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Tag: Debt

  • Budget deficits, low revenue responsible for rising debt – DMO

    Budget deficits, low revenue responsible for rising debt – DMO

    The Debt Management Office (DMO) says decades of operating budget deficits by successive governments is responsible for Nigeria’s high debt profile.

    The Director-General of the DMO, Patience Oniha, said this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

    According to Oniha, a review of Nigeria’s fiscal data shows that not only has the government operated budget deficits which have been growing, but most of the deficits have been funded through local and external borrowing.

    “The records show that deficits in the annual budgets, including supplementary budgets rose to N10.78 trillion in 2023 from N1.62 trillion in 2015.

    “Between 82 per cent and 99 per cent of these were funded by new borrowing which ranged from N1.46 trillion in 2015 to N8.80 trillion in 2023.

    “These facts confirm that these budget deficits, funded by new borrowings, have been responsible for the rapid growth in the debt stock and the resultant increases in debt service,” she said.

    According to Oniha, this trend could have been avoided or at least moderated if revenues had been higher or expenditures lower.

    She tasked the incoming government of Sen. Bola Tinubu to take cognisance of the situation and prioritise increased revenue generation.

    “The budget deficits would have been much smaller, or Nigeria would have operated on a balanced budget.

    “It is therefore imperative that the incoming government takes into account the perennial budget deficits in the preparation of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (2024 – 2026) and the 2024 budget.

    “The government should also accelerate the growth in revenues to ensure debt sustainability,” she said.

    Nigeria’s debt profile stood at N46.25 trillion in Dec. 2022, recording an increase of about seven trillion Naira from the 2021 debt figures.

    Total Public debt stock, however, consists of the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government, the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory.

    In terms of composition, total domestic debt stock is N27.55 trillion ($61.42 billion) while total external debt stock is N18.7 trillion (41.6 billion dollars)

    The public debt figures, however, exclude the N22.7 trillion Federal Government’s indebtedness to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through Ways and Means advances.

    The Ways and Means advances, which has been securitised by the Senate, and presently awaiting concurrent securitisation by the House of Representatives before it is included in the country’s public debt stock.

  • Oil and gas workers express concerns over Nigeria’s N77trn debt

    Oil and gas workers express concerns over Nigeria’s N77trn debt

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) on Thursday in Abuja  expressed concerns over Nigeria’s N77 trillion public debt.

    Addressing the 7th triennial national delegates’ conference of the association, its president, Mr Festus Osifo, said the debt profile as at the first quarter of 2023 was mind-blowing.

    He noted that poor implementation of fiscal and monetary policies and policy inconsistencies worked against the economic growth and development of the country.

    “According to the Debt Management Office, Nigeria’s total public debt profile, representing domestic and external debt stocks of the 36 state governments and the FCT, currently stand at N77 trillion.

    “This is quite alarming, mostly when you compare the cost of servicing this debt to the revenue generated by government per annum.

    “In the 2023 budget for instance, we will be using virtually all the monies generated as a country in servicing our debt.

    “This is a calamity of the highest proportion unless we do all we can to increase the revenue base.

    “While we do not condemn borrowing, we insist that borrowed funds should not be used for consumption, but channelled into productive ventures and infrastructural development,’’ he said.

    Osifo also called on the incoming government to seek other approaches to revenue generation.

    He expressed concerns about the current state of the economy, saying what was expected was a steady growth in GDP; increased access to employment and diversification of the economy.

    The PENGASSAN president noted that Nigeria’s economy was confronted with challenges of structural imbalance, corruption, weak human capital development, inequality, security challenges and excessive dependence on oil revenue.

    He stressed that these were some of the key challenges that the incoming government should tackle with sound and coordinated strategy in consultation with relevant stakeholders and industrial experts.

    “We have talked a lot about diversification of the economy and this is the time for implementation as a matter of urgency.

    “The truth is that revenue from the oil and gas sector can no longer sustain us as a nation and this is the most auspicious time to walk our talk.

    “We commend on-going efforts of government in the agriculture sector and expect the tempo to be sustained in the entire value chain.

