The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Reps

  • Cement manufacturers back Reps on quality review

    •‘Why we’re 42.5 quality-compliant’ 

    Major cement manufacturers have promised to align with the House Representatives’ position that the 42.5MPA cement grade should be the minimum standard of the product to be produced in the country.

    The said expired cement should be withdrawn from the market.

    Major cement manufacturing companies, like Bua, Ibeto and Dangote, had agreed with the quality review by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), which pegged the 42.5 grade for general purpose.

    It was learnt that they have been producing the quality grade cement and were not intending to reduce its quality.

    The Yakubu Dogara-led ad hoc Committee on Cement Composition and Pigmentation, after a public hearing among stakeholders, submitted its report to the House.

    In the report, the committee urged the SON to implement its cement standardisation, adding that manufacturers should retool for the production of the higher grade.

    The recommendation, according to the report, was based on the fact that if made to choose between 32.5 and 42.5 grades of cement, consumers would choose the 42.5 higher grade.

    It noted that because those who build structures are mostly non-professionals, it would be in the nation’s interest to adopt a cement grade that is less susceptible to wrong application.

    Also, the committee said any manufacturer or distributor implicated in the sale of expired cement should be severely sanctioned to ensure that sanity prevails in the cement manufacturing and construction industry.

    The Chairman of Bua Cement, Abdulsamad Rabiu, said the House of Representatives did a patriotic job for making those recommendations.

    Rabiu said the move should be supported by manufacturers with the safety and well-being of the people at heart.

    He said his company, which operates the oldest cement plant in Nigeria – Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) – had been producing the higher grade of cement from the outset.

    The company chief said the House decision was in order.

     

  • Insecurity: Reps urge FG to fence unity schools

    To provide a more secured environment for students, the House of Representatives on Thursday urged the federal ministry of education to ensure the construction or repairs of perimeter fences of all unity schools in the country.

    The lawmakers while expressing concern over the absence of perimeter fencing in some unity schools in the country also mandated its committee on education to liaise with the ministry to ensure compliance.

    The resolution of the House was sequel to the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Evelyn Omavowan Oboro (PDP, Delta).

    The motion was adopted by members and thereafter referred to the House Committee on Education.

    Oboro while presenting the motion said absence of fencing in most of the unity schools located in rural areas had exposed them to attacks of various types.

     

  • Reps recommend 42.5mpa grade cement for construction in the country

    To achieve standard construction works in the country, the 42.5mpa grade cement should be used, the House of Representatives recommended yesterday.

    According to the House, the reason for adopting the 42.5mpa grade is because there is no building code hence 90 per cent of construction work in the country is undertaken by non-professionals, majority of whom are quacks.

    “It will serve the national interest better to adopt a particular cement grade which is less susceptible to misapplication as the standard cement in the country,” the lawmakers said, adding that “most stakeholders will prefer it if given the chance to choose between 32.5mpa and 42.5mpa.”

    The recommendation of the House was sequel to the adopting of the recommendations of the report of Hon. Yakubu Dogara- led ad hoc committee on Composition and Pigmentation of Cement (Cement Quality) which investigated the incidence of collapsed buildings in the country.

    Lawmakers also recommended the quick passage of the National building Code Bill to check quackery, use of substandard building materials and also to serve as a tool for the regulation of the informal downstream sector of the construction industry.

    The House also recommended that Standard Organisations of Nigeria (SON’s) governing council should ensure that all cement manufacturers in Nigeria retool and upgrade their production lines to start producing the 42.5mpa grade within a reasonable time considering the cost of social dislocation.

    They further recommended that the government should create a cement fund from contributions of N10 per 50kg bag of cement produced in Nigeria and N20 only per 50kg of cement imported into Nigeria for the establishment of state-of-the-art laboratories in all the geo-political zones within the period of three years.

    The fund, they said, should be managed by a task force to be set up by SON, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) and the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB).

    The lawmakers said: “All cement packages must clearly and boldly indicate their grades, uses and expiry dates with tamper proofing on the packages to guard against repackaging by middlemen; SON should ensure that all cement distributions withdraw expired cement from their warehouses and markets and destroy them, “

    They asked that the Federal Government set up a National Quality Assurance Programme, using designated agencies and some professional bodies to regularly test samples of  cement produced before they are sold in the open market.

