Tag: Senate

The Senate on Tuesday defended purchase of 2023 model of the Toyota Land Cruiser Sports Utility Vehicles for 107 Senators at N160million each.

It also acquired bullet proof vehicles for Senate President Godswill Akpabio and his Deputy, Barau Jibrin.

The move generated heavy criticism with some Nigerians lashing the lawmakers for being insensitive to the mood of the public amid high cost of living.

The Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) said procuring SUVs for federal lawmakers was provocative at a time that most families can barely feed their members three square meals per day, and hospitals and roads are collapsing rapidly all across the country.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) asked the Federal High Court in Lagos to stop the National Assembly from procuring and taking delivery of exotic and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials pending the hearing and determination of the applications for injunction filed by the organization.

But the Red Chamber defended the purchase of the SUVs, saying lawmakers needed the vehicles for operations.

Speaking to reporters at the National Assembly, Abuja, the chairman, Committee on Senate services, Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West) said the criticisms were uncalled for as members of the other arms of government used similar vehicles.

He urged critics to beam their search light on ministers and Assembly members.

According to Karimi: “A Minister has more than three land cruisers, prado and other vehicles and you are not asking them questions, why us?

“The issue of buying vehicles for National Assembly members, you know it is a reoccurring issue. It occurs every assembly, it will always come up.

“If you go to State Houses of Assembly today, check out, most of them before they were even inaugurated, the Governor would have bought vehicles for them even local government chairmen. I drove the vehicle my local government chairman uses. So, why National Assembly?

“These vehicles that you see, go to Nigerian roads today, If I go home once, my senatorial district, I come back spending a lot on my vehicles because our roads are bad.”

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Karimi said the Senate settled for Toyota Land Cruiser against a locally assembled product after comparative analysis of cost, technical issues and durability on Nigeria roads.

“We want something that we can maintain for another four years. It is not the decisions of the senators alone, we did an analysis before arriving at Land cruiser,” he said.

On the issue of cost, Karimi said: “When I came to the Senate, when they gave me their liability, they have a liability of over N16 billion that is made up of different things including vehicles purchased for members of 7th, 8th and 9th assembly.

“If you are a businessman and you supply vehicles for somebody in 2014 or 2015 or so and up till now they are owing you. I am not trying to defend anybody.

“If a Land Cruiser in the market let say it is A cost, you don’t expect somebody that will supply it to supply it at the price they are selling it in the market.

“It has to leave a margin and the civil service rule for supply allows for 25 per cent margin, plus 7.5 per cent VAT. Out of that 25% margin, they will still remove 5% tax from it.

“You are telling someone to supply when the clients may even end up not making payment for three years and you want him to supply at the price they are selling in the market, it is not possible.”

The Senate has expressed its commitment to adopting measures aimed at alleviating the prevailing economic hardship in the country.

It hinted that it was planning a bill on emergency economic intervention which included addressing exchange rate management issues, reviewing tax waiver policy, overcoming the challenges of inflation, poverty, and creating jobs.

The Senate gave the hint at the weekend in a communique issued at the end of the 3-day Retreat for Senators of the 10th National Assembly on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom state.

It said there was a need to consider and approve the Emergency Economic Intervention Bill from the Executive as a proposed legislation from the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms.

It noted: “To address exchange rate management issues, challenges of inflation, address poverty, and create jobs, there is a need to consider and approve the Emergency Economic Intervention Bill from the Executive as a proposed legislation from the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms.

“Enactment of an Emergency Economic Intervention Bill. This will address critical socio-economic issues concerning foreign exchange management, tackling inflation, stimulating economic growth, and creating more jobs.”

Again, the Senate said that there was a need to enhance public spending efficiency by “tackling corruption in government spending in order to provide commensurate fiscal exchange to citizens and boost tax morale.”

It also disclosed its plan to legislate on the consolidation of revenue collection legislation into a single agency, saying the initiative is to curb duplication, tackle corruption and ensure seamless transactions by taxpayers.

It also noted that “it would simplify the tax system, reduce duplication of efforts, and make it easier for taxpayers to comply with the law.”

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According to the communique, lots of tax policies, for instance, the Stamp Duty Act of 1939 shall be reviewed to conform to the present realities of doing business in the country.

It said that there is a “need to enhance public spending efficiency, by tackling corruption in Government spending in order to provide commensurate fiscal exchange to citizens and boost tax morale.”

The Communique reads: “The situation where many agencies of government are involved in collecting taxes and new laws continue to make it the responsibility of these agencies to collect taxes should be halted, through a legislative resolution.

