Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai on Monday revealed his monthly salary, allowances and security votes in response to a challenge from the Speaker House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara.
According to a pay slip made available by El-Rufai’s media aide, Samuel Aruwan on Monday, the governor earns N470, 521.74 monthly after total deduction.
In February 2017, the Kaduna State Government paid the Governor a net salary of N470,521.74, with the following details:
Income
Basic Salary; N185,308.75,
Hardship Allowance; N370,617.50,
Gross Pay; N555,926.25,
PAYE; N85,404.5,
Total Deduction; N85,401.51,
Net Pay; N470,521.74.
The Governor’s security votes for the 2017, which includes procurement & Installation of CCTV Cameras for Monitoring and Surveillance, Procurement of Geo-position Interceptor and location of GSM UMTS System to Check the Trends and Intercept/locate kidnappers’ GSM calls and Procurement of Drones/Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is N4.556bn.
El-Rufai last week requested the National Assembly (NASS) to provide further details on its opaque N115 billion (One Hundred and Fifteen Billion Naira) 2016 NASS budget.
Dogara responded to the governor’s allegation that the National Assembly’s budget lacks transparency by challenging him to make public his salary and security votes.
According to El-Rufai, the 2016, NASS budget for its 469 members is larger than the capital budget of Kaduna State, with close to 10 million inhabitants.
…Govs should publish salary, security votes, LG funds too – Dogara
Kaduna State Governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai on Friday hit hard on the National Assembly (NASS) members, saying their budget lacks transparency.
This was just as he said the NASS, particularly the Senate, is seen as an opposition to the fight against corruption being championed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
El-Rufai stated categorically that the NASS is seen as one of the fighters of the war against corruption, stressing that though, he does not believe it is entirely true, neither does he believe that it is entirely false.
The governor stated this in his goodwill message at the closing ceremony of the 5-day retreat of the National Assembly management personnel held in Kaduna.
Dogara
Meanwhile, Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon. Yakubu Dogara in a swift reaction told the Governor to champion the campaign for transparency in the budget, saying that, he would like to see Governors publish their monthly salaries, allowances, security votes and local government funds.
Governor El-Rufai who reacted to the paper presented by the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said he won’t be diplomatic like Baba-Ahmed, but blunt, because he doesn’t work for the National Assembly.
According to him, “the National Assembly is seen as an opposition to the fight against corruption, the National Assembly particularly the Senate is seen as one of the fighters of the war against corruption and that image has to be worked on, now that we are going towards election year, the leadership and members of the National Assembly has to do something about the narratives.
“I don’t believe that it is entirely true, I also don’t believe it is entirely false but it is important that the National Assembly do something about its image.”
On the budget of the NASS, the governor noted that “no transparency in your (NASS) budget, nobody knows your budget, how much you get paid. Publications are made about your salaries and allowances that I don’t believe are true but cannot be defended because there is no transparency about your budget, personal cost and so on and so forth. I think you can do something about that to clear all the rumours and remove all the evil stories that are largely untrue,” he stressed.
Speaker while delivering his address, however, told the Governor that instructions have already been given to the appropriate quarters to publish the National Assembly budget.
The Speaker who expressed reservation about joining issues with the Governor said, “you will have some kind of misfortune if you attempt to join issues with intellectuals like my Elder, Governor Nasir El-Rufai, but as intellectuals we expand issues and add to discussion, so I will like to challenge you to champion the call for transparency in budgeting and budgetary process of NASS to other arms of government.
Most repeated words in the report include National Assembly, Budget, Corruption, Senate, NASS, etc.
“We want to see Chief Executives of states published how they are paid, what they spend monthly as security votes, and also publish what happens to local government funds,” he challenged the governor.
Similarly, the Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawan who represented the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki at the occasion said, the National Assembly fights corruption and support the fight against it at all levels of governance contrary to whatever belief of many.
He said: “In the National Assembly, we fight corruption through our support and as a matter of facts, the anti-corruption agencies are our creation and for our budget, it is always in the public domain.”
