Presidency faults PDP on N713.7bn bailout for states

The Presidency on Wednesday took on the Peoples Democratic Party and those it called the party’s agents over their position on the relief released to state governments by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr. Femi Adesina
| credits: sunnewsonline.com

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, accused the PDP of creating unnecessary controversy over “the well-intentioned effort” of the President.

He described as “banal and ludicrous” the claim by the party’s spokesman, Olisa Metuh, that the past government should be given credit for saving the money that was disbursed.

The statement read in part, “Mr. Metuh’s claim that a significant amount of the funds came from savings accumulated in the Excess Crude Account and handed over to the Buhari administration is completely false and deliberately intended to mislead the public.

“As we clearly stated yesterday (on Tuesday), the funds approved by President Buhari for sharing to the three tiers of government on Monday came entirely from dividends and taxes paid to the Federation Account by the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company, not from the Excess Crude Account.

“The disbursed NLNG dividends and taxes were paid into the Federation Account in June this year and confirmed by the Central Bank’s statement to the Federal Government on July 7, 2015.

“The funds cannot, therefore, be considered ‘savings’ by the Jonathan administration which left office in May, 2015, as disingenuously claimed by Mr. Metuh.

“Instead of being repeatedly impugned and castigated by the PDP and its agents for honestly telling Nigerians that the nation’s treasury has been immensely depleted and its resources looted or squandered under previous administrations, President Buhari should be commended for the openness, transparency and accountability which he has now brought to the management of national funds.

“It was in keeping with that disposition that the President promptly disclosed the accrual of the NLNG dividends and taxes to the Federation Account at his recent meeting with state governors and approved the convening of a special session of the FAAC to share it.

“As a state governor, who was present at the meeting, remarked, under the past administrations, the states never had the benefit of such disclosures.

“Mr. Metuh and others, who now ungratefully see Monday’s disbursement of the NLNG proceeds as their “legitimate” earnings and not a “bailout” from the Federal Government, may wish to tell Nigerians if such earnings were ever disclosed by the PDP Federal Government and paid to the states in the past.

“The public may also wish to note that the Buhari administration itself has never referred to the actions which it was taken to ease the current financial difficulties of states as a “bailout.”

-naijacenter.com

Nigeria: Buhari approves N713.7b for states to pay workers

TVC NEWS [ABUJA] - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday approved the release of N713.7billion intervention funds for cash strapped states to pay outstanding workers’ salaries.

TVC NEWS reliably gathered that the bailout is part of a three-pronged relief package that will end the workers’ plight.

The package, according to sources, includes N413.7billion special intervention funds and the balance of about N250billion to N300billion, which is a soft loan to states.

Also, N413.7b( $2.1b) is sourced from the recent LNG proceeds and the remaining N300b is a Central Bank-packaged special intervention fund.

Meanwhile, the Debt Management Office(DMO) is expected to assist states to restructure over N660billion commercial loans.

With the development, sources said President Buhari has stopped deductions from monthly allocations to states at source.

Instead, the Federal Government will “use its influence to guarantee the elongation of the loans for the benefit of the states”.

The beneficiaries of the relief package include workers in Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies(MDAs) who have remained unpaid for many months.

According to sources, the President took the decision to boost the purchasing power of Nigerians, especially average and low-income earners, and to reflate the economy.

The sources said: “In his resolve to put an end to the lingering crisis of unpaid workers’ salaries in the country especially in many states, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a comprehensive relief package designed to save the situation.

“Specifically, the President has okayed a three-pronged relief package that will end the workers’ plight.

These are:

•The sharing of about $2.1b (N413.7bn) in fresh allocation between the states and the Federal Government. The money is sourced from recent LNG proceeds to the federation account, and its release okayed by the President;

•A Central Bank-packaged special intervention fund that will offer financing to the states, ranging from between N250b to N300b. This would be a soft loan available to states to access for the purposes of paying backlog of salaries; and

•A debt relief programme proposed by the Debt Management Office (DMO), which will help states restructure their commercial loans currently put at over N660B, and extend the life span of such loans while reducing their debt-servicing expenditures.

The sources said the bailout will take immediate effect from this week to ensure stability in all the states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The sources said: “While the over $2b, which is sourced from LNG proceeds to the federation account would be shared among the states, using the revenue allocation formula, the CBN will also make available the special intervention fund to states and then negotiate the terms with individual states.

