₦airaland Forum

hysteriabox:
True
But wolves currently feasting wont ever agree

When the shepherd appears the wolves stand down. We have to be the shepherd or else it's business as usual for our local wolves. If things don't improve or change soon the bad guys won't have a choice.

Evil BDCs at work.

Blackfire:
Tribalism, religious fanatics, party zombies won't allow this.

We would be forced to follow "federal character"

https://i1.wp.com/media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2017/03/IMG-20170329-WA000-e1490771105166.jpg?w=691

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday pledged that the budget of the National Assembly will be made public in 2017.

Mr. Dogara stated this at an interactive session with newspaper editors at his office in Abuja.

“We will definitely open the books,” he said, while expressing concern about the focus of Nigerians on the lawmakers’ budget which has been kept secret since 2011.

He said he believed that a lot of Nigerians have a wrong perception about the National Assembly’s N115 billion budget, which he said was about two per cent of the total Nigerian budget.

The speaker said contrary to some beliefs, the National Assembly’s allocation is not meant for the lawmakers alone.

“We have over 3,000 members of the bureaucracy, all from this 115 billion budget,” he said.

He listed agencies, individuals and institutions that benefit from the allocation to include the National Assembly Service Commission, National Institute for Legislative Studies, Public Complaint Commission, National Assembly Budget and Research Office and legislative aides.

Mr. Dogara said he was aware that allocations to legislative aides for salaries, allowances and others gulped about N12 billion in previous budgets.

He said detailed allocations to each of these beneficiaries from the National Assembly’s budget will be made public along with the 2017 budget when passed.

“It will be published. With this 2017 budget, everything will be resolved,” he said. “I can guarantee that.”

Mr. Dogara said the lawmakers were also interested in making the budget public so as to make Nigerians have a better perception of them.

“We want to improve on standards,” he said. “We want to improve on the image of the National Assembly”.

PAST ASSURANCES

Mr. Dogara is not the first presiding officer in the current National Assembly to pledge to make the budget public. Senate President Bukola Saraki has repeatedly made similar promises.

Since he assumed office in 2015, Mr. Saraki had repeatedly assured that the details of the National Assembly’s budget will be made open.

In his inauguration speech on June 9, 2015, the senate president told Nigerians that the era of impunity and arrogance in the country was over.

He said there would be “a change from impunity and elite arrogance to a life of accountability and respect for every citizen, regardless of tribe, gender, religion and political persuasion. We must justify the privilege of representation conferred in us by the people.”

“As the President of the 8th Senate and chairman of the National Assembly, I shall be guided by the enormity of the responsibilities that this moment imposes on all of us,” he stressed.

In another media interview, Mr. Saraki said, “By the time we come in to the 2016 budget at the end of the year, it will be even clearer because people just see one item line.

“But that is not going to happen now, you will see what goes to the Senate, what goes to the House of Reps, you are going to see what goes to management, what goes to Legislative Institute, we are going to make all these open and clear. That is part of the openness we promised.”

None of those promises have been fulfilled with several lawmakers saying even they do not know the details of the budget believed to be used by the presiding officers to secure loyalty of their members.

SECRECY SINCE 2011

Should Mr. Dogara keep to his words, the release of the National Assembly’s budget details will be the first since 2011.

Until that year, allocations to the various arms of government had been detailed in the budget presented by the past presidents to the legislature.

The budgets prepared by the Goodluck Jonathan administration for the National Assembly between 2011 and 2015 did not, however, provide specifics.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how the then Senate President, David Mark, and then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, refused to disclose the details of the budgetary allocations to the National Assembly, which came to N715 billion in those years.

The sum of N150 billion each was allocated to the legislature in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 while it got N115 billion in 2015.

The secrecy with which the National Assembly engaged in financial transactions attracted public outcry with many demanding that such transactions should be made open.

