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3 Jul

Cacol Commends Agf and Calls For Investigation of Misappropriated Fund at Nigeria Law School

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, with clear mandate for anti-corruption crusade and open, transparent governance has hailed the Auditor-General of the Federation for exposing the financial misappropriation of several millions in the records of the Nigerian Law School.

In a press release issued by the anti-graft coalition’s Coordinator for Administration and Programmes, Mr. Tola Oresanwo on behalf of its Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran, he noted, “it would be recalled that the Office of Auditor-General of the Federation uncovered multiple infractions in the school records, ranging from outright misappropriation to spending without approval and necessary appropriation. The Auditor-General’s Financial Report for 2015 which was submitted to the Senate Committee on Public Accounts for investigation indicted the management of the Nigerian Law School and exposed how N32 million was paid to an unnamed “cleaner over a period of 12 months.”

The payment, it was noted was not appropriated in the budget of the Nigerian Law School, which indicated the money was withdrew directly from its internally generated revenue without necessary approval. The Auditor-General also queried the payment of another N36 million as dressing allowance through the account of one of the staff for 52 others; again without approval and in violation of Nigeria’s Financial Act.

The Auditor-General’s report also indicated that the financial record of the Law School showed very weak signs of internal control measures, the Law School Storehouse had no ledger to show its inflows and outflows with some of its bank mandates not dated and even the Internal Auditor official stamp was not numbered; suggesting massive recklessness in the finance of the Law School.

The anti-corruption czar noted that “It is despicable that an institution meant to train and develop the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of legal professionals could be embroiled in acts of corruption like this. What are the values the school wants to inculcate in our young lawyers, if it cannot be run with probity and accountability?”

It is in light of these revealing allegations that we (CACOL) commend the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation for submitting the report to the Senate Committee on Public Accounts for investigation.  We urge the authorities not to sweep this case under the carpet and call on the Anti-corruption agencies to take this case up and carry out diligent and meticulous investigation in order to bring all known culprits from both past and present management staff of the school to book by recovering all the misappropriated funds, while making them to face the full wrath of the law to serve as necessary deterrent”

 

Mr. Tola Oresanwo   

Coordinator Administration and Programmes, CACOL

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21 Jun

CACOL CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF FRAUD ALLEGATION AT LAWMA

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, has called on anti-corruption agencies in the country for necessary investigation of fraud allegation rocking the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).

In a release issued by CACOL and signed by Mr Tola Oresanwo, the anti-corruption organization’s Coordinator, Administration and Programmes on behalf of its Executive Chairman, Mr Debo Adeniran, he stated, “It would be recalled that Fraud running into hundreds of millions of naira has been reportedly uncovered in the Lagos State Waste Management Authority. The Punch newspaper reported that the beneficiaries were some contractors, who engaged street sweepers for the cleaning of Lagos roads. It was learnt that due to the connection of some of the culprits, who are mostly politicians, there was fear nothing would be done about the discovery. It was also reported that a former Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of LAWMA, Dr Muyiwa Gbadegesin, was said to have been removed as storms gathered on allegations of fraud in the system. It was also reported that the running cost of LAWMA rose from about N540m to N1bn and the governor, who wanted to save money, asked the former Managing Director to step aside for an audit while the new Managing Director, Mr Ibrahim Odumboni, was asked to oversee the process.

“The report, detailed how the management of the agency had been siphoning public funds through corrupt practices of padded wage bills by contractors of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority and passed the cost to government as the salaries of their workers”.

“The PUNCH reported that trouble started when auditors got to the Ikorodu area to verify claims made by the contractor in charge of the route. She (contractor) was identified as Iron Lady and allegedly had 66 routes assigned to her. The woman, it was said, claimed to have 2,310 workers. The auditors discovered that most of the names submitted by the woman to collect money were non-existent, while a number of the routes were unkempt. Based on the figures she submitted to the government, her company was collecting over N80m monthly from LAWMA. On the appointed day, only half of the number she gave showed up for verification. In some cases, a sweeper would be discovered to own several phones documented under different names”.

The report also has it that the audit was only one week old when a protest broke out among the street sweepers, who claimed that they had not been paid for several months.

The CACOL boss also said “from our direct interactions with some of the sweepers in the State the Punch story is not far from the truth. It is also noteworthy that the Commissioner for the Environment also corroborated the Punch story by saying “there was no reason why the Agency should owe the sweepers because their funding comes directly from the Ministry of Finance”.

The anti-graft czar added, “Considering the strategic and critical role of the agency in the maintenance of cleanliness in the State, we are seriously concerned about the enormity of corruption going on in the waste management authority in the State. We, therefore, call on the anti-corruption agencies to quickly wade into the matter now with a view to sanitizing it and bring those responsible for the alleged fraud to book so as to serve as a deterrent to others while maintaining a cleaner environment for all Lagosians”.

