Tag: Reps

  • Senators, Reps, Speakers back Assembly

    The National Assembly caucus of Taraba State and the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria (CSSLN) are in support of the Taraba State House of Assembly on its stand that Alhaji Garba Umar remains acting governor.

    They affirmed that while Mr.Danbaba Suntai is the undisputed governor,the State Assembly was constitutionally right to mandate Alhaji Umar to continue in office until Mr.Suntai is medically fit to resume.

    They warned external influences against exploiting the situation to the detriment of the people of the state.

    Addressing reporters at the House of Representatives yesterday, Senator Abubakar Tutare said the unfolding political melodrama in the state is unfortunate, shameful and uncalled for.

    Tutare was flanked by the House of Representatives Majority Whip, Ishaka Bawa, Ibrahim El Sudi and Aminu Malle, while Jerry Manwe, Albert Sam-Tsokwa and two Senators missed the briefing.

    The state has nine members in the National Aseembly made up of three Senators and six Representatives.

    Five members signed the statement of the position of the caucus.

    According to Tutare, being leaders that ought to have unbiased opinions, mature judgments and enlightened conscience, the state must be seen to be bigger and greater than one single individual or group of individuals.

    He said rather than be concerned about bringing development to the state, “we are busy politicking with the health of our amiable Governor His Excellency, Danbaba Suntai. Rather than uniting our people who are peace-loving, dynamic and enterprising, we are busy dividing them and creating unnecessary tension for selfish reasons.

    “Rather than praying for Governor Danbaba’s speedy recovery, we are busy scheming, outsmarting and outwitting each other for selfish aggrandizement or the unknown 2015.

    “As concerned Tarabans in the National Assembly, we sat and deliberated over the negative media hype pervading the already charged political atmosphere in the country and hereby plead with the various political gladiators within and outside Taraba to allow peace to prevail in the state.

    “Our position is that His Excellency Danbaba Danfulani Suntai is and remains the undisputed Executive Governor of Taraba State.

    “Alhaji Garba Umar should continue serving as Acting Governor as constitutionally enshrined until Governor Danbaba is convincingly fit to steer the affairs of the state.

    “Without prejudice to the legality or otherwise of the action of the members of the Taraba State House of Assembly, we hereby commend the bold, gallant, resolute and patriotic steps taken by the Taraba State House of Assembly under the leadership of the courageous Speaker, Haruna Tsokwa”.

    Besides, the federal lawmakers noted that the health and welfare of Suntai ought be of utmost importance to those who love the ailing governor, including the political gladiators, individuals and groups.

    They urged the Taraba State Government to continue to take responsibility of his health expenses and all other personal responsibilities as they may arise.

    While pleading with elder statesmen and highly placed persons from the state to, as a matter of urgency, converge to proffer solutions to the political impasse, the lawmakers advised external forces, unless for the purposes of bringing peace to the state, to desist from involving themselves in the affairs of the state.

    Similarly, the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria (CSSLN) said the decision of the Taraba State House of Assembly to ascertain the health status of Governor Suntai is in order and constitutional.

    The conference, however, urged the state assembly to stand firm on its decision.

    Chairman of the conference and Speaker of the Gombe State House of Assembly, Inuwa Garba, who spoke in Abuja yesterday also warned against external influences that might want to destabilise the state through the unfolding situation.

    He asked members of the state assembly to “stay firm in doing what is constitutionally right in the prevailing circumstance,” and all stakeholders to “resist any undue internal and external interference capable of creating religious, ethnic and political discord.”

  • Reps to intensify probe on MDGs

    THE House of Representatives will increase its monitoring of budgetary allocations to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Speaker Aminu Tambuwal has said.

    The Speaker said an effective tracking of budgetary allocations to the MDGs would enable the country to realise the goals.

    Tambuwal spoke at the Fifth Annual Conference of Speakers of African Parliaments in Midrand, South Africa.

    He said the House established a standing Committee on MDGs to ensure that the strategy is translated into reality because of its importance.

    In a statement by his spokesman, Imam Imam, the Speaker noted that meeting the goals has the potential to tackle several development challenges confronting developing countries.

