₦airaland Forum

chiozor:
Lord Abba Father put more confusion on them that suffers us.Amen

I support you my guy.

The federal government yesterday strived to explain away its determination to borrow $915m from the World Bank. The Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga, who was speaking at the presidential villa shortly after the signing of the 2010 budget said the loan will be spent wisely. "The most important thing for us is to make sure that in spending we get good value for the money spent, that it is spent in areas where we generate both social and economic returns; that is what is critical."

He refuted speculations that the money will be used to finance the 2010 budget saying the administration was planning to raise a bond of about $5oo million from the international market for that.

Mr Aganga who said the entire deal has been misrepresented, sought to clarify the matter: "This is absolutely wrong. We are not borrowing a billion [US dollars] to fund the budget. I think what they are referring to is something which we are working with the World Bank on. The World Bank, as you know, helps a number of developing countries and that [amount] is just a quantification of the work they are doing - which is broken down to quite a few segments. So, it is not one billion dollars borrowing up front; it doesn't work like that. It has nothing to do with the budget."

He also explained that government was looking at securing other sources of revenue, which could include sales of some assets and the possibility of raising a bond. However, he down-played fears about the potential for waste in the nation's spending plan.

He said, "I think the most important thing we should understand is that in a recession, there is nothing wrong about spending. In fact, if you look at any of the Western world they all have deficit[s].

Spending wisely

Mr. Aganga said all sectors of the government will be held accountable for its spending and promised that the new administration would be heavily focused on the proper execution of the budget. He announced that the Minister of Special Duties, Ernest Olubolade, had been mandated to handle the issue.

"It is ok to spend but it is important that you spend wisely and people are held accountable," he said. Mr. Aganga assured the nation that the creation of a Sovereign Wealth Fund to replace the old Excess Crude Account was a step in the right direction.

"As you know, the budget is based on benchmark of $67 per barrel - where oil is trading today. So obviously, over time, we will hopefully accumulate some excess reserve and the idea is how we build some fiscal policy around it or prudential guideline[s] around it to make sure that that is properly managed."

A reluctant support

At yesterday's sitting of the House of Representatives, a motion moved by the deputy leader, Baba Shehu Agaie, urging the lawmakers to approve the World Bank loan to fund the nation's "infrastructural deficit" was vehemently opposed by members of the minority parties. Although the session degenerated into rowdiness, the opposition could not stop the over 270 members of the Peoples Democratic Party, from approving Mr. Jonathan's request.

The approval followed a discussion that the leaderships of the Senate and the House had with the executive on Tuesday night.

The chairman of the House finance committee, John Eno, said members had to approve the request since the executive had complied with the relevant laws requiring it to forward such requests to the legislature for approval.

He recalled that the executive had in the past ignored this law and praised the acting president for not just forwarding a request for approval of the fresh loan, but also formally submitting the external borrowing plan of the government.

He also argued that since the money being requested for was already factored into the budget as a funding item, it was only right to approve the request.

The chairman of the committee on rules and business, Ita Enang, who also spoke in favour of the motion, said the acting president complied with Section 21 of the Debt Management Office Act, which he said allows the government to borrow upon the approval of the National Assembly.

Mr Enang, a PDP member from Akwa Ibom, reminded his colleagues that in the 2010 Budget passed by the National Assembly, there was a provision for borrowing to fund the document, adding that the legislature has already committed itself.

Those who opposed

But the deputy minority leader, Abdulrahman Kawu opposed Mr Jonathan's request, although he said he was one of the leaders of the legislature that met with Mr. Jonathan on Tuesday night on the plan to take a fresh loan. A member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) from Kano State, Mr Kawu said history will not forgive the lawmakers who approved the loan. He faulted the procedure for considering the request for the loan, regretting that members were only given the 235-page external borrowing plan just before the plenary commenced. He argued that the lawmakers would have no time to read it before voting on the request.

Also, the Minority leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, who also objected to the request, said it would not only amount to mortgaging the future of Nigerians,

it may also return the country to another era of huge indebtedness from which it came out only few years ago when its debt was forgiven by the external creditors.

He recalled that at the meeting with Mr Jonathan, the acting president merely said that the World Bank was willing to give Nigeria $915 million, but did not clearly seek for approval.

Mr Ndume, who is also the ANPP leader in the House, said "There was no opportunity for me to say our mind. That does not mean we (minority parties) are in support. It is not fair. We have just been given this voluminous borrowing plan and you want us to read it now before we approve. It is not fair. Those people that want us to borrow must come here to explain," he said.

Despite the opposition, members voted overwhelmingly for the approval of the acting president's request when it was put to vote, forcing Messrs Ndume, Kawu and other members of the ANPP to leave the chamber.

Unnecessary loan

At a press conference, Mr. Ndume explained that the country does not need to obtain the fresh loan since, according to him, it makes about $800 million daily from oil.

"As at today they are telling us that we are producing 1.02 million barrels of crude a day and the market price is about $80. If you can make that money one day why should you need the loan? If you multiply that, you get more than $800 million," he said. "Why would you go and mortgage the future of our children?"

The minority leader, who admitted that the opposition had already lost the battle to stop the loan, lamented that members of the House approved it without knowing the implication of doing so. He added that they may have done so because certain things, which he did not disclose, were dangled before them by the government.

Mr. Ndume also revealed that Mr. Jonathan and Mr. Aganga also discussed the plan to increase Value Added Tax (VAT) from five percent to 10 percent and also bring two bills to the legislature.

Throwing more light on why he could not object to Mr. Jonathan's request for the loan during the Tuesday night meeting, Mr. Ndume explained "We (members of the leadership) went in a bus and when we got there we ate food first and the acting president said the finance minister will brief us. The minister said we had problems with some sections of the budget. He said they selected nine critical ministries (to review).

"But after that I was the one who complained that how can one man (finance minister) review what (budget) 469 members (of the National Assembly) did? After that the chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation (Iyiola Omisore) was also hard on them."

Also speaking at the press conference, the chairman of Public Accounts Committee, Usman Adamu, who is also a member of the ANPP, wondered if Nigeria could manage the loan since it could not manage its own resources efficiently.

Link:

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/Politics/5558772-146/minister_justifies_n138billion_loan__.csp

I light this candle for my younger brother who passed on long ago (Opeyemi) may is soul rest in peace. Amen.

The battle for the soul of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday took a new twist, as the party’s National Working Committee (NCW) wielded the big stick, suspending those at the vanguard of the PDP Reform Forum, including former Senate presidents, Ken Nnamani, Adolphus Wabara, and ex-Speaker, Aminu Bello-Masari.

Also suspended according to a press statement by the party’s National Secretary, Alhaji Kawu Baraje are: PDP gubernatorial candidates in Imo and Abia States, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume and Onyema Ugochukwu. Also on the list are: Former Imo State Governor and industry minister, Achike Udenwa and former Rivers State governor, Peter Odili.

Baraje in the press statement accused members of the group of attempting to subject the leadership of the party to ridicule. PDP, the statement read further, based its decision to suspend Nnamani and others members of the party in accordance with Article 21.4 of the Party’s Constitution.
Baraje also disclosed that their case has been referred to the National Disciplinary Committee for further necessary action.’’

