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Tag: House of Representatives

  • Reps angry over Conoil, Oando N7.6b debt to PPMC 

    Reps angry over Conoil, Oando N7.6b debt to PPMC 

    The House of Representatives has identified absence of defined penalties for default payment for products procured as being responsible for the huge debt owed the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) by oil marketers in the country.

    The lawmakers have consequently given Conoil, an indigenous oil marketing company one week to pay half of its N3.18b debt to the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) or risk being cut off from further supply.

    Oando Plc was also asked to honour its agreement with PPMC on how to offset its N4.5b or risk being cut off supplies as well.

    The lawmakers said contract terms on lifting of products between the marketers and PPMC would be reviewed to include penalties for payment default by marketers.

    The lawmakers said lack of penalties for default payment was responsible for the huge debts owed PPMC by the oil marketers.

    The Mahmud  Gaya-led ad hoc Committee mandated to investigate  debts owed PPMC by oil marketers Wednesday condemned the major oil marketers for holding up public funds for the benefit of their own companies.

    At the continuation of the investigative hearing Wednesday, the Committee condemned some of the marketers for deliberate and continuous breach of 15-day credit line for lifted products.

    According to the Committee, lack of well-defined terms on payment default was being manipulated by the marketers whereby Conoil and some others would default and escape with no penalties.

    “Because there is no well spelt terms on penalties for default, we found out that Conoil was last penalised for default in 2012, for instance.

    “We discover that a revolving credit facilities given to Conoil allowed it to owe with credit line for two weeks but it has defaulted for over two months since the end of December 2017. Yet, it continues to lift products from PPMC.

    “Is it fair to owe such a huge amount of Nigerian money? The country cannot move forward when this is happening. It is not impossible that they deliberately divert the money to other businesses since they know there is no penalty,” Gaya said.

     

  • Reps investigate foreign Missions over corruption

    Reps investigate foreign Missions over corruption

    The House of Representatives Tuesday mandated it’s the Committees on Foreign Relations and Public Procurement to investigate allegations of corruption in the Nigerian Missions abroad.

    The investigation also spans “the measures to be devised to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians in the diaspora.”

    The Green Chamber also urged “the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure that Nigerian Missions abroad provide counseling and support to Nigerians in time of need and to operate a twenty-four (24) hours helpline and desk for Nigerians in the diaspora.”

    The joint committee is to report back to the House within six (6) weeks for further legislative action.

    The resolution of the House was sequel to the passage of a motion by two lawmakers, Rita Orji and Sergius Ose Ogun on the “Need to Investigate the Activities and the Procurement Process of Nigerian Embassies/High Commissions to cut Costs and Fight Corruption.”

    The lawmakers while moving the motion said: ” Nigeria’s High Commissions and Embassies are administratively under the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as such have their individual budgets computed under the Ministry;

    “All sums spent by the foreign missions are meant to be subjected by parliamentary oversight in the light of the fact that the spendings are provided for under the Appropriation Act passed by the National Assembly;

    “Informed of the widely reported news by a number of online news media that sums running into thousands of Pounds have been spent by the Nigerian High Commission in London on activities as mundane as hiring a scaffold, clearing drainages and manholes.

    “Also notes the allegations by Nigerians in the diaspora of acts of insensitivity, laxity, negligence and near outright maltreatment by consular staff of Nigerian Embassies/High Commissions across the world which inflict mental torture on them;

    “The manifestations of these acts in the bureaucratic bottlenecks in the renewal of expired passports, extortion of money from those seeking assistance or redress and outright insensitivity to the plight of those in dire need which had resulted in the abandonment in a mental home in Turin Italy of one Julie Osamese whose kidney was stolen and the death of Nwadike Stephen Chukwuemeka in a deportation camp in Malaysia, etc.”

    The lawmakers expressed concern about the need to investigate the activities of the High Commission and Embassies “including those payments were approved and disbursed and the procurement processes being employed by the Embassies and High Commissions, the Nation will continually be bled the sincerity of the government’s war against corruption will be called to question.”

    However, the Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Hon. Nnena Elendu-Ukeje through an amendment sought the removal of committees of Diaspora and Interior from the investigations.

    According to her, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in charge of embassies/ missions and the ministry is in turn under the supervision of the House committee on Foreign Relations, hence it would only be appropriate if the Foreign Relations Committee and Public Procurement conduct the investigation.

    Members supported the amendment and the committees of Diaspora and Interior were removed from the mandate.

