Boko Haram recaptures Marte in Borno

The Boko Haram terrorist group on Friday recaptured Marte, a border town in the northern part of Borno State.

Security sources said members of the terrorist group, who fled Sambisa forest, had now regrouped in Marte.

Borno State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Zannah Mustapha, also confirmed the recapture of the town by Boko Haram terrorists during a press conference in Maiduguri.

“It is sad as we have been made to understand that Marte is today (Friday) completely fallen under the control of the insurgents, which to us is a very huge setback,” he said.

Mustapha raised the alarm that 600 women and girls had been dispatched by the terrorists as suicide bombers with the aim of causing multiple explosions in Maiduguri.

The deputy governor urged residents to be patient with the security agencies in spite of the attendant hardships caused by the dusk to dawn curfew imposed on Maiduguri.

He said, “It is unfortunate that we are experiencing yet another attack in Maiduguri at this time that we are thinking that the insurgency should have subsided following the taking over of Sambisa forest by the military.

“Our thinking was that every other place should have been blocked so that the insurgency would be curtailed to a restricted area, but that has not been the case because the insurgents have been fleeing to other communities.

“Initially, we were opposed to the suggestion by the military, but when we received a security report that about 600 women have been kitted as suicide bombers and are to be sneaked into Maiduguri during the attack, couple with the gory pictures of some of the women who detonated themselves during the attacks, we had no option than to okay the curfew.

“But the curfew has been relaxed from noon to about 5pm to ease the hardship and afterwards it may be reviewed. Our government is going to do everything possible by supporting the military to ensure that Maiduguri and other parts of Borno State are not attacked or taken over by the insurgents.”

The capture of Marte happened as soldiers sustained the 24-hour curfew imposed on Maiduguri, the Borno state capital on Thursday after Boko Haram terrorists attempted an invasion of the city on Wednesday night.

N9bn for Buhari’s ministers, lawmakers outrageous –Nigerians

President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari

A cross section of Nigerians have condemned the planned payment of about N9bn as perks to ministers and lawmakers who will assume office in the government of President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), as recently reported by our source.

The newspaper on May 9, 2015, in an investigative report, said lawmakers to constitute the 8th National Assembly and ministers to be appointed by Buhari would receive N9bn as perks on assumption of office.

The perks include housing, furniture and motor vehicle allowances, among others.

For instance, the housing allowance for the lawmakers is 200 per cent of their annual salaries; furniture is 300 per cent and motor vehicle loan is 400 per cent.

The report, which has been read about 40,000 times on www.punchng.com as of Friday, generated mixed reactions from the public, many of who demanded pay cut for political office holders in the country.

The readers questioned the payment of such allowances at a time the country’s revenue has dipped.

Chika Kema Junior, one of the readers, said, “All these furniture, car, whatever allowances are unnecessary. I still recommend pay as you go allowances for senators and members of the House of Representatives.

“That is, payment should be done based on sitting, and shouldn’t be more than N300, 000 for senators and N200, 000 for members of the House of Representatives.

“Minister for state positions should be scrapped immediately as they are wasteful. Ministers’ salary should not be more than N150, 000 per month. However, they can have leverage in the purchase of houses or cars since they are government servants.”

Another Nigerian, Michael Akinmola, described the allowance package for the lawmakers and ministers as “alarming” and “ridiculous.”

He said, “Are all these lawmakers living in another planet apart from the one we all live? If the answer is no, I see no reason why these salaries and allowances should not be reduced with immediate effect.

“This is one of the causes of corruption in the society. It is also one of the major reasons why politics in Nigeria has become a do or die affairs.”

Incidentally, state civil servants in many states across the country are being owed salaries following the recent fall in oil prices, fuelling the resentment felt by some Nigerians towards the allowances.

The Nigerians said it was unfair for the predominantly poor taxpayers to be funding the lavish lifestyle of political office holders.

A reader, Yetunde, described the current situation in the country as “completely outrageous.”

Her comment read, “Why should we pay for their domestic help, newspapers, entertainment, and all sorts of garbage?