Members of the PDP Reform Group had hitherto shunned the invitation of the party National Working Committee (NWC) to its meeting yesterday at the Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja .
The NWC had summoned leaders of the Reform Forum to a meeting scheduled for yesterday at the party’s National Secretariat to clear themselves of allegations of anti-party activities . Members of the group who hitherto had accused Ogbulafor of inept leadership declined the invitation, claiming ignorance.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the steering committee of the movement, Senator Ken Nnamani told the gathering that the objective of the PDP Reform Group was to restore internal democracy, which he claimed is lacking in the PDP.
The former Senate president bemoaned the present tendency in the party where the party NWC had lost the initiative to give the party’s the desired political leadership, but indulging in politics of exclusion.
‘’.We have played politics of exclusion, we have made decisions for the party, instead of allowing the people to choose their leaders through the ballot boxes . In many PDP controlled states, there are no local government elections ‘’

Nnamani, therefore, called on his colleagues that the dreams of the founding fathers of the party has been undermined as governors in PDP-controlled states have appropriated the leadership of the party.
With the suspension, Ogbulafor may have played a fast one on members of the forum as another group that dubs itself, PDP Stability Forum, disclosed that arrangements have been concluded to arrest Ogbulafor on Sunday and arraign him in court on Monday and equally deny him bail ahead of the National Executive Committee [NEC] meeting next Tuesday.

The entire game plan, the group futher stated, is to hijack the party structure, factionalize it or as last resort, set up an interim administration within the party and ultimately create confusion in the system.
Leader of the group, Ugochinyere Ikenga Imo further disclosed at a news conference that the entire plot is to eventually sack Ogbulafor’s National Working Committee (NWC] on Tuesday on the grounds that the party chairman is facing corruption charges.

“One does not see any informed reason for the reopening of a case filed against Chief Ogbulafor by the ICPC which had been investigated and closed, except for parochial political motives by hydra-headed, satanic warlords,” the group alleged. “It will not amount to false reasoning to conclude that the move to reopen the case is believed to be part of the 2011 political permutations to remove the party’s national chairman and replace him with those who will execute the immoral ambition of their paymasters,” Imo stated.
While denying being sponsored by anybody, Imo called on party stakeholders to resist any attempt to destroy the party and that the Ogbulafor-led NWC is allowed to serve its term.


Link:

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/apr/23/national-23-04-2010-001.htm

[center]How to Impress A WOMAN[/font]

Compliment Her

Respect Her

Honer Her

Cuddle Her

Caress Her

Love Her

Comfort Her

Protect Her

Hold Her

Support Her

Spend Money On Her

Buy Things For Her

Wine & Dine Her

Listen To Her

Care For Her


[[font=Lucida Sans Unicode]b]How To Impress A Man[/b]
Only one key

Just Smile Once And He's Yours.

So, Ladies "KEEP SMILING[/center]"

Hajia Turai, the wife of ailing Nigerian “President,” Umaru Yar’Adua, claims her husband last night made a "surprise" appearance to see and embrace his mother. She told Nigeria's tabloid daily, The SUN, that Yar’Adua later moved to his study at 7:30 PM and remained there till 10: 00 PM. Last week, Turai boasted to her close aides again that she would pull a surprise in the next 10 days, leaving tongues wagging as to what she may be up to this time. To compound the chaos, Dimeji Bankole, the embattled Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, told everyone he met in London that Yar'Adua would resume duties this week.

But SaharaReporters can authoritatively reveal that Yar'Adua can still neither walk around unaided, nor speak audibly. What Turai was trying to sell through the SUN, former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu's paper routine therapy sessions aimed at revamping the ailing Nigeria leader whose medical sojourn out of power would have taken exactly six months on April 23 2010.

Yar'Adua was evacuated to a Saudi hospital from Nigeria in November 2009. Since returning via air and ground ambulance almost three months ago, he has not been seen or heard in public.

In February, the ambitious Turai audaciously smuggled her husband back into the country, commando-style and with full military support, in the middle of the night, trying to give the impression he had made a miraculous recovery and was ready to return to work.

Turai's latest plot is coming on the heels of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan’s return from the US following a four–day working visit described by US officials as lackluster. Turai is believed to be upset that Jonathan’s visit signals US acceptance of Jonathan as Nigeria’s legitimate leader at the moment. President Obama had studiously avoided any interaction with Yar’Adua before he took ill last November.

A few weeks before Jonathan's trip to the US, Turai staged elaborate stunts that saw Islamic clerics and Christian clergymen visiting her ailing husband with the aim of scuttling the swearing-in of new ministers that had been nominated by Jonathan. The stunts however backfired as public statements made by the Islamic clerics regarding the visit indicated that they were hired to create disaffection among Nigerians.

In particular, a statement credited to Dr. Ahmad Datti said that Yar’Adua’s removal would yield serious consequences betrayed the purpose of their visit. Also, claims made by the Islamic clerics that they shook hands with Yar’Adua were somewhat disputed by Christian clergymen who were permitted to see him thereafter. The Yar’adua they saw, they said, did not appear to be capable of shaking hands with visitors.

SaharaReporters has learnt that Turai continues to enjoy the support of core military leaders including the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen Abdulraham Dambazu and the Chief of Military intelligence, a certain Major General AT Umaru, who repeatedly assist her to breach the security of the Presidential Villa where she freely invites visitors without clearance from the office of the National Security Adviser.

SaharaReporters has also learnt that efforts by the NSA, Aliyu Mohmmed Gusau, to replace the Chief Security Officer and Yar'adua's Aide the Camp, who have become controversially involved in the national power games, were rebuffed by Dambaza and Umaru. Sources told SaharaReporters that Turai has abused the villa security so much that she uses the Presidential convoy to move medical doctors brought in from Saudi Arabia and Egypt to ferry them around Abuja, something a source in the office of the NSA said has become a source of worry. She is also said to have continued to misuse the presidential jets at will, sometimes using them to pick up family members from airports around the north for routine travel.

The most abuse to which Turai has used the military men loyal to her was to harass persons loyal to Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan. One such individual was General Owoye Andrew Azazi, whose house in Abuja was burnt down while he was outside the country recently. The house in Abuja, which was being guarded by at least six soldiers, was razed to the ground while the guards had gone to eat. The blaze was put out only by the efforts of the Fire department at the Presidential Villa. Prior to the suspicious fire, Azazi had been a victim of illegal wire tapping by Turai's people in the military.

SaharaReporters has also learned that one Col. Letam Wiwa, who is described as one of the most brilliant intelligence officers in the Nigerian Army, was posted aside to an irrelevant department, a victim of a plot by officers who are loyal to Turai.

Gusau, the National Security Adviser appears to be helpless as he is more focused on extorting money from former ministers being investigated for fraud by his office. SaharaReporters learnt that the 71-year old NSA is personally investigating over fifteen Yar'Adua ministers. While the SSS is also handling a few cases, the retired General has refused to let the SSS interrogate any one of them. One of our sources said the NSA must have collected more N20 billion since he assumed office, monies that were found in the bank accounts of former Yar'Adua ministers, including Nigeria's notorious former Attorney General, Micheal Aondoakaa. The EFCC was completely shut out of the investigations.

Our source said the NSA is only interested in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), where he has practically taken over operations, and plans a major shake-up up of the ministry in order to plant his cronies.

The name of the NSA featured prominently in Halliburton list of top 80 Nigerians bribed by the US oil services company, and published last week by SaharaReporters last week. General Gasau and Goodluck Jonathan are eyeing the Nigerian presidency in next year’s elections. Gusau is building his war chest, and his ambition to become president is more important than his current job, says a source in the presidency that spoke to SaharaReporters.

As for Yar'Adua, his recovery remains very slow and uncertain. Medical sources knowledgeable about his treatment said the question of returning to office is not on the cards now, but that a meeting might be in the offing between Yar'Adua and Jonathan as part of his therapy.

Link:

http://www.saharareporters.com/real-news/sr-headlines/5882-yaraduas-new-recovery-hoax-turai-plans-another-surprisein-10-days.html

Soccer Passion, (12+)

And our final contestant is

Who is the better mother

Who is the better mother

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan will finally sign the 2010 Appropriation Bill today nearly one month after it was passed by the National Assembly.

