The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Reps

  • Reps to IGP: Find three School girls abducted in Lagos

    Reps to IGP: Find three School girls abducted in Lagos

    The House of Representatives Wednesday urged the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase to intensify efforts to ensure that the three girls abducted from Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School in Ikorodu, Lagos State are released.

    The House also urged the Police and other agencies to step up strict surveillance in Ikorodu and all schools in the state to avoid similar occurrence.

    The Green Chamber also resolved to send a powerful 10- member delegation to Lagos on the issue.

    The resolution of the House was sequel to a motion on matters of urgent public importance sponsored by a member Babjimi Benson with the title: “Urgent Need to Seek the Release of Abducted Female students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School in Ikorodu.”

    According to the lawmaker, the girls were abducted on Monday, February 29 by heavily armed gunmen at about 8pm after they scaled the fence of the school.

    “More than 24 hours after the sad incident, the Nigeria Police Force and other concerned agencies of government have not been able to reunite the abducted girls with their parents,” he said.

    According to the lawmaker, “the incidence of insecurity in Ikorodu Federal Constituency is becoming worrisome as the security agencies of government are finding it difficult to protect lives and properties.”

    A member, Ekpoattai Ime while contributing noted that it is sad for a mother not to know where her child is adding that it is against God and humanity.

    She said: “I urge this Honourable House and the IGP to intensify efforts to recover the girls. Girls are now kidnapped everyday in Nigeria, even women, this is sad.”

    Another member, Aisha Dukku in her contribution, said it is important that the House visits the school and the parents.

    Sequel to the adoption of the motion, the House raised an ad-hoc committee of 10 members from the Standing Committee Police Affairs, Public Safety and Intelligence and Education.

    The mandate of the committee is to visit Lagos State to investigate the abduction of the three school girls; visit the State Commissioner of Police, the school, parents of the girls and the Lagos State Governor and report back to the House as soon as possible.

    In a related development, the Bayelsa State caucus in the House of Representatives while confirming the release of the 14 year old Ese Orusu that was abducted from Bayelsa Wednesday said the full weight of the law must be applied on all those involved in the abduction.

    The lawmakers that included Diri Duoye, Sodaguno Festus-Omoni and Fred Agbedi expressed their determination to work with other lawmakers and stakeholders in the review and domestication of the Child Rights Act.

    Meanwhile, Solomon Ahwinawhi (PDP, Delta), who represents Ughelli North, Ughelli South/Udu Federal Constituency of Delta state, where the parents of the abducted girl hails from defended the Emir Kano, Lamido Sanusi, saying the monarch’s role in the incidence should not be condemned.

  • Reps, Minister in face-off over  sacked VCs

    Reps, Minister in face-off over  sacked VCs

    The Minister of Education Alhaji Adamu Adamu had it rough with the House of Representatives Committee on Education Tuesday as the committee urged him to reverse the controversial sack of five Vice Chancellors (VCs) of the 13 newly established federal universities.

    Hon.Aminu Suleiman, Chairman of the House Committee, at a meeting Tuesday, said that education stakeholders are concerned with the manner the five VCs were removed by the Minister.

    According to the lawmaker, “pockets of mass protests on the issue prompted the House to adopt a motion mandating this Committee to investigate the matter.”

    Other members of the committee, Hon. Sam Onuigbo (Abia, PDP),Hon Ezenwa Onyebuchi (Imo,PDP),Hon Mojeed Alabi (Osun, APC) were if the opinion that the ministry should have waited for the tenure of the affected VCs to expire before their removal.

    But the Minister defended the action saying President Goodluck Jonathan established these universities indiscriminately and that the removal of the five VCs was based on the illegality of their appointments, adding that the institutions they headed were also illegal.

    He said his ministry follows the provision of the law on the issue.

    Adamu told the committee that President Muhammadu Buhari rightfully exercised his powers under Section 3 sub-sections 6 and 7 of the Universities Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1999 to remove the VCs.

    This explanation however did not go down well with the Chairman of the House Committee.

    Suleiman told the Minister that the law is clear by the provision of the Act that a Vice-Chancellor can only be removed based on misconduct or inability to perform the functions of his/her office.

    “For you to tell me that there are no laws governing these 12 universities is wrong. The only thing you can tell me is that the law is not gazetted. To that extent it is wrong to have acted on that basis”

    A former Minister of State for Education Hon Aishatu Dukku who is a Committee member expressed concerns about the minister action, saying it was indefensible.

    Another member, Mojeed Alabi a professor and former university lecturer said the sack of the Vice Chancellors was an act of impunity.

    Eventually, the Minister was asked re-appear before the Committee on Tuesday, March 8th, 2016 with “facts and more convincing reasons for the sack.”

  • Reps probe sale of Eleme Petrochemical

    Reps probe sale of Eleme Petrochemical

    The House of Representatives yesterday resolved to investigate the sale of multi-billion dollar Eleme Petrochemical Company to Indorama Corporation by the Bureau of Public Enterprises.

     The investigation will unravel why the $2.4 billion plant was sold for $215 million.

