The Nation Newspaper

Tag: act

  • Social deficit: ACT foundation partners 25 NGOs

    Aspire Coronation Trust ( ACT ) Foundation has announced its partnership with 25 non-governmental organizations who will support its bid to tackle some of the nation’s social deficits.

    This announcement was made by the Foundation Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Osayi Alile recently, while speaking about the 2018 ACT foundation grant.

    According to Alile, after a successful first year of grant-making the Foundation observed tremendous changes in communities where it worked, impacting on the lives of over 65,000 Nigerians; “and this has spurred us to do more. We are proud to present the 25 grantee organizations we will be working with for the year to make positive social changes in our communities,” he added.

    The 2018 ACT Foundation grant cycle will fund 25 non-profits organisations working in the areas of Health, Entrepreneurship, Environment and Leadership. In a statement made available to newsmen, the Foundation noted that considering the enormous challenges encountered with regards to social and economic survival, it becomes a matter of necessity for programs aimed at improving the standard of living for Nigerians to be implemented. Thus, these select organizations who possess proven track records will initiate innovative solutions to addressing challenges and associated vulnerabilities persisting within the country.

    Speaking about the new grant cycle, the CEO, Post-Partum Support Network Africa (PSN), Onyedikachi Ekwerike, expressed his delight in being an ACT foundation grantee for the second time. “The defining moment for my organization was being chosen as a 2017 grantee of ACT foundation. This partnership helped our organization grow by leaps and bounds and we are delighted to be a 2018 recipient.”

    The Foundation’s health initiatives will focus on the areas such as prostate, breast and cervical cancers, malaria interventions and maternal and child health. Entrepreneurial initiatives will focus on skills development and financial literacy programs; with environmental projects being centred on waste management and water sanitation. The aspect of leadership which is very crucial to the country’s development will be hinged on youth empowerment and capacity building.

    “In the 2018 ACT Foundation grant cycle, the organization will partner 25 non-profit organizations through funding and capacity building. With capacity building cited as a prominent and lingering issue in the social sector, ACT foundation through its grant aims to instil in its grantees the knowledge and skills required to improve on their work, as well as to offer them the necessary support to encourage the growth of Africa’s development sector.

    “The 2018 ACT Foundation grant is in line with the organizations aim to support local, national and regional non – profit organizations working to address challenges and associated vulnerabilities across the African Continent. The 2017 ACT foundation grant which supported 22 organizations was instrumental in touching the lives of over 65,000 Nigerians across 23 states in the country,” the statement read.

  • Re: Much ado about proposed Pension Act amendment

    I read with interest the publication with the above title published in The Nation of Monday, September 11, and marveled at why anybody would argue against the proposed amendment of some sections of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014, which is intended to address the plight of retirees.

    One of the proposed amendments of utmost concern to me is the payment of 75% lump sum and the comments credited to the President of Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Abel Afolayan to wit: “We are aware of the bills seeking to revise certain portions of the PRA 2014. Our position is that it is too early to revise the Act. The PRA 2004 was revised and repealed into PRA 2014 and we believe it should be allowed to run for sometime. When we fully explore the provisions, we can then know the sections that are due for revision”.

    “In the case of the 75% lump sum bill, for instance, we believe that it will not be in the best interest of the retirees. This is because when a retiree is allowed to pull out 75% lump sum from his RSA, the remainder 25% will not be enough to provide monthly or quarterly pension payments and as such will be back to the problem of old age poverty”.

    I wish to ask if it must take a decade to review a section of an Act that is not serving its intended purpose, which should be for the interest of the retirees/pensioners. It is most unfair for the PFAs to be enjoying 75% of pensioners’ funds carting away huge returns on investments for their owners while the pensioners who ought to benefit from the contributory pension scheme suffer with miserable monthly pension amounts.

    Where those who argue against 75% lump sum got it all wrong is that, they believe retirees are far spent and cannot manage any business of their own; therefore they are only good to receive monthly stipends until death speedily come calling.

    Most pensioners were retired in their late 40s or early 50s. They are still very young, active and energetic to fend for themselves and their families, especially as most of their children are still in secondary schools, universities and other tertiary institutions of learning. Experiences garnered by the pensioners over the years of active service when employed in productive capacity would not only add to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), they will also be employers of labour thereby reducing the level of unemployment in the country.

    Most politicians who occupy positions of leadership and authority as president, governors, senators, House of Representative members, ministers, commissioners, etc. are above 60 years of age; yet they discharge their duties, make important decisions and evolve policies for the good of the society. The retirees should be paid their 75% lump sum so that they can put it to productive use. This will enable them to have substantial and adequate funds free from any cost to commence their businesses and take care of their basic domestic needs which include food, shelter, clothing, school fees for their children, etc.

