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Tag: Senate

  • Oil theft: Mark insists on death penalty

    Oil theft: Mark insists on death penalty

    Senate President, David Mark, on Tuesday insisted on death penalty for oil thieves.

    Mark said it does not need a genius to know that persistent crude oil theft would have a devastating effect on the economy if not checked.

    He stated this in his welcome address to Senators just back from a one- month break in Abuja.

    He said: “We must therefore address it squarely. I still maintain my earlier stance that oil theft should attract capital punishment.”

    The Senate President lamented that that the nation was still bedeviled with economic and security challenges.

    He was upbeat that gains were apparent in the three states where state of emergency has been declared.

    “As we make progress and win the hearts and minds of the people, government must intensify the provision of social amenities in those areas where normalcy has returned.

    “We must do everything possible to address squarely the social and economic needs of our people,” he added.

    He further told Senators to make the welfare of Nigerians of paramount importance in all their parliamentary actions during the 3rd Session of the 7th Senate.

    According to Mark, the consideration of the report of the Committee on Review of the 199 Constitution and consideration and passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) would top the Senate’s agenda for the current session.

    Other priority areas include Pension Reform Act (amendment) Bill, review of the Electoral Act, 2010, preparation for anticipated flooding during the raining season and preparation of the first Africa Legislative Summit in November, 2013.

    He said: “I have no doubt that the 7th Senate will be judged by how well we tackle the items on the present legislative agenda.

    “If we get it right, and I am sure we will, we shall succeed in turning adversity into profound opportunity for our countrymen and women, and fundamentally alter our collective destiny,” he said.

     

     

  • Senate vs. Dame Jonathan

    Senate vs. Dame Jonathan

    •Senate rejects N4b First Ladies’ House fund, but for a wrong reason

    No taking a bow here and no plaudits for the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because it seems to have only scorched the snake and refused to kill it. Though the Senate hearkened to the wish and desire of Nigerians as was canvassed on this page, its final action is considered not far-reaching enough, because many fundamental questions have been left unanswered, making the Senate to seem either absent-minded or deliberately negligent of its duties.

    We speak of course about the desire of the wife of the president, Dame Patience Jonathan, to build a multi-billion naira edifice in Abuja for African First Ladies. In reviewing the budget of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Senate rejected an initial N4 billion proposal from the Office of the First Lady of Nigeria for the building of the headquarters of African First Ladies’ Peace Centre (AFLPC). The Centre, to be sited in the heart of the FCT, is proposed as a high-rise edifice estimated to cost about N13 billion. However, the land on which it is to be sited is currently under a legal dispute between the incumbent first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, and her predecessor, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua.

    According to the report that emanated from the proceedings, the chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT, Smart Adeyemi, explained that, “It is worthy of note that the proposed appropriation for the construction of the building for First Ladies Mission in Africa has been distributed to meet pressing needs in the areas of engineering and satellite towns.” He notes further that: “Due to litigation in respect of the proposed plot of land, money cannot be accessed this year.” In other words, the Senate shot down the First Lady’s project not because it is ineligible but because “it is not proper to appropriate for a land that is not available.”

    We are apt to say that the Senate Committee on FCT did a half-hearted and shoddy job of this very important matter and the plenary session was lazy, if not reprobate in passing the decision of the committee. Nigerians are saying that the Office of the First Lady is neither statutory nor does it have a base in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. How then does it begin to enjoy a place in the Appropriation Bill? Nigerians are saying that the AFLPC is not only a pet project of the wife of the president, that it is a bogus and wasteful ego trip which adds little value to Nigeria’s economy. If she must build it, it ought not to be from public funds appropriated by Nigeria’s Senate.

