Category: Politics

The Nigerian Senate has denied purchasing 108 cars for it members, saying only 36 cars were purchased one for each state of the Federation.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Senate Services, Senator Ibrahim Gobir, gave the clarification on Tuesday during a meeting in Abuja.

He told reporters that the Senate decided to purchase only 36 cars which cost about 36.5 million Naira each due to lack of funds.

“I will like to say that the issue that we bought 108 cars is wrong.

“We bought 36 cars and this is because each Senator in each state is either a chairman or a vice chairman and we gave one car to each state to share among themselves as utility car.

“And on the issue of buying cars without appropriation, it is very wrong. This has been appropriated in the 2015 budget and we used what we had in the 2015 budget to by the 36 cars.

“The issue of the cost of the car. The showroom price is 36.5 million Naira and we are surprised. The car we bought is Land Cruiser VSR V8 not V6 and the minimum showroom price is about 31 million Naira and when you put 10 per cent VAT and Tax that will arrive at 36.5 million Naira,” Senator Gobir explained.

Going by the figures given by Senator Gobir the 36 cars cost about 1.3 billion Naira.

There were reports on Monday on the purported purchase of 108 cars by the Senate, with the Nigeria Labour Congress urging the lawmakers to return the cars or face its wrath.

The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, was quoted by This Day as saying that the purchase of the cars was “wrong and insensitive” in the face of the suffering of the masses.

“We consider as appalling, insensitive and greedy the decision of the Senate to acquire 108 Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles (one for each member, except the Senate president) after collecting ‘car loans’ in August last year for the same purpose.

“It is equally morally despicable and shameful that they are doing this after publicly admitting that the standing committees of the Senate are unable to perform their statutory functions due to the paucity of funds,”Mr Wabba said.

~Channels TV

The House of Representatives is urging the executive to direct the Nigerian Orientation Agency to embark on public enlightenment and re-orientation on the need to put an end to the misuse of the national flag and other national symbols.

In a motion sponsored by Honourable Sam Onuigbo, the House considered the fact that some Nigerians do not know the national flag, as a distinct national symbol from the coat of arms.

The House said this was a situation that should be reversed.

“The television houses, newspapers keep coming out with the corrupted version of the Nigerian flag.

“For instance, yesterday’s Guardian has a corrupted version of the Nigerian flag,” Mr Onuigbo told the Senate.

Some of the lawmakers said that the misuse tells the world that Nigerians could hardly do things  right.

The problems and challenges of the nation, one of them claimed, were present because most Nigerians fail to do the correct thing.

The House is also urging the executive to ensure that the Nigerian Orientation Agency would be the only source of obtaining the national flag to ensure that the correct format of the flag was produced.

The House of Representatives is urging the executive to direct the Nigerian Orientation Agency to embark on public enlightenment and re-orientation on the need to put an end to the misuse of the national flag and other national symbols.

In a motion sponsored by Honourable Sam Onuigbo, the House considered the fact that some Nigerians do not know the national flag, as a distinct national symbol from the coat of arms.

The House said this was a situation that should be reversed.

“The television houses, newspapers keep coming out with the corrupted version of the Nigerian flag.

“For instance, yesterday’s Guardian has a corrupted version of the Nigerian flag,” Mr Onuigbo told the Senate.

Some of the lawmakers said that the misuse tells the world that Nigerians could hardly do things  right.

The problems and challenges of the nation, one of them claimed, were present because most Nigerians fail to do the correct thing.

The House is also urging the executive to ensure that the Nigerian Orientation Agency would be the only source of obtaining the national flag to ensure that the correct format of the flag was produced.

As controversy over the non-inclusion of the Lagos-Calabar Rail line project in the 2016 Appropriation Bill rages, the All Progressives Congress (APC) South-south zone has punched yet another hole on the bill passed recently by the National Assembly.

