The Nation Newspaper

Tag: national assembly

  • Osinbajo signs two bills into law

    Osinbajo signs two bills into law

    Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Monday assented to two bill passed by the National Assembly.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, said that the Acting President assented to the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (Establishment) Act 2017 and the Petroleum Training Institute (Amendment) Act, 2017.

    Enang said that with the action the two bills have come into effect as laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    He noted that the Diaspora Commission Act establishes the Commission under the supervisioory jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    The Commission, he said, has the responsibility to co-ordinate and organize Nigerians in and from the Diaspora to contribute human capital and material resources, including their expertise for the development of Nigeria and its constituent states.

    It will also provide a database of Nigerians on various fields and potentialities as resource base for Nigeria and the world to draw from, as well as protecting the interest of all Nigerians in the Diaspora, Enang added.

    He said that the Petroleum Training Institute (Amendment) Act on the other hand is to bring the provisions thereof in conformity with the constitution, allowing for due process in the administrative action affecting the principal officers and staff of the institute.

    The Presidential aide welcomed Senators and House of Representative members back to their legislative beat as they resume from the mid-term vacation and constituency engagements.

     

  • National Assembly not for dancers, says Hussain

    The National Assembly is not for dancers, All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate for the July 8 by-election in Osun West Senatorial District, Senator Mudashiru Oyetunde Husain, has said.

    In a statement at the weekend by his media office in Osogbo, the state capital, Hussain said the legislative job at the National Assembly is so crucial to the nation’s development that no senatorial district could afford to send those he describes as comedians or street dancers to either chamber as their representatives.

    He said his main challenger, Otunba Ademola Adeleke, does not have the qualities a senator needs to represent a sophisticated constituency like Osun West at the National Assembly.

    Hussain said he remained the man to beat in the election, adding that he towers above other contestants by several parameters.

    The Ejigbo-born candidate urged the electorate in Osun West Senatorial District to support him “with their votes at the polls to ensure continuous and quality representation in the National Assembly”.

    The senator pledged to impact Osun West residents and the state, if elected.

  • Court orders NASS to pay N4.9m to contractors

    An FCT High Court Maitama on Wednesday ordered the National Assembly and Clerk of the National Assembly to pay N4. 9 million to two contractors that supplied 14 HP desktops to the National Assembly.

    The items were supplied by the plaintiffs-Mr Gabriel Demola and Mr Godpower Agbolu and were yet to be paid.

    Justice Jude Okeke in his judgment held that the defendants failed to prove that the plaintiffs did not comply with the process of procurement in the award of the contract.

    “The defendants did not place any evidence before the court to contradict the evidence of the plaintiffs.

    “The evidence of the plaintiffs before the court are documentary evidence which are not contradicted by the defendants even under cross – examination.

    “In the circumstance, the defendants are severally or jointly to pay the sum of N4. 9million to the plaintiffs being the amount for the 14 HP desktops supplied them, ” he held.

    Okeke also ordered the defendants to pay five per cent interest of the contract sum per annum starting from May 13, when the payment demand was made by the plaintiffs.

    He recalled that the plaintiffs instituted a suit on May 5, 2015, praying the court to compel the defendants to pay them for the supply of 14 HP desktops valued at N4. 9million.

    Okeke added that the plaintiffs were given a contract award letter and the items were acknowledged by the defendants as being supplied.

    He also noted that the contract was awarded in July, 2014 and on December 2014, the defendants acknowledged the receipt of the items.

  • 2017 Budget: Workers welfare not properly captured – NLC

    2017 Budget: Workers welfare not properly captured – NLC

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says workers welfare is not properly captured in the 2017 national budget.

    The NLC President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, said this while speaking with newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.

    “Our budget system is not transparent enough, if you look at the estimate of this year budget, a lot of issues have arisen, especially the allocations for capital and current expenditure.

    “But importantly, the fact also is that a lot of issues pertaining to the welfare of workers have not been properly captured.

    “On the issue of pension, we are very certain and convinced because there is a liability presently of over N300 billion that is supposed to be accommodated in the budget for the payment of pensions.

    “Especially the contributory pension scheme which actually we have interfaced with the leadership of the National Assembly to try to see how this can be accommodated.

