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Tag: national assembly

  • Yoruba elders insist on restructuring

    Yoruba elders insist on restructuring

    The Yoruba elders have insisted that Nigeria must return to a proper federation as obtained in the 1960 and 1963 constitutions to ensure peace and meaningful development.

    They made this view known at the Yoruba summit held in Ibadan on Thursday, which attracted Yoruba leaders, governors, parliamentarians, social cultural groups, professional bodies, market leaders and youth groups.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the summit after exhaustive deliberations issued a communiqué signed by Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) and Dr Kunle Olajide, the Aare of Efon Kingdom.

    According to them, the country as a multi-ethnic country could only know real peace and development when it is run along federal lines.

    The summit resolved that the greatest imperatives of restructuring Nigeria was to move from a
rent-seeking and money sharing anti-development economy to productivity.

    It stated that this could be achieved by ensuring that the federating units are free to own and develop their resources, while they pay agreed sums to the federation purse to implement central services.

    The summit agreed that the federating units be it states, zones or regions, which must themselves
be governed by written constitution to curb impunity at all levels.

    It demanded that Nigeria should be a federation comprised of six regions and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, while the regions shall in turn be composed as states.

    “The Federal Government should make laws and only have powers in relations to items
specified on the legislative list contained in the constitution of the Federation.

    “Each region shall have its own constitution containing enumerated exclusive and
concurrent legislative lists regarding matters upon which the regions and the states may
act or legislate.

    “Contiguous territories, ethnic nationalities or settlement shall be at liberty through a
plebiscite, to elect to be part of any contiguous region other than the region in which the
current geo-political zone or state boundaries places them,’’ the communiqué read.

    According to the summit, states as presently comprised in the geo-political zones into which they fall shall become regions and continue to exercise the executive, legislative and judicial functions currently exercised.

    “States with a region shall determine the items on the legislative lists in the regional constitution for the purpose of good government and the administration.

    “Also, provision of common inter-state social, economic and infrastructural requirements. Residual powers shall be vested in the states.’’

    The communiqué noted that the power to create states shall be within the exclusive powers of the region, which shall be obliged to create a state provided a plebiscite is conducted.

    This, it said shall be following a request by an agreed percentage of the residents of the ethnic nationality within a state, while the state holds the power to create local governments and assign functions.

    The summit resolved that states shall be entitled to manage all resources found within their boundaries and the revenue accruing therefrom.

    “The issue of the entitlement of littoral states to shore resources and the extension of such rights from the continental shelf and rights accuring to the Federal Government shall be determined by the national assembly.

    “The sharing ratio of all revenues raised by means of taxation shall be 50 per cent to the states, 35 percent to the regional government and 15 percent to the government of the federation.

    “For a period of 10 years from the commencement of the operation of the new constitution, there shall be a special fund for the development of all minerals in the country,’’ it stated.

    The summit added that government of the federation shall raise the sum by way of additional taxation on resources at a rate to be agreed by the National Assembly.

    It stated that the National Assembly shall set up a body to manage the funds with equal representation of nominees from each of the regional governments.
    The summit also said that the National Assembly shall set out and specify the guidelines for the administration of the funds exclusively for this purpose, while the president of the Federation shall appoint a chairperson for the entity so formed

    The summit had recalled the great strides made by the Yoruba nation in the years of self-government until the abrogation of the federal constitution in 1966.

    It stated that such was evident in mass literacy, novel infrastructural strides and giant leaps in all spheres of human development.

    The summit warned that Nigeria was working dangerously to the edge of the slope except urgent steps are taken to restructure Nigeria, saying there was need to restructure from a unitary to federal constitution.

  • Sagay: Bank chiefs aiding corruption should face trial

    Sagay: Bank chiefs aiding corruption should face trial

    The Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) will push for the prosecution of bank chiefs who connive with looters to hide stolen funds, its chairman, Prof Itse Sagay (SAN), said yesterday.

