Okechukwu Akaneme brutalisation: Anambra suspends Salitz Int’l Ventures, commences investigations – ITREALMS

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… Police invites family

The Government of Anambra State has suspended with immediate effect, the waste management contractor covering the part of Onitsha where Mr. Okechukwu Akaneme was reportedly battered, Messrs Salitz International Ventures, just as the State Police Command has invited the family to aid investigations, reports ITREALMS.

  

Reacting to ITREALMS inquiries through the Chief Press Secretary, Christian Aburime to the governor or Anambra State, it was revealed that the management of waste Salitz International Ventures has been suspended from operations pending the outcome of investigation into the alleged brutalisaiton.

NITDA denies being under investigations by EFCC

ITREALMS:

The management of the NationalInformation Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has denied any investigations by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), reports ITRealms.

Earlier, ITRealms gathered that there have been avalanche of news on the inconsistency of NITDA’s 2017 budget which led to the alleged investigations.

But reacting to the reports being circulated on some online media and national dailies, the Head, Corporate Affairs & External Relations, Mrs Hadiza Umar, told ITRealms, its false to the effect that the agency is attempting to circumvent due process requirements in the implementation of the 2017 approved budget.

“It is essential to note that the Agency is not under any investigation under current administration, either by EFCC or any other investigating agency. The statement credited to the Honourable Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, during an interview with Fresh FM Ibadan on Sunday, 5th November, 2017 is not true. The Agency under the leadership of Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami,  only received commendation from the EFCC.   

“In the reported petition, the faceless petitioners, Muhammad Yusuf and Rebecca Emeleogwu, purportedly representing Good Governance and Accountability Monitoring Group, alleged that the Management of the Agency has by-passed due process in the award of contracts in the 2017 budget.

“While the details of the violations were not substantiated, we write to categorically deny these allegations.  The Agency, since assumption of office of the current Director General/CEO, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has been making serious efforts at fighting corrupt practices within and outside the Agency.

“It is on record that in this effort to ensure transparency and accountability, the current Director-General is the only Chief Executive in history of the Agency that implemented almost 100 percent of the Auditor-General for the Federation’s audit recommendations regarding financial and other irregularities in the Agency.

“As a man of proven integrity who is in the forefront of supporting Mr President’s fight against corruption, the Director General sought the support of anti-corruption Agencies such as the EFCC and ICPC in fighting corruption in IT Procurements in Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

“It may be of interest to note that officials from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation visited the Agency recently and gave an excellent commendation to the Director General and the Management Team for their efforts at following due process as well as excellent documentation of all financial transactions.

“It is on record that the 2017 projects are yet to be advertised and so far no contract has been awarded in the Agency because of the Director-General’s efforts at ensuring that due process is followed in the award of contracts.

“In view of the above, we write to request that the unfounded allegations made by the Group should be totally disregarded as the above facts show that what was circulated is a frantic effort of corruption fighting back. It should be noted that the Agency is encouraged by it and will continue its giant strides of fighting corruption. If the petitioners could come forward, the management is willing to challenge them to court for character assassination,’ she submitted.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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Ofcom shuts door on 2014 sale of Premier League rights investigations

ITRealms:

The United Kingdom (UK) Office of Communications (Ofcom) has shut its doors on the investigation of the 2014 into the sale of rights to the Premier League, ITRealms reports.

ITRealms notes that an investigation was launched in November 2014 following a complaint by Virgin Media that the then process was causing consumer harm, a move that was welcomed by the chief executive officer, Tom Mockridge.

“Football fans will now be able to watch more live action on TV. As the only TV provider to offer all the available games, we are pleased that after a two-year campaign the Premier League has agreed to offer more TV games,” he said.

This, Ofcom said was relied upon the account of the Premier League’s recent decision to increase the number of matches available for live broadcast in the UK, to a minimum of 190 per season from the start of the 2019/20 season.

“This is 22 more matches per season than were included in the Premier League’s 2015 auction,” Ofcom said.

ITRealms also reports that Sky Sports has held rights to the Premier League since its launch in 1992 and following the intervention of the European Commission in 2006 a second rights holder has been brought in; initially Setanta and then ESPN, and currently BT Sport.

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FCC investigates FIRS over secret recruitment

ITRealms:

The Federal Character Commission (FCC) has commenced investigations of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) over secret recruitment of five directors, reports ITRealms.

Reacting to reports of the secret recruitment, the acting executive chairman of FCC, Shettima Bukar-Abba, confirmed, saying his office is investigating the alleged secret recruitment of senior staff in director levels.

“I am investigating FIRS. I have never seen anything from FIRS since I came in two months ago. But I also learnt they are recruiting,” he was quoted as revealing to newsmen.

He also pointed out that FIRS has been summoned by the National Assembly because of the same 'complaints from the people.'

Bukar-Abba further said that FCC as part of the investigation is putting up a committee to specifically handle this allegation.

“I am just trying to put in place a committee so that they will carry out the investigation,” Bukar-Abba reassured.

ITRealms notes that part of policy shift, FCC recently said it will now searchlight recruitments in federal institutions and its affiliates.

ITRealms recalls that since inception in 1996, the Federal Character Commission (FCC) saddled itself with observing recruitment exercise to allow MDAs willingly apply the approved guidelines and formulae in the staff distribution amongst the States of the Federation.

This observer status, ITRealms, has to a large extent prevented officials of the Commission to interfere in the proceeding of the exercise even when the wrong things were observed to be done ab initio.

“It is in the realisation of this fact, that the Plenary of the Commission at its 231st session held on Wednesday 13th August, 2014 overwhelmingly endorsed a reversal of the policy to the effect that hencefoth, officials of the Commission at any recruitment exercise will monitor the exercise and ensure that the processes leading to, the recruitment exercise itself, the eventual selection of successful candidates substantially comply with the approved guidelines and formulae for Recruitment duty shall be addressed as Monitors and they shall have all the the rights and priviledges to monitor recruitment exercises within the context of the approved guidelines," FCC said.

Similarly, ITRealms reports, the plenary also accepted the presidential directive conveyed by the SGF on the 22nd of July, 2014 that (a) No Public service recruitment should be contracted out to consulting firm; and (b) No applicant should be requested/made to pay any fee for any employment. 

This is in addition to enforcing the Federal Character principles aimed at ensuring fair and equitable distribution of posts and socio-economic amenities, infrastructural facilities amongst the federating units nationwide.

 +ITRealms DSA 

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1.3bn PC devices connected with Flash Players

 An estimated 1.3 billion connected Personal Computing (PC) devices have installed Flash Player.

ITRealms investigations revealed that most the top video sites on the web use Flash Player.

Also, ITRealms gathered that the top 10 Facebook games use the Flash player. 

Confirming this to ITRealms, Adobe, the owners of Flash Player 11 apps, is a cross-platform browser-based application runtime that delivers uncompromised viewing of expressive applications, content, and videos across screens and browsers.

“The Adobe Flash Player runtime lets you effortlessly reach over 1.3 billion people across browsers and Operating System (OS) versions with no install — 11 times more people than the best-selling hardware game console,” official said.

They said that Flash Player is optimized for high performance on mobile screens and designed to take advantage of native device capabilities, enabling richer and more immersive user experiences.

The stressed the importance of updating Adobe Flash Player, insisting that it inclues improvements in usuability, online security and stability as well as new features which help content developers deliver rich and engaging experiences.

 
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