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Tag: Abdulrazak Namdas

  • 2019 budget: Reps deny receiving N50m for constituency projects

     

    The House of Representatives has denied accessing 50 percent of the N100b allocated to zonal intervention projects in the 2018 budget.

    Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha had disclosed on Tuesday that 50 percent of the allocation has been released.

    However House spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas, while briefing reporters after the 2019 budget presentation by President Muhammadu Buhari said the no such money has been released for the projects.

    He said it was necessary to inform contractors expected to carry out the execution of the projects had the money.

    Noting that no contractor has informed the House that they have accessed the money, he said: “None of us have access to that fund and I’m just always aware that these funds are released to contractors who would go and do in the projects in our various constituencies.

    “So in the meantime, none of our contractors or the contractors that are supposed to be given as called to say they are in the site doing the job but there is a commitment on the part of the executive 50 percent will be released.

    “So I think we just need to make that little clarification because if you say it’s an allowance people feel that we are pocketing the money and has already been given to us.

    “And I think this is not true and I think we still have not been given our constituency allowance”.

    On the reaction of lawmakers to President Buhari’s budget presentation, Namdas said it should not be blown out of proportion, adding that it is the beauty of democracy.

    He said: “What happened on the floor of the house is democracy in action.

    “There is nothing abnormal about it because you can see members of the ruling party were hailing the president, the opposition was also not doing the same and everybody have the right to do what they want to do.

    “Freedom of speech and what you say and we cannot bar people from doing anything but at the end of the day the budget has been presented by the President.”

     

     

  • Dogara’s defection not House matter, says Spokesman

    …We will deal with it when we resume, lawmakers

    …as Majority Leader Gbajabiamila keeps mum

    The decision of the Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara to pick People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is a personal decision that it has nothing to do with the House of Representatives, the Spokesman Abdulrazak Namdas has said.

    Dogara, a member of the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) was reported to have picked PDP’s Nomination and Expression of Interest forms on Wednesday.

    It would be recalled that prior to Dogara’s purchase of the forms, he had denied having endorsed the decision of two of his aides that defected to PDP.

    However, when asked what the decision of the Speaker to seek re-election on the platform of another party portends for the position of the Presiding officer of the House, Namdas said it was a personal decision that has no connection with the House.

    He said:  “This is a personal decision, the Speaker can pick forms from wherever he wants, but as a House, we cannot stop anyone from wanting to pursue his aspirations as he deems fit.

    “However, let me say it here, that I am still in APC and we are still in the majority. We will have to wait till the House resumes before we can officially make a comment on this.

    “You know, formal notice is usually given and read on the floor on a situation like this, so we have to wait to get an official communications from the Speaker”.

    As for the consideration of the budget for 2019 elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Spokesman said lawmakers would be available as soon as the leadership of the National Assembly communicates to that effect.

    “We are waiting for the report of the joint Committee on Electoral Matters, as soon as they are through with their job and the leadership gives the go ahead, we will reconvene to consider it”.

    The Majority leader of the House has refused to comment on the defection of Speaker Dogara.

    Several calls and text messages to his phone were not returned.

    However, a National Assembly source, who pleaded not to be named, said the media report of the purchase of the forms was a huge disappointment to the Speaker’s group.

    Read Also: Dogara’s aide joins PDP for State Assembly race

    According to him, the purchase of the form was meant to be a top secret, “It was not supposed to be a public knowledge for now. According to their plans, the defection was supposed to carry the same weight like the earlier defections of the over 36 members in the House and that of the Senate President Bukola Saraki.

    ‘I can authoritatively tell you that that was why the forms were obtained secretly, someone else was sent to procure them.

    “As it is now, the cat is out of the bag, the formal defection, on resumption from the annual recess would no longer carry the same effect, it would be like, we already know. His body language has indicated that much anyway.

    “As a matter of fact, Dogara and Governor Tambuwal are working in concert about the defection but I assure you, when we resume and we confront them with a list of defections from PDP, they’ll be shocked”.

    On his part, Bashir Babale (APC, Kano) expressed disappointment at the Speaker, who kept his decision to his chest while discussions were ongoing about his status in APC.

    “Even though it was a personal decision, which I must respect, I am still disappointed because he didn’t show any sign of having made up his mind about leaving all the time we were discussing his stay in APC.

    “All politics is local and the issue of cross-carpeting is a personal decision, but the sad thing is that he should have informed us earlier. We have been having meetings with him, thinking he is part of us.

    “Notwithstanding, APC is still in the majority in the House, so on the issue of his Speakership, we will decide that when we resume”.

