₦airaland Forum

Sauce?

Bastards

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) may have recovered a Toyota Land Cruiser Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) belonging to the ex-Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Patrick Akpobolokemi.

Also, the anti-graft agency is also said to have frozen accounts of two companies financially associated with NIMASA, Mieka Divers Limited and Global West Vessels Limited.

The two companies are reportedly owned by ex-Niger Delta warlord, Chief Government Ekpompolo, otherwise known as Tompollo.

Head, Media Unit of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, who spoke to our correspondent on the telephone yesterday, could not immediately confirm the development, but said the matter was still under investigation.

“I can’t confirm that to you immediately, but what I know is that the matter has been under investigation”, Uwujaren said.

Investigation by our correspondent also revealed that a number of private bank accounts, allegedly linked to Akpobolokemi, had also been frozen on the orders of the EFCC.

A security source who spoke to our correspondent under a condition of anonymity yesterday, however, confirmed the measures taken on the said bank accounts.

According to him, the move was aimed at checking the ongoing illegal movements of large sums of foreign and local currencies across the nation’s borders.

The source stated further that there were ongoing security surveillance on a number of private and corporate accounts suspected to be linked to slush funds and that those of Mieka Divers Limited and Global West Vessels Limited were just two of such accounts under watch.

Also affected is the contractor handling the N30 billion Maritime University at Okerenkoko, in the Gbaramatu, Delta State. The contract is being handled by Mr. Kime Engozi, believed to be a close ally of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Funds, amounting to billions of naira, allegedly paid to the contractor by the last administration, are said to have been trapped at a Yenagoa, Bayelsa State branch of an old generation bank.

The funds, are said to be part payment for the construction work on the Maritime University and the NIMASA Technical College, Okoloba, also in Delta State.

Further investigation by our correspondent revealed that freezing the accounts was not a move to stall the various projects for which monies had been paid.

Rather, the move, our source said, was to verify and to keep close watch on outflow of funds from the accounts, with the view to ensuring that such funds were not meant for sinister purposes.

“For instance, just one individual got about N13 billion from a single transaction with NIMASA. The same individual also collected about $57 million from similar deals from the agency without proper documentation.

“No serious administration would attempt to sweep this type of thing under the carpet. So there must be proper explanations, bearing in mind the security implications of movement of such large sums within the system”, the source stated.

Although Tompollo is not known to be under investigation by the EFCC, Akpobolokemi has been under the anti-graft agency’s investigation since August over issues relating to the running of the NIMASA under his watch.

The EFCC had since seized the international passport of the ex-NIMASA boss. A number of his close aides, including an Executive Director at NIMASA, had also been guests of the commission in the last few weeks.

A security source said yesterday that the aides were assisting the EFCC in investigation, relating to amounts spent on the Maritime Domain Awareness and Surveillance System (MDASS) as well the management of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF).

Attempts by the last session of the House of Representatives to investigate spendings, particularly huge payments to Global West Vessels Limited by NIMASA in 2013 were thwarted under the last administration.

Of particular interests to the House of Representatives was the revelation that 50 percent of revenue being generated by NIMASA was allegedly being paid to Tompollo’s Global West Vessels against financial regulations.

The House investigation had also faulted the way and manner the CVFF account was being run by NIMASA, particularly the frequent movements of funds into different individual and corporate accounts.

At the time, the CVFF accounts were being operated in four different accounts in Skye Bank, Sterling Bank, Diamond Bank and Fidelity Bank.

EFCC Recovers N38m Bullet-proof SUV From Ex-NIMASA DG - Abusidiqu
http://abusidiqu.com/efcc-recovers-n38m-bullet-proof-suv-from-ex-nimasa-dg/

baba iyabo!!!!!!

May God bless Nigeria

Slowly but Surely

Ehn Ehn don de reach Namadi Sambo


E go soon reach dat man wiv fake Phd...

Says ex-VP’s office got N20m monthly •Yuguda, Bafarawa, others to account for N18.09b cash got for Operation Capture North-West for PDP •Ex-Minister got another $9.8m within two months
More revelations by  former Accounts Officer II, Ibrahim Idris Wambai have shown that the Office of ex-Vice President Namadi Sambo was on a monthly stipend of N20million from  the Office of the National Security Adviser(ONSA).

