The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Lawmakers

  • We gave lawmakers N17bn to pass 2015 budget —Okonjo-Iweala

    Former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has revealed the blackmail and arm twisting that characterised budget passing by the National Assembly during the Goodluck Jonathan Administration.

    She cited an instance in 2015 when the National Assembly leadership forced the executive arm to part with N17 billion for the federal lawmakers to pass that year’s budget.

    That, she said, was at a time crude price had gone down drastically.

    The N17 billion alleged bribe, according to Okonjo-Iweala in her book Fighting Corruption is Dangerous:The Story Behind the Headlines, was besides the NASS N150 billion annual ‘standard’ budget.

    She described federal legislators as a tough political group to deal with.

    Her words: “The legislature was concerned largely about three things—the size of its own budget; the nature and the size of the capital budget, particularly investment projects; and the number and geographical location of the projects.

    “Senators and Representatives felt that their role as appropriators of the budget was not just to vet and approve budget parameters and oversee budget implementation, but also to shape the size and content of the budgets, including details of specific projects.”

    She said members of the NASS Finance and Appropriation even felt ”they had the right–indeed the duty–to get into the details of the budget formulation and preparation process all along the budget value chain.”

    The ex-minister said the NASS leadership, working through the various committees, “sought to add more to individual projects or create completely new, unappropriated major projects, thereby distorting the budget.”

    But she explained that “not all National Assembly members supported these unfortunate manipulations of the budget.”

    She added: “National Assembly members had negotiated large increases in the National Assembly budgets and would brook no discussions or challenges on the issue.

    “Their operational budget had ballooned to N150 billion or 16 per cent of the budget and almost 3.5 times the 2006 budget (in naira).”

    Okonjo-Iweala said when it was proposed that the lawmakers should give up some of their benefits in view of dwindling revenue in 2015, they bluntly refused to do so.

    “By the time we presented the budget on December 16, 2014, oil prices had fallen further to $58 per barrel.

    “We were prepared and we knew we had to trigger the additional expenditure and revenue measures in 2015 to make the budget work.

    “This would be tough, given that we had entered an election year,” she said.

     ”Indeed, legislators initially refused to accept any cuts to their regular N150 billion budget, despite dwindling revenues.

    “But eventually, they agreed to a 13 per cent cut against a backdrop of ministers accepting a voluntary 50 per cent cut to their basic salaries.

    “In a tough session with the National Assembly’s ad hoc committee on the budget (made up of chairs of the Finance Committee and Appropriation Committee of both chambers and other leaders of the National Assembly), an additional N20 billion was re-introduced as election expenses for National Assembly members.

    “We insisted the amount be dropped because it nullified the 13 per cent cut made to their statutory budget, but managed to reduce the N20 billion figure by only N3 billion to N17 billion.

    “This became the price to pay to have the 2015 budget passed.”

    Okonjo-Iweala was Jonathan’s finance minister from August 17, 2011 to May 29, 2015.

    She had served in the same capacity in the Obasanjo government.

    The Federal Government proposed to spend N4.454 trillion that year.

  • Lawmakers raise oil benchmark to $51

    Six months and nine days after President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2018 budget estimate to the joint session of the National Assembly, the Senate and the House of Represnetatives yesterday passed the Appropriation Bill.

    The estimated expenditure proposd by the President was raised to N9,120,334,988,225 — an increase of N508 billion.

    Senate Appropriation Committee Chairman Danjuma Goje explained that the increase of N508b (6 per cent) was done in collaboration with the Executive.

    He said it would be funded with the increased revenue expected from the alteration of the oil price benchmark which was raised from $45 per barrel to $51.

    He further explained that the oil production level and exchange rate were left the way the Executive proposed.

    Goje said the delay in passing the budget was regrettable. He however noted that the over six months delay was not the fault of the National Assembly contrary to what Nigerians have been made to believe.

    He noted that going forward; the fiscal estimates should be presented on time.

    Goje said that although he would not mention names, some minister still failed to appear before the subcommittees to defend their budget.

    Ministers, he said, should be encouraged to appear before subcommittees to defend their budget on time.

    On subsidy, he said that no provision was made for subsidy especially when subsidy had been officially abolished.

    The budget has the objective of delivering on three-year (2018-2020) Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

    The Appropriation Bill contained the estimates of revenue and expenditure totaling N8,612,236,953,214 made up of; Statutory Transfers N456,458,654,074;Debt Service N2,233,835,365, 699; Recurrent (Non-Debt) N3,494,277,820,219 and Contribution to Development Fund for Capital Expenditure N2,427,665,113,222.

    Highlights of the budget as passed by the Senate included Aggregate expenditure N 9,120,334,988,225; Statutory Transfers N530,427,363,624; Debt Service 2,203,835,365,699;  Recurrent Expenditure 3,512,677,902,077; Capital Expenditure 2,873,400,351,825 VI. Fiscal Deficit 1,954,464,993,775;  Deficit to GDP 1.73%.

    Goje added: “After close consultation with the Executive, the increase in oil price benchmark was applied in the following critical sectors of the economy: I. Reduction of deficit N50.88b; ii.Security N46.72b; iii. Health N57.15b; iv. Power, Works and Housing N106.50b, V. Education: particularly for the infrastructure for the 12 newly established Universities and meal subsidy in Unity schools N15.70b; Vl. Judiciary N10.00b; Vll. NDDC N44.20b.

