Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Friday, ordered the immediate reversal of the appointment of Mr. Mohammed Sani-Omolori as the Acting Clerk to the National Assembly.
Bukola Saraki
Saraki, who is also the Chairman of the National Assembly, has therefore directed the withdrawal of the letter of appointment already issued to Sani-Omolori.
This is contained in a memorandum entitled, “Withdrawal of letter of appointment of Acting Clerk of the National Assembly”, dated April 22, 2016, and obtained by our correspondent.
The development, according to some National Assembly sources, would definitely create a major division in the bureaucracy of the federal parliament.
The letter was addressed to the Executive Chairman, National Assembly Service Commission, Dr. Adamu Fika, and signed by Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Senator Isa Galaudu.
Sani-Omolori was appointed on Tuesday to replace Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, who is scheduled to proceed on terminal leave on May 14, 2016.
There has been an uneasy calm among parliamentary staff since the appointment of Sani- Omolori.
The parliamentary staff had argued that seniority was not followed in the appointment.
Saraki, in his letter, questioned how the Commission ignored the directive that it should follow due process and ensure that seniority was adhered to in the appointment of a new clerk of the National Assembly.
He said the Commission, had also ignored the directive that the Deputy Clerk to the National Assembly, Mr. Benedict Efeturi, who had acted as the Clerk of the National Assembly, should be the first to be considered.
The letter reads, “We present to you the compliments of the President of the Senate and Chairman of the National Assembly, Distinguished Senator, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, CON.
“Please recall that during your last meeting with the President of the Senate on April 20, 2016, the procedure of the appointment of the Acting Clerk of the National Assembly was discussed.
“The Commission was directed to follow due process and ensure that seniority is adhered to. Of course, Mr. Benedict Efeturi, who is the Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly, and who has previously acted as the Clerk of the National Assembly, should be the first to be considered.
“Most importantly, you have been directed to confer with the President of the Senate the outcome of the Commission’s meeting before a letter of appointment is issued and regrettably, that did not happen.
“The President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives were informed that Mr. Efeturi was not considered for the appointment because he was not duly appointed as Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly.
“On further enquiries, we found he was duly appointed by the National Assembly Service Commission.
“Consequently, I am directed by His Excellency, the President of the Senate, to inform you that the letter appointing Mr. Sani-Omolori as Acting Clerk of the National Assembly be withdrawn immediately for further consultations.”
Our correspondent learnt that the failure of the National Assembly Service Commission to follow seniority in the appointment of the Acting Clerk, was capable of causing serious bureaucratic crisis in the federal parliament.
A senior management staff said, “This is an affront on the guiding principles of the appointment and promotion in the National Assembly.
“Even if Efeturi was not going to be appointed on the grounds of seniority and the fact that he is Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly, reasons should have been provided by the appointing authorities in order not to create bad blood in the system.”
The civil servant, who is an assistant director, added that it was not clear how the issue would be resolved.
President Muhammadu Buhari has returned the controversy-ridden 2016 budget to the National Assembly, pointing out areas of concern in the document and demanding adjustment.
President Muhammadu Buhari departs on a 3-day official visit to Kenya
The spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Abdurazaq Namdas, (APC-Adamawa State) confirmed this to journalists on Thursday.
“I can confirm to you that we are in possession of the letter from the president identifying grey areas,” Mr. Namdas said.
He said the leadership of the House and that of the Senate as well as their respective relevant committees would meet on the development.
He, however, refused to mention the “grey areas” saying they would be made known to Nigerians in “due course”.
The National Assembly passed the budget on March 23 and later transmitted it to Mr. Buhari for assent.
Apparently with the omission of certain projects and addition of others not proposed by the Executive, Mr. Buhari has since withheld his assent.
One of such projects is the Lagos-Calabar rail project counted as a critical infrastrucural focus of the administration.
It was not captured in the original budget but was brought as a supplementary proposal of the Transport Ministry by its Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, and was approved, Chairman Senate Committee on Land Transport, Gbenga Ashafa, said.
However, the Appropriations Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives respectively chaired by Danjuma Goje and Abdulmumin Jibrin, removed the project from the final draft, saying Mr. Amaechi lacked the powers to make budgetary proposal.
Last week, while the Senate said Mr. Buhari should sign the budget and, later, send a supplementary proposal to capture the Lagos-Calabar rail project, the House said it had resolved to receive the budget to capture the project before assent.
Umar had earlier before the proceedings began on Monday, that the trial would proceed henceforth 10am to 6pm on daily basis.
Bukola Saraki
While adjourning the trial at about 5pm on Monday, Umar rejected a request by Saraki’s lawyer, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), for the tribunal to skip Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday which are the days of the week which the Senate sits.
The request was opposed by the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), warned that the Senate should not be into the trial.
“The Senate is not on trial. The persons that is on trial is the defendant. The Senate should sit. It’s a disgrace to our nation to be saying that.”
In his response, the tribunal chairman reiterated the same point, asking the Senate to continuing siting while the Senate President is allowed to face his trial.
Umar said, “The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not on trial, the Senate should sit. The only thing is that the personality of the defendant who happened to be the Senate President. The Senate should continue to sit.”
The trial was adjourned till Tuesday for cross-examination of the first prosecution witness., Mr. Michael Wetkas.
The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), and human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), have condemned the move by the Senate to amend the law setting up the Code of Conduct Bureau and the Code of Conduct Tribunal, with a view to whittling down the agencies’ powers.
Femi Falana
The Senior Advocates of Nigeria said the commencement of the amendment of the Act, establishing the CCB and CCT by the Senate, had exposed the intention of the country’s legislators to encourage corrupt practices and shield corrupt leaders from prosecution.
The Senate, on Thursday, passed for second reading, a bill for to amend the CCB and Tribunal Act barely 48 hours after its presentation by the sponsor, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, (Peoples Democratic Party, Delta North), on the floor of the upper chamber.
It has also set Tuesday next week to begin deliberation on another bill meant to amend the Administration of Criminal Justice Act that will remove the powers of the CCT to try criminal cases.
Both bills were presented on the floor of the upper chamber and read for the first time on Tuesday.
Some observers wondered if the rush to pass the bill to amend the CCB Act was not a ploy by the red chamber to frustrate the current trial of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, at the CCT.
The Senate President is facing criminal prosecution for alleged false and anticipatory asset declaration during his tenure as the Kwara State governor between 2003 and 2011.
Saraki had instituted serial suits at the Federal High Court in Abuja, where he had challenged the constitution of the CCT to try his case.
He also instituted a suit challenging the jurisdiction of the CCT to try him.
The Senate President pursued the suits to the Supreme Court but lost.
Another of his suits seeks to stop his trial before the CCT on the basis that the trial violated his fundamental human rights.
The court has fixed Friday (today) to deliver judgment on the case.
But Sagay said the move by the senators had exposed the level of lack of moral integrity on the part of the members of the red chamber.
Sagay stated, “It’s a surprise to me, because I really don’t know that our mentality has degenerated to such a level of self-service that the people, who were sent to the National Assembly to make laws for the benefit of all Nigerians, have started a process that will allow a complete crisis; an Act that corruption cannot be prosecuted.
“To me, this is the highest level of shameless misconduct by the generality of the members of the red chamber. Obviously, there is no limit to the level of disgusting things they can do.”
Falana, in his reaction on Thursday, described the proposed amendment of the CCB/T Act and the ACJ Act as an ill wind that would blow no good to those behind it.
Speaking with one of our correspondents on the telephone, Falana said the proposed amendment amounted to a conflict of interest because it was being proposed because of one man.
He, however, pointed out that even if the amendment succeeded, by virtue of the provisions of the constitution, it would not have a retroactive effect, adding that it would not have any effect on cases already pending in court.
Falana said, “Any amendment of the law under the constitution cannot and will not have retrospective effect. The amendment will not have any effect on pending cases in court.
“The excuse being advanced for the devilish agenda is jejune because the CCT, whose members are screened for appointment by the Senate, cannot be said to be under the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
“The proposed amendment also amounts to a conflict of interest because you cannot, because of one man, amend the law of the land. It will amount to an exercise in futility.”
Another SAN, Mr. Kunle Ogunba, believed it was doubtful that the Senate would want to take such a step, especially in view of the public outcry against corruption in the country.