    According to him, the “monstrous epidemic of high profile corruption” could not have afflicted Nigeria without bankers’ collusion.

    They must not get away with it, Sagay said.

    “In my own little way, we are going to push for the prosecution of such bank chiefs. They must be prosecuted,” he said.

    Sagay said the legislature, senior lawyers, especially Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), and some “hostile and powerful judges” work against efforts to rid the country of corruption.

    “There is a gang-up of the of the powerful political, business and banking elite that is determined to frustrate the anti-corruption struggle,” he said.

    The PACAC chairman delivered a public lecture in Lagos on the topic: The many afflictions of anti-corruption crusade in Nigeria. It was organised by the Nigerian Society of International Law.

    Sagay said the National Assembly was made up of self-serving lawmakers who allocated N125billion to themselves alone this year.

    He said while the United States President earns $400,000 per annum, a Nigerian senator earns over $1.7million.

    Sagay said apart from a basic salary of N2.4million per month, they earned allowances, such as hardship (50 per cent of basic salary), newspaper allowance (50 per cent), wardrobe allowance (25 per cent), entertainment (30 per cent), recess (10 per cent) and leave (10 per cent), among others.

    The total allowances, he said, amounts to N29.5million per month and N3.2billion per annum.

    “Perhaps the most notorious example of the legislators’ resistance to the war against corruption is the rejection of the right of the executive to choose the persons who will spearhead that struggle.

    “The clear impression is created that Nigerian legislators are in office for themselves and not for the populace.

    “Not surprisingly, the National Assembly has not passed a single bill for the promotion of anti-corruption war since it commenced business in July 2015. The Whistle Blowers Protection Bill, the Proceeds of Crime Bill and the Special Criminal Court Bill remain in a virtual state of stagnation.

    “What evidence do we need to establish the hostility of the eighth Assembly to the anti-corruption war?” Sagay queried.

    The eminent professor of law described corruption in the judiciary “a national tragedy that should be avoided at all cost”.

    He said no one would have remotely imagined as recently as 1999 that judges could indulge in the crime of selling their judgments to the highest bidder for hundreds of millions of dollars.

    The National Judicial Council (NJC), he said, does not have a disciplinary capacity to deal with crimes of such gravity.

    “That is why, tragically, we are now experiencing judges being tried in courts like common criminals. That is why the anti-corruption and security agencies have taken it upon themselves to continue from where the NJC stopped.

    “It is a painful but necessary sacrifice we must make in order to cleanse and sanitise the system and to breathe new life into it,” he said.

    Sagay said SANs deserve “harsh punishment” for shamelessly approaching judges and introducing them to a “demeaning and shameful culture” of bribery and corruption.

    “These SANs deserve the harshest punishment of all. Anti-graft agencies and the police must monitor and investigate the activities of lawyers who receive a share of the proceeds of crime as their fees,” he said.

    Sagay said it was largely SANs, “stuffed full of money”, who designed every scheme imaginable to frustrate the trial of 15 former governors since 2007, out of whom only two were convicted.

    According to Sagay, the Muhammadu Buhari administration has recorded several successes, including massive recovery of stolen assets, elimination of high profile looting and prosecution of high profile cases, including judges, which he said were previously ignored.

    “The anti-corruption struggle is like a long distance race – a marathon. It cannot be concluded overnight. The opposition is extremely powerful, using state resources to fight back.

    “What we are going to see is a progressive dismantling of the corruption infrastructure. Convictions will occur now and again, but there will be frequent forfeitures of looted funds and other types of property. Remove stolen loot from the culprit and his life becomes miserable.

    “In addition to loot recovery, high profile looting at the executive level has been eliminated. Nigeria was bleeding from numerous open wounds when this administration took over about two years ago. All the bleeding has been staunched.

    “What is now needed is the positive support of the citizens of this country in this titanic struggle,” Sagay said.