“Bills on taxes should be presented as Executive Bills and not as private member Bills. There is a need to review the tax waiver policy to ensure it is aligned with the revenue mobilization drive of the government by making the waiver process more transparent and accountable.

“Review the Stamp Duty Act of 1939 and other obsolete and anachronistic laws in conformity with present realities.

“Establish clear and transparent guidelines for revenue retention. The government should establish clear and transparent guidelines for the amount of revenue that revenue-generating institutions are allowed to retain.

“These guidelines should be based on objective criteria, such as the institution’s verified operating costs and investment needs by the relevant authorities and committees of the National Assembly.

“Need for effective management of resources by adopting technology in expenditure management, driving adherence to fiscal rules and benchmarks, establishing a national fiscal risk framework for revenue, debt, and expenditure.

“Nigerian Government should consolidate revenue collection into a single agency like the FIRS. This would simplify the tax system, reduce duplication of efforts, and make it easier for taxpayers to comply with the law.

“Work with the Executive to review the National Development Plan to integrate the 8-point Agenda of the President and consider legislating aspects of the Agenda for holistic implementation.

“There is a need to consider relevant constitutional amendments to pave the way for a 5-year development plan to cater for projects and ensure continuity while limiting abandoned projects.

“Enforce consequences for violations of any provisions of the law regarding monetary and fiscal matters. This will require amendments to the relevant laws to ensure effective oversight and enforcement of the consequences, as the case may be.

“Need for legislation that clearly defines the taxing rights of the three levels of government. There is a need for legislative intervention to promote the optimization of revenue from non-oil sources, especially in the solid mineral sector.

The Senate yesterday urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the growing menace of drugs and narcotics abuse in the country.

The Red Chamber also directed its committee on National Agency for Administration Control (NAFDAC), Drugs and Narcotics to liaise with relevant federal government agencies to convoke a National Summit on the state of drugs and narcotics abuse in the country.

These resolutions of the Senate followed its consideration of a motion titled: “Urgent need to address the menace of drug abuse in Nigeria” at plenary.

The motion was sponsored by Senator Babangida Uba Hussaini (APC Jigawa Northwest).

In his contribution, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, said the menace of drug abuse is becoming so alarming to the extent that some youth now drill holes on soakaway pits and sniff the vapour to get high.

He called on parents to always check their soakways to ensure that there are no holes.

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On his part, Senate, Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau noted that the “future of every country lies in its youth and when you have something that is destroying your youth, it shows that your future is in jeopardy.

“This scourge is everywhere, even celebrities who are supposed to be role models, be exemplary and show the way for others to follow are also into it. Politicians alike and indeed, all spheres of our life.

“The NDLEA is doing very well but the motion is a wake-up call for all those that have the responsibility for making sure that we deal with this matter to wake up and make sure that they do the needful in getting this matter dealt with properly.

 ”We must include this phenomenon in our school curriculum to begin to teach our children from the primary school level, the negative effects of drug abuse. Elsewhere, like in the United States, there are courses even in the universities that deal with abuse. We need to put that on the front burner in our higher institutions so that people will be aware of the harmful effects of drug abuse.

“It is a sad commentary on the way things are done in this country. Human capital is what drives a good economy and we have an abundance of population but we are allowing it to get destroyed through the intake of illicit drugs.

“We must all join hands and work together to make sure we deal with the menace of drug abuse.”

Senator Hussaini in his lead debate, note that “Nigeria is currently facing a rise in drug abuse which has reached an unprecedented level transforming from a mere transit route in the 1990s, into a country filled with drug abusers and drug traffickers all over its land space, while a population of 30 to 35 milion spends approximately $15,000 and $30,000 annually on psychotropic drugs and alcoholic beverages, respectively.

 He added: “Also note that according to a report by the United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime and the European Union on drug use in Nigeria, about 14.3 million Nigerians between the ages of 15 and 64, are drug abusers

“Aware that the report stated that 10.6 million addicts were cannabis users, 4.6 addicts used pharmaceutical opioids and 238,000 drug abusers used amphetamines;

“Also aware that the report further revealed that the prevalence of drug use per geopolitical zone as far back as 2017 shows that the Northwest zone accounted for 12% (3,000,000), Northeast zone 13.6% (2,090,000), Northcentral zone 10.0% (1,500,000), South-West zone 22.4% (4,382,000), Southsouth zone16.6% (2,124,000), and the Southeast zone 13.8% (1,550,000).”

He lamented that the main drugs abused in Nigeria are mood altering or psycho active drugs, performance-enhancing drugs, dependency drugs, as well as prescription drugs, “whose side effects include addiction, trauma, mental illness and often times resulting in ill health, violence and involvement in criminal activities.”