Ogunba, who said having not seen the provisions of the said bill, he could not give a detailed response, doubted whether any amendment to the CCT Act could affect a trial that was already ongoing before the CCT.
Ogunba said, “Well, I have not seen the provisions (of the bill) and I don’t know if it will have a retroactive effect to the extent that it will affect a case that is already instituted and ongoing.
“For me, it is still a subject of speculation. And I don’t think that the Senate, in view of the outcry that has attended the ongoing trial of the Senate President, will do anything that will further enmesh that august institution in further controversy by passing a law to undermine or terminate the proceedings.
“But if it is true, it is very condemnable.”
In his lead debate, Nwaoboshi said the Act, promulgated in 1989, came into operation in 1991 based on the provisions of the 1979 Constitution.
He explained that the Act captured in the 1999 Constitution had two schedules, dealing extensively with the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.
The Bureau, he said, was vested with power to receive declarations by public officers made under paragraph 12 of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution and examine the declarations in accordance with the requirements of the code of conduct or any law.
He stated that the CCB was empowered to retain custody of such declarations and make them available for inspection by citizens of Nigeria on such terms and conditions as the National Assembly might prescribe.
Nwaoboshi added that the bureau was meant to ensure compliance with, and where appropriate, enforce the provisions of the Code of Conduct of any law relating to it and receive complaints about non-compliance with or breach of the provisions of the CCB.
He, however, said he was proposing an amendment to Section three of the CCB and Tribunal Act to give every public officer appearing before the Bureau fair hearing as provided for under Section 36 (2)(a) of the CFRN 1999.
The section, he said, “provides for an opportunity for the person whose rights and obligations may be affected to make representations to the administering authority before that authority makes the decision affecting that person”.
Nwaoboshi said, “In my proposed amendment, the section now looks like this; “The functions of the Bureau shall be to – (a) receive asset declarations by officers in accordance with the provisions of this Act; and (b) take and retain custody of such asset declarations.
“It shall examine the asset declarations and ensure that they comply with the requirements of this Act and of any law for the time being in force if otherwise the Bureau shall invite the public officer concerned and take down his statement in writing.
“It shall receive complaints about non-compliance with or breach of this Act and where the Bureau, having regard to any statement taken or to be taken after such subsequent complaint is made, considers it necessary to do so.
“It shall investigate the complaint and where appropriate, refer such complaints to the Code of Conduct Tribunal established by Section 20 of this Act and the constitution in accordance with the provisions of sections 20 to 25 of this Act.
“From the above, it is clear that sub-section 3(a) has been retained while sub-section 3(c) now becomes sub-section 3(b) and sub-sections 3(c) and (3d) have been altered to give fair hearing, equity and justice to every public officer that is invited to appear before the Bureau in line with the constitutional provision as enumerated above.
“Paragraph 17 of the Third Schedule to the Principal Act is amended by completely deleting same.
“This is because if you look at the caption of the Act, after Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, it reads, “An Act to provide for the establishment of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal to deal with complaints of Corruption by Public Servants for breach of its provisions.
“It is clear that the Act does not contemplate criminal trial so the usage of Criminal Procedure Act and the Criminal Procedure Code should not be used as a procedural template in the Tribunal.”
The senator pledged to present to the Senate, in due course, a comprehensive amendment of the Third Schedule to the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Rules of procedure which should be the Distinct Rules for proceedings in the CCT.
Senators Dino Melaye, Barau Jubrin, Samuel Anyanwu, Biodun Olujimi, Buka Abba Ibrahim and Ibrahim Gobir, who contributed to the debate, described it as a welcome development, saying the bill deserved the support of all senators.
But the Senator representing Kebbi North, Yahaya Abdullahi, cautioned his colleagues against the passage of the bill at the time when Saraki was facing trial before the CCT.
Abdullahi said, “I just rise to raise a point of caution. I have read and gone through the areas where the amendments are sought and I am not against it, but what I have against is the timing.
“We must be ready on the issue of public perception about the position of the Senate in this regard.
“Perception can be reality, the Nigerian people can easily interprete the action we are taking today to mean that for all these years, a decree, which became law since 1991, is not being challenged until today because our principal officer is standing trial before the same tribunal.
“I think for the credibility of this Senate, I think we should re-examine whether the timing is right for this bill to go through the second reading or not.”
But the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary, ruled out the observation of Abdullahi, arguing that the bill was not meant to frustrate Saraki’s trial at the CCT.
Ekweremadu said, “Let me just say that this bill absolutely has nothing to do with the proceedings going on at the Code of Conduct Tribunal in which the Senate President is involved because his trial has commenced as you are aware.
“If you look at the commencement of the bill of the last paragraph, of course, on the bill which says ‘this bill may be sighted as a code of conduct bureau tribunal Act amendment bill, 2016’.
“That means that the bill is not being made retrospective as to affect the proceedings at the code of conduct tribunal; certainly it has nothing to do with it. We are only doing our work as parliamentarians.”
The senators voted in support of the passage of the bill for the second reading and Ekweremadu referred the bill to the committees on Public Petitions and Judiciary and asked them to report back in two weeks.
Investigations by our correspondent revealed that the bill would eventually be passed in the next two weeks and transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.
The Senate is also set to begin deliberation on the bill to amend the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, with a provision to strip the CCT and courts martial and other tribunals in the country.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Isa Misau, and read for the first time on Tuesday, had been slated for deliberation next week Tuesday.
ABUJA—The Senate, yesterday, gave what it described as a final warning to the presidency on its dealings with the legislative branch of government, affirming that it would no longer tolerate the presidency blaming the legislature for its failures.
President Buhari
The assertion which was a direct fallout from brickbats over the removal of the Calabar – Lagos rail project from the final budget, came as presidency officials, yesterday, affirmed that the rail project was in the budget but removed by the committees of Appropriation in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The claim which was stoutly rebuffed by the Senate and the House was, however, backed by Chairman of the Senate Committee on Land Transport, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, who said the coastal rail project was in the budget report presented by his committee to the Senator Danjuma Goje-led committee on appropriation.
The Senate, last night, in a sternly worded statement urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the budget bill and not distract Nigerians from what it claimed were acts of blackmail on the part of the executive arm.
The statement singled out Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi for blame, asking him to apologise for seeking to pitch one section of the country against the other and asked him to resign if he cannot show evidence of the inclusion of the projects in the original budget as presented by the president.
Senate’s final warning The statement issued by Senate spokesman, Senator Abdullahi read in part: “While the executive is mandated to prepare and lay before the National Assembly a proposed budget detailing projects to be executed, it should be made clear that the responsibility and power of appropriation lie with the National Assembly. If the presidency expects us to return the budget proposal to them without any adjustments, then some people must be living in a different era and probably have not come to terms with democracy.
“We make bold to say, however, that the said Lagos-Calabar rail project was not included in the budget proposal presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari, and we challenge anyone who has any evidence to the contrary to present such to Nigerians.
“Since the beginning of the 2016 budget process, it is clear that the National Assembly has suffered all manners of falsehood, deliberate distortion of facts, and outright blackmail, deliberately aimed at poisoning the minds of the people against the institution of the National Assembly. We have endured this with equanimity in the overall interest of Nigerians. Even when the original submission was surreptitiously swapped and we ended up having two versions of the budget, which was almost incomprehensible and heavily padded in a manner that betrays lack of coordination and gross incompetence, we refused to play to the gallery and instead helped the Executive to manage the hugely embarrassing situation it has brought upon itself; but enough is enough.
“This latest antics of this particular minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, is reckless, uncalled for and dangerously divisive. Apart from setting the people of the southern part of the country against their northern compatriots, it potentially sets the people against their lawmakers from the concerned constituencies and sets the lawmakers against themselves. This manner of reprehensible mischief has no place in a democracy. We hereby demand from Mr. Amaechi a publicly tendered apology if he is not able to show evidence that the Lagos-Calabar rail project was included in the budget. Otherwise, he should resign forthwith.
“Finally, by the provision of Section 81 (4) (a) and (b) of the constitution, the President is allowed to sign the budget and kick-start the implementation of the other areas that constitute over 90 per cent of the budget where there is agreement between both arms, even as we engage ourselves to resolve the contentious areas, if there were any. We, therefore, maintain that even these contrived discrepancies are not sufficient excuse not to sign the budget into law.