“We, therefore, make a clarion call for the immediate handing over of the former Managing Director of the Agency to the ICPC or EFCC to answer for the allegations. The laxity, mediocrity and ineptitude he brought on LAWMA are the reasons why everywhere was flooded during the week and a few lives and property were lost irretrievably”.

“We also call on the State Commissioner for Environment to as a matter of urgency constitute an emergency Drainage De-silting Exercise to safe people from imminent floods as heavier rains are still expected before the last quarter of the year”.

Mr Tola Oresanwo

Coordinator, Administration and Programmes

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21 Jun

C-GATE: GROUP WARNS SECURITY AGENCIES TO LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED IN LAGOS

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has called on all security agencies and the general public living and operating at Ile Zik Round-about, Ikeja Lagos, to be more vigilant as hoodlums has converted the boat monument into a brothel where unsuspecting victims are lured extorted and raped.

This was contained in a press release issued on behalf of the Centre’s Chairman, Debo Adeniran on Saturday June 20th.

The Centre got wind of these immoral acts through one of its CACOL’s Good Governance, Accountability and Transparency Educators (C-GATE) Units.

According to the CACOL Chairman, “the CGATE Units were created and inaugurated in all Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Local Council Developmental Areas(LCDAs) in both Lagos and Osun state to educate the grassroots on how to hold the government accountable and demand transparency through its educators.”

The Chairman expressed worries on the escalation of the nefarious acts perpetrated by the hoodlums in that vicinity during and after relaxation the lockdown.

According to the Mr Adeniran, “report reaching us at one of our C-GATE meetings indicated that this wicked and ungodly act has been persistent underground even before the Coronavirus lockdown and many have fallen prey to the criminals hunt as undergarments, purses, wallets, school bags and one passport picture of a young school girl were found at the suspected crime scene. Although the notoriety of the place had been acknowledged in the recent past, up till this present moment, nothing has been said or done by the law-enforcement agents to detect, investigate and to bring these suspected possible perpetrators of the suspected heinous crimes to book.”

The anti-corruption leader expressed his utmost disappointment towards the security agencies under-performance in  curbing street crimes in Lagos, especially during this pandemic crisis.

The CACOL Chairman lamented on the increased rate of crime and sexual violence during this pandemic and urged all security agencies to up their games in bringing it under perpetual check.

According to him, “since the beginning of the pandemic and the attendant lockdown, reports of rape cases have sky-rocketed in all states of the federation, hence the extra vigilance of all security agencies on active duty and the protocol cannot be overemphasized. He urged the authorities to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the capacity of different security agencies are reinforced to ensure maximum protection for the Lagos citizens and that of Nigeria in general.”

The CACOL’S boss therefore demands for an immediate investigation into this demonic and shameful act and diligently prosecute anyone found culpable to ensure that the guilty ones are given deterrent punishment.

 

Jolomi Fenemigho

Research and Documentation Officer, CACOL

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30 May

SERAP FAULTS BUHARI, SAYS ABACHA STOLE FAR MORE THAN $1B

By Nwafor Sunday

In response to reported statement by President Muhammadu Buhari, that former dictator, Sani Abacha, ‘stole close to $1billion’, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Saturday faulted Buhari’s submission, saying that Abacha stole far more than $1billion.

The group cited Transparency International report, which submitted that ‘Abacha may have stolen between $3bn and $5bn in public money’.

Recall that Buhari had in his article titled “Post-Coronavirus, Africa’s Manufacturing Moment”, published on Newsweek.com, said, “Nigeria can now move forward with road, rail and power station construction in part, under own resources-thanks to close to a billion dollars of funds stolen from the people of Nigeria under a previous, undemocratic junta in the 1990s that have now been returned to our country from the U.S., U.K. and Switzerland.

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noimage 8 Jun

PUBLIC NOTICE: CACOL INTEGRITY AWARDS, (CIA) 2017

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, hereby presents to the general Public, its nominees for CACOL INTEGRITY AWARDS, (CIA) 2017 for scrutiny and assessment in terms of the worthiness and suitability of the awards for the nominated receipts. CACOL is via this medium requesting the public to put forward any reason why any of its nominees for the esteemed awards are deservedly qualified or unqualified.

This is to instill integrity and consensus in the process of picking the winners of the CIA for broad acceptance as it is traditional in CACOL’s tradition.

We implore all and sundry not hesitate to bare their minds and facts for or against any of the nominees to ensured that only the most genuinely deserving persons receive the prestigious awards.