    Part of the House’s 12-point recommendations was that government “ should take immediate steps to establish a cement and concrete institute, as is the case in many jurisdictions,” and that “government should also revive all technical schools across the country and establish new ones to improve on the pool of qualified artisans and generate skilled as well semi-skilled labour.”

  • Reps recommend 42.5mpa grade cement for construction in the country

    To achieve standard construction works in the country, the 42.5mpa grade cement should be used, the House of Representatives recommended yesterday.

    According to the House, the reason for adopting the 42.5mpa grade is because there is no building code hence 90 per cent of construction work in the country is undertaken by non-professionals, majority of whom are quacks.

    “It will serve the national interest better to adopt a particular cement grade which is less susceptible to misapplication as the standard cement in the country,” the lawmakers said, adding that “most stakeholders will prefer it if given the chance to choose between 32.5mpa and 42.5mpa.”

    The recommendation of the House was sequel to the adopting of the recommendations of the report of Hon. Yakubu Dogara- led ad hoc committee on Composition and Pigmentation of Cement (Cement Quality) which investigated the incidence of collapsed buildings in the country.

    Lawmakers also recommended the quick passage of the National building Code Bill to check quackery, use of substandard building materials and also to serve as a tool for the regulation of the informal downstream sector of the construction industry.

    The House also recommended that Standard Organisations of Nigeria (SON’s) governing council should ensure that all cement manufacturers in Nigeria retool and upgrade their production lines to start producing the 42.5mpa grade within a reasonable time considering the cost of social dislocation.

    They further recommended that the government should create a cement fund from contributions of N10 per 50kg bag of cement produced in Nigeria and N20 only per 50kg of cement imported into Nigeria for the establishment of state-of-the-art laboratories in all the geo-political zones within the period of three years.

    The fund, they said, should be managed by a task force to be set up by SON, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) and the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB).

    The lawmakers said: “All cement packages must clearly and boldly indicate their grades, uses and expiry dates with tamper proofing on the packages to guard against repackaging by middlemen; SON should ensure that all cement distributions withdraw expired cement from their warehouses and markets and destroy them, “

    They asked that the Federal Government set up a National Quality Assurance Programme, using designated agencies and some professional bodies to regularly test samples of  cement produced before they are sold in the open market.

    Part of the House’s 12-point recommendations was that government “ should take immediate steps to establish a cement and concrete institute, as is the case in many jurisdictions,” and that “government should also revive all technical schools across the country and establish new ones to improve on the pool of qualified artisans and generate skilled as well semi-skilled labour.”

  • Delegates propose senators, Reps, others to work part-time

    Delegates propose senators, Reps, others to work part-time

    The National Conference yesterday adopted a resolution making legislative functions of senators and House of Representatives members part-time.

    The delegates also agreed that House of Assembly members should function part-time.

    The resolution followed the adoption of the recommendation of the report of the Conference Committee on Public Service, chaired by a former Head of Service of the Federation, Ebele Okeke.

    The corollary of the resolution is that if endorsed by the Federal Government, national and state legislators will become part-time workers rather than the current full-time basis.

    The delegates resolved that remunerations, including allowances of national and state lawmkaers, should be in accordance with what obtains in other countries.

    The conferees also resolved that the payment of pension, life insurance and severance allowances to national and state legislators, governors and deputy governors should be cancelled.

    They stressed that if done, the measure would reduce the high cost of governance in the country.

    The conference agreed that people with disability should be given an allowance equivalent to the salary of Grade Level 6 officers.

    The delegates adopted the proposal for the creation of a separate Foreign Service and a separate Foreign Service Commission.

    The proposal that there should be no transfer from outside the civil service into the directorate cadre of the civil service was accepted. The recommendation that there should be mandatory training for promotion from Levels 12 to 17 was also adopted.

    The delegates accepted that the Head of the Federal Civil Service of the Federation should only be made from the pool of permanent secretaries and same for Head of Civil Service of states.

    The proposal that the civil service of the federation should operate the same set of rules and procedures with those of states was accepted by delegates.

    They also accepted that State Character Commission be created.

