The Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is prepared to begin issuing refunds to Intending Pilgrims who have paid deposits for the 2021 hajj and wish to receive their funds.

The reimbursement was made as a result of the Saudi Arabian government canceling the 2021 hajj exercise for foreign nationals, according to a statement from the Board’s spokesperson, Muhammad Lawal Aliyu.

According to the Spokesperson, a total of 1964 intending pilgrims who paid a deposit to participate in the hajj but were unable to do so can recover their money as directed by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria.

He said that those who intend to roll over their deposit to next year’s hajj can preserve their money with the Board in respect of 2022 hajj exercise and get the advantage of getting first priority position during the registration.

He advised those willing to collect their deposits to forward their application for the refund stating their bank account details to the Director of the Board and attach original receipt of payment to process the refund as no cash payment would be entertained for the refunds.

The application for the refund can be submitted to respective Area Officers in the Area Council where the initial deposit was made.

He explained that Pilgrims who have no Bank Account are expected to forward a letter authorizing the Board to pay the money into a third party’s Bank Account with details duly provided by the Depositor. 

According to Newsfocusng, many of the employees recruited from throughout the country for the federal government’s 774,000 three-month employment that concluded in April were not paid.

According to our sources, the Extended Special Public Works (ESPW) program selected 1,000 persons from each of the 774 local government areas (LGAs) in 36 states.

Thousands of the chosen participants are yet to receive the monthly N20,000 promised to them, and some have only been paid for one month.

While some of those who applied for the job said they were never assigned to a job, others claimed they were short-changed throughout the one-month payment period and demanded that the federal government look into the matter.

President Muhammadu Buhari approved the three-month program last year to address challenges linked with a shortage of jobs in rural areas through a short-term engagement.

The participants were mostly drawn from a pool of untrained people in each of the 774 local government districts.

After the initiative was introduced amid pomp and grandeur and extensively publicized by the media, the beneficiaries were said to have performed civic duties such as street cleaning in exchange.

Participants were intended to save the N60,000 provided to them within three months, according to the public work’s planners, so that they might utilize it as seed money for other endeavors.

An investigation  revealed that many of the selected beneficiaries in the states who have completed the public works within the three months provided (February to April) are yet to be paid the N20,000 promised them.

In Borno State, some participants said they were paid for only one month.

Hajja Fanna from Gamboru in Ngala Local Government Area who was among the 27,000 unemployed youths said she was still waiting to collect her remaining N40,000.

Another beneficiary from Jere LGA, who would not want to be named, said he participated in the programme but still awaits his payments.

Mrs Mairo Aliyu, the Coordinator of the National Directorate of Employment in Borno, who is also the Secretary of the Borno State Selection Committee of the Extended Special Public Works Programme, said 1,000 unemployed youngsters were recruited from each of the state’s 27 local government areas.

She acknowledged that each participant was expected to receive a monthly payment of N20,000 from a chosen group of banks, and that despite the fact that the three-month program had ended, certain institutions were still processing payments owing to unforeseen circumstances.

An inquiry in Kaduna State revealed that many members had not received their payments months after the scheme was launched.

One of the beneficiaries from Kaduna North who simply identified himself as Jibril said he had not received any allowance since the programme started.

“Most of us from Kaduna North Local Government have not been paid and we don’t know why because the programme had ended in April,” he said.

State Coordinator of NDE, Sani Maiwada, said some of the banks had already paid the beneficiaries one month salary while some were yet to pay the money.

In Oyo State, only about 30 per cent of the applicants who were using one of the stipulated banks got N20,000 stipends, We gathered. Some of the applicants said they didn’t get any information from the NDE in Oyo State on the mode of operation for the job.

A housewife, who refused to be named, said: “I have not been paid. Even my friend had done her own documentation but she had not received anything from the bank. I am not convinced that they will pay because we are currently not doing any job.

“I think the scheme is a scam; it is possible some people have collected our money because nothing is impossible in Nigeria.”

The chairman and coordinator of the programme in Oyo State, Ope Salami, said that about 30 per cent of applicants had been paid for one or two months.

In Rivers State, it was gathered that 23,000 persons from the 23 LGAs of the state were selected for the special public works projects.

A source from the management committee of the project told our reporter that about N1.38bn was released but could not confirm if it was accessed by the participants.

