The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NASS

  • Buhari signs 2015 budget amendment

    Buhari signs 2015 budget amendment

    President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday signed an Act of the National Assembly which authorised the executive to extend the implementation of the Capital vote component in the 2015 budget beyond December 31, 2015.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, confirmed this in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Thursday.

    Enang said his clarification became necessary because legislators, institutions and other concerned agencies had been contacting him to know the true status of the Act that was forwarded to Buhari last week.

    He said, “Further to several enquires and calls by legislators and institutions on the subject, we deem it appropriate to issue this release.

    “His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, has assented to the 2015 appropriation amendment Act passed by the National Assembly on December 22, 2015, (extending the 2015 financial year to March 31st  in respect of capital projects).”

  • Help us NASS, we have Malaria

    A few days ago at the National Assembly, President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2016 budget of N6trillion. That event couldn’t have gone without certain flips and flops: it was the President’s first time, and he didn’t know that he had to bow to the duo of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, and thereafter bow to the legislators. There were some Senators who slept right through the President’s presentation but what made headlines was that there were certain broken seats in the hall where the President made his budget presentation. Why the National Assembly cannot fix broken seats in the house beat most of us especially against the backdrop of a curious piece of information that the National Assembly have spent as much as N4.2billion out of the N227billion it was allocated in 2015 for the purchase of brand new cars for its new members. Yes folks, that figure is correct because my source for that information was from Eze Onyekpere in his policy brief, National Assembly and the cost of governance. According to Onyekpere, the actual figure allocated to the National Assembly for 2015 by the RMARC is N120billion but if you add the cost of erecting the National Institute for Legislative Studies (N6billion), the National Assembly Clinic (N1billion), together with a lot of miscellaneous costs, the same runs true for the figure above. From Onyekpere’s document, it is clear that from year 2000, the budget of the National Assembly increased from N29billion to N227billion in 2015. Now whether or not the National Assembly is deserving of such a budget in a Nigeria where the cost of living for the average Nigerian shoots up astronomically is something I refuse to comment on. Whether or not the National Assembly is deserving of such a budget in a Nigeria where human and physical development remains one of the lowest in Africa is for us all to talk about.

    But there are other issues which arise from having a National Assembly that has a budget of N227billion, and from having only N221billion allocated to the entire health ministry from the N6trillion recently announced by the President. Such issues arise from the realization that in the whole of the West African sub-region, Nigeria is the one country where all the funds for Insecticide Treated Nets, ITNs, for children in primary and secondary schools, are not from domestic funds but come from international donations. From 2011 to 2013, countries like Cape Verde, Algeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have collaborated with the World Health Organisation WHO to contribute something from their purses for anti-malarial treatment. South Africa does not receive any international contribution for anti-malarial treatment for children. As a matter of fact, I know of a certain South African organisation which distributes an anti-malarial drug for children on the African continent free of charge. Even though a lot of these donations and contributions may have certain unseen pecuniary gains attached to them, they underscore the fact that malaria is still a big issue in Nigeria, and especially with children. World Malaria Report 2013 has it that over 300,000 children under the age of five die from malaria every year. If that infomation is correct, it means that every minute in Sub Saharan Africa, and Nigeria in particular a child is likely to die from a disease as preventable as malaria.

    What is needed to prevent malaria from killing our children is money. We need money for insecticide treated nets. We need money for safe and clean neighbourhoods. Nigeria needs a lot of the monies that are lying fallow at the National Assembly. And at a time like this in Nigeria when everybody is conscious of the fall in the price of oil, and at a time when the administration of President Buhari is considering the application of zero-based budgeting for capital projects and for recurrent expenditure, I do not see the rationale in the bogus allowances that members of the National Assembly and indeed every office at the three arms of government collect. In theory and practice, a zero-based budget does not take into cognizance that you were once a beneficiary of a certain amount of money. What is gorgeous about the concept of zero-based budgeting is that it operates from a zero-baseline, and ignores the fact that you once got N20million because a certain statute says so. If you need that N20million this year, then it behoves on the institution that wants to collect that amount of money to do a line by line analysis of what it actually needs that amount of money for. In the final analysis today, and in the face of the fact that a Nigerian child dies of malaria every minute because there is no money to buy vaccines for children, can the National Assembly truly convince itself that it still needs furniture, vehicle maintenance, wardrobe, entertainment, recess and domestic staff allowances? The annual salary of a Senator is just a little above N2million; but it is the allowances for a single senator, running into more than N400million annually each for the 109 Senators, and nearly a billion annually for the 360 members of the House of Representatives that run the bills as highly as they do.