    We all know that it is impossible for retirees to source funds from any financial institution to establish any business given the unfavorable and stringent lending criteria. So, why keep greater part of a pensioner’s retirement savings, which is designed to kick-start his business with a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA), who will be handing down some miserable amount every month to the retiree in the name of monthly pension, when he can manage his funds and not only better his estate but also become an employer of labour and add to the country’s GDP?

    This injustice is likened to a debtor who deliberately pays his creditor in bits instead of in bulk as appropriate.

    The contributory pension scheme as the name implies is a savings scheme, which ought to be used to commence a new life after retirement. An inactive person with the present miserable pension amount soon dies out of poverty, frustration and misery.

    The fear that payment of 75% lump sum would have ripple effect and cause financial shakeup is unfounded and does not hold water, because the funds would be paid out through the financial institutions (banks) to accounts of retirees held in the commercial banks. The retirees would withdraw the funds from their accounts according to their needs and thus funds are injected into the economy as productive capital for economic activities, which will further galvanize the country’s productive capacity and invariably boost our GDP. Thereafter, the funds would ultimately get back into the financial system in the normal cycle of velocity of money.

    Also, the regular monthly pension contributions from employers and employees of the public and organized private sectors will continue to replenish the pool.

    Pension contributions are warehoused with Pension Funds Custodians, mostly banks from where the funds are invested to yield returns for stakeholders. Pension Fund Administrators should guard against any envisaged effect of divestment from government securities before maturity, by ensuring that the proportion of pension funds invested in treasury bills, certificates and bonds are spread in such tenor intervals as to ensure quick conversion to cash. This will enable the PFA’s to quickly raise adequate funds to accommodate certain ratio of obligation to the pensioners, no matter the quantum without affecting maturity of investments. Acid Test Ratio should be observed by PFAs in their portfolio mix, to eliminate any threat of financial shocks under any circumstances and at all times. In fact, the PFAs should start now to accumulate funds from monthly contributions to meet payment of 75% lump sum before the proposed bills are passed into law.

    PenCom argued that it is trite that lump sum should not be fixed. Rather, what should be implemented is a minimum replacement ratio as monthly pensions. This is said to be 50% of last pay. Is the present 25% lump sum not fixed? Of course it is, as would the 75% when passed into law.

    As a pensioner under the present scheme, I do not receive up to 30% of my last pay as monthly pension.

    Presently, pensioners are witnessing old age poverty, dependency, insecurity and misery. He who is on the ground need not to fear a fall, rather what is uppermost in his/her mind is how to get up. Payment of 75% lump sum is the springboard that will give the pensioner/retiree the leverage to stand up and start all over again.

    Catering for old age therefore includes payment of 75% lump sum, to enable pensioners start a new business life.  Fifty) to 55 years old person is still very active, with a whole lot of experiences garnered during active service years to make success of his/her business with funds from his RSA, which is devoid of any cost of funds or interest element.

    For an individual who earned about N91, 000 as monthly basic salary, excluding other allowances while in active service and at retirement receives approximately N24, 000 as monthly pension, is he not impoverished already? If he/she still has a child in the university, would N24, 000 monthly pensions pay the child’s school fees, feed the family in a month and accommodate other domestic needs?

    Why didn’t the pension scheme operators and regulators deem it fit all these years to ensure that the minimum pension guarantee framework as stipulated in the PRA 2014 was set-up and funded to alleviate the pensioners situation?

    Must this kind of situation arise before such laudable provisions of the act are considered, articulated and put in place by the operators and regulators of the scheme for the benefit of the pensioners?

    It is expected that the Pension Fund Administrators would oppose the proposed bills because they are the ones benefiting from the status-quo. They would rather have 100% of contributions in retirees RSAs and make astronomic returns for their owners every financial year, to the detriment of the pensioners who are paid miserable monthly pensions and denied the opportunity of owning their own businesses due to lack of capital.

    For foreign investors to have invested heavily in some major PFAs is an indication of high rate of returns on investment for operators of the PFAs, all to the disadvantage of the pensioners who are condemned to old age poverty and consequent death by the status quo.

    What needs to be done is to prepare would be retirees for life after retirement, by organizing workshops and seminars where they would learn trades, acquire skills and managerial capabilities that would set them on the part of entrepreneurship to own their own businesses. One to two months should be dedicated to this training before retirement, to adequately prepare and equip the retirees with the proper mindset to succeed in any chosen field of endeavor as entrepreneurs. The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) should pay attention in this direction and collaborate with government departments, agencies, ministries and private sector organizations to achieve the desired results in this regard.

