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Tag: PRESIDENCY

  • Presidency submitted fake 2016 budget – Senate panel

    Presidency submitted fake 2016 budget – Senate panel

    The drama trailing the 2016 budget in the Senate continued Thursday with stunning assertions by the Senate leadership.

    The troubling revelations came after over two hour closed session where the lawmakers were said to have “thoroughly discussed and taken far reaching decisions on the budget.

    After the closed session, Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, announced that the secret meeting centered on the controversy surrounding the 2016 Appropriation Bill.

    He also recalled that they mandated the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to investigate the matter in order for the Senate to take an informed position.

    Saraki then dropped the bombshell.

    He said that the Senate discovered from the findings of its Ethics committee that the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matter, Senator Ita Enang, printed and submitted to the Senate a different version of the 2016 budget.

    He said that what Enang submitted to the Senate was against the original copy of the Appropriation Bill presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 22, 2015.

    Saraki did not stop there.

    He said that the Senate resolved not to work with a version of the Appropriation Bill not laid before the National Assembly.

    He added that the Senate also resolved to consider only the version of Bill presented by President Buhari as soon as they receive soft copy of the original document from the Executive.

    He said, “We have received the report of the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions on investigations surrounding 2016 Appropriation Bill.

    “Our finding is that Senator Ita Enang, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matter (SSA) printed copies of the 2016 Appropriation Bill and brought to the Senate.

    “We have discovered that what he brought is different from the version presented by Mr. President.

    “We have resolved to consider only the version presented by Mr. President as soon as we receive soft copy of the original document from the Executive.”

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi also addressed reporters immediately after Senate plenary to throw more light on the claim of a fake budget.

    Abdullahi spoke in company with the Vice Chairman of his committee, Senator Ben Murray – Bruce.

    He said, “We are here to update you on an issue that has been awash in the media. We are here in continuation of what we have said earlier that the report about a missing budget is not true.

    “We don’t have a budget that is missing and we still maintain that we don’t have a budget that is missing.

    “But you recall that the Senate President did inform Nigerians that there is issue that a committee was asked to investigate.

    “The report of the investigation by the committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition has been submitted in the Executive session because it was a decision we took in the last Executive session on Tuesday.

    “Now our findings are this, that Mr. President did lay the budget in the Joint session of the National Assembly.

    “Thereafter, the Senate went on recess and upon resumption copies of the document were produced by Senator Ita Enang, who is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters for Senate and copies were submitted to both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

    “What we found out is that the document submitted by Senator Ita Enang upon our resumption has some differences and discrepancies with what was originally laid by Mr. President in the joint sitting of the National Assembly.

    “However, the Senate in defence in its integrity and honour will not work with what has not been laid in the National Assembly.

    “We are constitutionally mandated and duty bound to consider only that budget that has been so laid by Mr. President.

    “Right now, for reproduction, we are awaiting the soft copy of the originally submitted budget so that the National Assembly can reproduce copies of the budget itself.

    “Because if we reproduce ourselves, then we have confidence in the fact that what we reproduced is what was originally submitted to us.

    “The institution of the Senate will not and cannot do anything that is illegal. We will not do anything that will not promote the unity, integrity and welfare of Nigerians.

    “Some people were saddled with the responsibility to find out what happened.”

    Abdullahi reiterated that “the budget submitted by the President is not missing, “we already have copies of it but what we are saying is that for us to reproduce for our members, it is easier, based on the quantum of document that has to be produced, that we get the soft copy of that original version so that we can reproduce it.”

    He insisted that “by next week, we want to go down to business, Senators have picked dates to speak during the three days set aside for debate of the 2016 budget.”

    Abdullahi also said that the Senate leadership was mandated to speak with all those concerned with the document saying “that was why the Senate President was in touch with Mr. President.”

    The Senate spokesperson however refused to speak on the claim by the House of Representatives that it had its own original version of the fiscal document.

    He also declined to say what amounted to the differences spotted in the version of the budget submitted by Enang and the original version presented by President Buhari.

    “I am not in the position to say the differences between the document submitted by the President and the one brought by Ita Enang. The committee that investigated the issue did not include that in their report,” he claimed.

    Abdullahi said that as at the time the Senate President promised to make copies of the budget available to Senators Thursday, “he was working on the assumption that what were brought by the executive were copies of the original copies submitted by Mr. President.”

    He noted that “but based on the outcry, it was discovered that there are another version different from what the President gave us.”

    The man at the centre of the controversy, Senator Ita Enang, refused to respond to what the Senate President said.

    Enang told anxious reporters who crowded his office that he does not want to join issue with the Senate.

     

  • 2016 budget not withdrawn, Presidency insists

    2016 budget not withdrawn, Presidency insists

    The Presidency yesterday said the 2016 Appropriation Bill presented to a joint session of the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari, was not withdrawn as being speculated.

    Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters Senator Ita Enang made the clarification in an interview with reporters in Abuja.

    Enang explained that for the fiscal document to be withdrawn there were procedures through communication.

    He agreed that the document could be reworked behind-the-scenes after the second reading.

