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President Goodluck
Jonathan will, Tuesday next week, present the 2011 budget estimate of
N4.56 trillion to a joint session of the National Assembly.

In a letter to
leaders of both chambers, dated December 8 2010, the president asked
the Speaker and the Senate President to let him address a joint session
of the national assembly at noon on Tuesday next week.

At the Federal
Executive Council meeting last Wednesday, the government approved a
budgetary proposal of N4.56 trillion for the 2011 fiscal year. The
figure is 10.27% less than that of 2010, but fits into the 2011-2013
Medium Term Fiscal Frame.

Wednesday’s
approval signifies the commencement of the implementation of the
2011-2013 Medium Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) and Fiscal Strategy Pare
(FSP), the revenue and expenditure frameworks of the government as
agreed to by FEC.

According to the
these documents, the 2011 budget will have an increased non-debt
recurrent expenditure compared to the 2010 budget. The recurrent
non-debt expenditure increased by 6.77% to N2.849 trillion with major
increase in personnel cost and lower overheads.

Recurrent
expenditure has been on the increase in recent years and this trend
might persist in the medium term as the wage increase for civil
servants, medical personnel, university lecturers etc. is fully
implemented.

“To manage this,
the Government is to set up a Committee to rationalise recurrent
expenditure.” Notwithstanding complaints by policy makers, the capital
expenditure decreased by 38.6% to N1.083 trillion. Statutory transfer
is lower at N179.78 billion, while debt service recurrent is also lower
at N517.07 billion.

Return of joint sessions

In addition to the
budget, the president also forwarded a bill to establish the Nigeria
Sovereign Investment Authority which he said will “build a savings base
for the future generations, enhance development of the infrastructure
sector in Nigeria, assist fiscal stability in certain circumstances and
for related matters.” The budget presentation is coming late, but if
successfully presented to a joint session of the national assembly, it
will mark a return to the traditional method of budget presentation
which was discarded last year following the inability of both chambers
of the Assembly to agree on a venue.

Since 1999, the president had always addressed a joint session of
the legislators in the larger House of Reps chambers but last year the
Senate insisted that the address take place in its chambers.

The Commissioner of
Police for the Federal Capital Territory, John Haruna, and his Lagos
State counterpart, Marvel Akpoyibo, have been transferred on the orders
of the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim.

The development
followed the disappearance of some of the Direct Data Capture machines
imported into the country for the registration of voters for the 2011
elections, on Wednesday at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport.
Mr Haruna has been redeployed to Lagos State to take over from Mr
Akpoyibo, who has been asked to report at the Force Headquarters for
further directives.

However,
spokesperson for the Nigerian Police, Emmanuel Omore, has denied
knowledge of the redeployment. “I am not aware of the transfer and I am
yet to see any signal to that effect,” he said. A senior police source,
who did not wish to be named, confirmed that “the signal for the
movement has been signed and will soon be served administratively.” The
source further said that the two commissioners already aware and have
even started networking in their new stations. According to him, Mr
Akpoyibo may likely proceed to the National Policy and Strategic
Studies, Jos, for a course.

The DDC machines were brought into the country via cargo aircraft
early in the week and kept in a store before the disappearance on
Wednesday morning.

The All Nigeria
People Party (ANPP) yesterday said it was withdrawing its members
serving with the federal government as the party puts an end to its
participation in the government of national unity.

The national
chairman of ANPP, Ogbonnaya Onu said the National Executive Council of
the party has directed all its members in the federal government to
withdraw immediately.

Mr Onu, who
recently took over the leadership of the party, had said the ANPP,
under him, will likely pull out of the arrangement entered into by the
former leadership of the party under Edwin Ume-Ezeoke.

“Our great party
has reviewed its position and has come to the conclusion that in the
best interest of our dear country, the new All Nigeria Peoples Party
should no longer participate in the government of National Unity,” Mr
Onu said. “The party therefore calls on all its members who are holding
one position or the other, as a result of the Government of National
Unity, to withdraw their services and return home. Also, in any state
of the federation where there is any such relationship, out great party
wants those affected to take similar action.”

