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Tag: The Senate

  • 2017 budget: Senate gives ministers, others two day ultimatum

    2017 budget: Senate gives ministers, others two day ultimatum

    …Defaulting MDAs to receive zero capital allocations

     

    The Senate Wednesday gave ministers and heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) a two day ultimatum to appear before its relevant committees to defend their agencies’ 2017 budgets.

    The upper chamber warned that recalcitrant ministers and heads of MDAs who failed to appear within Thursday and Friday would have themselves to blame as their agencies would receive zero capital allocations.

    The ultimatum is coming even as the Senate suspended plenary till Tuesday to allow affected MDAs to appear before its committees.

    Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawan, who moved the motion to suspend plenary noted that the leadership of the Senate had been informed that some heads of MDAs failed to appear to defend their agencies’ budgets.

    Lawn said that the Senate would have no other option than to pass the budget without considering the budget of any MDA that failed to defend its budget.

    The Senate Leader noted that it was discovered that there were issues pending to be resolved with some MDAs.

    Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, who underscored the implications of what Lawan said insisted that heads of MDAs must defend their budget on or before Friday.

    Saraki noted that the Senate would not allow few individuals to hold the country to ransom by flagrantly failing to honour invitations from committees.

    He said that the extension of the budget defence session would affect the earlier date scheduled by the National Assembly to pass the 2017 budget.

    The Senate President said that the National Assembly has set the second week of March as the new target to pass the budget.

    Saraki said: “The plenary has been suspended till next week to allow the committees to complete the budget defence. From the meeting we had on Tuesday, it shows that a number of ministers and chief executives of MDAs have not come to make their budget defence and we are going to give them today and tomorrow to do that.

    “Any minister or head of agency that does not do that by Friday, we are not going to keep this open and hold the country to ransom because of a few people. We have already lost a week because we should have finished this by end of last week and start receiving reports.

    “This is a final warning to all those required to ensure that unfailingly by today or tomorrow, they should appear before the committees. After that, the committees are allowed to do as they wish on their budgets.”

    Saraki also said that the leadership of the Senate would meet with the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo yesterday to resolve grey areas in the budget.

    He said, “Those who are meant to re-submit certain corrections should do that by the end of Friday. It is our hope that by next week, all reports should have been submitted to the Appropriation Committee and for them to start receiving the reports for those that have completed their work. It is very important that this is done.

    “The leadership will also be meeting with the Acting President this evening (yesterday) to try and iron out these issues. This is because we are determined that we must pass this budget within the second week of March. That is our target. So, we hope that this meeting will also help to speed up some of these discrepancies and clear them.”

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, warned that heads of MDAs who failed to appear before the committees will have zero capital budget allocations.

    On Tuesday, standing committee chairmen were in a closed session with the leadership of the Senate to brief on the budget defence.

    It was learnt that the committee chairmen complained bitterly about the uncooperative attitude of some ministers and heads of agencies.

    The chairmen were also said to have pointed out inconsistencies in the 2017 budget document.

    It was learnt that the lawmakers demanded breakdown of the N500 billion voted as intervention funds.

    The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, was named as one of those who failed to appear before the committee to defend the budgets of his ministry.

    The Director General of Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) was also said to have failed to appear to defend the budget of the corporation.

    Other issues raised were alleged ‘phoney’ proposals including fake budgets for items such as computers, funds for maintenance of generators and other proposals and items said to have been duplicated.

  • Fire guts Senate chief whip’s office

    Fire guts Senate chief whip’s office

    The office of Senate chief whip, Senator Francis Alimikhena was on Monday gutted by fire.

    The fire incident was said to have destroyed some electrical appliances in the lawmakers’ office.

    Alimikhena is the Senator representing Edo North senatorial district in the senate.

    Details later…

  • Senate probes alleged irregularities in award of road contracts

    Senate probes alleged irregularities in award of road contracts

    The Senate Thursday mandated its committee on Public Procurement to carry out a comprehensive investigation into alleged irregularities in award of multi-billion road contracts by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).