    “The efforts should be replicated in areas like solid minerals, tourism, and technology, among others.

    “Efforts must be made by the incoming administration to address the issues of multiple exchange rates as the arbitrage created is negatively affecting the economy.

    “We must put a stop to the use of `Ways and Means’ in enhancing government’s activities as this fuels inflation because it is not backed by value creation,’’ he stressed.

    Osifo also commended efforts being made in the completion of various gas-related projects.

    He listed the projects as the 614km-long pipeline from Ajaokuta to Kano, the Escravos Gas to Liquids project in Lagos and the gas transmission pipeline from Delta to Edo.

    He added that when completed, the projects would provide employment and also help in gas gathering and evacuation for domestic use.

    The theme of the conference is: “Equity and social justice advocacy for equal opportunities for all workers’’.

  • N3.4bn debt pits ex-council chiefs against Gov Makinde

    N3.4bn debt pits ex-council chiefs against Gov Makinde

    Former Local Government chairmen and councillors sacked on May 29, 2019 by Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State have disagreed with the governor on his proposed plan to pay the N3.4 billion judgment debt in instalments.

    The affected ex-council chiefs, led by Bashorun Ajuwon, made this known in documents they filed before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) against some applications earlier filed by the Oyo State Government.

    The N3.4 billion judgment debt was the balance of N4.9 billlion the state government owed some former local government areas (LGA) chairmen and councillors it sacked in 2019. The ex-council chiefs accused the state government of raising false claims in its alleged plot to frustrate the payment of the money.

    They described as false and a delay strategy the claim by the Oyo State Government that the  Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) naira redesign policy, coupled with paucity of funds, had hampered its plan to pay the N3.4b debt.

    On March 2, Justice A. O. Ebong of the High Court of the FCT issued a garnishee order nisi blocking Oyo State’s accounts in First Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Wema Bank and Zenith Bank.

    The order followed the garnishee proceedings initiated by the ex-council chiefs in an effort to execute the judgment they got on May 7, 2021 at the Supreme Court against Governor Makinde and six others.

    Listed as judgment debtors with the Oyo State governor are the state’s Attorney General, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, the Accountant General, the House of Assembly, its Speaker and the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC).

    In their response to the order nisi, the judgment debtors filed series of applications including the one seeking to set aside the garnishee proceedings, and  another, praying to be allowed to pay the debt within the next seven years by paying N250m in every six months.

    But the ex-council chiefs objected to the application.

    In one of the documents filed by their lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, they stated that Makinde had vowed not to pay the debt as ordered by the Supreme Court, except they decamped to his party (the Peoples Democratic Party) from their party (the All Progressives Congress).

    They stated that even when the Supreme Court ordered the state government to pay within four months from the date of the judgment, Oyo State, by a letter dated December 13, 2021 (by the Attorney General), pledged to pay within six months.

    Ajuwon and others added that, while Imo and Katsina states (against which similar judgment was given by the Supreme Court for unlawfully sacking of elected LG officials) had since paid, Oyo State only paid N1.5billion and had continued to invent excuses to further delay.

    Ajuwon stated in one of the documents that “after the payment of N1,500,000,000 to us, and sometimes in late 2022, the 1st judgment debtor (Makinde) invited myself and 3rd judgment creditor (Hon. Oluyinka Jesutoye) to his office and told us that we should inform all our members to cross to his political party, which is the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from our own political party, which is the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    “He further said that the only condition in which he would pay the balance of our money is by crossing over to his own political party and work for him during the general election of 2023.

    “We took his message to our members, who directed us to tell him that we could not accept his request. We delivered the reply of our members to him and he told us that as long as he remains the Executive Governor of Oyo State, the balance of our money will never be paid.

    “He (Makinde) further said after all, he has constitutional immunity; hence no court of law, not even the apex court of the land, could do anything to him. I personally told him in the presence of the 3rd judgment creditor that Almighty God and the law will help us out.”