The party accused the Senate Appropriation Committee and its counterpart in the House of Representatives of doctoring the budget and removing almost N5 billion meant for the total rehabilitation of the collapsed and terrible Calabar-Odukpani–Itu–Ikot Ekpene federal highway and reallocated it to a non-existent constituency project in Kano State.

In a statement issued yesterday by the National Vice Chairman (South-south), Prince Hilliard Eta, the party said the action was a setback to the progressive change and at variance with the infrastructure development agenda of the APC-led federal government.

“We are very upset that our representatives at the National Assembly would discard decorum and hinder progressive change by acting at variance with the infrastructure development agenda of the APC-led federal government. The arbitrary removal of the Lagos-Calabar rail project by the National Assembly from the 2016 budget is a display of depraved indifference to the welfare of Nigerians.

“The deletion is not just arbitrary, it is a big disservice to the people of Nigeria, particularly the South-south zone which the proposed railway line would have traversed.

“Also, the total rehabilitation of the collapsed and terrible Calabar-Odukpani –Itu –Ikot Ekpene federal highway which was allotted N6 billion by the federal government in the budget was doctored and almost N5 billion removed and reallocated to a non-existent project in the constituency of the Chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, in Kano State.

“By these two acts, the Senate and House of Representatives displayed the astonishing contempt in which they hold Nigerians. The National Assembly exists to ensure that Nigerians get the best from their government using the instrument of purposeful legislation, but the 8th Assembly, by this budget padding debacle has not only brought itself to ridicule, it has also proved itself unworthy of the trust and confidence of Nigerians.”

The statement said there is the need “for a re-examination of the powers of the legislature to establish if really it has the power to doctor and alter projects or totally remove them from the budget even after the minister under whose ministry the said projects fell under had credibly defended them and justified their inclusion,” Eta said.

It said the APC South-South zone was disappointed with the role of the Chairman of the Senate Appropriation Committee, Senator Danjuma Goje, and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, who directly supervised and even actively abetted such debauchery.

“As a party in the South-south zone, we make public our disenchantment with the National Assembly and we are particularly disappointed by Goje and Jibrin who directly supervised and even actively abetted such debauchery.

“The South-south zone of the APC demands that the budget be reverted to its original form and all the development projects conceived and included in the budget by the federal government be retained without alteration. We also advise the legislature to refrain from giving the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari a bad image by attempting to deprive Nigerians of the dividends of democracy under any guise.

“Lastly, we shall approach the courts of the land for a clear interpretation of the role of the National Assembly in the passing of the national budget as it is evident that it overstepped its bounds by unnecessarily tinkering with the budget when its constitutional duty is mainly supervisory.

“It is time we Nigerians begin to show a keen interest in the affairs of the legislature as only that can put a stop to the kind of shady alterations that the budget was subjected to while it was being evaluated by the National Assembly,” the statement said.

~CrossRiverWatch

As controversy over the non-inclusion of the Lagos-Calabar Rail line project in the 2016 Appropriation Bill rages, the All Progressives Congress (APC) South-south zone has punched yet another hole on the bill passed recently by the National Assembly.

The party accused the Senate Appropriation Committee and its counterpart in the House of Representatives of doctoring the budget and removing almost N5 billion meant for the total rehabilitation of the collapsed and terrible Calabar-Odukpani–Itu–Ikot Ekpene federal highway and reallocated it to a non-existent constituency project in Kano State.

In a statement issued yesterday by the National Vice Chairman (South-south), Prince Hilliard Eta, the party said the action was a setback to the progressive change and at variance with the infrastructure development agenda of the APC-led federal government.

“We are very upset that our representatives at the National Assembly would discard decorum and hinder progressive change by acting at variance with the infrastructure development agenda of the APC-led federal government. The arbitrary removal of the Lagos-Calabar rail project by the National Assembly from the 2016 budget is a display of depraved indifference to the welfare of Nigerians.

