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Tag: House of Representatives

  • Queen Elizabeth: Pelosi orders American flag to be flown at half-mast

    Queen Elizabeth: Pelosi orders American flag to be flown at half-mast

    The speaker House of Representatives in America,  Nancy Pelosi has ordered that the flags at the capitol be flown at half mast due to the death of Queen Elizabeth ll.

    The Queen passed at the age of 96 after a brief illness.

    Few minutes after the announcement of queen Elizabeth ll messages, condolences and remembrances have  started to pour in.

    The American flag is typically flown at half-staff during periods of mourning for U.S. officials and tragedies, but occasionally is flown at half-staff to mark the death of foreign dignitaries.

    After the British monarch dies, his or her replacement takes over immediately.

    A series of formal steps, carefully choreographed over centuries, are set into motion. An “Accession Council” typically meets within 24 hours of the monarch’s death, usually at St. James’s Palace, where many important events in royal history have taken place. The last family occasion to take place there was the 2018 christening of Prince Louis, the youngest son of Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

    The council formally declares the death of the monarch and the accession of the successor to the throne, according to the Privy Council, a formal advisory body to the monarch. The Accession Council is presided over by the lord president of the Privy Council — currently Penny Mordaunt, a Conservative member of Parliament and the leader of the House of Commons. The mayor of London and high commissioners of the “realms” — the 14 Commonwealth countries in which the queen remains the head of state — are also invited.

  • Dogara, embittered 124 APC aspirants seek nomination fee refund

    Dogara, embittered 124 APC aspirants seek nomination fee refund

     

    Embittered 125 aspirants including former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara who participated at the March 26 National Convention of the ruling All Progressives Congress have vowed to take the leadership of the party to court over its failure to refund the payment for their Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms.

    This development is coming four months after they were asked to step down for the current National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and other members of the National Working Committee.

    Some affected politicians who spoke in separate interviews expressed concerns that they have explored and exhausted all their options with the only obstacle being the national chairman.

    Depending on the category of the expression of interest and nomination forms, the 126 aspirants who contested various positions were made to cough up between N20 and N2.5 million.

    At the end of the exercise, APC raked in well over N700 million with an additional N3 billion generated among stakeholders and party members ahead of the presidential primary.

    There were also complaints that despite the huge revenue generated by the leadership of the party between March and August, ad hoc workers, staff and affected party members who were engaged were equally not paid their welfare allowances.

    Aspirants asked to withdraw at National Convention

    The affected aspirants who stepped down for Adamu in the category of National Chairman included Senator Umar Al-Makura, Salihu Mustapha, Muhammed Sani Musa, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, Senator George Akume and Mohammed Etsu.

    Those in the category of National Deputy Chairman (North), who withdrew for the consensus candidacy of Senator Abubakar Kyari, were Yakubu Dogara, Faruq Aliyu, Sunny Sylvester Monidefe, Senator Ken Nnamani, Malam Isa Yuguda and Emmanuel Joseph.

    For the post of the National Secretary, three aspirants which included former Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu; Oyedele Ifeoluwa and Prof Olaiya Olaitan were sacrificed for the candidacy of Senator Iyiola Omisore.

    In the category of National Vice Chairman (South-South), Yekini Nabena and Worgu Chambers were asked to step down for Victor Giadom.

    Aside from the aforementioned aspirants, there are 113 other aggrieved politicians who are also yet to be refunded.

    One of the affected candidates, who spoke with our correspondent in confidence, vowed to recoup their nomination forms before Adamu is kicked out of office.

    Adamu ‘deliberately’ delaying refund

    He said, “We know how much was raised at the convention and even the APC presidential primary. So what is the problem? We the party members are equally aware of how much was doled out for Osun and Ekiti elections. I still don’t get why Adamu is finding it hard to comply with the directive of the president.

    “The only reason we delayed in taking this issue to court until now was to avoid putting our presidential candidate, Asiwaju, in a bad light. But as it stands, we have no option but to head for court. Everybody knows what took place at the convention where we had to step down cannot be called an election. Perhaps, that’s why some of them in the NWC including Adamu has been acting with impunity.”

    In one of the letters written to Adamu dated June 21 and appended by 107 signatories, the aggrieved aspirants also accused the party leadership of excluding them from active participation and assignments at the last party primaries for the election of various candidates.