    While objecting to Makinde’s proposal to pay by instalment, the ex–council chiefs noted that at a payment rate of N250m every six months, it would take the state governor six years to pay N3billion and additional one year to pay the balance of N374. 889. 425.60k, thereby making it seven years, long after he must have completed his second term in office which begins on May 29.

    They claimed that Makinde “is maliciously using state power to coerce us, as members of an opposition political party, and has refused to pay our salaries and allowances despite the memos by the Ministry of Justice addressed to the 1st judgement debtor, the Executive Governor of Oyo State, to do so.”

    The ex-council chiefs, who  urged the court to ignore the state government’s requests and  proceed with garnishee proceedings, also want the dismissal of  the motion to show cause filed by Wema Bank (one of the state’s bankers) for allegedly containing falsehood.

    They claimed that Wema Bank, in the motion, concealed information about  Oyo State Government and its agencies’ accounts with the bank.

    Ajuwon stated, in another document, that the state government and its agencies maintain several accounts in Wema Bank.

    He gave details of some of the accounts and the balance as at April 6, 2023 to include: Account No 0121754507 (with N41,435,133.10 balance); 0122500990 (N8,743,039.10); 0229068555 (N239,128.59);  0241073603 (N52,834.08) and account No:0229822360 (with N190,413.15 balance).

    He added that the state also maintained an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) account, with number:  0121754507 with Wema Bank.

    Ajuwon stated that “the judgement debtors have boasted that they have the capacity to cause the garnishees (the banks) not to say the truth.

    “The judgement debtors, who are interested in perverting the cause of justice, are making frantic effort to carry some garnishees along. Indeed, some garnishees are already preparing fake loen papers.

    “Aside from the accounts mentioned above, there are several accounts maintained with the 3rd garnishee (Wema Bank) by the judgement debtors in the name of ministry, commission and/or agency.”

    The court will, on Monday, hear some pending applications filed by parties.

  • Oyo State Govt.’s accounts blocked over N3.4bn debt

    Oyo State Govt.’s accounts blocked over N3.4bn debt

    A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja has issued an order attaching funds standing to the credit of Oyo State Government and its agencies in four banks.

    Justice A. O. Ebong issued the order while ruling on a motion ex-parte for garnishee order nisi filed by the ex-chairmen and councillors led by Bashorun Majeed, Bosun Ajuwon and Idris Okusesi.

    The affected banks are First Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Wema Bank and Zenith Bank.

    Justice Ebong ordered the banks to show cause why the order nisi should not be made absolute.

    The ruling on the motion marked: FCT/HC/BW/M/238/2023, was delivered by the judge on March 2 and a certified true copy (CTC) sighted on Sunday in Abuja.

    The funds, according to court filings, are to settle the outstanding balance of  N3,374,889,425.60 from the judgment debt owed some former Local Government chairmen and councillors sacked on May 29, 2019 before the end of their tenure by Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State.

    The garnishee proceeding, initiated for  the chairmen and councillors by their lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi, SAN, is in execution of a judgment they got against the governor and six others from the Supreme Court on May 7, 2021.

    The ruling reads: “A garnishee order nisi is hereby granted to attach the judgment debtors’ accounts with garnishees Nos. 1 to 4 in the motion ex-parte, for the purpose of settling the judgment debt outstanding in the sum of N3,374,889,425.60 as awarded by the Supreme Court and conceded by the judgment debtors in Exhibit 11 attached to the applicant’s motion.

    “The garnishees (1st to 4th) shall file affidavits and attend court on the next adjourned date to show cause why the order nisi should not be made absolute.

    “A copy of this order nisi shall be served on the judgment debtors as required by law. This matter is hereby adjourned to the 4/4/2023 for continuation.”

    It was gathered that the judgment creditors have since effected service of copies of the order on the judgment debtors as ordered by the court.

    Listed as judgment debtor  with the Oyo State Governor  are the state’s Attorney General, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, the Accountant General, the House of Assembly, it’s Speaker and the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC).

    The ex-Chairmen and Councillors were elected in the election conducted by OYSIEC on March 12, 2018 for a three-year term.