He said, the legislature and Executive must work together to deliver on promises to Nigerians, adding that, Nigerians expect higher and better performances in terms of service, as legislators we are prepared to continue to support the administration of President Buhari either through the fight against corruption or in the confirmation of political appointees.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met behind closed doors with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
It was also gathered that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki was expected to join the meeting.
Dogara arrived the Villa at exactly 12 noon.
The meeting may not be unconnected with the face-off between the Executive and the legislative arms of government.
The grey areas included the summons of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali, who was to appear in uniform, the rejection of Ibrahim Magu as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and the extension of tenure of a Permanent Secretary by the President which the House of Representatives is currently kicking against.
The Presidency last week set up a committee to meet with the leadership of both Chambers of the National Assembly to reach a compromise on the issues.
The committee chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has membership including ex-lawmakers in the cabinet.
The meeting was still in progress at the time of filing this report.
The Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara on Thursday called for a thorough investigation into the planned relocation of the head office of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) from Rivers State.
The speaker said this when he inaugurated an Ad-hoc committee mandated to investigate the planned relocation of the company.
Represented by the Deputy Majority Whip of the House, Pally Iriase (Edo-APC), Dogara said that improved relationship between the Federal Government and the Niger Delta region was crucial in addressing some economic challenges confronting the country.
“This is because the Niger Delta region sits atop oil wells where much of our revenue as a nation is derived from.
“Relocation by the SPDC is said to be based on security concerns today. This has generated outcry and agitation by the people and if we as a House do not address it, it may escalate and result to violence and insecurity,’’ Dogara said.
The Speaker added that the onus lied on the Federal Government and the house to ensure that justice on Niger Delta region was not denied.
He, therefore, urged the committee to come up with a report that will be fair and forestall any crisis in the Niger Delta region.
In his welcome address, the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Rep Ishiaka Ibrahim, (Ogun-APC) said that the committee would meet with all the relevant stakeholders to address the matter.
He said the committee would be fair to all sides.
“We shall engage all relevant stakeholders in order to come up with report and recommendation that would stand the test of time.
“We shall also consider all factors surrounding the conception of the decision of the SPDC’s planned relocation from Port Harcourt,’’ Ibrahim said.
It would be recalled that the House on January 26, adopted a motion sponsored by Rep. Kingsley Chinda (Rivers-PDP), to set up an ad-hoc committee to prevail on Shell’s planned relocation from Port Harcourt.
Chinda expressed concern that several youths were already protesting the planned relocation which will further escalate militant activities in the region.
The youth restiveness, Chinda said, would affect the Nigerian economy that was already experiencing recession due to low crude oil output.
The House, therefore, called on the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu and the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NPIMS) and Shell to suspend the planned relocation and allow it to intervene.
The House of Representatives on Thursday moved a motion to revive public library services in the country.
This was sequel to the unanimous adoption of the motion by Rep. Joseph Edionwele (Edo-PDP), at the plenary on Thursday.
Moving the motion earlier, Edionwele said that the National Library Act, 2004 provides for the establishment of the National Library Board.
He explained that the board was saddled with the responsibility of establishing and maintaining the national libraries and also provides services that would promote the library culture.
According to him, most public libraries in Nigeria were established in the 1980s or earlier when many of the existing states of the Federation had not been created.
Edionwele, however, said due to under-funding and poor maintenance, most of the reading materials therein had become outdated and the buildings dilapidated.
The lawmaker said most public libraries in the country were not digitally compliant as was the global best practice.
Edionwele observed that low income families needed the services provided by public libraries in order to have access to expensive books and other educational needs.
According to the legislator, the current state of public libraries does not encourage reading culture among the citizenry, especially among the youths and called for urgent funding to upgrade the facility.
He called for the modernisation of the existing National Library and establishment of new offices in cities across the country.
In his ruling, the Speaker of the House, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, mandated the Committee on Basic Education and Services to interface with the Federal Ministry of Education to revive the library culture and report to the house within eight weeks.
The Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara on Wednesday said the House will meet with the Executive to work out a definite plan towards offsetting N200 billion pension due to retired public workers.
