NEMA Receives 155 Nigerians from Libya
corruption related cases.
According to him, the fight against corruption is becoming a popular trend in Africa especially with the ratification of African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.
The president who tasked relevant stakeholders to uphold the executive order, also directed government agencies to, in consultation with the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, adopt what he described as best practices and strategies to make the order effective.
“Happily, the fight against corruption is gaining more momentum among the African states. We just returned from the African Anti-Corruption Year event at Nouakchott, Mauritania where all African Heads of State were gathered to promote the anticorruption message.
“Nigeria and 39 other African States have ratified the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. I pledge to elevate the African Union anticorruption agenda at the next session of the United Nations General Assembly in September.
“Therefore, in order to preserve Nigeria’s political and economic systems, and the continuous progress of the Nigerian State from the serious threat of corruption, I call on all stakeholders, and indeed every Nigerian to give effect to this Executive Order.
“Agencies of the federal government in consultation with the Attorney General of the Federation should identify and adopt best practices, and develop strategies for action. The fight against corruption is one that must be fought by everyone wherever corruption rears its head,” Buhari added.
In a related development, the federal government has disclosed that the guidelines for the full implemention of the Executive Order 5 signed by President Buhari to protect jobs and revenues created from Nigeria’s economy for Nigerians, would be out soon.
The Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Suleiman Adamu, said yesterday that the monitoring and evaluation council set up by the president to develop the guidelines was almost done with its job.
Adamu, spoke at the 2018 Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the Association of Consulting Engineers in Nigeria (ACEN) in Abuja.
His clarification on the Presidential Executive Order 5, also followed doubt expressed by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, that Chinese prisoners were smuggled into Nigeria by big Chinese firms to work and take away job opportunities from qualified Nigerians.
Meanwhile, Fashola, has said the claims that Chinese firms in Nigeria habour workers serving prison terms in their home countries within their workforce in Nigeria were subjective and unconfirmed.
He suggested the loan conditions given to Nigeria by China may include, the use of certain number of Chinese labour to execute infrastructure projects in the country, adding that it was necessary for Nigeria to upgrade its influence in the world by developing her economy such that it could equally take such decisions in its engagements with the rest of the world, especially countries it would lend money to.
“We don’t need to generalise, there is so much unverifiable news out there about this. How many people could they possibly have in jail in their country, can there jail produce so much people? We need to be careful about some of these,” he said. Rebecca Ejifoma
The National Emergency and Management Agency (NEMA) has received a fresh batch of 155 Nigerian returnees who were trapped in Libya after a futile attempt to cross over to Europe for greener pastures.
They comprised 41 female adults (five pregnant women, one female child and one female infant) and 107 male adults (three male children and two male infants) with three minor medical cases recorded.
The returnees voluntarily decided to return to Nigeria when the International Organisation for Migrations (IOM) offered them opportunities to return with free transportation.
The IOM Director General, Mustapha Maihajja, received the returnees on behalf of Mr. Segun Afolayan at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
He admonished the returnees on the need to utilise the new opportunities to restart a new life as their efforts at getting unavailable fortune in foreign land.
“We have been inundated with tale of woes on the sufferings that many of our nationals are going through and efforts are being made to ensure that helps get to all,” Maihajja said.