Mr. Jonathan said he delayed his assent because of some discrepancies he discovered while going through the document.

At the meeting of the Executive Council of the Federation yesterday, the acting president announced that he would only sign the budget when the issues he had raised with leadership of the National Assembly are resolved. Mr. Jonathan had met with the lawmakers at his Aguda residence on Tuesday night to work out the differences.

The delay in signing the budget was one of the major issues deliberated at the weekly council meeting which lasted for three hours. However, hours after the meeting, the Senior Special Assistant to the Acting President, Ima Niboro, said that his boss will be signing the budget at 10.00am today.

Although the statement did not say wether the acting president met with the leadership of the National Assembly after the council meeting, a source said that the issues complained about by Mr Jonathan have been resolved.

Apart from the 2010 budget, the council meeting which featured no memos, also discussed Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee celebration.

Almost all the ministers were in attendance, and some of the new ministers who have yet to understand the terrain, got lost on their way to the chambers where the meeting usually holds.

The reason for delay

Earlier, while briefing the media on the outcome of the meeting, the Minister of State for Information and Communications, Labaran Maku, promised a speedy resolution of the budget issue.

“The acting president is still studying the budget and having discussions with the leadership of the National Assembly to resolve the discrepancies. In a few days, this will be concluded and the budget will be signed probably before the end of this week.”

Mr. Jonathan, it was gathered, was not comfortable with the huge gap between the N4.07 trillion he presented to the National Assembly, and the N4.6 trillion the lawmakers approved and sent to him for assent.

“In all democrac[ies], there is always the discrepancy between what the executive gives and what the legislatures [give]. The legislatures have oversight duties on how the resources of Nigeria should be used. They have a constitutional role and there is hardly any democracy where the budget returning to executive remains the same,” said Mr. Maku.

“What the legislature does is that it looks at the areas it believes are important, which have been overlooked by the executive. And the executive, that has the constitutional duty of managing the economy, will now look at the implication of those variations in relation to the law, [and] in relation to what the national economy can afford, to ensure that what is approved generate the economy rather than creating more problems. I am sure in the end, what comes up will be for the good of Nigeria.”

He added that the acting president was concerned about the time wasted and the failure of past budgets. The minister, however, could not say which specific areas caused the discrepancies, stating that there were no figures tabled for discussion at the council meeting.

Problems in the past

On November 24, 2009, President Umaru Yar’Adua presented a budget proposal of N4.07 trillion for the 2010 fiscal year to the National Assembly. However, the budget was not passed until after four months and the country’s planned spending for the year was raised to around N4.3 trillion ($30 billion more) by the federal lawmakers.

The National Assembly eventually passed a budget of N4,608,616,278,213, of which N180,279,158,994 was for statutory transfer, while N497,071,797,452 was earmarked for debt service. N2,077,358,560,347 was billed for recurrent expenditures, and N1,853,906,761,420 was for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending 31 December 2010.

It was based on a projection of $67 per barrel of oil and crude oil production of 2.350 million barrels per day. The joint venture cash call projection was $7billion, with a GDP of 5.47 percent, an inflation rate of 11.2 percent, and an exchange rate of N150 to a US dollar.

The budget had included some additions and adjustments by the executive in the sum of N336 billion, which raised the executive proposal from N4, 079 trillion to N4, 415 trillion.


Golden Jubilee celebration

On the preparation of the nation’s 50th year celebration, Mr. Maku said it will be coordinated by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

As part of the measures to make it an integrated national affair, the council encouraged both states and local governments to make sure their preparations complemented the federal government’s plan, in an effort to make the celebrations grand and worthy of a nation’s golden jubilee.

Link:

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/Metro/Politics/5558245-146/jonathan_finally_signs_budget_today_.csp

The Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan, has urged the National Assembly to quicken its delivery of two key executive-sponsored legislations, namely: the anti-corruption bill and the anti-terrorism bill, which are expected to help turn around his brief administration.

In a fresh correspondence with the Senate and the House of Representatives, Mr. Jonathan expressed his concern that the two bills be passed into law before the end of June.

“Given this administration’s commitment to combat corruption and terror and boost the country’s economic development, a blacklisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will no doubt seriously hamper these laudable efforts,” the acting president wrote in a letter read yesterday in the House of Representatives. The letter is dated April 8, 2010, a few days before he travelled to the United States of America where he made renewed commitments to combat the two issues. “Mr. Speaker and the respected Honourable members of the Federal House of Representatives are therefore, kindly requested to ensure the passage of the two bills into law before the end of June, 2010,” Mr. Jonathan concluded.

The two bills were introduced at the National Assembly in 2009 and have both reached the committee stage after passing the second reading.

Getting back on track

Mr. Jonathan recalled that in October 2009, ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua constituted a Presidential Inter-Ministerial/Agency Committee to engage the global task force and review Nigeria’s deficiencies in tackling money laundering and possible funding of terrorist activities. The engagement, according to the acting president, observed a lack of comprehensive anti-terrorism laws in the nation, as well as an absence of the FATF’s recommended standard provisions in the existing anti-money laundering law.

At its last meeting with the FATF in Bahrain in February this year, Nigeria promised to address the issues raised before June 30 2010 through the passage of the two legislations currently at the National Assembly. Mr. Jonathan noted that this was not the nation’s first attempt at complying with the FATF’s strictures. An earlier promise by Mr. Yar’Adua had assured the bills would be ready before the end of 2009.

Close to deadline

With about two months to the deadline, the acting president told the lawmakers that if Nigeria defaulted on its latest vow, it could be blacklisted again by the FATF and face potentially stifling economic consequences. “It will frustrate and hamper legitimate international financial transactions flowing from Nigeria. Some countries will not honour international financial instruments emanating from Nigeria, including letters of credit,” the acting president explained. “International investors will be scared to invest in Nigeria, and those willing to do so will request for the most stringent conditions. Nigeria’s international image will be highly dented as a country without the political will to cooperate in the global war on terror.”

Link:

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5557754-146/jonathan_appeals_to_lawmakers_to_pass.csp

I am back, thanks to you all.

Dominoifet:
How they made women commodities

@wales

Is it becos u were banned?

Oh sorry for that i am back, had to sue them for 300Billon which they paid me.

THE AMAKA:
[color=#cc00cc]the wife looks like she is packing something down there. [/color]

What is she packing down there? do lady's pack something down there now? was thinking it use to be up not down.

If you will supply the best for them, than go on and tell her.

Those who threw banters at Libyan leader, Maummar Ghadaffi, describing him as mad for recommending that Nigeria be split may be in for another shocker coming from within. In a review of the state of the nation, a veteran journalist and Niger Delta activist, Elder Asu Beks defended Ghadaffi’s call describing him as the famous seer, Nostradamus and said that Nigeria should be divided into four for peace to reign.

In a very robust tackle, the president of Ijaw Media Forum berated the north for Nigeria’s woes because of bad leadership. “We are where we are today because of the rudderless leaders we have had from the North,” he said, adding that the North has recycled their leaders to the extent that nobody else exists hence their consideration of former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida for 2011.

He condemned the political imbalance between the North and the South and the opposition to a Goodluck Jonathan presidency. Describing Acting President Jonathan, as the beautiful bride for 2011 as far as the presidency is concerned, Beks said if the PDP insists on not fielding him then Jonathan has the power and the right to fly the flag of another party.

However, he said he was being cautious in his current position because surprises may spring up any moment.
Excerpts:
How do you see the process that produced Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President of Nigeria?
Well, the process is flawed because it didn’t follow laid down constitutional process but given the situation that we had at that time, it was just the only alternative to save the soldiers from moving in and so what is now left is for us to fine tune that process to convert him from an Acting President to a full-fledged president.

