Obinna Iyiegbu, alias Obi Cubana, a popular socialite and businessman, has been detained for money laundering by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The Anambra-born club owner, who arrived to the EFCC offices in Jabi, Abuja, around noon on Monday, was still there as of 10.11 p.m.
As of press time, allegations against the socialite were hazy, but a source revealed that his case involved alleged money laundering and tax fraud.
“Obi Cubana was detained and brought to the EFCC offices on Monday afternoon over allegations of money laundering and tax fraud,” according to the source.
Detectives are questioning him right now.”
Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman for the EFCC, said he had not yet been briefed on the situation.
Obi Cubana, Mr Ibu, and the UAE envoy are honored at the Nollywood New Yam Festival.
Obi Cubana reacts to a fan tattooing his name on his skin.
Obi Cubana made news in July when he conducted a spectacular burial for his mother in Oba, Anambra State, with over 200 cows butchered.
The owner of the building Lagos Collapsed building got approval for a 15-storey building and he exceeded his limit to 21, Gbolahan Oki, General Manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) has said.
While adding that the owner of the collapsed 21-story building under construction in Ikoyi was given permission to erect only 15 stories.
Oki told reporters over the phone that the property’s owner had been arrested and would face charges because people had perished in the accident.
“He got an approval for a 15-storey building and he exceeded his limit. I am on ground here and the materials he used are so inferior and terrible.
“The materials he used, the reinforcement, are so terrible. He got approval for 15 floors but built 21.
“I think he has been locked down. He has been arrested before now,” he said.
The GM said four people were rescued and three people died, adding that rescue efforts were still ongoing.
“We are still here and have four machines working as at this moment,” he said.
At least 50 people are reportedly trapped under the rubble after a 21-storey building collapsed in Ikoyi, Lagos State.
The building, located at 20, Gerrard Road, collapsed at about 3 p.m. on Monday.
Airtel Africa and UNICEF today launched a five-year pan-African partnership to help speed the roll-out of digital learning across 13 countries by connecting schools to the internet and ensuring free access to learning platforms.
The partnership will help to ensure that every kid reaches their full potential by ensuring equal access to high-quality digital learning, particularly for the most vulnerable children.
Airtel Nigeria and UNICEF Nigeria have long been collaborators, and as part of this new effort, they want to help connect schools in Lagos and Kano to the internet, allowing children to learn digitally.
This pilot program is estimated to help over 10,000 students in both states.
Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services in Africa, is the first African private sector partner to commit to ‘Reimagine Education,’ a global initiative launched by UNICEF in 2020 that calls for public and private sector investment in digital learning as an essential service for every child and young person around the world.
This program intends to provide youngsters with the opportunity to catch up on their learning needs in the midst of the continuing global epidemic.
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said, “Hundreds of millions of children in Africa have seen their education disrupted or put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“By championing digital education for children in Africa, this partnership with Airtel Africa will help put children’s learning back on track”, she said.
Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Nigeria Representative, “Digital learning is the gateway to equipping young people with the right skills – skills that will support them to transition from learning to earning. We are delighted that Airtel Nigeria shares in this vision, and is helping to drive the process of scaling up internet connectivity for school children in Nigeria.”
Airtel Africa’s financial and in-kind contribution for this partnership is $57 million over five years to 2027. The programme will call on technology and expertise, in addition to direct financial support to connect schools and communities to the internet, enable free access to online educational content for learners. It will also provide vital data insights to inform UNICEF’s work to scale-up digital learning and help ensure it is sustainable and meets students’ needs across Africa.
said Olusegun Ogunsanya, CEO of Airtel Africa said, “As a business, we have focused on education as a key area of our corporate social responsibility, and we are delighted that this partnership with UNICEF will enable us to accelerate results. It also coincides with the launch of our new sustainability strategy, which lays out our commitment to education.”
“We are excited to be working with UNICEF to advance the education agenda on the continent through facilitating connectivity and online access to play a role in driving change,” he added.
The Airtel Africa and UNICEF pan-African partnership will benefit learners not only in Nigeria, but also in Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The National Assembly’s upper chamber has announced that it will have a debate on the armed security agents’ assault of the residence of a Supreme Court Justice, Justice Mary Odili, in Abuja.
When the Senate reconvenes, it will hold a plenary debate on the invasion under the heading “urgent national concern.”
Recall that security personnel raided the supreme court justice’s home on Friday.
However, Justice Mahamud Tanko, the Chief Justice of the Federation, remained silent for several hours following the invasion.
Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, and Legal Matters, revealed what the Senate will do when it reconvenes on Monday in Abuja, during an oversight visit to the Chief Justice of Nigeria ((CJN)) in his Office.
