Court orders Navy to pay N200m over illegal detention of vessel

By Onozure Dania

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the Nigerian Navy and the Chief of Naval Staff, jointly and severally, to pay an oil company, Mercury Oil Limited, the sum of N200 million as damages for illegally detaining its vessel M T SAPPHIRE 1 and siphoning 280,000 litres of Automated Gas Oil contained in the said vessel.

Navy-officials

Trial judge, Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke said: “The present case has brought to the fore once again, the arrogant, brutal, callous and capricious manner our law enforcement agencies commonly adopt in the exercise of their functions to the consternation and embarrassment of any discerning and decent mind around. We are in a democracy and must do everything to enthrone and nurture democratic ethos for the good of the society.”

The judgment was sequel to enforcement of rights suit by Mercury Oil Ltd., its vessel M T SAPPHIRE 1,and four crew members on board, Folorunso Olayiwola, Joshua Arthur, Asabalashe Johnson and Wale Alade, through their counsel, Mr Norrison Quakers, SAN.

In an affidavit in support of the suit, the Managing Director of the firm averred that sometime in February, 2014,Mercury Oil company was engaged in offshore operation to load Automotive Gas Oil, AGO after relevant approvals were obtained. However, the vessel and its crew members were arrested on suspicion of engaging in illegal operations.

After due investigation by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, which is the body responsible for such investigation, the vessel was cleared of any wrong doing or illegal activities and it was recommended that the vessel should be released, but the Nigerian Navy refused and during the period the vessel was in detention, the 280,000 litres of AGO in the vessel was illegally siphoned by the Nigerian Navy.

The product on board of the vessel, the MD averred, was financed by a bank loan to the tune of N170 million.

The claimants had demanded N200million as general damages and also urged the court to declare their arrest and detention illegal and also declare as illegal and unlawful the siphoning of 280,000 liters of the AGO on board of their vessel.

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/12/court-orders-navy-to-pay-n200m-over-illegal-detention-of-vessel/

Posted by Ike Onwubuya

Writing books as a woman is challenging – Djevwudu

The Leader of the South South Women Organisation, Vickie Djevwudu, and authour of the book, “Aviation in Nigeria: History, Issues and Prospects” has said that the process of writing books by women is challenging due to their effort in trying to combine family, work and others.

•Vickie Djevwudu

Djevwudu who authoured the book on aviation said she had no prior training or knowledge on the industry but joined a group, Aviation Round Table and read so much of aviation books.

This gave rise to the overall success of the book publication, she highlighted, explaining that as a media practitioner in the Public Relations field, she is a readymade tool. The book has 10 chapters and 215 pages produced to aid aviation students and stakeholders.

By Providence Obuh

THE book: “Aviation in Nigeria: History Issues and Prospects” was thought out of a simple and single question that I asked someone in the year 2000 in the aviation industry.

All I did was to say I want to read a book on the history of aviation in Nigeria and they told me such books would be difficult to get, and I was shocked to hear that I can’t find such a book in an industry like the aviation industry and that was how I summoned courage to write, even if I knew nothing about the aviation industry.

Sourcing for materials

I contacted a lot of professionals in the industry and that made me join “Aviation Round Table” a Non Governmental Organisation in the industry and I read a lot of books on aviation and that was where I realised that safety and security were major constraints besetting the aviation industry. I met a Doyen in the industry, Captain Dele Ore who gave me the boldness with which to stand and became a trustee member of the aviation round table, so that was the starting point and I became more involved in the industry.

To what extent has this book addressed the issues in the Aviation industry

It did and don’t forget that I couldn’t have done all the work alone, it involves a lot of research from various people, I had to meet a lot of expert and professionals, in fact what some of them did was to give me paper presentations they have made at one occasion or the other to work on, many of them I spoke with and some via interviews so from there I got a wealth of information of what I actually needed and of course my daily confrontation with happenings in the industry helped me to learn further and example is, we have one of the airports where once it is 6:00pm, they close for the day because there is no lighting facilities for planes to come in at 9:00pm, this is a problem but however, the industry will continue to grow and it is growing, only the leaders need a  vision to move things forward.

   Challenges of writing

You write and the editors will make corrections again and again until everybody has punctuated. Anybody I tell I am writing a book, they shout and tell me I must be a genius. All together, it is not easy combining work, family life and a whole lot of things with other business to writing a book, it was not easy but one thing about a vision or dream is that if you drive it to a point with love and zeal, at a point it turns around and the dream will now start driving you, that was what happened in my case and that was the driving force but if it was me driving the dream, it couldn’t have been possible. Don’t forget that you write and take it back to the professionals to look at and do addition and subtraction.

Who should buy the book

It is strictly for the aviation industry and aviation schools, travel agent, it good for upcoming people in the industry.

And the women association

We started even before former President Jonathan, came into power, as Women in South South but in 2004/2005 we changed the name to South South Women Organisation.

I was born and grew up in Lagos State and had seen the way the Western women have been into humanitarian business, they see the other woman who cannot measure up to them as their problem and they find a way to alleviate that problem which is why NGO’s became rampant in Lagos.