“The current state of Nigerian economy can’t pay for these. I don’t see why vehicle loans should be given to any lawmaker. If they really need a car, they can approach the bank for loan. It is improper that we have to pay for the fuel and maintenance of a car that is considered personal.”

Another Nigerian, Oreagba Afolabi, wrote, “We should do away with these bogus allowances and work out something more reasonable. There should be nothing like constituency allowances.

“Let them get where they will stay (in the Federal Capital Territory). Enough of all this wastage, the common man on the street is suffering.”

Different tactics Nigerian banks use in defrauding customers

Inside a banking hall

Francis Agadaga still remembers events of that fateful evening. He could have been a widower by now. On September 12, 2014, he rushed to an Automated Teller Machine point in his neighbourhood at Igando, a Lagos suburb, to pick some cash with which to take his ailing wife, Sandra, to the hospital. It was a tough period for the family. The N7, 850 left in his bank account would go a long way in dousing the situation if he could get access to the fund. After inserting his card into one of the ATMs and requesting to withdraw N7, 000, what followed almost left the father of two in tears.

“It was on a Sunday afternoon and we had just returned from church when my wife started feeling feverish,” he began. “Her temperature became so high that we needed to quickly rush her to a hospital. I didn’t have any money on me at the time and so I hurried to the nearest ATM point to withdraw the little money I had in the account.

“However, to my utmost shock, I got a debit alert but did not get any money from the machine. I was so confused and tensed because I had never experienced such before and the kind of situation on ground then was a matter of life and death,” he said.

After waiting for a while to see if the cash would pop out of the machine, Agadaga left the place heartbroken and more tensed than he ever was. It took the kindness of few neighbours and friends to raise the money needed to save his wife’s life at a private clinic she was rushed to for treatment.

“It was my neighbours and friends who helped to raise N8, 000 with which I took her to the hospital where she was given injections and drugs. The next day, I went to my bank to complain and bank officials promised to reverse the debit after I had filled a form.

“I went back there after about a week later to find out why the money had not been reversed as promised. I was told their system had some technical problems, which they were trying to fix. I decided to give them some more time for the problem to be rectified. But after going there several times and being told the same thing, I left everything to God.

“Since that period till now, my N7, 000 has not been refunded. If not for my neighbours and friends who helped with some cash that day, maybe my wife could have died from that sickness,” the disgruntled young father told our source.

Like Agadaga, Ejiro Dumuje, is still waiting for her money to be reverted back to her account four months after she was wrongly debited by an ATM in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. Dumuje had visited the ancient city to purchase bales of Adire fabric to resell in Edo and Delta states where she shuttles frequently when she suddenly ran out of cash. She headed for the nearest ATM point to collect some money. After paying her initial request of N40, 000, the young lady decided to pick additional N5, 000 from the machine. That was where things went wrong. A debit alert was sent to her phone but the machine never paid that money. Four months on, Dumuje is still waiting after several complaints at her bank.

“I have been to my bank more than three times to complain and ask why my money has not been refunded,” she said. “The people at the customer care just try to calm me by assuring that the case was still under investigation and that a refund would be effected as soon as possible. This is the fourth month and I have not seen my money. I am tired of going to complain. If they like, they can pay and if not, I leave them to God,” the visibly enraged lady said.

Bayo Odesina was in his office in Lagos in December 2013 when he got a debit alert of N250, 000 on his phone. It was an alert for an online transaction carried out through his MasterCard in Flushing, New York, United States of America. Agitated by the development, Odesina phoned his account officer to complain about the development and followed it up by contacting his lawyers to write the bank.

The financial institution replied and asked for a three-month period to properly investigate the matter. After three months, the bank sent a letter to Odesina’s home, accusing him of negligence and carelessness for the act. According to the bank, he had compromised the Personal Identification Number of his ATM card, thereby allowing fraudsters access to it in the process. Meanwile, it was only a few days after Odesina had approached his bank to block his ATM card after it went missing. The bank simply absolved itself of any blame in the act.

CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele

Odesina’s lawyers wrote the bank again, threatening to take the matter to court if their client’s money was not refunded. In response, the bank requested for more time, apparently trying to frustrate the matter. One year passed and nothing changed. Odesina, a media practitioner, wrote the bank’s corporate affairs unit, this time, introducing himself as a journalist and highlighting how much damage a publication of the matter could do to the bank’s image. That same day, he was contacted by the head of the corporate affairs unit, who strongly assured him that his money would be refunded in a few days time after talking him out of publishing the matter in the newspaper where he worked. Three days later, an alert did come on his phone. His money had been refunded after about 13 months of intense struggle.

“Their plan was to make me forget about the money,” Odesina told our source earlier in the week. “They kept using all sorts of delay tactics just to frustrate me so I could give up on the money. If it were N5, 000, maybe I would have forgotten about it, but N250, 000 is not something I could just let go like that because it was a lot of money.

“My only saving grace was that I am a journalist. The bank already accused me of being careless with my ATM PIN. They also said that I had released vital information of the card to fraudsters who then went ahead to make online purchases with it in the US. The card in question had got missing and I made a request for it to be blocked, so how could that same card be used to make any transaction if not through the help of an insider in the bank who knew how to bypass certain security systems put in place?

“When I realised that the bank was not going to pay my money back, I contacted the people at the corporate affairs unit and made them understand what damage a news of the entire drama could do to the image of their bank. That same day they called me and pleaded with me to give them a few days and that they would pay me back my money. Three days later, I got an alert of N250, 000 on my phone. That was one year and one month after the initial incident. Imagine if that was all I had in the bank or I had not pursued the matter vigorously, I could have lost that much to the bank. I have since closed down my account with the bank,” he said.

A young factory worker in Akure, Ondo State, Yemi Onanuga, was stunned recently when N11, 300 was deducted from his account by his bank for an insurance scheme the financial institution claimed he subscribed to earlier. The money was part of funds he had been saving for months to establish a salon.

“I was shocked when I received the debit notification because I never subscribed to any insurance scheme at any period. It took several months of complaint and repeated visits to the bank before my money was paid back into my account. It was a terrible experience that really affected me in several ways,” Onanuga told our source

Illegal deductions as these are now a common feature despite series of complaints from many bank customers across the country. While some have been lucky to have their funds returned into their accounts, others continue to lament in vain. For them, it is a refund that might never come.

Three weeks ago, Amarachi Ejindu went to an ATM at the Akowonjo area of Lagos to withdraw some money. Though, her money was reversed back after receiving a debit alert initially for the transaction, the N65 ATM charge was not. It took a while before Ejindu noticed this and when she did, no reasonable explanation came to her mind. Why should she be charged for a transaction that was never completed or even occurred, she wondered. Why was the N65 not refunded along with the amount reversed? Who does that money go to? What does the CBN say about this? The questions kept running on her mind.

“I was really concerned about this that I had to call my bank’s customer care on the phone,” Ejindu opened. “It is a small amount but then I imagined why I should be charged for a transaction that never took place. It sounded like a rip off to me. I called the customer care people and they could not give a satisfactory explanation for this. They told me to make a formal complaint and that the matter would be looked into. I did that but they have yet to refund that money. Indeed, N65 could look like a small amount but think about how many customers would have experienced the same problem in a day and then see how much the banks could be making off people without their knowledge,” she said.

[/media-credit] EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde

In Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, Abdullahi Lawal, an undergraduate, did not also get his N65 back after a cash reversal on his account two months ago. It was on a Friday evening and the 23-year-old had visited a cash point in the city to pick some amount to transport him to Ibadan in Oyo State where a cousin was getting married that weekend. During the transaction, Lawal was debited N4, 000 which was soon reversed back into his account. Like Ejindu, he noticed that what came back to him was N65 less. There was nobody he could complain to, so he forgot about the matter and moved on.

“When I noticed that N65 was still missing from my account after the reversal, I decided to let go as it was a small amount and moreover, there was nobody I was going to complain to that day. If it were a bigger amount, of course I would have gone to the bank to complain. I have forgotten about it because I am not sure the bank will refund the money,” Lawal said.

