CBN calls for unity in fight against e-fraud

by Oyetunji Abioye

Central Bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said the fight against electronic fraud in the financial system and the economy in general can not be done alone

As a result, the central bank said stakeholders in the economy, especially banks and e-payment service providers among others must join in the fight to reduce to the barest minimum activities of electronic fraudsters in the country.

The CBN Director of Banking and Payments Systems, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, stated these at the Nigerian Electronic Fraud Forum organised by the central bank and commercial banks.

The director noted that Nigeria as a country had done a lot in terms of electronic payment, pointing out that there had been a noticeable increase in the number of transactions that went through electronic channels.

Fatokun said, “The fraudsters are always following the money wherever it is. They are also following it electronically. Fraudsters are always deploying new strategies and that is why this forum will continue to meet, collaborate, cooperate and discuss. That does not mean there will not be an end to it. The truth is it is reducing and will continue to reduce. For it to reduce further, we need to think ahead of the fraudsters”.

He said this was the reason the CBN and Bankers’ Committee had taken step to make NeFF inclusive and assertive.

Meanwhile, the CBN has launched ‘Out bound Money Transfer Services’ in partnership with the Western Union Money Transfer.

According to the central bank, the outbound service, which is first of its kind in the country, will provide Nigerians the opportunity of transferring funds up to $2,000 to their relatives and dependents abroad (person to person transfer).

PDP govt’ll reverse Fashola’s policies, says Dosunmu

by Eniola Akinkuotu

In this interview with ENIOLA AKINKUOTU, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate in 2011 Lagos State governorship election, Dr. Ade Dosunmu, speaks on the politics of the state and other issues

In 2011, you ran in the governorship race on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party but lost by a wide margin to Governor Babatunde Fashola of the All Progressives Congress. Presently, the APC controls all elective offices in the state? Now that you are running again, what do you think went wrong?

Between the last election and now, a lot has happened. Don’t forget that the APC had about one million plus votes just like the PDP had during the presidential election and that number is less than 30 per cent of the total number of registered voters in Lagos. So, it cannot be said to be the true reflection of the wishes of the people. Again, that time, we had an incumbent who was enjoying a lot of popularity and typical of any human being, they will tell you better the devil you know than the angel you don’t. So, that must be one of the reasons why the elections turned out that way and they also had a structure in place but that is not the issue. In Ekiti State they had all the members of the House of Representatives and Senate but Governor Kayode Fayemi still lost the election. What matters in a contest like this is the perception the people have. Once the people are ready for change, nobody can stop it and that is what we are witnessing in Lagos today. Just go out and do an opinion poll and you will observe a lot of disenchantment all over the place about the policies of the government; talk about students, civil servants, health workers, transport operators, ‘okada’ riders and all other segments. Even business communities are groaning over high tax regime and all these are what I believe can present itself as a major challenge to the APC because the people have seen that it is time to try something else and they are ready for that.

Again if you look at 2011, that was my first election ever and my result was over 300,000 votes which was what some people had in some other states and they are governors today. The same goes for Oyo and Edo states. Even the last election in Anambra, the governor, Willie Obiano, got only 180,000 votes. Although we can say the outcome of an election is subject to the number of registered voters but that means that, at least, over 300,000 believed in my candidacy despite the fact that it was my first showing. There are some people whose first showing was not up to 100,000. So, if my first showing was 300,000 when Lagosians were seeing me for the first time, know that my second showing will be far better.

Were you aware of the deal between the Presidency and the APC government in which it was agreed that the APC would support Jonathan while Jonathan would leave Lagos for the APC? This has been confirmed by former Minister of Works, Adeseye Ogunlewe.

I read it in Ogunlewe’s newspaper interview and in former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s open letter. Well, I don’t know but despite the supposed deal, I still had over 300,000 votes but we are believing that this time around, such won’t happen if it happened in 2011, more especially when our people have decided to take their destinies in their hands and we are the ones that know where the shoe pinches. No one outside Lagos can tell us this is the way when we are the ones here.

But do you think the PDP will be accepted in Lagos given the fact that it has never ruled the state before?

One of the issues in Lagos is the fact that contrary to general feelings and perception of our party by members of the public, I want to tell you that the Lagos PDP you used to know is different from the one of today. We are more united, focused and more determined and, as a party, we are also operating on the basis of teamwork. Lagosians have seen that and that has been demonstrated. If you cast your mind to the last local government elections we made an impact but unfortunately, you know what happened in most of the places. Even places where election had been announced by Returning Officers, the powers that be in the APC refused to allow our party to take its mandate. As a peace-loving party, we did not want to cause crisis or make the state ungovernable so, we used the constitutional means, the tribunals, set up by the APC government but at the end of the day, you see how the case went despite an overwhelming evidence and that shows a level of political intolerance because to a large extent, we were all living witnesses to the fact that the PDP had conceded defeats in states that we even control but lost. We have 57 councils in Lagos, if the PDP wins six and you refuse to give it that shows the level of political intolerance on their part.

The PDP both at the national and state has shown a high level of responsibility. We have conceded defeat and congratulated them. Even when INEC declared Fashola as winner, I congratulated him and our President has always been doing that even when they defeated our party, he would be the first to come out and say congratulations. So, why can’t they imbibe this same spirit of sportsmanship? So, these are some of the things Nigerians have been seeing and making their own deductions that the PDP seems to be more responsive and people-friendly and probably that is the reason why you are seeing a sudden change about the perception of PDP, particularly in Lagos. Everyday people are joining us in preparation for change because there is no imposition in the PDP

You spoke on influx and no possibility of imposition. However, there is a rumour that the Presidency is supporting Jimi Agbaje. Doesn’t this affect your chances?