    “To my knowledge, the budget as laid by Mr. President on December 22, 2015, is still with the National Assembly and has not be withdrawn. If it is to be withdrawn, there is always a communication and budget is not a sensitive thing that it cannot be dealt with behind-the-scenes. It can be worked on behind-the-scenes after the second reading. After second reading the different committees can work on it but it has not been read a second time.”

    Senateý Leader Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume also insisted that the document was not withdrawn.

    Ndume, however, said the document could be adjusted by either the Presidency or the National Assembly before its passage into law, if there was need for such adjustment.

    Ndume, who spoke to reporters in Abuja, said: “It is impossible to withdraw the budget, it is not a document that you can just write and say you are withdrawing it.

    “The budget proposal that has been laid at a joint session of the National Assembly cannot just be withdrawn.

    “However, a budget proposal is not a document that is sacrosanct, you can adjust it and this is why it is before us. During the budget defence, it can be adjusted, if need be”

    Also speaking on the alleged withdrawal of the budget, Chairman, Senate Committee on Works Senator Kabiru Gaya said: “I don’t think it has been withdrawn but whatever the case is, the figure of the budget will not change.

    “Mostly, it is adjustment of priority projects. During the media chat, the President mentioned some few projects, especially some important roads in the country.

    “It is possible that some of the roads may not have been reflected in the budget. There is no way if the President speaks on something, that may be part of his campaign promises and I think, he will try and do it.

    “He also spoke about the railway and that there is a counterpart funding to be put in to the project. So if the figure under the subhead is not defined, then he has the right to readjust it and bring it back to us.

    “The adjustment can also be done even while we are still discussing the budget. Once the main figure did not change, it is possible to make the adjustment.

    “Both chambers of the National Assembly will, for instance, tinker with the figures especially as it affects overheads.

    “If we are cutting 30 per cent from the National Assembly budget, then it has to be done,  pro rata. We must cut across 30 per cent across the agencies, the ministries and all government parastatals.

    “There are duplication of figures, such as purchase of computers. When all duplications are discovered, it is necessary to take them out.”

     

  • State of budget, by Presidency

    State of budget, by Presidency

    The 2016 Budget is still in the works, the Presidency has said.

    A top official said the media speculations about the allocations to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are incorrect because the final tally of such allocations is still being tinkered with by the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.

    The official said: “Some of the figures being bandied in news reports are probably from some of the working documents which officials of the ministry are working with.”

    President Muhammadu Buhari on December 29, last year presented a budget estimate of N6.08 trillion to a joint sitting of the National Assembly.

    The budget is predicated on a capital expenditure of  N1.8 trillion – an increase of over 300 per cent from the 2015 vote of N557 billion.

    Other highlights of the budget are: Recurrent expenditure slashed to 70%, a deficit of N1.8 trillion to be financed by domestic and foreign borrowings.

    It also projects the recovery of N350 billion looted cash, pegs oil benchmark at $38 per barrel and fixes the exchange rate at N198/$. The budget expects a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 4.37 per cent.

    Some of the reports on the budget in the media indicate that the government intends to spend N39 billion in running the Office of the President with major allocations going to BMW cars purchase at N3.9 billion and N189 million to change tyres for some specified vehicles in the Presidency.

    The Presidency has also been reported to have allocated about N1.4 billion to presidential travels.

    The State House has also been reported to have estimated N27 billion for foodstuff.

    The reports also state that the State House plans to spend N27. 5 million on computers and N764.7 million on recreational activities.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Mallam Garba Shehu, urged the media to exercise patience until the National Assembly gets the details of the budget.

    Shehu said: “When the National Assembly returns from recess, the lawmakers will be given the full estimates of the budget, including what is voted for each department, ministries and agencies. What is voted for the State House will also be included.

    “Some of these figures being quoted are strange to us.”

  • Buhari presidency: Where we stand

    It’s the end of one year and the beginning of another. In the past seven months, we have had the Buhari presidency. Predictably, his is probably one of the most important presidencies in the history of our country. So where do we stand today?  Buhari started his bid for the presidency with a big promise of change. His credentials for change were good and impressive. Moreover, the circumstances made him supremely believable. Most of us Nigerians were simply embarrassed to be ruled by a presidency that had become a byword for lack of thinking, planning, doing and achieving. So when Buhari with his history of opposition to corruption stepped on the scene, most of us were ready to believe.

    Today we can say that we are not disappointed. Buhari does sincerely hate and despise corruption. He consistently demonstrates that through his rhetoric and his actions. So what do we expect from his war against corruption? He waged war against it before as a military dictator but the barons of corruption raised up another military dictator to boot him out. Today he is fighting corruption as an elected leader of a democratic government. Can we expect better results than before? Of course we hope so, but the facts in front of us tarnish that hope somewhat. The barons of corruption are still very much at work and are achieving a measure of success against Buhari from various directions. Manifestly, they have recruited the National Assembly as their allies. They are also using the legal system to resist the Buhari anti-corruption agenda. They are evidently determined to maintain their position and the benefits accruing therefrom. So it is beginning to look to observers, that the role of Buhari in the war against corruption in our country may be only that of a forerunner. He may be the man who will re-awaken the awareness of the importance of anti-corruption as well as invigorate our hope that corruption can be beaten. Meanwhile, what the future may hold in store is that a young passionate patriot may somehow step into the presidency and proceed to do for Nigeria what Jerry Rawlings did for Ghana. That is gather the richest, the most recalcitrant and the most influential barons of corruption and line them up before a firing squad. It would appear, unfortunately, that nothing less will rid this nation of the scourge of such deep rotted corruption in the high places of our land. If that is what our future brings, we must not forget, then, that there had been a man called Buhari who inspired us never to give up the fight against corruption. That seems likely to be the heritage of Buhari in the history of our country.

