The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Reps

  • Lounging Reps

    Sweet is the savour of cheap lucre in the mouth of the lazy lounger; though he thinks himself joyful, peace eludes him. Well, don’t go searching the Holy Scriptures for the source of  this (wise) saying for it  is vintage Hardball. Yes, you may take it to the bank. But let’s admit that it is not entirely original… yes, to the extent that it was easily inspired by some indolent House of Representatives members.

    A perspective report on the front page of Daily Trust (August 10, 2017) revealed that two years after inauguration, 161 out of 360 members of the House of Representatives are yet to sponsor nary a bill. Now let’s put it in further perspective: one, the primary duty of a legislator in the scheme of any government is to make laws.

    So, if at half term, a large number of the members have not mustered even one bill, then it is a cause for concern. However, it may be argued that initiating a bill is one and pushing it through is another. It is indeed said that it takes collective effort to get a bill passed. True.

    But joining the crowd, or getting in the shadow of another member’s bill may be okay but not when one member like Uzoma Nkem-Abonta (PDP, Abia/Southeast) has 50 bills; Ossai Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta,/South South) has 46 bills respectvely in two years.

    But a sampling of the following members from the six zones have zero bill: Alhassan Ado Doguwa (Kano/ Chief whip), Joseph Adebayo (Lagos), Mahmud Lawan Maina (Borno), Dagomie Abiante (Rivers), Abubakar Lado (Niger), Okechukwu Eze (Anambra).

    Another point to be made is that lawmakers are well equipped to build adequate capacity to work through bills. Since they are not by any means Socrates or Cicero and they are not expected to act as one, they are imbued with enough financial allowances to employ quality legal minds and intellectuals to help them think through ideas. So is it a case of barber deficient in skill or are his clippers blunt?

    Most notable though, is that whether you have 50 or zero bills, members got their bounties in equal measures and in full. According to the report, each House of Reps member earns N8.26 million monthly. In the period under review, each of them has pocketed about N214.7 million so far. Whoa!

    And it doesn’t matter if you have slept through the entire period or you live abroad and showed up once a month; you got your largesse all the same. So, sweet indeed is the savour of cheap lucre…

  • Reps give ultimatum to BoI chief over N11b loan

    Reps give ultimatum to BoI chief over N11b loan

    The House of Representatives has given the Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Olukayode Pitan 24 hours to appear before it.

    He has up to 11am today to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House over N11billion the bank has been unable to recover.

    In his place at the PAC meeting yesterday, was the bank’s Chief Financial Officer, Taiwo Kolawole, who said Pitan had to be at another previously scheduled meeting in Enugu.

    This angered the Kingsley Chinda-led  Committee that sent a reminder of its earlier invitation to Pitan on July 28, saying the MD’s attitude to the House was denigrating,

    Chinda said: “Over N8billion loan given out have not been recovered and the bank is not doing anything about it according to the query. The second query is on another N2billion unexplained expenditure.

    “Considering the enormity of the sum involved, over N11billion as contained in the query by the AuGF, and considering the fact that the MD has given more importance to a meeting with Enugu State government.

    “We are tempted to take action as appropriate but in the spirit of fair hearing, we want to give him another opportunity so that he can appear before us tomorrow,  Aug 18, 2017 by 11 am, failure of which we will order for his arrest.”

     

  • PDP woos APC Senators, Reps

    PDP woos APC Senators, Reps

    • Lawmakers seek automatic ticket
    • VP slot: Party leaders weigh options on Wike, Akpabio, Fayose, Ekweremadu, Duke

    As part of its plot to wrestle power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has commenced secret talks with some APC Senators and members of the House of Representatives for the purpose of luring them.

    But most of those contacted want an automatic return ticket to the National Assembly.

    The party is yet to accede to the request.

    Besides, some leaders of the party are weighing options on who should get the slot of the Vice Presidential candidate of the party in 2019.

