₦airaland Forum

op, I also have a problem similar to yours... though I'm planning to do a scan this week hopefully....following anyway......

Strong indications emerged on Saturday that the Finance Minister/Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and her counterpart in the Petroleum Resources Ministry, Mrs. Dieziani Allison-Madueke, may not appear before the joint senate committees probing the current fuel crisis, on Monday.

Our correspondent learnt that the two female ministers allegedly evaded the service of the senate summons when the documents were taken to their offices.

The joint committees on Petroleum Resources ( Upstream and Downstream ), had on Friday, invited the two ministers, alongside the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation; Managing Director of the Pipelines and Petroleum Marketing Company; Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources; Managing Director of Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency; for a meeting slated for tomorrow.

It was learnt that members of staff of the two ministries in charge of correspondences, allegedly refused to collect the invitation letters on the excuse that the ministers were not in their offices.

A member of the joint senate committee told our correspondent on conditions of anonymity that, “with the refusal of the ministry officials to collect the letters, the meeting scheduled for Monday is now uncertain.”

“All our efforts to deliver letters from the Senate to the Finance Minister, the Petroleum Minister, GMD of NNPC and the MD of DPR were unsuccessful largely due to the ongoing strike in the oil and gas industry as staff locked up their premises.

“At the Ministry of Finance, our staff was told that the minister was not around and they vehemently refused to collect any mail from us. The same thing happened at the petroleum resources.”

Also invited by the senators are, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria and the National Association of Road Transport Owners.

Joint chairmen of the committees, Senators Paulker Emmanuel and Magnus Abe, signed the invitation to all the stakeholders in the oil industry.

The invitation reads in part, “On Thursday, May 21, Senator Abdul Ningi drew the attention of the Senate to the lingering fuel scarcity in the country and the untold hardship on the generality of Nigerians.

“He urged the Senate to look into the matter with a view to finding the causes and lasting solution to the problem. Senate expects the joint committee report on the lingering fuel scarcity at Tuesday plenary.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/fuel-scarcity-okonjo-iweala-allison-madueke-shun-senate-summons/

The signs of change is manifesting and you can feel the Huricane. True confession, change has finaly come to stay.Sai Nigerian People.

Dame Patience Jonathan, wife of outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan, has pledged to support Hajia Aisha Buhari, the wife of the President-Elect Muhammadu Buhari in any of her successor’s projects that will promote peace and women empowerment in the society.
Jonathan spoke at the inauguration of the Defence and Police Officers Wives Association Skills Acquisition Centre, in Abuja, on Thursday.
She said, “I will make sure that I support my sister, the incoming First Lady, to make sure Nigerian women are safe.”
The President’s wife said the President was able to complete his four-year tenure in office with ease because of the support he got from the military and security chiefs in the country.
She said the security chiefs in the country were committed to democratic growth and were ready to sacrifice their lives for national unity and democracy.
Mrs Jonathan, who commended the service chiefs and women association for their support for her husband, especially during the Boko Haram insurgency, urged them to sustain the patriotic efforts.
She urged the women in the society to pray for the security chiefs to ensure that their efforts were successful.
“I want to thank all the service chiefs and all women associations for their support to the President and my office.
“You have really sacrificed a lot to ensure Nigeria is safe. Don’t be tired but ensure that Nigeria is safe. Pray for their success in finally keeping the nation safe,” she added.

http://www.punchng.com/news/patience-jonathan-promises-to-support-buharis-wife/

Former British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, has asked the incoming President, General Muhammadu Buhari, to overhaul the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, saying it was one sure way of tackling corruption and saving more money for infrastructural development.
Blair also asked the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to switch from its opposition status and assume the posture of head of an organisation, stressing that the days of persuasion and agitations were over.

He further stated that Buhari and the APC must be true to their words at all times, saying the action of the incoming government within the first 100 days in office would determine the kind of goodwill it would eventually have.

Blair spoke at a two-day policy dialogue themed “Implementing Change: From Vision to Reality,” organised by the Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council in Abuja, yesterday.
Represented by Mr. Peter Benjamin Mandelson, a former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in Blair’s government, the former prime minister also asked Buhari to ensure that the revenue of the Federal Government was kept in a comprehensive account.
He also warned against politics of region especially against the zones seen to have not voted for the APC.
He said: “You, Mr. Vice President-elect and Mr. President-elect, Buhari, I must say you have the expectations and the ambitions of 173 million Nigerians in your hands. You have the hopes of an entire continent as well as the eyes of the entire world focused on your efforts. But I tell you, people are excited about what is about to happen in Nigeria. They really feel a sense of expectation of faith and hope.

First 100 days

“What you do in the first 100 days is important and symbolic and can also have tremendously positive repercussion for the government and throughout the country. You have a limited window of opportunity to make an impact as a government. Looking at Nigeria, I would say your vulnerability is corruption and that is not new to you, particularly around the oil sector.
“People in this country seem to be able to do things with impunity and beyond the reach of the rule of law or proper accountability and the judicial system. You can crack the NNPC nut or you can make a start on it in the first 100 days and if you do so, you would have built a very strong foundation for what you have to do in the next four years and beyond.

