A new bill advanced by the House of Representatives seeks to ensure a greater participation of Nigerians in the telecommunications sector and will mandate companies to reserve at least 30% of total shares to Nigerians. (more…)
Speaker Bankole
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has disclosed that over 100,000 cases of cancer occur in Nigeria annually, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole has revealed.
Bankole said as a result of the frightening figure, the House of Representatives has come up with a Bill on the National Cancer Institute to serve as control mechanism. (more…)
Last Tuesday, Senators and stakeholders in the security industry converged in Senate Hearing Room 1 to jaw-jaw on a just punishment for whoever is found guilty of engaging in terrorist acts in Nigeria.
Some of the stakeholders gathered at the one-day public hearing organised by the Senate Joint Committee on Tourism canvassed a longer jail term while others recommended the death penalty.
This new recommendation is, however, contrary to the five years imprisonment recommended in the Anti-Terrorism Act which seeks to provide measures to combat terrorism which is presently being considered by the National Assembly.
Sponsor of the Bill, Vice Chairman of the Information and Media Committee, Anthony Manzo noted that there are over 101 definitions of terrorism but that the National Intelligence and Security Committee resolved to adopt the UN definition considering the sensitivity of Nigeria.
“We want to be on the same page with all the countries of the world. The bill has no religious connotation. Now that we are heading the UN Security Council for a month, Nigeria must use the month to boost its image.”
He added that the Bill seeks to empower all the security agencies to carry out search on any premises in case of urgency, without search warrant as provided for in Section 23(1).
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The Senate has invited Concessionaires, airlines and aviation stakeholders to appear before its Committee on Aviation to explain the N16 billion debts owed the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) by concessionaires, which has crippled the operations of the agency making it unable to carry out mandatory maintenance of the airports. The Senate also plans to identify and list these debtors, adding that it has already mobilized to recover the debts for FAAN and the other agencies. “We are going to summon stakeholders in FAAN, NCAA, NAMA and most importantly big debtors. I learnt that the big ones are fidgeting and we are expecting a list of debtors from FAAN. What is obvious is that there are many chronic debtors owing FAAN and I hear they have many contacts across the country that once you touch them the ground will start quaking, I think we will not allow the earthquake before we do what we are supposed to do,” Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Anyim Udeh, said yesterday. The occasion was the inspection by members of the Committee to the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos over the power outage that lasted for four hours and paralysed activities at the terminal on May 9, 2010. The committee promised that it would secure the names of the debtors from FAAN.
“We are waiting to get this information and we will do the much we can for FAAN to recover the money,.” Udeh said. “For instance, if the issue at stake is that facilities at the airport (MMIA) has lasted for 30 or 32 years; that the infrastructure have decayed the cables are old, we want to find out if there is any management programme for maintenance, if not why not? We also want to find out why FAAN is screaming that there is no money, no fund to do certain things while those they call management concessionaires owe them over N16billion.” He disclose the Federal Government has put plans in motion to provide FAAN N5.8 billion which it would use to urgently revamp infrastructure at the major airports, noting that if the agency was able to recover its debts, there would be no need for it to go cap in hand requesting for money from government. “N16 billion is a good sum of money and FAAN can’t be telling us that they need all the money to do their job; if they collect such kind of money—and yet government has put machinery in motion to provide N5.8 billion to rectify these things, if they collect that amount they would not go to government and that is all the issues involved and now we have all mobilized to help FAAN recover that money.” Udeh noted that there is no need to talk about airport rejuvenation without talking about injection of private investment, adding that the airports have to be privatized before they could be expanded and modernized as government cannot provide the funds needed to improve the airports to meet modern international standards. He said the power outage at the airport on May 9 caused great embarrassment to Nigeria with attendant safety implications. For us in the legislature, as soon as I read it I took a motion to the floor of the Senate and they mandated my committee to go and investigate it.” He said the Committee quickly sent consultants—technical and financial— to assess the situation. |
The leadership crisis in the Nigeria Communications Commission has attracted the attention of the House Committee on Communications, with its chairman, Dave Salako saying is not healthy for the commission.
The commission has been enmeshed in a succession crisis since the exit of its pioneer Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ernest Ndukwe a few months ago.
Stephen Bello was initially appointed as the acting Executive Vice Chairman, however, another top officer of the commission Bashir Gwandu has also been named as acting in the same capacity.
Mr Salako said that the intervention of the committee was geared towards ending the confusion over who was in charge of the regulatory agency of the telecommunications industry in Nigeria.
According to him, the letters, which are in form of petitions to Mr Jonathan and Mrs Akunyili became necessary after the two persons claiming to be the occupants of the same position attended a meeting convened recently by the committee at the National Asse mbly complex.
In the meantime, the committee, in conjunction with the NCC and telecom operators, has resolved to ban lottery promos involving operators and mobile phone subscribers till further notice.
Consequently, all the mobile phone operators in the country are prohibited from embarking on any business not covered by the licence issued to them by the Nigeria Communications Commission.
The decision was taken after the meeting the committee had with other stakeholders in the communication industry over the weekend. Operators represented at the meeting are Globacom, MTN, Etisalat, Zain and Visafone.
The meeting also resolved to ban all the mobile phone operators from transmitting spam short message service (SMS) at odd hours to subscribers on their network, especially when such messages deal with false promises of winnings non-existent lottery games.
