NIGERIAN NOTCH

By Kamen Chuks   Today at the plenary, the Senator representing the good people of Anambra South Senatorial District , Senator Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah called the attention of the Senate leadership to the unwieldy number of road blocks and  check points by police Army and other security agencies  on the Lagos to Onitsha Expressway  especially from Ijebu Ode  down to Onitsha axis Today, I came under Order 43 of the Senate Rules to raise a complaint about the  increasingly worrisome number of roadblocks/checkpoints mounted by the Nigerian Police Force, Nigerian Army and other paramilitary security agencies between Ijebu Ode and Onitsha head bridge....He said He went on to emphasize  that the alarming number  of checkpoints( the highest in  the country)  spanning over 136 roadblocks between Ijebu Ode and Onitsha head bridge appears to have outlived its usefulness, in terms of curbing security breaches as they now serve as conduit pipes for extortion and intimidation of commuters especially

The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu has been invited before a panel probing the activities of the agency. The panel is said to be sitting at the Banquet Hall wing of the Presidential Villa. Magu was stopped in traffic while moving out of the Wuse II Annex of the EFCC in Abuja and the invitation was extended to him. Although Magu was on his way to the Force Headquarters, he pleaded with an officer from FCID who met with him to honour the scheduled appointment. A source said: “Both Magu and Jacobs are now in an office in the Banquet Wing of the Vila. “He has not been arrested by any of the security agencies. We are awaiting further development. ” But he was told the invitation by the panel was more important. At about 1.35pm, Magu arrived at the Villa where he was ushered into the wing. As at Press time, Magu has been joined at the Villa by his lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs.

The Imo State government yesterday made public of its findings in the payroll system regarding pension fraud which involved eight persons said to be receiving N330 million annually as a pension. The governor, Hope Uzodinma, disclosed this in Owerri, after meeting with the leadership of the state chapters of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, led by Josiah Ugochukwu, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Austin Chilakpu and Trade Union Congress, TUC, at the Government House in Owerri. The names mentioned were as follows; Ajokubi H. A, (N65, 685, 491. 00) Njoku Damian (N 5,042,439.58) , Obasi Canice (N 3, 460, 366.64), Anyanwu F. N (No, 150, 336. 00), Emenalo Theresa (N 3,058, 592.00), John Sunday (N 2,320624. 00) Ajaegbo E. O (N2, 298,910.34) and Ekedere Eunice (N 32,490, 016. 00). The governor said it also discovered that over one thousand pensioners who retired in 1976 were still receiving a pension, just as he pointed out that pensioners in the verified database have all been paid