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Tag: Senate

  • Senate boils as PDP senator describes Buhari ‘incompetent’

    The Nigerian Senate on Thursday experienced rowdy plenary session as Senator, Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia State) described President Muhammadu Buhari as ‘incompetent’ leader.

    Abaribe had come under order 43 to discuss the issue of insecurity in Nigeria.

    Recall that the senator in March criticised President Buhari for constantly denying responsibility when the country faced certain challenges.

    “A few days ago, in this chamber we talked about the security of Nigeria,” he said. “I recall that on the matter of herdsmen versus farmers, two explanations were given by highly ranked security personnel in the country. First of all, the Inspector General of Police said that these killings were as a result of laws being passed by states. Secondly, the Defence Minister said these killings were as a result of the blockage of grazing routes. And we continued to look at all these explanations.

    “Yesterday, in London, the Commander-in-Chief and President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari said that these killings were as a result of the people who were trained by the late Muammar Gaddafi, implying that these people who are doing these killings in Nigeria are invaders from outside of Nigeria. And if he even said they are invaders, what it means is that it validates my last point that when a commander-in-chief says he cannot take care of invaders, why is he still a commander-in-chief?

    “Why do we still continue to indulge this president that everywhere goes along to tell everybody outside this country that he is totally incompetent? Because it’s is obvious…”

    He, however, cut short by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, as senators, mostly from the ruling APC, reacted.

    “You can’t finish, you can’t finish,” they shouted suggesting to the Senate President not to allow Sen. Abaribe continue his speech.

    After a partial restoration of order, Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, cautioned Abaribe and asked him to withdraw his statement.

    “The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the leader of this country and deserves the respect and courtesy of this chamber and those of us in it. I was once a member of the opposition and I do not recall ever calling (out) the then president or insult(ing) him. This is our institution. If we do not conduct ourselves with respect, nobody will. I want to ask my colleague to immediately withdraw his statement and apologise to this chamber,” he said.

    But an irate Abaribe refused to withdraw the statement, leading to more anger from the other senators who insisted he did so.

    The chamber was again chaotic for several minutes as protests from APC senators continued.

    It took the intervention of the Senate President to make Abaribe withdraw the statement partially.

    “I am very well guided by you but and I say Mr President that there are words that there are no alternatives to. What I did was to interpret the words by Mr President in London and I juxtaposed it with the explanations here. What it tells me is that there is a conflict.

    “If any word I used is misunderstood by anyone, I apologise. All I am saying is simple. The heads of security in Nigeria made several explanations for the killings of our citizens and there is a dis…”

    After another rowdy session, the Deputy Senate Leader, Ibn Na’Allah, coming under sections Order 53 and 54 said Abaribe ”was not in order for tabling an issue that deals with Mr President without raising a substantive motion”.

    “The issue is you cannot even raise any issue regarding the conduct of the president,” he said.

     

  • DPP lauds Senate for rejecting El-Rufai’s $350m World Bank loan

    The Democratic People’s Party (DPP) on Wednesday praised the Senate for rejecting the 350 million dollars loan application by the Kaduna State Government.

    The National Chairman of the party, Mr Garshon Benson newsmen in Abuja that the rejection of the loan application was in the interest of people and future of the state.

    “My party’s view is that the National Assembly acted very well by rejecting that loan application from Kaduna State, under the leadership of Gov. El Rrufai.

    “From the information available to all of us, the National Assembly made us to know that Kaduna state is the second worse debtor states in the federation indebted to the tune of over 200 million dollars

    “So adding more debt is not the best for the people of Kaduna state.

    “We had expected Gov. El Rufai, given his wealth of experience in public life, to have tried to open up alternative sources of revenue for his state and increasing the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

    “That will have reduced the pressure of lack of funds on the state and make more funds available for development.

    “So, I praise the courage of the Senate Committee that did the job and the position of the entire Senate.’’

    The Senate recently rejected the request by the Kaduna State Government to obtain a $350 million loan from the World Bank.

    The three Senators from the state, Shehu Sani, APC, Kaduna Central; Suleiman Hunkuyi, APC, Kaduna north and La’ah Danjuma, PDP, Kaduna South said that it became imperative for the credit facility to be rejected because critical stakeholders from the state were never consulted and for the fact that the fact that the state was already heavily indebted.