    This followed the consideration and adoption of a motion on “Irregularities in the award of contracts by the BPP” sponsored by Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West).

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, gave the committee one week to turn in its report for the consideration of the Senate.

    Melaye in his lead debate noted with concern alleged irregularities in the award of contracts by the BPP.

    He said that desirous to award contracts for 10 and 13 projects for the construction and rehabilitation of roads and bridge projects in the first and second batch of road and bridge contained in the ministry’s 2016 budget implementation, the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing requested vide letters dated 7th and 15th November, 2016 respectively, the BPP for due process certificate to award contracts for 10 and 13 projects for the construction and rehabilitation under the 2016 budget implementation.

    He observed that the BPP in the exercise of its mandate in accordance with Section 5 and 6 of the Public Procurement Act, 2007, informed the Ministry that there was no objection to their request but later wrote back to the Ministry that due process certificate of ‘no objection’ cannot be granted to the Ministry in the award of the contracts.

    Melaye noted that the BPP in contravention of the BPP Act, went beyond its mandate to award the contracts to companies not recommended by the procuring entity for instance, “the procuring entity recommended Deux Project Limited for the rehabilitation of Numan-Jalingo road for N11.7 billion, the BPP awarded the contract to Rock Bridge Construction Ltd at N12.8 billion.”

    He added that whereas the ministry recommended the rehabilitation of Nenwe-Nomeh-Nburubu-Nara road project to Don- Machris Global Resources Ltd at N5.1 billion, the BPP awarded it to Arab Contractors Nig. Ltd at N6.4 billion.

    He noted that although the recommended contract sums by the Ministry were already high, and ought to have been reviewed downward, the BPP went ahead and reviewed the contracts upwards and subsequently awarded the contracts to companies not recommended by the procuring entity in violation of Section 19 of the Public Procurement Act.

    Melaye said that he chose only two instances to buttress alleged abuse of the PP Act.

    He prayed the Senate to investigate the anomaly in the interest of due process.

    Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who seconded the motion called for caution because of technicalities involved in the construction of roads and bridges.

    Ekweremadu said, “I believe that if our committee goes into this, they will find out the details of what happened but the point I need to make here is that our procurement process needs to be sensitive to our season.

    “Presently we are in dry season, so if contracts were awarded for road construction I believe that whatever investigation we are doing should not prejudice the continued performance of that contract because if we do, it means that by the time we enter the rainy season this people will not be able to work again.

    “In the past some of our investigation will stalled the work of government because if you recall the issue of the second runway was stalled because of the investigation we had here.

    “The same thing happened to power sector reform. We are rolled back a couple of years because of the investigation in the House of Representatives carried out in the power sector.

    “My caution here is that while we are investigating, it should be without prejudice to the continued performance of these contracts so that we can take advantage of the dry season to ensure that our roads are repaired.”

    Senator Barnabas Gemade also supported the motion but gave some caution on how the investigation should be done.

    Gemade said, “I rise to also lend my voice in support of this motion and also just reiterate a little caution on the issues involved. The committee to investigate is specific that is by the recommendation of the motion committee on Public Procurement.

    “There are issues that need to be taken into consideration when the committee goes into its own investigation.

    “Road construction today is becoming very important to maintain certain standards because construction in Nigeria is being done in a manner that the roads get destroyed so quickly and there must be strict adherence to certain levels of quality performance.

    “The first three companies appear to have a history of road building. The two that were initially recommended don’t seem to have obvious records but this is a matter which the committee on procurement should look into very carefully.

    “I caution that technical issues should be considered very critically in looking at this matter.”

  • Senate seeks immediate overhaul of NYSC scheme

    Senate seeks immediate overhaul of NYSC scheme

    The Senate Thursday asked the Federal Government to immediately overhaul and reposition the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme in the interest of corps members.

    The resolution followed death of three corps members, Miss Ifedolapo Oladepo, Miss Elechi Chiyerom and Mr. Ukeme Asuquo in their orientation camps in Kano, Zamfara and Bayelsa respectively.

