NEWSPAPER REVIEW: Olisa Metuh’s trial, Nigeria economy dominate front pages
27th Jan. 2016
Vanguard reports that the trial of Metuh continued yesterday, January 26, as a senior official from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Mr. Baleh Ndam, told the Federal High Court, Abuja, that Metuh’s firm, Destra Investments Limited, was among 78 beneficiaries of the alleged fraudulent payment from the ONSA without executing any contract.
Ndam, who testified before trial judge, Justice Okon Abang, added that the N400million electronically wired into the defendant’s company account amounted to alleged fraudulent payment for a contract not awarded.
Ndam is the third witness the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has brought to testify against the PDP spokesman.
In a related development, critics of the Muhammadu Buhari administration’s anti-corruption crusade yesterday got a reply – no intimidation or blackmail will stop the war.
According to The Nation, minister of Information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said Nigerians should be prepared for more mind boggling revelations in the 2014 and 2015 report, which is yet to be released.
Mohammed raised the alarm that treasury looters had resorted to fighting back, using various means. But he assured the country that the administration will not give in to their distractions.
In another development, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria yesterday warned Nigerians to brace for a longer period of low revenue from oil sources, which would necessitate hard and uncomfortable choices.
The committee, in a communique issued at the end of its first meeting for the 2016 fiscal period in Abuja, observed that while the period of low oil prices, which occurred in 2005, lasted for a maximum of eight months, the current situation was expected to continue over a longer period of time.
The CBN Governor. Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who read out the communique shortly after the meeting, said the development would necessitate huge sacrifices from Nigerians, The Punch reports.
Meanwhile, a huge sum of $849,750,903.00 (about N170 billion) has been invested in the construction of a 186-kilometre standard gauge rail line from Abuja (Idu Station) to Kaduna, the project is far from completion. The amount was obtained by the Federal Government from the China Export and Import (EXIM) Bank as a loan facility.
The Chinese construction company handling the project, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), is two years behind in delivering the rail transportation venture, The Guardian reports.
An official of the firm cited what he called ‘fresh hurdles,’ including exchange rate issues, as impediments to the completion of the project.
Finally, Daily Sun reports that police believed to be a church building located at the Ugwuaji area of Enugu, along the Enugu/Port Harcourt Expressway.
The corpses were already covered with concrete before they were discovered and exhumed.
Construction of the building, whose owner was yet to be ascertained as at the time of filing this report was said to have commenced recently and was still at the foundation level by the time the police made the discoveries.
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