    Some of those either purportedly interested or being tipped are Senate Deputy President Ike Ekweremadu; Senate Minority Leader Godswill Akpabio,  Governors Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), and ex Cross Rivers State Governor Donald Duke.

    It was learnt that while the VP slot will go to either the South-East or South-South, the South West might produce the National Chairman of the party in December when the tenure of the National Caretaker Committee, headed by Sen. Ahmed Makarfi is scheduled to end.

    Investigation by our correspondent indicated that the PDP is already making an inroad into the National Assembly to consolidate its rebranding process.

    A top source, who spoke in confidence, said: “Apart from some former governors and ex-leaders who defected to APC, the opposition party has opened talks with some Senators and members of the House of Representatives to defect to PDP.

    “Some of those affected include Senators and Representatives as ‘electoral assets’ who can give APC a good fight in 2019 in their districts and constituencies.

    “A few of the Senators are also technically no longer in APC due to alleged disagreement with their governors and party leaders.

    “The secret talks have started with the hope that PDP might strengthen its hold as an opposition party.

    “The legal implications of the defection of the lawmakers are being looked into by a team.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “We have had four to five meetings in the past few weeks since the Supreme Court judgment on the crisis in PDP.”

    Findings revealed that an APC Senator was celebrated yesterday in Abuja at a function as “a leader who will soon join PDP.”

    The Senator, who did not deny the announcement, was at peace with the applause which greeted his proposed defection.

    A member of the House of Representatives, who spoke with our correspondent, said: ” Some of us have been getting overtures from PDP in the spirit of reconciliation but we want a commitment that our return ticket to the House will be guaranteed.

    “We have not seen the green light on automatic return ticket yet. But return ticket is certainly a major issue if we are to go back to PDP.

    “I and some colleagues have attended some meetings on why we should go back to PDP.”

    Another House member said: “Some of our leaders are really discussing with PDP. We will follow once we get a directive from these leaders.

    “In politics, there is no permanent friend but you have a permanent enemy, who is your opponent from any party.”

    Meanwhile, there were indications last night that the PDP might concede its vice presidential ticket to either the South-East or the South-South.

    A party leader said: “It is settled that our presidential ticket is going to the North. We are looking to the South-South and the South-East to pick the running mate.

    “Once we get the candidate from the North right, PDP will coast to victory in 2019. This time around, we are really being careful. We are thinking of working on the old formula of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in zoning elected offices.

    “Some of those on the cards are Ekweremadu,  Akpabio,  Governors  Wike and Ayo Fayose, and ex-Governor Donald Duke.

    “We may have more candidates by the time we hold our elective convention in December.”

     

  • Reps to buy N17million car for each member

    Reps to buy N17million car for each member

    The House of Representatives is spending N6.1 billion on the procurement of 360 Peugeot 508 for its members, it was learnt at the weekend.

    At a unit price of about N17 million, the leadership of the House said no members would get more than a car, including the principal officers.

    It debunked allegation of favouritism in the distribution of about 200 units that were supplied so far, saying members would take possession of their vehicles by the end of the year.

    Another batch of supply is expected this week.

    According to its leadership, favouritism was not employed in the distribution of the already procured vehicles.

    Speaking with reporters at the weekend, House spokesman Abdulrazaq Namdas explained that instalment supply of the vehicles was due to the financial challenges facing the House leadership.

    “About 200 vehicles have been supplied so far and members would take possession of theirs by the end of the year.

    “We never promised to supply the 360 vehicles at once because of the financial constraints.

    “The budget implementation hasn’t commenced and that is the reason for the instalment supply of the vehicles. But, since it was provided for in the budget, every member will get theirs before the year runs out.

    “Complaints by some members is normal because the House is huge and it is normal for some to complain. But, since we are getting the cars in batches, it will be impossible for everyone to get at once.

    “Allegation that women lawmakers and committee chairmen were given first was also not true.

    “As a matter of fact, it was the decision of the leadership to provide for the new members first. So, you may have a new member having while a committee chairman like myself don’t have yet.