    When contacted on the phone, Abdulmumin Jibrin (APC, Kano) said he has been indisposed and not aware of the Speaker’s picking of PDP Nomination form.

    Jibrin was reported to be working to remove Gbajabiamila as House Leader for allegedly working to unseat Dogara.

    He later denied it on his Twitter account stating that the issue had been resolved and that Gbajabiamila remained the House Leader.

    Similarly, calls to the Deputy Minority Leader, Chukwuka Onyema as  well as Tajudeen Yusuf for their comments on the development were not returned.

  • ‘Budget can’t be ready till March 2018’

    ‘Budget can’t be ready till March 2018’

    The leadership of the House of Representatives has put checks in place, to forestall incidences of padding in the 2018 budget, Chairman House Committee on Media, Abdulrazak Namdas has said.

    The House Spokesman, while having a chat with The Nation on Wednesday said the measure put in place by the Green Chamber is to ensure that the type of controversies witnessed in the past does not recur.

    He said: “You should know that the leadership of the House has put checks in place, like the rule that, no Standing Committee chairman can submit his report to the Appropriation Committee without the signatures of two-thirds of the members of the committee.

    “We have passed the stage of the budget controversy, allegations of padding and stories of the budget getting missing. Some of these were symptoms of the 2016 budget season, we didn’t have such problems with the 2017 budget. ”

    Namdas also hinted that the budget may not get to the President at the time he envisaged, adding that the National Assembly must consider the fine points of the bill and make the necessary adjustment that reflects the realities of the constituencies and the nation in general.

    According to him, the Green Chamber cannot return the document as it was presented.

    His words: “When the president presented his speech on the budget presentation day, he expressed the wish that the budget is approved by January 1st.

    “We are saying that we will work faster since the 2018 Appropriation Bill was brought a little bit earlier, we should also be able to approve the budget a little earlier.

    “But I cannot be specific about a date since we are few weeks to the end of December. This is about twenty sitting days, so if I sit here in the comfort of my office to assure Nigerians that the budget will be passed by 1st of January, you and even them will know it’s not feasible.

    “For the budget process, you should be looking at a minimum of three months. We will deliberate on the basic principles of the budget, it will be committed to committees to work on it, meet with MDA and they now send their report to the Appropriation Committee. All of these processes take time.

    “I think people should be more concerned about the National Assembly and the executive coming up with an implementable budget, rather than focusing on a January date.”

  • ‘Reps will not discard APC restructuring committee report’

    ‘Reps will not discard APC restructuring committee report’

    The House of Reps has said it will act on the final report of the All Progressives Congress (APC) committee on True Federalism set up by the ruling Party to articulate its position on the ongoing debate on restructuring and true federalism.

    Speaking on the sideline of the ongoing public hearing by the APC Committee on True Federalism, spokesman of the House of Reps, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas assure that the lawmakers would not discard the report when it is presented to them.

    “We are products of this party. Every lawmaker came to the National Assembly on the platform of various political parties and this committee was put together by our own party. So, naturally we (APC Committee) will collate views of the people here and send it to the party and the reason why we are part of it is that no view can be said to be ‘independent’. It has to come through a legislation.

    “Even the President said in his speech that the only recognized group that can talk about this is the National Assembly. But the National Assembly too is a product of the people. You cannot on your own amend things to suit the people. You have to collate views from them.

    “So, when these views are collated and sent to us, I can assure you that we are going to work on it. I told you that I am a member of the National Assembly Committee on Agitations. We call it agitations but it is restructuring.

    “We realized after we voted that Nigerians are more interested in the devolution of powers and certainly, some of these states are not viable because they cannot get revenue on their own. If you devolve the powers to the states and probably restructure the revenue allocation (template), these states will be viable and they can generate revenue and pay their salaries,” he stated.

    Namdas hailed Nigerian women for coming of age, advising them to organize and translate their numerical strength into tangible political gains.

    Chairman of the committee, Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state restated the commitment of the committee to be fair in compiling its final report as all shades of opinion expressed at its public hearings would be reflected.

    El-Rufai who was represented by a member of the committee and former governor of Edo state, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor APC said the committee has also resolved to forward the report to the lawmakers as well as forward a framework of its implementation to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    A cross-section of women groups at the hearing advocated the greater inclusion of women in Nigeria’s restricted and patriarchal political space, saying for every position occupied by a man, a woman must be made to deputize and vice versa.

  • Reps uncover $15bn unremitted oil, gas revenue

    Reps uncover $15bn unremitted oil, gas revenue

    House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating allegedly missing 17 billion dollars crude oil and Liquified Natural Gas revenue, on Monday uncovered 15 billion dollars unremitted revenue into Federation Account.

