TheNewsGuru

Tag: Agencies

  • Creation of more agencies not solution to maritime security challenges – Peterside

    …Charges Stakeholders to Support Regulatory Agencies for Industry Growth

    The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Dakuku Peterside has stated that creating additional agencies in the maritime sector would only overburden the sector; adding that what needed to be done was to strengthen the existing ones for optimum service delivery.

    Peterside who stated this during the 2018 Half Year Maritime Forecast Review which held at the Eko Hotels and Suites said that there are already complaints by ship owners that it is only in Nigeria that you have too many Agencies interfacing directly with vessels calling at the Nation’s ports.

    “I have been receiving a lot of complains by ship owners that different Government agencies board their vessels to request for documents which many a times result in duplication of duties and increase the delay in turnaround time of vessels. So it means if we create new agencies we are simply going to overburden the sector which is enjoying a new level of progression under President Muhammadu Buhari”, he said.

    The NIMASA DG pointed out that in order to avoid duplication of duties and support the Ease of Doing Business Agenda of the Federal Government, the Agency has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Armed forces as well as collaborations with the Nigerian Customs Service, Nigerian immigration service, the Nigerian Police and even the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    He further said that the current maritime regulatory agencies under the Ministry of Transportation have enough mandates to ensure safety and security in the sector adding that the Nigerian Navy could not be allowed to board merchant vessels for regulatory activities according to International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regulations, Merchant Shipping Act and other regulatory instruments that are in line with global best practices.

    “There is no way the Nigerian Navy can act as a regulator in the sector and we have been working together especially in line with the MoU that exists between us to ensure security in the sector which is in line with what the IMO stipulates and so we should not be thinking about creating more regulatory agencies or the Navy taking the job of other regulatory agencies. The best thing to do is to strengthen these agencies to be able to perform optimally” he said.

    He charged stakeholders to support the Industry’s growth stating that things are changing at an incredible pace and that there is the need to support the current maritime agencies to dynamically position the sector for optimal benefits.

    It should be noted that the Director General Dr. Dakuku Peterside has continuously advocated the growth of the sector for regular engagement of stakeholders to chart a way that is best beneficial to the industry and indeed the Nigerian economy.

  • Buhari approves new appointments for three federal agencies

    President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of three directors-general/chief executive officers of three Agencies under the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.

    The Permanent Secretary (General Services Office), in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olusegun Adekunle, announced the appointment Thursday in a statement issued to newsmen.

    “Mr. President enjoined the new appointees to use their expertise and varied experiences to reposition and reinvigorate the agencies,” Mr. Adekunle said in the statement. “He charged them to discharge their duties with utmost rectitude and sensitivity to Government’s commitment to enhancing mining and steel sector as a major driver of the Administration’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.”

    The appointments are:

    S/N ORGANIZATION APPOINTEE DESIGNATION EFFECTIVE DATE
    1 National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency (NSRMEA), Kaduna Engr. Umar Albarka Hassan Director-General/ CEO Initial Period of Four (4) years, with effect from 12th July, 2018
    2 National Metallurgical Development Centre, Jos Prof. (Engr.) Linus Okon Asuquo Director-General/ CEO Initial Period of Four (4) years, with effect from 12th July, 2018
    3 Nigeria Institute of Mining and Geosciences, Jos Prof. (Engr.) Suleiman Bolaji Hassan Director-General/ CEO Initial Period of Four (4) years, with effect from 12th July, 2018

     

  • 15 revenue generating agencies underpaid N8.1trn under Jonathan — Lai Mohammed

    15 revenue generating agencies underpaid N8.1trn under Jonathan — Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Monday said N8.1 trillion that 15 revenue generating agencies of the federal government failed to remit to the Federation Account between 2010 and 2015 is equal to Nigeria’s yearly national budget.

    According to a statement by his spokesperson, Segun Adeyemi, the minister stated this in Osogbo, Osun State, while commissioning phases one and two of the channelization, de-silting, flood control and development of Okoko and Ogbagba rivers, on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Recall that the Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo, had first made the disclosure Thursday last week while addressing State House correspondents at the end of the National Economic Council in Abuja. He said the discovery was made by the auditing firm, KPMG.

    According to the minister in Osogbo, the discovery is many times worse than the N1.34 trillion allegedly stolen by 55 public officials between 2006 and 2013.

