Tag: Senate

The Senate on Thursday, July 11, urged the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) and Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), to reallocate shops to original owners after rehabilitating Karu Market which was recently gutted by fire.

The red chamber also enjoined the federal government through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to urgently provide palliatives and relief materials to affected traders to cushion the effect of fire on the victims.

It mandated its committees on Environment and Legislative Compliance to ensure strict compliance with the resolutions and report back within four weeks.

The resolutions of the red chamber were sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Ireti Kingibe (Labour Party, FCT).

Senator Kingibe in her motion titled: “The Karu Fire Outbreak and the Need for Safer Public Places” informed his colleagues that the fire outbreak that occurred at Karu main market on June 27, 2024, left scores of traders in tears after goods worth billions of Naira were razed.

She lamented that the inferno razed almost all the shops and destroyed foodstuff, electronics, cosmetics, and clothing materials among other consumables and non-consumable items worth billions of Naira.

Read Also: Senate mourns death of Na’Allah’s wife

“These fire outbreaks have become one too many already; with attendant losses running to billions of Naira. In the last six months, there have been several incidents of this nature. From Idumota Market in Lagos; to the Police Shopping Complex, Mararaba, Nasarawa State; to the Yan Katako Market, Rijiyar Lemu Area of Fagge LGA, Kano State, just to mention a few.

“These fire outbreaks all had the same causative factors which hinged on basic building safety regulations that were either inadequate or not adhered to or out rightly not in place.

“This state of unpreparedness in safety management cuts across private homes, government buildings, open parks and gardens, markets, shopping malls, Warehouses, Sawmills, fuel tankers, gas and fuel Stations, educational establishments, shops, clubs, hospitals, hotels, and restaurants: thereby exposing ourselves to avoidable mishaps,” she said.

The Senate on Thursday, July 11, threw out a Bill that seeks the establishment of a foreign exchange market in Nigeria.

The Bill titled: “The Foreign Exchange (Control and Monitoring) Bill, 2024” was sponsored by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa (APC -Niger East).

It was read for the first time on Tuesday, February 20, 2024.

The Bill also sought to make provisions for the control, monitoring and supervision of transactions conducted in the Foreign Exchange Market.

In his lead debate, Senator Musa described the bill as important legislation seeking to repeal the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provision) Act, Cap. F34, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

He stated that when passed into law, it ensures the regulation, monitoring and supervision of the transactions conducted in the FOREX market and for related matters.

He said it would also contribute to the sound development of the economy by facilitating foreign transactions and maintaining an equilibrium of balance of International payments.

Musa said: “The Bill seeks to stabilize the value of the currency by ensuring the liberalization of foreign exchange transactions to maintain an equilibrium of the balance of International payments.

“It will also stabilise the value of the currency by ensuring the liberalization of foreign exchange transactions and other foreign transactions by revitalizing market functionality.

“The Bill attempts to expand Section (1) of the existing Act to incorporate three new provisions to make for clarity and to empower the Central Bank of Nigeria to administer, control and manage all dealings and transactions in relation to foreign exchange matters.

“The newly introduced clauses will enable the CBN to determine the basic exchange rate of purchase and sale of foreign exchange.

“Clause 6 of the Bill introduces New Sub-clauses (2), (4) and (5) which require authorised dealers to render returns to the CBN on sources of foreign exchange in excess of USD 10,000 and utilisation of same.

“It also requires authorized dealers to obtain prior approval of the CBN when seeking to import foreign currency notes.

“Part Ill of the Bill makes elaborate provisions for the grant of a licence to carry on business dealings in foreign exchange. In this part, provisions were made for refusal of licence, suspension or revocation of licence, review and appeal.

“Clause 18 (1) (a) and (b) were added to expand the scope of dealers in the market and where funds are purchased from the Bank. The market rate may be subject to rules and regulations prescribed by the Bank.”

Musa further said that the proposed law would ensure that the operation of the domiciliary account shall be as prescribed by the Bank and that the powers of the CBN have been widened to prescribe how foreign exchange may be accepted for the payment of goods and services in Nigeria.

He said the planned legislation would contribute to the sound development of the national economy, facilitate foreign transactions and most importantly, stabilize the value of the currency by ensuring the liberalization of foreign transactions and revitalizing market functionality.