    Upon learning that Makinde, who took office on May 29, 2019 had planned to sacked them, the Chairmen and Councillors sued before the High Court of Oyo State to challenge the constitutionality of Sections 11 and 12 of the Oyo State Local Government Law 2001, which empowered the governor and the House of Assembly to dissolve LG executives in the state.

    In its judgment on May 6, 2019  the Oyo State High Court declared Sections 11 and 12 of the state’s Local Government Law 2001 as unconstitutional, on the grounds that it violated Section 7(1) of the Constitution.

    Despite the subsistence of the judgment, Makinde sacked the Chairmen and Councillors on May 29, 2019 and subsequently appealed the judgment.

    The Court of Appeal, in its judgment on July 15, 2020 set aside the judgment of the High Court, a decision the affected Chairmen and Councillors appealed at the Supreme Court.

    In its judgment on May 7, 2021 a five-member panel of the apex court, presided over by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, allowed the appeal marked: SC/CV/556/2020 and set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal.

    The apex court, which awarded a cost of N20 million against Makinde, ordered that the ex-Chairmen and Councillors, who were unlawfully sacked by the governor, be paid their salaries and  allowances from May 29, 2019 to May 11, 2021 when their tenure ought to have expired.

    In the lead judgment by Justice Ejembi Eko, the Supreme Court came down hard on Makinde, who it found, acted arbitrarily and undemocratic.

    Justice Eko said: “I will not conclude this appeal without commenting on the disturbing ugly face of impunity displayed by the Governor of Oyo State (1st respondent herein) on 29th  May, 2019, tantamounting  to executive lawlessness, outrightly and vehemently condemned by this court in the case of the Military Governor of Lagos State v. Ojukwu.”

    He noted that, even before appealing the High Court judgment, Makinde on May 29,  2019  “issued imperial directives dissolving all democratically elected local Government Councils in Oyo State in spite of the subsisting judgment of Oyo State High Court in the suit No. 1/347/2017.

    “Series of applications were filed by the judgment creditors, the present appellants, to restrain, particularly the 1st respondent (the Governor), from embarking on the self-help designed to contemptuously frustrate the judgment of the High Court.

    “He was not dissuaded. He proceeded in his imperial omnipotency to continue in his untrammelled, albeit invidious contemptuous, disregard of subsisting judgment of the High Court.

    “It is unthinkable that a democratically elected governor would embark on these unwholesome undemocratic tendencies. These tendencies no doubt endanger democracy and the rule of law. .

    “It is almost becoming universal phenomena that the democratically elected Governors have constituted themselves into a specie most dangerous to democracy in this country.

    “They disdainfully disregard and disrupt democratically elected Local Government Councils and appoint their lackeys as caretaker committee’s to run affairs of Local Governments,” Justice Eko said.

  • $53m debt: Emefiele asks Appeal Court to set aside Judgment Summons

    $53m debt: Emefiele asks Appeal Court to set aside Judgment Summons

    The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele has asked the Appeal court to set aside an order of a lower court compelling his appearance in a 53 million dollar judgment debt proceedings.

    Emefiele’s Counsel, Mr. Joe Agi, SAN, had obtained a judgment summons against the CBN governor following his alleged refusal to obey the order of court for the payment of the judgment debt.

    The judgment summons, now a subject of appeal, is in respect of suit NO: FHC/ABJ/CS/1193/2017, between Mr. Joe Agi, SAN, against Linas International Ltd.

    Others are, the Minister of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    Justice Inyang Ekwo who issued the judgment summons in October 2022 specifically ordered the CBN governor to appear before his court on January 18, 2023.

    However, the matter before the trial court has been adjourned to March 20, 2023.

    In his notice of appeal predicated on three grounds and dated Jan. 13, Emefiele contended that the trial judge erred in law.

    He added occassioned a miscarriage of justice when it made an order compelling his attendance in court.

    Emefiele informed the appellate court that the appeals marked CA/A/476/2018 between CBN V Joe Agi, SAN, & 2 others and CA/A/23/2020 between CBN V Joe Agi, SAN,& 2 others which are appeals against the judgment sought to be enforced by the judgment summons have been entered before the Appeal court.

