Connect with us

News

How To End Economic Crimes, By Rivers AG

Published

on

Rivers State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Worgu Boms has pegged efficient intelligence gathering as a sure resource to combating economic and financial crimes in the country.
Speaking at the 32nd International Symposium on Economic Crime at the Jesus College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, Boms said Nigeria will benefit a great deal in global information and intelligence sharing as it battles the scourge of economic crimes if put in proper use.
He said, “Since economic crimes are part of the global transnational crimes committed in or between different countries, without being based on any particular location and facilitated through the use of internet technology and other techniques, the use of intelligence as the raw material for ensuring the detection and investigation of these crimes must correspondingly respond to the sophistication in nature and perpetration of such crimes.
“The extent to which we manage intelligence and protect the integrity of its sources, analyses as well as their proper utilization determines to a large extent the strength or otherwise of any initiative in the fight against economic crime. The positive use of intelligence to improve the efficacy of investigations and to facilitate the distruption of economic crime may constitute both the sword and shield in the arsenal in the fight against economic crime.”
Boms also stated that the Nigerian police which is “the primary agency established under the constitution and charged with the responsibility for the prevention and apprehension of offenders, the preservation of law and order and the protection of lives and property” can make great progress in the fight against economic crime and other corrupt practices in partnership with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) using high intelligence and surveillance techniques as obtainable globally as well as the powers invested on them by the law.
“As part of the statutory functions of the EFCC, its empowered to adopt measures to identify, trace, freeze, confiscate or seize proceeds derived from terrorist activities, economic and financial crime related offences or the properties, the values of which correspond to such proceeds; and the coordinated preventive and regulatory actions; introduction and maintenance of investigative and control techniques on the prevention of economic and financial crimes. The EFCC also has responsibility for receiving, requesting analyzing and disseminating to competent authorities disclosures of financial information concerning suspected proceeds of crime and potential financing of terrorism.
“From the existing legal framework on economic crime in Nigeria, it is evident therefore that the use of intelligence is the most potent weapon in the fight against crime. There is also in Nigeria, the money laundering prohibition act as amended, which contain clear provisions that make the use of intelligence mandatory in the detection, investigation and prevention of economic crime… the act provides under section 6 for special surveillance on transactions which have unjustifiable and unreasonable frequency or surrounded by conditions of unusual complexity or appear to have no economic justification of lawful objective or involve suspected terrorist financing. Transactions involving any of the above circumstances are to be reported to the commission by the financial institution or designated non-financial institution, furnishing all relevant information about the transaction including the identity of the principal and the beneficiaries and take appropriate action to prevent the laundering of the proceeds of the economic crime,” he stated.
The Rivers State Attorney-General however decried the Nigerian financial crime law which pitchs lawyers against their clients by mandating them to report suspicious transactions by their clients to the authorities.
He explained that it would be contradictory of the lawyers’ profession to act as both defender and attacker of their clients at the same time, calling for a review of that aspect of the law that makes Nigerian lawyers police detectors against their clients.
“I was here last year and reported then, that in Nigeria, the law now includes lawyers as non financial institutions and thus are expected to report their clients to the authorities if transactions with which they are concerned for their clients are suspect under the law. This therefore is another source of intelligence gathering, but for me a very uninspiring one at that. As I stated then, ours is the only profession in the whole world, not engineering, not medicine, not even the priesthood, but the legal profession that is charged with the enviable onerous and to me a defying duty of defending even the most scoundrel and despicable of persons accused of crime. To expect these professionals to report the same persons they are ethically and statutorily enjoying to defend to the authorities amounts to enjoining somebody to cry and to laugh at the same time, because as you know, when lawyers have big clients, they laugh, to tell them to report to the authorities, they’ll begin to laugh and that is very contradictory.
“Let the police do their work of investigations and detection, let the lawyer do his work of defending or prosecuting depending on where he is called, that way the coast will be clear for a pure and unpolluted investigation and intelligent gathering process. Some of these irksome provisions which put the lawyer as the defender and attacker, the money laundering act stipulate mandatory disclosure of transactions by financial institutions, the prohibition of anonymous accounts and the surveillance of bank accounts for the purpose of ensuring the detection and prevention of economic crime all by or through banks of financial institutions.
“We do not need to pitch the lawyer against his client to make success. If we remove that, we can still attain some milestone. No efforts therefore should be spared by individuals and groups in strengthening intelligence gathering and sharing between states in the collective fight against the global scourge of economic crime,” Boms noted.

Continue Reading

News

Shettima In Ethiopia For State Visit 

Published

on

Vice President Kashim Shettima has arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for an official State visit at the invitation of the Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed.

Upon arrival yesterday, Shettima was received at the airport by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Dr. Gedion Timothewos, and other members of the Ethiopian and Nigerian diplomatic corps.

Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Communication, Stanley Nkwocha, revealed this in a statement he signed yesterday, titled: “VP Shettima arrives in Ethiopia for official state visit.”

During the visit, Vice President Shettima will participate in the official launch of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Programme, a flagship environmental initiative.

The programme designed to combat deforestation, enhance biodiversity, and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change targets the planting of 20 billion tree seedlings over a four-year period.

In line with strengthening bilateral ties in agriculture and industrial development, the Vice President will also embark on a strategic tour of key industrial zones and integrated agricultural facilities across selected regions of Ethiopia.

 

Continue Reading

News

RSG Tasks Farmers On N4bn Agric Loan ….As RAAMP Takes Sensitization Campaign To Four LGs In Rivers

Published

on

The Rivers State Government has called on the people of the state especially farmers to access the ?4billion agricultural loans made available by the State and domiciled in the Bank of Industry.

 

This is as the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) of Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), a World Bank project, took its sensitization campaign to Opobo/Nkoro, Andoni, Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor local government areas.

