“We Need More Money for Food at Aso Rock” Presidency tells Senate

When President Goodluck Jonathan presented the 2013 budget, it was followed by an outrage overthe large amount of money allocated to refreshment, meals and other miscellaneous expenses in the State House. Nigerians complained that the money allocated for such expenses was too much and requested that it be cut down.

Evidently, the Presidency did not heed to this outcry. On Wednesday 21st November, 2012, the Presidency asked the Senate to increase the N1, 305, 292, 050 set aside in the 2013 budget for refreshment and meals and other miscellaneous expenses in the State House.
A breakdown of the Miscellaneous sub-head in the Presidential Villa's budget shows that N203,752,432 was allocated for refreshment and meals; N107,412,768 would be spent on honorarium and sitting allowance while N37, 277,825 will be for publicity and advertisement.

Channels TV reports that the State House Permanent Secretary, Emmanuel Ogbile, who appeared before the Senator Dahiru Kuta-led Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs gave a further breakdown of the 2013 State House budget as thus:

Medical expenses (N50,308,546); Postage and courier services (N10,035,583); Welfare packages (N195,066,223); Subscription to professional bodies (N4,589,793); and Sporting activities (N32,910,730).

According to him, Overtime will gulp, N250,455,589; Feeding of animals including animal supplements for the veterinary clinic (N30,584,144); Summit/ Extra ordinary sessions including the UN, African Union, ECOWAS, and so on (N228,112,862); and NYSC, IT, LOCUM, Housemanship and contract staff allowance (N144,788,555).

Mr Ogbile said: "I have taken pains to explain that this money is not just to fund the residence of the President and that of the Vice President. The experience I have had is that this fund is grossly insufficient. It is not even enough."

The Permanent Secretary noted that "it is also from the budget of N1.305 billion that we take care of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) which holds every Wednesday."

FEC approves N290.34 billion contracts

The Federal Executive Council, FEC,  yesterday approved the award of contracts to the tune of  N290.34billion in the various sectors of the nation with the Niger Delta region taking the highest chunk of N98.58 billion in the areas of roads and bridge constructions, power generation as well as land reclamation.
Minister of Information, Labaran Maku who addressed State House correspondents after the weekly meeting of FEC, said the contracts were to ameliorate the challenges faced in the country by road users.
Mr. Labaran Maku, who was flanked by the ministers of Works, Education, Water Resources and Culture Tourism and National Orientation, noted that the contracts were aimed at improving existing infrastructure both in the nine oil producing states of the federation and other parts of the country.
Speaking on the contracts for road construction in the country, Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen said the roads contracts were awarded to take advantage of the onset of the dry season in order to expedite action on their construction and early completion.
He said the roads are located in the North-west, South-south, North-central and South-east zones of the country.
He named some of the roads which contracts were approved by council to include the completion of the 24  kilometre  Auchi-Ekperi-Uzea, among others,  and pedestrian bridge at Auchi Polytechnic’s main gate,  at the cost of N8.7billion.
The council also approved the construction of Wudil-Utai-Achika-Darki-Jigawa road in the sum of N4.393billion, while section 11 phase one of the Kontagora-Rijau-Tunga Magajia road for N3.698 billion bringing the total contract sum of the phases one and two of the projects to N16.768 billion.
The rehabilitation of the Funtia-Gusua-Sokoto was approved at the cost of N3.431 million
For the South-east zone, the minister said Council approved the construction of Nnenwe-Uduma-Uburu and Ishiagu-Mile2 road at the cost of N11.603billion
Other contract approved by the Council was the argumentation of the Shagri Irrigation project in Sokoto State by N317.9 million(from N1.165 billion to N1.77billion.
In the area of power generation, council approved the engineering, procurement and construction of the 700MW Zungeru Hydroelectric Power project N162.99 billion to a Chinese company with a completion period of four years.