    In his recommendations in the executive Summary of National Assembly and the cost of governance, Eze Onyekpere said that he would like for the NASS to continue to be a full-time job whilst the bicameral federal legislature should be retained. I agree. The National Assembly is the arm of government that checks the executive. Without it our democracy would be armless. But because we would need a lot of the money being used to maintain our Senators and MPs for children dying of malaria and other diseases, I’d rather that participation and membership of the National Assembly be voluntary and un-paid for. The Salaries they can keep but the allowances we need for malaria treatment for our children with malaria.

    • Etemiku writes from Benin City
  • NASS and audit reports

    NASS and audit reports

    •Time to know how public officers spend our money

    The Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF), Samuel Ukura, has thrown what amounted to a bombshell, when he accused the National Assembly of frustrating the implementation of audit reports submitted by his office to them since 1999.

    At a retreat in Abuja, he told his audience which included members of the Public Accounts Committees (PACs) of both chambers of the National Assembly that the reports produced by his office were usually left unattended to by the committees saddled with the responsibilities of considering them at the two chambers. The reports are said to contain details of fraud and corrupt practices in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

    His words: “Since 1999, we have submitted 14 audit reports which had yet to see the light of the day. The reports were not even considered and submitted by the PAC to the plenary, not to talk of even passing to the executive for implementation”.

    In the circumstance, the AGF expressed frustrations with the constitutional provision that mandates his office to submit its report to the National Assembly, just as he called for a new law which would grant his office the power to make the report public.

    To start with, we couldn’t agree more with the views of the representative of the Department for International Development in Nigeria, Ben Mellor, who also on the occasion noted that “audit reports remained the most effective tool for oversight functions”. Indeed, he merely stated the obvious when he averred that the “Public Accounts Committees are the most powerful instruments of parliament to check wastage and corruption”.

    We must observe that a number of puzzles – flowing from the revelations – readily fall into place. First is the routine but increasingly flagrant violations of the extant financial and general orders in the federal bureaucracy that have grown in the years covered by the reports. Second is the pervasive corruption fostered in the absence of institutional checks and oversights by bodies like the PAC. The third is the overall decay of the bureaucracy itself as an institution, a phenomenon that has hobbled the process of delivery of the public good –all of these happening because the PAC failed to do its public duty. 

    And what did the office of the AGF do in those years – if we may ask?

    It seems to us that the office of the AGF has not done nearly enough to bring the issues on the front burner. This is even more unfortunate considering that the process is something that the constitution actually mandates.  

    We note the suggestion by the AGF for the law to be changed to grant his office the power to make the report public in the light of current demands for openness and transparency. While the suggestion makes eminent sense, the issue is that it does not in any way take away the monumental abdication of a sacred duty by the PAC.

    Of course, the logical question that must flow from that abdication is the content of the erstwhile so-called oversight duties that have gulped billions of taxpayers’ money over the course of the last decade and half. For, if the nation is any familiar with the National Assembly oversights via the elaborate jamborees and duty tours packaged to deliver maximum returns to the lawmakers, one would imagine that the same institution would spare some moments to consider the report of audits that cost the office of the AGF time and taxpayers money to put together.   

    In their failure, they have simply let the nation down.   

  • Buhari writes NASS to present budget on Tuesday

    Buhari writes NASS to present budget on Tuesday

    • Senate passes MTEF
    • $38 oil benchmark approved

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday wrote the National Assembly seeking permission to present the 2016 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the Senate and the House Representatives.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi, who spoke with reporters in  in Abuja, said the Senate granted the president permission to present the 2016 budget next Tuesday as requested.

    The Senate also approved the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) submitted to the National Assembly.

    The consideration and approval of the MTEF paves  the way for the presentation of the annual Appropriation Bill.

    The Senate retained the $38 per barrel oil benchmark as proposed by the executive.

    The lawmakers also approved the exchange rate of N197 to $1 as proposed by the Presidency.

    Insiders however described  the approval of the benchmark of $38 as proposed as ambitious as the global price of crude oil has slumped to about $36 per barrel from the $40 per barrel when the fiscal document was proposed.

    The Senate also approved the projection of 2.2000 daily oil production volume next year as proposed by the executive. It also approved the N5.720 billion non-oil revenue projection.

    The approval of the document followed the submission, consideration and adoption of the report of the Senate Joint Committee on Finance and National Planning presented by the Chairman, Finance Committee, Senator John Owan Enoh.

  • NASS: Not on the same page

    SIR: Between 1979 and 1983 there were 449 members of the House of Representatives.

    Speaker of the House then was Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke from Nnewi while his deputy Alhaji Idris Ibrahim was from Minna. The Leader of the House then was Alhaji Yinusa Kaltungo from Tangale-Waja South, a complete gentleman.