Dogara said this when he received a delegation from the Nigeria Union of Pensioners at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.
He said that the House would invite all key players in charge of pension in the country, to appear before the House next week and explain their plans to off-set the arrears.
Citing section 173 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution, he stressed that it was the responsibility of the Federal Government to ensure that pension earned by the pensioners were paid as at when due.
“The Right of a person who works in the public service of the federation to receive pension and gratuity shall be regulated by law.
“Obviously, we have done our own part of the bargain, which is the enactment of the Pension Reform Act of 2014.
“If pension is a Right and pensioners must be paid, it means that the Federal Government is indebted and if it is paid, the government is not doing a favour to anybody,” he said.
Dogara emphasised that the fight against corruption in public service would be greatly enhanced by prompt payment of pensions.
According to him, this will reduce the temptation to divert public funds by civil servants for use after retirement.
Earlier, The National President of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Dr Abel Afolayan, had appealed to the National Assembly to ensure that sufficient funds were provided to cater for pension liabilities in the 2017 budget.
Afolayan also appealed that pension should be put on’ First Line’ charge, just as he solicited the assistance of the Speaker to facilitate the payment of outstanding 18 months arrears of the 33 per cent pension increase.
The House had last week passed a resolution urging the Federal government to offset all pension arrears owed pensioners since 2014
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, has said the current face-off between the executive and the legislature is normal in the democracy.
Dogara, who spoke to Senior Editors in Abuja on Wednesday, said the nation stands to benefit from it.
According to him, conflicts are a natural part of human beings and can be found even within the family unit.
“There will always be fractions. Where you have human and individual factors, even in a family, there is bound to be conflicts.
“In the relationship between the Legislature and the Executive, there will always be conflict. The only problem is that sometimes we cast conflicts as intricately bad,” he said.
Dogara said sometimes conflicts were necessary for a nation, adding that where you had a collection of conformists, chances were that they would never make progress.
“For you to have innovation and progress, people must be free to disagree, and it is only in disagreeing that progress is made.’’
He said that the most important issue was that leaders of all arms of government interpret the issues so that they could lead to the nation’s progress.
He said current political leaders must realise that Nigerians made a lot of sacrifices to ensure the enthronement of the current government, thus all sides of the government must close ranks and deliver on the promises that the people had sacrificed so much.
“Conflicts yes, we may have conflicts, but it shouldn’t endure to the level that it offsets the friendly relationship with the Executive which is necessary to deliver on the goals of governance, that is key.”
He said the House had always been supportive of the executive and always overcome party differences to ensure passage of key legislations in the interest of the country.
Dogara said the APC government had not disappointed Nigerians as it had strived to meet their expectations, especially in restoring security in the North East.
“This government, through various interventions has been able to ensure that the terrorists are not holding unto any spot of land. I believe this is one major thing that has given some hope to Nigerians.
“For the very first time, we are in a position to overcome this problem, and it is critical, even if it’s nothing else that our citizens in the Northeast down to Abuja can move around more freely than before.’’
The Speaker also said the current government had made tremendous progress in tackling corruption as government officials now think twice before engaging in any corrupt act.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Wednesday said apathy by the Executive to the resolutions of the National Assembly was not encouraging.
He asked the Executive to see the Legislature as partners and implement the decisions of the lawmakers.
He, however, said the government of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has not failed Nigerians.
The Speaker, who made the observations at an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja, also debunked insinuations that he was on political exile in the Federal Capital Territory because of a face-off with the Governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar.
Dogara said the disagreement with the governor was not personal but based on the fact that the governor has not lived up to his electoral promises.
The Speaker said: “As to whether we are satisfied with the level of compliance with our resolutions, the answer is no. That is why in the last House we established a committee known as the Committee on Legislative Compliance and the essence of that Committee is to seek to compel compliance with resolutions of the Legislature and the Committee is working.
“They have a record of the resolutions that have been complied with and resolutions that have not been complied with. And for those that have not complied with the resolutions of the National Assembly, what we are trying to do is to give the Committee more bite.
