TheNewsGuru

Tag: Power

  • Why NASS tried removing president’s powers in constitution amendment – Saraki

    Why NASS tried removing president’s powers in constitution amendment – Saraki

    Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has said that presidential assent was an unnecessary addition to the process of Constitutional amendment.

    Saraki told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Abuja that it was with that conviction that the Senate approved the removal of presidential assent to an amended constitution.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that 92 senators, more than the required four-fifths, had earlier voted to remove the presidential assent.

    However, the proposal did not scale through at the House of Representatives, implying the presidential assent will not be expunged in the ongoing constitution review.

    TheNewsGuru.com recalls that the 7th Assembly had in 2015, while reviewing the 1999 Constitution, approved the removal of presidential assent from the process of the amendment.

    But, the then president, Goodluck Jonathan, refused assent to the amendment because of the removal of the clause contained in Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution.

    Jonathan had insisted that the amendment would have been valid if supported by votes of not less than the four-fifth majority of all the members of each chamber of the National Assembly.

    In addition, he said that it also ought to have been approved by a resolution of the House of Assembly of not less than two-thirds of all the states as provided by Section 9 (3) of the 1999 Constitution.

    However, Saraki said that going by the process of amending the Constitution, the final decision of federal and state legislatures should be seen as the decision of the people.

    “Well, to me, if two-thirds of the National Assembly agrees to something and two-thirds of the state assemblies also agree, in my view, the President should accept that as the wish of the people.

    “Does he really need to assent? Personally, I don’t think so; that is my personal view, because with two-third of National Assembly, two-third of states’ assemblies, the people have spoken,” he said.

    Saraki added that the Senate would follow up on the amendment process in the states to ensure that there was wide consultation and sensitisation.

  • Constitution Amendment: Reps reject devolution of power to states, women’s indigeneship right, others

    Constitution Amendment: Reps reject devolution of power to states, women’s indigeneship right, others

    Members of the House of Representatives on Thursday commenced voting on the bills to amend some sections of the 1999 constitution albeit in a rowdy session.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Senate had earlier voted on Wednesday.

    The House rejected the devolution of power to the states, the separatrion of the office of the Attorney-General from that of Justice minister, women’s indigeneship right, and the plan to ensure the appointment of only indigenes as Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister.

    At the proceeding on Thursday, the House took votes on 22 of the 33 items listed for amendments in the constitution.

    Deputy Speaker LasunYussuff, who heads the Constitution Review Committee said 32 alterations were treated by the Committee.

    The move to put former Senate presidents and ex-speakers of the House of Representatives in the Council of State passed with 294 votes.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the threshold to pass any item is 240 votes .

    Also the reduction of Authorisation of Expenditure of the President from six months to three months in case of non- passage of budget” was approved with 295 votes, but efforts to ensure that a minister emerges from the Federal Capital Territory was defeated as it could only rake up 191 votes.

    The 35 per cent affirmative action was also passed alongside timeline for submission of nominees for Ministers/ Commissioners with portfolio attachment with a vote of 248 against the 46 and one abstaining.

    The removal of the nomenclature “Force” from the Nigeria Police Force was effected with 280 votes as opposed to nine against and four abstaining.

    Also, a bill seeking to make provisions for pre- election matters and the time for the determination of pre-election disputes passed with 288 votes. Three were against and one abstained.

    Though the House agreed to give the Auditor- General independence with 289 votes, the attempt to separate the office of the Attorney General from the Minister of Justice was defeated as it only garnered 234 votes.

    The House approved the power of the National Assembly to override the President on Constitutional Amendment should he withhold assent with a vote of 248 and a negative of 28 and four abstaining.

    The lawmakers rejected devolution of power to decongest the Exclusive list, legislative list by transferring certain items contained to the concurrent list, thereby enabling the states to make laws in respect of those items passed with 210 votes which was less than the required 240 votes, and rejected State Creation and boundary adjustment.

    It, however, passed the age reduction bill (popularly known as “Not too young to run,” Bill) after spirited appeal for the Majority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila and the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, passed with 261 votes, 23 against and 2 lawmakers abstaining.

    Women lawmakers became furious over a technical hitch that caused the House to vote against citizenship and indigeneship for women for their husbands’ states of origin.

