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Govt Targets $35bn Diaspora Remittances for Housing Development

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The several billions of dollars being remitted annually by Nigerians in Diaspora may be the target of agencies of the Federal Government for use in developing the country’s housing sector, OKECHUKWU NNODIM reports

In its bid to cut down the 17 million housing deficit in Nigeria, reduce corrupt practices and ensure adequate use of foreign exchange sent home by Nigerians in other countries, the Federal Government has commenced moves aimed at using part of the billions of dollars remitted annually by Nigerians in Diaspora for the development of houses across the country.

The initiative, which is spearheaded by the Federal Housing Authority, in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission, also has a target of providing a sustainable forex inflow of at least $10bn annually into the Nigerian economy.

According to the FHA, government’s intention is to use funds sent back home for the construction of what could be termed Diaspora cities in different locations across the country.

It stated that over 15 million Nigerians were in Diaspora and that individual remittances hit $21bn in 2013, adding that with a secured housing programme in place, it could be as much as $35bn.

Speaking on the significance of using Diaspora funds for housing development, the Chairman of the ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta, stated that a lot of Nigerians living abroad were often defrauded whenever they sent money home for the construction of houses or for other forms of investment.

In a bid to address this disturbing issue, he said his agency had decided to partner the FHA to help Nigerians in Diaspora channel their funds to projects that could be guaranteed as well as help grow the economy and increase the amount of forex coming to Nigeria annually.

Nta, who spoke in Abuja, said, “By way of introduction, I want to state that I was invited by Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation sometime in 2015 to come to their meeting in Germany. At the end of that exercise, I came back home and did a lot more investigations and discovered that they had two main problems. First, in 2015, they sent back to Nigeria $25bn as remittance.

“Now, when you break down this money that they sent home, it is generally to secure accommodation for themselves either by building through relations or developers; to give allowances to their parents; or to start up businesses. And in all three cases, the findings I had through my organisation were that their aspirations were not met.”

He added, “Most of the money meant for buildings, if they wanted a duplex, the people would deliberately build stores; and when they complained, those who built the structures would take them away just like that. And sometimes these people created artificial security problem so that those in Diaspora won’t even come home to ask for the money they sent. For the brave ones that decided to come home, they were kidnapped and when released, they didn’t come back home again.

“Some others went through developers in cities like Abuja, Lagos and other places and had same experience. So we had all kinds of problems and that set me thinking.”

The ICPC boss said he had to come up with a Memorandum of Understanding between the anti-graft agency and Nigerians living abroad on how to invest their remittances to Nigeria gainfully without being defrauded, as well as contribute to the national economy positively.

He said, “So, I decided to do an MoU between the ICPC and Nigerians in Diaspora, starting from the German chapter. And with that MoU, I told them that if they wanted property and let the ICPC to know their developers, we could help do the land search and verification for free as part of our anti-corruption drive.

“And for their business partners, we could do a security check on them, because if the total foreign reserves of Nigeria as of last month were $30bn for the whole country, and a group is sending $25bn, you don’t ignore that kind of group. And for 2016, remittances to Nigeria from Nigerians in Diaspora moved up to $35bn. These are verifiable things from official sources.”

He added, “After the MoU, I made contact with the FHA boss and told them that the agency could tap into this because the people need good accommodation and they have the funds. I have also gone to the banks on this issue, for if you are transmitting $25bn to your country and Western Union, for example, is taking 0.1 per cent of that, then that is huge.

“So, why can’t Nigerian banks key into it? I’ve sold the same idea to our banks and told them that if they could not set up as individual banks, they could form a consortium of banks and work out their remittances. We need to tap into this to not just build property, but also improve our forex inflow and grow our economy.”

A report by the FHA and the ICPC on Nigerian Diaspora Housing Programme stated that the office of the vice-president would serve as the project facilitator; the ICPC, the promoter; while the authority would serve as the developer and owner.

It stated that the pilot projects, which would be in phases, would be constructed in Abuja, Benin, Port Harcourt and Lagos in 2017, adding that its second phase would be in Enugu, Kaduna, Asaba and Ibadan/Ota in 2018.

A total of 15,680 housing units are to be constructed in the pilot phase, while $630m or N232bn is needed to finance this stage of the construction work.

“The figure is expected to double in the second phase to N1.88tn and with sales revenue, total inflow will be estimated at $6bn or N2.5tn,” the housing authority stated in the report.

Commenting on the development, the Managing Director, FHA, Prof. Mohammed Al-Amin, said the government had commissioned some consultants to seek ways of attracting forex into Nigeria and noted that with the initiative of building Diaspora cities, there was hope in actualising the target.