    On revenue projection, Goje said that in processing the 2018 Appropriation Bill, the Committee premised expenditure on the following key revenue assumptions: a) Oil Price benchmark – USD 51) Crude Oil Production -2.3 mbp/d; and c) Exchange Rate N305/USD

    He said that the 2018 proposals had projected on oil price benchmark at USD 45. Crude oil production at 2.3mbpd and based on an exchange rate of N305 to 1 USD.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki said, “A lot has been said on the area of how we would have passed the budget earlier.

    “There is still room for improvement in the area of cooperation and collaboration between the Executive and the Legislature.

    “As you all know, at least 50% of capital expenditure of ministries, some have not done their defence up to February. This is an area we must work on as the two arms of government.

    “Let me also comment on some of the wrong impressions on the increase in the aggregate expenditure. This has been brought about by the frosty working relationship between the Executive and the National Assembly.

    “This was not properly explained and reported since yesterday. Both the Executive and the Legislature have seen areas where there is need for intervention.

    “We have heard the chairman on Works telling us that there is need for making sure there is equitable distribution of road projects which is taking a very significant amount

    At he House of Representatives, the House, sitting in Committee of Supply headed by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, passed the budget with13-clauses accompanying the bill.

    The House suspended its rules to immediately take the third reading of the bill and set up a conference committee headed by the Chairman House Committee on Banking and Currency Jones Onyeriere, to harmonize with the Senate.

    Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation Mustapha Dawaki while presenting his report before the House said the budgettd amount was raised due to certain interventions occasioned by the increase in oil price benchmark as follows :

    In a bid to stop the payments of unappropriated subsidies and other payments not approved by the National Assembly, the lawmakers inserted the clause ” The minister of Finance shall ensure that only funds appropriated under this act are released to the appropriate

    Dogara said there was no request for subsidies and that it can only come through supplementary budget and that the House cannot give approval for what was not requested  “we’re not Father Christmas here, ” he said.

    The budget is to run from the date in is assented into law till June 30th, 2019.

  • PIB: don’t induce lawmakers, Saraki tells oil firms

    Senate President,  Bukola Saraki yesterday advised the International Oil Companies and Oil Producers Trade Section (IOCs/OPTS) operating in the country not to induce lawmakers during the consideration and passage of the Fiscal and Host Communities Bills -component of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) pending before the National Assembly.

    Saraki, who gave the advice when the leadership of the IOC/OPTS visited him in Abuja, said the leadership of the eighth National Assembly has made it clear to all lawmakers involved in the process to live above board.

    A  statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, explained that Saraki called on the leadership of the OIC/OPTS to report any lawmaker who attempts to seek personal favours when the process of considering the bills commences this month.

    Saraki said: “Let me also use these opportunity to just make some ground rules clear. We, as the 8th National Assembly, – I told you at the beginning that the two houses will be on the same position on the remaining bills. I think we have shown that on the first bill we passed.

    “I am confident that for these other bills too, we will do the same. I want to assure you that it is in our own interest and the leadership has made it clear to all the members involved that this must be a transparent process.

    “We are doing it in the interest of the country. Leadership is not going to tolerate any hanky-panky. No favours. No gifts. Nothing must be given to get this work done.

    “And we want to mandate you that if you see any of these, you should be able to bring it to the attention of the leadership. All we want to see is a Bill that is in the interest of Nigeria and we have read the riot act to all our members that nobody should approach anybody for any interest towards any benefit and I want to make this very clear.

    “This is the position of the leadership on this issue. We must ensure that everything is above board because this is not just a Bill for today, but for future generations. We must make sure that in our time, it is done properly.”

    Saraki said after the passage of the  Petroleum Industry Bill after the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) by the National Assembly which is now before the Presidency for assent, the process for the passage of the Fiscal and Host Communities Bills will soon commence – to pass a petroleum bill that will be a “win-win” for all stakeholders.

    He said: “This is where we are now and this is where it concerns those of you who are operators to see that we can pass a petroleum bill that is a win-win for all.

    “A petroleum bill that will be a win for Nigeria on the revenue side, investment side and jobs creation; and it is also a win for those who are investing in Nigeria because we appreciate that it is a very competitive world out there and we must make Nigeria competitive.

    “The only way we can do that is through engagement. We cannot do it by just passing a bill and just putting it at your doorstep, because we are not the ones that will do the investment. So, it has to be a bill that we all believe is in the interest of all those who are involved.’’

     

    It would be recalled that the National Assembly Assembly has commenced the process of passing the Fiscal and Host Communities components of the PIGB now before the President for assent.

    Earlier, the leader of the delegation of the IOC/OPTS and Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Limited, Mr. Osagie Okunbo, said the visit is essentially meant to assure the leadership of the National Assembly that the IOC/OPTS will make its memorandum on the Bills available to the relevant Committees of the National Assembly during the public hearing.

    He said it is important to ensure that the PIB that will be passed is one that will essentially promote investment.

    “Our primary concern is that at the end of the day, we both lay the years of uncertainty to rest, but even more importantly, that a bill that is passed eventually is one that we can all be proud of and the one that we can say will encourage investments in all parts of the oil industry,” Okunbo stated.