    On the economic front, Buhari has stepped into the presidency at a most difficult moment. Since about 1970, Nigeria’s rulers have built Nigeria’s whole economic life on the assumption that crude oil will forever pump floods of revenue into our national coffers. Building on that assumption, they progressively neglected other resources of our country. They also systematically distorted our federation, accumulated all power and resource control in the hands of federal government and took away from our states all capabilities to champion and promote development in their domains. Ultimately they have turned our states into beggars, ever waiting for doles from federal government. They have turned governance in our states into merely taking financial allocation from Abuja and dispensing it. The result is that poverty has been enthroned in our lives. Education has collapsed in our state schools. Our youth is mostly alarmingly unemployed and un-provided for, our infrastructure has largely collapsed and our communities have deteriorated abominably. It is good to have a man of Buhari’s sincerity at the helm of affairs, but what can he achieve since the foundations have been so fearfully destroyed?

    We can all see that he faces serious challenges to needed action. One major challenge is the steep fall in the price of crude oil and the resulting revenues therefrom. From about $115 per barrel in mid 2014, oil is now selling for about $35 per barrel. Under the pressure, the naira is now declining precipitously – from about N180 per dollar just a few months ago to over N280 now. Inevitably, Nigeria’s borrowing capacity in the world is eroding out of hand, and so we must ask, what is the possible road ahead?

    Another challenge facing Buhari is one stubborn feature of our country’s political tradition. One section of our country insists on controlling everything in line with the system created by the British for us at independence. As we can all observe today, no matter how Nigerian-minded Buhari may be, he is still somewhat subject to the demands and expectations of the Arewa North. We saw this in his appointments into the non-ministerial positions in his presidency. After appointing northerners to almost all positions, he made the unfortunate statement that he had appointed only the persons known to him. Of course we know that Buhari is aware that his duty as president is to seek the best from all over the nation to fill such important posts. The feeling in other parts of the country is that he did so to satisfy the powerful Arewa North voices. Most Nigerians also believe that the way his party, the APC is being treated is also because he is trying to please the Arewa North. It looks as if certain forces are seeking to sideline the APC in the making and management of this presidency. And that is certainly not good for our country. Our system provides that a political party will put itself, its agenda and its candidates before us to vote for. After we have so voted, we are supposed to expect that the party will be fully part of the whole package of governance. The duty of our president is not merely to govern by the day, it is also to ensure orderly progression and growth to our future as a country. Operating the system as it is provided for in our constitution is critical to our future as a nation.

    Moreover it also appears that it is because President Buhari must yield to a section of our country that he is not responding at all to repeated demands for the restructuring of our federation. The demands come in daily from all areas and he has studiously abstained from touching the subject. Yet, restructuring is the key to a lot of the problems that we face now as a nation. To revamp our economy, we must now have a federation in which the states and their governments are dynamic centres and agencies of development. That means that we must show respect to our nationalities in the making of our states. It also means that we must redistribute power and resource control to give considerable power and capability to our states. This will also greatly advance the fight against corruption. Unfortunately our Arewa North leaders have consistently opposed these measures. Some of them have threatened to start a war rather than allow a disruption of the status quo. Most sections of Nigeria are saying that the status quo is untenable and President Buhari must respond to that. Some are even going as far as to threaten trouble for our country if these measures are not taken. Our President cannot continue to ignore these voices.

    President Buhari has earned himself many sincere friends across Nigeria. A decent man like him who so sincerely despises corruption deserves our respect and support. Therefore those of us who respect and support him must urge him to muster the courage to do the best by our country. That will make us very proud indeed.

  • Presidency rejects N750,000-an-Eaglet

    Presidency rejects N750,000-an-Eaglet

    A much lower proposal of N150,000  per player of the victorious Golden Eaglets has been tabled by the sports ministry after a proposal of N750,000 -a-player was rejected by the country’s Presidency as “too much”.

    It has already been reported that the Federal Government has rejected an initial proposal by the sports ministry to reward the Eaglets after they won a fifth FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile last month.

    This week, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has warned that next year will be rough for the country because of the poor economy and has moved to cut back drastically on government spendings.

    It would therefore be seen as double standards if the government now splashes a fortune on the schoolboy stars.

    “The proposal has been reviewed after the first rejection. We wait for the green light from the presidency on the date for the reception and the reward,” a sports ministry official disclosed.

  • PDP and the burden of Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency

    DAAR communications chairman, Raymond Dokpesi who is one of the major conveners of the South-South political movement that bolstered and galvanized the emergence of the region that produces the most wealth in Nigeria into national reckoning, recently allegedly voiced the opinion that PDP made a mistake in fielding GoodLuck Ebele Jonathan, GEJ as her presidential candidate in the last election.

