PMB's address at the handing over of Rio 2016 Team Nigeria

SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY, MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, ON THE OCCASION OF HANDING OVER OF TEAM NIGERIA ATHLETES AND OFFICIALS PARTICIPATING AT THE RIO 2016 OLYMPIC GAMES TO THE NIGERIA OLYMPIC COMMITTEE AS WELL AS THE INVESTITURE OF MR. PRESIDENT AS GRAND PATRON OF NIGERIA OLYMPIC COMMITTEE, 19TH JULY, 2016, STATE HOUSE, ABUJA

Protocol
I am highly delighted to receive the cream of Nigerian sporting talents and their team officials that are set to do our nation proud at the 2016 Olympic Games, commencing from 5th to 21st August this year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I have been reliably updated on the outstanding performances of our athletes and teams, at their various qualifying championships, which have led to the qualification of a sizeable number of athletes who will fly our national flag at this premier global sporting occasion.
2.Nigeria has 49 qualified male athletes and 29 female athletes, giving us a total of 78 athletes in 10 sport disciplines.
3.It is therefore the honour of the Federal Government to officially unveil the qualified athletes of Team Nigeria to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
4.Aside the sports that we have qualified for the Olympic Games, I have equally been informed that our athletes have qualified athletes for the Paralympic Games, which comes up immediately after the Olympic Games in Brazil.
5.I therefore want to use this opportunity to personally congratulate all these worthy athletes on their qualifications for these Games, even in the face of daunting challenges in their preparations.
6.Let me equally assure you that the Federal Government is fully committed to our delegation’s successful participation in the Rio Olympic Games and will ensure that funds budgeted for the Games are released without further delay.
7.We are all aware of our nation’s dwindling revenue and the current global economic challenges. It is therefore imperative that funds provided for the Games are utilized judiciously. In this regard, any official who has no business at the Games should stay at home to cheer the team from here and if they must travel to the Olympics, they should do so at their own expense.
8.As the Federal Government formally hands over our athletes and officials for the Rio Olympics to the Nigeria Olympic Committee today, I want to charge all athletes and team officials going to the Olympic Games to be worthy ambassadors of our great country, both on the field of play and outside the sporting arena. The eyes of the global community are on you and as such, you should desist from acts that could dent the image of our great country, Nigeria.
9.You are very aware of recent doping allegations which cast aspersions not only on the individual athletes but on their home countries. Please keep Nigeria clean.
10. The menace of drug use in sports is threatening the core foundation of sports and has led to embarrassing situations as well as sanctions of some great sporting nations. I therefore urge you to keep the integrity of our nation intact by competing clean and fair at the Olympic Games.
11. Please bring as many medals back home as a result of your efforts and endeavour. But remember it is more important to compete and acquit your country as a fair sporting nation than to bring a pack of medals as a result of bending the rules and denying the Games of fair competition
12. Finally, let me assure you of the support of over 170 million sports-loving Nigerians who are solidly behind you as you depart to bring glory to our fatherland in Rio.
Therefore, Go for Gold in Rio!
Go Team Nigeria! Go!
I wish you all the best of luck.
Thank you.

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Nyanya Bus Terminus to be completed on schedule - FG

The Federal Government has assured residents of the Federal Capital Territory that the Nyanya Bus Terminus will be speedily completed to enhance human and vehicular traffic in the area.

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Mohammed Bello made the promise on Tuesday during an inspection tour of the project.

The bus terminus was destroyed by the Nyanya bombings of April 14, 2014 which left dozens of people dead and several vehicles burnt.
Bello also promised to deploy the necessary resources to ensure timely completion of the project.

“From what we have seen, construction work has gone on to about 60 per cent according to the contractors and our engineers.

“And as you can see, it is a very massive complex consisting of departure and arrival halls, a banking hall, garage for the basic maintenance of motor vehicles as well as commercial block.

“So from what I have seen, it is very important for us to deploy resources, human and material to make sure that the place is completed as quickly as possible,” he said.

The Minister also promised to address the omission of access roads in the original design of the project.

“For a complex of that nature, looking at the traffic, both human and vehicular, it is important to have a very clear cut entry and exit with a road that is well constructed to be able to carter for heavy duty vehicles.

“That is a challenge but we are going to look at that,” he said.

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Rio 2016 Olympics: Buhari receives team Nigeria (Photos)

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday afternoon received Nigeria's delegation to the Rio 2016 Olympics which begins next month in Brazil.

See photos.

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Buhari probes Kachikwu over oil swap deals

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered a probe into the oil swap deals and liquefied natural gas lifting lists which were in operation during the regime of the immediate past Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.

Buhari reportedly gave the order following allegations of favoritism against Kachikwu in the allocation of crude oil.

Of particular interest to the President are the oil swap deals involving CEPSA Refinery, IOC Refinery, ENOC and Sara Refinery.

According to financialwatchngr.com, the new GMD of NNPC, Baru has been instructed to investigate the list of crude oil takers approved by Kachikwu. Some of the companies to be investigated are Master Energy, Taleveras,  Mercuria, Vitol, and Trafigura, all of which approved by Kachikwu.

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ATM fraud: EFCC issues scam alert

Below is a scam alert issued by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC over the activities of a suspected female identify thief who has scammed several people by stealing their ATM card pin numbers.