One thing I know very clearly is that there is nothing like imposition in the PDP. Anybody is welcome in our party. We will receive the news of his defection with joy. Even today, if the Governor of Lagos decides to join the PDP, we will jubilate and say, yes, come in. In politics, the school of thought I belong to is the ‘more the merrier.’ Joining a political party is one thing, ambition is another thing; you must first join and then belong, contribute to the development and building of the platform that you want to use. If you come and you want to contest, you are free as long as you meet the requirement of the constitution. So, we have no problem with anybody coming in.

Oba Rilwan Akiolu has endorsed an APC aspirant, Akinwunmi Akinbode. Isn’t this going to affect you or whoever the PDP presents considering that politicians and governments need the cooperation of traditional rulers?

The Oba of Lagos is a father of all and as somebody, who also comes from that lineage, I believe that to a large extent, he was expressing his personal opinion, not the opinion of the people of Lagos. And he has a right to do so. I feel he was talking for the APC not the PDP. Maybe tomorrow, if the PDP also picks its candidate, he will come out and say, yes, before the candidate of the PDP came up, I anointed Ambode but now that PDP has its candidate, I am also supporting him. So, let us leave everything open, it’s the people of Lagos that will decide, not the Oba.

As a Ph.D. holder in Public Administration, how do you see the current administration in Lagos?

When I see things happening at the level of political authority, I get worried because a lot of people don’t have the orientation for the office they are holding. Some look at things from the point of view of a businessman and certain things in government should be looked at from the point of view of the government and that is why democracy is defined as government of the people, by the people and for the people. Why is it not government of the elite or government of the few? So, my driving point is that I intend to run a government that will focus on the people. I believe in policies, not politics because if you get policies right, you will run a government that will have an impact on the people and to a large extent I believe whatever government we run will address the basic reasons we have government: public education, public health, infrastructure, welfare and security.

We pay tax because we are empowering the government to be able to provide those basic responsibilities that are entrusted to it. Nobody is asking government to put food on his table but government should be able to build public schools and infrastructure, roads; it should be able to provide public health, that is why we have general hospitals, then welfare and security.

Government should provide good social housing scheme. It has been done before. Alhaji Lateef Jakande did it, he built over 14,000 flats within four years and he did not tell them to go and bring something. He sold each flat for N6, 000 and each beneficiary was paying N1, 500. That is social housing scheme. Government has no business in any other kind of housing apart from social housing. Today they build one house there for N40m. You don’t need to build a house for somebody who has N40m; he can go and build his house. Government housing should be for those who cannot ordinarily afford it. The Lagos State Development Property Corporation is still a corporation and a corporation is not supposed to make profit by definition. LSDPC which Jakande used to deliver N6,000 flat each is the same that is building N52m per flat today.

What of the many infrastructural developments of this present government?

See a situation where we have three tollgates in one local government. That is not good governance and I don’t know how anybody can justify that. There is one linking Ikoyi to Lekki, two along the Lekki-Epe Expressway. It will cost about N25, 000 every month to each motorist in Lagos. Government should be mindful of these things. We have the resources, we just need proper planning. Why do we need to go into 30 years concession agreement with a company? Was the bidding for the contract even transparent? The 48-kilometre Lekki-Epe road cost N50bn, over N1bn per kilometre and they are still going to collect tolls for over 30 years; that is bondage. So, many of these policies need to be reversed.

You mentioned policy reversal of the government. Will it include turning the transformed Oshodi back to what it was and allowing okada riders to return to the highway?

During his first term, Fashola did some things to endear himself to the people. We will change some of the bad policies and retain the good ones. The Oshodi thing is an excellent one.

On the issue of okada riders, it is not in Lagos alone that they were restricted. In Akwa Ibom, about three years ago, they were banned but what aggravated that of Lagos was the manner in which the government went about it. In Akwa Ibom, the governor told me when I visited the place that after banning okada, he told them to bring their bikes in exchange for N50,000 each. They came and personally submitted their bikes. Don’t forget that some of these okada riders took loans to procure these bikes. Some of them have made some payments while for some it’s the N50,000 they will use to start another business while those owing will offset their loans with it. It was done in Kano but over there, the governor bought a lot of tricycles and introduced a policy. In Lagos, they were seizing it and crushing it. We are all living witnesses. A man who bought a bike on loan that has it crushed is left with two pains. The pain of repaying the loan and what he will eat. That is where I disagree with that policy.

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FG to issue N70.6bn Treasury bills

by Oyetunji Abioye with agency report

The Central Bank of Nigeria will on Wednesday issue N70.64bn worth of Treasury bills with maturities of three and six months.

The CBN said it would issue N40.64bn of the three-month paper and N30bn of the six-month debt.

The result of the auction is expected on Thursday.

Yields on treasuries are expected to go up at the Wednesday auction while those of Kenyan debt could remain flat, Reuters reported.

Yields on Nigerian Treasury bills are expected to head higher at the auction in tandem with a rise in yields on the secondary market.

“We expect to see yields up at the auction because of tight liquidity which should reduce demand for the short-dated debt notes,” one dealer said.

Bond yields had climbed at last week’s auction on the back of lower demand among investors.

The CBN sold N100bn worth of bonds with maturities ranging between three and 20 years at the auction held last Wednesday.

However, the yields on Kenyan Treasury bills are expected to be stable at this week’s auction mainly due to a liquidity squeeze in the money markets and the central bank’s desire to maintain stability in rates.

The central bank will sell Treasury bills of all maturities for a total of 12 billion shillings ($135m) and it will also seek to raise another 15 billion shillings through a joint sale of a five-year and 30-year Treasury bonds.