  • North-East: Reps decry N60m grass-cutting proposal

    North-East: Reps decry N60m grass-cutting proposal

    The House of Representatives on Tuesday decried the N60 million provided by the Presidential Committee on North-East  Initiative (PCNI) in the 2017 Budget for weeding in communities ravaged by the insurgency.

    The amount is for contracts to “cut shrubs, grasses and trees” along Maiduguri-Bama road.

    The house’s Committee on Internally Displaced Persons picked out the figure when the PCNI appeared before it to defend its N45 billion budget for humanitarian assistance, rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced villagers.

    Chairman of the committee, Rep. Sani Zoro and other members expressed displeasure over the provision.

    “You cannot travel this same way, awarding contracts on grasses again; it is not acceptable. Why can’t you assign this duty to the military to do it for you?

    “They can use their personnel to clear the grasses and you can drop this idea of awarding contracts with N60 million.

    “Your duty, from what we understand, is to provide succour for the displaced persons.

    “These people are traumatised and they need urgent basic amenities as they return home. Rehabilitation has to do with their survival as human beings first,’’ Zoro said.

    He challenged the PCNI to furnish the committee with its mandate, saying “You have N184 million for the screening programme for humanitarian activities, what does that mean?

    “There is N150 million on advocacy and early warning system and N165 million for conflict management.

    “You are going to deliver security equipment for N200 million. What type of security equipment? Then another N2.5 billion for security outfits.

    “Are you telling us that part of your role is to fund the operations of the military in the North-East? The military has its own budget already.

    “Why are you not talking about food, shelter, medical care and schools for these IDPs?’’

    A member of the committee, Rep. Adamu Kamale (PDP-Adamawa) said that the N45 billion budgeted for the North-East was inadequate, but decried the provision of N8.4 billion out of the money for military operations.

    Kamale argued that there was no justification for the proposal for the military in the budget.

    “PCNI is not a military agency. This N8.4 billion should be converted to the rehabilitation of burnt houses and schools.

    “I am an IDP, so I know where it pains. N5 billion out of the money can rehabilitate up to 50 per cent of the houses.

    “Again, you are just duplicating so many things in this budget. Our people back home will not forgive us if we pass this budget like this,” he said.

    Another member, Rep. Istifanus-Dung Gyang (PDP-Plateau) informed the committee that the Federal Government’s total commitment to the North-East in 2017 was “over N800 billion.”

    Gyang explained that the money was domiciled in the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government for the purpose of developing the region.

    “So, your role as PCNI is recovery. You come in after the military have completed their own role and they have their budget”, he said.

    However, the Vice-Chairman of the PCNI, Mr Tijjani Tumsah, explained that the budget was planned after due consultation with the military.

    He said that rehabilitation was the key responsibility of the PCNI as it could not be achieved if security aspect was left out.

    Tumsah said that the government would not take the risk of returning the IDPs to their villages without adequate security cover.

    “The IDPs are in camps in locations where they are safe; so, returning them home means that there is security for them.

    “Security remains a major issue in rehabilitation. There are mines everywhere. The military will have to go in there to remove them,” he added

  • Reps threaten warrant of arrest against recalcitrant oil company chiefs 

    The House of Representatives has threaten to issue warrant of arrest against Chief Executive officers (CEO) of some major oil companies for failing to honour it’s invitations.

    The oil companies that include Total Nigeria Plc, Mobil Nigeria, NIPCO, Forte Oil, Oando and MRS among others were being investigated for alleged huge debts and criminal acts of sabotage by oil marketers.

    Chairman, ad hoc committee mandated to carry out the investigation, Abdulahi Gaya Wednesday expressed concern over the attitude of the affected CEOs that have consistently failed to either honour the Committee’s invitation or failed to provide requested documents for the investigation.

    He said: “Before we started this investigation, what we did as a committee was to sit down to digest and see the best way out and fortunately for us, so far we have recovered a lot of money, huge amount of money.

    “We called PPMC to give us information on the outstanding of oil marketers and they came and told us. We then sent letters to 17 oil marketers to send in documents and tell us their own part, the outstanding.

    “We also requested that they come and defend it but instead of doing that, they are sending representatives. Why are sending persons that are not part of their organizations?”

    According to him, the investigation was to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the claims of the Petroleum Product Marketing Company (PPMC) as well as the oil marketers who are the actors on the matter with a view to ensuring that the Nigerian government was not short-changed in anyway.

    Gaya, who revealed that 50 percent of the debts arising from default by  oil marketers has been recovered, however did not disclosed the actual amount recovered so far.

    While he noted that the amount was stipulated in the documents obtained from various stakeholders, the lawmaker expressed optimism that 80 percent of the money would be recovered by the end of the investigation.

