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The Senate on Wednesday joined the House of Representatives to approve the 2022 Appropriation Bill submitted to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Senate also joined the lower chamber to approve an increased version of the document of N17.12 trillion.
More to come…
The House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary on Sunday demanded a thorough investigation into the invasion of the residence of Supreme Court judge, Justice Mary Odili, by security agents.
Some security agents had on Friday evening invaded the judge’s residence in the Maitama area of Abuja with a search warrant over alleged illegal activities in the building.
In a statement issued by its chairman, Onofiok Luke, the committee said the action of the security agents was capable of setting the executive and judicial arms of government on a warpath.
The investigation, according to the committee, will help to unmask the invaders of the judge’s residence.
It described the siege on Justice Odili’s home as a repudiation of judicial independence and an assault on the sanctity on the nation’s judiciary.
The statement read: “It is mind-boggling that in the dusk of 29 October 2021, the judiciary was once again exposed to public opprobrium, due to the uncanny manner in which the residence of the Honourable Justice Mary Peter-Odili of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, was invaded by law enforcement officials purportedly on an assignment to execute a search warrant, issued by a Magistrate.
“Also disturbing is the fact that the said warrant was revoked by the issuing Magistrate who had discovered that it was procured by the Applicant on the premises of misrepresented facts.
“As a Committee currently interfacing with the Judiciary for an improved judicial reform and justice system, we wish to lend our voice once again, to the repeated call by His Lordship; the Honourable Justice Tanko Muhammed CJN, on all Judicial Officers on the need to exercise more caution in issuing ex-parte, conflicting and questionable orders that are capable of bringing disrepute to our Justice system.
“This unfortunate development is also a wake-up call to tighten administrative and supervisory control over the operations of law enforcement agencies in the country. To this end, we empathize with the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation who is constitutionally accountable for the actions and inactions of the law enforcement agents that purportedly executed the said warrant, placing on the AGF, the unavoidable burden of defending his office before the populace.
“On this note, the House of Representative Committee on the Judiciary calls for a discreet investigation to unravel the persons behind this ignoble act, which is capable of straining the existing relationship between the Judiciary and the Executive arms of our democratic government.
“The siege is reminiscent of the 2016 incident, where in the beat of the night, security agencies invaded private residences of judicial officers, which subsequently turned out as an underserved phenomenon, and a dent on our professed independence of the judiciary, and demanding protection for our judges.
As we already know, the judiciary harps on due process in the dispensation of justice and the House Committee on the Judiciary avows to collaborate with the judiciary and relevant stakeholders to secure the nation’s democracy, since the confidence and respect of citizens in the judiciary may likely wane if the incidence of this nature continues unchecked.
“We, therefore, condemn in totality such ignoble action, and pledge to every effort at ensuring the sanctity of the nation’s judiciary while giving our continuous support to the independence of the judiciary.”
The House of Representatives on Wednesday decried the country’s rising debt profile as worrisome.
The lawmaker, who spoke during the commencement of debate on the general principles of the 2022 budget proposal at the plenary, noted that the sum of N3.9 trillion was allocated for debt servicing in the budget.
A member of the House, Omofiok Luke, challenged the Federal Government to reduce its dependence on loans from multilateral lenders.
He said: “Another source of concern is that the proposal before us has a deficit of N6.2 trillion and the government is proposing new borrowings to finance this deficit.
“What this implies is that then total public debt of Nigeria is expected to rise to N5 trillion in 2022 fiscal year. This is worrisome not only for today but for generations unborn and the future of Nigeria.
Let us do what we can to try to reduce the deficit and how we can reduce borrowing. There is nothing wrong with borrowing provided we borrow and put it for production, not for consumption.
“So as we begin to look at it let us take the future generations of Nigeria into consideration while we get to borrow and make sure the borrowings are being put into productive ventures.”
President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2022 budget proposal of N16.3trillion to the joint session of the National Assembly on October 7.
Members of the House of Representatives, on Thursday, declared that the problem of the power sector in Nigeria lies in lack of policies that would make it function better.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Power, Magaji Aliyu, who led some committee members to the Annual General Meeting/Awards ceremony of the Association of Rural Electrification Contractors of Nigeria, said this while speaking on the side-lines of the event in Abuja.
