A 43-year-old man Sunday Ozimede, who allegedly hacked Moniepoint Microfinance Bank Vault and stole the sum of N1,190, 728, 076 bn, from the bank, was on Monday arraigned by the police before the Federal High Court in Lagos State.

The defendant is facing three counts bordering on conspiracy, hacking and obtaining by false pretence preferred against him by the Police Special Fraud Unit.

The PSFU’s Prosecution Counsel, Justine Enang, told the court that the defendant allegedly hacked the microfinance bank and obtained the sum of N945, 728,076m, by false pretence.

Enang told the court that the defendant caused financial loss to Moniepoint Microfinance Bank to the tune of N145m, by planting a bug in the bank’s data system.

He said Ozimede and others now at large conspired, amongst themselves, to commit the alleged offences sometime in May 2024.

The prosecutor told the court that Ozimede fraudulently diverted the above-mentioned money from various Moniepont Microfinance Bank’s customers’ deposited funds through numerous transactions to other banks.

According to the prosecutor, the offences committed contravened Sections 27 (i)(b),14 of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015 as Amended in 2024, and Section 14 (1) of the same Act, and 18(2) (b) & (d) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

However, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Following his not-guilty plea, the prosecutor urged the court to remand him to a correctional centre pending the conclusion of the trial and asked the court for a trial date.

The defendant’s lawyer, Abdulmalik Ibrahim, in a motion for bail, pleaded with the court to admit his client to bail in the most liberal terms.

But the prosecutor opposed the bail application and accused the defendant of being a ‘flight risk’, saying that he might not turn up for his trial if granted bail.

Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa, after listening to the parties’ submissions, admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N50m, with one surety in like sum.

The judge also ordered that the surety must be a landed property owner within the jurisdiction of the court.

He added that the bail terms must be verified by the court’s registrar and the prosecutor.

The case was adjourned to March 13, 2025, for trial.

The World Bank Group has explained why it announced a 30-month debarment of two Nigerian companies, including Viva Atlantic Limited and Technology House Limited.

The Washington-based bank disclosed this in a statement issued on Monday.

The ban also affected their Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Norman Didam.

The World Bank said the companies and their CEO were banned for fraudulent, collusive, and corrupt practices linked to the National Social Safety Nets Project in Nigeria.

Accordingly, the bank explained that the project aimed to provide targeted financial assistance to poor and vulnerable households, which was compromised due to several unethical practices during a 2018 procurement and subsequent contract process.

“The World Bank Group today announced the 30-month debarment of two Nigeria-based companies—Viva Atlantic Limited and Technology House Limited—and their Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Norman Bwuruk Didam.

“The debarment is in connection with fraudulent, collusive, and corrupt practices as part of the National Social Safety Nets Project in Nigeria.”

We earlier reported that the companies were indicted for fraudulent handling of the World Bank’s project in Nigeria.

Last year, the Nigerian government secured a $1.5 million loan from the World Bank for key economic reforms, which include fuel subsidies and the introduction of comprehensive tax policies.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Economy, Wale Edun, and his counterpart in Budget, Senator Abubakar Bagudu have been summoned by the National Assembly over paltry allocation to the Solid Minerals Sector in the 2025 Budget.

Their summon to appear before the joint Committee- Senate and House of Representatives on Tuesday was to give further clarification on concerns about inadequate funding of the Solid Minerals sector considered to be critical to diversification of the nation’s economy.

The Joint Committee added that the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Tanimu Yakubu, should also appear before it.

The committee, jointly chaired by Sen. Ekong Samson and Hon Gaza Jonathan, spoke after the Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr Dele Alake, appeared before the lawmakers on Monday to express the frustrations he had faced fighting hard to increase the budgetary allocations to the ministry without success.

Alake lamented how Nigeria continued to get things wrong by leaving the development of solid minerals behind in revenue generation, stressing that his frantic effort could only get N5 billion envelope.

“In fact, to let you know, the envelope we first received was N5 billion. I don’t know if you are aware of that. It was N5 billion” ,he informed the members.

Alake disclosed that when he stepped up mounting pressure on the ministers and the DG budget after President Bola Tinubu presented the estimates to the National Assembly, he was reassured that the allocation would be increased substantially only to just N9bn.

“The Permanent Secretary is here and the night before the president came here, when we were working on the rehearsal of the budget speech, the Director of Budget came in and the Minister of Budget and I took them up in the presence of the President.

“And what did they do? They promised that it would be done. So, again the following day, after the President’s presentation, we found N9billion”, he stated.

“There is no way that I can begin to tell you, except I have videos that I can show you of the several engagements that we had with the relevant budgetary authorities and individuals driving this process and at every turn we received very positive responses,” he stated.