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  • PERJURY CASE: Fresh turbulence looms in Senate

    PERJURY CASE: Fresh turbulence looms in Senate

    Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami’s ultimatum to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) of the Federation and the police to proffer charges against suspects, who allegedly forged the Senate Standing Orders used for the proclamation of the current 8th Senate is the source of fresh crisis at the National Assembly, writes Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan

    A fresh storm is brewing in the Senate following a two-week ultimatum from the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of the Federation and the police to proffer charges against suspects, who allegedly forged the Senate Standing Orders used for the proclamation of the current 8th Senate.

    The Nation learnt the development may have once again divided the upper chamber along party and group lines as fears heighten over the possible inclusion of the name of Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and other ranking senators, on the list of those to be prosecuted for the alleged forgery.

    Unconfirmed sources in the Ministry of Justice said it is likely that the suspects would soon be charged in a competent court of law with criminal conspiracy, forgery, breach of official trust and unlawful assembly said to have contravened various provisions of Penal Code.

    “It is not a rumour. It is the truth that, acting within the provisions of the law, the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), has instructed the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), to without further delay; commence the prosecution of those who allegedly forged the Senate Standing Orders used for the proclamation of the current Senate.

    Consequently, in a matter of days or weeks, the suspects would be dragged to court. It is a very straight forward case and it is expected that the police have thoroughly investigated the matter and made recommendations to the appropriate quarters. The next stage is prosecution of those culpable and that is what has been advised by the AGF,” our source said.

    Investigation by The Nation revealed that the development is already generating tension among senators as the two groups of senators supporting the current senate leadership and those opposed to it may be set to resume hostilities on the floor of the hallowed chamber, as well as outside.

    “The situation, as we speak, is that of anxiety. Nobody has openly spoken about the directive of the AGF but I can tell you that the Senate Unity Forum and the Like Minds Senators, the two groups into which senators have been divided since the beginning of the 8th Assembly, are once again ready for a showdown.

    Don’t forget Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and former Senate President David Mark, two leading members of the Like Minds, and unrepentant supporters of Senate President Bukola Saraki, are part of those questioned by the police in connection with the alleged forgery.

    Anxious Senators

    “It is being feared they may be amongst those to be charged to court soon. Many PDP senators and some APC senators within the ‘LikeMinds’ group are already alleging witch hunting and vowing to resist any effort to “further embarrass the senate by dragging its leaders to court on flimsy charges.

    “But members of the Senate Unity Forum, largely made up of senators opposed to the senate leadership or Saraki and Ekweremadu, are in support of the prosecution and also ready to stop any move to stall it. This scenario indicates the coming of another crisis in the National Assembly,” our source said.

    The Nation learnt a meeting of LikeMinds senators held in Abuja on Wednesday discussed the development and concluded that the move should be challenged legally as soon as possible. It is expected that some members of the group may soon approach the court for stay of action on the matter.

    “We don’t need anybody to tell us that we are the target of this new move by the AGF, who is a member of the ruling party. We are all witnesses of the charade they call the trial of Bukola Saraki. We understand them well and we know this is meant to be another plot to decimate the opposition.

    “But we are ready to fight for democracy and fairness. We have decided to continue to challenge this impunity. We are ready to keep fighting until APC leaves our people alone. The senate cannot afford to be a toy in the hands of the ruling party. Nigerians should expect more crises in the National Assembly,” a LikeMind Senator from Ekiti State told The Nation.

    But in a telephone chat with our correspondent, another Senator from Ogun State said the thinking of those kicking against the AGF’s directive is unpatriotic. According to him, it is unimaginable that people elected to make laws for the country will be encouraging impunity.

    “We are talking about forgery and some people are planning to move against the trial of suspects. It is unimaginable that people elected to make laws for the country will be encouraging impunity. But if they intend to whip up public sympathy by accusing the ruling party wrongly, we would be waiting for them,” he said.