    The issue, which caused a spontaneous reaction from the women held up voting for about 15 minutes. The Speaker ordered for another vote.

    In a flash, the women surrounded Speaker Yakubu Dogara’s seat, vehemently protesting the result of the vote.

    The repeat vote still ended in a defeat for the item as it garnered only. 208 votes, a far cry from the 240 votes needed.

    The consistent efforts from Hon. Mojeed Alabi (Osun State) through a point of Order to explain some procedural lapse got a tongue-lashing from the Deputy Speaker who considered it an attempt to truncate the voting.

    Lasun’s remark did not go down well with Alabi who raised a point of Order 13 sub section 1(2), and referred to the preamble of the Constitution.

    He was, however, ruled out of order by the Speaker Yakubu Dogara,

    Dogara said: “We are taking vote on all the clauses despite the fact that most of them did not survive in the Senate, so that Nigerians will know our position on them,”

    The Speaker regretted the failure of his colleagues to amend the 1999 Constitution to allow Abuja indigenes to be empowered henceforth to produce the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The amendment would have also ensured that the FCT is adequately represented at the Federal Executive Council (FEC), like other states.

    The proposal was rejected as it failed to meet the requisite two-thirds majority of votes cast with 191 for and 91 against; 240 votes were required to pass it.

    Of all the rejected bills, the Speaker was also particularly disturbed that the recommendations of the Committee on Citizenship and Indegenship as well as separation of the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Office of the Minister of Justice were equally rejected by the lawmakers.

    Dogara, confirming what transpired at the Committee of the Whole, said it was unfortunate that the law that would have allowed women married to someone from another State claimed the indegenship of her husband’s state did not scale through.

    He also was shocked that the separation of the office of the AGF from that of the Minster of Justice to failed to sail trough, considering the debates the issue had gone through over time.

    “It is rather unfortunate, our women in the House must have found this unfortunate. Well, this is democracy and we are still growing,” he said.

    Dogara was optimistic that some of the rejected bills would find better favour in the next constitution review.

     

  • Power generation dropped by 2,841MW in one week – TCN

    Power generation dropped by 2,841MW in one week – TCN

    The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, wheeled out 22,978 megawatts of electricity between July 17 to July 23 against the 25,819 megawatts generated in the previous week.

    Power generation dropped by 2,841 megawatts between the two periods.

    The daily statistics of TCN operations obtained from the Nigerian Electricity System Operator, a section of the TCN, showed that power generation between July 17 and July 23 was taken by 11 distribution companies.

    According to the statistics, the daily power generation during the period were 3,227mw, 3,504mw, 3,285mw, 3,656mw, 3,579mw, 2,898mw and 2,829mw, respectively.

    However, the daily distribution to distribution companies (DISCOs) between July 10 and July 16 were 3,511mw, 3,973mw, 3,915mw, 3,947mw, 3,3511mm, 3,487mw and 3,475mw, respectively.

    The TCN indicated that the national peak demand forecast stood at 19,100.00mw, of which 11,165.40mw was the installed available capacity, 7,139.60mw was the available capacity, 7,000mw was current transmission capacity and network operational capacity of 5,500.00mw.

    The peak generation ever attained in Nigeria was 5,074.7mw, while the maximum energy ever attained stood at 109,372.01mwh.

    Mr Dada Thomas, the President of Nigerian Gas Association, said that the nationwide shortage of available natural gas supply was the most critical issue facing the Nigerian power sector.

    Thomas said that his association, gas producers and investors in the country would be at ease if the natural gas shortage was checked at least in the short term.

    According to him, the shortfall in natural gas supply has been further worsened by pipeline vandalism.

    Thomas said the problem was impacting on cost-reflective electricity tariffs, unworkable Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and over regulation of gas price.

    He urged the Federal Government to take actions to resolve the problem and other challenges that had made further investments unattractive for gas producers, processors, pipelines and transportation companies.

    Thomas said that the shortages, being witnessed over the years, would be trivial to the massive economic and social disruptions in future “if we fail to act now“.

    Prof. Barth Nnaji, a former Minister of Power, expressed deep concern about the future of Nigeria’s power sector.

    Nnaji said the environment was not attractive for investment that would help address various challenges in the industry.

