United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on 2 day visit to Nigeria

 UN chief Ban Ki-moon began a two-day visit to Nigeria Sunday in the wake of a suspected Boko Haram ambush on the army chief, saying it was "a time of hope" despite the rise of extremism.

Combating Islamist violence is expected to be high on the agenda as the secretary-general holds talks with President Muhammadu Buhari, whose inauguration in May sparked a massive upsurge in jihadist attacks.

"Across our world, we see insecurity, inequality, growing divides," Ban told a private meeting of state governors in Abuja, according to a UN statement.

"Here in Nigeria, you know the challenges all too well –- including the rise of extremism and the lack of equal opportunity.

"I know this is a deep and vital challenge in particular for the governors of the northeast... This is also a time of hope. I want to commend you and all of Nigeria's leaders for the peaceful democratic transition of power."

Ban touched down at Abuja's international airport just hours after the military revealed Boko Haram fighters had ambushed a convoy carrying Nigeria's army chief-of-staff Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai.

The senior officer, who was unharmed, was visiting troops Saturday when insurgents attacked in Faljari village, 45 kilometres (28 miles) east of Borno State capital Maiduguri, army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.

- 'Overwhelming firepower' -

"The terrorists encountered an overwhelming firepower from the troops in which 10 of them were killed. The troops captured five terrorists," he said.

"During the encounter, sadly, we lost a soldier, while an officer and four soldiers sustained gunshot wounds."

Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks in Borno and two neighbouring states in its northeastern heartland since Buhari came to power in May.

The Islamists have also carried out deadly ambushes across Nigeria's borders and in recent weeks suicide bombers, many of them women, have staged several attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad.

The fresh wave of violence has claimed more than 1,000 lives over the last three months, dealing a setback to a four-country offensive launched in February that had chalked up a number of victories against the jihadists.

An 8,700-strong Multi-National Joint Task Force, drawing in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, is expected to go into action soon.

Military officials have said it will be more effective than the current alliance in the battle to end Boko Haram's six-year insurgency, which has claimed at least 15,000 lives.

"This a crucial moment for Nigeria," said Ban, on his second visit to Africa's largest economy since taking office in 2007.

"You face many serious challenges but you have also taken a hugely important step to move forward in a way that can respond to the aspirations of the country's people."

- Deadly UN bombing -

Before his departure the UN chief will lay a wreath to commemorate the fourth anniversary of a Boko Haram bombing at Abuja's United Nations House, the headquarters for around 400 UN employees, that left 21 dead in June 2011.

He is also due to dine with captains of industry and discuss "democracy, human rights and countering violent extremism" in a meeting at the foreign ministry.

Ban last visited Nigeria in May 2011 to discuss the crises in southern Sudan and Libya with then leader Goodluck Jonathan.

Buhari, who came to power on May 29 vowing to destroy Boko Haram, replaced his military leaders earlier in August, ordering his new chiefs-of-staff to end the insurgency within three months.

The military under Jonathan was heavily criticised for poor handling of the insurgency and its failure to free more than 200 schoolgirls abducted from the northeastern town of Chibok in April last year.

Ban is due to head to France late on Monday to discuss preparations for a major climate change conference to be held in Paris in December.

AFP

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Pharmaceutical research institute of Nigeria paid “ghost workers” for months before backdoor recruitment

The Nigerian Pharmaceutical Research Institute, caught this week in the web of a recruitment scam, paid non-existent workers for months, or even years, before hastening this week to replace the fake names, PREMIUM TIMES can report today.

The institute, headed by Karniyus Gamaniel, a professor, paid at least 35 “ghost workers” in several departments, according to new evidence obtained by this newspaper.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported on Wednesday how Mr. Gamaniel, in a secret understanding with the health ministry and the office of the head of service, brushed aside civil service rules requiring that all government employment be duly advertised to allow qualified candidates vie for the openings.

After handpicking candidates for the available 35 positions, the institute scheduled a sham interview with those chosen for Wednesday.

The recruitment exercise was postponed indefinitely after PREMIUM TIMES’ report.

Under the deal, the pharmaceutical agency, NIPRD, was allowed to fill 15 positions, while the head of service and the ministry of health (which supervises the NIPRD), were allotted 10 slots each.

Mr. Gamaniel shared the 15 slots among the seven directorates of the agency, after his initial plan to retain all nearly backfired, with directors in the office threatening to undermine the recruitment.

In response to our earlier report, Professor Gamaniel denied violating any rule, saying the institute obtained appropriate clearance for the process, ostensibly referring to the waiver from the office of the head of service.

He said the candidates for the jobs were drawn from a pool of applications received by the institute in response to a previous advertisement, and argued that placing new advertisement for the openings would have amounted to a waste of government resources.

