TheNewsGuru

Tag: Senate

  • Senate to hold valedictory session for Adeleke Wednesday

    The Senate on Tuesday, adjourned plenary to Wednesday, to hold a valedictory session in honour of a member, Sen. Isiaka Adeleke, who died on Sunday.

    This followed a motion by Leader of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, at plenary as the upper chamber resumed after two weeks Easter break.

    Lawan said that it was the practice and convention of the National Assembly to always show respect and honour to a deceased member by adjourning plenary.

    He said, “because of the death of our colleague on Sunday, I move a motion that the Senate observes a minute silence and adjourn to Wednesday, April 26.

    “Our colleagues will have the opportunity to pay tribute to the late Adeleke in a valedictory session,” he said.

    Sen. Philip Aduda (PDP-FCT) seconded the motion.

    In his remarks, President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said that a valedictory session would be held in honour of the Adeleke and advised members to ensure that they dressed appropriately.

    Speaking to newsmen at the end of plenary, Saraki described the death of Adeleke as a shock to all the lawmakers.

    “I have known him for many years. He was a very patriotic grassroots politician, who had great love for his people.

    “He was very friendly in the chambers and loved by everyone.

    “His contributions to our debate were that of a statesman. He was a true Nigerian,” he said.

    The senate president said that the death of Adeleke was a big loss to the National Assembly, people of Osun and Nigeria.

    He advised lawmakers to make out time to relax very well, saying that their job was stressful.

    “This work can never finish. We will just play our part and do our best. The most important thing is to make a mark,” he said.

    On his part, the Senate Chief Whip, Olushola Adeyeye, urged the lawmakers to live their days well and apply their hearts to wisdom.

    “There is only one life and when it expires, all you get from anybody is a minute silence.

    “Live happily, pleasantly, doing what you are supposed to do rather than live lazily and die without applying yourself to the best of your ability.”

    Also speaking, Sen. Binta Masi (APC-Adamawa) said that the deceased was a “very good fellow’’, who would be missed, because he had created a vacuum’’.

    Until his death at 62, Adeleke was the Chairman, Senate Committee on Capital Market and he was in the senate for the second time.

    He was in the red chamber between 2007 and 2011, representing Osun West senatorial district on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He lost his re-election bid in 2011.

    However, Adeleke won the election in 2015 and returned to the chamber, but as a member of All Progressives Congress (APC).

    He was also the first elected governor of Osun.

     

    NAN

  • Bailout Fund: Senate to investigate Osun, other states

    Bailout Fund: Senate to investigate Osun, other states

    The Senate Committee on States and Local Government Administration said it would extend its Bailout Funds probe to states that accessed the funds from the Federal Government in 2015.

    The Chairman of the committee, Sen. Abdullahi Gumel, made this known in an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.

    He said that the investigation was prompted by allegations that some states that accessed the funds diverted them to other use, leaving a backlog of salary arrears yet unpaid.

    On whether the National Assembly has oversight powers over states, the lawmaker said that the committee was specifically investigating the disbursement of the bailout funds, which it had powers over.

    He said that though state assemblies had oversight powers over the States, the assignment of the committee was based on funds given to States by the Federal Government.

    According to him, the senate has the powers to investigate the bailout because the money belongs to the Federal Government.

    “We will visit Osun and the other states if allowed access.

    “There were lots of misunderstanding as to whether or not the senate has powers to oversight states over the bailout. The senate does have the powers.

    “We are not investigating states; we are carrying out a specific assignment.

    “Those states that accessed the bailout from the Federal Government to pay salaries are the states we are over-sighting.

    “For other monies, it is the responsibility of state assemblies to oversight those ones. This bailout is the Federal Government’s money.

    “ In fact, it is money got from the bank, with the Federal Government’s guarantee and in the case of default from any of the states, the government has to pay from the Consolidated Revenue Account.

    “So, the national assembly has the responsibility to oversight how it is spent,’’ he said.

    On states that denied access to the committee, Gumel said a comprehensive report would be submitted and names of states involved would be included for further action by the senate.

    However, he said that some of the states that hitherto rejected the committee’s letter of notice had invited it to proceed with its investigation.

    The lawmaker added that states that rejected the committee’s notice of visit misunderstood its assignment, pointing out that its investigation was limited to the bailout funds.

    “This committee did not take up this task on its own. We consulted the leadership of the senate and we were told to go ahead.

    “The executive is even aware that we are embarking on this assignment,’’ he said.

    Gumel denied insinuations that the probe was called off after the committee visited a few states, adding that it would visit all states concerned as mandated by the senate.