Apart from the N65 ATM charge, customers are also made to pay for multiple Short Message Service alerts for a single transaction on their bank accounts, losing more of their funds in the process. Many of these charges are not even communicated to the unsuspecting customers by the financial institutions.

A social economist, Kabiru Tiamiyu, told our source that with all kinds of deductions being carried out in the name of charges by Nigerian banks, it is almost impossible for customers, especially those running savings accounts to get back the exact amount they kept in the banks.

According to Tiamiyu, one of the easiest ways banks milk unsuspecting customers is through SMS. He said banks still charge N4 per SMS sent to a customer when even bulk SMS providers in the country offer the service for less than N1.00. Rip-off of this kind, he said must be resisted by customers.

Following a directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria, bank customers began paying N65 for cash withdrawals made on other banks’ ATMs from September 1, 2014. The re-introduction of the charges came almost two years after the CBN and the Deposit Money Banks cancelled the N100 ATM charge in December 2012. According to the apex bank, the charge would become effective on the fourth ATM withdrawal in a month, thus making the first three withdrawals on other banks’ machines within the month free.

But financial experts think that the N65 deduction should only apply to valid withdrawals. According to Godfrey Obiefule, an investment banker, returned cheque debits, bank-generated charges and loan liquidation are transactions that ought not to attract Commission on Turnover. He posited that reversals or mistakes made by banks should not attract charges to the depositors.

In 2013, the CBN disclosed that it recovered over N9bn excess charges deducted from customers’ accounts by commercial banks across the country within a one year period. The controller of the Abeokuta branch of the apex bank at the time, Mr. Olumuyiwa Joawo, made the revelation during a consumer sensitisation workshop organised by the financial body in the Ogun State capital.

Two former bank workers arrested for fraud being taken to court

Head, Security and Risks Management, Credit Dynamics, Kingsley Ochefu, wants customers to be more vigilant in their dealings with financial institutions and always complain whenever they notice any discrepancies on their accounts.

“Banks should let their customers know their service charges for accounts.

Deputy Chairman, Committee of E-banking Industry Heads in Nigeria, Mr. Dele Adeyinka, told our source that the N65 ATM charge is shared by several parties regardless of whether the transaction succeeds or not.

“The N65 in question is shared by several parties. Out of the amount, N10 goes to the issuer of the card while N55 goes to the bank that owns the machine.

“The truth is that whether a dispense error occurs or not, there has been a communication link, the switch has been touched and the owner of the ATM incurred some cost to set up the machine. That communication has to be paid for because there are implicating charges for the process involved.

“For a customer such could be a failed transaction but in the real sense a communication link between the ATM and your bank had occurred, switch had been touched and these services attract charges whether or not the request was eventually completed. A service has been offered technically.

“But this is the fault of nobody. It is simply as a result of infrastructural failure in our society. Banking transactions rely on a lot of infrastructure to thrive especially stable power supply. This is part of the reasons why the situation persists,” he said.

On the issue of charging customers for multiple SMS on a particular transaction, Adeyinka said it was wrong for banks to do such as it was not the fault of the customers. According to him, customers who experience such should make formal complaints at their banks or petition the CBN who would surely look into it.

CBN spokesman, Mr. Ibrahim Muazu, told our source that whoever feels cheated by their bank should write the regulatory financial institution and their grievances would be looked into immediately if the case is valid. Like Adeyinka, he explained why the N65 ATM charge does not return back to a customer’s account even when a transaction is not completed. He disclosed that as long as a communication link has had been established between the two banks involved, charges are definitely going to apply.

I, not Soyinka, founded FRSC –Salawu

Major Rasaki Salawu (retd.)

Major Rasaki Salawu (retd.) was the pioneer Director of Operations, Federal Road Safety Commission, an author and a columnist. He tells OLUFEMI ATOYEBIthat an accident he had as a child inspired the road safety initiative in him

What were the unique features of the time when you were young?

I am from a rural setting in Egbeda in Ibadan. Like any other youth in the environment where I grew up, I longed for education and a good future. My intention was to be a mechanical engineer. My father was among the elite in the community at the time. He had a corn mill and transport businesses and he was popular.

