TheNewsGuru

Tag: National Assembly

  • Senate passes finance bill two weeks after transmission

    Senate passes finance bill two weeks after transmission

    Senate on Tuesday at plenary passed the Finance Bill 2021, transmitted to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari, on Dec 7.

    The passage of the bill followed consideration of a report by the Joint Committee on Finance; Customs, Excise and Tariff; Trade and Investment.

    Presenting the report, the Chairman of the Joint Committee, Sen. Solomon Adeola (APC-Lagos), said the bill seeks to support implementation of the 2022 Federal Budget of Economic Growth and Sustainability by proposing key specific taxation, customs, excise, fiscal and other relevant laws.

    According to him, a total of 12 Acts were amended under the finance bill which contains 39 clauses.

    He said the bill seeks to promote fiscal equity, align domestic tax laws with global best practices, introduce tax incentives for infrastructure and capital markets, support small businesses and promote increase government revenue.

    “The Finance Act 2020 was predicated essentially on having no new taxes and no new incentives due to the COVID-19’s impact on the economy as such it was structured across four broad thematic areas.

    “Enacting counter cyclical measures and crisis intervention initiatives; Tax, fiscal responsibility, and public procurement reforms; Reforming fiscal incentives policies for job creation; Ensuring closer coordination of monetary, trade and fiscal policies; and Enhancing tax administration,” Adeola said.

    According to the report, approved by the Senate, the Joint Committee, based on its observations, recommended that 5 per cent Capital Gains Tax be imposed on shares’ disposal transactions where gains exceed N250 million in 12 calendar months.

    It recommended that Gaming and Lottery Companies, as well as Oil and Gas Companies be taxed.

    It underscored the need for Midstream and Downstream Oil and Gas Companies to be made liable to corporate tax without the benefit of tax exemptions for firms exporting goods to earn foreign exchange.

    The Committee observed that doing so would prevent Double-Dipping by Gas Utilization Companies such that they cannot claim both (1) 3-year Tax Holidays; as well as (2) Petroleum Profit Tax Act Incentives or (3) Pioneer tax Holidays under IDITRA.

    It advocated for qualifying Capital Expenditure rules for small and pioneer Companies, to prevent double dipping by mandating that Companies cannot deduct qualifying Capital Expenditure.

    This, it said, is to reduce their taxable profits where the relevant qualifying Capital Expenditure is used to generate tax – exempt income.

    It sought more powers for the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to collect NPTF levies on Nigerian Companies on behalf of the fund and to streamline tax levy collection from Nigerian Companies in line with President Buhari administration’s ease of doing business reforms.

    The committee also emphasised the need for the Federal Government to ensure that FIRS deploys both proprietary and third-party technical applications to collect information from taxpayers, enhance confidentiality and non-disclosure and to enable them investigate tax evasion and other crimes and sanction non-compliant tax payers.

    It further called for the FIRS to be empowered to assess Non-Resident Firms to tax on fair and reasonable turnover basis on Turnover earned from digital services to Nigerian customers, with a further mandate to appoint persons for the purpose of collection and remittance of non-resident taxes.

    It demanded necessary reforms on securities lending transactions, minimum Tax for Insurance Companies and Companies in general, Taxation of Unit Trust Income, Real Estate Investment Trust, and Insurance Companies Capitalization by NAICOM in line with Tax Equity.

    It urged the government to mandate FIRS as Principal Tax Revenue Collection Agency to collaborate with other law enforcement MDAs in streamlining Tax Collections by enhancing Public Financial Management reforms.

    According to the report, doing so would reduce revenue leakages and better track actual expenditure to revenue performance in line with the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as Amended), Fiscal Rules and other Extant Money Acts.

    It also called for the diversification of Nigeria’s revenue from Oil sector to other sectors to fund critical expenditures.

    It demanded an increase of 0.5 per cent in educational tax, pushed for close monitoring of unfolding development and policies on VAT, Tax Incentives, Projected increase Tariff on Tobacco, Alcohol and Carbonated drinks to fund vital expenditure on Health, Education and Security, with a possibility of introduction of new taxes, tariffs and levies as the economy recovers.