When you say “fine tune”, what exactly do you mean?
We are expecting that the new Federal Executive Council or Excoff (Executive council of the federation) will start the process of invoking the relevant sections of the constitution and since it is very obvious that Mr. President is incapacitated, in fact, since they smuggled him into the country, even the Acting President has not seen him. That shows clearly that the man is incapacitated. That is enough so that we can move forward because the way it looks now, the Acting President still doesn’t seem to have all the powers that he needs to work. The man is still working, looking at his back afraid that perhaps, one day the President will just spring up.

So what happens if the new Council fails to invoke the relevant section of the constitution? What is likely to happen?
I don’t expect that kind of a scenario because, one, as they take their oath of allegiance, their oath of allegiance naturally will be to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not to Jonathan or to Yar’Adua and so they take over, the first thing that should come for them to handle is the issue of invoking that section of the constitution so that all of them will have a free hand to run so that the cabinet will be one. We won’t have pro-Yar’Adua and pro-Jonathan anymore. All the cabinet members will be pro-Nigeria because we need a new lease of life in the country. For almost six months or thereabout now, the country has been in a limbo because of our missing president.

Some observers have described the new federal cabinet as cabinet of old ministers. What is your assessment of the cabinet?
Yeah, we still have a lot of dead woods, non-performing ministers that found their way back. If I were Mr. Acting President, the only criteria that would have made any minister to come back is, I look at his past performance; whether he is my brother or my friend is immaterial because if you look at Nigeria today, we have had in the past two decades or thereabout, between 20 to 25 percent budget implementation, so if you are going to come back as a minister, perhaps, I would have looked at your record to say, okay, this minister is an exception. In the past one year or two years, when he was a minister, he was able to move budget implementation in his ministry to about 40 or 50 or 60 percent. So those were the only considerations that were but now,

We saw a situation where most of the appointments were still based on political consideration and not on performance. That is where I express some serious doubt as to how effective the new cabinet will be. I’ve gone through the list and I don’t see more than four or five ministers that you can say, yes, these men will deliver. For instance, there was no point picking ministers and sending their names to the Senate without attaching portfolios. You go round this country, even outside the country; you look at Nigerians who you know can drive the power sector to where Nigerians are expecting then you pick somebody like that and as you are sending his name, you tell the Senate, this man is going to drive the power sector to a conclusion. Then you go to the issue of Niger Delta. Go round and look at somebody who you think is capable to drive the Niger Delta project to a logical conclusion. So also for other sectors.

When you say that the Acting President is till watching his back, hence can’t do certain things, is it supposed to be so?
The situation is where we have found ourselves today. In the almost 50 years of Nigeria’s existence, no president has found himself in a situation where a president will be missing for about six months and where also the National Assembly refuses to do what is proper by impeaching the president that is on AWOL. As far as I’m concerned, President Yar’Adua is on AWOL so we have never found ourselves in this situation but the Acting President is also very cautious, conscious of the fact that maybe, one day, the man may just spring up like we heard two weeks ago that some imams from the North went to see him and I don ‘t know what that was meant to achieve. As far as I’m concerned, it was also irresponsible for any newspaper to report that kind of story because we are tired of all these speculations about President Yar’Adua so any newspaper that is coming up with stories about him should be showing us specifics - you are reporting that and you are also showing photographs of where they went. As far as I’m concerned, that story was meant on hearsay because it is not a factual report and professional ethics demand that the reporter who wrote that story ought to have confirmed.

We have heard that Yuguda also went. Yuguda is a governor. He belongs to a Governors’ Forum. Of all the 36 governors in Nigeria, it is only Yuguda that is permitted to see Mr. President meanwhile even the Acting President has not seen him. So why has the Governors’ Forum failed to call him? How come you are the only one seeing Yar’Adua? Other governors cannot see him. Senate president cannot see him. The Chief Judge of the Federation cannot see him. The Acting President will not see him. The Speaker of the House of Representatives will not see him. Only you Yuguda. Is it a family affair? It is wrong and it is unprofessional for any newspaper to report that kind of story the way we are now. It is unprofessional.

What powers do you think are actually available to the position of Acting President that Jonathan finds himself in?
We are told that the Acting Powers have conferred all the powers that a substantive president should have and so that is why we saw that he was able to dissolve the Federal Executive Council. That was why he was able to sack the National Security Adviser so I don’t think that there are still things left. It is just that because it is in an acting capacity, the man is still being cautious, afraid that one day, like I said earlier on, his boss may just show up to say, my friend, can you give me back my seat? I’m now hail and hearty to continue as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria but if the new Federal Executive Council immediately addresses that issue, but time is also short. How much time does he have to do all these because as far as Nigerians are concerned, he has all the powers to do whatever he wants to do.

Are you aware that some people faulted his dissolution of the FEC, describing it as illegal?
Yes! I also read especially from Alhaji Yakassai who has been in the forefront of the condemnation of the actions of the Acting President but as Acting President, he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, so he has the right to sack anybody that he wants to sack because what he is doing is acting not on behalf of himself but he is acting on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So I don’t see the case of anybody saying that his actions are illegal or that he has no constitutional powers. What other constitutional powers does he need as commander- in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? He acted according to the constitution. He is the Acting President. He is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He has the power to hire and fire.

But looking at his new cabinet, some people say that he has already made a blunder by bringing in “deadwoods”?
You don’t understand that the man is also a politician and as an Acting President, there are certain things that he sees that you and will not see because he is also trying to see how he can consolidate on power and so there are certain appointments that he will make and they will say, ah, no, if you do this, you’re going to step on so, so, so number of toes so this is the way to go. He is the Acting President but he still doe s not have the absolute powers to do everything that he would have loved to do because of course, you must understand that the elections are around the corner and nobody knows, perhaps, if he does very well, they may consider him for some higher responsibilities in 2011 to continue as president. So he is also strategizing. The ma is a politician, you must understand this.

But his party, the People Democratic Party has also told him to forget 2011 because the party’s constitution zoned the presidency to the North for eight years. How do you see that development?
I remember when Chief Ogbulafor said that but if you look at recent comments, I think that that issue has not been foreclosed because I’m not aware that there was a NEC meeting or National Working Committee meeting in which that decision was made. But I think it would be stupid of the PDP to come to that conclusion because, for God’s sake, we are saying that we want Nigerians to move to the next level. So if Goodluck Jonathan was the Vice President and of course, something happens and then he now steps in as Acting President, naturally, the whole world will expect PDP to adopt him for the 2011 elections and I have seen in some places, especially among the Northern elders have insisted that they have four years and that the North West under Yar’Adua was supposed to have eight years and they have done only four years and they have eight more years. So one begins to ask, is it the birthright of the North to continue to produce the president of this country?

When Babangida stepped aside, Shonekan was put. For only a couple of months. Abacha came and pushed him aside and took over. So the only time we have had perhaps, a fair deal was just during the two occasions when Obasanjo took over from Murtala after his assassination. That was in 1976 and of course, in 1999 when the PDP picked Obasanjo as president. So in the almost 50 years history of Nigeria, the North has had control of power for close to 40 years. But now, look at Nigeria, what is there to show for the consistent control of power by the North? That we are where we are today is because of the rudderless leaders we’ve had from the North. What’s also the guarantee that the man you are going to ask to take over from Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 will stay there for only four years? Don’t forget that this same zone they are talking about produced Shagari. This same zone produced Gowon.