Some Senators in their contributions expressed misgivings noting that fresh legislation seeking to monitor or control the activities of the foreign exchange market apart from what the CBN is already doing, would be counterproductive.

Some of the senators who expressed serious reservations over the proposed law are, Solomon Adeola (Appropriation Committee Chairman); Tokunbo Abiru (Chairman, Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions panel; and Aliyu Wadada (Chairman, Senate Public Account Committee) among others

For instance, a former Accountant General of the Federation who is now the senator representing Gombe North, Ibrahim Dankwambo, noted that the law, if passed, would confuse Nigerians.

He was of the view that any further law aimed at regulating the foreign exchange market should come from the executive arm of government to avoid a crisis in the sector.

Senator Adams Oshiomhole, on his part, said: “We have to be careful because we cannot speculate. Anything done in this house, Nigerians will take it very seriously, because we have the power to make laws.

“Senators who have spoken had summarized and amplified meticulously, the contradictions and negative implications of passing the law.

Read Also: Remains of ex-Senate President Wayas arrive Abuja

“I believe that the Bill should not attract further hearing because we are trying to take over the monetary policy regulations of the CBN if we go ahead with it.

“If the executive arm of government likes, let them bring a Bill to further strengthen the regulatory powers of the CBN. It is not our work.”

The Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio in his contribution, urged Senator Musa to withdraw the Bill for further consultations but the senator refused to do so.

Akpabio thereafter called for a voice vote to approve it for a second or reject it and the majority of the Senators voted against it.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, on Wednesday, July 10, led senators to pay a condolence visit to the family of Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah, over the death of his wife, Hajia Sefia.

A statement by special assistant media to the president of the Senate, Jackson Udom, quoted Akpabio as saying in his brief remarks, “We would have loved to be here during the birthday of your dear wife and not on her demise.

“I know it is easier for you Muslims to accept this tragedy because of your belief that Allah gives and takes and that you can’t question God.

“Nobody can say you shouldn’t cry because you have lost someone so dear to you and that is why we, your brothers in the Senate, are here across party lines to console you over this great loss.

“We had another tragedy today. We lost a serving House member from Oyo State and that is to tell us the fragility of life. The entire Senate is here today. You are not alone in this.

“We your brothers and colleagues are all here to mourn with you. We came as one Senate to console you and pray that may Almighty Allah give you, the children and the entire family, the fortitude to bear the loss and grant the soul of the departed wife and mother, eternal rest.”

Earlier, Akpabio had led members of the National Assembly on a visit to the Nisa Premier Hospital, Jabi, Abuja, over the sudden death of a member of the House of Representatives from Oyo State, who represented Ibadan North Federal Constituency, Hon Musiludeen Olaide Akinremi.

Read Also: JUST IN: Senate suspends legislative activities over death of Reps member

In his reaction, Senator Na’Allah thanked Akpabio for leading his colleagues on a condolence visit to him over the demise of his wife.

According to him, “My relationship with the President of the Senate, is a long-standing one. I don’t know where to start. He is a true friend of my family.

“I thank you my dear colleagues for coming to commiserate with me and my family. If every wife is like my late wife, men will not have problems in life. I remain eternally grateful for this visit.”

The Senate on Wednesday, July 10, suspended its legislative activities in honour of Hon Olaide Adewale Akinremi representing Ibadan North Federal Constituency of Oyo state.

Akinremi was said to have passed on in the early hours of Wednesday after a brief illness according to a statement by the spokesman of the House of Representatives, Hon. Akin Rotimi.

Read Also: Senate urges FG to tackle food insecurity

The Senate upon resumption of plenary announced the demise of Akinremi and observed a minute silence in his honour.

It thereafter suspended plenary and all legislative activities for the day in line with its standing orders.

The Senate has confirmed the approval of Dr Matthew Adepoju as Director-General of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA).

This followed its approval of the recommendation of the Commission on Science and Technology which screened the nominee.

The report was presented by the committee Chairman, Senator Aminu Abass.

President Bola Tinubu, in May, nominated Dr Adepoju for appointment as DG of NASRDA, following an almost three-year stint by Dr Halilu Ahmad Shaba as head of the agency between 2021 and May 2024.