“I expect the Treasury bills to remain fairly flat next week as liquidity largely remains unchanged and the central bank endeavours to maintain rates stability,” a fixed income trader at Kestrel Capital, Mr. Alex Muiruri, said.

Overnight borrowing rates have remained elevated in the last three weeks due to delays in the government releasing funds for expenditure by departments and local authorities.

“Banks are not going for the (debt) auctions since they don’t have the cash,” a fixed-income trader at Commercial Bank of Africa, Mr. John Njenga, said.

Njenga said the yield on the five-year bond was likely to come in at 11.2 per cent, barely moved from 11.3 per cent when the central bank last sold the same bond.

  

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Coalition against APC in Lagos’ll fail –Pitan

by Allwell Okpi

In this interview with Allwell Okpi, a former Commissioner for Health in Lagos State, Dr. Leke Pitan, who is eyeing the Lagos All Progressives Congress governorship ticket, comments on Lagos politics, doctors’ strike, among other issues

Recently, the Peoples Democratic Party said it would form a coalition with other parties to wrest power from the All Progressives Congress in Lagos State in the forthcoming February 28, 2015 governorship election. What’s your opinion on this?

Anything is possible. Politics is a game and I can’t tell you that they can’t. They can, but we are not going to fold our arms. In the APC, we are not going to fold our arms. I am that type of a politician who will not underrate or denigrate the opposition. My belief is that in politics we are free, within the law, to use whatever strategies that we want and two, to also deploy whatever strategies we have. If they are talking of coalition it means they have admitted that they can’t do it alone and that is kudos to us. That is a plus, even if psychological.

What it means, therefore, is that we have to ensure that our own household is united and we must also keep reaching out to quickly snatch the potential members that they may want to use for coalition before they get there. We will make ourselves more attractive to those people and we will keep beckoning to those people among them who are like minds with us to come over and join us. We, as a party, must not be complacent and so, the PDP is free to deploy whatever strategies.

We must be ready to counter such strategies all within lawful means. For instance, they are talking about men in black uniform and I have been advising my party in government that they are simply using it as bait for the youths.

They will say, come and line up, we promise you job, to join the task force. So, there is some hope and everybody will just come to line up and since they are hoping to get something out of there. They will necessarily like them to be on their side. We are on the ground here and we will create our own ‘O Yes.’ If they do SURE-P, we will do SURER-P. The devil finds works for idle hands. So, let’s reduce the number of idle hands. It is all part of coalition. It is like pouring rice on the ground and everybody is picking. That is the way I see it. If they can, we too can. That’s my take on that. If anybody says coalition, we are going to do more of a coalition. If we are 70 per cent and you are 30 per cent, before your 30 per cent can become 70 per cent there will be so much to do.

Do you have the financial muscles to slug it out at the poll?

I rely on well-meaning Nigerians, both from what I may consider to be rich to ordinary folk like me and you to also contribute in their various ways. To some, they find it easy to put down cash. To some, they find it easy to put in efforts, which could be more valuable than cash. I can go on and on telling you various possibilities; different things that could happen. It is that collective effort that we must bring to bear this time around and let it tell on the system so that, we can now say, we are part of it. We can now know what to expect.

Are you not intimidated by the practice of ‘godfatherism’ and imposition in your party?

 I don’t feel intimidated by any ‘godfatherism’ for now. I feel and I expect that, there will be a level-playing field. And so far, nobody has been stopped from reaching out to the people. But thank God now, we have got to a stage in the democratic experience or practice that even the issue of party labels are now becoming less important. Rather, it is now the person or candidate that matters.

I can give you so many examples. When Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State left the Alliance for Democracy for the PDP and then the PDP for the Labour Party, the LP was a non-starter there. There was the old AD, the old PDP, the so-called giant party, and without understanding the situation of things, we may be thinking that a party would not be accepted by the people but the masses may be saying otherwise. It is still part of developing democracy.

So, every party ought to be very careful and sit down and properly ensure the emergence of a very appropriate and sellable candidate that it would presents to the public. A party that does any ‘wuru-wuru’ (foul play) internally and arrives at a set answer will have only one day joy, that is the day of the primary, but three months later down the line, there will be problems. And the problem will be a problem that they will live with almost from the first week after the primary; like how do we sell this man?

If you are not careful, before the election day you may have lost, and you will have to bear the loss for the next four years. Why bother to work for one day joy of primary when you know you are going to suffer for four years plus? There is no need and I won’t advise any party to think that way. They must think of what is presentable to the public. The question should be: can he or she sincerely and truly win elections? And so, they must be transparent and expand the contribution of party members in as much as possible.

As a former Health Commissioner, how do you see to the incessant doctors’ strike?

Well, I want to say that, even when I was a medical student I would not want to say that strike was something strange either in the medical profession or other professions, after all, there were strikes led by Pa Imoudu and so on and so forth. Also, we had the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers strike led by Chief Frank Kokori, strikes are not new. I can’t tell you that, as a medical student then, strike never crossed my mind. They have been going on strikes before I entered medical school. They had gone before I became a medical doctor and also when I became a medical doctor. It is not a strange thing.

Be that as it may, it is something unfortunate, something I believe nobody wants as far as I know and neither the doctors nor other health workers want strikes. I can tell you that I know that workers don’t like going on strikes. I have come to understand that going on strikes is usually because government does not move to attend to issues deftly, tactically and promptly that usually leads to it.