     

  • Monarchs charge lawmakers on democracy dividends

    Traditional rulers in the four local government areas of Akoko in Ondo State have enjoined politicians in the area to contribute meaningfully to the development of the area. They urged  all legislators from the area at national and state levels to work hard to make the lives of the people better. The monarchs called on the lawmaker representing Akoko North East/West Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Stephen Olemija, to bring more dividends of democracy to the constituents.

    Among the monarchs  in attendance were the Olukare of Ikare and Chairman of Ondo State Council of Obas, Oba Akadiri Momoh, Olubaka of Oka,Yusuf Adeleye, Zaki of Arigidi -Oba Yisa Olanipekun, Olusupare of Supare, Oba Kalasi Adedeji and others. They acknowledged various challenges facing the people of Akoko, especially infrastructure and impassable roads,urging influential indigenes to assist.

    Olemija, while speaking with reporters at the forum, appreciated the traditional rulers,describing them as custodian of values in the land. The lawmaker, who is the former Chairman, Akoko Northeast, said he had been identifying  with the people as their representative, stressing that if he becomes a Senator, he would not sit tight in Abuja. He said he had sponsored three bills in the lower chamber to better the lot of his people.

  • Lawmakers pass PIGB with five per cent fuel levy 

    Nigerians will have to pay more for fuel as the National Assembly yesterday passed the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) with five percent levy on fuel sold across the country.

    According to the lawmakers, the five percent levy will be used to fund the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) as reflected in the new bill.

    The passage followed the consideration and adoption of the conference committee report on the bill.

    Going by Section 36 (1) (a) of the bill, “There shall be established the Petroleum Equalisation Fund into which shall be paid all monies payable to the Equalisation Fund by way of a 5 percent fuel levy in respect of all fuel sold and distributed within the Federation which shall be charged subject to the approval of the Minister (of Petroleum)”.

    Other sources of financing the PEF, as stated in the bill, include subventions, fees and charges for services rendered, as well as net surplus revenue recovered from petroleum products marketing companies.

    The Bill empowered the Equalisation Fund to collect all revenues and levies charged; determine the net surplus revenue recoverable from any oil marketing company and accruing to that company from the sale by it of petroleum products at such uniform prices as may be fixed by the Minister;  determine the amount of reimbursement due to any oil marketing company for purposes of equalisation of price of products among others.

    It also seeks to provide for the governance and institutional framework for the petroleum industry.

    One of the major highlights of the bill is one seeking to unbundle the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), provide for the establishment of Federal Ministry of Petroleum Incorporated, Nigerian Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Nigerian Petroleum Assets Management Company and National Petroleum Company and Petroleum Equalisation Fund.

    The regulatory bill also seeks to replace the NNPC with the National Petroleum Commission.

    If it eventually becomes law, existing agencies, like the Petroleum Inspectorate, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) will be abolished.

    Their functions will then be transferred to a new agency -the Nigeria Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NPREC) as provided in the new bill.

    The bill empowers the NPREC ‘to administer and enforce policies, laws and regulations relating to all aspects of petroleum operations.

    It also empowers it to monitor and enforce compliance with the terms and conditions of all leases, licences, permits and authorisations issued in respect of any petroleum operations.

    It will also define and enforce approved standards for design, construction, fabrication, operation and maintenance for all plants, installations and facilities utilized or to be utilised in petroleum operations.

    Similarly, it is empowered to establish, monitor, regulate and enforce health and safety measures relating to all aspects of petroleum operations; establish the framework for the validation and certification of national hydrocarbon reserves; advise the Minister on fiscal and other issues pertaining to the petroleum industry; undertake evaluation of national reserves and reservoir management studies.

    It also empowers the body to issue licences, permits or authorisations for downstream gas, petroleum products, storage depots, retail outlets, transportation and distribution facilities for the industry.

    President of the Senate Bukola Saraki urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the bill into law.

    Saraki said, “I hope with this, we will get the assent of Mr President and hopefully open a new page for the petroleum industry”.

    At the House of Representatives, there was a concurrence as the report of the conference committee on “A bill for an act to provide for the Governance and Institutional Framework for the Petroleum Industry (PIGB)” was considered and adopted.

    The next step is the transmission of the bill to the President for assent and if signed into law, the NNPC will be unbundled into smaller independent companies.

    Also, the House moved closer to its resolve on the stoppage of the sales or concession of  the Ajaokuta Steel Company.

    At the Committee of the Whole House, chaired by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, the House considered and adopted the report of a bill to provide for the withdrawal of $1b from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) for the completion of the 98 per cent completed steel company.

    The bill was sponsored by 301 members of the House.

    If signed into law by the President, after scaling the Senate huddle for concurrence, the Presidency will be empowered to withdraw $1b from the ECA to complete the project.

  • 2019 ambition pits lawmakers against governors

    The governorship aspirations of many senators have pitched them against  governors and other party leaders in their states. As the polity prepares for next year’s general elections, RAYMOND MORDI and MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE examine the crises generated by the matter and the chances of the aspirants. 

    Governors and senators are at loggerheads in many states. The bone of contention is next year’s governorship polls. Many senators want to succeed the governors in their states. But, the governors have their anointed candidates.