    Senate Chief Whip, Senator Olusola Adeyeye, (Osun Central) painted the pathetic deaths of the corps members at NYSC camps.

    The upper chamber agreed with Adeyeye that step should be taken for the total overhaul of NYSC scheme.

    The Senate agreed that the state of orientation camps across the country was unfit for human habitation.

    Apart from total overhaul of the scheme, the Senate urged the Government to immediately improve medical facilities in all NYSC orientation camps including deploying experienced medical personnel to the camps.

    The upper chamber also mandated its Committee on Sports and Youth Development to conduct a thorough and comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the three corps members in order to guide against future occurrences.

    Adeyeye said: “The death of corps members are becoming a recurrent decimal in almost all NYSC Camps across the country. Experienced Medical personnel’s are practically non-existent in all our Orientation Camps across the country as fresh doctors who have not garnered any experience are the ones administering treatments to the corps members.

    “Medical facilities at most Orientation Camps leave a lot to be desired as one of the deceased, Ifedolapo called home five hours to her death and told her older sister, Mrs. Oyeyode Abimbola (a nurse) to start coming to her Kano Orientation Camp, alleging poor care at the NYSC camp.

    “An Orientation Camp that houses over three thousand corps members cannot boast of modern facilities to cater for the needs of corps members while undergoing the mandatory Orientation Programme.

    “NYSC officials are not up and doing in their official duties as they expose these corps members to all manner of dangers. I strongly believe that NYSC needs total overhauling particularly its healthcare system.”

    Deputy Senate Minority Leader, Emmanuel Bwacha (Taraba South) in his contribution described the death of the corps members as a sad development for the country.

    Bwacha said, “What I have heard confirms what I thought was in the realm of speculations. It may not have been intentional, but I think it was an act of irresponsibility. How can we not provide medical attention to a sick person? We look forward to the outcome of the investigation.

    “An example should be set. To say the least, this is a barbaric act. That calls for a rethink about the NYSC Act.

    “Is it really worth it to go and die in an orientation camp? Politicians use these same corps members to rig elections and we do not value their lives.”

    Senator Binta Garba (Adamawa North) on her own noted that “It is time to look and overhaul the NYSC as an agency of government.”

    She added, ”We need to think if NYSC is still needed in this country. If someone says he or she is sick, why won’t they attend to the person? From what we have seen, we need to overhaul the NYSC. We need to look into the activities of NYSC.”

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, also underscored the need to address the issue of health services in NYSC orientation camps.

    Saraki said that funds to address the issue of health services in NYSC camps should be captured in the 2017 budget.

     

     

  • Amaechi, Senators disagree on Transport Commission

    Amaechi, Senators disagree on Transport Commission

    Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, Tuesday disagreed with the Senate over the plan of the upper chamber to set up National Transport Commission.

    The Senate said the commission was meant to regulate the transport sector of the economy, while Amaechi insisted that the Nigerian Shippers Council should be empowered to carry out the responsibilities of the proposed agency.

    Amaechi spoke at a public hearing on National Transport Commission Bill.

    The public hearing was jointly held by Land Transport, Marine Transport and Aviation committees of the Senate.

    Chairman of the Senate Committee on Land Transport, Senator Olugbenga Ashafa, who chaired the hearing, said that new commission will formulate transport policies for the government and private sector.

    Senator Ashafa said: “I urge everyone to cooperate with us. This bill is crucial to the survival of our transportation sector of the economy. The establishment of this commission will be responsible for the regulation of transport policies.

    “It will monitor the regulation of government policies as they relate to the transportation sector. What I consider most instructive here will be that we now have an agency that will formulate policies for the transportation sector of the economy.”

    On his part, Amaechi canvassed that the proposed National Transport Commission be incorporated into Nigerian Shippers Council.

    He said: “It must be noted, that the NTC Bill has similar functions to those being performed by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council. Based on the similarities in functions and purposes between the NSC and the proposed NTC, BPE and majority of industry stakeholders, accepted and called for the NSC to be adapted and empowered to perform the functions of the economic regulator.