    Genesis

    It would be recalled that the police had investigated the alleged forgery of the Senate Orders following a petition by Senator Sulaiman Hunkuyi of the All Progressives Congress from Kaduna State. The petition had alleged that some parts of the 2015 Senate Order were different from the one ratified by the 6th Senate and was used by the 7th Senate as Standing Orders 2011. Hunkuyi’s petition to the police over the alleged forgery reads in part:

    “We write to bring to your attention, the existence of the fraudulent introduction of a 2015 Senate Standing Rules, as amended. We wish to attach the original and authentic Standing Order for 2011 that was used by the Seventh Senate, (Annexure A). We again annex hereto a purported amended Standing Orders 2015, which was used by the Clerk to the National Assembly (along with the Clerk of the Senate) in inaugurating the 8th Senate on June 9, 2015, Annexure B.

    “The so-called new Standing Orders purports to allow for secret, instead of the open ballot system that has been prevalent in all senate elections as permitted by the extant rules. These infractions, among others, arise from the fraudulent production of the Rules without an approved consideration by the Seventh Senate.

    “At no time was the Standing Orders of the Senate amended during the entire life of the Seventh Senate, neither has the Eighth Senate sat for long enough to produce the rules now being circulated and in use. We, therefore, appeal that you use your good offices to investigate and bring to justice all persons who may have been responsible for this fraud, which has led to the undue political crises and abnormalities in the politics.

    “While you carry out your job in sanitising the system, please, be assured of our esteemed regards.”

    The police had swiftly waded into the matter which generated immense controversy and led to several rancorous sessions on the floor of the senate while it lasted. On July 6, 2015, the police invited and questioned some members of the 7th and the 8th Senate as well as some management employees of the Senate.

    Chief amongst those quizzed in connection with the matter is the outgoing Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa. Also questioned by the police was the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who was quizzed in his office for hours, by a team of police officers, led by a Commissioner of Police.

    Others who were also invited by the police back then included former Senate President, David Mark, former Senate Leader in the Seventh Senate, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Benedict Efeturi, Chairman, Senate Committee on Business and Rules in the Seventh Senate, Senator Ita Enang and secretary of the committee.

    Their invitation for questioning over the alleged forgery of senate documents was contained in a letter addressed to Maikasuwa, entitled: “Letter of Invitation: Re: Forgeries/Fraudulent use of Senate Standing Order/Rules 2015 (as amended) by the 8th Senate.”

    The letter was dated July 1and signed by Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Abuja, DIG Dan’ Azumi J. Doma.

    More confusion

    The Nation also learnt that the recent disagreement between the Senate leadership and the National Assembly Service Commission over the appointment of an Acting Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA), may also pitch the senators against one another in the coming weeks.

    The commission, statutorily charged with the appointment and management of the staff of the National Assembly, had appointed Muhammed Sani-Omolori in acting capacity, to replace the outgoing Clerk, Salisu Maikasuwa, who proceeds on terminal leave on May 14.

    But the appointment drew the ire of the political leadership under Saraki, which insisted the approval of the Senate President is needed before the appointment can be concluded. Consequently, the commission’s Chairman, Adamu Fika, and Saraki have been on a subtle warpath ever since.

    While the commission insists that the appointment of Sani-Omolori as Acting CNA remains valid, the leadership of the Senate continues to say it will neither recognise, nor work with Sanni-Omolori in the capacity of Clerk of the National Assembly as his appointment remains null and void.

    The Nation learnt that while Senators in Saraki’s camp are with the Senate President on his stand on the matter, the majority of Senate Unity Forum Senators are opposed to the leadership’s rejection of Sanni-Omolori’s appointment and have said so in clear terms, giving rise to allegations that the ruling party may have a hand in the matter.

    “Now we understand why they wanted to force a CNA on us. We now know better why the person who should ordinarily be the next Clerk was bypassed for their crony to be appointed. You can see their plan. They intend to use the alleged forgery matter to further decimate the opposition.

    “With this criminal conspiracy they want to tag a trial, Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Benedict Efeturi, who should be the next Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA) will be disadvantaged in the struggle for that position because he is most likely to be one of those who will be prosecuted.

    “Don’t forget he is one of those questioned by the police. Apart from that, some of our colleagues have been accusing him of being culpable in the alleged forgery. Now, they want to use that as a conspiracy to edge him out of the race for the seat of CNA,” our source added.

