A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abass who has sponsored the highest number of bills in the current Assembly is set to run for the Speaker of the 10th Assembly
Hon Abass who represents Zaria Federal constituency of Kaduna state is the chairman of the House committee on land transport.
In the 8th Assembly (2015-2019)), Abass came third with 43 bills and 13 motions.
Also, with 20 of his bills assented to so far, Abass is the lawmaker with the highest number of bills, which have been assented to by the president.
The lawmaker who has been reelected for the third time holds a Diploma in accounting, B.Sc. in Business Administration an MBA, all from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and a Ph.D. in Business Management from the Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto.
Hon Yusuf Gagdi, the member representing Pankshin/Kanam/Kanke Federal Constituency of Plateau State in the House of Representatives and speakership aspirant for the 10th Assembly says, it is the time for the youths.
The chairman, House committee on Navy said this while briefing journalists after interaction with Alex Otti, the Abia state governor-elect and House of Representatives members-elect on the platform of Labour Party (LP) as well other stakeholders in Enugu state.
He said that the youths from 25 to 45 that have contributed immensely to the democratisation process are also qualified to take charge of one of the institutions of government.
“Because we have a President that is above 60, a Vice President that is above 60, a Senate President possibly that will be above 60, so you want Speaker again that will be above 60. When the right time comes I will advance all of those debates,” he said.
The Speakership contender said that he has begun his consultations with relevant stakeholders.
“Yesterday I commenced my public engagements which I have visited Lagos to meet with Governor-elect Abia state and members of Labour Party. Abia has seven members from the Labour Party in the House of Representatives. From there I flew to Enugu to engage and have interaction with state party chairman of Labour Party as well as the governorship candidate of Labour Party in Enugu state.”
“Those are important for me because someone will wonder why this aspirant for speakership going to visit a governorship candidate that was just declared a governor. Engaging a governor who has majority in the House of Representatives is important.
“Yesterday was the first public engagement I had but silently I have visited 24 governors across the country. I am looking at the 25th of this month to 30th to flag off my campaign.
“I intend to stop initiation of proliferation of projects. Project will commence with tax payers money and it won’t be completed, another similar project will be initiated due to political intention. That is what is wasting taxpayers money.
“I have intentions to correct these, in the area of justice I feel I’m from the north-central and the region deserves to be speaker if you are zoning it to northern Nigeria.
”It’s only north central that has not produced speaker in the past years,”Gagdi explained.
The lawmaker also promised to be a speaker for all Nigerians irrespective of religious, ethnic and political differences; promote good legislation, justice and progress of the country.
“I want to be speaker for the Nigerian people. I don’t want to be regional speaker. God willing I will be speaker for the Nigerian people irrespective of tribe, religion. I will be speaker that my primary responsibility is to add value to the people of this county,”he said.
He promised to correct some anomalies in the country’s budget.
Hon Gagdi said that he intends to stop re-initiation of projects not completed in a budget cycle in another appropriation document due to political intention, thereby wasting taxpayers’ money.
He noted that for fairness and equity, the position of the speaker in the 10th Assembly be zoned to the north-central even as he promised to adhere to the decision of his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC).
The former deputy speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly who announced that he will be flagging off his campaign between April 25 and 30, said he has visited 24 governors across the country about his ambition.
The aspirant said he was imminently qualified to be speaker going by his legislative prowess, having sponsored 12 bills in the last three years with six them given presidential assent. He insisted that youths should also be given a chance to head the House.
“On motivation, a lot of things motivated me, this is my second time in House of Representatives, even in first time I was able to sponsor 12 bills among them Mr President assented to six. Check and see if you can find any member that has funded 12 bills out of which 6 have been assented to.
“I think I have broken a record in the National Assembly. I’m proud to say that if we have a Guinness book of records in the National Assembly I will enter that book. I have moved 18 sensitive motions on the floor of the House.
“I chair Navy committee and I have visited all commands and formations of navy to discharge my oversight functions. So legislative trinity I have done it in the best of my ability so it’s one of my motivations.
He added that his public declaration will come up very soon .