Mr Onu, who said
there is a bright future for the party, added it has reclaimed its
identity as the leading opposition in the country and a party to watch.

He said that in the
last two months he has visited 20 state chapters of the party and will
visit the remaining states. During the visits, he met with religious,
community and political leaders.

Mr Onu said that
since the new leadership assumed office, defections from the party have
reduced considerably and has ceased as of now.

“It is instructive
to point out that as I speak more and more people have been defecting
to our party from other political parties, especially from the ruling
party.”

Bright future

He said the ANPP
has commenced discussions with other opposition political parties who
share similar conviction with the party to ensure that it is successful
in the next general elections.

“Make no mistake
about it; Nigerians deserve and want change for the better. To defeat
hunger, poverty, disease and illiteracy, we are asking other opposition
political parties to work with us so that change can take place,” he
said.

Members in government

The party decided,
along with the Progressive Peoples Alliance to serve in the federal
government after the 2007 election when it nominated. As at today, the
party has two ministers in the PDP government. They are the Minister of
State for Finance, Yabawa Lawan Wabi and the Minister of State for
Foreign Aaffairs. The ANPP also has two advisers – Chineme Ume-Ezeoke,
Special Adviser on Civil Society matters and Ebute Ayuk, Coordinator,
Informal sector.

The three governors of the party – from Borno, Yobe and Kano States – attended the NEC meeting.

Former National
Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Audu Ogbeh, will head
the Presidential campaign of Nuhu Ribadu, former Chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), NEXT has learnt.

A close aide of Mr.
Ribadu who confirmed this stated that the choice of Mr. Ogbeh is
“because of his demonstrated integrity, vision for Nigeria and ability
to garner broad support for the candidacy of Mr. Ribadu.” Mr. Ogbeh
joined the Action Congress in 2006 alongside former Vice President,
Atiku Abubakar. Seen as one of the political leaders in Northern
Nigeria, Mr. Ogbeh left the PDP following his fallout with former
president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

He was ousted as
PDP Chairman in January 2005 following his public criticism of the
former President over the latter’s handling of the Anambra saga between
the then Governor Chris Ngige, and his estranged ‘godfather’ Chris Uba.
Mr Ogbeh, who was Chairman of the PDP from 2001 to 2005, had condemned
Mr. Obasanjo for not calling Mr. Uba to order and stopping the carnage
and destruction that went on in Anambra state during the crisis.

He was a member of
the nine-man committee of the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF)
which chose Mr. Abubakar as consensus Northern aspirant for the PDP,
though he reportedly voted for the Kwara State Governor, Bukola Saraki.

Ribadu to Kick start Campaign

Indications also
emerged that Mr. Ribadu, who has chosen “A New Nigeria is Possible” as
his campaign slogan, will commence his full campaign on December 15
when he is expected to hold a formal declaration.

Mr. Ribadu will
challenge two other aspirants for the ticket of the Action Congress of
Nigeria. They are Usman Bugaje, the national Secretary of the party,
and Attahiru Bafarawa, the former governor of Sokoto State.

Should the ongoing
discussions between the ACN and the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) also come to fruition, Muhammadu Buhari, former military ruler and sole Presidential aspirant of the CPC will also be a contender for the ticket.

Bisi Akande, the
outgoing national Chairman of the ACN had earlier confirmed the ongoing
negotiations between both parties. While the ACN wants an outright
merger of both parties to create a stronger party, the CPC wants an
alliance that will see both parties present a single presidential
candidate.

Chido Onumah, the director of communication of the Ribadu Campaign Organisation confirmed to NEXT that Mr. Ogbeh would head Mr.

Ribadu’s campaign
while stating that other political parties and prominent personalities
had also declared support for the aspirant.

“Our campaign is
targeted at the average Nigerian, the man and woman on the street. That
is why we are accepted not just by the traditional politicians, but by
the millions of apolitical Nigerians. However, our ongoing
widespread consultations led to the choice Chief Ogbeh who has shown
himself as a man of courage who stands by the truth, as the Chairman of
our campaign organisation,” Mr. Onumah stated.