    “The distribution was not meant to marginalise anyone; the leadership wasn’t choosy about the distribution. Everyone will be adequately taken care of before the year runs out.”

    On why the House had to procure the cars for its members, Namdas pleaded for the understanding of Nigerians, saying there was a level that Nigerians would not want their lawmakers to descend to.

    According to him, Nigerians would want their representatives to be deserving of their status.

    “Definitely, chief executive and directors in government institutions and agencies have official vehicles attached to them. Why would lawmakers not enjoy same privilege?

    “Meanwhile, not even our principal officers will have more than one of the same vehicle and these vehicles are to last for four years and not yearly as we have in other arms of government.

    “Our job here is to make laws for good governance and that is what we are doing and we need peace of mind and the goodwill of Nigerians to accomplish this,” he added.

  • Reps committee alleges pressure over $43m Osborne loot’s probe

    External pressure is allegedly being mounted on the House of Representatives over its investigation of the $43 million discovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos, it was gathered at the weekend.

    Though money inducement has not taken place, threats and persuasion through text messages and physical contacts have been employed to sway the course and outcome of the investigation.

    The Committee on National Security and Intelligence handling the matter has, however, assured that the investigation was in the interest of preserving the integrity of the nation’s institutions.

    Its chairman, Sani Jaji, after his committee meeting with EFCC Acting Chairman Idris Magu on Friday said Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele is next to appear before the committee.

    Jaji said a lot of ground has been covered but pressure on the committee has been immense.

    He, however, said the committee would not be intimidated.

    He said: “There have been attempts on me as the chairman of the committee and members of the committee on what direction the investigation should take and the possible outcome of our report.

    “There has been a lot of frustration but this has not in any way affected us because we remain committed to our cause.

    “There is no monetary inducement though, but these pressures are in form of text messages and physical contacts about what we should do, what we should not do, that we should dwell on this and not on that.

    “They said this or that agency has a reputation that should not be put on the line, and so we should not go beyond certain extent. But we tell them that our determination is to safeguard the name and integrity of our institutions.”

  • Constitution amendment: Reps fix minimum age for presidential aspirants at 35

    Constitution amendment: Reps fix minimum age for presidential aspirants at 35

    • No second term for VP, D-Gov who succeed dead incumbent
    • Road cleared for independent candidates
    • Local governments to get financial autonomy
    • 35 percent appointments reserved for women

    Future presidential elections in the country may be thrown open to interested Nigerians from the age of 35 and above, if constitution amendment proposals now before the House of Representatives are adopted.

    The current minimum age for qualification for the office is 40.

    Besides, Nigerians from the age of 25 years may also be allowed to seek election into the state assemblies and the House of Representatives, down from the present 30 years.

    These are some of the highlights of the report of the fourth alteration of the 1999 Constitution laid before the House by the Lasun Yusuf- headed Constitution Review Committee last Thursday.

    The report is scheduled to be  considered and adopted through electronic voting on  Tuesday and Wednesday after which  the House will proceed  on its annual recess.

    The age qualification provision comes under a bill entitled “An Act to alter the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999 to reduce the age for qualification for the offices of the President and Governor and membership of the Senate, House of Representatives and the State Houses of Assembly, and for other related matters.”

    It is the brainchild of a coalition of 53 Civil Society Groups which presented it to the House as the “Not too young to run bill.”

    The report seeks to bar any person who was sworn in as President or Governor to complete the term of the elected President or Governor from being elected to the same office for more than a single term.

    It stipulates that the President must, within 30 days of taking the oath of office, swear in his ministers and in the case of governors, their commissioners.

    This, apparently, is to discourage a situation where cabinets are not formed for months.

    In addition, the president in sending his list of ministers to the Senate for confirmation, indicate the portfolio of each nominee.

    It requires the President to deliver the State of the Nation address before a joint session of the National Assembly on the first legislative day in the month of May every year

    The report recommends that 35 percent of persons appointed as Ministers or commissioners shall be women while there is also provision for independent candidates.