In January, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in a letter he addressed to Mr. Saraki and Mr. Dogara, said the practice in the National Assembly “detracts from “distinguishness” and “honourability” because it is shrouded in opaqueness and absolute lack of transparency and could not be regarded as “normal, good and decent practice in a democracy that is supposed to be exemplary.”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/227391-well-make-national-assembly-budget-public-2017-dogara-pledges.html

These people are devils.

ABUJA, March 27 – Nigeria is likely to pass the 2017 budget into law before May, a lawmaker who chairs a committee on the spending plans in the upper chamber of parliament said on Monday.

The budget lays out plans to pull Africa’s largest economy out of its first recession for 25 years, largely prompted by low global prices for the oil it produces and the impact of attacks on energy facilities in its Niger Delta oil hub in 2016.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who has faced rising disenchantment over his handling of Nigeria’s economy, presented his record 7.298 trillion naira ($23.2 billion) budget to lawmakers in December. It must be agreed by lawmakers before the president can sign it into law.

Senator Danjuma Goje, who chairs the budget appropriation committee in the Senate, said last year’s budget – signed into law in May last year after months of wrangling between the presidency and lawmakers – covered a period of 12 months and was technically valid until midnight on May 5.

It was unlikely to have to be extended beyond May of this year, he said.

“I believe before that date, the 2017 budget will be passed,” said Goje.

Nigerian lawmakers had previously said they wanted to pass the budget before the end of March.

https://naija247news.com/2017/03/27/nigerias-23-2bn-2017-budget-could-be-passed-before-may-lawmaker/

I wanna swim in that sea of party jollof! LAWD!

He just blew them apart with his point about PMB running 4 times.

Nice to see unity in action.

hysteriabox:
True
But wolves currently feasting wont ever agree

Real talk.

With only four days left in March and after three months on the floor of the National Assembly, it appears the promise to pass the 2017 budget by the end of the month will not be fulfilled. Apparently, the Nigerian senate which is currently locked in a battle for supremacy on many sides with the Executive does not have the budget as one of its priorities; thereby stalling development on many fronts.

The 2017 budget was presented to the National Assembly in December 2016 with the president remarking that the purpose of an early presentation was to ensure early passage of the budget to fast-track the development projects already initiated through the 2016 budget and to ensure smooth operation of the government. After the presentation of the bill, however, the trail went cold. While we believed the house was doing background checks on the items on the document, it was not until February that the senate organised a public hearing and defence by each government agency represented in the budget. The public hearing excluded the National Assembly budget which is still shrouded in secrecy. The fact that the budget is still lying on the floor of the house as of today, 27th March, all but means the hope of getting the budget assented to by the president before the end of the month is dashed.

The senate president had, earlier in March after meeting with the president and the speaker of the lower chamber, promised that the budget would be returned to the presidency for assent by the end of March.

The inability of the Senate to pass the budget is not unconnected from the number of battles that have ensued between the executive and the legislative since the turn of the year. After the much talked about public hearing, the Senate has since been spending precious time on needless issues like the uniform of the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, the seized 30 containers of rice, Saraki’s 223 million naira seized car and, lately, Dino Melaye’s school results.

The delay in the budget passage has disrupted the date for the orientation of 2017 Batch A prospective corps members as the timetable released by the National Youth Service Corp has no designated date for the opening of the NYSC camps. In the same vein, stakeholders in the building sector say the delay in passing the 2017 budget is making uncertain the amount of money to be spent in the industry and may negatively impact housing delivery this year. The delay is resulting in the loss of billions of naira in investments as there is no template for planning. While the extent of the damage the delay is doing cannot be ascertained, it is certain further delay will cause even more damage.

http://venturesafrica.com/senate-may-not-pass-the-2017-budget-by-march-31/

https://venturesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/hose-of-senate-640x389.jpg

Tough talk has turned to, "can't we all just get along?" FG DON RECEIVED SENSE! Better late than never.

Our senate president just keeps on spilling soup on his babanriga. HAAA!

HAAAA! I wasn't ready!

We really need to merge some of these states. The numbers are crazy. How can we justify this kind of poverty while running full governments with security votes and convoys? One day the poor will eat the rich. Beware.

Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, the first female and incumbent Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA) was unequivocal about her mission when she was appointed to the exalted position on July 12th, 2016.

She came with a clear focus to plug revenue leakages and boost the sagging revenue profile of NPA and she minced no word about it.

So within her 100 days in office, she profiled the debts being owned the agency by its customers, especially the terminal operators. At the same time, she took a comprehensive tour of all NPA facilities at both the Western and Eastern ports.

Both exercises yielded shocking finds.
As at December 2015, the debt profile of NPA had risen to a whooping $443.34m, about N86.2 billion, using the then exchange rate.
Ms Usman vowed to collect the debts to the last kobo.

Also, her tour of the ports in the Western and Eastern axis afforded her first hand information about the challenges facing the revenue drive of the agency.

Through her interaction with the stakeholders, the NPA helmswoman came to appreciate the enormous challenges that have over the years crippled the activities in the Eastern ports of Calabar, Warri, Port Harcourt and Onne which consistently make them liabilities on the NPA.
Her findings showed that Western ports of Lagos Ports Complex, Apapa and Tin Can Island ports have largely remained a cash cow for the agency, contributing more that 70 per cent of its revenue which, unfortunately is being used to sustain those ports in the Eastern axis that are on the throes of death due to lack of port activities and low utilization.

This development has therefore led to the continued dwindling revenue fortunes of the government parastatal, a trend Usman was determined to reverse.

As a result of her interaction with the host communities and her own spot assessment of the facilities at those ports, the Managing Director was able to distill the fundamental challenges that have stunted the growth of Eastern ports and make them revenue liabilities.

These challenges include shallow draft of channels which make bigger vessels unable to access the ports, security threats posed by the youth restiveness in the host communities which deter importers from patronizing the port and decaying port infrastructure at the facilities.

Shallow draft of port channel: One of the militating factors against full utilization of the ports in the Eastern axis is their shallow depth which discourages bigger vessels to call.
The most hit is Calabar port with its high siltation level that has defiled previous efforts to deepen its channel.

Successive NPA managements had sunk billions of naira into the dredging of Calabar port with nothing to show for it.

In 2006, the sum of $56million(9billion) was spent to dredge the port while in 2014 another dredging exercise on the port gulped N20billion.
However, the present management of NPA led by Usman was also willing to deepen the channel but with different approach in a bid to achieve the much elusive result.

‘’We will be having a meeting with Calabar Channel Management to determine the state of the job as it relates to capital or maintenance dredging. We initiated the first meeting and I have informed the management, we are going to have technical sessions to determine the level of dredging that may have been done.

‘’We have requested for the hydrographic survey from the onset. Those documents will enable us know the way forward .We believe there is need to resolve this issue so that the draft can be deeper and it can accommodate larger vessels.

‘’Indeed we will look backward to see what went wrong as relates to capital and maintenance dredging and see the work that Calabar Channel Management was said to have embarked on in 2015.

‘’Some of the amount we have spent on capital dredging is not translating in the amount spent on maintenance dredging. We are going to discuss this issue with the channel management company in our meeting.

‘’If you are familiar with the procedure, except its capital dredging, cost of maintenance dredging should not be so high. It’s clear that from the way the Calabar Channel issue is managed, we will know how to go about similar joint venture in future’’, that was the submission of Ms Usman at one of his interactive session with the stakeholders.
The MD also promised to embark on the dredging of Warri port to achieve increased patronage.

Security issue: Youth restiveness in the host communities at the Eastern ports has made the facilities unattractive to importers who shun the place due to the security threats to their cargo.

However, at her separate interaction with Governor of Delta state, Ifeayin Okonwa and Olu of Warri, Ogiame Ikenwole, Ms Usman promised to revitalize the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of the NPA to provide opportunities for the restive youths.

Both Gov. Okonwa and Olu of Warri have noted that dredging the Warri port will boost economic activities of the area and the agitating youths will be gainfully engaged, to which the MD agreed.