    The trace of the alleged missing fund believed to have been stolen and diverted to a foreign destination, was contained in the two documents submitted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) at the committee’s sitting.

    While responding to questions from members of the committee, Mr Rabiu Bello, NNPC’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), admitted that there were discrepancies in the documents.

    In his presentation earlier, Mr Jack Ukitetu, a Director in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), who represented the bank’s Governor, explained that the Accountant-General of the Federation approved and determined the money accrued to the Excess Crude Account.

    Ukitetu said that before 2006, the CBN collected the money on behalf of government’s agencies and remitted into the Federal Reserve Account in New York and charged 0.25 per cent.

    He, however, added that after 2006, the oil companies paid directly what was due to the government.

    On commissions being collected by the apex bank, the director told the lawmakers that the CBN collected 0.25 per cent via foreign exchange allocation and did not charge the Federal Government as deduction were made from central sales.

    Meanwhile, Mr Waziri Adio, Executive Secretary of Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), who had accused NNPC and CBN of misleading the ad hoc committee, pleaded to withdraw the earlier documents submitted.

    He, however, pledged to submit “more damaging documents” on the alleged crude oil theft to the committee on Wednesday “ which will help in unearthing the unremitted revenue accrued from oil and gas but not remitted”.

    Speaking earlier, Chairman of the committee, Rep. Abdulrazak Namdas, said that the committee would not hesitate to submit its report to the House without the inputs of major Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) which failed to honour the committee’s invitation.

    Toward this, the committee mandated the CBN and NNPC to submit the audited report of the oil and gas account showing the remitted funds into the Federation Account between 2011 and 2014.

    The NNPC was also directed to submit the Bill of Laden relating to the 974,721 barrels of crude oil lifted on Oct. 20, 2011 and 961,963 barrels lifted on Oct. 10, 2011.

    It also included 974, 935 barrels lifted on July 9, 2011 and 974,953 barrels lifted on July 18, 2011 but were not declared.

    The lawmakers also requested for report of the reconciliation conducted by NNPC and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as well as the list of oil off-takers for 2013 and 2014.

    Similarly, NNPC is expected to provide details of the companies that paid oil tax between 2011 and 2014 as well as the Letter of Credits (LCs) of all the monies paid into the Federation Account within the period.

  • 2017 Budget: Why NASS Leadership met with Presidency – Spokesman

    2017 Budget: Why NASS Leadership met with Presidency – Spokesman

    The leadership of the National Assembly met with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during the Easter recess to streamline some areas in the budget, it was learnt Monday.

    Abdulrazak Namdas, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs who made the revelation said the purpose of the parley was to put both Legislature and Executive on the same page concerning the 2017 budget.

    Recall that just before the Easter recess, Namdas while briefing reporters on the weekly activities of the Green Chamber said there is no way the 2017 budget can be ready before the resumption of members from the Easter break.

    The lawmaker while speaking yesterday noted that since the National Assembly and the presidency have agreed on key aspects of the Budget, it will aid in the speedy passage of the budget.

    His words: “The topmost priority will be the passage of the budget. We want to ensure that within a few weeks, the budget will be passed.

    “I can tell you that during the Easter break, the leadership of the National Assembly met with the Executive over the budget so that budget will be streamlined in a manner that it tallies with priority areas of the Federal Government and I can tell you that if this budget is passed, there will no little or no issues with the Executive implementing it”.

    He said important legislations which both chambers have to harmonize are the amendment of the Electoral Act 2010 as passed by  Senate on Thursday, March 30 where in the Senate version passed include the use of electronic voting in future elections and electronically transmission of results to collation centers.

    He said: “Any bill that is passed by the Senate must be given concurrence by the House and vice-versa. But you also have to understand that concurrence by either House of the National Assembly is not automatic, neither is the rule that the bill be passed the exact manner it was sent to either house.

    “But what is important is that we will work hard to pass bills that will enhance good governance on time,” he stated.

    Namdas also said that the House has been serious with carrying its constitutional responsibility of investigations, adding that in spite of the dissolution of ad hoc committees by the Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, inquiries into issues by the House would not be truncated. According to him such probes would also be done in a “timely manner,” he said.

    His words: “Yes, the Speaker dissolved ad hoc committees but my understanding is that next action on investigations undertaken by these committees will either be taken over by standing committees or be reassigned as decided by the leadership of the House.”