Speaking on behalf of the team, Aliyu stated that findings by the committee had shown that many Nigerians were paying for electricity that they did not consume.
He said: “The power sector is in a big problem because of lack of efficient and dynamic policies. Let me give you an example: today, you will hear that a part of the Ministry of Power has been shifted to another organisation, which I believe is an aberration.
“I’ll give an example, at the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company there is war on where the organisation belongs; is it in power or finance ministry? There is an issue with the Hydropower Development Authority on whether it should be in the Presidency or the power ministry”.
Speaking further, Aliyu said: “I believe that there are political machinations not to allow power grow in this country. There are machinations to interfere with the power sector generally. We have multidimensional problems.”
Also, he noted that the sector was faced with power distribution, generation and transmission problems, pointing out that some organisations were created under the power ministry without the knowledge of the minister.
“In this country, we still do what they call ‘take or pay’. Nigerians are paying for the electricity they did not take. We are paying for it. This is a very serious issue.
But there must be a desired formula that the politics of it must allow the Ministry of Power to drive power process in this country. There are agencies that are supposed to be under the power ministry but they don’t report to the ministry now,” he said.
He stated that the Federal lawmakers would continue to engage the government, as many letters had been written to executive members and President Muhammadu Buhari on the need to make things work.
Aliyu spoke against claims that the lawmakers were interfering in the award of contracts for power projects, arguing that none of his team had done so.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday resolved to undertake an investigative hearing as well as comprehensive audit of funds spent on rehabilitation, repairs and maintenance of Nigeria’s refineries.
This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Onfoik Luke at the plenary.
Luke, who led the debate on the motion, said there was the need to ensure transparency and accountability in the rehabilitation of the refineries.
He said the motion followed the recent approval of $1.5 billion (N575 billion) for the rehabilitation of the 32-year-old Port Harcourt refinery.
According to the lawmaker, the rehabilitation will be completed in 44 months with a three components funding from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), budgetary allocations provisions and Afreximbank.
Luke expressed concern that NNPC had allegedly spent about $25 billion in turnaround maintenance of the refineries in the past 25 years.
He said: “Previous rehabilitation notwithstanding, the NNPC audit report last year revealed that three of the nation’s four refineries recorded N1.64 trillion cumulative losses in their 2014 to 2018 details.
Despite not processing any crude oil in June last year, the three refineries still cost the country N10.23 billion in expenses.”
The House therefore mandated its Committee on Petroleum Resources Downstream to carry out an investigative hearing and conduct comprehensive audit of the nation’s refineries.
The House urged the committee to report back for further legislative action within six weeks.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday charged the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services (DSS) to go after a terror group, Fulani Nationality Movement (FUNAM), which claimed responsibility for last Saturday’s attack on the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom.
The lawmakers unanimously adopted a motion jointly moved by members from Benue State who demanded an investigation into the attack as well as arrest and prosecution of the suspects.
The motion titled: “Armed Attack and Assassination Attempt on Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State and the Worsening Spate of Insecurity in Nigeria,” was jointly sponsored by Kpam Jimin Sokpo, Benjamin Mzondu, Mark Gbillah, John Dyegh, Tyough Robert, Herman Hembe, Samson Okwu, Francis Agbo, Richard Gbande, Blessing Onuh and Godday Samuel.
The Benue lawmakers said they were concerned about the worsening spate of violent crimes and insecurity across the country ranging from cultism, armed robbery, armed herdsmen attacks, bandit attacks, armed militia attacks, Boko Haram insurgency and terrorism.
They expressed surprise that the police and DSS are yet to go after the FUNAM members despite the group’s claim on the governor’s attack.
The motion read:
“The House takes cognizance of the response by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari, in condemning the armed attack and assassination attempt on Governor Samuel Ortom, and his subsequent directive for the Police to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the attack.
“The House acknowledges the directives of the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, and immediate deployment of FCID to Benue State for a thorough investigation of the incident.
The House is even more worried that the assassination attempt on Ortom of Benue State is an invitation to anarchy and glaring indication that the nation is drifting into a state of full-scale lawlessness.”
The House of Representatives has revealed its invitation to the nation’s service chiefs, the Inspector-General of Police and other heads of paramilitary agencies, in order to explain the procurement and deployment of arms and ammunition in their respective agencies.