“We cannot pretend not to be aware of the embarrassing situation on the invasion of Justice Mary Odili’s residence by security agencies on Friday Night,” Bamidele said. “We take the matter seriously, and by the time we return to plenary session, we will discuss the matter as urgent of National Importance.”
Speaking on the Judiciary’s budget for 2022, Senator Bamidele stated, “it is trite to mention that the 2022 budget budget estimate for the Judiciary is N120 billion, merely indicating a N10 billion increase over the sum which was appropriated in the 2021 Appropriation Act.”
“Even though this increase is not enough to meet the competing needs and challenges of the Judiciary, we must commend the present administration for listening to the voice of reason and clamour from various quarters advocating for increased funding for the Judiciary.”
Responding to the Chairman’s opening remark, the Chief Justice of Nigeria disclosed that there is no any interference from legislators or executives arm of government on their activities, adding that the National Assembly has not failed Judiciary.
He said: “Legislative arm of government has not failed us, there is nothing that we want that have not been granted by the lawmakers. You are doing right thing. If you see that something is going with wrong Judiciary, call our attention to it. There is no interference from Legislature and Executive on our activities.”
He submitted that the Judiciary is ready to accept correction if something is going wrong.
In her submission, the Ag. Chief Registrar of Supreme Court, Hajo Sarki Bello informed the lawmakers that 75 percent budget performance has been recorded in term of releases and 60 percent in expenditure .
She said that N368 million was appropriated to cater for the official vehicles of the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria and the Hon. Justices of the Court.
He added that last year, eight Hon. Justices were appointed in to the bench of the court and the sum was therefore for the procurement of one additional vehicle each for eight newly appointed Justices in the interim pending the availability of the funds to procure the remaining vehicles.
Electricity users have declared that after eight years of privatization in Nigeria’s electricity sector, the sector’s overall performance appears fluid and poisonous, with little or nothing to celebrate.
Customers also claim that distribution corporations, often known as DISCOs, are defrauding them by making them to pay for distribution transformer acquisitions.
Purchasing recycled cables, among other things, with no refunds.
Kunle Kola Olubiyo, President of the Nigeria Consumer Protection Network and Member of the National Technical Investigative Panel on Power System Collapses, System Stability, and Reliability, stated the viewpoint of power consumers in a statement ( June, 2013 ).
According to Olubiyo, Nigeria currently lacks proper customer data for the electrical demand and supply business, which he estimates to be between 8 and 12 million end consumers in the country.
Saying, “Exactly 8 years ago the Power Sector was Privatised and there was a Paradigm shift from Public Sector driven Business model to a supposedly Private sector driven Business model. .. Taking a glossary look at the general performances of the Power Sector, the picture is fluid and toxic and there is little or nothing to celebrate.
“Since , the year 2013 several DisCoys claims that they don’t have the money to carry out Customers Enumeration , Asset Enumeration And Enumeration of Customers House Holds to House hold , Using Properties and Landmarks vide GPS and Remote Satellite for Real time Customers Data.
“As we speak today, Nigeria don’t have an Accurate Customers Data for the Electricity Demand and Supply Industry Which is Conservatively put at between 8 Million – 12 Million End Users of Electricity in Nigeria.
“As we speak, Electricity Consumers on daily basis are forced or conscripted to pay for Purchases of Distribution Transformers , Buy the Recycling Cable, Buy Aluminum Conductors, D I Iron / Line Materials insulators , Buy Armoured Cable, Buy Uprisers Cable, Buy Incomes and Outcomers Cable, Buy Feeder Pillars ,Buy Feeder Pillars Fuses, And other Accessories, Pay Electrical Contractors to carry Installation, Pay through their noise to get the Officials of the Utility Companies and Government Officials to approved the Diagnostic Reports, Get the Transformer Soaked,Tested, Energised and then Commission for use.
“At the end of it all, the End -Users don’t get refund for their Investments at the Downstream which runs into several Billions of Dollars, Pre and Post Privatization era” he said.
Olubiyo maintained that the Indian Variants of Power Sector Privatisation exercise sold to Nigerians in the year 2013 has intrinsically become worst than a Delta Variant of Novel Corona Virus.
According to him, the Post Privatization bitter experiences of the end users of electricity in Nigeria has been reduced to a scam of sort, stressing ‘it seems to the End Users that Nigerians have been sold a dummy’.
Two bodies were believed to have been rescued from the collapsed 21-story building on Gerrard Road in Ikoyi, while two others were said to be critically injured, with several others still trapped within.
Workers at surrounding structures took the remains out of the building, which is still under construction, before the arrival of rescue services, who they claimed did not come until two hours after the tragedy occurred.