    “Recently, the Federal Government ordered an audit (between 2010 and 2015) of 15 government revenue generating agencies. The result was the discovery that the agencies had not remitted over 8.1 trillion Naira to the Federation Account. This amount is about six times the N1.34 trillion stolen between 2006 and 2015.

    ”It is also the equivalent, on the average, of the country’s yearly national budget! Imagine, for a moment, how many kilometres of roads could have been constructed, how many kilometres of rail tracks that could have been laid, and how many modern hospitals and schools that could have been built if that money had been properly accounted for,” Mohammed was quoted as saying.

    The minister who was speaking before a crowd at the event, said the Buhari administration’s fight against corruption remained very critical because it will free much-needed resources for national development.

    Mohammed said the projects being executed by the present administration, including the one that was commissioned in Osogbo, one of 53 being commissioned across the country, could have long been completed but for the mind-boggling looting of the treasury by previous administrations, which deprived the nation of infrastructural growth.

    He said every kobo that is not looted is a plus for development, adding: ”This is why we will not stop talking about those who have looted the public treasury, despite the pushback from their apologists. If we do not stop the looting of the treasury, there will be no money for the kind of projects we are commissioning here in
    Osogbo today.”

    Corroborating the minister’s statement on the unremitted funds, Governor Rauf Aregbesola said the share of Osun State from the said amount is N75 billion, which, he said, would have been more than enough to pay all civil servants their salaries and complete all infrastructural projects of his government.

    Speaking on the commissioned project, the minister said it was the first time the Ecological Fund Office was commissioning any project and handing it over to the host community.

    He said the triple project, which was one of the 12 4th Quarter, 2016 ecological intervention projects across the six geo-political zones approved by the President in October 2016, was due to the perennial flooding which had claimed lives and destroyed property in Osogbo Township.

    ”I have no doubt in my mind that the successful completion of these projects would enhance the holistic solutions to soil erosion and flood menace in Osogbo town. This would at the same time reduce the danger to lives and property associated with erosion and persistent flooding that has been experienced here in the recent time,” Mohammed said.

     

  • Buhari threatens to sack heads of 50 govt agencies, others, over failure to defend budget before NASS

    Indications emerge on Saturday that President Muhammadu Buhari may sack chief executives of federal parastatals and agencies that fail to appear before the National Assembly to defend their budgets.

    The president reportedly made his position known during a meeting he had with the leadership of the National Assembly at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday evening.

    A source who was at the meeting confided in newsmen that Buhari took the decision after the federal lawmakers succeeded in convincing him that they should not be blamed for the delay in passing the appropriation bill so far.

    The source said the lawmakers told the President that out of about 60 government parastatals and agencies, only about 10 chief executives had appeared before them to defend their budgets.

    The federal lawmakers were also said to have reported some ministers who they claimed had not been cooperating with them to the President.

    The source mentioned the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; and the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, as some of the ministers whose cases came up at the meeting.

    The source, however, did not disclose the response of the President on the ministers’ cases.

    The source said, “You know that the budget delay, by popular sentiment, is being blamed on the National Assembly. They defended themselves very well before the President that ministers and chief executive officers have not been coming to the National Assembly to defend their budgets.

    “They cited some ministers like the Minister of Power, Works and Housing that he has not gone to defend his budget up until now. I am sure you have also been following the exchanges between them and the Minister of Solid Minerals.

    “The President was extremely unhappy with what he heard. His directive to the SGF was that they should start fishing out chief executives who fail to defend their budget, because he was told that out of about 60 of them, only about 10 have appeared. He has asked that ministers should supervise them. It is a serious issue.

    “He made it clear that by the time people are being sacked, there will be sanity.”

    When asked if a new deadline was set at the meeting for the passage of the appropriation bill, the source said the National Assembly would wait for the MDAs to comply with the President’s directive, after which the bill would enjoy speedy processing.

    At the end of the meeting on Thursday night, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, had told State House correspondents that Buhari had directed all ministers and parastatals to appear before the National Assembly to defend their budgets.

    Mustapha said, “The President gave them (the lawmakers) update on security, economy, job creation, processes in the National Assembly especially with regards to the budget and the need to conclude on it.

    “Mr. President has given an instruction that all ministers and parastatals should ensure that they appear before the National Assembly to defend their submissions so that we can get this out of the way.

    “You know this is a very dynamic year and there are preparations for elections and we are having quite a lot of security challenges and so if we don’t appropriate, where will the money come from?”

