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Tag: report

  • NERC to query TCN over non submission of report

    NERC to query TCN over non submission of report

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on Wednesday vowed to query the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for not submitting six months report of its performance in Nigeria’s electricity industry in 2015.

    NERC said that TCN failed to submit to it the mandatory operational report between January and June of 2015. It noted that such reporting failure was unacceptable to it.

    The Head, Engineering Standards and Safety Department of NERC, Mr. Abdullahi Mohammed said during a meeting in Abuja to review agreed key performance indicators in the industry with operators that the commission was uncomfortable with TCN’s attitude to its reporting responsibility.

    He said; “I am disturbed about TCN because it is the hub. If it does not behave well, other parts suffer. They refused to submit the six months report against the provision of the Act.

    “We will write them query on that lack of compliance. They submitted two days ago but we are not accepting that. ”

    Industry experts had overtime queried the capacity of the TCN to comfortably operate within laid down rules in the country’s privatised electricity market. Their stated discomfort with the TCN stems from its reported years of operating with disregards to rules.

    Similarly, NERC stated its displeasure with the 11 electricity distribution companies (Discos) for mostly performing poorly in 2015.

    NERC explained that in addition to the Discos’ poor operational performance, they equally did poorly with their data submission to it for relevant documentation.

    Mohammed in this regard said there were suspected cases of incredibility of data submitted by the operators.

    He reminded them that the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) 2005 abhors the submission of such false information to the Commission, adding that such attracts various sanctions including imprisonment.

    According to him: “By the next performance review, we will get the actual culprits that are not performing accordingly.”

    Accordingly, data presented by the Commission indicates that the TCN, which transmits generated electricity across the country and which is also under a contract management of Canadian firm, Manitoba Hydro International did not submit its six monthly report.

    Although the report said that the TCN reduced its transmission losses to 6 per cent in the second half of 2015, there was however a surge in the losses to about 9 per cent between August and September the same year.

    The year-end figure was also higher than the 8.05 per cent that the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) assumed would be the case. This also shows that there is a high level of constraint in power delivery and subsequently revenue generation.

    The generation companies (Gencos) on the other hand, had their electricity output go down from 70 per cent earlier in 2015 to less than 65 per cent with more stranded (unused) power in the system.

    According to NERC, the Discos’ performance showed that on the average they had their Aggregate Technical Commercial & Collection Losses (ATC&C) figures at 55 per cent. It however noted that it was unacceptable because only 17 per cent was projected as the acceptable level in the MYTO.

    Also, the Discos’ customers’ metering level fluctuated from 46 per cent to about 44 per cent in the year, NERC said on this that it suspected wrong data submission from them.

    More so, it frowned at the high electrocution rate of 120 deaths and 117 critical injuries, saying there were up to 13 deaths in just a single community and that such development cannot attract further investment in the sector.

    Other faults identified in the Discos include low compliance on report submission, poor data credibility, variations in the number of customers and the meter installation statistics.
    Mohammed said:  “The performance in the sector needs to be improved. It is really not impressing and we are making sure that our licenses live up to their responsibilities.”

    He noted that the Commission will urge the operators to validate their data before submitting it to it, as well as timely submission.

     

  • 2016 Budget: 60 standing committees present report

    Sixty Standing Committees of the House of Representatives of 97 have submitted their 2016 budget report, the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation Abdulmunin Jibrin has said.

    A statement by the lawmaker said the Committee on Appropriation formally closed the collation of reports on the 2016 budget from standing committees (sub-committees to the Committee on Appropriation) on Friday.

    “In all, 60 substantive committees presented their reports and recommendations, covering improvements, shortcomings and actions to be taken in their respective MDAs.”

    Jibrin expressed appreciation for the cooperation of the committees and that they heeded the call to submit their reports within the deadline.

    “This is for the interest of the nation and the commitment of the National Assembly to pass the 2016 budget by the second week of March.

    “However, it is regrettable that some committees still did not meet the deadline and have not submitted any reports.

    “Due to pressure of time because we have to tidy up the final report with the Senate, the Committee on Appropriation will  take over the work of such committees by appropriating funds for the MDAs they supervise.”

    He said the Appropriation committee will also interface with officials of the Ministry of Finance, Budget Office, on March 3.

    “The following committees, however, failed to submit their reports as mandated by the House leadership: Public Accounts Committee, PAC, Loans, Aid  and Debts,  Gas Resources, Public Service Matters, Maritime and Safety, Interior and  National Security,” he said

  • Report exposes fraud in constituency projects

    An audit report has exposed an alleged fraud of  over N100 billion in constituency projects in the last three years.