“The packages that have now been approved by President Buhari is expected to go into effect this week as the President is said to have directed that release of the funds should be made as soon as possible to assuage the plight of thousands of Nigerian workers in the federal and state governments.”

The sources said with the rescheduling of states’s debts, their allocations will no longer be deducted at source by commercial banks.

The sources added: “This third option, by extending the commercial loans of the states, would therefore make available more funds to the state governments which otherwise would have been removed at source by the banks.

“The Federal Government will use its influence to guarantee the elongation of the loans for the benefit of the states.”

Government sources explained at the weekend that this package, which was considered at the National Economic Council( NEC )last week, had been designed specifically for workers.

“Furthermore, President Buhari has now reviewed and approved the package in his bid to intervene and alleviate the suffering of workers some of whom have not been paid for over ten months,” the sources said.

The bailout will be extended to workers in Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

“There are also workers in the Federal Government’s employ whose salaries have been unpaid for months. This package is expected to address those cases also,” one of the sources added.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, confirmed that indeed a special package was on the way for workers.

He added that the president is deeply concerned about the plight of the workers who have been unpaid for many months.

During the inauguration of NEC last week, President Buhari asked the Council, which is a constitutional advisory body to him, to, as a matter of priority consider how to “liquidate the unpaid salaries of workers across the country, a situation he observed has brought untold hardship to the workers.”

- See more at: http://tvcnews.tv/?q=article/nigeria-buhari-approves-n7137b-states-pay-workers#sthash.XaQwv8BK.dpuf

-tvcnews.tv

Nigeria nearly bankrupt under Okonjo’s watch

Those who have  followed the arguments of the governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, since early last year on the running of the nation’s economy and its future will understand why the governor is angry today about the parlous state of the economy.

Oshiomhole

When he declared recently that “this is the time for everybody to answer his or her father’s name”, the governor was not only directing the statement to the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, but also to the 18 local government chairmen in Edo, who he ordered to pay salaries owed to their workers or face the music.

Due to the dwindling allocation from the Federation Account to the state, Oshiomhole stopped over heads in the ministries and the state House of Assembly in the past six months, his office inclusive, and that is the secret his  government has been able to pay its workers till date. And following the inability of the local government chairmen in the state to pay salaries, the governor met with them and directed that they should forfeit security vote and allowances so they can pay. He told them how he had forfeited his own in the past six months so as to pay civil servants and warned that he would not tolerate non-payment of salaries in the councils.

He achieved that with so much sacrifice but his anger is that Nigerians are suffering today due to what he described as  alleged mismanagement of the economy under the watch of Okonjo-Iweala.  The governor started echoing the  economic crunch in the country since  early last year when he predicted that the way  the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and other oil revenue funds were being managed by the then PDP-led Federal Government will have dire consequences for the economy in future.

It is not surprising, therefore, that he, of late,  engaged in war of words with the former minister, who he accused of spending $2.1billion from the ECA without authorization. But, Okonjo-Iweala yelled back at him, describing Oshiomhole’’s allegation as political witch hunt, saying it will fail. According to her, she started publishing monthly updates of allocations to different tiers of government in order to inform Nigerians on government revenues and expenditure.

She insisted that the claim that she spent the said money without approval was not credible given that, details of government receipts and expenditure were public knowledge. But Oshiomhole, a member of the National Economic Council (NEC) set up recently by President Muhammadu Buhari, accused the former minister of being economical with the truth and toying with figures as regards the state of the economy inherited Buhari. He spoke on a television programme, last week.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The governor, who said the Federal Government is broke, explained that it would have been in a worse shape than states if it had not resorted to borrowing to pay wages.  He added that the economy under Okonjo-Iweala as Finance Minister  was so mismanaged that waivers were granted to organizations running into several hundreds of millions of naira. Said he; “With all due respect to  former Minister Okonjo-Iweala, she knows how to play around with statistics.

I have made the point; she keeps opening part of the pages and not the entire book. The logic of transparency is that every minister must publish in full what is accruing to the Federation Account month to month and what is distributed to them. What she has been publishing is that this is what went to the Federal Government, this is what went to state governments and this is what went to local governments.