So both the NPA and the top stakeholders in the region are on the same page to bring back peace to the area and create peaceful atmosphere that will boost port activities and revenue profile of NPA.

Decaying infrastructure: The hallmark of the ports in the eastern axis is their decaying infrastructural facilities which led to low utilization of the ports.

Ms Usman came to the harsh reality of this fact when both the NPA staff and the stakeholders in the region reeled out grim statistics of the dilapidated facilities and the dearth of other critical ones such as deplorable berths, dearth of finger mooring jetties to berth NPA crafts, lack of operational vehicles and fire hydrants at quays.

In her firm belief that the restoration of the eastern port will further boost the NPA revenue, Usman declared her readiness and determination to upgrade the decaying infrastructure and provide modern equipment.
Dearth of technical staff and aged workforce: NPA performance is bogged down by dearth of staff to man core technical operational areas and the fast- aging workforce.

To combat this menace, Ms Usman, as against the rumour of sack, gave approval for massive recruitment of technical personnel to man core operational areas in NPA and also start grooming young staff through training to take over from them.

The Eastern ports, just like their Western counterparts, are not spared of this menace.
Vision and Objective: The motivating factor behind the zeal and push of Hadiza Bala Usman in her quest to restore the lost glory of the Eastern ports through restoration of activities was the need to shore up the fast depleting revenue base of the NPA which has largely being sustained by the overstretched Western ports of Apapa and Tin Can.

The belief and conviction of the management and board of the agency was that repositioning the hitherto neglected eastern ports will open a new vista of revenue –generating opportunities for the agency, thereby expanding its frontier of revenue.
Fortunately, Usman found a willing partner in the Chairman of the Board of NPA, Mr Emmanuel Adesoye, who is equally committed to the vision and objective of Usman to plug revenue leakages and boost the revenue base of the agency.

One of the ways they both agreed to achieve this was through massive and aggressive revalisation of eastern ports to make them attractive to importers and thus generated the much needed revenue to the authority.
To show their commitment towards this crusade, the NPA has captured in the 2017 budget all the infrastructural development programme in the region such as channel dredging, provision of modern equipment and aggressive pursuit of its CSR to quell the security tension in the area.

With this quest to bring the dying eastern ports to life, the present management of the NPA is set to push through the revenue barricade posed by the successive neglect of the eastern ports and broaden the revenue base of the super rich agency.

http://www.leadership.ng/news/578844/boosting-npa-revenue-through-revitalizing-eastern-ports

Well played youngster.

These are more than reasonable demands.

Dedetwo:
Most Nigerians are inherently idiotic and tend to hide behind the commission of an error to ply their tribal stock of trade. If an error is committed then it is fairer to punish whoever committed the error than making a silly statement in the public.

There was a live protest going on when he arrived. Why not issue an immediate statement to allay tempers? As far as punishment, why not correct the error rather than go on a ghost hunt? We all know the Amnesty Program has been a free for all.

Jetleeee:
As in add it to the post lol

I wanted to respond to you first so you didn't seem crazy to anyone who read the post. Thanks for the heads up on the missing source. I don't need the "yam/rice but no sauce gang" coming for me.

Jetleeee:
Op add links

OGA my bad

http://thenationonlineng.net/ambode-pump-60m-lekki-free-zone-project/

Dedetwo:
The bolded is oxymoronic which can only obtain in Nigeria. By every indices known to man, Abia State is an crude oil producing state. What is nonsense about including Abia State in the so-called federal government amnesty program designed for oil-producing areas? Since Abia State is crude oil producing area, it is absolutely goofy on the part of so-called VP to announce the crap as if federal government is doing any favor to Abia State.

So you are upset they are correcting an error and announcing the correction to alert The populace? Would you rather they continue the injustice?

Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, yesterday, said about $60million would be pumped into the ongoing development of the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) within the next six months.

The governor, who spoke when he met with stakeholders at the Zone, assured that he remains committed to addressing the challenges and ensuring the project is actualised.