    Meanwhile, the Senate also passed a bill to amend the 2021 Appropriations Act.

    The bill, sponsored by Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi (APC-Kebbi), scaled through second and third readings after it was considered during plenary.

    The 2021 Appropriations Act (Amendment) bill seeks to extend implementation of the Capital aspect of the Appropriation Act 2021 from December 31, 2021, to March 31, 2022.

  • Why Buhari is yet to sign electoral bill into law four weeks after passage – Presidency

    Why Buhari is yet to sign electoral bill into law four weeks after passage – Presidency

    The Presidency has explained why President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to sign the electoral bill into law four weeks after passage by the National Assembly.

    According to the presidency, President Buhari will take action that is in the overall interest of the masses at the appropriate time.

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that the National Assembly had on November 19 transmitted the bill to President Buhari for assent in pursuance of Section 58 (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and the Acts Authentication Act 2004.

    However, the President is yet to sign the bill into law, four weeks after the Senate and the House of Representatives passed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and approved the electronic transmission of results.

    The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina on Monday in a monitored interview on Channels Television said his principal is currently consulting with all stakeholders, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before making his position known on the issue.

    While noting that his principal cannot be preempted, Adesina noted that the President would decide on the pending bill at the appropriate time.

    “The President is consulting, he has to consult with all the stakeholders and then arrive at a position that is best for the country,” he stated.

    “Part of that consultation was the communication with INEC and there are other stakeholders that have also been reached for positions and counsel on that. At the end of the day, Mr. President would aggregate all of it and what is best for the country is what he will do.”

    Although he didn’t specify a timeframe, the presidential spokesman explained that the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami is being carried along by the President as far as the bill is concerned.

    When asked if the President would sign the bill or reject the document, Adesina did not reply in the affirmative or negative.

    Rather, he stated that his principal who is there to ensure that processes are enhanced in the country, believes that the new law would boost the nation’s electoral process, hence would look at the bill very critically.

  • Wayas: We have lost a father – Dipo Akinsola

    Wayas: We have lost a father – Dipo Akinsola

    The family of Dipo Akinsola has expressed sadness over the death of Dr Joseph Wayas, a former president of the Nigerian Senate.

    Akinsola in a statement on Friday described Wayas as a elder statesman and a detribalized Nigerian and a wonderful personality.

    The statement reads: “My family and I, have lost a father, with the death of the Elder Statesman, a detribalized Nigerian and a wonderful personality, His Excellency, Distinguished Senator (Dr) Joseph Wayas.

    “The Ex-Senate President who took me as one of his children, made it a point of duty to stop over in the Office of the Senate President anytime he visited National Assembly Complex where I served as the Political Adviser to the then Senate President, His Excellency Distinguished Senator (Dr) Ken Nnamani, GCON between April 2005 and June 2007, and shared with me many fond memories of his close friend and Political ally, Late Chief Wemi Akinsola, my daddy’s elder brother.

    “Dr Joseph Wayas’ death is a big loss to our beloved country Nigeria at a time like this, when we should be tapping from his political sagacity.

    “I will particularly miss his fluency of the Yoruba accent. May his gentle soul rest in peace. Amen”.

  • AMCON submits list of 1,000 debtors ‘holding Nigeria to ransom’to National Assembly

    AMCON submits list of 1,000 debtors ‘holding Nigeria to ransom’to National Assembly

    In a spirited move to recover debts owed it, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) on Friday submitted a list of its top 1,000 debtors to the National Assembly.

    The names were submitted to the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency at the just concluded retreat of the committee in Lagos.

    This came moments after President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (Amendment) Act.

    The AMCON Act provides for the extension of the tenor of the resolution cost fund and grants access to the Special Tribunal established by the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act 2020, which confers on AMCON the power to, among others, “take possession, manage, foreclose or sell, transfer, assign or otherwise deal with the asset or property used as security for Eligible Bank Assets, and related matters.”

    The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency, Mr Victor Nwokolo, who received the list from the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the corporation, Mr Ahmed Kuru, was quoted as saying that the committee called for the list so that the National Assembly would know “those holding the country to ransom.”