    Meanwhile, another source in the Senate who had details of the meeting also told one of our correspondents that Buhari invited the NASS leadership to know what had been responsible for the delayed passage of the appropriation bill.

    Buhari was said to have been shocked when he was presented with facts on the low turnout of heads of the MDAs at the budget defence sessions held by Senate and House of Representatives’ Committees.

    The source said, “Leaders of the National Assembly discussed the budget with the President. The President did not have full information that officials in the executive have been responsible for the delay. He thought the National Assembly was frustrating the passage but they told him they were not.

    “The National Assembly leadership showed him the list of MDAs that have yet to come forward for budget defence or provide details of their budgets to the relevant committees. He was informed that about 70 per cent of the MDAs had not been cooperating with the legislature. The President was surprised.

    “This is why the President ordered the SGF to issue a memo to all the MDAs, asking them to comply with National Assembly’s demands within one week. He wants everything to be sorted out within the time frame.”

    The legislature and the executive have been passing the buck on which arm of government is responsible for the delayed passage of the budget, which President Muhammadu Buhari laid before a joint session of the Assembly on November 7, 2017.

    On Monday, the Senate had said it was still uncertain when the 2018 Appropriation Bill would be passed by the National Assembly.

    The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi, had said, “The budget process is on and I cannot tell you this is the specific day it is going to end. All I can tell you specifically is that we are working very hard on it and we want to assure Nigerians that at the end of the day we will have a budget that will serve the purpose of Nigerians.”

    Recall that the Senate had on February 14, 2018, asked 63 agencies and parastatals under the Federal Government to submit details of their proposed 2018 budgets within one week or risk sanctions.

    The upper chamber of the National Assembly had said that while Buhari had complied with the law by laying the 2018 Appropriation Bill along with details of estimates before the lawmakers, agencies of the government had disregarded the law.

    On February 28, the Senate had told Nigerians to blame members of Buhari’s cabinet and the ministries, departments and agencies for the delay in the passage of the appropriation bill.

    The lawmakers alleged that ministers and heads of Federal Government departments and agencies were allegedly frustrating legislative work on the budget proposal with their foreign trips and non-cooperation with the lawmakers.

    But the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Ben Akabueze, had denied the allegation, saying the National Assembly already had enough details to work with and pass the appropriation bill.

    Speaking with State House correspondents after the meeting, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, also disclosed that the meeting was on the budget, security and other national issues.

    He said the National Assembly leadership also gave the President their opinions during the interaction.

    Saraki said the legislature was working on the budget, noting that some agencies had yet to defend their budget. “We are hoping that with this, they will come and defend their budget,” he said.

  • Amaechi inaugurates new governing boards of five agencies

    The Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, has inaugurated the governing board of five agencies under the ministry, charging them to work in line with the policy direction of the Federal Government.

    The minister performed the inauguration of the five agencies at the Office of the Secretary of the Federation (OSGF) on Friday in Abuja.

    The boards of the agencies inaugurated included those of Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN).

    Others were: Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders in Nigeria (CRFFN) and Nigeria Institute of Transport Technology (NITT).

    Amaechi reminded the boards of their roles of setting operational and administrative policies for their respective agencies, in line with government policy direction.

    “We expect them to perform their responsibilities; the ministry will not oversee them unnecessarily.

    “We will play a supervisory role, but we will want to make sure that there is peace.

    “Nigerians don’t want to hear stories; they want us to deliver, so we expect the boards to deliver in that line

    “We know that there are challenges but they have to deliver on their mandate,“ he said.

    Vice Admiral Ishaya Ibrahim, Chairman Governing Board of NIWA, in his remark, appreciated the Federal Government for giving them the opportunity to serve.

    He stated that the boards would deliver on their mandate.

    “We want the president to know that we accept to key into his struggle to take this nation to greater heights.”

    Mr Ademola Seriki, Chairman Governing Board of MAN, said that the board would understudy the situation on ground at the agency, through the Interim Management Committee (IMC).

    He expressed his readiness to work with the members and staff of MAN to develop the academy and to meet international standard.

  • Minister inaugurates agencies’ boards, charges on synergy to facilitate ICT development

    The Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, on Tuesday urged agencies under the ministry to collaborate toward repositioning the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector for better service delivery.

    The minister made the call during the inauguration of the boards of agencies under the ministry of communications in Abuja.

    The agencies are the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) and the Nigerian Communication Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT).

