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Tag: Dogara

  • Nigeria spent over N2.7trn on power from 1999-2015 without results to show – Dogara

    The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday said the nation had continually spent huge sums of money on the power sector from the commencement of this democratic dispensation (1999) till date without any tangible result to show.

    Dogara said rather than improve the sector, it has always ended up even with bigger challenges.

    The Speaker noted that former administrations from 1999-2015 had spent over 2.7 trillion on the sector yet Nigerians still live in darkness.

    Dogara spoke at a workshop put together by the House of Representatives to find solution to the recurrent power failure in the country.

    His observation was part of the 23 key issues he raised at the two-day event ongoing at Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Dogara was first elected to the House in 2007 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. He remained in the party until the 2015 general elections when he crossed to the All Progressives Congress, APC and was subsequently elected Speaker 2015.

    In his opening address, Dogara said, “Perhaps the most important question is what happened to the N2.74 trillion spent on the sector from 1999-2015?

    “Why is it that the more we spent on the power sector, the more darkness we attract?

    “I am confident that the array of stakeholders gathered here today are eminently capable of dealing with these and many more related questions and puzzles that exist and will arise in the course of deliberations.”

  • Why we don’t support illegal refineries – Dogara

    Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara, has explained that illegal refineries cannot be allowed to operate in Nigeria because their operators steal crude oil meant from the Nigerian State and degrade the environment with their activities.

    Dogara, who was speaking at the investigative hearing of the Adhoc Committee on the Joint Task Force and Nigeria Agip Company in the Niger Delta, also added that illegal refineries are spill-overs of the activities of militancy in the Niger Delta Area allegedly due to joblessness, poverty and hunger.

    The Speaker said, “Illegal oil refineries in Nigeria thrive on illegal oil bunkering, stolen crude oil, and vandalism of oil pipelines and other installations. Without a doubt, these illegal oil operations are reprehensible and should not be condoned for a number of reasons: Firstly, it is improper for citizens to destroy oil installations in their bid to steal crude oil as feedstock for illegal refineries. Secondly, it is most inappropriate for anybody, Nigerians or foreigners, to steal crude oil belonging to the Nigerian State with impunity. Thirdly, there are serious environmental issues involved, regardless of whether they dump the residue from the crude oil distillation process into the river or simply incinerate it.”

    Dogara expressed condolences to the families of the 14 people that lost their lives on the 9th of July, 2015 at the site of the repair works of the Tebidaba Clough Creekline in Azuzuama, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, saying that “as representatives of the people, our hearts go out to them.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Speaker charged the committee members and stakeholders to participate in the hearing fully with the aim of contributing to the quality of legislation that will be passes by the House.

    He also expressed confidence in the ability of members of the ad-hoc committee to rise to the occasion and deliver on this very important national assignment in the shortest possible time.

  • 2017 Budget: Osinbajo meets Dogara, Lawan

     

    As a proactive measure of ensuring easy passage and implementation of the 2017 budget, the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Monday met with the leadership of the National Assembly at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

    Investigations by the TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Osinbajo met with the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan and also an APC governor behind close doors.

    Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Lawan disclosed that the 2017 Appropriation Bill was the major topic discussed.

    He also said he used the opportunity to assure Osinbajo that the APC Caucus in the Senate was now united.

    Lawan said: “I am here to meet the Acting President, to brief him on what the Senate is doing on the Appropriation Bill 2017. You know we have suspended plenary for three weeks.

    “The idea is to have ample time to focus on the Appropriation Bill. The committees will start to work from this week, meeting the MDAs on the budget defence that they need to do.

    “Secondly, you know that the Acting President is an APC Acting President. As a new Senate Leader, it is also important that I come here to this office to tell the Acting President and our administration that the APC caucus in the Senate is now a united caucus.

    “We are ready as a caucus to support our administration; we are also ready as a Senate, that is both the APC and the minority parties, to work for the betterment of Nigerians.

    “Our colleagues in the opposition have always been supportive for the Senate to function.”

