NAIJAFEED

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

EFCC freezes NFF accounts

Economic and Financial crimes Commission (EFCC) has frozen three bank accounts of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), following new revelations by its investigation into the alleged N1.3 billion fraud in the Glass House.

This is even as the acting President of the federation, Aminu Maigari, has been summoned by the anti-graft commission to explain his role in the alleged fraud.

A senior EFCC source told Daily Independent on Monday that the commission has to freeze the three accounts in three different banks because investigators discovered some funds in those accounts which could not be explained.

The source, who would not disclose the names of the banks where the accounts were frozen, said however that $6 million was traced to one account which he said may not be in NFF's books.

According to him, the two other accounts frozen by the agency have $2 million and N144 million respectively in them.

The source who further disclosed that the acting president of the NFF has been summoned to face investigators working on the case today, explained that the invitation was informed by the fact that he was Chairman, Financial Committee of the NFF board when the former President, Sani Lulu, held sway.

"We have invited the acting President, Maigari, because we believe he has a case to answer. He was chairman of the financial committee of that board under Lulu," he explained.

EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Femi Babafemi, confirmed the freezing of the NFF's accounts and invitation of Maigari for questioning. He however declined further comment on the matter.

The anti-corruption agency launched its investigation into the alleged fraud in July after Lulu was dismissed as president of football federation.

The commission first invited him for interrogation on July 8 alongside former Technical Committee Chairman, Taiwo Ogunjobi, former Vice President, Uchegbulam Amanze and Bolaji Ojo-Oba, NFF's former general secretary who were also fingered in the scam.

They are being investigated for rushing to book accommodation for players and officials in a non-FIFA approved hotel, Hampshire Hotel, in order to cut cost, causing the country to lose over $125, 000 (N18.7 million) when they had to book a new hotel.

Daily Independent

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President Goodluck Jonathan says government to boost cocoa production

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said his administration has concluded arrangements to boost the nation's economy and increase the GDP through cocoa production.

Towards this end, he said a committee on cocoa production and processing has been set up and given six weeks ultimatum to submit its report which he assured would be speedily implemented.

Jonathan, who was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo, said this at the closing ceremony of the 6th National Cocoa Day celebrations organised for the 14- cocoa producing states in the country held at the Township Square Ilorin, Kwara State.

He said the committee comprises of the ministries of finance and agriculture and rural development; the Centra Bank of Nigeria, and the Nigeria Export Promotion Council, among others .

The president also pledge that facilities that will assist farmers in cocoa production will be provided for them so that they will take it with all the seriousness it deserves and help the Federal Government to fulfill its objectives.

In his address, the minister of agriculture and rural development, Professor Sheik Abdullah, said the theme of the 6th National Cocoa Day, "Quality Cocoa for National Development," is well chosen to reflect the importance Nigeria attaches to cocoa production.

Earlier in his address, the governor of Kwara State, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, commended the Federal Government for supporting the programme to be held in Ilorin, noting that with the three-day programme, the glory of cocoa production is being re-kindled for better development of the agricultural sector.

Meanwhile, Cocoa producing states in the country have attributed incessant power outage as the major reason they have not been able to build any cocoa processing factory despite the abundance of cocoa in the country.

They said until the problem of power generation was tackled by the federal government, it would be difficult for any state to contemplate such venture.

Speaking with newsmen in Akure ahead of the Cocoa Day celebrations, Ondo State Deputy Governor Alhaji Ali Olanusi regretted that many of the industries established in the sector were no more in operation, while those operating were doing so at a minimal capacity.

Vanguard

Police on alert over Boko Haram mayhem anniversary

Police were on the alert on Saturday searching for weapons, while residents were on edge in Maiduguri and environs in Borno State ahead of the first anniversary of the Boko Haram sect group's deadly uprising with fears of possible strike again.

The group's deputy, Abubakar Shekau, was believed killed as well, but video clips have emerged in recent months in which he threatens to "avenge the killings of our brethren", adding to concerns that the militant group was re-grouping, though local police dismissed the clips as digital mockery and insisted that he is dead.

The sect leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was also killed. Police were accused of killing him after he had been captured alive, but officers said he was shot while trying to escape from custody.

"What happened was only the prelude, the actual show has not started yet," he said in one clip.

Authorities have set up night checkpoints and are searching vehicles in a bid to keep weapons from entering the city of Maiduguri, the centre of the uprising.

A dozen police vans escorted by a siren-blaring armoured car had been regularly rumbling through the city's streets, but the show of force was halted recently because it rattled residents, a police officer said.

"This is part of the security strategy because these troublemakers may want to use the cover of night to bring in arms," said a police sergeant at a checkpoint on Friday night, where about a dozen cars waited.

