TheNewsGuru

Tag: FEC

  • Subsidy debt: Depot owners suspend shutdown of operations, give 5-day grace

    The Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) has suspended its planned shutdown of depots across the country from loading petroleum products effective from 12-midnight on Sunday, Dec. 9.

    The suspension directive was conveyed in a statement issued by DAPPMA Executive Secretary, Mr Olufemi Adewole, at about 1.20 a.m. on Monday in Lagos and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria.

    Adewole said: “Recalls the association had issued a shut down directive to our members following the continuing indebtedness of the Federal Government to the petroleum marketers.

    “However, following the intervention of well meaning Nigerians including the National Assembly as represented by the Senate Committee of Petroleum Downstream and constructive engagement of the Federal Government team by the labour unions most affected by the disengagement of our personnel, namely, PENGASSAN, NUPENG NARTO, PTD,and DAPPMA.

    “The union has resolved to recall its disengaged personnel for five days to give the Federal Government’s team the opportunity to conclude its process of paying marketers the full outstanding of N800 billion with the first tranche being the amount already approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

    “The association has acted in good faith to avoid unnecessary hardship which could befall Nigerians during the Yuletide season and we hope that government would make good its promise to see that those issues are resolved by Friday, Dec., 14, 2018 as promised.

    “To this end, our disengaged personnel would be recalled on Monday, Dec. 10, and considering the reactivation time or hitherto shut down system, all depots with fuel stock should be fully active same day,’’ he said.

    Adewole said that the conclusion of the debts payment would curtail the continuing wastage of public funds as interest accruing on the over N800 billion debt.

    “DAPPMA depots are, therefore, advised to commence loading operations immediately and await further notification in respect of our long overdue payment,” he said.

    On Sunday, at about 8.30 p.m., DAPPAMA had directed its members to shutdown all loading operations by midnight, adding that oil marketers had disengaged employees due to their inability to pay salaries.

    It said that the Association took a bold step to stop the financial hemorrhaging of its members by the painful disengagement of its loyal workers after over three years of engaging with the government in the efforts to secure the payment of all subsidy induced debt owed marketers.

    According to DAPPMA, to avoid owing staff without any hope of pay, it is hereby agreed that since all our staff have been disengaged, all DAPPMAN member depots are not in a position to operate hence will shut down all loading at midnight

    DAPPMA said that the decision of government claiming to settle N236 billion out of the outstanding N800 subsidy arrears was not acceptable to its members, leading to Thursday, Dec. 6, meeting which ended in a deadlock.

    The association explained that the decision of government to pay the N236 billion through promissory notes was equally rejected by the oil marketers.

    ‘‘As the name suggest, promissory note is a payment instrument that is post dated. Based on this, when you approach the banks with the instrument, you don’t get the actual value on it.

    “About 30 per cent is knocked off because government will be making the payment at a later date which ties down the bank’s capital,’’’ the association said.

     

  • N800b subsidy debts: Senate gives FG two-week ultimatum

    Worried by possible fuel supply crisis in the country, the Nigerian Senate has issued a two-week ultimatum to the federal government to pay off the N800 billion subsidy debts owed oil marketers.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Senate issued the ultimatum on Thursday, urging the FG to as a matter of urgency direct relevant agencies to pay the subsidy arrears as approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the National Assembly (NASS) within two weeks.

    The oil marketers had written Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream over non-payment of the subsidy arrears by the FG, and had on Sunday in Lagos gave the FG a seven-day ultimatum to settle the outstanding debts totaling N800 billion, failing which, depots would cease operation across the country.

    The marketers, comprising Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) and Independent Petroleum Products Importers (IPPIs), said failure to meet the deadline would force its members to disengage workers from depots.

    Senator Kabir Marafa, who read the oil marketers letter at Senate plenary session on Thursday, raised the motion on urgent need to avert the looming crisis in fuel supply due to non-payment of the fuel subsidy arrears to the independent marketers.

    “The Committee on Petroleum Downstream received a letter from DAPMAN on the non-payment of subsidy arrears by the Federal Government. If the demands are not met, they will shut down in 7 days,” Senator Marafa said.

    In their contributions, Senators Yahaya Abdullahi, Barnabas Gemade and Ahmad Babba Kaita pleaded with leadership of the Senate to prevail to avert the looming fuel supply crisis.

    “I am a member of this particular Committee, we had a long meeting, we have gone through all the necessary procedures and offices. We have to make sure these funds are released so we can avert this strike,” Senator Abdullahi said.

