TINUBU IDENTIFIES CREATIVE SECTOR AS KEY TO ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION. (PHOTO).
President Bola Tinubu has identified the creative economy as a pivotal element of his administration’s economic diversification agenda, reaffirming his commitment to positioning Nigeria’s creative sector as a driving force for global influence. The President stated this at the launch of the 2024 Abuja International Carnival at Eagle Square, Abuja. President Tinubu, represented by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, said the carnival reaffirms the essence of who Nigerians are—”a people of culture, a people of art, a people of colour, and a people of shared values”. In a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to The President on Media & Communications, Office of The Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha, under the theme, “Carnival of Renewed Hope: A Pledge to My Country”, the event showcased performances from across Nigeria and beyond, demonstrating the administration’s commitment to cultural diplomacy. The Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, and the Creative Economy, working alongsi
The much talked about ATM fraudsters are not resting on the oars.They are all over the place laying siege to any susceptible victim.These criminals go about fleecing unwary members of the oublic with their ingenious,ever changing modes of operations.The latest being the infamous identity theft .Before now,cloning and PIN harvesting through electronic chips cleverly concealed in the Auutomated Teller Machine {ATM},was the universal mode.Over time,the tricks and decoys to entrap their victims keep changing and have assumed a disturbing dimension.The Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission {EFCC} is on the tral of a suspected ATM fraudster,who goes by the name Akinade Tofunmi.Her trade in stock is identity theft.Her duty post is any ATM Point and Point of Sales {POS} machines across the country.However,she does not work during the official hours of the week rather; she operates late in the night when all bank transactions had close and preferably over the weekend when her prospective victims might not be able to alert the banks for any unauthorised transaction.In her last operation,within twenty four hours; this fraudster who operates with the identity of her victims succeeded to have raked in about three million {3m} with 24 hours.Dateline was friday,June 3rd,2016 at about the close of work.A womam simply identified as Alhaja and her husband who was waiting in the car wanted to use an ATM somewhere in Ibadan,Oyo State,when Tofunmi noticed the woman limps.Pretending to be polite and cultures,she offered to assist her with the transacion on the ATM.Unaware of the intention behind the pious approach,she gave the fraudster her ATM card and divulged her PIN.Smartly,the fraudster quickly checked the balance in the account which had one million,seven hundred and forty nine thousand,twenty six naira and seven kobo {N1,749,026.07}.After the intended withdrawal of N20,000.00,the fraudser swapped the card and gave Alhaja a fake ATM card.Oblivious of the swap,she left with her husband.Shortly before midnight,the fraudster started the harvest of her booty.She withdrew one hundred and thirty thousand naira.Having exceeded the daily withdrawing limit for that day,she waited for a few minutes to the following day which was a saturday.Shortly after midnight,she made another rounds of withdrawals to the tune of hundred and fifty thousand naira which was also the daily limit for that day.However,Alhaja and her husband had no one o run or call that night to save the situation when the debit alerts start coming in torrent.In a desperate need of where and how to empty the balance in the account,she went to a night club where she met a motorcycle transporter,popularly known as Okada whom she approached for a help.Her decoy was that she had enough money in her account but could not access it having exceeded her daily withdrawal limit.She showed the bike man her balance and pleaded with him to give her his ATM card,account details and PIN for a quick teller transfer from her {Alhaja's} account to the bike man's account.With that,she has been able to secure some of Alhaja's money in the bike man's account thereby stealing the identity of the unsuspecting bike man.At the early hours of that saturday morning,she asked the bike man to take her to a hotel with an intention to further steal the identity of the hotelier for another movement of the money.At the hotel reception while paying for her accomodation which was N10,000 {Ten thousand naira} for one night,she deliberated credited the hotel's account with one hundred and one thousand naira {N101,000} feigning a mistake and demandd a refund of niety-one thousand naira {N91,000} balance of an overpayment.This was also done with Alhaja's ATM card through the POS machine at the Hotel.To further conceal her identity,she provided fake personal details in the hotel and gave the hotel the bike man's account detail when the hotel management requested for an account to deposit the refund.All these happened on saturday,hence Alhaja and her husband are still in dilemma with no help in sight to stop the transactions in the account.By sunday,Alhaja's money had moved to the fraudster both in cash and through transfer to the bike man account domicile in the same bank.All these while,the fraudster was in possession of both Alhaja the first victim and the bike man,the second victim's ATM card.Later the following day,Monday,the bike man could no longer reach the fraudster on phone; he {the bike man} then went to the bank to request for another ATM card.It was later discovered in the bank that part of Alhaja's money was transferred to the bike man' account.He was arrested by the bank and He's now helping the EFCC operatives to track down the fraudster.Investigations have revealed that this same fraudster had stolen the identities of other victims earlier and had absconded to,Ilorin,Kwara state.Instances of Tofunmi's nefarious activities have also been spotted in other parts of the country particularly Port Harcourt City.The Commission is hereby seeking the cooperation and support of public spirited members of the society to please help unveil the identity of this fraudster.Her face though with different disguise,is on display for anyone who knows her to please contact any of our offices across the six geopolitical zones and Abuja.She must be apprehended,who knows the next victim?.Besides,it is imperative to reiterate the need to be careful with your ATM cards and PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER {PIN}.On no account should we divulge any information about our account details to anyone.The criminals,ATM fraudsters are on the loose,taking advantage of people's insensitivity and carelessness.Pictures show Akinade Tofunmi as captured by CCTV of the bank and Hotel she operated from.More photos below. 
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