The Nation Newspaper

Tag: loopholes

  • Rivers to plug revenue loopholes

    Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has said his administration will plug revenue loopholes to be able to execute more pro-people projects.

    He spoke during a meeting with private medical proprietors at the Government House, Port Harcourt.

    Wike said if 50 per cent of the state’s revenue were collected through the right channels and processes, the state would develop faster.

    He regretted that there were  multiple taxes and levies not remitted to the government coffers, as agents connived with government officials to divert revenue.

    The governor said revenue would be streamlined with tax payers required to pay into an account for  easy monitoring.

    He directed private hospital owners not to pay multiple levies, pending the conclusion of streamlining of taxes to be collected.

    Wike, however, noted that Pay As You Earn taxes should still be paid.

     He said he would make his impact across the state and stop  leakages.

    Rivers State Chairman of the Nigerian Private Doctors, Dr. Henry Sota, praised the governor for consulting with private doctors on key issues.

    He thanked him for the Private Hospitals Loan Scheme to help private doctors improve their health facilities.

  • Clerics uncover loopholes in education

    •Rt Rev Adegbite
    •Rt Rev Adegbite

    Bishop of Methodist Church Nigeria, Owo Diocese, Rt Rev Solomon Adegbite, has clamoured for a conducive learning environment for pupils.

    Rev. Adegbite expressed disappointment at the state of many public schools where poor facilities have dehumanised pupils and teachers.

    In a telephone chat with The Nation, the cleric said: “Education must be done in a conducive atmosphere. Some so-called classrooms are no class rooms at all. The poor facilities are not supposed to be. People should learn only in conducive environment. Even if it is not 100 per cent, let it be minimally conducive. Anywhere that people would be dehumanised should not be used to teach our children.”

    Once the nation gets it right at the basic education level, the cleric is optimistic the rate of illiteracy would reduce and people would be more enlightened.

    Also speaking, Presiding pastor of Ori Oke Baba Abiye, a Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) prayer mountain in Ede, Osun State,

    •Prophet Akande
    •Prophet Akande

    Prophet Funso Akande, who condemned delays in teachers’ salaries, advised the incoming government not to toe the same line.

    Akande said many teachers are losing their zeal to work because of poor motivation, hence they now channel their efforts to other businesses, rather than their professional calling.

    He said: “Teachers are not being paid well so the efforts they put into their job is only 20 per cent, while the remaining 80 per cent goes into their private businesses. That is why they sell goods in schools. But if they are well-paid and as at when due, they will show more concentration on their jobs.”

    The cleric advised the incoming government to imbibe the fear of God and fulfil their promises to the people since they will still need them in future.

    “It is the same door with which you come into your house that equally serves as an exit. So if you shut the door violently against them (the people) when you enter and it gets spoiled in the process, that door may just not be available when next you need it,” he said.

  • Blocking the constitutional loopholes

    Nigeria, which prides itself as Africa’s giant, is faced with myriads of challenges. These numerous challenges raise doubts about this unproven appellation. Our politics has become a platform for impunity, graft and fragrant disobedience to the laws of the land. These factors have, ultimately, reduced our respect among the comity of nations.

    And one question we all need to ask ourselves is whether our acts show similitude of a giant. Actually, a greater percentage of the Nigerian people see things from a politically sentimental perspective. So, answers to this question might just follow a similar subjective approach.

    Constitutionally, Nigeria is presently governed by the 1999 Constitution but recent political happenings in the country show we are not governed by any law.

    Consider this. In pre-independence period, there were many constitutions used to rule over us by colonial masters. The Richard’s Constitution came into force in 1946 and was suspended in 1950 while the McPherson Constitution and Lyttleton Constitution were operated between 1950 and 1954 respectively. And then, enter the post-independence constitutions.

    From the above, it is clear that the role of the constitution in governance and democracy cannot be overemphasised. It is a legal book that states how a given nation should be governed. Therefore, the court, which is seen as the last hope of the common man, should adjudicate on infringement on these letters in our statutory book.

    Last October, the Speaker of the House of Representatives defected from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). This development once again indicates a loophole in our constitution. Section 68 (g) of the 1999 Constitution is clear on the fate of a member of the Senate or House of Reps who decamps from one party to another. Such member loses his seat by implication.

    Though the constitution guarantees freedom of association but the flimsy excuse politicians give for their defection is a source of concern and it is inimical to the development of democracy. In our society, cross carpeting has become a norm in the eyes of political actors; every excuse seems tenable and every step taken is a means of outwitting opposition parties.

