The Nation Newspaper

Tag: national assembly

  • Peaceful NASS, panacea for national progress-Saraki

    The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, says peace in the National Assembly is necessary for the growth of the legislature and cordial relationship with other arms of government as well as ensuring national progress.

    Saraki made the remark on Monday in Abuja in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Sanni Onogu.

    According to Onigu, Saraki stated this in his speech as Chairman of the 10th year memorial activities in honour of former President of the Senate late Sen. Evan Enwerem in Abuja.

    He lauded Enwerem for laying a solid foundation for the National Assembly in 1999, saying that the 8th Senate had benefitted immensely from his legacy of peaceful and friendly disposition.

    Saraki said: “It is a lesson to all of us as leaders, today, that we can all use a dose of the Enwerem example when in the hot seat.

    “He worked with those who worked against his emergence as President of the Senate, won their respect and was able to turn many of them into dedicated friends.

    “The result of that cooperation and partnership is part of what we are benefiting from today in the 8th Senate which we strive, to the best of our ability to emulate.

    “Peace in the National Assembly is necessary for the growth of the legislature and for beneficial relationships with other arms of government as well as for national progress.

    “Looking back, I think the late Sen. Enwerem would be proud of how far the legislature has come in the Fourth Republic and its contribution to the growth of democracy in Nigeria.

    “We are proud of his contribution in laying the right foundation for us. We are standing on the shoulders of those who came before us and the late Sen. Evan Enwerem is notable among them.”

    He noted that the book thatbwas launched at the event in honour of Enwerem bore testimony to what he achieved, working across the political divide in 1999.

    “We are told that he made it clear, through his words and actions, that he would strive for an inclusive Senate and he worked for peace.

    “He collaborated with his colleagues across board, irrespective of party or political antecedents, putting the country’s interest first.

    Saraki expressed the hope that Sen. Enwerem’s legacy would live on and his ideas continued to be propagated to serve as a launch pad for the generation of new ideas that would enrich the society.(NAN)

  • Minimum wage: Our patience is running out, NLC tells Buhari

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) wants President Muhammadu Buhari to take urgent steps to address the lingering issue or the new national minimum wage by immediately forwarding an executive bill to the National Assembly to legalise the recommendation of the tripartite Committee.

    President of Congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said Nigerian workers were running out of patience with the government over the delay and we’re getting more and more agitated.

    The National Minimum wage tripartite committee put in place by the President to review the current N18.000 Minimum wage had two weeks ago presented its report to the president recommending N30,000 as the national minimum wage,  but the Nigeria Governors Forum has said they can’t pay the figure presented by the committee.

    Speaking at the 2018 Harmattan School of the Congress in Abuja, Comrade Wabba said workers are running out of patience on the implementation of the new wage.

    He described as unfortunate the position being taken by some Governors who are saying they can’t pay the N30.000, but are spending billions of dollars in the name of security votes which they can’t account for.

    The NLC President dismissed claims that the implementation of the new national  Minimum wage would lead to inflation in the country, adding that when salaries of political Office holders was increased by 800 percent in 2008, it did not cause inflation, and  wander why just N30.000 for workers can cause inflation.

    “We don’t know why the president has not transmitted an executive bill, the report of the tripartite committee to the National Assembly for an enactment into law, because Workers patience is running out.

    “We have maintained that any governor that said he can’t pay the N30.000 should go to his state, gather workers and tell them they are spending billions of dollars in the name of security votes but once it comes to payment of N30.000 Minimum wage, they are saying workers are just 20 percent.

    “How can they say that because without workers which include health workers, police, army and others, most politicians can’t sleep. Minimum wage is not a favour but a right of a worker because the law states that after 30days, a labourer is worthy of his wage”.

     

  • National Assembly’ll expedite action on minimum wage bill

    THE National Assembly will accelerate the passage of the minimum wage bill, the House of Representatives said yesterday through its Committee on Labour, Employment & Productivity.

    Committee Chairman Ezenwa Onyewuchi spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    President Muhammadu Buhari last November 27, raised a 30-man National Minimum Wage Committee, chaired by former Head of Service of the Federation Ms. Ama Pepple.

    The committee has recommended N30, 000 minimum wage, but the governors say they cannot implement it without reducing the workforce or getting more cash from the Federation Account.

