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Tag: Senate

  • Just in: Senate to probe Buhari’s $1b Ogoni land cleanup

    Just in: Senate to probe Buhari’s $1b Ogoni land cleanup

    The Senate on Tuesday initiated moves to probe the President Muhamadu Buhari’s Ogoni land cleanup as the legislature directed its committee on environment to investigate the implementation of the cleanup.

    The exercise was launched by President Muhamadu Buhari in 2016 with an estimated cost of $1 billion.

    The decision of the Senate followed a motion moved by Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment to mark the World Environment Day.

    The senate directed its committee to also assess the progress of the Great Green Wall programme initiated to control desertification in the country.

    While moving the motion, Sen. Tinubu expressed dismay that despite the launch of the project, work has not commenced in the area.

    Contributing, Sen. Magnus Abe corroborated that there was nothing on ground yet to show that the clean up was designed to actually cleanup the area.

    He said that farmlands were still polluted while rivers of oil spills still abound.

    Abe urged the Federal Government to review the country’s environmental regeneration programmes to take care of environmental issues in the country. Ogoni land is located in Rivers State on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, east of the city of Port Harcourt. It extends across the Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Khana, Gokhana, Eleme and Tae.

    In a 2011 assessment of over 200 locations in Ogoniland by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), it was found that impacts of the 50 years of oil production in the region extended deeper than previously thought. Because of oil spills, oil flaring, and waste discharge, the alluvial soil of the Niger Delta is no longer viable for agriculture.

    Furthermore, in many areas that seemed to be unaffected, groundwater was found to have high levels of hydrocarbons or were contaminated with benzene, a carcinogen, at 900 levels above WHO guidelines.

    In the 2017 Democracy speech by Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, he said that the Ogoni Land clean up was an environmental priority of the government which was why it began last year.

  • JUST IN: Osinbajo writes Senate, seeks approval for $1.5bn loan

    Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday asked the Senate to approve $1.5bn loan, which is part of the 2016-2018 External Borrowing Plan of the Federal Government.

    The loan is meant for projects in 10 states.

    Osinbajo request to the upper chamber was made known by Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in a letter he read on the floor of the House on Tuesday, June 6.

  • Senate to invite CBN, DMBs over forex crisis, high interest rates

    …Says Presidency will sign 2017 Appropriation Bill soon

    Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has said the Senate as part of its legislative function will intervene in the high interest rates on loans and forex crisis that has lingered for a while now by inviting the apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and Deposit Money Banks, DMBs, to technically proffer long lasting solutions.

    He stated that in an economy where workers were being retrenched and people were losing investments, it was immoral for certain sectors to be making astronomical profits.

    Saraki stated this in an interactive session with newsmen in Ilorin, Kwara State on Sunday. In his words: “They (banks) will tell you that they are doing business but in doing business, there must be social responsibility. We must be able to sit down and look at ourselves eyeball to eyeball, and we intend to do that; and I can promise Nigerians that we can find a solution. Hopefully with the stability in the forex market, we will now begin to address the high interest rate.

    “There is no business that can make money if it is trying to borrow at 28 or 29 per cent. It cannot work and if we cannot get the banks to lend to the real sector and they carry on their money to government instruments, there cannot be growth. So, we must tackle that. I can assure you that I will lead that challenge. We must sit down and discuss it.”

    Saraki added, “They are in business to make money but we must look at what money is reasonable in this kind of environment. You may have to reduce that profitability to allow your country to grow. It is that balancing that we need, but in doing that, there must be some incentives. We may have to tell them, ‘Listen, we may have to limit how much you put in government security’.

    “What do you do with that extra amount of money? It must go to the real sector. It must go to the business that produce made-in-Nigeria products. They may say that it is too risky to do that. In doing that, we must give them some assistance. This is the kind of negotiation we must make.”

    He said the Senate would discuss with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the banks on how to address the high interest rate regime.

    The Senate President urged Nigerians to patronise homemade products, adding that people should report any Ministry, Department and Agency that flouted the Senate’s directive that indigenous companies producing such commodities should be given the option of first refusal during public procurement.

    On the delay in the signing of the 2017 budget into law, Saraki told Nigerians not to be apprehensive about whether the Presidency would assent to the budget or not.

    He said, “There was a comment I read online where the Presidency had said it did not have an intention not to sign. I do not think that (not signing the budget) will happen; I doubt very much.

    “Nigerians should not be concerned about that; I am pretty sure that the Executive will sign the bill and we will begin to implement the budget. I am confident that the Executive will sign it very soon. There should be no anxiety there.”

  • Nigerians to pay heavily for road usage as Senate passes National Roads Fund Bill

    There are indications that road users may face multiple taxes as Senate moves to pass the National Roads Fund (Establishment, etc) Bill 2017.

