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  • Bailout coming for states owing doctors’ salaries, says Dogara

    Bailout coming for states owing doctors’ salaries, says Dogara

    SUCCOUR may soon come for states owing doctors’ salaries, House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara hinted yesterday.

    The Speaker said that President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to bailout the debtor-states to enable them fulfil their obligations s to doctors.

    Dogara spoke while hosting the representatives of the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARD), who visited him in National Assembly office.

    According to him, the gesture was in recognition of government’s responsibility to ensure the overall welfare of all citizens.

    He was updating the doctors on the outcome of their request for improved welfare of doctors in state teaching hospitals.

    The speaker identified access to healthcare as one of the major concerns of the President Buhari-led Federal Government.

    Dogara said: “For us, the welfare of our citizens is the number one priority of government. When we talk about welfare, you have to be healthy first before you can pursue any other thing.

    “Whether you are in school, whether you are in a religious organisation, whatever you do in contributing to the work of democracy, if you are not healthy,  you can’t do that work. So, health comes before any other thing.

    “There is no nation that will be healthier than the general health of its citizens and so, this is a priority. And as a responsible government which has pride itself on grassroots support, we will have to ensure that our base in the grassroots are well taken care of.

    “For us to do that, we obviously have to take care of the doctors, who are sacrificing so much in order to bring succour to the people.”

    Reacting to the doctors’ demand for more funding for the health sector, Dogara said though yearly budgets show an increase in figures, “the value of the money has fallen, meaning, there isn’t enough to fund all projects of government.”

    He went on: “Doctors should be innovative to attract medical tourists to Nigeria and save money from people who patronise hospitals abroad, adding that the present government is focused on providing infrastructure that will stimulate growth in all sectors of the country, leading to more economic activities and improved revenue for government to deploy for development.”

    The speaker also noted that the bill seeking for a Cancer Fund to support treatment of indigent citizens is in the legislative mill and will soon be passed by the National Assembly.

    Some of the requests made by NARD include: improved welfare for doctors in state teaching hospitals; improved funding for health sector; passage of the Residency Bill as well as funding; establishment of a Cancer Care Fund; provision of adequate facilities; equipment in the medical field; funding of exchange programmes for doctors and thorough oversight by the relevant National Assembly committees to ensure that funds released for equipment of hospitals are appropriately utilised.

    NARD’s President, Dr. Chinaka Ugochukwu thanked the Speaker for his intervention in the strike action by doctors in 2016 and the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) drawn from their meeting with him.

    Ugochukwu said the MoU formed the basis of their negotiations with the executive, with about 90 per cent of what was captured in it been implemented by government.

    The speaker, he said, should use his good offices to promote the welfare of doctors in the country, while notifying him of his selection as an ambassador of doctors in the country.

  • Saraki, Dogara: How to achieve smooth passage of budget

    Saraki, Dogara: How to achieve smooth passage of budget

    Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara yesterday urged the executive to foster a good working relationship with the legislature to prevent delay in the passage f the 2018 Budget.

    The President requested for the passage of the budget in time to ensure the return to the January to December budget cycle.

    Also yesterday, it took about an hour of closed session for the leadership of the national Assembly to persuade some lawmakers from carrying placards in protest over the non- release of funds for the N100 billion Zonal intervention funds by the Executive.

    Before the President read his budget speech, Saraki said: “I will like to advise and caution that there is no better time in this Administration than now for a rigorous drive for good working relationship between the Executive and the Legislature.

    “The early passage of the 2018 budget will depend on this good working relationship. The passage of important Executive bills that improve “ease of doing business” is also dependent on this. So, Mr. President, the 469 Members in this chamber are your true partners that will ensure the success of your administration in achieving its goals and objectives. So, lobby them (not the PDP way), close ranks and let them work for you.”

    Saraki said while the Federal Government focuses of “big ticket projects” like Power, Rail and A-Trunk roads,” it should  also, not forget smaller projects which impact people’s lives..

    ” We must do both. Those in charge should ensure proper execution or face sanction,” adding that ” it is important that I emphasize that the presentation of the budget should in no way dampen enthusiasm for the implementation of the 2017 Budget.

    “Whatever needs to be done to ensure that we achieve close to full implementation of the budget, is what must be done,” the Senate President said.

    Dogara said “Once again, let me place it on record that the 2018 Budget preparations suffer from inadequate consultations between the MDAS and various over- sighting Committees of the National Assembly. Consequently, one can only hope and pray that it does not lead to delay in consideration and passage of the Budget.