However, the source who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter said equipment for the applicants had been distributed to local government councils through the NDE.

Findings showed that most of the participants in Cross River State have not received the monthly stipends of N20,0000. Some of them who spoke with us said they were to be paid through one of the second generation banks but they were yet to be paid even though they had completed their documentations.

Miss Regina Akpabio who resides in Calabar South said she had visited the bank a number of times and filled the required forms but no luck.

Another participant, Dopse Edet, expressed dismay that months after the payment was supposed to have started, they were yet to receive even one month pay.

Chairman of the project in Cross River State, Barrister Maria Ukpayang, said it was difficult to immediately ascertain the number of those registered in the state and those currently receiving the monthly stipend.

Some beneficiaries of the NDE public works programme in Ondo State alleged that they were paid N16,000 instead of N20,000.

“The money was given to us by hand instead of being paid into our bank accounts,” noted one of the benefactors from Owo Local Government Area.

Another participant from Akoko South -West said that they were yet to be paid

Militants in Akwa Ibom State have requested that the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) examine the state government’s handling of local government allocation since 2015.

Militants affiliated with the Niger Delta Volunteers (NDV) requested the state’s anti-graft agencies to launch a probe within two weeks.

NDV claimed that council chairmen in the state were functioning on zero allocation, and even accused the current administration of interfering with council allocations totaling N2.23 trillion since it came into power, in a statement signed by its state leader, ‘General’ Ekpo Ekpo.

According to the statement made available to newsmen in Uyo, the militant group threatened hostilities and disruption of the activities of government and multinational oil companies in the state should the EFCC and ICPC fail to initiate a probe of how council funds are spent in the state.

The NDV stated, ”It is a common fact that the government of Akwa I bom state under the leadership of Udom Emmanuel has been misappropriating, mismanaging and misusing local government council funds while coercing the local government chairmen to sign the amount they have not received.

”The state governor has been starving local government areas in the state without substantial development projects hence our call for accountability.

”Since the swearing in of the present local government council chairmen last year, the situation has become worse as the governor declared zero allocation therefore making the councils ineffective and malfunctions without projects”.

However, the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly denied the claims by some sources in the Local government Councils and even some Chairmen that they are running the Councils on zero allocation.

Fielding questions from newsmen on Tuesday in Uyo, the House Committee on Information, Mr. Aniefiok Akpan, assured that the House would invite the council chairmen to defend their claims on the issue.

“It’s very unfortunate for a Chairman to tell you that there is zero allocation. As the head of the committee, I interface with the commissioner for Local government and I know that every month. Allocations are sent to them directly after the Joint Account Committee (JAC) meeting.

“So the issue of zero allocation is totally false. Though no Chairman will ever admit that he has money, I stand to be challenged, those that want to leave a legacy also have some projects that can stand in their names.

“Our position is, let the local government formally complain to us about zero allocation if it is actually true. We have resumed.” Akpan stressed.

Meanwhile the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Ini Ememobong could not be reached to react to the issue via telephone at the time of filing this report.

The Federal Government asked for the authority to regulate private broadcasting in the country via the internet and other online sources on Wednesday, claiming that the government has a responsibility to oversee broadcast material.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information, said the National Assembly should amend the existing NBC law to include internet broadcast and all online media broadcast in the country, speaking at a public hearing on a bill to amend the National Broadcasting Act organized by the House Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values.

However, industry players, like as the Institute for Media and Society, International Press Centre and Centre for Media Law and Advocacy said the inclusion of internet broadcast and online media to the category of broadcast service licenses will be injurious to the civic space, freedom of expression and media freedom.

However, Speaker of the House, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila said when passed the contents of the bill will substantially influence the creation of media content in the country.

But the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria who are the major beneficiaries of the regulations of the National Broadcasting Commission was conspicuously missing at the public hearing.
The Minister was reacting to the provisions of section 2c of proposed law which listed the categories of licenses to be granted which include Cable television Services, Direct Satellite broadcast, Direct to Home, IPTV, Radio, EPG and Digital Terrestrial television; radio and television stations owned, stablish or operated by the federal, state and local governments, Broadcast signal distribution, Online broadcast, community broadcasting, public service broadcasting, among others.

He said “I want to add here specifically that internet broadcasting and all online media should be included in this because we have responsibility to monitor content, including twitter.”