    Fierce battles are looming in these states. Five of the states are controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC), while the sixth one is one of the strongholds of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In the PDP state, the battle line is already drawn between the senator and a former governor of the state, who is the leader of his party there. Given the powers they wield in their domains, the battles between the governors/former governor and the lawmakers are increasingly looking like a ‘David and Goliath’ affair.

    Ogun is one of such states. The battle in the Southwest is between Senator Solomon Adeola, who represents Lagos West at the upper legislative chamber and Governor Ibikunle Amosun. In Kaduna, the ambition of Senator Shehu Sani, who represents Kaduna Central at the Red Chamber, has pitched him against Governor Nasir el-Rufai. In Zamfara, Senator Kabiru Marafa, who represents Zamfara Central, is also at loggerheads with Governor Abdulaziz Yari over the party’s 2019 governorship ticket. Similarly, in the Northeast state of Borno, there is a friction between Senator Abubakar Kyari and Governor Kashim Shettima over who succeeds the latter. The PDP state is Rivers, where the ambition of Senator Magnus Abe has put him on collision course with Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.

    What are the chances of the lawmakers, who incidentally belong to the APC, in the 2019 governorship race?

     

    Ogun

    In Ogun, the ambition of Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, to occupy the number one position in the state come 2019 has already ruffled some feathers. But the Yewa-born politician appears unperturbed.

    This is perhaps because he has never witnessed any setback in his political career. At the dawn of the current political dispensation, he was nominated and won the primary of the the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to represent Alimosho State Constituency 2 at the Lagos State House of Assembly (LSHA) in 2003. He won the election and went on to serve the constituency in the chamber for two terms, between 2003 and 2007 and again from 2007 to 2011.

    While serving at the LSHA, Adeola was reputed to be the brain behind the enactment of the law that strengthened the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service, which catapulted the revenue of the state from N5 billion to over N20 billion monthly.

    Subsequently, he was elected to represent Alimosho Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives in 2011. Though he was a first time member of the House, he got position of the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. As a senator, Yayi is the Vice Chairman of Senate Committee on Communications, as well as member of the Finance, Marine, Interior and Science and Technology committees of the upper legislative chamber.

    Having proved that he is a politician who understands how to play the game, with the opportunities he has had, Adeola now wants to govern Ogun State. He claims that the people of Yewa had urged him to come home and serve them. A colourful personality, Yayi has lived almost all his life in Lagos. Born on August 10, 1969, at Lagos Island Maternity Hospital to Mr. Ayinde Adeola Ogunleye and Madam Abeeni Olasunbo Ogunleye (née Akinola), he grew up in Alimosho area of Lagos.

    How far can Yayi go? Governor Amosun has already indicated that he is not favourably disposed to his aspiration to govern the state. At the primary, the governor is likely to anoint a different person. In seeming reference to the senator, the governor vowed for the second time last November that he would not hand over to a ‘stranger’ in 2019. Although he is disposed to someone from Yewa part of the state succeeding him, he sees Adeola who is from that part as a ‘stranger’.

    The governor said it would be an insult to the forebears of Ogun State if an atohunrinwa (stranger) should succeed him when there are true sons and daughters of the soil in abundance.

    Nevertheless, Adeola is believed to have the backing of the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as well as that of former Governor Olusegun Osoba. Nevertheless, observers believe that Adeola may not get the ticket of his party for the race. Though there are similar precedents in Southwest politics, his case is complicated because he is currently occupying an elective position in Lagos and intends to return to his ancestral home in Ogun to actualize his governorship ambition.

    In the run up to the last general elections, then a member of the House of Representatives, Adeola had attempted to contest for the Ogun West senatorial seat, but local intrigues frustrated his ambition. Thereafter, he retraced his steps to Lagos, where he had no difficulty picking up the ticket for the Lagos West senatorial race of his party, the APC.

     

    Kaduna

    Like Adeola, Senator Sani is likely to face an uphill task in his ambition to contest the Kaduna governorship election in 2019 or 2023, because he would not get the backing of Governor el-Rufai.

    In 2019, el-Rufai who is in his first term is likely to contest and as a sitting governor, he would clinch the party’s ticket without difficulty. Even if the governor is not re-contesting, for one reason or the other, he is likely to back someone else for the job.

    Senator Sani is Governor el-Rufai’s greatest critic. There is no love lost between the two politicians. The political feud between el-Rufai and Sani dates back to 2015, when the governor sidelined the senator representing Kaduna Central in the Red Chamber in appointments he made after the APC took over power in the strategic Northwest state.

    In his defence, the governor said the nominees the senator sent to him were dropped because of lack of the necessary academic competence and capacity to function as commissioners.

    The disagreement has polarized the state chapter of the APC. Currently, Sani is locked in a legal battle against el-Rufai. The governor is demanding N2 billion for an alleged defamation.

    The governor is seeking compensation for injury allegedly suffered as a result of ‘the malicious statements’ made by the senator to humiliate him and defame his integrity, by calling him a drunk, a loose cannon and an embarrassment to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The lawmaker has equally criticised the governor for recently destroying the APC factional office. The outspoken senator said the party is doomed, if the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Reconciliation Committee fails to bring all aggrieved members of the party to a round table for an amicable settlement.

    Although, Sani has not really come out to declare that he would be contesting for the Kaduna governorship in 2019, indications are that the bone of contention between him and the governor is his ambition to govern the state. Thus, he has openly criticised those who have endorsed el-Rufai for a second term.

