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Promotion Saga: Nigerian staff of ECOWAS seek Tinubu’s intervention in addressing the persistent injustice they face regarding promotions and recruitment within the organization

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There are some anomalies observed in the just concluded promotional recruitment exercise. The reliable source insisted that since some of the actors in the unfolding saga are in the services of the Community, he will like to exercise some degree of discretion.

He said that Nigerians are being denied promotion to jobs that they are entitled and are eminently qualified for in ECOWAS by some top statutory officers who turn around and give such jobs to citizens of their own countries through unfair practices disguised as interviews.

Case in point, a managerial position that was meant for a Nigerian at the ECOWAS Parliament which was unjustly given to a Guinea Bissau citizen. The Nigerian in question headed her division for 22 years. In fact, she set up the division and ran its affairs till recently. The interview was supposed to be a formality for confirming her on the job. This is normally the practice in ECOWAS for staff who have acted in a position for a long time. The practice is also in line with a Nov/Dec 2021 Decision of ECOWAS AFC, ratified by the Council of ECOWAS Ministers of Foreign Affairs on giving priority, during shortlisting and interviews, to staff members who have acted in an advertised position for more than five years.

From our investigation, the staff has worked at the ECOWAS Parliament for over 21 years as a P4 officer (equivalent of Assistant Director in Civil Service) without promotion. The P5 position (equivalent of Deputy Director) that she interviewed for was advertised at least three times in the last fifteen years and each time she applied so that she can be confirmed on the job. But each time the process aborted halfway.

In 2020, another country tried to give the position to a citizen of their country but Nigeria intervened and stopped the process. However, we realized that Nigeria was not represented in the composition of the management succession committee that eventually interviewed the staff. It is worth mentioning that the only Nigerian statutory officer in ECOWAS is the Commissioner for Internal Services, a non-scoring member of the panel.

From our findings, the panel that interviewed the Nigerian staff member was chaired by the Auditor General of ECOWAS (an ECOWAS commissioner from Guinea Bissau) and coincidentally, the position was given to a citizen of his country (with lesser years of experience than the Nigerian). By so doing, the Guinea Bissau lady automatically becomes the supervisor of her former superior (from a very junior subordinate position).

Employees in ECOWAS are not necessarily promoted on merit or seniority. Junior staff are openly promoted over their superiors in ECOWAS Institutions, in most cases the victims are Nigerians. This anomaly has caused so much frustration for staff who have worked in the organization for several years.

We have it on good authority that the Guinea Bissau staff was smuggled into the list of interviewees just two days to the interview by the director of human resources of ECOWAS who is also a citizen of her country Guinea Bissau. Apparently, she was asked to make sure she attends the interview because of their country’s interest. We were also reliably told that the lady first turned down the offer because she just got a job with the Parliament and as such, was not interested. But both the Director of Human Resources and the Auditor General of ECOWAS admonished her for refusing to attend the interview. Under normal conditions, somebody who has just been employed and who is still on probation should not have been allowed to compete for a higher job meant for internal candidates.

What this means is that the interest of our country Nigeria does not matter in ECOWAS.

We were also reliably informed that an ECOWAS Parliament staff told some MPs (including some Nigerians) that he was present when a call came in from the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament (Sierra Leonian) to the former Secretary General, directing him to represent him at the managerial interview and to make sure that he marked down the Nigerian in order to ensure that she was not given the job. In fact, it is believed that the panel members were also told that the Nigerian was not the candidate of her Institution.

Meanwhile, as we mentioned earlier, the Nigerian staff in question set up the Division from inception and she was the first and only staff of that Division for several years. She covered various statutory meetings without any incidence of incompetence. Besides, all other participants at the interview were by far her juniors in the ECOWAS system. Meanwhile, in preparation for the position, the staff member was sent on various training, from 2013 to 2022, to places like France, Morocco, Ghana, to mention a few. 

Consequently, the group of ECOWAS Nigerians are calling on President Tinubu to urgently intervene in this matter in order to stop the blatant violation of the human rights of the Nigerian ECOWAS citizen. It is obvious that there is a smack of conspiracy amongst the members of the panel that interviewed her.

If we want to talk about illegalities, then we will bring to light the issue of the Speaker of Parliament who constantly employed his cronies to senior cadre positions without adhering to the rules guiding employments in ECOWAS. We as a news outlet believe that a fair working environment calls for same measures for every employee regardless of country of origin, language block, religion or gender.