“What she never published simultaneously is what accrued during the period out of which this was distributed. So we can now know what was collected to what was distributed so we can know what is left in the Excess Crude Account. You can see her changing the goal post. On the authority to spend, Okonjo-Iweala was a member of the National Economic Council, I was a member and I am on record as asking her, `don’t give us verbal reports on matters of the Federation Account, give us written report’, and the power to spend is not vested on Commissioners. Look at the Constitution and tell me which Section gives the Commissioners for Finance the power, all of them, they are unknown to ballot, they are not elected, but the membership of the  NEC is clear, governors chaired by the Vice President representing the President, the CBN and other relevant ministries. How will she avoid this level of accountability?

“The decision to take money from the Excess Crude Account, that power is vested in the National Economic Council. The NEC is an institution created by the Constitution. What she is referring to is her own administrative arrangement. The $2 billion is her last sum because in her last report, she said we had $4.1 billion, she said so orally but it was captured in the minutes only for her to come around again at the last minute to say  X  figure is left. We asked her, `what did you pay for?”

On states which owe salary arrears to their workers, Oshiomhole said: “Every employer of labour has an obligation, a contractual obligation to pay those who work. The Bible says   a labourer is entitled to his wage. Once you have laboured, it has to be paid for and you don’t pay wages because you are rich and you are able to afford it, you pay wages because the people have worked for it. It is not a gift from a kind-hearted employer, it is an obligation, it is a consequence for work.

I think what has happened is that at the peak of the oil boom, prices were high, people made projections about their expected expenditure and budget on the basis of those numbers. Along the line, there was a sharp drop and this sharp drop that people talk about is not just about a drop in terms of price of crude oil because prices have dropped below this level before. What is new is the level of the so-called crude oil theft, a situation in which certain persons, powerful in

the system, pretend not to know what was going on and simply excused the huge lapses in terms of the crude oil theft. So you have a double squeeze of drop in price and escalation in the volume of alleged theft of crude. The combined effect of this is that the total inflow into the Federation Account dropped sharply. This is also compounded by the fact that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the two of them working together, simply refused to transfer to the Federation Account a lot of the money that ought to have accrued. For example, over the past 4 to 5 years, the NLNG had, every year, made huge payment of between $1.5 to $2 billion, which ought to go to the Federation Account. This money was never transferred to the Federation Account, it was unilaterally expended by the Federal Government.

“We were not even informed of the fact that the money was paid and, each time we asked the then Hon. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy what was happening to the proceeds from the NLNG, no explanation was offered, whether in black and white or orally and there are several other federal agencies that made huge sums of money which were illegally and unilaterally spent by the Federal Government, without being allowed to flow into the Federation Account. So when you draw up a budget on the basis of anticipated revenue and there is such a sharp drop in revenue arising from diversion and there is also a drop in price, obviously something will have to give. The federal finances are even worst hit. Over the past 9 months under the past government, the Federal Government could not and had not been able to pay salaries from her legitimate income. What she had been doing, which states could not do;   was to borrow, uses the CBN through

various instruments termed security, etc   and basically draw down the pension funds because they are the ones who have liquidity to patronize the bond market. So if we were to be able to stop the Federal Government from borrowing to pay salaries, it would have defaulted  much earlier than states and the number of months the Federal Government would have been owing would be worse than the worst state in the federation.

“Just look at the budget of the Federal Government over the past four years and you will see the level of deficit finances that was built into it. So in trying to understand the financial crisis, you shouldn’t limit yourself to those who can pay. Even those who purport to pay, look at their source of funding the payment. If you do, you will find out that whereas the Federal Government frees itself to borrow quite recklessly, reckless in the sense that no serious manager goes month after month to borrow for the payment of salaries. I speak on my honor that the Federal Government is just as broke and that they are borrowing using CBN instruments in trillions of naira to pay salaries.

Now part of the problem is talking about taxes and this can be proved in black and white. The Federal Government illegally granted waivers to  organizations running into hundreds of billions of naira that ought to flow into the Federation Account. Now those are taxes. When the minister granted waivers for you to bring cement into the country; granted waiver for you to bring vegetable oil into the country; grants waiver for you to bring vehicles into the country and, when you look at the total sum, sometimes, even VAT is illegally waived. So how do you get taxes? There are two kinds of taxes: Direct and indirect.