“The deletion is not just arbitrary, it is a big disservice to the people of Nigeria, particularly the South-south zone which the proposed railway line would have traversed.

“Also, the total rehabilitation of the collapsed and terrible Calabar-Odukpani –Itu –Ikot Ekpene federal highway which was allotted N6 billion by the federal government in the budget was doctored and almost N5 billion removed and reallocated to a non-existent project in the constituency of the Chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, in Kano State.

“By these two acts, the Senate and House of Representatives displayed the astonishing contempt in which they hold Nigerians. The National Assembly exists to ensure that Nigerians get the best from their government using the instrument of purposeful legislation, but the 8th Assembly, by this budget padding debacle has not only brought itself to ridicule, it has also proved itself unworthy of the trust and confidence of Nigerians.”

The statement said there is the need “for a re-examination of the powers of the legislature to establish if really it has the power to doctor and alter projects or totally remove them from the budget even after the minister under whose ministry the said projects fell under had credibly defended them and justified their inclusion,” Eta said.

It said the APC South-South zone was disappointed with the role of the Chairman of the Senate Appropriation Committee, Senator Danjuma Goje, and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, who directly supervised and even actively abetted such debauchery.

“As a party in the South-south zone, we make public our disenchantment with the National Assembly and we are particularly disappointed by Goje and Jibrin who directly supervised and even actively abetted such debauchery.

“The South-south zone of the APC demands that the budget be reverted to its original form and all the development projects conceived and included in the budget by the federal government be retained without alteration. We also advise the legislature to refrain from giving the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari a bad image by attempting to deprive Nigerians of the dividends of democracy under any guise.

“Lastly, we shall approach the courts of the land for a clear interpretation of the role of the National Assembly in the passing of the national budget as it is evident that it overstepped its bounds by unnecessarily tinkering with the budget when its constitutional duty is mainly supervisory.

“It is time we Nigerians begin to show a keen interest in the affairs of the legislature as only that can put a stop to the kind of shady alterations that the budget was subjected to while it was being evaluated by the National Assembly,” the statement said.

~CrossRiverWatch

No fewer than 9000 employees in the Akwa Ibom civil service were to be prosecuted for alleged fraudulent drawing of salaries from more than one pay point in the state.

Gov. Udom Emmanuel who disclosed this to newsmen on Monday in Uyo said the massive fraud was uncovered in the preliminary bio-metric exercise recently conducted by the office of the state Accountant-General.

“It is shocking to know that a section of the employees in the state are drawing salaries from more than a pay point.

“We have given the affected employees and those yet to be uncovered, the option to refund the salaries they have fraudulently taken or be prosecuted,’’ he said.

The governor directed the Permanent Secretaries in Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) in the state to commence finger print verification of all employees.

He said that employees who failed to participate in the verification exercise would have their names deleted from the automated salary paying system and nominal roll.

The governor noted that more than 1,000 employees were yet to comply with the directive.

He reiterated his administration’s commitment to making discipline and zero tolerance for corruption its watchwords. (NAN)

No fewer than 9000 employees in the Akwa Ibom civil service were to be prosecuted for alleged fraudulent drawing of salaries from more than one pay point in the state.

Gov. Udom Emmanuel who disclosed this to newsmen on Monday in Uyo said the massive fraud was uncovered in the preliminary bio-metric exercise recently conducted by the office of the state Accountant-General.

“It is shocking to know that a section of the employees in the state are drawing salaries from more than a pay point.

“We have given the affected employees and those yet to be uncovered, the option to refund the salaries they have fraudulently taken or be prosecuted,’’ he said.

The governor directed the Permanent Secretaries in Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) in the state to commence finger print verification of all employees.

He said that employees who failed to participate in the verification exercise would have their names deleted from the automated salary paying system and nominal roll.

The governor noted that more than 1,000 employees were yet to comply with the directive.

He reiterated his administration’s commitment to making discipline and zero tolerance for corruption its watchwords. (NAN)