    The federal government is constantly seeking avenues to raise funds for our SMEs at single digit interest. This problem would be solved to a greater extent with payment of 75% lump sum, which is free from any cost of funds.

    On the other bill seeking to open at least one branch in each geo-political zone, to make it easy for pensioners to access their PFAs, it is a welcome development. This will bring the services closer to retirees who have limited funds to embark on several fruitless trips in pursuit of their entitlements.

     

    • Obi writes from Umueze Village, Aguata Local Government Area, Anambra State.
  • ACT, Visionsoring, other partner, restore sights in Epe

    ACT, Visionsoring, other partner, restore sights in Epe

    Inspired to increase awareness for improved eye health to avoid visual impairment, grant-making non-profit, Aspire Coronation Trust (ACT) Foundation together with its grantee, VisionSpring and Catholic Opticals is screening and providing over 3,500 reading glasses to residents of Eredo community in Epe Local Government Area of Lagos State.

    This eye screening exercise aimed at raising awareness for proper eye health as well blindness prevention was officially marked on Thursday, October 12, 2017, in commemoration of the World Sight Day.

    The 2017 World Sight Day with the theme make vision count galvanizes people all over the world to pay keen attention to eye care in order to avoid visual impairment.

    Leaning on one of its focus areas, health, ACT Foundation in partnership with one of its 2017 grantee, optical focused non-profit, VisionSpring with the support of Catholic Opticals conducted free eye screening exercises in Lagos and Ogun States, thus providing 7,500 prescription glasses for visually impaired people.

    The eye sensitization which began on September 6, 2017, kicked off at Eredo community in Epe Local Government Area of Lagos State and has attracted thousands of women and children in order to achieve Vision 2020 through eliminating avoidable blindness.

    Speaking about this initiative, CEO, ACT Foundation, Osayi Alile noted that this initiative will improve the quality of life of the residents of these communities.

    She said: “About 89% of blindness occurs amongst people living in low and middle-income countries and so we deemed it important to partner with these organisations in order to bridge the gap in eye health and vision care in Nigeria”.

    Also speaking at the event, Country Representative, VisionSpring, Atinuke Adeyinka explained her organisation’s goal of improving quality of life through improved vision. Adeyinka said “Visually impaired individuals have the tendency to do better when they can see better, however various socio-economic factors negate them from accessing quality eye care. We are certain that through this eye health exercise we will be able to bring quality eye care to thousands of visually impaired people in Nigeria.”

    Applauding the initiative, Iyabo Oloyede, a farmer in Epe expressed her joy on being a recipient of this effective campaign. Mrs Oloyede said: As a 59-year-old woman my eyesight has deteriorated. My eyes are always giving me issues and this is affecting my farm work. I need to be able to see the weeds growing around my crops in order to remove it and with this glasses now, I will see well and have more crops to harvest.

    I will also be able to read well and walk around even when night comes. Thank you so much ACT Foundation, VisionSpring and Catholic Opticals for giving me the opportunity to improve my eyes.”

    Aspire Coronation Trust Foundation is a grant-making non-profit established to support local, national and regional non-profits working to address challenges and associated vulnerabilities in the African continent.

  • Aremu opposes proposed Pension Reform Act amendment

    Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) chieftain Issa Aremu  has advised stakeholders to reject the proposed controversial bill seeking to exclude the Police, Customs, Civil Defenders, Immigration and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from the Contributory Pension Scheme.

    The bill, being sponsored by a House of Represtatives member,  Oluwole Oke, has passed second reading.

    In a statement in Kaduna, Aremu, also the chairman of the Interim Management Committee of First Guarantee Pension Fund Administrator, said Pension Reform Acts of 2004 and 2014, were outcomes of executive bills, which addressed the delicate interests of pensioners, government and the economy.

    He added that a private-member bill informed by “narrow and vested interest consideration” could not do justice to all.

    The labour leader also said any private-member bill, which seeks to erode the gains of the 13-year-old N7 trillion contributory pension scheme, in terms of coverage and resource pools, is “counterproductive” and should not be encouraged.

    He said pensions of the workers in security services were better secured in a national contributory scheme than the old “unfunded and unsustainable, discredited  Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS).”

    According to Aremu, until the recent contributory pension reform, all stakeholders bore witness to ugly features of corruption, inefficiency and share looting, which he claimed characterised  the old DBS.

    He added that to return to the old era means “bringing back corruption to pension administration through the National Assembly”.

    He advised the National Assembly  against what he called  ”the pitfalls  of frequent  self-serving out sourced amendments” of the Pension Act.