    We, as many Nigerians, had expected that the Senate would seize the opportunity of this FCT budget to make a statement on the office of the First Lady, budgetary allocations and the ownership status of their huge pet projects, among other issues. But the Senate returned empty-handed, so to speak, making lame and timid pronouncement on a crucial issue of national importance. What is clear is that the Senate, under the leadership of David Mark is either afraid of the guts of the first lady or lacks the moral quality to condemn the very idea of appropriating the funds of the Nigerian people for a magnificent vanity of an edifice without the support of law or conscience.

    What the Senate suggests easily is that the Office of the First Lady could represent her budget through the FCT and any other MDA for that matter so long as it has land to build her ‘pet’ projects? We must recall that the prime piece of land at the centre of the dispute between the two first ladies was allocated originally for a ‘pet’ project. Today, it has become the personal property of the former number one woman; would this edifice not suffer the same fate? We state it again that the so-called Office of the First Lady is an anomaly, unknown to the Constitution or any law of the land. It is a contraption that can easily be abused, being susceptible to manipulation and corruption. We hope that the Senate would summon courage to shed some light on it sooner.

  • Can Senate avert budget failure?

    Can Senate avert budget failure?

    Members of the National Assembly, ministers and other professionals recently converged on Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), for a two-day brainstorming on the review of the national planning and budgeting process. Assistant Editor ONYEDI OJIABOR reports.

     

    IT is less than six months to the end of the year. Yet, the National Assembly and the Presidency are still locked in a war of wits over this year’s budget.

    Though President Goodluck Jonathan reluctantly signed the 2013 Appropriation bill, the fiscal document was returned wholesale to the parliament over allegations by the Presidency that the lawmakers usurped the executive powers.

    One area of dispute is the directive that the Accountant General of the Federation should furnish the National Assembly with the quarterly releases. The Presidency said this directive was against the spirit of separation of powers. The lawmakers, however, think thought.

    The Chairman, Senate Committee on National Planning, Economic Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Senator Barnabas Gemade, gave the synopsis of what led the Senate to begin the search for a new budgeting process that would be all- inclusive.

    The need for national planning and budgeting process was described by the Senate President, David Mark, as “all important,” apparently in view of the slow pace of the country’s economy to respond to economic therapies.

    The importance of national planning, Gemade said, cannot be overemphasized. According to him, it enables a nation to make conscious choice regarding the rate and direction of its growth.

    He faulted the current budgeting process, which he said, makes the legislature less involved and to rely solely on the input provided by the executive arm of government, giving no room for the legislature to effectively exert its control over the fiscal priorities of the government.

    He told the participants that the public hearing was not meant to witch hunt anybody, or to reduce anybody’s sphere of influence.

    The discourse stemmed from a motion by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) lawmaker, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, whose scholarly touch to national issues, has often shaped deliberations in the Senate.

    Adetunmbi in the motion, blamed the sharp disconnect between the multi-year development plans and the annual national budget under which the Federal Ministry of Finance prepares the budget with little or no regards to ministries, departments and agencies for the stunted growth of the country’s economy.

    During the debate of the motion, the Senate agreed that a disconnect between the national plans and the annual budget is largely responsible for the slow shift from recurrent to annual capital budget in the country.

    But opinions soon differed at the public hearing, with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, leading those who think that the existing status quo should not be altered.

    Observers said Okonjo-Iweala might have been influenced in her position by her Bretton Wood orientation.

    Some observers said the minister might be apprehensive that the removal of budgeting from her ministry would amount to taking away the soul of the ministry.

    But former the Chief Economic Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo, Ode Ojowu, disagreed.

    In his presentation at the public hearing, Ojowu said that globally, planning is recognised as critical to growth and development.

    Though accepted as the engine of growth, Ojowu admitted that in practical terms, the role of planning has continued to wane with the exception of a few countries where it has retained its primacy in driving the overall economic and social progress.

    For him, Nigeria ’s experience with planning has been mixed: the earliest plans, in particular, the First to the Third national development plans, were quite successfully implemented with their targets mostly achieved, including some progress with structural transformation of the economy.