    The following members were recognized as the chief whip of their parties: Prince J.S. Sangha-NPN, Mr. Tom U.B. Egbuwoku-UPN, Mr. D.D. Dafuan- NPP, Dr. Junaid S. Muhammed-PRP and Dr. Gordon J. Idang- GNPP.

    Apart from the committee of selection, the House had 26 standing committees. The committees are  House committee, business, public petitions, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and animal science, public service matters, communications, defence, judiciary, education, health, labour, finance, external affairs, public works, aviation and transport, Petroleum and energy conservation, Mines and power, Commerce, Science and Technology, appropriation, internal affairs, banking and currency, housing, community development and environment, Veteran affairs and social welfare, water resources, Federal Capital Development and public account committee.

    Within the same period there were 95 Senators. President of the Senate then was Dr. Joseph Wayas from Ogoja while the Deputy Senate President was Senator John Wash Pam from Jos. The leader of the Senate was Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki from Ilorin/Asa, my friend. The other leaders of the various parties were Senator Jonathan Akinremi Olawale Odebiyi -UPN, Senator Jaja Anucha Wachukwu- NPP, Senator Idrisa Kadi- GNPP and Senator Ibrahim Barau-PRP.

    There were 17 standing committees in the Senate. These were Transport and Aviation, Communications, Education, Science and Technology, Defence, Public Works, Appropriation and Finance, Health and Social Services, Judiciary and Public Service, Banking and Currency, Petroleum and Energy, Foreign, Labour and Internal Affairs, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Water and Mineral Resources, Trade and Industries, Federal Capital, Housing, Urban Development and Local Government.

    At that time there were no vice chairmen for the committees. In parliamentary terms, committees deal with assigned ministries. The chairman of any committee in the National Assembly has almost the same responsibility with that of a minister and almost the same paraphernalia of office—official vehicles, offices and personnel, etc.

    At that time we had 19 states, now we have 36 states with 109 Senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives.

    The speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dugara has constituted 96 committees. He also named deputy chairpersons for such committees. According to media report, the APC got 54 chairpersons while the PDP cornered 38. A breakdown of the committees shows that three or four committees will deal with one ministry. In short, 192 members of the House of Representative out of the 360 members are either chairpersons or deputy chairpersons of the 96 committees.

    Likewise the Senate has 64 standing committees with 108 Senators. President Muhammadu Buhari has reduced the ministries to only 25.

    If we are to go with the calculation of the National Assembly, 96 committees will deal with 25 ministries in the House of Representatives while 64 committees will deal with 25 ministries and some of their parastatals. It is ridiculous.

    Imagine a minister who has three portfolios. By calculation he will attend to almost 18 committees. What time has such a minister got in supervising his ministries?

    The current rhythm in government is the reduction of the cost of governance. And I guess that is why President Muhammadu Buhari has reduced the number of ministries. But in the National Assembly, instead of a reduction in the cost of governance, they are increasing it.

    What will 96 committees achieve in the House of Representatives and what will 64 committees achieve in the Senate? In some instances it will lead to duplication of efforts by the various committees. Definitely it looks as if the National Assembly and the rest of the country are not on the same page.

     

    • Eric Teniola,

    Lagos.

     

  • NASS seeks new PIB

    NASS seeks new PIB

    The National Assembly on Monday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to quickly transmit a new Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to the parliament for consideration and passage into law.

    The lawmakers described the PIB as one of the most important pieces of legislation that should be quickly considered and passed in the interest of the country.

    Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, made the call at the Tuesday opening ceremony of the National Assembly Dialogue on Economy, Security and Development in Abuja.

    The forum was organized by the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS).

    Dogara, who insisted that investment decisions in the petroleum sector could no longer wait, said government cannot ignore efforts to rearrange  the sector in a manner that would benefit the nation.

    The Speaker noted that it was important for President Buhari, as Minister of Petroleum, to transmit a new PIB to the National Assembly for consideration and passage into law.

    He said the immediate transmission of a new PIB to the National Assembly had become even more compelling because oil and gas still accounts for over 70 per cent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings despite the rapid drop in oil prices.

  • NDDC’s ‘multi-billion Naira fraud’,  NASS committees and oversight functions

    Recently when the list of the chairmen of the House of Representatives committees were released, the people of Niger Delta were mainly interested in which of the committees their ‘illustrious’ sons would be chairmen.

    Such committees include the Oil and Gas – upstream and downstream, environment and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    Of the committees, the NDDC is most dear to the people of oil-bearing communities in the region, especially against the backdrop of recent allegations and counterclaims on how the commission’s funds have been managed and mismanaged over the years.

    Although established to develop the nine states that make up the oil-rich delta as its name implies, NDDC has, over the years, mainly developed a very few politicians, their cronies and hangers-on who are mostly based in Abuja, the seat of power of the Nigerian state, to the detriment of those in the region.