    It remains to be seen how the matter will be resolved ultimately.

  • Senate to debate price

    Senate to debate price

    The Senate is to debate fuel price increase next week.

    A source close to the leadership of the Senate said the debate “will afford senators to tell their constituents where they stand on the burning issue”.

    He said: “Surely, we are going to discuss it when we reconvene next week. Some Senators are, no doubt, agitated about the way and manner the increase was announced while some others are bound to support the new policy.

    “But it is necessary that we discuss the issue so as to let our constituents know where we stand. I can tell you, as explosive as the debate might be, the leadership of the Senate will not be opposed to the idea of debating the matter.”

    He noted that although the Presidency briefed the leadership of the National Assembly on the need to deregulate the petroleum downstream, “before those who attended the briefing could leave the venue of the briefing, the announcement was made”.

    The Chairman Senate Committee on Police Affairs Abu Ibrahim and chair Committee on Local and Foreign Debts Chairman Shehu Sani, sharply disagreed over the necessity for the new price regime.

    Senator Ibrahim (Katsina South) backed the new pump price of N145. Senator Sani (Kaduna Central) insisted that the increase would come with a lot of social implications.

    Ibrahim said: “Every Nigerian knows that fuel price increase will eventually come. Everybody knows that the country cannot continue to sustain a corrupt petroleum product regime. It may be a little difficult in the beginning but after some time things will be better.”

    He added: “Nigeria is still the cheapest when you look at the countries around us. We need to explain to Nigerians that the new policy is for the good of the country. To leave fuel price as it is may be populist but we have to accept the inevitable. I was opposed to fuel price increase before because I believed that the money will be squandered but now we have a government that can use the money for the benefit of Nigerians and in the best interest of the country.

    “I believe we have accepted the inevitable. There is no subsidy in the budget; where are we going to get the money? Our subsidy was actually subsidising other countries. The countries around us are still paying higher prices including Ghana, Angola and Kenya. So I believe that it is rational, it is for the benefit of Nigerians and it is long overdue.”

    Sani said: “I represent Kaduna Central Senatorial District and I am also from a long history of political movement. We are opposed to any policy that will inflict hardship on the people. We have been consistent over the years. The same oil that we are told is no longer being sold as it used to, why can’t it be made available to the people.

    “Increasing fuel price comes with a lot of social problems. If the price of petroleum goes up so also will be school fees, cost of foodstuff, medical bill and others.

    “Increasing fuel price incites social discontent. I cannot be in the street some two or three years ago opposing the increase in the price of petroleum products only for me to now justify it. I am opposed to it because I can see a lot of influence of capitalist world. They wanted Naira devalued, they wanted the refineries sold. Now they are pushing for fuel price increase.

    “If we are going to address the problem, why can’t we wait until the refineries we’re going to build come on stream. Our bureaucrats are disconnected from the reality on the ground.”

    Asked if he would join any protest that might be engendered by the new fuel price regime, he said he would rather deploy his energy to oppose the increase on the floor of the Senate.

    Sani added: “You have to insist on your right. Whether there is subsidy or no subsidy, the fact remains that Nigerians do not want fuel price increase.”

  • Senate to debate fuel price increase next week

    The Senate is set to debate the controversial fuel price increase next week, it emerged Thursday.

    This is coming even as two senators have already disagreed over the propriety of the new fuel price regime.

    A source close to the leadership of the Senate who disclosed the plan by the Senate to discuss the fuel price increase, noted that “it will afford Senators to tell their constituents where they stand on the burning issue.”

    He said, “Surely we are going to discuss it when we reconvene next week. Some Senators are, no doubt, agitated about the way and manner the increase was announced while some others are bound to support the new policy.

    “But it is necessary that we discuss the issue so as to let our constituents know where we stand. I can tell you, as explosive as the debate might be, the leadership of the Senate will not be opposed to the idea of debating the matter.”

    He noted that although the Presidency invited the leadership of the National Assembly to brief them on the need to deregulate the petroleum downstream, “before those who attended the briefing could leave the venue of the briefing, the announcement was made.”

