The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PRESIDENCY

  • Why Trump presidency will be good for the world

    SIR: Donald Trump, brash billionaire businessman and presidential candidate of the Grand Old Party (GOP) or the U.S Republican Party is media favourite for visceral pillory. Ever since he made his brash entry to U.S primary nomination in the Republican Party, media heckles and tantrums have been his lot. His political insurgency, peppered all the way with outlandish innuendoes, including the most notorious jibes to ban Muslims from entering the U.S and building a great wall across the shared border with Mexico, rankled the established pattern of U.S political correctness, jarring the jaws and profaning the serenity of America’s traditional political hypocrisy where grandstanding holds sway.

    However amidst Trump’s so-called daily garbage of tantrums are some immutable and seriously intelligible diagnoses of what ails the United States of America. He consistently remarked that the worldwide misadventure of Washington is eating away at the vitality of the country to provide for its own people. He implied that there is no sense in American exceptionalism and the burden of a global policeman it has imposed on itself. Trump promise to make America a normal country that looks after itself and its people first, while contributing its own fair share to global governance.

    For saying that America would under his presidency mind its own business, the war industry and their political and media wing, across partisan divide went up in arms against candidate Donald Trump, but his unmistakable message that seemed to have resonated with the weary ordinary America that shot him to the GOP nominee is likely to see him through the presidency. If he fulfils his vision to restore America to a normal country that minds its own business, the world would leap to a new framework of multilateralism, mutual consultations and dialogue of civilizations devoid of the arrogance of exceptionalism and indispensability of any one nation or group of nations.

    Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party candidate purports herself as the epitome of civilized political behaviour but who is actually the political package of the war industry. Her rhetoric of active Washington bohemia across the world is a recipe for global chaos to be orchestrated by a new Washington bully. She and her war industry patrons would escalate confrontations with Russia using the pretext of Ukraine and would most likely draw out China in a military conflict by exacerbating the tensions in the South China Sea.

    The chaos of the Middle East will be further expanded as more military violence are likely to be piled up on the existing military stalemate in the region, under the usual arrogance and delusion of the war industry that only military escalation can guarantee its victory and ensure its hegemony.

    There is no doubt that the system of U.S global domination has taken a huge toll on the quality of life of ordinary Americans, including the white working class, who are the main support base of Trump. The worsening state racial violence in which African Americans are the largest victims in the United States, represent the travels of the overstretched system.

    The finesse in the language of American politics has always disguised the undercurrent of systematic exclusion of the working and toiling people to the country’s political and socio-economic mainstream. The highly regimented discourse of the America electoral politics has been busted by the brash and freewheeling interjections of Trump. The Trump mystique and even his popularity among American nativist working class are the unusual candour and clinical expressions that mirrors their fears and even hopes. Straying from rudiments of American political hypocrisy and electoral correctness has earned Trump the ire of the guardians of the system, including the mainstream media.

    It may not really matter to the rest of the world, how Trump resolves many America’s intractable domestic problems but if he could refocus Washington to the real challenge of improving  the lives of America, with less penchant to global trouble-making, the world would be a better place.

     

    • Charles Onunaiju

    Abuja.

  • I anointed Obasanjo for presidency in 1999, says Bishop Oke

    Ibadan popular preacher, Bishop Wale Oke, has said he anointed Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to become President in his Abeokuta, Ogun State home in 1999 on God’s instruction.

    Oke, who is the Presiding Bishop of Sword of the Spirit Ministries, addressed reporters in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on his 60th birthday.

    The cleric recalled that God revealed that Obasanjo would be President after Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd), adding that he (Oke) should anoint him for the position.

    At that time, Oke recalled, Obasanjo had just been released from prison and had no idea about what was awaiting him.

    The cleric said he asked pastors at his church in Ogun State if they had contacts with the former Head of State but none of them knew him directly.

    He said by God’s arrangement, a cleric of another church in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, invited him to minister in his church, where he asked if he had a personal contact with Obasanjo.

    The man, according to Oke, said Obasanjo’s wife, the late Stella, worshipped at his church.

    On announcing to Obasanjo that he would be the next President, Oke said: “The man said: ‘No. What did I forget at the State House that I want to go back for?’ But he did not prevent me from anointing him, as directed by God.”