Nigerian communication commision (NCC) ban GSM operators of promo

      
The Nigerian Communication Commission has banned all promotions and lotteries being run by telecommunications network operators in the country. The commission, in a statement on Monday, cited overwhelming consumer complaints as the main reason for its action.
The ban, which takes immediate effect, affects Globacom, MTN, Intercellular Nigeria Plc, Visafone, Etisalat, Airtel Networks Limited and MultiLinks Telecoms Limited.
The Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, confirmed that the commission had, in recent times, been inundated with several complaints from consumers and industry stakeholders against the various promotions being offered by the operators.
He said NCC carefully evaluated the complaints received, especially against the backdrop of sustaining the integrity of mobile networks, general interest of the consumers, socio-economic impact of the promotions on operators and other relevant stakeholders before taking its decision.
The decision, he said, also dovetailed into the commission’s statutory responsibilities such as to protect and promote the interest of consumers against unfair practices, promote fair competition in the industry by protecting operators from misuse of market power and anti-competitive/unfair practices by other operators.
Ojobo said, “The commission has banned all promotions by telecommunications network operators as well as lotteries being carried out on such networks. This ban covers all proposed and approved promotions and lotteries on which the commission has given approval further to the Memorandum of Understanding entered into with the National Lottery Regulatory Commission.”
“This ban is with immediate effect and shall continue to remain in force until such a time as may be determined by the commission.”
Explaining the reasons for the ban, Ojobo said the promotions had increased the number of minutes available to subscribers for use within a limited period of time thereby, creating congestion on the networks, as subscribers tried to use up the available minutes within the stipulated time.
Furthermore, NCC said it had observed that on-net calls were now being offered by operators at tariffs well below the prevailing inter-connect rates, thereby introducing anti-competitive practices and behaviour.
It said termination of calls was becoming increasingly difficult from one network to another, and overall consumer experience on the networks had become very poor, making it extremely difficult for subscribers to make calls successfully.
Ojobo assured telecommunications consumers of NCC’s resolve to ensure that the quality of service offered across all networks was such that delivered value to them.
Airtel had sent a message to its subscribers thus, “Dear customer, further to NCC directive on the ban of lotteries and promos to (by) all mobile operators, Airtel will immediately commence compliance implementation.”
Reaching out to its customers on Monday via SMS, Visafone said, “NCC has directed that all promotions be suspended; however, you will still enjoy the lowest tariffs and best quality in the nation.”
A telecoms subscriber, Mr. Tunde Obakin, commended the move by NCC, saying one of the reasons why there had been poor quality of service was because of the incessant promos by the operators.
Another subscriber, Mr. Emeka Otti, said NCC should come up with conditions for operators who would want to start any form of promo, adding that such conditions should address issues like bad networks during promos.
Source: PUNCH

OIL SECTOR PROBE: Presidency slams Ribadu Report

By Henry Umoru & Ben Agande

ABUJA—THE controversy trailing report of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force, PRSTF, headed by former Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu took a new turn, yesterday, as the presidency said the report was badly presented.

This came as President Goodluck Jonathan set in motion, machinery for full  implementation of Petroleum Sector committee reports beginning with the committee on the nation’s refineries in order to boost domestic refining of products and to create jobs.

The Presidency while noting that the Ribadu Report was being overtly politicized, pleaded with Nigerians to be patriotic in their approach to issues. It condemned the politicization of the report and  alleged attempt in certain quarters to disparage the genuine efforts of President Jonathan to bring sanity to Nigerian oil sector once and for all.

President Goodluck Jonathan and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu

In spite of these, the presidency, however, assured Nigerians that corrections would be made to rectify the issues raised and a white paper would be issued and its recommendations fully implemented by this administration.

Addressing Journalists, yesterday, in Abuja, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe who noted that Ribadu was encouraging negativism and declared that the committee did not complete its assignment, however called on Ribadu to be courageous enough with names that made overtures to make him  compromise the report which he resisted.

Okupe said: “His claim of an overture to him to compromise the report is perfidious and false. We respectfully enjoin Mallam Ribadu to be patriotic enough to name the proponents of this compromise. If Ribadu claims that by serving on the committee he is on the side of the Nigerian people, on whose side is President Jonathan whose idea it was in the first place to set up the Task Force and approved the appointment of Mallam Ribadu as chairman of the committee?”

The Presidential Aide who noted that the intention of President Jonathan was for the committee to do a holistic investigation into the intransigent challenges of our oil and gas industry in the past 10 years, however stressed that the committee passed the job of verifications and reconciliation back to the Federal Government.

Okupe said: “One of the major terms of reference of the committee was to work with consultants and experts to determine and verify all petroleum upstream and downstream revenues (taxes, royalties, etc) due and payable to the Federal Government of Nigeria, but this aspect of the committee assignment was left undone.