The power outage
that paralysed operations at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport
in May this year was caused by the poor management of the airport, the
Senate has said.

The report of the
Senate Committee on Aviation, led by Ayim Ude (PDP Ebonyi state),
reveals that the power outage at the airport and other infrastructural
decay at the airport were primarily technical failures caused by lack
of funds.

The report says
the poor funding was as a result of a N17 billion debt owed Federal
Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) which the management of FAAN has
been unable to collect due to “flagrant disregard for all known
business decorum, rules, regulations and best practices.” Following the
report, the Senate on Wednesday asked the federal government to “carry
out a total overhaul of the management of FAAN in order to deal with
the corruption and incompetence in the operational system of the
organization.” The report, which was adopted by the Senate on
Wednesday, detailed how the alleged managerial failure at the aviation
authority led to a series of facility decay at the airport, resulting
in intermittent “embarrassing” breakdown of facilities at the airport.

“There is no gain
saying that our airports are embarrassments to Nigeria,” the Senate
President, David Mark, said, “Apart from the building being an
embarrassment, there are too many things that go wrong with our
airports.” According to the report, the aviation authority has seven
categories of clients including the government, handling companies,
active airlines, dormant airlines, oil companies, and concessionaires
(general and management). It says these clients collectively owe the
agency N16.777 billion.

While the
government is owing FAAN N1.405 billion, active airlines and dormant
airlines owe N3.02 billion and N2.794 billion respectively. Handling
companies owe N1.136 billion and oil companies owe the least N415.787
million.

Ghost companies

The report also
published a list of 26 companies that are management concessionaires
handling internally generated revenue collection for FAAN. These class
of companies owe FAAN the highest amount, of N5.534 billion.

“None of these
management concessionaires had bank guarantees while most of them
neither have Memorandum of Incorporation nor detailed contractual
agreement with FAAN,” Mr. Ude said. “Of all the concessionaires that
did business with FAAN, only 35% of them were properly documented.”
Meavis Nigeria Ltd and Bi-Courtney Ltd are among the 26 management
concessionaires of FAAN, but they claimed that FAAN’s allegations that
they owe N1.3 billion and N856.98 million respectively as outstanding
revenue collected and not yet remitted to FAAN are untrue.

However, the
Senate recommended that the federal government should direct FAAN to
“dispense with the services of Meavis ltd since it was unable to add
value to FAAN’s revenue profile… in the interest of airport
development and administration in the country.” The Senate also urged
the aviation minister to present the seven-year old dispute between
FAAN and Bi-Courtney on the concession agreement to the Federal
Executive Council.

Poland’s
parliament is getting its first ever African lawmaker, a teacher and
Christian pastor from Nigeria, who has lived in Poland for 17 years and
proven himself a popular local leader.

John Abraham
Godson is a councilman in the central city of Lodz. The 40-year-old
will fill a seat in the national parliament, vacated by a fellow
lawmaker from the Civic Platform party.

That lawmaker,
Hanna Zdanowska, was elected mayor of Lodz on Sunday. Godson was her
runner-up in the 2007 parliamentary elections.

He said Monday that he feels honoured and believes it is a “historic moment” for Poland.

As a lawmaker, he plans to support technological innovation in Poland and bolster ties with Africa.

His swearing-in is expected in the coming weeks.

Federal lawmakers
elected on the platform of the People Democratic Party (PDP) may be
given automatic tickets to contest the forthcoming general elections to
return to the parliament. The PDP national chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo
who disclosed this in Abuja yesterday, however, said only those who
have performed well will be granted such privilege.

According to him,
the aim, is to have some form of continuity in government and also to
grow the nation’s democracy. He added that it will also put an end to
the learning process.

Mr Nwodo, who spoke
at a workshop organised for the women aspirants and political office
holders, in the PDP said “We have said it at the party secretariat and
at the National Assembly when we went to meet members of the House of
Representatives and the senators. We said that, we as a party want to
grow this democracy and in trying to grow democracy, what we need to do
is to have some form of continuity and therefore, we will like as many
members of parliament who are performing and who are also acceptable in
some extent in their constituencies to come back,” he continued.