    Oke said Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd) visited Obasanjo two weeks after he anointed him and dragged him into politics. “The rest is history today.” He said.

    On his 60th birthday, Oke said he was not carried away by its fanfare but the impact he has made on other people’s lives.

    He said: “I don’t want to count years. I prefer to count achievements. The impact God has used me to make in the lives of others and in my generation is more important.”

    Oke urged President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to diversify the economy and improve its communication with Nigerians to enable them realise that the current economic problem is global.

    The cleric said government should show Nigerians that it did not cause the hardship, to prevent the people from getting the wrong impression.

    He added that the Buhari administration should ask Nigerians to pray for the country “because God has solutions to all human problems”.

    The birthday also coincided with the annual convention of the ministry, which stated yesterday.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Pastor Enoch Adeboye and Bishop David Oyedepo are among dignitaries expected at the convention and birthday ceremony.

  • Marginalisation: Presidency compiling list of appointments

    Marginalisation: Presidency compiling list of appointments

    •’Allocation to states may rise to N700b next month’

    The Presidency has compiled a list of appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari to determine marginalisation of any section of the country,  Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Sen. Babafemi Ojudu, has said.

      He told The Nation in Ibadan that this was aimed at investigating claims by some Nigerians that people from the South were marginalised in Buhari’s choice of appointments.

    Ojudu, who noted that the allegation was taken seriously by the Presidency, said the compilation showed that no section of the country was marginalised in the appointments by Buhari.

    According to him, some northerners heading federal agencies were chosen by merit.

    He said the President stuck to the principle of merit to promote patriotism and excellence.

    This, he said, should not be taken as an act of marginalisation because Buhari was determined to return the country to the path of meritocracy.

    He said: “Sometimes, we allow the opposition to provide us our narratives. In the last few weeks, what we have done in the Presidency is to compile a data of appointments for MDAs.

    ‘’What has been shown so far is that what people are saying around is not the truth. That is not to say that people are not deserving of whatever they can get, anybody from any part of the country deserves what they clamour for. But I want to say that claims of marginalisation is a wrong narrative about this government. They are trying to destroy the country.

    On why Nigerians still cry for dividends of the Buhari administration, Ojudu urged Nigerians to pay attention to several achievements, particularly in fighting corruption.

    He said blocking leakages, fighting corruption and standing for integrity led to the surge in government revenue, which made states alone to share N500 billion this month, describing the allocation as the highest in three years.

    He hinted that the surge would continue because the government was working to see it rise to about N700 billion next month.

    Ojudu insisted that the opposition politicians, who brought the country down on its knees are the ones telling various narratives; casting the government as unperforming.

    He said $15 billion was voted to fight insurgency under the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), which was shared among individuals. By drawing them to refund what they took, Ojudu said they resorted to narratives; casting aspersions on the Buhari administration.

    His words: “Aside working to ensure that the country develop agriculture, support job creation for youths and support the poor with huge funds so they can rise above acute poverty, the President has also chosen to fight corruption that has brought the country down. That is also fighting back in a way…”

     

  • ‘AMCON not influenced by the Presidency’

    ‘AMCON not influenced by the Presidency’

    The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) yesterday dismissed reports that its decision making process was being influenced by the Presidency.

    In a statement, its Head, Corporate Communications, Jude Nwauzor, said the letter, which the report quoted, was a routine correspondence between the office of Chief of Staff to the President and relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government including AMCON to seek clarifications and enable briefings to Mr. President on issues considered as having strategic national importance.

    “There is nothing in the contents of all our correspondences to suggest an influence on AMCON in its business decisions or translate to prospecting business on behalf of any individual, group or organisation as the earlier correspondence on the subject matter clearly required AMCON to exercise due care in the overall interest of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.

  • Budget 2016 wasn’t padded, says Presidency

    Budget 2016 wasn’t padded, says Presidency

    The Presidency yesterday defended the integrity of the 2016 Budget signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying it was not padded.

    Presidential legislative aides told reporters in Abuja that there is nothing known as “padding” in legislative parlance.

    Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant (SSA) (Senate), Senator Ita Enang and his House of Representatives counterpart, Ismaila Kawu, spoke with reporters after meeting with the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s headquarters.

