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Tag: national assembly

  • Blaming National Assembly for high cost of governance is escapist, says Ndoma-Egba

    Blaming National Assembly for high cost of governance is escapist, says Ndoma-Egba

    Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba spoke with Assistant Editor Onyedi Ojiabor and Sanni Onogu on the alleged jumbo pay for members of the National Assembly.

    THE high cost of governance in the country remains an issue. The National Assembly is accused of being a major source of the drain…

    Let us put the cost of governance in perspective. First of all, you know for the many years that we had military rule, the National Assembly did not exist.

    For almost 30 years of our post independence existence, we did not have a National Assembly. And in those 30 years that the National Assembly did not exist, the cost of governance was still an issue.

    I remember I was commissioner under the military and one of the most topical issues was the cost of construction in Nigeria. It was said to be the highest in the world. That is cost of governance because it is public procurement.

    That was when the National Assembly did not exist. The cost of governance was still an issue. So, the issue of cost of governance has nothing to do in my view with the National Assembly.

    And let us come to the figures. We have maintained a budget of N150 billion in the last four or five years. Our figure has been the same. That of the judiciary has been dwindling, from N97 billion four years ago to about N60 billion.

    What has been the trend for the executive? Has it been stagnant like the National Assembly or has it dwindled like the judiciary?

    I don’t think so. That of the executive has continued to go up. Now, what is the ratio or the percentage of N150 billion, out of a national budget of approximately N4.8 trillion? It is about three per cent. So, why do we have this fixation on three per cent of the budget and not on 97 per cent of the budget? Three per cent of the budget is getting 97 per cent attention and 97 per cent of the budget is getting three per cent attention.

    What is the fixation? And now the impression out there is that ‘oh you collect this N150 billion and just share it among members of the National Assembly.

    Nothing can be more fallacious. Because one, the N150 billion includes our capital, it includes recurrent, it includes the salaries of 109 Senators, 360 members of the House of Representatives, their aides – we have a maximum of six aides – it includes the salaries of the civil servants from the Clerk to the National Assembly to the Deputy Clerk, to the Clerk of Senate, Clerk of House and to all the civil servants here down to the lowest cleaner.

    It includes the salaries of the National Assembly Service Commission, from the Chairman his Commissioners, down to the civil servants there to the lowest cleaner. It includes the salaries and allowances of the National Institute of Legislative Studies, from the Director General through the many Professors down to the cleaner. It includes our subscriptions to international parliamentary organisations. The total running cost of the National Assembly is that N150 billion out of a budget of N4.8 trillion.

    What does it cost to maintain the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation? Do we know? What does it cost to maintain a senior manager in NNPC? I am not talking of the Managing Director. Do we know? What does it cost to maintain a senior manager in Petroleum Technology Development Fund? Do we know? What does it cost to maintain a senior manager in Central Bank of Nigeria? Do we know?

    How do we reach a conclusion that this is the source of the drain when we don’t know what is happening elsewhere. It is only when you have a holistic picture of the cost of governance that you can compare. How much does it cost to keep a Minister?

    Members of the National Assembly are also accused of flamboyant life style every where they go.

    When they say we are flamboyant, do you know any senator that has a convoy? I am the Senate Leader. If you go downstairs, I drive in one car. It is only the presiding officers that have a convoy. Every other senator moves in one vehicle.

    Do you see a minister move in one vehicle? All ministers have convoys. All. So, picking or looking for a scapegoat to blame on the cost of governance is escapist as far as I am concerned. You can’t talk about the cost of governance when you don’t talk about cost of procurement, the cost of running every office. What does it cost this country to run the office of a chief executive of a parastatal? How many parastatals do we have? You have more parastatals than you have members of the National Assembly. So, I think we are being escapist and in the approach we are now reducing it to scapegoatism, tokenism.

    If you catch the National Assembly, then, that is where the cost is. When the National Assembly did not exist for 30 years, the cost of governance was an issue in this country. It has always been an issue.