    In a move to stop legal disputes arising from elections to drag on for too long, every pre-election matter shall be filed in court not later than 14 days from the date of occurrence of event, decision or action complained of in the suit.

    A new subsection 12 proposes that an appeal from a decision of the court on pre-election matter shall be heard and disposed of within 60 days from the date of filing the appeal.

    The Council of State is proposed for expansion to include all former Senate Presidents and Speakers of the House of Representatives that were not removed through impeachment. This is to ensure fair representation by the three arms of government.

    Section 82 of the report stipulates that the President “may authorize the withdrawal of money in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on business software government for a period not exceeding three months or until the coming into operation of the Appropriation Act, whichever is the earlier.”

    The intention is to encourage early presentation and passage of Appropriation Bills.

    Section 150 seeks to separate the office of the Attorney General of the Federation from the office of the Minister of Justice.

    The report makes no provision for the Joint State/Local government account as it currently obtains.

    Thus, revenue allocation from the federal purse goes directly to each local government.

    A new section specifically says no unelected person will be recognised by any authority and shall not be entitled to any revenue allocation from the Federation Account or the State government nor exercise any function exercisable by a local government council under the constitution.

    Election into the local governments is for a three year-tenure expiration period for elected persons to the Council

    Certain items were moved from Exclusive List to Concurrent List in the Second Schedule.

    These include national parks, pensions, gratuities and other – like benefits payable out of Consolidated Revenue Fund, post, telegraph and telephones, and stamp duties.

    The federal government is to retain exclusive rights to environmental issues relating to, arising from, partaking to and connected with oil and gas exploration, mining activities and other forms of energy exploitation, extraction, transportation and processing.

    The federal government is also to have exclusive legislative rights to environmental issues relating to coastal management and Exclusive Economic zone.

    It also retains rights to Railway, inter-state railway regulations while State Assembly may make laws for the establishment of State railway transportation.

    On electricity, the report proposes in the Second schedule 14 (b) that State Assembly may make laws for the State with respect to “the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity within that State or in collaboration with any other State.”

    These are also provisions for financial autonomy for State legislature and  immunity for lawmakers from civil or criminal proceedings “in respect of words spoken or written before the House or a Committee thereof.”

    It requires the President to deliver the State of the Nation address before a joint session of the National Assembly on the first legislative day in the month of May every year

  • Reps to revisit retirement of NNPC Retail boss

    Despite may be coming the way of the former Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Retail, Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue as the House of Representatives is set to revisit the matter.

    The Nation can authoritatively report that the lawmakers are convinced that the ex-boss of the nation’s corporation was unjustly treated for exposing the missing of 89.8 million liters of Premium Motor Spirit  (PMS) valued at N1.14b at 131 warehoused in the facilities of Capital Oil and Gas company.

    The Managing Director of Capital Oil, Ifeanyi Uba has equally described the retirement of Nnamdi-Ogbue as one carried out in bad faith.

    The House has consequently directed NNPC’s Group Managing Director (GMD as well as the Chief Operating officer  (COO) to appear before it’s Committee on Petroleum Resources  (Downstream) next week.

    The GMD and the COO were expected to explain their roles in the process that led to Nnamdi-Ogbue’s  retirement.

    At the continuation of the public investigative hearing, the former MD  regretted that  her sudden retirement was tied to negligence of duty and incompetence despite the recognition of her services to the company she served for 26 years.

    On the missing petroleum product, she disclosed that facts were deliberately hidden from her by officers directly in charge of Capital Oil facility which led to late discovery of the fraud.

    She said following the discovery, she was forced to engage external assistance for its recovery after all internal efforts failed.

    She however regretted that the management of NNPC refused to adhere to due diligence before her summary dismissal.

    “I was served only on query after the discovery of the missing product but not given Faire hearing by the panel set up to investigate the issue,” she told the committee.

    In his submission,  Uba said if there was any wrong identified with the Throughput Agreement, the punishment ought to be served on Capital oil if found culpable and not on the former MD NNPC Retail who served the company diligently.