 

The campaign was aimed at enlightening community dwellers and other stakeholders in the various local government areas on the RAAMP project implementation and programme activities.

 

The Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Maurice Ogolo, said this at Opobo town, Ngo, Port Harcourt City and Rumuodumanya, headquarters of the four local government areas respectively, during the sensitization campaign.

 

Ogolo said apart from the ?4billion, the government has also made available fertilizers and other farm inputs to farmers in the various local government areas.

 

The Permanent Secretary who is the Chairman, State Steering Committee for the project, said RAAMP will construct roads that will connect farms to markets to enable farmers and fishermen sell their farms produce and fishes.

 

He also said rural roads would be constructed to farms and fishing settlements, and warned against any act that will lead to the cancellation of the projects in the four local government areas.

 

According to him, the World Bank and Federal Government which are the  financiers of the programme will not condone such acts like kidnapping, marching ground and other acts  inimical to the successful implementation of the projects in their respective areas.

 

At PHALGA, Ogolo asserted that the city will benefit in the areas of roads and bridge construction.

 

He noted that RAAMP was thriving in both the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; Lagos and other states in the country, stressing that the project should also be given the seriousness it deserves in Rivers State.

 

Speaking at Opobo town, the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area, the project coordinator, RAAMP, Mr.Joshua Kpakol, said the programme would reduce poverty in the state.

 

According to him, both fishermen and farmers will maximally benefit from the programme.

 

At Ngo which is the headquarters of Andoni Local Government Area, Kpakol said roads will be constructed to all remote fishing settlements.

 

He said Rivers State is lucky to be among the states implementing the project, and stressed the need for the people to embrace it.

 

Meanwhile, Kpakol said at PHALGA that RAAMP is a project that will transform the lives of farmers, traders and other stakeholders in the area.

 

He urged the stakeholders to spread the information to their various communities.

 

However, some of the stakeholders at Opobo town complained about the destruction of their farms by bulls allegedly owed by traditional rulers in the area, as well as incessant stealing of their canoes at waterfronts.

 

At Ngo, Archbishop Elkanah Hanson, founder of El-Shaddai Church, commended the World Bank and the Federal Government for bringing the projects to Andoni.

 

He stressed the need for the construction of roads to fishing settlements in the area.

 

Also, a former Commissioner for Agriculture in the state and Okan Ama of Ekede, HRH King Gad Harry, noted that storage facilities have become necessary for a successful agricultural programme.

 

Harry also stressed the need for the programme to be made sustainable.

 

In their separate speeches, the administrators of Andoni and Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Areas, pledged their readiness to support the programme.

 

At Port Harcourt City, the Administrator, Dr Arthur Kalagbor, represented by the Head of Local Government Administration, Port Harcourt City, Mr Clifford Paul, said the city would support the implementation of the programme in the area.

 

Also, the administrator of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Dr Clifford Ndu Walter, represented by Mr Michael Elenwo, pledged to support the programme in his local government area.

 

Among dignitaries at the Obio/Akpor stakeholders engagement is the chairman, Rivers State Traditional Rulers Council and paramount ruler of Apara Kingdom, HRM Eze Chike Wodo, amongst others.

 

John Bibor

 

Continue Reading

News

Tinubu Orders Civil Service Personnel Audit, Skill Gap Analysis 

Published

on

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the commencement of personnel audit and skill gap analysis across all cadres of federal civil servants.

The president gave this directive in Abuja, yesterday, while speaking at the International Civil Service Conference, reaffirming his resolve to achieve efficiency and professional service delivery in the civil service.

“I have authorized the comprehensive personnel audit and skill gap analysis across the federal civil service to deepen capacity. I urge all responsible stakeholders to prioritize timely completion of this critical exercise, to begin implementing targeted reforms, to realize the full benefit of a more agile, competent and responsive civil service,” the president announced.

Tinubu further directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to prioritise data integrity and sovereignty in national interest.

He called for the capture, protection and strategic publication of public sector data in line with the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2023.

“We must let our data speak for us. We must publish verified data assets within Nigeria and share them internationally recognized as fruitful. This will allow global benchmarking organisation to track our progress in real time and help us strengthen our position on the world stage. This will preserve privacy and uphold data sovereignty,” Tinubu added.

President Tinubu hailed the federal civil service as the “engine” driving his Renewed Hope Agenda, and the vehicle for delivering sustainable national development.

He submitted that the roles of civil servants remain indispensable in modern governance, declaring that in the face of a fast-evolving digital and economic landscape, the civil service must remain agile, future-ready, and results-driven.

“This maiden conference is a bold step toward redefining governance in an era of rapid transformation. An innovative Civil Service ensures we meet today’s needs and overcome tomorrow’s challenges.

“It captures our collective ambition to reimagine and reposition the civil service. In today’s rapid, evolving world of technology, innovation remains critical in ensuring that the civil service is dynamic, digital” the President said.

Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack in her welcome address told the President that his presence and strong words of commendation at the conference has renewed the morale and mandate of public servants across the country.

Walson-Jack described Tinubu as the backbone of driving transformation in the Nigerian civil service, and noted that the takeaways from past study tours undertaken to understudy the civil service in Singapore, the UK and US under her leadership, is already yielding multiplier effects.

Walson-Jack assured Tinubu that her office, in collaboration with reform-minded stakeholders, will not relent in accelerating the implementation of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan, FCSSIP 25.

She affirmed that digitalisation, performance management, and continuous learning remain key pillars in strengthening accountability, transparency, and service delivery across MDAs.

Walson-Jack reaffirmed that the civil service is determined to exceed expectations by embedding a culture of innovation, ethical leadership, and citizen-centred governance in the heart of public administration.

 

 

 

Continue Reading

Trending