    The report was based on a survey conducted last year by the Media Support Centre and released in Abuja at the weekend.

    It exposed large-scale abuse of the execution of projects by the 469 federal lawmakers.

    Implementation of the projects was transferred to the Ministry of Special Duties by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure coordination.

    The report alleged that most lawmakers still go behind to hijack the constituency funds and execution of the projects.

    It said budgets for the projects were shrouded in secrecy and allegedly diverted by some lawmakers.

    Executive Director of Media Support Centre Wale Fatade told reporters in Abuja that the poll covered over N100 billion voted for constituency projects between 2013 and 2015.

    He noted: “It would appear that nobody but the lawmakers know which projects are being executed with these monies and how much each project cost.

    “Our survey shows that Nigerians are not aware of the these projects and are calling for a reform in the administration of constituency projects.”

    Most Nigerians, he said, “either wanted the thing cancelled or that the lawmakers should ensure more clarity and openness by publishing what each lawmaker get and for which project so that Nigerians could track these projects”.

    Fatade added that over 78 per cent of Nigerians voted for the scrapping of the constituency project to reduce corruption.

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo last week accused the National Assembly of reckless spending and running a secret budget.

  • Nigeria may lose 37% of GDP to corruption, says report

    Nigeria may lose 37% of GDP to corruption, says report

    Corruption could cost Nigeria about 37 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP)   if left unchecked, a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has indicated.

    This translates to about N185.37billion of current GDP.

    The report, titled: ‘Impact of Corruption on Nigeria’s Economy,’ which was received by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo over the weekend, focused on the ways corruption had impacted the Nigerian economy over time with evidence and impetus for its reduction.

    PWC Country and Regional Senior Partner West Market Area, Uyi Akpata, who led the team that presented the report, said: “The results of the study showed that corruption in Nigeria could cost up to 37 per cent of  GDP by 2030 if it’s not dealt with immediately. This cost is equated to around $1,000 per person in 2014 and nearly $2,000 per person by 2030. The boost in average income that we estimate, given the per capita income, can significantly improve the lives of many in Nigeria.”

    Akpata said five steps were used in the report to estimate Nigeria’s cost of corruption, saying the first step was to examine over 30 studies to understand the way corruption affects GDP in the country.

    He said the study was obtained from International organisations, including the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Department For International Development (DfID), Transparency International (TI) and in-house studies assessing the health of the  economy such as the World in 2050 publication. The IMF study was selected to estimate the  impact of corruption on economic growth.

    The second step, Akpata stated, was to identify the impact of corruption on economic growth using the IMF study, adding that the study estimated that the impact of one point change in the corruption index results in a 1.2 percentage point change in economic growth per annum.

    He said TI’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) was also used as a proxy for corruption. This data set, Akpata said, defines corruption as the ‘abuse of public office for private gain’ and the index was categorised into three parts; Grand corruption, Petty corruption and Political corruption.

    The fourth step in the report created three scenarios that show the lower levels of corruption that could have been achieved in the past and can achieve in the future while the fifth step calculated the impact of corruption on economic growth and output for each scenario.

    PwC Chief Economist and co-author of the report, Dr Andrew S Nevin, said  PwC formulated the ways corruption impacts the  economy over time and then estimated the impact of corruption on Nigerian’s GDP, using empirical literature and PwC analysis.

    “We estimate the ‘foregone output’ in Nigeria since the onset of democracy in 1999 and the ‘output opportunity’ to be gained by 2030, from reducing corruption to comparison countries that are also rich in natural resources. The countries we have used for comparison are: Ghana, Colombia and Malaysia,” Akpata said.

    The report noted that corruption is a pressing issue in Nigeria which affects public finances, business investment as well as standard of living. It listed three dynamic effects of corruption to include; Lower governance effectiveness, especially through smaller tax base and inefficient government expenditure.

    The PwC studies estimated Nigeria’s tax revenues at eight per cent of GDP, which is the lowest for comparison countries. It said weak investment, especially Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is harder to predict and do business under such circumstances, adding that corruption also affects  lower human capital, as fewer people, especially the poor, are unable to access healthcare and education.

     

  • Report: Govt officials earn N1.126tr yearly

    Report: Govt officials earn N1.126tr yearly

    About N1,126,614,234,434. 38 is  spent yearly  on salaries and allowances of political office holders by the Federal Government, the 36 states and the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs).

    The 17,774 beneficiaries include President, Vice President, Senate President, the House of Representatives Speaker, Deputy Speaker, ministers, governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives, judges, principal officers and members of the state Houses of Assembly, commissioners and local government chairmen and their councillors.