He further stated that the FHA had held meetings with the ICPC and Osinbajo on ways to drive the initiative and that the two Federal Government agencies had agreed to work together in achieving the set target.

Al-Amin said, “After extensive meetings with the ICPC chairman on the needs of our citizens in Diaspora, we saw it as a golden opportunity to partner the commission. We then formed a small a small committee here in the authority and articulated how we thought the housing project for Nigerians in Diaspora can be actualised.

“We submitted the draft and he went through it and I think that was the basis of how he generated much more interest in what we do here to link us up with Diaspora Nigerians and to ensure that we are able to help them attain their aspirations.”

He also said, “Nigerians need to know that the Federal Government had commissioned some consultants to find out how it could attract more foreign exchange into the country, because as we speak, there is paucity of forex within our economy.

“The consultants came with the idea that the resources being remitted by our citizens from Diaspora are huge opportunities if government will encourage those remittances on sustainable basis through housing. This is because one of the things that the consultants mentioned was that a large chunk of the remittances actually goes into homeownership.

“Unfortunately, these remittances mostly end up in wrong hands or wrong decisions are being taken on them. For out of every 10 Diaspora citizens, hardly will you find five that have not been victims of one issue or the other.”

To address this problem, Al-Amin said the office of the vice president had to intervene and the intervention was to ensure that the remitted funds were used to develop houses with guarantee for Nigerians in Diaspora.

He said, “The Office of the Vice President picked interest in the issue of housing our Diaspora citizens, assisting them to get accommodation and handling issues of homeownership as well as encouraging them to start thinking of coming back home. This will ensure that we have vast experience and bring resources that will be invested back home.

“Based on that, we had another fertile collaboration and recently, we had a meeting in the Presidential Villa with Osinbajo as the Acting President where we discussed this project. The finance ministry too is looking into the issue. Part of what we discussed is captured in the Nigerian Diaspora Housing Programme.”

Is the CEO and Founder of Investors King Limited. He is a seasoned foreign exchange research analyst and a published author on Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur.com, Investorplace, and other prominent platforms. With over two decades of experience in global financial markets, Olukoya is well-recognized in the industry.

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Knocks, Kudos For Judiciary Over Stoppage of Allocations to Rivers State as Fubara Boasts of Coping Without FG’s Funds

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Siminalayi Fubara

A mixture of condemnation and praises has trailed a judgement of a Federal High Court that stopped the release of state allocations to the Rivers State Government.

Investors King had reported that Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of a Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, ordered the stoppage of the release of monthly federal allocations to Rivers State.

Justice Abdulmalik predicated her action on the grounds that the state government was in violation of the Constitution as regarding the state expenditures.

According to the judge, the current budget being operated by the state was not passed by a lawful arm of the Rivers State House of Assembly, therefore, Fubara is not entitled to allocations from the government at the centre.

Meanwhile, some stakeholders in the country have knocked the judiciary over the decision, calling on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun to rein in on judges’ actions over the political crisis ravaging Rivers.

For former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the judiciary should be cautioned against setting the South-South State on fire.

In a statement by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, the former Vice President, said it was appalling that some elements loyal to the Federal Government were pulling the strings from behind.

Atiku wondered why Justice Joyce Abdulmalik issued the order when it was public knowledge that Rivers State had already challenged the Court of Appeal’s judgement on the legality of Rivers State’s 2024 budget.

He, however, called on Justice Kekere-Ekun to ensure that those found wanting are disciplined in order to restore the fading glory of the nation’s judiciary.

In the same vein, Chief Emeka Kalu, National Coordinator of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Coalition observed that the ongoing crisis plaguing Rivers State must be handled with caution to save it from unnecessarily being flamed in uncontrollable state of lawlessness.

Kalu in the statement said the judiciary is expected to maintain its integrity and protect her independence by working to avoid being politically purchased to harm democratic processes and the ethics of law.

According to him, the recent judgement by the Abuja Federal High Court division directing the RMAFC to stop releasing statutory monthly allocation to the State government was done out of bias and politically motivated plans to disrupt Fubara ‘s administration.

The group affirmed that it remains the height of injustice for a political party under the guise of personal interest to continue raising the dust of anarchy against the will of the people and the judiciary is expected to redeem and revitalize the failed system instead of allowing herself to be used to ruin the polity.

On the contrary, the National Democratic and Change Coalition has hailed the court for the judgment banning further release of allocations to Rivers and called on Governor Fubara to refund all monies spent without appropriation to the state coffers.

The coalition, while expressing satisfaction with the ruling, said the people of Rivers State have been vindicated and the long-awaited justice has been served on the governor.