SCAM ALERT: BEWARE: Identity Thieves On The Loose.
The much talked about ATM fraudsters are not resting on the oars. They are all over the place laying siege to any susceptible victim. These criminals go about fleecing unwary members of the public with their ingenious, ever-changing modes of operations. The latest being the infamous identity theft.
Before now, cloning and PIN harvesting through electronic chips cleverly concealed in the Automated Teller Machine (ATM), was the universal mode. Over time, the tricks and decoys to entrap their victims keep changing and have assumed a disturbing dimension.
The Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is on the trail of a suspected ATM fraudster, who goes by the name Akinade Tofunmi. Her trade in stock is identity theft. Her duty post is any ATM Point and Point of Sales (POS) machines across the country. However, she does not ‘work’ during the official hours of the week rather; she operates late in the night when all bank transactions had closed and preferably over the weekend when her ‘prospective’ victims might not be able to alert the banks for any unauthorised transaction. In her last operation, within twenty four hours; this fraudster who operates with the identity of her victims succeeded to have raked in about three million (N3m) within 24 hours.
Dateline was Friday, June 3rd, 2016, at about the close of work. A woman simply identified as Alhaja and her husband who was waiting in the car wanted to use an ATM somewhere in Ibadan, Oyo State, when Tofunmi noticed that the woman limps. Pretending to be polite and cultured, she offered to assist her with the transaction on the ATM. Unaware of the intention behind the pious approach, she gave the fraudster her ATM card and divulged her PIN. Smartly, the fraudster quickly checked the balance in the account which had one million, seven hundred and forty nine thousand, twenty six naira and seven kobo (N1, 749, 026. 07). After the intended withdrawal of N20, 000:00, the fraudster swapped the card and gave Alhaja a fake ATM card. Oblivious of the swap, she left with her husband.
Shortly before midnight, the fraudster started the ‘harvest’ of her booty. She withdrew one hundred and thirty thousand naira. Having exceeded the daily withdrawing limit for that day, she waited for a few minutes to the following day which was a Saturday. Shortly after midnight, she made another rounds of withdrawals to the tune of one hundred and fifty thousand naira which was also the daily limit for that day. However, Alhaja and her husband had no one to run or call that night to save the situation when the debit alerts start coming in torrent.
In a desperate need of where and how to empty the balance in the account, she went to a night club where she met a motorcycle transporter, popularly known as Okada whom she approached for a help. Her decoy was that she had enough money in her account but could not access it having exceeded her daily withdrawal limit. She showed the bike man her balance and pleaded with him to give her his ATM card, account details and PIN for a quick teller transfer from her (Alhaja’s) account to the bike man’s account. With that, she has been able to secure some of Alhaja’s money in the bike man’s account thereby stealing the identity of the unsuspecting bike man.
At the early hours of that Saturday morning, she asked the bike man to take her to a hotel with an intention to further steal the identity of the hotelier for another movement of the money. At the hotel reception while paying for her accommodation which was N10, 000 (Ten thousand naira) for one night, she deliberated credited the hotel’s account with one hundred and one thousand naira (N101, 000) feigning a mistake and demanded a refund of ninety-one thousand naira (N91, 000) balance of an overpayment. This was also done with Alhaja’s ATM card through the POS machine at the Hotel.
To further conceal her identity, she provided fake personal details in the hotel and gave the hotel the bike man’s account detail when the hotel management requested for an account to deposit the refund.
All these happened on Saturday; hence, Alhaja and her husband are still in dilemma with no help in sight to stop the transactions in the account. By Sunday, Alhaja’s money had moved to the fraudster both in cash and through transfer to the bike man account domicile in the same bank.
All these while, the fraudster was in possession of both Alhaja the first victim and the bike man, the second victim’s ATM cards. Later the following day, Monday, the bike man could no longer reach the fraudster on phone; he (the bike man) then went to the bank to request for another ATM card. It was later discovered in the bank that part of Alhaja’s money was transferred to the bike man’s account. He was arrested by the bank and He’s now helping the EFCC operatives to track down the fraudster. Investigations have revealed that this same fraudster had stolen the identities of other victims earlier and had absconded to, Ilorin, Kwara State.
Instances of Tofunmi’s nefarious activities have also been spotted in other parts of the country particularly Port Harcourt City. The Commission is hereby seeking the cooperation and support of public spirited members of the society to please help unveil the identity of this fraudster. Her face, though with different disguises, is on display for anyone who knows her to please contact any of our offices across the six geopolitical zones and Abuja. She must be apprehended, who knows the next victim?
Besides, it is imperative to reiterate the need to be careful with our ATM cards and PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (PIN). On no account should we divulge any information about our account details to anyone. The criminals, ATM fraudsters are on the loose, taking advantage of people’s insensitivity and carelessness. Pictures show Akinade Tofunmi as captured by CCTV Of the bank and Hotel she operated from.

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Customers can open new accounts without deposit - CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has directed banks in the country to allow customers to open new accounts without deposit.

The apex bank issued the directive in the Monetary, Credit, Foreign Trade and Exchange Guidelines for Fiscal Year 2016/2017 guidelines which it posted on its website.

Initial deposits range from N1000 to N10,000 depending on account type (savings or corporate) but the CBN said that the new initiative is intended to help banks improve their deposit mobilization while pursuing its policy of financial inclusion.

“The CBN shall continue to encourage banks to improve their deposit mobilization efforts. In line with the financial inclusion initiative, banks shall be required to allow zero balances for opening new bank accounts so as to make banking services accessible to the unbanked public. Accordingly, banks are encouraged to develop new products that would improve access to credit and simplify their account opening processes, without compromising the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) requirements."

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Religion good for fight against corruption - EFCC boss

The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu has identified religion as a veritable means of tackling corruption and other social vices in Nigeria.

According to a statement signed by the Head, Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, Magu spoke in Abuja on Monday during a meeting with members of the Inter-faith Anti-Corruption Advisory Committee, IAAC who were at his office to brief him on their activities.

Magu called for collaboration between the Committee, the EFCC and the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, PACAC to effectively deploy religion as a tool in combating the ills of corruption.

“Every religion abhors corruption. Therefore, there is the need for us to use religion as a platform to reach out to people to shun corruption in all its ramifications,” he said.

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