    Consequently, he argued through his counsel, Damien Dodo, SAN, that the proceedings to compel his appearance after the appeals have been entered, places the trial court in a position where it is exercising concurrent jurisdiction with the Court of Appeal ovet the same subject matter.

    He equally submitted that the trial judge erred in law which occasioned a miscarriage of justice when it compelled and ordered him to personally appear in court without determining one way or the other, his application challenging the jurisdiction of the court.

    On this ground, he drew the attention of the appellate court to his application filed on January 27, 2020, challenging the jurisdiction of the court as well as the service of form 13 and 15 on him for non-compliance with the mandatory provisions of section 56, part IV, of the Sheriff and Civil Process Act.

    In addition, he submitted that on February 22, 2022, the appellants jointly filed an application seeking a setting aside of the issuance and service of form 13 and 15 on him.

    He added on the basis that the same ought not to have been issued during the pendency of the two mentioned appeals and the pending motions on notice for stay of execution dated March 26, 2018, and July 11, 2019, respectively.

    The appellant further contended that the lower court erred in law occasioning a miscarriage of justice when it made an order compelling his appearance in court on January 18, 2023, when he is not a party to the suit before it.

    He therefore prayed the appellate court to allow his appeal and set aside the orders made by the Federal High Court.

  • Oyetola left huge debt behind – Gov Adeleke

    Oyetola left huge debt behind – Gov Adeleke

    Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has accused the administration of Gboyega Oyetola of accruing debts in pensions and salaries to the tune of N76 billion.

    The spokesperson to Governor Adeleke, Olawale Rasheed quoted the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Bimpe Ogunlumade to have made the claim while briefing officials of the new administration on the financial status of the state yesterday.

    “The Osun state government has uncovered a monumental debt in salaries, pensions, and insurance commitments incurred by the administration of Mr. Gboyega Oyetola amounting to N76 billion,” Olawale said in a statement he issued on Thursday.

    “The disclosure was contrary to the claim by the former Governor that he left N14bn in cash for the new government among other bogus claims that have now been found to be an outright falsehood,” the statement added.

    The breakdown of the salaries and pension-related liabilities as disclosed by the Permanent Secretary are as follows:

    (I) Salary: N29,875,191,128.64
    (II) Pension Arrears: N45,375,237,693.40
    (III) Group Life Assurance Scheme: N554,644,028.97

    Total: N75,805,072,851.01

    “The public is advised that this is not the total debt left by the past administration as briefings on other sources of liabilities continue tomorrow,” the government added.

  • Reps committee grills DMO over N3.3 trillion domestic debt

    Reps committee grills DMO over N3.3 trillion domestic debt

    The House of Representatives Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management on Monday grilled the Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Ms Patience Oniha, over rise in domestic debts totalling N3.3 trillion in 2023.

    Rep. Ahmed Safana, the Chairman of the Committee, in Abuja, expressed surprise at the astronomical increase in debt profile of the country through borrowing by the government.

    The committee rejected continuous borrowing by the Federal Government.

    According to the lawmaker, there is a huge increase in domestic and external debts from borrowed funds by the Federal Government and the DMO is entrusted with role of ensuring frequency of repayment.

    He said that there was N1trillion increase in the debt profile of the country in the last one year, while calling on DMO, as relevant agency, to halt the frequency of borrowings.

    According to the DG, the domestic debt profile of the country stood at N3.685 trillion and there is another N2.57 billion from external borrowing by government.

    The committee said borrowings by government at any level must be tied to specific projects and demanded details of the N3.55 trillion earmarked for borrowing in 2023 budget.

    At the budget session, a member of the Committee, Rep. Emeka Azubogu (Anambra-PDP) decried frequent borrowings while others demanded details of the personnel cost of the agency and the number of its employees.

    Another member of the House Committee, Rep. Steve Azaiki (Bayelsa-PDP) advised the Federal Government to engage consultants to be able to access funds from the $70 billion climate change funds in the USA.

