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Akala calls for reforms

The Oyo State governor, Alao Akala on Wednesday said that individual Nigerians need reform.

Mr. Akala, reacting

to the appointment of Attahiru Jega as new INEC boss, told aviation

correspondents at the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 on Wednesday that

Nigerians although the clamour for political reforms is right,

Nigerians should reform their ways.

“Everyone is

talking about political reforms, but it is we in Nigeria that have to

reform ourselves,” he said. “What Nigerian people don’t know is this,

the chairman will not be everywhere in every election.”

The governor also lauded the appointment of Mr. Jega, and stated that the new INEC boss is worthy of the position.

“He has good track

records and he has integrity,” he said. “With the man there now, there

will be a lot of transparency. You know he doesn’t take nonsense and he

is a nice man. I know he will not disappoint Nigerians.”

The National

Council of States, on Tuesday approved the appointment of Mr. Jega,

vice chancellor of Bayero University, Kano as the new chairman of

Nigeria’s electoral commission. Also approved by the council are ten

other electoral commissioners and 18 resident electoral commissioners.

Commenting on his political future, Mr. Akala, expressed his

confidence ahead of the 2011 general polls. “I have been doing that for

the past how many years now,” he said. “For when you have been on a

particular job for a very long time, the more time you spend, the more

you master the game.”

Lawyer faults constitutional amendment process

Lawyer faults constitutional amendment process

Constitutional
lawyer, Bamidele Aturu, has decried the ongoing process to amend the
1999 constitution, saying the process falls short of what the original
document stipulates.

Both arms of
national assembly, last week, agreed to forward the amended document to
the 36 states house of assembly for concurrence. But Mr Aturu said the
legislators “ought to have passed a resolution before passing the bill
and sending it to the states house of assembly.” He quoted section 9 of
the constitution, which stipulates that the “National Assembly can only
pass an act to amend the constitution when its proposal to amend the
constitution has been supported by two-thirds majority of all the
members of each chamber and the proposal is approved by the resolution
of at least 24 Houses of Assembly of the States.”

This section of the
constitution, which states the procedure to be adopted in amending the
constitution, according to the lawyer, has “simply been ignored or
deliberately trampled upon by the legislators. The implication of which
is that the whole exercise…is an exercise in futility, an unnecessary
waste of taxpayers’ money and an indefensible trivialisation of
legislative time.”

Mr Aturu said the
National Assembly has violated the 1999 constitution in the process of
trying to amend the constitution because in law, one cannot build
something on nothing and expect it to stand.

“The illegal process which the national assembly has embarked on will soon collapse,” he said.

Harmonised illegality

Mr Aturu expressed
shock at the pronouncement of the National Assembly that it has passed
a bill to amend the constitution, saying the lawmakers has only passed
a “harmonised illegality.”

“When a procedure
has been laid down in a statute for the doing of a thing, to do that
thing in a different way is an illegality,” he said. “If they go ahead
with the proceedings, anybody can challenge them to court to nullify
the whole process. It is better for the National Assembly to halt the
illegal process, recommence constitutional review by merely passing a
resolution and then take the resolution to the states for approval. If
they secure the resolution of 24 Houses, then they can pass the bill
for the amendment of the constitution. If not, then that is the end of
the attempt.”

The lawyer also warned against claims that the bill to amend the
constitution, once passed by the National Assembly, does not require
the assent of the president. Quoting Section 58 of the constitution, he
said: “the section makes it clear that a bill does not become law until
it has been assented to by the president; unless after a period of one
month, the National Assembly passes the bill by two thirds majority and
overrides as it were the president’s veto.”

ANPP wants Jega to reform INEC

ANPP wants Jega to reform INEC

The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)
has called on the nominated INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega to create a
“re-branded INEC by flushing out all bad eggs” in the commission, as
soon as the National Assembly ratifies his appointment.

Sabo Muhammed, the party’s National
Director of Publicity, made the call in an interview with the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi on Wednesday.

Mr. Muhammed, a former Public Relations Officer of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities when Mr Jega was its national president,
said, “notwithstanding Jega’s credibility and pedigree, government must
create an enabling environment for him to conduct a free, fair and
credible elections in 2011”.</

Jega is electoral commission boss

Jega is electoral commission boss

The National
Council of States yesterday approved the nomination of Attahiru Jega as
the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission by
President Goodluck Jonathan.

The ratification
came during the council’s first meeting under Mr Jonathan’s
administration. An influential advisory body, members of the council
include state governors, all former heads of state, former chief
justices of the federation and the current one, the attorney-general
and minister of justice, Senate President and Speaker of the House of
Representatives.

Yesterday’s meeting
had, for the first time in a very long while, all former living
Nigerian heads of state in attendance, including Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun
Obasanjo, Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, Ernest Shonekan,
Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Muhammadu Buhari who consistently shunned the
council’s meetings during the administration of Mr Obasanjo.

