Fr_id_ar._,M_aY_l_3,_2_01_1 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
STATE OF THE STATES ______T_HI_S_D_AY_,_VO_I._1_6,_N_O._5_86_3,_P_ag_e_11
N200bnAgric Loan: he N igerian ~gricultural Insurance . Corporation (NAIC) has issued a30-<1ay ultimatum to 10 out of the 13 participating banks in Ule Federal Government Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) for them to remit insurance premiums they ane supposed to have deducted from the N133.! biltion agricultural loans disbursed to states and farmers cooperatives so far.
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'By Nnamdi Dum The fresh Urreat is coming on the heels of recent confirmation by the Centtal Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that it has disbursed a total of N I33.11 billion to 139 h\!neficiaries across iIle country may have benefited from the scheme so far.
NAIC's Company Secretary, Chilee Okafor confirmed this threat in a press statement made available to nnSDAY yesterday. He alleged that the affected banks disbursed finds to 'various states and agricultural coopeIlilive societies under Ule N200 biltion agricultural loans scheme without complying with Section 13 of Ule NAIC Act Which made it mandatory for all agricultural loans to be disbursed by govern-
S,u e:· l0Banks
menl and banks to farmers to be NAIC has been exclusively manproperly insUred by the.corporadated to insure all agricultural tion. ' loans from government, banks or "NAIC has already directed its oU,er financial 'institutions solicitors 'wlio had given all the including the N200 billion p&ltiCipating commercial banks CACS", 30 days to deduct the mandatory He also faulted some of Ule 25 per cent insurance premium participating banks who may due from all: the already dishave gone ahead to disburse the bursed agricultural loans and ... agricultural loans .without fllSt remit same to NAIC," I., stated. 'ded~cting Ule insurance premium on It and rerrutnng same to the Citing Sections 13 and 14 of .the NAICAcl, 1993, Okafor said corporation. , Section 13 of the Act provides that "any farmer whose crop or livestock is covered by Section 7 of this Decree may take out an insurance cover under the scheme but where the farmer is also a beneficiary of an agricul...tural loan or credit from the gQv-
emment, a bank or other finahcial institution (in this Decree referred to as a lending institution),. he shall take out an insurance cover under the scheme." Section 14 states that "a lending institution shaU , subject to the provisions of this Decree and ' other directives that may be given by the Board,'deduct the insurance premium due from the loan or credit at source and rerrut same to the corporation not later than 30 days from the date of dis· bursement of part or the whole of . the loan or cred it." The above provision~ according to him made all the participating banks tiable to Ule corporation to the tune of the insurance premium not remitted.
GTBarik Upgrades IT {~In£rastructure Nationwide . ,~.'
uaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) has almounced its latest investment in Information technology infrastructure ainled at enhancing quiltity service detivery and alternative channels in the bank. In its new quest to iinprove customer seevice. delivery, the. bank has.deployed Superdpme, a ·.high-end . integrity . server by . Hewlett Packard (HPJ . . , Acti~g Managing Director, Mr. • Seguri i\gbaje craved the under-
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.' standing of its numerous
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" tomers. who may. have experi·
-Project Coordinator, Special Olymp;c, Mr. Deola Oladugba and Nah'onal Director, TH I-~DAY Office at Apapa, Lagos ...yesterday
PHOTO, Yomi Akinye".
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ence<f inconveniences in the process of o:"gration lp the new
'Fraud in Warri Refinery Cause of Kerosene Scarcity' ". ~~~no~l~~~tr;;'ure~ta= ,
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RefinlOg and Petrocherrucal Company (WRPC), a subsldiary of Ule Nigenan Nabonal Petroleum Co!]lQration may have unearOled a can of worms in the corporation that is at tlle roOt of the persistent scarcity of DPK or kerosene particularly in Edol Deha states axis. A covert but official practloe allegedly being perpetr.Ited by . influentialpel1;(lOs intheNNPC . U bo' ·th < . m co ~ raoon WI some ,onn-
.efficlent banking services when'
I" ,. .'. 'Fer ' ,',.'",:.' -. I_ From Omon-JlIlills Onabll in 1\',," ,,,d Chinellle Okafor inAb,yo ersenior functionaries of the corporation has led to the detiberate diversion of some ' petroleum products from the Warn refine!)" including kerosene , which has created acute shortage of the products,
11,e clandesbne diversion of kerosene loaded dally from the Warri refinery has also led to U,e' skyrocketing . of the. price of kerosene in Delta, Edo and others places within the 'catchment area' of the WRPC, a coatition of civil rights group alerted in Warri yesterday. • The group, the Niger Peace Coalition (NDPC) in a statement made available to nnSDAY in Warri yesterday evening', has ~h_ r-
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ues our sQciety has since yearned for.
