Friday, September 13, 2019
In line with the directives of the Honourable Minister of Communications Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami on assumption of office to all Agencies and Parastatals under his purview, the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has submitted its baseline short-term performance targets report.

In a press release signed by the Spokesperson to the Honourable Minister of Communications, Uwa Suleiman, he said that the report signed by the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission contained precise figures of improperly registered SIM cards in use around the country.

The Commission in its report disclosed that an estimated nine million two hundred thousand (9.2M) SIM cards did not comply with the proper procedures of SIM registration. The investigation which was carried out at the behest of the minister, has exposed for the first time in the Telecomms history of Nigeria, in precise detail, the magnitude of defaulters.  
Reacting to the report, the minister expressed concern over the security implication of this discovery and further directed that the Telecomms regulator, should with immediate effect, ensure that all improperly registered numbers are duly reregistered.
FG orders NCC to block over Nine million unregistered SIM cards in Nigeria
To ensure maximum compliance, Dr Pantami, has directed NCC to ensure all mobile network operators block all SIM cards that do not meet proper registration standards until users comply with proper reregistration procedures.  
The security implication of this irregularity is too grave to ignore and the Federal Ministry of Communications will not tolerate any actions or inactions that will compromise the nation’s security.

Thursday, September 12, 2019
The Federal Executive Council which President Buhari presided over on Wednesday Septmber 11, approved the increment of value added tax (VAT) rate from 5 percent to 7.2% percent.

The Minister of finance, budget and national planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed confirmed the increment at the end of the cabinet meeting. The new rate which will take effect from 2020 is however subject to an amendment of the VAT act of 1994 by the national assembly.


Zainab further said there will be immediate consultations with states, local governments and other relevant stakeholders before the new rate takes effect in 2020.


She said: “We also reported to council and council has agreed that we start the process towards the increase of the VAR rate. We are proposing and council has agreed increase the VAT rate from five percent to 7.2 per cent.

“This is important because the federal government only retains 15 per cent of the VAT, 85 per cent is actually for the states and local government and the state need additional revenue to be able to meet the obligations of the minimum wage.

“This process involves extensive consultations that need to be made across the country at various levels and also it will involve the review of the VAT Act. So, it is not going to be implemented immediately until the Act is reviewed.

“So, accordingly, following these assumptions the total revenue estimate in the sum of N7.5 trillion for the year 2020 and N2.09 trillion that will be accruing to the federation account and the VAT respectively.

“There will of course be the distribution to the three tiers of government based on the statutorily revenue sharing formula as defined in the constitution and to this effect, it means the Federal Government will be receiving proposed aggregate of N4.26 trillion from the federal account and the VAT pool, while the states and the local government are expected to receive N3.04 trillion and N2.27 trillion respectively.

“The expenditure for the year 2020 is in the total sum of N10.07 trillion. This is three percent less than the approved expenditure in the 2019 budget that has been passed into law. The total expenditure includes statutory transfers, non-debt recurrent expenditure such as salaries and pensions and also the Social Intervention Programmes (SIPs).

“The 2020 budget has a debt service estimated at N2.45 trillion and a sinking fund to retire maturing obligations issued to local contractors and other creditors in the sum of N296 billion. So, there is a total sum of N3.43 trillion that is provided for personnel and pension cost inclusive of N218 billion for the top 19 government-owned enterprises in the country.

“This represents an increase of N453 billion over the 2019 approved budgetary expenditure. This also implies a 40 percent of this recurrent expenditure to the projected revenue.

“The budget deficit is projected at N2.15 trillion in the year 2020 and this is lower than what was approved in the 2019 budget which was N2.47 trillion.

“Let me state that these projections include draw downs on project tied loans and this represent 1.51 percent of estimated gross domestic product (GDP). This is well below what is allowed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2007 which is still put at three per cent.

“I want to add that council approved our presentation and so the next phase for us is to consult with the National Assembly and then the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to the National Assembly for its own view and subsequent approval.”


The military government of Sani Abacha replaced the sales tax with the VAT in 1994. It was pegged at 5% at that time.

Thursday, September 12, 2019
EFCC, Lagos Zonal office, has arrested one John Ani Chukwuebuka for his alleged involvement in computer-related fraud.