This same zone produced the likes of Buhari, Babangida, Abdulsalam, Sani Abacha and of course, Yar’Adua. So it means that all of us in this country have been working for one particular zone. So when is it going to be the turn of the South South? Don’t forget that the South South produce the oil which sustains this great country. So when is it going to be the turn of the South South where Goodluck came from? I think all these amount to greed and that is why I would want to use this opportunity to recall what Asari said the other day, that the North is made up of very greedy leaders and they are responsible for where we are put in this country. If you look at most of the key parastatals in this country, they want to go to where there are juicy appointments, heads of juicy parastatals. They want to be Director-General of NIMASA. They want to be MD of NPA. They want to be head of Nigeria Customs. They want to be head of Shippers Council. They want to be head of PTDF. They want to be MD of NNPC. Or what is good for the goose is not good for the gander?

The purported stance of the PDP raises questions in some circles. Does it mean that the party constitution supercedes the federal constitution or it is the case of a one-party state established?
These are the questions that people have been asking and of course, I have said it and I will continue to say it. If the PDP insists that hey are going to field another candidate from the North, as an incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan has the powers and the right to fly the flag of any party. Of course, don’t forget that right now, he is the beautiful bride as far as the presidential race is concerned. The North has been there for almost 40 years if not more and they have not taken us anywhere so we now need the likes of Goodluck Jonathan to take this country to another level. We are tired of their corrupt, directionless rule in this country.

Link:

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/politics/2010/apr/21/politics-21-04-2010-001.htm

Innocent Assumption

One of the favourite pastimes of Nigerians is Babangida-bashing. For his annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election believed to have been won by the late Chief M.K.O Abiola; his “stepping aside” after installation of a hand-picked president, and the charges of corruption on account of the N12 billion Gulf War oil windfall, the former military president has never been short of persons who are sworn to ensure that he never has a chance to go near the presidency again.

But Babangida is a man that is as passionately loved, as he is hated. While he has a surfeit of critics who are galled at the prospect of another Babangida presidency, there are those who believe his presidency, come 2011, is the best thing that could happen to them.
And this is not their fault. With the nation’s surfeit of lacklustre leadership and the failure of leaders since he exited office about 17 years ago to birth the nation’s aspirations, it is not strange that some people still see in Babangida the Messiah that Nigeria needs. And, Babangida is not one to say no.

So, at almost every point when the baton of leadership is scheduled to change hands, the name of Babangida, initially surreptitiously, comes up. He usually at first appears disinterested, tries to test the waters to see if the time is ripe, and, being the Maradona that he is, pulls back if he feels the time is not perfect for the move. This played out in 2007.
Nigeria has seen quite a number of these “Babangida boys” forays onto the political scene to canvass his presidency, but for the Maradona, the time had just not always been exactly right.
But about two weeks ago, possibly on account of the nation’s protracted leadership vacuum that was only recently resolved in favour of Jonathan but with the North still stridently angling for the presidency, either now or come 2011, Babangida found the time just right to declare his interest in the presidency next year.

And he is not being equivocal in his bid, this time. In Delta State, on his way to a memorial lecture in honour of his late wife, Maryam, he declared his plan to contest the presidency next year.
He is not only ready to contest; he has expressed his confidence to win the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), much to the chagrin of other contestants for the exalted position. But these are all legitimate aspirations. There is nothing in our constitution that says Babangida cannot run for presidency. He has stridently faulted critics of his administration and those who blame his introduction of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) into the country.

In his strong defence of SAP, which his critics say impoverished the ordinary people and made life very difficult for the masses, he has cited the non-collapse of the Nigerian economy as a justification for the programme.
He has been quick to tell us the gains Nigeria made under SAP. Hear him: “I want you to know that if you read all the books on the economy of Nigeria, you will find out from 1960-1995, Nigeria made far-reaching progress. I left office in 1993. You should be asking what all those who came after us are doing.”

This could be a legitimate position. Nigerian leaders, post-Babangida, have not held themselves out as much better alternatives. We have not seen any remarkable progress in the effort to build the country.
It has been said that Babangida introduced massive corruption into our politics, but his successors entrenched it, deified it and made it a national mantra until it became the guiding principle of access to political office in the country. They did not punish it to serve as a deterrent, neither was the “introducer”, Babangida brought to book by succeeding regimes.

What am I trying to say? The bottom line is that Babangida has every legitimate reason to believe that he did well as Nigerian president, because subsequent regimes cannot incontrovertibly be said to have outperformed him.
Even if he is not morally justified to make a return bid for Aso Rock, he is legally justified, so the legitimacy of his bid cannot be contested.

What can be taken exception to, and which has to be stridently contested by the younger generation of Nigerians, is his recent statement on the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BCC) that he is planning a comeback because of the non-availability of capable younger people who can steer the ship of state of the country.

Explaining why he doesn’t want to give the younger generation a chance to rule the country, he said: “Because we have seen signs that they are not capable of leading this country, … we feel we should help them. Maybe they are not given the proper education…”
He went on to say that Nigeria lacks experienced young people like American President, Barack Obama, who could run the country. As he put it: “ Honestly, it is our wish that God will bring the younger people that will take over from us if they are available. I was the one who introduced the politics of new breed in the country.”

This position is preposterous and scandalous. While IBB has every right to contest, his decision to castigate younger generation of Nigerians for inability to run the country is in bad taste. How many young Nigerians have been allowed by people of his generation to run the country and they failed?

What “signs” did he see that showed that the younger generation is incapable of running Nigeria? And, his view that the younger people cannot rule because “maybe they are not given the proper education”, is a self-indictment. It is an indictment of his leadership and that of all other Nigerian leaders before and after him if they truly failed to educate young Nigerians to prepare them for the challenge of ruling the country.

What type of education did they give the youths? By that statement, IBB has put his foot in his mouth. He has put a wrong foot forward and it is no surprise youth groups across the country have risen up against his statement.
His statement is, to say the least, unguarded, unpatriotic and provocative. It is a strange statement coming from a former leader who wants to lead all Nigerians, including the youths. The statement is also not based on any scientific or verifiable data, and can only win the former president, opprobrium and disdain. It is one statement that has further exposed the desperation of the older generation to desperately clutch to power.Already, an avalanche of criticisms has been unleashed on Babangida. He should expect more adverse reactions.

He, probably, has not carefully thought through the reasons why he is angling to come back to power. The “incompetent young generation” mantra is an expensive mistake that he should get ready to deploy his entire Maradonic prowess to correct if he is to have any shot at the presidency. His condemnation of a whole generation of Nigerians is unbecoming of a leader, especially one who is still desirous of the leading the same people. It is embarrassing and should be retracted. Babangida can contest the presidency if he so desires, that is his right, but he should not malign any category of Nigerians to achieve his ambition.

Link:

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/opinion/2010/apr/21/opinion-21-04-2010-001.htm

The Peoples Democratic Party descended into chaos last night when a powerful splinter group squared up with the national leadership of the party. Already, the PDP leadership has threatened to discipline a former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani, and other members of the group for alleged anti-party activities.

In what may grow into a full-blown crisis in the days ahead, reminiscent of the 2006 factionalisation of the party, the splinter group, which calls itself PDP Reform Forum, gave indications that it will meet in Abuja tomorrow to take crucial decisions about the ruling party.

“You are cordially and specially invited to a crucial meeting of the PDP Reform stakeholders. At this meeting, very historical and momentous decisions affecting our great party shall be taken,” the faction said in a press invitation signed by Chairman of DAAR Communications, Aleogho Dokpesi, and distributed by one Michael Davies last night.

The planned gathering, which will hold at the Conference Hall of the Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja, is a follow-up to the series of secret and nocturnal meetings by the reform forum, which boasts influential party chiefs as well as members.