    The bill, which was sponsored by Chairman of the Committee on Works, Sen. Kabiru Gaya, has scaled first and second readings and has gone for public hearing.

    It was listed on the Order Paper of Thursday for third reading and passage, but it was not considered before plenary was adjourned till next Tuesday.

    The bill, according to the report of a 16-member committee that looked into it, seeks to finance the maintenance and rehabilitation of national roads.

    The report stated that the sources of revenue for the roads fund would be international vehicle transit charges and axle load control charges.

    Others are inter-state mass transit user charge of 0.5 per cent deductible from the fare paid by passengers to commercial mass transit operators on inter-state roads.

    It also include fuel levy of N5 chargeable per litre on any volume of petrol and diesel products imported into Nigeria and on locally-refined petroleum products.

    The report also said that revenue would be generated from toll fee of a percentage not exceeding 10 per cent of any revenue paid as user charge per vehicle on any federal road designated as toll road.

    However, the toll fee excludes roads with Public-Private Partnership arrangement.

    Besides charges to be incurred by road users, the bill when passed, would exclude National Roads Fund from Consolidated Revenue Fund and Treasury Single Account, relying on Section 80(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

    According to the report, other sections of the bill include application of the roads fund, establishment of governing board, tenure of office of members as well as allowances for members and cessation of membership.

    Others are roads programme, exemption from taxation, offences and penalties as well as miscellaneous issues such as regulation and power of the minister to give directives, and the role of National Council on Privatisation.

    The report explained that the fund was to address inadequate levels of funding and irregular allocation from Federal Government road management, which made planning for maintenance difficult and irresponsive to private sector development.

    “Inappropriate funding for management of road infrastructure leads to delayed or insufficient maintenance of roads which in turn leads to failure of assets and results in increased construction costs for routine and periodic maintenance.

    “The core of the Road Fund is a concept that will mitigate the insufficiency and unpredictability of funding by extracting additional funds from those that use the road assets in the form of a user-based charge or levy,’’ it stated.

    The report stated that the bill would, among other things, create enabling environment for private sector participation.

     

     

    NAN

  • BREAKING: Senate confirms 15 RECs, says 12 others pending

    The Senate has confirmed the nomination of 15 of the 27 Resident Electoral Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

    The confirmation followed the adoption of the report by the Senate Committee on INEC at the plenary on Thursday.

    Chairman of the committee, Senator Suleiman Nazif, while presenting the report, said all the nominees were cleared by the Nigeria Police, Department of State Services and the Code of Conduct Bureau.

    He added that the remaining nominees were still under screening by the panel.

  • Senate passes NFF Bill

    The Senate on Tuesday passed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Bill 2017 after third reading.

    The passage followed a clause by clause consideration of the bill and a voice vote by the lawmakers.

    Sponsor of the Bill, Sen. Obinna Ogba, had presented the report of the Committee on Sports and Youth Development before the passage.

    Presenting the report, Ogba, explained that it had become important to repeal the extant law guiding activities of football in the country in view of controversies surrounding its implementation.

    He said there had been series of court cases relating to football , which did not speak well of the country in the comity of nations.

    Ogba, who is the chairman of the committee, added that in view of the importance of football to national development, it was necessary to repeal the law to bring sanity to the system.

    He said that the passage of the bill would bring court cases to rest as issues regarding the NFF would be tackled by the Court of Arbitration and not regular courts.

    “It has become necessary to repeal the Extant Act. This is because it requires a lot of amendments to bring it into agreement with FIFA required international best practices. It is to give the desired boost it requires.

    “The Bill has no financial implication because it is only seeking for a change in the name of the football body in order to achieve greater and better results in future.

    “It seeks to ensure that only those who are actually involved in competitive football matches are members of the Federation and not just organisations and establishments as contained in the extant act.

    “The bill also makes provision for the election of a President to lead the Executive Committee as against the existing law where the governing body of the association is a board appointed from different organisations.

    “It further seeks to ensure mandatory systematic development of football through institutional, age and gender competitions.

    “Also, the bill makes provision for development of coaches and referees to enable them participate in international competitions,’’ he said.

    According to Ogba, the bill takesk care of funding, which has been a major problem in the country.

    He said unlike Nigeria, where the Federal Government was expected to fund football competitions and tournaments, countries like England, Spain, Italy governments were not involved in funding of football development.

    He said that in these countries, football was developed and funded by club owners through the establishment of feeder teams and signing on of identified star players.

    “This country has not achieved that and this is one of the objectives of the Federation.

    “The committee strongly believes that through this piece of legislation, the objectives as expressed in the long title of the bill and explanatory memorandum will be achieved,’’ Ogba said.

    He called on the House of Representatives to pass a similar bill to allow for concurrent and onward transmission to the Presidency for assent.

    Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, commended the committee for a job well done.

    He said the running of football in the country had not been in line with best practices, stressing that with the passage of the bill, problems associated with football development would be brought to rest.

    Saraki said, “The message here is for us to bring Nigeria in line with best practices and best ways to administer football in the country.

    “This has been an embarrassment over the years, but with the passage of this bill, the grey areas will be taken care of.’’ He said.

     

     

     

    NAN

     

  • Senate halts concessioning of Port Harcourt refinery over lack of transparency

    The Senate on Tuesday called for the termination of all transactions regarding the concession of Port Harcourt Refinery to AGIP and OANDO.

    The decision follows a motion from Senator Sabo Mohammed (Jigawa South) asking it to investigate how the deal was sealed.

    Complaining that due process of Public Procurement was not followed, he urged the Senate to find out the criteria used to select AGIP/ENI and OANDO PLC to maintain and operate the Port Harcourt refinery as well as the cost and the time-frame for the deal.

    The Nigerian government recently entered into agreement with AGIP, a subsidiary of ENI, an Italian oil concern to construct a $15 billion refinery in the Niger-Delta; a deal which also includes investment from AGIP.

    The agreement according to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu was part of plans to increase local production and end an era of fuel importation.

    “This arrangement would have been wonderful because it would mean an end to importation of refined products by the year 2020, but many questions are begging for answers, such as ‘ is it AGIP/ENI or OANDO Plc that is taking over Port Harcourt refinery?’

    ”Was there the observance of the privization law as regards due diligence, selection from preferred bidders before ceding of the Port Harcourt Refinery to AGIP/OANDO?” he asked, imploring Senate to set up an Ad hoc committee to investigate the deal.

    Speaking on the motion, Senator Dino Melaye representing Kogi West, asked Senate President, Bukola Saraki to rise to the occasion and avert what he described as ” another calamitous corruption,” about to be hatched.

    He said individuals who had milked the country in the past want to continue to do so by stealing what is left of a common patrimony.

    “They’re about to do to us what they did when electricity was fraudulently sold.

    Mr. President, what happened to the concession of Lagos/Ibadan Expressway is about to happen.”

    Mr. President , arise this morning in your valour and stop this massive corruption that is about to take place,” he said.

    Senator Kabiru Gaya from Kano South supports Melaye’s position, wondering how the process of signing the deal was started without involving Bureau of Public Procurement {BPP} as required by law.

    Senate sustains additional prayer from Senator Atai Aidoko, asking it to stop all processes and transaction on the deal pending the outcome of investigation by its probe panel.

  • Wheelbarrow comment: Ortom blasts Mark, says ‘He has nothing to show for 20 years in Senate’

    Sequel to former Senate President, David Mark’s comparison of the performance of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State to that of his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike, Ortom through his Chief Press Secretary, has reacted saying the former Senate President was disconnected with reality and developments happenings in the state

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Mark on Tuesday mocked Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom for distributing wheelbarrows as part of his empowerment scheme for youths in the state.

    According to a report by Leadership, Akase said the former Senate president is now bitter because he did not make any impact as number three in the nation for eight years and a sitting senator for eighteen years.

    According to Akase: “We listened to the comments made by the Senator representing Benue South Senatorial district, David Mark, at a function in Port Harcourt where he compared developments in Rivers and Benue states.

    “Mark accused Governor Samuel Ortom of ‘giving out wheelbarrows to empower people’ when, according to him, other states are commissioning projects.

    “We do not intend to belabour the issue of wheelbarrows which we have already made clarification that the carts were donated by the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, NCFRMI, for victims of armed herdsmen attacks in the state. ”Perhaps only Senator David Mark is not aware of this fact.

    “Mark’s statements smack of a man who has obviously been disconnected with the very people who voted him.

    ”His utterances also exude envy against Governor Ortom who is succeeding where Mark has failed. ”In Benue South which Senator Mark represents, the Ortom administration has embarked on a number of projects for the people.

    “Agatu which is a local government area under David Mark’s senatorial district affected by herdsmen attacks is today peaceful owing to the security initiatives of Governor Ortom. ‘’ The people of the area have not hidden their joy and have been appreciating the Governor for ensuring the return of peace.

    ”We are not aware of any effort Mark has made to curb the crisis as a serving senator representing the people of that part of the state.

    “Senator Mark certainly owes the people of Benue South an explanation on why the Otukpo-Enugu federal highway is still a death trap after many years that the contract was awarded by the government.

    “Mark used the road project and his perennial promise for the creation of Apa state as campaign lullabies just to ensure his return to the red chamber of the senate on five occasions.