    When the acolytes of the out gone president, particularly former presidential spokesman, Doyin Okupe, and PDP spokesman, Olisah Metuh, literarily ‘jumped into his throat’, Dokpesi decided to be politically correct by ‘clarifying’ that his statement was twisted out of contest by the opposition as it was actually directed at the lower rung of the PDP political spectrum, whom he accused of fielding unpopular candidates, hence the current reversal of the fortune of PDP from the ruling to opposition party.

    Dokpesi’s comment about GEJ’s unpopularity and unsuitability as presidential candidate in 2015, sounded familiar to me because somebody else had held that position and voiced out it boldly about five(5) years ago and it led to a vicious political persecution and loss of personal liberty.

    That person is former governor of delta state, James Onanefe Ibori who is now serving a jail term in a UK prison .

    His opposition to GEJ’s presidential ambition in 2010,on the ground that it was against the grand strategy by the PDP to return power to the north after residing for eight (8) years in the south, with Olusegun Obasanjo, OBJ as the custodian, was rebuffed and even drew the ire and bile of the ‘principalities and powers’ in  Aso Rock villa at that time.

    Ibori has always insisted that his opposition to those aiming to go against the well established PDP power rotation principle that held the party together like a glue is not personal but an altruistic commitment by a party loyalist to the sustenance of the PDP as the ruling party, but his plea, as it were, fell on deaf ears.

    Now,I know that some antagonists would argue that Ibori confessed to the crime of money laundering in the UK ,hence he is in incarceration, but we are all aware of the circumstances under which he did. His entire family-only sister, wife, daughter’s mother and lawyer were encircled and jailed, compelling him to capitulate.

    Also keep in mind that with the way Nigeria is wired, when the authority decides to ‘nail’ a public officer, there is hardly any escape from being found guilty of malfeasance, but if a person is enjoying the goodwill of the govt in power, he or she is accommodated like a blue eye prince and could therefore get away with murder with the authorities looking the other way.

    Take for instance the issue of the celebrated Halliburton, Siemens and other sundry multi million dollars acts of corruption involving former top Nigerian political office holders, that have earned foreigners involved in the crimes with them, prison terms, while the Nigerians are yet to be made to face the consequences. This is simply because the indicted Nigerian leaders are in the politically correct camp and as such arraigning them would rock Nigeria’s political boat. Another case in point is the recent call by SERAP, a civil society organization, on the new Attorney General and minister of justice , Abubakar Malami to prosecute the thirty one (31) state governors whom the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC reported as corrupt and which was accepted and adopted by the National Assembly, NASS in 2006.That 31 of the 36 governor’s were found guilty by EFCC of corruption, suggests that virtually all the governor’s in OBJ’s era have been tarred with same black brush, so singling out Ibori for persecution after the unfortunate passing away of former president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was a deliberate punishment.

    Similarly, another parallel can be drawn in the recent dismissal of fraud charges against former Bayelsa state governor, Timipreye Sylva by justice Adeniyi  Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja on the ground that arraigning the ex-governor three times on same charges (2012,2013 and 2015) after the cases had been discharged. This underscores the fact that l had made earlier that, govt can raise charges against a perceived enemy at their whims and caprices.

    It may be recalled that Sylva served only one term in Bayelsa state and was stopped from getting a second term ostensibly for fraud and incompetence but in reality, his political career was truncated for allegedly falling out of favor with the then occupiers of Aso Rock villa which is similar to what happened to James Ibori.

    By opposing GEJ’s intention to run for the office of the president in 2011,Ibori certainly stepped on sensitive toes and the rest as they say is history, as he is now on the last lap of his long incarceration, but what’s intriguing is that it took about half a decade for another party stalwart, Dokpesi who felt same way as Ibori to speak out, and even then he was quickly gagged and in the interest of peace he has modified his comment.

    Amazingly, even after the unfortunate catastrophic consequence that Ibori predicted would befall the PDP, should his caution against fielding Jonathan not be heeded has materialized, (as the PDP has now fallen from grace to grass at the March 28th presidential polls) no other current PDP member of considerable weight has voiced the concern publicly, so the sentiment about the calamity that Jonathan attracted to the PDP has remained in the realm of closet gossip.

    Strangely ,former PDP leaders whose opinion on the unsuitability of Jonathan for the presidency in 2015 in convergence with ibori’s position in 2011,include OBJ who had to tear up his PDP membership card in the full glare of TV cameras in protest and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar who also led five PDP governors out of Eagle square last year in protest before subsequently defecting to APC. So Ibori basically was the first to ‘bell the cat’ and he was slammed by the system.

    It is indeed a pity that, like Egyptian pyramids, evidence of not being visionary enough to steer the former ruling party away from the precipice was looming ,yet PDP bigwigs then and even those still left in the party, are still living in denial by pretending like an ostrich that buries its head in the sand, falsely believing that all her body are also cancelled, but unbeknown to the bird, (and in this case the PDP) its whole body except the head is sticking out like a sore thump.

    Events that threw up Goodluck Jonathan as the vice presidential candidate of the PDP in 2007 and  literarily thrusted him into national limelight, are still fresh in my memory because l was there when it was unraveling, nearly a decade ago as late Umaru Yar’Adua was being elected the presidential candidate of the PDP.