    Benson said that the action of the Senate had saved Kaduna state and its economy from increased indebtedness.

    He, therefore, advised Nigerians not to see the rejection of the loan application as political vendetta.

    He said if the loan was approved, those that would suffer the consequences would be the unborn children of the state.

    “It is our view that Kaduna can raise its Internally Generated Revenue in such a way that they can take care of salary payment without touching their federal allocation.

    “If the state can generate IGR to pay salary, it will have a lot of money left over to meet other developmental needs.’’

    Benson also advised other state governors to take proactive measures to increase their revenue base rather that increasing their debt profile.

    He said that one of the reasons most states’ debt profiles were increasing was that political office holders failed to adequately prepare for the positions they were occupying.

    “Before you want to be a governor, president or Local Government chairman, you should be able to conduct research to know how healthy is the state you want to run in terms of economic viability.

    “How much is the salary wage bill per month? How much is the state of liquidation? What per month is income that comes to the state, both from federal and IGR.’’

    “Most of them are not prepared. That is why some of them would want to add to the existing debt, rather than thinking of how to reduce or add value to the income of the state.’’

  • We’ll pursue $350m World Bank loan without your approval – Kaduna Gov tells Senate

    The Governor Nasir El-Rufai led Kaduna State Government has reacted to the Senate’s rejection of its $350million loan from the World Bank insisting that it would go ahead to pursue with or without the Senate’s approval.

    Recall that the Senate decided not to approve the loan request after a committee headed by Shehu Sani (APC-Kaduna) advised against it on the ground that the state is the second most indebted in the country.

    Sani, who is the chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign and Domestic Loans, argued that the new loan if approved will erode economic viability of the State.

    His position was supported by two other senators from the state, Suleiman Hunkuyi (Kaduna North) and Danjuma La’ah (Kaduna South).

    Reacting to the federal lawmakers’ decision, the state government said nothing can stop it from obtaining the loan for the development of the state.

    The state Commissioner of Finance, Suleiman Abdu Kwari, at a news briefing in Kaduna on Friday said the excuse given on the floor of the Senate as to the size of the state’s loan was baseless.

    Mr. Kwari said with the way the three senators from the state spoke against the loan, it was apparent they had put their personal frustrations above the right of the people of the state

    He said the World Bank was convinced the state has met the conditions before given its approval for the loan.

    “Having checked our laws, our accounts and our performance, the World Bank was convinced that Kaduna State merits their support. Therefore, on 20th June 2017, the World Bank announced that it has decided to provide a budget support facility of $350m to Kaduna State.

    “Our Commissioners have appeared before the relevant committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and presented detailed explanations for the rationale and the purposes of the loan.

    “Our delegates were commended for the quality of their presentations. Nobody in those committees of the National Assembly can honestly claim not to be aware of the justification and the purpose of the loan.

    “In fact, the House of Representatives endorsed the loan. When our officials appeared before the Senate, no questions were asked,” the commissioner stated.

    “The excuse given on the floor of the Senate as to the size of the loan is baseless. The creditor and the ratings agency have adjudged that Kaduna State can sustainably manage the credit which has a 10-year moratorium and a 40-year repayment period.

    “The State average monthly FAAC allocation for the preceding 12 months is N3.295bn, while our current monthly debt service is N467.12million.

    “Also, the monthly debt service forecast of the FGN Budget Support Facility of N14.169bn with a moratorium of 18 months and World Bank Loan of $350mn with a moratorium of 10 years are N191.767 mn and N98.843mn respectively.

    “If the State is to repay all loans today, the total debt service would be N757.735mn representing 23% of total deductions as a percentage of total allocations.

    “This is less than the threshold for sub-national borrowing, which is capped at 40%. In view of this, Kaduna State is within the sustainable debt level.

    “What the Senate displayed was elevating the ego of some of its members above the demands of public policy.

    “As the three senators from Kaduna State spoke, it was apparent that they have put their personal frustrations above the right of the people of Kaduna State to decent investment in human capital development through good schools and hospitals, and better quality of life and accelerated economic growth through the provision of infrastructure.”