    However, expectations that the National Assembly, which embarked on a two- week break on 11th April will resume today to continue deliberation on the 2017 budget has thinned because of the death of Senator Isiaka Adeleke.

    Many had been looking forward to the resumption of the National Assembly as the parliament has said that the 2017 budget would be passed after resumption from the Easter break.

    The Nation learnt that sitting will be adjourned to Wednesday to honour the late Senator by both chambers Tuesday.

  • We won’t accept excuses for non-payment of pensions – Dogara

    We won’t accept excuses for non-payment of pensions – Dogara

    Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, on Thursday urged the executive to ensure that backlog of pensions were paid promptly, warning that excuses would not be accepted.

    Dogara made this known while reacting to briefing by Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and her Budget and National Planning counterpart, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, on efforts to offset arrears owed Nigerian pensioners.

    He expressed confidence that the promise of President Muhammadu Buhari on the pensions would be kept.

    “When the president promised that he was going to release money for bailout to States so that they can pay backlog of salaries and pensions, he did.

    “We will not accept any excuse that leaves part of this pension funds hanging,” he said.

    According to him, I don’t know where you got the money to bail out the states from, but wherever you got the money from that is where we are going to get the money to solve this problem.

    “I want to believe this will be the last intervention we will be having with regards to the issue of pensions in this country. That is my charge.

    “The message the House will be sending to the President through the ministers is `when you meet him to brief him about this engagement, tell him that we have taken his words to the bank and we believe that we would cash it’.”

    Meanwhile, the spokesman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr Abdulrazak Namdas, said the 2017 Appropriation Bill would be passed after the Easter break.

    Namdas told reporters after plenary on Thursday that all legislative work on the fiscal document would be concluded as soon as the Assembly resumed from the recess.

    He explained that the House intervened in the issue of arrears of pensioners’ entitlements to enable the ministers in charge of finances to address the matter.

    According to him, the explanation provided by the two ministers will go a long way to assuage the pains of the nation’s senior citizens.

     

  • March 30 deadline for passage of 2017 budget not sacrosanct — Reps

    March 30 deadline for passage of 2017 budget not sacrosanct — Reps

    The House of Representatives says the March 30 deadline set for the passage of 2017 Appropriation Bill by the National Assembly is not sacrosanct.

    Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Rep. Abdulrazak Namdas, made this known on Thursday in Abuja.

    Namdas said that the new software used in the process was slowing down the work of the Appropriation committee.

    “I want to say that the March 30 deadline, just for the purpose of records, may not be actually sacrosanct because of the new development that has risen.

    “We have new budget software and it is different from what we used to have before.

    “It is slowing the process of the appropriation committee down a bit.’’

    He, however, said that there was need for standing committees that had yet to submit their reports to the Appropriation Committee to do so in order to hasten the process.

    “The speaker, Yakubu Dogara just urged the various committees to submit their reports to the Appropriation committee by Friday because it has been realised that most of the committees have not submitted their reports.

    “These are some of the issues slowing the process. But I think from the discussion with some of Chairmen of committees, I am optimistic they will submit their reports by tomorrow (Friday),’’ Namdas added.

     

  • House justifies budget ‘padding’

    House justifies budget ‘padding’

