The Nation Newspaper

Tag: federal lawmaker

  • Suspected thugs attack federal lawmaker

    The lawmaker representing Idanre/Ifedore Federal Constituency in Ondo State, Bamidele Baderinwa (White), was on Tuesday reportedly assaulted by suspected thugs at Idanre.

    Baderinwa, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the constituency in next month’s general election, was said to be on the entourage of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to the palace of Owa of Idanre, Oba Frederick Aroloye (Arubiefin), when the hoodlums attacked him.

    Sources said about 50 thugs allegedly vandalised branded campaign vehicles belonging to the lawmaker.

    He was said to have narrowly escaped from being lynched, and had to be taken away into the inner chamber of the palace for safety.

    The Director-General of Bamidele Baderinwa Campaign Organisation (BBCO), Tunde Ogunlade, alleged that the hoodlums were supporters of a faction in APC.

    He alleged: “I can identify some of the attackers who are supporters of one of the APC leaders in the area, and a leader of the Motorcycle Riders Association, who were armed with weapons.”

    It was learnt that the intervention of the security details of Vice-President Osinbajo saved the lawmaker.

    Sources said the hoodlums defied the pleadings of the monarch to free Baderinwa.

    The lawmaker, from Ero in Ifedore Local Government, was also attacked by suspected thugs alongside some APC loyalists and reporters during the parallel congress of the party last year in Akure.

    He described the incident as sad and worrisome, especially with a few days to the general election.

    Baderinwa urged the Inspector- General of Police (IGP) to arrest and prosecute the suspects.

    Police spokesman Femi Joseph said he had not been properly briefed on the incident.

  • Youths hail federal lawmaker

    A coalition of youth bodies under the aegis of the Mangu/Bokkos Progressive Movement (MBPM) has hailed the exemplary leadership style and political prowess of the lawmaker representing Mangu/Bokkos Federal Constituency, Hon. Solomon Maren.
    Maren, who is a first timer in the lower legislative chamber, was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
    Speaking at its quarterly briefing, the group’s coordinator Mahan Ezra and Secretary, Daan Andrew, said the lawmaker had done well despite the economic recession.
    “In a normal clime, politics serves as a means of bringing development closer to the people.
    “While the chant of recession is making rounds to find a mitigation for good governance, the people’s honorable has stood tall to transmit hope to the common man during these ugly moments”
    “To assert this position of welfarism at its peak, the lawmaker trained hundreds of women and youths in various vocational skills.
    “Also, he facilitated direct and indirect employment for hundreds of youths in the constituency”
    The group described Maren as a trailblazer whose achievements is second to none.
    It urged the constituents to reward him with ardent prayers to remain focus and keep to tab with the progress being made in office.

  • Federal lawmaker renovates school in Lagos

    Federal lawmaker renovates school in Lagos

    A lawmaker and Patron of  the  “I Care Movement”, Honourable Babajimi Benson, has renovated  some dilapidated buildings at the Omolaiye Primary School at Agbede Community in Ikorodu North Local Council Development Area of Lagos State.

    Benson is the member representing the Ikorodu Federal Constituency of Lagos State at the House of Representatives. According to him, the renovation is part of his “Back to School” project, meant to make learning comfortable for pupils within the constituency. Represented by his wife, Mrs. Jumoke Benson, during the renovation exercise, the lawmaker said he is compelled to always give back to the society at all times.

    “Jimi Benson is your representative and he has promised to discharge his duty diligently without discrimination, as such he will do everything humanly possible to renovate dilapidated structures in all the primary schools in our constituency one after the other. This project is to support the state government’s quest to improve our public schools.

    The task before the Governor is enormous. That is why we are doing this to support the state government. Hon. Jimi Benson is very concerned about the plight of pupils in this school and he will continue to help out as much as he can,”, she said.

    Members of the movement were seen doing manual jobs as walls and floors of the school were plastered and damaged chairs and benches mended. Members of staff of the school and community leaders were on hand to receive the team.

    Speaking to The Nation at the site, Mayor Deen Sanwoola, Director-General of the movement, said the idea behind the project is to reduce the burden on the state government while providing immediate help for schools and pupils needing urgent attention. “We set out to do this because many of our schools need urgent attention. We don’t want to wait for the state government before doing the little we can do to assist. That is why we a re here,” he said.

    The youth leader of the community, Comrade Segun Thomas, thanked the legislator fanned his team for the gesture, saying that the people would continue to pray for his success.

  • No federal lawmaker should earn more than N1m, says RMAFC

    No federal lawmaker should earn more than N1m, says RMAFC

    •New pay structure coming for public officers

    The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) is unaware of lawmakers’ jumbo pay.

    Its Chairman Elias Mbam said yesterday that no senator or House of Representatives member should earn more than N1m monthly, going by the recommendations of the commission, which fixes salaries and wages for public officers.