“We, therefore, urge President Buhari to sign the 2016 budget without any further delay. For every additional day that the president withholds his assent from the bill, the hardship in the land, which is already becoming intolerable for the masses of our people gets even more complicated. Certainly, as primary representatives of the people, we shall not vacate our responsibility and watch the people continue to suffer unduly.”
Senate
The statement followed an earlier press conference where the Senate spokesman also claimed ignorance of the presence of the projects in the budget presented by the president.
House spokesman, Namdas at a press conference also, yesterday, accused Amaechi of bringing the Calabar – Lagos rail project to the National Assembly through the back door.
According to him, the report that the project was removed, and its budget appropriated for the completion of the Lagos-Kano rail project was misleading and intended to set the Southern and Northern parts of the country against each other.
Meanwhile, fresh insights into how political infighting in the All Progressives Congress, APC, and ego by senior officials of the National Assembly led to the extraction of the Lagos – Calabar rail project and other key infrastructure projects of the administration from budget 2016 have been unveiled.
At the centre of the controversy, yesterday, were the chairmen of Senate and House of Representatives committees on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje and Abdulmumin Jibrin.
The reports of the two committees on Land Transport, Vanguard learned, contained proposals for the Lagos – Calabar and Kaduna – Idu rail projects which were both removed by the committees of appropriation in both chambers.
Vanguard is in possession of a text message purportedly sent to committee chairmen in the House of Representatives by Jibrin, asking them to defend whatever controversy could arise from the action in the media.
Presidency officials were peeved by the fact that the legislature had seemingly removed the carpet from under President Muhammadu Buhari’s feet, given the fact that the action was done just as he was about leaving for China to negotiate foreign assistance necessary to fast-track the projects.
Senate spokesman, Abdullahi Sabi and his House of Reps counterpart, Abdulrazak Namdas, yesterday, rebuffed assertions that the Calabar – Lagos rail project was removed, saying in separate fora to journalists that the item was not in the initial proposal submitted by the president.
They also alleged that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi only brought it to the attention of the legislators after the president’s presentation.
Lagos-Calabar rail project in budget — Ashafa Meanwhile, the Senate Committee Chairman on Land Transportation, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, maintained that the railway project was accommodated in the budget but was surprised that it was removed. Senator Ashafa said: “I confirm that the Lagos to Calabar rail line was not in the original document that was presented to the National Assembly by the Executive.
However, subsequently at the budget defence session before the Senate Committee on Land Transport, the Minister for Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, did inform the committee of the omission of the Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation project and indeed sent a supplementary copy of the ministry’s budget to the committee which contained the said project.
The Minister noted that the amount needed for the counterpart funding for both the Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation projects was N120 billion, being N60 billion per project.
“While the committee did not completely agree with all the changes made in the subsequent document, being fully aware of the critical importance of the rail sector to the development of our dear country, distinguished members of the Senate Committee on Land transport keyed into the laudable (Lagos to Calabar, rail modernisation) project and found ways of appropriating funds for the project without exceeding the envelope provided for the ministry, he said.
Ashafa continued: “In so doing, the committee observed that the Lagos to Kano rail rehabilitation project had been allocated the sum of N52 billion as against the sum of N60 billion which the Hon. Minister requested as counterpart funding while no allocation whatsoever was made for the Lagos to Calabar rail line.
“Hence, the sum of N54 billion that was discovered by the Senate Committee on Land Transport to be floating in the budget of the Ministry of Transportation as presented by the Executive was injected into augmenting the funds needed for counterpart funding of both projects (Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Calabar Rail modernisation), as at the time the committee defended its report before the senate committee on Appropriation.
“The Lagos to Calabar rail modernisation project was, therefore, included in the Senate Committee on Land Transport’s recommendation to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
“With regard to the Idu to Kaduna rail completion, the Senate Committee on Land Transport did not interfere with what was provided for in the budget as sent by the executive, being approximately N18 billion hence I am equally surprised to read on the pages of the newspapers that the amount allocated to the said project was reduced by N8 billion.
“While I would have preferred to wait till Tuesday, April 12, 2016 (today) when the National Assembly reconvenes in order to have the benefit of viewing the details of the budget that was conveyed to the executive as passed, I am compelled to place the facts in proper perspective as it relates to the activities of the Senate Committee on Land Transport.
“Without prejudice to the considerations and powers of the Senate Committee on Appropriations with regard to the appropriations process, the foregoing is the true reflection of what transpired at the committee level with respect to the Land Transport sector of the Ministry of Transport,”Ashafa said.
Vanguard learned, yesterday, that besides geopolitical interests, the removal of the Lagos – Calabar rail project from Budget 2016 was done partly to spite Amaechi supposedly for distancing himself from his former colleagues in the Senate, notably senators Bukola Saraki and Danjuma Goje.
“Amaechi was told by associates in the Senate that Goje was not happy with him and that he had teamed up with the Buhari people against his former colleagues in the Governors’ Forum,” a Presidency official conversant with the issue said. The source further revealed that on account of the information, Amaechi had to visit Goje to solicit his help on the passage of the budget proposals of the Ministry of Transportation.
Amaechi and his key aides were part of the president’s delegation to China and efforts to reach his media assistant; Mr. Dave Iyofor were unsuccessful.
A top presidency official stated that the Calabar-Lagos railway project alongside the Lagos – Kano rail project was included in the draft budget of the Ministry submitted to the Budget Office.
The official challenged the House of Representatives and the Senate to produce the report of their respective submissions to the NASS if they insist that the project was not included in the budget.
The officer said: “When the budget was collated by the Budget Office, and copies sent back to the respective ministries for perusal, it was noticed that the Coastal Rail Project was erroneously omitted at the compilation stage, although the total amount did not change.
“The Transportation Ministry immediately, through a memo, drew the attention of the Budget and National Planning Ministry to the omission and it was corrected in the amended version which the Minister took to the National Assembly and defended,” he said.
Another presidency official who spoke to Vanguard also confirmed that the issue over the erroneous submission made was trashed out between the president and the National Assembly leadership. The National Assembly leadership, the source said, asked the ministers to proceed to the committee levels to harmonise the differences between the initial submission and the corrected version, an issue that stoked the reports of a fake budget allegedly attributed to Senator Enang.
Vanguard learned that although members of the Appropriation Committee of the House of Representatives raised some issues about an assumed duplication of the project because both the Lagos – Kano and Calabar – Lagos had the same figure of N60bn each in the allocation, Amaechi explained that there were two different projects that would be funded through the assistance of the Chinese government.
According to the ministry, the sum of N80bn was also provided in the same amended version for all other rail projects indicated.
The source said Amaechi even met with the Chairman of the Appropriation Committee in the Senate, Senator Danjuma Goje, who was his colleague as state governor, on the two strategic rail projects; and also with the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, and the projects were clearly explained after which they were appropriately reflected in the Senate Transportation Committee report to the Appropriation Committee.
“That may be reason the Senate Committee Chairman on Appropriation has been quiet since the controversy started because he cannot claim ignorance of the issue.” The source challenged the Senate to produce the Transportation Committee report that was submitted.
The source also drew attention to the fact that the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee Chairman, Jibrin admitted that the Transport Ministry budget overshot by N54bn and queried if they were sincere, why the Ministry’s attention was never drawn to it during the several interactions they had with the National Assembly committees; but decided to distribute the funds to projects which were either not included anywhere in the budget nor provided for elsewhere.
He also queried why the allocation for Kano Airport jumped from N60bn to the N92bn reflected in the details sent to the President.
“Since Jibrin was referring people to the original budget, let him also show the people where either N60bn or N92bn was reflected in the original budget for the Lagos–Kano rail project?” he insisted.
It was also noted that provisions were made elsewhere in the budget for the rehabilitation of major airports in the country and would not know why the legislators decided to take the money apparently meant for the coastal rail project to allocate for security and football fields, wondering what connection such projects had with the ministry of transportation.
Read more at: http:Meanwhile, a text message allegedly sent out by Jibrin to select committee chairmen to defend the extraction of the Calabar–Lagos rail project was, yesterday, in circulation.