    “And we are all aware that this has not been captured adequately. There are also some earned allowances which also have not being earned but a portion of it has being provided in the budget.

    “So, in terms of how the budget directly affects the workers, I think some of the issues certainly have not being captured very effectively,” he said.

    On the overall performance of the 2017 budget, Wabba noted that time was of essence.

    He, however, decried the late implementation of the budget, saying that substantial time has been lost in the preparation that ought to have taken effect.

    “Therefore our position is whatever needs to be done, needs to be done properly.

    “Especially, the capital projects that have to do with putting in place our very importantly critical infrastructure need to receive the most desired attention.

    “So that those issues can then kick start the economy and then stimulate the economy and create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth in the country.

    “Because, one, we are not producing and ones those critical sectors are not working then we will remain in pathetic situation that we will not be able to get out of it,” the NLC president said.

    Wabba added that the process and the manner of implementation of the national budget has certainly not being encouraging to Nigerians.

    He noted that a study of the figures in the budget shows that, major priorities were given to areas that do not address the fundamental issues that Nigerians are passing through.

    “I think there is a need for a transparent budget process where it would start very early and it will be open for public scrutiny and also the input can be made into the process.

    “This will be able to address the very critical issues of our development, because if you look at some aspects of the budget, the overhead seems to be much more than the capital budget.

    “I think that is not good for us, that is not good for our system and that is why we are in this situation,’’ according to Wabba.

     

  • 2017 Budget: Fashola replies NASS, decries resort to name-calling

    2017 Budget: Fashola replies NASS, decries resort to name-calling

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has expressed concern over the reaction of the National Assembly to his observations on the 2017 Budget as passed by the legislature.

    Fashola had in a recent interview, complained that the legislators had in approving the budget, reduced funds for some key projects of his ministry and allocated the money to some frivolous ones.

    He had disagreed with the practice where the legislature unilaterally altered the budget after putting members of the Executive through budget defence sessions and committee hearings.

    According to him, it amounted to a waste of tax-payers money and unnecessary distortion of orderly planning, for the lawmakers to unilaterally insert items not under the exclusive or concurrent lists.

    Specifically, Fashola had said that the lawmakers altered the budgetary allocations for rehabilitation of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Bodo-Bonny road and the Kano-Maiduguri road.

    Other projects whose funds were tampered with the national assembly, he alleged, were the second Niger Bridge and the long-drawn Mambilla Hydropower project.

    He said the allocations were diverted to construction of scores of boreholes and primary health care centres, which were never discussed during the ministerial budget defence at the parliament.

    But the spokespersons of the Senate and the House of Representatives, in separate responses, had accused the minister of spreading “half-truths” and making “fallacious’’ statements.

    They accused the minister of wanting to hold on to the projects he complained about in order that he may continue to award contracts.

    In a statement on Monday in Abuja, Fashola said it was sad that the lawmakers could resort to name-calling even without understanding the facts of what they were getting into.

    He insisted that there was no subsisting concession agreement on the Lagos–Ibadan expressway as alleged by the national assembly.

    He explained that what the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) had was a financing agreement from a consortium of banks, saying that there was no fallacy or half-truth in the allegation that the budgets were reduced.

    “The spokespersons admitted this much and now sought to rationalise it by a concession or financing arrangement that has failed to build the road since 2006.

    “The biggest momentum seen on the road was in 2016,” the minister said.

    On the second Niger Bridge, whose 2016 allocation, the lawmakers claimed, was not spent and had to be returned, Fashola said, “this displays very stark and worrisome gaps in knowledge of the spokesperson about the budget process he was addressing.’’

    According to him, a budget is just an approval of estimates of expenditure to be financed by cash from the Ministry of Finance.

    He said that the Ministry of Finance did not yet release any cash for the 2nd Niger Bridge and that no money was returned.

    The minister said that the continuation of early works could not start in May, 2016 when the budget was passed because of high water level in the River Niger.

    He also dismissed the allegation that the ministry under him was holding on to projects that could be funded through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) as a tissue of lies.

    On the budget for Mambila Power Project, which was slashed because it contained a whopping N17 billion for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the minister said that there was indeed a “mis-description’’ of the expenditure.

    According to him, what was described as a Budget Head for EIA was actually the nation’s counterpart funding to the China- EXIM loan to fund the building of the project.