The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of three out of the four people nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari as board members of the Universal Service Provision.
Those confirmed are; Mr Ahmed Walama, Mrs Fatima Kyari and Engineer Gbenga Adebayo.
However, the senate stood down the nomination of Engineer Funke Opeke, because of her failure to appear before the senate committee for screening.
In a related development, President Buhari has requested the Nigerian senate to confirm his appointment of Mr Abdu Abubakar as non-executive director of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The President’s letter which was read on Wednesday on the floor of the Senate, was later referred to the committee on banking, insurance & other financial institutions for more input before reporting to the Senate in plenary within your weeks.
Also the Senate read for the second time, a bill seeking to establish the FCT Sports Commission, while another bill seeking to establish the power & petroleum safety institute Oraifite in Anambra State South East Nigeria also scaled second reading.
Meanwhile, the bill seeking to repeal the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act also scaled second reading.
The bill is seeking to grant the commission the enforcement powers to monitor how revenue accruing to the federation is disbursed among the three tiers of government.
Meanwhile, the Senate has expressed confidence that the various reports of its public accounts committee will go down in history as part of the Legacies of the 9th National Assembly.
The President of the Nigerian Senate Ahmad Lawan made this known on Wednesday after the senate considered and adopted the report of its public accounts committee, on the audited report of the federation for the 2016 fiscal year.
Senator Lawan believes that fighting corruption should go beyond the anti-graft agencies of government, to the Legislative inputs of the Parliamentarians.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, expressed optimism that the 2016 audited report of the federation adopted by the Senate, will help to check acts of corruption in the civil service.
According to the report, thirty-seven (37) Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government were indicted for various offences.
Senate also received President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for the refund of over nine billion naira to two states for federal road projects executed on behalf of the federal government in Plateau and Borno states.
Plateau State is to receive a refund of over six billion naira, while Borno State is to be reimbursed the sum of over three billion naira by the Federal government.
Thereafter, the Senate passed five other bills and then adjourned plenary for two weeks to observe the Easter and Sallah holidays.
The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) has congratulated athlete Adenike Adjat Olarinoye, for her recent International appointment to the Athlete’s Commission on the Board of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA).
Olarinoye won Nigeria’s first Gold medal in the Women’s 55kg weightlifting event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
”There’s no doubt that your appointment is a pride to you but the NOC as well and improve your personal growth generally in sports,”said NOC Secretary-General, Tunde Poopola in a congratulatory message.
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC is set to launch Export 774 programme which is targeted at identifying products in all the 774 Local Governments Areas in the country and their potentials for export.
The Director General of NEPC Dr Ezra Yakusak said this during the Annual Conference of the Abuja Commerce and Industry Correspondent Association of Nigeria with the theme; “The Role of Non-oil Sector Towards Economic Diversification, GDP Growth”. Abuja Nigeria’s capital.
While speaking on the sub-theme ‘Export For Survival: Exploring Nigeria’s New Gateway to Generating FDIs, Economic Growth’ prof. Yakusak urged manufacturers to export value added products instead of raw materials in order to create employment and attract foreign direct investment.
“One of the key thrust of the Export4Survival campaign is value addition of our product, though we persuade people to export every product but we actually subtly discouragethe export of raw commodities.” He said
“We produce 770 metric tones of cashew, cocoa and sesame seeds 12 percent of it is consumed locally 758metric tones are exported annually unfortunately only 16.8 percent is processed the rest are exported raw, what that means is that we are just exporting jobs because if you are going to add value on any product, you must employ people, you must get some kind of machinery you can never add value or your own”.
He also called on manufacturers to improve on their levels of packaging while considering tha standard and preference of the of the destination country.
“Our products are good, well processed, but our packaging is so poor and packaging is very key to export, right now we’re trying to bring up rule that for you to export we must see your level of packaging and okay it.” Prof. Yakusak said.
“Products have been rejected because of the poor packaging not because the product are not good but because the packaging is terrible. In packaging, you must also be sensitive to the importing environment.”
The NEPC boss disclosed that the council which currently has at least six trade houses in different countries will within this month, launch a trade house in China.
