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Tag: Senate

  • Senate backs CBN’s monetary policies

    The Senate yesterday gave a scanty narrative of its discussions with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, at a closed door session.

    This was a clear departure from the open fora created by previous sessions of the Senate for past CBN Governors to answer critical questions on the economy and monetary issues.

    According to the Senate Committee chairman on Information, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the CBN Governor presented a detailed, comprehensive and lucid account of the performance of the economy in the last one year.

    The Senate spokesman said, “His (Emefiele) presentation began with the current global economic conditions, which have been characterised by external shocks, including the sharp decline in commodity prices, the geographical tensions along important global trading routes and tightening of monetary policy in the United States.

    “He drew linkages of these occurrences with the Nigerian economy, especially with respect to the over 70 percent decline in oil prices from about $116 per barrel in June 2014 to about $30 per barrel currently.

    “The Governor’s presentation also gave us an insight into the bank’s analysis and understanding of the situation, and therefore, the rationale underlying the countervailing policy actions it has taken over the last couple of months”.

    The narrative further stated that going by Emefiele’s analysis, the country was not doing badly in many macroeconomic indices when compared to its peers.

  • Senate adopts 2016 revised budget

    • House in rowdy session

    The Senate yesterday adopted the controversial revised version of the 2016 budget estimates.

    The adoption of the corrected version followed a memorandum by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki on the revised budget proposals. Saraki read the Presidential letter in plenary yesterday.

    The letter Personally signed by Buhari was dated 15 January, 2016 and entitled “2016 budget proposals.”

    President Buhari asked the Senate to work with the corrected version of the budget estimates

    Some Senators however spotted a fundamental error on the date of presentation of the Appropriation Bill quoted in the Presidential memo.

    But if was a different scenerio that played out at the House of Representatives following some objections raised by members.

    The letter from President Muhammadu Buhari to the House of Representatives  withdrawing the faulty details of the 2016 budget caused a furore in the Green Chamber yesterday.

    No sooner had the Speaker of the House, Hon. Yakubu Dogara read the letter from the president than the Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Leo Ogor opposed the content of the letter from the  President

    While quoting  Section 80(4) of the constitution and Order 91 of the House, he said the constitution said the budget must be submitted in a timely fashion and that the House Rule ( 84) permits Chairmen of committees to amend the budget in line with the needs and interests of Nigerians.

    Ogor further argued that there is therefore no need for the president to write a letter for the amendment of the appropriation bill.

    Quoting Rule 84 of the House, Ogor said: “Any committee to which the budget is commuted shall have the power to amend.

    “The issue of amendment is the responsibility of committees, not a situation where an amendment is being proposed with all the attendant crisis.

    “To avoid unnecessary complexity we should look at it at committee level and the Chairmen of committees should do the amendment, Instead of having two documents.”

    But the Speaker corrected Ogor saying the President is asking for a “ correction” not “amendment” and that only the President has the right to do such.

    “Communications from the President  are not to be debated. You’re talking of amendment, there is no where in the letter that the President talked of amendment. The president talked of correction.

  • Senate, CBN Governor in closed-door meeting

    Senate, CBN Governor in closed-door meeting

    The Senate on Tuesday gave a scanty narrative of its discussions with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, at a closed door session.

    This was a clear departure from the open fora created by previous sessions of the Senate for past CBN Governors to answer critical questions on the economy and monetary issues.

    According to the Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the CBN Governor presented a detailed, comprehensive and lucid account of the performance of the economy in the last one year.

    Abdullahi said, “His (Emefiele) presentation began with the current global economic conditions, which have been characterised by external shocks, including the sharp decline in commodity prices, the geographical tensions along important global trading routes and tightening of monetary policy in the United States.

    “He drew linkages of these occurrences with the Nigerian economy, especially with respect to the over 70 percent decline in oil prices from about $116 per barrel in June 2014 to about $30 per barrel currently.

    “The Governor’s presentation also gave us an insight into the bank’s analysis and understanding of the situation, and therefore, the rationale underlying the countervailing policy actions it has taken over the last couple of months.”

