Jonathan queries CBN Governor over N1b donation to Political Party. In a move that has surprised many, President Goodluck Jonathan has queried the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, over various infractions detected in the apex bank’s 2012audited account.The query, which covered 22 issues bordering on massive fraud at the bank, was sent to the governor on May 6 and the response, though expected back on May 8, was submitted to the President on May 21.The query of the bank’s account, which its auditors, Ernst and Young, passed without officially signing, with only a comment that it complies with the CBN Act, covers issues such as investment of a huge amount of money in an Islamic bank in Malaysia withoutany guarantee of its generating returns.Others are write-off of about N3.5 billion CBN staff housing loan and the donation of about one billion naira to a political party to open up offices across the country. This donation, which was given under the special access item in the account, is believed to begeared towards furthering Sanusi’s alleged political ambition in the 2015 general elections.The query touched other issues such as refusal of the apex bank to consolidate in its account, the trillion debt owed by the Asset Management Company, AMCON, and thenon-disclosure of the total liabilities through the bond floated by the company.The governor was also asked to explain the discrepancies noted in the 2012 account regarding the Nigerian Security Printing andMinting Company, a subsidiary of the apex bank.Other issues include the controversial donations made to some higher institutions in the country. Investigations have shown that some of the donations were inflated in the bank’s books.For example, while the Bayero University Kano, BUK, was said to have collected N4billion, the school authorities claimed it got only N1billion.The apex bank’s account became suspicious when the governor refused to submit it to the Financial Reporting Council, FRC, the body with the mandate to ascertain the compliance of companies with accounting standards, and the International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS.Rather than submitting it to the body, the governor requested for seven years’ grace for the CBNto comply with FRC stipulations.The audit report of the account, which was submitted directly to the President, was later forwarded to the economic adviser to the President for his appraisal. The official okayed the account and noted that it complied with the CBN Act.However, unhappy with the economic adviser’s comment, Jonathan returned the report to him and drew his attention to the refusal of the auditor to sign the account.An official of Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria, ICAN, told our reporter that an audit report is worthless when it does not carry the signature of the auditor.This is not the first time the CBN account will be open to scrutiny but the bank has always hidden under its autonomy to stave off close inspection. The apex bank is on thefirst line charge and receives its appropriation directly from the federation account and exercises enormous financial autonomy.In May, the public accounts committee of the House of Representatives also had causeto query several expenditure items amounting to N4.7 billion in the CBN accounts. This included the N2.8billion whichthe bank said it spent on the construction of its Port Harcourt branch.The House in turn had worked with a reportfrom the office of the auditor general of the federation which queried extravagant expenditure by the apex bank for which documents were not made available for verification.Chairman of the House committee on public accounts, Solomon Olamilekan at a meeting with officials of the bank alleged that there were indications that due process was not followed in expenditure as no documents were provided.Some of the transactions that the committee queried include the sums of N23 million and N50claimed to have been spent for the same purpose of renovating the governor’s official residence as well as N848million spent on the purchase of a property from the National Planning Commission without any transaction agreement.However, like many probes of public institutions by the National Assembly, the matter appears not to have been pursued.The N4 billion donation to BUK questioned inthe President’s query had not even been known to the public. What had irked many Nigerians, including federal lawmakers, was the donation earlier in the year of N100 million to victims of terrorism in Kano, Sanusi’s hometown.The House of Representatives entertained a motion on misuse of public funds on the donation which degenerated into a rowdy session. Many members accused Sanusi or misuse of public funds.Member from Yobe State, Goni Lawan, described Sanusi’s donation of N100 million to Kano State and another N25m gift to Madalla bomb blast victims as “an act of terrorism”, arguing that attacks in Yobe andBorno states did not attract the same monetary consolations from the CBN governor.“When I first heard of the action of the CBN governor, I was surprised. I asked whether Yobe andBorno states were not parts of Nigeria, as these attacks took place there first,” Lawan said.Attempts to get the apex bank to react ourstory were unsuccessful. Over a week ago, when our reporter contacted the corporateaffairs director of the CBN, Ugochukwu Okoroafor, and confronted him with the various issues noted in the CBN 2012 audited account, he claimed ignorance of anypresidential query to the governor.“I don’t know what donation you are talking about. Was it done in cash? I’m not aware ofthe things you are saying. If you can provide me with this document that would help, because I haven’t seen it,” he said.Okoroafor said he was out of town on an official assignment in Abia State and would not be back until last weekend.A mail asking him to respond to specific allegations about a write-off of about N3.5 billion CBN staff housing loan, donation of about N1 billion to a political party to open up offices across the country as well as thedonation of N4 billion to the Bayero University Kano, among others, has not beenreplied.SOURCE: http://pointblanknews.com/pbn/exclusive/president-jonathan-queries-cbn-governor-over-apex-banks-audited-report-n1b-donation-to-political-party/
Yesterday at the Mobile World Congress, the event that Tech enthusiast all over the world had been anticipating finally hit, with the launch of the new Samsung flagship, the Galaxy S5. Though rumours and leaked photos had made the eventual launch almost stale but it was interesting in its different rights as we finally got a look into the official added features of this phone.
Tech experts will
have a whole lot to say about this new machine but I am just going to highlight on a few that matters to end users. First of is the fact that the screen is about 5.1" which is a little bigger than the S4 but not as big as the note 3. It also has curved edges but the S5 seems a better designed device than its predecessor. Another thing which makes the device worth buying is it's WATER and dust resistant capabilities. The back of the phone is made with a material different from the former phones which makes it more rugged and seems perforated. This is a plus to Samsung as now people's worry of durability is a little bit reduced, at least now I don't need to worry about keeping my phone on the table.
Another feature which has been in the tabloids and now confirmed is the fingerprints scanner which is put on the home button. All you need to do is swipe down on the button and the phone captures your prints. It is speculated that this feature will allow PayPal users to carry out transactions easier. The phone also has a heartbeat scanner near to the camera flash (at the back). It's safe to say that the S5 is a health oriented device.
It boast of a 16 megapixel camera and has autofocus. With a 4k video camera which is still new to devices. It has 2gb RAM and a choice between 16 and 32 gb internal memory and a 1080p screen display. It also has a USB port which is good news for multi device connections. The battery now last 10 hours while browsing and 12 hours while watching videos.
In essence this is a more powerful device, more rugged and useful for the new age.