    “Considering the strategic role of the NSC in the Maritime and Transport industry, wealth of experience in economic regulation, resources at its disposal and national spread across the six geo-political zones in the country, it is strongly believed that the NSC can be adapted to become the National Transport Commission

    “Therefore, for the National Assembly to proceed with legislative process on the National Transport Commission Bill, to create an entirely new agency, to perform the functions of an already existing one, will amount to duplication of functions/roles and

    multiplicity of agencies, waste of resources taking into consideration, decline in the national revenue as a result of dwindling oil prices and departure against the current Federal Government’s policy of streamlining its agencies for efficiency and cost effectiveness.”

    Ashafa who countered noted that “If you have your submissions, please make them and stop delaying. There are other people waiting to make their presentations. You cannot refer to a matter that was discussed in the House of Representatives. This is the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The issue you are referring to is about the Railway. You were here then and made your submissions.”

     

  • Customs boss shuns Senate invitation on repeal of Customs Act

    The Senate and some stakeholders Monday showed displeasure over the absence of Comptroller General of Custom Service, Colonel Hameed Ali (rtd) at a one-day public hearing on “A Bill for an Act to Repeal the Customs and Excise Management Act Bill 2016.”

    The public hearing, organized by the Senate Committee on Customs, was held to articulate ways and means to repeal the 58-year Customs and Excise Act in order to enhance the dwindling efficiency of the body.

    The leadership of the Senate, committee members and the stakeholders were taken aback when they discovered that Col. Ali did not only stay away from the crucial public hearing but failed to send a senior Customs official as his representative.

    The Senate did not take the absence of the Customs boss from the event lightly.

    The upper chamber said that it believed that Col. Ali’s action was a deliberate attempt to treat it with ignominy as well as to hold it in contempt.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Customs and Excise, Senator Hope Uzodinma, noted that despite the absence of Col.Ali, the National Assembly was determined to amend the Customs and Excise Act to ensure the emergence “of an effective, efficient and result-oriented department or agency.”

    Uzodinma said that the Senate was also determined to ensure that the process of revenue collection was strengthened in accordance with best practices.

    He observed: “Customs department of our dear country ought to be a major revenue earner that should be capable of funding at least 50 per cent of the national budget.

    “This should also be a critical department that should boost non-oil revenue of the government and fund infrastructural development.

    “Why is our own story different? The answer is simple. For 58 years, our Customs department has operated with a Colonial Act that has not only become obsolete and unrealistic but fraught with many loopholes for revenue leakages. It is not the best thing that has happened to the customs and excise department that to date it has been guided by a 1958 Colonial Act.”

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki who inaugurated the public hearing noted that the move to repeal the Act was borne out of Senate’s desire to reposition the NCS with a view to ensuring that the agency “plays the pivotal role it is expected to play as a major funder of the federal budget.”

    Saraki said introducing the bill had become imperative in view of “the very critical role that the custom plays in the economic and security life of our country” adding that “Customs remains one of the most important sources of government revenues.”

    “With government revenues dwindling rapidly at a time when we have so much to do, this has further made the need for us to block all leakages and possible inefficiency points in our revenue profile an urgent national duty.

    “When the Eight Senate came on board, we promised that we would seek to introduce new laws to improve revenue generation, curb corruption, improve accountability and governance. This bill is one of those bills, which even our private sector has identified as critically important to doing business, and relates significantly to the cost of doing business in general.

    “This bill clearly represents a clear message from the Senate that we are ready to do what it takes to empower our revenue agencies to perform their duty to ensure that our country’s economy continues to competitively perform even in the face of dwindling oil market prospects. We are determined and are ready to retool our laws to achieve a more diversified Nigerian economy driven by innovative private sector and efficient government support.

    “The operations of the Customs will be key in injecting transparency and accountability in the revenue systems,” Saraki insisted.