    Nevertheless, Sani recently debunked claims that his constant criticism of Governor el- Rufai’s government was born out of his ambition to become governor. He said he has been speaking out against bad governance for over 25 years and that his current criticism of the governor is not an exception.

    His words: “I don’t know what criticising has to do with being a governor. When I criticised Babangida, Abacha and other tyrants of the past,was it whether I wanted to be President. When things go wrong, I speak out against President Muhammadu Buhari, does that now mean that I want to be President for speaking out? I have been speaking out for the past 25 to 30 years to bad governance, corruption and tyranny.”

    The lawmaker described el-Rufai as a ‘military administrator and a tyrant’. He added: “What is happening in Kaduna is simply tyranny. We don’t have an elected governor; we have a military administrator who thinks everything should go his own way. He engineered the party to suspend us, to suspend me.”

     

    Zamfara

    Marafa who currently represents Zamfara Central, is among those jostling for the 2019 governorship ticket of the APC in Zamfara State. But, his ambition is not enjoying the support of Governor Abdulaziz Yari, who would be concluding his second term next year.

    The political mudslinging took another dimension last November, when the senator alleged that the governor was not an indigene of the state. This followed the senate’s refusal to confirm the nomination of Ahmad Mahmud, an ally of the senator, as the Resident Electoral Commission (REC) nominee for the state, following the petition written to the Senate committee on INEC by Governor Yari.

    Marafa had also accused Yari and his deputy of sponsoring a militia to terrorise the state. In his response, Yari said the senator’s comments were “mischievous, callous and misleading”. The governor went further to threaten the senator’s 2019 ambition. Sources close to the Zamfara Government House said the governor is patiently waiting to clip Marafa’s wings and put him where he rightly belongs.

    The governor who made this known through his aide, Alhaji Salisu Isah, said: “We are going to kill him politically; we are going to bury his political ambition in 2019. He wants to be governor; he is not going to get it. It would not even be possible for him to return to the Senate.”

    The popularity of Marafa, a former Commissioner for Water Resources, appears to be growing in Zamfara, in view of his contributions on the floor of the House. The senator, who was born September 16, 1960, holds a Diploma in Chemical Engineering from the Kaduna Polytechnic. His started his political career in the PDP. Subsequently, he joined the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and later the APC. He won the Zamfara Central senatorial race in 2015 on the platform of the APC.

    Marafa incurred the wrath of Governor Yari recently for accusing Yari and his deputy of being responsible for the insecurity in the state. The governor has threatened to kill him politically in 2019. Yari who spoke through one of his Special Advisers, Alhaji Salisu Isah, said: “The Senator displayed his fraudulent character and l made it a duty to respond to these reckless allegations with the view to among other reasons let the world know the character of Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa and why he cannot be taken seriously.

    “Most importantly to bring to the public notice the laudable efforts Governor Yari is making to tackle the security menace confronting the good people of Zamfara state and why he should be commended rather than castigated in a manner the Senator did.”

    Isah said it is irresponsible for Senator Marafa to state that Yari and his deputy were responsible for the insecurity in Zamfara.

    He also berated the Senator, saying: “Senator Marafa has always posed as a friend and supporter of President Buhari, but behind the President, he is an enemy. I am calling on President Buhari and the Senate President to be careful of slippery people like Senator Marafa. Such people are serpents moving around with venom, seeking for an opportunity to strike. They are unreliable and cannot be trusted.”

     

    Borno

    Their 2019 ambitions appear to be putting Governor Shettima and Senaor Kyari against each other. The senator who is currently nursing an ambition to occupy the Borno Government House is not in the best of relationships with the governor who, many believe, is eyeing the same senatorial seat currently occupied by Kyari.

    For two reasons, Senator Kyari has been touted as one of those that may succeed Governor Kashim Shettima. First, he is a former member of Shettima’s kitchen cabinet.

    Secondly, the Senator who was born with silver spoon is a Kanuri. He had grown up within the corridors of power. His father was a military governor of the old North Central State during the regime of General Yakubu Gowon.

    As the Chief of Staff during the first term in office of governor Shettima, he wielded enormous powers, simply because of the trust the governor had in him. He is from Borno North senatorial district, which is favoured to produce the next governor when Shettima steps down next year.

    To neutralise Kyari’s ambition, the governor is said to have initiated moves to draft the senator representing the central senatorial district, Baba Garbai, into the governorship race to succeed him. Even though they are both in the same party, the APC, the former allies appear not to be comfortable with their 2019 ambitions.

    Kyari was born in 1963 and he attended Barewa College, Zaria. He later attended University of Tennessee Martin, USA for BA degree in 1986. He has played crucial role at the National Assembly to draw government attention to the escalating security challenges facing the state.

     

    Rivers

    The feud between Abe and Amaechi in Rivers APC is still festering. The face-off started prior to the 2015 governorship election in the state, when the then outgoing Governor Amaechi chose Dr. Dakuku Peterside as the party’s governorship candidate.

    The serving senator has been reported to have his eyes on the governorship position of Rivers State. His political impact in the state is well established. Ahead of the 2019 governorship contest, Abe’s body language suggests that he is not prepared to acquiesce to Amaechi’s superiority this time.