    “The success of this event separates us as true Leaders who in the midst of a hazy Executive – Legislative relationship elected not to turn on ourselves but to turn to each other in the very interest of our constituents and national progress. This is the way we must go as our Constitutional Order is organized in a way that deliberately denies any of the three Arms the strength to go at it alone on any national issue.

    “Where that has happened, it’s progress that suffers. That reminds us of the adage that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go together”. Examples abound on how fast but not far, the Executive has gone on some national issues where they have decided to go alone. There is no national challenge we cannot overcome if we work together.”

    The Speaker, who commended President Buhari for leading the country out of recession, however, said that many Nigerians were still confronted with economic difficulties.

    ‘‘Although recession has technically ended, most Nigerian families are still struggling.

    ‘‘As a government, we must do all within our powers to hasten their long night of panic and fear into a glorious morning.

    ‘‘We must never allow this nation to slide into recession, not now, not ever again.

    ‘‘We cannot therefore discountenance policy consistency and synergy between all stakeholders, if we must sustain economic growth and development, going forward,’’ he said.

  • If we mismanage NEDC funds, we’ll have ourselves to blame -Dogara

    If we mismanage NEDC funds, we’ll have ourselves to blame -Dogara

    On October 25, 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the bill that established the North East Development Commission (NEDC) which was conceived, drafted and sponsored by Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara. In this interview with a select group of journalists, the Speaker warned that elites from the region will carry shame for the rest of their lives if they mismanage the commission. Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi were there. Excerpts

    YOU sponsored the North East Development Commission Bill which has been signed into law by the President; what informed your decision to push for the creation of the NEDC?

    For us who are sons of the North-East, we know our history very well, so we appreciate this gesture and we will not take it lightly. I commend His Excellency, Mr. President, for signing the bill into law. As I said before, this shows the level of President’s sensitivity to the plight of the highly traumatised people of the North-East.

    From day one, when we started meeting, our thinking was how we would ensure that whatever policies that is developed by government, that is aimed at tackling the millions of challenges facing us as a zone are policies that will survive whoever is formulating them. So it became clear to us that if we leave everything at the level of policies, granted that today we have a president that supports, loves and likes our people, chances are that he will not continue to be there forever. Not even chances; that is the reality.

    With the commission, will you say that this is the end of the insurgency and the beginning of a new era?

    As a matter of fact, the heat was becoming very close to our section of the North-East, if not for the timely intervention that was brought, owing to the change of government in this country, and then they were able to put these insurgents on their backtrack.

    With this progress made, some have said Boko Haram has been degraded, decapitated; some have said that they have even been defeated. But whatever the situation is, the most important thing is for our people to go back to where they belong. And then, for them to get hope in the environment where God has given us, they can continue to contend with destiny of life. That is what is important.

    The debate shouldn’t be about the degrading and decapitating of the Boko Haram, but about the survivors, the IDPs and then rebuilding these communities, hopes that were shattered on account of terrorism. Many challenges are still with us, the challenges for providing job opportunities for our teeming young people, the challenges of redeveloping the region to ensure that for everyone who grows up in that region, there’s perhaps something that he can find to do. And when we expand this window of opportunity to so many of our sons and daughters, we’ll be able to end this issue of violence. Because I heard some of the recruits of Boko Haram were offered so much that the security agencies discovered in their bank accounts. So, it was like money was even the life blood that was funding this terrorism. If we offer a situation where the society offers what outweighs what they get from terrorism, nobody would be a terrorist, as nobody wants to die. But it’s only when you face a kind of life or a kind of situation where to even die is better than to be alive, then you’d have no choice, then you’ll be available to do anything at that stage. But anyone who is firmly rooted in the land of prosperity would hardly think of visiting violence on anyone.

    Some have argued that Boko Haram insurgency was caused by prolonged years of neglect, marginalisation of the North-East. Like Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim who once said that marginalisation of the region began since 1960s, do you agree with that assertion?

    As sons and daughters of the North-East in the House, recently, we’ve been meeting and putting our heads together as true representatives of the zone to see what it is that we can do. As a matter of fact, these signs were there, it’s just that we didn’t notice them on time. It is true that for years in this country, the North-East has always come last in terms of budgetary allocation. This is in spite of the fact that we face more challenges than others. And when it comes to development indices, we are the last in the country, but we didn’t pay attention. When the population curve was going up sharply and opportunity costs were nose-diving, we didn’t pay attention.

    What will you say to the assertion that poverty and deprivation caused the insurgency?

    I don’t know the correlation between violence and poverty, but I’ve seen that in societies where hope is lacking, there always seems to be tendencies of violence. Or where you find extreme poverty, the likelihood of violence is always there. I guess that was where we missed it. So as true believers and representatives of the zone, our focus has always been what is it that we can do so that we build on the successes that this government is gaining in its fight against terrorism.

