General News
Pinnacle, ICPC Trade Words over Alleged Invasion, Harassment of Staff
Management of Pinnacle Communications Ltd, on has condemned the alleged invasion of its Abuja office by operatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
ICPC has however threatened legal action against 44 property owners including two buildings in Abuja belonging to Pinnacle Communications Ltd.
Pinnacle Communications in a statement by Abayomi Oyelola, its lawyer, said that “Pinnacle Communications condemns, in very strong terms, the illegal attempt by ICPC to harass and intimidate the company and its officials and unbridled attempt to shut down its business.
“The action of ICPC further confirms that they have been on a witch-hunt mission from the beginning and are bent on victimizing Pinnacle Communications in direct contravention of a statement credited to the Chairman of ICPC at a speech delivered at the inauguration of the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit at the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun State.
“This statement was reported online on 20 January 2020, admonishing the staff against victimising people when doing their job. We add that they should also not scandalize genuine and law-abiding enterprises such as Pinnacle Communications Limited.
“Pinnacles Communication, as a law-abiding entity, expresses concern on this show of shame undertaken by ICPC and brazing use of force.”
The firm urged the Bolaji Owasanoye, ICPC chairman, to “rein in his officers” and ensure they comply with the rule of law and forestall actions that could further sink the image of the Commission.
It said the invasion happened on January 15, at its office located on Charles De Gaulle Street, Asokoro, Abuja, with the ICPC officials allegedly citing an “order from above.”
Mr Oyelola said the company is a licensed Digital Switch-Over operator in Nigeria, describing the invasion as despicable and unwarranted.
According to the company, the ICPC operatives had reportedly stormed the office with fully armed policemen in four vehicles, three Hilux vans, and a car, dressed in ICPC jackets that authenticated their identities to arrest the chairman and to seal the company.
The company’s lawyer said during the encounter, it demanded the warrants of arrest and order of the court granting the sealing of the office that legally motivated their move.
“It is common sense in a civilized country like Nigeria that production of a warrant of arrest is the sine qua non to entering premises and attempt to arrest people and that without an order from a court of competent jurisdiction no agency of Government has the right to seal off any business premises. There are boundless legal authorities on this.
“We consider the futile attempted invasion, intimidation and threat as clear evidence of the desperation of ICPC. ICPC had filed charges relating to fraud against Pinnacle Communications and its directors. This case is still pending in court. Issues have been joined and witnesses called and cross-examined.
“We need not say more than that in order not to be contemptuous of the court handling the pending litigation. But can this be a sign that what they apparently cannot get through the court they want to get by force?”
He added that the operatives failed to produce any document but rather claimed that they were working with geographical coordinates.
It further said that its officials, “could hear the conversation and the operative said: ‘we are here already’, ‘we have not entered’, ‘they claim he is not around’, ‘No pressmen, nobody’. Afterwards, the operative on the telephone suddenly said to his colleagues ‘let’s go, let’s go, let’s go’, and they left hurriedly, like a botched operation.
The Pinnacle officials heard the operatives lamenting on their way to their vehicles that they should have shot (gunshot) their way into the premises as soon as they arrived. This no doubt amounted to regulatory terrorism.
The company urged Abubakar Malami, attorney general of the Federation and the minister of Justice, to help investigate the matter.
“We are also urging the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, to swiftly check the excesses of the ICPC and investigate this matter with a view to defeating the obvious display of prejudice in the agency’s dealings with Pinnacle Communication Ltd.
Recall that the ICPC in February 2019 filed a 12-count charge before Justice Folashade Ogunbanjo-Giwa of the Federal High Court in Abuja, against Ishaq Kawu, director-general of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC); Lucky Omoluwa, and Dipo Onifade, chairman and chief operating officer of Pinnacle Communications Limited respectively, for allegedly misappropriating N2.5 billion.
Despite the ICPC failing to produce Lai Mohammed, minister of Information, to testify in court, a statement he made to the agency, tendered in court, indicated that he gave the approval for the release of N2.5 billion to the NBC, as seed grant for the Digital Switch Over project of the federal government.
Mr Mohammed was meant to explain his role in the alleged misapplication of the N2.5 billion funds for the federal government’s Digital Switch-Over (DSO) programme.
But the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has threatened legal action against 44 property owners including two buildings in Abuja belonging to Pinnacle Communications Ltd.
In a letter to the Management of Pinnacle Communications, ICPC also dismissed allegation by the digital telecommunication company that its operatives illegally invaded their Abuja office..
A copy of the ICPC letter, dated Jan. 24 and signed by Mr Akeem Lawal, agency’s director of Operations, was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday.
The anti-graft agency said its operatives stumbled on the buildings while investigating a “totally different” case of tax evasion.
The commission said the buildings were among 44 property (buildings and plots of land) whose list was forwarded to it by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for investigation.