    The statement reads: “We believe by adequate budgetary allocation to the programme and effective scrutiny and oversight to ensure full implementation of the budget, the MDG’s will be achieved even if not 100 percent.

    “It is in that spirit that the National Assembly, the House of Representatives in particular, found it necessary to establish a standing committee on MDGs..

    “As representatives of the people, he noted, legislators were better positioned to champion the realisation of the MDG’s, and called on other African parliaments to be involved in the formulation of the MDG strategy at the national level to allow formal and informal input from people at the local level and members of civil society groups.”

  • Reps attack Ezekwesili over N1tr pay remark

    Reps attack Ezekwesili over N1tr pay remark

    The House of Representatives has described the comments of former Minister of Education and Solid Mineral Resources Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili as a “simplistic and escapist way of addressing a problem”.

    The lawmakers noted that being a former minister, she would have been more objective if she took time to tell Nigerians what the recurrent expenditure was during her tenure.

    The lawmakers also challenged the former World Bank executive to disclose what it cost taxpayers to maintain her and her aides for a year.

    The Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Victor Ogene, speaking with The Nation yesterday, regretted that the former Minister could not come up with simple calculation of what accrued to the National Assembly and the lawmakers in particular in the period under review.

    Ogene said the National Assembly, comprising 109 Senators, 360 Representatives and the bureaucracy, which is the National Assembly Commission, began to draw its N150b annual budget from the first line charge in 2010.

    According to him, the N150b was meant for legislators’ allowances, their aides, the civil servants, capital projects and allied institutions under the National Assembly, such as the Institute for Legislative Studies, among others.

    “Going by the fact that the entire National Assembly began to get N150b in 2010, it means that before then we could not have got up to that amount.

    “To now come up with a calculation that the lawmakers alone got over N1 trillion during the period, I think that person is jaundiced. What is the percentage of N150b in a budget of N4.9 trillion? she should tell Nigerians”.

    Besides, Ogene noted that the Legislature has always been championing reduction in the cost of governance, adding that the National Assembly set a precedence by cutting its recurrent expenditure which the Executive has failed to do.

    He said: “If we are truly talking about cutting cost of governance, it has to be across the three arms. If that is the case, how do you explain a fleet of 10 aircraft in the presidential fleet and how do you maintain them?

    “Again, how do you defend N2b spent on air tickets by a minister, and that is just one Minister, what about the rest despite the fact that there is a presidential fleet. Why do we need up to 40 Ministers in the first place?

    “The legislature and the judiciary have principal officers too and they have to travel as well; how many aircraft are they maintaining?”

    Ogene said as an institution, the legislature will not descend low to addressing issues raised by individuals such as Mrs. Ezekwesili but would look beyond that to her tenure as a minister and a public official.

    “She was part of several reform committees that ended up being reformed themselves. In view of this, the best way to go to equity is to go with clean hands.

    “It would, however, suffice for Ezekwesili to tell us what recurrent expenditure was during her tenure and what it cost Nigerian taxpayers to maintain her and her aides for a year,” he said.

    On Mrs. Ezekwesili’s suggestion that the federal legislature be reduced to unicameral, the deputy spokesman noted that the advice was in bad faith, adding: “I would rather say this is akin to cutting off one’s nose to spite the face.

    “It is more like removing a child from a private school and placing him in a school without teachers or necessary infrastructure. The legislature is the hallmark of democracy and the National Assembly is always ready and willing to do the best for the Nigerian people.

    “While they (executive) are shouting about cost-effective governance, we will not be blackmailed into accepting suggestions that tend to proffer solution for symptoms and not the actual cure.”

    House Spokesman Zakari Mohammed said if it was the wish of Nigerians, the lawmakers would have no problem with that.

    The chairman, House Committee on Finance, Abdulmumin Jibrin, referred The Nation to the findings of his Committee on remittances of the Federal Government share of internally generated revenue (IGR) by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) that have always been subjected to manipulations.

    He said: “We recovered N108b for government in six months, but the question is, where was the money going to before?