    Asked the next step the state government would take after the Senate rejected the loan, Mr. Kwari said: “There is still hope of getting the loan from the World Bank. This was because there are processes to be concluded at the National Assembly over the loan, including voting for or against by each lawmaker before final rejection or acceptance of the loan.

    “No amount of blackmail, no amount of intimidation, no amount of misrepresentation, there is no going back for us as long as moving the State forward is concerned.

    “We know the processes of the World Bank we passed through, it was like passing through the eyes of the needle to get the approval for the loan. So World Bank processes are not like any other institutions.

    “If we can pass through World Bank processes to get to this stage, then there is still hope to get the loan for the development of the State.

    “The National Assembly which I know very well, committees will be set up to look at the loan issue, and at the end of the day, the decision will be subjected to voting either for or against. In this case, no Senator or House Reps member has more than one vote.”

    On the fear expressed by the senators that the loan if approved may be diverted, the commissioner said: “There is no way you collect World Bank loan and divert it to another project because one of the conditions of the bank is that the loan must be used for the sole purpose it was collected.

    “I think the rate at which the state is moving in terms of development, some people will be made politically irrelevant because there is a new dawn in Kaduna where the traditional way of compromising development in the state is dead and buried.

    “The loan, if obtained, will be used to build community roads, primary schools, secondary schools, health centres, and the economy of such (benefitting) communities will improve as other social activities will take place there.”

     

  • Easter: Sen. Alimikhena harps on defending democracy

    Senate deputy chief whip, Senator Francis Alimikhena has urged Nigerians to shun their parochial and ethnic interest by defending the nation’s democracy through a new sense of purpose and determination to make things work.

    He said the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was a sufficient example of self sacrifice by defending his calling.

    “As Nigerians we have been called into a collective ship as a nation and we must join hands together and shun our personal agitations in order to defend the ship and our democracy from sinking and further slide,” he said.

    The Edo North Senator, called on all Nigerians to be alert and defend our Democracy against political jobbers and merchants who are determined to truncate our democracy by sponsoring revolt and crisis across the nation for their personal enrichment against the growth and development of the Nation.

    According to him “Whichever side of the religion or political divides we may find ourselves, let us unite across tongue and creed to move our long suffering nation forward. What must be paramount is the interest of our country. What makes for the good of all; welfare and security of our citizens must of a necessity be our vision and purpose.”

    While reiterating his commitment to the people of Edo North, Senator Alimikhena said he has not performed below expectation due to his various developmental land marks in the area. “With the ongoing efforts in upgrading the Auchi polytechnic into a Federal University of Technology the economic life of the area will be revive and Edo North will be producing the human resource for the productive sector of the Nigerian economy.

    He expressed the need for unity of purpose and collective commitment by all Nigerians in overcoming the challenges confronting us as a nation.

    “Easter is a time for all Christians to ponder over the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and take a cue from his selflessness, by eschewing all forms of political, social and religious vices.”

    In a press statement issued by his Personal Assistant Benjamin Atu, Senator Alimikhena maintained that Easter is a time for spiritual renewal and commitment to the progress of humanity.

    “This is a period for us to be committed to the ideals of Nationhood by putting the Nation first in all our endeavors and put our past behind us in order to come together to nurture the Hope and Unity that has always bound us together as one great nation. As believers we must not forget the price of redemption and the hope ahead of us in our struggle for livelihood.

    The Senate Deputy Whip who described violent as a very limited political tool that must not be explores or encourage said, “Unity is our weapon not aggression. Violent is an ignorant way of expressing interest.

    While cautioning against politics of violence He said, ‘in our quest for political power we must not destroy the nation we seek to rule. ‘Power comes from God and power is only given to those who lower themselves to pick it up and not those who instigate the best of violence.’

    “We must come together and have faith in Nigeria in order to combat ignorance and intolerance of atrocities. The Senator called on those crusading for war and instigating crisis to direct their energy in other productive venture for the betterment of humanity. “No preaching can make any difference if we do not resolve individually to change our attitude towards government irrespective of political party.

