The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Committee

  • NLC seeks committee on new minimum wage

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the Federal Government to reconstitute a tripartite committee to negotiate a new minimum wage for workers.

    NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, told The Nation that the developments in the economy, which have made nonsense of the purchasing power of the workers, had made a new minimum wage inevitable.

    “When the 2011 National Minimum Wage Act was being signed, all the tripartite partners were in agreement that this would be negotiated after every five years. So, the five-year time-frame is here.

    “We hope that we will not be pushed into taking action that would be costly for the economy, which is already in deeply troubled as it were. Our standpoint is that any of the parties to the negotiation who may have reasons why we shouldn’t have a new minimum wage should bring those arguments to the negotiation table,” he said.

    Wabba said the major cause of the  economic crisis was the irresponsible mismanagement of the economy over the years by  political leaders.

    “The way corruption was allowed to eat into virtually every fibre of our national life by the governing class across the political spectrum meant that in due time, we would find ourselves in the mess we are currently today,” Wabba said.

    Wabba said manufacturers had stories of woe to tell about the fall in capacity utilisation caused by the difficulties in obtaining foreign exchange to import vital raw materials.

    He said a larger portion of the forex demand was for the importation of refined products.

    “We know because the leadership of the unions in the manufacturing sector has approached us several times to engage powers that be at the federal level on the consequences of government policies that had increased the problem of scarcity of forex for manufacturing purposes,” Wabba added.

  • Institute inaugurates electoral committee

    The National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) has inaugurated a four-man electoral committee to supervise the electoral process that will usher in a new council in November.

    The President and Chairman of Council, Aare Ganiyu Koledoye, disclosed at the institute’s head office in Lagos. According to him, the committee is to ensure fair-play in the election.

    Koledoye said one of the resolutions of the outgoing council was a regulatory frame-work that would ensure fairness for everyone, who aspired to contest in the elections.

    “In the last four years, we have been able to achieve that. We’ve succeeded in removing hooliganism and tantrums from our electoral process. Today, the process is now more organised and transparent, with the rancours always associated with such elections in the past, gone forever,” he said.

    Koledoye debunked insinuations in some quarters that he would run for another term, saying he would not vie for a second term.

    “I decided not to run because I had seen the difficult times of the institute, and now that the institute is experiencing a new phase, I do not want to be part of the problems,” he said.

    However, the chairman of the electoral committee, Adeola Oladele, an engineer,  stated that the call for nominations for the elections, scheduled for November 18,   commenced on Tuesday, August 30, assuring that attempts would be made by the committee to sensitise members of the institute to fully participate in this very significant event on the institute’s calendar.

  • PDP convention committee meets

    PDP convention committee meets

    The National Convention Planning Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday held its inaugural meeting at the Government House, Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

    Addressing the meeting, Governor Nyesom Wike urged members to work for the success of the convention.

    He said the forthcoming convention supersedes the early convention of May 21, 2016.

    The governor, who chairs  the committee, urged members to make sacrifices for to rebuild the party ahead of the next general election.

    Wike announced that sub committees with the responsibility of handling specific assignments will be set up.

    He said: “We have a responsibility to organise a successful national convention to ensure that the party moves forward. I implore every member to make sacrifices “

    Chairman of the PDP National Caretaker Committee, led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, inaugurated the National Convention Planning Committee.

  • Reps committee backs firm on local capacity

    The House of Representatives Committee on Local Content has called on International Oil Companies (IOCs) to patronise marine support base and shipyard of West African Ventures (WAV) in Warri in Delta State.

    The lawmakers made the call when they visited the firm as part of their oversight function to inspect and verify the company’s local content capacity. During the inspection, they saw new boats awaiting purchase by oil and gas firms.

    The House Committee on Local Content Chairman, Hon. Emmanuel Okon, lamented underutilisation of the company’s facilities by IOCs. He advocated patronage by oil firms to encourage sustainable investment needed to build capacity and enhance indigenous companies to compete internationally.

    He expressed satisfaction with the standard of passenger boats, tug boats and investment in the dry-dock, assuring that the House would ensure sustainable patronage of the multi-billion naira yard  of West African Ventures and facilities of other indigenous companies by the operator companies in the country.

    Okon said: “I am impressed by what I saw and I believe the community is impressed too with your local content deliverables. Even though the facilities are not utilised as they should be, we will try our very best to get people, marketers who can market this company and give the products the level of patronage that they deserve.”

    He said the lower chamber will  ensure that the crisis in the oil and gas sector doesn’t weigh down the business. He noted that the global crisis was affecting related markets and other local companies at this time. “As a responsive legislature, we will make sure that we continue to legislate and come out with laws and legislations that will force other companies and other users of light boat like this to consider getting it from companies like WAV, which have huge investment in the country to create jobs,” he added.