    He said that the information on the budget for Mambilla project was brought to his attention only after it had been slashed.

    “In any event, allegations of half-truths are only a flawed response to the constitutional and developmental issues that have plagued Nigeria from 1999 about how to budget for the critical infrastructure in Nigeria.

    “It shows the conflict between the Executive that wants to build big federal highways, bridges, power plants, rail and dams on one hand and a Parliament that wants to do small things.

    “The parliament wants to do things like boreholes, health centres, street lights and supplying grinding machines,” he said.

    “As long as budgets, planned to deliver life-changing infrastructure, are cut into small pieces, Nigeria will continue to have small projects that are not life-changing and big projects that have not been completed in 17 years.

    “If a project would cost N15 billion and the contractor gets only a fraction of that, then things won’t move.

    “Success should be defined by how many projects an administration is able to complete or set on the path of irreversible completion and not how many poorly funded contracts are awarded,” Fashola added.

     

  • Fashola: National Assembly should address issues

    Fashola: National Assembly should address issues

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola said the National Assembly’s response to his observation on the 2017 Budget did not address the issues he raised on the cut of allocation to critical projects.

    He expressed concern over the recourse to name-calling and personal attack by the lawmakers and insisted that the legislators lack power to insert items in the budget prepared by the executive.

    The minister said he was worried that spokespersons of the Senate and House of Representatives failed to state the reason the National Assembly cut allocations to key projects of the ministry.

    Acknowledging that legislators could contribute to budget making, Fashola disagreed that members of the legislative arm have powers to alter items in the budget after putting the executive members through defence sessions and committee hearings.

    The minister observed that it amounts to abuse and disregard for lawmakers to unilaterally insert items not contained in the original documents submitted by the executive. He listed the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Bodo-Bonny Road, Kano-Maiduguri Highway, Second Niger Bridge and Mambilla Hydropower Project, among others, as those altered.

    Fashola said contrary to the lawmakers’ claim, there is no subsisting concession agreement on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, adding that the Infrastructure Construction Regulatory Commission (ICRC) only has a financing agreement with a consortium of banks, which must be paid back through budgetary provisions.

    In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr Hakeem Bello, Fashola said: “I acknowledge the need for legislators to make input in budget process as representatives of the people, but it amounts to a waste of tax payers money and an unnecessary distortion for lawmakers to unilaterally insert items not under the exclusive or concurrent lists of the Constitution, such as boreholes and streetlights after putting Ministries, Departments and Agencies  (MDAs) through the process of budget defence.

    “It is sad that the lawmakers resorted to name-calling even without understanding what they were getting into. Let us take the projects, which the lawmakers chose to focus on, one after the other. I want the public to know there is no subsisting concession agreement on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway. What the Infrastructure Construction Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has is a financing agreement from a consortium of banks, which is like a loan that still has to be paid back through budgetary provisions.

    “In the case of the Second Niger Bridge, which the NASS spokespersons alleged that the provision in 2016 budget was not spent and had to be returned, it is a display of worrisome gaps in knowledge by the spokesperson about the budget process. The lawmakers must know that a budget is not cash; it is an approval of estimates of expenditure to be financed by cash from the Ministry of Finance.”

    Fashola said the Ministry of Finance was yet to release cash for the Second Niger Bridge, noting that no money was returned.

    He dismissed as “tissue of lies” the allegation that his ministry was holding on to projects that could be funded through Public Private Partnerships (PPP). According to Fashola, ministers have no unilateral power to award contracts to the tune of billions, adding that all new projects presented to the Federal Executive Council for approval were either federal roads requested by state governments or those put in the budget by the legislators to service their constituencies.

    He said the spokespersons missed the point of his observation in the haste to launch personal attack on him. Fashola said he expected a more sober approach to solve the matter, rather than name-calling.

    He said: “In any event, allegations of half-truth by the lawmakers are only a flawed response to the constitutional and developmental issues that I have raised about how to budget for the critical infrastructure. This kind of disagreement has plagued Nigeria since 1999. It shows the conflict between the executive that wants to build big federal highways, bridges, power plants, rail and dams on one hand and the parliament that wants to do small things like boreholes, health centres, street lights and supplying grinding machines.”