    Members of the National Assembly are also accused of awarding themselves outrageous salaries, travel allowances and oversight function allowances…

    You talked about salaries. I just collected a report of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission last week. It is the RMAFC that fixes salaries for everybody and you can compare the salary they fix for us. Is it any different from what a minister earns or the Supreme Court Justice earns or the Chief Executive of a parastatal earns? It is not different.

    So why are you insisting, if we all earn the same? Why are you insisting that my own is jumbo, their own is not jumbo. You talked about traveling allowances. When I am going on official duty, am I suppose to pay for it from my pocket? When you go on official duty do you pay for it from your salary? When a Minister is going on official duty does he pay for it from his salary? When a chief executive is going on official duty, does he pay from his salary? When a Judge is going on official duty, does he pay from his salary?

    So, how come we expect National Assembly members to go on official duties from their salaries? Why are you holding us to different standards? You have one standard for other top public officers and another standard for National Assembly members. All the trips you referred to are funded from the same N150 billion. So, if you take the salaries plus the trips, flam

  • A dialogue without power

    President Jonathan’s decision that the national conference will report to the National Assembly makes the whole affair a waste of time and money

    Less than a month after President Goodluck Jonathan unveiled his ambition to set sail on a national conference, his ambition has begun to unravel. He has said that the report of the national conference will be sent to the National Assembly for approval.

    This statement exposed the whole definition of the conference from the presidency’s point of view. He sees the national conference as a mere opportunity to dialogue without power. If the conference had a fundamental power to re-enunciate its dreams, redefine its ethos and politics, restructure the nation and vouchsafe our past to a future rippling with clear vision, why would it report to the National Assembly?

    This has not only exposed President Jonathan’s parochial standpoint on the matter, but also clarified the contrast for those who have called for a sovereign national conference. The difference between both positions is now potent. For Jonathan, the conference will be an anaemic affair, even if full of debates, disagreements and the theatre of backslapping. It could debate the issue of state police, the cartography of revenue allocation, the furies of insecurity and the darkness cast over our education system. In the final analysis, the lawmakers will decide what they want and what to discard. Has the same National Assembly not been engaged in such parley across the country in the name of constitutional amendments? What results have emanated from them?

    According to the Jonathan agenda, once the conference has completed its work, the presidency would append its assent.

    For those calling for a national conference of the sovereign type, the issue is more sober. It entails a representation of people from all over the country, covering ethnicity, geography, class and tendencies. The result will not be subject to any special institution like the National Assembly, the presidency and it is above the power of the courts for any sort of adjudication. It is a sovereign in miniature having embodied the soul of the entire nation in trust.

    This means the sovereign body cannot be appointed as perfunctorily as President Jonathan has done. It is a matter of national survival and progress. If, as President Jonathan has declared, the conference representatives will not be hamstrung by any fetters, including the issue of the survival of the nation, why would they want any existing institution to decide on the wisdom or foolishness of their submissions?

    The conference, among other things, will discuss the essences of the presidency and the National Assembly. It will decide how the representatives are elected, what powers they should wield, what kind of funding they could amass, how they relate to the electorate and the limits of their swagger. As it regards the National Assembly, it will also have to deliberate whether we need a National Assembly, or whether we need a bi-camera or uni-camera legislature, and the modes of representation and operation.

    In the sort of debate and powers without fetters, the sovereign national conference could decide that the way both institutions are constituted do not chime with the popular will. If that is the case, the National Assembly suffused with persons who might want to retain the status quo, may decide to assign the full report of the conference to a committee, and the process may end up restoring the status quo for the National Assembly. Not just that, other aspects of the report that today’s decrepit elite may oppose may become subjects of lobbying.

    At the end, fundamental aspects of the report would have been either deleted or diluted, leaving for the presidency a corrupted version of the people’s will. The presidency, also aware of its interests, may do same.

    The people’s position would have been compromised, and the final copy a mockery of intense work done by the people’s representatives.

    But if the people have finished their work, what will be left? It will be subjected to a plebiscite, and the majority of the people will be asked to either endorse the document or reject this. From historical examples, such conferences often exercise tremendous power because they are a precursor to a fundamental change in the way things are run. Its existence necessarily curtails powers of all institutions as they pertain to the conference’s powers.