     

  • Police retirees appeal to NASS to fast-track amendment of Pension Laws

    Police retirees appeal to NASS to fast-track amendment of Pension Laws

    The Association of Retired Police officers of Nigeria ( ARPON ), Kano State Chapter, has appealed to the National Assembly to fast-track the amendment of the Pension Reform Act 2014.

    The Secretary of the association, Saidu Garba, made the appeal on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano.

    He said that the amendment would pave way for the exclusion of its members from the Contributory Pension Scheme.

    Garba said it was the desire of the association across the three states of Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa who are members of the chapters, for the Federal Government to revert to the previous Police Pension Scheme.

    “We are using this medium to express our willingness and desire as police pensioners under this scheme, to be excluded from the Contributory Pension Scheme,’’ he said.

    He added that some of the retired senior police officers received pension far below their entitlement.

    “The much-anticipated benefit of the contributory pension scheme we are operating now has turned out to be a mirage,’’ he said.

    He commended members of the House of Representatives for their efforts towards amending the Pension Reform Act 2014, which he said had passed through the second reading.

    “We are appealing to them to also speed up the passage of the Bill so that we can begin to enjoy the real benefits that we were denied by the operators of the private pension organisations,’’ he said.

  • Misau: Another Accidental Senator

    The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria continues to exude the airs of a circus. A place meant to be a hallowed shrine of democracy has been reduced into an assembly where the most ludicrous farce plays out not once but on a continual basis.
    No wonder, Nigerians upon whom the lawmakers continually play their crude jokes have learnt not to take the selected representatives seriously anymore. The place crawls with accidental senators who ordinarily should be pursuing careers on the dark side of human existence.
    The latest of such scam artists that dominate the lawmaking arm of government is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy, Senator Isah Hamman Misau (Bauchi Central), who has decided to point an accusing finger while forgetting that his other fingers point at him.
    Apparently drawing from the opacity surrounding a Senator’s monthly earnings, which Nigerians have repeatedly heard is mind boggling, Senator Misau somehow became a mathematical wiz kid who arrived at a bizarre ballpark of N10 billion as what the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris makes on a monthly basis. That translates into N120 billion monthly or almost the equivalent of the annual budget of several states.
    Misau must have, as a Deputy Superintended of Police (DSP), been extorting his subordinates to expect that his fraudulent ways run through the entire system and that the IG being higher up must be earning billions. This implies that the Senator must have been the brains behind some of those notorious extortion by policemen at illegal roadblocks and checkpoints so that they can meet the target he set for the “boys”.
    In a country where it is generally acknowledged that the cost of running for election is too high, perhaps Misau wants to shed some light on how he was able to pay the N3.3 million for the All Progressives Congress (APC) nomination form in the 2015 elections using his earnings as a DSP. This is not factoring the tens or even hundreds of millions needed for the campaign trail.
    It is logical for Misau to claim that some benevolent sponsors foot the bill for actualizing his political goal only that this would be worse than committing robberies at checkpoints. Anyone that could sponsor a character like him to the Senate can only be from the crime world where they continually have a desire to have a stranglehold over the legislature, which ensures that no meaningful legislation that would stop criminality would ever be passed. Misau would have thus proving himself to be a proxy for criminals, an accident in the National Assembly, a mistake that must be corrected.
    Talking of correcting past mistakes, one must blame the police for not alerting Nigerians early enough to the accidental senator in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly. The police should have raised the red flag even before Misau’s inauguration to inform Nigerians that a police deserter was in the upper house. The failure of police to do this promptly has enabled the senator to add the crime of forgery to his resume that reads like a charge sheet.
    Whichever way the matter goes, the constituents of Bauchi Central Senatorial District must be the wiser now that Misau has exposed his true intent as someone fixated on attention seeking.
    He could have focused on representation of lawmaking which would have placed him in good reckoning with his people. Instead, he wanted to grandstand by making baseless accusations against men who are giving their best to make the society secured.
    If the police force or the position of IGP were as lucrative as Misau tried to make Nigerians believe, one wonders why he did not stay put to attain the rank of Inspector General of Police or even Assistant Inspector General of Police so that he too can cart billions home on a monthly basis. Also, if he is truly patriotic and concerned about corruption as he now claims to be, would it not have been preferable that he stayed in the force, rise to a leadership position and make a deference as opposed to playing to the gallery.
    Assuming he even somehow managed to sneak a resignation letter into the archives of the Police Service Commission with accomplices doctoring an acknowledgement letter to the same effect, the very fact that he ran away at a time when he could have remained to fight the perceived rot in the system is enough proof that he has a penchant for deserting his responsibility.
    Even the faceoff he got into with the police is evidence of a man who never sticks to what he signed up for. He got the mandate to represent his constituents in the Senate yet he has abandoned that very assignment to do the bidding of the highly place criminals that put him there, since his resources could not have paid for his political activities anyway.
    One must charge the police to eschew the rigmarole of dealing with these pieces of information as bits for media excitement. That would be sending the wrong signal to young officers in the Police Force who will be corrupted to walk in Misau’s way and see deserting as something that would be rewarded with a seat in the National Assembly while fraudsters will think that forgery is cool since the Police did not prosecute one of their own who is guilty of the same offence.
    The police must therefore dispense with this media brickbat and properly charge Misau before a competent court since there is evidence of his forgery.
    On his part, Senator Misau should do the Senate a service as an institution that Nigerians are constantly reminded of as being distinguished. Instead of replying to the media, who are not his accusers, he should dare step forward to the nearest police station to appropriately make his statement and hand himself in.
    By so doing he would get his day in court when he is charged as a deserter who engaged in forgery. He would get the chance to either clear himself if found not guilty and acquitted or pay for his transgressions in prison if convicted.
    Ainoko is a civil rights activist and contributed this piece from Barnawa, Kaduna State.
  • N/Assembly, US Congress men parley on security crisis in North East