The text read in part: “To all Hon Chairmen and Dep Chairmen of Standing Committees: As you are aware, we have transmitted details of budget 2016. After consultation with the leadership of both Chambers, the reports of all standing Committees were sustained in the details. Though all items submitted by Committees were retained, you will see additional inputs that were necessary to be accommodated via little cuts. You are therefore enjoined to be prepared to justify reports both in media and elsewhere; in case, the executive arm disagrees. We are already justifying your reports, but you must join in doing so, especially in the media…”
There are strong indications that President Muhammadu Buhari has initiated moves to forestall the escalation of the festering feud between the All Progressives Congress National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu.
Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Emmanuel Kachikwu
The PUNCH reliably gathered on Monday that Buhari believed that Kachikwu’s statement and Tinubu’s criticisms could tear the party apart.
It was learnt that the President had therefore cautioned the APC chieftains and members of his cabinet against taking sides in comments and issues that could divide the party and derail his government.
A member of the cabinet, who confided in The PUNCH, said the President was of the view that any comment by the APC on the propriety or otherwise of Tinubu’s statement would divide the party and his government.
It was gathered that Buhari had told the minister that he should concentrate on how to end fuel scarcity before May, the time Kachikwu had proposed that there would be smooth fuel supply in the country.
The cabinet member stated, “I am aware that the President has moved in and cautioned ministers and party chieftains against divisive statements on the seeming feud between Tinubu and Kachikwu.
“At this time of the nation’s history, the President needs all the support of Nigerians. There should not be any distraction. The minister has been told that his main focus should be how to end fuel queues.”
Kachikwu had, in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, said fuel queues could not be eliminated before May, adding that he was not a magician.
But Tinubu had, in a statement on Saturday, criticised the minister, saying Kachikwu’s position amounted to an act of insubordination to Nigerians, who voted public office-holders into their offices.
The National Secretariat of the APC on Monday kept mute over the controversy generated by Kachikwu on the fuel situation in the country, which was roundly condemned by Tinubu.
The National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and the party’s National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni, could be reached for comments on Monday.
Calls to their mobile telephones indicated that they were switched off while responses to text messages sent to them were still being awaited as of the time of filing this report.
However, a source within the party said, “The statement by our revered leader is not ambiguous. I honestly don’t see any ambiguity; he issued the statement and signed it in his personal capacity.
“He, like every Nigerian, has every right to speak out when he sees anything going wrong in the polity; you cannot deny him that right.
“Besides, I understand that the matter is being handled at the highest level; it is an internal party affair.”
Meanwhile, the Senate has directed Kachikwu to appear before it on Tuesday (today) to explain the cause of the embarrassing fuel scarcity across the country.
The Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) issued the summons after carrying out an on-the-spot assessment of the fuel situation at major filling stations within the nation’s capital, Abuja.
Members of the committee were confronted with long queues of vehicles at many filling stations.
The operators did not dispense the product to motorists, alleging lack of supply from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s depot in Suleja, Niger State.
The Acting Chairman of the committee, Senator Jibrin Barau, said the petroleum minister must appear before the panel to explain what led to the scarcity and the way to resolve it.
He said the fuel scarcity had become pathetic, forcing Senate President Bukola Saraki to call on the committee to assess the situation and the way to resolve it.
Barau added, “This situation is very bad and unacceptable, hence, the need for the minister to appear before us tomorrow (today) and unveil his plan of the way out to us.
“Even if he doesn’t have any plan yet out of the lingering problem, the Senate President and the entire members of the committee are more than ready to rub minds with him for that needed purpose.”
The Senate Minority Whip and a member of the committee, Senator Philip Aduda, called on the Federal Government to arrest the situation fast by making fuel available to Nigerians.
Aduda said, “What Nigerians need is fuel and not blame game. The government should look for petrol and ensure that it is given to the people.
“This situation is very and unacceptable. We are Nigerians and it will be bad for us to continue remaining in queues.
“If the APC leaders like, let them blame themselves; that is their problem, but the most important thing is for us to have fuel in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“That is what we are looking for and that is what we want. We want to see all these queues disappear.”
One of our correspondents observed that petrol marketers at various stations visited, lamented lack of supply and inadequate supply of petroleum products by the NNPC in recent times.
Isa Friday, the manager of Oando Filling station, Zone 4, Abuja, said it had been long the station got supply from NNPC depot in Suleja.
In a related development, the official pump price of petrol, otherwise known as Premium Motor Spirit, was largely upheld in just one state in the month of February 2016 out of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, the National Bureau of Statistics has said.
According to the bureau, the average monthly price paid by consumers for petrol in Edo State was N86.5 per litre, while in Ogun, the price was close to the official rate as petrol users paid an average price of N86.53 per litre during the period under review.
The official pump price for petrol as approved by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency is N86 per litre for petrol stations run by the NNPC, and N86.50 per litre for outlets managed by other major and independent oil marketers.
The NBS, in its PMS Price Watch for February 2016, revealed that petrol was sold for as high as N122.88 per litre during the review period.
A study of the bureau’s report showed that the average cost for the product in Abia was N112.5 per litre; Bayelsa, N120.6; Cross River, N116.65; and Yobe, N122.88. The average price of PMS in February was higher in these states.
States that recorded average prices that were close to the official pump price included Lagos, N87.03 per litre; Borno, N87.88; Delta, N87.5; Oyo, N87.21; and Katsina, N87.95.
In its bid to ensure strict adherence to approved prices, the Department of Petroleum Resources recently announced the constitution and deployment of special intelligence monitoring teams nationwide to ensure the prompt delivery of products to designated filling stations.
“The teams would enforce government approved price regime and ensure the right quantity and quality of products are dispensed,” the DPR had said in a statement issued in Abuja.
Also, motorists on Monday pleaded with the Federal Government to step up efforts in ensuring that fuel queues disappear.
Motorists, who spoke with one of our correspondents while waiting to be served petrol in front of some filling stations in Abuja, wondered why it was becoming difficult for Nigeria to complete a full year without experiencing severe fuel crisis.
“This is becoming something that we must experience every year and it’s not good at all for an oil producing country like Nigeria,” said Onyema Christopher, a motorist, who was in queue at one of the NNPC’s mega stations on the Kubwa-Zuba Expressway, Abuja.
“The government should please look for a lasting solution to this problem and let Nigerians, at least, enjoy one whole year without experiencing fuel scarcity and the problems associated with it.”
The Senate has passed the 2016 budget preparatory to the passage of the budget.
The Senate Committee on Appropriation presented a budget of 6.06 trillion Naira budget to the Senate for passage.
In the report, the Committee of Appropriation set recurrent expenditure at 2.6 trillion, capital expenditure at 1.5 trillion and fiscal deficit at 2.2 trillion.
The Committee observed that the executive presented the budget late to the National Assembly and this has subsequently delayed the passage.
The Committee also noted that the budget, as presented by the executive, was fraught with inconsistencies as some Ministers disowned their budgets.
The Committee is recommending that going forward, the Budget Office must work with MDA’s in preparing the budget to avoid the problem of inadequate revenue for MDA’s.
The Senate on Wednesday, passed the 2016 Appropriation Bill sent to joint session of the national assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari, on December 22, 2015. Details later…
The Code of Conduct Bureau has said there is evidence that the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, while governor of Kwara State between 1999 and 2007, obtained huge bank loans and paid back the loans with funds belonging to the state.
Bukola Saraki
The bureau alleged that Saraki used the bank loans running into billions of naira to acquire landed assets in Lagos, Abuja and London.
The Bureau said it gathered the information from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission which conducted investigations into various petitions written against the Senate President between 2010 and 2012.
The CCB’s position is contained in a counter-affidavit deposed to by one of its operatives, Peter Danladi, in opposition to a fresh motion filed by Saraki to challenge the validity of the 13 counts of false assets declaration instituted against him before the tribunal.
Danladi stated, “That I was informed by Mr. Yahaya Bello, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in our office on March 14, 2016 at about 11am and I verily believe him that:
“The EFCC received various petitions against the defendant/applicant between 2010 and 2012 alleging acts of corruption, theft, money laundering etc.
“The EFCC conducted its investigation of the various petitions and made findings which showed that the defendant/applicant abused his office while he was Governor of Kwara State and was involved in various acts of corruption as the governor of the state.