When I was in office, I was able to bump into union meetings. I would say that I had superintended or supervised two of the largest sectors of public service, I was commissioner for education and commissioner for health at different times in the administration of our great leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

You should know they are the largest and between the two sectors they carry between 60 and 70 per cent of the entire public service in any government. Throughout, I was able to manage, because anytime I got a hint of what they were doing, I would sit with them, talk to them and we would find a way out.

And together, we would reach a compromise because they had learnt to believe in me as they realised that I meant well for them. Whatever advice I gave, they followed it because they knew I meant well. They didn’t usually see me as belonging to the other side. Usually, they would hold meetings in the night and I would go to them. I could remember when I was in the health ministry. I would meet them at Ayinke House. Even, if there was a threat, we would nip it in the bud.

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NCRIB advises NLC on new pension Act

by Agency Reporter

The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers has urged the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress to work with related stakeholders to take advantage of the Pension Reform Act 2014 for the benefit of its members.

A statement on Friday quoted the President, NCRIB, Mr. Ayodapo Shoderu, of saying this during an interactive session between the NLC and insurance operators in Enugu recently.

Shoderu said the welfare of workers should continually occupy premium position in the reckoning of governments in its economic development strides.

He stressed that the quality of labour was a major index in determining the advancement of countries of the world.

The NCRIB president opined that ‘countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and lately, China, attained their enviable state as developed nations because of due consideration their governments accorded labour

He stated that the PRA 2014 mandated employers to take Group Life Assurance for their workers, noting that the step would increase the regime of benefits that could accrue to workers in retirement.

“Aside from the increased pension contributions on the part of the employers, the reform provides that an employer’s contribution under the group life should not be less than 20 per cent of the employees’ monthly emolument,” he stated.

Ogun police arrest three students for cultism

by Samuel Awoyinfa

The men of the Ogun State Police Command attached to the anti-crime patrol team in the Agbara Police Division on Friday arrested three students of ICT Polytechnic, Igbesa, in the Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area.

The police said the suspects threatened to kill another student if he failed to become a member of Vikings Confraternity.

According to the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, the suspects ─ Kenneth Mokwunye, Adigun David and Okwuma Obiora ─ have been threatening to kill another student for failing to join their cult group.

He said, “Based on this threat, the student eventually raised the alarm and the police probed into the allegation before the arrest of the suspects.”

Adejobi said the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye, commended the victimised student for exposing the threats of the suspected cultists.

In another development, police detectives attached to Ota and Ogijo divisions of the command arrested some suspected armed robbers with arms at different locations in the state.

The detectives who were on routine night patrol along the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway accosted some men at a filling station.

Adejobi said during interrogation, the young men opened fire on the police vehicle and fled.

He said, “They were pursued by the policemen and two of them were arrested while one escaped.

“The suspects arrested are Yusuf Ahmed and Sunday Oluleye. Some locally-made pistols were recovered from them. Other items recovered from them include four expended and 20 live cartridges and assorted charms.

“While the anti -robbery team attached to Ogijo Police

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Hunt on for seized Afghan aid workers

by Aljazeera

Afghan police have continued to search for five local Red Cross employees kidnapped by gunmen in the western province of Herat, in the latest case of aid workers being targeted.
The International Committee of the Red Cross team were taken hostage as they travelled by road to deliver aid in Herat, which has seen worsening violence in recent months.
“The five Red Cross staff were kidnapped on Thursday,” Najib Danish, deputy spokesman at the interior ministry, told AFP news agency on Sunday.
“The police have launched a search and rescue operation to find them. Elders in the area are also helping to track them down.”
Marek Resich, the ICRC spokesman in Kabul, said that the five staff had been taken by a local armed group.
“The ICRC is currently in contact at various levels to secure the safe release of its team,” he said.
There was no claim of responsibility from the Taliban or other rebel groups.
The kidnapping comes after other targeting of aid workers, notably when two Finnish humanitarian workers travelling in a taxi in Herat city were shot dead by armed men last month.
Growing violence
Violence against Westerners has been growing in Afghanistan as foreign troops wind down combat operations after a 13-year war against the Taliban, with the majority of NATO’s 44,000 troops due to leave by the end of the year.
Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for aid workers, along with South Sudan, Syria and Somalia.
Of the 248 attacks against humanitarian workers worldwide in 2013, 81 were in Afghanistan, according to specialist website Aid Worker Security.
More than 30 aid workers were killed in Afghanistan last year, including six Afghan employees of the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (Acted), who were shot while working on a rural development project in the northern province of Faryab.
Five Afghans working for the International Rescue Committee were also killed by armed gunmen in Herat last year.
In 2010 the Taliban claimed responsibility for killing of 10 employees of the International Assistance Mission group – six Americans, a German, a Briton and two Afghans – in the east of the country, claiming they were “Christian missionaries”.

Indonesia rescues passengers of sunken boat

by Aljazeera

Rescuers in Indonesia have plucked to safety 13 more people including eight foreigners, two days after their tourist boat sank as it travelled between islands in the east of the archipelago, a search and rescue official has said.
“They were all found together, some in a lifeboat and some floating with their life jackets on around 60 miles (100 kilometres) off Sape,” on the east of Sumbawa island, said search and rescue official Budiawan, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
He could not immediately give details of their nationalities. A total of 18 foreigners and five Indonesians have now been rescued following the weekend sinking, and two foreigners remain missing.
The tourist vessel went down on Saturday after being caught up in a storm en route from Lombok island to Komodo island.
Bertrand Homassel, a French survivor, said the boat started sinking slowly after its hull was damaged in a storm on Friday night, and he and several others had to swim a long distance to a volcanic island to save themselves.
“Six people were in the lifeboat. The others climbed onto the roof of the boat, which had not completely sunk”, he said, speaking from a hotel in Bima on Sumbawa island, where the survivors were taken after being rescued.
“We waited until midday on Saturday. We were five kilometres from the coast — there were many big waves separating us from the coast.
“People started to panic… Everyone took the decision to swim to the closest island where there was an erupting volcano.”
He said that they swam for six hours and arrived on the island, Sangeang, as the sun was setting. They spent Saturday night there, surviving by drinking their own urine and eating leaves.
On Sunday, they attracted the attention of a passing boat by waving their life jackets, and were rescued and taken to Bima, he said.
“I was really very lucky,” Homassel added.
Indonesia relies heavily on boats to connect its more than 17,000 islands, but has a poor maritime safety record.
Two vessels sank last month in different parts of the archipelago as millions travelled for the Muslim Eid holiday, leaving at least 36 people dead.