“Unless we do that,
we will continue our learning process. Every day we are learning; we
would stop learning. We have to build and consolidate the democratic
institution. So, in doing that, I think the next thing I am going to
push for is the return of as many as possible,” Mr Nwodo added. Sources
however said the carrot was dangled before the lawmakers to secure
their support for President Goodluck Jonathan during the forthcoming
primaries of the party.

There are about 80
members of the party in the Senate and about 270 in the House of
Representatives. Earlier in the year, the Senate President, David Mark
had demanded automatic ticket for the PDP senators, saying it will
guarantee legislative strengthening.

Women representation

Mr Nwodo told the women not to relax until their demand for the 35 percent slot in appointments and election positions is met.

According to him,
it is now generally known that women also have the mental capacity to
do it “You will not get 35 percent by sitting at home. When you come
forward in this manner and you say it with great emphasis, people will
listen,” he said.

“Anybody who is
saying that a woman is least qualified for any position on earth is
saying balderdash. It should be condemned because we are endowed with
the same mental capacity to do what any man can do. And these days we
don’t do things by force.

We do things by
intellect, by computer and by inventions and science. We don’t use
force. So, what anybody can do you can do.” Mr Nwodo said that the
National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP at its last meeting,
approved 35 percent slots for its women members in the area of
appointment and elective positions, but that it is merely waiting for
the ratification at the national convention to make it constitutional.
According to him, “What is important is giving you the same
level-playing ground to do what others are doing. In PDP, we have no
impediment to the success, absolutely not. We have been giving you
nomination forms without paying, we have given you 15 percent and now
35 percent.

“The 35 percent I can assure you has gone through our NEC as at last meeting.

What we will do now
in our party at the next national convention is to put the 35 percent
in our constitution. We are not stopping at that. We as a party want to
grow democracy.” Earlier in her speech, the PDP national women leader,
Ina Ciroma said that the workshop was put together to prepare female
aspirants for the challenges posed during the 2011 polls.

Also speaking at the forum, the Minister of Women Affairs, Josephine
Anenih appealed to the PDP NWC to ensure that not less than 35 percent
of female aspirants win during the party primaries. According to her,
democracy entails ensuring a level playing field and that it is only
when everybody is given opportunity to contest that democracy can be
said to be thriving.

The deputy speaker
of the House of Representatives, Usman Nafada, on Wednesday, stunned
his colleagues at plenary when he said the House will abide by the
ruling of the court legalising the stay of Dino Melaye and others in
the chamber.

Mr. Nafada’s
contrasting speech surprised many lawmakers who were already astonished
by the appearance of Mr. Melaye and Solomon Ahwinahi (members of the
‘Progressive’ group), who had evaded security at the Assembly to attend
plenary.

The Progressives, a
pressure group in the House of Reps opposed to the leadership, were the
previous day prevented from attending plenary at the National Assembly
by a joint security siege believed to be carried out on the order of
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole.

The deputy speaker,
however, deviated from the “tyranny of the majority”, which the court
said was applied by the Speaker in suspending Mr. Melaye and his group
in June, and said that since the Ethics and Privileges committee was
handling the case, the House will allow the committee to submit its
report to it before taking further steps.

Members of the
group were forcefully evicted from the chambers in June after they
accused the Speaker of allegedly misappropriating N9 billion out of the
capital vote of the House. An Abuja High Court, however, nullified
their suspension but the leadership of the House has since denied them
entrance, saying they have appealed the court’s ruling and also applied
for a stay of execution.

“A notice for stay
of order or application for appeal does not constitute an order,” Dino
Melaye countered the House leadership’s claims on Wednesday.

“For me not to
enter the chamber, they need a superior judgement or a stay order. What
they have filed can only be compared to a man that has applied for a
job and says that he has automatically got the job,” Mr. Melaye said.

He argued that
until a superior judgement upturns the High Court judgement which
nullified his suspension, he remains a sitting member of the House of
Representatives and will attend plenary the following day.