“The defendant/applicant borrowed huge sums of money running into billions from commercial banks, particularly Guarantee Trust Bank and used the proceeds of the loan to acquire several landed properties in Lagos, Abuja and London while he was Governor of Kwara State.
“As against the defendant using his own legitimate income to defray the loan, he took public funds running into billions from Kwara State Government and lodged same in several tranches and in cash into his GTB account in GRA, Ilorin, Kwara State.
“The defendant/applicant’s account officer in GTB confirmed that the defendant/applicant gave him several cash in government house to lodge into the account and in some occasions, the defendant sent his aides from government house to give him the cash for lodgment into his account.
“When EFCC submitted its report to its legal department and the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Federal Ministry of Justice formed the opinion that the offences revealed from the investigation, particularly as they relate to the properties acquired by the defendant/applicant while he was Governor of Kwara State and various monies sent into his various accounts outside Nigeria can be better investigated and prosecuted through the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal.
“The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation then sent the findings and the evidence gathered during investigation by the EFCC as a complaint to the Code of Conduct Bureau for investigation and that the operative of EFCC would collaborate with the officers of the bureau for effective investigations.”
The Deputy President of the Senate, Senetor Ike Ekweremadu, has said that there is no tension within the Peoples Democratic Party.
Ekweremadu
He said there was no secret zoning of national offices of the PDP by some of the party’s leaders as being rumoured.
He described those peddling such rumour as authors of confusion, adding that such people did not wish the party well and that they were scared of PDP’s steady resurgence after the 2015 general elections.
The PDP National Executive Committee early in the week mandated the National Working Committee to set up a team that would determine how to zone its national offices.
Our correspondent gathered that the delay in setting up the team among three other committees as directed by the NEC necessitated the fear in some quarters about alleged secret zoning of offices.
But Ekweremadu debunked the rumour.
He said in a statement in Abuja on Friday that the national leadership of the party did not hold any secret meeting on the issue.
Ekweremadu said, “There is, so far, no meeting, secret or open, where all or a few PDP party leaders met to zone the National Working Committee offices of the party.
“The PDP’s constitution is clear on how the party can arrive at a zoning formula. Besides, it should be clear to all that the days of any form of impunity and underhandedness within Africa’s biggest party are gone.
“We are committed to returning fully to the founding principles and philosophies of the PDP.
“Therefore, there can never be any secret zoning of PDP’s NWC positions or any other office for that matter. Such exists only in propaganda rooms and imaginations of those who are afraid that we are steadily reinforcing, reforming and coming back stronger to give the nation a more purposeful leadership.”
While urging Nigerians to disregard the report, Ekweremadu added, “The PDP will soon convene a meeting of the relevant stakeholders and organs of the party as stipulated by our constitution to come up with a clear zoning of the national offices of the party in a transparent, democratic and fair manner.”
A former member and Minority Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon. Samson Osagie had taken a swipe at Sen. Dino Melaye for attempting to mock Gov ADAMS Oshiomhole’s choice of wife as comparable to patronizing foreign goods.
The Senator had taken a swipe on the state governor while contributing to a debate concerning made in Nigeria goods.
Dino said ” It is a very bad development today that most Nigerian senior citizens detest made-in-nigeria women and opt for women abroad. We should condemn this. Take Oshiomhole for example,he spited Edo beautiful ladies and married a woman from abroad. This is wrong. We must go for our women. It is the height of irresponsibility if we do otherwise.”
Samson Osagie
Hon. Samson OSAGIE who describe Sen. Melaye as a supposed friend of members of the National Assembly from Edo State and the Comrade Governor describe as joke taken too far in his attempt to contribute to a motion that calls for very serious and patriotic attention.
He called on the Senator to publicly apologize to the Comrade Governor and Edo people for such verbal and unnecessary assault on the matrimony of the first family of Edo State.
Hon. OSAGIE regretted that were he in the Senate he would have raised a point of order on SEN. Melaye for making provocative and abusive statements that were irrelevant to the subject matter under debate in defiance of the rules of the Senate.
According to him’ I expect Dino my friend to know that that comparison was totally out of tune with the subject matter of the motion that was before the Senate and offensive to the rules of debate’
The privileges enjoyed by members of the legislature does not enjoin them to make scurrilous remarks about the private life of citizens. I was shocked and embarrassed and am sure Edo people were also embarrassed. Dino should thread cautiously.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole says Senator Dino Melaye only displayed his hollowness by delving into a matter as private as his marriage to his heartthrob.
Oshiomhole
In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Peter Okhiria, the Governor said “Our attention has been drawn to the unprovoked verbal assault launched by one Senator Dino Melaye on the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, while making a contribution on the floor of the Senate on the need to patronize made-in-Nigeria goods.
As a “nephew” of the Governor and members of the same party, we expected Senator Melaye to tender an unreserved public apology to the Comrade Governor, to no avail.
It is an open secret that Senator Melaye cannot maintain a decent matrimonial home hence he could descend to this pedestrian level of using the hallowed chambers to “cargorise” women as if they were pieces of items for purchase. Any responsible individual that is truly worth to be called a Senator, a position that convokes respect, decorum and decent public conduct, should know the limits of his verbal diarrhea. The liberty of free speech guaranteed in the hallowed chambers does not impose lunacy on anyone to disparage other Nigerians, let alone pry into their matrimony in a very derisive manner. We had intended to ignore this uncomplimentary comment as one of the several empty displays of the Senator, but the fact that it tends to reduce women to pieces of tissue calls for this response.
As we probed into Dino Melaye’s humanity, we were reminded that he is a man known for his vainglorious rodomontade and the childish display of his ostentatious lifestyle complements his love for foreign items. Many of such euro-centric mentality he has persistently displayed on social media, to underscore his materialistic eccentricity, hence his dialectical opposition to made-in-Nigeria goods. But an attempt at making women wear the garb of goods to be picked off the shelves was to take the issue to a ridiculous and irresponsible level.
By delving into the private affair and marriage of the Comrade Governor, Senator Melaye has exposed himself as a simpleton and a court jester whose words and tactlessness cannot be taken seriously by matured people.
We advise that Melaye should mend his ways with his ex-wife and concubines before coming to the village square to display his crass ignorance and emptiness to the Nigerian people.
If he has anything to offer, Dino Melaye should concentrate on making good laws for the people of Nigeria rather than descend to a ridiculous level, thus displaying to the whole world his unworthiness to sit in the hallowed chambers of the Nigerian Senate.
The National Assembly yesterday raised concern about the implementation of the N500 billion special intervention fund, a cardinal programme of the Buhari administration.
President Buhari
The lawmakers were categorical that though the plan by the Federal Government to spend N500 billion on vulnerable Nigerians is laudable, its implementation will pose problems.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje, who raised the issue suggested the suspension the plan in this year’s budget.
Goje spoke at a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation meeting with Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun and top officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Goje noted that the meeting became necessary because members of the National Assembly had given March 17th deadline to pass the budget.
He said Udo-Udoma, Adeosun and others were invited to get their final input before the budget is passed.
He also the lawmakers want to pass an implementable budget.
He said the N500 billion special intervention fund’s implementation is not clearly stated in the budget.
Goje, an APC senator from Gombe and a former governor of the state on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform, said how would the beneficiaries of the programme be selected.
He added that there was no doubt that it would turn into a political jamboree for political office holders.
Goje who noted that market women were listed as part of those who would benefit from the fund wondered how market women would be selected.
He said that in his home state of Gombe, there are no market women but market men.
The lawmaker also declared the school feeding initiative planned by the government as un-implementable.
Insisting that school feeding programme is largely unsustainable, he wondered how billions of naira would be spent on feeding pupils when most of them study under trees due to lack of class rooms.
The government, he said, should take a second look at the programmes, fine tune them and leave the implementation for the 2017 fiscal year.
ButUdo- Udoma said the programmes were political promises that should be implemented in the interest of the people.
The minister added that he would take back the concerns raised by the lawmakers to the government.
He said the programmes were commitments that must be done.
On recovered funds, Udoma said only established recovered funds could be put in the budget.
He denied knowledge of a circular directing MDAs to implement only the budget as presented by President Muhammadu Buhari saying “I don’t think that the National Assembly will give us back the budget the way it came.”