    Tambuwal may have taken the decision for his political survival, the aftermath of that action led to the withdrawal of his security aides by the Inspector General of Police, Sulaiman Abba. Without being sentimental to the issue at hand, the IGP ought to know that Section 40 of same Constitution states that “every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any association for the protection of his interests”.

    Therefore, does it means the speaker is not entitled to his rights anymore? With the provision of the constitution he has the right to move to any political party if his former party is in crisis.

    These bizarre political events will have a long-term effect on the coming generation. It is imperative to state that most Nigerian youths are brainwashed into believing a lie.  And currently, the actors in this political show are contributing to these delinquencies among the youth as they increase the pace at which it grows.

    The way we play our politics will have a significant effect on legislation and budget. A house divided against itself cannot stand, so goes a saying.  So, if the unity of a legislative house that should make laws to uplift the lives of the citizen is compromised, then what is the hope of the common man on the street?

    Without prejudice to Tambuwal’s matter in court, it is imperative to state that the loopholes created in our constitution have given room to politicians to commit impunity that distorts peace and sustainable economic and political development.

    Therefore, the 1999 Constitution must be thoroughly reviewed to checkmate individuals from committing official impunity. The review must be done in a way that will prevent politicians citing on section 40 of the constitution thereby escaping the hammer of section 68 (g). The lacuna in our law that gives room to impunity should be identified and blocked.

    •Gbemileke, 400-Level Project Management Technology, FUTA

  • Anti-graft law’s many loopholes

    Anti-graft law’s many loopholes

    What do you make of the verdict? Which verdict, did I hear you say? That verdict, yes that same verdict! Oh! are you talking about the verdict handed down to that pension thief, now I get your drift? As Baba would say I dey laugh o! What’s the cause of your laughter? The judgment or is it not funny? How can a man be convicted of stealing N32.8 billion pension funds and sentenced to a total of six years imprisonment? If that is not funny, then tell me what is? The judgment does not make any sense at all and the people are justified to be angry.

    There is no sane person who will not be annoyed by the verdict because it seems to give legal seal to the crime that was committed rather than adequately punish the offender to deter others. What is the deterrence factor in the verdict? There is none whatsoever, rather it celebrates criminality.. What the judgment is saying in effect is that crime pays. The wages of sin, the Bible tells us, is death. But this verdict has rewritten the scripture to tell us that the wages of crime is a lifetime of bliss. Yes, the offender after getting away with this light penalty will have all the time in the world to enjoy his loot with his family at the expense of those whose money he stole.

    This is not the first time a thing like this is happening. The most recent of this kind of sickening verdicts before that of Monday in which John Yakubu Yusufu got six years imprisonment with a N750,000 fine option for stealing N32.8 billion pension funds, were those of former Edo State Governor Lucky Igbinedion, former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, one-time Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tafa Balogun and erstwhile Oceanic Bank chief Cecilia Ibru. They all got away with light sentences for offences which many lowly placed Nigerians are today rotting away in jail. Their sentences did not in any way match the gravity of the offences for which they were tried.

    Yes, some people will blame the law for the punishment meted out to these convicts. They will do so because it is the most convenient thing to do in the circumstance. They will take such position because it is to their favour and that of the convicts. We are not saying that judges should not apply the law, but they should try as much as possible to apply it to reflect the seriousness of the case at hand. Did I hear you ask what can a judge do when the law has laid down the penalty for an offence? He can do plenty by noting the gravity of the offence vis-a vis the soft penalty. Nothing stops the judge from showing his annoyance with such law by recommending it for the trash can.

    But where the judge keeps quiet in the face of such anomaly, he lends himself to the rot in the system and becomes open to attacks. We live in the same society and so judges, no matter how conservative they are, cannot pretend not to know what is going on. To pretend that they are far removed from the goings on around them is to carry their pretences too far. A judge’s job is pensionable, if I am not wrong. So, assuming someone stole judges’ pension running into N50 billion and he is brought before a judge like Justice Abubakar Talba, who convicted Yusufu, will he treat the matter the same way?

    Agreed that judges swore to do justice to all manner of man ‘’without fear or favour; affection or ill will’’, but in such a case involving all what the judge had worked for all his life, he may be forced to take a position outside the purview of the law and he will be justified in the eyes of the people if he did so. We are not saying that judges should break the law in order to satisfy the public in the discharge of their duties. No, far from it, but they should not feel unconcerned about people’s feeling which is that ex-convicts like Yusufu, Igbinedion, Balogun, Ibru and their ilk should have been given harsher sentences. To plea bargain for a lighter sentence after stealing the people blind is not the kind of legal deal our judges should be part of.