    According to him, the committee commenced probe into the matter some months ago, but put it on hold to enable committee members concentrate on consideration and passage of the 2017 Budget.

    “ We had to call it off temporarily due to the budget, because most of the committee members are members of the Appropriation Committee, including the Chairman of Appropriation Committee.

    “So, we decided to put it on hold to finish with the Appropriation Bill and once it is passed, we will resume our oversight.

    “After our Easter break, we will pass the budget. So, possibly second week in May we should have resumed our oversight.’’

    On concerns that the committee was not carrying out thorough investigation into the matter, Gumel said the committee was detailed on the assignment.

    He said “the bailout is specific on salaries and pension and in most of the states visited we noticed some defaults and that will come in our report.

    “In the states we visited we met with stakeholders like the Head of Service, Secretary to the State Government, Accountant-General, Commissioner for Finance and Commissioner for Local Government.

    “We also met with banks where the funds were domiciled and disbursed from and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) chapter in the states; so, it was thorough.

    Gumel, also a member of Senate’s Appropriation Committee, said that the committee had concluded work on 2017 Budget and would present the report on resumption from the Easter break.

  • Fuel theft: Rejig PPMC board to forestall future occurrence – Senate orders NNPC

    Following the unauthorised sale of over 132 million litres of fuel kept as strategic reserves and the subsequent involvement of some officials of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) in the product sale, the Senate has ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC to sanction erring officials of the PPMC in order to forestall future occurrence.

    The Upper Legislative Chambers also urged NNPC to initiate a comprehensive restructuring of its operations which presently allow officials and other firms to appropriate national resources for their personal use, thereby contributing to the suffering of the people.

    In a statement by its spokesperson, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, the Upper Legislative Chambers commended the NNPC for responding to the motion moved during a plenary session by Senator Kabiru Marafa, Chairman, Committee on Petroleum Downstream Sector, on the theft of petroleum products kept in the farm tanks of two oil companies.

    The statement reads, “The Senate is appalled that NNPC is not contemplating on doing something about the involvement of officials of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) which actually played key roles in the missing products case.

    “It is instructive that NNPC did not do anything on the case until the matter was raised on the floor of the Senate and the press picked the matter up from the motion. The unauthorised sale of 132 million litres of fuel kept in the storage tanks of MRS and Capital Oil designated as strategic reserves is a grave occurrence. This probably is not the first time it is happening and NNPC must review its operations. It should in fact carry out a shake up in the PPMC.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that following the Senate debate of the motion on the theft of the fuel, the NNPC sacked two senior officials and redeployed a few others.

    NNPC’s spokesperson, Ndu Ughamadu had said the sack and deployment were in line with the ongoing reforms the corporation initiated to cleanse it of corruption.

    The NNPC lost 130 million litres through a breach in its throughput transactions with MRS and Capital Oil. However, MRS had returned the product it sold from the stock, but Capital Oil is yet to refund the 82 million litres it sold. The Missing fuel sold by Capital Oil is valued at N11 billion.

    While Capital Oil insisted that NNPC owed it on past business transactions, the corporation vowed to recover the products, investigate the breach and set up new modalities to guide its engagements of throughput partners.

  • Senate begins probe over N30tn forex scam allegation in banks

    Senate begins probe over N30tn forex scam allegation in banks

    The Senate has started an investigation into alleged foreign exchange scam by commercial banks and importers.

    The upper chamber of the National Assembly alleged that Nigeria had lost over N30tn to the alleged forex diversion between 2006 and 2017.

    The Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff, on Wednesday, met with commercial banks in the country, asking them to furnish it with evidence that forex, released by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the importers through the banks, was utilised as documented.

    The panel, which provided documents of transactions within the years under review to representatives of the banks, asked the financial institutions to furnish it with the evidence of proper utilisation of the forex releases within three weeks.

    The Chairman of the committee, Senator Hope Uzodinma, while briefing journalists after the meeting, said the Senate mandated the panel to “investigate and identify areas of revenue leakages in the entire import and export circle.”

    He alleged that “all” banks in the country were suspected to have been responsible for the revenue loss.

    The lawmaker added that the matter would be referred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and security agencies at a certain level of the probe.

    “In the course of the investigation, issues that border on financial crimes will be sent to the EFCC; the ones that are internal security issues will be sent to the various agencies. Government is one, whether you are in the executive or the National Assembly,” he said.

    Uzodinma stated that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele; Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun; and Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, would also be invited by the committee.