Several  presidential aides also  benefitted from slush funds from  the ONSA,according to Wambai,who singled out five firms which were used as platforms by some people to receive funds  from  the office.

Many prominent Nigerians and leaders  similarly drew huge funds from the office.

Records of all cash payments to  such individuals and organizations are still intact, he said in a Statement of Witness/Accused Person which was filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.

The certified statement on oath  is  part of the Proof of Evidence for the trial of nine suspects  next week.

He said:  “In December 2014, I took cash of N4million to Col. Madaki(rtd) in his residence in Wuse II Abuja. I had made many cash payments to Doyin Okupe, Ahmad Idris (PA to ex-NSA), ADC to former First Lady Patience  Jonathan as payments for monthly operation allowances.

“The  documents showing evidence of the payments are in the office of Yazidu Ibrahim in cash payment files. The exact amounts paid and date of payments I cannot remember but are available in the files.

“The venue for the collection of the money was my office and the money was given to me from the cash in the strong room.

“So many cash payments were made on a  monthly basis to the following beneficiaries: Office of the former Vice President, Arc. Namadi Sambo (N20,000,000). The money was being collected by former Deputy Chief of Staff; ADC to former President (amount not known but in cash payment files; Chief Personal physician to former President Goodluck Jonathan; former coordinator on anti-terrorism, Gen. Sarkin Yaki;  former Director PC4, Gen. Terba Waya (rtd); Personal Assistant, Domestic Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

“The amounts and frequency of payments to the beneficiaries as well as the list of other beneficiaries are in the cash payment files

“I also witnessed several payments in cash to various people. Prominent was about payment of N300million to former Chairman on Security and Intelligence, Dr. Bello Matawalle from the cash in the strong room.

“To get details of cash payments in Naira and individuals and organizations summary  and vouchers from January 2011 to July 2015, the documents are kept in Yazidu Ibrahim’s former office. These should be collected from the Director of Finance and Administration, Col. Jafaru Mohammed. I and Yazidu Ibrahim  can supply the files and the summary.”

He named  five firms allegedly used for  curious transfers from the ONSA.

His words: “The amounts of the five companies are  ACACIA Holdings Limited(N600,000,000) via  account no. 1017330319 with UBA and N650million via account no. 0122012650 with ECOBANK Nigeria Limited; Reliance Referral Hospital Limited(N750m) via account no.2022394057 with First Bank Nigeria Plc; Jabbama Global Nigeria Limited(N400m) via account no. 1013898095 with Zenith Bank; Continental Development etc.”

Meanwhile, ex-Minister  of State for Finance, ex-Governor Attahiru Bafarawa and his son, Sagir Attahiru and Dalhatu Investment Limited may have to account for over N18.09billion when their trial begins next week.

Part of the cash was for  PDP’s ‘Operation Capture North West’.

The cumulative cash does not include the $9.809m  allegedly collected by ex-Minister of State Yuguda from ONSA between December 23, 2014 and February 10, 2015.

According to the charge sheet filed by EFCC, the suspects benefited from the said funds between April 14, 2014 and May 7, 2015.

Some of the  charges are : “That you Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki whilst being National Security Adviser and Shaibu Salisu, whilst being the Director of Finance and Administration in the Office of the National Security Adviser between 14th April and 7th May 2015 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court entrusted with dominion over certain properties to wit: an aggregate sum of N3.350billion being part of the funds in the account of the National Security Adviser with the CBN, committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said properties when you transferred same to the account of Dalhatu Investment Limited with United Bank for Africa Plc purporting same to be payment for the supply of security equipment and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Vol.4, LFN 2004.

“That you Dalhatu Investment Limited, Sagir Attahiru and Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa between 14th April 2014 and 7th May 2015 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, dishonestly received stolen property, to wit: an aggregate sum of N3.350billion with UBA Plc from the account of the Office of the National Security Adviser(ONSA) with the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), which belonged to the Federal Government of Nigeria and knowing the said sum to be stolen property but purporting same to be payment for the supply of security equipment and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 317 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Vol.4, LFN 2004.

“That you Dalhatu Investment Limited, Sagir Attahiru and Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa between 14th April 2014 and 7th May 2015 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court knew that an aggregate sum of N3.350billion directly represented the proceeds of criminal conducts of Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki and Shuaibu Salisu who were National Security Adviser and the Director of Finance, Office of the National Security Adviser respectively ( to wit: criminal breach of trust in respect of the said amount) had possession of the said property and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 317 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Vol.4, LFN 2004.

