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The Deputy Speaker
of the House of Representatives, Usman Nafada, yesterday, overcame
opposition by members to the decision of the senate to permit
adjudication for governorship election cases, as the lower chamber
finally approved the harmonized amendments to the 1999 constitution.

In separate
amendments last week, the House altered six sections of the
constitution while the senate approved 10, to pave way for the
extension of dates for next year’s election.

The extra four
sections which the senate introduced, to allow gubernatorial election
cases terminate at the Supreme Court, was harshly questioned on
Thursday by the Representatives who appeared poised for an
unprecedented defeat of a passed bill at the harmonization level.

“I am wondering if
we as a parliament can accept that the issue of governorship election
cases move from election tribunal to the Supreme Court. Where will
justice end for the governors to have time for the issue of
governance,” three-term Delta state member, Halims Agoda, said.

But presiding
officer, Mr. Nafada, turned down overwhelming voice votes against the
bill and convinced the lawmakers to back the amendment after more than
half-an hour of secret consultations.

“We cannot go back
to the senate and say we cannot carry this,” he declared before the
commencement of the closed session. “It will mean the whole exercise
will not make sense. We will adopt it.”

Lawmakers
acknowledged such a defeat would set back the desired extension of
election dates, which is near finalization, but they argued that the
terms of the senate-sponsored clauses will create more challenges for a
polity already burdened by lengthy election process.

By implication, the
provisions will allow gubernatorial election cases move from election
tribunals to the Supreme Court, against the current practice where it
terminates at the Courts of Appeal. For now, only the presidential
election cases are heard at the Supreme Court.

An earlier
unsuccessful attempt by the federal lawmakers to alter the sections,
during the exercise concluded in July, seeks to make the case reach the
highest court only if it begins at the Appeal courts and not the
tribunals.

But members in
support of the extension said it will help lessen the workload of the
Court of Appeal, which has complained of shortage of judges.

With the
experiences of Ekiti, Edo and Ondo states, where true winners of the
2007 governorship elections took office after an average of three years
in court, majority of the members said the intent of the bill is to
grant an unnecessary extension of time for fraudulent polls’
beneficiaries who may be only called to account after they have left
office.

A House committee
named to harmonize last week’s passages from both arms of the National
Assembly accepted the senate’s position at a meeting on Monday.
However, the House disowned the representation yesterday and asked that
the clauses be stepped down.

The bill finally
passed soon after the members emerged from the executive session,
during which those familiar with the proceedings said Mr. Nafada
explained to his colleagues the need to support the governors who in
turn will support the lawmakers.

No backdoor bill

Separately, the
House strongly denied media reports that the rejected clauses of the
Electoral bill, which has to do with the choice of delegates to
primaries, had found its way back to the chamber.

At two news conferences, house officials said presidency sponsored bill was still with the committees to which it was referred.

“We have never said
anywhere that we will accept the contentious areas of that bill, as of
today the committee has yet to submit its reports,” said Sarkin Adah,
chairman of the House committee on Electoral Matters.

Many other members re-echoed their preparedness to defeat the bill
when it is brought back to the house. Reports had said the bill was to
be re-presented to the house on Thursday, this time as a
member-sponsored bill.

The World Economic
Forum (WEF) yesterday said the troubles with Nigeria’s economy were
worsened by high corruption, poor socio-economic infrastructure and
other vices in the political system.

The Chief Economist
of WEF, Jennifer Blanke, who spoke yesterday at the opening of a
workshop on National Competitiveness in Abuja, said Nigeria should take
the issues of decay in its education system, poor infrastructure and
corruption very seriously if it is to move from its present 127th
position in the performance indicators of 139 countries recently
captured by the forum.

According to Mrs
Blanke, the country’s economic decline commenced since last year in the
areas of finance management and handling of corporate governance issues
in the financial system as well as the capital market, though she
admitted that the country has the opportunity to grow up in the
ranking, given the sophistication of businesses and the large market
that companies can benefit from.

She identified
specific areas Nigeria can focus on in order to further improve her
competitiveness, including improvement in governance issues,
development of strong currency institutions as well as improvement in
the quality of education and infrastructure.

“I don’t know if
there is any fast-track to achieving this goal. There are also issues
that one definitely needs to focus on that has to deal with government
corruption,” she said

Global watchdogs

The Minister of
State for Finance, Yabawa Lawan Wabi, said that countries all over the
world are increasingly becoming guided by the global competitiveness
ranking of other countries in their development processes, as compiled
and rendered by worldwide risk rating agencies, such as Fitch, Standard
and Poor as well as Goldman Sachs.

“As we all are
aware, several factors ranging from key economic indices, political
stability and democratic ideals, social infrastructure to security are
given significant weight in the determination of a country’s sovereign
risk rating and global competitiveness ranking by these agencies,” she
said.