Keep all govt money in one account

“I think ensuring that all government revenue goes into a single government account will be a good start. Those revenues from your natural resource are so vital for the country and for your future. I think that will send a very strong message. We did the same thing when we came in in 1997 when we gave the Bank of England its independence and that gave us an instant reputation for fiscal prudence.
“It is quite courageous for a government to give power away to another entity. There were people who voted for the others, mostly in the south and the east of the country. You need to show the people who didn’t vote for you that you represent their interest as much as the people who voted for you.

Politics of ethnicity, religion

“This was what we called big tent politics during Tony Blair era. If Nigeria is to transform and evolve towards a politics of performance, it is very important to get away from the politics of ethnicity, religion, politics of patronage and cronyism.”
Blair also urged the government to stay focused on its set objectives if it must succeed, reminding Buhari that allowing pressure and external interferences to get into his way would surely take him away from the set priorities.
“The other thing I want to come back to is priority. You need priority in what you want to deliver to your country, but here is the challenge. Everyday, there is one fresh crisis, some media events, some scandals or some personnel problems to contend with. A whole sack of things will get in the way of getting the real thing done.

Focus on your priorities

“What happens to your priority if you are not careful is that the wall will close in on you and before you know where you are, you are spending the whole time dancing from one place to another, putting out one fire in different parts of the forest without pursuing what you were put in government to do which was to bring about that change and that reform.
“That is why you need to create that mechanism and remain focused on your priorities. That is why you need certain policy delivery mechanisms that you can control, that which you have people working in under your guidance and political will even though you have to deal with the oil scandal.
“One other piece of advice drawn from our experience is that you will have more good will and more authority to do the difficult things at the beginning of your term than at the end.

Be true to your mandate

He also asked Buhari not to derail from his mandate He said: “I remember many of us ministers, including the Prime minister himself, had never been in government before, not even a junior parliamentary or Secretary of State, the lowest for ministerial life. We were all new. I was the third man. I want to share with you the first rule of government because it is irrelevant to you. Be true to your word. Be true to your mandate.
“At the beginning for us, there was nothing easy at all. We discovered some important things pretty quickly. The first thing is that the skills of leadership that take you to government is not the same skills you need to be successful in government. You have to switch from what you were campaigning when you are in office. You have to switch from a persuader where the tools of your trade are your words to being a CEO. That is the difference between being a persuader and and being a CEO. One is about words, the other is about deeds.

“Now, I am not saying you should stop communicating the moment you reach office. You have to keep explaining, educating and agitating for change and reforms to keep people behind and following you. But you have to change from being chief wordsmith to chief implementer and the truth is that many governments actually fall on that first hurdle.
“Government by definition is a team effort. In this job, whatever you fit into the leadership of government is to inspire people and to make them believe in you and in what you are doing and you judge others by the same high standards of integrity and efficiency that you must apply each and every one of you to yourselves.