By Wahab Akinhlnde And as such, we demand that the minimum we can get for our loyalty to the party and for working hard to sustaining the values of good governance is to compensate us with the speakership position."
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ry, But the corporation's Generill Manager, Government Relations, Thmini Green told joumalists in Abuja that while it is investigating the cause of the inferno, measures were already put in place toei1Sure tha! noga.l' 10 supply develops due to the inCident.
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IPMAN to Boost Fuel Supply by 45 Per cent he Independent PetrOleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) yesterday disclosed that it has increased its bridging of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol , from depots to petrol stations across the country by 45 per cent. 'This it said was meant to augment shortfaUs that were incurred from the last fuel scarcity in the northern part of the country, in<;ll!.ding Abuja. "While addressing the press yesterday at the National Executive Comminee meeting of IPMAN in Abuja, the National
the statement said, "Com{'Cnsation here is in two Folds; smce this is a parliamentary issue, it is our opinion that the consti tu ency that delivered the highest votes to return its candidates ~hou ld be given the opportu ni ty to produce the Speaker.
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. COrps Members: Group C'ommendSJonathan . S1am r - .~grou p, Forum for ._~ . -._~. - 1< ." d '.': . -.~: .engulfed some nOrthern states Purposeful Governance I _ after the recently concluded and Democratic EtllOS
A (fPG-DE) has commended President Good luck Jonathan for compensating the families of the 10 slaine Youth Corps mem-
1 1' ·:.'-Y::f.~~i;":·~:J··:, 1 From Cluneme Okafor in Abllja
in addition to other steps.taken by
the government. Abdulkadir explained that members of IPMAN had been at U1e losing end of the strike with interest charges to be paid to banks from which they had secured credit facilities regardless of the strike and other excuses. "As businessmen, if you keep . your truck you are losing money. We cannot nun business without President of the association. credit facilities from the banks Aminu Abdulkadir, stated that and the bank does not know pubthe measure was meant to cushlic holiday and weekend, he ion the effects of the las! ~ity , ,pointed out. •. . •. .. .
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preSidential elections. 'This is commendable especially knowing the previous slow ways govemment's response to such necessary compensation programme in the paste
By Jaiyeola Andrews and Anu:zkaEze bers. The 10 Youth Corps members were gruesomely murdered by irate mob in Bauchi Stale shortly after the victory of President Jonathan at the poll, The mob were allegedly supporters of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). In a statement signed by the
Director· of Communications FPGDE, Doyin Dawole and made' available to nnSDAY yesterda:y in Lagos the group said though commending the president for the gesture, but said the families of the victims deserved more from the Federal Government. ''This is to appreciate Mr. President for the Federal
Government's
compensation
plan for the families of the 10 National Youth Service Corps members that were murdered , during the violence that
system is. fully opera-
LA,GOS
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By Obillna Chima can access banking service comparable with what is obtainable inlemationally. " It is in this vein. that \ve
recently migrnted
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a new tech-
nology planoml called the Superdome server. This enterprise upgrade had been carefuU y planned with the aim o f improVing our service deli vel)' in line with piojected growth in oui customer base, Unfortunately. this project may also have caused
some inconveniences to ow' cUstomers who have remained loyal and supportive over tinle. We
however assure that the rewants and dividends will be reaped in
the form of more secure, stable and efficient banking services." boned PreSident Goodluck ... A s tatelllenl from the bank Aocording to Agbaje. for over Jonathan to save poor Nigenans quoted AgbaJe as saymg : 10 years, the Superdome - HP's from tl,e needless pams mfhcted "Conscious of our reputation as a flagship, high-end Integrity server on them by the racketeer.;. tistening bank, we have always - has powered some of the . Meanwhile, the ' Nigerian sought new ways to serveourcusNational Petroleum Co!]lQration tomers better. Operationally, these ' world's most demanding, 0Jih' slon-critica1 environments and is (NNPC) on Wednesday Said that it efforts oentre on providing convehas commenced investigation into nient and affordable services, . suited as tlle solution of choice fo[ ·.(·· the fire incidenoe that ~tted two wiUlOut cOIllpromisirig 'quality. enterprise-class customers who.~, ;! require high availability, rich vir' "J ofits 10 loading islands 10 its Warn Many tinles, this 'has entailed the depot. . introduction of cutting.@ge tecfi~:" - tualisation capabilities, and long- " . term investment protection. . NNPC also clarified Ulat the 'nology to ensure our customers fire that 'gutted its facility in Warri ' did not affect its refinery thereby
