The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NASS

  • Budget: Projects cut and inserted by National Assembly

    President Muhammadu Buhari has listed projects which cost were reduced and new ones inserted in the federal budget by the National Assembly.

    The details are as follows:

    “a. The provisions for some nationally/regionally strategic infrastructure projects such as Counter-part funding for the Mambilla Power Plant, Second Niger Bridge/ancillary roads, the East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail Project were cut by an aggregate of 11.5 billion Naira.

    “b. Similarly, provisions for some ongoing critical infrastructure projects in the FCT, Abuja especially major arterial roads and the mass transit rail project, were cut by a total of 7.5 billion Naira.

    “c. The provision for Rehabilitation and Additional Security Measures for the United Nations Building by the FCT, Abuja was cut by 3.9 billion Naira from 4 billion Naira to 100 million Naira; this will make it impossible for the Federal Government of Nigeria to fulfill its commitment to the United Nations on this project.

    “d. The provisions for various Strategic Interventions in the health sector such as the upgrade of some tertiary health institutions, transport and storage of vaccines through the cold chain supply system, provision of anti-retroviral drugs for persons on treatment, establishment of chemotherapy centres and procurement of dialysis consumables were cut by an aggregate amount of 7.45 billion Naira.

    “e. The provision for security infrastructure in the 104 Unity Schools across the country were cut by 3 billion Naira at a time when securing our students against acts of terrorism ought to be a major concern of government.

    “f. The provision for the Federal Government’s National Housing Programme was cut by 8.7 billion Naira.

    “g. At a time when we are working with Labour to address compensation-related issues, a total of 5 billion Naira was cut from the provisions for Pension Redemption Fund and Public Service Wage Adjustment.

    “h. The provisions for Export Expansion Grant (EEG) and Special Economic Zones/Industrial Parks, which are key industrialization initiatives of this Administration, were cut by a total of 14.5 billion Naira.

    Read Also: Budget: My concern with changes by National Assembly– Buhari

    “i. The provision for Construction of the Terminal Building at Enugu Airport was cut from 2 billion Naira to 500 million Naira which will further delay the completion of this critical project.

    “j. The Take-off Grant for the Maritime University in Delta State, a key strategic initiative of the Federal Government, was cut from 5 billion Naira to 3.4 billion Naira.

    “k. About seventy (70) new road projects have been inserted into the budget of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. In doing so, the National Assembly applied some of the additional funds expected from the upward review of the oil price benchmark to the Ministry’s vote. Regrettably, however, in order to make provision for some of the new roads, the amounts allocated to some strategic major roads have been cut by the National Assembly.” he said

    He pointed out that another area of concern is the increase by the National Assembly of the provisions for Statutory Transfers by an aggregate of 73.96 billion Naira.

    “Most of these increases are for recurrent expenditure at a time we are trying to keep down the cost of governance.

    “An example of this increase is the budget of the National Assembly itself which has increased by 14.5 billion Naira, from 125 billion Naira to 139.5 billion Naira without any discussion with the Executive.

    “Notwithstanding the above stated observations, I have decided to sign the 2018 Budget in order not to further slowdown the pace of recovery of our economy, which has doubtlessly been affected by the delay in passing the budget.”

  • Budget: My concern with changes by National Assembly- Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed displeasure on some of the changes made in the federal budget which he signed on Wednesday by the National Assembly.

    Speaking before signing the N9.1trillion budget instead of the N8.6trillion he sent for approval, Buhari said “the logic behind the Constitutional direction that budgets should be proposed by the Executive is that, it is the Executive that knows and defines its policies and projects.”

    “Unfortunately, that has not been given much regard in what has been sent to me. The National Assembly made cuts amounting to 347 billion Naira in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to 578 billion Naira,” Buhari stated.

    According to him, many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation.

    He added that some of the new projects inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualized, designed and costed and will therefore be difficult to execute.

    “Furthermore, many of these new projects introduced by the National Assembly have been added to the budgets of most MDAs with no consideration for institutional capacity to execute them or the incremental recurrent expenditure that may be required.

    “As it is, some of these projects relate to matters that are the responsibility of the States and Local Governments, and for which the Federal Government should therefore not be unduly burdened.

    Read Also: Buhari reluctantly signs 2018 budget

    “Such examples of projects from which cuts were made are as follows:

    “a. The provisions for some nationally/regionally strategic infrastructure projects such as Counter-part funding for the Mambilla Power Plant, Second Niger Bridge/ancillary roads, the East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail Project were cut by an aggregate of 11.5 billion Naira.

    “b. Similarly, provisions for some ongoing critical infrastructure projects in the FCT, Abuja especially major arterial roads and the mass transit rail project, were cut by a total of 7.5 billion Naira.