“That you Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki whilst being National Security Adviser and Shaibu Salisu, whilst being the Director of Finance and Administration in the Office of the National Security Adviser on or about 20th December 2013 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court entrusted with dominion over certain properties to wit: N500million being part of the funds in the account of the National Security Adviser with Skye Bank Plc, committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property when you transferred same to the account of Dalhatu Investment Limited with United Bank for Africa Plc purporting same to be payment for the supply of security equipment and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Vol.4, LFN 2004.

“That you Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki whilst being National Security Adviser and Shaibu Salisu, whilst being the Director of Finance and Administration in the Office of the National Security Adviser, Bashir Yuguda whilst being the Minister of State for Finance between 5th February and 16th April 2015 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court entrusted with dominion over certain properties to wit: an aggregate sum of N1.1billion being part of the funds in the account of the National Security Adviser with CBN committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property when you transferred same to the account of Jabbama Ada Global Services Nigeria Limited for the purpose of financing the campaign of PDP in the 2015 general election and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 315 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Vol.4, LFN 2004.

“That you, Bashir Yuguda whilst being Minister of State for Finance between 23rd December 2014 and 10th February, 2015 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court dishonestly misappropriated certain property to wit: an aggregate sum of $9,809,619 which was an equivalent of the aggregate sum of N1,950,000 belonging to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which sum was transferred to Jabbama Ada Global Services to be converted into the said dollars and you  thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 309  of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Vol.4, LFN 2004.

“That you Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki whilst being National Security Adviser and Shaibu Salisu, whilst being the Director of Finance and Administration in the Office of the National Security Adviser, between  August 2013 and February 2015 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court  dishonestly misappropriated certain property to wit: an aggregate sum of N1.675billion belonging to the Federal Republic of Nigeria which sum was transferred to the account of Vibrant Resources Limited controlled by Abubakar Dasuki, the younger brother of Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki, the then National Security Adviser and you  thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 309  of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Vol.4, LFN 2004.

“That you Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki whilst being National Security Adviser and Shaibu Salisu, whilst being the Director of Finance and Administration in the Office of the National Security Adviser, Bashir Yuguda whilst being the Minister of State for Finance between 14th April 2014 and 7th May, 2015 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court agreed to do an illegal act to wit: criminal breach of trust by public officers in respect of an aggregate sum of N5,050b being part of the funds in the account of the National Security Adviser with CBN  and that the same act was done in pursuance  of the agreement  among you and  you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section  97 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Vol.4, LFN 2004.

“That you Bashir Yuguda, Dalhatu Investment Limited, Sagir Attahiru and Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa between 2013 and 2015 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court agreed to do an illegal act to wit: dishonestly receiving stolen property to wit: an aggregate sum of N4.633b being part of the funds in the accounts of the ONSA and that the same act was done in pursuance  of the agreement  among you and  you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section  97 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Vol.4, LFN 2004.

Dasuki's ex-account officer implicates Sambo's office - The Nation Nigeria
http://thenationonlineng.net/dasukis-ex-account-officer-implicates-sambos-office/

A Thread dedicated to d wailers

The Northern Nigeria Development Company (NNDC) on Friday, said it would begin oil and gas exploration in the north- east in the first quarter of 2016.

Chairman of the company, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, stated this while briefing journalists at NNDC’s 47th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Kaduna.

Dalhatu said the company was collaborating with its technical partners and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on the expertise and budgetary requirements for the take-off of the project.

The company’s Group Managing Director (GMD), Alhaji Ahmed Musa, further said NNDC could not commence the project as earlier planned due to the security situation in the region.

Musa said NNDC was also constrained by finance anc production sharing formula.

He said the company needed 20 million dollars for exploration on each of the four oil blocks which caused part of the delay, assuring that plans were underway to begin the project within the first quarter of 2016.

The GMD said the NNDC would open the exploration in the four oil block s allocated to it in the Lake Chad Basin, while plans were underway to acquire four more oil blocks in the region.

On the AGM, the NNDC said that the company had recorded 42 per cent increase in its income the financial year ended March 31, 2015.

“Operating income increased from N651.2 million to N923.9, while a 73 per cent increase had been recorded in operating profit before tax from N137.2 million to N237.2 million.