    The committee said the Local Content Law since its creation in 2010 has encouraged steady investment in various regions of Nigeria, adding that it law has promoted immeasurable investments and achievements in terms of job creation and skill acquisition in the oil and gas sector. He noted that local companies have done well as a result of the law, adding that more investments are expected when the economy takes a stable position.

    West African Ventures Limited Executive Director, Alhaji Ibrahim Sambo, agreed that there were crisis, which prompted developments, such as redundancies for survival in the system.

    He said the firm embarked on three redundancy exercises in the last quarter to manage cost in view of dwindling revenue.

  • Senate Committee charges FRC on intervention funds

    The Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) has been charged to investigate how banks utilise intervention funds

    This challenge was posed by the Senate committee on Trade and Investment during an oversight visit to the Council in Lagos at the weekend.

    The Chairman of the committee, Senator Fatimat Raji Rasaki, charged the FRC to go after the banks handling intervention funds to ensure that they give proper accounts.

    Unimpressed with how some of the intervention funds meant for dedicated sectors are being used, Rasaki said the FRC by its position as the body which receive financial reports of banks, should use its expertise to curb abuse of the funds.

    While commending the body for its work on maintaining of accounting and other financial standards, the committee chairman called for increased funding of the FRC to ensure adequate performance of its role without compromising standards.

    Briefing members of the committee, the Executive Secretary of the FRC, Mr Jim Obazee, said work has already advanced in the production of a new uniform code of corporate governance for the country.

    He, however, noted that work has been slowed down by legal challenges by some stakeholders, while projecting that the code would be functional by the third quarter of the year.

    He said the code would correct lapses such as insiders dominated boards, non-independent corporate boards of companies, absence of minority voices on boards, inadequate board monitoring and supervision of the executive as well as compromisable and ineffective audit function and committees.

  • Insurers Committee to rebrand industry

    The Insurers Committee is to rebrand the industry to enable members enjoy its benefits,  its Vice Chairman Sub Committee Publicity, Mrs Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, has said.

    Mrs Nwachukwu, also the Managing Director of Zenith Insurance, made this known at a briefing after the third Insurers Committee session over the weekend in Lagos.

    According to her, the rebranding will deepen insurance penetration and ensure better service delivery.

    She said: “We want the insuring public to be informed on why they should not see it as unnecessary but a tool that can help them do other things. We believe that the industry rebranding will help to increase awareness, thereby making more people take up insurance.

    “The committee has appointed a specialist and consultant to work around the rebranding programme. We are also working towards standardising our practice for better practice of Insurance.”

    On risk based supervision, she said the road map and draft was ready and would be exposed to industry operators next month for their suggestions and impute before the final guidelines will be ready follow by implementation.

  • Fed Govt sets up committee on dry port

    Fed Govt sets up committee on dry port

    The Federal Government yesterday inaugurated a ministerial implementation committee on the Kaduna inland dry port.

    Speaking during the inauguration, the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi  said that there was need to check the effects of congestions at the seaports.

    Amaechi stated that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in 2006, approved the establishment of an Inland Container Deports (ICDs) to help assist in the reduction of the cost of moving cargo to landlocked parts of the country.

    The ICDs, according to the minister, was also set up to act as a means for improved trade flow, boost inland trading, revitalise export of agricultural products, which would lead to multi-product economy and creation of employment opportunities that would ultimately stem rural urban migration.

    The committee is expected to develop a road map for effective release and smooth flow of dry ports bound containers and cargoes to and from the country’s seaports.

    They are also expected to “develop a standard clearance procedures and documentation including scanning facilities; recommend an applicable software (electronic data interchange) for use and adaptation by the dry port concessionaires and operators at the respective dry ports; to establish a seamless interface for the complementary duties to be discharged by each of the service providers whose functions are key to the operations of the dry port, develop strategies for effective movements of cargoes to and from dry ports, suggest an effective multi-transport system synergy for inland cargo movement and develop strategies to sensitise stakeholders on the procedures guiding the use of dry ports.”

  • Poverty and the palliative committee

    The issue of poverty – especially how to reduce or eradicate it all together – has engaged my thoughts for years. On May 19 and 26, I wrote a two part series titled “How do we tackle poverty? I did this because of my firm conviction that one of the most prevalent and pervasive social problem in Nigeria today is poverty. A whopping 71 percent of the population – according to the National Bureau of Statistics – is living in various categories of poverty. Poverty – in its most general sense – is the lack of necessities. Basic food, shelter, medical care, and safety are generally thought necessary based on shared values of human dignity.

    In the second part of the article I concentrated on the reaction and intervention of Dr. Dan Mou, a public affairs analyst which stem from the memorandum he sent to President Muhammadu Buhari where he outlined the need for the executive arm of government to set up a National Poverty Eradication Commission to manage, monitor and evaluate the N500 billion captured in the 2016 budget to cater for the needs of the most vulnerable in our society.