    While Senator Gemade stated that “Withholding of these payments has nothing to do with the National Assembly, it is the executives that are responsible, the necessary ministries and agencies should pay DAPMAN so as to avert this crisis”, Senator Kaita said, “This motion is timely, it is a matter that affects our lives in it’s totality. Christmas is coming so this should be averted. This Senate should do anything humanly possible to stop this”.

    TNG reports the Senate in its resolution urged the oil marketers to as a matter of national interest rescind the earlier decision of the one week ultimatum to give the FG a little more time to look into their demands.

    The Senate also urged the FG to engage marketers and agree on the subsidy claims to avoid possible fuel supply crisis.

     

  • Fuel crisis looms as marketers write Senate over N800b subsidy debts

    Fuel crisis looms as marketers write Senate over N800b subsidy debts

    As Nigeria nears the yuletide, the nation may suffer yet another fuel supply crisis as oil marketers have written Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream over non-payment of subsidy arrears by the federal government.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the oil marketers had on Sunday in Lagos gave the FG a seven-day ultimatum to settle outstanding debts totaling N800 billion, failing which, depots would cease operation across the country.

    The marketers, comprising Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) and Independent Petroleum Products Importers (IPPIs), said failure to meet the deadline would force its members to disengage workers from depots.

    Senator Kabir Marafa, who read the oil marketers letter at Senate plenary session on Thursday, raised a motion on the urgent need to avert the looming crisis in fuel supply due to non-payment of the fuel subsidy arrears to the independent marketers.

    “The Committee on Petroleum Downstream received a letter from DAPMAN on the non-payment of subsidy arrears by the Federal Government. If the demands are not met, they will shut down in 7 days,” Senator Marafa said.

    In their contributions, Senators Yahaya Abdullahi, Barnabas Gemade and Ahmad Babba Kaita pleaded with leadership of the Senate to prevail to avert the looming fuel supply crisis.

    “I am a member of this particular Committee, we had a long meeting, we have gone through all the necessary procedures and offices. We have to make sure these funds are released so we can avert this strike,” Senator Abdullahi said.

    While Senator Gemade stated that “Withholding of these payments has nothing to do with the National Assembly, it is the executives that are responsible, the necessary ministries and agencies should pay DAPMAN so as to avert this crisis”, Senator Kaita said, “This motion is timely, it is a matter that affects our lives in it’s totality. Christmas is coming so this should be averted. This Senate should do anything humanly possible to stop this”.

    Confirming the seven-day notice, Mr Patrick Etim, Legal Adviser to IPPI had said banks have taken over investments and assets of oil marketers over the unpaid debts.

    According to Etim, marketers have no choice than to ask their workers to stay at home over unpaid salary arrears due to huge subsidy debts owed by the government.

    “The only way to salvage the situation is for government to pay the oil marketers the outstanding debts through cash option instead of promissory note being proposed.

    “As I speak, nothing has been done several months after assurances received by government saying it would pay off the outstanding debts.

    “The oil marketers have requested that forex differential and interest component of government’s indebtedness to marketers be calculated up to December 2018 and be paid within next seven days from the date of the letter sent to the government,” he said.

    Etim said that several thousand jobs were on the line in the industry, as oil marketers began cut-down of their workforce due to inability to pay salaries.

    “At the inception of the current administration, marketers engaged the government with the view to secure approval for all outstanding subsidy-induced debts handed over to the current administration,” he said.

    The counsel said that the current administration paid part of the debts with a substantial portion of the subsidy interest and foreign exchange differential still pending.

    The Executive Secretary of DAPPMA, Mr Olufemi Adewole, also confirmed the seven-day ultimatum notice.

    Adewole disclosed that the oil marketers on Nov. 28 served the ultimatum letter on the Debt Management Office (DMO), Minister of Finance, Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream, Department of State Services and Minister of State, Petroleum Resources.

    “We urge the DMO to process and pay marketers in cash for their outstanding forex differentials and interest component claims, together with the amount already approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the National Assembly.

    “Marketers are not in a position to discount payment on the subsidy-induced debt owed as proposed by DMO.

    “The expected payment is made up of bank loans, outstanding admin charges due to PPPRA, outstanding bridging fund due Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management) Board and in a few cases AMCON judgment debts.

    “We urge that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved payment instrument, (the promissory note) be substituted with cash and paid through our bankers to stop the avoidable waste of public funds through these debts accruing interest,” he said.

     

  • 2019 budget: Buhari to preside over Special FEC session Friday

    2019 budget: Buhari to preside over Special FEC session Friday

    A special Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting will hold on Friday to finalise works on the 2019 budget, the Presidency has announced.

    President Muhammadu Buhari will preside over meeting which is to exhaustively deliberate on the budget before transmitting it to the National Assembly for passage.

    The Council had in October approved the 2019-2021 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, and Fiscal Strategy Paper, and forwarded same to the National Assembly for its consideration and approval.