The meeting also agreed that messages should not be made in a manner to defraud Nigerians while the NCC should be prepared to sit up in the execution of its duties by sanctioning erring operators
The uproar generated by the recent physical combat in the Federal House of Representatives is yet to subsude as the Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has called on the embattled Speaker of the House of Assembly, Dimeji Bankole to restore honour to the House by resigning his position. (more…)
Unfolding his plans for the country if his nomination is ratified, Jega said his mission at INEC is to give competent and effective leadership that will bring about a free and fair election.
The university don said his mission is not to make illicit money but to go to INEC and make a difference.
“I want to be remembered as a person who led the INEC that conducted the freest and fairest election in the country,” he said.
Jega, the Vice-Chancellor of Ado Bayero University, Kano, pledged to put in place proper policy framework to guarantee an election whose results would be generally acceptable to Nigerians.
As a prelude to this, he said his priority areas on assumption of office will be: prompt review of the voters register; internal reorganization of INEC and a comprehensive voters’ education.
“The credibility of the 2011 election will be predicated on the credibility of the voters’ register”, he said, stressing that his main challenge is to ensure that the voters’ register is done well and is acceptable to the majority of the people for it to serve as a good framework for a credible election.
He admitted that corruption is a very serious issue at the commission, pledging, however, that he would run a corrupt-free body as a prelude to conducting a credible, free and fair election next year.
Jega was nominated by President Goodluck Jonathan and endorsed by the National Council of States two weeks ago for the job. His nomination has elicited commendation across the country with few Nigerians calling for caution, saying the fact of Jega’s appointment alone cannot guarantee free and fair election.
Jega also pledged to effect “a fundamental reorganization of INEC within the law to put the right people in the right places to ensure competence and efficiency,” adding that ad-hoc staff that constitute more than 60 per cent of the commission’s staff strength at election periods would be carefully selected, well trained and well motivated to insulate them from corruptive tendencies.
On voters’ education, he explained that one of the key functions of INEC is to seek to change voters’ attitude to elections in the country, saying “we will try to change mindsets and tackle the attitudinal issues that affect the conduct of elections, because no matter the laws in place if attitudes don’t change laws will have little impact”.
When asked about the challenges of violence during elections, the Professor of Political Science pledged to tackle it through creative dialogue with community leaders and all persons, including security agencies involved in keeping the peace.
To a question on how he intends to shun any undue pressure from the President who appointed him and his party for any electoral favour, Jega said he did not expect the President or his party to put him under pressure for any favour.
In any case, he said, the constitution has clearly spelt out his functions and duties which are quite different from that of the presidency
Pointing out that he is satisfied with assurances from the President on his commitment to free and fair election, he said, however, that his relationship with the President “is already defined by the law and we will let it be like that.”
He said: “We will be very neutral, impartial and we will create a level-playing field for every political party and contestant.
“Our relationship with every participant will be defined by the law and we will use the law to deal with any problem associated with the issue of godfatherism.”
Saying he would not underestimate the expectations of Nigerians from him based on his antecedents, Jega expressed confidence that he would do his best not to disappoint his admirers.
On his relationship with the former INEC boss, Prof. Maurice Iwu, and the allegation that he was a consultant to the commission during Iwu’s tenure, Jega said during his ASUU days, he worked with Iwu for about six months, adding that though he would not deny his friends, “it cannot be said that he influenced me or that I influenced him”.
He denied that he was ever a consultant to INEC, saying, however, that as an academic, he used to be invited from time to time to present papers at INEC seminars as a resource person.
“Most of the papers I presented were mostly approved by Bayero University, Kano Consultancy Services. I have never offered advice to Iwu outside the occasional papers I presented at the seminars,” he said, explaining that, “Iwu never came to me privately to seek advice on the operations of INEC”.
On the controversy surrounding his appointment by the President instead of by the National Judicial Council (NJC), as recommended by the Uwais Committee on Electoral Reforms of which he was a member, Jega said although he stood by all the recommendations of that panel, he was satisfied with the process followed in his appointment “under the existing law”.
He pointed out that the belief of members of the Uwais panel was that the recommendations would go a long way in sanitizing the nation’s electoral process but added that “our role is to recommend and we have no illusion as to whether all the recommendations would be accepted”.
He said he was aware that the INEC job would not be an easy task, stressing, “it’s going to be a very challenging and demanding task, but I promise to give it all my best”.
He urged the senators to give a thought to the establishment of the Political Parties Regulatory Commission as a way of taking some burdens off the shoulders of INEC and allow it concentrate on core election matters.
One of the highlights of the screening was the advice given Jega by Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora from Lagos State that he should “do more and say little” in apparent allusion to the loquacious tendencies of some former INEC chairmen.
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The Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Moshe Ram, yesterday said Nigeria has potentials to be a great nation if it could harness its abundant natural and human resources to achieve greatness. |
Nigeria’s National Assembly was turned into a wrestling cum boxing arena as a group of 11 lawmakers who had accused the Speaker of corruption were suspended from the Parliarment
Punches were thrown and at least one person was injured after the west African country’s parliament voted to suspend the 11 lawmakers.
The group had started blowing whistles as the House of Representatives read the motion.
They were being told their allegations had “embarrassed” the House when they began to fight.
Three male representatives were turfed out of the chamber, their clothes torn in the brawl.
A woman was also ejected.
Hon. Dimeji Bankole
MEMBERS of the House of Representatives opposed to the leadership of the Speaker, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, have asked him to account for about N9billion he allegedly spent in 2008 on cars and miscellaneous items, from contract and procurement documents they handed over to newsmen.
The group regretted that the immediate Speaker before Bankole, Mrs. Patricia Etteh, was removed by the House for a ‘crime’ she did not commit. (more…)
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