    The narrative further stated that going by Emefiele’s analysis, the country was not doing badly in many macroeconomic indices when compared to its peers.

    Senator Abdullahi also said the senators raised questions bordering on the health of the banking system, stoppage of sale of foreign exchange to Bureau De Change operators and rise in inflation.

    They were also said to have discussed the fall in foreign exchange reserves, exclusion of some items from access to foreign exchange, and policy coordination between fiscal and monetary authorities.

    He continued:”Following an exhaustive response by the Governor and his team, the Senate acknowledged that these are indeed difficult times all over the world and not just in Nigeria.

    “The Senate also acknowledged the pains that many people may be facing at this time, especially in light of shortages of foreign exchange for legitimate business.

    “But having carefully considered the policies of the CBN, the Senate would like to commend and support these policies because they are mostly geared towards increasing local production, creating jobs, safeguarding our commonwealth and expanding economic opportunities and growth in Nigeria.”

  • Senate adopts 2016 revised budget

    Senate adopts 2016 revised budget

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    The Senate on Tuesday adopted the revised version of the 2016 budget estimates.

    The adoption of the corrected version of the budget followed a letter by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on the revised budget proposals.

    Saraki read the Presidential letter in plenary on Tuesday.

    The letter personally signed by Buhari was dated January 15, 2016 and entitled: “2016 budget proposals.”

    President Buhari asked the Senate to work with the corrected version of the budget estimates

    Some Senators, however, spotted a fundamental error on the date of presentation of the Appropriation Bill quoted in the Presidential memo.

    The Senators said the memo stated that the budget was presented to a joint sitting of the National Assembly on Tuesday, December 22, 2016 instead of Tuesday, December 22, 2015.

    The memo reads in part, “It would be recalled that on Tuesday 22nd December, “2016” (2015) I presented my 2016 budget proposals to the joint sitting of the National Assembly.

    “I submitted a draft bill accompanied by schedule of details.

    “At the time of submission we indicated that because the details had just been produced we would have had to check to ensure that there were no errors in the detailed breakdown contained in the schedule.

    “That has since been completed and I understand that the corrections have been submitted.

    “The National Assembly will therefore have the details as submitted on the 22nd and a copy containing the corrections submitted last week.

    “It appears that this had led to some confusion. In this regard, please find attached a corrected version.

    “This is the version the National Assembly should work with as my 2016 budget estimates.

    “The draft bill remains the same and there are no changes in any of the figures.”

    Details of the corrections made on the fiscal document were not disclosed.

    After reading the letter, Senate Leader, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, moved for the adoption of the letter so that the communication would formally become a document of the Senate.

    Ndume also moved that with the adoption of the communication, the Senate should consider the budget as amended.

    The two motions were endorsed by the Senate.

     

  • ‘Why Senate disowned 2016 Budget’

    ‘Why Senate disowned 2016 Budget’

    The Senate yesterday said that it disowned the second version of the 2016 budget brought to it because it failed integrity checks.

    The upper chamber also described the call by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari over the budget controversy as “the biggest joke of the year”.

    Senate Leader Mohammed Ali Ndume, who briefed reporters in Abuja, stressed  that the insinuation that the 2016 budget was missing should be discountenanced.

    He said that nobody ever declared the budget missing, as President Buhari did not read the document off hand.

    The Senate Leader explained that what happened — some copies of the budget submitted to the Senate were subjected to “integrity checks” and they failed the checks when compared with the original copy presented to the National Assembly by President Buhari.

    He noted that the Senate discovered some loopholes that made it to confirm the existence of two versions of the budget.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki had on Thursday said that the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions discovered that the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, printed and submitted to the Senate a fake copy of the 2016 budget.

    Saraki said the Senate resolved not to consider the budget until the soft copy of the original budget estimate presented by President Buhari on December 22, 2015 was made available to the Senate.

    Enang on Sunday said “His Excellency, Mr. President, has sent a communication to the National Assembly on the 2016 budget. The content is as will be read on the floor in plenary.”