  • Reps seek stiffer penalties for illegal logging

    The House of Representatives Adhoc Committee Investigating Massive Deforestation and Corruption in the Environment Sector and its effects on Climate Change, has said a bill seeking stiffer penalties for companies and persons involved in illegal logging in the country is underway.

    Hon, Bede Eke, Chairman of the Committee disclosed said because of the rapid deforestation recorded in recent years and its negative impact on poor rural dwellers, it has become necessary to update the laws regulating the logging business as the practice has left local populace with no source of livelihood as forests they once farmed and hunted in have are now threatened by illegal loggers.

    Eke while speaking with reporters Tuesday, said his committee in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment has inaugurated a liaison committee on the export of wood, animal skin and endangered animal species.

    The lawmaker said purpose of the liaison committee amongst other things is to collate stakeholders views, and relevant data.

    The committee had in December 2016 conducted an investigative hearing on illegal logging, deforestation and corruption in the environment sector.

    The 20 -man committee, he said, had members selected from the Environment ministry, the ministry of Finance, the ministry of Trade and Investment, the Nigerian Customs Service, the Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Tropical Woods Exporters Association, among others, and was given six weeks to submit its report

    His words: “We have been to the sea ports to ascertain the number of containers of wood exported and we have set up a committee that comprises of all the stakeholders and our committee gave them six weeks to come up with a law that will guide this industry.

    “We are also looking at the issue of the implementation of CITIES an international convention, which Nigeria and China are signatories to, making it compulsory for countries receiving certain kind of imported wood to check for the signature of approval from country of export.

    “As it is now, what we have is an all comers affair. Right now, we don’t even know the amount of wood exported out of Nigeria, monthly or in a year. There is so much irregularity and corruption in the sector. Those who should know cannot even account for approvals for duty free export of wood or the foreign exchange that should have been returned to the country since the wood was exported without duty charged on it”, the lawmaker said.

    Nigeria’s annual rate of deforestation is 3.5 percent approximately, 350,000 – 400,000 hectares, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, has said in its 2015 Global Forest Resources Assessment.

  • Reps bemoan economic situation 

    Reps bemoan economic situation 

    The House of Representatives has said the prevailing economic situation is unacceptable and has given a three-month deadline for a reversal of the situation.

    As a consequence, the House has mandated an ad hoc Committee to interact with relevant stakeholders in public and private sectors to ensure a reversal of the prevailing recession within three months.

    The lawmakers however absolved themselves of blames on the economic crisis confronting the country, notwithstanding that the legislature is part of government.

    While inaugurating the Wole Ayorinde-led tactical committee on economic recession Tuesday, Speaker Yakubu Dogara said the House could no longer stand aloof and watch the situation gets worse considering the report of the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that stated that economic recession is already with the country.

    “The double quarters of negative growth, High levels of inflation, worsening purchasing power of the Naira and the increasing levels of unemployment are all strong indicators that all is not well.

    “Today, some of our people can no longer afford to feed. Some School children are dropping out of school due to inability of parents to pay school fees. Transportation, power, healthcare are difficult for the ordinary citizen. There is general anguish on the faces of Nigerians due to poverty and hunger.

    “We cannot however, continue to lament. The problems are well known. At this point in time, it is the solutions that matters more and that is what should engage our attention. As a parliament, we are committed to ensuring that the sufferings experienced by ordinary Nigerians are alleviated.

    “These challenges may appear too difficult to surmount but the good news is that they are surmountable. Other nations have surmounted greater economic challenges in the past and Nigeria’s case cannot be different”.

    Chairman of the 16-member committee, Wole Ayorinde (APC, Ondo) however said the impact of the committee will be felt immediately by Nigerians

    According to him; the recommendations of the committee would be implemented by relevant stakeholders immediately interactions are concluded with the Committee.

    He said: “This is not a talk shop, we will look into the free fall of naira and in the next three months, we shall see whether how much we can go with our interaction with relevant agencies to ensure that the current foreign exchange will not fall beyond that but improve before the end of the tenure of our committee. That is what we are going to work towards.

    “The outcome of the activities of this Committee will be implemented as we are working. If we interact with the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) for instance and we agreed on certain things within the constitutional mandates of the Customs, as we are leaving they are implementing because they will want to be seen to be jointly working together to rescue the economy.

    “They won’t wait for the report of the Committee; we will start feeling the impact of the committee as we swing into action.

    “If we have interaction with the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN ) and we agreed on certain measures to arrest the free fall of the naira before we leave that place, the CBN governor would start to implement our recommendations.