    The Fourth and Fifth National Development Plans were, however, not as successful owing to the failure of revenue, Ojowu said.

    The economist traced the beginning of crisis in planning to the failure of Fourth and Fifth national development plans.

    He pointed out that General Ibrahim Babangida’s Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) was actually a response to this failure.

    SAP, Ojowu argued, meant the abandonment of the structural transformation, which the plans aimed to achieve in favour of adjustment of the structures that really never existed.

    He posited that SAP generated even greater crisis leading to a return to planning in the twilight of the military era through the return of democratic rule in 1999.

    Ojowu said that, the severance of Planning from the Ministry of Fnance and Economic Planning by the National Planning Commission decree of 1992, was intended to boost planning and enhance its impact on growth development.

    He noted that though the measure was well intended and in line with best practices, the move nonetheless, witnessed some resistance and led to an amendment of the decree in 1993, which returned the capital budget function to ministry of finance.

    “What followed was a simmering conflict that endured. As a fallout of this conflict, in 2004, the department of planned budgets and programmes with its entire staff was transferred to the ministry of fiancé. This, largely personality driven conflict between the national planning commission and ministry of finance, has deepened at the expense of institutional and national development,” Ojowu said.

    functions and perhaps relevance.

    Ojowu said over time, though the laws setting up the national planning commission have not changed, they have been counteracted by other laws like the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the creation of such institutions like the Budget Office in the ministry of finance.

    “Either way, the economy bears the ultimate burden of the absence of clarity of role around budget coordination, the absence of linkage with national planning and the shrunken role of the legislature in the process,” he said.

    Ojowu was of the view that the absence of a strong national planning function denies the budgetary process of a robust analytical contributions and effective partnership with the international community and development organisations.

    The way forward, he said, would be to address subsumed role of the national planning function in the budgetary process and prepare national plans that allow the government to develop a holistic perspective among other concerns raised in the Adetunmbi motion will require a honest and open discussion of the ideological undertone for or against formal planning in the country since the mid 1980s.

    Ojowu was not alone in this postulation. Mike Kwanashie, a professor of Economics and Vice Chancellor, Veritas University , also said that planning was abandoned in the country following the adoption of SAP as a national economic policy.

    Kwanashie said to make matters worse, that with the introduction of SAP planning infrastructure was relegated to the back seat while the manpower was scattered throughout the civil service.

    He was of the opinion that the absence of long term planning to drive growth and development reflects in the current underdevelopment of many aspects of economic life of the country.

    For him, the country had developed from independence until the mid 1980s a core of planning officers that were trained in the act of planning, project evaluation and analysis involving project circles and costing.

    He believed that the absence of these skills in public management of the budget, after the introduction of SAP, greatly undermined the integrity of the capital budget.

    The Vice Chancellor also believed that Vision 20-2-20 was articulated to restore the country back to the path of long-term planning.

    He said that one major lesson learnt is the need to better interface the annual budget with the medium term plan.

    Kwanashie identified a major disconnect between the national integrated projects and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework that drives the annual budget.

    He expressed worry that the country is yet to achieve the harmony between plans and budget, which he sees as critical for the attainment of the objectives of the national vision.

    Kanashie isolated two major components of the budget critical in the growth trajectory of an economy.

    One is that the relationship between the current and capital budget is critical to the ability of the budget to create growth potential in an economy.

    Planning, he said, imposes a strict discipline on the selection of projects and increases the chances of project success.

    He posited that with the passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act in 2007, it has become necessary for Medium-Term Expenditure Framework to be presented to the National Assembly prior to consideration of each year’s budget.

    jjHe insisted that the restoration of planning in the country is a major step forward for driving the growth and development process and should be solidly entrenched in the management of the country’s economy.

    He did not forget to stress the fact that the major role of the budget within the planning/budgeting context is to implement the plan.

    “You have the plan first then the budget. The budget takes its cue from the plan. There is need to ‘de mystify’ budgets and to increase particip ation in the budget-making process.