It is not clear what resolutions will be reached at the meeting but the group had been calling for a comprehensive reform of the PDP and the removal of Vincent Ogbulafor as chairman. Concerned by the surreptitious activities of the forum and afraid that the group might strike at the National Executive Committee meeting, Mr. Ogbulafor, seen by some party members as ineffective and corrupt, put off a NEC meeting scheduled for March and then ran to state governors for help.

On Sunday night, the PDP governors met in Abuja and expressed support for the party chairman. But that appeared to have energized the reform group to rev up its opposition to Mr. Ogbulafor.

Disciplinary panel

The PDP leadership which got wind of the planned meeting of the group earlier yesterday, promptly issued a statement inviting members of the group to face a disciplinary panel at the party’s headquarters at noon on Thursday.

“The National Working Committee is in possession of facts linking some respectable members of our party with a scheme to subject our great party to disrepute, contempt and hatred,” the PDP spokesperson, Rufai Alkali said. “The said members and others, meeting under the umbrella of PDP Reform Group, are reported to be engaging or to have engaged in conduct likely to cause disaffection among members of the party or likely to disrupt the peaceful, lawful and efficient conduct of the business of the party, or otherwise engage in anti-party activities or precipitate faction and belong to a group under the guise of the party, by whatever name called, not being one provided for in the constitution of the party,” he said.

“Mr. Alkali added that, in consonance with his party’s “commitment to the principles of justice and fair hearing”, Mr. Nnamani and his colleagues should “appear before the party to clear themselves of allegations linking them to these plots.”

Link:

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5557787-146/splinter_group_throws_pdp_into_disarray.csp

The Inspector General of Police, Ogbona Onovo, on Tuesday, ordered his men to arrest former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, after he had withdrawn security aides attached to the man recently declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).

The police team who went to Oghara, the hometown of Mr. Ibori to make the arrest, were, however, ambushed by a group of armed hoodlums who severely manhandled the police officers and beat some of them into coma, the Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, confirmed on Tuesday.

According to reports gathered by NEXT, the police convoy, which included Assistant Inspector General of Police, M.D Abubakar, and the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Yakub Alkali, were attacked on the outskirts of the town by armed men who exchanged gun shots with the police.

The police team had to beat a hasty retreat from the town to provide medical care for their wounded.

Mr. Ojukwu said the police was acting on a warrant of arrest issued by an Abuja High Court Monday that it brings in Mr. Ibori for questioning.

An earlier attempt by journalits at the presidential villa to get answers from Mr. Onovo on an alleged directive by the Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan, that he arrests Mr. Ibori, were rebuffed.

Mr. Onovo had visited the State House to attend the National Economic Council (NEC), which was presided over by the Acting President yesterday.

“I am here to attend a meeting and not to take questions,” he had said.

But residents of Oghara confirmed that heavily armed hoodlums who have moved into the town were members of militant groups in the area.

Mr. Ojukwu, however, said police had not identified those behind the attack.

“I don’t know which group, but I can confirm to you that the group that was sent there was attacked by hoodlums. I don’t know whether they are militants or what by now, but we are still working on it,” he said.

He said Mr. Onovo has also directed Mr. Abubarkar to work with Mr. Alkali to ensure the arrest of the former governor.

“The IG has ordered the AIG in charge of Zone 5, that is M.D. Abubakar and the commissioner of police, Delta State, to effect the arrest of James Ibori and there is a DIG on ground to ensure that the court order is enforced today,” Mr. Ojukwu said.

“We cannot give you the details of what we now want to do, but we will do everything within the law to effect the arrest; and there is a warrant of arrest issued by a court and we are acting within the jurisdiction.”

Denying some media report that Mr. Onovo had refused to obey a presidential order asking him to arrest Mr. Ibori, the police spokesperson said the order of arrest it relies on was served on the Nigeria Police on Monday.

However, when asked why the police has been charged to effect the arrest and not the EFCC, which is the agency looking for Mr. Ibori, Mr. Ojukwu responded that, “you may ask them that question. What we know is that there is court order from the court and the court can direct any law enforcement agency to effect the arrest and get the work done.”

In a telephone interview, the EFCC spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, who also confirmed the attack, said the commission’s operatives were part of the team that went to the village.

The men were attacked by “armed militants at the entrance of the village and have still not been able to effect the arrest,” he said.

Legal tussle

Mr. Ibori, who faces several corruption charges, has refused to obey EFCC’s invitation to come and answer questions on allegations levelled against him by a group of Delta elders, led by Edwin Clark.

Mr. Ibori had, through his counsel, filed a motion exparte on April 12, at an Asaba High Court praying that he should be granted an interim injunction restraining the EFCC from arresting or harassing him. Joined in the suit are the Attorney-General of the Federation; the Inspector-General of Police; and the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS).

The presiding judge, I.N. Buba, at its last sitting on April 14, adjourned proceedings in the case to April 28 to allow Mr. Ibori serve fresh hearing notices on the respondents in his application.

Link:

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5557795-146/armed_hoodlums_ambush_police_in_ibori.csp

The Chairman of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Engr Mahmud Tukur, has raised the alarm that the nation’s reserve has gone dangerously low to the point that if drastic measures were not taken immediately to stem the tide, the 2010 budget would be a stillbirth, dead on arrival.

Speaking with Daily Sun, he blamed the situation on the government’s decision to place its commitment to Joint Venture Partners through its Joint Venture Cashcalls (JVC) over the interest of the nation. According to him, payment for JVC has wiped out the entire $20.1billion in the excess crude (oil revenue) and slashed the excess domestic (non-oil revenue) from N322billion to N1.47billion all within one year, January to December 2009.

Tukur, who was at one-time Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum, also said that the revenue formula currently in use, was illegal.
The RMAFC boss, while explaining why the nation was having problem in the energy sector, also dropped a bombshell that the gas needed to power the thermal stations have been sold for 20 years and the little left, the multinationals consider it more economical to be flared.

Tukur, a former Chief Executive of NEPA spoke on other issues.
Excerpts:

Functions in RMAFC
Let me say that it is a long name. First, Mobilization, Allocation and then Fiscal. The Revenue Mobilization , Allocation and Fiscal Commission is one of the 14 executive bodies set up by the Constitution directly. It is not as a result of a law made by the National Assembly.

The other bodies are like INEC, National Population Commission, Federal Character Commission, Federal Service Commission, National Judicial Council , National Council of State and so on. These bodies are like offices of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They are not under any tier of government, whether the federal, state or local governments. We are answerable to Mr President not as head of government but as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

So, this Commission, one of its fundamental responsibilities as directly specified in the Constitution, is to mobilise all funds in what is called a Federation Account. The Federation Account is the basket of money that belongs to the Federal Republic Nigeria and not to any government tier . Now, when the monies are disbursed to governments they become Consolidated Revenue Funds of the federal, state or local governments. That’s when legislative Assemblies now come in to pass appropriations. So, the appropriation of each tier of government is when they get the Consolidated Revenue Fund belonging to that tier of government.

Now that basket is what we mobilize. How do we mobilize it? That’s the first part of our name. We now get to NNPC to look at crude oil, how much are you getting from there? Inland Revenue Service, Company Income Tax, all Customs dues will also come to that basket. Then, we go to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) for royalty on oil. These are some of the major sources. Of course, there are other sources of revenue. Now that basket is called Federation Account.

To do the Allocation, that is the second part of our name, we design a revenue formula. That formula looks at the three tiers of government. That’s how we see them in the Commission. Federal Government is tier number one. 36 states, tier number two. 774 local governments, tier number three. So, we draw a vertical formula to disburse that basket to these three tiers of government guided by the Constitution. When we do it, to now divide the money among the states and local governments, we design a horizontal formula.