    No chief executive or legislature can assume powers over those of the conference. Those may be the nuances that are troubling President Jonathan and his fellow travellers. That accounts for their decision to subject the people’s will to a coterie of interested men and women.

    Other nations have passed through that process, whether it was the United States, Britain, France, Germany or even South Africa. It is not often a tea party. It offers an opportunity for unflattering introspection. Every tribe or region or class will spill its views with unvarnished candour, and the conference will have to distill every word or body through the rigour of debates and sundry other engagements. It is an opportunity for histories and cultures of different parts of the country to collide and align.

    That is why we have called a national conference a dialogue with power, not one as ritual. If we follow the pattern President Jonathan has set in motion, we cannot avoid the conclusion that it is another exercise in squander-mania and diversion. It is a rigmarole that will lead back to where we have always been. It is a dialogue without power.

  • Expert seeks legal framework for online business

    Expert seeks legal framework for online business

    The National Assembly has been called upon to make internet laws that would make online transactions admissible in courts of law in the country.

    Dr Ope Banwo, a lawyer and Chief Executive Officer of Afrinet Business Services, made the call in a chat with The Nation in Lagos recently.

    Banwo, who lamented that the country still operates archaic laws of contract that have made online business transactions not admissible in the country’s courts of law, said: “We don’t even have any law on the internet, we don’t have anti-spam laws. Legislatively, there is a very huge market there for any legislator that wants to take that up. As a lawyer, I will push for the national assembly to make laws for the internet.”

    Expatiating, he said: “If you send me an e-mail and I send you a reply as an agreement of what we do, it is not admissible in Nigerian court as at this moment as a valid contract simply because the laws of contract that we have here are still based on 1900 laws. The world has moved on but Nigeria is still stagnant.”

    He also lamented that most individuals and corporate bodies have neither been maximising their access to the internet to earn huge legitimate income nor improve their services to the consumers.

    He also hinted of plans by his company to organise an interface in collaboration with American Internet Business School between 3rd and 5th of November.

    Tagged: ‘Africa Internet Business Summit’ it is scheduled to take place at the Four Points Sheraton, Victoria Island Lagos, with participants expected from internet marketing and business solutions sub-sector across the world.

  • National Assembly promises to improve business climate

    National Assembly promises to improve business climate

    The National Assembly has pledged to improve the operating environment for industries.

    Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Industries, Hon. Mohammed Onawo, said the National Assembly understands the challenges facing companies in terms of infrastructure and it is working to improve the operating environment for companies.

    Speaking during a visit to PZ Cussons Nigeria, Onawo said the legislators were considering appropriate legislative steps to improve operating environment for companies.

    The courtesy visit to PZ Cussons Nigeria was part of the Committee’s oversight function on Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and it was specifically meant to appreciate the company’s prompt statutory contribution and support to ITF in human resource training and development.

    Onawo commended industries like PZ Cussons, who in spite of these challenges, continue to create employment for teeming youth in the country.

    He urged the company to provide more support to the Fund through provision of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and other equipment to assist ITF in realising its goals of training young graduates.

    According to him, the company will benefit from the pool of trained youth.

    In her opening remarks, Director, Human Resources, PZ Cussons Nigeria, Ms. Joyce Folake Coker, thanked the Committee for recognising the contribution of PZ Cussons and for finding it worthy of the visit.

    She gave an overview of the company’s activities including her new investments and strides in employee engagement and capacity building.

    She noted that these investments underscore the commitment of the company to economy.

    Executive Director, Corporate Affairs and Administration, Mrs. Yomi Ifaturoti, pointed out that PZ Cussons’ activities have gone beyond production and sales of renown house hold products and payment of statutory dues to encompass the wellbeing of the larger society through impactful corporate social responsibility projects.

    According to her, the company undertakes projects in appreciation of her host communities in the areas of education, health, provision of potable drinking water and road development.

    “We are sponsoring PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge to encourage secondary school students in the study of science education,” Ifaturoti said.