 

BRIEF ON CACOL INTEGRITY AWARDS

Our organization, the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL is up till December 28, 2016 known as Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders. CACOL is an aggregate of human rights, community based, and civil society organizations and individuals with anti-corruption and openness in governance agenda across Nigeria. It is a non-political, non-religious, non-sectarian, non-profit organization.

 

CACOL sets for itself the tasks of promoting accountability, openness in governance and using any available means to cause relevant authorities to probe and bring to book corrupt leaders both in public and private institutions. We also strive to protect interest of persons or groups found to be victims or potential victims of corrupt practices or processes of manipulation and violation of human rights. The decision to embark on the journey was taken in 2007 in view of the need to confront, once and for all the monster that is ravaging all facets of our national life in Nigeria – Corruption.

 

We decided to do this with and on behalf of millions of hapless Nigerians who have by a choice that is not theirs, fallen or are potential victims of corrupt leaders. This monster torments ordinary people of Nigeria in all areas of their endeavour. We have to confront it with a view to defeating it because it has to be done, not by ghosts or citizens of other nations but by Nigerians who have pride in themselves to be full-blooded Nigerians. Our promotion and pursuance of ‘open leadership’ is hinged on our belief that it will facilitate transparency and accountability in governance while also plugging the holes of corruption.

 

Due to the endemic corruption that is ravaging our county with many of our former men and women of integrity dipping their hands into the pot of sleaze, CACOL sees the urgent need to encourage the few corruption fighters, both living and dead, in order to serve as catalyst to other corruption fighters to be resolute in their fight against the menace in Nigeria, hence the justification for the CACOL INTEGRITY AWARDS (CIA)

 

The Awards which was conceived to be given annually seek to appreciate the contributions of some individuals to the anti-corruption fight in the country. There are six (6) different categories:

  1. Hero of Integrity Award: This category of award is for persons who are still in active service with the opportunity of engaging in corrupt practices but resist being influenced by privileges at their disposal.
  2. Icon of Integrity Award: This award is for persons who have remained consistent in the fight against corruption and never wavered for a minimum of ten (10) years.
  3. Symbol of Integrity Award: This category of award is conferred on persons who have passed through public and private life without corruption blemish.
  4. Legend of Integrity Award: This award is conferred on persons, either living or dead, whose name or personality has become a reference point when discussing the crusade against corruption.
  5. Martyr of Integrity Award: This category of award is conferred on persons who died fighting corruption and protecting goodness.
  6. Integrity Man of the Year Award: This is conferred on persons that contributed something significant in the fight against corruption in a particular year.

For the maiden edition of CACOL Integrity awards, the following persons were conferred the awards.

 

NAMES OF 2013 AWARDEES

  1. Late Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi Legend of Integrity
  2. Professor Tan David-West Symbol of Integrity
  3. Alhaji Lateef Jakande                                     Symbol of Integrity
  4. Razaq Bamidele Hero of Integrity
  5. Corporal Azeez Arogundade Hero of Integrity

 

NAMES OF 2014 AWARDEES

  1. Late Pa. Anthony Enahoro                         Symbol of Integrity
  2. Tunji Braithwaite Symbol of Integrity
  3. (Mrs.) Keziah Awosika                                   Symbol of Integrity
  4. Primate Olapade Agoro Icon of Integrity
  5. Dipo Fashina Icon of Integrity
  6. Late Com. Baba Omojola             Legend of Integrity

 

For this year’s edition, the following persons who have demonstrated sufficient resistance against corruption have been nominated to be conferred with the CACOL INTEGRITY AWARDS (CIA), 2017. The award ceremony is billed for the first week of September, 2017 when the 10 year Ann

  • Mr Ibrahim Magu             Integrity Man of the Year
  • Comrade Hassan Sumonu             Symbol of Integrity
  • Christopher Kolade             Legend of Integrity
  • (Mrs.) Sophie Oluwole             Symbol of Integrity
  • Festus Iyayi (Post Humus)                                      Martyr of Integrity
  • Eskor Toyo (Post Humus)                                        Legend of Integrity
  • Mr Omoyele Sowore Hero of Integrity
  • Late Barr. Alao Aka-Bashorun (Post Humus) Martyr of Integrity
  • Late Com. Barr. Kanmi Ishola-Osobu (Post Humus) Legend of Integrity
  • Babajide Kolade-Otitoju Icon of Integrity

 

While counting on the unbiased and honest comments, critiques or support from the public in this process, we give our profound appreciations for the anticipated contributions of all and sundry.

 

Yours in service to humanity

CIA Logo

Debo Adeniran

Executive Chairman,

Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL

08037194969,

cacolc@yahoo.com, dadnig@yahoo.com,

www.deboadeniran.com

 

 

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24 Feb

CACOL Protest and & Action Pictures

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