    Some people believe that the Commission was not necessary and that it may end up being like the Niger Delta Development Commission which many believe has failed to deliver on its mandate.

    Yes, a lot of people thought it was not necessary, some even thought, well, we want to create a system that will be like a pool of prosperity in the desert so that a few privileged sons and daughters of the region will just mismanage the resources. And I know that even the president was watching us before signing this bill into law. But I guess that he saw the plight of the people and that he’s been told of the level of devastation in that region. And since these current efforts are not enough, and may never be enough to address the challenges, if these interventions are left at the level of policies, any subsequent government that comes and doesn’t love our people that much, will just with a stroke of a pen, strike the policy out, and that is the end. So, the thinking was that if we could elevate this to the level of a law, then any future government that seeks to reverse it will have to face the members of the National Assembly in order to repeal that law. And because we have a voice, we will continue to have a voice in the National Assembly; it is going to be exceptionally difficult for that to be achieved. So we were making provisions for the long run, not for the short term.

    And as a matter of fact, in some places where I have had to advocate for this commission, I have said the freedom for us to plan for ourselves, to manage the resources accruing to the zone is something, and we should be given that freedom. I should never be understood to be canvassing that we will mismanage resources given to us, but I said even if we do it, and we fail, a free man when he falls blames no one. We will accept the blame that we have been given the liberty and resources, but we mismanaged it, and then we will carry the shame for the rest of our lives. It is better than to leave this on the level that one day it may just be thrown to the dogs.

    You have also been advocating for an International Donor Conference under the auspices of the United Nations to rebuild the region, now that the NEDC is here, don’t you think it is no longer necessary?

    As far as I am concerned, if it was the responsibility of the House of Representatives, we can do it tomorrow. But unfortunately, we need all the arms of government to make it happen. This, I believe, will provide a platform to further that discussion. But the important thing is that it has been done for Syria. So, I do not see why the international community will not respond to this crisis that we are faced with in Nigeria. The world is a global village. The problems in Nigeria, if they are not well taken care of, will have an international dimension sooner than later. Those countries in Europe, who felt that they were detached from the crisis in Syria, were overrun by the massive influx of emigrants. For us to deal with this; there must be an international response, so that we will be able to nip it in the bud in Nigeria.

    Going through the new law, we saw that major source of funding will cease after 10 years. Is 10 years enough to rebuild the region?

    The truth is that the level of devastation as a result of this insurgency is one that is going to take us decades to recover from.

  • Saraki, Dogara meet Buhari over 2018 budget

    The 2018 budget may be presented to the joint session of the National Assembly any time from November 1, 2017, it was learnt yesterday.

    A source in the National Assembly, said the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara and some principal officers of both chambers met President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss modalities for the presentation of the 2018 budget.

    The implication of the meeting, it was learnt, was that a letter seeking the approval of a date for the presentation of the budget might be read on the floor of the two chambers today.

  • How closeness to God helped my political success —Dogara

    How closeness to God helped my political success —Dogara

    Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, yesterday shared his grass-to-grace story with new students of the Covenant University (CU), Ota, Ogun State.

    According to him, his desire to form close ties with Christ led him to the zenith of politics.

    Dogara, who was the keynote speaker at the university’s 16th matriculation, admonished the matriculating students to learn some lessons from him by developing deep relationship with God and be willing to give to Him however small.

    Going down memory lane, Dogara said he first crossed the path of the Chancellor of the university, Bishop David Oyedepo, when the cleric came for ministration at the University of Jos when he (Dogara) was a law undergraduate.

    “His ministration that day made a lasting impression on me because on that  very day, I made up my mind to dedicate 12 1/2 per cent instead of 10 per cent tithe to God despite that I was a student. See where that has led me to today,” Dogara said.

    As a young lawyer fresh from law school, Dogara said he was already planning to make it big in the legal profession when the unexpected happened.

    He said his foray into politics was accidental.

    He praised the philosophy of the university in restoring the dignity of the black man, adding that the quality of training given to the students to discover their potential would go a long way in producing 21 century graduates that are employers of labour.

    Earlier, Bishop Oyedepo said CU, which clocks 15 years this month, has been a product of “God’s miracle.”  He said the determination not to compromise standard or circumvent  procedures has kept the university firing from all cylinders.

    “Right from the inception, we chose not to condone corruption and illegalities. Any student that engages in examination fraud is expelled, regardless of whether you are a son or daughter of a highly-placed individual,” he said.