“ Furthermore, increase was recorded in earnings per share of 87 per cent from 16.7 kobo to 31.2 kobo and 4.4 per cent in net assets per share from N14.1 to N18. 5 when compared with results of the preceding year ended 31st March 2014. “

The chairman further said NNDC had trained 541 chartered accountants since inception of the programme in 2007 under its Young Professional Development Trust across centres located in Kaduna, Kano and Ilorin.

Bashir said the fourth study centre would soon be opened in Gombe state for youths in the north-east.

NNDC to begin oil, gas exploration in north-east in 2016 - Vanguard News
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/12/nndc-to-begin-oil-gas-exploration-in-north-east-in-2016/

Bigmillz:
foolish idiot the money I use in paying from r my monthly subscription. You and your family can't make it in a year. You think everybody comes from a broke background like you

I talk am... Na Free MB de make u disgrace ur family line.

Proposal tins

Bigmillz:
Even wen he left power for them they don't want to still leave the man alone. Because of this man one day plenty people go sleep dey no go wake up

I don't blame u... Na d free MB wey MTN dash u I de blame

I said it, wen Muray Brice needs Common sense, do gods do shiit on top him Head

End time

Goood

More strategies to frustrate looters of d Treasury.

End time

May God bless and protect dis man....

is dis babe married??

if noo


abeg how i fit take toast am.... epp a broda plsh

Bastards

Ramainin d names of all those useless bloggers dat collected just 100k to sell their father land

Sahara Reporters twitter handle was hacked!

Oh lord

True tlk

Good news

Jazakhallah khairan.
Thanks for d reminder.

A the Funny tins is dat is d same set of people dat keep looting dis con3 over and over again.

Abeg dem wan buy Heaven wiv d money?

INVESTIGATION: How Ekweremadu, other Nigerian lawmakers 'pocketed' N8 Billion in failed constitution amendment

Nigerian federal lawmakers, led by incumbent Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, and former Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha, withdrew a princely N7.75 billion of public funds in four years to purportedly review sections of the 1999 Constitution, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report today.

In an investigation lasting months, this newspaper found that between 2011 and 2015, the 53-member House of Representatives Ad-hoc Constitution Review Committee and its 49-member counterpart in the Senate in the 7th National Assembly withdrew N3,250,000,000.00 and N4,500,000,000.00 respectively to purportedly execute the fourth alteration of the Constitution.

It is not immediately clear how the lawmakers spent the outrageous funds but insiders say a huge chunk of it was pocketed by members of the committees in what one source described as ‘unprecedented naira bazaar’ by a committee of the National Assembly’.

Officials of the committees continued to make withdrawal even long after the exercise was concluded. It remains unclear what those withdrawals were spent on.

The Committees, which operated independently, withdrew the monies in tranches from their accounts domiciled in an Abuja branch of the Guarantee Trust Bank.

Curiously, some of the withdrawals were made long after they submitted their final reports to both chambers for consideration and a few weeks before the general elections and the inauguration of the 8th National Assembly.

The Senate Committee was statutorily chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, while the House Committee was headed by the then Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha.

Mr. Ekweremadu was re-elected in the March 28 senatorial election but Mr. Ihedioha failed in his bid to be elected governor of his native Imo State in the April 11 election.

Documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES showed that the House Committee withdrew N500m of public funds on December 16, 2011; N500m on May 17, 2012; N250m on October 29, 2012; N250m on May 8, 2013; N250m on August 6, 2013; and N250m on November 11, 2013.

On February 20, 2014, it withdrew N250m; another N250m on May 27, 2014; N250m on August 21, 2014; N166.5m on a date not specified; and N83.5m on December 5, 2014.

The Committee further withdrew N83.33m on March 2, 2015 and the same amount on March 23, five days before the Presidential and National Assembly elections and on April 13, barely two days after this year’s governorship election.

PREMIUM TIMES checks revealed that the National Assembly was not in session at the time of the elections, and the committee had long concluded its assignments suggesting the withdrawals were dubious.

The document showed that the Senate Committee, on its part, operated two accounts, tagged “Account A” and “Account B”.

From Account A, like its House counterpart, the Committee collected N500m on December 16, 2011, the first after its inauguration.