    “This not a talk shop, this Committee is not a study group but to join hands with relevant agencies to put in place policies that will quickly return our economy to the path of stability, growth and development”.

    When asked if the setting of the committee was not an apology and an admittance of failure of the National Assembly to properly oversight Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) before the country went into recession, Ayorinde said the legislators cannot be blamed.

    “We are not apologising because we have not done anything wrong.

    “In the exercise of our mandate in the House, we have done that which the constitution provided for the House to do.

    “We are also not apportioning blame, what we have done as a responsive and responsible House is to feel the pain of Nigerians and rise to the occasion to join hands with the executive so as to quickly bring back smiles into the faces of Nigerians,” he said.

     

  • Outstanding 2015 Rivers polls for Saturday – INEC

    Outstanding 2015 Rivers polls for Saturday – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed Saturday for the conclusion of outstanding 2015 elections in Rivers.

    A statement by the commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Mr Aniedi Ikoiwak in Port Harcourt on Tuesday said the exercise would hold Etche and Omuma Local Government Areas.

    The election, according to the statement, is to fill the Etche Constituency II seat in the House of Assembly and Etche/Omuma seat in the House of Representatives.

    It said that the election would hold in 147 polling units in 19 Registration Areas in Etche and one polling unit (Umuogba Community I) in Omuma.

    The commission encouraged eligible voters in the constituencies to come out en masse to vote for their candidates.

    ”The commission assures the public of a credible and fair conclusion of the election in Etche Local Government Area,” the statement said.

    It also said that security agencies had been contacted to provide adequate security during the exercise.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that following court rulings that invalidated the 2015 federal and state legislative elections in the state, INEC slated March 19, 2016, for re-run polls.

    Unfortunately, the exercise was marred by violence, which forced the electoral body to suspend the polls midway.

    On Dec. 10, 2016, when the re-run was rescheduled, it was inconclusive in Etche and part of Omuma areas due to some irregularities, prompting the repeat which has been fixed for Saturday.

  • APC to investigate suspended Reps member

    APC to investigate suspended Reps member

    The All Progressive Congress (APC) in Katsina State, on Thursday said it would investigate the circumstances that led to the suspension of a member of the House of Representatives, Babangida Ibrahim from the party.

    Alhaji Bala Abubakar, Zonal Vice Chairman of the party in the state, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Funtua that since the member was not expelled from the party, “there are windows still open for reconciliation according party guidelines.”

    NAN reports that Ibrahim, who is the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Finance, was suspended on Tuesday by the APC local chapters in Malumfashi and Kafur Local Government Areas.

    The vice chairman said the party would investigate the grounds of complaints and resolve the issues, where possible.

    Abubakar assured that the suspended member would be given fair hearing and “justice will be done on the issue.”

    He therefore appealed to party loyalists in the area to remain calm and refrain from any act capable of breeding disharmony among members.

    According to him, misunderstandings are normal in politics and when satisfactorily resolved, help strengthen the party.

    NAN recalls that, Ibrahim, who represents Malumfashi/Kafur Federal Constituency was suspended over alleged unsavoury comments against the party leadership, poor representation and failure to attend party meetings.

    He had since denied the allegations, claiming that he was not given the chance to defend himself. 

  • Kogi people suffering under Bello, Faleke tells Presidency

    Kogi people suffering under Bello, Faleke tells Presidency

    A member of the House of Representatives and former contender of Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello’s position, Hon. James Falake, on Tuesday led a delegation of Kogi State indigenes to the Presidency to pass a vote of no confidence on Governor Yahaya Bello.

    Faleke, who led the group comprising former ministers, former ambassadors, former National Assembly members and other critical stakeholders from the State to the office of the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, said that the State has stopped working since Bello assumed office.

    Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the closed door meeting, Faleke said that the Governor’s unsavory actions were inimical to the future of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

    According to him, the people are dying of hunger as a result of the leadership style being adopted by Governor Bello.

    He said: “We came to the presidency to let federal government know what is happening in Kogi state as regards the fortunes of the party. The way it is dwindling day by day as regards the civil servants, the welfare of the people and their relationship with the state government.

    “We have come to let the presidency know so that when elections come and the party losses, no one is to be blamed. We want intervention from the federal government to find a way forward in this situation.

    “The governor of the state should recognize those who work for the party and make the party to be successful. It is one thing to be victorious at the court level and another thing to carry the people along. I want to use this opportunity to urge the governor to carry the people along.