This inquest would be conducted during plenary on Monday, March 22, by the Ad Hoc Committee on the Need to Review the Purchase, Use and Control of Arms, Ammunition and Related Hardware by Military, Paramilitary and Other Law Enforcement Agencies in Nigeria.
According to reports, the House Committee on Defence has met with the Ministry of Defence on the $1bn special security fund released by the Federal Government in 2017, part of which was used to pay for 12 Super Tucano fighter jets in the United States.
Olaide Akinremi, Chairman of the ad hoc committee, at its first investigative hearing in Abuja, penultimate Friday, where the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru was represented by the Commandant, Army War College Nigeria, Maj.-Gen. Charles Ofoche had described the matter as sensitive.
Akinremi explained that following the resolution of the House to look into arms purchase in the last 10 years, incumbent heads of military and paramilitary agencies are to appear before the lawmakers on Monday.
The committee had the same day vowed to investigate the “missing” arms and ammunition for which the former service chiefs were allocated funds to acquire.
The House of Representatives, on Sunday, March 14, issued an ultimatum to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries for an appearance before the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee on Friday, or have a warrant of arrest issued against them.
Ripples Nigeria gathered that the NNPC and its subsidiaries were issued this ultimatum, following a query by the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF) over dwindling revenue to the Federal Government.
Committee Chairman Oluwole Oke, who gave the directive, said the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government were operating on the Treasury Single Account (TSA), while NNPC was using its subsidiaries to operate commercial banks without the knowledge of the Accountant General of the Federation.
NNPC’s Chief Financial Officer, Umar Isa Ajiya, some weeks ago, had appeared before the committee and submitted that they were going to speak on behalf of their subsidiaries, a position the committee rejected.
The committee had said the subsidiaries were legal entities and must speak on their own.
Last week, NNPC’s Group Managing Director Mele Kyari told the lawmakers that the corporation and its subsidiaries were authorised by law to make deductions at source to fund their operations.
He had said his delay to appear before the committee was due to some exigencies.
Last Friday, Oke was enraged that the NNPC subsidiaries had not appeared before the committee and render their financial accounts, as they were expected to do, as of last week.
Consequently, he ordered the corporation and its subsidiaries to appear before the committee or a warrant of arrest be issued against them.
The lawmaker gave them seven days to appear before the committee.
The House of Representatives ad hoc committee auditing the arms and ammunition procured by the country’s Armed Forces on Friday knocked the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, for snubbing its invitation before the panel.
The House Ad Hoc Committee on the Need to Review the Purchase, Use and Control of Arms, Ammunition and Related Hardware by Military, Paramilitary, and Other Law Enforcement Agencies in Nigeria held its first investigative hearing in Abuja on Friday.
The COAS was represented by the Commandant of Nigerian Army War College, Maj.-Gen. Charles Ofoche.
Ofoche, who pleaded on Attahiru’s behalf, said the COAS was attending a meeting with other service chiefs in Ibadan, Oyo State.
He said: “The country is embroiled in a lot of crisis, so they are moving around. And he thought he could make it down here this morning for this meeting, so the notice was quite short for me to come and represent him because he would have loved to do it personally and that is why there is no written note.”
“We are at your service. We are here to serve you as a people and to serve all Nigerians. We cannot pretend that we do not know there is a crisis all over the country.
The Chief of Army Staff cannot be at every location at every time. He is on the way trying to get to know his men. He took over barely a week ago. He is going around trying to get first-hand information as to the capability of the fighting force he is leading.”
In his remarks, the Chairman of the committee, Aliyu Al-Mustapha, alleged that criminals had been caught with arms and ammunition said to have been procured by the Armed Forces.
He said: “You can bear witness to the fact that Nigeria is embroiled in serious security issues and year in year out, appropriations were made and huge sums expended on procurement of arms and ammunition.
“Yet, in the whole of the arrests made, you find these arms and ammunition with some of these bandits and miscreants. Some of them can be traced back to the very military or police. It is a serious issue and the National Assembly is well-positioned to dig deep into the root of this issue and find a solution.”
Al-Mustapha stated that the lawmakers were not witch-hunting the COAS or the army.