Teenage boy killing: Protesters defy curfew

by Agency Reporter

Police in Ferguson, Missouri, said they fired smoke and tear gas early Sunday to disperse protesters, angry at the shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer, after they defied a midnight curfew announced the day before, France24 reports.

“You must disperse immediately,” a law enforcement official warned over a loudspeaker as police slowly moved down the street where dozens of demonstrators remained after the curfew took effect. Officers were equipped with gas masks and full-length shields, standing among armored vehicles.

A short time later, officers began firing canisters toward the crowd. Highway Patrol Spokesman, Lt. John Hotz, initially said police only used smoke, but later told The Associated Press that they also fired tear gas canisters. He said of police efforts: “Obviously, we’re trying to give them every opportunity to comply with the curfew.”

On Saturday Missouri Governor, Jay Nixon, declared a state of emergency and announced a curfew to go into effect between midnight and 5am local time (0500 to 1000 GMT).

It followed a week of racially charged protests and looting over the August 9 fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, 28, in the suburban St Louis community.

In announcing the curfew, Nixon said that though many protesters were making themselves heard peacefully, the state would not allow looters to endanger the community.

“We must first have and maintain peace. This is a test. The eyes of the world are watching,” Nixon said. “We cannot allow the ill will of the few to undermine the good will of the many.”

Though hundreds of other protesters left peacefully before the curfew, about 150 people remained in the streets, police said.

Some protesters still in the street, under a downpour of rain, were chanting, “No justice, no curfew, no peace”, while others implored the crowd not to move forward towards police.

Witnesses at the scene said they heard gunshots during the confrontation between police and demonstrators after the curfew began, but it could not immediately be confirmed whether any shots were fired.

CNN showed video of some protesters being loaded into vehicles, but a Highway Patrol spokesman said he could not confirm any arrests.

Earlier on Saturday evening the mood among the protesters on a main road in Ferguson was tense and defiant.

US Ferguson: National Guard to quell unrest

by bbc

The US state of Missouri is sending the National Guard to the town of Ferguson as protests escalate over the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager.
Governor Jay Nixon signed an order to “help restore peace and order and to protect the citizens of Ferguson”.
The decision was made as police clashed with angry crowds shortly before a second night under curfew began.
Police in Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis, said they came under attack and had “no alternative” but to respond.
In a news briefing, Police Captain Ron Johnson said protesters had thrown Molotov cocktails and bottles at security forces, and set up barricades.
“For those who would claim that the curfew was what led to [the] violence, I will remind you this incident began three and a half hours before the curfew was to have started,” he told journalists in Ferguson on Monday.
The killing of Michael Brown by a white policeman in a street on 9 August has inflamed racial tensions in the largely black suburb.
A preliminary private autopsy report found that Mr Brown was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, the New York Times reports.
US Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered a federal post-mortem on the body of the 18-year-old, to take place “as soon as possible”.

Earthquake hits Iran near border with Iraq

by cnn

A powerful earthquake struck early Monday in western Iran, rattling the region near the border with Iraq, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The 6.2-magnitude quake hit at a depth of around 10 kilometers (6 miles), in an area 36 kilometers southeast of the Iranian city of Abdanan, the USGS reported.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the rural but populated area, which is roughly 40 kilometers from the Iraqi border and near Iranian oil exploration and production facilities.
Two weaker quakes, of magnitudes 4.8 and 5.0, had hit the same region Sunday, the USGS said.
Iran’s official news agency IRNA said there hadn’t been any casualties or major damage reported from the area on Sunday.

I didn’t mention name of dischared doctor – Health Minister

by nan

The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu on Sunday in Abuja said he never mentioned Dr. Adadevor as the female doctor who was treated and discharged of Ebola virus as reported by some sections of the media.
The minister’s reaction is contained in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Mr. Dan Nwomeh.
“It has been brought to the attention of the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, that the first Nigerian to be diagnosed of Ebola Virus Disease, a female doctor who treated the index case and who was discharged to go home yesterday, is being reported in some of the media to be one Dr. Adadevor.
“The minister wishes to clarify that the name of the patient is not Dr. Adadevor, this should be noted,’’ the statement stated.

Court upholds 50 lashes sentence for Saudi woman

by Agency Reporter

A Saudi Arabian judge has upheld a sentence of a month in prison and 50 lashes for a businesswoman convicted of insulting members of the morality police during an argument, the local al-Medina newspaper reported on Sunday.

Incidents of heavy-handed behavior by the morality police have come under growing criticism on social media from inside the kingdom in recent years, straining relations between Saudi citizens and the official body.

The appeals court in Mecca upheld the sentence, passed by a district court in Jeddah, after the woman was found guilty of “cursing the morality police” and calling them “liars”, the Arabic-language daily reported.

It said the patrol had entered her cafe to check there were no breaches of morality or other laws in the conservative Muslim kingdom, and that some of her employees had then run away because they were breaking immigration rules.