    Onyewuchi, who represents Owerri Municipal/North/West Federal Constituency of Imo State, said lawmakers would expedite action on the Minimum Wage Amendment Bill when they get it.

    He said: “For us, we have to wait here until the president sends in the amendment bill, it will go through the rudiment of law making; pass through the committees at various levels.

    “We know how important it is; we know that the workers are desirous of wage increase, especially the minimum wage, which for me as a committee chairman, I consider it important.”

    The lawmaker said that although the bill would not negate the normal legislative scrutiny, he assured that it would be given an expeditious passage.

    “And for me, we want a living wage, a wage the workers can live on. And essentially, I am in support of it because if you look at it on the last May Day, I was the person that moved the motion on the floor of the House on this same issue of wage increase and minimum wage adjustment.

    “So, I think for me, there is need to take a second look at the minimum wage and by the time it is sent to us, we will give it an expeditious passage.”

    On the December deadline given to the Federal Government to complete all negotiations, Onyewuchi said: “Since the constitution makes provision for amendment to the Minimum Wage Act, at the end of the day, we will find a common ground to agree on a minimum wage for the country.

    “But at the moment, the issue is still with the tripartite committee. I have been briefed by the Ministry of Labour and there seems to be some levels of disagreement. So, I do not expect it will be a one-way thing. It is a process; the process has started.”

  • ‘Declare emergency in manufacturing sector’

    The Federal Government has been called upon to declare a state of emergency in the manufacturing sector of the nation’s economy as a matter of urgency.
    Delivering a 25th anniversary and 2nd distinguished lecture of Ilesa Branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, the Managing Director of the Kresta Laurel Limited, Engr. Dideolu Falobi, said it was imperative for the FG to act fast and save the nation from impending economic doom.

    Falobi said the call for state of emergency to be declared in the industrial sector is necessary because there are factual evidences to show that more than half of the 500,000 graduates being produced annually by the nation’s various tertiary institutions are unemployed.

    He said it is uncomplimentary that manufacturing sector contributes only 15.62 percent of the nation’s GDP in spite of its almost 200 million population in which he noted that “54.32 percent of this population is between the ages of 15 and 64  unlike Singapore with similar GDP but a mere 6 million.”

    Putting the the literacy level in Nigeria at 59.6 percent, the engineer lamented that there are a huge population of unskilled workers to be engaged by the manufacturing sector and also another huge population of skilled workers that are unemployed.

    Apart from declaring a state of emergency in the manufacturing sector, he said a number of industrial bills must be sponsored at the National Assembly to move Nigeria out of the woods in certain sectors needing urgent intervention.

    According to the guest lecturer, there are many benefits of industrialization for the engineers and others, which he said include employment generation directly through construction of industries, indirect employment through auxiliary services during construction activities, increased utilization of lands, increased tax revenue for the government among others.

    He said: “The topic of this lecture is one that I consider most timely and very relevant in the light of our national challenges today. The country is reeling from all sorts of maladies, the most dangerous and saddening of it all being the descent of our youths into the abyss of moral decadence characterized by drug abuse, Tramadol popping, codeine sipping, 419, Yahoo-Yahoo, Yahoo Plus, area-boyish and all other crimes. It is scary fro me to watch the future generations of our beloved nation in self-destruct mode.

    “Let me categorize the youths affected into two. The first group are those who, for whatever reasons, were not educated or dropped out of school at an early age. Unfortunately, they also refused to learn any trade or craft. Most of them are now in their late teens, early to late twenties, I am sure that should we take a peep outside the gate of this hall, we will find them waiting for us to come out to collect handouts which as soon as they get it will vamoose in a hail of smoke of Indian Hemp and so on.

    “This category is neither employed nor employable. Some of them who learned one trade or craft have forgotten about it and their routine is to scavenge social functions from Thursday to Saturday (their peak period) looking for dole outs from celebrants and politicians who also use them as canons folder during political battles.

    “The second category consists of some of the 500,000 Nigerian youths that graduate from our several tertiary institutions and are left idle because of unemployment. This group has made the advanced fee fraud in all its variants their career. Propped up by all shots of drugs  and bolstered by iniquitous herbalists (most of them, fake) that abound, these young boys and girls are almost lost. These two categories of Nigerians need industrialization. Today’s lecture is timely and relevant for them and their suffering parents.”