    Shittu attributed the major problem besetting the ICT sector as inadequate synergy of government institutions.

    He therefore urged the members of the boards of the agencies to work together toward repositioning the sector for better service delivery.

    ‘’I urge you to make this synergy a core principle in your various spheres of authority to facilitate seamless development in the sector.

    ‘’I have no doubt that you are experienced and eminently qualified for the task ahead.

    ‘’I must remind you however that your new role confers on you both privileges and great responsibilities requiring high level of commitment and urgency,” he said.

    He briefed them on the ongoing reforms in the agencies and advised them to prepare their minds and work productively toward realising the set goals.

    The minister, who congratulated the boards’ members, charged them to immediately hit the ground running.

    Mr Abdulaziz Abdullahi, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, said the inauguration would provide accelerated development in the ICT sector.

    He noted that access to ICT had become critical for participation in the economic, political and social life both at the national and global levels.

    ‘’New technologies such as internet of things, cloud computing, mobile money, etc, are also introducing new possibilities and therefore it is crucial that Nigeria harnesses the potential of these technologies to promote social and economic development in the country.

    ‘’While the ministry is leading in the overall coordination and oversight of the ICT sector, the agencies under it, which boards are being inaugurated today are established to provide special services to the populace.”

    Abdullahi, therefore, wished all members of the boards a very rewarding tenure.

    Responding on behalf of other boards’ members, the Chairman of NIGCOMSAT Board, Chief George Moghalu, said members were fully conscious of the enormity of the responsibility before them.

    Moghalu, who assured the minister of their unflinching support toward realising the ministry’s goal, thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for finding them worthy for the appointment.

    Prof. Adeolu Akande is the Chairman of NITDA and Mr Maimuna Yahaya Abubakar, the Chairman of NIPOST.

     

  • Senate orders 63 FG agencies to submit 2018 budget details in 7 days

    As part of moves to fast-track the final passage of the 2018 budget, the Senate on Wednesday asked 63 agencies and parastatals under the Federal Government to submit details of their proposed 2018 budgets within one week or risk sanctions.

    The Senate at the plenary on Wednesday said while President Muhammadu Buhari had complied with the law by laying the 2018 Appropriation Bill along with details of estimates before the lawmakers, agencies of the government had disregarded the law.

    Raising a point of order, the Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, said only one out of 64 agencies had submitted its budget details.

    Lawan said, “I came on this particular order because of the budgets of agencies of the Federal Government.

    “Mr. President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria submitted the national budget as well as the summary of the budgets of the agencies. By so doing, he has completed his work.

    “What is required of the agencies is for them to present the details of their agencies.

    “My office has been working closely with the Office of (Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters — Senate) Senator Ita Enang.

    “We have insisted that the details of the budgets of the agencies must be presented to the Senate so that we can consider them together with the main budget.

    “We believe that the 2018 budgets, either for the ministries or the agencies, should be passed as quickly as we can, and together.”

    The Majority Leader made reference to a newspaper advertisement sponsored by Enang on February 7, 2018, in which the presidential aide called the attention of all the 64 agencies that they must submit the details of their budgets to him (Enang) for onward transmission to this Senate.

    Lawan said, “So far, only one (of them) has submitted. I want this Senate to recognise that the Nigerian Communications Commission presented and submitted what was required. It is a very good example of what we are asking for.

    “I want this Senate to give an ultimatum of one week to all the remaining agencies within which to submit the details of their budgets for our committees to consider the appropriations for 2018. I believe that it is possible and it not supposed to be difficult.”

    In his ruling, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, condemned the agencies for their non-cooperation with the lawmakers.

    He said the parliament would be forced to move against the bodies if they failed to meet up with the deadline.

    Saraki said, “This has been a matter that we’ve been talking about for a very long time and these agencies continue to have total disregard for due process.

    “I really find it difficult to understand where the head of the Executive arm, Mr. President, is doing things properly, and agencies underneath just do things in the wrong way.

    “The SA to the President has even gone far to put an advert in the paper. So, I think it is very clear that we give them the mandate; we give to them one week.

    “It is not that we don’t know what to do. Some of our cooperation should not be misread as weakness or not knowing what to do, because definitely we can mandate the Ministry of Finance to ensure that they do not make further releases because they (the agencies) are breaking the law.

    “We will give them one week and after that one week, if they don’t comply, then we will take the necessary actions to show that they need to comply with the law that guides them.”