Subsequent withdrawals it made are N500m on April 20, 2012; N250m on May 17, 2012; N250m on February 27, 2013; N250m on May 8, 2013; N250m on July 23, 2013; N250m on November 5, 2013; N250m on February 5, 2014; N250m on August 18, 2014; N83.3m on March 17, 2015 and another N83.3m on a date not specified.

The Committee also withdrew from its Account B the sum of N250m on May 22, 2014; N166.6m on November 25, 2014; N83.4m on December 5, 2014 and N83.3m on February 27, 2015.

Before the inauguration of the 7th National Assembly on June 6, 2011, the document also revealed, the Senate Committee withdrew from its Account A the sums of N125m on April 21, 2010; N250m on June 10, 2010; N125m on a date not specified; N250m on October 13, 2010; N250m on an unspecified date; and N250m on February 9, 2011.

The total amount the Committee withdrew from Account A stood at N3,916,666,667 and from Account B it withdrew a total of N583,333,333.

No proper accounting for the spent funds have been made, insiders say.

The House Committee submitted its final report in July 2013.

Its membership comprised all principal officers, except the Speaker; a representative of each of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory; four representatives of the female members of the House; the Chairman of the Rules and Business Committee; and the chairman and deputy chairman of the Committee on Media and Publicity.

The Committee’s major activities during the process included a retreat in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, between May 27 and 29, 2012; Peoples Public Sessions held simultaneously in all the 360 federal constituencies on November 10, 2012; and public presentation of collated results on April 18, 2013.

The committee held 25 meetings altogether while the assignment lasted. There was also a retreat for the Technical Experts on Constitution and Legal matters who produced the work-plan as well as some civil society organisations drawn from the six geo-political zones.

Members of the House subsequently voted on the various sections proposed for amendment on January 30, 2014.

The Senate Committee, on the other hand, held a retreat in Asaba, Delta State; organised zonal and national (Abuja) public hearings; conducted opinion polls; undertook study tour to the United States, Canada and India; held consultations with seasoned experts and constitutional lawyers; and organised town hall meetings in the senatorial zones.

It presented its final report to the Senate on June 5, 2013.

The Committee whose membership included the principal officers of the upper chamber who served as “members of the steering committee,” finally organised a retreat in Lagos to consider a draft bill. That was after the senators voted on the amended sections on three occasions – July 2013, April 2014 and June 2014.

But those who should know say all these engagements could not have cost the nation more than N1billion altogether. They said some of the public sessions held in states were funded by state governments.

Authorities wouldn’t comment on withdrawals

The then Senate President, David Mark, could not be reached for comment on this story. He did not answer or return multiple calls. Neither did he respond to a text message sent to him.

So also was Mr. Ekweremadu, who spearheaded most of the spending.

When contacted, Imam Imam, the media aide to the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, asked this newspaper to direct all inquiries on the last constitution amendment to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, Sani Omolori.

Mr. Ihedioha, who chaired the House Ad-hoc Committee, also requested us to do the same.

“My dear, feel free to reach out to the Clerk of the House of Reps to furnish you with all details you will need,” the former deputy speaker said in a text message to one of our reporters.

Mr. Omolori could however not be reached as did not answer or return calls. He did not also respond to a text message sent to him.

Several attempts by this newspapers to also speak with the Clerk to the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa, failed.

The Director of Information of the National Assembly, Ishaku Dibal, told PREMIUM TIMES he was not in a position to speak on the matter.

Also, the former spokesperson of the House, Zakari Mohammed, who served in the ad-hoc committee, did not answer calls by this newspaper.

But a former senator who served in the Senate ad-hoc committee, Anthony Adeniyi, said he was not sure about how much committee members spent on the constitutional amendment.

“I can’t confirm the figure you are quoting. I don’t think we spent that much,” he told PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview Thursday.

But another senator close to the constitution review committee, who requested not to be named for fear he might be attacked by his colleagues, said, “I can confirm that they withdrew more than that. Committee members were just sharing money. It was a kind of naira bazaar for them.”

After the concurrence of the 36 State House of Assembly, the draft bill “Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Amendment) Bill, 2015,” was transmitted to former President Goodluck Jonathan for assent.

Wasted Billions

Despite the huge public funds purportedly expended on the amendment, Mr. Jonathan refused to sign the amendment into law. Instead he, on April 13, wrote to the National Assembly complaining of defects in the bill.

The National Assembly then threatened to override his veto within 30 days.

But in response, the then Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, filed a suit against the legislature seeking to annul the amendments.