Your Excellency Mr President it will be a slight to you and the entire nation that our citizens are being humiliated and violated under your watch. It is indeed an abomination for someone to work for over 22 years without a single promotion. What we will not do to our ECOWAS brothers should not be allowed to be done to our citizens right here in our country. An injustice to one is an injustice to all. Enough is enough.

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Update : FG, States, LGs Share N1.894trn February Revenue from Federation Account

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The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared a total of N1.894 trillion among the three tiers of government as federation allocation for February 2026.

According to a statement issued on Friday by the Federal Ministry of Finance, the distribution was made from a gross revenue of N2.230 trillion generated during the month.

From the amount shared, the Federal Government received N675.086 billion, the 36 states received N651.525 billion, while the 774 local government councils got N456.467 billion. Oil-producing states also received an additional N110.949 billion as derivation revenue, representing 13 per cent of mineral proceeds.

The statement further disclosed that N77.302 billion was paid to revenue-generating agencies as the cost of collection, while N259.078 billion was allocated for transfers, interventions and refunds.

The ministry explained that gross revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT) for February stood at N668.450 billion, compared to N1.083 trillion distributed in the preceding month, indicating a decline of N414.710 billion.

From the VAT revenue, N26.738 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N22.593 billion was set aside for transfers, interventions and refunds.

The remaining N619.119 billion was shared among the three tiers of government, with the Federal Government receiving N61.912 billion, the states N340.515 billion and local government councils N216.692 billion.

Similarly, the gross statutory revenue of N1.561 trillion recorded in February was lower than the N1.957 trillion received in the previous month, representing a decrease of N395.138 billion.

From the statutory revenue, N50.564 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N236.485 billion was allocated for transfers, interventions and refunds.

The balance of N1.274 trillion was distributed as follows: the Federal Government received N613.174 billion, states got N311.010 billion, and local governments received N239.776 billion, while N110.949 billion was allocated as derivation revenue to oil-producing states.

New tax regime designed to boost growth, ease burden on Nigerians — Experts
The ministry noted that revenue from oil and gas royalty as well as excise duty recorded significant increases during the period.

However, it added that collections from Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Hydrocarbon Tax (HT), Companies Income Tax (CIT), Capital Gains Tax (CGT), Stamp Duties (SDT) and Value Added Tax (VAT) declined substantially during the month under review.

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Contempt of Court: How Onwukwem and Associates Ended Up in Jail in Lagos

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In what looked like a syndicate, a Lagos Lanlord, Mr. Lawrence Onwukwem and his gang, who specialise in swindling innocent Nigerians through properties in their care, have run into trouble and earned jail terms for fraud and illegal eviction of a couple, Mr. Olusola Alabi and his wife, Mrs. Olufunmilola Alabi, who rented an apartment from them and were summarily frustrated.

Like a thief whose time of reckoning has come, Onwukwem, alongside his accomplice; Mr. Davies Ijele, Mr. Sodiq Kazeem, and Ms. Peace Igbo, who operates under Green Birch Tech Ltd, was recently jailed for six months each by a Lagos Chief Magistrates’ Court, sitting in Eti-Osa for contempt of court.

The imprisonment of the defendants is due to the contemptuous order of the court. The court held them in contempt, which they displayed all through the court proceedings.

In the charges, marked MISC/MCE/07/2023, the court invoked Section 44(1)(a) of the Tenancy Law of Lagos State 2011 as amended against the Defendants by convicting the Directors of the 1st Defendant (including the 2nd Defendant, Mr. Lawrence Onwukwem (Managing Director) and Mr. Isaiah Davies ljele) and one Sodiq Kazeem, the Estate Manager and one Ms. Chidinmma Igbo, all of the 1st Defendant, for forceful ejection of the Claimant/Applicant for the three (3) Bedroom flat and one (1) Room Boys Quarters with appurtenances situate, lying and being at Block A, Flat 3, No. 96B, Ladipo Omotosho Cole Street, Lekki I, Eti-Osa, Lagos State held by the Claimant/Applicant as a yearly tenant of the 1st Defendant/Respondent by unlawfully trespassing into the said Apartment, forcing the door open, and removing the Claimant’s furniture and electronics, beddings, refrigerator, air conditioners and gas cooker with gas cylinder, etc. and changing the keys to the entrance door, without any Lawful authority of any Order of any Court of competent jurisdiction, whilst the Claimant’s Suit No: MISC/MCE/07/2023: and the 1st Defendant/Respondent’s Suit No: MCE165/CIV/2024 were pending before the Court.

