General Review Point

The Senate is expected to round off the collation of reports on the 2016 budget estimates of N6.08 trillion this week for due consideration next week.

According to the chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Sen. Danjuma Goje ( APC-Gombe Central), that would be preparatory to the passage of the Appropriation Bill before the end of next month.


Goje who stated this while briefing the Senate on the progress recorded since the presidency presented the budget proposal at yesterday’s sitting, said that his committee had mandated the different sub-committees to make their submissions between yesterday and Tuesday next week.

He appealed to the chairmen and vice-chairmen of the Senate standing committees to cooperate with the Appropriations Committee, by ensuring that the Tuesday deadline was met for the submission of their reports.

He said, “Today is the beginning of the submission of reports to us by the various sub-committees. The Appropriations Committee is ready; we are set to start receiving the reports.

“I therefore, urge my colleagues, the chairmen and vice-chairmen of the various committees to cooperate with us to ensure that we conclude this exercise within the one week that was stipulated by this Senate.

“This means that the submissions will start today and end next week Tuesday. If we don’t go by the programme, there will be problem of submission of our report. But because of the importance of this budget, it is incumbent that we go by the programme.

“I want to inform the Senate that the Appropriations Committee is ready to accept the reports. Immediately after my explanation, all the members will go to room 224 where we are ready to start receiving the reports.

“The timetable has been distributed to you and the committees concerned that are supposed to submit their reports as stated in that timetable. So, Mr President, I will like to ask my colleagues, chairmen, vice-chairmen and members of the various committees to cooperate with us to ensure that we conclude this exercise within the one week stipulated by this Senate.

“If we do go by the programme, there would be a problem of submission of our reports. It is therefore, incumbent that we go by the programme during the exercise of receiving our reports within one week to allow us compile the reports and submit it to this Senate for passing into law.”

Reacting to the submission made by Goje, president of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, implored the committees to adhere to the one week target for collating the reports.

“I think, as the chairman of the Appropriations has said, they are ready to receive the reports and am sure the timetable is out and within this week, please let’s ensure that all committees submit their reports to Appropriations Committee, so that we can keep to the timetable, and we will try as much as possible and ensure that time is available so that people can do this report when we are still sitting in the plenary”, he said.

Besides, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday wrote the Senate requesting it to extend the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)   2015 Statutory Appropriation Act to March 31, 2016.

Buhari in a letter to that effect as read by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, noted that the 2015 FCT Appropriation Act was assented to by former President Goodluck Jonathan on the 28th of May, 2015.

He pointed out that the late assent of Jonathan to the document allowed the FCTA only seven months in 2015 for implementation, which he said was not enough to fully implement the Act.

The president further explained that the delay in signing the appropriation bill into law, also affected its implementation in respect of capital projects and other expenditures, resulting in numerous payments for critical and essential projects remaining outstanding.

The letter reads in part: “I am writing to seek the senate’s approval to extend the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) 2015 Statutory Approriation Act to 31 March 2016.

“You may recall that the 2015 FCT Appropriation was assented to by my predecessor on the 28th of May, 2015. The delay affected its implementation in respect of capital projects and other expenditures.In this connection, numerous payments for critical and essential projects are outstanding.

“In view of the foregoing, the Senate is invited to note: the FCT 2015 statutory appropriation assented to on the 28th of May 2015 allowed the FCTA only seven months in 2015 for implementation.

“To meet its obligations and as permissible by the constitution, the FCT 2015 appropriation needs to be extended to 31st March 2016 as that would enable the FCT to make payments for various critical and essential ongoing projects towards achieving a better performance in the implementation of projects for the 2015 statutory appropriation.

C’ttee Submits Report On Abuse Of TSA

Meanwhile, the committee on Banking, Insurance and other Finacial Institutions submitted its report on the abuse of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), to be debated by the Senate at a later date.

The Committee on Ethics also submitted its report on the petition against Total Exploration Nigeria Limited by some of its staff, who were allegedly disengaged without due process of the law.

Senate Unity Forum Distances Self From Marafa

The Senate Unity Forum (SUF) yesterday warned its spokesperson, Senator Kabir Marafa against making further remarks that are capable of denigrating the Senate and, by extension, the National Assembly as an institution.

It chided Marafa for allegedly making derogatory remarks against the Senate in recent interviews he granted to journalists.

A source at the meeting told our correspondent that the SUF disassociated themselves from the recent utterances made by Marafa, saying he is not pushing their position.

The source who spoke to LEADERSHIP in confidence said the anti-Saraki senators accused Marafa of pushing the views too far. warning that they cannot be supporting him when he is denigrating the institution of the Senate.

He explained that the forum wondered why Marafa should be talking about delaying of the budget when he was the number one person delaying it by not sitting as chairman of his committee to enable the agencies under the committee defend their budget.