The full attendance by the former leaders signifies their confidence in the leadership of Mr. Jonathan, a presidency aide said.

The council also
approved 10 national commissioners and 18 resident commissioners for
the electoral commission, alongside Mr. Jega who was a former national
president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, and the Vice
Chancellor of the Bayero University, Kano. All the names will be
forwarded to the National Assembly for confirmation.

Unanimous approval

The Edo State
governor, Adams Oshiomhole, who made the announcement after the closed
door meeting which lasted for about six hours, said,

“The council
considered the recommendation of Professor Atahiru Jega for appointment
as chairman of INEC and the council unanimously approved of it,” he
said, flanked by the governors of Niger, Jigawa, and Enugu States.

“We believe the
president demonstrated courage and statesmanship in appointing someone
who is not known to have any partisan political affiliation and a
Nigerian that has distinguished himself in his present and past
callings,” he said, adding, “The council also commended the president
for the quality of people nominated as national electoral
commissioners, about 10 of them as well as 18 other resident electoral
commissioners.

“The good thing
about it is that council was unanimous about these appointments because
the people concerned were considered to be men and women of integrity.
The fact is that we all accept that the president has exercised his
power quite judiciously in appointing someone that most Nigerians will
respect and appreciate, and it will be a major push on the electoral
reform line. The president also agreed that any of the existing
electoral commissioners whose tenure has not expired, but who might
have been found wanting of any particular wrong; where proven, will be
promptly removed and replaced.

“I think with council decision today, the recommendation will now go to the Senate for scrutiny and approval.”

Although the
council is essentially an advisory body, it is usually consulted on
significant national issues. Its meeting yesterday was essentially to
endorse the appointment of a new chairman for the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC).

Pension commission to prosecute defaulters

Pension commission to prosecute defaulters

The
National Pension Commission (PENCOM) is set to take defaulting
employers to court in its bid to force compliance to the National
Pension Scheme.

Muhammed Ahmed, the
commission’s director general, stated this at the one day conference
for directors of licensed pension fund operators held in Lagos
yesterday. He said that the commission was ready to come down hard on
employers that are refusing to remit funds deducted from their
employees.

“As you are aware,
we had issued warning letters, we had imposed sanctions, we had even
advertised their names as a sort of naming and shaming strategy
expecting that they would comply,” he said. “Unfortunately, they have
not done that. So they have to show us why legal action cannot be taken
against them.”

The act

The Pension Reform
Act 2004 which introduced contributory pension scheme in the country
demands that employers should deduct 15 per cent of the salaries of
employees to be remitted to registered pension fund administrators.
Employers contribute 7.5 per cent while employees contribute 7.5 per
cent.

Part two section
five stipulates that the employer shall deduct at source the monthly
contribution of the employee in his employment and not later than seven
working days from the day the employee is paid his salary, remit the
amount to the pension fund custodian specified by the employees’
pension fund administrator.

Mr. Ahmad said the
amount contributed has increased steadily since the scheme started
effectively in 2005. So far, over four million employees are active
participants in the contributory pension scheme, which currently has
over N1.73 trillion in contribution as at April 2010. He put monthly
contributory figure at N20 billion. According to him, the bulk of the
funds are contributed by the over 157,000 private sector employees so
far captured in the scheme. He also revealed that many state and local
governments have yet to sign on to the scheme.

Required legislation

Participants at the
conference lambasted the poor contribution from the public sector.
Joseph Sanusi, chairman, First Pension Fund Custodian called for a
legislation that would compel state and local government to embrace the
scheme.

“Many of them do
not see the immediate benefit,” he said. “They are not taking
responsibility for the past, neither are they ready to take responsible
for the future of their workers.” He added that it is in the interest
of public servants for the states and local government to embrace the
scheme.

The PENCOM Director General said adherence to the investment
guideline, which recommended investment of not more than 25 percent in
the capital market protected contributors’ funds from the capital
market meltdown. He added that the investment guideline is very
conservative in order to guide against any investment failure and that
the pension funds had only about 10 per cent exposure to the Nigerian
capital market.

Money

Miners warn against illegal mining

Miners warn against illegal mining

The Miners
Association of Nigeria has cautioned against illegal mining, saying the
lead poisoning in Zamfara that reportedly killed 163 persons, was
regrettable.

National president
of the association, Sani Shehu, said on Tuesday in Jos, that the
incident, which occurred in Anka and Bukkuyum Local Government Areas of
Zamfara was “purely a result of illegal mining.”

“Most minerals contain one level of impurity or the other,” he said.
“Some of these impurities are radio-active in nature. Some of them
release poisonous gases that are not visible. That is why when you are
operating a formalised form of mining, issues like safety,
radioactivity, and other poisonous gases will be discussed and
addressed. At the sampling level, certain information like the safety
of the place, the associated impurities in the mineral and protection
method, if dangerous, would have been revealed in the plan and the
design before the mining process.”