    Managing Director, Family Care, PZ Cussons Nigeria, Mr Alex Goma said the Committee to consider the impassable state of Ikorodu–Shagamu road urging the legislators to take up the matter with Federal Ministry of Works and Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to improve its condition to enhance productivity.

    According to him, the road requires urgent attention.

     

  • David Mark’s theory on constitution without citizenry

    David Mark’s theory on constitution without citizenry

    What Nigeria’s lawmakers elected on the platform of the 1999 Constitution need to do is to listen to citizens whose votes brought them to the national assembly.

    David Mark’s recent pontification on the need to have a constitution that shuns people’s wishes is not new to politics in our country. The military ruled Nigeria for decades without a constitution. Even the 1999 Constitution that David Mark holds to heart as sacred enough not to need any referendum that involves those for whom the constitution is ostensibly written was crafted by former military colleagues of the Senate President. It is not Senator Mark’s militaristic notion of constitutions that should surprise citizens. It is his conviction as an elected senator by citizens that creating a constitutional process cannot be determined by citizens once there is a ‘constitution’ on ground, regardless of how citizens feel about the constitution.

    The fear of citizens inherent in Senator Mark’s effort to avoid citizens in efforts to create acceptable constitutions can be likened to what Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates, one of the youngest federations in the world, said about his vision for Dubai’s development: The real crisis is rather one of leadership, management and perennial egotism. This is the kind of crisis that is bound to happen when lust for power prevails over granting people the love and care they deserve, and when the interests and destiny of one individual (or a small group of individuals as in the case of Nigeria’s National Assembly) become more important than those of a whole nation.

    Writing further about the transformation of Dubai within a federation, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: Our distinctive development experience in the UAE is a good example of what can be done when God blesses a country with an unselfish leadership that strives for the good of its people and not its own. Good leadership puts the interests of the community as a whole before those of any specific group….There is a world of difference between a leadership that is based on love and respect, and one that is based on fear.

    I am quoting Rashid Al Maktoum extensively to underscore that Senator Mark’s view that the process of making a constitution, captured in provisions of a constitution that citizens believe is an imposition on the country by military dictators, smacks not of respect for Nigerians but of fear of Nigerians by those that happen to occupy positions of legislative leadership. Insisting, as the Senate President has done, that the legalistic aspect of the 1999 Constitution is the matter at stake is to miss the point of the essence of constitutions. Constitutions become embodiment of laws that must be respected and obeyed only after they have been created by a process that has the blessing and consent of the people whose political behaviours constitutions are created to regulate.

    What Nigeria’s lawmakers elected on the platform of the 1999 Constitution need to do is to listen to citizens whose votes brought them to the national assembly. Millions of citizens are saying that the 1999 Constitution was not created with their consent and that the desire of citizens to participate in the 1999 election to move the country from military autocracy to electoral democracy does not and should not constitute a sufficient condition for the post-military political leadership to assume that citizens accept that the only thing to do with the 1999 Constitution is to ‘panel beat’ the document in whatever manner lawmakers believe in, without involving citizens in the process.

    What is implicit in Senator Mark’s theory about the current constitution not having a space for sovereign national conference is the conviction that Nigeria is about promoting statism, rather than creating a country or community of interests held by human beings. Statism refers to a notion that a country should be run as a bureaucracy, with emphasis on what those charged to run the bureaucracy prefer to do, rather than what citizens prefer to have. Our lawmakers need to realise that our country is in a process of democratisation and that real democracy is likely to be elusive until a people’s constitution is adopted to guide the country’s political culture. This should not be anything too difficult for our legislators to get in a country that went into election in 1999 without seeing a copy of the constitution that has now become untouchable to citizens.

    Holding briefs for authors of the 1999 Constitution and promoting the constitution as a sacred document that is available only to elected lawmakers to review without any substantial input from citizens is a dangerous thing to do. Our lawmakers who have chosen to amend a constitution that citizens prefer to be replaced need to know that for a constitution to be acceptable and respectable to people, citizens must believe in the transparency of the process that leads to the making of the constitution. Citizens had gone to court to challenge the claim in and by the 1999 Constitution that it was authored by the people of Nigeria. Late Biodun Oki spent the last years of his life to prove in court that the 1999 Constitution is not a constitution created with the consent of the people.