    The letter partly read, “Your Excellency, recall that President Muhammadu Buhari in his speech at the convention directed that for those who agreed to step down, the party should refund the money they paid for the purchase of expression of interest and nomination forms.

    “For the record, it is not worthy to envisage the reality of the huge expenses we incurred in our campaigns, which amount was far beyond the cost of purchase of forms.

    “Our able chairman, we want to assure you and the APC leadership that we will give our best to ensure the party emerges victorious in the forthcoming 2023 general election.

    “While yet not being discouraged, we wish to express that we were excluded from the lists of just concluded party primaries committee assignments for the election of our various party candidates for the general elections.”

  • Just In: Section of NASS new-wing gutted by fire

    Just In: Section of NASS new-wing gutted by fire

    Fire has gutted the new wing of National Assembly complex in Abuja on Thursday.

    This was in a statement issued by the Director of Information, National Assembly, Agada Rawlings Emmanuel.

    Agada in the statement explained that”the incident happened this evening in one of the janitors, located on the 2nd floor, Room 227 in the new-wing, of the House of Representatives”.

    According to the director of information, the fire is suspected to have resulted from an electrical fault which was noticed by one of the Staff to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, who promptly alerted the Federal Fire Service Unit stationed in the National Assembly Complex”.

    “Accordingly, the fire has been put out with the assistance of the staff on duty, who immediately broke into the affected office and effectively deployed stationed fire extinguishers on the floor before the arrival of the fire service officers.

    “Consequently, with combined efforts, the fire was contained in the affected office as power supply to the wing was put off to enable a full assessment and investigations into the incident.

    “It is expected that, after due assessment by the fire service and the Estate and works directorates, normalcy would return in the New-Wings housing all principal officer’s of the House of Representatives and Honourable members office.

    “Management wish to commend the prompt response and actions by the first responders particularly, National Assembly staff and the Fire Service Unit in helping to contain the fire outbreak”.

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  • PDP engaging in propaganda while APC is forging ahead – Dep Speaker, Wase

    PDP engaging in propaganda while APC is forging ahead – Dep Speaker, Wase

     

    Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Wase has said while the All Progressives Congress (APC) is busy on internal reconciliation, opposition party, PDP is deeply involved in propaganda activities.

    The lawmaker said the party was fixing the cracks caused by primaries by reconciling aggrieved members ahead of 2023.

    Wase made the disclosure when he visited Imo governor Hope Uzodinma on Thursday.

    The APC chieftain said the ruling platform will “bridge all gaps and win with all margins”.

    Wase accused the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of engaging in propaganda.

    “They are only making a mountain out of a molehill so that they could sell their party.

    “There is nothing to worry about”, Wase added.

  • Just In: Reps consider NASS service yrs extension Bill shelving public hearing

    The House of Representatives has listed for consideration, a Bill seeking to extend the retirement age of staff of legislative houses shelving public hearing, a major instrument in legislative business.

    The conscientious document which was quietly reintroduced in the 9th House had become invalid following the compulsory retirement of the former Clerk to the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani Omolori, who successfully had the extension of service approved by the 8th Assembly under Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara as presiding officers.

    However, the current exercise on the Bill which is allegedly being pushed by the current Clerk, Arc. Amos Olatunde Ojo, has not gone through public hearing which is an essential stage of lawmaking in the Parliament.

    Details shortly…

  • House of Reps to investigate 12-year remittances, withdrawals from Ecological funds

    Nigeria’s House of Representatives has resolved that it would investigate withdrawals and remittances to and from the Ecological Funds between 2010 and 2022.

    This followed allegations of mismanagement of the funds by the beneficiaries.

    The House has therefore mandated its Committee on Ecological Fund to probe unto the total consolidated mandatory accruals into the Ecological Fund from 2010 to March 2022.

    The House also said the committee should evaluate the disbursement of the Ecological Fund in line with the provision of the 1999 Constitution from 2010 to March 2022.

    Related Story: 

    In addition, the committee is to also investigate the utilisation of the Ecological Fund by benefiting government’s departments and agencies (MDAs) from 2010 to March 2022 and establish infractions (if any).

    The House further asked the committee to conduct public hearings with all the major stakeholders on the effective and efficient utilisation of the Ecological Fund and report back within six weeks for further legislative action.