    N/Assembly, US Congress men parley on security crisis in North East

    Key officers in the National Assembly Monday met with some United States Congress delegation over security and humanitarian crisis in the insurgency ravaged in the North East.

    President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki led the National Assembly team to the meeting, which was focused on building a better working relationship between the Parliaments of the two countries.

    The U.S. Congress delegation, which was led by Senator Christopher Coons also had Senators Gary Peters and Michael Bennet and Representatives, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Terri Sewell, Charlie Dent, Barbara Lee and Frederica Wilson. They were accompanied by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Stuart Symminton.

    “Today’s meeting was held to discuss ways to improve the relationship between the U.S. and Nigeria; look at securing greater support in the fight against terrorism and for the humanitarian crisis in different parts of the country”, Saraki said.

    A statement Monday released by the office of the Senate President said the meeting also discussed ways of improving agriculture in Nigeria and providing jobs for the people.

    Saraki was also quoted as saying that the meeting also discussed ways of strengthening the institutional relationship between the two countries.

    “I think the commitment that we have is that they have seen that there is a need to strengthen the institutional relationships between the legislatures of both our countries and that is very key.

    “As you are aware, there is a new development that has happened in respect to the procurement of arms by the country. For the first time, the US Government has agreed in principle to sell arms to Nigeria to help in our fight against insurgency. Of course, we will look into areas of human rights where there has always been a concern.

    “We hope that following this visit, the sale of arms to our armed forces will now become a reality. This will represent a new chapter that we are opening — where the US government will be ready to sell arms to Nigeria and that will help to strengthen the efforts of our armed forces in the fight against terrorism, surveillance and intelligence.

    “The commitment that they have made today is that terrorism is an issue that should not be left to Nigeria alone, and if it means that we may need to secure new weapons from other countries, then it is an option that needs to be urgently explored. However, we will also continue to play our own role in the area of human rights,” Saraki added.

    Saraki emphasised that the US delegation expressed optimism about Nigeria’s future, saying the Americans were very excited about Nigeria and what the future holds for the country.