    “c. The provision for Rehabilitation and Additional Security Measures for the United Nations Building by the FCT, Abuja was cut by 3.9 billion Naira from 4 billion Naira to 100 million Naira; this will make it impossible for the Federal Government of Nigeria to fulfill its commitment to the United Nations on this project.

    “d. The provisions for various Strategic Interventions in the health sector such as the upgrade of some tertiary health institutions, transport and storage of vaccines through the cold chain supply system, provision of anti-retroviral drugs for persons on treatment, establishment of chemotherapy centres and procurement of dialysis consumables were cut by an aggregate amount of 7.45 billion Naira.

  • NASS of infamy and vanity

    Sir: Since its inauguration in July 2015, the eighth National Assembly has become a theatre of the absurd where anything unworthy and immodest happens. Nigerians have been treated to a most disgusting and puerile show of arrogance, buffoonery, impudence, impunity and most times crass ignorance of the constitutional demands of a parliament.

    They held the 2018 budget hostage for seven months; these 469 extraordinary super-citizens holding the entire nation of 200 million people to ransom for reasons, one of which has been revealed by ex-Finance Minister Mrs Okonjo-Iweala in her book “Fighting Corruption is Dangerous”, as bribe for budget. They cry over insecurity but forget that under Obasanjo and Jonathan, Boko Haram occupied 14 LGAs in Borno State and converted the territory to their Caliphate. On October 1, 2010, bombs exploded to herald our 50th independence anniversary. Under their watch, the UN headquarters in Abuja and the Police Headquarters in the same FCT became easy targets for terrorists. Nyanya motor park and market in the outskirts of FCT were also attacked. Kaduna, Kano and other northern states became vulnerable targets to insurgents with Buhari himself a victim of those evil attacks in Kaduna. In Nassarawa State, scores of mobile policemen on a security mission were ambushed and slaughtered in their operational vehicle by a notorious cult group. Port-Harcourt, Warri and other Niger Delta towns virtually became a war zone as militants garrisoned everywhere and dared the security forces until late Umaru Yar’Adua intervened with the well thought out amnesty programme. Neither Obasanjo nor Jonathan was threatened with impeachment by the National Assembly. Nigeria by far is more secure now than that PDP era of mayhem.

    Instead of being the arbiter and promoter of the rule of law and justice, the National Assembly has become the cog in the wheel of justice and security. So the question Nigerians are asking is this – are our legislators above the law? Why should the National Assembly members who have been named by suspects of murder, robbery and other violent crimes not be investigated?

    Let us recall that the Niger Delta militancy and the Boko Haram insurgency were the aftermath of groups of men armed by powerful politicians as thugs to assist them win elections. These armed men were later to deploy their arsenal to destabilize our national security. This is why the security agencies should not spare any effort to dig deeper into pending cases of politicians who provide arms to criminal gangs who then turn those weapons on the society. Indeed it is possible that the present critical state of insecurity may be fuelled by this corrupt cabal in order to discredit the Buhari administration and this poses a challenge to our security agencies.

    Glaringly, corruption is fighting back with kinetic ferocity from the chambers of the National Assembly and from outside by those who abused public office by hugely helping themselves with the nation’s commonwealth. They have constituted themselves into a “cabal of the corrupt and sacred cows” deploying all manner of propaganda, shenanigans and false alarms to checkmate and possibly terminate the bold and noble crusade of the Buhari government to bring all the looters to account.

    Now Obasanjo in his characteristic holier- than thou, un-statesmanlike display of hypocrisy is now crying wolf of threat to his life. What a shame that under his watch, his attorney-general, the great Bola Ige was murdered and he did nothing. His own kinsman MKO Abiola died in military detention only for him to come out of jail to usurp the presidency by military fiat. Yet he made no restitution. Does he have any human conscience at all? He should quietly retreat to his bogus good-for-nothing presidential library so Nigeria can have some peace. He should learn how to be a noble and true statesman from Buhari.

     

    • Elder Tommy U. Okochi, Agbani, Nkanu West LGA, Enugu State.

  • Saraki, NASS and IGP

    IN an unprecedented move, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, has initiated a legal action to quash the May 9 Senate resolution declaring him an enemy of democracy and an officer unfit to hold any public office within and outside Nigeria. He predicates the action on the alleged hatred and contempt he said the Senate and Senate President Saraki harbour towards him. How he hopes to get the courts to restore his standing in the society, and particularly with the National Assembly which finds his tactics and statements deeply troubling and objectionable, remains to be seen. The IGP’s court case is aside the many bitter attempts he has made to unnerve Dr Saraki and, as the Senate alleges, to also humiliate him.