Both parties were to settle out of court. The legislature agreed to delete the controversial sections and clauses which Mr. Jonathan considered offensive while the president agreed to sign the amended constitution into law before handing over to the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Despite the truce, Mr. Jonathan did not sign the bill into law before he left office on May 29.

The former president’s failure to assent to the bill rendered the amendment futile and therefore the N7.75 billion public funds purportedly spent on the exercise, was largely wasted.

But the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Auwal Musa, lamented the huge amount of money the lawmakers withdrew for the exercise.

“There is no accountability on how the money was spent; it is outright corruption that has taken place and that was why they were fighting themselves,” he told PREMIUM TIMES.

Previous Exercises

The amendment to the 1999 Constitution, handed over by the Abdulsalami Abubakar military regime, began during the senate presidency of Chuba Okadigbo in 2000.

The then Deputy Senate President, Haruna Abubakar, and the Deputy Speaker of the House, Chibudom Nwuche, were named co-chair of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution Review (JCCR).

When they became deputy senate president and deputy speaker, Ibrahim Mantu and Austin Opara headed the joint committee.

Mr. Ekweremadu and the then Deputy Speaker, Usman Nafada, co-chaired the committee from 2007.

At the time, each of the chambers appointed 44 members into the joint committee, bringing the total number to 88.

Before 2011, the budget of the Joint Committee Constitution Review was N1 billion, which was shared equally between the two chambers.

That however changed in 2011 when the budgets of the constitution review committees of both chambers was subsumed under the larger National Assembly budgets, totalling N150 billion.

The federal legislature has repeatedly rebuffed calls on it not to operate a closed budget, but should instead subject itself to public scrutiny and transparency.

It also resisted demands for the breakdown of its budgetary allocations to its arm as obtained before 2011.

INVESTIGATION: How Ekweremadu, other Nigerian lawmakers 'pocketed' N8 Billion in failed constitution amendment - Premium Times Nigeria
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/194958-investigation-how-ekweremadu-other-nigerian-lawmakers-pocketed-n8-billion-in-failed-constitution-amendment.html

crowd

change is here my con3 people... sha those dat voed for APC oh notd wailers

Ibe Kachikwu, the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), says from 2016, state-owned refineries will make direct payments to the federation account. The refineries are subsidiaries of the NNPC, which is the body expected to make the payments. But Kachikwu said the NNPC was adopting a plan that would give the refineries some sort of autonomy, without privatising them. In a statement by Ohi Alegbe, the corporation’s spokesperson, Kachikwu was quoted as saying high level discussions are underway with local and international investors to bridge the perennial JV cash call funding gap. “The new model is that refineries would now buy their own crude oil, refine it and make remittances to the federation account allocation committee (FAAC),” Kachikwu said. “They would operate a semi autonomy system that would enable them to run in a profitable manner.” Alegbe expressed the federal government’s readiness to raise funds from international investors and the private sector in 2016 to fund the joint venture cash calls between the NNPC and international oil companies operating in the country. Kachikwu said the initiative is geared towards rebottling the government from bearing the burden of funding capital intensive projects in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry. The minister assured that the NNPC over 5000 kilometres of pipelines across the country would be privatized in order to enhance efficient management of the infrastructure, bringing pipeline vandalism to the barest minimum. According to him, in 24 months, Nigerians would see a positive dramatic turn in the refinery model, to meet needs not only in Nigeria but in the West African sub region. Speaking on the December deadline for the refineries, Kachikwu said the reports before him posit that, two of the refineries are likely to meet the deadline. Kachikwu disclosed that a “clean Nigeria after oil initiative” would be introduced in 2016 to ensure all the IOCs operating in Nigeria would adopt global best environmental practices that would guarantee the sustenance of the flora and fauna of communities where they operate even after they are long gone from the country. “I will engage the IOCs to stand up and get counted in the area of best environmental practices in 2016. “This initiative would help the IOCs to maintain a cordial relationship with the communities where they operate and the communities too would be satisfied with the efforts at the end of the day.” Follow us on twitter @thecableng Copyright 2015 TheCable. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.thecable.ng as the source.

Read more at: https://www.thecable.ng/kachikwu-from-2016-refineries-will-make-faac-payments#at_pco=smlwn-1.0&at_si=566848d1dd016a99&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=0&at_tot=1

slowly but surely