The magistrates protesting against the non payment of their 24-month salaries have countered the Cross River State Government over claim that they were employed fraudulently.

The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Tanko Ashang, was quoted in a statement on Sunday as saying the recruitment of the was fraudulent.

In reaction, one of the magistrates, Solomon Abuo, said he was in the meeting with the Attorney General among others, and at no time did he or any of his colleagues admit to their employment being fraudulent.

“Our employment was not illegal or fraudulent. The Judicial Service Commission advertised for the vacancy for the magistracy. We were screened, interviewed and those of us who were successful were sworn in by the Chief Judge of Cross River State who is also the Chairman of the State Judicial Service Commission.

“After our swearing in, we were sent for training by the Cross River State judiciary. It lasted for about three months and that included a one week induction course in Abuja.

“When we were not paid, we wrote series of letters to the government: we wrote to the office of the Secretary to the State Government. We wrote to the Judicial Service Commission and to the House of Assembly; they are all aware of it. For about three times, the state government has set up different screening exercises and we participated. If there was anything, there would have made it public since. Why now?”

He also said the distressed magistrates were living from hand to mouth and virtually begging to feed themselves and their family. Punch

22:00

  

The Senate Public Account Committee has sustained the damming verdict of the Auditor General for the Federation on the management of the N4.6bn fund meant to tackle the Ebola scourge in Nigeria by the Ministry of Health.

The Chairman of SPAC, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, said he gave the nod following the alleged refusal of the Ministry’s officials to honour the invitations of his panel despite series of invitations extended to them.

The AuGF had in his 2015 audit report, recommended that the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry should produce necessary documents, detailing the expenditure of the money.

Urhoghide, whose panel is scrutinising the 2015 AuGF report, alleged that the attitudes of the ministry officials had lent credence to recommendations of the Auditor General for the Federation.

The AuGF query reads, “Following the sudden outbreak of the Ebola disease in Nigeria and the determination of the Federal Government to contain and control the spread of the disease, a total sum of N4,887,079,750.00 was released to control the Ebola disease.

“The sum of N1,992,548,500.00 was released on 11th August 2014 while the balance of N2,894,531,250.00 was released on 4th November 2014.

“The funds were said to be kept in a commercial bank Account Number 0122391169.

“Information extracted from the Cash book and copies of Bank mandates made available to my officers showed that amounts totalling N954,680,339.86 were spent between 20th August and 21st December 2014.

“Regrettably, these figures could not be authenticated or verified owing to the refusal of the Federal Ministry of Health to release the Wema Bank statement of account, the bank reconciliation statements, relevant payment vouchers and other related documents for my examination.

“As such, I cannot confirm that the items were actually supplied, that they conformed with the contract quality specifications and that the elements of economy, efficiency and effectiveness were observed in awarding the contracts.

“Aside the contracts, there were other expenditures such as Duty Tour Allowances and Trainings, the details of which were equally not made available.

“Consequently, the Permanent Secretary was requested to kindly release all the documents and records relating to the Ebola Virus Disease Fund (Wema Bank) for my scrutiny.

“Similarly, the preliminary examination of the Cash Book and the Bank Statement relating to the First Bank Account No. 20238265786 maintained for the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control by the Federal Ministry of Health revealed that amounts totaling N1,193,235,150.77 were paid out to various individuals and corporate entities between January 2014 and June 2015.

“However, relevant transaction documents such as payment vouchers relating to these expenditures were not made available to my officers for audit.

“Therefore, I am unable to certify that these transactions were properly conducted in the interest of the Federal Government.

“The Permanent Secretary has been requested to produce all the payment vouchers and other documents relating to this account for the period January 2014 – December 2015 for my examination.” Punch

21:53

  

Over 60 workers on the Lagos-Ibadan railway project site have been infected with COVID-19 while trying to complete the project, the Federal Government said on Monday.

Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who disclosed this in Abuja, also stated that the inauguration of the rail project would be put on hold due to the upsurge of the COVID-19 pandemic across the country.

He said, “First let us admit that over 60 of our staff, not Ministry of Transportation staff, but the staff working on the rail project, have been infected by COVID-19.

The minister stated that although none of the infected persons had been lost, it was important to reschedule the proposed January 2021 inauguration date for the facility.

“Luckily nobody has died and I pray nobody will die, but you see the kind of sacrifice everybody is making to get the rail to function,” Ameachi said.

He added, “There are people sacrificing their lives to get to that point. We are of the view when we made that decision that Nigerians will not say 2020 was a bad year.

“As far as we are concerned, we need to learn how to live with COVID-19 and I really want to congratulate those who achieved that feat.”

The minister said the railway project would have been inaugurated in the first week of this month if not for the upsurge in the second COVID-19 wave.

He noted that the inauguration of the project would be dependent on how the pandemic was controlled in Nigeria, adding that government would not give room for further spread of the virus.

 

Amaechi said, “We were to inaugurate (the railway project) in the first week of January. We had to stop those doing minor completion work because of the rise in COVID-19 transmission.

“The timeline for inauguration will depend on COVID. If COVID stops today or reduces we will inaugurate the project.” Punch

21:45

  

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO is now the world’s wealthiest person.

The South African-born mogul overtakes Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.

On Thursday, CNBC estimated his wealth at $185 billion.

Bezos, 56, has a net worth of $184 billion.

Musk, 49, the major shareholder Tesla, benefited from Tesla’s surging share price.

Shares of the electric car company surged 5.9 percent to $800.43 in late morning trading, lifting the company’s market capitalization above $750 billion.

Musk is also the founder, CEO, CTO and chief designer of SpaceX; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink; and co-founder and initial co-chairman of OpenAI. Dailypost

01:00

  

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says there is consistent growth in capability of the power sector under the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, said this in a statement in Abuja on Thursday.

Mbah said on Wednesday, TCN successfully transmitted an all-time peak of 5,552.80 Megawatts (MW).

It was dispatched through the nation’s grid at a frequency of 50.08Hz.

The spokesperson noted that it surpassed the last peak generation of 5,520.40MW transmitted by October 30, 2020.

Acting Managing Director, Sule Abdulaziz, told industry players to work together to ensure sustained improvement of the power sector.

He assured that TCN will continue to build more substations and install additional transformers in substations nationwide.

“It is also restringing old transmission lines to further increase their capacity to transmit more bulk electricity for Discos nationwide”, Abdulaziz said.

The federal government’s target of 10,000MW by 2020 was not met.

Experts say with a population of 200 million, Nigeria requires at least 100,00MW of electricity. Dailypost

00:55