    He said the Total Man Concept introduced by the institution years ago is to ensure their graduates can hold their heads among their contemporaries anywhere in the world, while the Diploma in Leadership Development that all graduates get in addition to their degree certificates are to inculcate in them the right leadership skills.

    He said: “Our concept is learning to live and lead. Here, we learn the mathematics of leading and the processes and procedures of successful living. We concentrate on programming and deprogramming of human processing , alongside training our graduates to be an asset and citizens of the earth and being relevant to work around us.”

    He reminded the matriculating students of the oath they all took, describing same as a covenant to abide by the philosophy the institution represents.

  • Restructuring needs constitutional amendment, says Dogara

    Restructuring needs constitutional amendment, says Dogara

    ANY meaningful restructuring will still require amendment of the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly, House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara has said.

    He spoke with State House correspondents after briefing the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF)-led by Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari.

    On what he discussed with the governors, he said: “I was asked to see them so that we can talk about some of these constitutional alterations in the National Assembly. So, l came to meet them so that we can talk on most of the bills we are considering.

    “Even though l am the Speaker, l can tell you that l can only speak where majority of our members have agreed upon. So, it is a bit early for me to conclude. But this is a democracy and in a democracy, the majority matters.

    “We are aware of the ongoing agitations in the country. Some are calling for restructuring while some call it true federalism. This is an issue on the manifestos of the APC. It is our feeling as very responsive and responsible representatives of the people to ensure that this debate is done.

    “And I agree like l said before that the position of the President that most of this matters and issues should be canvassed at the levels of the National Assembly.

    “This is because some of the structural imbalances that we are talking about that need what they call restructuring cannot be corrected just by a stroke of the pen. Some of them are actually embedded in the provisions of the constitution.

    “Even by pedestrian description of the function of government, the Executive cannot make laws and they cannot amend the constitution. They can only initiate the process in an Executive Bill. But it ultimately revolves within the powers of the legislature.

    “So, even the committee that is set up by the APC leadership on true federalism, by the time they conclude their work, most of the issues they come out with will require a kind of tinkering of the constitution.

    Yari, at the end of the meeting, said the forum met with Dogara towards facilitating amendment of the 1999 Constitution.

    The forum had few weeks back received briefings from the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu over the proposed amendment.

    Yari said: “As a follow up to the briefing by Mr. Deputy Senate President, Mr. Speaker briefed us on the version of the House of Representatives on the constitutional amendment, which very soon they will soon harmonise.

    “As critical stakeholders, they visited us and gave us their input on the other critical areas that are not touched like the area of restructuring, devolution of power etc. All those are going to be looked into and considered for the betterment of our country.”

    The governor added that the forum received briefing on how to tackle cash crunch in their states through issuance of bonds.

    “We also received briefing from the Stock Exchange on how to address the issue of cash crunch on the nation. They spoke to us on the need to raise bond. Globally, it is the borrowing from outside that you use for infrastructure not the borrowing from within.

    “So, the stock exchange has given us opportunity for some states that are ready to go into the stock exchange to raise bond to finance some projects.

    “Because what is tied to the bonds is our income and our income is shrinking. Through the bonds, we can finance projects that will impact on the water supply and sanitation etc.

    “We are putting a committee in place made up of the members of the stock exchange as well as from the NGF secretariat to work together on that,” the NGF Chairman said.

    He debunked the media reports claiming that President Muhammadu Buhari was not happy with governors over salaries arrears.

  • Osinbajo, Dogara, others for oil and gas roundtable

    Osinbajo, Dogara, others for oil and gas roundtable

    EFFORTS at creating a more conducive environment for Nigeria’s oil and gas sector will receive fresh impetus on Friday as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will lead dignitaries among whom are, Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, industry experts and other dignitaries to a brainstorming session in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

    Osinbajo is expected to deliver the keynote address at the event billed to take place at the prestigious Grand Hotel. Minister of State for Petroleum Dr. Ibe Kachikwu will present a paper.

    The forum is a one-day event with the theme: “Peace and Sustainable Development in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Areas”, organised by the leading advocacy group, Nigeria Entrepreneur Summit & Honours (NESH).

    NESH founder, Emeka Ugwu-Oju stated that the event had become necessary to create a road map for optimising the benefits of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon resources against the background of not only declining crude prices but the decision by most European countries to migrate from fossil fuels for automobiles to other alternatives.

    He noted that this cannot be achieved without peace in the Niger Delta, a factor necessary for driving down costs and building stakeholder confidence in the environment.