The Chairman of the Abuja Commerce and Industry Correspondent Association of Nigeria, Mr Ifeanyi Onub said the association is optimistic about the nation’s economy because recent developments have shown the federal government’s drive for economic diversification from the oil to the non-oil sectors, given the volatile nature of crude oil prices is yielding the desired results.
Mr Onuba said, “Last month, the National Bureau of Statistics released the Gross Domestic Products report for the fourth quarter of 2022, showing a 3.52 per cent growth year-on-year in Q4 2022, as against the third quarter growth rate of 2.25 per cent.”
“The growth rate was primarily driven by the non-oil sector, reflecting gains associated with the sturdy telecommunications sub-sector’s performance, seasonality effect in agriculture, although limited by flooding incidents, manufacturing sector’s return to growth, and improved credit to the private sector,” he added.
The Federal Executive Council has approved a bill to replace the outdated mining law in Nigeria.
The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite disclosed this to State House Correspondents at the end of this week’s meeting of the council chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Council approved a new bill to go to the National Assembly to replace the old law guiding mining in Nigeria. The law we are operating on now is 2007 Nigeria Mineral and Mining Law and 2007 to date is 16 years. It has become obsolete.
“A lot of new things have come up in mining. There’s a renewed focus and everyone is coming there and as expressed today, it’s a new frontier for economic growth in Nigeria. So we need to update the law in line with modern realities and the laws with some amendments.
“The Attorney General will be sending the bill, which is the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2023 to the National Assembly, which we intend to follow up.
“The members of the National Assembly are fully with us on this and are part of the process. They promised us a speedy process, so that this bill can pass and Mr. President can assent to it before we leave office in May,” he assured Nigerians.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, while speaking on the two approvals for the Ministry of Labour and Employment said: “One is pertaining to the woodworking ecosystem. Government has revised regulations pertaining to woodworking machinery and the entire ecosystem which dated back to 1959.
“New regulations have been put in place as empowered by the law. And by this approval, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice will domicile and gazette these changes that have been approved,” he added.
Nigeria’s Cabinet has approved a contract worth N3.3 billion for the development infrastructure at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Academy.
Presidential Spokesperson, Garba Shehu, disclosed this to State House Correspondents at the end of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.
He said that the sum of N1 billion was equally approved for the contract for the procurement of 19 vehicles for the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
Shehu said the council approved N65 million as variation in the cost for the supply of airport fire crash tenders in the Ministry of Aviation.
He added that the council approved a policy on HIV/AIDS to protect people living with the disease against workplace discrimination and new regulations on the woodworking ecosystem.
“Basically, this is to guarantee personal human rights over people with HIV in work places so that they are not discriminated against and they are given equal rights.
“So, that is what it is about. They are not discriminated against and they are given all that is due to them. And they are respected, especially with regards to their personal and human rights,” Shehu explained.
Benue State Governor-elect, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, says when he assumes office on May 29, 2023, he will work hard to revive the State’s civil service.
The Governor-Elect, who was on a courtesy visit to President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, described the current state of affairs with the civil service in his state as that of one in critical condition and admitted to a hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The clergy-turned-politician said he has been elected to lead the state in order to infuse life into it and keep it moving.
Explaining why the State is in the dire state he described, the Governor-elect said “the State owes a backlog of salaries, pensions and gratuities and I hope to remain focused and tackle the myriad of issues on my desk when I take over office on May 29, 2023.”
PRESIDENT BUHARI RECEIVES BENUE GOV-ELECT, REV FR HYACINTH ALIA 4B. President Muhammadu Buhari, Minister of Special Duties, Sen George Akume and the Benue State Governor-Elect, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia during an audience at the State House.
Rev. Fr Alia, who was accompanied on the visit to President Buhari by a former Governor of Benue State, George Akume, who is the Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, also lamented the ethnic division that reared its head between the people of the State and Fulani herders, which he said was strange to Benue State.