    The delegates agreed that any civil servant involved in execution of contract for pecuniary benefit should be summarily dismissed.

    They agreed to make Social Health Insurance mandatory for public and private employees to grow the pool.

    The delegates rejected that Social Health Insurance should be extended to states and local governments and allow the National Insurance Scheme to oversee it.

  • Reps apologise to judge over N10b chartered jets case

    Reps apologise to judge over N10b chartered jets case

    The House of Representatives has apologised to Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, for misconstruing his ruling on the case brought by the Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

    The minister was seeking the court’s leave to stop the House Committee on Public Accounts from investigating alleged N10 billion expenses she incurred on chartering jets for private use with public funds.

    Addressing reporters at the weekend, the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Victor Ogene, said the position of the House was misinterpreted.

    Ogene said: “The position of the House at no time was that the court had stopped the committee from functioning. But as it turned out, it was misread to mean that an injunction restraining the committee from carrying out its assignment has been handed out.

    “In the light of that, we wish to correct that impression and to say that at no time did Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, issue a restraining order on the House.

    “And so, we are sorry for that slip, whichever way it came from; more importantly, to also thank the judge for standing up on the side of justice – at the last, hearing that matter. He refused to grant any injunction restraining the House from going ahead with its business.”

    The lawmaker said the House, under the Constitution, has the power to look into the affairs of the Minister of Petroleum Resources as long as she is a public officer and spends funds voted by the National Assembly.

    He said: “Some people …have insinuated that the House does not have the right to actually carry on with its responsibilities. And they read parts of the constitution in isolation.

    “For anyone who wants to get the correct picture, Sections 88 and 89, when you take both sections, you would come to the easy conclusion that the House is empowered to look into any matter on which it has legislative competence or for which it has appropriated money.”

    Ogene said one benefit of the contestation “is that the position of the law remains that no man or woman is above the law”.

    According to him, the House of Representatives will not shirk its responsibility at ensuring the proper utilisation of funds appropriated to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and that though every Nigerian or any other resident in Nigeria is at liberty to go to court, “there is a difference between an individual and an official of the state”.

    Ogene added: “So, acting in your personal capacity is different from seeking to stop Ministries, Departments and Agencies from being answerable to the Nigerian people. Indeed, any life not worth examining is not worth living. The essence of democracy is to ensure that we examine ourselves.”

    On April 28, through its spokesperson, Zakari Mohammed, the House said it had been served with a court notice which was received through the Office of the Speaker.

    Mohammed said the House would have to tarry and get legal opinion on the issue before beginning the investigation, which was earlier scheduled to begin on that same date.

    But Justice Ahmed Mohammed gave the House the nod to continue the case, saying he did not give a restraining injunction to stop the investigation.

  • Private jets: Allison Madueke gets fresh summon

    Private jets: Allison Madueke gets fresh summon

    The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Allison-Madueke, has been issued a new summon to appear before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Account for spending N10 billion on private jets.

    This follows the directive of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, on Wednesday that the Public Accounts Committee should resume the investigation which had been stunted by a controversial court pronunciation.

    Also summoned are – the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (Andrew Yakubu, Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority, the MD of Pipeline and Petroleum Products Marketing Company; Mr. Haruna Momoh, Vistajet International Limited and other stakeholders.

    Chairman, House Committee in Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Zakari Mohammed, told reporters at a press briefing on Thursday that all those summoned are to appear between June 15 and 17 to shed light on the matter.

    His words: “We’ve invited all the stakeholders involved to appear before the committee between June 17 and 17. We gave this ample time because the people involved will have enough time to properly organise themselves.

    “The whole exercise is not designed to witch-hunt any public officer but to get to the bottom of the matter.”

    According to him, the PAC committee would take all stakeholders who have submitted memoranda before it one after the other.

    “We don’t want to stampede invitees. We are not after anybody, but to expose what is not right that is why we gave a long gap of three weeks,” Mohammed said.

  • Reps pass Pension Reform Bill

    Reps pass Pension Reform Bill

    The House of Representatives yesterday passed the Pension Reform Act 2013, after its consideration on the floor of the House.