    “A major medium for ensuring effective participation is first full engagement of the legislature as the elected representatives of the people,” he said.

    Okonjo-Iweala opposed any fiscal policy aimed at removing budgeting as part of the functions of the Ministry of Finance.

    The minister said that the stunted growth of the country’s economy should not be blamed on fact that budgeting and planning are not done under one roof.

    According to her, through the initiative of the envelope system of budgeting, MDAs are made to set priorities. She noted that the envelope system, prior to the time she came to office, MDAs did not have ownership of the budget.

    She advised that the partnership between the Finance Ministry and National Planning Commission should be sustained and strengthened.

    “We strongly believe that a country needs a strong budgeting process and a strong planning process. We believe that strong planning process gives a country vision, direction and focus. Planning shows the direction a country is going,” she said.

    On the independence of the budget office as it is practiced in the United States , she said that the location of the budget office is based on the structure of the economy. She added that where the economy is heavily driven by the private sector, to move the budget office out of the Ministry of Finance may be desirable.

    On the need to restructure the budget circle to reflect the country’s weather condition, she said that she has an open mind on the issue.

    The minister said that structuring the budget circle from January to December is a matter of convenience.

     

     

     

  • State of the Nation Address

    State of the Nation Address

    Rather than foot-drag on the bill, the President should see it as God-sent to showcase his achievements 

    The altercation between the Presidency and the National Assembly over the bill on the State of the Nation Address 2013 that proposes to compel the president to present, annually, his scorecard before a joint session of the federal lawmakers is gratuitous. The Senate has threatened to over-ride the president’s veto if President Goodluck Jonathan refuses to sign the bill into law before the July date that he is expected to make the maiden edition of the address.

    The Senate and the House of Representatives in May passed the State of the Nation Address Bill 2013 into law and immediately transmitted it to the Presidency for the required assent to meet their projected first week of July date for this year’s maiden edition. Ita Enang, Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business expressed the frustration of the upper legislative house regarding the perceived foot-dragging in presidential assent despite the fact that the president is still within the 30 days required to study the bill and append his signature or send it back to them. He said: “…. by the time we shall be resuming from the two-week recess, the 30 days must have elapsed and if by that time the bill has not been assented to, we are most likely to override him by way of veto, since the bill emanated from us in the first place, in the interest of the nation.”

    President Jonathan should endeavour not to unnecessarily delay this bill. He does not have to wait for the expiration of constitutional timeframe before signing it. If he has any objection (since he is allowed to have reasoned objections to aspects of any bill), he should do that in concert with his retinue of aides in diverse areas of specialisation in good time; and not necessarily wait for the cessation of the constitutional 30 days. The president can alter the bill’s modalities since there is nothing sacrosanct about the July date set by the National Assembly, but he cannot reject such an important bill. This Bill on State of the Nation Address is one that should have been in existence a long time ago.

    In our view, there is nothing wrong if the president is legally compelled every year to come before our law makers, foremost government functionaries in the executive and the judiciary and, more importantly, a big crowd of other credible Nigerians, to give account of his stewardship. To foster true democracy, the need to provide a platform to engender accountability, probity and transparency in governance is non-negotiable. Such a forum, to a large extent, will dissuade dangerous speculations within the polity because the needed light would have been shed on cloudy aspects of governance that Nigerians have misgivings about.

    At any point, the public should be certain of what is officially being done to fight corruption, minimise unemployment or ensure that elusive electricity is made constant, and whether the right steps are being taken to provide Infrastructure. At such crucial moments, the president can be challenged for not leading by example. More fundamental is the need for Nigerians to be more apprised of steps taken to nip insecurity in the bud.

    What the National Assembly is urging the president to do through this annual address of the entire country, using the instrumentality of the law, is good. It is a tradition that has endured in well established democracies. It should not be politicised or turned into an instrument of ego tripping by the executive and the federal legislature. We want the president to see the bill as one that is capable of goading the government to see social justice and preservation of fundamental rights of citizens as one salient ingredient of democracy. Former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, deployed the State of the Union Address to convince the Congress and the American public. President Barack Obama is using it to rally the American people round his presidency while Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom is doing same before the House of Commons.

    President Jonathan should sign the bill and grab the opportunity presented by it to enlighten Nigerians on his plans and programmes for them and to boost his approval ratings through his well touted but invisible transformation agenda. Otherwise, the National Assembly should go ahead to over-ride the President on this bill if he does not assent to it within the 30 days that he is expected to do that.

  • How Ezu River 19 were killed, by Senate report

    How Ezu River 19 were killed, by Senate report

    The mystery surrounding the 19 floating bodies found in Ezu River in Anambra State has been uncovered.

    Senate Joint Committee on Police Affairs and National Security and Intelligence investigated the discovery of the “strange dead bodies” on the river.

    The committee has given a graphic picture of how the youths died.

    The committee, chaired by Senator Paulinus Igwe Nwagu and Senator Mohammed Magoro, presented shocking autopsy reports of the bodies.

    The investigative report of the Joint Committee sighted by our correspondents in Abuja revealed that instead of 30, the victims of the gory incident were 19.

    According the autopsy reports, 15 of the 19 bodies were seen.

    Six bodies had evidence of gun shots.

    The weapon used for all the shots is one type-long range rifle.

    Aimed areas of the body: Legs up to the knee cap and some up to the hips.

    All the victims dressed alike – boxers or pants.

    Suspected cause of death – Hemorrhage resulting from unattended gun shots.

    Though the committee submitted a detailed report, it could not establish who did the killings.

    The true identities of the victims were also not established by the committee. The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, (MASSOB) told the committee that the victims were its members who were in police custody. The police denied the claim.

    The Inspector General of Police told the Committee that on January 19, there was a report of 19 bodies floating on River Ezu, a boundary between Anambra and Enugu states, and that the Commissioners of Police in the states were informed through a phone call.

    He said the bodies were found to be clean-shaven, able-bodied young men but that they were already decomposed.

    Four of the decomposed bodies were displayed for eight days before they were taken for autopsy.

    Nobody or community has complained that they have lost anybody, the IG said, but assured that the police were working with other Security agencies to get to the root of the issue.

    The Director General (DG) of the State Security Service (SSS) told the committee that on January 19, 18 bodies were found floating on Ezu River.

    He said the Anambra State Governor, who was informed immediately, cut-short a foreign trip and returned home to order the bodies to be removed from the river.

    He said the strange development led to several conjectures, such as that they:

    •were dumped by security agencies;

    •were hired to fight in a war between Cross River and Ebonyi State where they were killed; but there were no signs of bullet wounds;

    •were cultists;

    •must have died from generator fumes in factories and were dumped there by private multinationals; and that

    •they were kidnappers who decided to kill others to carry the ransom.

    “All these were mere conjectures and that the result of the autopsy being awaited would expose the possible cause of deaths,” said the DG.

    The SSS said the bodies could not have been thrown into the river without the knowledge of the communities.

    On alleged complicity of the police, the DG told the committee that the service advocated an audit of suspects in police custody in Anambra and Enugu states.

    When asked by the committee whether they ever went on joint operation to Onitsha, the SSS chief said “they went and arrested about 17 persons who were charged to court, the following day and were granted bail.”

    The Commandant General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, corroborated the account of the Director General, SSS.

    On the number of bodies found, “security chiefs were unanimous that they were only 19, not 30 as was being speculated”.

    On whether they actually wore identical clothes, boxer shorts and t-shirts, “they responded that they were actually not wearing identical clothes as some wore wrappersa and pants etc”.

    According to the report, “the Igwe of Amansea told the committee that the bodies were first seen in the morning of January 19, by some indigenes who went to the river to fetch water.