  • Senate pegs 14 days for replacement of dead candidate

    Senate pegs 14 days for replacement of dead candidate

    In its continuation of the amendment of the Electoral Act, the Senate Thursday resolved that fresh primary election should be held within 14 days to replace a presidential of governorship candidate who dies before the announcement of the result of the election.

    The resolution may have laid to rest the controversy over who succeeds a dead presidential or governorship candidate who dies before the announcement of the result of an election.

    The upper chamber also adopted the proposal that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shall suspend the conduct of a new election for 21 days when the death of a candidate is recorded after the commencement of an election and before the announcement of result.

    The new provisions were provoked by the sudden death of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abubakar Audu, at the November 21, 2015 governorship election in Kogi State.

    Audu died before the announcement of the election result.

    The development generated legal tussle which was contested from the high court to the Supreme Court as Audu’s running mate, Hon. James Faleke, insisted the he was the right person inherit the votes of the deceased principal.

    Following the lacuna, a new Section 3 (a-c) has been inserted into the proposed Electoral Act which provides:

    “If after the commencement of poll and before the announcement of the final result and declaration of a winner, a nominated candidate dies, (a ) the Commission shall, being satisfied of the fact of the death, suspend the election for a period not exceeding 21 days; (b) the political party whose candidate died may, if it intends to continue to participate in the election, conduct a fresh direct primary within 14 days of the death of its candidate and submit a new candidate to the Commission to replace the dead candidate; and (c) subject to paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection, the Commission shall continue with the election, announce the final result and declare a winner.”

    The new bill also provides a legal backing for the use of manual voting in situations where card readers malfunction during election.

    Although the manual option has always been adopted as an alternative to the malfunctioning of card readers, the new provision is meant to make the action legally valid.

    The card reader which is mainly used for accreditation of voters, the amendment provides that once the presiding officer at the election is convinced that the intending voter is the owner of the voter card, he should go ahead to accredit him.

    Section 49(1-4) of the Electoral Act being amended provides: “The Presiding Officer shall use a Smart Card Reader or any other technological device that may be prescribed by the Commission from time to time for the accreditation of voters, to verify, confirm or authenticate (a) the genuineness or otherwise of the voter’s card; (b) that the voter’s card presented by the voter is registered at the polling unit in the constituency in which the card is presented; (c) the biometric connection or otherwise of the intending voter with the voter’s card; and (d) the number of duly accredited voters in the polling unit.

    “(3) An intending voter shall not be accredited to vote in an election if the voter’s card presented by him to the Presiding Officer is not (a) a genuine voter’s card issued by the Commission to the intending voter; (b) registered at the polling unit in the constituency in which the card is presented, and (c) biometrically connected to the intending voter.

    “(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (3) (c) of this section, the Presiding Officer on being satisfied that an intending voter is the owner of the voter’s card, may accredit the intending voter to vote in the election.”

    The Senate did not pass the bill yesterday because it did not conclude its clause-by-clause consideration.

    The bill was deferred for further consideration next week.

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki pleaded with his colleagues to read the remaining provisions of the bill to ensure its seamless passage.

  • Senate probes FIRS, NPA, others over alleged misuse of funds

    Senate probes FIRS, NPA, others over alleged misuse of funds

    The Senate Tuesday resolved to investigate alleged misuse, under remittance and other fraudulent practices in the collection and accounting of internally generated revenue by revenue generating agencies.

    The investigation, the Senate agreed, will cover all revenue generating agencies including the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Customs Service and others from 2012 to 2016.

    The resolution followed the adoption of a motion which prayed the upper chamber to “constitute a high powered ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged misuse, under remittance/non remittance and other fraudulent practices in the collection, accounting, remittance and expenditure of internally generated revenue by all revenue generating agencies of government from 2012 to 2016.”

    A six-member panel of investigators to be headed by Senator Solomon Adeola, (Lagos West) was mandated to submit its report to Senate in plenary in six weeks.