“I want to assure that our financial commitment to LFTZ will be improved in 2017, that is, we will accelerate to quickly clear our outstanding counterpart funding for the Zone.

“In essence, we expect that in the next six month, we should be having an investment of over $60 million. I believe that when we invest our share of the fund and China Africa Lekki Investment Limited (CALIL) does, it will bring a major development for the Zone,” he said.

The governor said that putting the fund at the Zone at a time when Nigeria was gradually easing its way out of recession would not only improve infrastructure and boost development, but will also help attract more investors to the Zone.


He said over $6billion has been invested in the LFTZ in the last few years, with Dangote Group providing a lion share of about $4billion.

Ambode said: “Over $6 billion has been invested in the Zone in the last few years with Dangote share in the lump sum at $4 billion and we have a land space of over 16,000 hectares of which, just a portion of it is activated.

“We are all aware of the investments by Dangote Group and the China Africa Lekki Investment Limited (CALIL), had done as it concerns the partnership they signed with the Lagos State Government. And this partnership made the company own 60 percent while Lagos owns 40 percent.”

Ambode also assured that work would commence on the Lekki Deep Sea Port next month, saying that it was also a critical infrastructure that would attract more investors into the Zone and ensure return on investment.

“With the ongoing construction of the seaport, airport and others, it is obvious that a single road isn’t sufficient for the Zone.

“It is now clear that we have to dualise the Lekki-Eleko Road beyond the Zone in order to withstand the influx of vehicle that will be making use of the road to access the Zone. With this, we will be able to sustain the investments in the area,” the governor said.

He expressed optimism that with the Lekki Deep Sea Port, Dangote Refinery and Lekki Airport coming on board, the Lagos East axis would witness massive economic turnaround within the next two years.

http://thenationonlineng.net/ambode-pump-60m-lekki-free-zone-project/

The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbanjo, has urged Nigerians to think and find ways to use the petroleum resources in the Niger Delta region to develop the country for the benefit of its citizens.

Osinbanjo said the Federal Government, in its determination to achieve its development objectives in the Niger Delta area, would treat oil producing communities as special development areas.


The Vice-President spoke in Umuahia, Abia State capital during a one-day town hall meeting with Abia indigenes in line with the Federal Government’s plan to deal with the challenges of the oil producing states in the country.

He said, “In November 2016, the Niger Delta Forum visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa and submitted a 16-point road map on how to develop the oil producing communities.

“The President therefore decided that there must be an interaction with the people and the leaders of the communities, to hear them, seek an understanding about their problems and concerns and present a new road map to develop the oil producing communities.”

He said it was common knowledge that most people in the oil producing communities only hear about oil wells without benefiting from the wealth.

Osinbajo said that oil producing communities must be made the hub of the petrochemical industry and the power sector to create employment opportunities for youths in the area.

http://punchng.com/fg-to-treat-niger-delta-as-special-development-area-osinbajo/

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has promised that the Federal Government will take urgent measures to include Abia in the amnesty programme designed for for oil-producing areas.

Osinbajo made the promise on Friday in Umuahia during a town hall meeting with representatives of different groups from the oil-producing commumites in the state, comprising traditional rulers, women and youth groups.


He said that the federal government and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs would work hand-in-hand with the state government to ensure that beneficiaries of the amnesty programme hailed from Asa, the oil-producing area of Ukwa West Local Government Area of the state.

Osinbajo was reacting to the protest by the people of the area at the meeting that the state was not included in the programme.

The people publicly disowned the purported list of 237 indigenes from the oil-producing communities alleged to have benefitted from the programme.

Newsmen report Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, said at the forum that the record available to him showed that 237 people of the area had so far benefitted from the programme.

The vice president, however, expressed concern over the alleged discrepancy in the list and the agitation that Abia was excluded from the programme.

“It is clear from what happened here that somebody somewhere is doing something funny,” Osinbajo said.