    Rep Promise Dike (Rivers-PDP) demanded that the agency should submit to the committe all details of assets sold, payment made and outstanding debts owed to the agency under privatisation.

    Responding, Oniha said domestic debt profile rose from N3.2 trillion in 2022 to N3.3 trillion in 2023 due to high interest rate from borrowed funds from domestic and international sources of funds.

    She said that borrowing was a collective responsibility and there was need for the parliament to look at borrowing of funds by the government from macro-economic perspectives.

  • Special Report: FG moves to curb fleece by foreign missions, soaring debts

    Special Report: FG moves to curb fleece by foreign missions, soaring debts

    The Nigerian Government has constituted a committee to review the number of the country’s diplomatic Missions worldwide and their level of chronic indebtedness.

    Speaking during the inauguration of the committee on Tuesday, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha, said the establishment and deliberate composition of the team will enable the Government tackle the root cause of the critical state of affairs of Nigeria’s Diplomatic Missions and its impact on the image of the country.

    It would be recalled that in January, a former Deputy Chairman of the Nigerian Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs Shehu Sani, had alleged that about 60 per cent of Nigerian embassies are on rented spaces and accused diplomatic staff of defrauding the country through rent payments.

    Sani, who formerly represented Kaduna Central, observed although some Nigerian embassies existed as far back as 1960, most of them were still rented, thereby causing a lot of embarrassment to the country.

    “I found out that we have been renting about 60 per cent of Nigerian embassies abroad, and we are still unable to buy a house in those countries. From my observation, diplomatic staff have been fleecing this country in the name of paying rents; they prefer Nigeria to keep renting houses, rather than buying a building as an embassy.

    “In the past, everything about the embassy is in the foreign affairs ministry, but during the era of Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Ambassadors go to the Minister of Finance for them to be funded. As such, it left the foreign affairs ministry with little or no choice on the embassy other than posting of diplomatic staff,” the former lawmaker said.

    He insisted on the need to buy more diplomatic houses and take stock of repairs of dilapidated Nigerian embassy buildings abroad as part of measures to solve the problem.

    “Everything about the embassy should go back to the foreign affairs ministry. We should have targets, every year, we should buy 10 buildings so that in five to six years, we are no more renting. There are some buildings that we may not need. We have to trade them off and put those ones away,” Sani advised.

    His position corroborated concerns previously raised by the House of Representatives last December that foreign service officers preferred to rent houses than stay in the missions- owned property due to their dilapidated state.

    The House also revealed that over 70 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign missions across the world had, for several years, received zero allocation in their capital budget and decried the indiscriminate postings of foreign service officers above the approved ceiling of the president, which had led to overstaffing and wastage of resources.

    Worried by the unpleasant news about underfunding from Nigerian missions abroad and to eliminate any bureaucratic bottlenecks, the House, through the insertion of Clause 11 into the 2022 Appropriation Act, granted express power to missions to expend funds allocated to them under Capital Components without the need to seek approval of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    This move was, however, heavily criticised by stakeholders who called for an amendment to repeal the controversial Clause from the Appropriation Act. The Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed, also said the clause contravened provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility and Finance Act 2021.

    The inaugurated 13-man Presidential Committee headed by retired Permanent Secretary Ambassador Martin Uhomoibi, has only a three-month timeline to determine the current number and categories of Nigeria’s diplomatic missions, identify and classify their revenue generation capacity, level of indebtedness and make appropriate recommendations.

    It would in addition review the understanding and application of critical extant policies, guidelines, circulars, codes, regulations, financial management systems, statutes, among others across Nigeria’s missions with a view to minimising bottlenecks, misapplication and curbing infractions.

    It would identify cost cutting measures and all other steps required to drastically reduce cost of running the country’s foreign missions and review all assets of Nigeria’s Foreign Missions with a view to document and assess their viability as well as give recommendations for sustainability.