He added: “This is a very serious and sensitive security matter; at least, let us see the man, being that this is the first meeting with the Nigerian Army. The accounting officer of the army should have appeared to give us his account and position as far as the communications made to him.
“For the chairman and secretariat, there is no communication before that the COAS is having another schedule that may not allow him to be physically present here. That is a contravention to Section 88, Section 89 (1) (of the Constitution), and of course Section o1 of the Armed Forces Act 1994.
“There is a need for a motion to allow the COAS to come and make his submissions personally to this committee.”
In the same vein, a member of the committee, Ifeanyi Momah, condemned Attahiru for not writing the committee to introduce and endorse Ofoche to speak for him.
He said: “So if he is not the one making the remarks, it makes it very easy for him to actually engage in culpable deniability since he is not the one making the remarks.”
The new Service Chiefs recently appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari will be screened for confirmation by the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
According to the Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Babajimi Benson, the Service Chiefs will be screened behind closed doors for security reasons.
The newly appointed Service Chiefs are Maj. Gen. Lucky Eluonye Onyenuchea lrabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air Vice Marshal Isiaka O. Amao, Chief of Air staff.
They were nominated by the President to replace the former Service Chiefs including Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who all resigned on January 26.
In a letter sent to the Senate and the House, dated January 27, Buhari had urged the National Assembly to confirm the new Service Chiefs.
Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, also confirmed receipt of the letter on February 5, which he read to the members before going ahead to set up as panel made up of Chairmen, Deputy Chairmen and some members of military-related standing committees, to be led by Benson.
“The screening of the new Service Chiefs will hold on Wednesday at 10am,” Benson said while confirming the upcoming screening.
You know that for security issues, you don’t want to put information out there that the enemy will use against us. We will make some opening remarks but the main ‘question and answer’ session would be behind closed doors.
“Nigerians should rest assure that we have moved (and adopted) several motions on insecurity and those resolutions are uppermost in our mind. We want safety and security to return to our national life. We are mindful of all that,” he added.
For seven years, crude oil lifted from Nigeria between 2005 to 2012 worth over $20 billion was unaccounted for according to the House of Representatives.
Chairman, Ad-hoc Committee on Crude Oil Theft, Hon. Peter Akpatason disclosed this on Wednesday, during the resumed hearing with top officials from the Department of Petroleum Resources in Abuja.
Akpatason also noted that the same trend of infractions were observed between 2016 and 2019.
“Forensic analysis of the data revealed a very wide margin between what was reported produced and what was lifted. We need an explanation from stakeholders involved.
“DPR is the agency of government saddled with the responsibility of monitoring crude oil production and lifting. The Committee requested and obtained schedules of crude oil produced and lifting between 2005 to 2019.
“Forensic analysis of the data revealed a very wide margin between what was reported produced and what was lifted. Between 2005 and 2012, DPR reported production of 1,746,621,167 barrels from four sampled oil terminals of Egeravos, Bonny, Forcados and Bonga.
Out of these production volumes, only 1,417,200,848 barrels were accounted for, as having been lifted officially. A whopping volume of 329,420,319 barrels, valued at over $20 billion, could not be accounted for. The same trend of infractions was observed in the years 2016-2019″, he revealed.
In defense, DPR Director/CEO, Sarki Auwalu, blamed the crude theft on third party interference, especially at the land terminals.
“I will like to use this opportunity to give a brief on how we will account for hydrocarbon in this nation. I think that will provide a better view of this committee as well as Nigerians. The process starts with well, because every crude oil comes from well, and you cannot drill a well without knowing the capacity of that well to produce.
“Most of the thefts, they are coming from land terminals because the land producers, they have to use pipelines to transport the crude into the terminals for export. In the process, you have a lot of third party interference in which those points of theft were there; small volumes that account for the larger volume are being taken and they are being stolen”.
Auwalu explained further that most of the discrepancies in production and export, you can easily calculate the theft volume. And the theft volume, if not all, come from the land terminals. But the offshore terminals, it is actually practically impossible to steal crude from offshore terminals, since it is from the bottom of the sea.