    He said this would enable the lawmakers to meet with relevant agencies of the Federal Government on how to further deal with the debtors to ensure the realisation of AMCON’s mandate in the overall interest of the Nigerian economy.

    Nwokolo, who commended the commitment of the Kuru-led agency, said the corporation had been operating under a very difficult condition since its establishment, adding that this had been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    He said the harsh economic realities caused by COVID-19 meant that “the recovery assignment AMCON is doing for the country has been further compounded, which is why the National Assembly is looking at ways of further supporting the recovery drive.”

  • National Assembly transmits Electoral Bill 2021 to Buhari for assent

    National Assembly transmits Electoral Bill 2021 to Buhari for assent

    The National Assembly has transmitted the Electoral Bill 2021 to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.

    The Senior Special Adviser to the President on the National Assembly Senator, Babajide Omoworare, disclosed this in a statement on Friday.

    He said this is in pursuance of Section 58 (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and the Acts Authentication Act 2004.

    The National Assembly had last week completed work on the amendment of the Electoral Act bill which grants the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) powers to deploy electronic transmission of election results.

    NASS and indeed many Nigerians are hoping President Buhari will give his assent to the electoral act amendment bill in time to ensure INEC prepares well ahead for the 2023 general elections.

  • Lets kill Presidential System before it kills Nigeria – By Mideno Bayagbon

    Lets kill Presidential System before it kills Nigeria – By Mideno Bayagbon

    By Mideno Bayagbon

    Contact: 08055069059 (Whatsapp only)

    Professor Chinua Achebe of blessed memory in his seminal work on the many failures of Nigeria as a nation, put the blame squarely on leadership. The trouble with Nigeria, he noted, is simply “a failure of leadership… The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which is the hallmarks of true leadership”.

    Yet this is a nation which produced the likes of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo, Pa Enahoro, Balarabe Musa, and the rest.

    Among our many failures as a nation that Professor Achebe identified in the ten chapter book, which he published in 1983, are tribalism, indiscipline, corruption, false image of ourselves, social injustice and the cult of mediocrity.

    And eight years after his death, Nigeria and its leadership cadre, failing to learn the invaluable lessons which the book tried to highlight, have sunk to a level, no one alive in 1983 could have dreamt was possible. Every one of the problems identified by Achebe, so long ago, is still with us; but at a more terrifying and calamitous level.

    A careful study of the perpetuator of the leadership failure identified by Achebe almost 40 years ago, today, is the so called federal system of government which we pretend to practice. And it has become clear that if we don’t tame this monster now, the nation’s current descent into the abyss could accelerate into an implosion of unimaginable proportions.

    What do I mean? Our current leadership recruitment process, under the presidential system is faulty and cannot encourage the breeding of good leaders.

    Most of the leaders who have seized the corridor and room of power in the last 22 years have done so, not to serve their fabled constituents, but to feather their own nest. They are in politics, from all available indices because they see it as the quickest route to unearned wealth. Politics has become an industry to access the commonwealth for self.

    Most of the people who have taken to politics are those without any verifiable pedigree. Ruffians, scammers, the jobless, the criminally intentioned have swarmed our corridors of power and the few true leaders have had to take a back seat. It is so bad today that no one who truly wants to serve, will venture into politics.

    First let us look at the type of leaders the presidential system has thrown up since 1999 when we began this democratic march.

    All agree that the best of us have left the worse of us to seize the reins of power. From the local councillor to the President of the nation, in 22 years, money, sheer devilry and impunity have ruled our politics. For the jobless, the deviously criminal-minded, politics has become the major route to unearned wealth.

    Secondly, the presidential system is wasteful, stupendously expensive and is an incubator of corruption; at least our variant of it.

    My contention is that the presidential system is bad for a poor country like Nigeria which also has the unfortunate distinction for profligacy and corruption.

    Two houses of parliament of about a combined figure of 500 who live as Lords, and their leaders as wanton emperors, expend more on themselves than on the entire citizenry.