PREMIUM TIMES has obtained exclusive details of how the institute for months paid salaries and allowances of 35 non-existent names, an indication that this week’s hasty recruitment was to fill those gaps.

The use of “ghost workers” is a common scheme used by dubious Nigerian officials to steal public funds.

In 2014, the federal government said it weeded over 40,000 “ghost workers” from government payroll with the use of a new software, thereby saving over N100 billion.

The figures provided by the finance ministry at the time showed that some ministries and agencies included as much as 5,000 ghost names in their payroll.

At the pharmaceutical institute, in a list of 211 names of staff, PREMIUM TIMES confirmed only 176 to be genuine staff.

The fake names are listed side by side with real names.

There are “ghost” staff for scientific officer, research fellows, junior research fellows, higher science laboratory technologist, and administrative officers.

There are also confidential secretary, accountants, planning officers among other positions.

All the staff were captured in the institute’s 2015 budget, a process facilitated by the finance and accounts office of NIPRD. For its service, the unit was given four slots to fill in the new recruitment.

PREMIUM TIMES understands that the recruitment process should have been hastily completed before end of August, as directed by the office of the head of service.

Premium Times

160 dead in Boko Haram attack

The number of villagers massacred by Boko Haram jihadists in a remote village in northeastern Nigeria rose to 160 on Wednesday, according to locals, as the military rejected accounts of the attack.

Residents of Kukuwa-Gari in Yobe State described how more than 150 of their relatives and neighbours drowned in a river fleeing militants who opened fire on the village on Thursday last week, while another eight were shot dead.

A local official put the death toll at a much lower 50 while Colonel Rabe Abubakar, the acting director of the military's information department, said reports of the incident were "not true, utterly scurrilous and very misleading" in a statement entitled "Boko Haram did not kill 150 in Yobe".

He said the military was tipped off ahead of the attack, which he placed at "mid-afternoon yesterday", so that troops and civilian forces were able to ambush the Boko Haram militants outside Kukuwa-Gari.

"The insurgents ran into them and a gunbattle ensued in which four Boko Haram members and one civilian (fighter) lost their lives," he said.

The villagers' count of the dead in Kukuwa-Gari would constitute the largest loss of life in any single Boko Haram attack since President Muhammadu Buhari swept to power on May 29, vowing to crush the insurgency.

Telecommunications in Kukuwa-Gari are almost non-existent, but villagers who fled to nearby settlements said those who returned had buried 160 bodies, while many feared going back.

Alhaji Kankana Sarkin-Baka, leader of a local group of hunters co-opted to fight the insurgency alongside vigilante groups, said 17 gunmen had come on motorcycles, including a local Boko Haram commander.

"They had superior firepower because they were using modern guns while we were using hunting guns. We were outpowered but they were outnumbered," he told AFP.

He said six of the fighters positioned themselves by the river, blocking the only escape route, and opened fire on fleeing residents, forcing them to jump into the water.

"So far we have buried 160 people. And out of this number only eight bodies had gunshot wounds, which means all the others drowned," he told AFP.

He said the villagers had received reports from Galda town, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) away, of seven bloated bodies seen floating down the river which were believed likely to be further victims of the massacre.

Sarkin-Baka said the hunters killed 14 of the attackers, including the commander and his deputy, while three escaped with gunshot wounds.

"We recovered guns and explosives and drugs from them," he added.

The villagers, who have secured reinforcements of 100 hunters from the state capital Damaturu, say the gunmen were "born and bred" in the area and joined Boko Haram several years ago.

"Up to this moment no troops have deployed. Our major operational challenge is good weapons to effectively counter any possible further attack by Boko Haram. All we have are hunting guns," Sarkin-Baka told AFP.

Kukuwa-Gari resident Modu Balumi, who had fled to neighbouring Gombe State, told AFP his sister-in-law and two of her children were among several villagers still missing.

"Honestly, I am not happy with the way the military tried to deny that our village was attacked. Many of us who are yet to return have changed our minds about going back by this stance of the military," he told AFP.

Boko Haram has waged a violent campaign for a separate Islamic homeland in the northeast which has seen more than 15,000 deaths since 2009.

The Gujba area of Yobe state, where Kukuwa-Gari is located, has been hit hard by Boko Haram violence in the past but had seen relative calm since troops reclaimed it in March.

"The fact that reports of the Kukawa-Gari massacre are only being reported five days after the fact... suggests that there was unlikely any discernible security presence in the region at the time the militant incursion took place," Ryan Cummings, chief security analyst at South African consultancy Red 24, told AFP.

"A worrying consideration given that the Nigerian government is facilitating the repopulation of areas which were similarly recaptured from Boko Haram control."

The army later issued a statement which made no mention of the Kukuwa-Gari attack but said troops engaged Boko Haram fighters fleeing an air force bombardment of their stronghold in the Sambisa forest, in neighbouring Borno State, late on Tuesday.

AFP

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