    Mbam spoke to reporters at the State House in Abuja after a meeting of the RMAFC with President Muhammadu Buhari.

    According to him, a new pay structure that will reflect the economic realities will be proposed next month for all categories of public officers.

    Although President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo have slashed their salaries by 50 per cent, federal lawmakers have expressed disinterest in cutting their pay.

    But Mbam told reporters yesterday that if the lawmakers’ salaries are cut by the RMAFC after the review, they must abide by the decision.

    “They do not have a choice; we are guided by the Constitution and we are going to be guided by such laws that are provided for in the Constitution and the oath they swore to obey the laws of the country.

    “We are currently reviewing the subsisting remuneration packages and it is going to reflect the socio-economic realities of today.

    On when a new package will be ready, Mbam said: “We expect that before the end of next month it will be ready. But it will go through a process. It is not something that you will just say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. It will go through a process and it should be obvious to you the economic realities of the day and it is going to reflect that.

    “Recently, the oil price dropped. Many government agencies, the states and local governments have not been able to pay their salaries. These are some of the issues that made it necessary to review it.

    “It did not start with this administration; we started the review as far back as last year. It is not because of the present administration that we commenced it.”

    He spoke of the President’s advice  “to ensure that we use all legitimate means to make all public office holders take home the remuneration as determined by the Commission and ensure that leakages are blocked and we try to expand the size of the cake”.

    On revenue sharing formula, Mbam said a draft copy is ready but needed the approval of several authorities before a final copy is released.

    “I do not want to give a definite date because it is beyond my control. I do not determine when the process will be concluded but as far as the Commission is concerned, we have concluded our work and announced to the general public that we have a draft.

    “But you know it goes through a process before it finally becomes a law,” he said

    A statement by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on (Media and Publicity), Mallam Garba Shehu, on the meeting said President Buhari blamed past administrations for the situation in which Nigeria is forced to spend billions of naira annually on alleged subsidies for petroleum products.

    Shehu quoted the president as saying that the escalation of petroleum subsidy payments over the recent years was due to the deliberate neglect of the nation’s refineries, oil pipelines and other related infrastructure in order to allow the importation of petroleum products and for corruption to thrive.

    The President restated his huge disappointment with the way Nigeria’s oil industry has been run since he left office as Petroleum Minister and Military Head of State. He said he was convinced that if the development of the country’s domestic refining capacity and petroleum products distribution network had kept pace with national demand, there would not have been any need for the huge subsidies being paid to importers.

    “They allowed the infrastructure to collapse so that their cronies can steal by bringing in refined products from overseas,” Buhari said.

    The President urged the chairman and members of the RMAFC, who availed him of their view on the vexed issued of petroleum subsidy payments, to go “back to the drawing board” and come up with more humane proposals to rescue ordinary Nigerians from the “wicked manipulation” of the country’s oil industry by corrupt operators.

    Buhari also warned that severe sanctions will be visited on any individual or organisation that violates the directive on the payment of all national revenue into the Federation Account.

    He said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and other MDAs which previously relied on the laws establishing them to retain all or part of revenues collected by them, did so illegally and must now comply with the Constitution by paying all revenues to the Federation Account.

    Buhari also chided the RMAFC for approving excessive remunerations for some political office holders and urged the commission to seek a proper interpretation of its powers and address the public outcry against the unreasonably high payments.

    Mbam disowned media reports of the salaries and remuneration running into several millions of naira being paid to National Assembly members.

    According to some of the reports, the federal lawmakers are earning as much as N4 million every month.

    But Mbam said that no member of the National Assembly should receive more than N1 million as salary going by the calculations of the Commission which have been published on its website.

    He said “We have done a lot in informing the general public on the true position of the renumeration packages.

    “First and foremost, it is on our website. It is clearly written there and we have had course to publish these renumeration packages severally in many national dailies.

    “We have also had interactions with press at different fora where we explained what the commission had determined.

    “What we read on the pages of newspapers is not known to the Commission because there is no member of the National Assembly, based on what we determined, that should earn up to N1million per month.

    “We are currently reviewing the subsisting renumeration packages and it is going to reflect the socio-economic realities of today.”

    He said the foremost challenge of the Commission is improper funding and that it deserves financial autonomy so that it can benefit from the advantage of federal government’s first line charge.

    Mbam also demanded for powers of enforcement and sanction for the RMAFC to enable it fully implement its mandate to fix the salaries and emoluments of allý elected and appointed public officials, including in the judiciary, at all tiers of government.

    He said: “One of the challenges is that the commission is not properly funded and we are saying that we expect that the Commission should be one of the agencies of government that should have financial autonomy. The best way to do that is to include it as one of the agencies that will benefit from first line charge.

    “The second is to give the Commission the power of enforcement. They should review the Act establishing the Commission so that it can have power of enforcement and sanctions on any of the defaulting Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).”