    The budget, which is being implemented, they said, was not padded, pointing out that when a budget is presented to the National Assembly, the lawmakers are expected to deliberate and pass it as they deem fit.

    Former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Abdulmumini Jibrin accused Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker Yusuff Lasun, Chief Whip Alhassan Ado Doguwa and Minority Leader Leo Ogor of padding the budget with N284 billion.

    Enang and Kawu declined to give details of their meeting with the APC leadership, saying they have been asked not to comment on the issue.

    Enang said: “I am here on the invitation of the leadership of the APC with my colleague to bring answers to issues raised by the party on the 2016 Appropriation and we have been with the party for a little over three hours. We have given explanation to them on every issue and told them that there was nothing, to our knowledge, like padding of the budget.

    “The budget as assented to by Mr. President is the budget as passed by the National Assembly and that is the budget being executed.

    “But as at now, the party is handling it as a domestic issue, and all of us are enjoined not to make public comment on the details because the matter is still under consideration.

    “So, that is what we will want to say for now, we will not want to go into the details of it so that we will not breach the ethics of the party, the directives of the party or pre-empt anything or any outcome from the party investigation”

    Asked of the Presidency’s feeling about the issue, he said: “I will want to say that we came here as persons who work as liaison officers on the budget because the party had questions for us and we came to make clarifications on the issues raised.

    “We have made those clarifications and would not want to draw any conclusion. Please let us not go too far by mentioning any office. Let it be that the two of us have appeared before the party

    “In all our years of legislative engagement , we are yet to find in the legislative lexicon the word ‘padding’. When the budget is presented before the legislature, the legislature is to consider the budget and pass it as they deem fit. So what the legislature pass becomes the appropriation upon assent. Therefore, any word which is yet to crystalise in legislative lexicon, you cannot hear us mention it”.

    Health Services Committee Chairman Chike Okafor yesterday alleged that Jibrin is determined to implicate every member who attempts to defend the House on the scandal.

    Okafor is one of the seven committee chairmen Jibrin accused of padding the budget with 2000 fictitious projects worth N284billion.

    Okafor said he was attacked because of his refusal to manipulate a N1billion cottage hospital project in favour of Bebeji/Kiru Federal constituency which Jibrin represents.

    Okafor said Jibrin’s inconsistency could be noticed from his failure to differentiate between the standing committees and their responsibilities.

    According to him, Jibrin probably, out of mischief failed to recognise that the house has three committees oversighting the Health sector.

    He also explained that Jibrin took on him for daring to go on national television to defend the House integrity on padding.

    Okafor said: “I want to believe that the reason I am being mentioned by Jibrin was because I refused his demand that a N1 billion cottage hospital be diverted from the police to his constituency.

    “He came to me saying that I should concede a N1billion project to his constituency. I out rightly refused, explaining to him that health allocation was inadequate in the first place.

    “To the suprise of our joint Committees, we found a N500m health project in Bebeji/Kiru Federal constituency that was not approved by us.

    “The allocation for that project should be of interest to Nigerians because Health allocation in the budget was not affected, so the question is where did he get the allocation for that project from”.

     

  • Presidency: London Telegraph backing Boko Haram terrorism

    Presidency: London Telegraph backing Boko Haram terrorism

    •Says Boko Haram, not Fed Govt, to blame for IDPs’ camps

    The Presidency, yesterday, accused the London Telegraph of strengthening Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, faulted July 30 and April 12 publications of the newspaper on the Boko Haram insurgency and Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs’) camps.

    It said the reports were false.

    The statement reads: “The London Telegraph’s article ‘Children Face Death by Starvation in Northern Nigeria’ (July 30) repeats a claim from an earlier piece, ‘Nigeria Using UK Aid to Persecute President’s Political Foes’ (April 12) – that Nigeria is diverting UK aid money away from defeating the Islamist terror group, Boko Haram, towards those the newspaper identifies as political opponents of the administration. This is as incorrect as it is unhelpful.

    “These claims in both articles are attributed to an unnamed ‘source’ in the United States, and ‘Western officials’. Yet when the first article was published, it drew the condemnation of the U.S. Embassy in Abuja as having drawn conclusions directly opposite to the position of the U.S. government.”