You can’t do everything at once

“This is my third theme today. You cannot do everything at once just by ordering results, just by bashing the system to deliver those things is not going to achieve change. You have to be much more skillful, much more surgical than that. You have to apply a science of delivering. A science of priorities, a science of proper planning of defining goals, creating data systems that crack progress and developing the routines that make sure you keep all these going even amid the crisis that blow up. And they will.
“And above all, maintain the relationship between yourself and the centre and those in the public service on the frontline, the people who make sure that the delivery actually takes place, praising them when they do well, encouraging them when they fall behind and replacing them when you have to.
“Now, all these might sound straight forward. But it is not straight forward because a lot of the administration you are leading has gone into the habit of driving process rather than outcome.”
110 Nigerians live below poverty line —Osinbajo
Meanwhile, while declaring the event open earlier, the Vice President-elect, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who doubled as the chairman of the occasion said the priorities of the incoming government was to tackle poverty and stamp out corruption from the system.
He said: “In the course of the election campaign, we ran an issues-based campaign that identified certain areas of public policy as high priorities for propelling Nigeria forward. We addressed the challenges of the economy, insecurity, corruption and jobs creation. We spoke to the challenge of providing opportunities for self-actualisation to millions of our young people who face an uncertain future with understandable anxiety.
“We also addressed the challenge of providing for the most vulnerable segments of our population by equipping them with the tools to emerge from the crippling limitations of poverty to achieve dignified and productive citizenship.
“The figures of extreme poverty in our society, 110 million by current estimates, makes it clear that our biggest national problem is the extreme poverty of the majority. Thus, no analysis is required to conclude that dealing with poverty and its implications is a priority.
“We are concerned that our economy is currently in, perhaps, its worst moment in history. Local and international debt stands at $60 billion. Our debt servicing bill for 2015 is N953.6 billion, 21 per cent of our budget. On account of severely dwindled resources, over two-thirds of the states in Nigeria owe salaries. Federal institutions are not in much better shape.”
Today, the nation borrows to fund recurrent expenditure.
“This is also against the backdrop of a highly unequal society in which, by some reckoning, the largest chunk of the benefits of our national wealth accrues to a small percentage of our population. Our manifesto offered a vision of shared prosperity and socio-economic inclusion for all Nigerians, that leaves no one behind in the pursuit of a prosperous and fulfilling life.
“Our goal this morning is to interrogate these positions and propositions before a wider audience and to launch a robust public conversation on policy directions and priorities that will help inform our administration’s approach in the next four years. This forum exemplifies the sort of consultative and consensual approach to policy-making that our party and the new administration intend to model in office.
“This morning, on every street corner across this nation, Nigerians, as is their daily custom, will cluster around the local vendor and debate the burning national issues of the day. The fervency of these loosely structure “policy dialogues” suggests that Nigerians are fairly well acquainted with our problems and their touted solutions. The missing link has always been how to implement the identified solutions to these problems. In other words, we know the “what” and the “why” but have not been as adept at the “how.”
“Our task is broad and deep. Our sessions will explore a wide range of policy priorities including the diversification of the economy in the wake of declining oil revenues by engendering job-led growth, the revitalization of agriculture in pursuit of job creation and food security, improving the regulatory frameworks in our most strategic sphere of economic activity – the oil and gas sector, improving access to qualitative and affordable healthcare, reducing inequality, reforming our education system to close the gender gap in access to education and to enable our children become effective contestants in the global economy, expand participatory diversity and inclusion in public life and tackle inefficiency and graft in public service.”
According to him, the event must not be another talk-shop one that produced workable templates on country’s development drive for the incoming administration.
“Consequently, this forum cannot and will not be another talk shop. Our deliberations must be informed and pointed submissions that lay adequate emphasis on the “how” of implementation. I enjoin us to avoid over analysis and indeed the paralysis of analysis and focus more on specific actions, resource requirements, time lines, key performance indicators and milestones for evaluating progress, measurable parameters, goals and targets. Our presentations should also profile risks such as the key challenges that will have to be confronted in the process of policy execution.
“We have a few days to go- to enter into a new bold Nigerian enterprise. There are many hurdles to scale but we are confident that by God’s grace our Nation will serve its people well”, he said.
Also speaking, the Director of the Policy, Research and Strategy of the APC campaign, Dr. Kayode Fayemi gave insights on what motivated the Directorate to embark on the dialogue.
“Our task, as we saw it, was to undergird our campaign with an intellectual and strategic rigour that positioned our party as the pre-eminent movement of ideas in the recently concluded electoral cycle. Our desire, right from the onset, was to open a new chapter in the annals of partisan politics in Nigeria – one that departed from the personality-centered incivilities of the most banal kind that characterized the electioneering season.
“We sought to inaugurate a new model of issues-based, principle-centered campaigning. We believed that the stakes had never been higher in our nation’s history of democratic politics, and a new approach was required. This new approach was evident in our disciplined refusal to depart from a laser-keen focus on the real issues affecting the Nigerian people rather than traffic in distractive rhetoric. Our approach focused on the electorate as being worthy of serious and sincere engagement and sought to bring clarity to the issues at stake.
“I can disclose with some pride that a majority of the lead presenters in this dialogue are members of the Directorate of Policy, Research and Strategy and have all been instrumental in crafting the policy priorities and propositions that helped decisively swing the fate of Africa’s largest democracy in favour of progressive forces. Our group has been one big family that has thought deeply and broadly about Nigeria. We conducted our work not in a spirit of competition but in one of collaborative problem-solving dedicated to a higher goal of giving our nation an unprecedented opportunity for progress.
“In a sense, the phase of policy conception is over and we are entering the phase of execution, governance, of providing tangible developmental deliverables. The challenge of translating ideas into policy and praxis now looms large. Given the degree of work that has been put in by the Directorate and our well documented national problems of policy implementation, the focus should now be on evolving an institutional framework to deliver the agenda for change”, he said.
Buhari must pursue revenue generation and reduce expenditure-Participant
The conference which later dissolved into a technical sessions also featured papers from a panel of discussants.
One of the discussants and former chairperson of Fedderal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Mrs. Ifueko Okaura who also delivered a paper on “Improving the National Economy for Shared Prosperity”, told Vanguard that for the incoming regime to deliver on its campaign promises amid a bleeding economy, it must pursue “Revenue generation and expenditure reduction.”
She also called for all hands to be on deck to enable the government succeed.
“I think we need to go beyond this “since it is Buhari or APC that won, let’s see what they can do”, attitude. It is not what they can do but what we can do. I think we need to realize that and focus on what we can we can get involved in the discussion, hold your public officers accountable because we need to get out of where we are today.
“We have been told that the incoming government may not have the money to run government the way it should be if they don’t get a loan.
“They haven’t gotten a handover note. I think it is important that engagement between the incoming and outgoing goes on because it is a continuation. It not about in out out. We are talking about one government and I think that is very critical so that the incoming government will get the data to drive what needs to be done”, she said.
Other speakers who spoke at the session included former vice chairman, Senate committee on Internal Affairs who presented a paper titled “Repositioning Agriculture for Job Creation and Economic Growth,” former minister of state for health, Dr. Ali Pate who also on the topic “Achieving Qualitative and Affordable Health”, former Board chairman, Nigeria SaoTome and Principe Joint Development Authority, Dr. Tajudeen Umar who spoke on “Achieving Sustainable Reforms in the Oil/Gas Sector” among others.
The event however continues today.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/if-you-must-succeed-crack-the-nnpc-nut-blair-tells-buhari/

Nigerians making us proud.... Congrat sir...