    The Senate resolution came after the IGP had twice declined the invitation of the legislature to appear before the lawmakers to shed light on both the Dino Melaye affair and widespread killings in the country for which the police appeared not to have an answer. The IGP was dead set against appearing before the legislators, ostensibly because he had prior appointments, but more substantially because he feared humiliation. He is not a man given to philosophy, nor to eloquence of any kind or appreciable degree. Having just allegedly done the bidding of the Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, to humiliate Senator Melaye, the IGP sensed that the enraged senators would, by hostile questions, publicly show him up as lacking coherence and depth.

    By refusing to honour the invitations, the IGP drew the ire of the Senate, which went ahead to make the angry declarations aforesaid against the police boss. In response, Mr Idris authorised the police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, and the Police Force legal officer to issue what the Senate describes as provocative statements against the legislature, and particularly against Dr Saraki. And to pile on the agony, the police seized upon the ongoing investigations of some suspects involved in cult killings in Kwara State and the April 5, 2018 Offa, Kwara State, robbery incident in which 33 people lost their lives, to pin a case on Dr Saraki. The senate president has since then been embroiled in managing the allegations against his person, and seething against what he describes as a wilful and insubordinate attempt by the IGP to ridicule the legislature.

    In all this, the presidency has kept a detached and gloating silence. The Senate had troubled the presidency to no end; and since the Nigerian presidential system is in fact an imperial presidency, and because the constitution wrongly assumes the country’s weak and fearful institutions can stand up to the fearsome executive, it is not surprising that NASS has been subjected to all sorts of provocations by irreverent appointees and government supporters. Furthermore, sensing that the presidency does not appear averse to their brashness and defiance, the police have upped the ante and insisted that, as far as the Offa robbery was concerned, Dr Saraki indeed had a case to answer, a conclusion that has divided Offa people and their chiefs. The police are not struck by the paradox of asking Dr Saraki to appear before them while the IGP refuses to honour Senate invitations. In the ongoing contestation of wills, the police have in fact sensed that Nigerians seem to despise both the NASS and Dr Saraki more than they revile the police. This realisation has spurred the police on to excesses and repudiation of democratic tenets.

    No one can predict how the whole saga will end, whether it will end well for the individuals involved and for the country, or end badly. But after the tit for tat has ended, after Dr Saraki might have known his fate either within or outside the ruling party, and long after the IGP has vacated office, both officers will face the fury of life after office. In the case of the politician, if his enemies do not succeed in unhorsing him, he will continue to maintain some relevance. The same thing cannot be said of Mr Idris. Having endured ridicule over his competence and elocution in the past few months, he will find to his dismay and embarrassment that he will be shunned in polite circles and subjected to merciless lampoons in the press, particularly on social media.

  • INEC yet to receive NASS resolution on release of results

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to receive the resolution of the National Assembly asking it to release the result of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

    The military government of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida halted the release of the results and the announcement of the winner after states had released the results. Gen. Babangida, annulled the results and declared the election invalid.

    The resolution of the Senate followed President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day and the posthumous award of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) to Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the election. However, INEC yesterday said it was yet to receive the resolution of the NASS on the release of the result.  Mr. Oluwole Osaze-Uzi, Director, Voter Education and Publicity, told our correspondent in a telephone  chat that the commission was yet to receive the copy of the resolution.

    Uzi also said there was nothing the commission until it was in possession of the resolution.  He explained that it would amount to mere speculation for INEC to react over the said resolution.   The Nation also gathered that INEC might not be in a position to carry out the assignment when it eventually received the resolution, as the commission was not in existence at the time the election was conducted.

    The election was conducted by the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria under the Chairmanship of Prof. Humphrey Nwosu while the current electoral body, INEC, was only created in 1998. Uzi said: “We have not received the resolution and so we cannot comment until we have received it. When we get it, we will study and then react to it. Since we don’t have it, that is speculative, and I can’t speculate.  Ends

  • Malami faults NASS on impeachment plot against Buhari

    The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has faulted the National Assembly over impeachable issues raised against President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He also said any senator or member of the House of Representatives indicted for wrong doing must be investigated by the appropriate agency.

    The AGF said he has not come to terms on why the National Assembly passed a vote of no confidence on the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.

    Malami bared his mind on Wednesday night while featuring on a Channels TV programme, “The Core,” which was anchored by ace broadcaster, Ms. Kadaria Ahmed.

    He had appeared on the programme with the spokesman of the Senate, Aliyu Sabi, the representative of the Inspector-General of Police, DIG Habila Joshak and a human rights activist, Mr. Clement Nwankwo.

    The AGF said instead of the National Assembly challenging Buhari on insecurity and unemployment, it should realize that it failed to pass the 2018 budget on time.