    A plea bargain, which is not in the public interest, should

    not be endorsed by our judges. In this instant case, what price did Yusufu, a former deputy director in the Police Pension Office, pay for the offence of stealing N32 .8 billion pension funds? He has not paid any price, so the tendency is for those occupying high public office to feel that they can do the same thing and get away with it as long as the penalty is to pay a token as fine in lieu of going to jail for two years. Ironically, some people, who did not steal up to N500, 000 are being kept in jail for years without trial. Where they have been tried, they are sentenced to jail with hard labour. Yet, the big thieves are walking the streets as free men and women using their loot to oppress us after getting light sentences.

    Judges interpret the law, we all know. In their interpretation of the law, they should leave a message, which will resonate across the country. In doing so, they are telling the world that yes we are applying the law but nothing stops us from contributing to the making or remaking of the law for our collective good. In days gone by, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, Justice Andrews Otutu-Obaseki and the late Justice Kayode Eso, among others, were doing things like this. They applied the law as it were and contributed to its reform through their considered rulings. Judges of these days can borrow a leaf from them.

    An Oputa or Otutu-Obaseki or Eso would not have given the kind of verdicts we have seen in the cases of Yusufu, Igbinedion, Ibru and Balogun. No, not all. They would not have allowed the convicts to go just like that without telling them some home truths. Yes, these men, in their individual capacity, would have reasoned, ‘’well, I don’t have the power to penalise you beyond what the law says, be that as it may, let it be on record that you have committed a grave offence – the stealing of money kept in your care – for which you deserve to rot in jail to deter others. What kind of public officer are you that you steal public funds with reckless abandon. What are you going to do with all the money? To build houses in heaven? Let it be on record that this law is too lenient for the kind of offence you have committed. If I have my way, you will rot in jail. But luckily for you the law says otherwise. There is need to review a law like this which allows thieves to go away virtually free’’.

    It is painful that we don’t have men like this anymore on the Bench. As our country sinks deeper into morass, we crave the return of such legal minds to restore sanity in the bodypolity. It is, however, not a task for judges alone. We should all be involved but the greater part of the job must be done by the National Assembly. Will the lawmakers continue to watch as criminals run rings round us because of the inadequate laws under which they are tried? Our anti-corruption laws need to be reviewed to deal appropriately with public officers who dip their hands inside the till at will.

     

  • PIB must be rid of loopholes, say experts

    PIB must be rid of loopholes, say experts

    inister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Alison-Madueke considers the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) a revolutionary and ambitious attempt to reform the petroleum industry. The minister also believes the Bill establishes a comprehensive framework for the industry clarifying its rules, procedures and institutions.

    But experts have punched holes in this Bill, which consolidates 16 existing oil and gas laws and introduces new operational and fiscal terms for revenue management.

    Speaking at a summit organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) on Monday, the Group Executive Director, Refining and Petrochemicals Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Tony Ogbuigwe, who gave an overview of the industry, said the downstream sector “is in dire need of reform and restructuring in order to achieve Nigeria’s Energy Security needs”, which, he added” can only be achieved through collaborative effort of all parties in order to create a win-win situation for the country’s growth by the quick passage of the PIB by the esteemed honourable members of the National Assembly.”

    An expert in oil and gas law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Konyin Ajayi asked: “Are the discretionary powers of the minister too wide? Should discretionary powers be defined by time lines and conditions to promote efficiency in the exercise of discretion? Should the powers of the Minister be streamlined to focus more on duties and less discretionary powers? How do we address issues of possible conflict in the exercise of discretion of the Minister and President?”

    It turned out Ajayi was not the only one bordered about the powers of discretion granted the minister and other provisions in the Bill.

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), in a memorandum presented at the summit, said the draft PIB 2012 “is very thin on clear provisions for the downstream sector, especially as relates to the issues of workers; job security, job placement as well as incentives to the players in the industries. This can only be explained by the general migration of downstream operations to full privatisation of the sector. The big question then becomes what will happen to the labour force of this sector.”