“Unfortunately and most regrettably, this paramount duty of the PRSTF committee could not be accomplished as stated in paragraph four of the covering letter signed by Chairman Ribadu and Secretary of the committee.
“Paragraph four of the covering letter read: “The data used in this report was presented by various stakeholders who made submissions  at various dates, which have been disclosed in relevant sections of the report. Due to time frame of the assignment some of the data used could not be independently verified and the Task Force recommends that the government should conduct such necessary verifications and reconciliations”.

Ribadu issues disclaimer to report

Okupe noted that the implication of this paragraph four of the covering letter of the Ribadu committee was that the committee has issued a disclaimer to their own report which will now make it “impossible under our laws to indict or punish anybody except and until the federal government fully verifies and reconciles the facts as recommended by the committee in its submission to the government.

“There is a major public disinformation deliberately calculated to overheat the polity and cause disaffection and opprobrium against the President for doing what is right, what is needful and profitable to the nation”.
He, however, condemned the leakage of the report to Reuters and other international news media, adding that two versions of the same report were in circulation, but the federal government will only work with the report that was officially submitted to it by the Task Force.

Meanwhile, less than a week after the committees set up by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Deziani Allison Madueke on the petroleum sectors submitted their reports, President Goodluck Jonathan has set in motion machinery for their full implementation, beginning with the committee on the nation’s refineries in order to boost domestic refining of products.

Jonathan commences implementation

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, who disclosed this to State House correspondents, yesterday, said that already, the president has set March, 2013 deadline for the completion of the Turn Around Maintenance of three refineries in Kaduna, Portharcourt and Warri.

It would be recalled that the committee on refineries, headed by Dr Kalu Idika Kalu blamed the epileptic performance of  the country’s refineries on lack of proper maintenance and funding.

Speaking on the reports, yesterday, Dr Abati said “the president has not only commended the committee on refineries, but  he also made it clear that part of the determination of his administration is to make sure that Nigeria stops the importation of fuel and he subsequently directed the Minister of Petroleum Resource to take that report and look into it and then come up with action plan as to what can be done going forward.
“He also directed that a technical report be prepared on how to get the refineries working. I just came back from a meeting now in the president’s office where the minister of petroleum resources together with her team, including the Group Managing Director of the NNPC and other directors in the oil and gas sector made presentation. The major issue that was discussed at that meeting had to do with the refineries.

“First, the state of the refineries, their present capacities: What the Kaduna refinery is able to produce per day now which is about 110,000 barrels per day, the Port-Harcourt refineries 210,000 barrel per day and the Warri refineries 125,000 barrel per day and what steps can be taken to improve the capacities of these refineries to make them perform at their optimum function for the objectives outlined by Mr President to be achieved”.

Importation of finished petroleum products

The presidential spokesman said the president told the team that made the Presentation that the interest of this government is to ensure that crude oil is refined domestically, adding that ‘this administration is determined to put an end to the importation of finished petroleum products because you can refine domestically and at the same time import because if you don’t have enough you will be bridging it. Thirdly, to create jobs locally because the president’s conviction is that if you keep importing refined products, you are creating jobs for other people in other economies and hence the presentation was focused on two things; to take care of the Turn Around Maintenance, TAM, of the refineries in the immediate term and the target is that this short term intervention will be completed by march, 2013. If that is done, that will raise the capacities of these refineries taken together to 65 per cent. But the determination is even to go beyond that to also engage in the rehabilitation of the refineries. There is also plan for rehabilitation. There are other steps that are being considered to achieve this three objectives by Mr President”.
According to Abati, contrary to the belief by some people that government sets up committees then refuse to implement the recommendations of such committees, president Goodluck Jonathan has already commenced the implementation of the recommendations of the committees he set up.

“The  whole point is to make it clear that action is already being taken on the reports of the committees. The first meeting that was held today is on this issue of  refineries. What I have given you is the outline. Another meeting will be fixed where further presentations would be made on the technical details on how these objectives would be achieved.

“I think this clarification is important because since the presentation of these reports to Mr President, there has been an excessive focus on the politicisation of the Petroleum revenue task force reports where as on that day, there were discussions relating to the refineries, there were discussions relating to the issues of governance system in the petroleum sector.