The minister said the present administration is determined to put in
place, policies and programmes that would propel quick and positive
changes in Nigeria’s economic performance in the relevant areas, such
as domestic production, employment generation, power and energy,
education and health; deepening of our democracy, security and enabling
the right institutional and regulatory framework that will elevate
Nigeria’s National competitiveness.

The National
Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at its
meeting on Wednesday, resolved to write the Enugu State Governor,
Sullivan Chime and members of the State House of Assembly to stop the
ongoing rancour over the dissolution of the executive committee of the
party in the state.

The committee also decided to revisit the conduct of congresses in Imo and Anambra states.

The executive
committee of the party in Enugu State was dissolved two weeks ago
following complaints that trailed the conduct of the congress in the
state and the refusal of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) to recognize it.

Some party
officials in the state, who believed the chairman of the party,
Okwesilieze Nwodo, acted unilaterally, have challenged the dissolution
in court.

The situation
prompted President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the crisis by
meeting with three members of the NWC while Mr Nwodo was away on
vacation abroad.

A source in the
meeting presided over by Mr Nwodo on Wednesday said the decision to
dispatch the letter to Enugu followed the chairman’s protest that
members of the NWC took sides while he was away in the United States.

Following the
chairman’s protest, the members took turns to explain their roles in
the Enugu issue. The committee resolved to write Mr Chime and others.

The meeting also reportedly resolved to revisit the congresses held
in Imo and Anambra state with a view to taking care of the contending
forces. It was gathered that though the congresses had been held, the
NWC agreed that there was a need to revisit them and explore the option
of harmonisation among the aggrieved groups in the party.

Valentine Obienyem,
a senior aide to Anambra State governor, Peter Obi on media and
publicity, yesterday described the strike by the South-east lecturers
under the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), as a direct
result of an attempt by lecturers from other parts of the country to
experiment with them before making their own demands.

Mr Obienyem, who
addressed newsmen in Awka yesterday, said although other state
universities were not paying what the federal universities were paying,
the situation in the south east had become overblown to give the
impression that only the south east universities were not paying.

“The rest of the
country are only encouraging the south east to continue agitating so
that once they get what they are asking, they will use it as a
bargaining chip,” he said, adding that the lecturers from the south
east were unintelligently allowing themselves to be so used.

“Why is it that
other state universities such as Rivers and LASU that have same problem
are quietly seeking solution without unnecessary media hype?”

Competing needs

He pointed out that
the agreement on salary was between ASUU and the federal government and
not with the state governments, pointing out that even ASUU President,
Akabueze Awuzie acknowledged that in his press conference two days ago
in Awka, wondered why ASUU were insisting that the state governments
must implement it.

The lecturers had
accused Mr Obi, who is chairman of the forum of south-east governors,
of instigating the refusal of his colleagues to accede to their demand
for better payment structure.

But Mr Obienyem,
who restated the commitment of Mr Obi to education, appealed to
lecturers to remember that there were other competing needs to be
tackled by the governors.

On Mr Awuzie’s
comment on the decay and absence of infrastructure in the south east
universities, Mr Obienyem said that everybody knew that ASUU was after
salary increase and had to bring in other needs to make their case look
good.

He advised ASUU to
first purge itself of the activities of some of their members, which
contributes to the decline in education before they looked for a
scapegoat. He said some of those activities included obsession of some
of the lecturers with sale of poorly prepared handouts, molestation of
students in various ways and what he called poor and incestuous
scholarship.

Governorship
candidates on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in
Bayelsa State are allegedly being harassed by agents of the state
governor, Timipre Sylva.

One of the
candidates, Fred Agbedi, made the allegation in Abuja yesterday and
said they have petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz
Ringim, the director general of the State Security Service (SSS),
Ekpeyong Attah, and the National Security Adviser, Owoye Azazi over the
matter.

“Well of course we
have sent our petition papers to the Inspector General of Police (IGP)
Hafiz Ringim, the Director General of State Security Service (SSS) and
to the National Security Adviser (NSA). There have been lots of attacks
on our campaign offices, our supporters are not spared,” Mr Agbedi said.

“There are lots of
aggression coming from the agents of the State Government. We just have
to cry out so that the law enforcement agencies will create peaceful
atmosphere for democracy to thrive in Bayelsa state.”

He, however, did not say if the security chiefs have addressed the issue.

Mr Agbedi, a former
chairman of the PDP in the state, told journalists at the party’s
national secretariat in Abuja after submitting his nomination form,
that the Sylva administration has lost credibility while the party has
lost grip of the state due to the alleged high-handedness of the
governor.