    “The person who actually saw the bodies first could not be identified, the committee said.

    The Committee was shown the two graves where some of the bodies were buried but later exhumed.

    The Deputy Governor, Mr. Sibeudu, who represented Governor Peter Obi, told the committee that as a result of the seriousness the governor attached to the issue, the government announced a cash reward of N5 million for information on the mystery, but that nobody came forward.

    The Committee visited the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Enugu, where they inspected detention cells and facilities.

    The Committee noted that after interactive sessions with several stakeholders and thorough investigations into the issue, it found:

    •That Ezu River flows down from a town called Agbaogugu through Ogwuoba and Amansea communities and empties into the River Niger. It is a boundary between Aniansea community in Awka North Local Government Area, Anambra State and Ugwuoba community in Oji River Local Government Area, Enugu State.

    •that the river is the main source’ of drinking water for the two communities.

    •that on the 19th January 2013, 18 strange dead bodies were found floating on the river. One more body was found on the 23rd of January, bringing the total member of bodies found to 19.

    •that the bodies were already decomposed at the time they were found, suggesting that they must have died some days earlier before they were dumped.

    •that all the bodies were brought out of the river on the instructions of the Governor of Anambra State.

    •Some were taken for autopsy; others were buried along the river bank, but were later exhumed for autopsy.

    •That there is a police check-point just about 100 metres away from the river on Anambra State side and another one five kilometers on the Enugu State side, and that this check point had been in existence for the past three years.

    The Committee recommended “that further forensic analysis of the bullet still lodged in one of the bodies should be carried out so as to ascertain the exact type of gun that fired it and where it is commonly found.

    “That the Anambra State Government should also be encouraged to carry out a more thorough DNA test on the bodies as requested by the pathologists.”

  • How Ezu River 19 were killed – Senate

    How Ezu River 19 were killed – Senate

    The mystery surrounding the 19 floating bodies found in Ezu River in Anambra State has been uncovered.

    Senate Joint Committee on Police Affairs and National Security and Intelligence investigated the discovery of the “strange dead bodies” at the river.

    The committee has given a graphic picture of how the able-bodied young men met their untimely death.

    The committee chaired by Senator Paulinus Igwe Nwagu and Senator Mohammed Magoro presented shocking autopsy reports of the bodies.

    The investigative report of the joint committee sighted by our correspondents in Abuja revealed that instead of 30, the victims of the gory incident were 19.

    According to the autopsy reports 15 out of 19 bodies were seen.

    Six bodies had evidence of gun shots.

    The weapon-used for all the shot victims is one type-long range rifle.

    All the victims dressed alike wearing boxers or pants.

    Suspected cause of death, the reports said was an hemorrhage resulting from unattended gun shots.

    Though the committee submitted a detailed report, it could not establish who did the killings.

     

     

  • Senate on constitution amendment

    The Senate Committee for the review of the 1999 constitution last week turned in their report to the plenary.To my utter disappointment, and I guess that of many Nigerians, the proposals as reported in the news were long on sharing of political positions and powers, but very short on new constitutional pivots for the badly needed economic regeneration of our country. The exercise may turn out a waste of time and resources, unless the Senate makes a radical departure from the reported highlights of the committee’s work.

    I had thought that the Senate would use the exaggeratedly advertised constitution review committee’s work to give the states vital legal capacity to engage in economic activities by removing from the exclusive legislative list, the ownership of mines and minerals, railways, labour, fishing, police and prisons and classify them into the concurrent legislative list. Also the report has nothing excitingly new for the ordinary Nigerian, such as enforcing the creation of a national social security scheme or making the provisions of Chapter Two of the constitution enforceable in courts.

    Rather, some of the highlights of the proposed amendments, include one six-year single term for the president and governors, separation of the office of the Attorney-General from the Minister for Justice, abolition of president’s signature for constitution amendment, elevating local government councils as quasi third tier of government, the privileges and disabilities of a vice-president or deputy-governor who succeeds his boss, increased benefits for former heads of the legislative assemblies and similar opportunities in the sharing of political positions and the dwindling national wealth.