    These resolutions folowed a motion moved by a member, Femi Bamisile.

    His motion is titled; ‘Need to Investigate the Total Consolidation Accrual and Utilisation of Ecological Fund.’

    Presenting the motion, Bamisile stressed the existence of the Ecological Fund as an intervention fund set up by the Federal Government to address multifarious ecological challenges across the country.

    He noted that the Federal Government, the 36 states of the federation, the 774 Local Government Areas and the Federal Capital Territory receive funds through the Federal Allocation Committee as shares from the Ecological Fund.

    According to the lawmaker, apart from the annual statutory appropriations, four agencies of the Federal Government draw funds from the 1 per cent share of the Federal Government allocated to Ecology and Derivation Fund, according to their respective enabling laws.

    Bamisile stated that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), by virtue of Section 13(2) (b) of its Act, draws 20 per cent; National Agency for the Great Green Wall, by virtue of Section 12 (2) (b) of its Act, draws 15 per cent; the North East Development Commission, by virtue of Section 14(12) (b) of its Act, draws 10 per cent; and the National Agricultural Land Development Authority, by virtue of Section 18 (2) (a) of its Act, draws 10 per cent.

    He said, “The House is worried that efforts at making beneficiaries of the Ecological Fund accountable for their accrued shared funds in the last few years have been ignored. Sections 88 and 89 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) empowers the National Assembly to conduct investigation and power as to matters of evidence.”

  • Finally, INEC agrees to extend Voter Registration by 60 days

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has agreed to extend the ongoing continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise initially slated to end at the end of June, 2022.

    Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Hon. Aishatu Jibril Dukku, disclosed this while briefing fellow lawmakers on the committee’s efforts to ensure implementation of a House resolution reached last week.

    “The Committee held a meeting with INEC yesterday (Tuesday) and they agreed to extend the CVR, all our resolutions were approved,” she told members of the House at plenary on Wednesday.

    The House of Representatives had last Wednesday urged INEC to extend the deadline for the continuous voter registration by an extra 60 days from June 30, 2022, to enable more Nigerians to register.

    The House also called on the Commission to deploy additional staff and voter registration machines across the country to meet the objective.

    The chairman, House Committee on media and publicity, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, through a motion, had noted that the ongoing CVR by INEC was scheduled to end on June 30 ahead of the 2023 general elections.

  • 2023 Elections: VP Osinbajo to meet APC Reps in Abuja

    2023 Elections: VP Osinbajo to meet APC Reps in Abuja

    Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has scheduled a meeting with the House of Representatives members elected under the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC today, Wednesday.

    The Banquet hall of the presidential villa has been picked to be the venue where the APC caucus will meet with the VP to break their Ramadan Fast (Iftar)

    This was disclosed in a letter sent by the office of the VP and read by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Ahmed Wase to members on Tuesday.

    Recall that Osinbajo held a meeting with 22 APC governors on Sunday where he first revealed his presidential ambition.

    Findings have shown that today’s meeting with APC representatives is a measure to intimate them of his plans for 2023 presidential ambitions and also seek their total support.

     

  • Deficit in 2022 Appropriation Act rise to N7.35tn, as President Buhari seeks borrowing

    Deficit in 2022 Appropriation Act rise to N7.35tn, as President Buhari seeks borrowing

    President Muhammadu Buhari has written a letter to the House of Representatives, informing the parliament that the deficit in the 2022 Appropriation Act has risen by N965.42bn to N7.35tn and the Federal Government would borrow funds to fill the gap.

     

    Buhari, therefore, called for an amendment to the Federal Government’s budget and the fiscal framework for 2022.

     

    Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, read out the cover letter on the executive bill, titled, ‘Submission of the Revised 2022 Fiscal Framework’, and dated April 5, 2022, at the plenary on Thursday.

     

    According to the President, there have been new developments both in the global economy as well as in the domestic economy, which have necessitated the revision of the 2022 Fiscal Framework on which the 2022 budget was based.

     

    Buhari said, “These developments include spikes in the market price of crude oil, aggravated by the Russian-Ukraine war, significantly lower oil production volume due principally to production shut-ins as a result of massive theft of crude oil between the production platforms and the terminals. The decision to suspend the removal of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) subsidy at a time when high crude oil prices have elevated the subsidy cost has significantly eroded government revenues.