    These powerful Nigerians usually besiege the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt with letters, call cards and ‘notes’ from The Presidency, National Assembly or any of the powerful organisations/bodies and individuals who parade the corridors of power.

    The bearers of these missives usually come up with phantom projects and proposals, which are usually approved because of their connections at the top; the considerations are usually not how the projects would benefit the people, but how much their executors stand to gain.

    Last Word recalls an interesting scenario about a year ago, when a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) sent one of his ‘boys’ to the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt with a request for the board to approve a proposal for the supply of Atlases to all government schools in the region at the whopping cost of over N3 billion.

    The SGF accompanied the proposal with several telephone calls to the Managing Director, Mr Dan Abia and other members of the board on the need to approve the proposal.

    It was gathered that the ‘proposal’ ended up on the desk of an Executive Director for “action and final approval”.

    Sensing that it was a plan to rip-off the commission, the ED, (names withheld) it was learnt, reportedly agreed to the deal on the condition that the SGF would openly own the project by allowing his photograph to be taken along with the book of maps.

    The ED said the power broker should take credit as the initiator and executor of the ‘project’. Last Word cannot ascertain how that drama ended before the last administration was swept out of power.

    Apologies for the digression as this piece is not an article on “How ‘Abuja’ Robbed NDDC”. This week’s Last Word is on the chairmanship of the HoR Committee on NDDC as was announced by the Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara recently.

    The re-appointment of Hon. Nicholas Mutu, the member representing Burutu Federal Constituency in the House has been received with subdued indignation by people of the areas and members of the NDDC board, not least because the chairman is not from a core oil-producing community, but because of allegations of alleged hijack of the commission in favour of his area. It was also because of what one source declared as the “immorality” of rewarding the chair of a committee that could not stop these frauds with another term.

    Some respondents who spoke with our reporter queried the use of these committees in view of the alleged role of some of their members in the problems of the NDDC.

    “We were told that the NDDC misappropriated hundreds of billions within a certain period. This is, no doubt, not only an indictment of the board if these allegations are proved; it also questions the usefulness of the various committees on NDDC in the National Assembly. Of what is their use? If these committees failed to perform their statutory responsibility and allow the board to mismanage this fund as claimed by even the National Assembly, is it not evidence of the failure of the 7th National Assembly committee? Why then are Dogara and the House now rewarding this failure with re-appointment?” a staff queried.

    The development also gives credence to insinuations that NDDC is a lucrative chair, which benefits its members and the leadership of the House.

    Rumours are also rife within the corridors of the NDDC in Port Harcourt that some members of a committee reportedly demanded a whopping N1 billion to ‘facilitate’ the passage of the 2015 budget of the commission.

    “This is not the first time that this has happened; it is a regular occurrence for committees to demand money from commissions to expedite the passage of their budget.”

     

  • NASS: Rule bearers without rules

    NASS: Rule bearers without rules

    Across boundaries and ages, the legislative arm of government has evolved as a most fundamental pillar of democratic rule, to the extent that the history of democratic development across the globe cannot be rightly situated without an elaborate mention of the stabilizing role of the parliament in nation-building. Indeed, the representative nature of the legislature is symbolic of democracy itself, such that in an ideal setting where the votes of the electorates really count, the composition of the parliament becomes a true reflection of the sovereign will and choices of the people.  In other words, legislators are custodians of the culture and tradition of governance which are usually expressed in the rules, laws, regulations, ethics, precepts and ordinances set by the people themselves, notwithstanding whether or not such rules are documented or unwritten, even as democratic culture and attributes sometimes vary from clime to clime.

    However, the conduct of these revered occupiers of the ‘hallowed chambers’ becomes a burden to the people when they, who should jealously protect and promote the law and the rules, are the prime defaulters. The situation is even more worrisome when the lawmakers from whom much is expected to be of higher standards and above board in safe-guarding the tenets of the rule of law are now the ones throwing the rules to the dustbin. What a disservice to duty! Unfortunately, the pervading erosion of values and tradition as demonstrated by some actions and inactions of our lawmakers in the recent time has far-reaching implications on the survival and growth of democracy and good governance in our nation. For instance, how on earth can lawmakers be effective in checking the excesses of the executive, judiciary and other agencies of government when they fail out rightly to purge themselves of the urge to break the rules by which they operate and maintain peace and decorum among themselves?

