From Uche Usim, Abuja
The Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Ekpo Nta, and the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Sharon Ikeazor, have charged the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit (ACTU) of the pensions’ body to live up to the dictates of Section 6 A-F of the Corrupt Practices Act of 2000, which includes reporting all alleged cases of corruption to the ICPC.
The duo, who spoke at the weekend in Abuja, while inaugurating the ACTU of PTAD, emphasised that corruption has been the obstacle to progress in most organisations in the country, adding that concerted efforts must be made to address them.
Nta hailed PTAD’s efforts to inaugurate the ACTU as a vehicle for fighting corruption within the system. He noted that there have been reported cases of alleged mismanagement and corruption in the handling of pension funds of retirees, describing the development as a blight that threw many senior citizens into avoidable penury.
“The establishment of the ACTU, which is an institutional ethics and anti-corruption instrument, directed by ICPC, in collaboration with the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation since 2001, is to promote in-house check mechanisms within the MDAs, to monitor, identify and address lapses, which have the capacity of engendering corruption and sundry unethical practices, which may thrive within the organisation,” he said.
Nta expressed confidence in the new Executive Secretary of PTAD to support the ACTU to function effectively, judging from her eagerness to have the unit constituted in the first instance.
Ikeazor, on her part, expressed hope that members of ACTU would discharge their duties as expected of them.
She urged them to handle all forms of misconduct, like suppression of records, false claims, embezzlement, dishonesty and falsification of records, and to manage risks, promote ethics, enforce integrity and compliance in line with the established rules.
She said: “Our ultimate aim at PTAD is to establish an accurate, credible and digitised database of pension under the Defined Benefit Scheme and institute best practices in the management of pension in Nigeria. Pension management is, indeed, in need of change and that change must begin with us here at PTAD.”
INFORMATION: Recession: MDAs urged to embrace PR
From Magnus Eze, Abuja
The 46th meeting of National Council on Information (NCI) rose in Asaba, Delta State, at the weekend calling on ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government to obey the Act (Decree 16 of 1990) establishing the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and ensure that all information officers are properly registered with NIPR.
It also urged government to fast-track action on rural Internet connectivity and organise training in all the 774 local government areas on the use of electronic media to facilitate rural and urban connectivity.
This was as a PR/communications strategist, Barbara Onyejose, said that effective deployment of public relations in the private and public sectors of the economy would help Nigeria come out of its present economic quagmire, including driving the national rebirth campaign, “Change Begins with Me.”
Chief Executive Officer of Arowin Media Consult, whose firm, in partnership with Sterling Business Network (SBN) International, recently commenced training of PR practitioners across the country on the latest elite PR & Marketing Master class, ELEVATE, said public and private sector PR practitioners needed awareness and capacity building to make impact in growing and developing the economy.
Onyejose tasked PR practitioners on self-development for effective service delivery, stressing that they must embrace best international practices in the industry to meet the modern day trend of corporate business activities.
DMO raises alarm over cost of debt servicing
From Basil Obasi, Abuja
Statistics obtained from the Debt Management Office (DMO), in Abuja, have reveals that external debts have cost the country a total of $1.62billion in interest payment in the last five years.
This is coming at a time when The Federal Government spent a total of $331,059, 850 on servicing its external debts in 2015.
The trend in debt profile has continued to generate concern from stakeholders, which suggestively led the DMO to peg borrowing by the Federal Government at Limit in 2017 at $22.8billion equivalent to N6.73 trillion.
The debt management agency further disclosing this growing trend noted that in 2014, a total of $346,723, 290 was spent on the same item, while $297, 329,300 was spent in 2013. In 2012 and 2011, the servicing of external debts cost the nation a total of $293,003,540 and $351,619, 070 respectively.
The trend has continued this year with $117,660,770 spent on serving the country’s external debt in the first quarter of the year and $47,998,430 in the second quarter, thereby making a total of $165,659,200 for the first six months of 2016, DMO said.
According the report, the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory owe $3.65billion of the foreign debts, as against the $7.61bn owed by the Federal Government.
Lagos State, which is the largest economy in the country, owes a total of $1.43billion. Thus, the state holds 39.17 per cent of the country’s total subnational foreign debts.
Kaduna State, with a foreign debt of $225.28m, comes in the second position. It holds 6.16 per cent of the total subnational foreign debts.
Edo State, with a total of $179.52million as of June 30, holds 4.91 per cent of the country’s subnational foreign debts.
Why NERDC reintroduced History studies in schools
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Prof. Samaila Junaidu, has explained why History was reintroduced for study at the basic education level.
The decision, according to him, became imperative due to current happenings in Nigeria, which tend to justify the belief that Nigerians, particularly the youth, have lost their sense of value and origin, recognising not the sacrifices made by their forefathers for the peace and unity of Nigeria.
He said: “Majority of our youths have gone astray. They have lost the spirit of sacrifice and patriotism due to lack of basic knowledge of their roots and origin.”
Speaking on a radio programme in Abuja, Junaidu maintained that NERDC was committed to producing a thoroughly researched and well-developed curriculum that would restore lost morals and values among youths.
He expressed dissatisfaction with the decision of past education managers to scrap the subject years ago, replacing it with Social Studies, which did not achieve the same purpose as History due to the differences in curriculum content.
According to him, “There is no doubt that our children are lacking in the knowledge of our history and that has resulted in lost values for ourselves. It has also had a terrible effect on our national life.
“But we are optimistic that the rich content of the new History studies will correct all the anomalies, reshaping the thought of our youths and instilling the spirit of patriotism and sacrifice in them.”