    Salaries take N94.959 billion and allowances cost about N1,031,654,689,033.18 (N1.031trillion).

    Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Action Aid Nigeria(AAN) and 40 others have asked the Federal Government to reduce the cost of governance.

    These facts are contained in a new document, “Policy Brief: Cost of Governance Series (2)”, which was compiled by the 43 civil society groups under the Citizens Wealth Platform (CWP).

    The document, dated October 2015 and exclusively obtained by The Nation,  has been presented to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly.

    Based on the statistics of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the  breakdown of the list of the 17,474 beneficiaries includes Federal Executive(472); Federal Legislature(464); Federal Judiciary(142); State Executive(2,664); State Legislature (1,152); State Judiciary(792); LGA Executive (3,096); and LGA Legislature (8,692).

    The Policy Brief document reads in part: “The total number of persons benefiting from this fat remuneration in all tiers of government is put at 17, 474 and it costs the Federal Government N173.656billion every year.

    “ For state governments, the total cost is N360.091billion while local governments pay N592.865billion every year.

    “This raises issues of social justice and the relativity of their remuneration to that of the workers in the same Nigerian economy. The N173.656billion required at the federal level to pay these public officials who are 1,078 in number will pay the N18,000 minimum wage of 9,647,574 workers.

    “Of course, the remuneration of other categories of public workers did not take into consideration the need to give them a living wage that will pay for a dignified existence.

    “This foregoing raises issues of Social Justice in a country of about 170million persons; whether it is right to dedicate this quantum of resources to service thus infinitesimal percentage of the population.

    “For all qualifying for this jumbo pack across the states and local governments of the federation, their number comes up to 17,474 which is 0.010 per cent of the population. The Federal government spends N173.656billion for the huge salaries which in 2015 amounts to 3.87 per cent of the budget.

    “There is a wide disparity between the very low minimum wage and apparently outrageous  fringe benefits and allowances of these special public officers. The salaries and allowances of these public officers are in far contrast to the minimum wage approved for Grade Level 1 civil servants.

    “There should be an equitable  relationship between the highest paid, lowest paid and averagely paid public officials.”

    The NLC, NBA, TUC and 40 others said the opportunity cost of such a huge expenditure on political office holders is great for the nation.

    The document added: “The sums spent over and above what is reasonable in maintaining these public office holders could have been spent on other items of public expenditure. What can the sum of N173.656 spent at the federal level to maintain public, political and judicial office holders pay for? A few examples will make the case for a review:

    *Bi-Courtney Highway Services Limited was engaged to expand the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to 10 lanes (five on each side of the road) from Lagos to Shagamu and six lanes from Shagamu to Ibadan. It was also expected to build trailer parks and five interchanges amongst other things at a cost of N89.5billion. Essentially, a little over 50 per cent of the sum deployed to these payments can finance the Lagos-Ibadan road project.

    *At a cost of $1m per new megawatt of electricity, 50 per dent of the sum dedicated to paying these benefits can add 432.5megawatts of electricity every year.

    * At a cost of N5m for a new classroom for 40 students, 50 per cent of this sum can finance 17,300 brand new classrooms.

    “The Bunu Committee set up to consider the state of ongoing projects in Nigeria, identified 11,700 abandoned or ongoing projects across the country which requires over N10trillion to complete. The country needs to fund this gap by increasing capital allocations in the budget and reducing recurrent expenditure.”

    On budget implementation, the  document also claimed that the nation had been spending less than 23 per cent per annum on capital projects.

    It said personnel cost had crossed the 40 per cent threshold.

    It added: “Budget implementation, especially the capital component, has averaged less than 23 per cent per annum dud to a number of factors including paucity of funds.

    “Fewer new jobs have been created while the external reserves are down. The personnel vote as a percentage of overall government expenditure over a seven-year period shows that it has crossed the 40 per cent threshold and this affects the capacity of the economy to embark on investment programmes, thus impairing growth and development of the economy.

    “When personnel cost is pitched against retained revenue, it shows that personnel costs have been 54.14 per cent of the retained revenue over the last seven years.

    “The foregoing leads to one inescapable conclusion-the need to reduce the cost of governance.”

    The groups made some recommendations in the Policy Brief as follows:

    * RMAFC and other arms of government should revise and amend the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders(Salaries and Allowances, etc) (Amendment) Act No. 1 of 2008 so as to reduce the allowances of public and political office holders.

    * The basic salaries of the Executive are reasonable and should not be reduced but the allowances and perks of office should be reduced by a minimum of 40 per cent.