    “Now, we need to see how we can further strengthen the relations between our two countries”, the Senate President added.

  • Obasanjo, National Assembly and moral guilt

    Obasanjo, National Assembly and moral guilt

    EX-PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo is probably the most ubiquitous former office holder in Nigeria today. He is constantly in the news, often for very controversial and sanctimonious reasons. To build and nurture his public persona, he covets and honours every invitation, whether book launch, seminar or even the smallest gathering where hosts and invited guests talk mundane shop. Nothing is too high or too low for him to attend. And no topic too arcane or simple. All he does is seize every occasion to sound off, lubricate his ego, tell everyone off, and try to leave Nigeria in no doubt who the special one is. And when seminars and book launches are not forthcoming in torrents, he sometimes contrives mild-mannered or, if occasions demand, acerbic letters to his foes; but if his foes are depleted on account of age and death, or have become indifferent to his rage, then to his long-suffering friends.

    At 80 years, he has boundless energy, seemingly ready to go on and on, privately and publicly mummifying under the glare of national publicity. A few days ago, in a letter he wrote to Olisa Agbakoba, the former Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) president who needlessly asked him to help facilitate a generational shift in leadership, Chief Obasanjo ladled out boiling oil on young aspiring leaders. Said he to Mr Agbakoba: “You should know that some of these young people, whose interest we canvass, have, in the recent past, been a complete disappointment and failure in their various appointed or elected positions…Some of these young people, in public and private sectors, have frittered (away) the prospect of being at the vanguard of sustainable development of what some of us, the earlier generation of leaders, pioneered, on the altar of their crass materialism, self-centredness and opportunism.” Sadly, the former president was self-righteous but right.

    And turning to the National Assembly, the object of his lasting animosity after that institution dealt his third term hopes a mortal blow, Chief Obasanjo, indulging his expansive wit at a book launch in Ibadan, scowled: “But an agreement is an agreement (on ASUU) whoever the agent is that signed that agreement on your behalf, you are bound by it. You may now have to renegotiate to have a new agreement but the agreement earlier signed remains an agreement. When the university teachers go on strike, there is an agreement; and when doctors go on strike, there will be a special agreement. And when the universities teachers see that the agreement reached with the doctors is different from theirs, they go on strike and this is bad for our economy… Ninety per cent of revenue is used to pay overheads, allowances, salaries and not much is left for capital development…It is even worse for the National Assembly. They will abuse me again, but I will never stop talking about them. They are a bunch of unarmed robbers. They are one of the highest paid in the world where we have 75 per cent of our people living in abject poverty. They will abuse me tomorrow and if they don’t, maybe they are sleeping.”

    As accurate as Chief Obasanjo’s observations are, he always fails to admit that in nearly all the crises plaguing Nigeria, he is complicit. He should ask himself, as he continues to play god, why all the men he backed to the presidency turned out woefully. That will be a good starting point.

  • History beckons National Assembly

    The National Assembly has been on recess SINCE July 27. The recess will last till September 19. Going on recess from time to time is the prerogative of the National Assembly. No organization or institution can work without its members taking a rest periodically. Otherwise, the consequences will be calamitous. However, neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives should have gone on recess when it did this time. Even now that the National Assembly is on vacation, it should terminate it right now. Unknown to most Nigerians, the country is in an emergency situation and only the federal legislature can save it.

    Before the National Assembly went on vacation, the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, wrote a letter to the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, requesting for approval to adjust the 2017 federal government budget here and there. The letter was read in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, but nothing was done. Members were in a hurry to proceed on recess; most actually travelled out of the country almost immediately with their families and friends.

    This should not have been the case. The legislators ought to have treated the letter from the Acting President exhaustively before going on vacation. There are fundamental challenges with the implementation of the 2017 budget the way it is. Implementing it in its present form will create very serious problems that will end up worsening the ongoing national economic crisis, thus making it difficult for Nigeria to exit from the present recession any time soon. In other words, the budget needs to be adjusted in a couple of places in the overriding national interest. Adjustments in budgets when they have been signed into law are technically referred to as virement.