    I did mention in the article that Dr. Mou has had a robust and distinguished public service. He was opportune to serve National Security Advisers (NSA) in different administrations during his public service. He is not new to intervening in public discourses and governance. He has done this from the regimes of General Ibrahim Babangida down to former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    His interventions amazingly led to the creation of key organs of governance like the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), the Ministry of Niger Delta and the Presidential Amnesty Programme amongst a host of other adopted memos which are published as appendixes in his book “Making of an African Giant: State, Politics and Public Policy in Nigeria.” The sad part of it all was that his efforts were not even acknowledged when these and other organs of governments were formed – headed by people who knew next to nothing of their emergence.

    It is gratifying to note that a lot has happened since the publication of the articles. The Federal Government has since set up the technical committee on palliatives for citizens while a bill for the establishment of a National Poverty Eradication Commission has passes second reading in the senate. The palliative committee is led by Hon. Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige.

    The Ngige led committee – which also includes the president of the Nigerian Labour Congress – would discuss the minimum wage and modalities of implementing it. Most importantly, it would also look at the issue of allocation of the N500 billion palliative funds provided for in 2016 budget which labour wanted to monitor how it is disbursed. The committee would report to the committee of the whole within two weeks after its inauguration.

    The Senate is also presently considering a bill on poverty eradication which is for an ‘Act to Establish the National Poverty Eradication Commission’ to tackle the spate of poverty in the country. This was part of a public hearing of Senate Joint Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social welfare and National Planning and Economic Affairs Committee. The bill was sponsored by Senator Ibrahim Gobir (Sokoto East). It seeks to provide a legal framework for the establishment of the commission.

    Leading debate on the bill in the senate, Gobir said unlike the national poverty eradication programme created by former President Olusegun Obasanjo without legal backing, similar agencies established by the federal government would now be backed by relevant laws with the commission serving as a statutory body. According to him, the commission would be saddled with the responsibility of coordinating and monitoring all poverty control policies in Nigeria.

    He described the planned establishment of a commission to tackle poverty as a more effective way of eradicating poverty in the country. This, to him, He will be a departure from the past when various agencies were established without enabling laws for their operations.

    The bill received overwhelming support from senators who recalled how poverty is controlled in the United States through the existence of an agency which pays stipends to the unemployed and also gives them food stamps which qualify the jobless to eat three meals daily.

    There are two basic schools of thought on how best to tackle poverty. The first is championed by the World Bank and its technocrats who support the massive infusion of funds in infrastructure which they believe would create jobs and invariably reduce poverty.

    The other school of thought made up mainly of home bred scholars are of the opinion that a commission or agency should be in place and be saddled with the responsibility of monitoring funds released to ensure they actually get to the people living in poverty. While they are not opposed to investing in infrastructure, they believe it would be difficult actually monitoring any trickledown effect on the investment.

    I support the second school of thought because to maximise the relevance of insights into poverty reduction, a selective synthesis of approaches is needed. Policy recommendations should include the need to focus on provision of forms of capital – including education – community development; and policies to offset the adverse incentives of market failures that often underlie poverty.

    Yes, investing in infrastructure is critical and can run side by side with palliatives, but the point here is that majority of those living in abject poverty may not even have the requisite skill of working in the construction or other sectors. So the challenge would be how to come to their level and help which I feel a commission with a clear mandate will suffice with the assistance of credible Non-governmental organisations.

    But we must first define and agree on the type of poverty we’re talking about and what causes it. Classical and neoclassical traditions view individuals as largely responsible for their own destiny, choosing in effect to become poor – I find this difficult to believe. Neoclassical theorists, on the other hand, are more wide ranging and recognise reasons for poverty beyond individuals’ control. These include lack of social as well as private assets; market failures that exclude the poor from credit markets; barriers to education; poor health etc.

    Looking at the classical and neoclassical approaches together, their main advantages reside in the use of quantifiable monetary units to measure poverty and the readiness with which policy prescriptions can be put into practice. They also highlight the influence of incentives on individual behaviour as well as the relationship between productivity and income.

    Criticism of these approaches highlights their overemphasis on the individual – without, for instance, taking into account links with the community – and the focus on purely material means to eradicate poverty. My suggestion; don’t throw cash at the problem, but explore strategies where the cash can multiply over time.

    By suggesting radical changes in the socio-economic system, Marxian economists and other radical theorists highlight the possibility that economic growth alone may be insufficient to lift poor people out of relative poverty, because those who belong to certain classes may not reap any of the benefits of overall income growth. Similarly, by emphasising the concept of class, it provides a shift in perspective, focusing on group – rather than individual – characteristics, with individuals’ status considered dependent on the socio-economic environment in which they live.