When the high-rise structure caved in about 1:56 p.m workers from surrounding buildings gathered to provide rescue services.
It is not immediately clear if the motionless victims were dead, as sources claim they were handed over to medics who arrived on the scene in two ambulances.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) did, however, provide information on how a 21-story building in Nigeria’s commercial capital’s affluent Ikoyi neighborhood collapsed.
Nosa Okunbo, LASEMA’s spokesperson, stated that his agency is on top of the matter.
“A 21-story building has collapsed near Musliu Junction in Ikoyi, Lagos.”
“LASEMA is on top of the situation,” he said, adding that heavy-duty equipment and life detection equipment had been brought to the location.
It was also reported that the owner and developer of the structure, as well as approximately 24 artists, were inside the building as it was cut in.
“The developer and all the workers including the owner of the building simply identified as Mike were trapped under the rubbles after the structure under construction around Ikoyi axis of Lagos State collapsed.
As gathered, the property owner was at the site inspecting the structure along Gerald road at Musiliu junction, when the building caved in at about 2:30 pm, with many trapped under the structure.
Confirming the incident, the General Manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, disclosed that he has activated the agency’s emergency response plan to the scene .
According to him, all first responders are enroute to secure the scene while the heavy duty equipment and life detection equipment have been dispatched.
Another eyewitness also noted that he and co-workers felt the vibration of the structure from the property they were working in.
He said they were working beside the building while some others are working inside the collapsed building.
“More than 50 people were working inside this big building when it collapsed, he said.
However , one of the engineers on the sight of the collapsed building who craved anonymity said due to his nature of the work, he slept at the building for one week given the distance from the site to his house in mainland.
He noted that whle sleeping at the structure, he noticed that it was always shaking at night. “I slept there for one week while doing my work in the building. I was always afraid because the structure was shakes at night. “It will bounce vigorously like something was wrong with the structural aspect of it. I found solace in the fact that while doing similar work at a bank in CMS, it was always bouncing but the structural engineers then told me that it was doing so because of the spring in the joints.
“But at this collapsed building which is 21 storeys, it will be shaking like it was being affected by the breeze at the sight and throughout the one week I slept there, I was full of fear and I thank God that I was done with my work before the building collapsed ,” he said.
Asked whether the collapse was surprising to him given what he was experiencing in the night, he said: “Honestly it is neither here nor there; I am not entirely surprise because something was telling me that all was not well with that structure. There are three buildings there; two are 18 storeys while the collapsed one is 21 storeys.”
Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, has hinted that the federal government owes N7.3 billion to beneficiaries of the government’s 774, 000 Special Public Works Programme.
Keyamo stated this in Abuja on Monday before the Senate Committee on Labour and Employment’s budget defense for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
He explained that the delay was due to bank issues, and he assured that the monies will be disbursed by the end of December.
The Special Public Works Programme was launched in October 2019 with President Muhammadu Buhari’s permission, and it is housed at the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).
According to the federal government, the program aims to address the problem of unemployment throughout the country, particularly in rural areas, by making unemployed youth more useful to themselves and society; participants will receive a monthly stipend of N20,000 for three months.
While clarifying the commercial banks utilized in disbursing the fund, Keyamo stated, “The reason we insisted on specific banks was because of the auditing procedure.”
This is done so that we have a clear audit rather than us chasing banks all over the place.
He said, “We said the bank should use their local branches to ensure that those 1,000 people selected in that local government area go to those banks within that locality.”
” The ministry have opened up the process whereby beneficiaries could use any bank in their locality.
“We have made an adjustment in the last few months. We are not attaching a particular bank to a local government again.
“So, no matter what it is, we will achieve 98 per cent success on the programme.”
Similarly, the DG, NDE, Abubakar Fikpo said that the agency “does not have access to the funds for the beneficiaries”.
He noted that the mode of payment to the participants was such that all monies were domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“Each time we are proposing to pay, once we prepare the details for payment, what we do is that we send it to the accountant general not even CBN.
“It is the accountant general now that communicates with CBN that upholds these things and then pay. That is the process.
“What we normally send to the accountant general are names of participants, their account numbers, BVN, bank details and the amount.
It is the accountant general that instructs CBN and then they effect the payment which was why sometimes we experience failed payment.”
Following explanations by the duo of the Minister and the Director General, the Committee Chairman Sen. Godiya Akwashiki said that they will be invited by the committee for an update on the programme.
Vice Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Kabiru Barkiya however lamented the inability of his constituents to access the facility.
“In my state, Katsina, some of the beneficiaries were asked to go and open an account in a bank where there are no branches in the state.”
Barkiya called on the directorate to ensure that the yet to be disbursed funds got to the remaining beneficiaries.