    Under the chilling cold harmattan  weather, at the Eagle Square, Abuja, l had the rare privilege of being the returning officer for late president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (2007-2010) who was then, Katsina state governor and presidential candidate of the PDP. Uche Secondus, the present acting PDP chairman would remember that event clearly because he was desirous of being the returning officer to Yar’Adua before l was detailed to perform the duty.

    The responsibility for being the returning officer to the presidential candidate was thrust upon me by , Yar’Adua who conveyed his request through, one of his close confidantes at that time, Abba Rumma who was later to become a super minister of the Yar’Adua era.

    I recall elder statesman, Tony Anenih , then chairman of PDP Board of Trustees pacing up and down in the Eagle Square courtyard following then president, OBJ inspired changes in PDP constitution stipulating that going forward, only ex-presidents would become the party’s Board Of Trustees, BOT chairman.

  • Reimagining the PMB presidency

    It has become apparent in this epoch that imagination is as lean as the president himself and ‘body language’ is fast becoming an effusion of body odour to the people. And just as ex-President Goodluck Jonathan was branded ‘Mr. Clueless’, and appropriately so, President Muhammadu Buhari is fast earning the moniker of ‘Mr. Fuddy-Duddy’ and it looks like it’s gonna stick. What a pity.

    However, the coming of a belated cabinet may well re-imagine this presidency and rescue it. The executive council formed more than six months after inauguration is no doubt a good pick taken together; if only this cabinet had been set up earlier. Imagine what might have been if we had this team at work since July, about six weeks after inauguration.

    Perhaps the most telling reason to confirm that the PMB presidency is in dire need of deep strategic support (and it needs to realise its acute deficiency) is the statement emanating from last Monday’s workshop organised by the National Democratic Institute (NDI). Represented by the new Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, PMB had blamed the delay in the take off of his government on the Goodluck Jonathan government.

    Hear PMB: “We expected comprehensive report on the state of the economy, the security situation, infrastructure development or deficit and social issues, among others in an atmosphere devoid of bitterness, confrontation and conflict.

    “What we got was the exact opposite of what we expected…The incoming government was completely left in the dark and only got handover notes four days before handover date.”

    One thought a handover note often comprised what the predecessor deemed important. It could come in tomes of a thousand volumes and it could also be only a few sheets. Whatever it may be, no new government with a clear vision would depend on his predecessor’s notes to initiate its actions. Again, we remember PMB told us he was taking his time to restructure; he also told us that he could work without ministers who are essentially noisome.

    One thought every new government must have clear ideas and the directions it wishes to go. What has a handover note got to do with the president appointing quality ministers in good time? Again, does it take so long for a new government to determine the true state of affairs of a country? All one needs do is to mandate the heads of the critical MDAs to generate the requisite reports in one week flat; and it is done.

    Blaming ex-President Jonathan after about nine months of beating him at the polls only lends credence to critics who think PMB has lost touch, or never had it. It is akin to a man who wins a trophy and complains that the loser would not teach him how to pop champagne or loft the silverware and jump for joy.

    Monday’s seeming faux pas may be considered the final denotation in a long narrative of inertia and lost opportunities of the PMB era. Coming on a groundswell of massive goodwill and popular desire for change, the change people are left with today may well be a few coins of disillusionment.

    For a country that literally offered the president a triumphant entry; for a people not only willing to do just anything but actually did everything to allow the president a grand entrée, the honeymoon is surely over now. The PMB government was running on what has been commonly called ‘body language’. In support and deference to the new government, Nigerians had over these few months endeavoured to do the right things even at their own detriment. Most people were acting on the expectation that the new government would latch on to such outpouring of goodwill and restructure certain fundamentals. But nothing of such has happened.

    One example is the petroleum sector, which was in a hail of crisis even as the president was inaugurated in May. Six months down the line, not a thought seems to have been spared on this matter of urgent national importance. What do we have today? The seeming reprieve granted by the stakeholders has been withdrawn, fuel is scarce once again across the country and PMB is about to pay a whopping N415 billion in so-called ‘subsidy’. And this is just the first tranche.

    How much does it cost to build a modern modular refinery? Assuming the president has no thoughts whatsoever on this absurd ‘subsidy’ conundrum before he ascended office, a panel of five, set up in June could have given him the answers he needed and he would have pronounced a clear direction on this ignoble ‘subsidy’ by the end of June. We would have long gone past the current crisis. Now we are back to the sorry days of ex-President Jonathan… with attendant sufferings for the people.

    Electricity supply is another sad example. The new owners of the distribution and generating companies who had begun to behave themselves upon the emergence of PMB, expecting a definitive new order, have simply reverted to their old ways, seeing neither spunk nor substance in PMB. Today, we are back to the old days of anything goes. Now in the middle of the dry season when power supply is needed most, what we have is sustained outages and sabotage. We are back to the Jonathan days… with attendant sufferings for the people.