The commission said FIRS requested the investigation after the ownership of the property was denied upon efforts to make their owners pay the relevant tax due.
According to ICPC, Pinnacle Communications was not mentioned as owners of any of the property on the list attached to the letter from FIRS.
It said its operatives arrived at the building in a bid to ascertain their coordinates and mappings as indicated by FIRS and confirmed by the FCT Department of Land Administration.
The commission dismissed Pinnacle’s “skewed and misleading’’ allegation as an attempt to link an honest investigative exercise with “the almost concluded case’’ against its chairman and others.
It further said that its operatives “do not go out to arrest persons in the course of locating property under investigation’’, contrary to the company’s allegation that they were there to kidnap the chairman.
“The reference at the briefing to the alleged lamentation of our staff `that they should have shot their way into the premises as soon as they arrived,’ is definitely far from the truth in the face of a legion of over ten armed mobile policemen on your premises.
“The commission deplores the bad faith evident in your media briefing and finds it really unprofessional that one of your counsels in the criminal case before the court, Abayomi Oyelola, who accosted our operatives after they had been denied entry into the premises by the policemen, was the same person that addressed the media on behalf of your company.
“Rather than come to our office the next day January, 16, 2020 as he had promised our officers, he thought otherwise and held a media briefing with the sole objective of painting the commission in bad light,’’ it said.
ICPC said since Pinnacle Communications had now claimed ownership of the two buildings, it should proceed to resolve the issue of ownership with the FCTA and tax evasion with FIRS.
The anti-graft agency gave the company three weeks from the date of the letter to act accordingly as it was prepared to take further legal actions on all the property
Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the Federal Government and the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to suspend the proposed increase in Nigeria’s mandatory pension contribution from 18 per cent to 21 per cent, warning that the policy would raise the cost of doing business, threaten jobs and undermine enterprise sustainability at a time of mounting economic pressures.
Dr. Chinyere Almona, director general of the LCCI, said while strengthening retirement security remains an important policy objective, increasing mandatory pension contributions by three percentage points would impose additional financial burdens on businesses already grappling with high borrowing costs, persistent inflation, foreign exchange volatility, rising energy prices and multiple taxes.
According to the chamber, the proposed increase comes at a period when many businesses, particularly micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), are struggling to remain profitable amid Nigeria’s challenging operating environment.
The LCCI noted that Nigeria’s existing mandatory pension contribution rate of 18 per cent comprising 10 per cent by employers and 8 per cent by employees is already broadly aligned with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average of 18.8 per cent.
It argued that raising the contribution to approximately 21 per cent would place Nigeria above several comparable economies, including the United Kingdom, where mandatory contributions stand at 8 per cent; the United States at 12.4 per cent; Kenya at 12 per cent, subject to earnings caps; and South Africa, where there is no equivalent mandatory private-sector pension contribution.
The chamber warned that implementing the proposed increase would significantly raise employment costs for employers, discourage new recruitment, constrain wage growth and place disproportionate pressure on MSMEs, which account for a substantial share of employment in Nigeria.
According to the LCCI, the higher payroll obligations could also reduce Nigeria’s competitiveness as an investment destination, encourage non-compliance with pension regulations and push more businesses into the informal sector.
“A stronger pension system cannot be built on weaker businesses,” the chamber stated, stressing that economic sustainability and business growth remain critical to expanding pension coverage over the long term.
The LCCI therefore called on the Federal Government to defer the proposal until a comprehensive Nigeria-specific actuarial and economic impact assessment is conducted to determine its implications for businesses, workers and the broader economy.
It also urged policymakers to engage in extensive consultations with organised private sector groups, labour unions and other key stakeholders before implementing any changes to the country’s pension contribution framework.
According to the chamber, the government’s immediate priority should be restoring business confidence, preserving existing jobs, encouraging investment and expanding the formal economy, which it described as the most sustainable pathway to improving retirement savings.
As an alternative to increasing contribution rates, the LCCI advised PenCom to focus on developing more innovative investment instruments capable of generating stronger returns on pension assets.
The chamber said improving investment performance would enhance contributors’ retirement savings without imposing additional financial obligations on employers and employees already facing difficult economic conditions.
Nigeria and the African Development Bank (AfDB), on Sunday, called for stronger African ownership of the continent’s vast mineral resources and advocated greater data sovereignty, regional collaboration and strategic financing to ensure Africa derives more economic value from its natural assets.
They spoke at the Ministerial Forum on Critical Minerals, Value Chain and Beneficiation: Pathways for African Transformation, organised by the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
Speaking at the forum, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, urged countries to embrace data sovereignty, regional collaboration and strategic financing to ensure mineral wealth translates into sustainable economic growth across Africa.