    He urged the Nigerian youth to shun truancy and other anti socio behavior that would jeopardize their future. The Edo North Senator appealed to politicians at all level to endear themselves to the people by their words, deed and actions and not place partisan politics above the immediate needs and priorities of Nigerians in order to serve as model for the upcoming generation.

    Senator Alimikhena assured Nigerians that better days are ahead for our nation. We must collectively seek the future we desire by making the nation a safe place for us to dwell. As Nigerians, we must emulate the steadfastness of our Lord and savior by defending the peace and unity of our country in order to strengthen our democracy.

     

  • Easter: Senate suspends plenary till April 10

    Easter: Senate suspends plenary till April 10

    As part of activities marking the 2018 Easter celebrations, the Senate on Thursday suspended plenary activities till April 10.

    The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, made the announcement on Thursday, after the Deputy Majority Leader, Bala Na’Allah (APC, Kebbi South) moved that the Senate adjourn for the day.

    The suspension is because of the Easter celebrations for which the federal government already declared Friday and next Monday public holidays.

    While wishing his colleagues a happy holiday, Mr Ekweremadu admonished his colleagues not to relent in praying for the nation.

    “This is an opportunity for me to wish all of you and everyone a happy Easter and please let’s use the remaining period of the Lent to pray for our country for God to intervene in our lives and ensure that all these killings will stop and our economy would pick up and we continue to leave in unity and there would be progress all round.

    “We believe that God would hear our prayers this period and wish everyone a happy Easter and look forward to seeing you again on the 10th of April,” he said.

  • ‎Senate rejects El-Rufai’s $350m World Bank loan request

    The Senate on Thursday rejected a request for a $350 million loan from the World Bank by the Kaduna State Government.

    The rejection followed a presentation of the committee’s report by the Chairman, Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna Central).

    Last year, the Kaduna State Government requested the loan for ‘Development Policy Operation’ from the World Bank.

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai said the state needed a $350 million loan from the World Bank to achieve its governance objectives in the “short to medium term”.

    He also said the Bank agreed to provide the facility after “checking the laws, accounts and performance of the state”.

    The Sani-led committee, however, suspended the state’s request for foreign loans, adding that no loan request will get approval until the lawmakers were convinced about it.

    Sani, who has been having a running political battle with Governor El-Rufai, however, explained that due process must be followed before any loan is approved, and that he has the duty to ensure the state does not inherit a debt it could not repay.

    Reading out the findings, observations as well as recommendations of the committee, Mr. Sani explained that one of the reasons for the rejection is because “Kaduna State is the second most indebted state in Nigeria”.

    Sani also said the panel met with relevant officials before arriving at the decision.

    “Based on the submissions and interactions with the invited Government officials, the Committee observed as follows:

    “1. That the Development Policy Operation, DPO (Budget Support) of USD 350 million for Kaduna State was approved by World Bank in 2016 and captured in 2016 – 2018 borrowing plan as approved by the National Assembly.

    “2. That the credit facility has an attractive low financing data of 1.25% interest; moratorium of 5 years and a 25 year maturity tenor.

    “3. That the facility is already captured in the 2016-2018 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

    1. That according to the latest Debt Management Office figures, Kaduna State has a total debt stock of USD232.1 million.

    “5. That approving the current loan request of USD350 million for Kaduna State will bring its total debt stock to USD582.1 million.

    “6. That if this loan request is approved, the new total debt stock of USD582.1 million for Kaduna State will be unsustainable and necessarily attract huge financial burden on the meagre federal allocation to the State.

    “7. With the new borrowing, the Debt Service to Revenue Ratio of Kaduna State will further be increased and thus impact negatively on the ability of the State to meet other basic needs of its people.”

    He further explained that the new debt stock will likely, further erode the economic viability of the State and recommended “that the Senate do reject the request of USD350 million for Kaduna State as contained in the 2015 2018 External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan of Mr President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.”

    “With the high total debt stock of Kaduna State at the moment, the new borrowing sought, will make the debt service to revenue ratio high, thereby worsening the State Government’s ability to meet its other basic obligations to the people and further erode the economic viability of the State,” he added.