The suspect, a 30-year-old graduate, was arrested in the Jakande-Lekki Area of Lagos during a collaborative operation by the EFCC and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI.

Chukwuebuka alongside his conspirators, Idowu Adetokunbo Taiwo and Sherrif Shoaga (still at large) allegedly engaged in Business Email Compromise, BEC, where they redirected the sum of $4,000,000 to several accounts between 2016 and 2018.


Thursday, September 12, 2019
Two Cameroonian sister have been arrested for allegedly poisoning the drink of a man that took them out on a date, before stealing his car after he fell asleep for two days.

The suspects Yamba Kinloga Lauren Raissa and her sister Ngo Dingom Yolande Viave were alleged to have poisoned the drink of their victim after he stood up to use the toilet.

The drink made him fall into deep sleep for two days. Upon waking up, the victim discovered that his car had been stolen. The suspects took the car to Auchi, Edo State, where they sold it for N1.5million.

Narrating how the suspects were arrested, Police Spokesman, Frank Mba, said, ”their victim reported that on the 13th August 2019 at about 10:50hours, he went to Millikent hotel in Apo, Abuja together with one Yamba and her sister, Ngo, to have a drink.

In the course of their drinking, he went to the toilet but before his return,  the ladies poisoned his drinks and after consuming same, he went into deep sleep.

The sisters took his Lexus ES 350 and drove off. The suspects were arrested on the 18th August 2019 in Jos, Plateau state while attempting to flee the country.”

Speaking on how they carried out the act, Viave said: “We met the man in Abuja after he stopped to give us free ride. After the ride, we exchanged contact with him and after several calls, my sister agreed to go out for a drink with him.


I followed her and in the course of having to drink, my sister posited her drink and we took the car.” Only one of the suspects was paraded because the elder sister who championed the operation, is currently sick.

Wednesday, September 11, 2019
The corpse of a Lebanese national,  Basan Khodari was found in a septic tank at his Lagos residence on the afternoon of Tuesday September 10.

A private guard employed by the deceased, Adamu Mohammed is suspected to have carried out the act as properties belonging to the deceased which include three split unit air conditioners, a generator and three plasma television were looted from his house at 21 Bombay Crescent in Apapa, after the act was carried out.

Khodari had returned from his Abuja trip unannounced to meet Mohammed and his accomplices stealing his properties on Monday September 9. He reportedly confronted the guard for bringing in strangers into his home and stealing from him, sources claimed this got Mohammed angry.

Eyewitnesses who confirmed the heated argument at the deceased's home on Monday, said they were shocked to discover his dead body inside the tank around 2pm on Tuesday. The Nation reported that the hand, mouth and legs of the Lebanese national were tied before being dumped in the septic tank. The deceased also had visible violent marks on his body.

Lagos police spokesmanm, Bala Elkana confirmed the incident and he disclosed that some suspects are already in police custody. He also said that Homicide detectives recovered a double barrel gun with 38 cartridges in the guard’s room after arriving the scene of the incident.

“We are trailing the key suspect. Some persons have been arrested and investigation is ongoing. I cannot give you further details so that we do not jeopardise investigation,” he said.

Wednesday, September 11, 2019
A cashier with a photographic memory has been arrested for memorizing 1,300 credit cards and going on a shopping spree.

Yusuke Taniguchi, 34, who was recently arrested, committed the crime while he was working at a mall in Koto City in Tokyo.

Japan Today reports that Taniguchi used the credit card information to finance his basic living expenses and purchase luxury items online.

Police were tipped off after Taniguchi purchased an expensive pair of shoulder bags totaling over $2,500, and had the bags delivered to his apartment.

According to Police, whenever a customer would pay by credit card, the suspect allegedly memorized their 16-digit-number, name, expiry date, and security code, all in the time it took to process their purchase.

During a search at his apartment , Police said they found a notebook containing the hundreds of names and numbers and are currently linking them to past incidents to determine the scope of his alleged crimes.


It was also reported that Mr. Yusuke was using an apparent eidetic memory often called a “photographic memory” to memorize people's information on their credit cards. 
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