    Against claims by the report, the statement said the UK government did not give development aid to the Federal Government for use in military operations against Boko Haram.

    It noted that where British military support, such as intelligence, is provided, it is precisely and only given for operations directly against Boko Haram.

    The Federal Government, the statement said, could not divert aid money used for emergency relief for refugees or IDP camps to any other purpose as they are dispensed directly by DFID, USAID, United Nations, International Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, and other organisations.

    It said: “The humanitarian situation in these camps is real. The administration remains deeply concerned about the medical, health and nutrition challenges and we are doing everything with the limited resources we have at our disposal to improve the situation.

    “However, the blame for the plight of refugees lies with Boko Haram. They are its cause, not the Federal Government.

    “In the light of efforts, we regret the attack on the UN humanitarian convoy in the Northeast and are encouraged by the world body’s determination to continue rendering assistance to the displaced victims.

    “That the attack was repelled by Nigerian troops escorting the convoy shows precisely how the Federal Government and humanitarian agencies are working together,” it added

    The Presidency said the claim that the Buhari administration was targeting Christians and the opposition were without foundation.

    Since assuming office, the statement said President Buhari treated Nigerians without bias for ethnicity or religion as the composition of his cabinet and the policies and programmes have demonstrated.

    It said: “To suggest his government as deepening Muslim-Christian division is not only untrue, but plays into the hands of Boko Haram, which wishes to divide Nigerians along religious lines. Fighting this group is the key priority of President Buhari’s administration.

    “Indeed, the international community has widely acknowledged his determination to defeat terrorism in Nigeria and the entire Lake Chad Basin.

    “There is nothing to gain by attempting to mould public opinion against these facts. Therefore we invite The Telegraph to visit Nigeria: to witness first hand not only the challenges we face, but the Administration’s determination to confront them.”

     

  • Presidency won’t shut door on dialogue with militants

    Presidency won’t shut door on dialogue with militants

    The Presidency said last night that dialogue with Niger Delta militants is not foreclosed.

    Attacks on oil facilities have affected production and the country’s earnings. This year’s budget has taken some bashing — no thanks to the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), a group of militants.

    Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina spoke on the slow pace of the budget implementation and the dialogue option in a Channels Television phone-in programme.

    According to him, the dwindling revenue from sale of crude oil, among other factors, is hindering smooth implementation of the budget.

    He noted that President Muhammadu Buhari had never been opposed to dialogue with the militants.

    He said that it would be in the militants’ interest and other Nigerians’ for them to exercise some restraint by halting their nefarious activities.

    Adesina said: “Yes, the budget has been passed. The intention is to implement that budget as best as possible. But then the circumstances are making it difficult because projections are not being met as a result of what is happening in the Niger Delta and other parts of the economy.

    “But as much as possible the government would still adhere to that project as much as revenue will permit and allow.

    “Every option is on the table, there was never a time anything was ruled out, all the options were on the table, you will recall that when some South South leaders visited the President led by King Alfred Diete-Spiff, he also disclosed that he had encouraged the security agencies to dialogue with the militant and the leadership of that region.

    “So there was never a time that anything was ruled out, since the insurgency began there had always been dialogue,”Adesina stated

  • Dogara: I’m not aware of cabal in Presidency

    Dogara: I’m not aware of cabal in Presidency

    House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara spoke at the weekend in Lagos on the fight against corruption, the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy Ike Ekweremadu, among other issues. OLUKOREDE YISHAU was there.

    You will recall that the fight against corruption is one of the cardinal promises that Mr President made before assumption of office. He had course to say that we have to kill corruption before corruption kills us and I know he is committed to fighting corruption to a standstill. The process of doing that has become a subject of concern to some people. The EFCC is actually the agency, as we all know, that is in charge of this fight and if you look at what it has done so far, there is even a discussion as to whether they are proceeding in the right direction and whether it is not time for us to sit down and do an assessment of how the fight has been in view of the fact that in the last one year, I do not think there has been any major conviction. And it has always been a case of this person has been arrested and detained and some things have been done or he has been charged to court and then the story ends there. Whether if we continue like this we will succeed in fighting corruption, only God knows. If the end is just to arrest people, charge them to court and thereafter nothing happens, no one is convicted; because conviction, even if you are not jailed, has a way of deterring people. The fact that you are carrying that negative appellation as a former convict has the potential to deter people from corruption in the future.