    The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina disclosed this to State House Correspondents at the end of FEC meeting presided over by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo at the State House Villa, Abuja.

    It will be recalled that, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, had last month announced that the federal government was considering a leaner 2019 budget of N8.6 trillion, which is leaner than the N9.1 trillion approved by lawmakers for 2018.

    He explained at a consultative forum on the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) and fiscal strategy paper (FSP) 2019-2021, that the decision was due to reduced government revenue projection for the year.

    Udoma also said government planned to cut down the level of borrowing from N1.6 trillion in 2018 to N1.5 trillion in 2019, while the deficit component would be reduced from N1.9 trillion in 2018 to N1.6 trillion.

    In spite of the recent oil output drop to about 1.9 million barrels a day, Udoma said government was optimistic the 2.3 million barrels a day target was achievable with production now rising to about 2.15 million barrels a day and new oil productions being put into play.

    Although a $50 per barrel oil price benchmark was proposed in the ERGP, the minister had expressed confidence that with a significant rise in the price above $80 per barrel currently, government has proposed a $60 per barrel oil price for the budget.

    Udoma has added that N305 was proposed as exchange rate to the dollar, with government working to keep inflation down after slight increases in the last two months on the heels of 18 months consecutive decline.

    The projected target gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate for the budget was put at 3.01 per cent, reduced from 4.5 per cent in the ERGP; 3.6 per cent in 2020 and 3.9 per cent in 2021.

    “Growth is expected to increase from 0.8 per cent in 2017 to 2.1 per cent this year and 3.01 per cent in 2019 with the continued implementation of the ERGP in 2019 and improved outlook for oil prices,” he said.

    On revenue, Udoma had said based on the oil price and oil production assumptions, government expected to generate about N3.6 trillion from oil, up by about N500 billion from last year’s figure.

    About N6.9 trillion revenue is projected to be available to the budget in 2019.

    With other projections showing government expects to collect less revenue from some independent sources, he said only about N624 billion is expected to be realised, against about N847 billion in the 2018 budget, among others.

  • Ogoni Clean Up: FEC approves $200M; Ministry releases $177M – Minister

    * Environmental issues are taking dangerous dimensions- Chidoka

    The Minister of State for Environment Mr Ibrahim Usman Jibril has said that the Federal Executive Council has approved the sum of $200 million while only $177 million has been released for the clean up of the environmental pollution in Ogoni land in Rivers State.

    This is as the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Environment and Habitat Hon. Obinna Chidoka has lamented that environmental issues such as pollution, erosion and environmental degredation are assuming dangerous dimensions in many parts of the country.

    The Minister made the revelation on Monday during an investigative hearing of the House of Representatives Committee on Environment at the National Assembly.

    Jibril said that out of the total sum of $200 million approved by the Federal Executive Council FEC, only $177 million has been released by the Ministry of Finance while a balance of $23 million is still left as balance with the ministry for the implementation of the project.

    He told the Committee that the Ministry of Environment came up with a blueprint and recommended a $200,000 million be approved for the clean up exercise and added that $177 million has been paid to the ministry’s escrow account.

    He further told the Committee that the the ministry has awarded the contact for the clean up exercise to Hyprep as the National Project Coordinator and added that regrettably the pace of work on the clean up had been slow.

    The Minister however assured the Committee that the Ministerial Tenders Board would meet tentatively next week to take a final decision of the commencement of the clean up exercise.

    On the challenges being faced by the ministry for the kick-off of the project, he said that public perception of the people is one of the greatest challenges of the smooth take off of the project.

    In his remarks at the hearing, Chairman of the House Committee Hon. Obinna Chidoka said that environmental issues are assuming an alarming dimension in the country that requires everybody’s attention.

    Chidoka and other some lawmakers notably Hon. Uzoma Abonta (Abia,PDP) said that the amount of public funds already expended on preliminary work on the clean up of the project does not match the public expectation on the project.

  • FEC awards contract for repairs of Lagos-Badagry Expressway

    FEC awards contract for repairs of Lagos-Badagry Expressway

    The Federal Executive Committee on Wednesday awarded a contract for the repair of the Lagos Badagry Expressway.
     
    This was revealed in a tweet on the Government of Nigeria Twitter handle, @Asorock. It was revealed that the contract would be focused on the 46 kilometres stretch of the road from Agbara-Badagry-Seme Border.
     
    However, the repair of the section from Eric Moore to Okokomaiko is being carried out by the Lagos State Government.
     