The horizontal formula now looks at things like population, land mass and so on within the Constitution and then social factors. In designing the horizontal formula, we try to see how the ordinary Nigerian on the street can benefit from that basket. So, we now include criteria like primary school enrolment because our children must go to school, water, health. This is done so that the ordinary Nigerian on the street can benefit from the basket called the Federation Account. We combine the two formulae and pass to Mr President.

There is a section of the Constitution which says that “on receipt of the advice from the Revenue Commission, the President shall table to the National Assembly, not his opinion, but what he got from the Revenue Commission. So, it is not a Federal Government bill to the National Assembly. No. It’s advice received from the Commission based on our vertical and horizontal formulae-vertical among governments and horizontal within states and local governments to divide the money among them.

Every month when allocation is made, every single local government is given an amount of money from the Federation Account directly and by name. What state governments do with the money is neither here nor there. But a state Assembly cannot pass a law to over-ride a federal law. Any local government anywhere is by name a federal law. What a state Assembly can do to affect a local government allocation is by law. Every state government has to contribute two per cent of its total revenue to its local governments.

The state Assembly can now pass a law to disburse that two percent donated by the state. That is the role of the State Assembly. It cannot make a law covering every revenue coming to the local government. No, only revenue coming from the state contribution. But there is no discipline in the country and this issue is not being observed in majority of the local governments.

That is why the local governments suffer from the shortage of funds and the Commission has been trying to fight this for a long time. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, depending on the political exigencies of the particular state. That’s the allocation part I explained. Then when you come to fiscal commission we now look at the efficiency in which, how these resources are being utilized. Now under the fiscal efficiency, we fix the salaries and allowances of all the legislators in the country, when we do this, the Constitution says the Revenue Commission shall determine the salaries and allowances of all legislators throughout Nigeria and they cannot even contest that in court. So, if we now say, the President of the Senate shall receive N10, it is not contestable in any court. It is not subject to any law whatsoever. And if we say it is N100million, there is nothing anybody can do. Constitutionally, it’s binding throughout the country.

Parameters used in determining their remunerations
That’s the problem. Relativity in protocol is what we use. But probably, we look at, having experienced democracy in three transitions, we now begin to look at criteria, the number of times they sit, the efficiency, how many bills they pass into law, may be attendance. These criteria can now be developed . But when we came, democracy was new. We now looked at how to sort legislators within the Executive and the Judiciary to provide parity and credibility. That was a major criterion.

We also fix the salaries of the executive arm, the President and all the welfare issues as well as the Judiciary. Now with the Judiciary and the Executive arms at both federal and state levels, what we propose is subject to National Assembly approval or State Assembly approvals in respect of governors and so on. But it is conditional in the constitution, they cannot increase what we propose.

For instance, if we say that the governor of a state shall receive half a million naira, the President shall receive a salary of one million naira, the Assemblies cannot increase that but they can reduce it. Constitution allows them to reduce it. So, it is one of the major functions to determine salaries and allowances of all legislators as well as the executive and the judicial arms. When we determine that of the Legislature it’s non-negotiable. If we determine that of the Executive and Judiciary, what we recommend can be reduced, but not increased.

When you come to the fiscal efficiency, we look at the budget and the efficient ways resources are being used by the country to make sure there is development in the country and we advise governments on how to improve their revenues. It is under that heading that we now advise governments, all legislatures and executives throughout the country to stop certain practices in budgeting processes.

We say do not prepare budgets twice. Like every executive arm calls its ministries, departments and agencies to prepare the budget because they are competent to do so, they know the economy, they are specialists, they’ve been trained, they know the bureaucracy. The budget, let’s take the federal, the government calls every ministry, department and agency to come and propose a budget and defend it. They now put a package and the President tables it at the National Assembly.

The Commission’s view is that don’t repeat that process. Yes, appropriation is the responsibility of the Legislature, if there is anything you don’t understand, you call the executive as an entity because they treat you the legislative arm as an entity. The President does not submit the budget to committees of the National Assembly. It’s to the National Assembly. If they are not sure of anything, they call the executive to come and explain. But don’t call ministries, departments and agencies to come and re-negotiate the budget and increase it. To begin with, there are transparency issues involved in legislators inviting individuals to come and defend their budgets. It becomes a negotiated budget and could lead to some corruption.

By the way, who defends the budget of the National Assembly, who approves it? What kind of democracy is that? They say every Nigerian is dishonest, the executive is dishonest, bring your budget. Now how can’t they subject their budget to defence and approval? There must be checks and balances in a democracy. They jost insert their own budget and then take it to the President for signature. This is public fund. Go and defend it.

The legislative arm should make their own budget proposal to the executive arm so that they could look at the entire economy to see what can be accommodated and what cannot be accommodated. Don’t wait until the Executive gives you the budget and then you begin to make insertions. This is some of the weaknesses in the system. Each arm must respect and limit itself to its own roles. Legislature make laws, Executive runs the economy. If the Executive said I can only afford a budget of N4trillion, that’s it. Because they did research to arrive at that figure. You can’t say it has to be N4.2trillion.

You are not competent to make that adjustment. If the Legislature does not accept the figure proposed by the Executive arm, then it has to return the bill to it with suggestions. By all means, don’t insert anything into it and insist that he must sign it and if he doesn’t sign it you begin to threaten him with impeachment. What kind of democracy is that? Separation of powers must be emphasized if we are to develop in Nigeria and minimise corruption.

Constituency projects
Let’s first define what’s a constituency. Every local councillor has a ward as his constituency. Ditto for chairman of local government, state Assembly members, governors, National Assembly members up to the President. So, Nigerians will not hold you responsible for the development of your constituency. So, those talking about projects for my constituency don’t understand. The projects are what constitute capital development of a government. It is not the individuals. The accounting officer at the federal level is the President.

The accounting officer in each state is the governor. If there is no development, Nigerians will shout at the governor. If thee is no power, no rail line who do Nigerians blame? The President. They do not go to the individual members in that constituency. It therefore, calls to question the efficiency of these constituency projects. It encourages lack of transparency, inefficiency within budget implementation and there are a lot of question marks. And we say stop it. This is all under fiscal efficiency.

Major challenges
Major challenges as you see, discipline, transparency are major problems. Let me put this way, Nigeria has been through military dictatorship for several years. Some of you young chaps do not know any other form of government except dictatorship. Then, we now woke up and went into presidential system of governance. Now, the dictatorial tendency has remained with us which brought about indiscipline. To now adopt democratic procedures in doing things, in accounting for whatever you do to the public is one of the major issues of Nigeria and in Nigerians. It is one of the big challenges. It may require so many democratic transitions for us to mature into democratic practices.

Reducing cost of democracy
Nothing. We are not even competent to do anything about it. It is purely political arrangement. May be we should have gone to parliamentary democracy before we go into the American system. If it were a parliamentary system, every minister will defend what he did yesterday on the floor of the parliament. But the presidential system is a different issue altogether. The governor of a state is in charge of everything. His commissioners are answerable to him not to the people on the floor of the Assembly.

We should have transited from military to parliamentary before coming to the presidential. Then we would have been able to control issues. The commission is not in a position to do anything because we are operating within the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. It is purely a presidential Constitution. Never mind the dictates of our functions, this is purely political. The system is obviously too expensive.

You see Nigeria has got too much free money so, it encourages corruption. Nigerians do not appreciate the value of the money they have because it is not taxed from them. You see, every month, the multi-nationals give us oil money we meet, share it and we get billions. The ordinary Nigerian is not aware because it is not his sweat. If the government functionary spends the money, the man in the street doesn’t care because it is not his tax money. But if it were his tax money and you spent it, believe me, he will make you account for it. Because if you come to him for tax, he will ask you what did you do with the one he gave you earlier. But now this is free money.

