I am grateful to God for the gift of life, I am void without him.
Also thankful to my earthly parents for nurturing me into the graceful, lovely, and great woman I am today.
Today I celebrate ME! The birth of Me! The person I have grown to be! The person I will become! The sister, daughter, friend, girlfriend, employee; I am! and the Mother I will be someday!
I celebrate Me today!
A Permanent Secretary in the Ekiti State Civil Service, Mr. Tunde Alokan, has been sacked by Governor Ayodele Fayose, it was learnt on Monday.
Alokan until his removal was the Permanent Secretary in charge of the Office of Establishment.
A source said Alokan was relieved of his job because of his closeness to a former state governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.
It was learnt that Fayemi attended the burial of Alokan’s late father held in Efon Alaaye in February which the source said did not go down well with the powers that be in the state.
But Fayose, while confirming the dismissal of Alokan on Monday night, said it had nothing to do with Fayemi attending his late father’s burial ceremony.
The governor, who reacted through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, said, “The governor has the power to hire and fire.
The position of a permanent secretary is political and is at the discretion of the governor; enough of this blackmail.
“Fayemi also sacked some permanent secretaries while in office, so what has happened is not new.
The governor is not aware that Dr. Fayemi attended Alokan’s late father’s burial, so attributing his sack to that is cheap blackmail.”
Fayemi appointed Alokan as permanent secretary in January 2012.
Another Government House source explained that Alokan’s elder brother, Tokunbo, who is a Director on Grade Level 16 “is also on his way out of the civil service.”
His predicament was also linked to Fayemi’s appearance at their late father’s burial.
A source said, “After the burial, the following week, his elder brother who is also a civil servant was asked to report at the Office of Establishment.
“A panel was set up to investigate Mr. Tokunbo with the younger brother (Mr. Tunde) mandated to chair the panel an offer which he turned down.
“Although the two of them were to be sacked the same day, that of the elder brother was put on hold to pave the way for his investigation and interrogation by the panel.
“Since his younger brother turned down the offer to chair a panel raised to try Mr. Tokunbo, another person will be appointed to perform the task and your guess is as good as mine on the result that would come out of the panel.”
The House of Representatives on Monday summoned the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, for failing to appear in respect of an ongoing investigation into an alleged rice import duty evasion by some importers in the country.
Some of the importers allegedly exceeded their import quotas, but reportedly did not pay duties of over N3.5bn under a Federal Government import policy targeted at encouraging local production of rice.
The chairman of the ad hoc committee investigating the alleged “fraud,” Mr. Leo Ogor, expressed surprise that the minister shunned the hearing in spite of being duly invited.
He said, “This hearing was sequel to a resolution of the House mandating the ad hoc committee to investigate alleged fraud, abuses, evasion of import duties by rice importers.
“The aim is to uncover fraud and expose the endemic corruption in the importation of rice with a view to stemming the tide and boost employment generation as well as strengthen the nation’s depleting foreign reserve.
“The minister has no reason not to be here because the Ministry (of Agriculture) was duly served the invitation.
“I see no reason why people would be invited to a hearing that is for the benefit of the people and they will not turn up.
“You are a servant of the people just like we all are. What we are doing here is for the benefit of our nation’s economy. Before the end of the hearing, we are hoping to see people from the ministry come in, otherwise we may be forced to make some very strong pronouncements.”
The committee said complaints reaching it indicated that the minister facilitated the non-payment of the duties for the affected importers.
Lawmakers raised questions on the powers of the minister to grant such duty exemptions.
Ogor spoke further, “The minister does not have the powers to allocate rice import or production quota to any company and then waive duties because the corresponding revenue involved is for the entire federation, which consists of the three tiers of government.
“The minister should stop deceiving himself thinking that he acts for every tier of government.”
One of the beneficiaries, Olam Farms Limited, claimed that it was never aware of a government directive that it was expected to pay duties for exceeding its import quota.
The company’s Business Development Head, Mr. Anil Nair, added that as a major stakeholder in the sector, his firm was aware of the rules and could not have deliberately breached any.
However, he accepted that the firm would be willing to pay any duties calculated against it as outstanding.
Olams Farms is the single largest farm on the continent of Africa with the capacity to import 243, 747 tonnes of rice on 10 per cent levy and 20 per cent duty.
“If you look at all the rice value chain, we have made up to date payment of duties and levies as applicable for which we made presentation previously. If we are asked to pay for the excess in importation, we will oblige and pay without any hesitation,” he told the committee.
On its part, the Nigerian Customs Service invariably confirmed the duty evasion when it informed the committee that the affected importers were asked to pay up after the import policy was reviewed by government.
The NCS’s team to the hearing was led by Mr. Adeoye Ajade.
It stated in a paper to the committee that “Olams’ import was over 245,000 metric tonnes with excess quota amounting to over N3.5bn, which was the duty liability arising from that importation.
All is not well with the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the party’s rank and file seems in disarray following the alleged dropping of the names of Lagos governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) and former Ekiti State governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi from the ministerial list of President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
About 26 Taliban militants have been killed in fresh military operations across Afghanistan within the last 24 hours, said the country’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday morning.
“A total of 26 armed militants were killed during joint military operations and cleanup raids carried out by army over the past 24 hours,” the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates.
The Leader of Destiny Campaign Organisation and Imo State Peoples Democratic Party gubernatorial aspirant in the just concluded general election, Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, has declared the PDP dead in the state.
Ararume said the PDP’s culture of impunity cost it the governorship seat of the state.