  • Patience Jonathan’s $15.5m stolen from govt, agencies – EFCC

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has told the Federal High Court in Lagos that former First Lady, Patience Jonathan could not have genuinely earned the $15.5million which she claims ownership of.

    In its defence to her suit challenging the freezing of her accounts, the commission argued that Mrs Jonathan does not run any business from which she could have earned such huge sums.

    EFCC said its investigations showed that the money was allegedly stolen from the Federal Government and its agencies, and that it does not belong to the former First Lady.

    “There is no way the plaintiff (Mrs Jonathan) could have genuinely earned the monies. She is the wife of the former president, a civil servant and a retired permanent secretary in Bayelsa State.

    “She does not run any profit and interest yielding business venture to generate such money.

    “Investigation conducted by the first defendant (EFCC) revealed that the plaintiff is not the owner of the funds in the accounts of the third to fifth defendants (companies), which funds were discovered to be proceeds of fraudulent activities of Waripamo-Owei Emmanuel Dudafa,” EFCC said.

    Mrs Jonathan sued the EFCC, Skye Bank Plc and three companies – Pluto Property and Investment Company Ltd, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Ltd and Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Ltd.

    She is praying for an order restraining the defendants from tampering with her funds in the companies’ accounts domiciled in Skye Bank.

    She asked for an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the EFCC from transferring the funds to the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA).

    Mrs Jonanthan said the funds in the companies’ accounts belonged to her, but she had been unable to operate the account after EFCC placed a “no debit order” on the accounts.

    The former first lady said representatives of the companies, who pleaded guilty to laundering the money, were unknown to her; nor were they authorised to represent them.

    “The plaintiff/applicant is the lawful owner of her hard earned funds,” she said, adding that her ownership of the money has not been controverted by a third party.

    Mrs Jonathan said she sought the assistance of Dudafa, former Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Jonathan, to open some accounts in her name.

    She said she was issued with four ATM cards after the accounts were opened.

    According to her, she protested the fact that three of the four accounts bore the names of companies she had no connection with.

    The bank, she said, promised to rectify the issue. She continued to operate the accounts pending when changes would be effected, according to the former First Lady.

    Mrs Jonathan said she went abroad in July 2016 for a medical check-up and discovered that she could not make payments from the accounts due to the “no debit order”.

    The former First Lady, in her written address, accused EFCC making moves to take her money from her through an order of forfeiture.

    She said the moves included the “procurement of some unknown persons who pleaded guilty to a charge and were convicted on November 2, 2016.”

    In urging the court to lift the “no-debit order” and grant her access to her accounts, Mrs Jonathan said she “needs her money to able to cater to her health.”

    But, EFCC, in its statement of defence, said its investigations revealed that between 2013 and 2015, “huge sums of money were stolen from the Federal Government of Nigeria and its agencies.”

    The agencies, it said, were the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), “etc”.

    EFCC said some of the funds “were converted to dollars and converted to the use of Dudafa”.

    The commission said between February 21, 2014 and April 19, 2016, Pluto Property “fraudulently received and retained” $3,096,377.38.

    The sum, EFCC said, was deposited by State House domestic stewards, Festus Iyoha and Peter Arivin, “using fictitious names on the instruction of Dudafa.”

    The commission said between November 14, 2013 and June 27, 2016, Seagate Properties received $3,624,998.78; while Trans Ocean received $3,765,711.87, “which are suspected to be proceeds of crime.”

    Another company, Globus Integrated Services Limited, was said to have received “a whopping sum of $5,119,021.45” in its account.

    EFCC said after it charged the companies, their representatives pleaded guilty to retaining $15,591,700.

    It insisted that after analysing the companies’ accounts, “it is crystal clear that the plaintiff was neither a director nor a shareholder”.

    The commission said it was Dudafa who allegedly procured the domestic stewards in the State House Abuja to deposit the monies “in an attempt to disguise the proceeds of crime using fictitious names”.

    EFCC said it obtained a valid court order to freeze the accounts, and that it did not need to inform Mrs Jonathan before doing so “as the funds in the said accounts do not belong to her”.

    It added that the firmer First Lady was not entitled to any reliefs, and that her case “is frivolous, spurious, speculative, vexatious and an abuse of court process and should be dismissed with substantial cost.”

    Justice Mohammed Idris had ordered parties to file pleadings in the case, indicating that witnesses, including Mrs Jonathan, may testify to justify the money’s ownership.