Professor Olatunji Dare, a communication scholar, author, satirist, famous columnist, and former Chair of The Guardian Editorial Board, has been named Professor of Communication, Emeritus, by Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, USA.

Bradley University President Joanne K. Glasser said the appointment was in recognition of Dare’s many years of outstanding service.

“This institution is better for what you have contributed through your talents, energy and dedication” Glasser said.

Dare, the author of Matters Arising and Diary of a Debacle: Tracking Nigeria’s Failed Democratic Transition (1988-1994), formally retired from Bradley University recently. He was honored last July at his 70th in Lagos by colleagues, former students and admirers with a festschrift entitled, Public Intellectuals, the Public Sphere and the Public Spirit: Essays in Honour of Olatunji Dare, edited by Wale Adebanwi of the University of California-Davis, USA.

In her letter informing him of the honour, Bradley University President Glasser said she hoped in retirement Dare would remain in close contact with the university and participate in its affairs wherever and whenever possible.

Professor Dare, an editorial adviser of The NATION since its inception, taught journalism and international communication at Bradley for 19 years until his retirement last week. before then, he taught at the University of Lagos.

At Bradley, he won awards for excellence in teaching and research, and was a recipient of the President’s Award for meritorious service.

Before he was forced to flee to United States in 1996 under General Sani Abacha, Dare served as Chair of the Editorial Board and Editorial Page Editor for The Guardian, in addition to writing a weekly column widely appreciated for its wit, depth, and felicity of language.

Dare, who is one of Nigeria's most accomplished editorialists, was awarded the Louis Lyons Prize for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism by the Harvard University-based Nieman Foundation, and the Hellmann-Hammett Grant for courage in the face of political persecution, presented by Human Rights Watch.

Dare holds a BSc (First Class Honours) from the University of Lagos, the MSJ from Columbia University, New York, where he won the Robert Curry Prize in editorial writing, and a Ph.D. in communication research from Indiana University, specializing in International Communication and in Public Policy.

His highly regarded column, “At Home Abroad” appears in The NATION on Tuesdays.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/05/20/olatunji-dare-named-professor-emeritus-us-university

[size=15pt]Fellow Nigerians... we most come together and fight for our dare country...The National Assembly budget of N150 Billion MUST be scale down to N10 Billion per year as they are not doing anything for us.....[/size]

mployer:
Always looking for excuses...

I believe you are a learner......

he Vice President-elect, Prof. Yomi Osinbajo, on Wednesday said Nigeria’s economy is in its worst shape in history.

He put the nation’s local and international debt profile at US$60billion with a 2015 debt serving bill of N953.6billion, representing 21 per cent of the 2015 budget.

Osinbajo gave these statistics in his remarks at the opening of a 2-day Policy Dialogue on the Implementation of the Agenda for Change, which began in Abuja on Wednesday.

He noted that an estimated 110 million, out of the nation’s over 170 million population, live in extreme poverty while the largest chunk of the benefits of our national wealth accrues to a small percentage of the population.

According to him, the nation’s dwindling oil revenues has made it difficult for two thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states to pay salaries.


He said, “We are concerned that our economy is currently in, perhaps, its worst moment in history. Local and international debts stand at US$ 60 billion.

“Our debt servicing bill for 2015 is N953.6 billion, 21 per cent of our budget. On account of severely dwindled resources, over two-thirds of the states in Nigeria owe salaries.

“Federal institutions are not in much better shape. Today, the nation borrows to fund recurrent expenditure.”

This, he explained, is against the backdrop of a highly unequal society in which, by some reckoning, the largest percentage of the benefits of our national wealth accrues to a small group within our population.

Osinbajo said the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress offers a vision of shared prosperity and soci0-economic inclusion for all Nigerians that leaves no one behind in the pursuit of a prosperous and fulfilling life.

According to him, the goal of the policy dialogue is to interrogate the positions and propositions before a wider audience and to lunch a robust public conversation on policy directions and priorities that will help inform the incoming administration’s approach in the next four years.

He further explained that the forum exemplifies the sort of consultative and consensual approach to policy-making that the APC and the new administration intend to model in office.

The Vice President elect also declared that sessions during the dialogue would explore a wide range of policy priorities including the diversification of the economy in the wake of dwindling oil revenues.

In order to achieve this, he said, the administration intends to engender job-led growth through the revitalisation of agriculture in pursuit of job creation and food security, improving the regulatory frameworks in the most strategic sphere of economic activity.

Earlier, a former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Mr. Peter Mandelson, who represented former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, advised the incoming administration, to take advantage of its current level of public support to take hard decisions.

He explained that with the current state of affairs, the task ahead of the incoming administration was indeed a daunting one.