    I would like to refer to the budget of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing as an example of a place where virement is urgently needed. This is a ministry whose activity affects every Nigerian directly every minute of the day; and I have had the privilege of working there in the directorate cadre. In the last one year, there has been tremendous activity on the reconstruction of such critical highways as the Kano-Maiduguri Highway, Onitsha-Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway and, of course, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. However, the reconstruction has, in the last few months, slowed down owing to the rainy season and, more importantly, declining funds made available to the contractors executing these vital national projects.

    The funds have declined very significantly because the 2017 budget stayed for a whole five months in the National Assembly which not only scrutinized the proposals critically but went ahead to make fundamental adjustments to the original proposal from the executive arm of government. For example, the amounts proposed for critical national roads, including the ones mentioned above, were slashed considerably. Even the additional 10% of the entire sum proposed for the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing was slashed badly. It is standard accounting and budgeting practice all over the world that at least 10% of the sum of any budget—whether in the public or private sector—be set aside as miscellaneous, otherwise called emergency or contingency. There are emergencies which must be tackled immediately they occur, whether there is a specific provision for them in the budget or not. For instance, two critical bridges in Mokwa, Niger State collapsed last June as a result of sustained torrential rainfall. One of them, the Mokwa-Jebba Bridge, links the northern and southern parts of Nigeria. Resources had to be mobilized from all kinds of sources to start reconstruction at once.

    But given the way the National Assembly has cut the contingency provision in the 2017 budget of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, it will be very tough to handle emergencies of the Mokwa magnitude if they should occur again this year in any part of Nigeria. Providing reasonably for critical national infrastructure and emergencies is in the greater interest of all of us than diverting resources from, say, the Kano-Maiduguri Expressway or the Calabar-Odukpani Road or the Onitsha-Enugu Highway or the Enugu Port Harcourt Highway or the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to constituency projects of legislators like provision of borehole and distribution transformers or street lights in communities. I make this statement with due respect to the National Assembly members who got to their legislative positions by winning elections, and they frequently go to their people to show how they have fulfilled their electoral promises.

    The country is now in August, that is, in the eighth month of the financial year. Yet, the implementation of the 2017 budget has not started in earnest. One of the reasons is the inherent fundamental flaws in the budget which need rectification through virement. Since virement can take place only when the National Assembly has approved the request from the executive arm of government, the National Assembly ought to have treated the letter from acting President Osinbajo requesting for virement prior to proceeding on recess. Since it did not do the right thing early enough, it can still cure the defects from its action by calling off its current vacation which is scheduled to end on September 19. This is a long way.

    Admittedly, most Nigerians believe that our legislators enjoy too many holidays. For example, they work only from Tuesday to Thursday. And they often proceed on long holidays on special occasions. They went on a three-week vacation last June to celebrate the Id-el- fitri feast. Worse, there are many legislators who are delinquent in business attendance. Even among those who attend rather often, there are a lot who scarcely make contributions either on the floor of the legislature or in committee meetings. Their constituencies have long given up on them.

    To conclude, Senate President Saraki and Speaker Dogara as well as other principal officers of the National Assembly are hereby called upon to demonstrate an acute sense of responsibility by immediately ending or suspending the two-month recess which National Assembly members granted themselves in order to enjoy summer holidays.  The country is passing through a particularly difficult period in history, and our legislators must show that they really understand the onerous task before them. Immediate consideration of the letter from the Acting President requesting for adjustments to the 2017 budget law is of paramount importance. No effort should be spared to ensure that this year’s budget does not fail. History beckons National Assembly.

     

    • Nazang is a retired deputy director in the Federal Ministry of Works & Housing.
  • Salaries: Lawmakers are unarmed robbers – Obasanjo

    Salaries: Lawmakers are unarmed robbers – Obasanjo

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo Thursday in Ibadan described members of the National Assembly as a “bunch of unarmed robbers”, over their huge salaries and allowances.