  • ‘Workers running out of patience over new minimum wage’

    Barely two weeks after submitting a committee report on the mew minimum wage to President Muhammadu Buhari, labour chiefs restated on Friday that workers were running out of patience with government over the slow action on issue.

    On November 5,  Buhari received the report of a tripartite committee he set up since last November, to fashion out a new minimum wage for workers.

    Nigerian workers have been voicing their frustrations over what they describe as the peanuts paid to public sector workers in a country where political office holders, including members of the parliament receive some of the biggest pay checks in the world.

    Speaking in an interview with our reporters in Lagos, the labour leaders vowed that there would be neither retreat nor surrender in the resolve of labour to ensure that workers were paid N30,000 as minimum wage.

    The Secretary-General of the Trade Union Congress, Mr Musa Lawal, said that labour would not accept any sum less than what was agreed on by the committee.

    ”It is the tripartite committee decision for workers to be paid N30, 000 as minimum wage. There is no going back by labour on the amount.”

    He said that any governor, who would not pay the sum should have no place governing a state, noting that governors should respect agreements they entered into.

    Read Also: NLC dares governors over N30,000 minimum wage

    Lawal said that labour would not hesitate to return to Abuja for further dialogue on the issue if the need arose, rather than waiting endlessly on the matter.

    The Deputy General-Secretary of the United Labour Congress, Mr Chris Onyeka, said also that governors were bound to pay the N30, 000 because they were represented in the committee.

    Onyeka remarked that the apparent delay in resolving the wage issue was a cover up to frustrate workers on the matter.

    ”The delay is a cover up. Except President Muhammadu Buhari wants to say that the tripartite committee report submitted to him has become irrelevant.

    ”For now, the meeting between the president and the governors and threat by the later to sack workers are delay tactics on the wage implementation. We will not take it.”

    Onyeka told Buhari to hasten the new wage issue and forward the bill to the National Assembly to avoid a major labour unrest ahead of national elections early next year.

    NAN

  • Bamidele, Adeyeye, Olujimi, others cleared for Nass Poll

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the names of National Assembly candidates in Ekiti State.

    The list of candidates cleared to contest was displayed at the gate of INEC state headquarters in Ado Elite.

    Parties including People’s Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), African Democratic Congress (ADC), People’s Party of Nigeria (PPN), Democratic People’s Party (DPP) are fielding candidates.

    Read Also:I earned N60.2m in three years, Atiku tells INEC

    In the senatorial race, the APC candidate cleared for Ekiti North is a former National Assembly member, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi.

    Former Houses of Representatives member, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele cleared to fly APC flag in Ekiti Central senatorial district.

    Bamidele defeated the incumbent Senator, Mrs. Fatimat Raji Rasaki in the APC senatorial primary held in Ekiti Central.

    Former Minister of State for Work, Prince Dayo Adeyeye is the cleared APC candidate for Ekiti South.

    Senate Minority Whip, Senator Biodun Olujimi, who is seeking re-election, has been cleared as the PDP candidate in Ekiti South senatorial district.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Air Force, Senator Duro Faseyi, who is also seeking re-election, is the cleared PDP candidate for Ekiti North.

    Former Ekiti State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Obafemi Adewale, is the PDP candidate for Ekiti Central.

    Three out of the incumbent House of Representatives members in the PDP fold were cleared by INEC to seek re-election.

    They are Mr Kehinde Agboola (Ekiti North 1), Mr. Akin Awodumila (Ekiti South 2), Mr. Segun Adekola (Ekiti South 1) and Mr Ayo Oladimeji (Ekiti Central).

    New entrants cleared to run in the House of Reps poll are Chief Bisi Kolawole (Ekiti Central 2) and Mr. Sola Omotoso (Ekiti North 2).

    APC House of Reps candidates cleared are Mr. Peter Owolabi (Ekiti North 1), Mr. Ibrahim Olarewaju (Ekiti North 2), Mr. Sola Fatoba (Ekiti Central 1), and Mrs. Omowumi Ogunlola (Ekiti Central 2).

    The rest are former Chief of Staff, Chief Yemi Adaramodu (Ekiti South 1) and former Ekiti House of Assembly Speaker, Mr. Femi Bamisile.