    He observed that the pension Act has just been amended through executive/all inclusive review two years ago, adding that with all it’s globally acknowledged successes the contributory pension covers only seven million workers. He added that to  further ask for exclusion of the security agencies only undermines the scheme with all the attendant negative implications for Nigerian economy just coming out of recession.

    Aremu, therefore, called all National Assembly members to reject the bill, saying it would not do any one any good.

  • Planned NLNG Act’s amendment causes stir

    Planned NLNG Act’s amendment causes stir

    It was time to debate the proposed bill for an amendment of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Act before the National Assembly at a forum organised by energy reporters in Lagos. The bill seeks to compel the NLNG to pay three per cent of its yearly budget to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Will the amendment be carried? EMEKA UGWUANYI, AKINOLA AJIBADE and AMBROSE NNAJI report.

    It was a no-holds-barred argument involving oil and gas industry stakeholders and a member of the House of Representatives, Simon Yakubu Arobo, on the proposed amendment to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Act. A bill, which is before the National Assembly, was on whether the amendment would be in the interest of Nigerians, or it would strangle the goose that lays the golden egg.

    It all happened at a forum organised by the Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria. The controversy over the amendment started in  February, last year, when Senator Patrick Nwaoboshi alleged that the NLNG had refused to pay its NDDC levy since it started commercial operation 16 years ago.  By that action, he claimed, the company had broken the law.

    Not long after Nwaoboshi’s statement, the House of Representatives backed his proposal for the NLNG’s (fiscal incentives, guaranteed and assurances) Act, Cap N87 of 2004 amendment. The 2004 Act exempts the NLNG from paying the NDDC levy.

    To the lawmakers, the NLNG has continued to hide under the pretext that the NLNG (Fiscal incentives, Guarantees and Assurances) Act exempted it from such contributions or payments.

    Discussing the implications of the amendment, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Mentor Energy Consulting Limited, Mr. Victor Eromosele, said efforts to compel the NLNG to start paying the NDDC levy does not speak well of the country. According to him, the agreement between the Federal Government and NLNG must stand. To rescind on agreement as being planned by the National Assembly will not portray Nigeria as a dependable country to investors. He noted that the idea to have the LNG project by Nigeria was on the table for 30 years before the NLNG agreed to take the risk. Besides, the NLNG, according to him, is only a gas processing company and not gas producing company, adding that the NDDC Act stipulates that a gas producing company, like the NLNG, is not supposed to pay the NDDC levy.

    “The action of the legislators on the issue of amending the NLNG Act was wrong. It sends wrong signal to investors. Investors would be wondering why the country is changing its laws. Issues relating to contracts between the NLNG and its foreign investors would be adversely affected by the planned amendment,” he said.

    Former Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji,  said as a country, Nigeria’s yes must always remain so. Not yes at a point and no at the other. According to him, it kills investment and investors’ appetite to invest, adding that Nigeria should be a country that respects sanctity of agreement.

    To the Head, Energy Research Desk of Ecobank, Mr. Dalapo Oni, to compel the NLNG to pay the NDDC levy amounts to double taxation because the gas producer has already paid the levy. Besides, the timing of the proposed amendment is wrong. To him, considering the state of the economy, the lawmakers ought to be concerned about how to grow the economy, create more jobs, and build more LNG companies and plants. “We need to monetise our gas. We need to build more LNG firms,” he said.

    He asked the National Assembly which option was better, to support  investments’ inflow to develop more LNG plants and monetise gas or force a gas processing company  to pay NDDC levy?

    According to him, the National Assembly ought to be more concerned with reviving the OKLNG and Brass LNG as well as new LNG companies, adding that the lawmakers should be supporting the actualisation of the NLNG’s Trains 7&8, which will create 18,000 jobs and attract billions of dollars in investments.

    Oni, however, assumed that the current fight to force the NLNG to pay the NDDC levy was not a colouration from the past battle between the NDDC and the NLNG on the same issue of paying the levy. He noted that there are several gas processing companies that are not paying the NDDC levy and they are not being pursued as they have done to NLNG. “Instead of stifling companies that are doing well, we should focus on creating more viable firms,” he added.

    He continued: “The NLNG is proudly the country’s biggest and most successful indigenous company, run by 100 per cent Nigerian management and over 95 per cent Nigerian staff, yet competing effectively globally. Till today, it is the country’s highest tax payer and the fourth largest supplier of LNG in the world.

    “As one of the shareholders, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) gets dividends from the NLNG and the government also gets taxes from the NLNG, and when it has to part with that percentage of its budget for the NDDC, the amount they can share as dividends will also reduce because that will come from their profit.