    Obasanjo, who hit hard at the National lawmakers, said the current legislators are one of the highest paid lawmakers in the world, despite the fact that  an estimated 75 percent of Nigerians populace live in poverty.

    He added that the arm of government should be roundly condemned.

    The former president spoke at the book presentation of Prof. Mark Nwagwu entitled: “I am Kagara, I Weave the Sands of Sahara”.

    The event, which held at the University of Ibadan, had Obasanjo as the Chief Host while the former Minister of Education, Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili chaired the occasion.

    Stressing that he is expecting another round of bashing from the federal lawmakers, the former President said he would continue to lambast them for constituting a huge percentage of the nation’s overhead cost.

    He lamented that the nation would hardly develop when about 90 percent of revenue was spent on overhead costs, rather than on capital expenses.

    Speaking on the ongoing impasse between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the 2009 agreement, Obasanjo, said government allowed itself to be stampeded into signing agreements without full consultation within government.

    However, he added that regardless of that, the government was bound to implement whatever agreement reached with workers’ unions.

    He said: “Government allows itself to be stampeded into signing agreement particularly when one group or the other withdraws their service and go on strike. After the agreement has been signed, without full consultation within government, and implementation becomes an issue.

    “But an agreement is an agreement whoever the agent is that signed that agreement on your behalf, you are bound by it. You may now have to renegotiate to have a new agreement but the agreement earlier signed remains an agreement.

    “The universities teachers go on strike, there is an agreement; doctors go on strike, there will be a special agreement. And when the universities teachers see that the agreement reached with the doctors is different from theirs, they again go on strike and this is bad for our economy.

    “The way we are going about spending all our revenue to pay overhead, we will not develop. And we will have ourselves to blame. Ninety percent of revenue is used to pay overhead, allowances, salaries and not much is left for capital development.

    “In a situation like that, we have to rethink.

    “It is even worse for the National Assembly. They will abuse me again but I will never stop talking about them. They are a bunch of unarmed robbers.”

    “They are one of the highest paid in the world where we have 75 percent of our people living in abject poverty. They will abuse me tomorrow and if they don’t, maybe they are sleeping. The behaviour and character of the National Assembly should be condemned and roundly condemned.”

    In her remarks at the occasion, the Chairperson of the event, Dr. Ezekwesili, remarked that the 289-page book, was a tool for Nigeria to examine the extent to which she had lost her values and culture.

    She decried the loss of community spirit, warning that Nigeria must never negotiate her values.

    According to her, the world was currently such that humanity tried to figure out what happened to morality.

    The book reviewer, Mr Nwachukwu Egbunike, in his remarks on the book noted the theme of feminism and how women navigate life intricacies towards achieving success in life.

    Egbunike also lauded the author’s ability to weave around different concepts in both the spirit and natural world.

    Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, University of Ibadan, Professor Olanike Adeyemo remarked that Nwagwu’s book was a veritable instrument to help the younger generation keep touch with culture.

    The event was attended by both academic and non-academic staff of the university who were on hand to celebrate the author and his wife, Helen.

     

     

     

  • LCCI to National Assembly: summoning business chiefs can discourage investors

    LCCI to National Assembly: summoning business chiefs can discourage investors

    THE Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the National Assembly to be cautious in its oversight and investigative role, to avoid economic disruption and loss of investors’ confidence.

    Its Director-General, Mr. Muda Yusuf,  who made the appeal in a statement yesterday in Lagos, said allegations and petitions received by the National Assembly about infractions by the private sector should be properly verified for credibility, before presenting such to the media.

    Yusuf said: “The most recent of such public pronouncements was the alleged N30 trillion revenue loss, and the allegedly missing 288 vessels by the Senate Joint Committee on Customs, Excise, Tariffs and Marine Transport.

    “Some 63 firms were accused of complicity in the alleged scam. These are grave allegations that needed to be subjected to proper scrutiny, before making them public issues.