    The latest we hear is that the presidency has ordered reassessment of the Gencos and Discos. We thought this was the natural action to have been taken in the first weeks of June. Every discerning person in the country could tell that though government divesting from power was salutary, the process was fraught with abuse and irregularities. Further, the new owners have continued to play pranks in the last two years, extorting the people and making little investment. If only PMB had ordered this ‘reassessment’ in July, we would be reaping results now. Today the people harvest woes and weariness.

    The war against graft has even turned out more vacuous, considering that it is the major plank of PMB emergence. Most of PMB’s energy seems to have been poured here, but not one person has been named, not to think of pulling anyone in for prosecution (apart from former NSA, Sambo Dasuki). Just a few days ago we were told that suspects were innocent until proven guilty. How profound! Six months after, we are still building up cases against those accused.

    How effective can that be with no Attorney-General and Minister of Justice? How can we fight graft with a smeared template? From one’s seat here in Lagos one can perceive the stench in graft agencies in faraway Abuja; there ought to have been a clearing out and cleansing in order to start on a clean slate. Can you clean with a dirty mop?

    Many Nigerians are truly apprehensive now about the PMB presidency and his ability to lead Nigeria out of the woods and back from the brink. The utter lack of urgency where speed is of essence is most frustrating. The ship of state is sinking, yet government struts as if it has 40 years to work. Now that a cabinet has been formed, it is hoped that purposeful activities will commence on all fronts.

    But who would lead change. PMB’s capacity is in doubt, yet he bugs himself down the more with the Petroleum Ministry as if he is going to go to the ministry and pore over files or go to the creeks and remark crude pump calibrations. Many are therefore apprehensive of the quality of vision available at the helm, thus individual brilliance would be key and perhaps engender competition.

    The party has not shown a brilliant core either. One thing that is certain, however, is that between the party, the president and the cabinet, there is need to re-imagine this epoch.

  • Presidency threatens to sanction CBN over Stanbic IBTC

    Presidency threatens to sanction CBN over Stanbic IBTC

    The presidency has threatened to sanction the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) if it is discovered that the errors observed in the financial statements of Stanbic IBTC are found to be true.

    This is contained in a letter written on Tuesday 10th November, 2015 by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) to the CBN governor in reaction to the earlier controversial letter written by the CBN.

    According to the FRC, the Presidency has promised to wield the big stick against the CBN “because the CBN approved the said financial statement before they were issued.”

    The explosive letter from the FRC had indicated that a meeting had been convened by the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Abba Kyari between the CBN governor Mr. Godwin Emefiele and the Executive Secretary of the FRC Mr. Jim Obaze in the presidential villa on the 29th of October, 2015.

    According to the letter, the Chief of Staff had instructed both the CBN and the FRC to come up with a harmonized position as two regulators on the review of the Stanbic IBTC’s financial statement for the years ended 31st December, 2013 and 2014.

    At the end of the meeting, the Chief of Staff directed that the CBN “should write to the management of Stanbic IBTC, directing them to stop all negative publicity being sponsored against the FRC. He directed you (CBN Governor) to send a copy of that letter to me (Jim Obaze of FRC and up Up till now, you are yet to send a copy of that letter to me).

    Abba Kyari also directed that “a team of CBN should visit Stanbic IBTC to review the records again to know whether the errors were due to oversight or incompetence or compromise; that the FRC should secure a written position on the matter from the external auditors of Stanbic IBTC and that the CBN Governor and the FRC Executive Secretary should agree on a date to meet thereafter and review the document received and reach a final decision.”

    The FRC in its letter accused the CBN of acting in bad faith and that the actions of the CBN were designed to embarrass the FRC. Obaze in his letter said the CBN in its letter had cleared Stanbic IBTC and maligned the FRC.

    On the financial issues raised by the CBN, Obazee in his letter to the Emefiele said the CBN “mixed up issues and eventually ended up with very wrong and hasty conclusions.” The FRC said its regulatory decision was for the purchase and assignment of a banking application software request made to NOTAP by Stanbic IBTC on July 3rd 2013 “which is another transaction other than the one the CBN letter addressed.”

    FRC then “wondered why the CBN is condoning and vehemently defending an unwholesome disclosure and reporting practice such as this. The only plausible reason will be that the CBN actually approved these financial statements.”

    Wrong classification of items of assets and liabilities (two of the three major elements of financial statements) the FRC said “could affect the economic decision of users, which implies that: “assets and liabilities figures do not reflect what they actually are and the financial statement misrepresents the true state of the company’s affairs.

    Qualitative characteristics of verifiability and comparability have been compromised; and the financial statements do not actually comply with IFRS.”

    Jim Obazee wrote that the FRC would “make bold to say that we acted within the provisions of the FRC Act, 2011 and the Inspectorate Unit Guidelines/Regulatory 2014. Since, the FRC is neither a department of the CBN nor a reporting agency to the CBN, we do not owe the CBN any explanation in this respect,” the letter concluded.

  • Between the Presidency and National Assembly

    The Presidency and the National Assembly appear to operate in contrasts with regards to the austere times we are in. While President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) is threatening to downsize the federal ministries, and to have honourable ministers without portfolio to save costs, the Senate and the House of Representatives have both increased the number of their standing committees, and there is an ongoing schism over who gets the juicier of the committees. Perhaps, it is a reflection of the stability and confidence that PMB enjoys, as against the tenuous tenure of particularly Bukola Saraki, as senate president.

