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Tag: Ahmad Lawan

  • BREAKING: Lawan, Gbajabiamila beg Nigerian youths to end protest [VIDEO]

    BREAKING: Lawan, Gbajabiamila beg Nigerian youths to end protest [VIDEO]

    After meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila have appealed to Nigerian youths to end the #EndPoliceBrutality protests across the country.

    According to them, the government has heard and accepted their genuine demands and working to address all of them.

    “Since the issues [raised by the protesters] have been accepted [by the government] the time has come for the protests to stop, government needs to have time to implement the demands of the protesters,” Lawan said after the meeting.

    Watch video below:

  • Senate sets deadline for 2021 budget defence

    Senate sets deadline for 2021 budget defence

    The Senate’s deadline for the 2021 budget defence would not exceed the first week of November, President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan has said.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the Senate President made this known in a statement on Friday, revealing the Senate would be suspending plenary for two weeks.

    Lawan also said before the suspension of plenary, however, the Senate will consider the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to enable it pass second reading and be referred to the relevant committees for legislative work.

    “The Senate will from Tuesday next week commence defence of the 2021 budget estimates by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government and therefore will be suspending plenary for two weeks.

    “Before the suspension of plenary however, we’ll give consideration to the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to enable it pass second reading and be referred to the relevant committees for legislative work, just the way we have done to the budget today.

    “The Senate’s deadline for budget Defence would not exceed the first week of November. Therefore, all Ministers and Heads of Government Agencies should avail themselves of the window provided for defence of their respective budgets, particularly in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive.

    “Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari, gave specific orders that no Minister or Chief Executive should travel out of the country or anywhere else, without defending the budget of his or her Ministry or Agency.

    “I’m sure that directive has remained in the clouds, in fact, the President even repeated a more serious one in his address to us at the retreat; that all Ministers and Heads of Agencies of government must come to defend the budget in person.

    “So, we are waiting for them from next week. Unlike last year, we would have a Programme which will take the remaining part of October and the first week of November.

    “This will be the only window, and nobody should assume that after this period, a Minister or any Head of Agency will come to the National Assembly to defend any budget.

    “If any Ministry is not able to defend its budget by the first week of November, then that Ministry should forget about coming to the National Assembly for budget defense.

    “The National Assembly will perform its constitutional function of working on the budget proposal in the best interest of our people,” the statement read.

  • #EndSARS: No need to continue with protests – Senate President

    #EndSARS: No need to continue with protests – Senate President

    Senate President Ahmad Lawan has said the #EndSARS protests have yielded the desired result so far and that there was no need for Nigerian youths to continue with the protests.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the Senate President stated this on Tuesday during plenary session as the Senate observed a minute silence in honour of Jimoh Isiaka and other Nigerians who lost their lives to police brutality.

    “The conduct of SARS was not acceptable and will remain in that part of our history. The entire essence of the Nigerian Police Force is to ensure there is law and other and when SARS turned against the people, it was right for the people to protest.

    “The protest has yielded the desired result so far and there won’t be need to continue the protest again when SARS has been disbanded and those culprits who are involved in the killings should be brought to book,” Senator Lawan said.

    TNG reports Lawan’s comments followed a motion moved by Senator Buhari Abdulfatai on the death of Isiaka, a member of his constituent, and the attack on the Palace of Soun of Ogbomoso.

  • JUST IN: Senate fixes date to debate Petroleum Industry Bill

    JUST IN: Senate fixes date to debate Petroleum Industry Bill

    The Nigerian Senate has fixed Tuesday, October 20, 2020, as the date for the commencement of debate on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan on Twitter made this known in a series of tweets on Thursday.

    The Senate President revealed that the National Assembly (NASS) is going to suspend plenary for one month to enable Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government defend their respective budgets for the year 2021.

    He stated that he had informed his colleagues to prepare for the task so as to avert any delay in consideration of the bill, resulting from its decision to suspend plenary for one month.

    “In line with our resolve to break the jinx on the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), forwarded by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly last week, we have fixed Tuesday, October 20, 2020, as the date for the commencement of debate on the Bill.

    “Accordingly, I informed my colleagues to prepare for this task so as to avert any delay in consideration, resulting from our decision to suspend plenary for one month to enable Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government defend their respective budgets for the year 2021.

    “The critical piece of legislation, after the debate on the floor by lawmakers, would then pass for second reading and be referred to the Joint Committees on Petroleum; and Gas for further legislative work.

    “We want to get the document to our Joint Committee before we suspend plenary, otherwise, the document will remain unattended to throughout the time that we would be handling the budget; and that means we can only come back to it around November or December, and that would be late.

    “It is obvious that everybody is waiting for the PIB to be attended to, but while we are going to do our best to deliver on this expectation, we will take sufficient time to work on it because it is a very sensitive document.

    “If we are able to take the debate, pass the PIB for second reading and refer the document to our Joint Committees on Petroleum (Upstream and Downstream); and Gas, the committee can keep work on the PIB warm, while we are working on the budget.

    “Our Joint Committee must do everything possible for us to have a document or report that we would work with in the Senate and something that Nigerians and investors will be happy with,” Lawan tweeted.

  • 2021 Budget: 200 revenue generating govt bodies are inefficient – Lawan

    2021 Budget: 200 revenue generating govt bodies are inefficient – Lawan

    President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan on Thursday said that 200 revenue generating government owned bodies are grossly inefficient.

    The Senate president made this revelation at the ongoing 2021 budget presentation by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Lawan also vowed that the National Assembly will be very thorough in “our jobs as we ensure that the January to December budget cycle is achieved.