    Senator Adeola who sponsored the motion in his lead debate noted that Section 80,subsection 1-4 of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria clearly stipulated that all revenue, moneys raised or received shall be paid into and form on consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.

    He further noted that the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 was enacted to ensure transparency, accountability and prevent corrupt practices in relation to public revenues and expenditure.

    The Lagos West lawmaker said that he is aware that Section 21 -23 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 clearly limited  corporations, agencies and government owned companies listed in the Schedule to the Act to the expenditure of only a fifth of its operating surplus with the balance paid to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government.

    He expressed concern that the Acting Chairman of Fiscal Responsibility Commission Mr. Victor Muruako on November 8, 2016 “raised the alarm over leakages in revenue and remittances which he said has assumed alarming proportion in the last 5 years with some Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) producing two different statement of accounts in an attempt to manipulate their operating surpluses and losses.”

    Adeola said that he is also aware that at “the last National Economic Council meeting, the Federal Government specifically accused  revenue generating agencies of raising over N1.5 trillion and expending over 90 per cent on recurrent expenditure mostly in paying bloated salaries and controversial allowances above Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Committee, monetization of medical allowances, unapproved overseas travels, lavish training allowances and excessive personal loan approval all amounting to financial misconducts.

    He expressed worry that “these corporations, agencies and government owned companies have over the years grossly violated the letters of the 1999 Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Act in relation to their revenue generation activities and expenditure.”

    Adeola said that he is disturbed that various audit queries against the agencies over the years further indicated possible mismanagement of public funds against the spirit of the Constitution and Fiscal Responsibility Act.

    He noted that it is a matter of concern that in view of Federal Government dwindling revenue from the traditional crude oil sector and the on- going recession, “these government bodies are continuing in short changing government of needed revenue through various illegal practices.”

    He thereafter prayed the Senate to resolve to constitute a high powered ad-hoc committee to investigate the alleged misuse, under remittance/non remittance and other fraudulent practices in the collection, accounting, remittance and expenditure of internally generated revenue by all revenue generating agencies of government from 2012 to 2016 and submit a report in six weeks.

    Adeola added that there was no doubt that all revenue generating agencies including the NPA, FIRS, Customs, have been misappropriating generated revenue.

    The agencies, he said, have largely ignored the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act that compelled them to remit all generated fund to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.

    Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, in his contribution noted that most Nigerians were concerned about how to share the cake without bothering about how to bake the cake.

    He said that it is time  for the Senate to take a second look at the law regulating activities of the revenue generating agencies to determine whether there was need to review the laws in order to bloc leakages.

    Ekweremadu said, “Every day we talk about how to share the cake but today we have the privilege and opportunity to discuss how to bake the cake and I think there is enough cake to go round except that we have a lot of leakages and some of these leakages were created by us.

    “I think that we must admit that when those laws were made they were made with the best of intentions but just as they say the road to hell is also made with the best of intentions. I believe that since they have been abused it is for all of us to look back and have a second look at those laws and ensure that they are appropriately amended or put appropriate measures to ensure that these leakages are fixed.”

    Senator Ahmed Lawan, in his contribution stressed the need for the Senate to do more and if possible to reduce the number of the agencies “because we don’t actually need all of them.”

    Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah said that issues raised in the motion should be given the seriousness they deserve in the interest of the country.

    Before the prayer to set up a committee to probe the alleged misuse of funds by agencies was unanimously adopted, Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki underscored the importance of independent revenue to the economic health of the country.

    Saraki noted that if the Senate was able to block leakages in the agencies, it would help the funding and performance of the 2017 budget.

    Saraki said, “I want to join others in thanking Senator Solomon Adeola for this very important motion. As I keep on harming on our independent revenue and non-oil revenue is a very important area of our budget. This independent revenue is 37 percent; you remember last year it was almost N1.5 trillion and am being told now that this year is likely to come down to N500 billion because they could not meet the target.