    Meanwhile, Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Abu Ibrahim and Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Senator Shehu Sani, sharply disagreed over the necessity for the new fuel price regime.

    While Senator Ibrahim (Katsina South) threw his back behind the new fuel pump price of N145, Senator Sani (Kaduna Central) insisted that the increase would come with a lot of social implications.

    Senator Ibrahim said, “Every Nigerian knows that fuel price increase will eventually come. Everybody knows that the country cannot continue to sustain a corrupt petroleum product regime. It may be a little difficult in the beginning but after some time things will be better.

    He continued, “Nigeria is still the cheapest when you look at the countries around us. We need to explain to Nigerians that the new policy is for the good of the country. To leave fuel price as it is may be populist but we have to accept the inevitable. I was opposed to fuel price increase before because I believed that the money will be squandered but now we have a government that can use the money for the benefit of Nigerians and in the best interest of the country.

    “I believe we have accepted the inevitable. There is no subsidy in the budget, where are we going to get the money. Our subsidy was actually subsidizing other countries. The countries around us are still paying higher prices including Ghana, Angola and Kenya. So I believe that it is rational, it is for the benefit of Nigerians and it is long overdue.”

    Senator Sani on his own said, “I represent Kaduna Central Senatorial District and I am also from a long history of political movement. We are opposed to any policy that will inflict hardship on the people. We have been consistent over the years. The same oil that we are told is no longer being sold as it used to before, why can’t it be made available to the people.

    “Increasing fuel price comes with a lot of social problems. If the price of petroleum goes up so also will be school fees, cost of food stuff, medical bill and others.

    “Increasing fuel price incites social discontent. I cannot be in the street some two or three years ago opposing the increase in the price of petroleum products only for me to now justify it. I am opposed to it because I can see a lot of influence of capitalist world. They wanted Naira devalued, they wanted the refineries sold. Now they are pushing for fuel price increase.

    “If we are going to address the problem, why can’t we wait until the refineries were going to build come on stream. Our bureaucrats are disconnected from the reality on the ground.”

    Asked if he would join any protest that might be engendered by the new fuel price regime, he said he would rather deploy his energy to oppose the increase on the floor of the Senate.

    Senator Sani added, “You have to insist on your right. Whether there is subsidy or no subsidy, the fact remains that Nigerians do not want fuel price increase.”

     

  • Senate takes on randy lecturers

    The Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Educational Institutions Prohibition Bill pending in the Senate promises to stir bottled up emotions.

     Talks about how university teachers use their overbearing advantage over their students to intimidate and seduce female students is widespread.

     In the last count, 45 senators endorsed the bill and sought its accelerated consideration and speedy enactment into law.

     National Assembly watchers described as phenomenal the support of 45 senators who lined behind the bill as its co-sponsors.

     Perhaps, the overriding importance of the proposed legislation informed the exceptional interest the bill has engendered.

     As expected, the bill scaled first reading seamlessly in the upper chamber on Wednesday and may be slated for second reading at resumption of plenary next week.

     Chief sponsor of the bill, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, who represents Delta Central Senatorial District, was upbeat about the impact the bill would have in the country’s educational institutions, especially to check the immoderation and excesses of randy lecturers.

     The bill specifically seeks to make it a criminal offence for any educator in a university, polytechnic or any other tertiary educational institution to violate or exploit the student-lecturer fiduciary relationship for sexual pleasures.

     The bill imposes stiff penalties on offenders in its overall objective of providing tighter statutory protection for students against sexual hostility and all forms of sexual harassment in tertiary schools.

     It provides a compulsory five-year jail term without option of fine for lecturers who sexually harass and abuse students. The bill does not also spare heads of educational institutions.

     When passed into law, vice chancellors of universities, rectors of polytechnics and other chief executives of institutions of higher learning will go to jail for two years if they fail to act within a week on complaints of sexual harassment made by students.

     The bill expressly allows sexually harassed students, their parents, or guardians to seek civil remedies in damages against sexual predator lecturers before or after their successful criminal prosecution by the state.