    “We lose gas export window because right now, different LNG plants are being developed around the world including Mozambique, Tanzania, Cameron, Angola, and the Equatorial Guinea, and eventually the demand for our gas will be less, and normally, supply will affect the pricing of the LNG.”

    NLNG’s General Manager, External Relations, Dr. Kudo Eresia-Eke said the National Assembly is established to legislate for the country, urging the lawmakers to exercise restraints on issues affecting the existence of the country. He said the revenue the firm generates annually for the government is huge, adding that it is the country’s major revenue earner next to crude oil.

    “We cannot say that the National Assembly should not do its job, especially as regards making and amending law, but should tread softly on issues that can affect the earnings of the country.  The country’s interest should be paramount above other interests. The power the National Assembly has is our (Nigerians) power, and it should be used in our interest.”

    Arobo, a member of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Gas, had a different view. He said the NLNG cannot tie Nigeria’s hands forever.  “As a sovereign nation, we can review laws. We are not driving investors, we just want the NLNG to comply with the laws of the land. We now know that it is right and just for it to make such payment, especially when they have enjoyed these incentives for more than 27 years,” he said.

    He continued: “Senate will not renege on its promise to amend the Act that is guiding the operation of the NLNG. The National Assembly can amend the Constitution of Nigeria. The legislative arm has the power to amend the Act that is guiding the existence or operation of an entity including the NLNG.

    “The National Assembly  has been empowered by Section 4 of the Constitution to legislate on issues affecting the existence of a corporate entity called Nigeria and the Senate is working in accordance with the interest of Nigerians.

    “There is no law in perpetuity. There is no law anywhere in the world that says that an Act cannot be amended or touched by a legally constituted authority like the Senate. Nigeria is a sovereign nation and has the duty to review an Act that shortchanged its patrimony. Now, what is wrong in asking the NLNG  that is a gas processing company, to make contributions regarding its operation, as provided by the constitution. Those people that have been saying that the Senate should not tamper with the Act that sets up NLNG are basically saying the law guiding the operation of the company should be there forever. We at the National Assembly cannot do that. We are a sovereign nation and there is nowhere in the world where an Act cannot be reviewed or amended.”

  • ‘NLNG Act amendment amounts to double taxation’

    The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) General Manager, Production,  Tayo Oginni, has said amending the NLNG Act would lead to double taxation. This is because gas suppliers are already paying NLNG  the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) three per cent levy.

    Oginni, according to the firm’s General Manager, External Relations Division, Kudo Eresia-Eke, spoke  while briefing international media correspondents and the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Managing Director, Mr Bayo  Onanuga, when they visited the NLNG plant facility in Bonny, Rivers State.

    The planned amendment, he said,  was inimical to the oil and gas industry, especially when the country should be developing its vast gas resources and attracting foreign direct investments into the country.

    He said after nearly 30 years of attempting to start the LNG project in Nigeria, it was the enactment of the NLNG Act that made it possible for the NLNG to be established. NLNG’s   establishment facilitated the Final Investment  Decisions (FIDs) for the six train, which earned the country the reputation of the first growing NLNG project in the world. The milestone, Oginni said, would be watered down by attempts to change the rules of the game built into the Act.

    Recounting his experience with the NLNG project,  he said the loss of hope experienced prior to the incorporation of the NLNG again manifested in the NLNG’s bid to expand its production facility with Trains 7 and 8 as a result of lack of investment in the upstream sector to guarantee gas supplies.

    He called on the Federal Government to preserve the sanctity of agreement in the NLNG Act and pass the Petroleum Industry Bill to spur exponential growth in the oil and gas industry in the country.

    “The Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) Fiscal Incentives, Guarantees and Assurances Act (NLNG Actallowed investments to flow into the country. It provided investors the confidence that any agreement entered into would be respected and preserved. To amend the Act will not help Nigeria, NLNG and its hopes for expansion. It will erode investors’ confidence that the Act provided in the first place,”he said.

    He pointed out that the imminent requirement of over $1 billion investment every year in the upstream for the next few years in order to guarantee steady gas supply to ensure that NLNG’s Trains 1 – 6 can be kept full over the contracted life of the plant, will be impossible with the amendment.

    “It will also mean an immediate loss of foreign investment of US$25 billion in respect of Trains 7 and 8 investment ($15 billion by the upstream and USD$10 billion for construction). This will also cost the Niger Delta region and the country about 18,000 jobs required for the construction activities of the new trains,” he added.

    Commenting on the achievements by the NLNG, the company, he said, generated $90 billion in revenues as at 2015, paid $5.7 billion in taxes as well as committed more than $200 million to corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects in the Niger Delta, especially in capacity building and infrastructure development. He said the  company was to commit some N60 billion to see the Bonny-Bodo road come into reality and commit N3 billion annually for the next 25 years to transform Bonny into another Dubai.