    Giving more details on why the Senate rejected the second version of the budget, Ndume said the integrity checks showed that some projects that were not accommodated in the original budget presented by President Buhari were injected into the budget.

    He said the Senate was jolted by the discovery although the strange projects did not affect the sum total of the budget.

    He said: “There were issues with the budget that some people were not comfortable with. There were integrity checks and it was discovered that there were some loopholes.

    “We asked the Ethics and Privileges Committee to find out what actually happened and it was discovered that there were two versions of the budget.

    “It is not that the figure submitted by Mr. President has changed. It is still the same thing. It is not that what Mr. President submitted is sacrosanct, that it cannot be changed. It can be changed.

    “It is not that the N6.08 trillion budget Mr. President submitted to us has changed or any of the subheads has changed. They are still the same.

    “The President did not submit a failed document. The President submitted a budget, which went through integrity checks.

    “I have my soft and hard copies of the budget. I spent most of the weekend looking at the budget.

    “What I tried to do was to make a comparative analysis. So, I could not find the difference. But then they told me that the difference is not in the sub-total or sectoral allocation. They did integrity checks and they gave me an example.

    “That if a certain amount was allocated to do two things and they felt that the amount can be used to do four things. They said instead of two things, do four. They are still talking about spending the same amount but getting more for it.

    “But what I can tell you now is that the budget that was submitted originally, there were certain integrity checks on it that made some changes in the quantity but not in the total.”

    On what informed the integrity checks, he said they became necessary to match figures with projects.

    Asked when the budget is likely to be passed, Ndume said the Senate was targeting end of February to round off on the budget but for “this mix up,”, adding that “we are committed to turning out the budget on time”.

    On the call to impeach President Buhari over the budget controversy, he said that the talk of impeachment by the PDP is the biggest joke of the year”.

    He asked: “What are we to do with PDP for what they did to this country in the past 16 years? We are to kill PDP.

    “Buhari is the kind of leader we want in Nigeria. The good thing is that now we have a president; before, we had something else.”

    On the invitation of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Ndume said that the issue of the falling value of the Naira is of concern to the Senate.

    Ndume said that the Senate wanted to Know why the Naira should be N305 to one dollar.

    He said: “We want to know the implication of what is happening to the Naira to the country, especially to the ordinary Nigerian and what should be done to reverse the trend.”

    Reminded that the existence of two parallel markets for dollar sales might be the problem, he said that bureau de change operations have become a big employment avenue.

    He noted that if the BDC was shut down, what would those engaged in it do?

    But Ndume added that BDC operations should not be done in such a way as to affect the economy negatively.

    On the oil benchmark of $38pb, he said: “We passed the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) at $38 dollar per barrel. And now crude oil is selling for $29 at the international market.

    “We are praying that every time it goes up. But if it remains like that, we really have to do something. But it’s not something that Senator Ali Ndume will do alone. It is when the Senate sits down to consider this issue that I can come back to you again and speak on behalf of the Senate.

  • Why Senate disowned 2016 budget, says Senate Leader

    • PDP’s impeachment call joke of the year

     

    The Senate Monday said that it disowned the second version of the 2016 budget brought to it because it failed integrity checks.

    The upper chamber also described Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) call for the impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari over the budget controversy as the biggest joke of the year.

    Senate Leader, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume who briefed reporters in Abuja insisted that there was no need to dissipate energy on the 2016 budget since the Senate was in control of the situation.

    Ndume also insisted that the insinuation that the 2016 budget was missing should be completely discountenanced.

    He said that nobody ever declared the budget missing especially when President Buhari did not read the budget off hand.

    The Senate Leader explained that what happened was that some copies of the budget submitted to the Senate were subjected to integrity checks and they failed the checks when compared with the original copy read and presented to the National Assembly by President Buhari.

    He noted that through the integrity checks, the Senate discovered some loopholes that made it to confirm the existence of two versions of the 2016 budget.

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, had on Thursday said that the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions discovered that the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang, printed and submitted to the Senate a fake copy of the 2016 budget.