    You seize power by any means, and the treasury becomes your fiefdom. The struggle for power becomes the struggle for access to state wealth and the privatisation of such into personal pockets. No questions asked.

    That is why for example, the amount budgeted to oil the less than 5500 members of the National and States Assemblies is more than the total money budgeted for all levels of education in the country; for healthcare, for infrastructure, and so on.

    In our current practice, we begin with Councillors, local government chairmen, house of Assembly members, leadership of the Houses of Assembly, Governors, commissioners, Special Advisers and Assistants; and then we move to the members of the House of Representatives, Senators, and the leadership of both houses and their retinue of aides. Of course the Presidency comes with a plethora of offices and positions.

    In all of these, about 10,000 Nigerians from all the geopolitical space of the country are those in the room of power. To them, over 50 percent of the national wealth are dedicated. It is a sustained bazaar which is rather surreal.

    The Presidency and all its appendages spend on itself thrice the humongous amounts the States and National Assemblies waste on themselves.

    Take the instance of entourages of the high and mighty politicians in the country. A local government chairman wastes scarce resources of its local government area in buying frivolous but expensive SUVs for himself, buys back up security cars at an average of at least N1.5bn (One Billion Five Hundred Million Naira only). Of course, the wife of the chairman must also have her share of official entourage which may sink another N500 million.

    You only need to see the entourage of the Senate President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives as an example of our uncensored profligacy. Their entourage and convoy almost rivals that of the US President and is far more than most of the Presidents and Prime Ministers in the world.

    In their show of opulence and power, they parade at least 20 exotic vehicles in each convoy. This does not include the Police outriders. In their convoys, you will find at least two state of the art, bullet proof 500 SEL Mercedes Benz emblazoned with the National Crest, four powerful top of the range SUVs, at least a further four medium range SUVs, and a coterie of other vehicles. The cost of the vehicles on their convoys is nothing less than N2 billion each.

    Lets not even talk about governors and their Alice in Wonderland convoys. Compare any of their convoys with that of say, the British Prime Minister whose official convoy consist of a Jaguar XJ Sentinel, a back up car and two security vehicles and two or four outriders and you cannot but wonder what truly is the problem with our leaders and their politics.

    Compare their ostentatious lifestyles to the hunger walking naked in the nation where the minimum monthly wage is a miserly $55 (N30,000).

    How do we defend such callousness, such insensitivity? Such wickedness? The answer, they say, is blowing in the wind.

  • INEC, National Assembly, 5G and an overburdened NCC, By Okoh Aihe

    INEC, National Assembly, 5G and an overburdened NCC, By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    The country’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has taken advantage of every little opportunity to spruce up its image lately. One of such moments was the bunkum decision taken by the National Assembly to allow electronic voting in the amended Electoral bill but not allowing transmission of results electronically as the country was not technologically matured for it. The amended bill also now mandates INEC to consult with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) before taking such far-reaching decision.

    Really that was good for INEC because if you recall the last Governorship elections in Osun and Kano States where the processes suffered abracadabra infusion midway, nobody will want to credit INEC even with the minutest respect. But Nigerians love peace and they had to let that pass so that peace could reign although the peace we see is as stable as quicksand. In perpetual motion with little prospect for anchor hold.

    INEC’s pride has been injured and now it has come out smoking, telling Nigerians the story that was always there but subdued for selfish intents, that it has laws insulating it even from the President of the nation. There was such occasion last week when the body, at a press conference pointed, the attention of the media to Section 160 of the constitution, which says:

    “Subject to subsection (2) of the section, any of the bodies may, with the approval of the President, by rules or otherwise regulate Its own procedure or confer powers and impose duties on any officer or authority for the purpose of discharging its functions provided that in the case of the Independent National Electoral Commission, its powers to make its own rule or otherwise regulate its own procedure shall not be subject to the approval or control of the President.”

    The aforementioned has been in existence, for which INEC was in deficit in terms of compliance. It is encouraging that a catharsis has taken place causing INEC to go on image burnishing. The body enjoys my sympathy and support.

    I want to observe that the law makers were not ignorant of this provision, instead, through unnecessary mischief that could be very harmful to the nation on the long run, they voted against a clear emergent need in the polity in these trying times, thus, putting the shenanigans of a party over and above every interest of the people.