    “It is rather unfortunate that Mark has failed to see the deliberate underdevelopment of the state by the government of his political party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, particularly the part of the state which he has represented as senator for nearly 20 years. “Township roads in Otukpo where Mark lives anytime he is in the state were abandoned by the PDP administration with Senator Mark doing nothing for as many years.

     

  • Convert lower Naira denominations into coins, Senate tells CBN

    The Senate has advised the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to change the lower denominations of the Naira into coins to facilitate retail transactions which almost going into extinction.

    The advice came after a Senator spoke on the implications of rejection of the existing coin denominations for the economy.

    “The local retailers keep rejecting the coins because commercial banks won’t accept them as deposit, even when they are reflected on paper, and the CBN still recognizes them as legal tender,” said Mustapha Bukar, the APC Senator representing Katsina South.

    Given the rejection, plus the loss of value of the coins due to inflation, Mr. Bukar, therefore, suggested conversion of the the lower notes into coins to “cater for highly repetitive transactions” which “overwhelming majority” of Nigerians are engaged in due to “location and income”.

    “Since the three coin denominations of 50 kobo, one kobo and 10 kobo have lost their values due to inflation, the conversion of lower currency notes to coins will facilitate retail transactions in the economy, like we have in developed countries,” the senator said.

    “Despite the huge budget by the CBN on sensitising Nigerians on the need to accept coins, the transaction chains were broken and banks and customers reject the currency, thus, promoting corruption and escalating inflation to the extent of diminishing the value of the coins.”

    Quoting unnamed “experts”, he said coin denominations were important in helping control devaluation of country’s currency. Taking an instance from the U.S.A, he said a reason why one cent had not phased out “is due to inflationary ramifications of such a move”.

    He observed that coins were still being used in advanced countries, including the United Kingdom, Japan, the European Union and the United Arab Emirates, but lamented Nigeria has now become the only country in West Africa “where there is a total absence of the coins in the economy.”

    “In Nigeria, there are two types of retail payments; the highly repetitive small value transactions, such as urban transportation, sweets, cigarettes, kola nuts, sachet water, vegetable etc., as well as, less frequent but high value transactions like clothing, footwear, raw foodstuff, electronics etc.

    “Coin currencies are designed globally to cater for highly repetitive transactions because of the nature and conditions under which they happen, such as crowded markets, bus stations, congested traffic, and varying weather conditions, including rainy, sunny and humid conditions in which notes are ill-suited for them.

    “Countries regularly upgrade their coinage to keep pace with the prices of this category of retail items,” Bukar explained.

    Following the motion, the Senate, led by Ike Ekweremadu, resolved to urge the CBN to intensify efforts to bring coins back to the economy; and convert lower currency notes into coins to be used “side-by-side with the notes” to facilitate highly repetitive retail transactions in the country.

    The Senate also urged the CBN to impose sanction on any commercial bank that rejects coins as deposit.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Nigeria’s current currency notes are: N5, N10, N20, N50, N100, N200, N500 and N1000.

    However Senator Bukar did not specify which of the notes fits into the category of “lower currency”.

     

  • Senate issues two weeks ultimatum to agencies yet to submit budget proposal

    Nigerian Senate apart from making public, list of government agencies yet to submit their 2017 budget proposal to the National Assembly in line with extant law issued two weeks ultimatum for compliance.

    Recall that the Senate on Tuesday lamented that the situation negated President Muhammadu Buhari’s stance against corruption.
    Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah, who drew the attention of his colleagues to the abnormality during plenary, insisted that it was wrong for agencies to spend money that has not been appropriated by the legislature.

    Na’Allah told his colleagues that he intends to bring the issue to the floor as a motion so that Senators will understand the implications and the need to assist the government to fight corruption.

    “I deliberately decided that I will bring it on the floor, so that Senators will understand the implications,” Na’Allah said.
    “In our commitment to assist this government to fight corruption, we must stand on our feet that every spirit of our law must be obeyed by those holding public offices.

    “I think that if you permit me I will like to come tomorrow by way of motion, so it can be debated on the Floor of the Senate.

    “The only approach this Senate can take to assist this government in fighting corruption, is to insist that gross abuse of power and misuse of power must be stopped by every government agency.
    “The only way we can build our institutions is to radically address the issue of abuse of power and misuse of power. I think that if you give me permission, I will like to bring it tomorrow as a motion.”

    How coup rumours made Buratai redeploy top Army officers

    The full list of agencies yet to submit their budget, as released by the Senate, below:

    Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASEI), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), National Maritime Authority (NMA), Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Nigerian Postal Service (NPS), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA),

    Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), National Communications Commission (NCC), National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

    Others are National Insurance Commission (NIC), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nigerian Copyrights Commission (NCC), Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Radio Nigeria, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

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    National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB), Federal Mortgage Bank, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), as well as Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGZFA)