Keystone Bank found that Forest Hill made out, from its loan account, to pay ACT Agribusiness Limited the sum of three hundred million naira (N300,000,000.00) for Land Preparation and Irrigation (Mechanisation) for a land area of 6,500 hectares. Keystone Bank, in its audit enquiry, found that the agreement between Forest Hill and ACT Agribusiness Limited was for 1,060 hectares.
Hence, Keystone Bank required Forest Hill to either provide contract documents obligating ACT Agribusiness to complete the outstanding 5,440 hectares or that the balance of payment for the outstanding hectares be refunded into the loan account. Investigators know very well that this is one of the commonest methods of stealing public money in Nigeria – documenting “payments” for jobs that are never done, which is a major financial crime.
Also, in relation to the mechanization defence put forth by Forest Hill, Keystone has argued that this actual cost of mechanisation is incurred on behalf of Mainframe. Hence, passing this cost to Forest Hill, as it is in this case, while Forest Hill itself has its own cost of Mechanisation to the tune of N300,000,000.00, would bring the total cost of mechanisation to six hundred million naira (N600,000,000.00). This figure exceeds the five hundred and forty million naira (N540,000,000.00) budgeted for mechanisation in the Utilisation Schedule submitted to the Bank.
In the case of the purchase of seeds, Forest Hill claims to pay N117.45 million. This figure reflects the seeds covered 6,500 hectares while the mechanisation process was only done on 1,060 hectares. Hence where is the balance payment for the outstanding 5, 440 hectares, since that has not been paid back into the Bank account?
Mainstreet Capital paid NIRSAL
Mainstreet Capital paid NIRSAL fees and an Insurance Premium of N120 million on behalf of the Woodfarm Project. Forest Hill, from its loan account, made a refund of this amount to Woodfarm. But both NIRSAL and the insurance company refunded this total amount after cancelling such payments, but such a refund is yet to be reflected in Forest Hill’s account. Suffice it to note here that Mr Oluwatosin Ariyo’s brother is a portfolio manager at Mainstreet Capital.
There is no doubt that the monies budgeted for the wheat project were laundered. Investigation revealed that the shea seeds bought above were actually bought for a shea butter processing factory, in New Bussa, Niger State, owned by Mr Abdulhameed. The Shea butter factory was set up for Mr Abdulhameed by Mr Oluwatosin Ariyo, a Senior Technical Assistant to Mr Abdulhameed.
To perfect the criminality, Mr Ariyo used his brother’s company, Agriable Limited, to set up Mr Abdulhameed’s Shea butter company in New Bussa. Agriable Limited is not the only company that Mr Ariyo used to launder NIRSAL money for Mr Aliyu. Sheaco Nigeria Limited is another!
There is an emphatic allegation that the proceeds from the fraudulent bungling of this wheat project have been channelled, by Mr Ariyo and one other Architect Ibrahim Abdullahi, to buy a house for Mr Abdulhameed in the United Kingdom. Mr Ibrahim Abdullahi is also alleged to have supervised the building of a luxury home for Mr Abdulhameed, in Yola, Adamawa State, with funds from the bungled Kano-Jigawa wheat project. Mr Oluwatosin Ariyo was (and possibly still is) a signatory to Mainframe and has signed the bank mandates of Mainframe (the company used for the wheat transaction).
OLUWATOSIN ARIYO, ANOTHER LOYAL PARTNER IN CRIME TO MD ALIYU ABDULHAMEED
Mr Oluwatosin Ariyo, the Senior Technical Assistant (STA) to the MD is a key figure used in syphoning billions of Naira on behalf of the MD. Mr. Oluwatosin serves as a signatory to several NIRSAL bank accounts with commercial banks. These accounts have mostly been used for investments in fixed deposits and to divert the interest accrued on the fixed deposits. Much of these funds are kept in accounts under the control of Mr. Oluwatosin.
An example is over N4 billion invested, at one time, in fixed deposits with the old Skye Bank (now Polaris Bank). This fixed deposit scheme has been perfected by Mr. Oluwatosin and other staff close to the MD as they use this scheme to divert and gain interest on funds released for the Anchor Borrowers Programme. This leads to a delayed supply of inputs to farmers at a time when these inputs are not needed by the farmers thereby leading to tremendous losses for the farmers.