“So it’s something we are aware of and doing everything possible to ensure that there is more compliance with the resolutions of the National Assembly through the instrumentality of that Committee.
“Also, I won’t call the role of the House of Representatives mediation as such, but I said that our principle is cooperation with the Senate so that together we can achieve more cooperation with the Executive. Where we will disagree, we will disagree. But in most areas we should look for ways of cooperating more than fight.”
The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Government to come up with stringent polices that would check illegal smuggling and emigration in the country.
In a unanimous adoption of a motion by Rep. Rotimi Agunsoye (Lagos-APC) at plenary on Tuesday, the chamber said it was worrisome that the country’s land and sea borders had become quite porous.
In the motion earlier, Agunsoye said that it was regrettable that the borders allowed unlawful goods and immigrants into the country.
According to him, shops, markets and stores are adorned with smuggled goods, including clothing materials and food items.
“Roads in the country have been taken over by smuggled cars and the anti-smuggling unit and other formations of the Nigerian Customs Services (NCS) are not able to stem the tide.
“The NCS has failed in its duty to stop smuggled goods into the country.
“The organization now resorts to harassing innocent citizens who have purchased vehicles and other goods off the shelves,” he said.
The lawmaker said that the failure of government agencies to check smuggling of substandard and harmful goods was posing socio-economic threat to the existence of the country.
He listed some of the smuggled goods as plastic rice, Genetically Modified Foods, expired drugs and high radiation mobile phones.
The legislator regretted that foreigners who had gained entry into the country without immigration papers or whose visas had expired, were still in the country competing with citizens and enjoying tax payers money.
He said that it was imperative for the country’s borders to be guarded and monitored to reduce the spate of smuggling.
He also said that the NCS and the Nigerian Immigration Service were operating below expectation.
Contributing, Rep. Emmanuel Orker-Jev (Benue-APC) pointed out cases where Nigerians had been killed by foreigners.
He said that the herdsmen unleashing mayhem in the country had always been referred to as foreigners.
Orker-Jev called for documentation of movement of persons across the borders in spite of the ECOWAS free trade zone policy.
Rep. Nicholas Ossai (Delta-PDP) said that there was need to ascertain if the NCS and other services were well funded to do their job.
He said that the Government of United States of America was committing enough funds to build border walls to enable security agencies checkmate movement of hoodlums.
“What is the budgetary allocation for border monitoring?
“If the executive has failed to do that, we are the representatives of the people and I move that this 8th Assembly should make provision of N1 trillion in the 2017 budget to guard our borders,” he said.
The Deputy Speaker of the House, Rep. Yussuf Lasun (Osun-APC) described Nigeria as a very unique country.
He said that the Yoruba race, for instance, had their kinsmen in Cotonou, Ghana, Liberia just like the Fulanis in Niger and up to Libya.
According to Lasun, building walls will amount to disconnecting the people from their kinsmen in the neighbouring countries.
He, however, advocated deliberate policies that would protect the economy and clearly differentiate between foreigners and citizens of the country.
In his ruling, Speaker of the house, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, mandated the Committees on Customs and Excise and Interior to organise a public hearing on the matter and report to the house for further action.
The House of Representatives says the March 30 deadline set for the passage of 2017 Appropriation Bill by the National Assembly is not sacrosanct.
Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Rep. Abdulrazak Namdas, made this known on Thursday in Abuja.
Namdas said that the new software used in the process was slowing down the work of the Appropriation committee.
“I want to say that the March 30 deadline, just for the purpose of records, may not be actually sacrosanct because of the new development that has risen.
“We have new budget software and it is different from what we used to have before.
“It is slowing the process of the appropriation committee down a bit.’’
He, however, said that there was need for standing committees that had yet to submit their reports to the Appropriation Committee to do so in order to hasten the process.
“The speaker, Yakubu Dogara just urged the various committees to submit their reports to the Appropriation committee by Friday because it has been realised that most of the committees have not submitted their reports.
“These are some of the issues slowing the process. But I think from the discussion with some of Chairmen of committees, I am optimistic they will submit their reports by tomorrow (Friday),’’ Namdas added.