Edo Speakership: Time to Compensate Loyalh~ Hardwork :;;&offfuel ;~tn ~hi~ er E' '. ,., ·· ···"·~?I The LJIbini Socio-political ::'~ ~ I ~onda1 dshad . eaders of Edo South [ Senatorial Distri<;,t yesterc :'< pq >9;;~ ~~s';.kh:tt,,~Si:'oa:;~d~~:J the ~rm depot .!';';o u::
. day rose in unison of purpose to demand for the Speaker of the House of Assembly, on tlle basis of brilliant performance during the, 20 II parliamentary elections where the district returned aU its candidates in the ruting Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). A statement by .the leaders of Bini Renaissance Group said, "We have by this singular feat demonstrated out support for the Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole led adminislrntion , his developmental strides and need to con. tinue to deepen those core val-
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.NNP,C to it1vestigate inferno at Warri Depot
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0" C . . t . .th CJN IJI onumsera es WI ' .. A bia. State Governor, Chief 1 . A BIA . :4 c~ Theodore Ahamefule Orji ·.. 'eo I . '
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bas commiserated with the 'with you on this tragedy" . ,. Chief Justice of Nigeria, J . AI . K ts' AI According to him, the fond usllce oyslUs a ma- u on memories' of late Mrs. Katsi'nathe tragic death of his wife Late Alu will be a balm to soothe the Mimi Katsina-Alu. pains of her family and loved Reacting. on the shocking ones, and prayed to God to grant news of the ONs wife who was them the strenght and fortitude to'" hit by a tree , in her husband,:; bear the tragic loss. house, Governor Orji said he "It is only God ·that knows received the news of the ONs why this unfortunate tragedy had '. wife WiU,' disbetief and bewilto befall her. My heart and that of derment, and wondered why - . my wife go out to you at the try_ such tragedy should befall a ing moment, as we pray God the kind-hearted and supportive wife author and finisher of our fate to tike Mrs. Katsina-Alu. grant you the strenght and forti'It was with shock and bewiltude to bear this tragic and Iderment that I received the news painful loss. Please, on behalf of . of the shocking death of your the government and good people very supportive wife who was a of Abia State, accept my condO' n charming woman. I commiserate lences.
Election Violence: ~G May ~ppoint Adeogun Adviser on ICC .
S
trong indications emerged last night that the Federal
Government might. retain the
services of the niche intemational law practioe founded by Olarles Adeogun, a former international prosecutor and senior UN lawyer, to advise it on the imptications of any formal or pretiruinary investigations launched by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into post-election violenoe that took place in some . parts of the North last month, nnSDAY checks revealed that the government's proposed action may not be unconnected with a response to the April 22, 20 II statement released by Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the. Chief Prosecutor of the ICC,stabng that
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January 2010, clashes re'tween Christian ahd Mustim groups in . Jos and which resulted in the ~. By Davidson Jriekpen killing ofhui"lredsof civilians. The ICC may only exercise its he had commenced pretiruinary jurisdiction when a State PartY on investigations into the recent postwhose territory crimes were comelection violence which occurred mitted·or of which an accused is a · in thecountry,following the April national refers a situation to the 2011 presidential elections, court, when the UN Security The pretiruinary investigations . Council acting pursuant to by the ICC prosecutor, a precui'Chapter vn of the UN Charter sor.to a fonnal investigation, refers a situation, or when the carne in the wake of riots that Prosecutor of the ICC initiates an killed over 100 civilians and disinvestigation, placed more than 40,(100 others. It was learnt that the prosecutor The ICC Chief Prosecutor may exercise the latter power on declined to give further details on the basis of any serious informathe investigation in Nigeria and in tion received on alleged commispartic~lar~ whether .or not his sion of crimes within the jurisdicmves~gabons will ,"elude the tion of the court, 1 ' . '~ ' .. .... .... . ~ .. ~~ · . · ....... • . .. . •••••...•...- i ·.::! ·•.:: .: : j·.~:i::. ·. ::: ..... : .:..;: :_h.:;..~ ." ;. l,;. l d . ~: