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We’ve zero tolerance for corruption – NIMC boss *How we cleared FEP debts
Those seeking to introduce corruption within the operations of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), whether as insiders or from outside will have their fingers burnt, as the body now has a zero tolerance for all manners of malfeasances and abuses within the system.
Engr Abisoye Coker-Odusote, Director General, Chief Executive Officer (DG-CEO), told participants at the end of a two-day roundtable with key media operators on the platform of Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), on Friday that the organisation was poised on carrying out the mandate given to it by President Bola Tinubu under its renewed hope agenda, which included ensuring full transparency.
It was also on a day the NIMC boss, who outlined a bouquet of achievements since assuming office at the helm of affairs in the commission, narrated how she was able to solve one of the major crises affecting the body – clearing the arrears of debts owed the Front-End Partners (FEPs) – the agents who carried out the registration of Nigerians for the National Identity Card (NIN).
She explained that the payment of the agents ran into murky waters because the previous managers of the scheme could not meet the transparency threshold of the foreign funding partners, who therefore refused to pay, adding that it took her own management a lot of efforts to eventually break the ice and offset the arrears of debt to the extent that not a single one of them had been left out in terms of full payment.
She said: “We expect that all our funding partners will adhere strictly to the rules that have been set out by the NIMC. This also applies to all our verification partners. We have reviewed all our verification methods and we have made sure that the Data Protection Act is reflected in all the documentations and to let every single partner of ours in the identity eco system to understand that once we have created an enabling environment for the private sector to participate in the eco system, we will not allow corruption to breathe in NIMC.
“We will tackle all the corruption and what we know is that we must protect the dignity of rights of every citizen in this country. We are going to stick by it and we are going to issue penalties and necessary fines. If anyone is caught, we will ensure that they are prosecuted in line with the Federal Government’s laws.”
Regarding the FEPs, she explained: “That money they were owed, wasn’t actually owed by the World Bank, even thought the World Bank had come up with a fund for the Front-End Partners. When they engaged them, those Front-End Partners were not engaged through the procedures with the procurement processes of the Bank, because the World Bank is very strict about their procurement processes.
“So, they engaged them and from the document I saw – you know I wasn’t there at the time, the outstanding payment of the first year, was made by the Ministry of Digital Economy at that time. Now the payment of the second year and third year was what I met on ground. So, what else transpired that that payment wasn’t made, I don’t know. That’s me saying it from a sincere perspective because I wasn’t there.
“But when I came on board, I wasn’t happy. It was unfair for someone to participate in a programme and don’t get paid their money. I looked at it and took up that challenge said I’m going to find a way to see how we can pay this money. We had back and forth conversations with the Bank, who had told them this wasn’t our process and we’re not going to pay. After having several meetings, over several months, they agreed to make payment.
“But before they could make payment, all of the FEPs had to be validated according to their own process which is only fair. If you recall, last year, we were doing the revalidation of the FEPs. In the process of revalidating all those FEPs, we also needed to audit because you pay somebody, you must check. We had to make sure that that audit process was done. After auditing that – the enrollees that they claimed they had enrolled were validated.
“Everything became fine after that. So, as I stand here talking to you, the payment for the FEPs has been done. All outstanding payments for the FEPs have been paid. It took a lot of dedication and a lot of back and forth sweat to be able to achieve that. It wasn’t an easy job. What has also now been done to be able to address and stop that kind of problem from reoccurring is the software that has been designed for the Front-End Partners.
“This software which has been incorporated will allow them to be paid in real time. So, as they are enrolling those people and are completing their enrolment, they are getting their clicks immediately. This is to let you know that we have done that. Another thing that we have done regarding the FEPs to agree with the Bank that on a quarterly basis, to review the cost of whatever they pay them according to the rate of inflation, which I think is also fair. We’ve done our part.”
Fuel marketers across Abuja on Wednesday continued to sell Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, at old prices more than 24 hours after Dangote Petroleum Refinery announced a reduction in its ex-depot price, Vanguard is reporting.
The paper reported that its investigation, showed that major retail outlets were yet to adjust their pump prices despite the N75 per litre reduction announced by the refinery on Monday.
At the retail stations visited in Abuja, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Retail and TotalEnergies dispensed petrol at N1,335 per litre, while AA Rano sold at N1,350 per litre. AYM Shafa and Conoil outlets sold the product at N1,330 per litre.
The development comes amid growing public expectations that the reduction in Dangote Refinery’s gantry price would quickly translate into lower pump prices nationwide.
Explaining the delay, the President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Dr. Billy Gillis-Harry, said retail prices are influenced by several factors beyond refinery gate prices.
Speaking to Channels TV, Gillis-Harry said: “Prices reflecting at the pump are dependent on availability of the product, the other is the cost. The cost of purchasing the product and cost in terms of logistics, and preparing the particular petroleum to be delivered to the people”.
According to him, downward price adjustments often take longer to reach consumers because marketers need to recover the cost of existing stock purchased at higher prices before restocking at lower rates.
When asked why increases in fuel prices are usually reflected immediately while reductions are delayed, Gillis-Harry said the dynamics of supply management play a significant role.
He explained: “It is mainly affected by whether the producer has additional resources or not at the time. Increases in prices are mainly caused by the need to restock. There must be that advantage pushing the price upward to be able to pay for new supplies.”
He further acknowledged that marketers generally seek to exhaust existing inventory before implementing lower prices.
“That’s the basic idea. But in petroleum, a mixture is involved, and loss is taken, though not in a way that affects the capital needed to restock,” he added.
Also speaking on the issue, energy analyst Olabode Sowunmi said fuel pricing in Nigeria is influenced by a combination of domestic supply arrangements and logistics costs, rather than crude oil prices alone.
He noted that although international crude oil prices remain an important factor globally, their impact on local petrol pricing is not always direct.
“Global price of crude oil is a factor internationally and not necessarily in Nigeria,” Sowunmi said.
Explaining that Dangote Refinery operates under arrangements that allow a portion of crude supply to be priced in naira, reducing the direct impact of international market fluctuations on local fuel prices, he said: “So basically the issue will have to be from the point of refinery to where it touches the final person. Logistics costs within the domestic supply chain remain a major determinant of the final pump price paid by consumers.”
Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has given assignment to Nigerians to put all those aspiring to take up political positions in the country through the grill to ascertain their level of integrity, saying it was required as a sine qua non for the job they seek.
Obi, who has been a subject of discussion in the polity since the allegation of corruption was levied against him by Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman of his campaign in 2023, over the conduct of the party’s primaries to choose candidates for the 2027 general elections, said the grilling must start with his own person.
A guest in an interview on a podcast with Rufai Oseni, a popular television anchor, the former Governor of Anambra State, stated that it was actually for this reason that he had now sworn to see the litigation he instituted against Okonkwo through.
His take is that the Nollywood actor should use the courtrooms to give all the details of bad behaviour, following his threat to expose him fully, after alleging that he was collecting money from aspirants in the said election for electoral favours.
Hear him: “The issue of taking Kenneth Okonkwo to court wouldn’t have arisen if he had stopped at those allegations. But he claimed he still has more he would expose about me in the future. So, I am very happy to take him to court so that he can expose me publicly, alongside other Nigerians. If any of them has any criminal allegations against me, they should bring them to court.
“Not just Kenneth, everybody should now say those things they know that is bad about me or I did that is wrong because it’s good for the system, it’s good for the society,” Obi said.
“So, if you know that when we were in primary school, this man was cheating or didn’t go to the primary school, didn’t go to secondary school, didn’t do, if you know this man has done something criminal somewhere, this is time to bring it up.”
For the umpteenth time, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned about the dangerous implication of using state institutions, particularly the judiciary to destroy Nigeria’s democracy, saying it is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), speaking on the heels of Tuesday’s verdict of the Court of Appeal, halting the de-registration order by the Federal High Court, insisted that judicial officers must not lend themselves to any act capable of undermining the nation’s democratic process.
The appellate court had ordered a stay of execution on the order made on Monday by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court Abuja, for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC alongside four other political parties).
A totally scandalised Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, had taken umbrage, sparing no hard words in upbraiding the lower court judge, stating that his likes were unfit to sit on the bench.
In a unanimous ruling by a three-man panel, the court held that Lifu’s action was “the highest form of judicial impertinence”, stressing that the Supreme Court previously held that a judge who acted in such a manner.
Describing his conduct as the height of judicial rascality, the upper court, stated: “Courts are enjoined to protect their integrity. This Court has supervisory authority over the trial court.
“The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is a brazen violation of the hierarchy of the court and the 1999 Constitution.
This court has the duty to invoke its powers in ensuring that its orders are obeyed. The application for a stay of execution is here yet granted. The enforcement of the judgment is stayed.”
Atiku, who hailed the position of the higher court, which restored his hope to be on the ballot as presidential candidate in the 2027 election, also noted the role of INEC as “significant.”
He said: “I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to stay the execution of the Federal High Court judgement seeking the deregistration of our great party, the ADC, and four other political parties. It is particularly significant that INEC itself initiated the application for the stay.
“The development reflects growing public concern over judicial contradictions and politically charged rulings within the judiciary. “Any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic. If our democracy suffers further injury, history will demand accountability from those entrusted with dispensing justice.
Outside ADC, Lifu’s order, also included: Action Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), similarly slammed for allegedly failing to meet the constitutional requirements for continued registration and participation in elections.
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