    But if I am just arrested, charged to court and maybe some money recovered from me and at the end of the day, nothing happens, a lot of people may not be deterred in the future from engaging in corrupt practices. But if you look at the massive looting of the treasury, actually, I have been in government for quite some time, I never, never, could have imagined the scale of corruption that we are witnessing right now where people took lots of money running into billions and buried them in farms. As we are speaking now, they are recovering monies from someone’s farm somewhere around Abuja. It is very unfortunate when people stole money just for the sake of stealing. If you were the one who was in charge of fighting corruption, you would have even been shocked by the scale of the problem.

    And I guess part of the problem we have is that the scale of the problem far outweighs the anticipation of the agencies. So, if care is not taken in the process, we may not get things right. They will have to keep their heads level to be able to be in charge of this fight and to do it effectively.

     

    Alleged selective war against corruption

    On the question of one-sided approach, if we are talking about corruption, naturally, it will relate to those that had opportunity to serve in government. You will recall that, especially, that the PDP has been in power for a number of years, more than a decade and if you were to weigh members of opposition that are in government now and had opportunity to serve, those that would have tendencies to engage in pilfering of resources, majority will come from PDP, except we are not being realistic. Even though we can’t claim that all the members of APC are saints, you pointed out that APC spent money in the course of the campaign, but where did this money come from? Because as it is, we haven’t really had any had facts about government officials forwarding money to the cause of the campaign. Majority of the money that was stolen was channeled towards the PDP campaign.

    You know that this arms purchase monies, for instance, virtually everything was given for the prosecution of PDP campaign. I do not think a dime went to any member of the APC. We were all in government then. I can’t remember a discussion like that then but I knew when some of the funds were being given to some of our friends as well but I believe that no one that is of APC stock was given that money. The whole thing was scripted.

    I don’t think the fight has really been one-sided. If you recall, one of the closest aides to the president, when he was picked up, everyone was shocked that that man could be picked up. He had been one of the most dutiful, one of the people that is very, very close to the president. Yet, he wasn’t spared when evidence was adduced that he benefitted from it and he had to refund the money. And recently, one of the closest people to the Villa as well, was picked up, he has been detained and questioned. Some recoveries were made from him and if the intention was that the fight should be one-sided, I can guarantee you that if it were to be a case that would have sacred cows, these two amply qualify as sacred cows that should not be touched.

    I sincerely believe that the problem is that of evidence. If there is anybody in the APC government that perpetuated corruption and didn’t get dealt with, it could be that there is no evidence before the government right now and I know that there will be more that will come under serious searchlight of the anti-graft agencies and it doesn’t matter where they are. One thing I will say is that in a civil society, what is important is the issue of justice. Justice comes first even before the issue of wealth, of power and everything. Following from justice is wealth and equality. Without that, you cannot even have democracy. So, for us to succeed really, we have to apply the rules across board. It doesn’t matter if you are a member of the ruling party or in opposition, if you are corrupt, you have to be dealt with.

    In Nigeria, politics is not a straitjacket approach; it is not that if I am in APC, I am going to remain in APC forever or if I am in PDP, I am going to be in PDP forever just like it is in other jurisdictions. There are frequent cases of cross-carpeting which will still happen but if the case were that if you are a member of APC you will not face prosecution, I believe that more members would have cross-carpeted to APC right now. So, it is a question of perception.

     

    Senate forgery case

    On the Senate forgery case, so much has happened. By virtue of my training, when a matter is in court, I really do not want to offer an opinion on it because as we say, it is subjudice. But I must say that there is an importance attached to all these institutions of democracy, where you have the case of government’s power being carved out and vertically or horizontally shared. They are all for some purposes. I believe that the National Assembly in any country is the bastion of democracy. Where you do not have an independent National Assembly, you definitely will have some kind of totalitarian tendencies in the government. In the past, there has been stability in regards to the work of the judiciary and the executive because usually, during military regimes or intervention, the institution that was suspended was the National Assembly and for obvious reasons. The body that now makes the law is the executive body. Ours is a democracy that is still evolving, it is not as nascent as it used to be but we still have a lot to learn.