    Senator Mark’s worry: Where will the Sovereign National Conference be deriving its sovereigntyfrom, and under what framework? How will the conference be convoked and by whom and under what terms?” indicates the Senate President’s preference for statism as an approach to solving a fundamental political problem about the welfare and wellbeing of citizens of a country. These are questions that citizens should be given the opportunity to answer. Each constituency can prepare a handbook for its lawmaker to take to the national assembly on how to convoke a national conference. But this will be possible only in a context in which lawmakers see themselves as representatives of citizens, and not as their masters.

    Nigerians calling for a sovereign national conference are doing so for an obvious reason: demilitarising the Nigerian polity by replacing a constitution imposed on the country by a group of military dictators with a constitution negotiated freely by citizens. Callers for a people’s constitution believe that the military must have had a hidden agenda behind the 1999 Constitution, more so that the constitution did not see the light of day until after the election of 1999. Lawmakers who subscribe to the tenets of democracy need not act in a way to suggest that they also accept the hidden agenda behind a constitution imposed on Nigerians by departing military dictators. Senator Mark’s recent quibbling about sovereignty and sovereign national conference gives the impression that the national assembly is averse to referendum, because it is afraid of coming to terms with the real feelings of millions of Nigerians about the current constitution. If Nigeria is going to get its economics and development right, it is, asDaronAcemoglu and James A. Robinson, authors of WhyNations Fail have observed, necessary to get its politics right. Getting our country’s politics right requires a transparent process of creating a constitution that is acceptable to the generality of the people. And lawmakers should act on the side of citizens on how to bring about a constitution that is acceptable primarily to citizens, and not just to lawmakers.

  • Group praises National Assembly

    The Northern Youth Development Initiative (NYDI) in Abuja has praised the Senate and the House of Representatives for asking for the redeployment of Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu.

    According to a statement issued by NYDI Publicity Secretary, Mr. Muhammed Abubakar, the group said: “we took these steps as a welcome development especially coming at this point in time when commonsense has taken leave of those we considered to be elders and leaders from that part of the country.

    “We highly wish to commend the well thought out ideas by Comrade Timi Frank in his open letter to Mr. President over the current crisis going on in Rivers State and the potential spill over to the rest of the country.

    “We also wish to commend the bold steps by both the House of Representative and the Senate in their unbiased resolutions aimed at creating peace and harmony in the state most especially the directive to the Inspector General of Police to immediately redeploy the Rivers State Police Commissioner for his complicity in the political imbroglio.

    “In as much as we believe in the saying that “there is no smoke without fire” we wish to also urge good leaders from that part of the country to as a matter of urgency, call on the GDI and their sponsors to come plain and publicly apologise to the four Northern State Governor that were harassed recently when the paid visit to their colleague in River state.”

     

  • Presbyterian Church hails National Assembly

    The East Synod of The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria has commended the National Assembly for enacting the law against same-sex marriage.

    In a communiqué at the end of its 26th Synod Meeting held at Isiama Parish, EluOhafia, Abia State, the Church lauded members of the National Assembly for resisting all external and internal pressures to pass the anti-gay bill.

    The communiqué, jointly signed by the newly elected Moderator of the Synod, Rev. Dr. Okeke Ndu, and the Synod Clerk, Rev. Chika Nwankwo, urged the Federal Government to maintain its stand against same-sex despite the massive support accorded it by the West.

    The Synod reminded churches of their prophetic role in reforming the nation spiritually, socially, morally, economically and politically, urging them to intensify efforts in that direction.

    It drew the attention of the Federal Government to the deteriorating condition of some of its infrastructural facilities, especially schools, roads and agricultural projects.

  • North’s unnecessary fears may create a federal monster

    North’s unnecessary fears may create a federal monster

    It is not yet too late for these representatives to put on their thinking caps before they bring more disaster upon the country.