    Other members of the Committee are a Retired Permanent Alhaji Sabiu Zakari (Vice Chairman), the Permanent Secretary and Solicitor-General of the Federation Beatrice Edodamen Jedy-Agba; Permanent Secretary, Ecological Project Office, Shehu Ibrahim; retired Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Bulus Lolo; retired Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Saheed K. Y. Adelakun and Ambassador Janet Olisa.

    The Committee also has representatives of Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the Auditor-General for the Federation, Accountant General of the Federation, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Foreign Service Advisory Council, Federal Civil Service Commission and National Intelligence Agency.

  • Court orders CBN gov, Emefiele to appear in court

    Court orders CBN gov, Emefiele to appear in court

    The Federal High Court, Abuja has ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), governor,  Mr. Godwin Emefiele to appear in court on Jan. 18, 2023, to explain his refusal to obey a valid court order.

    Justice Inyang Ekwo issued the fresh order following confirmation that Emefiele had yet to obey the order of the court to pay the judgment debt of 70 million dollars to Mr. Joe Agi, SAN.

    The money is payment for legal fees for services rendered to some states and the 774 Local government areas in the country.

    Agi had obtained the judgment against the CBN governor following his refusal to carry out the order of court on the judgment debt.

    The CBN governor, however, through his counsel, Mr Damian Dodo, (SAN) applied that the judgment summon be set aside on the grounds that an appeal had been instituted against the judgment.

    Mr Joseph Njikonye (SAN), counsel to Agi, objected to Emefiele’s motion on the grounds that the order for the payment had not been effected.

    Njikonye argued that the CBN governor was in contempt of court and must be made to purge himself before the court could give him audience.

    In a brief ruling, Justice Ekwo agreed that Emefiele must come to equity with clean hands.

    The judge said this was by obeying the subsisting order of court on the judgment debt payment or honour judgment summon issued against him to offer reasons for disobeying a court order.

    Justice Ekwo fixed Jan. 18, 2023, for the CBN governor to appear in court as required by law.

    The Federal High Court had ordered the CBN, through garnishee nisi absolute to pay the senior lawyer the 70 million dollars, being legal fees for services rendered to some states and the 774 local government areas in the country.

    Garnishee order nisi directs the garnishee to appear in court on a specified date to show cause why an order should not be made upon him for the payment to the judgment creditor of the amount of debt owed by the judgment debtor.

    A garnishee is a third party who is instructed by way of legal notice to surrender money to settle a debt or claim.

  • “Davido sent his boys to attack me” – Dammy Krane asks police to intervene

    “Davido sent his boys to attack me” – Dammy Krane asks police to intervene

    Popular singer-songwriter, Oyindamola Emmanuel, aka Dammy Krane, has called on the Lagos State Police Command spokesman, Ben Hundeyin, to intervene, as he alleges that his colleague, Davido, sent his boys to attack him.

    However, Hundeyin asked the singer to lodge a formal complaint at the nearest police station.

    Recall that the “Amin” singer had repeatedly called out the DMW boss over alleged non-payment for his songwriting (Pere) contribution.

    Although Davido has not broken his silence following the accusation of debt.

    In a new development, Dammy Krane has alleged that OBO sent his boys to attack him.

    He alleged that one of Davido’s boys, a certain AB Kush, had tried to forcibly gain entry into his car to assault him.

    Dammy wrote: “Davido sent his boys to Attack me but they failed , thanks to Safety & security measures by the Government, I have the full video of David’s boy (AB KUSH) trying to force my Car door open & attack me (this same guy also came sneaking around my house after this attempt) All attempts was caught on security surveillance Camera. This is a threat to Life”

    In January 2012, at age 20, he signed a record deal with Hypertek Digital and 960 Music Group. He is most famous for his single hit “My Dear”.

    Dammy Krane is known for his melodic voice, engaging lyrics and his exciting genre of African alternative music. Dammy Krane has received several nominations, including the Next Rated nomination. He won Rookie of the Year at The Headies 2012.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Dammy Krane collided with Davido on Sept. 20, 2022.

    Dammy Krane had claimed that Davido owed him an undisclosed sum of money.

    In a widely shared tweet, he also made sure to include Davido’s actual twitter username while urging him to make good on his debt.