    Abe apparently took his case to Amaechi’s backyard when he got some of the former governor’s kinsmen to endorse him recently. A clan of the pro-Abe supporters, grouped as Rivers East APC Stakeholders, made up of party stalwarts from Ameachi’s Ikwerre enclave, on February 6 in Port Harcourt, endorsed Abe as the “overwhelming choice” of the district for the 2019 governorship ticket.

    He was born in May 1965 and attended and attended the Rivers State University of Technology for his law degree (LLB Degree). He was Minority leader, Rivers State House of Assembly in 1999. He later became Rivers State Commission for Information and in 2011 he became Secretary to the state government.

    Abe has held various positions as the Senate: Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum, Chairman Senate Committee on Fuel Subsidy Scheme as well as membership of other committees. The senator made it clear that his primary goal is to focus on people who have been forgotten, exploited by the privileged few and prepare a greater future for them.

     

  • Lawmakers versus executive

    With barely three weeks left in the first quarter, Nigerians watch incredulously as the executive and the legislative arms bicker to no end on the 2018 budget. Like Budget 2017 which would not become operative until June when it was signed into law, indications are that things would not be too different.  Early in the month, the Senate had accused the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, of delaying the passage of the budget. Its vice-chairman, appropriation committee, Sunny Ogbuoji, during plenary would inform the parliament that the committee was having difficulty harmonising their report on the budget.

    “Most of the sub-committees (on the 2018 budget) have huge challenges with the MDAs because majority of them are not coming forward to interface with them,” he said.

    Penultimate Sunday, Ben Akabueze, director-general of budget office, refuted the claim. While asserting that President Muhammadu Buhari submitted the budget with all the usual details required by the National Assembly to process it, he insisted that “ministers and heads of agencies have made themselves available to explain and defend the budget,” adding that “Given the seriousness the presidency attaches to getting the 2018 budget passed so it could earnestly focus on achieving the goals set out in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), 2017-20 which formed the basis of the budget, it had directed heads of ministries and extra-ministerial agencies to attend to any requests for meetings/information by the National Assembly (NASS) with despatch.

    “To the best of our knowledge, this directive has been complied with,” he said; although he would in the same breadth, admit that “complaints about additional information with respect to the budgets of government-owned agencies (GOEs) are being addressed”.

    There can be no looking far to see the truth. Neither side, as far as we can see, can claim to be telling the whole truth. Between and executive branch notorious for tardiness and bumbling incompetence and the lawmakers with their shameless predilection for promoting group-interest over and above national interests, the truth about the corporate dereliction obviously lies in-between.

    The tragedy of course is that the development has become the pattern in the fourth republic. If we had expected the change administration, which incidentally controls the executive and the legislative branches, to beat a different path, it has been more of the same with every cycle of budget since its inception –  just as acrimonious if not more.  Where the executive has not been needlessly tardy, sometimes obdurate, to the point of abdicating the duty of timely defence when called by the parliament to do so, the National Assembly would insist on refashioning the budget in its own image.

    Truth be said, it is hard to gloss over the alert last November by Senate spokesman, Aliyu Sabi, over an alleged refusal by heads of key agencies to honour the body’s invitation to discuss the budget. Earlier, the same Senate had accused the executive of inexplicable delay in the submission of the 2018 to 2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).  This is why the claim by the DG, Budget Office regarding the complaints of the lawmakers being addressed is not only hollow but mischievous.

    If only for the sake of the still-fragile economy, we call on both arms of government to seek the path of amity. Despite the modest recovery in oil prices, the economy currently is still managing to limp, hobbled by the yawning infrastructure gap as a result of which the quest for diversification has remained herculean.

    Already, there are real bases to fear that the modest Gross Domestic Product growth rate projected by the International Monetary Fund (2.1 percent) and the World Bank (2.5 percent) for the current year may turn out to be an illusion. Should that happen, it will constitute an intolerable self-inflicted pain – smacking of criminal irresponsibility.

  • Our much-maligned lawmakers

    It says a great deal about the extraordinary forbearance, the calm self-possession and the dignified restraint of members of the National Assembly that they have for so long put up with the most provocative falsehoods circulated and re-circulated about their compensation package and refused to be drawn into any discussion or debate on the issue.

    Their remit, remember, is to make good laws for the governance of Nigeria.  A discussion of their compensation package would therefore have been not merely a distraction; it would also have been subversive of that sacred mandate.

    A principal aide to one distinguished lawmaker told me that nothing would have been easier for the National Assembly to invoke its sweeping powers to teach these career calumniators a lesson they will never forget, and that the Assembly in fact came frequently under pressure to do just that.

    The aide was corroborated by one of the 25 personal assistants of another lawmaker whose ambition is to be elevated from the ranks of the merely honourable to the league of the actually distinguished. That aide was in turn corroborated by the deputy chief driver for another lawmaker’s fleet of exotic motorcars.

    But the collective wisdom of entire Assembly usually prevailed.

    Don’t dignify these frustrated malcontents whom we shall unfortunately always have among us:  don’t dignify them by answering or chastising them.