Drawing from the experiences of the Labour Party in Britain, Mr. Peter Mandelson said, the first rule of governance is “Be true to your word; be true to your mandate.”

He urged the Buhari-led administration not to be afraid to take hard decisions but that it must remain mindful of the timing of such decisions.

Mandelson also advised the administration not to attempt to do everything at once but ensure that things are done with proper planning along with a commitment to delivery.

http://www.punchng.com/news/were-inheriting-nigerias-worst-economy-in-history-osinbajo/

[size=20pt]This guy nah big fool period!!![/size]

Governors of the 19 northern states, under the aegis of the Northern Nigeria Governors’ Forum, on Monday, elected the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shetima, as their new chairman.

Shettima replaces the outgoing Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, whose tenure ends this month.

Kano State Governor-elect, Abdullahi Ganduje, also emerged as the vice chairman of the forum.

This decision was reached at the end of a meeting of the northern states governors, held at the Niger State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja.

The forum also agreed to intervene in the lingering crisis in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum by uniting the Governor Rotimi Amaechi-led NGF and the one led by Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang.

Speaking after the closed-door meeting, Aliyu said the northern governors were determined to mediate in order to unite governors across party lines for the development of the nation.

Aliyu said, “The goal is to mediate and unite the Nigeria Governors Forum, that has been fragmented in the past few years.”

He explained that the northern governors resolved, among other things, to address the Boko Haram insurgency in the North, tackle the problems of poverty, marginalisation and unemployment.

Aliyu added that the forum was also working with the office of Vice President, Namadi Sambo, to revive the New Nigeria Company, located in Kaduna.

In his acceptance speech, Shettima assured his colleagues that under his leadership, governors would unite in the war against Boko Haram menace.

He also promised to work together with his colleagues, irrespective of religious, ethnic or political affiliation, to confront the challenges confronting the North

http://www.punchng.com/news/northern-govs-elect-shettima-as-new-chairman/

The new administration should come fighting against this waste. Those who oppose reform should never see public office again.

The whopping N150 billion allocated to the National Assembly in the 2015 Appropriation Act, can fund capital votes for 20 Ministries, Departments and Parastatals [MDAs], a PREMIUM TIMES analysis of the budget has shown.

The budget of the 469-member National Assembly consisting of 109 senators, 360 members of the House of Representatives, legislative aides, the National Assembly Commission and the Legislative Institute is about 3.4 percent of the total budget of the federation.
The capital vote for 20 major ministries, departments and parastatals is just about N49 million less than is budgeted for the National Assembly this year.
Under the 2015 capital votes, the Ministry of Youth Development got only N1.12billion Ministry of Police Affairs got N150billion, while Police Formations and Commands got only N17billion.

The Ministry of Women Affairs is allocated N1. 25billion for its capital projects, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development got N7billion and Ministry of Water Resources N6billion. The defence sector, including the Ministry of Defence, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force is allocated only N35billion.

The education sector, including the Federal Ministry of Education and the Universal Basic Education Commission, is allocated N20billion, while the Federal Ministry of Health got N20billion.
The Federal Ministry of Communication Technology got N500million only while the Federal Ministry of Justice and the National Human Rights Commission (N500, 000, 003) received the same allocation for capital projects.

The Ministry of Labour and Productivity is allocated a paltry N200, 000, 000 for its capital projects during the year while the Ministry of Power got N4.24billion.
The Ministry of Science and Technology is given N500 million while the Ministry of Transport got about N4billion and the Petroleum Resources N500million.
With the worsening condition of roads in the country, the Federal Ministry of Works got only about N11billion while with even close to the 15 million housing deficit facing the country, the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development got only N500million.

The Federal Ministry of Environment is also allocated about N500million while the office of the National Security Adviser got N20billion.
While getting one of the largest sectoral allocations in the country, the Nigerian lawmakers managed to approve only 106 new laws out of 1,063 brought before them in the last four years.

Background

Despite their dismal performances, the lawmakers have spent more than half a trillion naira within the period, earning the notorious title as the world’s highest paid legislators.
The figures mean for the National Assembly, with a combined annual budget of N150 billion since 2011, returned 10 per cent in efficiency and averaged about two bills each month.
Each year, the Senate, House of Representatives and allied institutions, compete for government funding with projects designed to provide jobs, healthcare, education and roads to the citizens.
While the Goodluck Jonathan administration has shown its preparedness to cut financing to those vital services to Nigerians in the face of dwindling revenues, the government has helped the lawmakers retain their super N150billion budget per year in the last four years.
Not even the present oil crisis has been enough to force the government to minimize the lawmakers’ comfort, by redirecting funds to critical areas badly starved of resources.

A typical example is the 2015 budget, affected massively by sliding oil price. The dwindling revenue forced the government to slash spending for roads – Ministry of Works – from about N160 billion to N11 billion for the entire nation. But the federal lawmakers refused to allow even a dime to be sliced off their N150 billion annual budget.
But while the lawmakers take so much, their work rate has been dismally poor, PREMIUM TIMES analysis show.
The miserable worth of Nigerian legislators’ output is amplified when compared with their American counterparts, for instance.
While the legislature, under the leadership of David Mark and Aminu Tambuwal at the Senate and House of Representatives respectively managed to clear 106 bills in four years, the U.S. Congress passed 29​7​ just between 2013 and 2014.