     It also seeks protection from sexual harassment for prospective students seeking admissions into higher educational institutions, students of generally low mental capacity and physically challenged students.

     The proposed legislation, whose sponsors span across all geo-political zones of the country, also stipulates as offences solicitation of sex or sexual advances by lecturers which result to intimidation, hostile or offensive environment for students.

    Senator Omo-Agege, noted that as a father, he believes that students, regardless of age, are incapable of giving voluntary consent to unwelcomed sexual advances or demands for sexual favours by lecturers in any student-lecturer fiduciary relationship.

     A lecturer, he said, occupies a position of huge public trust in a student-lecturer fiduciary relationship.

     He said, “That relationship is a delicate one. We know of students with strong character who reject demand for sexual favours and are punished by making them fail in examinations that they ordinarily passed. That should never happen.”

      Senator Omo-Agege believes strongly that as parents, “legislators owe our children a solemn duty to pass very tough and clear laws to protect our children against sexual perverts masquerading as teachers.”

    The bill entitled “An Act to make provision for the prohibition of sexual harassment of students by educator in tertiary educational institutions and for matters connected therewith 2016,” Omo-Agege said is a product of extensive and painstaking research.

    The Delta Central lawmaker lamented: “For so long our higher institutions have turned into prostitution centres. After a very careful examination it is discovered that those children are not capable to give informed and voluntary consent. To protect themselves, some students go to the extent of wearing marriage bands, rings to deceive the lecturers that they are married.

    “But the lecturers are never discouraged. They are bent on sleeping with these children. There is a price to pay if you say no; you are either failed or given low marks. We are saying enough is enough. We are to domesticate the honour code but in a panel form to address this menace. Why should lecturers who receive salary also look at students as if they are part of their benefits.”

    For him, there should be no difference between higher institutions in the country and the best institutions abroad.

  • PDP congresses force Senate to adjourn

    The Senate on Thursday adjourned plenary for one week to allow the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senators to take part in their party congresses.

    Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, moved the motion that the business of the day as listed in the Order Paper be suspended following the absence of most PDP Senators in the chamber.

    Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, Deputy Minority Leader, who seconded the motion, however bemoaned what he termed wrong reportage of the press conference by Northern Senators’ Forum on herdsmen/farmers clashes on Wednesday.

    Senator Bwacha noted that what was reported was not the position of the forum that murderers masquerading as herdsmen should be spared.

    According to him, what the forum decided was that people should be mindful of what they say in order not to further inflame passion in the country.

    Senator Dino Melaye, who also commented on the issue, said that at no time did the Northern Senators’ Forum warn governors to watch what they say on the herdsmen/farmer clashes.

    He re-echoed Bwacha’s view that the forum merely wanted Nigerians to avoid inflammatory utterances that would further divide the country.

    The Senate will reconvene for plenary on May 12.

  • Senate proposes five –year sentence for sexual harassment in schools

    A bill which prescribes five-year jail term for lecturers that engage in sexual relationship with students was passed for first reading in the Senate on Wednesday.

    The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege (Labour-Delta Central) and co-sponsored by 46 other senators, seeks to completely prohibit any form of sexual relationship between lecturers and their students, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    Briefing journalists after plenary, Omo-Agege said the nation’s institutions of higher learning must be sanitised to rid them of lecturers who saw female students as “prize’.”

    According to him, when the bill is passed and signed into law, any lecturer found guilty will be liable to a jail term of up to five years but not less than two years with no option of fine.

    “When passed into law, it makes it a criminal offence for any educator in a university, polytechnic or any other tertiary educational institution to violate or exploit the student-lecturer fiduciary relationship for sexual pleasures.

    “The bill imposes stiff penalties on offenders in its overall objective of providing tighter statutory protection for students against sexual hostility and all forms of sexual harassment in tertiary schools.

    “The bill provides a compulsory five-year jail term for lecturers who sexually harass students.

    “When passed into law, vice chancellors of universities, rectors of polytechnics and other chief executives of institutions of higher learning will go to jail for two years if they fail to act within a week on complaints of sexual harassment made by students.