    * Constituency allowance of 250 per cent of basic salary for the President and Vice President respectively should be scrapped.

    * The allowances and perks of office of the Judiciary should be retained since their works demand probity and incorrigibility at the highest level.

    * The considerations for the above review should be tied to current economic realities and macroeconomic fundamentals and be relative to the salaries, remuneration and allowances of other public servants.

    *The review of the salaries and emoluments of public office holders should be done at more frequent intervals. A review every four years us recommended.

    *New laws reviewing the allowances of political, public and judicial office holders should no longer be made to have retroactive effect.

    *Considering the need to improve health services in Nigeria, Federal Government should consider a ban on overseas medical treatment for public officials using public resources.”

  • Report scores Niger Delta development agencies low

    Report scores Niger Delta development agencies low

    A report on the activities of Niger Delta development agencies has decried over 84 abandoned projects in 25 communities in Edo, Delta, Ondo and Cross River states.

    The report was prepared by the African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) and the Leadership Initiative for Transformation and Empowerment (LITE-Africa).

    It focused on the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Edo State Oil and Gas Producing Areas Development Commission (EDSOPADEC), Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC) and Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC).

    It said the NDDC sponsored 27 per cent of the abandoned projects; DESOPADEC, 26 per cent; EDSOPADEC, six per cent and OSOPADEC, six per cent.

    The report said the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs was “not on ground” in the region, apart from the construction of the East-West Road.

    It alleged poor planning, failure to properly incorporate community residents into the development decisions and a lack of coordination among the agencies.

    This, the report noted, led to the duplication, abandonment and execution of sub-standard projects in several communities.

    The report also said many residents had either not heard of the Ministry of Niger Delta or were unaware of its role in the region.

    ANEEJ’s Executive Director, Rev David Ugolor, and LITE-Africa’s Senior Project Manager, Jerry Nwigwe, who presented the report to reporters yesterday in Benin, the Edo State capital, said the National and State Assemblies were not asking for accountability from the development agencies.

    Ugolor said the abandonment of important projects in the Niger Delta was a source of worry to residents in the region.

    Ugolor said the study revealed that there were inconsistencies in policies and procedures which, according to him, led to poor development outcomes on infrastructural development and public utilities.

    The ANEEJ chief noted that the study had opened an innovative entry point for civil society groups to ensure that the institutions acted productively.

    Nwigwe said: “A major challenge confronting the effective and efficient administration of public institutions in Nigeria has been widespread corruption, colossal waste and abandonment of several capital projects.

    “What the situation shows is that conflicts in the region would have been mitigated if Niger Delta institutions had effective mechanism to monitor their contracting and procurement processes.”

     

  • Sahara joins UN, others to launch sustainability report

    Sahara joins UN, others to launch sustainability report

    Sahara Group, an energy and infrastructure  conglomerate last week in New York, United States, joined other stakeholders for the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals Fund (SDG-F) new report titled: “Business and the United Nations: Working together towards the Sustainable Development Goals: A framework for Action.”

    The UN estimates indicate that achieving the SDGs will require between $3.3trillion and $4.5 trillion a year.

    Its Co-Founder and Executive Director, Tonye Cole, SDG-F Director, Paloma Duran and other speakers gave insight into the report, which provides a roadmap on how the 2030 agenda for sustainable development can be effectively driven through collaboration between the private sector and other stakeholders.

  • NBA branch denies report

    The Idemili branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has refuted a newspaper story entitled: Anambra State Jusun Strike: Anambra Chief Judge moves to decongest prisons credited to its Provost, Mr. Pat. Agbata and published in a national daily.

    A statement by the branch chairman, Mr. Benjamin Chukwudi Okoko, reads: “Our attention has been drawn to the  story  credited  to the provost of Idemmilli branch of the NBA Mr. Pat Agbata.

    “The NBA Idemilli branch hereby dissociates itself from the story as the comments were neither authorised nor approved by the NBA Idemmilli branch and therefore does not represent the collective position of the branch

    “We acknowledge the good work of the Chief Judge of Anambra State, Justice Peter Nnanna C. Umeadi and his efforts towards alleviating the suffering of the masses in the state.

    “We also call on the Governor of Anambra State,  Chief Willie Obiano to look at the agitation of the judiciary workers in the state with whom the Anambra State government entered into an agreement on the Consolidated Judiciary Staff Salaries (CONJUSS) in 2011 since government is a continuum”

     

  • Student’s death: Controversy trails UPTH panel’s report

    Student’s death: Controversy trails UPTH panel’s report

    The panel set up by the management of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Choba Port Harcourt in Rivers State to investigate the cause of death of one of the students of the University of Port Harcourt, Kelechi Ndulagwu Precious has released its report. The late Miss Precious was an undergraduate student of Theatre and Film Studies of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT).