That figure was indeed one of the lowest for any U.S. Congress session as the two chambers passed 604 in just 1999, and 460 between 2007 and 2008.
Yet, the Nigerian lawmakers are the highest paid, according to a 2012 analysis by the UK-based Economist.

The report compared lawmakers’ earnings with their countries’ GDP – what each citizen is worth if their nation’s total wealth was shared by the population.
The analysis found Nigeria ahead of all other countries of the world, with its lawmakers taking 116 times what an average citizen takes of the GDP.
Kenya and Ghana followed with ratios of 75 and 29.8 respectively.

Norway’s ratio was 1.8, while U.S. lawmakers took 3.8 of what their citizens received.
The United States pays its lawmakers an average annual salary of $174,000 while Britain pays parliamentarians $105,000.
Nigerian lawmakers officially receive a modest pay of about $50,000(about N12m) yearly.
But they also pocket several illegal allowances, including the huge quarterly allowance which is nearly a $1m (N220m) a year.

Bills passed in the 7th assembly

Even with the limited numbers of enacted laws, records show most of the bills came from the Executive. Many were budget bills.
While the lawmakers’ turnover has been poor, several critical bills lie abandoned.
The most notable is the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which has been at the National Assembly since 2008/2009.
Pressed on why the few bills passed by the Senate are mainly executive-sponsored, the Chairman of the Senate Business and Rules Committee, Ita Enang, said the upper chamber gives no preference to bills before it.
“We don’t select bills to pass, we pass bills based on priority. We don’t say we pass a bill because it is an executive bill,” Mr. Enang said.
Sam Tsokwa, the House of Representatives chairman on rules and business, did not respond to our questions despite scheduling several meetings with our correspondent.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/183188-shocking-2015-budget-national-assemblys-n150billion-enough-to-fund-capital-votes-for-20-federal-mdas.html

good one, i just hope the cars will be affordable for Nigerians.....

Good work.....Toyota, Honda and Nissan should follow.....

[size=13pt]Nigeria will be Great Again!!!!![/size]

Power is transient, you win today and lose tomorrow and vice versa

Some senators and House of Representatives members complied with the National Assembly management’s directive on Monday by moving their personal items out of their various offices in the Federal Parliament.

The Punch had earlier reported that the National Assembly management had issued a ‘procedural’ directive to the lawmakers to remove their personal belongings in order to prepare the offices for re-allocation in the weeks ahead.

Our correspondent observed on Monday that utility vehicles, owned by the lawmakers, were seen packing away refrigerators, television sets, tables, chairs, rugs, books, pictures, computers and other electronic items.

Aides of the legislators were seen directing contract staff working as cleaners in the complex to pack their principal’s belongings to the utility vehicles packed in front of the new Senate and House of Representatives’ wings.

Investigation by our correspondent revealed that most of the 301 reps members and the 76 senators who lost their bids to return to the federal parliament, had since been removing their personal belongings, after the elections.

Some National Assembly staff members were seen with souvenirs given to them by the lawmakers while the cleaners had a busy day, conveying loads of unwanted items to dump sites.

A female lawmaker had earlier last week, reportedly, broke down in tears when she sighted her belongings, especially portraits, removed from her office by her aides packed in front of the complex, awaiting evacuation.

http://www.punchng.com/news/senators-reps-pack-out-of-abuja-offices/

The All Progressives Congress on Sunday dismissed as mere fiction, a list of ministers being circulated by some online journalists.

According to the APC, the party has nothing to do with the said list and urged Nigerians to wait for the authentic one which would be made public through the appropriate channels.

This was contained in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Abuja.

Mohammed said, “Nigerians should disregard these lists and await the authentic list which will be communicated through the appropriate channels at the right time.”

The APC also cautioned the media against using statements attributing actions to the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, without clarification.

The party urged the media to clarify with the authentic officials of the party and the Buhari Campaign Organisation any issue having to do with the actions of the President-elect, in order to avoid presenting falsehood as facts.

APC said, “The appeal becomes necessary following recent media reports on the actions which the President-elect will purportedly embark upon once he is sworn into office.

“Various people have been quoted in the media on what the President-elect will do or will not do once he assumes office.

“The truth is that these people do not speak for the President-elect, hence the need for the media to clarify such issues with the Chairman of the party, its National Publicity Secretary or the spokesman for the Buhari Campaign Organisation. These officials are always available to clarify issues.”

The party noted that the ongoing transition is a delicate period that fifth columnists could capitalise on to cause disaffection or overheat the polity, hence the need for all stakeholders to be extra-cautious and to put the national interest above all other interests.

http://www.punchng.com/news/apc-disowns-ministerial-list-2/

How much is camry 99 pencil. V6 with custom duty. .

How much can I get 99 camry pencil

Will prefer V6

How much can I get a clean camry 99, pencil. .....