    PENGASSAN raised posers: “Should partial privatisation be considered? The draft PIB indicates that divestment of 30 per cent of NOC (responsible for PSCs and NLNG) within 6 years. This indirectly points to partial privatization. Senate Bill 176 is also seeking to “ensure fifty percent refining capacity.” Part 1 Section 3 of this Bill states ‘Nigerian personnel shall constitute a minimum of seventy five percent of the investing company in accordance with this law.’ Knowing therefore that downstream liberalisation will significantly alter the collective bargaining landscape, labour should seek answers to some of the following: Absence of adequate clarity as to what institutions of the unbundled NNPC is going to be divested; does the PIB take superiority over the SB 176 as regards to the operations of the refineries, a major component of the downstream sector? We demand for the deregulation and liberalisation of the downstream petroleum sector but with the caveat that more refineries be built while the ones on ground are made functional; regardless of the decision to have PIB; why has the PIB been relatively silent on the provisions for the labour force in the downstream sector?”

    It thus demanded that the PIB should promote the development of Nigerian content in the petroleum industry; make provisions on health, safety and the environment in the course of petroleum operations; comprehensive integrity tests be carried out on all the pipe lines across the country before deregulation; deregulation should not be done on importation of refined products; and certain agreed percentage of crude should be allocated to local refining not making NNPC to be buying at international rate.

    Other loopholes pointed out by the labour union are: its silence on the fate of the labour force in the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF), being vague on pipelines managements, operations in refineries, crude allocations, policy on integrated projects, and lack of clarity for domestic gas supply and commitment on pricing regime.

    The union said it fears that abuse of expatriate quota, saying “the bill is mute on this and that then means that the problems of foreign worker quota (Ex Pat) abuse will continue as skill sets required for new jobs will be hard to find among membership”.

    The MD/CEO, Orient Petroleum Resources Plc, Nnaemeka Nwawka, said there are issues related to investors in the refining sector of the industry that have not been taken care of by the Bill. He listed them to include: lack of a provision on the supply of crude oil feedstock, inscription of the product pricing parity levels in the policies and laws to ensure predictability, adequate provisions for enabling conditions for the refining industry to thrive and lack of provision which encourages investments in the sector.

    Nwawka said: “Currently, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has granted a wide range of incentives to investors in several areas considered key by the FGN, including (a) GSM telephony operations; (b) agriculture; (c) textiles; (d) gas utilisation; (e) power generation. Notably, there are no such incentives for private refineries.”

    Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Dakuku Peterside, said the submissions of the participants at the summit would help define the final look of the Bill.

    He said: “This Bill is the single-most important piece of legislation before the National Assembly today in our country.

    “The Bill deals with all the things that relate to the existence of our people. PMS, diesel and gas are widely used by Nigerians and if anything goes wrong there, everybody feels it, these are part of the concerns and they will be sufficiently addressed. “PIB will also address the issues of good governance, transparency and accountability because they are embedded in it. This event is therefore a platform for stakeholders to bring forth their ideas, thoughts and perspectives towards this all-important bill. These ideas will help in shaping what becomes of this law in the near future. We are therefore going to find a convergence of views.”

    At the end of the summit, it was agreed that if passed the way it was presented by the Presidency, the Bill would not solve the problems of the sector. The 84 participants, among others, called for a transition schedule defining the sequence and timing of deregulation of the downstream sector; a review and inclusion of the provisions in the Special Tribunal (Miscellaneous Offences) Act Cap 410 LFN 1990 in the Bill; strengthening of the transparency provisions; and a review of the discretionary power of the Petroleum Minister.

  • Ribadu panel’s report full of loopholes

    Ribadu panel’s report full of loopholes

    One week after the Nuhu Ribadu headed Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force (PRSTF) submitted its report to President Goodluck Jonathan, the Presidency is still fretting over issues raised by the chairman of the Task Force.

    At a news conference yesterday, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, took up issues with the former anti-corruption agency chief, questioning the neutrality and fair mindedness of Ribadu and his team.

    Ribadu could not be reached for comments all yesterday as he did not take his calls.

    With a wave of the hand, Okupe declared that the job of the Task Force was incomplete, as the team failed to engage consultants, as stipulated in the terms of reference of the Task Force.

    Okupe said: “The intention of President Jonathan was for the committee to do a holistic investigation into the intransigent challenges of our oil and gas industry in the past 10 years. Unfortunately, the committee has passed the job of verification and reconciliation back to the Federal Government.

    “One of the major terms of reference of the committee was to work with consultants and experts to determine and verify all petroleum upstream and downstream revenues (taxes, royalties, etc) due and payable to the Federal Government of Nigeria. But this aspect of the committee assignment was left undone.

    “Unfortunately and most regrettably, this paramount duty of the PRSTF committee could not be accomplished as stated in paragraph four of the covering note signed by chairman and secretary of the committee.”