Speaking about how he intends to revive the state from what he described as a state of near collapse, Alia said “Once I’m sworn in, I know that what the good people of Benue want is progress and development and there’s so much that we need to put on track for things to work. Benue state is an agrarian zone and so we must focus on agriculture and upgrade it.
“Benue is very capable of feeding the whole nation, so we are not just the food basket of the nation by name and I am hoping that we will up our game in agriculture and take care of the rest as well.
“It is sad that the life of civil service in the state is near collapse, it’s in the ICU, so I just need to get in there and infuse life in it and keep it moving. We have a lot of backlog of unpaid salaries, pensions and gratuities. So, already I got much on the desk to keep a good focus on and I remain hopeful that I am going to do just that.”
Credible Election
He commended President Buhari for making a firm decision for the elections to take place, noting that although people were expecting a perfect election, it may not have been perfect, but a number of areas in the country recorded a near perfection in the outcome of the results.
“For someone to feel that we have never made the stride in the right directions I think that would be a flaw of logic. So, we have done so much and I remain quite grateful. My visit is a solidarity visit and the President leaves office in a matter of months, I came to wish him well. He has done so much for the nation. Remember, I am a Catholic priest and I prayed for all of us too and shared the blessings with him too,” he said.
Asked what he was going to do to address the animosity that pervades the state over the anti-grazing law and pacify, Alia said “one thing must remain clear, when you say that the atmosphere was quite tensed, let it be on record that the Benue people are very hospital people.
“We are very friendly people and over the ages, we’ve lived in all cultures and different people. And so if some mishap had happened in the last eight years, thank God the eight years has expired.
“I want everyone to feel that Benue is a home for everyone. Remember, before I am stepping in there as a governor, our history reveals that we have all cultures in Benue and so it is, we have all cultures in Nigeria in Benue. So I believe my time will not be any different.
“If there were some errors, I would correct them. But I know for sure we are hospitable, we are friendly and the Benue State Assembly is also a knowledgeable Assembly. So the 10th Assembly is going to work for the people and do the work of the people. If by chance anybody perceived us to be a hostel state, please we are a renewed hope of Benue, a hospitable, friendly, law and order people. So, we are all welcome to Benue as we move in there.”
Possible Probe
Asked if he would be probing his predecessor against the backdrop of his letter to the Benue Investment Property Company, warning them of financial transactions with the incumbent governor, Alia said, “I haven’t looked at the books, so I wouldn’t want to be quite preemptive.”
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved two contracts worth N15.3 billion for the supply and installation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) components as well as digital assistance devices for the 2023 population census.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, made the disclosure while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, “Among those memos that were presented today was the award of the contract for the supply and installation of information and communication technology (ICT) components for the 2023 population census. This is for the National Population Commission (NPC). It is meant for the census. The ICT component contract was awarded for about N10.9 billion.
“Another contract that was approved for the National Population Commission was the contract for the development and implementation of mobile device management solutions for the personal digital assistant devices to be used for the 2023 population census. This is in the sum of about N4.4 billion.”
He assured Nigerians that the census would hold as scheduled, adding that every Nigerian would be counted.
The outgoing British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, on Wednesday, paid a farewell visit to President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja, after a four-and-a-half years tour of duty.
Laing who expressed love for the country, said that she was fascinated by Nigeria’s music, dance and culture
“I’m sad to be leaving,” said the High Commissioner. “Nigeria is so much fun, I had a fabulous time here, and I’ll be back. I love dance, music and culture. It’s been good to experience Nigeria. I’ve been to over 20 States, and I’ve told my successor to also do the same. I’ll be back, and still travel wider.”
She congratulated President Buhari for a very successful 8 years in office, saying he had done very well to hold the country together.
The President said the United Kingdom was a second home for many Nigerians, and relations between the two countries would continue to wax strong.
“In fact, some wealthy Nigerians don’t feel complete till they’ve had a home in the UK,” he added.
President Buhari said he looked forward to retirement in Daura, Katsina State, after handing over on May 29, reiterating: “I’ll be as far away from Abuja as possible.”
He lauded the UK for cooperation on many fronts, particularly in the rebuilding of the North East, hitherto ravaged by insurgency.