    So, if these proposals are all we will get from the legislature, then what may likely happen is that after the amendments, the country will continue its bumpy journey to an eventual collapse. But who will blame the committee members? After all they are shielded from the vagaries of the economy. In their cocoon they are more concerned about provisions on power and wealth sharing, instead of using the constitution for wealth creation. With their bloated and unconstitutional financial benefits forcefully appropriated from our common treasury, many commentators are not surprised that the Senators have shown the lack of mental capacity or the necessary rigour to legislate our country out of poverty.

    As I have argued on this page, there is the urgent need for development as the key impetus for any new law in our country. Luckily, the Senators still have the chance to redeem the situation, when they resume plenary, after their recess. What our dear nation needs is a bold constitutional step to fiscal federalism, even if on a limited scale. First, is to return land ownership to the original owners or at least the states of domicile. Of course he, who owns the land, owns what is on it; and that will result in land owners repossessing the minerals on their land, as against the unconscionable dispossession enunciated in the Minerals Act and the Land Use Act. To stem the drastic impact of a radical departure from the present formula, the process could be graduated over a decade, with the new beneficiaries paying huge taxes to the Federal Government, for the huge infrastructure already in place.

    The most dramatic effect from the exercise will be that states with huge minerals deposits in their domain, but which are currently considered as poor states will have the opportunity to seek for investments to develop those minerals. Again, those states with comparative advantages in other natural benefits and other spheres of human endeavor will be compelled to begin to exploit them, and the necessary economic activities badly needed to stem a failed Nigerian state, will kick-start. Is it not strange that despite pushing for economic activities in the states, the railways and labour for instance are locked up within the exclusive legislative list? While the Federal Government may retain regulatory authorities, the states must be allowed to pursue the conveniences of a modern state.

    In arguing for laws to expedite economic activities, it is incongruous for our constitution to allow the federal agencies to determine the general wage bill of state employees, because it has the exclusive legislative right on labour. The Federal Government should only have the right to determine the national minimum wage, through the national economic council. Also, to foster the protection of the economic activities within the states and local councils, there is the need for local police; and also state exhausted hierarchy of courts, and state prisons. The federal courts should retain appellate authority over fundamental human rights, federal laws and inter-state activities. The federal legislature must wake up and use law making as a normative instrument for economic development; to gift Nigeria a chance to modernity.

     

    Osun’s tablet of knowledge

    It was exciting few days ago to watch the scruffy faces of the rural and the urban children of the state of Osun, as they held up their android (Ope Imo) that will no doubt change their lives. The project if sustained will likely bridge the gap for all the children, regardless of the privileges of birth, with regards to access to knowledge materials.

    I commend Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for his ability to conceptualise this project and I urge his brother colleagues to emulate this revolutionary stuff. Again, all the states should invest in the critical competences of the teachers and children at the foundation levels, to train minds that will grow to thoroughly utilise the modern gifts of technology; and locally develop new ideas.

     

     

  • Senate urged not to pass Arbitration Regulation Bill

    Senate urged not to pass Arbitration Regulation Bill

    The Section on Business Law (SBL) Unit of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) has urged the Senate not to pass the National Arbitration Regulatory Commission Bill.

    SBL’s Chairman, Mr Gbenga Oyebode, made the call in Lagos at a briefing to announce the Seventh Yearly conference of the section scheduled for between June 17 and 19, 2013 at Eko Hotel, Lagos.

    The Bill, which has been passed by the House of Representatives, is awaiting its concurrent passage by the Senate.It seeks to subject  arbitration practice in Nigeria to government regulations.

    The SBL has made its opposition to the bill known in a letter sent to the Senate’ s President, David Mark, detailing reasons why the Bill should be rejected.