    Uzodinma said, “The committee started investigation and took time to enter into the import and export value share and we have been able to identify, supposedly, areas of leakages and malpractices ranging from unutilised, abandoned and partially utilised ‘Form M’; abandoned assessment of Customs duties and foreign exchange allocation manipulation.

    “We have been able to also go into the database of the operating system of the Nigeria Customs Service, otherwise called ASYCUDA, and we identified Form M by Form M, import by import, vessel by vessel, liabilities of importers and commercial banks that have yet to be handled.

    “We are talking about monies in a region of over N30tn and we have been able to give all this information to the commercial banks, who purchased the foreign exchange on behalf of the importers, to go home and come back with evidence of utilisation of the forex, failure which they will be compelled to refund those foreign currencies they bought from the Central Bank of Nigeria or interbank, supposedly to be used for imports.”

    Uzodinma added, “What we are saying in essence is that the amount of foreign exchange the government is giving out to commercial banks and importers for the purpose of importation is not fully or not utilised as agreed.

    “In essence, it is making foreign exchange scarce in the market; making the foreign exchange that the government is conceding to importers, not to be directed into activities of importation.

    “We don’t see this as a healthy development because, in the process, so many companies are now ‘round tripping’, sending monies they don’t deserve out of this country without due process. This is what we are out to resolve.”

    The Senator pointed out that after the conclusion of the probe by the panel, “I can tell you that the exchange rate will come down drastically. Only genuine importers will then enjoy government’s forex allocation.”

    When asked if the banks were accomplices in the forex racketeering, Uzodinma responded, “There is no bank that is exempted; all the banks are involved – both the banks that are dead and the ones living.

    “The ones that are no more operating were acquired by some banks. So, the activities of those that are no longer in operation, we have been able to tie them (activities) to those that acquired them (banks) as part of the liabilities.”

  • Senate rejects report on Southern Kaduna crisis

    Senate rejects report on Southern Kaduna crisis

    The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday rejected the report by its adhoc committee on the Southern Kaduna crisis.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Senate turned down the report ​for “lack of depth​”​.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Senate had in January set up an adhoc committee to investigate the causes of the crisis which killed hundreds of people and displaced millions in Southern Kaduna.

    The Senate had condemned the incident that led to the death of many, and the destruction of 53 villages; injuring of 57 people, where farm produce worth about N5.5 billion destroyed and 1,422 houses and 16 churches allegedly razed by herdsmen.

    The ​Senate set up the committee​ following a motion sponsored by Senator Danjuma La’ah (PDP, Kaduna South).

    In his presentation, Senator La’ah said: “The Senate notes that since 2011, various communities in Southern Kaduna senatorial district of Kaduna State have been consistently attacked by herdsmen, resulting in deaths, injuries, loss of property and displacement of the communities.”

    According to him, since December 23, 2016, communities of Ambam, Gaska, Dangoma, Tsonje, Pasankori, Gidan Waya and Farin Gada of Iama’a and Kaura councils have been under attack by the herdsmen.

    “In the last one year, we have witnessed a harvest of killings by these marauding herdsmen with several cases of massacre in Agatu, Benue State; Uzo Uwani, Enugu State, with several attacks in Taraba, Delta and Edo states, to mention a few.”

    Following a recommendation by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, that the motion should not be debated so as to avoid bad blood, additional contributions were not accommodated.

    Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, said: “We condemn in totality the depravity being exhibited on the streets of Kafanchan.

    “This Senate will not pay lip service to it, neither will it sit idly by and watch innocent Nigerians being slaughtered on the basis of their religion, ethnic group or political persuasion.”

  • Dance steps of absurdity in the Nigerian Senate – Godwin Etakibuebu

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    I planned to write something on the Nigerian Senate versus the Nigerian Customs Services this week until the drama of absurdity plus its attendant dance-steps of madness took place in the Nigerian Senate last two weeks. Oh my God, the floor of the Senate, last two weeks dished out more than enough for any group of best comedians can ever present in life-time. Our own first-class Ali Baba and all his compatriots in the famous world of comedy couldn’t have produced a better show than what the Senate presented two weeks ago. Let us go.