Money

Association protests poor publicity on SIM cards registration

Association protests poor publicity on SIM cards registration

The National
Association of Telecommunications Subscribers, says it will protest
against Nigerian Communications Commission’s poor publicity on SIM
cards registration.

Deolu Ogunbanjo,
the group’s president, said on Tuesday that a rally to that effect
would take place in Abuja after the World Cup. He said the rally, aimed
at challenging the commission to give adequate sensitisation to
subscribers, would be taken to the Presidency, National Assembly, and
the NCC office.

According to him,
the pace with which the registration is going on, telecoms operators
will not register up to 10 million subscribers out of the over 78
million at the end of the six months deadline.

“This is grossly inadequate, indeed, the timing of the publication
on December 31 completely diminished its effectiveness as the target
audience were well away on vacation amidst sumptuous festivity,” he
said.

Money

Chinese student laments high business cost in Nigeria

Chinese student laments high business cost in Nigeria

A
student of Chinese University of Hong Kong on study tour to Nigeria has
lamented the high cost of living and doing business in Nigeria.

Xu Jiang, an Urban
and Regional Planning student who was among the students on the tour
complained that the high cost will discourage investors. Mr. Jiang made
the assertion while on a visit to the Nigeria Investment Promotion
Commission on Monday at Abuja.

More expensive than Hong Kong

“We are coming from
Hong Kong considered to be one of the most expensive cities in the
world but Hong Kong government is talking about how to reduce the cost
of living in order to attract more investment,” he said. “Coming to
Nigeria, one question we are talking about is that we found the
consumer goods or the cost of living here is probably and actually in
all aspects more expensive than that in Hong Kong.

We just want to
understand why, what is the major reason of being one the most
expensive cities in the world. We just want to understand why because
you have your own manufacturing industry, you have your own agriculture
and may be importing some goods but in Hong Kong we import some goods
also but it is not as expensive as the price of goods here. We want to
understand why, what is the major reason.”

Government on top of it

Mustafa Bello,
executive secretary of the commission, said government was addressing
the high cost of doing business through the various reform programmes
set up. He added that when the reform was completed, Nigeria will
compete favourably with other countries in terms of investment while
noting that despite the challenges, investors in the country smile to
the banks all the time because return on investment in the country is
high.

The team was led by Lawal Marafa, a Nigerian teaching in the Chinese
University, who hinted that the visit provides their students the
opportunity to understand more about the country; the landscape, the
climate conditions, and the economic activities as part of their field
study programmes where the students are expected to visit three
countries before graduation.

Money

Stanbic IBTC declares N6bn dividend

Stanbic IBTC declares N6bn dividend

Despite
the challenge of a domestic environment struggling with the impact of
the global financial meltdown, Stanbic IBTC Bank, a member of the
Standard Bank Group, declared a dividend of N5.63 billion for its
shareholders in the 2009 financial year.

At the bank’s 21st
annual general meeting in Abuja on Monday, shareholders unanimously
approved the dividend which translated to 30 kobo dividend per unit as
recommended by the board of directors. In his address to shareholders,
Atedo Peterside, chairman of the bank, described last year as the year
that witnessed the most turbulent developments in the Nigerian banking
sector since the ongoing reforms commenced in mid-2004.

“Our audited
results for 2009 and the recent reaffirmation of our Fitch AAA rating
significantly corroborate this statement,” he said, while noting that
as the Nigerian arm of Africa’s biggest bank, Stanbic IBTC remains a
leading operator in the marketplace. In the period under review, profit
before tax stood at N10.3 billion, while profit after tax was N8.1
billion. However, total net loans and advances went up by 17 per cent
to N119.9 billion as against N102.6 billion in 2008.

At the meeting,
Mohammed Wushishi, a retired army general, resigned as director of the
bank, while Alaibi Cookey formally joined the board. As at 31 December,
2009, the group had total assets of over US$183 billion, and market
capitalization of approximately US$22 billion.

Money

>MTN polo tournament gets royal endorsement

>MTN polo tournament gets royal endorsement

The on-going MTN
International Polo Tournament, which attracted a record 50 teams from
across the country, has received the royal blessing of the Emir of
Kano, Ado Bayero, who commended the upper ground commitment of the
telecommunications giant in the development of the king of games.

The monarch, who
received a delegation of the Nigerian Polo Federation (NPF) and MTN
Nigeria, expressed happiness at the commitment of MTN to Kano polo over
the years and urged it to do more, given the unifying and the
diplomatic credentials of sports in Nigerian political history.

“We are happy with
MTN for taking the mantle of engaging our youths positively in the area
of sports, and I would urge them not to rest on their oars as MTN
stands to gain a lot by turning our people away from negative
tendencies through sports,” he said.

He told the NPF
delegation, led by the national chairman, Lawan Kaita, that Kano
residents were grateful for MTN consistency in the promotion of Kano
polo, describing the partnership with Kano Polo Club as an enduring one
that would last for the good of the game and the people.