Issue of revenue formula
On the distribution of the pool money by formula, the formula being used now is completely illegal. As at now, Nigeria has no legal revenue formula. We have been agitating for a new revenue allocation formula. Unfortunately, the formula in use now is not legal. It is obsolete, we have done amendment to the formula, sent a new formula to the Executive.

It was sent to the National Assembly and up till now, it has not seen the light of the day .What we have now is a formula based on a circular from the former Minister of Finance which is totally illegal and totally unacceptable to the Commission and to Nigerians. If you give us an acceptable formula, all the issues particularly those affecting the Niger Delta would be resolved. A new revenue formula could have given them a certain percentage that would have solved the problems of militancy in the area. We have talked, made representations, written the National Assembly, we have gone to the President, the National Economic Council, anywhere you think we should go, we have gone. But nothing seem to be coming out of it.

The truth about it is that we sent the revenue formula to President Umaru Yar’Adua quoting the Constitution. He wrote us back. But we discovered that his National Assembly Liaison Officer tabled it only to the Senate. He did not take it to the House of Representatives. In it we reduced the percentage of what the Federal Government gets in favour of states- we pushed it up to 31 per cent from 24 to make sure development goes to the grassroot. So, the Economic Team went and withdrew it unofficially from the Senate.

When we now wrote National Assembly telling them that we are waiting, the Speaker wrote back that he was not aware of having received any proposed revenue formula from the President. They withdrew it illegally and unofficially, because the formula once submitted cannot be withdrawn. Now, it is a constitutional issue. When they withdrew it, they invited the Commission for a negotiation and we said no. And that is why till date, there is no formula.

Because the House did not receive it. The Senate because the Liaison Officer was their colleague, withdrew it illegally. You see this is the primitive nature of the Nigeria’s democracy. Instead of the rule of law, we adopt this primitive approach to the rule of law. A country must respect its Constitution. That means rule of law. If you don’t, you pay for it. If you don’t want the Constitution you are operating, change it. But if you don’t change it, use it. You must obey it.

Excess crude account
First of all, let us define what is Excess Crude Account. The account is from four different sources. Excess crude is divided into two parts. There is a dollar part which arises from the sale of crude outside Nigeria by NNPC. We call it equity foreign crude. Part two of excess crude comes from domestic crude sales. Everyday, NNPC picks 445,000 barrels of crude oil with the intention of refining it in the domestic arena. That one, when they sell it, they pay in naira into the Federation.

Excess arises from there. One in dollars, the other in naira, both of them crude. So, we called those Excess Crude Account. We now go to the non-oil part-petroleum profit tax(PPT) it is exclusively in dollars . There is also excess in it. Similarly for royalty. It is also in dollars. We now have non-oil excess revenue. Oil excess revenue. How does excess arise? For benchmark, for instance, Executive proposed N57 while the legislature fixed it at N67. When you fix that price, normally, the Commission sends its own advice on benchmark for each budget.

I think we proposed N63. If you sold your excess crude in the external market above the benchmark, you kept it in the Excess Crude Account. The Constitution said that every naira or dollar in the Federation Account shall be disbursed to the three tiers of government. Therefore, there cannot be any excess. That is why in that formula, we provided for stabilization account in case we get into trouble with the fluctuations in the oil market.

You can then take money from there and cushion the effect. But the government in its wisdom reintroduced additional excess. On the non-oil, we are still trying to find out who fixes the benchmark. But what we found out is that the Federacy Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is given a target every year by the Executive. Anything they generate after that amount is now kept as excess. Whereas, all excess crude, the Commission calls it excess account. And the balances were very high as at January, 2009.

I think it was about $20.1 billion. With this, the commission wrote governments and legislatures across the country to say, this excess, do what other countries with oil resources are doing, they use their oil money to develop their country. We said use it to develop the strategic sectors like the rail, energy, infrastructure, etc and then you will see the oil revenue being translated directly to infrastructural development. But they instead took the money and just disburse it every month for it to be used for overheads.

We cited some countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil and so on. That’s what they did to translate a fading out resource into reality which will generate employment etc. Don’t misuse it. Fix it for that particular purpose. But what they did was that every month, they withdraw part of it to pay Joint Venture Cashcalls (JVC).That is the money which, if you take Shell, Mobil etc, Nigeria has 60 per cent shareholding, 40 per cent to the multinationals. So we contribute that kind of money for Joint Venture Cashcalls. It’s the money they use for the exploration and exploitation purposes.

In January, they took 57 per cent of that particular amount ($20.1billion). In February again, 74 per cent of what is left of that money was taken out. And then in April, 98 per cent of what is left was taken out. And then from July to December 100 per cent. All the crude oil sales in Nigeria is being used to pay JVC. And as if that was not enough, they now went to the excess domestic which had a total balance of N322billion to take money every month from July to December and now the balance is about N1.47billion down from N322billion. So, the commission’s opinion is that you cannot use all your resources to pay JVC to the detriment of the development of the nation. By the way, what is this JVC, who determines it, who designed the methodology of deductions so that we can meet our obligations with JVC?

Happily enough, recently, former Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said at a public forum that 2010 budget may not be practicable if we continue with this trend. She is emphasizing what the Commission has been talking about. We told them that the 2010 budget cannot operate because if we continue with those deductions, there will be no money to operate the budget. It is one thing to make a budget but the consolidated revenue fund, the basket from which you hope to finance the budget, is empty.

There is no money from oil that will finance the budget in 2010 because all the money is going to JVC. These multinationals operating this JVC, they bring their budget which is supposed to be approved by, I think, NAPIMS of NNPC. The deduction is done every month but the payment to JVC does not take immediate effect. When you are to pay is when you should make the deduction. Don’t go and keep the money with JP Morgan (a foreign Bank). Give us the money for development, let’s go and do coal as a source of energy. You see our power sector is in trouble. We have taken more than $20billion over the years still no power.

The reason is that the gas we want to use for thermal stations is not available, we sold it. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) train number seven is being built. We sold the Nigerian gas for the next 20 years. So where are you going to get the gas to run these power stations? It is an irreversible agreement with several countries in Europe and America. Go to coal, 40 percent of world energy is supplied by coal . Also use water, hydro. These cannot be sabotaged. How can you close Enugu coal mine for instance.

You cannot break a pipe if you are generating from either of these. Use it because it lasts years and years. The return on investment is there. Nigeria needs to diversify for her own security . Don’t put all hope on gas, the day you don’t have gas, what happens? We need to have options gas, water, coal. Gas, gas, gas how many years, how much in dollars, yet no result. And there cannot be result because we sold it, we signed.

Worse, we are a minority shareholder in LNG. Those of us technocrats warned the politicians, don’t lose our majority shareholding. Now, no matter what they do, we cannot control it, we cannot change it, we cannot pass anything because we are a minority. The remaining gas, it is cheaper to flare it. Which multinational will be that stupid instead of paying that little token for flaring will harness it for running your power station. It is not economical for them. And they won’t do it. Now, it is Engr Mahmud Tukur talking. My engineering is electrical and its power. Chief Executive of NEPA for sometime.

Allowances of the Acting President
We wrote the Accountant-General of the Federation that the position of the Acting President shall attract so , so and so. It is our job. Even these out-gone ministers, the Commission is going to determine if they are entitled to a severance allowance. Acting Governors are not entitled to anything may be because the situation has not arisen. Also, impeached governors are entitled to nothing .We don’ recognize them. But if he resigns or leaves voluntarily, we pay him. So, like Shagari, Ekwueme, Obasanjo, Atiku are being paid what they are entitled to.

Link:

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/apr/19/national-19-04-2010-001.htm

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