    “Firing of the MD was in bad faith because she has been very diligent and managing fuel situations in this country  very effectively.

    “What we did was a normal industry practice and it us that should have been dealt with and not her.

    “To me this dismissal is sad for our country if someone that served the country well was treated in this manner”.

    He also told the Committee that NNPC should be blamed for the incidence because the term of the Throughput Agreement was clear on when products sold from NNPC’s consignment should be returned.

    He wondered why the April 2017 incidence that was meant to plug national gap was made a media issue while a similar situation was amicably resolved in December 2016.

    He also said the NNPC failed to inform Nigerians that it is owning his company N16b till date.

    “While we called for reconciliation of these issues, NNPC decided to present the issue to the public and other government agencies and in the process deliberately left important information.

    “NNPC for example claimed that we owe N11 billion but failed to reveal that they owe us N16 billion with a key portion of the debt spanning over two years,” he said.

    In his submission,  NNPC’s Executive Director (ED), Retail, Danjuma Dansule said the intervention of the Department of State Services (DSS) was able to yield N2b from Capital oil.

    He also disclosed that negotiations are still ongoing on how to offset  the balance in addition to accumulated  Legacy debt of N1.4b that was reconciled to N359m.

  • Reps order Finance minister to refund N11.2m

    THE House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts yesterday ordered the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, to return N11.2 million to the Federation Account within 30 days.

    The Kingsley Chinda-headed committee requested for immediate refund and remittances. It added that evidences must be forwarded to the committee within the period.

    According to the committee, the money was allegedly part of funds cornered by the ministry’s officials with the pretense of organising a seminar for some stakeholders in an unnamed location in the country.

    Of the amount, N4.980 million was said to be for the seminar and the ministry claimed that N6. 252 million were withholding taxes deducted from payments to contractors in 2010.

    But the money was not remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as required by law.

    The revelations were sequel to the treatment of four queries brought against the ministry by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, in the ministry’s 2010 financial transactions.

    In its recommendations on the queries, the AGF urged the parliament to ask for refunds of the alleged misused funds, in line with the anti-corruption tenets of President Muhammadu Buhari.

  • NHIS: Reps accuse minister of corruption

    NHIS: Reps accuse minister of corruption

    The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, was on Wednesday accused of corruption by the House of Representatives over his roles in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) scandal.

    He was also accused of contempt of the Legislative Houses Powers and Privileges Act and tried to frustrate ongoing investigation into the allegations bothering on fraudulent activities of Health Management Organisations (HMOs).

    The allegations came during the debate of a motion sponsored by Chairman, House Committee on Healthcare Services, Hon. Chike Okafor.

    At the end of the deliberation, the minister was ordered to reinstate the suspended Executive Secretary of NHIS, Usman Yusuf, within seven days.

    The minister suspended the NHIS chief over alleged poor handling of the agency.

    The lawmakers alleged that the refusal of the suspended NHIS chief to accommodate several demands like the payment of N197.073 million and $37,383 for trip to a World Health Organization (WHO) conference, and his unearthing of fraudulent activities of the HMOs led to his suspension.

    Members of the House were of the opinion that the minister, who was a President appointee, has no power to suspend another appointee of the President.

  • Reps seek prioritisation of water resources

    The House of Representatives is seeking the prioritisation of water resources by the Federal Government.

    It therefore ensured that  an executive bill being considered by the House on water successfully scaled second reading yesterday.

    The Bill for an Act to Establish a Regulatory Framework for Water Resources Sector in Nigeria seeks to provide for  equitable and sustainable development, management, use and conservation of Nigeria’s surface water and groundwater resources and for related matters.’

    House leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, who introduced the bill said it contained solutions confronting the water sector in the country, including provisions that touched on uses of water such as domestic, industrial, irrigation and other agricultural components.

    He said: “This bill guarantees our right to use water but guide against private ownership of water and ensure that the water resources of the nation are protected and managed in a sustainable and equitable manner for the befit of all persons.