     

    “There is also the need to make adequate provisions for the recent enhancements of allowances for officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force to boost their morale as they grapple with heightened security challenges in the country.

     

    Following these developments, it has become necessary to adjust the fiscal framework and accordingly amend the 2022 Appropriation Act to ensure its successful implementation.”

     

    The President said the adjustments to the 2022 Fiscal Framework include an increase in the projected oil price benchmark by $11 per barrel, from $62 per barrel to $73 per barrel; a reduction in the projected oil production volume by 283,000 barrels per day, from 1.883 million barrels per day to 1.600 million barrels per day; an increase in the estimated provision for PMS subsidy for 2022 by N3.557tn, from N442.72bn to N4tn.

     

    Other adjustments include an N200bn cut in the provision for federally-funded upstream projects being implemented, from N352.80bn to N152.80bn; an increase in the projection for Federal Government independent revenue by N400bn; and an additional provision of N182.45bn to cater for the needs of the Nigeria Police Force.

     

    The letter partly read, “Based on the above adjustments, the Federation Account (main pool) revenue for the three tiers of government is projected to decline by N2.418tn, while FGN‘s share from the account (net of transfer to the Federal Capital Territory and other statutory deductions) is projected to reduce by N1.173tn.

     

    “However, the amount available to fund the FGN Budget is projected to decline by N772.91bn due to the increase in the projection for independent revenue (Operating Surplus Remittance) by N400bn.

     

    “Aggregate expenditure is projected to increase by N192.52bn, due to increase in personnel cost by N161.40bn and other service wide votes by N21.05bn (both for the Nigeria Police Force), additional domestic debt service provision of N76.13bn, and net reductions in statutory transfers by N66.07bn.”

     

    Buhari listed statutory transfers’ adjustments as follows: NDDC by N13.46bn, from N102.78bn to N89.32bn; NEDC by N6.30bn, from N48.08bn to N41.78bn; UBEC by N23.16bn, from N112.29bn to N89.13bn; Basic Health Care Fund by N11.58bn, from N56.14bn to N44.56bn; and NASENI by N11.58bn, from N56.14bn to N44.56bn.

     

    He said, “Total budget deficit is projected to increase by N965.42bn to N7.35tn, representing 3.99 percent of the GDP. The incremental deficit will be financed by new borrowings from the domestic market.

     

    “Given the urgency of the request for revision of the 2022 Fiscal Framework and the 2022 budget amendments, I seek the cooperation of the National Assembly for expeditious legislative action on this request.”

     

    Meanwhile, the House Committee on Customs laid its report on the 2022 budget of the Nigeria Customs Service.

    The Chairman of the committee, Leke Abejide, laid the report at the plenary on Thursday.

     

    The committee recommended from the Statutory Revenue Fund of the Nigeria Customs Service in the total sum of N369,136,090,650, out of which N108,853,901,275.62 is for personnel costs; N45,896,807,993.81 is for overhead costs and N214,294,269,945.73 is for capital projects for the year ending December 31, 2022.

  • Omo-Agege aides to resign over political ambitions

    Omo-Agege aides to resign over political ambitions

    Following interests in contesting in the 2023 general elections, members of staff at the Office of the Deputy President of the Senate have been given up to Tuesday to resign their appointments.

     

    The ultimatum was issued in a memo by Dr Otive Igbuzor, the Chief of Staff to the Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, dated March 30, 2022, and titled ‘Resignation of all political appointees.’

     

    The memo read, “I write to draw the attention of all political appointees who are delegates to the state House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, governorship and presidential primaries election (sic), including those who are holding positions in the party, to please put in their resignation letters.

     

    “This has become expedient as a result of the provisions of the recently amended Electoral Act.

     

    “All resignation letters should get to the Office of the Deputy President of the Senate not later than April 11, 2022. Above is for the attention and prompt response of all concerned political appointees of the Deputy President of the Senate.”

     

    It was gathered on Tuesday night that at least two aides to Omo-Agege are nursing political ambitions.

     

    “So far, I know of two us who want to context elections but I won’t want to mention their names now until they openly declare their interests,” a member of staff at the office said.

     

    The National Assembly and the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), are presently in a legal battle over Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022.

     

    Section 84(12) of the Act reads, ‘No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.’