The morality police, formally called the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, was set up in 1926 to monitor public behavior in Saudi Arabia, which follows the strict Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam.

It patrols streets and other public spaces such as shopping malls enforcing strict dress codes and 30-minute store closures during Islam’s noon, afternoon, sunset and evening prayers.

In 2012 King Abdullah sacked the head of the religious police after a series of controversies including footage of members harassing families in a shopping mall going viral online and fatal crashes after patrols engaged in car chases with suspects.

The new head, Sheikh Abdulatif Al al-Sheikh, has publicly pushed a more conciliatory approach, talking about training sessions for the morality police to ensure they are politer and do not exceed their legal powers.

Israeli troops target Palestinian suspects

by Aljazeera

Israeli troops have raided and demolished the homes of three Palestinians suspected to have been involved in the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenage settlers, triggering clashes with locals in Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
The family house of Hussam Qawasmi, who was arrested in July, accused of planning the murders, was blown up early on Monday.
Hours earlier, Israeli forces raided the neighbourhood where the house of another suspect, Amer Abu Eish, is located.
His mother told Al Jazeera that three out of five apartments in the building, were completely demolished.
The house of the third suspect, Marwan Qawasme, which was partially demolished in July, was filled with concrete.
Abu Eish and Qawasme remain at large,
The three Israeli settlers, Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel, were found dead in June near Hebron following their abduction.
Human rights organisations warned that the demolitions marked a return to Israeli use of home demolitions as a punitive measure. The tactic had earlier been deemed counterproductive by an Israeli commission and has not been executed since 2005.

Confusion as Ebola patients vanish in Liberia

by bbc

There are conflicting reports over the fate of 17 Ebola patients who vanished after a quarantine centre in the Liberian capital Monrovia was looted.
An angry mob attacked the centre in the city’s densely populated West Point township on Saturday evening.
A senior health official said all of the patients were being moved to another medical facility.
But a reporter told the BBC that 17 had escaped while 10 others were taken away by their families.
More than 400 people are known to have died from the virus in Liberia, out of a total of 1,145 deaths recorded by the World Health Organization.
Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah said protesters had been unhappy that patients were being brought in from other parts of the capital.
Other reports suggested the protesters had believed Ebola was a hoax and wanted to force the quarantine centre to close.
The attack at the Monrovia centre is seen as a major setback in the struggle to halt the outbreak, says the BBC’s Will Ross, reporting from Lagos.
Health experts say that the key to ending the Ebola outbreak is to stop it spreading in Liberia, where ignorance about the virus is high and many people are reluctant to cooperate with medical staff.
‘All gone’
Mr Nyenswah said after the attack that 29 patients at the centre were being relocated and readmitted to an Ebola treatment centre located in the facility of the country’s John F Kennedy Memorial Medical Center.
However, Jina Moore, a journalist for Buzzfeed who is in Monrovia, told the BBC that 10 people had been freed by their relatives on Friday night and 17 had escaped during the looting the next day.
Rebecca Wesseh, who witnessed the attack, told the AFP news agency: “They broke down the door and looted the place. The patients have all gone.”
The attackers, mostly young men armed with clubs, shouted insults about President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and yelled “there’s no Ebola”, she said, adding that nurses had also fled the centre.
The head of the Health Workers Association of Liberia, George Williams, said the unit had housed 29 patients who “had all tested positive for Ebola” and were receiving preliminary treatment.
Confirming that 17 had escaped, he said that only three had been taken by their relatives, the other nine having died four days earlier.
Fallah Boima’s son was admitted to the ward four days ago, and seemed to be doing well, but when the distraught father arrived for his daily visit on Sunday his son was nowhere to be seen, AFP adds.
“I don’t know where he is and I am very confused,” he said. “He has not called me since he left the camp. Now that the nurses have all left, how will I know where my son is?”
‘Stupidest thing’
Ebola is spread by contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids, such as sweat and blood, and no cure or vaccine is currently available.
Blood-stained mattresses, bedding and medical equipment were taken from the centre, a senior police officer told BBC News, on condition of anonymity.

Obama justifies strike on Iraq dam

by bbc

US air strikes in support of Iraqi forces’ efforts to retake the country’s largest dam are aimed at protecting US interests there, President Obama says.
The failure of Mosul dam may put US staff and facilities, including the US embassy in Baghdad, at risk, Barack Obama warned Congress in a letter.
It comes after the US sent bombers for the first time to help Kurdish forces expel Islamic State (IS) militants.
Kurdish officials now say they have near complete control of the dam.
If the recapture is confirmed, it will be the biggest reverse for IS since they launched their offensive in Iraq in June.
The strategically important facility, seized by IS militants on 7 August, supplies water and electricity to northern Iraq

Ebola: UK varsities on alert for Nigerian students, others

by Emma Anya and Sunday Aborisade

Health inspectors at work
| credits: www.globapost.com

Thousands of Nigerians admitted into United Kingdom universities appear sure to face tough health screening as their campuses have been placed on the alert for the danger posed   by the Ebola Virus Disease.

According to The Independent on Sunday, the   alert by Universities UK, the umbrella body that represents vice-chancellors, was issued because the universities are expecting   new students to arrive from West Africa.

While the three countries which have seen the largest number of Ebola cases – Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone – have hardly any students enrolling at UK universities, Nigeria – which has also had confirmed cases – is the fourth largest supplier of international students to UK universities.

In 2012-13, the latest year for which figures are available, a total of 9,630 were enrolled.

A spokesman for the body said, “The issue is very much on universities’ radars. We circulated to universities the publicly available guidance on the topic.”