    The case will be heard on January 19.

  • Building collapse: NSE blames agencies, contractors

    Building collapse: NSE blames agencies, contractors

    The Imo chapter of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has blamed regulatory agencies and Owerri Capital Development Agency (OCDA) for incessant building collapse in the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that two three storey buildings under construction collapsed at Obinze and Umuguma, both in Owerri West Local Government Area, on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

    The Chairman of NSE in the state, Mr Emeka Ugoanyawu, said shortly after visiting the scenes, blamed contractors for not engaging professional engineers in most building constructions.

    Ugoanyawu said that people in the state were known for engaging non-professionals for building projects.

    He said NSE would probe incessant building collapse in the state and urged security agencies to ensure the immediate clearing of the rubble at the sites to either recover corpses or save lives.

    The chairman said that NSE would sanction any engineer directly involved in any of the two buildings.

    Also, the NSE Secretary, Mr Ebere Ononiwu, blamed OCDA for not supervising buildings in the state.

    He said “OCDA is a government organisation vested with the powers to approve and regulate building but they have fallen short of the standard.

    “How can OCDA approve a building for construction but will never supervise the building until it is completed?”

    Ononiwu also accused the agency of not having qualified engineers to conduct building inspections and that the gap had given rise to quackery in the industry.

    “This is the major reason why quacks have taken over the job of professional engineers and if the situation is not urgently addressed, everybody will be exposed to serious danger,” he said.

    A member of the International Federation of Consultant Engineers, Mr Emmanuel Obiakor, said there was no guarantee for any building handled by a quack.

    “I can tell you that no professional engineer has a stake in these two collapsed buildings,” Obiakor said.

    He said that the popular practice in Imo was engaging quacks and non-professionals for building projects, which was counterproductive.

    “It is cheaper for clients to consult professionals to handle their job than using quacks,” Obiakor said.

     

     

    NAN

  • Senate frowns at non-submission of budgets by govt agencies

    The Senate has expressed concern over the failure of Government agencies to submit their 2017 budget proposal to the National Assembly in line with extant law.

    Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah who drew the attention of his colleagues to the abnormality during plenary on Tuesday, said it is wrong for agencies to spend money that has not been appropriated by the legislature.

    Na’Allah told the Senate that he intends to bring the issue to the floor as a motion so that Senators will understand the implications and the need to assist the government to fight corruption.

    “I deliberately decided that I will bring it on the floor, so that Senators will understand the implications,” Na’Allah said. “In our commitment to assist this government to fight corruption, we must stand on our feet that every spirit of our law must be obeyed by those holding public offices. I think that if you permit me I will like to come tomorrow by way of motion, so it can be debated on the Floor of the Senate.”

    Na’Allah added that “The only approach this Senate can take to assist this government in fighting corruption, is to insist that gross abuse of power and misuse of power must be stopped by every government agency. The only way we can build our institutions is to radically address the issue of abuse of power and misuse of power. I think that if you give me permission, I will like to bring it tomorrow as a motion.”

    Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, while ruling on the point of order, expressed displeasure over the failure by most government agencies to submit their 2017 budget proposals to the National Assembly for consideration and approval.

    The Senate President condemned the practice where agencies of government spend money without statutory approval by the National Assembly and ruled that the issue be debated and resolution taken by the Senate on Wednesday.

    Saraki said: “We are already in May. How can Parastatals be operating without any budget, especially in this time of the fight against corruption and ensuring that there is transparency in governance? We need to take this matter seriously because clearly these agencies are just flouting the guidelines and breaking the law.

    “This is a very serious issue because as we all know, in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, these budgets are meant to have been submitted to the National Assembly since August 2016.

    “They are supposed to have come with the Appropriation document. We have now passed the 2017 budget without the budgets of the parastatals. I think this matter really needs to come up as a motion because this is a very serious matter. We need to debate it,” he said.

    Saraki added: “Leader, this is a very important issue and we must debate it tomorrow and if there is any Committee in exception or that have received from agencies they oversight, then they will have the opportunity to at least clear the Parastatals and Agencies, that have sent their budgets.

    “But if as at middle of May, we are saying we have not received any budget from them, then which money are they spending and with what authority? We need to look into that and take a decision that may be they can only pay salaries until they bring their budgets here and approvals given.

    “I think once and for all, we need to address this issue and put an end to this disregard for laws and areas of corrupt practices,” the Senate President said