    An online media; the Sahara reporters, came out with two exclusive news reports. One, the glamorous and ever-loquacious Senator from Kogi State, Dino Melaye never graduated with degree from any of all the universities he claimed to have attended. The news even added that the man had only three Credits in his West African School Certificate as against five credits needed for eligibility for admission into any Nigerian University – the implication being that his admission into the Ahmadu Bello University for any degree course would be fraudulent if the fact of him having only three credits can be established.
    Two, the Sahara reporters ran a story that the Senate President; Bukola Saraki, was involved in short payment of import duty on one bullet-proof SUV car he imported. He did not commit the alleged crime of short-payment only but that the documents used in processing and clearing the car from the port was allegedly forged and that these malfeasance were processed through the Senate Secretariat. But for the eagle eyes of the NCS, which intercepted and seized the said car while it was being taking to Abuja for delivery to the owner, the acts would have left the Nigerian State losing some hundreds of millions of Naira.

    These were the allegations that emanated from the Sahara reporters against these larger-than-life personalities and since the personae dramatis involved are respectfully refer to as “principality and powers and rulers of darkness in the Nigerian State’s heavenly places”, it is expected that they would clear their “good and impeccable names” in the first place before fighting back. They chose instead, the double barrel approach of fighting back and defending their names simultaneously. It is the path they followed in clearing their names that resulted into the dance-steps of absurdity being analysed here today. Let us look at the case of Senator Dino Melaye first before reviewing the case of his political boss; Senator Bukola Saraki.

    Dino Melaye pulled all the ammunition in his lethal armoury together at once and with understandable ferocity. He headed to the court to slam a libel suite of Five Billion Naira against the Sahara reporters. While he was between the court and gathering his star witnesses to attest to his reputation, one of the universities’ authority; the Harvard, he claimed to have graduated from denounced him publicly, saying Dino Melaye never graduated from there.

    The Nigerian people, ditto the international community, waited patiently to hear what Ahmadu Bello University would say about the man who claimed to have obtained his first degree from that university. The verdict came last week when the Vice-Chancellor of the university Professor Ibrahim Garba, appeared before the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges, in a well-researched and rehearsed script, to announce that “Dino Melaye graduated from the university with Third Class Honours BA, Geography in the year 2000”. But, and this is the real cache, the VC was quick to add that the man “graduated as Daniel Jonah Melaye” and not Dino Melaye.

    It is this additional information of the VC that he graduated as “Daniel Jonah Melaye and not Dino Melaye” that has complicated and darkened the case of this Senator, in my humble opinion and may be, in the market place of legality. Permit me to compare an event which happened in the very first Senate of this Fourth Republic with this Dino Melaye saga, for our collective evaluation. The event under reference was Senator Evans Enwerem’s tenure as president of the Senate. Enweren, a distinguished and brilliant man who graduated from the Southampton University in the United Kingdom, with flying colours better than Third Class, was elected President of the Senate on June 3rd 1999 and removed from office on November 18th the same year, on allegation of “name falsification”.
    If the “erudite” Senator Melaye graduated from ABU in the year 2000, he would not have been too young not to know the details of what happened in the Nigerian Senate in 1999. It means he knew that Enwerem’s removal, on the allegation of “name falsification” bordered on the fact that he came to the Senate with the name of Evan Enwerem on his degree certificate whereas his earlier school days’ certificates bore the name Evans Enwerem. It was the difference of this one letter “S” that dethroned him from the Senate Presidency. The question he could not answer was “which one are you – Evan or Evans?” It is just the letter “S” that caused that deadly havoc to this gentleman of blessed memory.

    Now that we have the authentication from ABU that a “Daniel Jonah Melaye” graduated from it and the Senator we are listening to at the Senate is “Dino Melaye”, someone somewhere needs to explain to Nigerians if the “Daniel Jonah Melaye” of ABU is the same “Dino Melaye” at the Senate. Unless there are court records of change of names, through affidavits or public notaries [and these things are not too difficult to procure in Nigeria], the argument about the difference between these distinctly two legal entities [Daniel Jonah Melaye and Dino Melaye] shall remain a naughty obstacle to vindication’s dance by this two-in-one man.

    There is more to be said on this before going to Oga Bukola Saraki but they have to wait till next week.

    Godwin Etakibuebu, a veteran journalist wrote from Lagos.

  • Respite as Senate moves to pass PIB into law

    Respite as Senate moves to pass PIB into law

    The Senate on Thursday received the much anticipated report on the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill from its joint petroleum committee on petroleum (downstream and upstream) and gas.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the bill has been in the works for over a decade and been redrafted several times but was never passed by the previous assemblies.

    Speaking on the report, Senate President, Bukola Saraki said: “What a historic day!” “We are getting there.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that upon assumption of office in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to drive reforms and fight mismanagement, inefficiency and corruption in Nigeria’s petroleum sector, which was in tandem with the 8th Senate’s promise to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill before expiration of its tenure.