He therefore assured the people that there would be closer rapport between the federal and Abia governments to ensure that the state benefitted from the programme.

Osinbajo also assured the people that government would also include Asa in the cleanup exercise as was being done in other Niger Delta regions in the country.

He further said that oil-producing communities in the country, including Asa, would also benefit from the modular refineries being planned by the federal government to integrate local refineries.

He said that the federal government had ordered contractors handling road projects in different parts of the country to return to site within 30 days or face prosecution.

He restated government’s commitment toward job creation and technical training for the nation’s youth, saying that no fewer than 2,000 Abia youths were registered in the N-Power programme.

On the agitation for the establishment of a federal university in the oil-rich area of the state, the vice president said that it could only be achieved through collaboration between the federal and state governments along with the Nigeria Universities Commission.

He assured that the federal government would soon announce the names of the representatives of Abia and Ondo states in the boards of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

He thanked the youths of the area for their peaceful disposition and also commended the government and traditional rulers for restraining them from militancy and violent agitations.

He said that federal government was seriously committed to developing the Niger Delta region with the oil resources.

He therefore urged the people to join hands with the government to ensure that oil was utilised to better the lot of the people of the region now that the resources were available.

Osinbajo said that with the increasing decline in the demand for oil in the international market, “we must make haste and move quickly to use the oil to transform the nation”.

He said that China, India and America, which were highest importers of oil from Nigeria no longer had need for oil since they had found alternative sources of fuel.

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Okey Enelama, said that Aba would benefit from the industrial parks and free trade zones being packaged by the federal government.

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Usani Uguru, and Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachukwu, in their separate speeches underscored the various federal government initiatives to alleviate the plight of the oil-producing communities in Nigeria.

They said that the present administration was determined to redress the problem of environmental pollution and degradation in the Niger Delta region caused by years of neglect.

On his part, Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu said that “no single Abia indigene has benefited from the amnesty programme”.

Ikpeazu said that he was happy with the drama that played out at the hall and called for an inquiry on the purported list of 237 beneficiaries from the state as presented by Boroh.

He also requested that the oil companies operating in Ukwa West should be made to respect the rules and laws on local content in order to give the oil-bearing communities a sense of belonging.

Representatives of the various groups in their separate speeches called for federal government’s presence in the area.

The speakers include, former Senate President, Sen. Adolfus Wabara, and National Assembly members from Abia South Senatorial District, including Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe and Rep. Uzoma Abonta.

Others were Eze Young Ogbonna, Mr Chima Nwogu, Chief Don Ubani and a former Abia representative in the NDDC board.

They also called on the federal government to address the infrastructure needs of the area.

They urged the oil companies to improve on their scholarship scheme as well as job opportunities for youths of the area to check restiveness.

Dignitaries at the meeting included the wife of Nigeria’s former Head of State, Mrs Victoria Aguiyi-Ironsi, pioneer NDDC Chairman, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, and a founding father of Abia, Dr Anagha Ezikpe.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/03/abia-included-fg-amnesty-programme-vp/

*cough* ezu river *cough*

mobaking:
Show us the National Assembly budget and your salaries/allowances.Then I will take u serious.

BINGO!!

peteregwu:
Chei! See finishing...

Dalu!

sarrki:
What happened to that criminal in kuje might happened to them

They should be careful

You can create a new government where there is a constituted one

Stop propogating trash and prattling like a loquacious woman because you have cheap data. They are calling for further integration and you're literally ranting like a slowpoke.

Kanu has been granted bail but the government won't obey the orders and yet you call him the Kuje Criminal. We operate in a judicial system where a suspect is innocent until proven guilty. You are in fact at fault by calling him a criminal when he is yet to be tried and convicted.

Don't come for me if I didn't send for you.

Great read. I never knew the different applications of tunnels. Here I was expecting him to be talking about a subway system and he just blew the lid off. We certainly need this man's influence in a greater capacity for infrastructural development.

They have really been on their game as of late. This new leadership wants to reclaim greatness.

Another feather!