With low mileage, V6, alloy rim, with custom paper.

kilokeys:
i tot buhari had it all planned out..
they have agendas na..
let him enter office.. share free food, reduce fuel price, build refineries, give us jobs..

no b werin im talk?

so what tips does he need?

so sure his senses slips through his open teeth while he sleeps

I am sure nothing has been handed over to you in the past, that is why you don't know what the process entails. No matter how clueless the Jonathan administration is, he has been managing our collective treasures in the last five years and need to give details of the state of things. Details like, how much was made and spent, national debts, awarded contracts and stages of completion, and various economic activities and projections. Such information ensure that the incoming government hit the ground running and not spend months trying to figure out the state of things. The only reason for non-cooperation is if there is a skeleton in the outgoing government cupboard. And, that seems to be the case from all what we can see and hear.

Based on the total scores from the Computer-Based Aptitude Test, Physical Examination, Document Verification and Oral Interview the under listed applicants have been short-listed for Provisional Appointment into the Nigeria Immigration Service. They are hereby invited to collect their provisional appointment letters from the Nigeria Immigration Service. (An email with Applicant’s Invitation letter attached has been sent to applicant’s registered email address, all applicants must present this letter for accreditation on the date and time at the venue specified in the letter).

click below to check your name...

https://www.nis.fedcivilservice.gov.ng/#/appointments

The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) yesterday faulted President Goodluck Jonathan for reconstituting the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) without consulting either the organisation or the President-General of the NSCIA, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto.

The Islamic body asked the Senate to reject the list of NAHCON members submitted to it by the President.

The NSCIA made its feelings known in a petition to the President of the Senate, which was signed by its Secretary-General, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede.

The NSCIA queried why Jonathan opted to rush the reconstitution of NAHCON without due process.

In the May 9 petition, the council said the way NAHCON was reconstituted “smacks off bad faith and symptomatic of a sinister plan to cause friction and disaffection within the rank and file of the Nigerian Muslim community while covering up some irregularities”.

It asked the Senate to stay action on the confirmation of the new list of NAHCON members.

The petition reads in part: “The attention of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has been drawn, through the press, to the submission of some names as members of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to the Senate for screening and approval.

“The NSCIA wishes to register its opposition to, and disapproval of, the hurried process that engendered the re-constitution of the commission. We want to aver that though the tenure of the Chairman and some (not all) current members of the Commission ends three or four days to the end of the tenure of the outgoing government, it is baffling that there is an unusual urgency to re-constitute it at this material time.

“It would have been proper to ask a Permanent Commissioner whose tenure still subsists beyond 2015 to act as Chairman after the 24th of May to allow for statutory consultation and filling of vacancies in the 19-member Commission. This has been the case on several occasions in other Commissions under this current government. We recall the examples of Security and Exchange Commission, Federal Character Commission, FIRS and PENCOM, instead of this hurried and improper re-constitution of the Hajj Commission, some four or five months away from Hajj.

“The way and manner in which the re-constitution is done smack of bad faith and symptomatic of a sinister plan to cause friction and disaffection within the rank and file of the Nigerian Muslim Community while covering up some irregularities. Even if it is not illegal, technically, to re-constitute the Commission, it is immoral and unprocedural, more so that the Commission is charged with administration of a sensitive assignment about which over 80 million Nigeria Muslims are concerned.”

The council raised some posers for Jonathan to address to justify his action.

The NSCIA added: “It has always been the practice to consult with the leadership of the NSCIA pursuant to Section 3(2) of the NAHCON Act, which stipulates “due consultation” as expected for the agency charged with the huge responsibility of handling an Islamic rite of this magnitude. The government failed and neglected to comply with this fundamental statutory provision in this nomination.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/islamic-council-to-senate-reject-jonathans-hajj-commission-list/

The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party seems to have extended to its Lagos State chapter as it’s chairman, Captain Tunji Shelle, was on Monday sacked by 34 members of the State Working Committee.

He was immediately replaced by the current Secretary, Wahab Owokoniran.

The committee accused Shelle of mismanaging election campaign funds and manipulating the party’s primaries last year which ultimately led to the defeat of the PDP at the polls.

http://www.punchng.com/news/lagos-pdp-sacks-chairman/

The Federal Government, Thursday, directed the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to commence the privatisation of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, and other railway facilities across the country.
The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) gave the directive to the BPE and the Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (NIAF), after its council meeting in Abuja.
Director-General of the BPE, Mr. Benjamin Dikki said the decision to reform the railways was borne out of the government’s desire to avoid the collapse and eventual shut down of the railways, generally regarded as a loss making but socially and economically imperative to the nation.

According to him, “The funding challenges facing the future of rail in Nigeria seems dependent on the efficiency and professionalism which the private sector can bring to improve railway operations.”
“The railway reform, restructuring and privatization programme is specifically aimed at achieving the provisional framework for private-sector led growth through expanded domestic and foreign investment; improve NRC’s ability to provide adequate, safe, reliable and efficient rail services; and reduce NRC dependence on the FGN budget by introducing private sector investment in the sector”.