Personal Income Tax, which is deducted from our pay before your net gets to you and indirect tax, which is VAT, royalties, import tax where you spend quality of time looking at your tariff policies designed to protect your local industries and discourage importation. All of these are sources of funding for government. We must understand that in other climes, government does not live on rent from oil money. Governments worldwide are run on tax. Now this last government is the worst in terms of granting unexplained huge source of money in the name of waivers. Can you believe that even oil

companies were granted so-called pioneer status? They will set up a small vehicle in the oil sector, give them certain transactions, give them so-called pioneer status so that they are excused from paying taxes.”

Speaking on the strike embarked on by members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) in Edo, the governor said: “This is what I call power struggle. I had a meeting with JUSUN executives along with the members of the NBA and they said  we are up-to-date with the payment of salaries and allowances and that they are on strike because the national body asked them to go on strike to press that the judiciary should enjoy what they call “First-Line Charge”. “If you ask the Chief Judge of Edo, he will tell you that the state has never defaulted and we will not default and, as we speak, if they work, they will get their pay. What I have refused to do is to pay them for the number of months that they have been on strike. For what? You stay at home, talking politics, you didn’t work and you want me to pay you. Because they are judicial workers, they are bound by law. They must be seen to respect the various trade dispute laws which say ‘if you don’t work, you don’t get paid’. They say they have a court judgment which says money should be transferred to the head of court. Is it the business of trade unions to fight for their employers? What they are doing is self-help, that the judgment is directing state governments to release money and that the state government, have refused to obey the order. I asked them, ‘when a court issues an order and the order is not obeyed, does the trade union law say the union shall become an agency for enforcement of court orders?’ We are in a democracy. I am a union man and I know the limits. Any other person can submit out of panic, I will do things out of conviction. I don’t reward blackmailers particularly when you choose to be a general purpose vehicle. So they should not expect to sit at home and expect to get paid. The law is very clear, it says ‘when you are on strike, particularly a frivolous strike like this, you don’t get paid.’ You are not

on strike because your allowances have been withheld, you are not on strike because your promotions are delayed, you are on strike because you are dealing with issues on how the three arms of government are supposed to relate. The law is clear, if you walk out of your work on your own, we cannot compel you to work. If you are at home, we cannot use tax-payers’ money, money paid by people who are laboring to work, market women, furniture owners and others in the public service who are doing hard work and I will go and use it to pay judicial workers who stay at home. The law is ‘no work, no pay’. We cannot compel you to work, you also cannot compel me to pay you for not working. If you decide to stay at home for 6months, you also will not be paid for 6 months but if they return to work today, they will be paid tomorrow.”

                                                                                                          -vanguardngr.com

Yusuph Olaniyonu: The Senate beyond the noise

It is just three weeks since the Eight Senate was inaugurated on the proclamation prepared by President Muhammadu Buhari. Since then, a lot has happened within the institution which under normal circumstances should have attracted positive attention from members of the public, including the ardent critic of the nation’s legislature. However, all the developments in that upper chamber of our legislature had been overshadowed by the din emanating from the circumstances in which its leadership emerged.

The quest and hunger for sensationalism and controversy by the press and its audience as well as the deliberate propaganda by a power group in the polity has made it impossible for people to see the Senate beyond the externally propelled and inspired schemings, quarrel and struggle for power that attended the election and selection of its leadership.

After the June 9 inauguration in which Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki was elected Senate President, he has continued to articulate the issues which he believed should be the focus of the eight Senate. The man had talked about the need for the Senate in particular, and the National Assembly, as a whole, to be prepared to support the programmes, policies and projects of President Buhari with enabling laws, motions and moral force necessary for their accomplishment. The President had spoken about addressing the issues of security, unemployment, corruption, development of agriculture and mining as ways to diversify the economy, improving on power and fuel supply, among others.

The Senate President therefore believe there is need for the federal legislature to develop a legislative agenda which will complement the identified direction of the Presidency.

There are two indicators that can give anybody the direction that Saraki is already nudging the Senate. One is the various groups that the Senate President has hosted so far. Another one is the committees that he has set up and the address to the visitors and the committee members.

The Senate President had deliberately opened his office doors to visitors who can be of help to the realisation of his plans. First to visit was the civil society. They visited Senator Saraki exactly a week after his election as Senate President. Their visit was to open discussion with the Senate President on how to create an open, transparent and just process in the affairs of the federal legislature.
In his address to the group under the aegis of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) and Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, Saraki said the 8th Senate has an agenda to bring the lawmaking process through broader participation. ” We are determined to have a more focused legislative session that will prioritise on bills that will help us deal with revenue leakages, inculcate accountability, reduce impunity and ensure prudence in our public governance through a concerted oversight function”.