  • NEDC will not be mismanaged – Dogara assures Nigerians

    NEDC will not be mismanaged – Dogara assures Nigerians

    Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara, has urged Nigerians to support the establishment of the proposed North East Development Commission (NEDC) Bill, saying mechanisms will be put in place to ensure that it is not mismanaged.

    Dogara, spoke when a delegation from states in the North East, led by Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, paid members of the National Assembly a thank you visit for passing the NEDC bill, also promised that when established, the commission will be carefully monitored for it to fulfill its purpose of restoration, rehabilitation and development of the region.

    Addressing some concerns that the agency will duplicate existing ones, the speaker explained that the NEDC will provide a legal framework with which donor agencies and other interested parties can confidently assist in the development of the region, knowing that they can take legal action against the commission if any law or agreement is breached.

    While declaring that “the ruins of the North East will turn to glory,” Dogara added that the commission will go a long way in improving the lives of Nigerians in that region and create jobs for the teeming unemployed youths in the region, thereby reducing the likelihood of insurgency among them.

    “We know what we felt and we know what we can do if this agency is established,” he added.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the speaker expressed confidence that the bill will get the assent of President Muhammadu Buhari and urged the leaders, elders and other stakeholders to continue to advocate for the establishment of the commission.

  • Road Funding: Dogara proposes Infrastructure Bond as solution to end debts

    Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has proposed an Infrastructure Bond for funding road projects in the country.

    Speaking when he received the report of the Technical Committee for the Review of the Roads’ Funds Bills in his office, Dogara noted that it is very important to ensure that these debts that have led to countless loss of jobs for Nigerians are settled for good.

    “There is this existing humongous debts owed firms constructing roads. How do we exit from these debts so that the contractors and their workers can go back to work?”, Dogara asked.

    He added, “I think we have to look inwards. I think we should think about floating an Infrastructure bond that will capture road infrastructure. We should just start on a new slate.”

    The speaker, while stressing that countries with good road network develop at a faster pace than those that don’t, also noted that, “Nigeria’s road funding has been strictly through fiscal allocation since 1970; and whereas, the recommended expenditure plan for road is 3.0 per cent of the annual gross domestic product (GDP), we currently spend an infinitesimal 0.5 to 0.1 percent GDP.

    “The burden of these long years of inaction on our road is high because for every N1 we fail to spend on road infrastructure, the country loses N5 in return. The loss in the man-hours per annum is put at 10 billion hours or N1.0 trillion. These are apart from cost of impairment, trauma, and loss of lives resulting from road crashes.”

    The speaker also decried the high toll of inadequate and poor road infrastructure in Nigeria.

    Giving assurance on the commitment of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly to revamp the nation’s existing road networks and building of new ones through the Road Fund Bill, to provide alternative, adequate and sustainable source of funding; Dogara said the country could not talk about economic diversification or joining the industrialised world, without a sound road network.

    “Nigeria needs at least 300, 000km of sound road network to actualise the Vision 2020. The country’s road network stands at a meagerly 194, 200km as at April 2016, with federal roads accounting for 34, 120km, while the local government account for 129, 580km and of that number, only 9,212km are rated as good, while 13,307km are rated fair and and 11,601km are rated bad.

    “If we must meet the self appointed benchmark of becoming one of the 20 largest economies by 2020 or in the near future, we must work to increase total road network from 194,200 we have today, to at least, 300, 000km by 2020. It means that we have to provide a minimum of 21, 000 km per annum.

    “In fact, we need to make a planned and sustained N250 billion expenditure on the roads, in addition to N140 billion maintenance expenditure for the next 6 to 7 years. And we cannot do all these with government funding alone, hence the import of the Roads Fund Law”, he added.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Speaker, however, commended the House Committee on Works and members of the Technical Committee for a job well done and promised immediate action on the recommendations.

    Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the 27-man technical committee, Engr Chris Okoye, said the committee researched road development plans across many continents to come up with a workable plan for the Nigerian environment.