Immigration officials have arrested 17 Nigerians attempting to cross the border into Niger on their way to Libya with no valid papers, a senior Nigerian immigration official told AFP on Tuesday.
Nigerian Immigration officers intercepted the 17 in two batches at a border crossing with Niger, said the comptroller of immigration for
Katsina state, Ahmed Alhaji Alfa.
“Our investigation revealed that their mission was to cross border en route to Agadez in Niger Republic and then to Libya,” he added.

“We believe their final destination was Europe through the dangerous voyage across the (Mediterranean) sea”.
Human trafficking is a major organised crime issue in Nigeria, where victims, most of them young women and girls, are smuggled into Niger then Libya before a final destination in Europe.
Most of the victims are promised lucrative jobs but are instead forced into prostitution once in Europe.

Such victims are often made to undergo voodoo rituals forcing them to vow never to disclose their situation to the authorities.
The victims — 10 women and seven men aged between 18 and 40 — were apprehended on February 14 and 21, Alfa said.
“Only one of them was in possession of travel documents while the others had no travel documents nor any means of livelihood,” he added.

Those detained were from the southern Nigerian states of Edo and Imo and had likely been “misled” by a trafficking syndicate operating in the northern Nigerian commercial hub of Kano and towns along the borders of Nigeria and Niger, he said.
They were handed over to the Nigerian anti-human trafficking agency NAPTIP in Kano on Tuesday for further investigation and prosecution.
A hunt for the traffickers and their sponsors has also been launched.

Ecobank Nigeria Plc has sacked 50 top managers of the bank as it struggles to stay afloat in the midst of biting economic hardship in Nigeria.
Reporter gathered that the rank of those sacked ranged from Assistant General Manager, Deputy General Manager and above whose
monthly salaries range between N1 million and N2 million.
The affected top management staff of the bank were handed their sack letters from the bank’s head office in Victoria Island, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Tuesday.
A source in the bank told PM News that the bank has been going through tough time as a result of crippling economy, occasioned by dwindling oil prices and the crumbling of the naira to dollar.
The source said the bank had been undergoing restructuring in recent times in trying to survive in a fast collapsing Nigeria economy.

According to the insider, the source of revenue to the bank had trimmed since the hardship began biting hard, noting that, it is afecting all Nigeria banks and that since Ecobank had not been making money, there was no way it could continue to pay the huge wage bill of top echelon staff which ranged from N1 million to N2 million.

“Ecobank is not the only bank facing the biting effect of the economy and the bank is only trying to trim its wages,” the source told PM News.
Adding that “since those at the top earned more, it decided to sack many at the top level”.
Currently, Nigeria’s economy is in shambles as oil prices continue to slump in the international market, while the nation’s naira has continued in landslide collapse to the dollar, with about 380 naira exchanging for a dollar.

There have been clamour on the government to devalue the naira, but President Muhammed Buhari is yet to concede to this idea.
With the economy still in a mess, it is certain that more banks and other institutions will sack workers in order to stay afloat to survive the biting economic quagmire.

A former militant leader, Chief Solomom Ndigbara, also known as Osama Bin Laden has dragged the federal government and the Nigerian Army to court over the invasion of his homes by soldiers.  Militants recently declared war on the federal government for its refusal to release Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Ndigbara is currently on the run from military authorities following the invasion of his residences by soldiers from 2 Brigade, Nigerian Army on January 11, 2016.It is  reported that the former militant is seeking an order of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt to enforce his fundamental human rights by halting further harassment and invasion of his homes by soldiers.

The legal representative of the ex-militant, Eugene Ode, told newsmen in Port Harcourt that Ndigbara probably would have been summarily executed by soldiers had he been found at home when his home was invaded following the manner his family was beaten and battered. Ode faulted the military for placing a bounty on Ndigbara without issuing any statement on why he is wanted by the authorities.  For us, we think this way beyond the way of the law and we are here to enforce his fundamental human right. Don’t forget, this man is an ex-agitator. He was one of the first to embrace the Amnesty Programme by the late President Yaradua.

 This man has surrendered.’’ Meanwhile, nine people were reportedly killed following a heavy gun battle that broke out in Bori, Rivers state earlier on Tuesday, February 23.It's was  reported that the battle was between soldiers and militants suspected to be supporters of the ex-militant leader, Solomon Ndigbara. Four people were feared dead at Yeghe in Gokana, the home town of the embattled ex-militant, says local sources.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has explained why it does not need former president Goodluck Jonathan as its witness in order to prove its money laundering case against Olisa Metuh, the national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP spokesman and his company, Destra Investments Limited, are being prosecuted by
the EFCC on seven counts fraud. He allegedly received from the office of the national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki, N400m meant for the procurement of arms. The prosecution alleged that part of the money was used by Metuh to fund the PDP presidential campaign of the for the 2015 election.They reports that the PDP spokesman has recently filed the no-case submission through his lead counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu, claiming that the prosecution could not make any case against him without the EFCC calling Jonathan as a witness.