    So, while PMB is issuing stringent terms and conditions of employment to his ministers; Saraki, and the House Speaker Yakubu Dogara, are ‘bribing’ their colleagues with chairmanship of juicy committees, to starve the lurking threats to their own juicy position.The scenario in the Senate is particularly interesting. Out of 109 senators, the Senate President created 65 standing committees. The direct implication for the national economy will be the budgetary provision for the paraphernalia of office for the 65 chairmen and their deputies; while the indirect consequence is the atomised pressure for patronage from ministries, departments and agencies of government, under the guise of oversight functions.

    Comparatively, in the United States, a country of over 318 million people (2014), which has the biggest economy in the world; their 100-man Senate has 16 standing committees, 67 sub-committees and five non-standing committees. An interesting angle to the composition of their committees is that all the chairmen of the committees are members of the majority party in parliament. In Nigeria, apparently as a survivalist plan, the Senate committee chairs were shared between the parties.  While the majority party, the All Progressives Congress has 41, the minority Peoples Democratic Party, got 24 committee chairs.

    In the House of Representatives, the Speaker who had managed to tamper the anger of his party men following his tumultuous emergence; is on the boiler again, for giving what is considered juicy committee chairs to his PDP collaborators. Out of the 96 committees announced by the lower house, the ruling APC has 48 committees, while the leading opposition party, the PDP has 46 chairmen, and the other two smaller parties, one chairman each. There, Dogara’s intra-party opponents led by Femi Gbajabiamila, are fuming that not only did he give his compatriots just half of the committee chairs available, the Speaker had the temerity to give away what they consider the ‘juicy committees’ to the opposition legislators.

    Unfortunately for  Saraki, the fire this time is from the outside. Unlike his intrigue laden ascendency to the senate presidency, cunning and subterfuge have not yielded any positive result in his numerous fights in the court. His legal team are presently in quandary, and are running from pillar to post, desperately clutching at anything in sight to save their drowning principal. The famed PMB’S body language, which influence is degrading in other respects, still invokes the feeling that the president will not trade in, a save-saraki-interference in the judicial process, for legislative support.

    As we await the denouement of the power play between the Buhari and the Saraki tendencies in APC, I recommend to PMB and our political leaders, Lee Kuan  Yew’s famous book: From Third World To First – The Singapore Story: 1965 – 2000. I will now quote extensively from the book. At page 199-200, the man highly regarded as the father of Singapore, wrote: “Running a government is not unlike conducting an orchestra. No prime minister can achieve much without an able team. While he himself need not be a great player, he has to know enough of the principal instruments from the violin to the French horn and the flute, or he would not know what he can expect from each of them.”

    He went further: “My style was to appoint the best man I had to be in charge of the most important ministry at the period, usually finance, except at independence when defense (sic) became urgent…. The next best would get the next most important portfolio”. Expatiating further, he wrote: “I will tell the minister what I wanted him to achieve, and leave him to get on with the task; it was management by objective. It worked best when the minister was resourceful and could innovate when faced with new, unexpected problems. My involvement in their ministries would be only on questions of policy.”

    In an earlier chapter, at page 95, on building A fair, Not Welfare, Society,Lee Kuan Yew, wrote: “A competitive, winner-takes-all society… would not be acceptable in Singapore…. To even out the extreme results of free-market competition, we had to redistribute the national income through subsidies on things that improved the earning power of citizens, such as education. Housing and public health were also obviously desirable. But finding the correct solution for personal medical care, pensions, or retirement benefits was not easy. We decided each matter in a pragmatic way, always mindful of possible abuse and waste. If we over-re-distribute by higher taxation, the high performers would cease to strive. Our difficulty was to strike the right balance”.

    In his closing remarks, reflecting on his many years in power, Lee wrote at page 663: “My experience of developments in Asia has led me to conclude that we need good people to have good government. However good the system of government, bad leaders will bring harm to their people”. Reflecting on the challenges of a multi-ethnic country and democratic governance, he said at page 664: “In a new country where loyalties are to tribal leaders, they (the leaders) must be honest and not self-serving or the country is likely to fail whatever the constitutional safeguards.”

     

  • PDP blames Presidency as tribunal sacks Taraba gov

    PDP blames Presidency as tribunal sacks Taraba gov

    APC candidate Aisha Alhassan
    declared winner of April 11 poll

    Gov Darius Ishaku rejects
    judgment, heads for Appeal Court

    Why his election as governor was voided

    We have made history – APC

    Jubilation in Taraba over verdict

    ANALYSIS: What next for Mama Taraba?

    • Ishaku: ‘It’s totally unacceptable’
    • This is victory for democracy, says APC
    • Jubilation in Jalingo

    The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday vehemently rejected the dismissal of Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State from office by the State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.

    It accused the presidency of manipulating the judiciary against it and claimed that the court’s decision was another proof of executive interference by the All Progressives Congress (APC) government in judicial matters.

    It also said the p residency was all out to decimate the opposition.

    Ishaku himself dismissed the tribunal’s verdict as totally unacceptable even as some residents of Jalingo openly celebrated after news of the development filtered in from Abuja where it was delivered.