He enjoined the civil society to help “galvanize civil support and provide field feedback that will enrich the deliberation and implementation of these agenda”. “We believe that this will further enrich our democratic process, guarantee public buy-in and ultimately empower our people”. The ultimate aim of engaging with the civil society is “to help the government of the day to actualise its policy agenda of reducing unemployment, infrastructure renewal, improvement of the business environment, power generation, justice delivery and agriculture”.

By June 24, the next critical group of visitors were the National Executive Council members of the Nigeria Bar Association led by Mr. Augustine Aleghe (SAN). The Senate President believe there is need for partnership between the bar and the law making institution so that the instrumentality of the law can be used to effect the positive change that APC promised Nigerians in the last general elections. He told the senior lawyers that ” the NBA has been at the forefront of advocating and advancing legal and political reforms in Nigeria (and) the change that our people voted for is in line with the ideals the NBA has consistently advocated over the years : better justice system, accountability, improved business environment , reform of the criminal justice system and the advancement of our people’s rights and opportunities”.

He said the federal legislature under his leadership aim to help the executive plug the loopholes in the revenue mobilization and management systems which have made accountability of public funds very weak, leading to brazen corruption and mismanagement in the system.

From now on, he said the Senate will improve on the budgeting process to make it easier for scrutiny, interrogation and accountability.

Saraki appealed to the NBA to help the Senate to achieve a reform of the justice system to improve justice delivery system, strengthen alternative dispute resolution systems, reduce delay in courts, improve our people’s confidence in its processes and incentive arbitration and remove regulatory bureaucratic bottleneck.

Then, the oil sector operators gathered under the umbrella of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce to discuss with the Senate President. The Senate President used the occasion to articulate the objective of the Eight Senate which included partnering with the government on how to deal with the common challenge of falling price of oil in the international market.

“We are desirous of having an oil industry comparable in structure, systems and output with international best practices…The oil and gas industry in Nigeria needs to evolve . We know the importance of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in making this happen”, the Senate President’s speech directly posed a challenge to the team led by Mrs Elisabeth Proust, the Managing Director of Total Oil.

As he told the OPTS, the Senate President in an earlier speech while receiving the delegation from Shell Production and Development Company led by the MD, Mr. Osagie Okunbor stated that the falling oil price presented a golden opportunity for the oil companies to retool and become much more efficient and proactive.
“It is high time we eliminated gas flaring in the country, deal with oil spills and third party related spills in a manner that is responsible and just to those affected”, he said. He expressed the willingness of the Senate to work with operators in the oil industry to ensure that the PIB is passed into law to stimulate investment in the industry.
“We are open to your suggestions and opinion on how we can move the industry forward so that investment decisions are not tied down. We are determined to ensure that our partnerships endures and we can do our best to promote the growth of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria so that it becomes an index for measuring international best practices, competition, transparency and environmental friendliness”, he said.

In the last three weeks too, Saraki played host to envoys from United States, Britain, China and France, all of whom came to assess the man and listen to his agenda, particularly to judge whether he shares the same goals and objectives with the new President of Nigeria.

However, all the envoys had left fully satisfied that a competent, mature, exposed and intelligent man is heading the new Senate and that there is no cause for alarm in the synergy that will exist between the two critical arms of government in Nigeria that is destined to change for the better.

Incidentally, the Senate President had used all the occasions to also tell his guests about the two committees he inaugurated on June 25 with the aim of markedly defining the road map for the Senate. The Committee on Finance of the Senate is billed to submit its report this week. The report is aimed at opening up the financial process in the Senate for public scrutiny so that members of the public can easily access the facts and figures on the finances of the institution. The plan is to eliminate rumour and exaggeration concerning the budget and funding of the senate. This will encourage accountability, transparency and financial discipline in the Senate.

As for the committee on Legislative Agenda, their duty is to develop a plan of action for the Senate. The primary aim of the plan is to improve on service delivery to the people.. This plan of action becomes the barometer and standard with which members of the public can measure the success or otherwise of the Eight Senate. Thus, the Senate is putting itself up for public scrutiny, judgement and periodic assessment.