Secondly, these inputs are supplied to the farmers at prices above what is obtainable in the open market thereby increasing the cost of production and the likelihood of default in loan repayment by the farmers. These fraudulent activities have resulted in millions of farmers defaulting on loan obligations, resulting in innocent farmers being blacklisted as not credit-worthy and excluded financially, making life more difficult for the farmers as they will be unable to take out or even be considered for any loans in future. Another fixed investment orchestrated by Mr. Oluwatosin is that of over N5 Billion Naira (Five Billion Naira) at Mainstreet capital where his brother works as a portfolio manager for the fixed investment. Mr. Oluwatosin and his brother have been using the interest generated from this investment for their personal use and that of the MD.
BESIDES VIOLATING THE CREDIT RISK GUARANTEE (CRG) GUIDELINES, RATHER THAN IMPLORING THE SCALE OF MERIT, MD ALIYU ISSUED OUT CREDITS TO COMPANIES BELONGING TO HIS ASSOCIATES
The following companies owned by the MD’s associates were presented and approved by NIRSAL for the provision of Credit Risk Guarantee (CRG) covers totalling N48.9 billion. Four of these companies listed below where approved in clear violation of the CRG guidelines which stipulate a single obligor limit of N2 billion.
The companies are Odejad Agro N900 Million; Sustivar Technologies (affiliated to Kayode Ashaolu, Senior Technical Assistant to the MD) N5 Billion; SCAGRIC N19 Billion (Samil Asha; front of the MD); Agricultural Access Development Company N11 Billion; ACT Agribusiness N13 Billion.
MD ALIYU’S ILLEGAL PROCUREMENT OF TWO ARMOURED VEHICLES AT THE COST OF N180 MILLION
As against the federal government’s policy on replacement of official vehicles after 4 years (except when possibly involved in accidents that require them to be written off) the MD directed that the depreciation of his official vehicles be fast-tracked from 4 years to 3 years by reclassifying his SUV to an operational vehicle, to enable him to procure 2 armoured vehicles at the cost of N180m without approval from the office of the National Security Adviser. Despite the reclassification, the initial SUV is still in his custody.
The MD currently has 11 official vehicles assigned to him across various locations in the country with 5 in Abuja including two (2) armoured vehicles (Toyota Landcruiser JTMHX09J5F4083758 and Lexus LX 570 JTJHY00W2J4260990) which were procured at a cost of N180 million without approval from the office of the National Security Adviser.
He is also said to move around with a bulletproof vest due to various dealings with unscrupulous and dangerous individuals and groups. Contrary to company policy, no official vehicle has been given to any senior management staff since inception. On the other hand, consultants to NIRSAL have been assigned company vehicles for official and private use.
HOW MD ALIYU AND MR INNOCENT AZEOBOKHAI ARE CONSPIRING WITH TRAVEL AGENCIES TO DEFRAUD NIRSAL
Alfa Global Air Services Ltd, Mavea Travel and Tours, and Stanzar Travel & Tours
Our investigation revealed that MD Aliyu Abdul Hameed and Mr. Innocent Azeobokhai, in collaboration with travel agencies, such as Alfa Global Air Services Ltd, Mavea Travel and Tours, and Stanzar Travel & Tours, conspired and defrauded NIRSAL in hundreds of millions. Travel tickets are regularly inflated, while huge sums that are paid to agents upfront were not retired. This multi-billion-naira fraud is handled by the Head of the Travels, Events and Protocol department of NIRSAL, Mr Innocent Azeobokhai.
It will interest you to know that the MD is usually paid in cash his full Duty Travel Allowances (which cover costs of accommodation and feeding) yet, the organization still settles his hotel bills during local and foreign travels. This amounts to receiving DTA twice on every travel.
The MD also uses public funds to cover the travel expenses of his family members and friends through the above-mentioned travel agencies. The wife and son of the MD have enjoyed First Class travels with public funds. The MD and the head of Travels have also been replacing the names of staff to cover up travel transactions by replacing the names of the MD’s friends and family members with NIRSAL staff in order to approve payments.
The MD and the Head of Travel Mr. Innocent, have also been creating fake travel transactions on behalf of the staff of NIRSAL in order to justify the movement of funds from NIRSAL to these travel agencies without the trips actually taking place. Such instances include the disbursement of N1,462,480 for the travels of Oluwatosin Ariyo to South Africa for risk management training and that of Abdulkadir Muhammad for another N1,462,480 made to Alfa Global. Another such fraudulent transaction is that of Imran Aliyu (the son of the MD) for N2,197,000.00 for a First Class return ticket on an Emirate airline from Lagos to Dubai on the 15th of June, 2019. Another such transaction is that of N2,257,087.00 for the same Imran Aliyu for a First Class ticket from Dubair to Munich to Barcelona and then back to Dubai on the 18th of June, 2019, a few days after arriving in Dubai.