    Nnaji said that foreign investors were not willing to invest in the sector because the Federal Government had not addressed major issues that would guarantee good returns on investment.

    He said that many projects had been stalled due to financial constraints and tariff issues.

    According to him, the tariff must also reflect exchange rate movements since “attachment of tariff to currency movements and adjustments must be done”.

    “Tariff review will also help DISCOs to recover costs and pay for gas.”

    Nnaji also said that lack of industry deregulation and absence of proper legislation had discouraged investment because “it is the only deregulation that will allow investors to consider investment in gas production and transportation.’’

    Mr Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, on July 5, said that the TCN would undertake 200 projects to improve power supply.

    Fashola said at the Nigeria Energy Forum in Lagos that TCN was concentrating on completing the projects to ensure smooth transmission of energy to the national grid.

    “Electricity is a very topical subject in the country; lack of it affects production, security, comfort and standard of education.

    “If all of us will draw all energy needs from the grid, we will need over 13,000 Megawatts, but unfortunately, the maximum we have from the grid is just 4,700MW,’’ Fashola said.

     

    NAN

  • ‘Nigerian comedians cannot speak truth to power’- Wale Gates

    ‘Nigerian comedians cannot speak truth to power’- Wale Gates

    UK based Nigerian comedian, Wale Gates has condemned Nigerian comedians for not being able to speak truth to power. Gates asserted that his desire is to be able to say whatever he wishes regardless of whose ox is gored. He added that this has prevented him from doing many shows in Nigeria. He made this known in an interview with ace broadcaster, Funmi Iyanda.

    According to him:” Yeah, I am. To be honest, I don’t wanna do what they do and again I want to be free. That’s the dynamics of it. I hate that. Honestly, I want to look at powerful people and say [my mind]. I don’t like when comedians have to be stupid to make rich people laugh. I hate that thing. No, I don’t want to do that. In the Nigerian system, they do that.I want to be able to say what I want. Someone like Ali Baba, it’s taken him years to be able to do that. I don’t want to wait that long. I want to be able to speak to power now. Would I be able to do it in Nigeria? No. If I see something, I have to say it. The reason why Nigerian comedians can’t afford to be arrogant is that they need to conform so that money will come in” he said.

    Wale was born in East London to Nigerian parents, but moved to Lagos, Nigeria with his parents as a child. He spent his early years in Primary school in Lagos and boarding School in Ogbomosho, Oyo state. After Secondary school, he gained admission into the University of Lagos and graduated with a Bsc in Economics. It was at the university while also in Theatre 15 (A stage drama production company in the university) as a stage actor, that he decided to launch out solo as a stand-up comic in October 2001

  • Coup Scare: No plans to overthrow Buhari – Defence Headquarters

    The Defence Headquarters has said it has no intention to stage a coup to seize power from the incumbent administration as led by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Tukur Buratai recently warned operatives of the military to steer clear of politics or tender their resignation. He alleged that some desperate politicians were already approaching some of officials of the army in their preparation towards the 2019 general elections.

    However, in a press briefing by the Defence Information Office, the military said there was no course for any alarm.

    It said, “Professionally, it is a command responsibility to caution officers and men on routine basis to conform to the ethics of the military in all ramifications, which includes; interactions and exchange of visits among others.

    “This command responsibility is exercised right from the highest echelon such as the office of the Service Chiefs down to the lowest levels of command. Hence, the caution from the Army in this case.

    “Secondly, administratively, officers and men are regularly cautioned to exercise command and control by Appropriate Superior Authorities through commanders at various levels. This is to prevent members of the armed forces from derailing from their core focus of total dedication to their oath of allegiance. Thus, it is a usual practice in military administration.

    “However, it is pertinent to state that, if there are signs of actions that point to likely breaches of military code of conduct as it were, cautions or warnings are issued with possible investigations following.

    “Thus, in the present situation, the Armed Forces and the Army in particular has employed the due process to ensure that officers and men remain committed to performing their constitutional roles. As such, the mention of coup plots from some quarters are assertions which are not confirmed.

    “At this juncture, let me assure all Nigerians and lovers of this country that the Armed Forces, is and will remain totally loyal to the Commander-In-Chief (C-in-C) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and in complete subordination to civil rule.