    “When you look at the IGR of the country, say 10 years back, that sub head always carries a total sum of about N300b to about N450b year after year as projections for that category.

    “But at the end of every year, when you go back and look at the performance of that sub head, we never had more than 5 per cent performance. So, even if the projection for a particular year is N100billion, we have never had not more than N2.5billion, and in most cases much lesser than 5 per cent?

    Leader of Opposition in the House , Femi Gbajabiamila, said simple mathematics must have failed the former Minister.

    According to him, Dr. Ezekwesili failed to comprehend the workings of the National Assembly before making her conclusion.

    He said: “I think we should be objective and not dramatic about this obviously sensitive matter. From my simple mathematics if you divide N1 trillion over an eight year period, you will get an average of a little over 100billion per year.

    “Now, this is for a whole and distinct arm of government and covers salaries of legislators, staff of both Houses, the National Assembly Commission, capital projects and over heads etc. When you compare this with the budget of just a single agency or Ministry which is not an arm of government, you begin to get a better understanding and a clear picture.

    “I don’t think N100billion represents two per cent of our annual budget.

    “If part time legislation is the panacea or antidote or solution to our myriad of problems in this country, I am all for it but something tells me it is not tenable for now,” he said.

  • Reps back withdrawal of public sector funds from banks

    Reps back withdrawal of public sector funds from banks

    The House of Representatives has defended the withdrawal of public sector funds from commercial banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

    The House Committee on Banking and Currency, noted that it has been vindicated on the issue that has been its major concern since its inauguration two years ago.

    Its Chairman, Jones Chukwudi Onyereri, said the argument in support of the withdrawal of public sector funds from commercial banks, was for the banks to focus on their core banking functions.

    In a statement yesterday, Onyereri explained that the withdrawal of the funds will force banks to look for alternative sources of funds, which will in turn lead to offering of better incentives to the public, including higher deposit rates and an increase in private sector lending.

    “The Committee therefore sees the recent policy decision by CBN to increase the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for public sector deposit in banks to 50 per cent as a step in the right direction.

    “Though it is the Committee’s goal to see to a total withdrawal of public sector funds from the commercial banks, the Committee applauds the CBN for taking this important step, and for seeing the benefit in the Committee’s stance on this matter and the obvious added value such action will bring to the private sector.

    He said the Committee believes that in the long term, the action will bring the much-needed respite to the consumers from high bank charges, lack of banking incentives and high interest rates.

    “The over reliance of our commercial banks on public sector funds has led to a total neglect of the private sector by the banks, as they see the public sector fund as a cash cow, which has resulted in a decline in their entrepreneurial drive,” he said.

    He said the Committee was ready to continue to work with the CBN and other financial bodies to improve lending to the private sector at reduced rates.

  • Reps to make MDAs generate N2tr for govt in 2014

    Reps to make MDAs generate N2tr for govt in 2014

    ll 845 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) of the Federal Government will from next year remit part of their internally generated revenue (IGR) to the Federal Governmental as “independent” revenue.

    The House of Representatives has said it will expand the schedule of 31 agencies that remit independent revenue to include all ministries and other agencies that are not captured on the schedule of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), 2007 as a result of the financial challenges confronting the country.

    The Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Abdlumumin Jibrin, told reporters at the weekend in Abuja that the House, on resumption from its two-month recess, would immediately take on the amendment of the FRA that would revolutionise revenue generation capacity of the MDAs.

    According to him, the move became necessary as a result of the discovery that the 845 MDAs have the capacity to generate N2 trillion annually from their IGR to government coffers.

    He said the Committee on Finance came to the conclusion based of the investigation of remittance of 60 agencies to the government that led to the recovery of N108b between December 2012 and May.

    Jibrin said: “When you look at the IGR of the country, say 10 years back, that sub head always carries a total sum of about N300b to about N450b year after year as projections for that category.

    “But at the end of every year, when you go back and look at the performance of that sub head, we never had more than five per cent performance. So even if the projection for a particular year is N100b, we have never had less more than N2.5b, and in most cases, much less than 5 per cent.