    To start with, more penetrating and compelling criticisms, by the day, have continued to trail the recent appointments into the Standing Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives by the Senate President and the House Speaker respectively. For instance, the Senate is said to have largely deviated from the age-long rules and tradition which guide the composition of standing committees in the sense that while some of the senators emerged as chairmen of some ‘juicy committees’, some of these committee chairmen were also named deputy chairmen of other committees whereas a considerable number of their colleagues are to only serve as ordinary committee members for the next four years. To this second category of senators, the unwarranted breach of the rules guiding the composition of standing committees is a grave injustice and a travesty of order and decorum. It is widely argued that never was it in the history of the hallowed red chamber that a senator would simultaneously be appointed as chairman and deputy chairman of committees while there are other senators without a chairmanship or deputy chairmanship position. This brings to the fore the question of whether Saraki’s mindset was preoccupied with the intent to reward some people for political and pecuniary interests or for some other reasons best known to him.

    However, compared to the parliamentary ‘faux pas’ of Speaker Yakubu Dogara with respect to the committee appointment palaver, Senator Bukola Saraki’s offence is of less misdemeanour. This flows from the simple fact that while Saraki was said to have worked closely with other principal officers of the Senate before arriving at the 65 committees, Dogara did the exact opposite. Few days ago, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, the House Majority Leader, candidly dissociated himself from the composition of 96 House standing committees, claiming that Dogara flouted the House rules relating to this exercise. According to him, Order 7, Rule 10, paragragh (a) of the House rules states that the Speaker ‘’shall in consultation with the principal officers, appoint the chairmen and deputy chairmen from among the members of the committees’’. The anomaly which conditioned Dogara’s conduct in this regard was further seen from the historical perspective regarding the allocation of committees to members from opposition parties relative to the majority party. During the Dimeji Bankole’s era as Speaker of the House, barely 11 chairmanship slots were shared among the opposition parties while the ruling party (PDP) took the large chunk of the committees including the so-called juicy ones for that matter. Again, despite the indisputable roles of the opposition parties such as the defunct ACN in the rather unusual emergence of Aminu Tambuwal against the wishes of his party leadership, only 22 committee chairmanship positions were allotted to all the opposition parties as a whole. In the bid to compensate his allies and make real his promise for their roles in his ‘controversial emergence’ as Speaker during the inauguration imbroglio in June this year, Dogara totally threw caution to the wind, ignored other principal officers and single-handedly distributed chairmanship and deputy chairmanship slots for the 96 standing committees. In defiance of the usual tradition of allotting very large number of the ‘strategic’ committees chairmanship to members of the ruling party to which the Speaker ordinarily belong, Dogara almost tied the ratio; he gave APC 48 slots while the PDP was given 45. It is more disheartening that PDP stole the show going by the ‘juicy’ committees given to its members such as committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Gas Resources, Aviation, Foreign Affairs, Power, Works, NDDC, Niger Delta as well as Airforce. This invariably was the justification for the attempt by some APC committee chairmen to tender their resignation letters en masse to Dogara given the unfair and relegating treatment of the APC in the sharing game.

    Moreover, the leadership of the 8th National Assembly seems to have orchestrated its ordeal by its own intrigues, such that in the rat race to wade off the ripple effects of its undoing in connection with the ‘politics of inauguration’, and maintain a balance disposition between its nocturnal co-travellers and its original family members, it has recorded a monumental failure in the discharge of its constitutional and historical duties to the people of Nigeria. The unending permutation spree and gale of crises management sessions and holidays that the National Assembly leadership has enmeshed itself since that fateful day of reckoning eventually threw it off balance. Consequently, instead of looking forward to set laudable developmental agenda for the government and to further strengthen its capacity to perform its oversight functions as stipulated by law, with a view to ensuring effective budgetary performance, higher productivity and efficiency of government Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs), the leadership of the two ‘hallowed chambers’ has continued to put up the appearance of an unprepared  and uncultured rule bearer noted for perpetually flouting its own rules both in conduct and in duty.

    How do we explain a situation in which the Senate, an institution which equals the British House of Lords, is shut down just because its presiding officer is showing up in a court trial to which the Senate as an institution is not in any way a party? What does the law say should happen in the occasion that Senate President is absent? Does it actually mean that other principal officers are incapable of presiding and ensuring decorum in the Senate plenary? These and other burning questions have occupied the minds of Nigerians who voted massively for change in the last general elections, hoping that all stakeholders in the APC-led administration will not only live up to popular expectations but essentially that they go extra mile to justify the peoples’ preference for APC as against the PDP. We can only achieve this through conscientious hard work, sincerity of purpose, unwavering commitment to fighting corruption and all manners of misconducts in the public place, the re-orientation of the people around a common philosophy for national integrity, patriotism, unity, peaceful co-existence and national security. It is by so doing that we can compensate for the confidence reposed in us by the mass of Nigerian people and restore hope back to their apparently hopeless situation.