Claiming that he
helped put Mr Sylva in power, the candidate boasted that he will defeat
the incumbent because he represents the change that the people of
Balyesa yearn for.

“I have served as
Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa and I felt that the
government I brought into office in Bayelsa has lost credibility. The
party is fast losing grip of the state and Bayelsa needs a change and I
am the change organ. My agenda are development, peace and rule of law”

The media aide to Mr Sylva, Doifie Ola, could not be reached on his
mobile telephone but he has in the past said that his principal’s
opponents are out to frustrate the governance in the state.

The implementation of the report submitted by a joint
government-labour committee on national minimum wage yesterday received
a setback after the National Economic Council rejected it on grounds of
technical irregularities.

The governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomole told
reporters at the end of the NEC meeting yesterday in Abuja that though
the council received the report and was sympathetic, it noticed some
technical and practical issues which still to be addressed.

Following this, a sub-committee was set up to look
into those technicalities and report back to the council in two weeks.
The sub-committee consist of the governors of Edo st, Lagos, Enugu
Benue, ans Jigawa states, with vice president Namadi Sambo chairing it.

A joint government-labour committee on national
minimum wage had, in July, submitted a report proposing N18, 000 as the
new national minimum wage. But this is still awaiting implementation by
the federal government.

Last week, the Nigeria Labour Congress declared that
it will embark on a three-day nationwide warning strike from November
10 to highlight the workers’ demand for a new national minimum wage.

When asked what those technical issues were, Mr. Oshiomole said they could not be discussed with the press.

“When I was at the NLC, I always argued the case that
it is disrespectful to inform your principals through the media. Those
technical issues will be raised with the NLC and not through third
party like the media,” he said.

The governor of Katsina State, Ibrahim Shema, who
also briefed pressmen alongside the governors of Jigawa, Sule Lamido;
Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako and Benue State, Gabriel Suswam said
governors have set up a committee to streamline the workings of the
proposed Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund (NSWF) and approval of the
initial take off fund of N1 billion to be raised from the excess crude
account.

The Federal
Government has hired the services of some accounting firms to audit the
revenue accounting processes of all ministries, departments, and
agencies in the country.

Segun Aganga, the
Finance minister, said this at a two-day national workshop on
independent revenue generation, collection, and remittance, which
opened yesterday in Abuja. Mr. Aganga added that the exercise is
expected to help improve government revenue performance.

The theme of the
workshop is ‘Enhanced Revenue Base As a Veritable Tool for
Implementation of Government Policies and Programmes.’ The minister,
who described as “very poor”, revenue performances of ministries and
agencies, said out of a total N194.5billion of estimated internally
generated revenue (IGR) from January to August this year, actual
revenue collection was about N72.196billion, indicating a variance of
over N12.3billion.

While emphasising
the need for Nigerians to find a sound and uninterrupted source of
funding government budget, Mr. Aganga said the country would be able to
realise its aspiration of becoming one of the leading 20 economies in
the world by 2020, if its revenue generation base is expanded.

“Our nation can
only attain greatness if, uncompromisingly, we all manifest the
greatness in us by our thoughtfulness, good attitude, and noble needs
by affirming that, individually and collectively, we can realise the
vision by renewing our mind,” he declared.

Noting that
corruption and other financial crimes have, over the years, made the
attainment of accountability, probity, and transparency in governance
difficult, he urged participants in the workshop, made up of revenue
administrators to ensure that the training to be received redefined
their focus in their responsibility towards improved revenue
generation, collection and remittances to government.

Lapses and deficiencies

Ibrahim Dankwambo,
the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), said the workshop
organised by the Revenue and Investment Department of his office was to
focus on lapses and deficiencies identified during routine revenue
monitoring exercises in the ministries and agencies.

Mr. Dankwambo said
over the years, the ministries and agencies were not maintaining proper
books of accounts, particularly the prescribed treasury cash books.
They were also habitually not issuing treasury receipts for remittances
due to lack of Tax Identification Number (TIN), poor follow-ups by
paying agencies, and wrong postings of withholding tax and Value Added
Tax (VAT), as well as other forms of tax collections in cash books.

He said his office
will ensure greater accountability and transparency in the country’s
fiscal operations, thereby facilitating adequate monitoring of the
activities of revenue generation and administration agencies; new
revenue offices are to be opened nationwide.

As a pilot scheme,
he said plans have been concluded to establish revenue monitoring
offices in Port Harcourt, Lagos, Kano, and Maiduguri, while a team of
revenue officers would be set up to monitor on a daily basis the
revenue performances of MDAs in the various regions.

The level of political murders and attempted
assassination recorded over the last ten years is unprecedented in the
history of the country, Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, said yesterday in
Lagos.