    Saraki said that the Senate resolved not to consider the budget until the soft copy of the original budget presented by President Buhari on December 22, 2015 was made available to the Senate.

    Enang on Sunday confirmed that; “His Excellency, Mr. President has sent a communication to the National Assembly on the 2016 budget. The content is as will be read on the floor in plenary.”

    Giving more details on why the Senate rejected the second version of the budget, Ndume said that the integrity checks showed that some projects that were not accommodated in the original budget presented by President Buhari were curiously injected into the budget.

    He said that the Senate was jolted by the discovery although the strange projects did not affect the sum total of the budget.

    He said, “There were issues with the budget that some people were not comfortable with. There were integrity checks and it was discovered that there were some loopholes.

    “We asked the Ethics and Privileges Committee to find out what actually happened and it was discovered that there were two versions of the budget.

    “It is not that the figure submitted by Mr. President has changed. It is still the same thing. It is not that what Mr. President submitted is sacrosanct, that it cannot be changed. It can be changed.

    “It is not that the N6.08 trillion budget Mr. President submitted to us has changed or any of the subheads have changed. They are still the same.

    “The President did not submit a failed document. The President submitted a budget, which went through integrity checks.
    “I have my soft and hard copies of the budget. I spent most of the weekend looking at the budget.

    “What I tried to do was to make a comparative analysis. So, I could not find the difference. But then they told that the difference is not in the sub-total or sectoral allocation. They did integrity checks and they gave me an example.

    “That if a certain amount was allocated to do two things and they felt that that amount can be used to do four things. They said instead of two things, do four. They are still talking about spending the same amount but getting more for it.

    “But what I can tell you now is that the budget that was submitted originally, there were certain integrity checks on it that made some changes in the quantity but not in the total.”

    On what informed the integrity checks, he said that the integrity checks became necessary in order to match figures with projects.

    Asked when the budget is likely to be passed considering the controversy trailing it, he said that they are targeting end of February to round off on the budget but for “this mix up.”

    Ndume however assured that “we are committed to turning out the budget on time.”

    On the call to impeach President Buhari over the budget controversy, he said that the talk of impeachment by the PDP is the biggest joke of the year.

    He asked, “What are we to do with PDP for what they did to this country in the past 16 years. We are to kill PDP.

    “Buhari is the kind of leader we want in Nigeria. The good thing is that now we have a president, before we had something else.”

    On the invitation of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, he said that the issue of the falling value of the Naira is of concern to the Senate.

    Ndume said that the Senate wanted to what happening, why the Naira should sell N305 to one dollar.

    He said, “We want to know the implication of what is happening to the Naira to the country especially to the ordinary Nigerian and what should be done to reverse the trend.”

    Reminded that the existence of two parallel markets for the sale of dollar might be the problem, he said that Bureau De Change operations have become a big employment avenue.

    Ndume however added that the BDC operations should not be done in such a way as to affect the economy negatively.

    On the oil benchmark of $38pb, he said “We passed the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) at $38 dollar per barrel. And now crude oil is selling for $29 at the international market.

    “We are praying that every time it goes up. But if it remains like that, we really have to do something. But it’s not something that Senator Ali Ndume will do alone. It is when the Senate sits down to consider this issue that I can come back to you again and speak on behalf of the Senate.”

     

  • Senate proposes 30 bills for 2016 – Saraki

    Senate proposes 30 bills for 2016 – Saraki

    The President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki on Monday announced 30 bills for the 2016 legislative year.

    Bukola noted that the Senate has 30 bills of interest that will address governance, economic reform to fast track necessary changes.

    According to him, the 30 bills to reform critical sectors of the country have been submitted by ‘my colleagues and now awaiting consideration and passage’.

    “The 30 bills when passed would give backing to necessary reforms in area of security, judiciary, anti-corruption, taxation and poverty eradication.

    “They are meant to drastically change business environment and promote inclusive growth especially in agriculture & other non oil sector.