Despite the financial challenges that parents and guardians experience in meeting their children’s educational demands, the National Examinations Council (NECO) announced intentions to raise examination registration fees over the weekend.
The planned increase in payable fees follows a visit to NECO headquarters in Minna, Niger state capital, by the House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education and Services last year as part of its oversight function, and a warning against increasing payable fees above the government-approved N9,850 for registration.
However, in response to question during the announcement of the 2020/2021 Senior Secondary School (SSCE) internal, NECO’s Registrar/Chief Execute, Professor Dantani Wushishi, said there is the possibility of increasing due fees to suit global economic realities.
Professor Wushishi stated that the rise in all payable fees is unavoidable in order to meet global financial realities, adding that the increase is in accordance with foreign exchange rates and associated patterns that are not unique to NECO.
Dantani Wushishi bemoaned the “internal and external issues” that NECO has had since he took over as Registrar/Chief Executive of the examination organization, which he says is exacerbated by the debt burden borne mostly by some northern states.
Many states have refused to pay, he said, adding that it is sad that the afflicted governments, especially northern ones, reneged on the gentleman arrangement established to allow their children to sit for the exams after which the cash would be paid.
“With the way things are today in the country and the current exchange rates, we are going to increase registration cost for all our examinations,” said the Registrar, who did not specify which states or the exact amount involved before the next registration.
According to him, many states owe not less than N2.8 billion, while six of them, including Zamfara, Adamawa, Kano, Gombe, Borno, and Niger, owing NECO not less than N1.8 billion for pupils enrolled in 2019.
“These state governments will offer to pay examination fees for candidates from their states but when it comes to the actual payment, they don’t do it, and that has strapped NECO. Most of these states owing are yet to remit, even as we decided not to withhold their results in the spirit of mutual respect, togetherness and understanding”.
He said, “If we do not increase payable fees we cannot to conduct examinations. It is with this money that NECO pays members of staff to carry out the examination duties, in addition to buying stationeries and other materials needed for the smooth conduct of the SSCE”.
Recalled that NECO demanded registration fee for the 2021 Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE), between N11, 350 and N13, 350, against financial difficulties being expressed by parents.
In an apparent effort to limit medical tourism, the presidency has laid the foundation for the State House Clinic’s Presidential wing.
When completed, the clinic is anticipated to serve only the President, Vice President, and other high government officials.
Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, laid the foundation at a brief ceremony attended by government officials on Monday in Abuja.
According to Gambari, once completed, the structure will offer the President of Nigeria, his Vice, and other government officials with the necessary Medicare.
The statement reads :”It is a humble beginning but what we are doing today will outlive the current administration and would serve many generations yet unborn.
”We know how important health is to the life of every individual and government will continue to do its best to deliver healthcare to the people.”
He however , urged the construction company handling the project to commence work immediately and also work hard to complete the project within the time frame allocated.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary in charge of State House, Tijjani Umar, said the ground-breaking ceremony was very important.
“In line with the approved timeline for the construction of the presidential wing of the State House Clinic, 1st November, 2021 was set aside and approved as the ground-breaking day. In other words, we will do the foundation laying ceremony and from here move forward with the full construction activity,” he said.
Also speaking, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina said it was a historical day for the health sector in Nigeria.
“We give glory to God for a day like this, not the words said here today will be remembered but the action because in months, years and many decades to come, this facility will serve a lot of people including sitting Presidents of Nigeria, visiting Presidents and senior members of the State House.
Everybody that will come to use this facility will find succour. It is to the glory of God and for the good of man,” Adesina stated.
The project has already been captured in the 2022 budget and it is expected to give medical attention to the 1st family and other dignitaries when completed.
The VIP wing would also go a long way in addressing the issue of medical tourism, providing treatment at home instead of abroad.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Lagos State Chapter, has congratulated the newly elected members of the party’s National Working Committee-elect on their election at the party’s recently ended National convention.
This was contained in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Barr. Taofik Gani, the Lagos PDP said charged the National chairman-elect of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu to commence the process of uniting the party members ahead of the 2023 general elections.
” We also charged the well experienced, popular National chairman elect, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, to immediately commence the exercise of getting all members united and purposeful in winning their states and the Presidential elections”.
The Lagos state Chapter also commended the Lagos state nomination, Arch. Setonji Koshoedo, who is now the Deputy National Secretary-elect.
“We are so proud of the elected National Officers. We thank the delegates for voting our Nominee from Lagos state. By this act, the elders of the party in Lagos state have been given a vote of Confidence. With Arch Setonji Koshoedo representing Lagos state at National Exco, we are confident that winning Lagos state for PDP is now imminent”.