Udo-Udoma also insisted that the template of the 2016 budget is zero budgeting.
He added however that “zero budgeting does not mean that we don’t have a limit.”
The minister admitted that the implementation of the budget would be difficult especially with falling oil price in the international market.
He noted that though the price of oil is dwindling, the cost of production remained the same, describing the development as a major challenge.
Udoma told the lawmakers not to increase the size of the budget in order not to make its implementation more difficult.
On the sources of funding the budget, he said the government planned to borrow N1.8 trillion half of which would be foreign loan.
He said the government was now being forced to look inward to raise funds to implement the budget.
The minister said the government is expecting more revenue from non oil sector of the economy including broadening the tax base.
On oil benchmark of $38 pb, he said that benchmark will still be retained despite falling oil price.
The benchmark, he said, was arrived at after wide consultation.
He said that the personnel cost component of the budget is another major challenge for the government.
He noted that though government does not plan to retrench workers, “Government is trying to use technology to ensure that salaries actually go to people who are working.
Mrs Adeosun spoke on how to fund the budget.
The minister told the lawmakers that independently-generated revenue would largely be used to fund the budget.
She noted that cost-saving would be another means to fund the budget.
The lawmakers also drew Udo-Udoma’s attention to the concern of some Civil Society Organisations of about N668 billion frivolous provisions in the budget.
The Senate may issue a warrant for the arrest of a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, this week barring an unexpected reversal, our correspondent has learnt.
EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde
This means the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, may be ordered to arrest Lamorde, who is currently undergoing a course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos.
The upper chamber had on Thursday last week asked its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to begin the process of issuing a warrant for the police officer’s arrest.
The senate is currently investigating Lamorde following a petition against him by one Dr. George Uboh.
In his petition, Uboh accused the former EFCC boss of diverting over N1tn the anti-graft agency recovered from treasury looters.
Uboh, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Panic Alert Security Systems, had petitioned the Senate through the senator representing Delta North Senatorial District, Peter Nwaoboshi, alleging that Lamorde, in connivance with other EFCC officials, short-changed the Federal Government in the remittance of funds and assets recovered from some corrupt public officers.
The petitioner alleged that under Lamorde, the EFCC opened bank accounts for the funds it recovered from corrupt officials, but the funds did not reflect in the agency’s audited accounts.
The whistle-blower also alleged that the EFCC doctored and manipulated bank accounts to conceal the alleged fraud.
Lamorde was also accused of diverting over 90 per cent of the money the EFCC recovered in foreign currencies, including those from multinational companies.
At the consideration of the report at plenary on Thursday, the ethics panel lamented efforts by the House to get a reaction from Lamorde were not successful.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who read the report, noted that Lamorde ignored all invitations extended to him and urged the House to issue a warrant for his arrest.
The committee therefore said it had become necessary to force Lamorde to appear if only to “save the National Assembly as the highest law-making body of the nation, from irreparable damage to its reputation and capacity to summon.”
Our correspondent learnt from the Senate President’s office on Sunday that Arase might get Lamorde’s arrest warrant this week.
The source confirmed that the ethics panel had forwarded its request to the Senate President Bukola Saraki.
The source said, “I am not sure there will be any delay. The arrest warrant will be sent to the appropriate quarters anytime this week.”
Wanted former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, was one of the 68 participants of the Course 38 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, near Jos, who were inaugurated by the institute on Friday.
EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde
The Senate had, on Thursday, given permission to its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, headed by Senator Sam Anyanwu, to issue a warrant of arrest on Lamorde
The committee, which investigated a petition against Lamorde by George Oboh, had asked the Senate for the order to issue the warrant of arrest against Lamorde to enable him to answer for his activities during his tenure.
The petition had accused Lamorde of misappropriating over N1tn funds.
However, while the senators were giving the order, Lamorde was in Jos as a student of NIPSS.
The cat and mouse game between Lamorde and the lawmakers was reminiscent of the ordeal of his former boss, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, who was demoted while he was admitted for the course.
However, a mild drama ensued on Friday, when as Lamorde was leaving the event, a newspaper vendor displayed before the ex-EFCC boss, a newspaper publication ordering his arrest.
Lamorde, who was the focus of attendees at the event, just blushed and disregarded the vendor and the publication.
When one of the reporters approached the vendor and asked if he knew it was Lamorde that he was showing the publication to, the vendor replied, “Na seni ai” (Yes, I know).
Speaking at the event, the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, said the cardinal objectives of the present government was to tackle the scourge of unemployment and foster an inclusive development that would take marginalised and vulnerable segments of Nigeria out of poverty in the shortest time possible.
He said President Mohammadu Buhari chose the theme: “Strengthening Institutional Mechanisms for Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Development in Nigeria,” for Course 38, to enable the government to tackle the prevailing poverty rate in the country which has reached 61 per cent.
He said, “Nigeria ranks 152 out of the 183 countries in the Human Development Index assessment for 2014. This is quite worrisome and requires urgent attention and that is why one of the cardinal objectives of the present administration is to tackle the scourge of poverty.”
Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, urged the participants to carry out extensive and detailed research on the challenges confronting public institutions saddled with the responsibility of implementing poverty reduction and inclusive development programmes in Nigeria.
He said recommendations of participants at the end of the programme should be geared towards accelerating the quest for sustainable national development and improving the living standard of the people.
In his welcome address, the representative of the Director General, National Institute, Prof. Mohammed Tijjani-Bande, described the theme as not only apt but also directly relevant to attempts at finding solutions to many of the social, political and economic problems affecting the nation.
The Senate on Tuesday directed the immediate reversal of the recent hike in electricity tariff announced by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Power electricity
The upper chamber, gave the directive while adopting a two-prayer motion moved by the All Progressives Congress member representing Bauchi North, Senator Suleiman Nazif.
The senate also asked its committee on Labour to carefully review the law establishing NERC with a view to making it a strong regulatory body that will ensure that both the consumer and investor will be treated fairly and equitably.
It also mandated the committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity to organise a public hearing of stakeholders, including the Ministry of Power; the NERC; DISCOS; and GENCOS so that an acceptable way of resolving all issues relating to the sector could be effectively resolved.
Nazif lamented the alleged arbitrary increase of the tariff and insisted that due process was not followed as stipulated in Section 76 of the Power Sector Reform Act 2005.
He also argued that the new tariff would have a multiplier effect on the Nigerian economy with the manufacturing companies being forced to pay more for power consumption.
He added that most consumers were not provided with meter in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding dated November 1, 2013.
According to him, the document stipulated that within 18 months of gestation period, all consumers would have been provided with meter.
He further accused the Discos of continuously exploiting Nigerians and increasing their burdens.
He said, “The distribution companies have continued to exploit Nigerians by estimated billing system for the majority of consumers while deliberately refusing to make ore-paid meters available.
“Privatisation in any part of the world is meant to inject fresh funds into the concerned sector and not to impose ridiculous tariff on helpless masses.
“The increase is only intended to protect the investment of select few and not to serve the interest of Nigerian masses who are already battling with the prevailing economic recession. The increase in tariff will pave way for additional heavy burden on consumers and coupled with challenges in the economy.
“It will adversely affect the purchasing power of Nigerian workers and the entire Nigerian masses and by extension, aggravate restiveness in the country.”
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, described the increase as wicked and unfortunate.
He said the new tariff should be randomly condemned and immediately withdrawn in the interest of hapless citizens of Nigeria.
He added that troubling the citizens who are already wallowing in abject poverty and acute state of insecurity, should not be encumbered with further hike in electricity tariff unless there is a plan to frustrate the the people.
Also speaking on the motion, Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West), said the recent increase was the fourth since the privatisation exercise was concluded.
He added that whereas Discos always hinge such increase on moves to improve power supply, yet there is no stable power supply neither are metres made available.
Members of the Senate met separately at various caucus levels on Monday to discuss the fate of Senate President Bukola Saraki, who is to resume his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal over alleged false declaration of assets.
It was gathered that the lawmakers discussed the issues peculiar to their interest, especially the likely effect of the trial of Saraki at the CCT.
The Supreme Court had on February 5 ruled that Saraki should face his trial over false asset declaration.