    Suleiman Hunkuyi (APC, Kaduna North), while supporting the recommendation, said he is “amazed, perplexed and in shock” to find that what the governor has gone ahead to indicate to the general public “is completely different from what was found on the application of the facilities as indicated in the detailed drawdown table”.

    “As a representative of my people, I’ll like to say that the application of that loan is a misplaced priority. I strongly stand behind the prayers of the chairman of the committee that this very important chamber do reject that request for the loan,” he said.

    Also supporting the recommendation, Danjuma La’ar (PDP, Kaduna South), explained that the loan is “not important” and as a messenger of the people, he was not given the authority for a loan to be approved.

    “I met with the representatives of Kaduna state and asked what the loan was all about? What projects is this loan meant for? I should know from zone one, two and three who are the contractors responsible for the project? Where will the projects be sited? But these questions were not answered.

    “I realised that the money received in Kaduna state is much and there is nothing happening in Kaduna state lately. They are busy retiring and sacking people and you are asking for a loan. To do what with the loan? I don’t understand. If you are collecting a loan without giving a reason, I am not in support of such loan, my people are also not in support of it. Please, this loan should not be granted,” he said.

    The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, while stating that loan application is an acceptable means of infrastructure financing in governance, however said “the law in its wisdom has made provision for the parliament to interrogate such requests to be sure that there is no need for that loan and ensure that due process is followed.”

    “Also, to ensure that existing loan portfolio for the state or federal government would be able to accommodate such further request so as not to put so much pressure on that state or the federal government.”

    Ekweremadu, thereafter, put the question and the senators unanimously rejected the loan request.

  • Senate decries recurring mass failure in WAEC, inaugurates committee to investigate cause

    The Senate has directed its Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary) to interact with the Minister of Education to identify the causes of the recurring failure in the WAEC results with a view to finding remedies.

    The resolution followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Umaru Kurfi (Katsina Central), who described the recurring mass failure of West African Examination Council (WAEC) results in the country since 2009 as embarrassing.

    The senator expressed worry that the rate of failure remains high, saying it was prejudicial to the interest of Nigerian secondary school students and their parents.

    According to him, in both 2009 and 2010 WAEC, only 25.99 and 24.94 per cent respectively passed with five credits including Mathematics and English, while the remaining others constituting 70 per cent failed.

    “In 2011 May/June WAEC, only 86,612 out of the 1,540,250 candidates that participated in the examinations got credit in mathematics and English language.

    “Also in 2011 May/June WAEC, only 86,612 out of 1,540,250 candidates that participated in the examinations got credits in Mathematics and English Language.

    “In 2012 May/June WAEC, only 649,159 out of 1,672,224 candidates that wrote the examinations which represents just 38.81 per cent got 5 credits and above including in the core subjects of Mathematics and English language.

    “In 2013 WAEC, only 29.17 per cent candidates actually passed the Nov/Dec WAEC examinations while 70 per cent failed.

    “In both 2017 and 2018 recent January/February private examinations, only 26.01 per cent and 17.13 per cent candidates have passed with 5 credits including Mathematics and English language respectively, while the remaining over 70 per cent candidates failed,’’ he said.

    Kurfi regretted that the future of the country would continue to be bleak if urgent action were not taken to address the situation.

    Contributing, Barau Jibrin said urgent steps must be taken to find reasons for the failure and remedies.

    Emmanuel Paulker said the situation called for a grave concern, attributing the development to the problem from poor quality of education received at the primary school level.

    “And it is this same crop of students that will move to the secondary school. Some of them can hardly write or read; without a foundation, there is no way a house can stand.

    “Those formulating our school curriculum must sit up, if not, we have our future doomed,’’ Paulker said.

    On her part, Biodun Olujimi emphasised the need to evaluate the entire value chain in the education sector, saying, “There is need for revaluation to understand where the missing link is.

    “There is also the need to look at teacher education because we have some teachers who are not properly trained, who don’t do research and cannot read or write.

    “So, how can they teach our children well,’’ Olujimi said.

    In his remark, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki stressed the need to increase the value of human resources to promote quality education in the country.