    When the bill was passed for second reading before moving to the committee stage, the Senate said the proposed legislation “establishes a framework for the creation of commercially oriented and profit driven entities that ensure value addition and internationalization of the country’s petroleum industry.”

    “The bill seeks to provide transparency and accountability in the management of Nigeria’s petroleum resources.”

    It also seeks to split the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation into two: national oil company, NOC, and national petroleum assets management commission.

    The NOC, as proposed in the bill, will be an “integrated oil and gas company operating as a fully commercial entity and will run like a private company”, while the NPAMC will be a “single petroleum regulatory commission which will focus mainly on regulating the industry.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Senate President had last week promised that the report on the bill would be laid today and that it would be presented for third reading on April 25.

    However, If eventually passed on April 25, the bill will be transmitted to the House of Representatives for concurrence and then to the president for assent before becoming an effective law.

     

  • INEC presents 2017-2021 Strategic Plan to Senate

    The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Yakubu Mahmood, on Thursday, presented the commission’s 2017-2021 Strategic Plan to President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki.

    At the ceremony at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, Mahmood said that the plan would guide the commission on every step to be taken in the electoral process, even beyond 2019 elections.

    According to him, the commission is working on a very clear plan to ensure the success of the 2019 general elections.

    “What helped the 2015 general elections was the existence of a very clear Strategic Plan that covered the last electoral cycle. That plan expired last year.

    “Last year, we began work on the new Strategic Plan to cover the current electoral cycle. It is a five-year plan covering the period 2017-2021,” he said.

    Mahmoud said that INEC had gone through all the processes of the strategic plan, including the validation of the document by stakeholders.

    “The Strategic Plan comes with a programme of action so that between now and 2019 and beyond, we know exactly what INEC is going to do on daily, monthly and quarterly basis and we will be tracking.

    “Gone are the days when elections are done on a pre-fixed basis. There has to be very clear parameters,” he said.

    He commended the Senate for the quick amendment of the Electoral Act, saying that it had come well ahead of the 2019 election.

    According to the chairman, one of the problems Nigeria has had is that amendment of the Electoral Act comes on the eve of elections.

    He said that the amendment of the Act by the Senate was remarkable because it was one of the most extensive exercises.

    “We worked with the Senate Committee on INEC, and we produced our own submission.

    “I’m happy to say that virtually all the submissions we made had been taken care of.”

    Mahmoud added that the amendment was one of the “most technologically-friendly amendments of the Act in the history of the country’’.

    In his remarks, Saraki said that the amendment of the Electoral Act and Constitution would help to improve Nigeria’s electoral process.

    According to Saraki, the use of technology in elections would help the commission meet international best practices.

    “The application of technology is something that has to happen. It gives you the power to apply that appropriately,” he said.

    He assured INEC of Senate’s support, saying that the Strategic Plan showed that the commission was committed to ensuring free and fair elections that Nigerians would be proud of.

     

     

    NAN

  • Xenophobic attacks: Senate to send delegates to South African parliament

    Xenophobic attacks: Senate to send delegates to South African parliament

    The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday resolved to send a delegation of lawmakers to the South African parliament following the renewed xenophobic attacks against Nigerians and other foreigners resident in the country.

    The Nigerian delegates are expected to deliberate with their South African counterparts on ways to end the attacks that is about causing diplomatic rows between leaders of both countries.

    The decision followed a motion by a Senator representing Cross River North, Rose Oko, urging the senate to intervene in the renewed attacks.

    Speaking during plenary, the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki said the Upper Legislative Chambers has resolved “to send a strong parliamentary delegation to the South African parliament to register its displeasure over the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.”

    The Senate also summoned the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama to explain what the Executive arm of government is doing regarding the attack.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Nigerian Community in South Africa on Saturday, February 18, confirmed attacks and looting of their businesses in Pretoria West. The attacks has since spread to other parts of the country.

  • Breaking: Senate to screen Onnoghen for confirmation as CJN tomorrow, March 1

    The Senate on Tuesday fixed March 1 for the screening of Justice Walter Onnoghen for confirmation as the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

    The President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, announced the date at the resumption of plenary for the week on Tuesday.

    Onnoghen has been in office in acting capacity since last year.
    His name was sent to the Senate by the presidency.

    Recall that TheNewsGuru.com reported that the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on forwarded the name Justice Walter Onnoghen, to the Senate for confirmation as the CJN.

    Buhari had, on November 10, 2016, inaugurated Onnoghen as acting CJN following the retirement of Justice Mahmud Mohammed at the attainment of the mandatory 70-year retirement age.