  • ‘Amended NLNG Act barrier to investments’

    Hopes for economic and industrial growth will be dashed if laws, such as the Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) Fiscal Incentives, Guarantees and Assurances Act, remain, NLNG Managing Director  Tony Attah has said.

    Attah spoke at the Nigeria Oil and Gas conference in Abuja titled: Nigeria’s gas sector – the catalyst for economic and industrial growth?

    “It is time for gas. We need deliberate decisions and policies to decouple oil from gas and attract investment. We need to do that now. Investments in the gas and LNG industry are declining. It is already difficult as things stand to find Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and growth in the gas industry has been cautious after the recent down-beat global crude oil price. In addition to this, Nigeria is ranked 167 of 189 countries in the ease of doing business index.

    “Yet, experts maintain that there is the strong likelihood of increased gas demand infuture and that is where the silver lining is. However, if we continue with the self-inflicted barriers in our gas industry, we might miss the opportunity to make this country a major player in the global energy mix,” he said.

    He said the industry has benefited the economy, diversified the country’s revenue and export base as well as channelled FDI into it. It has created jobs and contributed significantly to the local manufacturing capacity in the country. But all that would be laid waste if we continued to shift policies and renege on international agreements that put some framework into the business and generated investor confidence, he added.

    ‘’We need to be creative with incentives that will attract investments and preserve the sanctity of contracts and agreements for all of this to come together in our national interest,’’ he said.

  • PENGASSAN rejects proposed NLNG Act amendment

    PENGASSAN rejects proposed NLNG Act amendment

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has opposed the  House of Representatives’s plan to amend the NLNG (Fiscal Incentives, Guarantees and Assurances) Act, describing it as unnecessary.

    It said: “The amendment can cause imminent losses that will far outweigh any doubtful gains.”

    In a statement titled: “Proposed amendment of the NLNG Act: Economic and security implications for the nation,” signed by PENGASSAN President Comrade Francis Johnson, and Acting General Secretary Comrade Lumumba Okugbawa, the union said the amendment would impact negatively on the image of the country.

    PENGASSAN argued that the international community would perceive Nigeria as a country which does not honour its promises nor take its calls for foreign investments serious.

    The amendment, it said, could affect $25 billion foreign investments, 18,000 jobs from NLNG’s Train 7 and 8 programmes, and negate the job creation and security policy of the Buhari-led administration.

    The union added that the National Assembly’s  proposed action would also not only affect recent gains from the reduction in gas flaring – from 65 per cent to less than 20 per cent – and lead to the loss of up to $124 million yearly paid as taxes and dividends to the Federal Government.

    The union noted that it was essential that the country get the confidence of the international investor community to sustain critical investments, especially the stalled Brass and OK LNG projects.

    ”Our legislators should make laws that will improve existing businesses in the country and also attract new investments, and not laws which will stifle business, employment and/or erode investor confidence. The interest of the Nigerians must remain paramount,” the union said.

  • Time to act on Lagos ‘apartheid’ schools

    It is a disaster of an unimaginable proportion; disaster that predated the administration of the current action governor of the Centre of Excellence. Its reality bespeaks anti-excellence. Simply anti-Lagos. Gbagada-based Ogo Oluwa Primary School, Idi Odo Primary School and Temidire Primary School are public but segregationist institutions. Founded by the Lagos State government for the purpose of grooming knowledge, equality, freedom, hope and creativity in the minds of the custodians of the future of the nation, but alas, the Idi-Odo trio is now funded to uphold its degeneration into institutions of the less-privileged, of ‘unlucky’ children permanently denied the fortune of hobnobbing with their ‘lucky’ peers.

    No thanks to the ironically ‘privileged’ and ‘elitist’ Gbagada environment of the rich whose personal safety and security has led to the denigration of these public schools into exclusive centres for labourer-children – house-helps, house-maids, cooks and the likes. Nothing can be more sorrowful than the sight of ones Alma Mater that was indeed the potter of so many shining stars of today in such peril that is now the lot of the Idi-Odo trio. Schools that sprang up as Gbagada Primary School III and School IV, illuminating the dawn of the Alhaji Lateef Jakande-led administration with glowing rising sun.

    Although the species of classroom blocks that surfaced across the earth of Lagos at the advent of Baba Kekere’s government, as temporary structures built within a twinkle of an eye, were indeed poultry-like in design, yet the irresistibility of the nostalgia their memories conjure in the Nigerian citizenry till date is an open statement of the superlative education that pupils of yore, including, this writer procured therein.