There are fears among senators, who resume plenary on Tuesday (today), which they suspended two weeks ago, that there could be another move to challenge Saraki’s leadership at the Senate over his trial.
It is further feared that Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, may be removed if they are found guilty by the CCT.
Investigations by one of our correspondents revealed that the Peoples Democratic Party caucus in the upper chamber met in the house of one of their leaders and resolved to support the Saraki/Ekweremadu joint ticket.
A PDP senator, who craved anonymity, told one of our correspondents on Monday that his colleagues had agreed to maintain decorum in case the All Progressives Congress Senators, who are against Saraki’s leadership, decide to create any scene on the floor today.
The Senator from the South-East geopolitical zone, said, “As members of the opposition, we are ready to pass another vote of confidence in Saraki because he is truly a stabilising factor in the nation’s legislature.
“He commands a lot of respect among majority of members. He is accessible and he carries everyone along, not minding your political party or group affiliation within the Senate.
“So, as PDP senators, we believe that the Senate President should be given the benefit of the doubt as he pleads his case before the tribunal.”
However, one of our correspondents learnt that the Senate Unity Forum, the group that pushed for the emergence of Senator Ahmad Lawan and George Akume as Senate President and deputy respectively, also held another marathon meeting at an undisclosed location on Monday.
None of the members spoke on record but one of them from the South-West said they met to perfect their strategy to produce the next Senate President in case Saraki was indicted at the court.
The lawmaker added, “We have been meeting as members and strategising on an individual basis. I can assure you that we have our game plan, which we will keep to ourselves.”
Asked whether the nation should expect a rowdy or stormy session during plenary today, the Senator said, “We are senior citizens, we can’t fight on the floor. We are already winning the battle; very soon, you will see us in action.”
The leadership of the Senate was also said to have engaged in another round of strategic meetings on Monday, which allegedly led to an emergency meeting between the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, and President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Villa.
But Ndume told journalists in his office that his visit to the Villa on Monday had nothing to do with Saraki’s case as he ruled out a possible rowdy session during plenary on Tuesday (today).
He said, “I have been a friend of President Buhari for a long time and had continued to visit him and will not relent. As the Leader of the Senate, there are lots of consultations that are necessary between the executive and the legislature.
“I am happy to be seen or called a mediator: I am the Senate Leader and we do consultations, I go to do consultation and we should be doing that more often. When the President was in Kaduna on retirement, I was one of the few persons who would go to visit him; so this time round, it will not change.”
Ndume had, last Tuesday, met with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo alongside some of his colleagues while Buhari was on vacation.
SUNDAY PUNCH had reported exclusively that the visit of Ndume and his delegation to Osinbajo was part of the ways the embattled Senate President was seeking the Presidency’s intervention in his case before the Code of Conduct Tribunal over alleged false declaration of assets.
He, however, told State House correspondents at the end of his meeting with Buhari on Monday that he was at the Presidential Villa to consult with the President ahead of Tuesday’s resumption of the Senate.
He said there was nothing unusual about his visit except that he had been embarking on similar visits in the nights.
Ndume said, “I hope you people know that I am the Senate Leader and this is an APC (All Progressives Congress) government. So if the Senate Leader comes to see the Vice President or the President in the Villa, is it supposed to be a surprise?
“I guess it is because most often, I come in the night but this time, I came in the afternoon and it becomes very strange.
“There are issues that are really on the ground. One is the budget. We also have two bills before the Senate that we need to start working on when we resume tomorrow: the Money Laundering Bill and the Criminal Information Sharing Bill.
“There are issues other than those ones that are really on the ground. This is how we are supposed to be doing it earlier. That is, coming to the Villa to consult and guide the proceedings in the Senate appropriately.
“Other than that, I don’t want you to see it as an unusual visit. I will be doing this often because this is how it is supposed to be.
“Again, I was consulting the President on a personal basis long before he became the President, so it is not unusual.”
When he was asked to comment on the report that he was serving as an intermediary between Saraki and the President, Ndume said, “I am not the Senate President. The question should be directed to the Senate President.”
When probed further, the Senate Leader said, “You are asking me what I do not know. I consult and if I have to mediate on anything, there should be a problem. I do not know of any problem.”
The Senate will pass this year’s budget before the end of next month, Ali Ndume said yesterday.
The Senate leader said the 2015 budget would end next month and it was the desire of the Senate to pass the 2016 budget before that time.
Mohammed Ndume
Ndume said contrary to reports in the media, the Senate did not suspend its passage indefinitely, but only said February 25 “may not be feasible”.
The Senate leader noted that it was the wish of the National Assembly to pass the budget five weeks before the expiry of the period set for the implementation of the 2015 budget.
But he explained that it would not be possible due to some errors.
His words: “We have not postponed it indefinitely; we are saying that with the developments we are seeing, the February 25 deadline may not be realistic.
“That is why we now said that going by this, it is not possible to say we will come back on February 25 and say this is the budget; we are not saying that we have suspended it indefinitely.
“The reason we fixed February 25 was because we wanted to have a gap of five weeks,” he said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The Senate leader said the gap would have enabled the Senate fix whatever issues that needed to be handled before the March 31 deadline for the implementation of the 2015 budget.
The leadership of the National Assembly, Ndume said, met with ministers to iron out the grey areas and make corrections to the contentious areas.
He assured Nigerians that the Senate would ensure strict compliance with the implementation of the budget.
Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, yesterday exonerated President Muhammadu Buhari for the inconsistencies in the 2016 budget.
The lawmaker, who made the statement while receiving leaders of the National Association of Nigerians Students in Abuja at the weekend, said the civil servants should be blamed.
He said: “I’m going to absolve the President; but I’m not going to absolve the people that put it in. Why I must absolve the President, I will tell you.
“The job was done by civil servants; it’s always been done by civil servants
The President does not sit in a ministry, he doesn’t know what’s going on in a ministry or what they need or do not need.
“The argument can be that the buck stops at his desk. I agree with that. He must take responsibility. Under the constitution, he has the right to delegate his work to ministers. And he delegated the issue of budget and planning to the minister of Budget and Planning.
“Where I think the ball was dropped, was with the minister of Budget and Planning. Because after the civil servants, whether intentionally or not, did what they did, it was for the minister of Budget and National Planning to vet and scrutinise those things before coming to the House, or the National Assembly. It’s not for the President to do so.”
The lawmaker reminded the students that it was Buhari who first drew the attention of Nigerians to the issues in the budget.
Also, Senator Gbenga Ashafa yesterday assured Nigerians that the 2016 budget would be transparently passed and that there won’t be hidden figures.
Speaking with reporters in Lagos at the weekend, Ashafa promised that the Presidency and the National Assembly would not cover up for any shortcomings in the budget.
He assured the citizens that they would get the best from the budget.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and the authorities of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency on Saturday agreed with the Senate to halt the alleged abduction of the senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, Buruji Kashamu, to the United States.
Buruji Kashamu
Kashamu had alleged penultimate week that the anti drug agency was conniving with the authorities of the US government to abduct him from Nigeria, through unlawful means.
Kashamu’s lawyer, Ajibola Oluyede, had in a petition to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, claimed that NDLEA operatives had perfected strategies to forcefully take him to the US in order to answer drug related charges.
He had urged both the NDLEA and the office of the Attorney-General to drop the alleged plan and follow the rule of law in prosecuting Kashamu.
It specifically directed the two government establishments to stay any further action on Kashamu’s alleged drug charges in America, pending thorough investigation of issues raised in Kashamu’s petition against them.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, the chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, said the parties had resolved to halt further action on the matter pending the determination of the suit on the matter at the court.
Anyanwu said, “The Senate, AGF, NDLEA have unanimously agreed to stop further harassment, intimidation, abduction and extradition of Kashamu until the conclusion of the matter at the law court.
“We had also agreed that the rules of law and due process must be followed in the case.”
As Nigerians await both the resumption of plenary at the senate next week and the full commencement of the trial of Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, any moment from now, SUNDAY ABORISADE reports that uneasy calm pervades the atmosphere at the upper chamber of the nation’s federal parliament.
Bukola Saraki
The Supreme Court verdict of last week Friday which gave a nod to the trial of Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, for allegedly declaring on oath, assets he had yet to acquire as of the time he was sworn-in as the Governor of Kwara State in 2003, has heightened tension and anxiety among members of the red chamber.