He said the Senate is disturbed that a significant number of deaths from accidents and violent crimes have been traced to the activities of persons under the influence of drugs “especially the discovery of more dangerous substances called ‘Kurkura’ in the North and ‘Umkpromiri’ in the South.”

The motion reads in part: “Worried that the prevalence of drug abuse in Nigeria is a public health challenge which seems to be on the increase despite intervention by international, regional, federal and state bodies through laws, policies and technical supports;

“Also worried that the war against drug abuse carried out by the NDLEA and other relevant institutions of both state and federal governments is not providing the required result, hence the need to include special drug education as a compulsory subject in the Nigerian basic education;

 ”Alarmed that the consequences of drug abuse will continue to endanger our national development, public safety and family system if urgent action is not taken to strengthen existing legal, policy and institutional frameworks to face the challenges with all sense of responsibility.”

Senator Mohammed Ogoshi Onawo also supported the motion.

The Senate yesterday inaugurated its Standing Committee on Legislative Compliance.

The goal is the enforcement of its resolutions on all its standing committees as well as  ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.

The committee, chaired by Senator Musa Maidoki (Kebbi South), was inaugurated by the Leader of the Senate and Chairman, Southern Senators’ Forum in the Ninth National Assembly, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele.  

Speaking during the inaugural meeting of the committee, Bamidele noted that part of the mandate of the committee was to oversight other standing committees as well as MDAs.

He observed that the mandate given to the Chairman of the Committee “can obviously make the committee big if he like,” adding that it can as well make the committee strong if he likes.

Bamidele said: “The mandate given to the committee is indeed huge and of national significance considering the impelling need to ensure implicit compliance with all resolutions of the Senate on all its standing committees and MDAs. 

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“You have the mandate of the Senate to invite any individual, senator, ministry, department or agency with a view to ensuring compliance with all our resolutions. By implication, the Committee on Legislative Compliance is the police of the Senate.

“It is therefore the responsibility of the Committee on Legislative Compliance to duly follow up and ensure compliance with all our resolutions. You need to draw a comprehensive agenda to work with and ensure the functionality of the committee.

“The committee can be as big as the Chairman of the Committee wants it to be. It can also be as strong as the Chairman of the Committee wants it to be,” the Senate leader observed at the inaugural meeting.

Bamidele explained that the challenge is to ensure outright compliance with laws passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly.

The Senate Leaders added that the Committee on Legislative Compliance “has mandate of the committee to invite any senator who refused to comply with all the rules of the Senate.”

Bamidele explained that the Committee on Legislative Compliance “is not meant to be anybody’s friend, neither is it constituted to be an enemy to anybody, but to ensure that the resolutions of the Senate are complied with.”

Also, at the inaugural meeting, Maidoki, the Chairman of the Committee, assured the leadership of the Senate of complying with the directive of the upper chamber on the mandate given to them.

A motion calling for the reopening of Nigeria-Niger border shut following a military coup in Niger Republic suffered a setback in Senate on Tuesday.

The Federal Government, in August, closed all its land borders with Niger Republic as part of the sanctions on the Niger military junta, which toppled the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum.

The motion titled: “Urgent need to reopen the Nigerian-Nigerien border to open up economy activities in both countries as the closure of the border has had a devastating impact on businesses in the area” was sponsored by Senator Suleiman Kawu Sumaila (NNPP, Kano South)

Sumaila, in a his lead debate, said the border closure has led to deterioration of economic activities in many border towns in Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa, Yobe and Borno states.

“Many businesses are struggling to survive while some have even collapsed,” he added.

According to him, the closure runs contrary to the provisions of the constitution of Nigeria that guarantees the security and welfare of the people.

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He urged the Federal Government to reconsider reopening of the borders between Nigeria and Niger to allow free movement of goods between the two countries.

He stressed that Nigeria and Niger had signed an agreement on border frequency coordination to allow free movement, therefore closing the borders runs contrary and violates that agreement.

However, in his reaction to the motion, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, said the Senate had resolved to back ECOWAS resolutions on the political situation in Niger Republic.

ECOWAS announced wide ranging sanctions such as a ‘no fly zone over Niger and an immediate closure of its borders to force the junta to relinquish power.

Akpabio said there was the need for the Senate to get proper briefing from the military authorities before taking a position, saying the call for the reopening of the borders has security implication.

He, therefore, urged Senator Kawu to withdraw the motion to allow for wider consultation and discussions before representing it.

The Kano lawmaker withdrew the motion.