    If the goal is that they want to strangle the parliament, then definitely, we are going to run into serious problems and that will be an affront, a serious affront, on democracy and that will be totally unacceptable. But since the matter is in court, it doesn’t mean that when allegations are made, that they are true. It doesn’t. A lot of people have been charged to court before and at the end of the day, insufficient evidence is given. And in a case of forgery, forgery is a criminal offence and the standard of proof, the burden of proof is beyond reasonable doubt. The Senate has spoken, it is an issue that all of us, including the Senate and the House of Representatives, will have to really sit down and analyse. As it is, I haven’t really seen the papers. I haven’t seen the charges, I don’t know whether they are grounded or not but I have asked, as a lawyer too, that I needed to see the nature of the evidence against the presiding officers that are being charged to court in a case of forgery. And if there is a compelling case, we won’t say he should be exempted because we are legislators.

    I know that right now, there is an ongoing discussion about the propriety or otherwise of immunity being given to presiding officers of the National Assembly. I have had attacks on the social media and the conventional media. A lot of people have expressed divergent views. So, if the view is that we are not entitled to immunity, then it will mean that we are conferring some kind of legitimacy on this kind of trial because in the future, we cannot stop any government that says it wants to proffer charges against a presiding officer and at the end of the day, if the goal is really to emasculate the National Assembly, that will easily be attained. But like I said, without an independent, effective National Assembly, there is bound to be problems in any given democracy. This thing was said long ago, long, long ago by Lord Acton, when he said “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

    A lot of people believe why do we have the a Senate and the House of Representatives? Why can’t we even have one house? But like they say, if you think that education is expensive, why don’t you try ignorance? There are reasons behind the creation of all these institutions. Social scientists sat, they looked at the act of governance and said, “look, this is the best way to guarantee liberty”. Their first task was that a free person can engage in virtually everything, in wealth generation, he can use his freedom to advance democracy and they were careful not to compromise individual liberties and they crafted this system of government to make sure that leaders are made to be true to the oath of their offices. And when there is compromise or an attempt to strangulate these departments of government, you will find out that the government does not function effectively.

    So, if there is no basis, serious basis, justifiable basis, for preferring the charge, I believe that the accusation by the Senate may ultimately be right. That is the situation as I have seen myself. The matter is in court, we will allow the judiciary to do their work and I sincerely believe that if they are guilty as they are alleged, that the proof of evidence will disclose any material allegation against them, then they will be free and we will continue to do the work we do in parliament without fear of any intimidation.

     

    Allegation of government within government

    I guess the allegation of government within government came against this charge that was preferred against the President of the Senate and the Deputy Senate President. We deal with the issues based on perception and sometimes, based on the light that is available to us. The Senate President has his own sources of information. He is a close watcher of development of government; he has been in the system far longer than myself and so, for him to have made this allegation, it means he had seen certain things or certain trends that lent credence to what he said. But that is ultimately within the purview of the light that is available to him. In my own case, I cannot say that I have seen a situation where a cabal that sits in government can make a decision. I don’t know, but I believe that since he is the one that said it, he will be in a better position to throw light on this and I wish he were here so that he can better educate us on this government within a government.

    Like I said, his reach in government is far wider than mine. So, obviously he will observe certain things, know certain things, be aware of certain things that I may not be aware of. He has said there is a cabal, that there is a government within a government, so I believe that in due course, he will educate us more, throw more light into it and maybe we can unveil the cabal. That is a job journalists can really do effectively.

     

    One year of APC government

    Now, the achievement of APC in the last one year. Fortunately, I am not Lai Mohammed, I don’t speak for the government. I am a legislator but I can’t run away from the fact that it is our government and whether I am speaker or not, I have to apply my mind as a politician to what we are doing and whether we are getting it right.

    I would say that a lot has been spoken about the fight against corruption, which is very important to ensure that the meager resources that we have are not frittered away and there is an ongoing discussion as well as to the effectiveness of the war against insurgency in the Northeast which has helped to improve security in the land. In those days, there were even fears of Boko Haram making incursions into safe cities like Lagos. I think they even attempted. But right now, we don’t have that kind of situation. So, security has been enhanced.