    “Furthermore, all fears about a coup should be allayed as the contemporary Nigerian Military is abreast with the best international practices in governance, which is democracy. In this regard, the military high and other levels of command will continue to ensure effective training and administration, to ensure that the Armed Forces of Nigeria, retain its place of pride amongst the military globally.”

  • 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.”

  • 2019 Elections: Melaye talks tough, says politicians above 70 shouldn’t be in power

    2019 Elections: Melaye talks tough, says politicians above 70 shouldn’t be in power

     

    The Senator Representing Kogi West Senatorial District, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dino Melaye has stated that it is wrong for politicians above 70 years to be in leadership position in a country where vibrant and energetic youths abound.

    Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari contested the 2015 presidential elections on the platform of the APC at the age of 72.

    Melaye noted that this was happening because the Nigerian youths had not really taken their stand.

    According to him, 2019 should be the time for the youths to chase out those he labeled as “old cargoes” from power.

    Addressing the youths, weekend, in Abuja at a dinner and lecture organised by the Nigerian Youths Parliament, the senator added that youths constituted over 60 percent of the electorates, which he said can be used by them to determine who emerges as leader in the country at whatever level.

    Melaye said if the youths must weed out the old politicians successfully, it has become imperative for them to come out and participate fully in politics and take their rightful positions up to the leadership level.

    He warned the youths to stop wasting their youthful energy on non- productive ventures, but instead, engage in productive ones such as politics, economics and social activities by harnessing their potentials effectively.

    “You must picture the future you want to feature in. You need to develop your capacity.

    “There is no way someone in his 70s can still be in a leadership position in the Nigerian polity if you the youths are effectively involved and in charge,” Melaye said.

  • Nigerians! ‘Expect poor power supply as generation drops to 2662 megawatts’

    From all indications, Nigerians might suffer poor power supply henceforth following an announcement by The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) that the nation’s power generation capacity dropped from 3,959 megawatts on Jan. 4 to 2,662 megawatts on Jan. 22.

    The Nigerian Electricity System Operator (SO) website, a sub agency of TCN, disclosed the figure in its daily forecast on power generation data in Lagos on Sunday.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that TCN attributed the drop to low water levels at the hydro power stations and dearth of gas to the power generating companies.

    TCN said the total output of 2,662.20 megawatts from all the generation companies on Sunday had been transferred to the 11 distribution companies across the country.

    According to the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) operational report for Jan. 4, the power sector hit a peak generation of 4,959 megawatts but dropped to 2,662.20 megawatts on Jan. 22.

    NESI said the sector recorded highest system frequency of 51.32Hz and lowest system frequency of 48.52 Hz, while the highest and the lowest voltage recorded on Sunday were 372KV and 300KV, respectively.

    An official of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), who preferred anonymity, told NAN that electricity generation had been dwindling due to challenge of accessing gas by generation companies.

    The official said that low level water levels at the country’s hydro thermal stations also contributed to the drop in generation.
    He said that most hydro stations are currently confronted with low water challenges to generate energy.

    The TCN official said that this often caused system collapse when the system scrabbled to distribute energy from the grid to distribution companies and the quantum of energy was not sufficient.

    According to him, it is a challenging period for power sector but it will get better once the hydro swing into high water level and gas becomes available.

    He attributed the drop in generation to the attack launched against pipeline facilities belonging to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) on Jan. 17 around Ugheli in Delta State.

    Similarly, a top official of Egbin Power Station, who also pleaded anonymity, said that the power plant, with a capacity of 1,320 megawatts, now generates 340 megawatts due to gas constraint.
    The official said that the 340 megawatts Egbin generated was wheeled out to the national grid at 6.00 am on Sunday.

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, had on Friday said that the sabotage of power assets by militants prevented Nigeria from generating 7,000 MW of electricity.

    “Today, at its most frugal, the nation’s power grid would support 6,500MW; pushed to its limit, it would carry 7,200MW.

    “So it is not true when you hear that the grid capacity is not more than 5,000MW. It is growing every day and more projects are coming up.

    “We have completed some and more are still coming up. So that is where we are,’’ Fashola said at the Nextier Power Dialogue in Abuja on Friday.