Accompanying the Senate President to these sessions were Senators from the two parties who also use the occasion to familiarise themselves with the goals and objectives of the new Senate leadership. One would think that debating some of these plans, goals and objectives emanating form these sessions with degrees will help the legislative institution to grow and serve the purpose for which the members are elected, rather than focusing on the issue of what complexion the leadership has and which camp they belong to or who is sporting their candidacy.

Yusuph Olaniyonu is the Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to the Senate President.

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

                                                          -ynaija.com/

Why Buhari’s CSO Abdulrahman Mani Was Sacked

The impasse within the security circle at the presidency has recorded its first major casualty in the person of Mr. Abdulrahman Mani, the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the president.

LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered reliably that President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday relieved Mani of his job and asked the State Security Service (SSS) to redeploy him out of Aso Rock.

It was also learnt that the president appointed Mr. Abubakar Usman to take over from Mani, who has been redeployed to the Ebonyi State command of the SSS.
Until his appointment as CSO to the president, Usman was an assistant director in the Bayelsa State command of the DSS.
Mani will go into the country’s history as the shortest serving CSO to a president.

Although there was no official statement to this effect, as at press time, LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that Mani’s sack was as a result of issues bothering on going against a presidential directive, indiscipline and indiscretion in leaking an official memo to the press, following his recent face-off with the Aide-de-camp (ADC) to the president, Mohammed Abubakar, over job description between the Armed Forces personnel and personnel of the DSS at the villa.

A reliable source in the presidency confided in LEADERSHIP Sunday yesterday that the president considered Mani’s action (countering his directive and leaking of the memo to the press) insubordinate, especially that he was aware that the ADC (Abubakar) was acting on him (the president’s) directives.
Another top presidency source told LEADERSHIP Sunday that apart from his rift with the ADC, Mani’s alleged penchant for always preventing some persons on appointment from seeing the president may have been the last straw that cost him his job.

“You are aware that this president is a man who can be reached easily on phone. There were series of complaints that the erstwhile CSO had been preventing people scheduled to see the president on appointment, from having access to him. The issue of job specification for the SSS and the Army personnel may be one issue, but I think that particular issue might be the one that he bit more than he could chew,” the source added.

Recall that the Abubakar had in a memo, directed DSS personnel to withdraw from giving close protection to the president to guarding the outer perimeter of the Villa, on the ground that the job was meant for military personnel and officers of the Nigeria Police Force who are trained as Presidential Body Guards (PBGs).
He noted in the memo that, while the military and police are to “provide close/immediate protection for Mr. President”, the DSS personnel should stay away from areas he listed to include, “Admin Reception, Service Chiefs Gate, Residence Reception, Rear Resident, Resident Gate, Office Reception, C-In-C Control Office, ACADE Gate, C-IN-C Control Gate and Panama.

“However, the personnel of the DSS in conjunction with other security forces are to man other duty beats/locations located within the immediate outer perimeter of the Presidential Villa,” the memo read.

But in a counter memo dated June 26, 2015 to the ADC, the former CSO, Mani, turned down the directive, just as he directed the DSS operatives to disregard the spirit, intent and content of Abubakar’s memo.
Accusing Abubakar of overzealousness, grandstanding, limited knowledge and outright display of ignorance, Mani said the ADC’s circular “grossly misrepresents” the president’s directive.

Mani, who as CSO, was the head of SSS operatives in Aso Rock noted, “though further actions have been initiated in this regard, including routine redeployment of close body guards out of the villa, and deployment of new ones, it is important to state that the duties hitherto performed by the personnel of the DSS (SSS) in the Presidential Villa and/or any other Key Vulnerable Points (KVPs) are backed by relevant Statutes and Gazetted Instruments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

                                                                                -leadership.ng/

BUHARI PLEDGES THOROUGH PROBE OF POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONS, KIDNAPPINGS IN NIGERIA

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday assured Nigerians that his administration would ensure that all cases of political assassinations, intimidation and kidnappings in the country are thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators speedily brought to justice, irrespective of their political affiliations.

Addressing state chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at a parley at the Presidential Villa, Buhari declared that he remained fully committed to providing a level playing field for all Nigerians to get on with their daily lives or participate in electing their leaders, without fear of intimidation.

Although it wasn’t clear if the President also intends to probe previously unresolved cases of high-profile assassinations and kidnappings in the country alongside recent incidents, he said his administration would continuously strengthen Nigeria’s criminal justice system to curb the reign of injustice and impunity in the country.