  • National Assembly urged to pass bills

    Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) Chairman Asue Ighodalo has urged the National Assembly to expeditiously pass some of its National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER) bills before it.

    Ighodalo said that the NESG was partnering the National Assembly to provide content, promote, amend and prepare for passage, bills that encourage and support private-sector investments and improve the overall business environment.

    He said the engagement of NESG with the National Assembly had been strengthened through the NASSBER.

    Ighodalo, however, expressed concern on some other NASSBER bills yet to be passed by the National Assembly.

    He listed some of them to include: the amended Companies and Allied Matters Bill, Nigerian Railway Bill, National Roads Funds Bill, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Bill, Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Bill and the Arbitration and Conciliation Bill.

    He said: “We strongly urge the National Assembly, in the spirit of our partnership, to expeditiously pass these bills. We appreciate the immense work they have done so far, and we encourage them to do even more, despite the distractions, in this last months of this very productive 8th session.”

    The NESG is a leading voice in the discourse to create an enabling business environment that encourages private investment and sustainable economic growth.

    It has also vigorously advocated for the concepts of efficient and inclusive private sector-led growth.

    The outcome of its dialogues covering various sectors of the economy has provided the basis for several policy documents for governments at all levels.

    The NESG chair reiterated the importance of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and urged the government to ensure it continues its implementation.

    He commended the government in its effort toward strengthening the country’s economy while urging it not to relent its effort.

    “However, despite these improvements, our country remains vulnerable on multiple fronts, economic, social and political. The narrative must shift forcefully to inclusive growth and development.

    “This can only be achieved through good governance and strong institutions. Efficient markets and macro-economic stability are essential for inclusive development but its diverse dimension calls for a broader capacity to deal with complex problems, strong levels of policy coherence and effective institutions.”

    He said: “Though the Federal Government has implemented significant aspects of the ERGP, we expect the implementation process to continue unabated, particularly in the run up to the general elections in 2019.

    “There is no better time than now to keep our eyes on the ball because, no matter the outcome on February 16, next year, we must all work to ensure that we still have a strong economy to build on, the morning after.”

  • Fayemi will fulfill all electoral promises – APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has assured the people of Ekiti State that Governor Kayode Fayemi will fulfill all promises made during electioneering campaign.

    The party hailed Fayemi for what it described as populist and welfarist actions taken in the first week of his inauguration.

    Describing Fayemi as a “good and dependable ambassador,” the party urged the people of the state to continue to support Fayemi to bring his blueprint to reality.

    The party said Fayemi needs the prayers of Ekiti people to succeed for his administration to take the state to greater heights.

    The Ekiti APC Publicity Secretary, Mr. Ade Ajayi, in a statement on Monday said the governor, in his first week, has taken some actions that showed that he (Fayemi) loved the common man and had the interest of the people at heart.

    Ajayi lauded the Town Hall meetings held by Fayemi in all the three senatorial districts in which he has taken government back to the people and gave them a sense of belonging.

    The party spokesman described Fayemi as a man of integrity who would keep his words to make life easier for the people of Ekiti State.

    Ajayi said: “The governor has announced the cancellation of education development levy imposed on pupils in private and public schools by the past administration, while free education would also return to public primary and secondary schools in the state as against the exorbitant fees under former Governor Ayo Fayose.

    “We applaud the governor for the return of the social security scheme that will alleviate the sufferings of our aged people and it is also heartwarming that Ekiti pupils in public schools would be enjoying free meals latest by December.

    “Governor Fayemi would accord workers welfare his administration priority; pensioners,local government workers and teachers would not be left out in the scheme of things.

    Read Also: Fayemi’s first week as Ekiti governor

    “The governor has expressed his readiness to pay all the backlogs of workers and pensioners salaries and benefits but we plead for patience from our people.”

    Ajayi also reiterated Fayemi’s call on all APC candidates for state and federal legislatures to extend hands of fellowship to contestants who lost at the primaries to face the general elections as a united house.

    “According to Governor Fayemi, all the State and National Assembly candidates must reconcile with their co-contestants, leaders and members of the party in their units, wards and local government areas to enhance victory at the polls in the forth coming election in the state,” Ajayi said.