    “Inability to meet the target is not that they don’t have the capacity to meet the target and there is too much abuse on this operating surpluses where people spend right up to the last naira in all. I think the best way forward as you said it would even help the 2017 budget if we address this issue in blocking this leakages and I believe that in constituting the ad-hoc committee we would just take the best hands and still bring people from finance and public accounts and capable people who would be able to address this.”

  • Senate frowns at high rate of medical negligence

    The Senate Thursday decried the high rate of medical negligence and non-compliance with the National Health Act in the country.

    The upper chamber of the National Assembly said it would hold a stakeholders’ forum tagged ‘First Nigerian Medical Law Summit” to tackle the problem.

    The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Olanrewaju Tejuoso, told reporters the forum was necessitated by the increasing petitions against medical institutions and personnel.

    He said, “The Nigerian Medical Law Summit is a one-day retreat organised for chief medical directors of public and private hospitals and heads of professional health associations.

    “The ‘medicolegal’ retreat is crucial as a result of the constant increase in allegations of medical malpractice and medical negligence claims from public and private hospitals all over Nigeria.

    “The summit is necessary due to the high level of non-compliance with the National Health Act by Nigerian health facilities and professionals.

    “The summit is aimed at positioning the leadership of the Nigerian health system on how to prevent medical malpractice claims and legal liabilities.”

  • Senate probes secret recruitment, lopsided appointments in NHIS

    Senate probes secret recruitment, lopsided appointments in NHIS

    The Senate Tuesday commenced investigation into alleged illegal recruitment and lopsided appointments of some management staff of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

    The probe also covers NHIS expenditure on trainings and travels.

    Management staff of the scheme led by its Executive Secretary, Mr. Usman Yusuf, appeared before the Senate Committee on Health yesterday to answer question bordering on alleged illegal recruitment, lopsided appointments and expenditure on training and travels.

    Yusuf told the committee that the new recruits were on “secondment” and not on appointment.

    Asked if the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, who was present at the hearing, was aware of the “secondments” in the NHIS, the Executive Secretary answered in the negative.

    He said, “No, he (Adewole) is not aware.”

    The committee queried the NHIS boss why he spent N150 million on trainings and travels between January and June 2016, while the amount spent for the same purposes between July, August and September was between N2 million and N4 million, and the sum of N412 million was spent for the same purposes in October alone.

    The committee noted that it received a petition against the NHIS in which the petitioner claimed that while the number of general managers of NHIS was raised from 23 to 25, their appointments were not in line with the Federal Character principle.

    The panelists however declined to disclose the name of the petitioner as well as to provide
    a copy of the petition to Yusuf.

    The committee said that the petitioner claimed that the North-Central geopolitical zone, which had three representatives, now had five.

    The petitioner was also said to have claimed that the North-East, which had three, now has
    four while the North-West was raised from six to nine; South-East remained three; South-South dropped from four to three; while South-West reduced from four to one.

    Yusuf insisted that, “It will be for the sake of fair hearing that I get a copy of the petition before I respond (to the allegation). I am not aware of any petition and I can only respond to the petition that I can see and read. I need to know what is in the petition and where the petition is coming from.”

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Lanre Tejuoso, said that Yusuf should be able to state if the figures were correct or not even without seeing the petition or knowing it came from.

    The Executive Secretary insisted on seeing the petition before confirming or refuting the allegations.

    He said, “I need fair hearing; I need to see a copy of that petition.”

    The committee declined to grant the request for the NHIS boss to see a copy of the petition before responding to the allegations

    The committee said that since the allegations were against the NHIS and the person of Yusuf, they were not obliged to give out a copy of the petition to the Executive Secretary.
    A member of the committee, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, noted the committee would confirm the allegations after going through the nominal roll of the NHIS.
    The committee said that the NHIS boss failed to provide its nominal roll, which was the first information it requested from the scheme.

    Members of the committee expressed displeasure with the management of NHIS for its
    failure to provide all the information requested from it.

    The committee resolved that the leadership of the scheme would reappear before
    the panel to verify the claims by the petitioner.

    The NHIS told the committee that the requested information would be provided on Monday next week.