    In our case, I support the infusion of the Neoclassical and Marxian approaches with local modifications. For example, Nigeria experienced steady economic growth between 2010 and 2015, but unfortunately, these growths did not directly impact the lives of citizens positively. This development has now given rise to a new school of thought in Economics which now feels that GDP has become a poor reflection of assessing growth.

    Isn’t it high time we look at self-driven and patriotic individuals like Dr. Dan Mou and give them the opportunity to serve? Most of them often intervene from purely patriotic points of view. His memo to the president – which has already led to a chain reaction of events – should be given priority by the executive arm of government. It is not a coincidence he is intervening in the life of the Nation at such a critical time.

  • Audit committee chief emphasises ethics in workplace

    The Chairman, Audit Committee Institute and Centre for Audit Quality, Nigeria, Christian Ekeigwe has called on employees in private and public enterprises to be ethical in the way they conduct the company’s businesses.

    Speaking at the 2016 Audit Committee conference titled: “Spirituality and Ethics in the Workplace: Positive Impact on Governance, Financial Reporting and Anti-corruption,” held in Lagos, he said the event was designed to draw attention to alternative ways of influencing peoples’ behaviour at work place.

    He expressed optimism that people could bring spirituality to bear in every relationship, so as to address vulnerabilities instead of exploiting those vulnerabilities for selfish purposes.

    “For example, if you are in charge of resources as an executive and you know the company doesn’t have enough controls to detect that you are stealing the money, instead of exploiting it, you heal it by using your position to recommend that better controls be put in place. So, it takes spirituality and not laws to control people in their comfort zone.

    “It is important that national policy makers give attention to the issue of spirituality because implicit in it is self control of the individual. If they can get that done, definitely it would be possible for us to have to have policies that would encourage individuals and organisations to imbibe spirituality, self-discipline and integrity,” Ekeigwe added.

    An industrialist, Dr. Felix Ohiwerei, also stressed the need for workers and employers to imbibe ethics in work place to achieve organisational growth.

    Ohiwerei, who was a former Chairman of Unilever, reiterated the need to do things right in the course of carrying out one’s responsibilities. “Life can become much easier for us if we continue doing the right things. The rules are there. What the corporations need to do is to obey the rules by doing the right things. It is in disobedience that we have problem.

    “The problem is that sometimes we see that things have gone wrong, we know they are sanctions, but we don’t apply the sanctions. So, that makes the sanctions needless and encourages more people to break the rules,” he said.

    Responding to a question on the challenges being experienced in the forex market, the industrialist said: “This is not the first time we are facing exchange rate problem. The important thing is to map out the way forward to get the country out of this problem. I think the answers are very clear. Nigeria doesn’t lack the answers, it is the will to pursue them.”

  • Committee threatens arrest warrant on Sports Minister

    Committee threatens arrest warrant on Sports Minister

    the Senate Committee on Sports, on Thursday threatened to issue warrant of arrest on Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Mr Solomon Dalong for failing to appear before it for a second time.

    The Chairman of the committee, Sen. Obinna Ogba, who issued the threat in Abuja on Thursday, however, gave the Minister Thursday May 19, 2016 to appear before it.

    He said the minister had failed twice to appear before the committee without any reason, adding that it was an affront and disrespect to the Senate.

    “The sports minister has not been respecting the Senate, we cannot continue this way. We are giving the minister a new date of Thursday next week to brief the Senate on the level of preparation for the Olympics. The Clerk of this committee is hereby directed to write a strongly worded letter to the minister inviting him to come here on Thursday”, he said.

    He added that the committee would not entertain any excuses. He said that the minister had to brief the committee on the level of preparation for the Olympics, World Cup qualifiers, delay in appointing a new Super Eagles’ Coach and the crisis rocking the Nigeria Football Federation.

    He decried the situation where the President of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) would say something and the minister would counter it like they were operating in disunity. He said it appeared the minister lacked the political will to get rid of that crisis.

    “Dalong is a minister and he is not to run the affairs of football federation. As a minister, his function is to supervise and not to run the day to day affairs of the federation.

    “The NFF President would say he wants to employ a foreign coach and the minister would say he has not been given approval. It is not the duty of the minister to give approval or not to give approval.

    “I was the first Vice President of NFA and I want to use this medium to tell the Hon. Minister of Sports what we want to do and not to get approval from him. Whoever runs the Nigeria Football Federation is elected and the person has the mandate of the people”, he said.

    A member of the committee, Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa (PDP – Abia North), condemned the non-appearance of the minister, describing it as an insult.

    “The absence of the sports minister at the Senate committee on sports invitation is an affront on the committee.

    The minister must be cautioned that he should not take the invitation of a Senate Committee for granted next time because the Nigerian people are represented by the lawmakers”, he said.