PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2014
PAGE 6
News
Anger in Senate over N700m daily kero subsidy By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
T
emper flared yesterday in the Senate over the N700 million which the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporations (NNPC) claims to spend daily in subsidising Kerosene, even though the money is not budgeted and approved by the National Assembly. Debating a motion titled “Urgent Need to stop N700 million - A Day Illegal Kerosene Subsidy”, which was sponsored by Babajide Omowurare (APC, Osun East), the senators unanimously agreed that the payments of subsidy on Kerosene is illegal because it was not appropriated by the parliament. In addition, some of the senators lamented that the controversial subsidy on Kerosene was not serving the interest of the poor masses of Nigeria as NNPC
...Senators want Kero subsidy suspended claims, even as they called for the abolishing of subsidy scheme since it does not serve the interest of Nigeria. However, though the prayer of the motion was to stop the daily payment from the federation account, the sum of N700 million as Kerosene subsidy, the Senatefailedtogranttheprayer,instead, it directed its committee on Finance to continue with its investigations over the kerosene subsidy. Speaking during debate on the motion, the sponsor, Babajide Omowurare said it has been established
that the kerosene subsidy scheme runs outside the national budget. He said it will have dangerous impacts on the fiscal stability of the Nigerian economic wellbeing and the future of Nigeria as a sovereign democratic entity. Speakingduringthedebate,Ahmed Makarfi, who is the chairman of the Senate on Finance, which is probing the issue, recalled that there was a conflicting resolution in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. He said while the resolution in the
House of Representatives directed NPC to pay subsidy on Kerosene, another resolution in the Senate directed the corporation to stop payment of subsidy on kerosene. He however said, given that section 80(2,3) of the Constitution of Nigeria makes it clear that only what is appropriated by the National Assembly could be spent, the best option before NNPC is to spend only what is approved by the parliament, pending when the committee would conclude its probe on the issue.
War against terror: Police deploy sniffer dogs at airports By Joy Baba
Zome, exNIPOST PMG dies at 64 From Ahmed Idris, Birnin Kebbi
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he Former Post Master General of the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) and current President of the Zuru Emirate Development Society ZEDS, Mr.Nathaniel Zome is dead. The Emir of Zuru, Major General Muhammadu Sani Sami who confirmed the death yesterday in Zuru said Zome died at the age of 64 after a brief illness. “He had slumped in my presence penultimate Tuesday 11th February, 2014 while briefing council on the proposed National Conference and was rushed to UDUTH where he died ,” Sami said. In his condolence message, former Army Commander, retired Major General Mohammadu DanHanne Isah described Zome as “a well respected elder statesman. He was a great man and a well committed person who always championed the cause of peace and development beyond his capacity as President of ZEDS.
Jonathan appoints new executive secretary for PPPRA
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he Inspector-General of Police, IGP Mohammed D Abubakar, has ordered the immediate deployment of sniffer dogs to the nation’s Airports. A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Frank Mbah in Abuja said the sniffer-dogs will, among other things, be used for detecting explosives, rescue operations, perimeter patrols, patrols of parking lots and the apprehension of offenders resisting or attempting to evade arrest. The statement further said the IGP charged the dog handlers to respect the fundamental rights of the citizens and also work in collaboration with other security agencies towards providing effective security at the Airports. “The first phase of the deployment of the sniffer-dogs has commenced with the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Murtala Mohammed International Airport I and II, Lagos and Port-Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa. “Others are Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, Jos Airport as well as Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu” the statement added.
BRIEFS
By Mashe Umaru Gwamna
L-R: All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Aspirant, Mr Sam Nda-Isaiah, being welcomed by Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, during his visit to the ISLAMIC cleric, yesterday in Kaduna. Phoo: NAN
Tiv/Fulani clashes: Suswam begs Abuja to intervene By Lawrence Olaoye
B
enue state governor, Gabriel Suswam, yesterday raised alarm over the incessant clashes between Fulani herdsmen and the farmers in the state. Suswam who paid a courtesy visit on the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), Dr. Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu, urged the party’s boss to prevail on President Goodluck Jonathan, to intervene in the matter before it gets absolutely out of hand. The governor said several investigations carried out into the skirmishes between the Fulani herdsmen and the Benue people have failed to discover the real
reason for the constant violence between the two groups in the state. The National chairman in his reaction said he was confident of Suswam’s ability to steer the party to winning streaks in 2015 even as he maintained that his good works would speak for the party in the state.
P
resident Goodluck Jonathan has approved the appointment of Mr. Farouk A. Ahmed as Executive Secretary of the Petrol e u m P r o d u c t s Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA). A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati said Mr. Ahmed will take over from the incumbent Executive Secretary, Mr.Reginald C. Stanley who is retiring after 35 years in service. It added that the incoming Executive Secretary, who hails from Sokoto State, is the current Managing Director of Nidas Marine Ltd., a subsidiary of the NNPC.
IGR: Reps avert clashes between OAGF, CAC By Umar Muhammad Puma
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he House of Representatives yesterday averted a dispute over the fine points of a directive compelling agencies of the federal government responsible for remitting revenue accruals to the federation account to pay 25% of their Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) to the federal government. The agencies at the session were: the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF),
Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). The CAC, whose IGR for 2013 was N9.7 b, particularly raised concern that N100 million was arbitrarily withdrawn from its account by the OAGF, which claimed it was 25% cost reduction fund based on a directive to it by the finance minister, Dr Ngozi OkonjoIweala.
Chairman of the finance committee, Abdulmumini Jibrin (APC, Kano) mediated in the dispute by suggesting that both the OAGF and the CAC should meet privately with the committee to thrash out the grey areas of the matter. Before Jibrin’s intervention, the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF), Samuel Tyonongo Ukura, explained that his office had a target for agencies remitting funds to it based on an official circular, adding that some of the
agencies were not complying with the directive, “so the minister of finance asked us to go and analyse agencies that have not met their targets.” In the course of carrying out this assignment, the OAGF checked the CAC account and debited the sum of N100 million accordingly. “But they later complained and their complaint was found to be genuine. So, we are in the process of refunding the money,” Ukura stated. On his part, the chairman of
FIRS, Alhaji Kabiru Mashi told the committee that at a point it paid its operating surplus into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), but this was queried at a certain federation account meeting. FIRS said that it remitted a total of N84miliion between 2011 and 2013 into the Federation Account. It also paid N4.1 billion as Operating Surplus within the same period. The CAC, RMRDC and the NCS generated over N25 billion, N42million and N68.5 million respectively.