Read Also: Senate urges FG to tackle food insecurity

According to the report, Adepoju holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PgD) in City and Urban, Community and Regional Planning from the University of Lagos. He furthered his studies with a Master of Science (MSc) in Geographic Information Science from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Geographic Information Science from the University of Leicester, UK.

His journey at NASRDA spans 15 years, during which he held various key positions.

He started as the Chief Research Officer (2009 to 2013), then took on the role of Head of Cadastral Mapping and Urban Space Applications (2009-2014), and later served as Deputy Director (2014-2022).

He was later appointed the Acting Director (2021-2023) and eventually the Director (2021-2024).

The Senate on Tuesday, July 9, urged the federal government to as a matter of urgency take measures to fight the current food insecurity in the country,  outline measures to combat the situation and address Nigerians on steps taken.

This resolution of the Senate followed its consideration and adoption of a motion titled: “Urgent need to address food insecurity and market access exploitation of consumables in Nigeria” sponsored by Senator Sunday Karimi (APC – Kogi West) and co-sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume (APC – Borno South).

The Senate also revealed that the federal government has begun the distribution of 1,678,800 bags of fertilizers to states, Senators and House of representatives members for distribution to farmers.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio who disclosed this while contributing to the motion, said each state and the FCT will get 60 trucks of fertilizers amounting to 1,332,000 bags, Senators are to get two trucks of 1200 bags amounting to 130,800 while House of Representatives members are  to get a truck of 600 bags of fertilizers to each amounting to 216,000.

Also on Monday the Federal Government announced the remote of taxes and import duties on imported food items to reduce the skyrocketing prices of food items in the country.

Senator Karimi in his lead debate, said the Senate: “Notes that in the last few months, the price of goods and household consumables have been on an abysmal rise in the country, leading to a high rate of inflation, weakened buying power, and general worsening of living conditions of vast majority of Nigerians;

“Further notes that the latest data by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics shows that food inflation in the country skyrocketed to 40.66 percent on a year-on-year basis, a significant increase from the 24.82 per cent recorded in May 2023;

“Aware the current market price of food items such as beans, maize, rice paddy, yam, tomatoes, and onions which initially rose by about 40% after the removal of petroleum Subsidy has now increased to over 100% to 300% without any attributable reason for the increase in prices;

“Further aware that although insecurity in food-producing regions, bad roads, increase in the cost of transportation attributable to the removal of fuel subsidy and depreciation of the value of Naira, are possible factors that have contributed to the increase in price of Food items, Household Commodities, and Consumables; the percentage of increase in cost of transportation and some under factors listed above, is significantly less than the percentage increase in the current prices of goods all over the country;

“Concerned that the greater percentage of the increase in prices of food items and consumables in the Country is not only due to these factors but to the zest of the merchants, traders, and retailers to make supernormal profits whilst they excuse the hike in price on these factors (depreciation of the Naira against the Dollar, increase in price of Petroleum Products due to Fuel price increase and insecurity in farming Regions), thereby heaping all the blame on the Federal Government;

Read Also: Senate okays Adepoju for appointment as DG NASRDA

Notes that there is a general attitude of “Get Rich Quickly” or “Get Rich By All Means” leading many Nigerians to jettison “being their brother’s keeper” and exploiting one another to make abnormal profits: This attitude has been justified on the basis that many members of the Political Class, Technocrats, and Corporate Elites have helped themselves with Public Funds without any repercussions in Law, Nigerian Traders have thus resorted to Price Gouging to maximize profits;

“Further notes that there are reports that Farming Communities in the Border Regions with other Countries, prefer to sell their food items abroad (to these neighboring countries), rather than domestically(to the hinterland), thereby increasing local food insecurity; and

“Concludes that all efforts made by the current Federal Executive to arrest the consistent increase in food inflation have not yielded the desired results, there is need to be more pragmatic about addressing food insecurity, curbing herder/farmer crises, kidnapping for ransom, and terrorism, and ensure the development of a viable National Commodity Board to regulate the price of grains and ensure the elimination of artificial contributions to food and commodity inflation in Nigeria.”

In their contributions, senators supported the motion and approved its recommendation when it was put to voice vote by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

The Senate on Tuesday, July 9, confirmed the nomination of Dr Matthew Olamide Adepoju for appointing as the Director General of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA).

The decision of the Senate followed its approval of the recommendation of the Commission on Science and Technology that screened the nominee.