     The resolution of the House was sequel to the adoption of  a motion by Oluwole Oke.

     The lawmaker said the company was built at $2.4 billion with state of the art olefins plant, polyethylene/butane and polyprophene plant, captive power plant and caustic soda plant and other facilities.

     Oke said that due to lack of proper asset valuation, the company was sold to Indorama corporation for $215 million by the Bureau of Public Enterprise.

     “The Eleme Petrochemical company sitting on a 400-acre land in Eleme, Rivers State was conceived and built by the Federal Government to industrialise the country and position it as a petrochemical hub in Africa”, he said.

     According to him, the sale lacked transparency and did not follow due processes in line with the Public Procurement Act.

     The lawmaker said had the company, operating at 100 per cent capacity with 1,000 workers not been sold, it would have been employing 10,000 Nigerians.

    The motion was unanimously passed when put to vote by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.

  • Reps direct Kogi Assembly to maintain status quo

    A 10-member House of Representatives fact- finding committee on the Kogi State House of Assembly crisis has begun sitting. It urged parties to maintain the status quo.

    The committee Chairman and House Majority Whip, Pally Iriase, who addressed reporters yesterday in Lokoja after meeting with Governor Yahaya Bello, said their mission was to look into the crisis and proffer a solution.

    He advised parties to allow the Constitution to prevail, pending the final resolution.

    Iriase dismissed a report that a court restrained the committee from carrying out its duties, saying the House was not aware of any such court order.

    According to him, the committee, which will sit in Lokoja, will meet the parties and other stakeholders.

    Governor Bello described the crisis as a minor misunderstanding.

    He said leadership was a mere nomenclature, adding that all members were equal.

    Bello said the leadership crisis preceded his inauguration on January 27, noting that it would be wrong for anybody to say he masterminded it.

    The governor promised to invite the two factions for a resolution.

    He thanked the House of Representatives for the intervention.

  • Reps, Finance Minister, others to meet over budget

    To resolve the inconsistencies and alleged padding  of the 2016 budget proposal discovered by various Standing Committees during interface with the Ministers and Heads of Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee is to hold special budget defence session with the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and Minister of Budget and Planning, Udo Ndoma.

    Also invited by the  Committees are the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) and the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation.

    Chairman House Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who spoke on the presentation of the 2016 budget so far, revealed that all budget proposals of the MDAs presented by House Standing Committees, have been harmonised with their Senate counterparts.

    He said: “By tomorrow  (Friday) we will finish taking the reports; we have agreed that we will invite the Minister of Budget and Planning, Minister of Finance, the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Director of Budget Office and Central Bank Governor and engage them extensively on the entire budget.

    “We also have pending issues on the 2015 budget, so they have to come with 2015 budget performance and then we will go into special session,” Jibrin stated.

    The lawmaker also directed the Clerk of the Committee to liaise with the office of the Clerk of the House to access members’ data base for easy dispatch of messages to all the 360 members and various committees  for final submission and consideration of the MDAs budget.

    It was learnt that only 15 committees out of the 97 Standing Committees have so far submitted and defended their budget before the Appropriations Committee.

    A communication from the Appropriations Committee which was read in the floor yesterday by the Speaker Yakubu Dogara, instructed chairmen of all the standing Committees to submit and defend their MDAs budget by Friday (today) or risk zero budget in the 2016 budget.

    Jibrin warned that the last session of the budget defence would hold today and would commence by 8am.

  • Reps query FAAN over N7b recruitment budget, scanners

    The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to adhere strictly to the principles of federal character in its proposed 2016 staff recruitment.

    The lawmakers also queried the management of FAAN over non functioning scanners littering the nation’s major airports.

    The advise came on the heels of a discovery of  N7 billion in FAAN’s 2016 personnel budget proposal during its budget defense before House Committee on Aviation.

    The committee berated FAAN management for risking the lives of air travelers by allowing scanners at all major airports in the country to breakdown for such a long period.

    The Nkeruka Onyejiocha-led Aviation Committee also questioned FAAN on the installation of a specialised N52m detector at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja and Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos alone.

    The committee sought explanation for the N300 million budgeted for bush clearing and land reclamation, in addition to money proposed for tractors and slashers for grass maintenance.

    In his defense, FAAN’s Acting Managing Director, Saleh Dumona, said the N7billion difference noticed in the proposal was meant for recruitment of staff into the organization’s security, fire and rescue units.

     

  • Reps to meet Adeosun, Udo Udoma on budget

    Reps to meet Adeosun, Udo Udoma on budget

    The House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations will hold special budget defence session with Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, on the 2016 budget proposal.

    Also invited by the committee are – Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) and the Director-General in the Budget office of the Federation.

    The Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who spoke on the presentation of the 2016 budget so far, revealed that all budget proposals of the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs)  presented by House standing Committees have been harmonised with their Senate counterparts.

    He said: ” By tomorrow ( Friday) we will finish taking the reports, we have agreed that we will invite the Minister of Budget and Planning, Minister of Finance, the Accountant -General of the Federation, the Director of Budget Office and Central Bank Governor and engage them extensively on the entire budget.