    He said the committee recommended toll fees, fuel levy, axle load control charges, among others, as reliable sources of funding for road development and maintenance.

     

  • Why we want to grant autonomy to LGAs – Dogara

    Why we want to grant autonomy to LGAs – Dogara

     

    The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara, has said that the House is working to grant financial autonomy to local governments in the ongoing constitution alteration exercise.

    He said such was the only way to guarantee development at the grassroot.

    The speaker also charged local government workers to step up agitation for local government autonomy, saying only through their individual and collective efforts would the desired change be achieved.

    Dogara gave this charge when he received the national executive members of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), who paid him a courtesy visit in the National Assembly.

    The speaker noted that no progress can be achieved in the local government if the present status quo of interference and administration by state governors was retained, adding that local governments must be financially and politically autonomous to trigger development in the rural areas.

    He said, “It is a responsibility all of us owe to our people. As a matter of fact, we are not even doing it for you, we are doing it for the Nigerian people.”

    The speaker informed them that some governors who opposed local government autonomy were of the view that local governments will collapse if their administration was handed over to the elected chairmen.

    However, the speaker argued that state governors would have “extricated themselves from blame if they let local governments free.”

    He added that progress can never be gotten by maintaining the status quo and that the House had chosen to ensure that the ongoing Constitution Amendment exercise captured the yearnings of millions of Nigerians for development in the grassroots.

    “For us as representatives of the people, we have heard the cry of the people and we know that the only way we can add value to local government is by giving them political and financial independence. This will expand opportunites in the grassroots”, he added.

    Earlier, the delegation from NULGE commended the Speaker for leading the campaign and advocacy for local government autonomy and described him as a patriot and statesman.

    He called on the speaker to ensure that the ongoing Constitution Amendment captured local government autonomy, adding that he should involve all stakeholders that can bring it to fruition, including President Muhammadu Buhari, who they said was in the best position to ensure that governors stopped violation of the constitutionally provided roles of local government officials.

    National president of NULGE, Ibrahim Khaleel, also appealed to the Speaker to pass their agitations to president Muhammadu Buhari whom they said was in the best position to rally for the support of state governors.

    “You have the capacity as speaker of this House, together with your team, to make Mr President understand that it is only him and only him that can change the situation.

    “No amount of agitation or campaign can change the minds of the governors. When he calls the governors and speakers of the House of Assembly, he can make the difference”, he stated.

  • Dogara seeks traditional rulers’ support for Buhari

    … says FG tackling economic crisis

    The speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt.Hon. Yakubu Dogara has called on traditional rulers across the country to rally their subject behind the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Dogara spoke when he visited the Emir of Argungu in Kebbi the state Alhaji Samaila Muhammad Mera, in his palace according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media & Public Affairs, Mr. Turaki Hassan.

    “We have seen the good intention of Mr. President in addressing the socio-economic challenges in the country but he can only succeed with the prayers and support of Nigerians,” the Speaker said.

    Dogara, maintained that as fathers and custodians of our cultures and traditions, traditional rulers have a major role to play in mobisling their subject to pray for and support efforts of the government to tackle the mirage of problems it inherited.

    The Speaker expressed confidence in the ability of the Buhari administration to extend the same vigour and spirit with which it fights against corruption and insurgency in combating the current economic challenges in the in the country.

    The statement qouted the speaker as stating that “considering the mismanagement of resources by the previous administration, it is obvious that Nigerians will experience some sort of difficulties similar to what we are facing currently. But I’m confident that the Federal government is capable of extending the spirit with which it is fighting corruption and other menaces in tackling poverty, unemployment and other economic challenges bedevilling the nation”.

    He recalled that before the inception of the current administration, some states were owing between five and seven months of workers’ salaries.

    In his response, the Emir Alhaji Muhammad Mera commended the House of Representatives under the leadership of Hon. Dogara for supporting the Executive arm of the government through legislative interventions in bthe administration’s efforts in bringing succour to the citizens.