    The Minister said while power was out due to attacks in one axis, the expansion of either the grid or gas supply was kept alive on another axis and hydro power was also being expanded.

  • Power supply, gas our major challenges in 2016 – Lagos Water Corporation

    The Managing Director of Lagos Water Corporation (LWC), Mr Muminu Badmuson, on Tuesday identified power and gas as major challenges the corporation faced in water production and distribution in 2016.

    Badmus told the newsmen in Lagos that the incessant interruption in water supply in the state, especially the metropolis in 2016, was due to the challenges.

    “The power supply was erratic and the constant blowing of gas pipes in the Niger Delta made procurement of gas to the Independent Power Plants (IPP) attached to the major water works stations difficult.

    “The Corporation had to procure diesel generators to power the water works to make water supply possible in the metropolis.

    “The cost of diesel with the economic recession that is affecting the exchange rate is escalating by the day,’’ he said.

    Badmus said that in spite of the challenges, the corporation was able to ensure that potable water reached all its customers in the state.

    He said that the corporation would continue to plead with its customers to pay their water bills.

    “The water bill now does not cover the cost of producing and distributing water to houses, but it is helping with maintenance,’’ he said.

    Badmus said that the corporation had created regional centres as well as data control to make its bill payment easy for customers.

    He said that in 2017, the corporation would embark on construction of new water works stations to boost supply of potable water in the state.

    According to him, many Green field projects to be constructed with private sectors through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) modalities have been identified.

    Badmus said that the involvement of the private sector would help the corporation in its effort to provide adequate potable water to areas yet to benefit from its services.

     

     

    NAN

  • After 18months in power, we are still battling to fulfill our campaign promises – Buhari

    After 18months in power, we are still battling to fulfill our campaign promises – Buhari

     

    …Urges Niger-Delta militants to come to negotiating table

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said it is sad to note that some of the problems his campaign highlighted and promised to find solutions to in the 2015 general election which he won was still lingering 18 months after assuming power as the nation’s president.

    The president however appealed to Nigerians to be patient with his government saying he and officials of his administration were highly committed to restoring Nigeria to the part of greatness.

    Buhari spoke when residents of the Federal Capital Territory, led by the Minister, Muhammad Bello, paid him a Christmas visit at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The President said Nigeria and its citizens were uppermost in his mind, stating that he would continue to do all within his powers to improve their living conditions.

    In his words: “I want you to talk to people to be patient with the government. We are always thinking about our country and we are thinking about our people.

    “I assure you that the country and the people of the country are always uppermost in our minds. With our performance in the North-East, Nigerians know that this government is serious.

    “For our friends in the Niger Delta area, we will persuade them that they should please sit down with us and agree to manage our resources rather than think of fighting it out.”

    The president did not however failed to blame past administrations for failing to utilize the oil boom period by saving for times like these.

    Speaking further, he said: “It is about 18 months since we resumed here. I believe some of you followed us during our campaigns and what we identified are still fundamental problems.

    “The first is security, and we kept on saying whether it is an organisation or a country, we have to first secure it before we can manage it properly. Without security, nothing can work.

    “Secondly, the economy and the unemployment of able-bodied persons. From 1999 to 2014, the crude production was over 2.2m barrels per day. The average cost per barrel was $100.

    “When we came, it was $37. I think it is now between $40 and $50. I asked for savings, there was no saving. I asked them what they used the money to buy, they said they bought food and oil. I do not know how long it took me to recover from the shock.

    “Some of you will recall either by history or discussion that it was cocoa, palm kernel, cotton, agro allied industry that we used to build infrastructure, be it rail or school.

    “We also used the proceeds to develop oil. When we got the oil, we threw everything away. We thank God this year, the harvest was quite good; otherwise, I do not know what we would have done.

    “There was no money saved, no infrastructure built, and power is still our main problem. Old roads are dilapidated and they need to be repaired from Lagos to Kano, Port Harcourt up to Maiduguri. There are rail lines we want to develop from Lagos to Calabar, from Lagos to Kaduna and the Abuja one.

    “If we can get the infrastructure done, we cannot even know the number of Nigerians that will get jobs. So, we have to get infrastructure. It will take tankers and other articulated vehicles off the road; we will save vehicles and we will save lives and we will get jobs for a lot of Nigerians.”