    “We also have pending issues on the 2015 budget, so they have to come with 2015 budget performance and then we will go into special session,” Jibrin stated.

    The lawmaker also directed the clerk of the committee to liaise with the office of the Clerk of the House to access the members’ data base for easy dispatch of message to all the 360 members and various committees on the February 25 deadline for final submission and consideration of the MDAs budget.

     

  • Reps may take over Kogi Assembly

    Reps may take over Kogi Assembly

    The House of Representatives yesterday constituted a 10-member fact-finding delegation to probe the removal of Kogi State House of Assembly Speaker Momoh-Jimoh Lawal and 14 members.

    The delegation, headed by Deputy Majority Whip Pally Iriase, is to look into the affairs of the Assembly and restore sanity.

    “If the palliative moves fail,  the House of Representatives may consider taking over the legislative functions of the House of Assembly.”

    The resolution of the House followed the passage of a motion by Sunday Karimi and the adoption of the prayer at plenary.

    Karimi said what happened in the Assembly was an illegality.

    He said: “Section 92(2)(c) of the 1999 Constitution stipulates that the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the Assembly shall vacate office if he is removed by a resolution of the Assembly by the votes of not less than two-third majority of the members.

    “In Kogi Assembly, there are 25 members, but five had their elections nullified at the Court of Appeal and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to conduct a fresh election.

    “Accordingly, only 20 members are validly elected in the Assembly and two-third of 20 is at least 13 members.”

    The lawmaker said Governor Yahaya Bello was accused by the remaining 15 members of threatening them to remove Speaker Lawal “and appoint his stooge.”

    Federal legislators, who supported the motion, included Majority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila, Nnena Elendu-Ukeje, Rasak Atunwa, Sunday Adepoju, Tajudeen Yusuf and Edward Pwajok.

    Gbajabiamila said the Muhammadu Buhari administration would not tolerate impunity.

    He said the House would oppose violation of the constitution, as it did in Rivers, Oyo and Ekiti legislatures.

    His words: “The law is clear on how to impeach. The constitution is for Nigeria and Kogi State is part of Nigeria.

    “The National Assembly must make it clear that this must never happen again. This House will oppose this kind of politics for the sake of democracy and good governance.”

     

  • Reps invite Alison-Madueke to explain roles in crude oil swap

    Reps invite Alison-Madueke to explain roles in crude oil swap

    The House Representatives committee on Crude Oil Swap on Monday formally invited the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Alison – Madueke, to come and make clarifications on the crude oil swap arrangement under her supervision.

    In a letter dated February 22, 2016 and signed by the Chairman of the ad hoc committee, Hon. Zakari Mohammed, the former minister is expected to appear before the lawmakers on Wednesday, March 2, to explain her role in the product swap arrangements with oil marketing companies.

    The letter which was sent through the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) reads:

    “Preponderance of the document and evidence at the hearing points to the need to invite you for further clarification on the issue.”

    The committee requested that she provides documents which include -a full brief on all swap arrangements, a proof of Presidential /Federal Executive Council approval, NNPC board resolution on the contract, evidence of the approval limit of the board, that of the minister of petroleum and that of the GMD of NNPC.

     

  • Reps probe utilisation of N350b fund

    Reps probe utilisation of N350b fund

    The House of Representatives is set to investigate the utilisation of N350 billion Natural Resources Fund (NRF) which was spent “in spite of the facts that the solid minerals sector never benefited from it.”

    The House has mandated its committees  on Public Accounts and Solid Minerals Development to investigate the matter and report to it within six weeks.

    The resolution of the House followed the adoption of the motion of a member, Hon. Danlami Mohammed Kurfi at plenary yesterday.

    In a motion titled: Urgent need to Address the Utilisation of the N350 billion National Resources Fund ( NRF) as a Finance Window for development of the Solid Mineral Sector,” the lawmaker said there is need to establish what happened to the account which was created in 2002 to “ develop alternative mineral resources with a view to reducing the nation’s over- dependence on oil.”

    “In the 1970s, mining contributed over 10 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but unfortunately today, it contributes to a mere 0.3 per cent to the GDP, and sadly, the NRF was never accessed by the solid minerals sector, even though the fund in the account was utilised.

    Kurfi said the total accruals to the account between 2002 and 2012 was about N873 billion while utilisation stood at N701 billion leaving a balance of  N172 billion by the end of 2012.

    “Between 2013 and 2014, the sum of N159.6 billion was contributed to the fund, thus bringing the balance to about N350 billion,” he said.

    While the lawmaker noted that between 2013 and last year, money was consistently withdrawn from the fund but no project in the solid mineral sector was funded with the money. He lamented the fact “that a Solid Mineral Development Fund was set up but was never funded.”

    He expressed regret that millions of Nigerians are jobless, arguing that the development of the solid mineral sector would have been a great source of employment.

    “The development of the solid mineral sector will accomplish establishment of livelihoods, poverty reduction through job creation and increase Nigeria’s external trade with the resultant increase in foreign exchange earnings,” he said.

    The motion was passed without distention after the Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara called for a voice vote.