    When you talk of the economy, it is something that we will have to look at closely. I sincerely believe we need a very strong team that will superintend our economy because we are faced with dire challenges like this, we have to do something.

    When Obama came into government in the U.S., there was virtual collapse of the economy at that time. He had to look for serious-minded people who sat and charted a way out of that crisis. I sincerely believe that in Nigeria as well, we are rich in diverse ways. If we can put together a solid team to manage this economy, it doesn’t matter, I don’t think under Obasanjo we had the oil boom, we were earning far less than what we did subsequently, but we were able to manage the meagre resources we had. So, I sincerely believe it is just a matter of management and if we are able to get the right people in place, we will be able to swim through these dangerous waters. But as it, as they say, we are in the waters, and everything seems to be heading south. Things seem to be defying the traditional way of resolving these kind of problems. So, we need new methods. We need a strong team to really be in charge of the economy.

    In terms of progress, progress cannot be made without appropriation. If we recall, the budget was passed not long ago, and I had cause to talk about the Procurement Act yesterday (Friday). If you are to procure, by the standard of the laws that we have in place, it will take you, in some cases, minimum of six months. So, we are looking at the possibility of amending the Procurement Act itself because this is the only way we can guarantee that money is pumped into the economy because right now, if you have the money, you want to pay for procurement, the procurement process is just on and it will be close to November, judging by the standard that we have in place, for this procurement process to be complete and before you start drawing out the money, it is almost December. This has been the process and I think it is unacceptable. So, very soon, we are coming up with an amendment to the Procurement Act in two respects. One, to shorten the procurement process to a maximum of two months because now, there is virtually nothing that you can not get on Google. All you need to do now is Google prices and it will give you virtually everything. I don’t see any reason why you will spend six months doing analysis, financial bids, technical bids and all those kind of things when you can sit down with your laptop and in a few hours you are done.

    We want to reduce the procurement process and then the issue of payment of mobilisation, which is another big problem. It is pegged at 15 per cent and we believe it is unduly restricted, more so that we have this forex crisis right now. If you have a contract with offshore element, 15 per cent of your payment may not even procure a half or even a quarter of what you need. We want a situation where we will raise the bar to not more than 50 percent. The Procurement entity will apply its discretion in saying this contract has some offshore elements, let’s pay 40 per cent, 45 per cent or the maximum of 50 per cent to the contractor or say, everything will be locally sourced; so, let’s pay 15 or 20 per cent. At least, we want to give procurement entities discretion with which to operate.

    So, I guess one year may be a small period of time for us to begin to assess the progress of this government. We have not even started implementing the budget in its true sense and that will be done after procurement processes are over. That is one of the challenges that we have have on ground.

     

    Malami and  Senate

    Whether we should approach the court and ask for interpretation of our powers to summon ministers, I don’t think that is in doubt. The provision of the Constitution is manifestly and patently clear about powers in pursuance of a resolution published in a gazette. In the case of Diezani, what she did was a clever way of saying there was no publication in a gazette and so we had not complied with the constitutional provision to compel her. That was neither here nor there but the constitution is very clear that in pursuance to our resolution published in a gazette we can invite any authority in Nigeria or any place to give evidence in clear exercise of our legislative powers. It is manifestly provided for in our constitution. We will see what we can if it is necessary to approach the court again, maybe the Supreme Court, to say make a pronouncement on this. By if you have a clear crystal definition of the law like that and someone who is a lawyer says he is not bound by that, maybe the same discussion will arise even if the Supreme Court says “look, you are bound to appear if you have been summoned before parliament”.

    What we should correct more in Nigeria is this culture of impunity. It is not a question of law, it is just a matter of when an individual feels that to some extent, I can manoeuvre my way through the system so I’m not bound by the provisions of the law.

    The attorney-general has had cause to appear before committees of the National Assembly in the past, especially when we were dealing with the issues of Kogi State, MTN and others. So, it is a bit strange to say he is not going to honour Senate’s invitation because he is not answerable to them. It is left for him to explain but like they say in law, you cannot approbate and reprobate.

     

    Amnesty Programme

    With regards to amnesty, I don’t think the government has stopped the Amnesty Programme. The contention, as I heard, is that the funds appropriated were not enough. It is not the case that there is an outright ban on Amnesty Programme. All of us believe that this is the right way to approach this. We were in government when this decision was taken and we sincerely believe that it provides a great window for managing this crisis in the Niger Delta, so it is not one of the things the executive can simply wish away without some dire consequences.