When did you join the Nigerian army?

I joined the Nigerian Army just after my 17th birthday as a cadet and became a commissioned officer after some years. I was the only Yoruba man among the six Nigerian soldiers that were trained as tankers for the first time.

We were trained in Germany, France, India, Pakistan, United Kingdom, United States and many other countries to use armoured fighting vehicles to fight at the war front. I am a member of the World Body of Tankers.

Before I left the army voluntarily in 1977, I was writing articles for newspapers on accident prevention and anything that had to do with mechanical and ballistic engineering, survey and reconnaissance, intelligence report and other areas where I was trained as a soldier. I love writing and my vast experience on and off the field offers me lots of ideas to write on.

How did you readjust to civilian life after retirement?

I have been busy since leaving the army. I actually went back to something I had wanted to do since my youth days. After retirement, I formed the Oyo State Road Safety Corps which was first known as “accident prevention.” As a result of my articles on accident prevention in the newspapers, I was invited by the then military governor, David Jemibewon, who had cuttings of my works, to write a proposal on traffic and accident management.

The police were doing the job of vehicle inspection before the Vehicle Inspection Office was carved out as an independent outfit. In an attempt to reinforce the VIO and reduce road accidents, Jemibewon thought of creating a new agency. After submitting the proposal, the government decided that it was worth experimenting.

The government told me to write an application as the director and chief executive officer of the new traffic agency. During the period, I travelled to the UK and attended a course in Northampton Polytechnic which at the time was the largest school that offered road management courses. All these are in the books I have published on my work and road safety.

When I returned to Nigeria, I was better equipped for my new task. I polished my initial proposal to the government which led to the setting up of a committee that had Areoye Oyebola, Omololu Olunloyo, Bamidele Aiku, Prof. Adetoye Faniran and others to look critically into the proposal. The committee had to call me to explain what I meant and set it up as I wanted. The government did not want to put the project under any agency that would suffocate the idea. That was how we started and we did so well because of my knowledge about Highway Code, traffic management and automobile engineering. I put all these into practice and it became too stringent for people who were lawless on the highways.

What inspired the initiative?

After the Second World War, some of the lorries used were brought to Lagos, refurbished and sold on auction. My father bought two of them; a Dodge and a Chevrolet. The vehicles were used in transport business. One day when I was on holiday, I decided to travel in one of the lorries.

As we approached a hill called Olokemeje, the axle of the vehicle burst and the vehicle somersaulted because the tyre got pierced by a sharp object when the driver lost control of the vehicle. I was lucky to quickly jump off without being injured but the driver and many people were injured. Succour came very late but nobody died. When the vehicle was to be repaired, I was at the mechanic workshop and I saw the damage. That was how I became interested in engineering and traffic management.

Why did the people criticise the agency for high handedness?

I am aware that some members of the public formed the opinion that the application of my tactics was too strong. They tagged us majamaja because of the greyhound logo of the project. People changed my name to Salawu Majamaja. They thought that my house would be full of dogs.

Did the criticism lead to its demise?

Major Rasaki Salawu (retd.)

We achieved our aims while the corps lasted. When we started the outfit, the police and the VIO did not believe there was a need for it but Jemibewon insisted on it. Ibadan used to be the centre point for travellers with influx of vehicles travelling to the north and other parts of the south. He believed there was need to check drivers’ excesses on the road so the initiative was sustained. It forced the drivers to obey traffic regulations and stop over-loading.

We became the drivers’ enemies. We were blackmailed and the public outcry was against me, the corps and the governor. The Federal Government then said that we were trespassing because we operated on federal roads while we were created by a state. We were limited to only a few state roads. With our huge workforce, many motorcycles and vehicles and little works to do, it was economically unethical to maintain the corps. It brought about the demise of the project which ran for about six years.

How did it resurface as a federal agency?

In 1988, the Federal Government saw the need to bring back and support road safety initiative and give it a national outlook. I was invited by the military government just like I was invited in 1977. The government realised that accident rate had increased since the corps’ operation was stopped. I still have the invitation letter and copies of correspondence with the Federal Government on the project. It started as Federal Roads Safety Commission and I was the director of operation.