     

    More details soon…

  • BREAKING: We will pass 2021 Budget on time – Senate President Lawan vows

    BREAKING: We will pass 2021 Budget on time – Senate President Lawan vows

    President of the Senate Ahmad Lawan has vowed that the National Assembly will pass the 2021 Budget on time to sustain the January to December budget cycle.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the Senator Lawan made the vow on Thursday as President Muhammadu Buhari presents the 2021 Budget estimates to the NASS.

    Lawan recalled that the presentation of the 2020 budget around this time last year and his promise to return to the Jan-Dec budget cycle.

    He thanked members of the NASS for fulfilling that promise by working assiduously towards achieving that promise and said that same vigor would be applied to the 2021 Appropriation Bill.

     

    Details shortly…

  • BREAKING: Buhari sends revised PIB to NASS

    BREAKING: Buhari sends revised PIB to NASS

    President Muhammadu Buhari has sent a revised edition of the long-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) to the National Assembly (NASS).

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports a source at NASS who spoke under the condition of anonymity confirmed the development on Monday.

    Recall that the last time the PIB was debated by the NASS, during the first term of President Buhari, the bill was in four separate components.

    The four components were the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), Petroleum Industry Finance Bill, Petroleum Host and Impacted Communities Bill (PHICB) and the Petroleum Industry Administrative Bill.

    Out of the four components, only one of the components, the PIGB made it through to the President’s desk for assent but he refused to sign it.

    President Buhari declined assent to the component of the bill earlier passed by the NASS with a promise to submit a better version of the bill.

    However, according to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva all four components of the PIB would be compressed into one bill.

    A team of lawyers at the Ministry of Justice finalized the draft of the long-awaited bill and sent it off to the NASS, according to Africa oil and gas report.

    The frame of the document had earlier been approved by Buhari and the Federal executive council (FEC), the report stated.

    Meanwhile, Senate President Ahmad Lawan had reiterated the legislative commitment to work in harmony with the executive arm for the speedy passage and signing into law of the bill.

    The PIB has defied passage and assent, but Senator Lawan said, “It is our hope and desire that we are able to break the jinx that has visited the PIB since 2007”.

  • Senate President denies receiving N-Power slots from Ministry

    Senate President denies receiving N-Power slots from Ministry

    The Office of the Senate President, has denied media reports that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, had allocated N-Power recruitment slots to the Senate President and other lawmakers.

    Mr Ola Awoniyi, Special Adviser (Media), to President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, made the denial in a statement, in Abuja on Saturday.

    “The attention of the Office of the Senate President has been drawn to a publication on Sahara Reporters portal, purporting that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management allocated N-Power recruitment slots to the Senate President and other lawmakers.

    Awoniyi said: “We hereby advise members of the public to totally disregard the fake and malicious publication in its entirety, as regards the Senate President.

    “It should be noted that the fairy-tale only blandly and obliquely claimed that some lawmakers printed out application forms from the portal of the scheme, but failed to provide any evidence that this was to fill its speculated allocated slots.

    “We wish to stress that neither the Senate President, nor this office, has anything to do with the purported slots mischievously credited by the publication to the Senate President.

    “We urge the media to always strive to be factual in their reports and abide strictly by the ethics of their profession which require them to hear from all sides and objectively establish the facts, especially before publishing accusations capable of damaging the reputation of public officials.”

  • BREAKING: Orji Uzor-Kalu returns to Senate, resumes legislative duties

    Senator Orji Uzor-Kalu, out of the Nigerian Senate since December 2019, has resumed, with Senate President Ahmad Lawan giving the Abia Senator a warm welcome.

    Uzor-Kalu, who is the Chief Whip of the Senate is an All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator, representing Abia North in the hallowed Chamber.

    He arrived at the National Assembly (NASS) complex at about 9 am on Tuesday morning to resume legislative duties.

    “I just want to thank God for everything that has happened. It is the will of God. I want to urge Nigerians to keep hope alive,” he told reporters before entering the building.

    Kalu was released after over six months of incarceration at the Kuje Correctional Centre.

    The former Governor of Abia State, and others were convicted and sentenced for N7.1bn fraud last December, but had their case reversed by the Supreme Court.

    Welcoming Uzor-Kalu, Lawan said, “Welcome back our one and only Chief Whip. We are very grateful to God for bringing you back”.

  • Senate President blames Nigeria’s problems on ‘the world’

    President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has attributed the inability of the Nigerian military and other security outfits to contain the disturbing nation’s insecurity to international politics.

    He said international politics was slowing down efforts aimed at acquiring sophisticated machinery needed by the security agencies to do their jobs.

    Lawan spoke on Sunday in an interview with journalists ahead of the first anniversary of the Ninth Senate, which comes up on Thursday.

    He explained that efforts to buy equipment for the Nigerian armed forces were usually frustrated by international politics with the requests taking longer than expected.

    He said the country’s security system was currently overstretched, adding that more resources are needed to tackle insecurity.

    He said, “To some extent, we are suffering from international politics. I know that in our efforts to try to buy spare parts for jets, they may write to a certain foreign government and it will take six to nine months while another country will write to the same government and maybe get it in one or two months.

    “So, something is not right, but that’s to say that it’s now one of our challenges that we will continue to engage with countries that we feel don’t understand what we are doing here.

    “Also, we need more resources for security. By resources, I don’t mean just money, we need more personnel for the armed forces.

    “We need more personnel for the police, Nigerian immigration Service, and almost all the agencies and paramilitary as well.

    “We also need resources in terms of equipment, machinery, and then training.

    “What we experience today is we don’t have sufficient personnel, the resources available to security office are inadequate.

    “Government is doing a lot to get more resources in terms of equipment and machinery.”