Delivering the judgement, the Chief Magistrate, Kikelomo Olaiya Doja-Ojo, on June 5, 2025, said that Lawrence Onwukwem, Hon. Davies Ijele, Mr Sodiq Kazeem and Ms Peace Chidinma Igbo, were to be sentenced to six months in correctional centre for continuously flaunting the order of the court while also mandated to pay the sum of N250,000 each to the court.

“The claimant is to be restored back to possession. All her belongings removed are to be returned to her immediately,” the CTC read.

Meanwhile, since the court judgement, the couple claimed that only Kazeem is already serving the jail term at Ikoyi Correctional Centre, while the other three have since gone into hiding.

Reacting to the judgement, the couple said that disputes arose following an alleged breach of the tenancy agreement by the landlord, prompting Mrs. Alabi to seek legal redress in court.

The couple said that while the tenancy matter was still pending in court, Mr. Onwukwem and his partners unlawfully broke into the apartment, removed their properties valued at N25million, and subsequently rented out the flat to another tenant.

When this reporter reached out to Mr Lawrence and Ijele for comments, their telephone lines were unreachable.

However, Igbo denied allegations that she was arrested and charged to court for failing to produce Mr Kazeem.

She refuted claims that she stood as surety for Kaeem , insisting that she never signed any legal documents in that capacity.

“They have spoilt my name and career. I don’t know how to reach them. They have issue with a particular person and why involving me instead of meeting those concerned directly. I know nothing about it,” she said.

“For the record, I didn’t sign in as a surety…I was working as a secretary and HR for the firm. I was not a lawyer in that instance. I was in law school in 2021”

She, however, acknowledged that steps have been taken to address the matter, including efforts to obtain a remand order.

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Breaking : UK Tightens Security With Road Closures, No-Fly Zones for Tinubu’s Visit

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Britain will impose airspace restrictions and deploy armed police officers in Windsor next week as President Bola Tinubu arrives for a state visit hosted by King Charles III.

Tinubu is expected to begin the visit in the company of his wife Oluremi Tinubu on Wednesday, March 18, with a reception at Windsor Castle.

Thames Valley Police in a statement on its website on Wednesday, said it is working with the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, the Royal Household and other security partners.

The force said airspace restrictions over Windsor Castle, which are in place permanently throughout the year, would be extended on Wednesday, March 18, to cover the period from 7am to 11.59pm.

Chief Superintendent Adrian Hall of Thames Valley Police’s Joint Operations Unit said the air restrictions formed part of a broader security operation for the visit.

“The air restrictions are just one part of our robust security operation for the state visit of Nigerian President Tinubu next week, with many measures you will see and others you will not..

“As a force, we have a vast amount of experience in policing Royal events in Windsor and significant planning, and preparation has gone into this event,” Hall said.

He said the force would take a strong stance in enforcing the restrictions, warning that any breach would constitute a criminal offence under the Air Navigation Order and could lead to arrest.

“We will be taking a strong stance in enforcing the restrictions; anyone who breaches them will be committing a criminal offence under the Air Navigation Order and could be arrested.”

The police chief said officers with specialist capabilities, including search teams, the Mounted Section, road policing, and armed units, would be deployed across Windsor, alongside neighbourhood policing and Project Servator resources.

“We will also be deploying numerous police officers to Windsor with specialist capabilities, including our search teams, Mounted Section, Roads Policing and armed units, while our neighbourhood and Project Servator resources will also be on the ground engaging with the public,” he said.

The authorities will also deploy an extensive closed-circuit television network, hostile vehicle mitigation barriers, and other undisclosed security measures for the event.

Hall said, “We will also be using the extensive CCTV network in Windsor, Hostile Vehicle Mitigation barriers, and many other security measures that you may not be able to see to make sure the event runs safely.”

He urged members of the public to support the security operation by remaining vigilant.

“The public plays a critical role to support us so we encourage them to report any suspicious activity or anything that does not seem quite right by calling 101 or speaking to one of our officers. If there is an immediate threat or emergency, then call 999,” Hall added.

Road closures and parking restrictions will take effect from Tuesday, March 17, with possible temporary disruption to roads in and around Windsor during the visit.

Thames Valley Police said it was being supported by the Civil Aviation Authority and National Air Traffic Services to enforce the flight restrictions. Persons with legitimate reasons for drone flying were directed to email [email protected].

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