    Without a scintilla of doubt, only northern fears, not national interest, especially concerning its ability, or not, to survive despite its untapped huge natural resources, could have led the National Assembly to so completely undermine the states whilst creating a centre with limitless powers in its constitutional amendment conundrum. So all-encompassing is the autocracy they are currently constructing that one cannot successfully be accused of exaggeration if he claims that Abuja is being imperceptibly turned to a monstrous incubus. All these, unfortunately, on the basis of a British -fabricated, but actually non-existent, higher northern population which would otherwise thump all known demographic principles. If they dispute this, let them publish the results of the one-day interaction with Nigerians on geo-political basis and see if the so-called massive ‘yes’ votes would not confirm an over reliance on results from one region out of three. It is no wonder, therefore, that of all the Local Government Chairmen’s Forum in the country, it is only the northern chapter, through its chairman, Mohammed Ali, that’s mounting pressure on the Senate to rescind its decision on local government autonomy.

    Waxing lyrical during the past week, Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, gleefully announced to Nigerians that: ‘the House voted overwhelmingly to give full financial, administrative, executive and legislative autonomy to local government councils in Nigeria; making them a tier of government with a uniform four years tenure, regimenting their mode of exercising legislative power and abolishing Joint State Local Government Account which they replaced with the “Local Government Council Allocation Account.’ Like an over-exuberant birthday boy, he went on to say that henceforth, the so-called Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, would conduct elections for local government areas. Apparently, they forgot to abolish the office of the state governor. If only these self-serving legislators knew the meaning of a true federal system! And would they be kind enough to tell Nigerians where else on earth these monstrosities obtain.

    Let me, in the small space remaining, open their eyes and minds to the views, edited for space, of Chief Bola Ige, SAN, one of the few real democrats that ever graced the face of Nigeria, on local government. In an article he captioned ‘Man -Made Avoidable Local Government Troubles’ and which appeared in his column in The Sunday Tribune of 27 April, 1996, the legal luminary wrote as follows: “Anyone who has sound knowledge of the local government system, its history, theory and practice, not only in Nigeria, but also in civilised countries of the world, cannot be surprised at what is happening in various parts of the country since the Federal Military Government announced the “creation “of new local government areas. I personally have been shocked and pained by the violence that has since been unleashed.

    “But what we should admit is that the fundamentals of local government system, particularly in a federal set-up, have not been adhered to. One could even say that they have been violated.

    “There are modalities that govern local government systems all over the civilised world. The first is that a local government must truly be government at local level. In other words, the people of a given area must be allowed to come together, of their own accord, and in a spirit of agreeing to some sort of social contract, to run their local affairs. The community must of course be easily identifiable – usually they must be people of the same stock, or citizens who inhabit a given geographical area’.

    ‘That was what existed during the colonial times and during the era of the regions. That was also what happened when I was governor of the old Oyo State. In the north, local government system was based on emirates where they existed or administrative units where there were no emirates; in the west, it was based on the combination of the Oba-ship system and innate democratic inclinations of the peoples of Western Nigeria; in the east where the people were largely republican, the local government system was based on the clan. In all parts of Nigeria, the English and after them, the founding fathers of Nigeria – Awo Sardauna and Zik – never arbitrarily created local government councils and, in any case, being reasonable and knowledgeable politicians, they would never have done that.

    ‘The ideal thing is for any community that wants a local government to have it, as long as certain basic criteria concerning ability to be economically viable and rudiments of government are met. I always gave examples of local government councils in Europe and the USA to attest to this.

    “Unfortunately, the Murtala-Obasanjo federal military government began the nonsense that has remained with us. In fairness to Gowon’s regime, that government did not poke its nose into local government business. I guess that with the presence of seasoned politicians, led by Awo, in that government, such foolish mistake would not be allowed to happen.

    “On the pretext that better administration should be found for local government throughout the country, a Commission headed by Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki was set up. In my opinion, the recommendations of that commission were the worst disaster to happen to local government system in Nigeria. For instance, it was from there that the idea of uniformity in size, scope and administration was introduced. I confess that I suspected a hidden agenda in the recommendations: in order to strengthen the administrative stranglehold of the emirates, all of Nigeria was advised to base its local government system on defined populations and elaborate administrative system. Fortunately, it never worked. And it will never work.