    Better to let them stew in their envy and drown in their cacophony, those so-called civil-society activists on the prowl for the next commissioned hit job, brown-envelope journalists sounding off as if they were crackerjack investigative reporters, frazzled charge-and-bail lawyers in their threadbare gowns and mouldy wigs, shoes misshapen from pounding court houses in search of clients, and self-styled anti-corruption crusaders so used to hearing their own jaded voices that they can no longer hear anything else.

    Day after day, in season and out of season, they carped endlessly about what they gave a gullible public to believe was the compensation package of our lawmakers – a package it would be courteous to call unconscionable and downright obscene even if was only 50 percent accurate.

    Each of these groups put out its own jaundiced and discrepant figures, but a public only too willing to believe the worst about persons of great consequence was not in the least troubled by the inconsistencies.

    In fact, the more improbable the figures, the more enthusiastically they were embraced by the public.

    Going by one of the more brazen publications, merely honourable lawmakers took home some N40 million every month.  Forty million Naira each month in the year, it is necessary to repeat, lest those of our countrymen whom time and tide and circumstance left behind think the figure represents the official compensation for an entire year.

    Distinguished members carted home some N2 million more each month, according to the publications under reference, satisfied that though insubstantial in monetary terms, it represented at least a tacit acknowledgement of the difference between being merely honourable and being truly distinguished.

    And these figures pertained only to above-the-table-payments, the traducers said, leaving it to the public to fill in, as its warped imagination dictated, what must have passed under the table.

    They had calculated that this strategy would goad the lawmakers out of their silence and engender a debate that was sure to trap them irretrievably in syndicated sleaze.  If they say their earnings are not a monumental scam and a shameless one at that, let them spell out their earnings clearly and unambiguously.

    Actuated as always by the finest traditions of noblesse oblige, the lawmakers refused.  Their slanderers who probably think that noblesse oblige is a delicacy specially confected to tickle the palates of the degenerate lawmakers argued that the lawmakers’ stony silence stemmed from nothing higher than the animal instinct for self-preservation.  They kept piling on, hoping that the wall of silence would develop a crack if the battering was kept going long enough.

    And so, the inventory of acts and non-acts for which they said the lawmakers were lavishly compensated just kept growing and growing.

    At one point, it included the following:  sitting, standing and maintaining every position in between; for meeting and not meeting; for clearing their throats to talk, talking, and not talking; for not clearing their throats; for belching and refraining from belching; for staying in one place and going everywhere; for picking their teeth; for the upkeep of their harems and their cars and their pets; for their clothing, right up to their intimate apparel, and generally keeping up with the latest fashion trends;  for hair care, manicure, pedicure, face and body massage; for sleeping on the job or staying awake.

    They even put it about that our lawmakers had parlayed what in their ignorance they called “the sedate and cushy job” of making laws into a punitive hardship that must be bounteously rewarded in cash.

    So unremitting was the malevolence of the calumniators that, instead of applauding our public-spirited lawmakers for submitting to debate a proposal to cut their allowances by a hefty 30 percent when they could have preempted discussion or raised their emoluments to keep pace with soaring inflation and the misfortunes of the Naira, they quipped: 30 percent of what?

    Now we know the truth.  And it has come, not from the jaundiced calumniators aforementioned, but from the least expected source–the Senate itself.

    According to Senator Sani (APC, Kaduna Central), the consolidated salary and allowances for each member of the Senate stands at only N700, 000 a month.

    In addition, each senator receives N13.5 million, being only unspecified “running costs” that must be accounted for nevertheless, and is thus strictly not a part of the so-called compensation package.

    To top it off, each senator is awarded a grant of N200 million a year as grant for projects to be sited in his or her constituency.  Contrary to what the calumniators have been claiming, the grant does not come as a cash handout.  The project is executed not by the lawmaker but through a private arrangement between him or her and a certified government agency.

    The arrangement leaves plenty of room for chiseling, Sani has acknowledged.  But it is nothing like the organised swindle the calumniators have been calling it.

    Prorated, the entire package may well gross out at some N42 million per month for each senator.  But that is emphatically not a monthly salary as the public had been led to believe.

    Even if you added the costs of all those luxury cars that the lawmakers are always acquiring with public funds and the unspent funds they share out at the end of each year as if they came out of a trading surplus, any objective commentator would give our lawmakers high praise for judicious fiscal husbandry.

    As I see it, they deserve an immediate and unconditional apology from their calumniators.

    But that is not the way the lawmakers see it.  Sani has said far too much for their comfort and pulled one stunt too many, they have been saying.  I hear they have ordered the senator representing Kogi West to bring out the knives – as if he needed any prompting.

  • Lawmakers revolt against governors

    Lawmakers revolt against governors

    •Okay independent assemblies

    •Reject LG autonomy

    Despite opposition by governors, Houses of Assembly have voted for financial autonomy for the legislature at the state level.

    They also endorsed an amendment to the 1999 Constitution, which will grant the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly autonomy.

    But the Houses rejected proposals for Local Government autonomy and abrogation of the State-Local Government Joint Account.

    By the development, states will still be interfering with statutory funds allocated to the 774 local government areas from the Federation Account.

    Also rejected is a proposal for independent candidature.

    But governors were said to have initiated last-minute moves to reject financial autonomy for Houses of Assembly.

    The Speakers of the 36 Houses of Assembly will today submit their resolutions on constitution amendments to the Chairman of the National Assembly, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who is also the President of the Senate.