    “Their implications for the nation’s image and foreign investors’ perception are severe.

    “The chamber believes and promotes the ideals of high ethical standards in business and would not support infractions against statutory laws by private sector entities.

    “However, we would like to see a legislative/private sector interface characterised by mutual respect, fairness, and courtesy.”

    According to him, listing corporate organisations in the media over allegations have considerable reputational costs and weighty consequences for the brand equity of such organisations.

    He noted that frequent summons of organisations by the legislature had significant financial implications to organisations not domiciled in Abuja, in terms of costs of flights, hotels and other logistics for appearing before the National Assembly.

    “The Executive time committed to appearance before committees of the National Assembly is enormous, especially since most of the committees would insist that appearance should be at the level of the CEOs of the companies.

    “There is need to streamline the summons and public hearings to avoid duplication and overlap between the Senate and the House of Representatives.

    “It is also imperative for the leadership of the National Assembly to vet the summons by its committees to ensure efficiency, cost effectiveness and optimisation of executive time committed to the public hearings.

    “This is important when we realise that we have 89 Standing Committees in the House of Representatives and 59 Standing Committees in the Senate,” he said.

    The LCCI boss said statutory agencies of government were often custodians of some information that the private sector was required to provide support to legislative investigations.

    “It is more cost effective to access this information from these agencies of government.

    “Matters that can be investigated by the statutory agencies of government such as the Judiciary, the EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the National Industrial Court, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), should be referred to such institutions.

    “These bodies have better competences, capacities and structures for investigation of infringements of the law.

    “This would enable the National Assembly focus on its core duties of representation and lawmaking,” he said.

    Yusuf said that the chamber appreciated the role of the Senate in enacting enabling laws and review of obsolete legislations toward creating an enabling environment for investors.

    According to him, the economy needs investors to boost job creation and accelerate the economic recovery process, adding that the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) deliverables are anchored largely on the private sector.

  • Fire stations needed in 21 states – Fire CG

    Fire stations needed in 21 states – Fire CG

    The Controller-General, Federal Fire Service,  Mr Joseph Anebi, has urged National Assembly to speedily amend Fire Service Act 1963 to encourage the establishment of federal fire stations across the country.

    Anebi made the call when members of the House of Representatives Committee on Interior visited Fire Service headquarters on Monday in Abuja for oversight.

    He said that currently, only 15 states in the country had fire service stations.

    Anaebi said that Nigerians were vulnerable to dangers of fire outbreak and needed necessary precautionary measures were adopted.

    “Cases of fire outbreaks in Nigeria which always leave a lot of destruction in its wake, both in human lives and property abound in recent time.

    “So, we are concerned about the absence of functional fire service stations in some states because we are concerned about every Nigerian.

    “Some states don’t have functional fire fighting equipment and you need to also help us talk to the governors because when we approach them they think we are coming to collect their job,” he said.

    The fire boss also urged Nigerians to subscribe to the Fire Alert System (FAS) application introduced by the service to fight fire outbreak.

    He said that the call was in view of the need to facilitate prompt response to incidents of fire across the country.

    According to him, the FAS application is designed to automatically trigger an alert to the fire service office whenever smoke is dictated.

    “By this alert on our system, we will be able to identify the exact location of the fire outbreak with an indication of the phone number of the place.

    “While the application is alerting the fire service office, it is also sending an alert to the owner of the house on fire.

    “Any home, institution, or facility that subscribes to this application is safe,” Anaebi said.

    The Chairman of the committee, Rep. Adams Jagaba, said that the house was committed to amending the laws to ensure enhanced performance by the fire service in the country.

    Jagaba said that the existing Fire Service Act was obsolete and did not protect the 2,180 members of staff of the Federal Fire Service.

    According to him, the bill must take care of the welfare of the staff of the Federal Fire Service; it is unacceptable that little or no compensation for officers who sustain an injury in the course of duty is provided.