    “The bill expressly allows sexually harassed students, their parents or guardians to seek civil remedies in damages against sexual predator lecturers before or after their successful criminal prosecution by the state,” Omo- Agege said.

  • Senate seeks death sentence for kidnappers

    The Senate on Wednesday resolved to enact a legislation that would prescribe death penalty for kidnappers.

    The resolution followed the submission and consideration of the report of the Joint Committee on Police Affairs, National Security and Intelligence on the “unfortunate recurrence of kidnapping and hostage-taking in Nigeria.”

    Senators were outraged that kidnapping and hostage-taking that were contained in the South South and South East geo-political zones of the country has become wide spread.

    Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), who spoke extensively against the phenomenon, proposed that the National Assembly should enact a law prescribing death penalty for kidnappers.

    The proposal was promptly seconded by Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West).

    When Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, put the matter to vote, it was unanimously adopted by the lawmakers.

    .

  • The 8th Senate and matters arising

    I am really at loss about how to respond to the column of my friend, Femi Orebe of Sunday April 24, on the 8th Senate. He correctly identified my exasperation with things as they are. But more than being exasperated, Orebe might never understand the magnitude of the harrowing sorrow I daily feel pertaining in general to the sordid affairs of my country and in particular to the nadir of disrepute to which the Senate has been sunk. So discouraged have I been of late that by last week, I had begun to see myself as a colossal failure in my foray into Nigerian politics. I had seriously considered going back to Ilesa Grammar School, my alma mater, to teach science.

    In my previous incarnations as an academic and as a business man, failure or giving up had never been a considered option. In these earlier enterprises, my success or lack of it was largely dependent on my efforts and determination. By contrast, as a politician, I have perennially found myself walking and dancing in paths littered with opalaba (pieces of broken glass bottles). My success now depends almost equally or perhaps even more on others than on myself!

    I foresaw the current crisis in the 8th Senate long before its inauguration on June 9, 2015. I pleaded endlessly with Senators Bukola Saraki and Ahmad Lawan for a consensus that would make one of them the Senate President and the other the Deputy Senate President. I requested to lock both of them in a room and to open the room only after they have reached a consensus or after one of them had killed the other! Had my efforts succeeded, my party, the Senate and my country might have been spared the crisis of the last many months.

    Candidate Buhari campaigned on a platform that included a determined assault on corruption; he was hailed and resoundingly elected because a majority of Nigerians believed he was pre-eminently qualified to wage and win that war. I have always felt that if such a war were to be diligently waged, there will not be enough rooms in Nigerian prisons to hold public office holders who would be found guilty. And if the truth be told, these might include most of those supporting Saraki as well as most of those opposed to him! And I am talking here of supporters and opponents either from within or outside the National Assembly. The interview I granted to Tell magazine in 2009 revealed enough on crass legislooting.

    Many have wondered why I have been less vocal as a senator than I was during my tenure as a member of the House of Representatives. I feel great pain when insinuations are made that I had been bought. Those pains rose to the fore following the publication of the phone numbers of all senators by Sahara Reporters.

    I am probably the only Senator in Nigeria who has only one phone number. It would have been easy to get a new phone number. These days, phones come with apps that can filter out calls from numbers that are not on the phone’s contact list. Perhaps my error was my refusal to take either of these easy options. Instead, I chose to answer as many calls and texts as possible. They came in a deluge! I got calls from the UK, USA, Canada, Germany and far away Australia. A few of the messages included racy photographs from ladies who obviously had little interest in matters of public policy!  About half of the calls from within Nigeria were solicitations for help in securing employment or in getting financial assistance. Mercifully, some prayed for and encouraged me to keep faith. Some made legitimate enquiries and did so in quite civil language and tone. Others like Dokun Adedeji were unkind and needlessly rude.

    I had taken a decision to respond to each call or text message in its own tone.  I would match civility for civility, diligence with diligence, rudeness for rudeness, and curse for curse. Contrary to the accusation of Dokun Adedeji, I did not partake of selling my party’s majority to reactionaries.  I have betrayed no one. Rather, on many occasions, I have informed my party caucus, APC leaders, and my Senate colleagues of my readiness to give up my office as Chief Whip for the sake of resolving the most embarrassing quagmire in the Senate. I did so as recently as last Wednesday during the executive session of the Senate.