“It is important to clarify that actually action is already being taken and for the benefit of those who think when committees submit reports, government sleeps on those reports,  you can see clearly that this is not the case”

My removal was to destroy EFCC – Ribadu

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu
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A former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, on Sunday said he was removed from office in order to destroy the anti-graft agency.

He said his removal came a few days after operatives of the EFCC arrested and charged an ex-Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori, to court for corruption.

Ribadu, who spoke on Frontline, a current affairs programme on the African Independent Television, which was monitored by our correspondent, said he pitied the current leadership of the commission.

Ribadu said, “When I was removed from the EFCC, they brought people with the intention to destroy the work of the EFCC.

“It is easy to destroy than to build. I pity the people who are in EFCC today because they are coming after the people who destroyed it.

“When you fight corruption, it will fight back. We saw that corruption fought back at the end of 2007 in Nigeria when corruption took over, when the leadership of Nigeria embraced corruption and they were ready to fight those who were fighting corruption and replaced those who were fighting corruption with corrupt people to turn things upside down.

“Nigerians must remember that it was (Michael) Aondoakaa who was the Attorney-General of the Federation as at that time. I don’t need to say anything in addition.”

He said the commission under Waziri was able to do this for three years with the connivance of Aondoakaa and people like Ibori.

Ribadu said, “They did that for three years. They reversed everything that was good. The first thing they did was to withdraw the prosecutorial powers of the EFCC.

“With the Aondoakaas of this world and the Iboris, they were happy they took over. They took over the cases we had and destroyed them.

“I don’t want to be repeating these things. These are very sad developments, very unfortunate in the history of our country.”

He said it was unfortunate that the then Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, nominated him for a course at the Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies when he took Ibori to court.

He said the $15m with which the former governor tried to bribe him remained with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“That money remains with the CBN up till now. Suddenly, five days after I charged him (Ibori) to court, I was asked to go to NIPSS, Kuru. It was Okiro who did that. Of course, he did not do that alone,” Ribadu added.

Before his removal from the commission, Ribadu said there were two attempts aimed at eliminating him, adding that scars of bullets fired at him were still on his car till today.

He said, “I was removed from the EFCC; they attempted to kill me twice. I still have bullets holes stain on my car.

“There was no place for me to stay then. They tried to get anything that could be used to nail me. They investigated me in and out, but they could not get anything wrong that I did to charge me. It took them one year to look at everything they could imagine but they could not charge me.”

He said because of the attempt on his life and his ordeal in the Nigeria Police Force, he decided to go abroad, having been offered jobs by two agencies.

FG may pay compensation to Boko Haram members

The Federal Government may have commenced considering the criteria for compensating members of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, particularly those who had suffered one form of injustice or the other.

Also there were indications on Sunday that the government  might  be willing to pay compensation to  the sect’s members “who were seen to have been killed unjustly.”

A very dependable source in the Presidency told The PUNCH on Sunday that the  Federal Government was not willing to miss the opportunity for dialogue as offered by a man believed to be the sect’s second-in-command, Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz.

For this reason, he said, the government  was willing to pay compensation, otherwise known as Diyya, to halt attacks by the sect.

He said, “I can confirm to you that it is true that the group is currently dialoguing with the government. The good news is that they are talking and they have promised to cease fire once some of their demands are met.

“For conditions that are not difficult to meet such as the demand for Diyya for their 24 identified members that were killed, the government may meet such demands.

“Government can also give critical thought to those found to be innocent, but are being detained or prosecuted, particularly women and children as demanded by the group since they do not have any objection to the trial of those genuinely involved in crime.”

It was, however, learnt that the government might not reach out to former Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to head the team that would dialogue with Boko Haram, as requested by the sect.

The sect had on Thursday expressed its desire to ceasefire and enter into dialogue with the government but demanded that Buhari should lead the discussion that must be held in Saudi Arabia.

But the Congress for Progressive Change had already said that Buhari, who is the national leader of the party, had nothing to do with members of the sect.

 Our source said, “He (Buhari) is a former Head of State and he has people who speak for him. It has been widely reported that he would not take the offer, so why will government reach out to him?”

The same source had in August told one of our correspondents that government might accede to the sect’s demand for the payment of compensation or Diyya to Boko Haram  members  considered “killed unjustly” by security forces.

This formed an August 19, 2012 exclusive report published by SUNDAY PUNCH.