  • Why private sector is not on economic management team, by Presidency

    Why private sector is not on economic management team, by Presidency

    The Presidency explained  yesterday why the private sector is not represented on the Economic Management Team, headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    In an interview with reporters in Abuja, the Vice President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, said the administration considered the management of the economy as government’s responsibility.

    He said the government did not believe in having private sector representation on the economic team, which will make them part of decisions they will benefit from.

    He said: “We have to understand that the attitude of the Presidency is to consider the management of the economy as a government responsibility. It is not something that the government believes should be done by bringing in some private interests into the economic team to take a decision that they will be involved with.

    “So our stand is that the management of the economy is a government responsibility,” he added

    But he said the private sector was not completely left out, as other stakeholders are regularly engaged by the government.

    He said: “For instance, we have started meeting on a constant basis with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN). There have been meetings with arms of the economic sector of the country. There have been meetings with the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) and some other economic interests with companies, making presentations.

    “But generally, this is a government team and the team has been able to set out before the budget trying to figure out what the budget ought to focus on. After the budget was presented and signed, there was also the publication of the strategic implementation plan, which was produced in a reader friendly format.

    “These are outcomes of what the Economic Management Team does and it is also on the team that you have the heap of the physical and monetary policy and don’t forget that the monetary policy is always the duty and responsibility of the Central Bank, which is an economic arm of government.” he added

    Noting that past administrations did not save money for the raining day, he said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was working hard to rebuild the economy.

    He said the administration has changed the direction of the economy and that Nigerians would start seeing better things from the government.

    The senior special assistant said the social welfare schemes of the administration were slightly delayed due to delay in the passage of the 2016 Budget.

    Akande denied reports claiming that illegal recruitments were going on in some government agencies, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

    “Some of these reports are inaccurate. What we heard is that government is working to ensure that we develop going forward in a more transparent process. We are committed in going forward to ensure that some of these procedures are refined, finetuned and made to become more transparent.”

  • Presidency: Why private sector not in economic management team

    Presidency: Why private sector not in economic management team

    The Presidency on Thursday gave reasons why the Economic Management Team headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has no private sector representation.

    Similar economic teams in the past administrations usually have private sector representatives on such government team.

    In an interview with journalists in Abuja, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, said that the administration considers the management of the Nigerian economy as government’s responsibility.

    According to him, the government did not believe in having private sector representation in the economic team, which will make them part of decisions that will directly benefit from.

    He said: “We have to understand that the attitude of this Presidency is to consider the management of the economy as a government responsibility. It is not something that this government believes should be done by bringing in some of the private interests into the economic team to take a decision that they will be directly involved with.

    “So our stand is that the management of the economy is a government responsibility,” he added.

    But he explained that the private sector is not completely left out as other stakeholders are regularly engaged by the government.

    He said: “For instance, we have started meeting on constant basis with Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN). There have been meetings with arms of the economic sector of the country. There have been meetings with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and some other economic interests with companies, making presentations.

    “But generally, this thing is a government team and the team has been able to set out before the budget trying to figure out what the budget ought to focus on. After the budget was presented and eventually signed, there was also the publication of the strategic implementation plan which was produced in a reader friendly format.

    “All of these are the outcomes of what Economic Management Team does and it is also in the team that you have the heap of the whole physical and monetary policy and don’t forget that the monetary policy is always the duty and responsibility of the Central Bank which is an economic arm of government,” he added.

    Noting that the past administrations did not save money for the raining day, he said that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has been working hard to rebuild the economy.

    He said that the administration has already changed the direction of the Nigerian economy and that Nigerians will soon start seeing better things from the government.

    He also disclosed that the social welfare schemes of the administration were slightly delayed due to delay in the passage of the 2016 Budget.

    Akande also denied the reports claiming that illegal recruitments were going on in some government agencies Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

    “Some of these reports are inaccurate. What we heard is that government is working to ensure that we develop going forward in more transparent process. We are committed in going forward to ensure that some of these procedures are refined, fine-tuned and made to become more transparent,” he said.