    “On the other hand, the 80 per cent remittance of operating surplus was also evidently manipulated by these agencies that they are operating at a loss, which was why the Ministry of Finance came up with the 25 per cent of gross earnings to be remitted.

    “The intervention of the Committee from December to May has earned the Federal government N108b from IGR of agencies as independent revenue solely for the Federal government.

    “The logical question that should agitate the minds of Nigerians that have been deprived of gainful employment, basic public infrastructure and basic health care service is, where has this money been going to all these years.

    “That is worrisome because we came to a conclusion that most of these agencies, if we harness their potentials to generate revenue internally, they can generate not less than N2tr in a year”.

    The lawmaker regretted that the country is operating a huge budget deficit, whereas government agencies can on their own generate revenues to the tune of N2tf, which is more than the capital expenditure of the country but is being diverted elsewhere,

    “With capacity to generate about N2tr yearly, which is more than the capital expenditure of the country, these agencies are doing a great disservice to this country because it is even those that take subventions from government that are manipulating the remittances.

    “This is what prompted the revolutionary approach the Committee is taking with the amendment of the FRA on two fronts because we cannot afford to repeal and re-enact the entire Act in one fell swoop because of time factor.

    “The amendments were to ensure that these agencies remit exactly what they are supposed to as well as strengthen them in their revenue generation operations.

    “How we hope to address it by amending a clause in the Act to give the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) the power to arrest and prosecute any CEO that raises such reverence and refuses to remit in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

    “In addition, the Commission is to be given the power to sanction, so that in cases where it is not outright refusal to remit but an infringement on the process, such agencies should be sanctioned.

    “The Commission would have power to summon, look into their books and when necessary sanction such erring agency.

    “Thirdly, we are adding a clause, at the end of every fiscal year, the Commission will publish all the agencies on the schedule, the total amount projected for them to raise and total amount raised or actual collection for all Nigerians to see.

    “The Commission would make it mandatory, not as we have it now as a matter of choice, it will henceforth be mandatory”.

    He also revealed that activities of other bodies that affect the job of the FRC and the revenue in question such as the Budget Office, Ministry of Finance, budget supervision among others, would also be affected.

    He said: “We discovered that the power of the office of the Director General of Budget Office is too much, the DG is just like a god on his own, so we want to empower the FRC to be able to ask for the books of the Budget Office open it up for investigation to be sure that everything is being done in line with the provision of the FRA”.

    Two major amendments according to him include one that would categorise all MDAs into four groups, based on their capacity to generate revenue and remit to government.

    The second amendment would make it a law to ensure that no MDA is left out of remitting part of its IGR to government as currently practiced.

    “The first is the provision that stipulates the 80 per cent remittance of operating surplus. We believe that provision is insufficient and has not given the desired result.

    “What we are doing doing is to categorise agencies into four broad groups, those to remit 100 per cent of their gross earnings to government, those to pay 25 per cent.

    “Category three would be those that will retain their operating surplus while the fourth group are classified as special because of the peculiarity of their operations.

    “We are doing this because it was found out that the 25 per cent remittance of IGR as directed by the Ministry of Finance would require a legislation, coupled with the fact that its not all agencies that have the capacity to remit such while there are some agencies that should pay 100 percent of their gross earnings.

    “We don’t want a situation whereby we will adopt just one of these categories and others will come up a very genuine argument why they should be exempted. To avoid that loophole of escape, we have to come up with suitable category for each MDA,” he added.

    Jubrin explained that the second amendment would expand the Schedule of 31 agencies to include all MDAs, “Because in the course of our work we discovered that all 845 agencies of government are generating one form of IGR or the other.

    “Of serious concern however is the fact that some of these agencies felt that there is no reason to remit what they term ‘paltry revenue’ to government. One CEO, during our investigation, said why should the Committee bother him to remit to governtment part of the N23m his agency generated internally.

    “So the believe is that such amount does not matter, whereas even if it N1m, it must be properly accounted for.

    “With the amendment, every MDA will now be captured, even if it is just N1,000.00 that was generated as IGR, what they should remit as provided by the law must be remitted, henceforth.