    Oyebode said the SBL opposed the Bill because it is not constitutional and for the fact that it infringes on the rights of people to practice arbitration.

    The SBL Chief added that arbitration by its nature does not need to be subjected to government legislation because of the confidentiality of clients and for the fact that the industry itself is self regulatory.

    On the forthcoming conference of the SBL,with the theme: The legal profession in an emerging economy, Oyebode said the SBL has decided to choose a prominent  Indian lawyer, Harold Paisner, to speak on the theme to underscore the need to tap  from  jurisdictions that share common practice with Nigeria.

    He listed other important dignitaries expected to  attend the conference to include the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, The Attorney- General of the Federation Bello Adoke (SAN) and the Lagos Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Phillips.

    The governors of Lagos, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa states, are also expected as special guests at the event.

    Apart from the main theme, he listed other issues to be discuss at the two-day conference to include the Niger Delta amnesty programme and the Power sector reforms.

    Oyebode, who said the SBL has a focus on continuous legal education through its various committees, said the event would be rounded off with the chairman’s dinner.

     

  • Emergency rule: Senate yet to receive Reps’ amendments – Ita Enang

    Emergency rule: Senate yet to receive Reps’ amendments – Ita Enang

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, on Monday said the resolutions adopted by both chambers of the National Assembly concerning the proclamation of state of emergency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States are intact.

    He said the Senate would give priority consideration to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (Alterations) Bill 2013, the 2013 Appropriation Act (amendment) Bill, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill 2013, among others.

    Enang spoke in Abuja while briefing journalists on the activities of the Senate during the 2nd session of the 7th Senate which began on June 6th, 2012 and ended on June 6th, 2013.

    He stated that until the Senate receives and considers the recent amendments by the House of Representatives, the harmonized version of the proclamation sent to the President remains sacrosanct.

    The House of Representatives had last week reversed its earlier position when it adopted the Senate’s version to allow the President have the power to give directive on the utilization of funds belonging to the states and local governments under emergency rule.

    During the consideration of the details of the emergency rule proclamation, the House of Representatives actually deleted that section, but the Senate retained it.

    At the harmonization stage, the conference committees adopted the position of the Senate on the matter.

    Enang said: “The Senate and the House passed resolutions on the state of emergency and approved the request of Mr. President as contained on the proclamation of state of emergency.

    “There were differences between what the House passed and what the Senate passed.

    “Both Houses set up committees and the conference committee arrived at a harmonized position.”

     

  • Senate rejects First Ladies ‘mission house’ fund

    Senate rejects First Ladies ‘mission house’ fund

    The Senate on Wednesday rejected the appropriation of the sum of N4 billion for the building of First Ladies Mission House in Africa.

    This is contained in the summary report of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) 2013 budget which was approved by the upper chamber.

    The controversial figure was part of the proposed budgetary estimates submitted by the FCT to the National Assembly for consideration and approval.

    Most Nigerians mounted sustained pressure urging the lawmakers not to approve the sum having seen it as a waste of scarce resources.

    Chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Smart Adeyemi, noted in the report of his committee that “it is worthy of note that the proposed appropriation for the construction of building for First Ladies Mission in Africa has been distributed to meet pressing needs in the area of engineering and satellite towns.”

    Adeyemi added that “due to litigation in respect of the proposed plot of land, the money cannot be accessed this year.”

    He noted that it is not proper for the Senate to appropriate for a land that is not available.

    The Senate approved the sum of N259, 649,520,705 as the 2013 budget for the FCT.

    The breakdown of the FCT budget shows that personnel cost amounted to N48.6billion while the overhead was put at N50.5billion, amounting to total recurrent expenditure of N99.182billion.

    The amount represented 38.2 per cent of the total budget.

    The capital expenditure was put at N160.4billion or 61.8 per cent of the total sum.

    The committee also slated the sum of N48, 716,036 as surplus budget.