    In decrying my choice of deprecatory epithets to respond to Dokun Adedeji, Femi Orebe obviously saw no wrong in my being unfairly portrayed as a sell-out. Orebe also left out my latter response to Dokun Adedeji that included my reasons for not speaking on some matters.

    Back in High School, there was a Negro Spiritual we often sang “NOBODY KNOWS THE TROUBLE I SEE.” Two days ago (Friday, April 22), I was on my way to Osogbo so I could see my governor and thereafter proceed to Ora Igbomina, my hometown, when I got a call summoning me to Abuja for a meeting with the President at 3 p.m. I made an immediate U-turn racing to the Ibadan Airport while praying for a miracle to catch a flight. I was panting and sweating by the time I boarded the plane which miraculously had waited for me. The plane took off immediately I took my seat. However, as I switched on my phone after landing in Abuja, a sms message was delivered with a message that the meeting in the villa has been postponed!

    Despite the intense pain and sorrows that I have borne in the last many months, I remain grateful to God for the rare opportunity to serve as a senator of my country. I am particularly grateful to Femi Falana who counselled me last week not to resign as senator. Although every forest begins with a tree, I have found out that the adage that a tree does not make a forest is particularly most apt in the forest of politics. Although Dokun Adedeji’s text did not say so, perhaps his vilification is not directed at me personally as Orebe alluded. Perhaps! Hence, I apologize to Dokun, Femi Orebe and others whom I have disappointed for taking the issues so personal. We live and learn.

    Prof Adeyeye is Chief Whip, Senate of Nigeria.

  • Senate to review education laws, Acts – Senator

    Senate to review education laws, Acts – Senator

    The chairman, Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFund, Senator Binta Garba, has said that the Senate will amend and review existing tertiary institution Acts and laws to make them more effective.

    The proposed review by the Senate, she said, became necessary in order to streamline the existing laws and Acts and to come up with a concrete and comprehensive legislation for all tertiary institutions in the country.

    Garba, who spoke to reporters in Abuja on Wednesday to mark this year’s Global Action Week for Education organized by ActionAid Nigeria, also said that the Senate would look at policies of government to know areas where they have worked and failed.

    The senator explained that inadequate funding of education in the country was affecting children, especially girls.

    Garba noted that the unacceptably number of out-of-school children in Nigeria portends great danger to the country.

    She said: “We are working on legislative roundtable and to look at the quality of education in Nigeria. We want to see how we can amend existing laws that are in abeyance with each other and lacunars to see how we can streamline it and come with a concrete and comprehensive legislation for all tertiary institutions in the country.

    “Basically, what we will do is to look at policy of government and to see areas where such policy is working and to see areas where such policies have failed and to see how they will add more energy to areas that is working well and to put less energy in areas that is not working well.

    “There is an outcry of lack of funding within the institutions. But if you look at the budget being proposed by government, there is an increase of over 4 per cent from the normal budget. Before now, the budgetary allocation to education ranged between 6 – 8 per cent but now with this year’s budget, it has increased to about 12 per cent.

    The senator said that Nigeria loses $2.9 billion annually to corporate tax incentives and waivers.

    The figure, she said, could help provide quality education for out – of- school children in Nigeria.

    “In 2015, UNESCO figures showed that 10.5 million Nigerian children were out of school. Yet we are giving away $2.9 billion annually by way of tax incentives and waivers, despite evidence that they are not necessary to attract investors. $2.9 billion could help pay for all the children who are currently out of school to received many years of quality education.

    “Moreover, it begs the question, what do we really mean when we chant the mantra ‘one of the fastest growing economies in the world’ if we are failing to educate our children? In which economy do we want our uneducated children to partake in? And how do we sustain an economy with a population we have failed to educate?

    “The issue of adequate funding for quality education for our children must receive government attention. The federal and state governments cannot keep talking about empty treasures. We must fund our children’s futures through having a fair tax system, a tax system that is not hampered by restrictive tax treaties or unfair incentives and waivers.