The guidance makes it clear that any student suspected of having Ebola should immediately be isolated in a side room away from any member of staff or student contact.

“The side room should have dedicated en-suite facilities or at least a dedicated commode,” it says. “The level of staff protection is dependent on the patient’s condition,” the London-based newspaper newspaper said.

It added that “those having any dealings with the patient must take careful hand hygiene precautions, wearing double gloves and a disposable visor.

The guidance told university workers that, “evidence from outbreaks strongly indicates that the main routes of transmission of infection are direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membrane) and indirect contact with environments contaminated with splashes or droplets of blood or body fluids.”

It said that experts “agree that there is no circumstantial or epidemiological evidence of an aerosol transmission risk from patients.”

29 Ebola patients flee as gunmen invade isolation ward

Fears has however heightened that the EVD might spread further in the region after 29 patients fled when armed men attacked their isolation ward in Monrovia, Liberia on Friday.

The incident happened   as a Nigerian was tested for the virus   in Alicante, home to 82,000 Britons in Spain.

A witness was quoted by The Mailonline as saying that the Liberian gunmen   smashed down the doors of the ward and looted medical supplies.

“They broke down the doors and looted the place. The patients all fled,” said Rebecca Wesseh, who witnessed the attack.

The Head of Health Workers Association of Liberian, George Williams, confirmed the incident.

Armed men attacked an Ebola isolation ward in Liberia’s capital city of Monrovia, as seen from the roof of an abandoned hotel on Friday. A total of 29 patients fled the ward in terror.

Nigerian tested in Spain, kept in isolation

The Mailonline also reported that   the Nigerian was   tested   after going to San Juan Hospital in Alicante with the tell-tale signs of the EVD.

Officials of the hospital said the unnamed Nigerian, who is in his 30s, was being kept in isolation until the results of the tests were known.

The officials were said to have activated the Ebola protocol after he complained of the flu-like symptoms associated with the onset of the virus.

Paramedics wearing protective suits and masks transferred him from Alicante General Hospital to nearby San Juan.

His condition on Sunday was described as “stable.”

FG to meet hospital owners , orders arrest of   fake hand sanitiser sellers

Meanwhile, the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said he will meet with leaders of the Association of General Practitioners of Nigeria and the Guild of Medical Directors of Nigeria over reports that some private hospitals were refusing to treat patients suffering from malaria and fever.

There were media reports (The PUNCH not included) last week that such private hospitals were doing so because of fear of contracting the Ebola Virus Disease.

Chukwu,   in an interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja, however attributed the action by such hospitals to inadequate information on the nature and mode of spread of the EVD , which claimed its first victim in Nigeria, Patrick Sawyer, in a private hospital in Lagos.

The hospital   lost its matron and a nurse who were among health workers that handled Sawyer’s case to the disease.

Another nurse, who was also involved in the treatment of the Liberian-American is currently being quarantined at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Yaba, Lagos after she tested positive to the virus.

The doctor that attended to Sawyer on his arrival at   the private health facility, also contracted the virus but she survived after 22 days in the IDH.

Chukwu said, “I am meeting with the leadership of the Association of General Practitioners of Nigeria and the Guild of Medical Directors of Nigeria, this week. The two bodies control private practitioners.

“Part of the reason we want to meet with them is due to reports that the private hospitals were turning back patients suffering from fever and malaria for fear of contracting EVD through them.”

He said with proper education, the country would be able to contain the spread of the disease.

The minister, therefore, urged the media to   confirm from him, any rumoured case of Ebola anywhere in the country before publishing.

Chukwu said, “The media should help the ministry to reduce panic in the society over the issue of Ebola, what we need is continuous education of our people. For instance, we have clinical case definition, that is crosschecking cases through laboratory testing.

“That was why, when we went to Abia State, we used the laboratory test to convince everybody that the woman suspected to have Ebola did not have it.

“But because a section of the media did not confirm the true status of the woman from me or from the National Centre for Disease Control, they escalated panic in   Abia   by publishing that an Ebola case had been reported in the state. That is the only reason why the woman’s blood was taken for testing.”

On fake hand sanitisers and gloves allegedly being sold to   the public, he said the ministry   had directed the National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control to begin investigation and bring all the culprits to book.

The minister said, “NAFDAC will continue to monitor but we strongly believe that the fake versions of hand sanitisers are being produced and sold   by some people .

“NAFDAC will continue to do its job and we hope that very soon, those perpetrating the crime will be arrested and prosecuted.”

Chukwu also denied mentioning the name of the female doctor who treated the late Liberian – American. The doctor was discharged from the isolation ward on Saturday.

Chukwu, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Mr. Dan Nwomeh, on Sunday, said he did not refer to the doctor as Dr. Adedevor , as quoted in the media.

The statement read in part, “It has been brought to the attention of the   minister     that the first Nigerian to be diagnosed of EVD,   is being reported in some section of the media to be one Dr. Adadevor.

“The minister wishes to clarify that the name of the patient is not Dr. Adadevo.   This should be noted. The minister’s statement on Saturday while indicating that it was a female doctor did not indicate the name of the patient.”

Sahara Reporters later quoted Chukwu as having said in a statement that five EVD     patients being treated at the IDH had almost fully recovered.

He was said to have also confirmed that Nano Silver, an experimental drug,   had failed to meet the required standards and therefore would not be used on Ebola patients.

@punchng.com

Rogue bankers steal customers’ funds online

by Ozioma Ubabukoh

The simplification of banking services by technology has brought with it some hazards, including online frauds, OZIOMA UBABUKOH writes on the increasing rate of tampering with customers’ funds by bank employees

Cases of internal online fraud committed by bank employees have been on the rise lately, The PUNCH has learnt.