    • Dares Jibrin to show evidence of Dogara’s involvement in padding
    The House of Representatives has said it is the ignorance of the workings of the budget process to accuse it of padding because there is nothing like that.
    This is as the leadership of the House challenged the former Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin (APC, Kano) to show evidence of complicity of the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and the others allegedly accused of padding the 2016 budget.
    The leadership has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate Jibrin since his chairmanship of the Finance Committee in the 7th Assembly.
    While stating the position of the House yesterday at a briefing, Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas said the House would not join issue with former President, Olusegun Obasanjo on the subject of padding and corruption because the National Assembly has the power to tinker with budget estimates.
    He said: “Section 4, empowers the National Assembly to make laws for good governance of the federation while Section 59 confers on the Legislature final say on the budget.
    “Section 80 (4) on the other hand, which confers on the legislature absolute power of control over public funds, states that: “No money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.
    “The word Manner confers absolute legislative discretion.
    “When therefore, the National Assembly appropriates funds in the budget, it can never under any circumstances or guise be deemed or regarded as tinkering or padding.
    “The legislature is therefore constitutionally incapable of padding the budget.
    “What the Executive submits are mere estimates and proposal as stipulated in Section 81 (1).
    “It is obvious that the Constitution uses the word Estimates advisedly. Consequently, it is therefore an exhibition of crass ignorance, abuse of language, outright mischief and or blackmail for a legislator, especially one who chaired the Appropriations Committee to use the word PADDING to describe the action of parliament on the budget.
    “The removal, introduction of projects or the amendment of Mr. President’s estimates in the Appropriation Bill cannot be construed as an Act of corruption or impropriety   because it is at the core of appropriation powers of the National Assembly as aptly enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
    “It is therefore clear, that no crime or wrong doing can be legitimately imputed on the actions or conduct of Mr. Speaker, the Leadership or Members of the House of Representatives before, during and after the passage of the 2016 Appropriation Bill.”
    However, he disclosed that Jibrin was actually investigated by the House for gross misconduct  as a result of complaints over his misuse of power by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) since his Chairmanship of Finance Committee in the 7th Assembly.
    Saying that was the reason behind Jibrin’s  removal, Namdas added, “His removal was based on sundry acts of misconduct, incompetence, total disregard for his colleagues and abuse of the budgetary process, among others.
    “Immaturity and lack of capacity to handle the Office of Chairman, Appropriations:
    “One of the fundamental reasons why the House Leadership removed him is that, he was found not to be fit and proper person to hold such a sensitive office which exposes him to high officials of government at all levels.
    “Furthermore, in the course of the performance of his duties as Chairman of Appropriations Committee, it became evident that he does not possess the temperament and maturity required for such a high office.
    “Tendency and proclivity to blackmail colleagues and high government officials and misuse and mishandle sensitive government information:
    “He was in the habit of collating, warehousing and manipulating sensitive information to blackmail people sometimes apparently for pecuniary purposes. And by the virtue of his position as Appropriations Chairman, he meets with very high and senior public officers at all levels.
    “The Speaker and the Leadership were inundated with complaints by heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) over harassment from the House Appropriations Chairman to engage in conduct and acts unbecoming of their offices.
    “The Leadership launched an internal investigation into these allegations and was largely satisfied that action had to be taken to remove him, in the interest of the integrity of the House.
    “One clear example is the insertion of Funds for the so called Muhammadu Buhari Film Village in his Constituency in Kano State without the consent or solicitation of Mr. President. This has brought both Mr President and the government to disrepute.
    “Again, it was found out that he was fond of inserting projects into prominent persons’ constituencies without their knowledge to curry favour and possibly use it as a means of blackmail against them when necessary.
    “One of such is the numerous projects he claimed in a Channels TV interview in April 2016, to have cited in Mr. President’s home town of Daura, Katsina State without Mr. President’s solicitation or knowledge, in a desperate attempt to blackmail Mr. President as an answer and a justification for allocation of N4.1b to his constituency when confronted by the interviewer.
    “He did not stop there. Hon Abdulmumin went about soliciting Honourable members to nominate projects for him to help them include in the Budget. When called upon to defend his actions as Appropriation’s Chairman, all he did was to be calling names of those members and the amount he helped include for them in the Budget in an unsuccessful  bid to silence them.
    “Most of the affected members took serious exceptions to his despicable antics and sundry acts of  blackmail and protested to the Leadership to prevail on Hon Abdulmumin to expunge  from the Budget what he claimed he allocated to them since they did not solicit for those projects.”
    Jibrin was also accused of being responsible for the friction between the National Assembly and the executive over the 2016 budget through his incompetence, mismanagement of the process and hidden agenda.
  • Sex scandal: Panel yet to be constituted – Reps

    Sex scandal: Panel yet to be constituted – Reps

    Even as the lawmakers and their involved in the sex scandals continue to deny any form of culpability, the leadership of the House is yet to constitute the probe panel that will conduct the investigation.

    The non-existence of a probe panel was however contrary to what House Spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas told journalists on Thursday in a press briefing that the House has commenced an investigation the scandal.

    It was gathered that as at time of this report, no Committee has been mandated by the Speaker to conduct the investigation.

    A source, who pleaded anonymity said the leadership of the House may want to be cautious and not be caught in an awkward position over the issue, which was the reason for the delay in the constitution of the probe panel.

    He said: “Normally, the Nicholas Ossai-led Ethics and Privileges Committee that conducts investigation into allegations of misdemeanor by members supposed to have been informed by the leadership

    “As we speak, no official information has been forwarded to the Committee to commence any investigation in that direction.

    “We can not however rule out a composition of an ad hoc Committee to do as a result of the magnitude and veracity of the incidence, while considering the image of the country.

    “If the leadership prefers an ad hoc Committee, no one should be suprised that some members of the leadership would be members.

    “As we speak, nothing has been done so far but it is also possible that the Speaker might have asked some people (without the knowledge of other members) to carry out the investigation”.