    “It should be noted that when there are no funds for quality public schools, it is girls that suffer the most. Safe schools, salaries and training for teachers, books and relevant instrumental materials, these are all paid for by tax.”

    She called on the Federal Government to stop granting harmful corporate tax incentives, and stop excessively restrictive tax treaties.

    Garba urged the government to put in place mechanism for curbing tax avoidance practices of multinationals and large corporations and spend increased tax revenue on financing quality public education, especially for girls.

    She said: “Nigerian government should review current policies and practices and discontinue the granting of excessive and harmful tax incentives. Any tax incentives granted should build on a solid cost-benefit analysis to ensure the immense social needs in the country are taken into consideration.

    “The decision process should be open to public debate, scrutiny and parliamentary oversight. To secure accountability to its electorate, the government must publish an analysis of the expected costs and benefits of the incentives. The federal government should systematically count and publish the full cost of tax incentives through published tax expenditure reports.

    “We also want multinational companies to be transparent about their finances, including reporting their profits, sales, assets, number of employees and tax payments to governments in each country where operate, including taxes not paid due to tax breaks.”

     

  • Debate on new PIB suffers setback in Senate

    Debate on new PIB suffers setback in Senate

    Spirited attempts to commence debate on the controversial new Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in the Senate failed Tuesday.

    Most Senators opposed the second reading of the bill on the grounds that copies of the bill was not distributed to them

    The senators kicked against second reading of the PIB, on grounds that the usual procedure where copies of bills meant to be presented for debate on the Senate floor, were always circulated to members ahead of time, was not adhered to.

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki had already given the floor to the sponsor of the bill, Senator Omotayo Alasoadura (Ondo Central) to lead the debate but opposition mounted as the lawmakers shouted that they were yet to receive copies of the bill.

    Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who led the protest, said that copies of the bill should have been circulated to all Senators ahead of formal debate to enable them make useful contributions.

    Akpabio insisted that the bill entitled “A bill for an Act to provide for governance and institutional framework for the Petroleum Industry and for other matters connected therewith, 2016” should not be treated with levity.

    He noted that since oil and gas remained the life wire of the country’s economy since independence, any bill aimed at revitalizing the sector should be given the importance it deserved.

    Akpabio said, “Mr President, I believe that we are discussing about the economy of Nigeria since 1960. The main stay of the economy of this country has been crude oil and therefore, the Petroleum Industry Bill is such an important bill that will affect people suffering in this country.

    “It will also affect the budget of the federal government that we are doing today.

    “It is not the kind of bill that we can stay here and gloss over and then allow somebody to do a lead debate without senators having the bill in their hands.

    “It is something we must study and come and make our own inputs, because we have to make sure that if that bill is properly done and then the president signs it into law, then it will help the economy of this country and it will also help to generate more income and enhance the living standards of Nigerians.

    “I think it is an exercise in futility for my brother to do a lead debate when the bill is not circulated to senators.”

    Saraki said that the bill was circulated last Thursday he however ruled that the debate be stood down till today to allow for the circulation of copies of the proposed legislation.

    He asked Alasoadura to ensure that copies of the bill were circulated.

    Senator Kabiru Marafa, Zamfara central, criticized the Senate for taking credit on its sponsorship.

    Senator Marafa who raised Point of Order noted that the bill was an Executive bill.

    He insisted that it was wrong for the Senate to present itself as the sponsor of the bill

    Marafa said, “I come under Order 76, which reads “there shall be three classes of bills, namely, Executive Bill, Members Bill and Private Bill.

    “As far as I can remember, the PIB was an executive bill, submitted to this chamber and as an executive bill, it was submitted wholly as one bill to be considered equally and thoroughly.

    ” To my greatest surprise the presenter here is telling us that he has separated the bill into parts and pieces to be considered and I don’t know where he drew that authority from, because the executive has already submitted one bill and not part and pieces.

    “So, I want to suggest that the presenter brings the bill as presented by the executive arm of government.”

    Senate President told Marafa that so far there was no bill on PIB from the executive before the Senate.