    Alhaji Mera expressed his gratitude to the Buhari-led administration for implementing the Anchor Borrower programme which helped in boosting rice production in his domain.

    He said in the last one year, thousands of his subjects have been financially empowered through the programme leading creation of jobs and establishment of rice processing mills in the area.

  • Buhari, Saraki, Dogara, others grace Tambuwal daughter’s wedding

    President Muhammadu Buhari was among thousands of well-wishers who graced the wedding Fatiha of the daughter of Gov. Aminu Tambuwal in Sokoto on Saturday.

    Buhari was represented by the Leader of the Federal Government delegation and Minister of Justice, Alhaji Abubakar Malami.

    Other members of the delegation included the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir Lawal, Defence Minister, Brig.-Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali, as well as the Minister of State, Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika.

    Also among the delegation were Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and the Sarkin-Fulanin Daura, Alhaji Musa Haro.

    The event was also attended by the Senate President Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, among other dignitaries.

    The hand of the bride, Aisha was given in marriage to Dikko, the Son of Katsina-based business Mogul, Alhaji Dahiru Mangal.

    The marriage was solemnised after the payment of N100,000 bride price, which was presided over by the Sarkin-Malaman Sokoto, Sheikh Buhari Sirriddawa.

    Prayers were offered for the success of the marriage as well as for sustainable peace and unity in Nigeria.

    Speaking to newsmen on behalf of the Federal Government delegation, Shehu said: “we are here to extend the goodwill message of President Buhari’’.

    “This is also an indication of the excellent relationship between President Buhari and Gov. Tambuwal.

    “While praying for the couple, i am also advising them to be patient with each other and never allow any third party to come between them.’’

    The epoch-making event was also attended by many serving and former governors, National Assembly members, diplomats, politicians, traditional rulers and Captains of Industries among others.

     

    NAN

  • Dogara @ 49: Saraki hails Speaker, says he is a symbol of national unity

    Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Monday, described the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, as a young, innovative political leader who continues to serve as a bridge between the various sections of the country.

    In a message on the 49th birthday of the Speaker, signed by his Special Adviser for Media and Publicity, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki stated that Dogara’s leadership of the House of Representatives, was a clear demonstration that young politicians can bring unprecedented leadership qualities and fresh ideas to the table in the development of Nigeria.

    He said, he had enjoyed Dogara’s cooperation since inauguration of the 8th Assembly which has led to robust legislative process.

    “Throughout this time, he has consistently demonstrated that he is an emerging modern and consummate statesman who always puts the interests of the Nigerian people first.

    “As he celebrates his 49th birthday today, I wish him continued wisdom and foresight as he steers the ship of the House of Representatives. I also wish him the best of blessings as we work together to pass laws that directly make impact on the lives of every Nigerian,” the Senate President said.

  • I have no relationship with Ibori- Dogara

    I have no relationship with Ibori- Dogara

    Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara has distanced himself from a statement credited to senator Peter Nwabaoshi, who was quoted as saying that former Delta state governor, James Ibori influenced Dogara’s leadership role in the house.
    Dogara who made the denouncement in a statement signed by his media aide, Turaki Hassan, said he was elected in office by the votes of members of the House of Representatives.

    The statement in full, “Our attention has been drawn to statement credited to senator Peter Nwabaoshi who was quoted as saying that former Delta state governor James Ibori supported the emergence of Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara as speaker of the House of Representatives.

    We have watched the video clip and noticed that there is no where the distinguish senator mentioned Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara by name.
    However, reports published in both online and print media insinuated that senator Peter Nwabaoshi referred to Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara.
    For the records, we want to state that the Rt. Hon. Speaker was elected by the votes of members of the House of Representatives. There may well be silent supporters and well wishers of the Honourable Speaker from far and near some of whom he may not be aware of.
    Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara does not have a relationship, political or otherwise with former Governor James Ibori of Delta state to warrant the insinuations in the statement credited to Senator Nwaboshi, and had never had one.