    “This is the fifth time he is setting up a committee to review staff strength with so many screenings every day. People are dying. You ask people to come from the entire 21 local government to Lokoja to present their documents; some of them are dying on road accident.

    “My concern is that if he is too sure, he should set up a better frame rather than this recurrent approach. For all the committees that sent report to him, he has condemned their report and he is the one that set up these committees. Now another committee has been set up again for the same purpose.

    “We get calls every day for welfare from civil servants, school children that their parents have not been paid for months. So, we want him to stop this because this is not the only way to stop ghost workers and it shouldn’t be the last. I’m not against eradication of ghost workers but it shouldn’t be done to the detriment of the people,” he stated

    He said that the delegation was satisfied with the response of the Acting President during the meeting.

    “Of course, we are satisfied. It is a work in progress. It is not a fait accompli”, he said.

    A former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Abdullahi Bello Okene said that the delegation had representatives from across the state.

    “Yes of course. You can see among the delegation here are former ministers, former ambassadors, former National Assembly members across the state that are critical stakeholders. The leadership is all here cutting across the entire state”, he said.

    Faleke was a running mate to late Audu Abubakar, the governorship candidate of APC that died before he was declared winner in the election that brought Bello into office as governor.

    Falake had urged the courts to declare him winner of the election on the grounds that the votes cast for late Abubakar were his automatic inheritance as running mate rather than ceding it to Governor Bello who the party threw up as substitute. But the court ruled in favour of Bello.

  • Reps seek revocation of oil bloc licenses 

    Reps seek revocation of oil bloc licenses 

    The House of Representatives would seek revocation of oil bloc licenses issued without due process, it emerged Tuesday.

    This is in addition to the forfeiture of oil and gas licences by companies that have variously defaulted in the payment of requisite fees to the Federal government.

    This followed the discovery of some oil and gas companies operating in deviance of the law Tuesday at the on-going investigative public hearing into the status of several Oil Prospecting Licences (OPL) and Oil Mining Leases (OML) and marginal oil fields.

    The Committee, chaired by Gideon Gwani (PDP, Kaduna) expressed disappointment at the response of some oil gas companies that failed to present presidential approvals for their  licenses.

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) also compounded the issue by informing the Committee that it has no records in its system of Presidential approvals for some of the licences that were granted through discretionary powers of the Petroleum Resources Minister.

    The Committee made its declaration after Oriental energy and Platform Petroleum failed to provide satisfactory responses to issues of licence approval and payment of royalty to the Federal government.

    While Oriental Energy failed to prove the authenticity of its field license, Platform Petroleum said it defaulted in royalty payment for the entirety of 2016.

    In response to the Committee’s query, DPR said it does not have the Presidential approval for Oriental Energy’s license in its system.

    The DPR also failed to provide satisfactory response to Platform Petroleum’s royalty payment default.

    As a result, the Committee said the ownership of all the affected companies must be produced by the Corporate Affairs Commission ( CAC ).

    It also declared that it will recommend for the revocation of licences of all oil companies found culpable of defaulting in payment of oil fees to the government.

    Committee Chairman Gwani said it was the duty of the Committee to unearth procedural inefficiencies in the award of the licenses, adding that presentation of documentary evidence for the discretionary awards is critical to the investigation.

    He said: “Those who failed due process and whose licences to operate came through processes other than those prescribed by the law, we will recommend that such license be revoked, relinquished and thrown back into the basket for Nigerians to bid for properly.

    “In the course of this investigation, we found out, even today (yesterday) that a company refused to pay royalty for the whole of 2016.

    “This is a fee that is supposed to the paid monthly.

    “As such, it is important that DPR begins to enforce the Act since it is clear that any company that failed to do business in accordance with the Act, not paying the requisite fees, as and when due, that company’s licences be relinquished and the bloc taken away.

    “We are looking at the process by which these licences were acquired because we found out that the process might have been abused.

    “It could be that someone in government was doing business with the issuance of these licenses to themselves and their cronies by manipulating Presidential assent.

    “We found out that languages that were not presidential were used in some of these letters of award.

    “That has given the Committee an idea of how things were manipulated and that is why we want to take it further by finding out the owners of these companies from the Corporate Affairs Commission ( CAC ).

    “This Committee is detemined to expose any oil company that did not get its license right and we will recommend it for revocation.

    “Revocation of such licences would even be good for the country as it will provide the opportunity for our Niger Delta oil and gas investors to partake in the new bidding process.

    “Personally, my believe is that if we have more Niger Delta investors in the sector, then agitation and vandalization of oil asset would be reduced knowing that they have a greater stake in the sector”.