Nigeria has witnessed some high-profile political killings and assassinations in the past, most of which have remained unsolved till date. Examples include the killing of elder statesman and NADECO financier, Pa Alfred Rewane in his Ikeja, Lagos home in 1994; murder of former Governor of Oyo State and Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige on December 23, 2001 in his Ibadan, Oyo State residence; former All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) chieftain, Chief Harry Marshall killed in Abuja on March 5, 2003; and former National Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) South-south, Chief Aminasoari Dikibo killed on February 6, 2004.

In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President said, “At every point, the law must be supreme and everyone must respect the law, if our democratic system is to survive. Injustice cannot survive for long. Justice will ultimately prevail. We will make sure that those saddled with the responsibility of ensuring justice and equity do not rest on their oars. “The only way we can sustain our democracy is to ensure that the law remains supreme at all times. If the law is upheld, people will have confidence that they can vote for who they want to vote for, without intimidation or threats. People must have protection to exercise their rights freely or we could be headed for anarchy.

“The police and the judiciary must ensure that justice is done in the country. We won’t allow impunity to continue in certain states, where the rights of the people are being violated. I have a personal commitment to fair play and respect of personal rights. This government will do all that is possible to enforce that”, he said.

“My address to National Executive Council of the APC was very clear. We are now in the frontline. We are the party in government. We must lead by good example and consolidate on the gains of our democratic system”, the president added.

He urged the APC state chairmen and other political leaders in the country to keep to prescribed legal processes for the resolution of political disputes and never resort to violence, criminality and other forms of unacceptable behaviour in seeking redress for any perceived injustice.

He equally called on the state chairmen to work with the party’s elected officials to ensure that the APC delivers on its promise of better living conditions for all Nigerians.

The leader of the delegation and Chairman of APC in Kano State, Umar Doguwa, said the APC State Chairmen were on a visit to the Presidential Villa to reaffirm their support for President Buhari and his administration.

Doguwa assured the President that the state chairmen would uphold the values of the party, promote peace and unity in the country, and also ensure that APC elected members fulfill their promises to Nigerians.

Some of the APC State Chairmen in states controlled by other parties had complained to President Buhari of political intimidation and harassment.

                                                                                 -nasarawanewsonline.com

Zahra Buhari Calls President Obama, Gays ‘Child Fuckers’ Over Legalised Gay Marriage [LOOK]

General Muhammadu Buhari

Zahra, one of the daughters of Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has suffered backlash online this week, after she called President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia a ‘Fucking Child Fucker’.

President Jammeh reportedly declared that that homosexuals caught in the Gambia will have their throats slit. Ms. Buhari took to micro-blogging website, Twitter to respond to President Jammeh’s declaration. The screenshot below tells that story clearly.

Expectedly, condemnation began to flood in as Twitter users expressed shock over the comment by the daughter of a President.

Zahra is not new to controversy. During the 2015 election campaigns, she shot into limelight when Buhari’s Twitter handlers released glam photos of her online sparking debates over her beauty and sex appeal, and her ‘lavish lifestyle’ as a student in the United Kingdom.

Following the backlash, Zahra has attempted some damage control by saying she was actually calling gay people ‘child fuckers’ and ‘those who legalize homosexuality’.

Observers are bewildered as to how Zahra Buhari would consider homosexuality as being equal pedophilia. Homosexuality being same sex sexuality, while pedophilia is sexual attractions for children by adults. With Zahra’s exposure, being a student of one of the most expensive universities in the United Kingdom, it is unlikely that she would make this mistake.

Analysts have concluded that her about-face is an attempt to avoid a diplomatic row between The Gambia and Nigeria and the easiest target is gay people. West African countries are deeply homophobic societies.

However, in the process, she has inadvertently called President Obama, a ‘Child Fucker’. This poses a huge challenge for her father, President Buhari who is scheduled to meet with the US President Barack Obama this month. Reversing Nigeria’s anti-gay laws is top on the agenda of the meeting between the two presidents.

Ms. Buhari’s Twitter handle, which is linked to her personal website, www.zahrabuhari.com, follows 120 accounts and boasts a followership of over 400,000. It was actively involved in the Presidential campaigns which brought her father to office.