    In our political trajectory to the re-birth of a New Nigeria that we all can be proud of, institutions and individuals whose placement is critical to  democratic sustainability and the growth and development of the nation must ensure to not only stand firm to protect the tenets of the law but, more importantly, they must be the shining examples of compliance and integrity among the people, to be able to command respect and instil in the citizens that public integrity, nobility and honesty is possible and yet sacrosanct in the building of a new nation. All lovers of democracy, social justice and good governance in the country must therefore rise above primordial cleavages and move beyond ethnic and political boundaries to salvage our democracy and to ensure that we provide Nigerians with the kind of leadership that will offer them a better livelihood and dignity as a people. This is a collective task, the abdication of which can only be to the peril of all.

    Let there be decorum in the hallowed chambers and let our National Assembly leadership stop portraying members of that sacred institution as rule bearers without rules.

    • Dr Omoruyi is a public affairs analyst.
  • NASS conducts 52 probes in 16 years, says NILS

    NASS conducts 52 probes in 16 years, says NILS

    * Old problems persist -investigation

    The two chambers of the National Assembly have conducted no fewer than 52 probes between them in the last 16 years, according to a report compiled by the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS).

    The probes covered government agencies/parastatals, alleged corruption and diverse issues.

    But investigation by The Nation shows that many of the issues so probed remain largely unresolved, and in some cases have worsened over the years.

    Listed as some of the problems probed by the two chambers are: alleged corruption in the oil sector, the closure of the Port Harcourt International Airport, and the expenditure of $16 billion on the power sector.

    Crude oil theft continues, electricity supply is yet to stabilize while the Port Harcourt Airport was recently described as the worst in the world.

    On March 12, 2008, the Senate Committee on FCT and that of Housing and Environment were mandated to conduct  public hearing on the activities of the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory from 1999 to 2007.

    They turned in a report deemed to be technically deficient but the  Senate later adopted some of its recommendations before realizing that it had no legal authority to bar Mallam Nasir el-Rufai from politics while those who lost houses to demolition or lost their land to revocations received no form of compensation.

    The Senate Committee on Aviation’s 2008 probe of the N19.5 billion Safe Tower Project indicted several top government officials for manipulating contract awards but no funds were recovered.

    Another 2008 Senate Probe on Food Crisis in Nigeria discovered that several contractors who were paid huge sums did not even know the project sites.

    “One of the contractors told the panel that the heavy equipment on his site were stolen by thieves; the committee uncovered cases of stark fraud and breach of contract. The committee also heard how stored grains meant for the markets in time of shortages were distributed to prominent people including emirs and chiefs in the country,” the 52-page report stated.

    Another 2008 probe in the House of Representatives concluded that a former GMD of NNPC wasted over N2 billion on hotel accommodations in less than four years.

    In the same year, another probe and public hearing on “Operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries from 1999 to 2007” found a litany of corruption practices.

    “Incidences of corruption uncovered include misappropriation of fund budgeted for refineries’ Turn-Around Maintenance; incessant hike in the price of petroleum products; deliberate and unaccounted increase in the daily quota of petroleum production against OPEC allocation; fraudulent allocation of oil blocks; lack of transparency and imprudence in NNPC bills; crude oil theft and smuggling’ across Nigeria’s porous borders; deliberate delay in discharging of petroleum products by ships at the seaports, and; dubious operations of International Oil Companies (IOCs).

    “It was discovered that one of three unregistered companies (Carlson Oil Company Inc) netted about $3.87 billion as profit from lifting 40% of Nigerian crude in ten years, the House of Representatives and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) confirmed, that none of the three companies has paid a kobo in tax to the Nigerian Government since 1999,” it stated.

    The 2009 Ndudi Elumelu-led House of Representatives probe of the $16 billion spent on the power sector had concluded that “several contracts were found to have been awarded to people who did not know what to do in the first place while millions of dollars were paid up front. In many cases, the contractors didn’t even know the construction sites.”

    The panel report soon sparked controversy across the land   and another panel was set up to probe the report.

    Similarly, the House of Reps panel that probed the Global Economic Meltdown and Depreciation of the Naira  in 2009 concluded   that “the nation’s economic managers had been economical with the truth,”  and that the global turmoil was affecting Nigeria’s economy in the areas of capital flight, exchange rate of the naira, upward pressure on inflation and dwindling foreign reserves.

    There was also the House probe of ‘Untold hardship of Nigerians in various deportation camps in Libya.’ It asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to “urgently facilitate the deportation of affected Nigerians in Libya while demanding more humane treatment of Nigerians by the Libyan authorities.”

    Many Nigerians remained in Libya only for their conditions to worsen following the chaos that gripped that country after the murder of President Muammar Ghadaffi in 2011.

