Author: The Nation

The Senate on Tuesday directed the Clerk to the National Assembly Sani Magaji Tambuwal to transmit 35 Constitution alteration Bills to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.

The Senate also urged seven States yet to forward their resolutions on the constitution alteration Bills to do so.

However, the alteration Bill which seeks to grant financial autonomy to Local Government Areas in Nigeria was not among the Bills that met the requirement for being assented into law.

These resolutions of the Upper Chamber followed its consideration of a motion titled: “Passage of Constitution (Fifth) Alteration Bills, 2023” sponsored by Chairman, Senate Ad hoc Committee on Review of 1999 Constitution, Senator Ovie Omo- Agege and co-sponsored by 65 other Senators.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Michael Bamidele, presented the motion on behalf of Senator Omo-Agege who was absent during plenary.

Bamidele said the 35 Constitution Alteration Bills have satisfied the provisions of Section 9(2) of the Constitution, for passage into law “having been approved by not less than 24 State Houses of Assembly.”

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He noted that 27 State Houses of Assembly have passed and forwarded their resolution on the Bills to the National Assembly.

He listed the 27 State Houses of Assembly that have passed the constitution alteration bills to include Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Rivers and Yobe.

The Senate also urged State Houses of Assembly in Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara yet to forward their resolution on the Constitution Alteration Bills “to do so in fulfillment of their constitutionally imposed legislative obligation to the constitutional amendment process.”

President Muhammadu Buhari has constituted a 14-man Steering Committee to find a lasting solution to the disruptions in the supply and distribution of petroleum products in the country.

He is to personally chair the committee, according to a statement by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva issued in Abuja.

The Senior Adviser (Media & Communications) to the Minister, Mr. Horatius Egua, who issued the statement said the committee has Syva as the alternate chairman.

The Steering Committee, which has Sylva as Alternate Chairman is expected to among other things ensure transparent and efficient supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country.

Other terms of reference are to ensure national strategic stock management, visibility on the NNPC Limited refineries rehabilitation programme and ensure end-end tracking of petroleum products, especial PMS to ascertain daily national consumption and eliminate smuggling.

To further ensure sanity in the supply and distribution across the value chain, Sylva has directed the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to ensure strict compliance with the government-approved ex-depot and retail prices for PMS.

The Minister further directed the NMDPRA to ensure that NNPC Limited, which is the supplier of last resort meets the domestic supply obligation of PMS and other petroleum products in the country.

He further directed that the interests of the ordinary Nigerian is protected from price exploitation on other deregulated products such as AGO and DPK and LPG.

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The Federal Government will not allow misguided elements to bring untold hardship upon the citizenry and attempt to discredit the government’s efforts in consolidating the gains made thus far in the oil and gas sector of the economy.

Other members of the committee are the Minister of Finance, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, National Economic Adviser to the President, Director-General, Department of State Services (DSS), Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Member
(EFCC), and Commandant-General, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC)

Others who made up the Steering Committee are the Authority Chief Executive, Nigerian Midstream and Member Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), G r o u p Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Limited, Special Advisor (Special Duties) to the HMSPR while the Technical Advisor (Midstream) to the HMSPR will serve as Secretary.

Ends

The Police Service Commission (PSC), has advised all police officers due for retirement to proceed without delay.

Rising from a management meeting on Monday in Abuja, the Commission said the ongoing campaign for the extension of the tenures of some Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs); Assistant Inspectors General (AIGs); Commissioners of Police (CPs) and other senior Police Officers was an: “unnecessary distraction and an affront on all
the existing laws in the country guiding entry and exit in the public service”.

The PSC said there is an institutional succession plan in the Nigeria Police.

A statement on Tuesday by the Head, of Press and Public Relations, PSC, Ikechukwu Ani reads: ” The Police Service Commission, the statutory Government Executive Body with the Constitutional mandate to recruit, promote, dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over persons holding offices in the Nigeria Police Force, except the Inspector General of Police, wishes to assure Nigerians that there can never be any leadership vacuum in the NPF.

“The Commission has watched with keen interest the conversation in the Media on whether retiring senior Police Officers’ tenure should be elongated or not and whether such retirements would affect the 2023 election security.

“The Commission took a decision that it will not extend the tenures of the retiring senior Police Officers, stressing that even when requested, it can not do so as it is against all existing laws, Police Act, Police Service Commission Act, and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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“It noted that the Police have capable men and women who should be encouraged to step into the vacancies that would be created by the exiting Officers. It assured Nigerians that there is an institutional succession plan in the Nigeria Police Force especially with the current injection of 10,000 Constables and several other thousands of cadet ASPs from the Police Academy every year.

“The Commission assured Nigerians that there will be no vacuum in the hierarchy of the Police with the touted retirement of hundreds of senior Police Officers.
It took a decision to rigidly uphold the provisions of the law which stipulates that a serving public Officer, whether in the Police or in any other Government Agency, must exit the service at the age of 60 or having served for a period of 35 years”.

The Commission said it would not encourage the subversion of the laws guiding entry and exit into the Nigeria Public Service, adding that the retiring senior Police Officers are not indispensable and that their exit would not in any way or manner affect the success of the 2023 general elections.”