    The management of the UPTH was forced to set up the panel following the wide protest and condemnation that trailed the death of Kelechi, who died on August 30, after she was reportedly denied treatment by members of staff of the hospital, which cited lack of available bed space.

    The unlucky student was said to have later collapsed in her hostel bathroom and died shortly afterwards on the same day.

    Her death did not go down well with her colleagues and leadership of the Students’ Union Government (SUG). This led to wild protests that grounded activities of the university. The angry students destroyed some medical equipment at the UPTH.

    The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of UPTH, Prof. Aaron Ojule quickly invited the press to exonerate the hospital from the allegation of the death of the undergraduate.

    He said: “It was not an issue of rejection; we cannot reject anybody outside the campus let alone a student of the university. When the hospital is filled it is filled. We cannot ask somebody to go down to accept another. We sympathised with the victim’s family and the university over what happened. The students have alleged that we killed her, but we have no hand in her death.”

    Prof. Ojule added: “We have set up a panel to investigate the issue. They came here and we told them there was no space at the time they came and when the lady died, they said it was UPTH that killed her. We have always told the people that UPTH is over-subscribed.

    “Ironically, the panel, which was headed by a Professor of Obstetrics and a Professor of Gynaecology Prof. John Ikimalo, recommended the sack of two female nurses who were on duty when the late Kelechi was brought in.”

    The recommendation of Prof. Ikimalo’s report, rather than settle the debate of the incident, has raised more questions, particularly as it contradicted the earlier stance of the CMD.

    Prof. Ojule, who announced the result of the report of the panel in a press briefing at the boardroom of the hospital, explained that because of the critical nature of the matter, the management of the hospital decided to set up a panel to investigate the circumstances that led to the unfortunate incident.

    He said the panel recommended the sack of two nurses on duty at the time of the incident. The CMD, who did not mention the names of the nurses, said the panel condemned their acts of laxity and indiscipline.

    “The two members of staff flouted established rules and protocol that are applicable in the hospital. They have been issued queries and based on their unsatisfactory responses; the panel has recommended their sack. At present, we have placed them on suspension for three months without pay while waiting for the approval of the Ministry of Health.”

    The panel’s recommendation has received the support of the Rivers State government.

    The Deputy Governor, Dr. (Mrs) Ipalibo Harry Banigo said: “The punitive action taken by the panel set up by UPTH on the two nurses that orchestrated the death of Miss Kelechi Precious should serve as deterrent to erring public servants. The action of the management of the hospital would go a long way in checking future acts of negligence on the part of public workers.”

    But some members of the public are unimpressed. They are of the opinion that the panel should have blamed the government for not living up to its responsibilities of providing adequate facilities in public health sector rather than blame the death of the student on the nurses on duty.

    Those who have contrary views said the nurses were merely following instructions, which were alluded to by the CMD in his earlier press briefing, on what to do when there is no bed space in the hospital.

    Reacting to the panel’s recommendation, President Nigerian Democratic Awareness (NIDAF), Comrade Obiajunwo Paul threatened to mobilise members of the public to protest the decision if the Ministry of Health decides to approve the recommendation of the panel.

    “We are watching what will happen. What the panel did is to recommend. We want to know if the recommendation would be approved. It is unjust to blame the problem that the management should have accepted responsibility on the nurses on duty,” he said.

  • Sallah: Ahmed dismisses online report

    Sallah: Ahmed dismisses online report

    Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has described as false, malicious and unfounded, a report published by Saharareporters.com last Friday.

    The report claimed that Senate President Bukola Saraki blamed the governor for miscreants’ attack on dignitaries at the Ilorin Eid prayer ground last Thursday.

    In a statement in Ilorin, Dr. Muyideen Femi Akorede, the senior special assistant on Media and Communications to Governor Ahmed said at no time did the Senate president accuse the governor of leaving him vulnerable to attack by the miscreants, neither did Governor Ahmed blame Dr. Saraki for the miscreants’ attack on dignitaries.

    Describing the report’s claim that Senator Saraki got N1billion of the N4.3billion bailout loan received by the state government from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as preposterous, malicious and provocative, Akorede said the Senate President neither received any kobo out of the money which was  used to pay the two months’ salary arrears of civil servants last month, nor any other money from the government.

    He said the former governor was preoccupied with the task of lawmaking and providing leadership at the National Assembly and had no time to either interfere with or control the state’s finances, which were under the jurisdiction of the government and its authorised officials.