    As pioneering students of Gbagada Primary School IV, for instance, having been relocated from some ancient schools to complete our foundational education at Idi-Odo, we found ourselves in an excitingly mixed world; a world that broke boundaries, flattened fences and walloped walls. A world of innocence which inhabitants thrived in pleasant forgetfulness of our socio-economic differences, as the line between the rich and the poor became inexistent.

    Obviously, the long stretch of fence that now marks the Gbagada boundary, delineating its territories from its neighbouring Somolu-Pedro-Bariga neighbourhood was sincerely erected some few years back to ward off security threats in a nation where none sleeps with closed eyes. Good intention, no doubt. But for the surreptitious evil the edifice casts on our collective future as a nation.

    What is my drift? It is a given fact that, in contemporary Nigeria, our public schools are no longer patronized by the relatively few economically-advantaged Nigerian families, found in such a luxuriant environment as Gbagada Estates – a radical departure from what used to be in the good days of yore, which has, thus, largely restricted the services of the Idi-Odo schools to the less-privileged masses on the other side of the skirting fence. I mean the sprawling and struggling mass of Nigerian families that densely populate the Somolu-Pedro-Bariga world, to whom the relatively ‘meagre’ fees charged by ‘cheap’ private schools within their vicinity is totally unaffordable.

    Tragically, however, for many of such families, the hope of bequeathing, on their offspring, a future brighter than today, through education at the proximate, cost-free Idi-Odo Schools at nearby Gbagada, has been totally dashed. Dashed by the loathsome, long stretch of Gbagada ‘apartheid’ fence that today torments its discerning beholder with a fatal fear of tomorrow.

    My writing pen pairs with my eyes in shedding tears of sorrow. Tears of regrets, tears of lamentations, tears of nostalgia, as I behold my Alma Mater in its current status as a school now ‘majorly meant’ for   housemaids and all other categories of child-slaves wickedly engaged by Gbagada residents whose elitist hands actually held the pen that outlawed child-labour in our revered constitution.

    Indeed, no law forbids anyone from enrolling his children in these schools. But, this bad ‘apartheid’ fence does just this. It imposes on kids from the other side of it, a daily merry-go-rounding ritual of a minimum of 20km trek, on daily school trips. Hence, schools that once infected every speeding motorist on the Oshodi-Gbagada Expressway with exuding liveliness is now a ghost of its old self, now hardly conspicuous, probably due to our collective violent neglect and indifference towards the sort of children whose names now fill the registers of those ‘unlucky’ teachers.

    Yes! “Less privileged’ teachers teaching ‘less privileged’ pupils would struggle to deceive you with cheerful mien to welcome every approaching adult in the faint hope that, at last, protracted prayers are about fruiting. They are always looking into the empty space with forlorn eyes imagining oncoming parents holding their kids for enrolment.

    If anything is sure, the restless Ambode with his cabinet lieutenants would agree with me that the deployment of such an artificial barrier as a fence to isolate and foreclose extensive and mixed patronage by citizens and residents of the state can never be rationally justified. Or, what can rationalize a situation that has forced those institutions funded with public resources, constitutionally meant to engender sense of equality and belonging in the citizenry, to degenerate into ‘second’ class schools for ‘second’ class students handled by ‘second’ class teachers.

    The likely effects of such a strange educational setting are better imagined. To call a spade a spade, it can only beget tragedy on the victim, not victims.

    No! The victimized are not the multitude of Nigerian children who, over the years, are denied of access to the potter services these schools were originally founded to offer. They are neither the second class outputs with jaundiced psychology that are likely to emerge from there.

    The victim is none but our society, our supposed community of humans whose inborn mentality of freedom, equality and potentialities is expected to derive monumental boosting through the facility of education. To relegate and ignore this truism is to refuse to learn from history and admit the weighty role of negative citizenship orientation in the multi-coloured reality of terror in our nation of today.

    Hurray! When I behold the ongoing magical structural intervention of the Lagos government in Lady Lak Primary School, Bariga, an innate voice within me tells me there is hope for the Idi-Odo schools and their likes. My elation over the current rebuilding of Lady Lak, an aged facility is particularly due to the fact that my educational sojourn actually started, over four decades ago, in the same set of buildings, then dilapidated, that are just being replaced with ultra modern ones by the Ambode administration.

    Still, the fear of history threatens my hope with hopelessness in terms of what may become of these schools even after the governor’s anticipated positive response.

    Whether those invisible and seemingly ‘invincible’ forces that frustrated the order and efforts of ex-Governor Fashola on the aborted reconstruction of the fragile wooden make-shift bridge linking the Gbagada and Bariga community would allow the public interest to reign supreme, this time around, remains a begging question.