Mr. Soyinka, who was chairperson at the launch of a
book, ‘A Micro-second Away from Death’ written by Wale Adedayo, a
former media to Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel, said although the
last ten years was a ‘deadly decade’ for the country, none of the
killings have been solved by security agencies.

The book is a recap on the upheavals that trails Mr.
Adedayo’s sojourn as Mr Daniel’s aide and his lucky escape from
gun-toting assassins in 2008.

“There is a lot of criminal cover-ups going on in our
country, and no matter how late, many of these facts will come out,”
Mr. Soyinka, who described the level of political murders and attempted
assassinations in the last decade as “mind-boggling,” said.

Mr. Soyinka also declared that he is convening a town
hall meeting to address the political intrigues rocking Ogun State on
December 18.

Reviewer of the book and dean of the school of
postgraduate studies, Babcock University, Ayandiji Aina, said the book
epitomises the “criminalisation of states in Africa, which is a symptom
of the non-development of the state, as captured in this book.”

Mr. Aina further said the book chronicles “the
behind-the-scene shenanigans of governance…in the greasily political
ecology of Ogun State.”

Paranoia governor

The reviewer also said the book is an indictment of
journalists who paint Mr. Daniel as a saint in a bid to pay their
bills. The governor, he said, “degenerated from an admired political
leader to a paranoid.”

Mr. Adedayo, who said the book was a documentation of
recent events for history, said the publication contains only 20% of
the original draft, as his editor and lawyer took out a number of
things they found too revealing.

Criticising the inability of the nation’s security
operatives to solve crimes, Mr. Adedayo noted that there is nothing
revealed in his book that the police, SSS, and force headquarters do
not know of.

“They have just refused to act right because the institutions of our young democracy are very, very weak,” he said.

Present at the event were former governor of Ogun State, Olusegun
Osoba, and governorship candidates in the state, Ibikunle Amosun, Lanre
Banjo, and Gbenga Obadara.

The fight against
corruption would remain herculean task for anti-corruption agencies
except adequate support comes from the general public, National
Coordinator of the National Anti-Corruption Volunteer Corps, Folu
Olamiti, said yesterday.

Speaking in
Abeokuta at the inauguration of Ogun State Chapter of the Corps {NAVC},
Mr Olamiti said the Independent Corrupt Practice and other related
offences Commission {ICPC} and the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) cannot win the war against corruption alone.

“The fight against
corruption and the entrenchment of the virtues of integrity requires
the participation and active support of all well-meaning Nigerians,” he
said.

He explained that
NAVC, a sub-organisation of the ICPC, is a community service aimed at
rendering social services “that will enhance and natural development.”

He charged members
of the corps to apply themselves with renewed vigour and re-invigorate
their energy against corruption in all spheres of their lives “so that
we will force the hand of change and propel Nigeria to greater heights.
All on board Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel enjoined stakeholders
to join hand together in the battle against corruption.

“We are all
gathered here today to send out corruption out of Ogun State. Our own
resolve is to shun corruption and follow the integrity path. Will we do
our nation proud by sweeping corruption to the gate outside Nigeria.

“We must all work
in tandem with the ICPC to uproot corruption from Ogun State and I
believe Ogun State is for integrity. With the presence of the ALGON
Chairman, what we are doing today should be replicated in other local
government areas in the state.”

He told members
that the task before them was not easy one. “The Anti-Corruption war
calls for sacrifice, tolerance, an open ear and a strong voice. It must
be holistic, genuine and strictly rule-based,” he said.

The Goodluck/Sambo
Campaign Organisation yesterday challenged critics of the nation’s
economy to swallow their pride and commend its latest rating by
Standard and Poor’s, an economic rating agency.

The organisation,
in a statement by its spokesperson, Sully Abu, noted that the rating is
a confirmation of its position that the economy is on the right path.

A presidential
candidate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party has
repeatedly criticised the President Goodluck Jonathan over the state of
the economy while the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP)
had warned the Jonathan administration to put back the economy on tract.

“A rating agency,
Standard and Poor’s, has just reaffirmed its positive rating on the
Nigeria’s economy, even admitting that the country’s economic
performance has been better than expected,” the organisation said,
adding that “it gave the economy good ratings both for the short term
and the long term and commended the balance sheet.”

According to the
statement, the campaign group now expects those it referred to as
‘doomsayers’ “who lap up negative prognostications on the country and
especially the economy to eat humble pie and acknowledge Standard and
Poor’s findings, that is, if they refuse to believe the report on the
economy by the relevant authorities in government.”

It re-affirmed its
stance that the administration will not be distracted by antics that
are designed to score cheap political points but would instead remain
focused on improving the living standards of the people.

“This, it is
already doing, through massive investment in power and other critical
infrastructure sectors. Delivering on the expectations of the people is
what matters at the end of the day,” the organisation said.