    Describing the disagreement as an institutional matter, the minister said it won’t be out of place to seek resolution to the conflict at the Supreme Court to protect the country’s future.

  • Falana: National Assembly wrong to alter budget

    Falana: National Assembly wrong to alter budget

    Lagos lawyer Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) has faulted the National Assembly for inserting new projects into the 2017 Budget.

    Falana in an interview on Channels TV said the Executive should get the Supreme Court to settle the matter once and for all.

    He said: “We have been on this game since 1999. This is about the fourth president. Every year, we have this controversy. It is totally uncalled for over the power of the National Assembly to tinker with the budget…We have advised the government to put this matter to rest by approaching the Supreme Court. The precious time of the nation has been wasted over who has the right to the project. In 2014, I went to court… The court agreed that it is the duty of the president to prepare the budget, while the national Assembly , even though not a rubber stamp, shall inform input into the budget. But that does not mean, according to the judgment, that it can be substituted with another by the National Assembly.

    “The constitution says the ‘President shall cause to be prepared’. What does preparation mean? It means the Ministry of Budget, the Ministry of Finance and all the relevant agencies of government will prepare the budget and collate the figure…the Presidency would have done some feasibility studies. If that is presented to the National Assembly, it has the right to say ‘a similar secretariat was built in Ghana at a lower cost’. But you cannot say it will cost N205b without any Bill of quantity…You cannot singlehandedly introduce new projects. Who is going to fund it?”

  • Another theoretical national budgeting: how long will it continue?

    Another theoretical national budgeting: how long will it continue?

    I read in one of the Nigerian newspapers that, “The Senate and the House of Representatives, on Thursday, 15/06/2017, replied Acting President Yemi Osinbajo over his comments on the 2017 budget after appending his signature to the appropriation bill. A member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Abubakar Lawan, had brought up the Acting President’s post-budget comments on the floor under matters of privilege at the session, which was presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara. He then cited Daily Sun and Daily Trust among newspaper publications that quoted Osinbajo’s comments on the powers of the National Assembly to alter the budget.

    He also said, “Budgets are priorities of the government because we are representatives of the people. We can say even though these are priorities of the government, based on our job of representation, these are not the priorities of the people and we can refuse to fund them”. One might therefore ask the following questions, “is there detailed information for the alteration of the budget?”, “what have been refused to be funded in the previous national budgets?”, “in terms of items, is there any major difference between the 2017 budget and previous ones?”

    Pragmatic national budgeting can never be attained in this ‘make-belief’ democratic system we are currently experiencing- this government of the few, by the few and for the few. This is the reason why there has never been any monumental infrastructural development in the country since the inception of democracy. Year in, year out, theoretical budget garnished with some items that are supposed to be periodic is churned out. For instance, every year, millions of public naira have been spent on telephone charges by the transport ministry: 4.2 million naira in 2009, 25.3 million naira in 2010, 22.5 million naira in 2012, 23.2 million naira in 2013.

    However, since 2014, the allocation on telephone charges has experienced drastic decline.  The budget on sewage charges over the same period for the transport ministry headquarters increased tremendously from 1.05 million naira in 2009 to 6.4 million naira in 2010. Thereafter, it somewhat plateaued at about 6 million naira until 2017. In the 2017 budget, 9.5 million naira has been appropriated for sewage charges. What could be the explanation for this increase? On library information (books) for the headquarters of the transport ministry, millions of naira have been budgeted for eight consecutive years: in 2009, it was 5 million naira.  An average of 24.5 million naira was budgeted for library information in 2010 and 2012. It then dropped sharply to 7.5 million naira in 2013, and then 5 million naira and 1.4 million naira in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Since then, it has been on a rise; 10.42 million naira in 2016 and 20.4 million naira in 2017 has been appropriated for.

    In the last eight years, billions of naira have been allocated for the purchase of computers and computer software.  Every year, you find projects that are meant to be periodic included in the national budget by various ministries. Capital projects have now become ‘recurrent expenditure’. Looking at the trend on budget allocation on the aforementioned items, one might infer that corruption peaked at 2010.  I am not making this up: this is true. You can check the records by scrutinising the budget documents available on the national budget website. Yet, when you go to these ministries, you will be surprised at what you will find. Nobody seems to query those responsible for this unwholesome act. In the very eyes of our imans, priests, professors, prominent judges, political activists and prolific writers, a few Nigerians have been able to carry out their functions without any human feelings to the masses. How do we hope to achieve development with this kind of approach?