Reacting via a press release by John Uloko, president of the coalition hailed Justice Joyce Abdulmalik for the judgment, saying that since January 2024, Rivers State had received and spent allocations based on an “illegitimate” budget, thereby describing it as a “constitutional aberration”.

The group, made up of lawyers, agreed with the court that Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s presentation of the 2024 budget before a four-member Rivers House of Assembly was an affront to the constitutional provision.

It added that the ruling is a victory for democracy and will teach rogue governors the bitter lesson that the Constitution of the Federal Republic must be respected and the sanctity of the nation’s democratic institutions upheld irrespective of their political desperation.

Nonetheless, the embattled Governor Fubara, on Wednesday said the restriction placed on the state allocations is “the least” of his problems.

Governor Fubara stated this during a special thanksgiving service organised by the state government to celebrate his administration’s resilience amid escalating political crises, which began with the arson attack on the State House of Assembly complex exactly one year ago.

Governor Fubara assured that despite the court order, his administration would continue payments to contractors and ensure workers’ salaries are disbursed from today (Thursday).

He also confirmed that allocations for the 23 Council Chairmen would be credited, as the Joint Accounts Allocation Committee procedures have been completed.

The governor encouraged his supporters to remain resilient, assuring them that all challenges are surmountable.

Reflecting on his administration’s success, Governor Fubara noted that despite predictions that his government would not last even a week, he has successfully led for over a year.

He said his administration has also conducted local government elections against all odds and maintained a full cabinet despite attempts to undermine his leadership through resignations.

Highlighting his administration’s progress, he mentioned ongoing project executions across the state, countering critics who claimed he would be unable to deliver.

He also cited recent reports that position Rivers State as one of the leaders in financial accountability and transparency.

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Court Bars FG From Giving Monthly Allocation To Rivers Government

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Siminalayi Fubara

The Federal High Court in Abuja has restrained the Federal Government of Nigeria from giving monthly constitutional allocation to Rivers State Government.

Specifically, the court presided over by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik stopped the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Accountant General of the Federation, Zenith Bank and Access Bank from further allowing Fubara to access money from the Consolidated Revenue and Federation Account.

Justice Abdulmalik stated while delivering the order on Wednesday that further release of monthly financial allocations to the Rivers State government is unconstitutional and an aberration.

The court maintained that the previous collection and disbursement of monthly allocations since January this year by Governor Siminalayi Fubara is a constitutional somersault and aberration that must not be allowed to continue.

The judge anchored his decision on the manner in which Governor Fubara presented the 2024 budget, stressing that the presentation of the fiscal document before a 4-member Rivers House of Assembly was an affront to the Constitutional provision.

He said that Fubara action in implementing unlawful budget smacked gross violations of the 1999 Constitution he swore to protect.

Abdulmalik then stopped the CBN, the Accountant General of the Federation, Zenith Bank and Access Bank from further allowing Fubara to access money from the Consolidated Revenue and Federation Account.

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Government

Senate Postpones Screening Of Ministerial Nominees, Gives Reasons

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Senate President Akpabio

Nigerian Senate has shifted the scheduled screening for ministerial nominees, initially set for today.

The postponement of the exercise to Wednesday is to enable the nominees provide all needed documents as well as allow for sufficient time to complete their documentation and pre-screening processes.

The announcement was contained in a statement signed on Tuesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, Senator Basheer Lado.

According to Lado, the screening will hold on Wednesday, at 12:00 pm.

Lado, while explaining the reason for the postponement said the scheduled screening of ministerial nominees was shifted by the Senate, adding that it is to allow all nominees to conclude all aspects of documentation and pre-screening exercises.

He said the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters thanked the public for their understanding and cooperation.

Recall that the Special Adviser to the President had on Monday disclosed in a statement that the screening will hold today.

President Tinubu had written the Senate, seeking the screening and subsequent confirmation of appointments of seven ministerial nominees announced in Abuja last Wednesday.

Tinubu’s request was contained in a letter addressed to the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and read last Thursday during plenary.

According to the letter, the ministerial nominees were Dr Nentawe Yilwatda, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction; Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi, Minister of Labour and Employment; and Bianca Odinaka Odumegu-Ojukwu, Minister of State, Foreign Affairs.

Others were Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Minister of Industry, Trade and Development; Idi Muktar Maiha, Minister of Livestock Development; Rt Hon Yusuf Abdullahi Ata, Minister of State, Housing; and Dr Suwaiba Said Ahmad, Minister of State, Education.

President Tinubu in the letter had sought expeditious consideration of his request by the Senate.

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