    According to the highlights of the decisions and votes by the Houses of Assembly, 31 out of 36 approved financial autonomy for the state legislature.

    Thirty-two voted for legislative autonomy.

    The approved proposals are:

    • Reduction of Executive’s power to engage in extra-budgetary spending from six to three months. The President cannot continue to withdraw funds from consolidated account after the expiration of the annual budget.
    • Financial autonomy for State Assembly
    • Autonomy for legislatures at all levels
    • Change of the name of Nigeria Police Force to Nigeria Police
    • Early laying of Budget
    • Avoiding oath taking for the office of the President or Governor more than twice. This proposal seeks to ban anyone who succeeds a president or a governor and completes the tenure of such president or governor from contesting for that same office more than once.
    • Pre-election matters will now be decided with the substantive case within 180 days.
    • Not too young to run bill, which will review downward age restrictions for standing in elections.
    • Strengthening the Judiciary for speedy dispensation of justice.
    • Constitutional Establishment of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in line with global standards.

    The amendments rejected are abrogation of State-Local Government Joint Account; LG autonomy; independent candidature; and the proposal to give the legislature the power to override the president’s veto on matters of amendment to the Constitution without the President’s final signature.

    A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “All the 36 State Houses of Assembly have finalised consideration of proposed amendments to the 1999 Constitution in line with Section 9 of the Constitution.

    “All the Speakers will converge on Abuja on Thursday to submit our decisions and the details of our pattern of votes to the Chairman of the National Assembly, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who is also the President of the Senate.

    “It was not easy because most state Houses of Assembly resisted the pressure from their governors to reject financial autonomy for the legislature at the state level.

    “But we stood our ground to exercise our constitutional right in line with Section 9 of the constitution. We believe that our democracy can be robust and meaningful if the principle of Separation of Powers is upheld and State Houses of Assembly are financially independent.

    “It is sad that most governors have turned state Houses of Assembly to puppets. We will never allow such oppression again.”

    Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution says: “The National Assembly may, subject to the provision of this section, alter any of the provisions of this Constitution.

    “An Act of the National Assembly for the alteration of this Constitution, not being an Act to which section 8 of this Constitution applies, shall not be passed in either House of the National Assembly unless the proposal is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of all the members of that House and approved by resolution of the Houses of Assembly of not less than two-thirds of all the States.

    “An Act of the National Assembly for the purpose of altering the provisions of this section, section 8 or Chapter IV of this Constitution shall not be passed by either House of the National Assembly unless the proposal is approved by the votes of not less than four-fifths majority of all the members of each House, and also approved by resolution of the House of Assembly of not less than two-third of all States.

    “For the purposes of section 8 of this Constitution and of subsections (2) and (3) of this section, the number of members of each House of the National Assembly shall, notwithstanding any vacancy, be deemed to be the number of members specified in sections 48 and 49 of this Constitution.”

    It was however learnt that some governors have vowed to resist the approval of financial autonomy for Houses of Assembly.

    A governor said: “It amounts to insincerity on the part of the Houses of Assembly to approve financial autonomy for themselves and refused such for local governments.

    “He who seeks equity must do so with clean hands. We are opposed to financial autonomy for Houses of Assembly. Some people are trying to use them to achieve selfish ends.”

     

  • Fashola vs. lawmakers

    Fashola vs. lawmakers

    The Senate and its younger cousin, The House of Representatives, have a fashion of summoning ministers, heads of agencies and chief executives of sensitive companies. The chambers’ committees then assume the toga of a monarch, tossing questions at the invitees as though addressing a school boy.

    They act as though they are the arbiters of the people’s will. They pose for the press, speak with grandiose morality and dramatise an ownership of protocol. For instance, in the last visit of members of the National Assembly to the office of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, they expected the Customs chief to walk down to receive them on their arrival.

    But the old soldier was not a man to bait. He retorted that he was not a jellyfish to be tossed about and insisted that the lawmakers were received according to protocol. After all, it was not as if the agency did not assign its officials to receive them. The legislative comedian, Dino Melaye, roared his protest over what he saw as an act of institutional contempt.

    The man of Customs had to remind them of their earlier sins when he visited. No one treated him with such courtesy. In one word, the lawmakers were hypocrites. They do so all the time. They invite heads of agencies, even for inconsequential reasons.

    Hardball has learned that they want those they invite to “drop.” When they don’t “drop,” then there is trouble and the lawmakers bicker and rant and ask for this document and that paper and insist vaingloriously as though they were fishing for something.

    They did so not so long ago with the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), when they harangued the man with questions and it seemed they were more patriotic than the minister.

    What happened between Fashola and the lawmakers is like the vacuous quarrel between husband and wife in which outsiders wonder over their pettifogging over inconsequentials. But the real issue is known only to the sparring spouses.

    Hardball learned that the lawmakers had requested Fashola’s ministry to fund their overseas trips, and the minister did not agree. He said he did not want to contravene the protocol of this democracy that forbade one arm of government to fund another. The minister had wounded their vanity.

    They also bombarded him with scores and scores of companies for contracts. The minister said they did not bid and it was against the protocol of due process to grant any such deals. They also wanted to acquire a high percentage of the contracts for rural electrification of the universities, and again the minister said no.

    May the Almighty save us from our mighty lawmakers.