Other fraudulent transactions include the payment of funds to the above-mentioned travel agencies for the Airtime of the MD that runs into millions of Naira. Samil Asha who is a front of the MD has also been enjoying such travel tours by the MD of NIRSAL through the above-mentioned travel agencies. Another Such travel is that of a first-class ticket purchased for Aishatu Deal Hamidu, wife of the MD, on Emirates from Abuja to Dubai to Delhi, back to Dubai to Abuja on the 17th of March 2019 by Alfa Global. Multiple of such transactions and fraudulent transactions that never occurred have been used to divert and siphon hundreds of millions of Naira from NIRSAL by the MD.
NEPOTISM: QUESTIONABLE EMPLOYMENT OF SEKINAT ADAMU, DAUGHTER OF INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE, MR. MOHAMMED ADAMU
Under MD Aliyu, NIRSAL had offered employment to the daughter of Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, Sekinat Adamu, who was almost immediately flown to Morocco on an official trip, with a generous estacode in US Dollars, despite her inexperience compared to more senior colleagues. The agency is full of such employments doled out to friends and associates of the MD in exchange for favours and/or influence.
GROSS VIOLATION OF DUE PROCESS IN THE DISBURSEMENT OF NIRSAL FUNDS
There is a backlog of operating and capital expenditures approved by the MD which is above his approval limits for which no board approval was obtained. Most of these contracts were never executed. For instance, the sum of N618 million was single-handedly approved by the MD as the cost of design, implementation and management of a call centre and service delivery (N292,247,230.70) and design, implementation and support of enterprise network infrastructure (N326,175,894.37) without the board’s approval. The MD’s approval limit for this category of the transaction (capital expenditure) is N20 million. The call centre and enterprise network infrastructure do not exist anywhere in the country as of today.
Contracts worth tens of billions have been awarded by the MD without the jobs or contracts ever done. One such is an ERP contract of about N1.3 billion. Other expenses (since 2017) include; N122 million in training expenses awarded to Wildleaf Ltd., In January 2017, N263 million was awarded to Bamili for Study Tour. In December 2017, N227 Million for training expenses were awarded to Bokadi, while N154 Million was awarded to EPMS for General Management. N107 million was also awarded to Freshvine as Training expense, while Data Acquisition and Software contracts were awarded to inteliwork (N66.2m), Circus Advance (N58m) and Bokadi Links (N55 million).
Two Lebanese Citizens Allegedly Defraud EcoBank Of Whopping Sum Of N9.4bn
In the bid to be compliant with approval limits as of 2019 following years of breaches of approval processes, the Procurement Department guided by the MD resorted to contracting to split; most of these contracts were also never executed. Examples: AVC Capacity Development contract totalling N953m was split into 64 contracts of less than N15m each. In August 2019, the AVC Gap Assessment contract which was worth N119m was also split into 8 contracts of less than N15m per contract, while in September 2019, Specialized Risk Management Services had its N136 million contract split into 3 contracts.
NIRSAL invested directly in several projects called Farmsmart which were deliberately designed to fail. These projects have now been reclassified as technical assistance (also known as proof of concept projects) to allow the funds to be written off. Two of such companies include SCAGRIC Ltd represented by Samil Asha (a dark ally of MD Aliyu) and Tradeco Ltd. While N348.2 million was invested in the former, N54.3 million was invested in the latter.
HOW MD ALIYU GROSSLY ABUSED THE OFFICE OF THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF NIRSAL, ILLEGALLY DISMISSING STAFF WHO REFUSE TO BE COMPROMISED
Mr. Olalekan Olusanya, Head of the Internal Audit of the organization, was illegally dismissed from NIRSAL, even after he had duly sent in his resignation from the organization. Mr. Olusanya was removed from his position after he had refused, on professional grounds in keeping with the dictates of his profession, to edit certain portions of an audit report that indicted the MD.
Mr. Olusanya would be subjected to a series of dehumanizing measures including the seizure of his official laptop and phones while he was transferred to Agricultural Extension and Field Services Unit without any job responsibilities assigned to him. He went on to present his resignation, only to be summarily dismissed without following due process of progressive disciplinary measures and documented opportunity for him to respond to any allegations against him.
