By Adedapo Adesanya

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukayode, has urged the National Assembly to speedily pass the Unexplained Wealth Bill.

Mr Olukayode made the appeal at the ongoing National Conference on Public Accounts and Fiscal Governance, organised by the Senate and House of Representatives Public Accounts Committees on Thursday.

“Help me pass the Unexplained Wealth Bill, I’ve been begging for the past one year. This same bill was thrown out in the last Assembly. If we don’t make individuals accountable for what they have, we’ll never get it right,” he pleaded.

The bill seeks to go after Nigerians with no known source of wealth or with illicit means of gathering wealth.

Speaking at the event, he said the anti-graft has mounting evidences of people living above their means and there was no clear-cut law holding them accountable.

“In the last three weeks, we started a commission-wide investigation into the extractive industry, particularly the oil and gas sector. What we have discovered is mind-boggling.

“We have only just opened the books. So much more corruption is to be unraveled. If this is what we’re seeing at the surface, imagine what lies beneath.

“There is a very strong connection between the mismanagement of our resources and insecurity.

“When you look at banditry, kidnapping, terrorism, trace it back, and you will find a pattern of corrupt practices and diversion of funds that were meant to improve people’s lives.

“Someone has worked in a ministry for 20 years. We calculate their entire salary and allowances. Then we find five property , two in Maitama, three in Asokoro. Yet, we’re told to go and prove a predicate offence before we can act. That is absurd,” he said.

The EFCC boss urged all Nigerians to put aside creed, politics and ethnic sentiments to block revenue leakage and save the economy of the country.

Mr Olukayode also said that Nigerians should not fail to take advantage presented by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to block revenue leakage as it could spell doom for the country.

According to him, no amount of capacity will be able to recover half of the resources stolen from Nigeria as many host countries are not willing to repatriate.

He said that the best option was to prevent corruption saying that failure to do so, corruption would kill the country.

By Bon Peters

Officers and men of the Port Harcourt Area 11, Onne Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have been charged to always ensure legitimate trade is facilitated.

This charge was given by the Zonal Coordinator of NCS Zone C, Assistant Comptroller General (ACG) SK Dangladima, during a visit to the command on Tuesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

He hinted that the core mandate of the agency was to collect revenue, facilitate trade and suppress smuggling, stressing that personnel should ensure that legitimate trade is facilitated, while customs brokers or agents must avoid wrong declaration.

“Let’s facilitate legitimate trade,” he declared.

Speaking on the staff training, he noted that going forward; promotion would be based on improvement on staff educational qualification.

“I advise you to go for junior or senior courses at Gwagwalada to improve yourself because promotion will be based on merit as customs is in a new era and for you to be promoted going forward, you must have passed through your junior or senior courses at Gwagwalada,” he posited.

On the movement of containers to bonded terminals, he emphasized that containers on transire should be escorted to their destinations without diversion while insisting that containers should not be delayed.

“Containers on transire should be escorted and make sure they reach their destinations. Please don’t delay containers. Work together and be your brother’s keeper,” the customs officer stated.

While speaking on the inter-agency collaboration, he said that other agencies involved in the examination and release of containers should be handy at all time to avoid unnecessary delays and ensure that containers are released in good time.

He scored Onne Customs Command Controller, Mr Mohammed Babandede, high on revenue generation, urging the stakeholders to assist in making sure that command achieves its revenue target for the year 2025.

Earlier in his address, Mr Babandede thanked his guest for the visit, assuring him that the revenue target for the year should be met.

He also informed him of some challenges his command was facing, including accommodation, operational vehicles, and the newly introduced B’odogwu platform, which he said has been having migration issues from Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS) to B’odogwu most of the time as a result of network failure.

By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria has taken steps to fix a visa policy after the United States reduced the validity of its non-immigrant visa for Nigerians to three months from five years.

The Minister of Interior, Mr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, met with the United States ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Richard Mills, over the recently introduced visa procedures by the US government for Nigerians.

Mr Tunjo-Ojo in a statement on Wednesday, a day after the US announced a major change to its visa policy for Nigeria, said, “Our government, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu (GCFR), will continue to ensure strict compliance across the board in key areas, including secure travel documents, ensuring the issuance of secure travel documents with verified traveller identities. Visa overstay management: Implementing measures to limit overstays by travellers on US visas.”

According to the Minister, the gathering was aimed at strengthening ties between Nigeria and the US through a well-structured visa framework.

He said the recently introduced visa procedures by the US government for Nigerian nationals were discussed during the meeting.

Mr Tunji-Ojo stated said the US ambassador provided “valuable insights into the revised protocol and its alignment with established practices to uphold the integrity of the visa process.”

“The ambassador described the new e-visa policy of the Nigeria Immigration Service as an innovation intended to streamline and enhance the application process for foreign travellers into the country,” he stated.

“The Ministry of Interior, the Nigeria Immigration Service, and the US Mission in Nigeria agreed to strengthen collaboration, emphasizing adherence to visa regulations and promoting responsible travel practices among Nigerian citizens.

“Information sharing: Sharing relevant security and/or criminal record information to protect public safety,” the minister added.

In its reciprocal policy, the US said nearly all non-immigrant and non-diplomatic visas issued to Nigerian citizens will now be single-entry and valid for only three months, adding that this is part of a global reciprocity realignment, a sharp shift from previous visa terms, which often allowed for multiple entries over two years or more.

Nigeria also offers single-entry visas valid for three months only for those planning to visit the country from the US.

Business Post reports that Nigeria has no ambassador to the US, under President Bola Tinubu.