Alake urged ministers from Africa’s mineral-producing nations to pursue greater regional cooperation rather than isolated national strategies, arguing that coordinated action would enable the continent to derive greater value from its abundant mineral resources.
Alake said Africa must move beyond exporting raw minerals and adopt practical measures to secure full control of its natural assets through value addition and local processing.
He said: “While the mantra of value addition has ushered in an era of economic independence for mineral-producing nations, we need concrete actionable strategies to take charge and be in full control of our natural assets to ensure total economic freedom.”
The minister, who chairs the Africa Mineral Strategy Group (AMSG), said Nigeria had continued to champion a common continental agenda on mineral development through collaboration with more than 30 member countries focused on promoting value addition.
He also advocated greater African control over mineral resource data, describing the continent’s long-standing dependence on the Australia-based Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) reporting standard as outdated.
Alake added, “For the overall interest of the continent, and to efficiently and effectively safeguard its resources, Africa should take charge of the coding mechanisms utilised to assess its mineral assets.”
He urged African countries to adopt the Pan African Resource Reporting Code (PARC), developed by the Africa Minerals Development Centre (AMDC), saying the framework would promote transparency, consistency and ethical reporting while reflecting Africa’s unique geological and environmental realities.
Alake further proposed the establishment of a West African minerals processing hub and corridor stretching from Lagos to Dakar, modelled after the Lobito Corridor, to reduce infrastructure costs, encourage collaborative investment and enable participating countries to specialise in processing specific minerals.
According to him, the regional model would lower financial burdens on individual countries while promoting shared risks, increased trade and stronger value chains.
He also lamented the low level of intra-African trade, which he said stands at about 16 per cent, compared to roughly 60 per cent in Asia and 70 per cent in Europe.
In his remarks, AfDB President Dr. Sidi Ould Tah, described Africa’s mineral sector as a paradox, noting that despite the continent’s vast mineral endowment, it has yet to achieve corresponding gains in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or attract sufficient Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
Tah said Africa must overcome the disconnect between its enormous natural wealth and its limited global economic influence by strengthening financing mechanisms and developing integrated mineral value chains.
The forum concluded with the adoption of the Abidjan Declaration, which commits African countries to coordinate policies on critical minerals, regional infrastructure development, value-chain expansion and capital mobilisation.
Under the declaration, the African Development Bank pledged to deploy its financing instruments, technical expertise and capital mobilisation capacity to support mineral-producing countries, reduce investment risks, finance strategic infrastructure and accelerate the development of competitive and sustainable mineral value chains.
A statement by the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Lara Owoeye-Wise, said the declaration also urged African countries to strengthen national and regional capacities capable of attracting investment, financing viable projects and creating quality jobs through local value addition.
The forum brought together more than 20 ministers responsible for mining, energy, industry, natural resources and the green economy, alongside representatives of the African Development Bank, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the U.S. Export-Import Bank and mining companies from Germany, Canada and the United States.
Participants reaffirmed that stronger African cooperation, regional processing infrastructure, strategic financing and greater control over mineral resources remain essential to transforming the continent’s mineral wealth into broad-based and sustainable economic development.
Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, governor, Anambra State, has approved an indefinite ban on graduation ceremonies in kindergarten, primary and secondary schools across the state as part of efforts to reduce the financial burden on parents.
Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, governor, Anambra State,
The directive was confirmed by Dr. Law Mefor, commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, in a statement issued on Friday.
According to the commissioner, the government deemed it necessary to clarify the policy following public inquiries and concerns over the scope of the ban.
Mefor explained that the directive applies to all graduation-related ceremonies in both public and private schools across the state.
He said the ban covers events described as graduation, passing-out, crossover or any other ceremony organised to mark the completion of kindergarten, primary or secondary school levels.
The government said the decision was taken to discourage unnecessary financial obligations often imposed on parents through elaborate school celebrations.
The commissioner clarified that students completing Senior Secondary School (SS3) are exempt from the directive.
However, he stressed that graduation ceremonies for SS3 students are not compulsory and may only be held without imposing any financial burden on students or their parents.
According to him, schools choosing to organise such ceremonies must ensure that no levies, compulsory contributions or hidden charges are demanded from parents.
Mefor warned that the state government would not hesitate to sanction any school that violates the directive.
He said schools found organising prohibited graduation ceremonies or imposing illegal charges on parents risk severe penalties, including possible closure.
The commissioner urged school proprietors and administrators to comply fully with the directive in the interest of parents and the education sector.
The state government said the policy is part of broader efforts to make education more affordable and eliminate unnecessary expenses associated with school activities.
Many parents have previously complained about the increasing costs of graduation ceremonies, including compulsory levies for gowns, entertainment, souvenirs and other related expenses.
The government expressed optimism that the directive would ease the financial pressure on families while encouraging schools to focus more on academic excellence than ceremonial activities.
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