    He said: “Issues were raised by the National Assembly during their session that they think constituted perhaps misconducts but then, within the context of the issues raised, we need to reassess them. Let us take for example the issue of insecurity, or perhaps issue that borders on unemployment among others.

    “For the past seven months, insecurity for example, the Executive placed the budget before the National Assembly for passage. For instance, you have around N1trillion that was intended to address insecurity but it has not been passed.

    “On unemployment, over N900 billion was embedded in the budget and meant for social investment programme of the Federal Government. Within seven months period, senators for instance were taking over N3billion as wages within the seven months while the social security investment meant for the masses was not attended to.”

     

  • Buhari yet to get petroleum bill – Presidency

    The Presidency said on Wednesday the harmonised Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) passed by the National Assembly on March 28, is yet to get to the desk of President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, stated this in a two- paragraph statement dated May 16 and made available to State House correspondents in Abuja.

    Enang said his findings revealed that the bill is still undergoing standard operating legislative processes of the National Assembly preparatory to transmission.

    He said: “Further to several enquiries by the media, interest groups and the public in respect of the Bill, may I please state that the said Bill has not yet been transmitted by the National Assembly to President.

    “From my enquiries, the Bill is still undergoing standard operating legislative processes of the National Assembly preparatory to transmission, please.”

    The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (upstream), Omotayo Alasoadura, has promised that the harmonised bill would be presented to Buhari on March 30.

     

     

     

     

  • Senate, Saraki fail in bid to stay judgment voiding Omo-Agege’s suspension

    A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday rejected an application filed by the Senate, seeking stay of execution of judgment voiding the suspension of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege.

    Justice Nnamdi Dimgba ruled that the application and the notice of appeal were wrongly directed.

    The judge noted that the application did show that it was targeted at the court’s judgment of May 10, declaring Omo-Agege’s suspension as unlawful.

    He said while the application sought a stay of execution of judgment on the matter, the May 10 judgment did not grant reliefs to the plaintiff but merely made consequential order under the omnibus prayer.

    The judge said: “An application that is desirous of the court’s exercise of its discretion must be an application that is genuine. And to be genuine, it must realistically target the actual decision that was reached by the court, and which enforcement is being asked to be stayed.

    “Looking at the ground of the application as well as the notice of appeal submitted to support the application, I am of the view that the ground and notice of appeal are targeted at a different decision of the court made on May 10, 2018.

    “The ground of the application as well as the notice of appeal attacked a decision where all reliefs of the plaintiff were granted, whereas, by the record of this court, in the judgment delivered by this court on May 10, 2018, all the seven main reliefs of the plaintiff were refused.

    “The court only made an order pursuant to the eight omnibus relief, on the basis that the sole reason given for the recommendation and the subsequent suspension of the plaintiff was an unconstitutional reason.”

    “I have seen nothing, either in the application or the notice of appeal that attacked or targeted that sole conclusion of the court.”

    Read Also: Omo-Agege attends Senate plenary

     

  • NASS jerks 2018 budget to N9.120 trillion

    The 2018 budget has been jerked to N9,120,334,988,225 by the House of Representatives.

    According to the document laid on Tuesday, N530,421,368,624 was proposed for statutory transfer; N2,869,600,351,825 for development fund for capital expenditure; N3,516,477,902,077 for recurrent (non debt) expenditure while N2,203,835,365,699 is for debt service; and N199b for sinking fund for maturing loans.

     

    Read Also : Senate to receive report on 2018 Budget today

     

    Details later…

  • PIB: NASS seeks stakeholders’ support

    The National Assembly at the weekend sought the contributions of relevant stakeholders towards subsequent passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill(PIB) as the National Joint Committee on PIB called for robust inputs from the Oil Producing Communities in Ondo state for the success of the bill. Leader of the Committee, Senator Gershom Bassey from Cross River State, said the Bill will make meaningful impact on the lives of the host communities of oil companies when passed.

    The stakeholders meeting was hosted in Ilaje local government area of the state by the management of the Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (OSOPADEC). Bassey said the delays in the passage of the bill have caused the country as much as $15 Billion per annum in lost investments. “The lack of the much needed reforms over the last decade have created a climate of uncertainty in Nigeria’s petroleum sector which has not been conducive in attracting further investments.

    “As we are aware, Nigeria is Africa’s largest Oil and Gas producers and the Petroleum Sector has long suffered from frequent scandals, mismanagement and lack of coherent guidelines and regulations,” he said. OSOPADEC’s Chairman,Gbenga Edema at the meeting assured the National Assembly Committee of Ondo State’s quality representation at the upcoming hearing on the PIB in Abuja.