NIAF has committed to fund the consultancy for the development of the roadmap and framework for the concession of the rail tracks of the Nigeria Railways Corporation (NRC).
BPE in a recent meeting with NIAF during which issues relating to the reform of the railways were discussed and BPE requested for assistance. NIAF has confirmed its willingness to support the Bureau in developing a Roadmap/ Framework for concessioning the Nigerian narrow gauge railway network. It also indicated that it would provide the proposed technical assistance at no cost to government

In 2005, the Bureau, through the World Bank funding, engaged the services of CPCS Transcom as Transaction Advisers to advise in the concession of the Rails. The firm had completed about 80% of the assignment including the concession of the Central Railways (Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri line which terminates at Ovu) and the due diligence on the entire rail network before its contract was suspended because of the proposed modernization of the network which was to replace the existing network with wider gauge. Because of lack of funding, the modernization project was shelved by the Federal government which directed that the existing network should be rehabilitated and concessioned to private operators.

The rehabilitation of the Railway system includes track spot renewal of Lagos to Kano and Maiduguri to Port Harcourt lines, supply of 25 new locomotives to boost existing locomotive power base of the corporation, upgrading of carriage and wagon workshops, re-equipping the workshops, supply of service support, strategic rebranding of the corporation, rehabilitation of stations and marshalling yards.

It would be recalled that a new Railway bill which is one of the eight reform bills recently approved by the NCP and Federal Executive Council (FEC) is currently before the National Assembly for passage into law.
The new Bill seeks to among others, repeal the Nigerian Railway Corporation Act, 1955; provide the appropriate market design and legal framework for the implementation of Government’s reform programme; separate the roles of policy making, regulation and operation; provide a platform for the introduction of private sector concessionaires and promote competition in the provision of railway services nationwide.

The Public Enterprises (Privatization and Commercialization) Act, 1999 scheduled the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) for privatization and the National Council on Privatization (NCP) in 2002 approved that the enterprise be concessioned to private operators to provide freight and passenger railway services using the vertical integration model.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/fg-commences-privatisation-of-nigerian-railway/

A Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered Coscharis Motors Limited to release information as regards the two controversial bullet-proof cars purchased by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority for a former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, in 2013.
Justice Mohammed Yunusa made the order of mandamus in a judgment delivered on Tuesday in a suit filed by a non-governmental organisation, Enough-is-Enough.

Enough-is-Enough had, through its counsel, Mr. Ayodeji Acquah, approached Yunusa seeking an order compelling Coscharis Motors to make available to it documents on the two cars numbered WBAHP41050DW68032 and WBAHP41010DW68044 purchased for Oduah for about N256m.
The organisation claimed to have commenced the action following the refusal of the company to honour its request via a letter dated October 28, 2013.
It had urged the court to compel the Attorney General of the Federation to commence criminal proceedings against Coscharis for alleged wrongful denial of access to information in contravention of Section 7(5) of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.
But Coscharis, in opposition to the plaintiff’s prayers, argued being an indigenous private limited liability company with no government investment, the FOI Act could not be binding on it.
Counsel for the company, Mr. Ndubuisi Chito, had maintained that his client, which was not being funded by tax payer’s money and did not enjoy any type of government subvention could not be categorised as a public service outfit, which might be subject to sections 1(1) and 4(a) that the applicant relied upon.

Besides, Chito, had urged Yunusa to dismiss the suit for want of jurisdiction.
However, Yunusa, in his judgment, assumed jurisdiction and holding that the provisions of the FOI Act was binding on Coscharis, the judge subsequently ordered the automobile company to furnish Enough-is-Enough with information and documents pertaining to the cars.
Yunusa, however, did not compel the Attorney General of the Federal to commence criminal proceedings against the automobile company as prayed by the plaintiff.

http://www.punchng.com/news/court-orders-coscharis-to-release-oduah-bullet-proof-cars-document/

deletrue:
You see,all those world recognitions can still wait for about four weeks time. All this visits are all official in nature. What will it personaly benefit you as an individual if GEJ has refused the election result? I do not know who you are, whether an Islam whose aim is to cause deaths, destructions etc., I do not know but any thing that has to do with official functions should wait a little because there is an existing government. To me, respecting one another and peaceful living should have been better. Apc had promised paralled government before today but has won and are still doing abi carrying out official functions when he has few days to go. Remember, there God. Those northerners who thinks trouble is their watch word may meet someone else or somethings else that will satisfy them.

...but Buhari is not the one inviting these people nah... and what do you mean by that statement? you need to elaborate....

Banter1:
Can this clueless regime just go already. I'm tired of them, silly people.

Take am easy.... May 29 is almost here.....

shadowgwalker:
shatap!

Another temitemi i guess....... robot...

Alphaoscar:
A curfew was declared. Some guys went out to watch football match while coming, some Soldiers met them and said 'each
will be cained based on the number on their clothes(jerseys)
they put on; the 1st put on chelsea Mikel's 12 and he was
flogged 12, 2nd put on 50cent he was also flogged 50, the
3rd one was crying furiously,then from afar i noticed,he was
a oga Seun and he was putting on "GEJ TILL 2019"