the nation.

“In addition to the roads, three of the major projects very dear to the President which he is determined to execute are the Mambila power project, the Lagos-Kano, Lagos-Calabar and Port Harcourt-Maiduguri railway modernization projects and the new Presidential Initiative on Fertilizer.’’

The presidential aide noted that already the fertiliser initiative had started making an impact by cutting the price of fertiliser to about 50 per cent.

Read More »

Wenger praises “mentally strong” Arsenal after Man City draw

Arsene wenger

Arsenal manager admitted that his side put in a mentally strong performance as they twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Manchester City.

Having lost six of their last nine games in all competitions, a visit from Pep Guardiola’s side represented a tough test for the under-fire Gunners.

But having fallen behind to goals from first Leroy Sane and then Sergio Aguero, they twice drew level through Theo Walcott and Shkodran Mustafi for a 2-2 draw.

Wenger said: “It was a strange combination, we started very nervously, under pressure, and conceded the early goal but the team showed they are ready for a fight.

“On the mental front it was a very strong performance but on the technical front it can be better.

“A point, you could say mathematically it is not good for them nor for us but when you come out of such a stressful period, I think mentally it can make a positive impact on our team.

“We could not afford to lose, we went for it but the best chance came to Mesut Ozil in front of the keeper, you don’t expect him to lose the ball there.”

City too could have won it late on had Nacho Monreal been penalised for handball in the penalty area.

Asked if Arsenal had got away with it, Wenger said: “Maybe – I haven’t seen it but I’ve seen that their bench complained.”

Read More »