  • Reps to probe BoI for N300b  intervention funds’ disbursement

    Reps to probe BoI for N300b intervention funds’ disbursement

    The House of Representatives has resolved to probe the Bank of Industry (BoI) for the disbursement of the N300 billion intervention Funds meant to shore up the power and aviation sectors.

    This followed the adoption of the prayers of a motion presented under urgent public importance by a member, Bimbo Daramola.

    Subsequently, the House set up an eight-man ad-hoc committee for this purpose.

    While presenting the motion, titled: “ Motion on the urgent need to investigate the use of public funds by the Bank of Industry (BoI), under the Power and Airlines Intervention Fund as established by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2013,” the lawmaker said BoI was flouting the provisions of Sections 80 and Section 81 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.

    “These Sections state that all revenues and money belonging to the Federation must be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation; and withdrawals therefrom can only result from an Act of the National Assembly.”

    He said as at September 2012, the Central Bank of Nigeria, had disbursed public funds about N176 billion to various banks, through the Bank of Industry (BOI) in Nigeria without approval of the National Assembly under the Power and Airlines Intervention Fund (PAIF), as established by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    He said there are indications that since September last year, this had continued unabated, arguing that these disbursements were irregularly made by the BoI to 13 Deposit Money Banks, namely: Access Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, GTB Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, FCMB, Diamond Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC, First Bank Plc , Ecobank Plc, UBA Plc, Unity Bank Plc, Mainstreet Bank Limited, and Skye Bank Plc.”

    Daramola said from reports and preponderance of assessment studies, “the transactions were not carried out in a manner that is devoid of doubts, and violating due private and public sector lending norms.”

    He expressed concern that the practice has generated bad-blood among the commercial banks, the banking public, equity investors and depositors, stressing that the initiative and its execution, if not monitored, is susceptible to widespread impunity, abuse of office, and moral hazards in the entire Nigerian economy.”

    While alerting members to the negative effects that the initiative could have on the nation’s rate of inflation, exchange and interest rates, Daramola said the functions of the legislature include, among others, to check waste, fraud and corruption in the use of public funds in all sectors, including the banking system and expenditures. He said that such expenditures “must have approval of the National Assembly.”

    He expressed conviction that the practice would be a fore-runner to an imminent wide-spread impunity in the use of public funds, especially through the banking system.

    After the vote on the motion was overwhelmingly supported by members, the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, set up an eight-man committee headed by Bimbo Daramola

    Other members are Debo Oluagbo, Victor Nwokolo, Matthew Omigara, Akeem Oyedun, Jerry Manwe, Sambo Nakudu and Evelyn Oboro.

    The mandate of the committee includes the determination of the real amount made available by CBN to BoI for the initiative till date, and the situation surrounding subsequent releases.

  • Reps reject immunity for President, VP, governors, deputies

    Reps reject immunity for President, VP, governors, deputies

    The House Representatives has voted for the removal of the immunity clause for President, Vice President, Governors and their Deputies on criminal cases.

    The lawmakers however granted autonomy to local government councils, split the office of the Attorney General and Minister of the Justice into two as well as placed the Auditor General of the Federation on first line charge from the federation account.

    The office of the Accountant General was split into two with one for the Federal Government and another for the Federation. The office of the Accountant General is now to be funded directly from the Federation Account.

    The appointment of the Accountant General of the Federation shall now be made by the President on the recommendation of the National Economic Council, subject to the confirmation by the Senate.

    Two clauses on the immunity for the members of the National Assembly and state House of Assembly were stepped down

    State independent Electoral Commissions have been scrapped and the Independent National Electoral Commission is now to conduct elections in the states and local governments.

     

     

     

  • Alleged cash crunch: Reps seek govt’s financial status

    Alleged cash crunch: Reps seek govt’s financial status

    •Wants report by Tuesday

    •How Tambuwal saved budget impasse

    The House of Representatives is uncomfortable with reports of alleged cash crunch facing the federal government.

    Although the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has denied the reports, the House has mandated its Committee on Finance to prepare an independent brief on the true position.