By Salisu Sulaimon | Sub-Editor            -

-

Be ready to sell your private jets – Oshiomhole tells jets owners

Port Harcourt – Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo on Friday advised public officers and politicians to get rid of their private jets as President Muhammadu Buhari had begun blocking financial leakages in the country’s economy

Governor Oshiomhole

Oshiomhole made this known at a public lecture titled “Labour and the Nigerian Economy: What needs to be done”, held at the University of Port Harcourt.

He said that businessmen who connived with some officials of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to defraud the nation through subsidy claims would be probed.

“Few people (in Nigeria) are taking away so much wealth, while majority of the people are going home with almost nothing.

“A clear example is when you arrive at the private wing of the airport in Abuja; you will find more than 40 to 50 private jets parked there in one airport alone.

“The question is what sources do these private jet owners get their wealth from; and which businesses do they run to acquire this luxurious lifestyle.

“You find a young man who has connection with state-owned NNPC, which is suppose to work for the interest of Nigeria, corruptly work for only the interest of few persons,” he said.

Oshiomhole said that billions of state funds had being stolen by a few individuals due to alleged chronic corruption perpetrated by some NNPC officials.
He said that the Buhari-led administration is already making moves to rid the nation of these corrupt officials and institutions.

“Very soon, those who maintain luxurious assets and private jets will begin to sell them because they will no longer be able to maintain them.

“The sources of procurement of these ill gotten wealth by these people is currently being disconnected and more will be disconnected in the few days and in the coming weeks,” he said.

Oshiomhole blamed the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) for its failure to call politicians to order in the face of the country’s current falling economy.
He said it was unfair that Senators could earn an annual salary of about N200 million when the lowest grade worker earned a paltry N18,000 monthly as minimum wage or N216,000 as annual salary.

“How NLC has kept quiet and allowed Senators allocate to themselves annual income of N200 to N300 million both as basic salaries and bogus allowances combined baffles me,” he queried.

The governor said that Nigerians should not be deceived with clamour by some politicians to cut their basic salaries by halve.

He recalled that former presidents Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan had cut their salaries and that of their ministers by 25 per cent each, which meant the officials currently earned 50 per cent less salaries.

“Now, in the face of current harsh economic realities, some politicians are saying that 50 per cent should be removed from their salaries to appease Nigerians.

“This implies that if you plus the current 50 per cent reduction demand and the already removed 50 per cent which was never restored by the previous administrations; it will amount to 100 per cent reduction.

“This is a clear case of the more you look the less you see as politicians are bent on deceiving and confusing everyone because the main money are not in salaries but in their allowances,” he said.

Oshiomhole called on President Muhammadu Buhari to revoke licences of electricity generation and distribution companies, saying the sector was “fraudulently” privatised and currently enmeshed with corruption.

According to him, the country will grow economically if policy makers come up with policies that were in-tune with the character of Nigerians. (NAN)

-naijacenter.com

We May Negotiate With Boko Haram – Presidency Reveals

The Federal Government has said that it is open to negotiations with the Boko Haram sect in order to find a lasting solution to the security crisis in the country, if the group is willing.

Mr. Femi Adesina
| credits: sunnewsonline.com

This was disclosed by the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Friday, in an interview with the BBC.

In the interview, which was monitored by our correspondent, Adesina said the Federal Government was not ruling out negotiations with the sect if it would put an end to the activities of the group. He lamented that the insurgents had attacked so many villages and killed scores of people.

“These were very vicious attacks. People were killed in scores and it’s so sad,” he said.

The President had during his inauguration speech said he had launched a strategy to deal with the sect by relocating the military headquarters to Maiduguri, Borno State.

When asked whether this would work, Adesina replied, “This is going to work. There are machineries being put in place. It’s going to work. The recent killings by the sect were meant to break our resolve, to weaken it, but that will stop. It remains a priority to him (Buhari) to deal with the group.

“You will notice that his first two weeks of administration were dedicated to tackling the insurgency. He visited Chad and Niger Republics and the following week, the Presidents of those countries also visited him in Abuja.

“The President of Benin Republic and the Defence Minister of Cameroon visited him; machinery is being put in place and once we’re through, we will see the end of the group. The target time for the deployment of the multinational force is July ending; that is in a couple of weeks.”

When the BBC also asked if the Federal Government was considering negotiations with the insurgent group, Adesina replied in the affirmative.

He said, “If they are willing, why not? You know attempts have been made for negotiations in the past and they didn’t work. Every reasonable person would want to see the end to this insurgency. So if they are willing, why not? You can’t rule that out.”

-Punch Newspaper