    The party expressed appreciation to Fayemi in his bid to pay severance and furniture allowances to politicians who served under him,saying they should exercise patience in his bid to make political appointments.

    The statement also appealed for calm from party members on the killing of the state Treasurer, Mr. Moses Adeoye, noting that the governor has urged the state police command to bring the killers to justice.

    He added that the governor had given his words to take care of the family of the deceased.

     

  • National Assembly, Executive meet over virement, others

    THE approval to vire N242.205 billion for the 2019 general elections from the constituency projects under the Service Wide Vote allocation in the 2018 Appropriation Act, may set the National Assembly and the Executive on a collision course.

    Though President Muhammadu Buhari had  urged the National Assembly to vire the fund from the N578.31 billion inserted by federal lawmakers for constituency projects, the National Assembly members did the exact opposite.

    The lawmakers still have a statutory N100 billion, which the parties collectively agreed on.

    The two chambers of the National Assembly had on resumption approved the virement of N242.205 for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and five security agencies for the 2019 general elections.

    Yesterday, the  Senate and House of Representatives were in a closed door meeting with the Executive.

    Mustapha Dawaki, Chairman, House Committee, The Nation gathered, was at the State House yesterday to explain to the Presidency the approval to vire the N242 billion from the Constituency project allocation under the Service Wide Vote as contained in the 2018 Appropriation Act.

    Present at the meeting were Deputy Speaker Yussuff Lasun, House Leader Femi Gbajabiamila and Senate Leader Ahmad Lawan and Senate Minority Whip Philip Aduda.

    From the  Executive side were Minister for Finance Zainab Ahmed, Minister for Budget and National Planning Udo Udoma,. Director General, Debt Management Office Ms Patience Oniha and Director General of Budget Office Ben Akabueze.

    Others are Senior Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly (Senate) Senator Ita Enang and Senior Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly (House) Suleiman Kawu.

    Lasun, in an interview with reporters, said: “Ordinarily, this is a meeting we always hold behind closed doors. He excused reporters and security agents, saying the subject to be discussed was sensitive.

    It was, however, learnt  that the meeting was to discuss the $2.7 billion eurobond and contentious virement.

    The Nation also learnt that issues concerning the welfare of lawmakers viz-a -viz the impending elections  was also discussed.

  • National Assembly approves N242b elections’ budget

    THE Senate and House of Representatives yesterday approved N242.245 billion for the conduct of the 2019 general elections.

    The fund was approved by the two chambers for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and affected security agencies for the smooth conduct of the elections.

    This followed the final approval of the INEC and security agencies budget for the conduct of the 2019 elections as requested by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The lawmaker, however, tinkered with the proposals made for the Police, Department of State Service (DSS) and office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

    The Police in the original proposal forwarded to the National Assembly by President Buhari requested for N30 billion. But the National Assembly approved N27.341 billion for it.

    It also reduced the N12,213,282,455 billion proposed for the DSS to N10.213 billion.

    It added N5 billion from the Police and DSS to N4,281,500,000 earmarked for the office of the National Security Adviser jerking it up to N9.481.

    The N189 billion proposals for INEC, N2.628 billion for National Immigration Service (NIS) and N3.573 billion for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, were retained and approved as requested by the President.

    Approval of the N242.245 billion elections budget for 2019 by both chambers followed the recommendations of the Appropriation Committees of the two chambers.

    The committee in its report presented in the Senate by its Chairman, Danjuma Goje, differed with the President on source of virement for the N242 billion.

    The President, in his July letter, asked the two chambers to vire the money from the N578 billion special votes  they inserted into the N9.12 trillion 2018 budget through addition of about 1,403 projects.

    The two chambers said the virement of the election budget should be made from Special Intervention Programme (both recurrent and capital).

    The committees recommended and it was approved by both chambers that N194.7 billion out of the N242 billion would be vired  from N350 billion recurrent component of the Special Intervention Programme  and the balance of N47.498 billion would be vired  from N150 billion capital component of the Special Intervention Programme.

    Breakdown of the N242 billion budget as proposed by Buhari in the virement letter of July said: INEC  (N189,207,544,893.00) ; Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), N4.281 billion;   Department of State Security (DSS), N12.213 billion;  Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps , N3,573,534,500.00; Police,  N30,541,317,432 and  Nigeria Immigration Service  N2,628,143,320.00.