How did Prof. Wole Soyinka come into the frame?

Soyinka was an honourary marshal at the time. The edict of Oyo State made the provision for honourary marshals to assist the regular marshals. When the state outfit was running, we honoured him and many others, including monarchs, with the title. Soyinka was a lecturer in the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University. I appointed him for the role. That was his in-road into road safety activities in Nigeria. I never met him before then.

When we started FRSC, Soyinka’s name was among the names being considered for various positions in the system. I was given the list for advice and I saw his name in number 17. Because I knew him as a honourary marshal, it was natural that I picked him.

But some people have the opinion that Soyinka founded FRSC in Nigeria?

I was the national coordinator of the project while Soyinka was appointed as the board chairman. I could not have been the chairman of a project when I was to be in charge of the operation. I was meant to be on the field. A board was constituted and Soyinka came in at the board level. He never took part in the formation of the project.

How about the case of the 30-count-charge he instituted against you?

When he became the chairman, he brought many members of Pyrates into the corps. He also brought in Olu Agunloye and the plot to push me aside began. At the expense of the experts, unqualified people were brought in by Soyinka.

Soyinka’s name is revered all over the world and you are equally respected for your contribution to the nation’s growth. Did you ever have the opportunity to sit down with Soyinka and settle your differences?

Soyinka is a difficult person to see. He attended the marriage of my daughter in my house and I was the only one who saw him. His friends did not see him. He is like spirit. It took us three years to serve him court summon on the libel case I instituted against him and we even had to place an advertisement because we could not locate him. So it was not easy to sit down with him and point out the falsities in his book.

You paid for an advertisement in Daily Sketch on May 1, 1993, where you retracted all terms of settlement with Soyinka. What was it about?

When the newspapers started writing so many reports about the exchange of words between us, people like Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo (retd), Col. Bode Adewuyi (retd), Roland Omowa, Bode George, Kemi Peters and some Yoruba leaders intervened in the matter. They invited the three of us to settle the disagreement in Ibadan and later in Abuja. I accepted the truce in the interest of the Yoruba peace.

Suddenly, I saw an advertisement in Daily Times where it was alleged that I apologised to Soyinka.

There is a book written by Victor Taiwo which retraced the founder of FRSC to you and not Soyinka. Did you sponsor the book publication to tackle Soyinka?

I did not sponsor the publication of the book by Victor Taiwo. I had never met him until he came to my house one day with bandages. He said he had a serious accident and decided to write a book on road safety. He said someone told him to come to me. He had actually completed the book but with the mis-information that Soyinka started FRSC. But a mechanic who worked with me when road safety started over-heard a discussion between Victor and his friend.

Taiwo told his friend about the book and how he praised Soyinka for founding the corps. The mechanic then interfered, telling Taiwo that I founded it. He then came to get the truth. I gave him some books, letters and documents used to start FRSC. I also directed him to Jemibewon to verify my story. He spent three days with the former governor. He also met others who told him the truth. After his research, he had to rewrite his book.

Would you say that the book had set the record straight?

It set the record straight. The area it did not touch has been put together and published in a book I wrote.

Are you still involved in road safety work?

I am still seriously involved because it started in me naturally. I was a lecturer in Ladoke Akintola University of Technology teaching road and traffic management for 11 years. I also taught the same course in Tai Solarin University of Education. I am also a member of the Chattered Institute of Logistics and Transport International. I am also a member of its executive body. Here in the South-West Nigeria, I was the chairman of its chapter for 14 years.

Currently, Road Accident Information and Rescue Organisation made me the body’s patron after going through my work.

How would you describe FRSC after you and in which area does it need attention?

The motive of establishing FRSC has been set aside. FRSC no longer prevents accident on our roads. That is why the rescue organisation came up with the idea of rendering rescue service to accident victims. In my book, I said that government must not only rescue but rehabilitate accident victims too. Today, what FRSC is doing is to rescue accident victims instead of preventing accident. That is why the accident record keeps increasing with huge death rate.