A staff of NIRSAL, Mr. Olusola Omole, a Head of one of the Technical Units of the organization, was dismissed for allegedly interacting with the hitherto dismissed Head of Audit, claiming that he violated the MD’s sacred oath of secrecy some staff are made to sign.
Seven staffers of the organization were summarily dismissed on the excuse of not being loyal to the Managing Director, even though they had no professional misconduct issues against them.
GODWIN EMEFIELE (CHAIRMAN OF NIRSAL) ENTHRONED AS THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF NIRSAL AN EX-CONVICT WHO, FOR FRAUD, EMBEZZLEMENT AND DIVERSION OF FUNDS, SERVED JAIL TIME IN JIMETA PRISON, YOLA.
It was discovered that Mr. Aliyu Abbati Abdulhameed fraudulently changed his name from Aliyu Hamid to Aliyu Abbati Abdulhameed without the proper legal documentation and publication in any media outlet/newspaper in order to hide his criminal conviction before his engagement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Aliyu served time in Jimeta Prison for fraud and should therefore not have been appointed as the MD of a Financial Institution under the Central Bank in accordance with the qualifications of a director under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, the CBN Act and the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act. Suffice to add that, Ibrahim Abdullahi has full knowledge details of the MD’s conviction as he is a childhood friend of the MD who is also currently serving as the MD’s driver.
It is most repugnant that a financial crime ex-convict was appointed to manage a USD 500 million-dollar company owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria and created to support local farmers across Nigeria. This initial seed fund is usually invested in commercial banks and generates about N4 billion in interest. This interest is usually transferred to NIRSAL bank accounts for the purpose of running the day-to-day operations of the organisation. Unfortunately, funds meant to improve the lives and operations of farmers across the country have been and are still being diverted by the MD and his cronies for personal use.
Mr. Aliyu has been using the individuals mentioned above to divert huge sums of money running into billions of Naira over the past three and a half years. Petitions have, over time, been written to the EFCC, Nigeria Police Force and the National Assembly relating to the illegal diversion of organizational funds. The MD seems to use perceived connections to people of influence to muzzle any concerns about his illegal activities.
The MD routinely name-drops the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, to defend his indefensible acts of impunity, claiming that the CBN Governor would have effected his removal if he wasn’t doing things right.
Many of the above have been confirmed by a Board Audit Report commissioned by the CBN Governor and Chaired by CBN Deputy Governor Edward Adamu, which has been suppressed and not been implemented for reasons best known to the CBN Governor who is also Chairman of NIRSAL.
MD ALIYU REFUSES TO HAND OVER THE POSITION OF MANAGING DIRECTOR, EVEN THOUGH HE HAS COMPLETED HIS FIVE YEARS TENURE
The height of the hijack of the institution of NIRSAL is the expiration of the tenure of Mr. Aliyu Abdulhameed as Managing Director NIRSAL on the 23rd of December, 2020, having attained the five years contract he was given, commencing on 23rd December 2015. Mr. Abdulhameed has refused to relinquish the reins of office, holding the entire organization hostage while pursuing a supposedly, in his words to close associates, “guaranteed reappointment”.
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION SHIELDS MD ALIYU FROM INVESTIGATION INTO HIS CORRUPT PRACTICES
In the face of all of these colossal crimes committed by MD Aliyu and his goons, the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami SAN, has done and is still doing everything within his power to shield MD Aliyu against the sword of justice.
The MD through his office, NIRSAL, has been engaging with the office of the Attorney General to frustrate any attempt by security agencies to investigate the level of fraud carried out in NIRSAL. In a letter written to the Attorney General by the MD of NIRSAL titled “Request for Intervention on Unwarranted and Multiple Investigations of NIRSAL PLC By Law Enforcement Agencies”, referenced NIR/MD/GEN/TAPD/24/20/03, and dated 29th January 2020 to the Honourable Minister of Justice requesting for the intervention in the ongoing investigation of NIRSAL by security agencies. Based on this petition from NIRSAL, the Office of the Attorney General, through the Department of Public Prosecution of the Federation, wrote to the Nigeria Police in a letter referenced DPPA/NIRSAL/110/20, and dated 4th of February, forbidding the institution from carrying out the investigation.
SOURCE: https://towncrierlives.com/2021/02/02/how-nirsal-managing-director-aliyu-abdulhameed-his-son-and-allies-siphoned-over-150-billion-naira-meant-for-nigerian-farmers/