Our correspondent gathered that porous data system, coupled with dwindling remuneration in some of the banks, might have been encouraging bankers to tamper with customers’ funds.

Analysts are of the view that the quest to live fantasy lifestyles might have led some of the bankers to engage in such an illicit act.

An employee of a new generation bank said many of his former colleagues were sacked within the last two years due to discreet online manipulation of customers’ funds.

“Some had to resign when the lid on their deals was blown off,” the source, who pleaded not to be named, said.

“The most common cases are those that have to do with bankers tampering with the accounts of deceased customers and transferring the funds into their personal accounts within the same bank, or some other banks,” the source added.

The Central Bank of Nigeria had last month said there was a need to collaborate with various industry stakeholders to ensure that banks and other players in the financial services sector had maximum information security.

The CBN, through its Chief Information Security Officer, Taiwo Longe, had said that information security involved the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data, regardless of the form the data might take; whether electronic or print.

He said, “Financial institutions, hospitals, telecommunications corporations and private businesses, amass a great deal of confidential information about their customers, employees, products, research findings and financial status, among others.

“As such, there is a need for maximum security of this information that is collected, processed and stored on computers and transmitted across computer networks.

“When the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data is impacted, security is said to have been breached. There are various threats to information security. Some are very dangerous and disruptive; others are just a nuisance.”

Responding to the issue of online banking fraud, the Bankers’ Committee, through the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, said, “Online frauds in the banks are connected to biometrics. All frauds will end up in some accounts; so, if you have details of the person that post that account, that is the biometric details, no two individuals can have the same details, it will be easy to basically track or determine the culprit within the overall system.

“Remember that the industry is going to be sharing this platform. Therefore, once you know where that person is across the entire industry, we will all know that the person is a fraudster and he cannot change his name. The day you register, that is your name forever. If you come back with a thumbprint, and you try to change your name, the system will determine what you are about to do.”

“The second level is that the Bankers’ Committee is also looking at ways to determine what the appropriate levels of online transfers can be. The whole idea is to mitigate the issue of people transferring money and huge fraud. By reducing the amount, for instance, the incidence and the value of what that fraud can possibly be can be reduced.”

An industry analyst, Eseoghene Idolor, told our correspondent that poor internal control and checks by the banks usually created loopholes for their employees to commit fraud.

“Therefore, to reduce or eliminate fraud, there is a need to always have effective audit, security and surveillance systems during and after bank official operating hours,” he said.

The immediate past Chairman, Committee of e-Banking Heads, Mr. Chuks Iku, however, differed, saying, “It is very difficult to tamper with the accounts of customers in a bank because of the internal processes.”

According to him, closing an account or tampering with someone else’s money is not that easy, adding, “I do not agree that customers’ funds can be tampered with.

“If someone wants to commit fraud in the bank, it is difficult to stop, but such fraud will definitely be found out,” he added.

The Head, Brand and Media, eTranzact, Mr. Adeyemi Opene, encouraged customers to embrace mobile banking, “as there is minimal fraud in the process and it will help to avoid the bankers’ undue access to customers’ funds.”

“We didn’t pioneer online transactions, but we have really worked so hard to ensure that mobile transactions are seamless and secure,” he added.

Opene argued that for every transaction through mobile banking, there was a two-level authentication that made it very difficult for fraud to be perpetuated.

“We pioneered the Electronic Security Authentication; so, there is no way fraud can occur through the mobile money process, except when one reveals one’s card details,” he added.

@punchng.com

Ribadu defends defection to PDP

by Ade Adesomoju

Nuhu Ribadu
| credits: thewillnigeria.com

A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Sunday justified his defection from the opposion All Progressives Congress to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, saying the APC was not better than the PDP.

Ribadu, who was the 2011 presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, forerunner of the APC, said there was no difference between the PDP and APC, in terms of the character of the people who constituted both parties.

The ex-EFFC chairman, who spoke through his spokesman, Mr. Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, said this while fielding questions from one of our correspondents in Abuja.

He said, “In Nigeria, especially in politics, you can’t say that this is an exclusive party for the people who are thieves or this is for good people.

“It’s just like saying that all Yorubas are this or all Igbos are this. In every group of people, there must be good people and there are bad people. Of course, the good may be more than the bad or the bad may be more than the good in any group.

“But there is no any party that is exclusively for the good people or for the bad people.”

He said that his defection was not borne out of his desperation to realise his political ambition but was based on his patriotic zeal to serve the country and its people.

Abdulaziz said, “It is not true that he (Ribadu) was desperate to realise his political ambition. This is because this decision was taken in the overriding interest of serving the people.

“What matters for him is service. That is why even when he was a member of the opposition party, when government asked him to serve the country, he accepted the offer and he did a wonderful job that everybody hailed except those who don’t want change in the system.

“If you are ready to serve the people, sometimes you will have to do something that is not even palatable to yourself.”

But one of Ribadu’s close political associates in Yola told one of our correspondents that Ribadu’s defection had more to do with his governorship ambition and the alleged failure of the APC to give him the expected support and compensate him for his “sacrifices” for the party.

The source said part of Ribadu’s sacrifices, which he said the APC had failed to reciprocate, was his offer to step down for the then presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in the 2011 election and also his role in “wooing some governors to join the APC”.

The source linked Ribadu’s defection to his unresolved grievances against the APC, which the source made the ex-presidential candidate to succumb to pressure mounted on him by people, including the Chairman of the PDP, Adamu Mu’azu; Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and a Principal Secretary in the Presidency, Hassan Tukur, to join the PDP.

@punchng.com