  • FEC approves implementation of no work, no pay principle during strike

    FEC approves implementation of no work, no pay principle during strike

    The Federal Executive Council has approved the implementation of the no work, no pay principle when workers go on strike in the federal public service.
    Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, disclosed this on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while briefing State House Correspondents after FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
    He said the approval was sequel to the adoption of the Draft White Paper on the Report of the Technical Committee on Industrial Relations Matters in the Federal Public Service.
    Ngige said that the public service in Nigeria was bedeviled by problems and conflict areas; hence governments, over time, set up various committees and brought out circulars in a bid to stem industrial disputes.
    The minister said that the technical committee, which was inaugurated on April 27, 2016, did their work and submitted it to the FEC in October 2017.
    “FEC in turn impaneled a committee of 10, which I chaired to do a government Draft White Paper on those contentious areas that the technical committee had looked at.
    “These contentious areas are enforcement of section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act Law of the Federation 2004; this is the section that deals with lockout of workers by their employers without declaring redundancy appropriately.
    “Because in some establishments, especially in the private sector, workers are locked out by their employers; so the law there says that if you lock your workers without passing through the normal channel-due process.
    “For the period of the lock out, the worker is assumed to be at work and will receive all the remunerations and allowances, benefits accruing to him for the period and that period will also be counted for him as a pensionable period in the computation of his pension.
    “But when workers go on strike, the principle of no-work-no-pay will also apply because that principle is enshrined in the same section 43 of the Labour Act.’’
    According to Ngige, the section says that for the period a worker withdraws his services, government or his employers are not entitled to pay.
    The minister said that under the section, the period for which the worker was absent would not count as part of his pensionable period in the public service.
    He said that FEC accepted it as a white paper recommendation that should be gazetted because even the National Industrial Court had made pronouncement on that law and said that it was clear.
    Ngige said that another area was the issue of public servants remaining permanently in the executive bodies on trade unions.
    “Government realises that some persons in the public service go into trade union executive positions; hold offices; and they do that for life; for as long as they are in the service.
    “In doing so, they will refuse postings and deployments under the guise that are doing trade union activities; government says no.
    “You have to be a public servant first before you become a trade unionist; therefore, if you are there; the public service rules will also apply to you.
    “And in doing so, government says establishments will look at the issues and give it a human face in order not to disrupt trade unionism.
    “And in furtherance to this, government has also said that there must tenure stipulations because people stay there without tenure; many organisations give people union positions without tenure; government says there is no office that does not have tenure.’’
    Ngige said that trade unions, henceforth, should present constitutions that must have tenures; at least, maximum of two tenures for any elective position.
    He said that another aspect of the report discussed by the council was the issue of residence training for medical doctors.
    According to him, the residence training for medical doctors has been contentious one as some medical doctors come into this training and become professional unionists and stay there as permanent job.
    He said that the Federal Government had fixed tenure for residence training of medical doctors, which was seven years within the trainee was to pass all his exams or quit.
    Ngige said that FEC also looked at the Ayere report on inter-professional rivalry in the health sector and directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to present it FEC for deliberation.
    On the minimum wage, the minister restated that the Federal Government’s stance was N24,000 per month.
    He said that once minimum wage was fixed, any organisation or state that had the capacity to pay more could do that.
    Ngige cited that Edo, Delta and Lagos states paid their workers more than the current N18,000 national minimum wage.

  • Osinbajo presides over FEC meeting

    Osinbajo presides over FEC meeting

    Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday presided over the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting with many ministers in attendance.

    The meeting started one hour before the usual 11:00 a.m. commencement time.

    In the past, many cabinet members found reasons to stay away from such meetings when President Muhammadu Buhari was out of the country.

    But the story was different on Wednesday with at least 23 ministers present in the Council Chamber when the meeting started at few minutes past 10:00 a.m.

    The Acting President had on Tuesday sacked the Director-General of Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura, over the unauthorized siege on the National Assembly.

  • FEC approves N72.9bn for road reconstruction in Lagos

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N72.9 billion for reconstruction of road linking Creek Road to Tincan Island, Oworonshoki and Toll gate at the Lagos end of Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, briefed State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He said the project which would be completed in two years covers 27.8 kilometers of five lanes on both sides of the roads.

    According to him, the project excluded Coconut-Mile 2 part of the road that had already been done.

    He said the project would be handled by Dangote Group on a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) basis.

  • FEC directs health minister to standby against Ebola

    FEC directs health minister to standby against Ebola

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday directed the Federal Ministry of Health to step up surveillance team against the deadly Ebola virus.

    The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole briefed State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    According to him, the Council ordered steps to be taken to keep the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from coming to Nigeria.

    He said that part of the new measures to be taken is screening passengers coming into the country.

    “We want to assure Nigerians that the government is determined to keep the country safe.” he said.