Members
of the Bukola Saraki-led Senate have threatened to suspend the
confirmation of the nomination of Aisha Ahmad as a deputy governor of
the CBN as it renews war with the Executive over EFCC acting chairman,
Magu.
File photo
The lingering dispute between the Senate and the Executive arm over
the retention of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as the acting chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), made a rude re-entry
into the front burner of public discourse wednesday as the Red Chamber
threatened to filibuster the confirmation of the nomination of Ms. Aisha
Ahmad as a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
President Muhammadu Buhari had forwarded Ahmad’s nomination to the
Senate for confirmation as a replacement for Mrs. Sarah Alade whose
tenure expired in February.
But the Senate said yesterday that it would not consider the
nomination in line with its July 4, 2017 resolution to suspend all
executive confirmation requests until Magu is removed.
Besides, it said, the hostility would persist until the Senate’s
power of confirmation of nominees to the boards of commissions
established by enabling laws but not listed in the 1999 Constitution as
amended, is clarified.
The Senate made the resolution, following a pronouncement by Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo that the Executive did not require the
confirmation of the Senate for the appointment of Chairman of the EFCC,
explaining that the request should not have been transmitted in the
first instance.
Magu’s nomination was rejected twice by the Senate on the basis of a
report of the Department of State Services (DSS), which indicted him
for criminal and unprofessional conduct.
Despite his rejection, Magu remained in office, a development,
which has remained the source of the tension between the Senate and the
Executive arm of government.
Ahmad’s appointment would be the fifth casualty of the Senate’s
filibuster policy, the confirmation of the nomination of Mr. Lanre
Gbajabiamila (Director General of the National Lottery Regulatory
Commission), Mr. Funso Doherty (Director-General, Pension Commission),
Mr. Muhammad Isah (Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau), and Prof. Bolaji
Owasanoye (Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission) having
been suspended earlier.
The Senate also suspended the confirmation of members of the boards
of the agencies and forbade them from operating in an acting capacity
as directed by the Executive.
The Chairman of Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs,
Senator Sabi Aliyu Abdullahi, in a telephone interview with THISDAY on
Wednesday, confirmed that Ahmad’s nomination remained pending alongside
the request for the confirmation of the four nominees for the Monetary
Policy Committee.
He also confirmed that the impasse between the Executive and the Senate over Magu remained unresolved.
“Of course, the subject matter of that resolution has not been
addressed. Until there is that engagement to know what to do, I am
afraid that is still the position of the Senate. There was no time that
resolution was reconsidered and there are quite a number of confirmation
requests still pending before the Senate,” Abdullahi said.
He pointed out that the same executive arm of government had
corrected itself when it sent nominations that were not in line with the
law, or when the Senate rejected some of its nominees, as was the case
of some non-career ambassadorial nominees.
He said: “The wisdom is very simple, if we have the power to
confirm and for which you have invoked the relevant passages to forward
these nominations to us when we confirm and you accept, then if we don’t
confirm, there is no other way to say no.
“Recall that when the NDDC (Niger Delta Development Commission )
confirmation requests came, there were observations that the
nominations did not fall in line with the law, we rejected it, sent it
back and the executive corrected it.
“It is my personal wish that those who have the responsibility
to Nigerians on this subject matter would look at it. That has been the
situation and it has worked smoothly, I don’t know why some people think
otherwise. In any case, the position to this is very clear, that is the
position.”
Buhari, in a recent letter to the Senate, had sought the
expeditious confirmation of Ahmad as well as Adeola Adenikinju, Aliyu
Sanusi, Robert Asogwa and Asheikh Maidugu, who are expected to replace
four members of the MPC whose tenures expire at the end of this year.
Meanwhile, some lawmakers yesterday called for the scrapping of
agencies of government that had become irrelevant in contemporary
Nigeria, and those whose mandates conflicted with other agencies.
The lawmakers said this was necessary to reduce unnecessary and
avoidable expenditure, particularly as many of the agencies cost more to
maintain than they generate.
The recommendation came as the lawmakers discussed the interim
report of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Alleged Misuse, Under
Remittance and other fraudulent activities in Collection, Remittance and
Expenditure of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by revenue generating
agencies.
The report accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC) of running a deficit of N3.1 trillion between 2012 and 2016
despite generating N15.5 trillion in the same period.
It also accused 93 agencies of short-changing the government to the tune of N1.7 trillion from the N21 trillion they generated.
The lawmakers argued that the agencies had explored loopholes in
the Fiscal Responsibility Act, to short-change the government, whereas
the Constitution requires that all revenue accruing to government be
paid into the Federation Account.
Presiding, Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, ruled that the
committee was granted an additional six weeks to work out the accounting
and legal technicalities of the final report.
He said: “It is clear that the Fiscal Responsibility Act has
loopholes, which people are taking advantage of. What has the Fiscal
Responsibility Commission been doing all these years? How do we address
it when a law is in conflict with the constitution?”
He emphasised the need to clean up the process and stop situations
where agencies expended about N13 trillion or more, while the national
budget was just above N7 trillion.
The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, called for a review of the report of the Stephen Orosanye Committee.
“We have too many agencies, some have conflicting duties. The
issue is that some of the agencies were created before independence,
pre-dating the constitution,” he said.
Senator Ben Murray Bruce (Bayelsa PDP) said many of the agencies had bloated workforce and cost a lot to maintain.
Bruce who was a former Director-General of the Nigeria Television
Authority (NTA) and the Chairman of the Board of the Federal Radio
Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), said the Voice of Nigeria had lost
relevance in the post-Cold War world.
“FRCN has 8,000 workers but it can be run with just 2,000
workers. I will not advocate firing anybody because people are hungry,
but this is a very inefficient way to run a country. Let’s sell those
agencies to the private sector, we can use the budget to build schools
and hospitals,” Bruce argued.
He further observed that there was a need to examine the competence
of political appointees deployed to head IGR agencies and adequate
training should be provided for them on assumption of duty.
Senator Magnus Abe (Rivers APC) expressed worry at the clash
between the FRA and the constitution on the remittance of all revenue to
the federation account.
“It is incumbent on any agency which does not do so (remit to
the federation account) to show which section of the law it relies on
for its action,” he said and added that only 31 of the agencies are exempted by the FRA.
Meanwhile, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Senate has
threatened to publish the names and details of Ministries, Departments
and Agencies (MDAs) of government, which do not comply with the
constitutional stipulation requiring them to submit their annual reports
and audited accounts to the Office of the Auditor General of the
Federation.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Matthew Uroghide, speaking
at a news conference wednesday, said the committee would also make
recommendations to the Senate to suspend the budget approvals of the
defaulting MDAs until they comply.
“Information from the Office of the Auditor General shows that
all the Federal Government’s statutory corporations, commissions
authorities and agencies are not up to date with the submission of their
annual accounts and audited reports as specified by Section 85 (3) of
the constitution. They have, therefore, violated the provisions of the
constitution,” Uroghide said.
He disclosed the intention of the committee to conduct a status
inquiry on the revenue generation and expenditure of the MDAs as
appropriated, as part of its function to expose inefficiency, waste and
ineffectiveness in the management of public funds.
Uroghide, who was recently appointed the committee chairman, added
that the committee would embark on monitoring government projects to
ensure value for money, ascertain the level of transparency, efficiency
and effectiveness of government projects and programs in the expenditure
of public funds.
Source: ThisDay
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