 In its response filed on Tuesday, February 23, before Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court in Abuja, the anti-graft agency urged the court to dismiss the no-case submission, insisting that the former president was not needed to prove its case. “My Lord, in paragraphs 2.22 to 2.25, the defence also contends that the prosecution, through PW8 (EFCC’s investigative officer, Junaid Sa’id) failed to investigate the statement of the 1st defendant (Metuh) to the effect that presentation was made to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and that the sum for the exercise was paid into the 2nd defendant’s account (Metuh’s firm, Destra). “It is further contended that the former President, to whom the presentation was made for which the payment was made, is therefore a material and indispensable person in order for a prima facie case to be established.

 How Metuh berated EFCC, makes demand in court “Learned senior counsel (Metuh’s lawyer) therefore alleged presumption of withholding of evidence by the prosecution. “In response to the above argument my lord, we submit that nothing can be farther from the truth. The defence cannot pick and choose witnesses for the prosecution and as rightly pointed out by the defence, the prosecution is not required to call a host of witnesses or a particular witness in proof of its case. “What the law requires the prosecution to do is to call material witness(es) in proof of its case,” the EFCC stated.

The anti-graft agency called on the court to dismiss the no-case submission filed by Metuh and his firm and direct them to give an explanation to “the overwhelming oral and documentary evidence placed before the court by the prosecution.” Earlier this month, the EFCC arrested Colonel Ojogbane Adegbe, Goodluck Jonathan’s Aide-de-Camp. During the interrogation, Adegbe revealed that another Dasukigate may be looming if he speaks out on the events of the last administration.

The burning bus has caused heavy gridlock and motorists are stuck in traffic as The bus caught fire this morning, February 24. See photos below:

 Bus on fire on third mainland bridge  Commuters stuck in traffic because of the fire  The cause of the unfortunate fire is yet unknown...

Minister of power, works and housing,  Fashola, on Tuesday, February 2 said the increment in electricity tariff will improve power supply.

Fashola said this when he appeared before the Senate committee on power, to defend the budget of the ministry.

He said that investors would pull out if they were not able to get returns on their investments.
He said that the Senate had empowered the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to determine tariff for electricity and as such, the increment was not unlawful.


‎”E‎lectricity is a product, it is made from raw materials and some of the raw materials are gas.‎ So, the issue of tariff is the single issue of price, when the raw materials of course will go up the price cannot stay the same.
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“You may ask why can’t we have more power before the price goes up: I am also a consumer, but we see that investments in power are not where they should be.
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“If the recovery of price,  the income and profit do not make economic sense to the investor, would you do that business if you are the one?
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“So it is not what I want, it is what I think will solve the problem, everybody is owing everybody in the power equation and they are also owing banks.
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“Now if you want investment in power, banks must continue to see confidence to lend.
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“There are a lot of investors who want to pay a little more than the open market tariff, if we want them to come into the industry we have to allow the new tariff order,” he said.
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Fashola told the committee that there were  lots  of people producing excess power, who also want to join the national grid if the price was right.
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He said that the tariff was necessary as the former government was perhaps afraid to confront Nigerians with the real price of electricity, hence the increment in tariff every two years.
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However, he assured that the new tariff was a ten-year policy that would not be reviewed upwards or downwards.
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“This tariff order also removes fixed charges, the consumers say they do not want fixed charges: nobody likes fixed charges because they want to pay for what they use.
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“So, it gives the consumer something and it gives the service provider something too so that we can see increment.
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“Government has bought out the issue of generation of power so people will not go into generation of power if it is not a business from which they can make a recovery and some profit.
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”The law passed by the National Assembly clearly gives NERC the responsibility and power to give a tariff that enables them to recover their investment and returns on investment.
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”So nothing unlawful or illegal has happened, one thing we must however begin to embrace is conservation,” he said.


It is recalls that the (NERC) on Monday, February 1 effected the new electricity price tariff .‎ NERC boss, Dr. Anthony Akah, had stressed that there is no going back on the new tariffs.

 The event which is set to hold in Manhattan come April 25 at Lincoln Center will host an occasion that celebrates and give trophy to actors and film makers who have proven excellent and great artistic achievement in their career.

As a recognition of his acting career, the Oscar award winner Morgan Freeman has been named among receivers of the 43rd annual Chaplin Award.
Morgan Freeman. play

SARS operatives in Asaba arrested some human traffickers and rescued seven trafficked children including 10 year-old Sunday Michael, last year and handed them over to the Ministry of Women Affairs Asaba for care.

         
    
The ICPC boss said the war against corruption by the present administration has made so much progress and gaining momentum because the president had been leading by example.

According to a statement released by the commission on Friday, February 5, 2016, Nta said the success of the internal war against corruption has seen the international community reckoning with

A total of 110 people have been placed under watch by medical practitioners in Ogun State following the record of the first case of Lassa Fever.

According to the state's Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, the number of the primary contacts with the first index case of Lassa fever in the state has increased from 60 to 110, and they have all been placed under watch.

Dr Ipaye made this statement when he visited the 28-years old lady, who is the first victim in the state, on