    “But I also had the suspicion that the military wanted to have a way of pulling more strings through manipulating the local government system. Dasuki Commission brought about the plague that is still afflicting Nigeria.

    Which leads me to the next point: In a federal set-up, the federal government must have nothing to do with the creation or running of local government. Nigeria is the only federation in the whole world where the federal government decides how, where, and when a local government council must run. In all civilised countries, and in all democratic countries, it is the state or provincial or regional government that legislates on local government.

    “The solutions are simple, but I doubt whether the Federal Military Government will take any suggestions. First, let the Federal Military Government hands off local government affairs, and allow the people to decide how many local government areas they want, their administrative set-up and their boundaries. State government must allow the people in a given area to determine their local government destinies.

    “Secondly, state governments should formulate guidelines for the setting up of new local government councils. They must be of universal application and not tinkered with. Once any community satisfies the criteria in those guidelines, they should have their own council.”

    Chief Ige’s fears are as potent today as they were when he penned them in 1996, and, watching this National Assembly create a looming disaster of an ultra strong centre, I have this nagging feeling that the PDP truly believes the hogwash that it will rule for 60 years as was first propounded by its now embattled, one-time chairman, Ogbuluafor. Otherwise, nobody in his proper frame of mind will suggest that INEC should conduct local government elections in the states which we know is intended to enhance their stranglehold through their now well-known ‘do and die’ rigging methods. At a time when the cancellation of a humongous WAEC and NECO with full staff compliement has been suggested, it is totally ludicrous that the National Assembly could approve that INEC, with mostly ad hoc staff, take up elections into all local government councils even if it were not already encumbered by constant allegations of bribe-taking like we saw in Ekiti State during the rerun election in 2009.

    It is not yet too late for these representatives to put on their thinking caps before they bring more disaster upon the country. After all, this is a legislature whose members earn the equivalent of $189,000 annually as against their counterparts in the U.K and France who earn $105, 400 and $85,900 respectively.

  • Ogonis urge NASS to consider equity, fairness on PIB

    Oil Producing Communities in Ogoni, Rivers State have called on the National Assembly (NASS) to consider “equity, fairness and justice” in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as oil exploration has caused untold hardship to them.

    The people noted that the PIB if properly handled would help in alleviating the sufferings they have been experiencing despite having people at different levels of government.

    The Chairman of Ogoni Oil Field Indigenous Association (OGOFIA), Amb. George Kobani, who spoke on Tuesday in Port Harcourt on behalf his people, said that “the passage of the bill will propel development in the country’s oil and gas industry, address poverty, foster good working relationship between oil bearing communities and operators in the oil and gas industry.”

    Kobani, who appealed to Nigerians to show understanding on the bill also stated that “we will ask for understanding in this Petroleum Host Communities Fund (PHCF), that Nigerians empathize with host communities on the sufferings and the environmental degradation emanating from these oil and gas activities that are continually putting us in great hazards.”

     

     

  • Stop threatening Nigeria, Mark tells oil firms

    Stop threatening Nigeria, Mark tells oil firms

    The Senate President, David Mark, on Thursday in Abuja cautioned international oil companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria to desist from threatening to park out of the country at the slightest provocation.

    Mark made the call while declaring open a two-day public hearing on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) organised by the Senate joint Committee on Petroleum (Upstream and Downstream), Gas and Judiciary.

    “The international oil companies should not take undue advantage of Nigeria. What I do not want is when people begin to threaten that if you do not do this, we will park out of Nigeria.”

    According to Mark, we are conscious of the fact that there are frustrations in the oil industry, but it is only temporary as things are even getting better.

    The senate president said the sixth National Assembly tried to pass the bill but failed as several versions of the bill turned out at the end of the day.

    He said he was optimistic that this time around, there was only one version and encouraged all stakeholders to work together towards fast tracking its passage.

    “To demonstrate the importance of this bill, we have four committees working on it. We like as much as possible to fast tract this bill because it is beginning to hold up so many things.

    “Some investors when you talk to them they tell you that they are waiting for the PIB to be passed so we are anxious to get it out of the way,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the Senate president as saying during the presentation.