    It is not only clear from the foregoing that INEC cannot be subordinated to the whims of the NCC by law but the law makers should be duly informed, even if they already know but pretend to the contrary, that the NCC is already overburdened by a minister sitting astride the Commission and subjecting every of its action and decision to very parochial politics. Why can’t the lawmakers find out what is choking the NCC to near helplessness even when officials of the system pretend that everything is fine while choking to absolute paralysis?

    Dr Isa Ali Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy is a politician whose love for politics, sunshine and media exposure takes precedence over every other interest. Everything must be manipulated to secure advantage including media attention even if it means obfuscating the import of the subject matter.

    For instance, the policy on 5G technology deployment was approved last week by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and so much attention was splashed on the development by the media. The NCC has since completed a trial run of 5G in the country with only one outcome; that it is safe to do 5G in Nigeria and some of the operators can scale up their operations to provide the services, should they be able to pay for the license.

    I am happy that such significant step has been taken for which I reserve a little praise for Pantami but there is too much politics in the process, too much media attention grab. I have spoken to some technocrats to find out if such media spin was necessary. What they tell me is that it should have been managed within the ministry with the tacit tech support of the NCC which will implement the policy. Discretion is a stranger to some of the people in this administration.

    But there are other things that trouble me, the most significant one being that the 5G licensing process should not be subjected to politics. Technology has serious aversion for politics because the latter stifles its advancement, progress and expectations.

    Some decisions have been taken previously for which the nation continues to suffer, unable to reap the benefits of the kind of tech explosion people expected. One of such decisions was the sale of Etisalat which transmuted to 9mobile overnight. The process wasn’t properly interrogated and whoever bought it wasn’t in the right standing to do so at the time, no matter the considerations. Proof. A company with about 23m subscribers under 9mobile has plummeted to 12, 908, 092, which is only 6.89 per cent of the market. A company that was competing for market space has lost it all of a sudden; its failure is putting pressure on the other operators. Politics.

    The coming of Mobile money operations were eagerly anticipated by Nigerians who dreamt of the opportunities to do money transactions without heading for the banks whose operations and efficiency have been impaired by COVID-19. Unfortunately during the licensing which was done by the Central Bank with other bodies like the NCC making ancillary contributions, decisions were taken above capacity and competence. Today there are mobile money operations that remain as infantile as when they started. The sector is unable to generate the job explosion expected.

    Oh, how they hurt. Politics and misdirected patriotism.

    This is why I want to inform that the coming of 5G is major development. This is one reason the National Assembly must remove extraneous weight from the NCC so that the regulator should concentrate on its core functions. But it should also be very interested in the execution of the 5G licensing process so as to stem failure before we induce it.

    The licensing should not be about empowering a part of the country. Nigeria is a nation. This nation shouldn’t be a scorn or a scum because of adventurers who chanced into very vital positions without capacity to understand public expectations from such offices.

    Let there be no mistake about it. At some point there will be punishment for the malfeasance acts of those who deny us the opportunity to smile today, although there are those who are stubbornly convinced that Nigerians don’t get punished for their failures while in office.

    If not properly handled a 5G licensing failure will be one burden this administration will bear forever. I do not expect failure anyway. I pray that those involved in the process will shield their biases and be able to take sound decisions that will make Nigerians happy.

  • JUST IN: Ex-senator Nuhu Aliyu is dead

    JUST IN: Ex-senator Nuhu Aliyu is dead

    A former senator representing Niger North in the National Assembly, Nuhu Aliyu, is dead.

    The Niger State Government confirmed his death in a press statement on Wednesday.

    The statement by the Secretary to State Government, Ahmed Matane, noted Aliyu died on Wednesday in Kaduna State following a brief illness.

    Due to Aliyu’s death, Governor Abubakar Sani-Bello suspended the weekly State Executive Council Meeting.

    “The patriotic tendencies and excellent handling of legislative duties concerning the welfare of people and the nation demonstrated by late Senator Nuhu Aliyu are worthy of emulations.