    Lest we forget, Fashola’s order and subsequent mobilization of materials to the impassable bridge site was in response to the yearnings of the staff and students of Gbagada Comprehensive High School for safe and quick access to a public health clinic situated within nearby but ‘far’ Bariga-based Mafoluku Market. What has become of those abandoned tons of sand, granite stones as well as machines, for almost a decade, is currently visible to the blind.

     

    • Olokode, a media consultant, writes in vide solacemediaconsult@gmail.com
  • More knocks for Senate on CCB/CCT Act amendment

    More knocks for Senate on CCB/CCT Act amendment

    The Senate received more knocks at the weekend for last week’s amendment to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) Acts.

    Many Nigerians reacted angrily to the concurrence of the Senate with the House of Representatives to take the powers over the CCB away from the President to the lawmakers.

    Yesterday, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) and Jigawa North Senator Abdullahi Abubakar joined the fray.

    The TUC accused the lawmakers of making frantic efforts to sabotage the ongoing fight against corruption by attempting to take over the controlling power of the CCB and the CCT from the President.

    In a statement, the Congress said lawmakers had consistently shown Nigerians that they were not ready to perform the function for which they were elected.

    The statement signed by National President Bobboi Bala Kaigama and Acting General Secretary Simeso Amachree, said the interest of the senators is not to enhance the anti-corruption fight, but to shield themselves from prosecution when they engage in acts of misconduct.

    The statement reads: “The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria condemns the plot by some members of the Senate to amend the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act to their own advantage. By this, they would now take over the controlling powers of the bureau and the tribunal from the President, to shield themselves from prosecution when they engage in acts of misconduct.

    “The mission and vision of the 8th National Assembly is becoming clearer by the day, as they have abandoned pressing issues for parochial and self-serving ones.

    “It is our belief that if the people in authority do the right thing, there would be no need trying to circumvent statutory laws and acts.  For us at congress, allowing the President to maintain his power of appointment into the CCB only is not enough if the war against corruption must be won.

    “In the last one and half years the lawmakers have given the country cause to worry, to say the least. They are paid humongous wages and allowances with the tax payers’ money for doing nothing, even at a time the wages of an average worker can barely take him or her home.

    “We salute the courage of the Appeal Court on its declaration on the case involving the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on charges of false assets declaration brought against him by the federal government.

    The CNPP also called on well-meaning Nigerians and civil society groups, including the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), to mount pressure on Buhari to withhold his assent to the said amendment.

    The umbrella body of all the registered political parties and associations, in a statement yesterday by its Secretary General Chief Willy Ezugwu, noted that the CNPP’s decision was taken after a careful study of the amendment and the circumstances surrounding the controversial move.

    “We are taken aback that just months after it initially suspended the move to amend the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) Act, the National Assembly subtly passed the amendment Bill.

    “When the plan by the National Assembly to amend the Act first became known to members of the public, there was deafening outcry, which forced the lawmakers to suspend the move.

    “The CNPP, just like many other Nigerians, had thought that the National Assembly by the suspension of the earlier move to amend the CCT/CCB Act was a sign of good days ahead where the lawmakers respect the majority opinion of their respective constituencies.

    “But the subtle passage of the amendment Bill is an indication that the National Assembly is serving the interest of its principal officers, and not that of the Nigerian people who unfortunately elected this crop of lawmakers, so insensitive to the core issues bothering the ordinary citizens”, the CNPP said.

    The Conference also noted: “The speed with which the amendment was carried out at a time some principal officers were accused of false declaration of assets is an indication of the interest it intended to serve.

    “We therefore urge President Muhammadu Buhari to withhold his assent by not signing the amended Act into law as the circumstances surrounding the amendment show it was done in bad fate and the action of the National Assembly amounts to taking over executive powers to the detriment of the constitutional principle of separation of powers. It must be noted that appointment of the staff of the CCT and CCB are clear executive powers, which the National Assembly cannot be allowed to usurp.”

    Senator Abubakar (Jigawa North West) told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Birninkudu, that “laws are meant to outlive individuals not meant for individuals.’’

    The senator, who said he was away on oversight duties when the amendment was made, said he was completely opposed to the decision.

    He also described the Bill on inheritance before the Senate as a negation of the provisions on freedom of worship, adding that it would not see the light of the day.

    According to him, Christians and Muslims are against the law.

    “We are there as representatives of the people and anything that the people don’t want will not scale through.

    “We will make sure that the aspirations of the people we represent are not sacrificed at the altar of a few members of the Senate.

    “Even though the bill has passed second reading, I believe any law can be stepped down at any stage and this is not an exception,’’ Abubakar said.