    The Act, according to its explanatory memorandum “repeals the Pension Reform Act, 2004, and enacts the Pension Reform Act, 2013, to continue to govern and regulate the administration of the uniform contributory pension scheme for both the public and private sectors in Nigeria and for matters co netted therewith”.

    The objectives of the legislation, as set out in the new bill, include to: “establish a uniform set of rules, regulations and standards for the administration and payments of retirement benefits for the public service of the federation, the public service of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the public service of the state governments, the public service of the local government areas and the private sector”.

    Other purposes of the Act include to: “make provision for the smooth operations of the contributory pension scheme”.

    The Act will also “ensure that every person who worked in either the public service of the federation, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), states and local governments or the private sector receives his retirement benefits as and when due”.

    The new bill, will “assist improvident individuals by ensuring that they save in order to cater for their livelihood during old age”.

    The new bill, which has 121 clauses and 15 sections, was passed after the Chairman of the House Committee on Pensions, Ibrahim Bawa Kamba, moved for the consideration of the report of his committee on the bill, titled: “A Bill for An act to Repeal the Pension Reform Act, No2 of 2004 and Re- enact the Pension Reform Act, 2013 to make Provision for Contributory Pensions Scheme and for Other Connected Matters.”

    The bill retains the minimum of eight per cent monthly contribution of salary by employees into the scheme but stipulates a minimum of 10 per cent monthly by the employer.

  • Reps probe concession of Ajaokuta Rolling Mill

    Reps probe concession of Ajaokuta Rolling Mill

    The House of Representatives on Wednesday mandated Committees on Steel, Priviatisation and Commercialisation and Justice to investigate the concession of the Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill.
    It also mandated three standing committees to also probe the affairs and failure of the mill and report back to the house for further legislative actions.
    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the resolution followed a motion by Ben Nwankwo (PDP-Anambra), which was unanimously adopted without debate when put to vote by the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha.
    Nwankwo, while moving the motion, noted that the mill and National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMC) in 2005 were concessioned to two India firms without due diligence.
    According to him, the concessionaires, Global Infrastructure Holdings Limited and Global Steel Holdings Limited, allegedly operated in ways contrary to the concession agreement.
    He said that due to complaints on the operation of ASRM and NIOMC by the concessionaires, the Federal Government revoked the concession agreement of ASRM in 2007.
    This, he said, led to protracted arbitral proceedings at the International Centre for Commercial Arbitration in London.
    The lawmaker said the pendency of the arbitral proceedings further compounded the woes of the mill.
    He, however, said that recent disclosures indicated that the Federal Government had “successfully’’ reacquired ASRM from Global Infrastructure Holding Limited in circumstances not clear.
    He said the fate of NOIMC was still not clear.

     

  • Reps summon service chiefs over abducted students

    Reps summon service chiefs over abducted students

    The House of Representatives on Tuesday resolved to summon the service chiefs over the abduction of 234 female students from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.
    The service chiefs are to brief the lawmakers on the ongoing efforts to find the abducted girls and the challenges hampering them from securing their freedom as well as strategies they intend to employ to bring the Boko Haram insurgency to an end.
    They also asked the Federal Government to “engage the sub-regional, regional and international organizations in coming up with a resolution that enables the Nigerian Army engage other neighbouring countries in tackling the trans-border insurgency.”
    The adoption of the resolutions was sequel to a motion of urgent national Importance brought before the House by a member, Hon. Peter Gumta (Borno) and titled: “Urgent need to secure the release of the abducted girls of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State”
    However, a motion by a member Sadiq Asema Mohammed, seeking the resignation of the service chiefs, National Security Adviser, Director-General of State Security Service and Comptroller General of Immigrations should the children not be found within a week failed to sail through.
    The motion elicited a passionate debate as the lawmakers bared their minds on what most to them described as “an unfortunate incident.”
    A member, Hon. Aisha Ahmed Moddibo, was of the opinion that the efforts of the Chamber were a little too late.
    According to her, she expected that the House would have broken its Easter recess to convene an emergency meeting as it did in the past when it held a Sunday meeting over the fuel subsidy issue.
    “The debate is belated. The House should have suspended recess to discuss the issue. This is even more important than the fuel subsidy issue because the lives of children are involved,” she said.