    The National Woman Leader of the APC Hajiya Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu hailed the ruling as victory for democracy.

    The tribunal had proclaimed Hajia Aisha Jummai Alhassan, the APC candidate in the election, as winner.

    It said Ishaku was not properly nominated by his party and therefore was not qualified to contest the election.

    Ishaku is the third PDP governor after Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom and Nyesom Wike of Rivers to lose at election tribunal after the April elections.

    The PDP had earlier blamed the federal government, the judiciary and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its woes

    Reacting to yesterday’s verdict, the PDP said the reason given by the tribunal for arriving at the bizarre decision was intriguing and only exposed what it dubbed contradictions and double standards inherent in most tribunal rulings against its interests as well as organized plan by government to deploy all unorthodox means to decimate the opposition.

    “Evidence that Taraba ruling was a product of presidency manipulation can be deduced from the fact that few hours before the judgment was delivered, the APC had arrogantly announced their victory on the new media,” PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh said in a statement.

    He also faulted the premise on which the tribunal based its decision, saying: “it is rather curious and a great conflict of irony that the Taraba tribunal sitting in Abuja on security grounds faulted the conduct of PDP primaries shifted to the same Abuja on security reasons.”

    The party argued that if the tribunal faulted PDP primaries, it then means that no APC gubernatorial candidate can stand the test because, according to him, the APC never had acceptable primaries in any of the states it won.

    He said: “the PDP wants democracy watchers globally to recall that it had earlier alerted the nation and the international community to the grand design by the APC to use the judiciary to wrestle some PDP states, particularly Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Taraba states.

    He said the PDP is totally confounded by what he called the brazing show of power by the executive and warned that the development clearly portends grave danger to democracy and indeed national cohesion and development.

    It however asked its members across the country, especially in Taraba State, to remain undaunted as the appellate courts will restore its well-deserved victory.

    In Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, Mr. Ishaku dismissed the tribunal’s verdict that voided his election as totally unacceptable.

    “This is totally unacceptable. I have told my legal counsel to proceed to the Court of Appeal immediately,” he told reporters moments after news of the verdict reached him.

    Ishaku asked the people of Taraba, particularly his supporters, to remain calm.

    He said, “I’m going to appeal the judgment. So I want the people of Taraba to remain calm. It is the mandate that they overwhelmingly gave me that I am serving the state. We shall do everything possible within the ambit of the law to see that their will is not thwarted.”

    The Senate Deputy Minority Leader Emmanuel Bwacha told The Nation that the PDP “saw contradiction in the ruling.”

    Senator Bwacha said: “how come it challenged the validity of holding the PDP primaries in Abuja? It was the same insecurity issues that made us to hold the primaries in Abuja.

    “This is a similar case to that of Benue, where the PDP is challenging that APC did not hold primaries. So why is our ruling different?”

    Bwacha added that the “sad aspect of the tribunal is that the APC supporters jubilated the judgment on Friday before it was passed yesterday. It means APC got wind of the ruling.”

    However, the National Woman Leader of the APC, Hajiya Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu  hailed  the ruling as victory for democracy.

    Hajiya Aliyu said in a statement in Abuja that the will of the people freely expressed through the ballot cannot be upturned at the whims and caprices of a few individuals.

    The ruling, according to her “is a clear affirmation that no matter how long it takes, never will the verdict of the people during elections be manipulated against their popular choice as expressed through the ballot box. Indeed, by the ruling, it has been proven that in a true democracy, sovereignty ultimately resides with the inviolable will of the people.”

    She commended the judiciary for its “boldness and unfettered commitment to the sacred principles of honour, good conscience and the truth. Indeed, it has shown that its role as the defender of the defenceless in a democracy remains strong and sacred.”

    She asked Nigerian women to “rally support for the Tribunal’s ruling, especially in the circumstance that it remains a priceless watershed in our political history for our great Part to produce the first elected female Governor in Nigeria as desired and manifestly expressed by the electorate in Taraba State.”

    Soon after news of the tribunal’s verdict reached Jalingo, residents of Agwan Gaadi, Barde way, Wuro-Sambo and Angwani areas took to the streets in jubilation.

    But there was no violence as the state police command had deployed policemen on the streets.

    APC supporters from the state said the court had restored their joy and glory of producing the first democratically-elected female governor.

    One of the supporters, Amina Dauda, said the victory was well-deserved “and it shows that the judiciary is the last hope for aggrieved people.

    “I am happy that a woman is now the governor of Taraba.

    “It is a good encouragement for us and we have made history in Nigeria,” he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    Another supporter, Mr. Suleiman Ibrahim, said “the judgment is a confirmation that Taraba is for APC.”

    Ibrahim said he was happy that a woman from APC was declared winner of the election by the tribunal “and that is a reflection of the wish of Taraba people.”

    The court premises and surroundings were agog with celebration as the verdict of the tribunal filtered to the crowd who were anxiously waiting inside and outside of the premises.

    APC supporters were seen jubilating and shouting “APC!, Sai Baba!!.

    Some other groups were also seen outside the court premises blasting music and dancing.

    It took the efforts of security men to clear the way for the APC candidate to gain access to her car when she stepped out of the court room, as security was beefed up within and around the court to control the crowd.