    “But we must take solace in the fact that from God we all come and to Him we shall all return. Nobody shall live longer than the time appointed by Almighty God,” the statement read in part.

    Nuhu Aliyu, a Chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party was the first chairman of the PDP in Niger state before being elected into the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1999 and was re-elected to the same position in 2003 and 2007.

    Born in 1941, the deceased studied Advanced Police Management at the Police College Jos and rose to become a Deputy Inspector General of Police.

    He was in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department before he retired.

  • National Assembly denies telecoms a space on election matters, By Okoh Aihe

    National Assembly denies telecoms a space on election matters, By Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    When the Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan, wakes up in the future to look at the history books, his name will be written in infamy. Reason being that at a time the country was drunken with violence and looked for good leadership to take momentous decisions, members of the National Assembly which he led, had inverted reasoning as they buried their heads in obloquy and insouciant irresponsibility.

    The case of the Senate President is particularly goring because he is too superficial in cogitation to understand how desperately Nigeria needs help. Days prior, before the vote on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021, whose major beef was the electronic transmission of election results, Lawan complained bitterly that his phone was swamped with 900 SMS in one day. What absolute flapdoodle and indecorous psychobabble from a guy whose bills are paid by the very voters he is leading his team at the National Assembly to castrate with premeditated deceit.

    They still managed to flash a smile to wish away that moment of national embarrassment oozing out on the floor of the National Assembly, explaining that the process may be revisited in the future to enrich the Act as development unfolds. They couldn’t also reason that the show of shame which some Nigerians had prayed shouldn’t happen, in order to redeem some of the Senators of their last shred of humanity, could throw the country in such a spiral that even that future they envisaged might not show up at all.

    But that was not their problem. Two things were at stake: the future of the country which desired transparent elections and the political future of some of the law makers at the National Assembly. In the two chambers – House of Representative and the Senate, a majority of the law makers chose their political future, never for once thinking that they need a stable polity first before their political future. Any way no degenerate thinks of the other person except his safety. This writer is one of those who believe that quite a number of the lawmakers at the National Assembly didn’t get there through healthy means. They rigged their way in but we are too sanctimonious as a people to confront the truth and point this at their faces. So voters living in IDP camps who, ordinarily should be angry that their country has failed them, returned a perfect voting score during the last elections, more than any other part of the country where there was relative peace.

    Since this is a season of abnegation of responsibilities by the political leadership of this country, the National Assembly went a step further to obfuscate any discerning concerns on the Bill by inviting the INEC chairman and the NCC Executive Vice Chairman for professional consultation. You see, their failed enterprise must be hanged on a fall guy. They have to hide behind some walls. It was all politics. The puppeteers were working towards one result: how to rig the next elections and remain in power for ever more. The INEC Chairman never showed up. Only the NCC came and nearly validated the position of the National Assembly with a submission which nearly indicated that every of our hope of progress in the telecommunications industry is all but smoke. The submission was based on 2018 electoral coverage which was to the effect that 50 per cent of the polling units had 3G coverage while 49 per cent had 2G network. The EVC represented by Engr. Ubale Maska, an Executive Commissioner, submitted that only 3G was needed for results to be transmitted electronically.

    But INEC has made a riposte, saying it was ready to adopt modern technologies in the conduct of elections in Nigeria including electronic transmission of results, adding it had carried out some test run in Edo and Ondo States which went very well.

    I have seen some reports roasting the NCC for making such submission and they don’t edify my spirit. What did you expect the NCC to say?

    A source from the telecoms regulatory authority told this writer that the National Assembly invited the wrong parties. They should have invited the service providers who have the overall picture of the industry network deployment, the source maintained.

    While explaining that INEC has the capacity to transmit election results electronically, Festus Okoye, an INEC Commissioner, was reported as saying that “the Joint Technical Committee constituted by the Commission and the Nigerian Communications Commission and made of telecommunication operators met on March 9, 2018, and the consensus was that the requirements for the electronic transfer of results proposed by INEC is practicable. The meeting, therefore, agreed that the solution that INEC wants to deploy is possible.”