The development took everyone by surprise, coming especially at a time when all hands seemed to be on the deck at the upper chamber with all the 65 committees chaired by both loyalists of the senate president and those who are opposed to his leadership, have started carrying on legislative activities in an atmosphere of peace and harmony, putting behind them the leadership crisis that rocked the chamber at inauguration.
Indications that Saraki had fully established himself among his colleagues manifested when no fewer than 83 out of the 109 senators passed a vote of confidence in him in July last year following his prosecution at the CCT.
Some of his loyalists across the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party in the chamber openly mobilised themselves to the court in solidarity and pledged their loyalty.
The Anti-Saraki senators, under the aegis of the Senate Unity Forum, cried foul at the decision of Saraki to continue to preside over the chamber instead of resigning his position on moral grounds having been docked by the tribunal for alleged criminal act.
An attempt by the spokesperson for the SUF, Senator Kabir Marafa, to raise a point of order on the floor on the issue was frustrated by Saraki, who used the gavel to rule him out of order on the grounds that any matter pending before a court of law could not be subjected to a debate on the floor.
Saraki’s Like Minds Senators thereafter appeared to be winning the game of supremacy between them and the SUF, as most of the arrow heads of the “Ahmad Lawan for Senate President” group were appointed as chairmen of “juicy committees”, a development which drastically reduced their attacks and opposition to Saraki’s senate presidency.
The last straw which seemed to have broken the camel’s back, however, was during the screening of the ministerial nominees contained in two separate list forwarded to the Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari. Both the like minds senators and their colleagues in the SUF closed ranks and worked closely to ensure that all the candidates were cleared despite opposition from the PDP senators against some cases.
Saraki consolidated the stability of the chamber which he achieved during the ministerial nominees’ screening exercise when all the SUF members he appointed into key committees as either chairmen or members gladly grabbed the posts with the exception of Marafa who turned down the chairmanship of the committee on National Identity and National Population allocated to him.
Many observers therefore saw the verdict of the Supreme Court as an anticlimax coming at a time when membership of the SUF had suffered a great depletion with only a handful of them appeared to still be showing strong commitment to the struggle as others had started identifying with the Saraki’s leadership.
Investigations by our correspondent revealed that the SUF had stopped holding regular meetings for a very long time before the apex court ruling which gave the members a ray of hope that their ambition might be realised after all if Saraki should lose his case at the court.
Further checks also revealed that the SUF had now regrouped and are perfecting strategies to draw local and international attention to the implication of Saraki still presiding over the affairs of the senate while facing criminal prosecution.
Some members of the group confided in our correspondent that they would not create any scene on the floor because the issue of removing Saraki as the senate president would be an uphill task since majority of the senators were of the view that the man is presumed innocent until otherwise decided by a competent court of law.
However, Marafa, who spoke with our correspondent after the verdict of the apex court last Friday, demanded the immediate resignation of the senate president to enable him to concentrate on his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
He nevertheless explained that Saraki was free to return as a presiding officer after his case at the CCT. Marafa noted that the image of the Senate and the entire senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would continue to be battered in the public view if Saraki continues to preside over the affairs of the red chamber while answering criminal charges at the courts.
Marafa said, “We really pity the Senator Bukola Saraki, but I think this issue has dragged for too long. We have indulged him thus far because we believe that he is presumed innocent until otherwise decided by a competent court of law.
“Now that the Supreme Court has decided that he has a case to answer, I think that the best thing for Senator Saraki is to resign in order to face his trial.
“He could, however, return and contest as a presiding officer in the chamber if he is declared innocent by the court, but at the moment, the leadership of the senate should ask him to step aside.
“At the moment, the image of the senate does not worth anything in the eyes of Nigerians because of the attitude of its president, who ordinarily should have resigned in a sane clime.
“However, if the senate president refuses to resign and neither the leadership nor the entire senate mount any pressure on him to do so, then we will call on Nigerians to recall all their representatives in the senate because we have failed in our responsibilities.
“We have tried for him enough. We can no longer wait and watch someone who is answering criminal cases in court come out of the dock always to preside over the affairs of the senate.”
However, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who moved the motion which led to the vote of confidence passed in Saraki last year, said that calls for Saraki’s resignation at this stage was uncalled for.
Anyanwu, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, told our correspondent that the issue of factions among members of the senate ended when over 80 senators across the two main political parties in the red chamber passed a vote of confidence in the senate president.
Likewise, some senators across the two main political parties in the upper chamber expressed divergent opinions on the calls for the resignation of Saraki.
A good number of the lawmakers believed that Saraki should have resigned while others asked him to stay on until his fate would have been decided by the CCT.
For instance, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Science and Technology, Senator Robert Boroffice, said he would have resigned if he were in Saraki’s shoes in order to save the image and integrity of the senate.
He said, “My position is not personal. I have nothing personal against the senate president but what I am saying is that if the matter had happened in advanced countries and if I was in his shoes at the moment, I would have resigned”
Boroffice, however, urged his colleagues to approach the matter with caution by allowing justice to take its course, adding that the country could not afford any major crisis in the senate.
But the Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, said calls for Saraki’s resignation were unnecessary.
He said, “Let me be quoted unequivocally that the senate president enjoys a stronger support in the National Assembly. Whoever, in his or her dream, thinks there is a way to call for his resignation should understand that such dream can never come true by blackmail but the channel of the Senate Chamber.
“We shall continue to respect the rule of law and the constitution of our country. On the heels of these, we are very hopeful that the senate president would come out of these politically-motivated controversies innocent and victorious.”
Ibrahim said his interaction with senators indicated that their solidarity with Saraki remains stronger than ever.
He said, “We cannot deny to have heard of some renewed hallucinations in the media trailing the ruling by the Supreme Court. Let me state in clearer terms, immediately, that our colleagues remain firm in their support for the Senate President.
“From what we have experienced in the 8th Senate particularly the leadership and the concord pattern it has drawn among its members, it is not hidden from Nigerians that Saraki is loved beyond imaginations.
“Not just that, his leadership remains the centre of unity in the senate. It must be noted that the rapid feats of the present legislature is not disconnected from the innovative ideas introduced by Saraki which has always received a warm welcome and support from the well-meaning members of the eight Senate.
“As a member of the Senate and a true Nigerian, I’m no way surprised to see comments accredited to Senator Kabir Marafa of the ‘defunct’ Unity Forum. To me, those agitations reflect nothing but the mirage on the path of a man who is been taken for a jester on the floor of the eighth Senate.”
Other senators who spoke with our correspondent on the issue though on the condition of anonymity, expressed different opinions on the calls for his resignation.
For instance, a senator from the South-East said Saraki should be allowed to continue with his work since the case against him was a mere allegation while another from the North-East said he should step aside for now.
The incident, however, generated increased public discourse early in the week as both the SUF members and their colleagues in Saraki’s camp held separate meetings to strategise over the new development.
The senators rose from their meetings and threatened a showdown at the resumption of plenary next Tuesday if the issue of resignation was raised by any senator or group of senators.
Investigations by our correspondent revealed that the trouble started when some pro-Saraki senators held a meeting on Sunday evening and decided to issue a statement declaring the full support of the upper chamber for the embattled senate president.
The pro-Saraki senators incurred the wrath of their colleagues in the SUF, when the statement, signed by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, indicated that it was the position of the entire members of the red chamber.
But a ranking senator from the South-West, who is also a strong member of the SUF, told our correspondent on the condition of anonymity that the press release did not represent the opinion of the senate.
The senator, who said the South West caucus would react officially at the appropriate time on the issue, accused the senate spokesperson of abuse of office as he was only expected to make public, the resolution of the senate taken at plenary by either simple majority or two-third majority.
The spokesperson for the SUF, Senator Kabir Marafa, expressed shock at the contents of the press statement.
He said, “In as much as I want the whole world to know that members of the SUF do not have any personal problem with the senate president, we believe that as lawmakers, we should respect the law. I am not aware of any meeting of senators where that decision was taken and we are not part of it.”
Another member of the SUF from the North-Central said the group would make its position known at the appropriate time.
He said, “We will definitely pass our message across to the senate using the normal channels. We will not join issues with anyone on the pages of newspapers.”