    Some of the House of Representatives 2009 probes which inexplicably ended without a single page of report include   those on  the ‘Sudden and mysterious disappearance of Mr. Jude Onunze from the custody of Nigeria Police Force at Kuje Station, Abuja’; ‘Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Nationwide strike vis-à-vis its Implication on the Society’; ‘Indiscriminate Displacement of Skilled Nigerians by Foreign Companies Based in Nigeria’, and; a probe of ‘Security Situation in Anambra State’.

    Its 2009 probe of ‘Nigeria’s Return to Foreign Debts Burden’ following a $195 million World Bank loan that took the country’s external debt stock to $3.7billion condemned the process as “dubious, shady and corrupt.”

    A probe of ‘Female National Youth Service Corps member (NYSC) raped to death’ prompted the House to demand the conferment of post-humous national honours on Miss Grace Adie Ushang, who lost her life while serving in Borno State but this never happened and the police later revealed that her killers were apprehended but released because the state has no law for conviction on such cases.

    At the Senate, the 2009 Transport Sector Probe headed by Senator Heineken Lokpobiri found that the Minister of Works had a budget of N300billion in four years but could not fix Nigerian roads properly.

    Senators threw the report of the Sylvester Anyanwu-led ‘Probe of Incessant Drop Calls by GSM Providers’ back at the panel which continued to invite GSM providers until it was eventually dissolved.

    A 2011 Senate probe on ‘Investigation of the Privatization and Commercialization Activities of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) from 1999 to Date’ made 45 recommendations that highlighted shady deals but no one was sanctioned.

    The Senate’s 2011 ‘Probe of Oil Subsidy Expenditure’ named several beneficiaries of an opaque system whereby the NNPC paid itself N847.94 billion even after it had been paid N844.94 billion by the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency.

    The Senate’s ‘Malabu Oil Field Transaction Probe’ of 2012 concluded its activities without issuing a single page report.

    In 2012, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Environment which investigated  the Bonga Oil Spill’ found several cases of flagrant abuse of the extant environmental laws, but was unable to get any relief materials for those affected and ended up without making any report of its activities available.

    In 2012, the ‘Probe of Petroleum Product Fuel Subsidy Administration’ led   by the    House of Representatives’  member Farouk Lawan recommended that 72 firms should refund N1.7bn within three months and that the EFCC should investigate and prosecute culprits.

    Before Lawan himself was cited in an alleged bribe scandal, his Committee recommended a mere reprimand for the former PDP National Chairman, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, who was the chairman of the PPPRA from 2009 to 2011, and other members of the board during the period, for allegedly opening “the floodgate of the (subsidy) bazaar”.

    The House Finance Committee’s ‘Probe of remittances by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA)’ uncovered a N2 trillion fraud in the executive after an investigation into the revenue generation and remittance of 60 ministries, departments and agencies of government which showed that  top heads of ministries, departments and agencies of government generate revenue from their agency’s activities running into trillions of naira but under-declared such revenue while diverting the remaining for  other use.

    The House of Representatives’ 2012 ‘Capital Market/Security and Exchange Commission (SEC)’ probe was dismissed after its chairman, Herman Hembe, was accused of demanding N44m bribe and a new panel recommended the removal of Ms. Arunma Oteh who remained at her post long afterwards.

    In 2013, the House’s ‘Public Investigative Hearing to Unravel the Status of All Assets Seized and Recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Since Inception’ looked into allegations that some N2 trillion assets confiscated by the EFCC were being wasted and unlawfully repossessed.

    Its ‘Probe into the Aviation Ministry over a N9 billion contract (including SURE-P and the Ministry of Works)’ found out much about the award of contracts running into billions of naira that were paid for without execution.

    Also, its ‘Probe of the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Bala Mohammed over alleged land swap deals’ found that the Federal Government had not fulfilled its promise of compensating 854 indigenous communities of the FCT 37 years after their land was taken.

    No sanction was visited on anyone and the indigenous communities’ situation remains the same.

    Other 2014 probe activities include the House’s ‘Probe of N29 billion Police Pension Funds’; Senate’s Investigation into allegation of missing $49.8 billion in the account of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by former Governor of Central Bank (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; the House’ inconclusive ‘Investigation of financial recklessness levelled against the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke’; probe of  ‘NIS Recruitment Tragedy’, and; the ‘Investigative Public Hearing on Supply, Distribution, Expenditure and Subsidy on Kerosene’.

    The lack of sanctions or deterrence has made the numerous probes to look like mere formalities as the problems they sought to end have remained.

    NILS which copied the bulky report came into being in March 2011 when President Goodluck Jonathan signed the NILS ACT 2011 into law following the passage of the same by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

    It made no recommendations on its study of the probes at the NASS

    PROBES CONDUCTED BY THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SINCE 1999

    2008

     

    * On March 12, Senate probe of the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory from 1999 to

    2007

    * The Senate Committee on Aviation probe of the N19.5 billion Safe Tower Project

    * Senate Probe on Food Crisis in Nigeria

    * House of Representatives probe of a former GMD of NNPC over alleged wastage of over

    N2 billion on hotel accommodations in less than four years.