In the report, the sect was said to have identified about 24 of such members whom it claimed were killed unjustly.

One of them was the leader of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed in 2010 in Maiduguri, after he had been reportedly captured alive by soldiers.

Yusuf was then handed over to the police, under whose custody, he died mysteriously.

The PUNCH learnt that the sect had put the compensation to the family of the 24 deceased members at N2m each.

Consequently, for the 24 families, the Diyya to be paid is N48m.

Apart from compensation, the sect is also pressing for the release of those unjustly detained.

Shortly after the sect rolled out its conditions for ceasefire on Thursday, the Presidency described it as a welcome development, “if it was intended to achieve the objectives of peace and security.”

Meanwhile, one of the people named by Boko Haram as mediators, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, said on Sunday that neither the Federal Government nor the sect had reached out to him over the proposed peace talks between the two parties.

The senator, however, refused to answer the question on whether he would be willing to play a mediatory role if invited by any of the parties or not.

The former governor said, “I have not been contacted by anybody, either from the Federal Government side or Boko Haram.

“What you have been hearing on radio or on televisions is false, thank you.”

Ibrahim is  among the six mediators named by the sect on Thursday that would represent it in the proposed negotiation with the Federal Government others are a former Yobe State Governor, Shettima Ali Monguno; Ambassador Gaji Galtimari , Hajia Aisha Wakili and her husband, Alkali Wakili.

The group also gave a condition that the discussion with the government must take place in Saudi Arabia .

Ibrahim, who represents Yobe Central in the Senate, had been outspoken on issues of marginalization of the North-East, saying that the situation had resulted in the heightened insecurity problem in the region.

Only last week, he denied predicting a situation “bigger than Boko Haram” after newspapers quoted him as justifying the sect’s insurgency as a result of long period of neglect of the North-East.

Meanwhile,  Boko Haram on Sunday denied allegations that it was behind the killing of Maj-Gen. Mamman Shuwa and other politicians in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Shuwa was gunned down on Friday in his house at Gwange in Maiduguri along with his guests shortly before the Juma’at prayer, and the Joint Task Force in a statement said the killers were members of the sect.
 

Forty other people were reportedly killed in a bloodbath in another part of Maiduguri on Thursday night.

Sack Alison-Madueke, Okonjo-Iweala, boards –Groups

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala and Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke
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Some civil society organisations on Wednesday in Abuja called on President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, and her counterpart in Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, based on the Report of the Nuhu Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenue Task Force, which alleged corruption in the oil and gas industry.

The groups also urged the President to sack the boards and management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Pipelines and Products Marketing Company of Nigeria, Department of Petroleum Resources and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency to give way for the total clean-up of the country’s oil and gas industry.

The Convener of United Action for Democracy, Mr. Jaye Gaskia, and Executive Director of African Network for Environmental and Economic Justice, Mr. David Ugolor, at a press briefing, also threatened to mobilise Nigerians to stage a mass protest in the city of Abuja should the President fails to heed to their demands.

Having added up the $29bn theft in the country’s oil and gas sector, price fixing, contract scams, an additional $6bn lost annually and 250,000 barrels of crude lost daily for the past 10 years, according to the Ribadu report, they noted that what Nigeria lost was equal to the total budget for four years in the past 10 years.

They said, “We had gone on to make some key demands including: sacking of the boards and management of the institutions of government implicated in the mind boggling monumental fraud in the management of the fuel subsidy regime for 2011 a fraud which as at the time of the various probes, amounted to over N1.7trn, and just about 45 per cent of the 2011 federal budget. We had been clear about the fact that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and its minister, as well as the NNPC, DPR, PPMC, PPPRA, bore direct and greatest responsibility in the monumental fraud.”

“We had also stated clearly that given that manifestation of the complete lack of coordination in the economy and among relevant agencies and institutions with respect to the management of the subsidy fund, combined with the fact that monies were signed and paid out from the federation account without the knowledge or authorisation of the minister of finance, who is also the coordinating minister of the economy, that her office bore indirect responsibility for the fraud and barefaced looting of the economy.

“We thus demand the sacking of all officials so implicated, and the trial of those with cases to answer. Additionally we had demanded that all subsidy thieves and those who aided and abetted them should be speedily brought to trial and looted funds recovered