    The committee will also ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the government’s claim that the nation has recorded a budget shortfall of N321.73billion.

    National Assembly sources said the move is to enable Nigerians to know the actual financial status of the executive arm.

    It was also gathered that were it not for the intervention of the Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the House would not have allowed the amendment to the 2013 budget to pass through second reading on Thursday.

    Investigation by our correspondent revealed that the Finance Committee will submit its report to the House on Tuesday.

    Sources said that members of the House Joint Committee on Finance and Appropriation are insisting on having a second opinion on the financial status of the nation even after the Finance Minister had briefed the committee on Tuesday.

    It was gathered that the findings of the Committee on Finance would guide the House to advise the Executive on whether or not to come up with a Supplementary Budget.

    A principal officer of the National Assembly, who spoke in confidence, said: “Although we have conceded to the Executive to consider amendment to the 2013 budget, we are still unclear on why the Federal Government is facing cash crunch.

    “We have directed the Committee on Finance to give us an independent assessment of the financial status of the government especially how it came about a budget shortfall of N321.73billion.

    “We need to know how and where things went wrong in order to present an accurate picture to Nigerians. If the nation is really broke, Nigerians should know instead of using varying terms like shortfall, cash crunch, inability to pay salaries and loss of revenue.

    “In one breath, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, confirmed that the amnesty programme has made the production quota to peak at over 2m bpd. The loss of 400,000 barrels per day in the Niger Delta that is witnessing relative stability is difficult to understand.”

    Meanwhile, indications emerged yesterday that Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, personally intervened to resolve the impasse over amendment to 2013 budget.

    A member of the House said: “The Speaker begged us at the Executive session to allow the Executive to have its way on the amendment to budget. We raised some issues on the conflicting indices on the budget and poor implementation, but he said the House should not be seen as combative more so when the Executive admitted that it won’t be able to pay salaries as from September.

    “If workers do not get salaries, democracy will be under threat as there would be a series of strikes. Tambuwal wanted us to place national interest above personal issues. The Speaker was so passionate in his plea that we had to bow to his wise counsel.”

    The National Assembly on December 20, 2012, passed N4.987 trillion as the national budget for the 2013 fiscal year.

    Although the Appropriation bill was signed into law last February, President Goodluck Jonathan forwarded the amendment bill to the National Assembly on March 14.

    The bill, which passed the first reading, was stalled on June 5 following a constitutional point of order raised by a House member.

    Citing section 81(1), (2) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution, the member said the budget amendment bill was alien to the constitution and therefore unconstitutional.

    The constitutional issue was later referred to the House Committees on Rules and Business, Justice and Judiciary which upheld the illegality of amendment to the budget.

  • Reps invite Adoke over $1.092b Malabu oil deal

    Reps invite Adoke over $1.092b Malabu oil deal

    The  House of Representatives has invited Attoney-General and Justice Minister Mohammed Adoke over a letter purportedly written to a foreign organisation, Global Witness, saying that the House has cleared him of any wrong doing in the $1.092 billion Malabu Oil Deal.

    The anti- corruption organisation indicted Adoke in its request for immediate action to recover the $215million of assets being disputed by EVP and Malabu. The assets are currently been frozen by the UK High Court”.

    The House has mandated its Committee on Justice to invite Adoke to find out if its true that he wrote such a letter and also to ascertain if the letter as he claimed is from the House and what the content of the letter is.

    The committee is to report back within a week.

    Part of the letter allegedly written by Adoke reads:

    “You may wish to note that the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria had instituted a probe into the transaction and, at the end, they were satisfied that there was no infraction on the constitution or any other Nigerian law.

    “While I thank you for the concern shown in respect of the transaction, I wish to state that since the OPL 245 resolution agreement did not breach the constitution or any extant law and was approved by all relevant authorities and persons, I am therefore unable to justify the call for investigation of the officials of the Ministry of Finance or indeed any other person or authority.

    “In view of the foregoing, I wish to reiterate that the settlement relating to OPL 245 did not breach the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and/or any extant law. The transaction was completely transparent and received the approval of relevant authorities and persons.”