    His words: “It is in that regard that NESH team has made the main theme of this event to be ‘Peace and Sustainable Development of Nigeria’ Oil and Gas Producing areas and packaged a special session to bring together key and impactful stakeholders to discuss and device a new template for rapid development.”

     

  • Rising agitation indication Nigeria’s federation not well run, says Dogara

    Rising agitation indication Nigeria’s federation not well run, says Dogara

    •El Rufai: we’ll submit report this month

    HOUSE of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara said yesterday that rising agitation in the country is caused by the dysfunctional political system.

    According to him, that is why the House decided on a process of interfacing with Nigerians through its Special Ad-hoc Committee on Agitation.

    He spoke when he received members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Committee on True Federalism,  led by Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai.

    Dogara said: “When you talk about federalism, you are talking about distribution of powers in a given society. Here in Nigeria, government powers are distributed vertically and horizontally; vertically from Federal to local governments, horizontally, across the three departments of government and that is the executive, the legislature in no particular order and the judiciary.

    “Whether this has worked, we can only know from the feelings of the citizens of this country and, I guess, agitations coming from various quarters show that something is wrong with our federation and something must be done.”

    He said only the National Assembly had the power to restructure the country.

    El Rufai told the Speaker that the report by his committee would be submitted by month end.

    The Speaker said in line with the powers conferred on it by the constitution, the House constituted the committee to address the issue of political agitations.

    “When the President talked about the National Assembly being the proper forum for this discussion, so many people objected to that, even some senior advocates think that the President could just sit and restructure the country. I know the President uses green pen not a red pen that I use.  I don’t know whether by any stroke of imagination or margin, a green pen can actually restructure Nigeria.

    “If that is the case, it is a very simple thing that can be done. But unfortunately, most of the things that we talked about, most of the issues that are being raised are there in the foundational document of this country, the grand norm, which is the constitution.

    “And even going by elementary description of the departments of governments,  the Executive cannot make laws, they cannot tinker with the provision of the constitution.  It is the National Assembly that must do that.”

    El Rufai noted that restructuring was part of the APC manifesto, adding that there were unbalances in the federation structurally and politically.

    “The APC in its manifesto made very firm commitment towards devolution of power, true federalism, which is variously referred to as restructuring and so on. However, because of other challenges, the administration had to deal with on assumption of office, the expeditious implementation of some of these commitment has not occurred.

    “I am proud to say that the National Assembly led by APC went ahead with the constitutional amendment to make our federation be better balanced. We all recognised there is some imbalance in our federation. This is why our party is committed to do something about it. However, it is better late than never.

    “We have already taken steps which are now before the State Houses of Assembly. We believe in the history of Nigeria, there has never been a comprehensive discussion on what is before us: federalism, restructuring and so on. We also believe even the debate and discussions in previous national conference excluded key stakeholders particularly our young people that account for 80 per cent of our population.

    “The purpose of our committee is to merely collect and collate the views of Nigerians particularly young people and other vulnerable people and present them to the party”, El-Rufai.

    “The conference report of 2014 as well as the one of 2005 are some of the documents that we are looking at in the committee. We plan to submit our report at the end of October. Our report would be to the party, but of course, since National Assembly members are in the committee, they’ll also have copies,” El- Rufai said.

     

     

     

     

  • Dogara swears in Hembe’s replacement

    Dogara swears in Hembe’s replacement

    FINALLY, the House of Representatives yesterday swore in the replacement for the sacked member representing Vandeikya/Konshisha Federal Constituency of Benue State, Herman Hembe.

    Mrs. Dorothy Mato was sworn in at the plenary by Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara.

    Her supporters could be seen in the gallery in an apparently happy mood.

    Hembe, who was chairman of House Committee on FCT, was sacked by the Supreme Court in June 23 for not being the proper candidate of the All Progressives Party (APC) for the last National Assembly election in Benue State.

    He was asked to vacate his seat and refund all remunerations that had accrued to him since he was in the House.

    The apex court ordered INEC to immediately withdraw the certificate of return issued to Hembe and issue same to Mrs. Mato and ordered the Speaker of the House to swear-in Mrs. Mato.

    But Hembe, in a surprise twist, filed a motion on notice in the Supreme Court, asking the court to reverse the judgment.

    According to him, the judgment was done “in error arising from an accidental slip”.

    But the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Walter Onnoghen in a September 20 ruling on the issue insisted that the court being the apex court of the land cannot reverse itself.

    The Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the reluctance of the leadership of the House to swear in Mrs. Mato as Hembe’s replacement since it gave a judgment to that effect on June 23.

    Mrs. Mato was sworn in yesterday over three months after the Supreme Court’s ruling.