    “I am sure the committee will work assiduously to get to the bottom of this matter and see that it is addressed.

    “Indeed the education sector need some reforms,’’ Saraki said.

     

  • Senate receives report on EFCC/SSS officers clash

    The Senate on Wednesday received the report of its ad-hoc committee investigating the clash between officers of different security agencies on November 21, 2017.

    The chairman of the committee, Francis Alimikhena, laid the report before the lawmakers during plenary.

    Fatima Rasaki seconded the motion for the report to be laid.

    The Senate had in November 2017, set up the committee to investigate the showdown between officials of the State Security Services (SSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja.

    The face-off was said to have stemmed from EFCC’s attempted arrest of former director- general of SSS, Ita Ekpeyong and that of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayodele Oke.

    “The EFCC went to the residence of the former DG of DSS, Mr Ita Ekpeyong, to effect his arrest and the men of the DSS stopped the attempt,” the chairman said.

    Mr Alimikhena, however, told newsmen that the report had been laid and was awaiting the day for the consideration of the report before he could pass any comment.

     

  • Senator’s takehome: Who to believe, RMAFC or Shehu Sani?

    The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has come forward to clarify its position on the unending controversies surrounding the actual remuneration figures of members of the National Assembly.

    In a statement signed by RMAFC’s Spokesperson, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, the Commission stated that the clarification is become imperative in view of the recent revelations by the Senator representing Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani.

    TheNewsGuru reports Senator Sani recently disclosed that each Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria collects a monthly running cost of N13.5 million in addition to the monthly salary of N750,000.00 prescribed by the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc.) (Amendments) Act 2008.

    According to Mohammed in the RMAFC’s statement, the Law on Salaries and Allowances of Public Office Holders is very clear and as such it is only the management of the National Assembly Service Commission that can explain the N13.5 M running cost allegedly being enjoyed by each Senator as the Act only covers Salary and Allowances but not running cost.

    “A closer look at the monthly entitlement of Senators reveals that each Senator collects salary and allowances of the sum of N1,063,860:00 consisting of the following: basic N168,866.70, motor vehicle fuelling and maintenance allowance N126,650:00,

    “Personal Assistant N42,216.66, Domestic Staff 126,650.00, Entertainment N50,660.00, Utilities N50,660.00, Newspapers/Periodicals N25,330.00, Wardrobe N42,216.66, House Maintenance N8,433.00 and Constituency N422,166.66.

    “It is instructive to note that some allowances are regular while others are non-regular. Regular allowances are paid regularly with Basic Salaries while Non-Regular allowances are paid as at when due. The payment of running cost is not part of RMAFC mandate, therefore only the NASS can explain it,” the statement read.

    The statement adds that auditing does not fall within the purview of the Commission.

    “Thus, RMAFC also wishes to use this opportunity to state that any other payments enjoyed by any political, or public office holders outside those provided in the Remuneration Act of 2008 is not known to the Commission and the chief accounting officer of the agencies concerned should explain it.

    “To avoid misinformation and misrepresentation of facts capable of misleading citizens and members of the international community, the Commission considers it most appropriate and necessary to request Nigerians and any other interested party to avail themselves of the opportunity to access the actual details of the present remuneration package for political, public and judicial office holders in Nigeria published on its website,” the statement added.

     

  • Senate, Reps pass PIGB

    Senate, Reps pass PIGB

    The Senate and House of Representatives have passed the conference committee on the long-awaited Petroleum Industry and Governance Bill (PIGB), bringing to near closure the over 16 years legislative journey of the legislation.

    It would be recalled that the bill was passed in the Senate on the 25th of May 2017 and in the House of Representatives on the 17th January 2018.

    The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, then named the conference committee that would see to harmonization of the different versions together with the House of Representatives.

    The PIGB is one of the four segments of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

    The three other segments of the main PIB are the Fiscal Regime Bill, the Upstream and Midstream Administration Bill and the Petroleum Revenue Bill.

    On the 16th of March, the Chairman, Senate committee on Petroleum resources (upstream), Omotayo Alasoadura, said the PIGB will be transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent on or before March 30.

    Alasoadura presented the conference committee report and it was there after adopted by the red chamber.