    The outcomes of the ‘make belief’ democracy can never be positive but rather stagnation and hardships to the rest of the citizens who are not connected to the cabalistic chain. I am not astonished to hear and see that, ‘in the midst of the high rate of unemployment, recruitment exercises at the final stages are cancelled’, ‘scholars sent abroad for a one-year studies would have their upkeeps not paid until the ninth month, and there is no concrete reasons for the delay’, ‘theoretical national budgeting occurring for a decade’, ‘recommendations made from public hearings are not implemented’, ’bickering among politicians’.

    I hope that we will not see a rise of budget padding in 2018, as it is the penultimate year leading to the 2019 general elections in the country.

     

    Aniefiok Livinus Cranfield University, UK

  • Suspended Ekiti Legislator Shuns PDP disciplinary panel

    Suspended Ekiti Legislator Shuns PDP disciplinary panel

    Suspended member of Ekiti State House of Assembly Gboyega Aribisogan on Thursday shunned the panel raised by the factional People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to investigate him for alleged anti-party activities and disloyalty to Governor Ayo Fayose.

    The five-man panel chaired by Commissioner for Commerce and Industries Michael Ayodele waited for over three hours at the factional secretariat in Ajilosun area of Ado-Ekiti without Aribisogan showing up.

    Aribisogan was accused of holding meeting in Lagos with the Senator representing Ogun East in the National Assembly, Prince Buruji Kashamu, and other perceived enemies of Fayose.

    Ayodele said: “Sadly, Honourable Aribisogan didn’t show up. We waited for him for hours but he decided not to honour our invitation.

    “However, we are writing our report which will be submitted by next week Wednesday to the State Working Committee, because we were given seven days to complete the trial.

    “We are going to rely on the paper submitted by the PDP ward and local government chairmen in Ijesa Isu Ekiti and Ikole local government respectively as regards his conduct over the allegation.”

  • Sani to El-Rufai: Forget your presidential ambition

    Sani to El-Rufai: Forget your presidential ambition

    The Senator representing Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani, Wednesday asked Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to forget his touted presidential ambition in his own interest.

    He said that El-Rufai knew that he was grandstanding as he has nothing to offer Nigerians.

    Sani in a statement by his Adviser on Politics and Ideology, Suleiman Ahmed, accused Kaduna State governor of corruption and nepotism in the governance of the state.

    He said, “I call on El- Rufai to suspend his Presidential or ‘Vice Presidential’ ambitions and concentrate in proper governance of the state.

    “The Kaduna State governor who in his memo accused PMB of running a failed Government, has failed also woefully.

    “He thinks PMB failed but he never invited PMB to even commission a completed toilet in his state.

    “Under El-Rufai Kaduna has become a hub of Kidnappers and a sanctuary for herdsmen.

    “The very Governor who once condemned the National Assembly for lack of transparency has proven to be worse.

    “El-Rufai wants to be seen as an apostle of Buhari’s change but he is actually the Judas of change.

    “It’s hypocritical to promise Nigerians change and end up only ‘putting change in our pockets’.

    “There is nothing progressive about many people who claim to be Buharists; they are reactionaries and career opportunists who can fit into any Government in power.

    “Kaduna State is run like a personal family and friend’s estate without any meaningful physical achievement other than sponsored media propaganda.

    “El-Rufai has no money to pay traditional rulers he recently sacked but has money to dispense as contracts to family, friends and political cronies.

    “El-Rufai has enough money to pay herdsmen but no money to pay district heads. Kaduna is today littered with abandoned drainages to the point that the rainy season has turned Kaduna into a ‘coastal state with creeks.

    “He is auctioning over two thousand Government houses he inherited but he is yet to build a hut.”

    Senator Sani insisted that the allegation of “systemic nepotism, opacity and complete absence of transparency” in the governance of Kaduna State is factual and the reality of the situation in the state.

    He said that journalists in Kaduna State are under siege, blackmailed, arrested, pocketed or threatened with arrest.

    Governor El-Rufai, he said, “is a man with a mouth for criticism but without a stomach for criticism.”