You will see these women come together in groups fighting for the cause of each other. Our objectives is to Educate, Empower and to give Humanitarian services

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/12/writing-books-as-a-woman-is-challenging-djevwudu/

Posted by Ike Onwubuya

Japanese mobile phone that can be cleaned with soap

The device, named Digno Rafre, can be "cleaned as thoroughly as a piece of tableware" and will be released in Japan next week.

A Japanese mobile phone company has created a phone which it claims can be washed with soap without any damage to the device.

On the average, a mobile phone is thought to be covered in more bacteria than the average toilet, which means mobile phones harbor numerous germs from clothing and hands.

British online tabloid Mirror.co.ukreports that Japanese company Kyocera has designed a new phone that can be cleaned with soap and water.

READ: Indigenous mobile advertising app officially launched

The device, named Digno Rafre, can be "cleaned as thoroughly as a piece of tableware" and will be released in Japan next week.

The developers of the phone have not released any information on what keeps the phone working while wet except that it has no speaker and transmits sound through “connective tissue” as opposed to a traditional speaker.

The phone will run Android 5.1, sport a 13MP camera and measure 5-inches in length. It will cost £310 but unfortunately, will not be released outside Japan.

Buhari Presides Over Emergency FEC Meeting

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday held what the federal government called a special Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting within the Council Chambers at the Presidential Villa.

Before addressing the meeting, President Buhari swore in two Permanent Secretaries, Olakunle Bamgbose and Mahmood Dutse.

Both of them were unavoidably absent during the swearing in of other permanent secretaries a few weeks earlier.

Although details of the meeting was not  made known to State House correspondents, indications show the council is putting final touches to the 2016 budget with special attention to the medium term expenditure framework.

Source: http://www.channelstv.com/2015/12/07/buhari-presides-over-emergency-fec-meeting/

Posted by Ike Onwubuya

75 million Africans Paid A bribe in 2014

A majority of Africans say corruption has risen in the past 12 months and most governments are seen as failing in their duty to stop the abuse of power, bribery and secret deals, according to a new opinion poll from Transparency International (http://www.Transparency.org).

In the report People and Corruption: Africa Survey 2015, part of the Global Corruption Barometer, Transparency International partnered with Afrobarometer, which spoke to 43,143 respondents across 28 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa between March 2014 and September 2015 to ask them about their experiences and perceptions of corruption in their country.

The majority (58 per cent) of Africans in the surveyed countries, say corruption has increased over the past 12 months. In 18 out of 28 countries surveyed a large majority of people said their government is doing badly at fighting corruption.

Despite these disappointing findings, the bright spots across the continent were in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Lesotho and Senegal. Citizens in these countries were some of the most positive in the region when discussing corruption.

For the first time, people reported business executives as highly corrupt. Business ranked as having the second highest levels of corruption in the region, just below the police. The police regularly rate as highly corrupt, but the strongly negative assessment of business executives is new compared to previous surveys.

Many Africans, particularly the poor, are burdened by corruption when trying to get access to key basic services in their country. 22 per cent of people that have come into contact with a public service in the past 12 months paid a bribe.

Of the six key public services that we asked about, people who come into contact with the courts and police are the most likely to have paid a bribe. 28 per cent and 27 per cent respectively of people who had contact with these services paid a bribe. Across the continent, poor people who use public services are twice as likely as rich people to have paid a bribe, and in urban areas they are even more likely to pay bribes.

“Corruption creates and increases poverty and exclusion. While corrupt individuals with political power enjoy a lavish life, millions of Africans are deprived of their basic needs like food, health, education, housing, access to clean water and sanitation. We call on governments and judges to stop corruption, eradicate impunity and implement Goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals to curb corruption. We also call on the people to demand honesty and transparency, and mobilize against corruption. It is time to say enough and unmask the corrupt,” said Transparency International Chair José Ugaz.

It is increasingly clear that citizens are a key part of any anti-corruption initiative. However, the survey finds that corruption reporting mechanisms are often seen as too dangerous, ineffective or unclear. More than 1 out of 3 Africans thinks that a whistleblower faces negative consequences for reporting corruption, which is why most people don’t report.

“Our work as civil society is clear: we have to spread a message of hope across the continent. Corruption can be tackled. People need to be given the space to stand up against it without fear of retaliation and governments need to get serious about ending the widespread impunity.”

Transparency International recommends:

– Governments strengthen and enforce legislation on corrupt business people and anti-money laundering to curb the high volume of illicit flows from the continent. This could address the negative perception of business if those profiting are held to account.
– Governments establish right to information and whistle-blower protection legislation to facilitate the role of civil society in making public institutions more transparent, accountable and corruption-free.
– Governments show a sustained and deep commitment to acting on police corruption at all levels by promoting reforms that combine punitive measures with structural changes over the short- and medium-term. Cracking down on petty bribery has direct impact on the most vulnerable in society.
– The African Union and its members provide the political will and financing needed to implement the review mechanism established for its anti-corruption convention.

Unless it’s stopped, corruption slows development and economic growth while weakening people’s trust in government and the accountability of public institutions.

Source: http://naija247news.com/2015/12/75-million-africans-paid-a-bribe-in-2014-ti-poll-says/

Posted by Ike Onwubuya