Dikko entrance

Mr. Melaye’s
entrance into the chamber surprised both his colleagues and security
operatives who did not notice when he entered. Mr. Dino claimed before
bewildered reporters and the cheering crowd that he came into the
chamber using “Dikko style.”

He was apparently
referring to an unsuccessful attempt by a Nigerian military government
to bring a former minister, Umaru Dikko, back from the United Kingdom
in a crate to face corruption charges in 1984.

“The most important
thing is that I came in, I signed the register, and I also got the
order paper of the day. It’s fantastic to be back here!” He said.

Despite heightened
security and thorough search of vehicles entering the Assembly premises
on Wednesday, Messrs. Melaye and Ahwinawhi strolled into the chamber
shortly after the House sitting commenced at about 2.00pm. They signed
the attendance register and collected the order of proceedings for the
day.

They sat in the
respective seats exchanging pleasantries with other astonished
lawmakers who shook their hands. Both men spent about 10 minutes in the
chambers before they left to address the press and a cheering crowd.

However, after Mr.
Melaye left the complex, Independence Ogunewe, another member of the
group, was prevented entrance into the chamber by Emeka Okere, the
Sergeant-at-Arms of the National Assembly based on “an order from
above.” Mr. Ogunewe berated Mr. Okere, saying he was blocking justice.
He reminded Mr. Okere of the case between his daughter and the Nigerian
Navy, where the court ruled in Miss Okere’s favour that she was
molested by Naval ratings.

“It means you are saying there are different standards for different situations,” Mr. Ogunewe said.

However, the Speaker was sighted in a secret meeting with the security heads in the Assembly complex later yesterday evening.

The leadership of
the Senate on Wednesday said it was not threatened by the public outcry
over the fat salaries and allowances of members.

Ayogu Eze, Senate committee chairman on information and media, made the statement while briefing reporters in Abuja.

“We don’t feel
threatened because the people have the constitutional right to make
whatever comments they are making against us as their representatives.
The constitution guarantees freedom of speech, and Nigerians are free
to make comments regarding what we do as legislators.

“We are not above
Nigerians, and as their representatives, they are free to ask us
questions. But such comments should be constructive and based on
facts,” Mr. Eze said.

He said that the
National Assembly was ready to lead the way to sensitise the system if
Nigerians were ready and prepared to fight corruption.

“But we are saying
let such war be holistic and let us wake up as a nation to do what is
right. If Nigerians are saying salaries are too high, we are ready for
a review, but let such review of salaries not be a selective exercise,
but a holistic one,” he said.

On the delay of the submission of the 2011 budget proposal, he said
that the National Assembly could not compel the executive to do
otherwise.

The Federal
Government yesterday said that money laundering, terrorism financing,
and other forms of economic and financial crimes constitute major
obstacles to development in the West African sub-region.

The Attorney
General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello
Adoke, said this in Abuja at the 14th plenary meeting of the Action
Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA). He said that
such crimes have had an adverse impact on regional security and
development.

“I wish to state
that in Nigeria, the implementation of a robust AML/CFT regime has
remained the top priority of the Federal Government,” said Mr. Adoke.

“Nigeria’s resolve
in this regard stems from the fact that development and security are
only possible in an environment free of corruption, money laundering,
terrorism financing, and other economic crimes,” he added.

Mr. Adoke said that
since the country’s adoption of the Mutual Evaluation Report in 2008,
the government had taken practical steps to address all the observed
weaknesses in the report.

Cash transactions

He applauded the
group for its achievements, including the signing of various memoranda
of understanding, thus guaranteeing more cooperation, information
exchange, mentorship, and joint operations in countries in the region.

In his remarks, the
director general of GIABA, Abdullahi Shehu, said the dependence on cash
transactions in the economies of the region presents a unique challenge
in the identification, tracing, and recovery of laundered proceeds of
crime.

He suggested ways
forward, which included raising awareness among stakeholders, examining
payments on cash transactions in financial institutions, and examining
the existing framework, including legal arrangements for the control of
cash movement in the region.