The report was presented by the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Aminu Iya Abass (Adamawa Central).

President Bola Tinubu had in May 2024 nominated Adepoju for appointment as DG of NASRDA, following an almost three-year stint by Halilu Ahmad Shaba as the CEO of the agency between 2021 and May 2024.

According to the report, Dr Adepoju holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PgD) in City and Urban, Community, and Regional Planning from the University of Lagos State, Nigeria.

Read Also: Senate extends deadline for probe of CBN’s N30tr loan to past administration

He furthered his studies with a Master of Science (M.sc) in Geographic Information Science from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Geographic Information Science from the University of Leicester, UK.

Adepoju’s journey at NASRDA spans 15 years, during which he held various key positions.

He started as the Chief Research Officer (2009 to 2013), then took on the role of Head of Cadastral Mapping and Urban Space Applications (2009-2014), and later served as Deputy Director (2014-2022).

He was later appointed the Acting Director (2021-2023) and eventually the Director (2021-2024).

His leadership was not limited to NASRDA, as he also served as the President of the Geoinformation Society of Nigeria from 2017 to 2022.

Furthermore, Adepoju is a space scientist with over 20 research publications. His multidisciplinary research includes urban and regional planning, geographic information science, remote sensing, environment, disasters, climate change, crime, and criminality.

• …extends panel’s  assignment by two months

The Senate’s probe into the N30trillion loans granted ex-president Muhammadu Buhari’s administration by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under the Ways and Means Advances window has intensified.

This followed the extension of time for the Senate’s ad-hoc committee investigating the loan and its utilization to carry on its assignment for the next two months by the Senate last week before submitting its report.

Senator Isah Jibrin (APC-Kogi East), who chairs the Adhoc Committee had in seeking more time last week Thursday, informed the Senate that relevant records needed for the probe, were still being expected from some of the government agencies involved in expending the money.

Senator Jibrin who doubles as chairman, Senate Committee on Customs and Excise  Duties, in a chat with journalists in Abuja on Saturday, said the two months extension granted the Committee by the Senate on Thursday last week, would make it to further intensify the probe exercise.

“Most of the relevant agencies have been contacted and their documents are being thoroughly scrutinized as regards spending of the disbursement gotten from the N30trillion Ways and Means Advances.

“Being a very sensitive national assignment, the committee is carrying out very thorough investigation  devoid of rushing into conclusion.

Read Also: Senate, House Committees on Works suspend investigative hearing

“More pressures would now be mounted on few of the agencies that have not adequately responded to vital information seeking requests forwarded to them failure of which would lead to summoning of heads of such agencies.

“The new time frame given for the investigation by the Senate, will surely make the committee, come up with a thorough investigative report in September this year on how the N30trillion Ways and Means were disbursed within the period under review and for what purpose,” he said.

Ways and Means Advances is a loan facility by which the CBN finances the federal government’s budget deficits or delayed payments.

This way of financing government deficits usually results in macroeconomic instability, leading to inflation and high exchange rates because of the excess liquidity injected into the economy.

The CBN’s Act limits loans  under Ways and Means to five percent of the previous year’s revenue, but this has been mostly breached over the years.

As a way of remedying the situation, the CBN Governor,  Olayemi Cardoso, declared in February this year,  that the bank would no longer grant Ways and Means Advances to the government until all outstanding debts were  refunded.

The Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Works have suspended their proposed Investigative Hearings on the “Non-completion of the 15Km Eleme-Onne Section of the East West Road and the absence of Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) on site” as well as the “Termination of contracts by the Federal Ministry of Works on the dualisation of Obajana Junction to Benin” earlier scheduled for Monday, July 8, 2024.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Senator Barinada Mpigi and the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Works, Rt. Hon. Akin Alabi, disclosed this in a statement they jointly signed in Abuja.

Read Also: Court fixes October 2 for ruling on rights violation suit filed by deposed Lagos monarch

The statement titled: “Update on investigative Hearing” reads: “Due to factors beyond our control, including time constraints and the need for further verification, we are obliged to postpone the investigative hearing as earlier announced.

“The Committees regret any inconvenience or harm that may have been caused by the publication.

“The investigative hearing, is hereby suspended and the list of construction companies published earlier is hereby withdrawn.”