    Did the National Assembly call for this report before members took their votes or they simply wished that Nigerians could be cured of the past so much that they won’t ever remember what happened a couple of years ago? This writer is also aware that some years ago, the NCC through the Universal Service Provision Funds (USPF) produced the Access Gap Map which indicated service blind spots or gaps across the country. Did the National Assembly member study that Map before taking their votes?

    Read the Act setting up the NCC, the Nigerian Communications Act 2003. There is nowhere in the Act where the Commission is empowered to get involved in election matters. What the National Assembly did is to overburden a supposedly independent regulatory authority which is also laboring to find a cure to its ailment. Or are they pretending not to know that the regulatory body is currently going through some troubling ailment?

    Let this be a word for them. Under this administration in which they make laws, some regulatory authorities, especially the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), have been in chains, nearly ruined by the ministers who superintend them. The hold of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, on the NCC is particularly distressing. A regulator should be free from all government encumbrances but under this administration, the internal matters of the telecoms regulatory body is regulated by a minister with scant knowledge of telecom matters. In fact, the Minister has set up his office in one of the facilities of the regulator. Let the lawmakers search for any other country of the world where this has happened. Except a seedy country going to bits.

    This is the other possibility they didn’t think about or simply tried to keep away from public scrutiny. Should the lawmakers succeed in their shenanigan, a telecoms rookie and a political cum religious maverick like Pantami would be the one writing election results in future. What a shame!

    The law makers seem to have a phobia for technology, so they prefer to live in the past. Unfortunately technology is tracking every of their action for posterity, and future generations will condemn some of these law makers for being satanic arbitrates in the life of a nation that needed protection from a generation of failed leaders.

    Okoh Aihe writes from Abuja.

     

  • TNG introduces weekly snippets from National Assembly

    TNG introduces weekly snippets from National Assembly

    On a weekly basis, TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) will be showcasing short incisive reports on happenings in the Nigerian upper legislature laced around legislative business sessions and national issues.
    To kickoff the snippet this week, TNG takes a look at abandoned multi-billion naira residential quarters for principal National Assembly officers, NASS roof leakage, the controversial Nigeria Press Council bill and Twitter ban.
    Read details below and do keep a date with us again next week
    Eight years after been awarded, multi-billion Naira residential quarters for principal officers remain uncompleted
    Eight years after the award of a N10billion residential quarters for principal officers, the massive structure is yet to get to completion stage.
    The contract which was awarded during the President Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2012 has seen three assemblies, the 7th, 8th and 9th which is half way through.
    The construction started during the 7th Assembly under the watch of Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and Senate President David Mark.
    TNG recalls that the Senate President in the 8th Assembly, Senator Bukola Saraki and his counterpart in the House, Speaker Yakubu Dogara had rejected the quarters.
    NASS roof leakages: FCDA insists it was caused by seepage blockage
    The Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA has insisted that the roof leakages that almost disrupted legislative sessions last Tuesday was caused by what it described as seepage leakages.
    Till date, the NASS management has kept a sealed lip over the ugly incident that ought to have been adequately managed by it.
    Nigeria Press Council Bill not designed to deal with journalists-Hon Odebunmi
    The Nigerian Press Council amendment Bill is primarily designed to address its shortfalls and make necessary adjustments.
    This was disclosed by Hon Segun Odebunmi, Chairman Reps Committee on Information and Government Affairs after viral reports that the Bill will further gag the Nigerian Press once it’s amended and passed into law.
    Twitter ban: Gbajabiamila backs FG, insists national security supersedes freedom of speech
    The Speaker of the House of Reps, Rep Femi Gbajabiamila has stated that the ban on Twitter supercedes freedom of speech because national security was involved.
    The speaker who just clocked 59 made this revelation in a chat on a national television program saying:
    The people actually elected lawmakers to represent them but when national security is involved it has to be adequately addressed.
    TNG recalls that PDP reps had to stage a walk out of plenary when the House resolved to give the Federal Government ten days to respond to their queries on Twitter ban.
    The PDP reps had insisted that there’s no law like that in Nigeria and asked the FG to arrest them instead of their constituents.