    “Also we have National Assembly Budget & Research Office Bill as part of the #30Bills that will be debated.

    “It is our beliefs in National Assembly that diversification can only happen if we provide the necessary regulatory and legislative framework.

    “The 30 bills will encourage private sector participation in railways, road construction & other transport infrastructure to create jobs.

    “The bills will establish a framework for agencies of government to set goals, measure performance and submit related plans and reports to NASS,” he said.

    The Senate President also added that it is the National Assembly’s belief that diversification can only happen if we provide the necessary regulatory and legislative framework.

    “As we await the debate of the 30 bills, I encourage Nigerians to follow closely so as to attend the public hearing or send in recommendations,” Bukola summed.

    [news_box style=”2″ display=”tag” link_target=”_blank” tag=”Senate” count=”6″ show_more=”on”]

  • Senate leadership suit: Ekweremadu to arrest judgment

    Senate leadership suit: Ekweremadu to arrest judgment

    The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has taken steps to arrest the planned judgment by a Federal High Court in Abuja in a suit seeking to sack the leadership of the Upper Chamber.

    In his latest move, Ekweremadu has asked the judge handling the case, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, to disqualify himself from further presiding over the case, in which he (the judge) had taken arguments from parties and reserved judgment.

    Ekweremadu, in his fresh letter to the court, made sundry allegations against the judge and his wife, including accusing him among others, of being close to the ruling All progressives Congress (APC) and its leadership.

    The Deputy Senate President, The Nation learnt, had earlier written the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, seeking the immediate transfer of the suit from Justice Ademola, a request Justice Auta turned down on the ground that it was frivolous.

    Before now, the APC had similarly accused Justice Ademola of being sympathetic to the Peoples Democratic Party particularly when he in a judgment in April 2014 faulted the defection of 41 PDP lawmakers to the APC and ordered them to vacate their seats.

    The suit was initiated by the PDP against the House of Representatives, its principal officers and the defecting legislators. The party had sought primarily to frustrate the alleged move by the defecting lawmakers to initiate changes in the leadership of the House.

    But, in this case, five APC senators, led by Abu Ibrahim, sued the leadership of the Senate, contending that the Senate’s Standing Orders 2015, on which Saraki and Ekweremadu were elected, was forged because the previous Orders were never amended before the Clerk of the Senate allegedly surreptitiously introduced the 2015 Rules.

    The plaintiffs are, by the suit, challenging the election of Saraki and Ekweremadu as Senate President and Deputy Senate President. They want the court to set aside the election.

  • Senate summons CBN boss over naira depreciation

    Senate summons CBN boss over naira depreciation

    THE Senate has summoned Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele over the continuous naira depreciation.

    The Upper Chamber said Emefiele should appear before it by 11a.m. on Tuesday.

    The invitation followed a point of order raised by Senate Leader Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume over the matter.

    Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki asked Ndume to convey Senate’s resolution inviting him to the CBN governor.

  • Senate summons CBN governor over fall of Naira      

    Senate summons CBN governor over fall of Naira      

    The Senate Thursday summoned the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, over the continuous depreciation of the naira.

    The upper chamber said that Emefiele should appear before it by 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday January 19, 2016 to explain the continuous weakening of Naira against the Dollar.

    The invitation followed a Point of Order raised by the Senate Leader, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, over the matter.

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, asked Senator Ndume to convey Senate’s resolution inviting him to the CBN governor.

    Saraki said, “The leader in line with our rules, 42:1 did mention this and in line with our rules also we must get the views of the Senators that we should stand this down till Tuesday next week.

    “Leader, you convey and invite the Central Bank Governor to come on Tuesday by 11 to present this before the Senate.’’

    Ndume had said it was expedient for the Senate to invite the CBN governor to brief it on the free fall of the naira.

    He said, “As a today, naira is exchanged for N305 to one dollar.  In view of this worrisome situation and the fact that we all know that this country depends so much on imported materials and even food, there is a need for this Senate to as a matter of urgency call, invite or summon the governor of CBN to explain this situation and to provide the necessary solution to this situation.’’