    Specifically, Okupe faulted paragraph 4 of a November 1, 2012 covering memo from the PRSTF to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, signed by Ribadu and secretary of the Task Force, Mr. Olasupo Shasore SAN.

    The paragraph reads: “The date used in this report was presented by various stakeholders who made submissions to the Task Force in the course of our assignment at various dates, which have been disclosed in relevant sections of the report.

    “Due to time frame of the assignment, some of the data used could not be independently verified and the Task Force recommends that the Government should conduct such necessary verifications and reconciliations”.

    According to the President’s aide, the implication of the said paragraph is that the committee had issued a disclaimer on its own report.

    “This makes it impossible under our laws to indict or punish anybody, except and until the Federal Government fully verifies and reconciles the facts as recommended by the committee in its submission to the government”, Okupe stated.

    He, however, assured that a white paper would be issued on the report and that the recommendations would be implemented by the administration, after the Government must have “rectified the incompleteness of the document”.

    Okupe deplored what he described as the politicisation of the report and covert attempts in certain quarters to disparage the genuine efforts of President Jonathan to instill sanity in the oil sector.

    He continued: “There is a major public disinformation deliberately calculated to overheat the polity and cause disaffection and opprobrium against the President for doing what is right, what is needful and profitable for the nation.

    “Ribadu, to some extent, deliberately or inadvertently encouraged this negativism by his claims on his facebook page; that he resisted overtures to make him compromise the report.

    “I challenge Ribadu to make public those that wanted him to doctor the report. His claim of an overture to him to compromise the report is perfidious and false.

    “We respectfully enjoin Mallam Ribadu to be patriotic enough to name the proponents of this compromise. Ribadu claims that by serving on the committee, he is on the side of the Nigerian people.

    “Then on whose side is President Jonathan whose idea it was in the first place to set up the Task Force and who approved the appointment of Mallam Ribadu as chairman of the committee?”

    Okupe condemned the leakage of the report to a foreign news agency, Reuters and other international news media.

    According to him, two versions of the same report are in circulation but that the Federal Government will only work with the report that was officially submitted to it by the Task Force.

    But Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati said the government has set machinery in motion for the implementation of the various Petroleum sector reports.

    He said the President has set March next year deadline for the completion of the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) and complete rehabilitation of three refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri.

    The reports were submitted to the president last Friday by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Deziani Allison Madueke.

    The three committees that submitted report last Friday are Special Taskforce on governance and controls, the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force and the committee on national Refineries.

    Abati said: “The president has not only commended the committee on refineries, but he also made it clear that part of the determination of his administration is to make sure that Nigeria stops the importation of fuel and he subsequently directed the minister of petroleum resource to take that report and look into It and then come up with action plan as to what can be done going forward. He also directed that a technical report be prepared on how to get the refineries working. I just came back from a meeting now in the President’s office where the minister of petroleum resources together with her team made a presentation. The major issue at that meeting had to do with the refineries.

    “The Kaduna refinery is able to produce per day now about 110,000 barrels per day, the Port Harcourt refinery 210,000 barrel per day and the Warri refinery 125,000 barrel per day and what steps can be taken to improve the capacities of these refineries to make them perform at their optimum function for the objectives outlined by Mr President to be achieved”.

    The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke was yesterday commended by some stakeholders in the industry for her efforts toward sustainable transformation of the oil and gas industry including her renewed commitment to the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

    The stakeholders’ under the aegis of the Association of Good Governance and Probity in Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation, said the fact that Alison-Madueke wasn’t partisan in appointing members of the task forces showed she wanted a lasting reform in the oil industry.

    Commenting on the sincerity of purpose and openness of the minister in setting up the taskforces, the spokesman of the group, Mr. Daniel Agada, said “members of the task forces are affiliated to different political parties but are time and tested professionals and technocrats, apart from the others from labour and civil society; they were all brought together to design the way forward for the oil an gas industry for greater good of the people of Nigeria.”

    The group also condemned the leakage of the report of the Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenues Task Force before submission, which according to them doesn’t show competence because the report is strategic part of national roadmap that should be jealously guarded. The group also condemned the disagreement between members of the taskforce at the submission of the report noting that there is mischief somewhere because all conflicts ought to have been resolved within the committee.

    They criticised the allegations made in the report as the taskforce was not a probe panel or commission of enquiry. It was set up to find ways to streamline and improve the revenue collection machinery of government in the oil and gas industry by plugging all leakages, they said.