    * Anther probe and public hearing on Operations of the NNPC and its subsidiaries from

    1999 to 2007

     

    2009

     

    * Ndudi Elumelu-led House of Representatives probe of the $16 billion spent on the power

    sector

    * The House of Reps panel probed the Global Economic Meltdown and Depreciation of the

    Naira

    * The House again probed of ‘Untold hardship of Nigerians in various deportation camps

    in Libya.’

    * Probe of the ‘Sudden and mysterious disappearance of Mr. Jude Onunze from the custody

    of Nigeria Police Force at Kuje Station, Abuja’

    * Probe of the ‘Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Nationwide strike vis-à-vis its

    Implication on the Society’;

    * ‘Indiscriminate Displacement of Skilled Nigerians by Foreign Companies Based in Nigeria’

    * Probe of ‘Security Situation in Anambra State’

    * Probe of ‘Nigeria’s Return to Foreign Debts Burden’

    * A probe of ‘Female National Youth Service Corps member (NYSC) raped to death’

    (in Borno State)

    * Transport Sector Probe headed by Senator Heineken Lokpobiri

    * ‘Probe of Incessant Drop Calls by GSM Providers’

     

    2011

     

    * Probe on ‘Investigation of the Privatization and Commercialization Activities of the

    Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) from 1999 to Date’

    * The Senate’s ‘Probe of Oil Subsidy Expenditure’

     

    2012

     

    * Senate’s ‘Malabu Oil Field Transaction Probe’

    * House of Representatives’ Committee on Environment investigated the Bonga Oil Spill’

    * House of Reps ‘Probe of Petroleum Product Fuel Subsidy Administration’ led

    by Farouk Lawan

    * The House Finance Committee’s ‘Probe of remittances by Ministries, Departments

    and Agencies (MDA)’

    * The House of Representatives ‘Capital Market/Security and Exchange Commission (SEC)’

    probe

     

    2013

     

    * The House’s ‘Public Investigative Hearing to Unravel the Status of All Assets Seized and

    Recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Since Inception’

    * ‘Probe into the Aviation Ministry over a N9 billion contract (including SURE-P and

    the Ministry of Works)’

    * ‘Probe of the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Bala Mohammed

    over alleged land swap deals’

     

    2014

     

    * The House ‘Probe of N29 billion Police Pension Funds’ *Senate’s Investigation into

    allegation of missing $49.8 billion in the account of Nigeria National Petroleum

    Corporation (NNPC)

    * The House ‘Investigation of financial recklessness levelled against the Minister

    of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke’

    *  Probe of ‘NIS Recruitment Tragedy’

    * The ‘Investigative Public Hearing on Supply, Distribution, Expenditure and Subsidy

    on Kerosene’.

     

     

     

     

     

  • NASS, private sector partnership key to economic development, says Saraki

    NASS, private sector partnership key to economic development, says Saraki

    Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday said collaboration between the public Sector, especially the National Assembly, and the organised private sector is crucial to  the nation’s economic development.

    Saraki while addressing the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Kyari Bukar who led other members of the board on a courtesy visit to his office in Abuja said: “The truth is that if we are going to build a strong economy, we in the public sector cannot do it without strong collaboration from the private sector and the level of collaboration has to be at this (highest) level.

    “It has to be at this level because we need to understand what the issues are and we need to be able to address them and buy into them as an agenda before us.”

    He said the Senate is already looking at some laws that are relevant to economic growth with the aim of bringing them up to date in view of present realities. JJust today, we were talking about the railway sector and we found out that we are looking at a law that was enacted since the 1950s.  So, why are we surprised that we are not getting the necessary investment in the railway sector? And I am sure it goes across other sectors of the economy”, he said.

    He added: “We have identified the bills that will impact on our economy, growth and employment. We will fast-track them and try as much as possible to pass them as soon as possible. That is the commitment we are giving you.

    Earlier, Bukar noted that most Nigerians are yet to fully comprehend the role of the legislature since it remains the newest among the three arms of government.

    He said the NESG is willing to work with the National Assembly to establish a framework of continuous engagement with the citizenry and the private sector to get a better understanding of the nation’s legislative process.

    He said: “One simple tool that can quickly be harnessed is that of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to ensure public information of all bills and their status on the National Assembly website.”

    He also urged the National Assembly to ensure that all obsolete laws in the country are repealed and re-enacted to enhance national purpose and development.

    Bukar said: “A cursory look at all laws in Nigeria will reveal plethora of laws that were automatically inherited from our colonial masters, and as a result are not only irrelevant in our society today, but also impede development.”