Department of Petroleum Resources appearance on Wednesday before the committee will be followed by Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and the Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday and Friday respectively
The House of Representatives have asked the National Communications Commission (NCC) to extend the 31st December deadline issued to sim card owners to submit their National Identification Numbers (NIN) to their network providers to prevent blocking.
The motion was moved on Wednesday during plenary by the House Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu.
According to the lawmaker, two weeks is too short for 200million Nigerians to conclude the process.
The House lauds the intention of the NCC, for security reasons but wants the process to be extended to 10 weeks, considering the difficulty experienced by Nigerians in attaining the NIN.
The Federal Government on Tuesday issued an ultimatum to all telecommunications operators in the country to block all Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) without National Identification Number (NIN).
It also ordered the network operators to ask all their subscribers to provide valid NIN to update their records and suspend SIM registration.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, noted in a statement that the meeting was convened on Monday by the Minister, Dr. Isa Pantami.
According to him, the meeting resolved that the submission of NIN by subscribers would take place between December 16 and 30, 2020.
The government stated that after the deadline, all SIMs without NINs should be blocked from the networks while a Ministerial Task Force comprising the minister and all the CEOs, among others, as members would monitor compliance by all networks.
It warned that violations of the directives by any network operator would be met with stiff sanctions, including the possibility of withdrawal of operating licences.
Adinde explained that the meeting followed the earlier directive on the suspension of new SIM registration by network operators.
The need to consolidate the achievements of last year’s SIM registration audit and improve the performance and sanity of the sector was exhaustively discussed and all stakeholders agreed that urgent drastic measures had become inevitable to improve the integrity and transparency of the SIM registration process.
The caucus described as “reckless” the claims by the Attorney General that by inviting Mr President to address Nigerians, the House of Representatives overstepped its bounds.
President Muhammadu Buhari was advised on Thursday by the minority caucus in the House of Representatives to disregard the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and appear before the House as soon as possible.
The caucus, in a statement signed by the minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu, criticised the statement by the AGF that the National Assembly lacks constitutional powers to summon the president to address it on the deteriorating insecurity and killings.
He said the claim by the Attorney General was unlawful and reckless. “We as lawmakers, therefore, urge President Buhari not to allow officials like Abubakar Malami to ridicule his office and further alienate him from Nigerians”.
“Mr President, having agreed to appear before the House and given that the constitution backs the invitation, should take steps to honour the invitation and not allow himself to be distracted by persons who have demonstrated that they do not wish the nation well,” he stated.
The opposition leader noted that the same section 218 cited by the Attorney General as well as sections 88 and 89 grant the National Assembly the powers to request Mr President’s attention on his handling of security and operations of the armed forces.
“Section 89 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended empowers the Senate or the House of Representatives or a committee appointed in accordance with Section 62 of the Constitution, to procure evidence, written or oral, and to ‘summon any person in Nigeria to give evidence at any place,” he stated.
Elumelu said that President Buhari, in response to the constitutional invitation, had already agreed to appear before the House to address Nigerians.
“Mr. President’s apparent backward steps on the invitation just because handlers like Abubakar Malami, are afraid of the people, puts him in very bad light before Nigerians and the world,” the caucus states.
The caucus described as “reckless” the claims by the Attorney General that by inviting Mr President to address Nigerians, the House of Representatives overstepped its bounds.
“Indeed, as lawmakers, we are surprised that an individual who calls himself a Senior Advocate of Nigerian and who sits in office as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation can reason in such a manner.”
According to the lawmakers, “the fundamental reason for the existence of any government is the security of life and property and such is directly vested on the President as the commander-in-chief.
“Today Nigerians are killed, kidnapped, and maimed every day in all parts of our country. Nigerians live in constant fear, and they are asking questions; they seek reassurances, which only Mr President can offer.
“As elected representatives of the Nigerian people, members of the House of Representatives are mandated by law to ask questions on the state of the nation, especially on issues of security, and that informed the invitation to President Buhari.
“It is therefore sad and a great disservice to the nation and the President that the only opportunity Mr President had to remedy his name by addressing Nigerians through their elected representatives is being thwarted by individuals pursuing their selfish interest not the interest of Mr President or that of the Nigerians people,” the lawmakers stated.
The caucus further expressed concerns over the interest and roles being played by the likes of Abubakar Malami, to frustrate efforts to tackle insecurity in the country.