Last year's uprising began on July 26 and spread to four states, though it was centred in Maiduguri in the country's mainly Muslim north.

It ended four days later with more than 800 dead, most of them sect members. The military and police launched an assault on the sect's headquarters, leaving it in rubble.

While Monday marks the start of the insurrection, Friday may pose a larger risk since it is the date Yusuf was killed.

The scale of the uprising and military assault last year shocked the country, Africa's most populous nation where about half of the 150 million population is Muslim.

The sect, while known as the Nigerian Taliban, is also called Boko Haram, which means, "Western education is sin" in local dialect.

Its ranks had been filled by a range of recruits, including university dropouts, unemployed youths, and those seeking to turn Nigeria into an Islamic state.

"Everybody is apprehensive of what might happen in the next few days," Maiduguri resident Abdulqahhar Idrissa told AFP.

Rumours are all over the city that members of Boko Haram are going to strike during the anniversary and everyone is afraid because we know the agony we went through last year during the fighting."

One police officer at the site said recently that a suspected member of the sect had come to the mosque a couple of weeks earlier to pray for Yusuf.

Daily Independent

Video and transcript of Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf interrogated before his execution

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Nollywood slams N250,000 clearance fee on foreign Actors

The recent decision by the authorities of the Ghanaian movie industry to compel Nigerian actors who are plying their trade in Ghana to pay the huge sum of $1000 for every movie role or risk losing the job in that country may have incurred the wrath of their Nigerian counterparts who have risen to the occasion by returning fire-for-fire.

In a direct reaction to that ugly development, heads of Guilds of the Nigerian motion picture industry under the aegis of Coalition of Nollywood Guilds and Association(CONGA) last Tuesday rolled out stringent measures for foreign actors working in Nigeria.

The coalition said, the new guidelines are put in place to protect the Nigerian movie industry as well as regulate the activities of foreign practitioners in the country.

Speaking during the presentation of the guidelines to the movie journalists last Tuesday in Lagos, Mr. Bond Emeruwa, who represented the coalition explained that the new guidelines are not put in place to discourage foreign participation in the Nigerian motion picture industry, rather, the idea is based on the need to regulate the industry.

By these new guidelines, Emeruwa who is the president of the Directors Guild of Nigeria said, any foreign actors or producers wishing to work on a project in the country would be required not only to obtain clearance from the Interpol in his or her country of origin attesting to his or her status, but importantly, he or she must apply as a matter of fact for and obtain a written permission from the Nigerian film corporation.

Also, the coalition expects the prospective practitioner to apply for, and obtain a written approval from the coalition of Nollywood Guilds and Association through the appropriate guild or association that best represents the film practitioners' area of practice.

The coalition argued that given the conducive atmosphere which the industry provides for the foreign practitioners, there is imperative need for them to contribute financially to the growth of the same industry.

"Any foreign actor participating in any of Nollywood productions will be compelled to pay the sum of $2,500, while any producer or director working on a production in the country will pay the sum of $2,500 . Others include screen writer($2,500), production company($10,000), creative designer($2,000), production manager($1,500) and Assistant Director($1,500) amongst others." he listed.

On distribution, according to Emeruwa, "the coalition wants the National Film and Video Censors Board(NFVCB) to ensure that any foreign film seeking to be distributed in the country is censored in addition to having such film registered with the film and video producers as well as the marketing association of Nigeria with the following;

*A none refundable fee of $10,000

*A censorship certificate from the country of origin

*A copyright certificate from the country of origin and from the Nigerian Copyright Commission.

However, noting that the new guidelines were put in place as a further effort to protect and inculcate laudable ethics in the nation's film industry, the coalition remarked that any local film producer who parade one or more foreign artistes in his or her film will be treated as a foreign film at the point of distribution except, a situation where a proof of having satisfied the conditions as stipulated above is demonstrated.

According to the coalition chairman,"it is time to begin to protect the Nigerian film industry with a view to enable it grow bigger and better as well as increase its capacity to assist other emerging film industries all over the world. Having given a voice to the black race and sempowering the struggling film makers of Africa how to express themselves using the tube."

Speaking in the same vein, Paul Obazele, president, Association of Movie Producers (AMP), said the coalition is working in conjunction with the Interpol and security agencies in the country to ensure that the new guidelines are enforced without hindrance.

Meanwhile, reacting to this development, Director-General of the Nigerian Film Corporation, Mr Afolabi Adesanya, when contacted distanced his establishment from the new policy, saying "they are on their own."

However, while the new guidelines are a welcome development to the industry, observed have expressed reservation over a possible clash of interest coupled with disagreement with the regulatory bodies.

Vanguard