Nigeria Content Online

The House of
Representatives might recommend the blacklisting of the construction
giant, Julius Berger Plc, and other construction firms for allegedly
over-evaluating and other sundry contractual offences in the contract
for the rehabilitation of the Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta Expressway.

The chairman of the
House Committee on Works, Chukwuma Onyema, who disclosed this yesterday
at a meeting with officials of the Federal Ministry of Works in Abuja,
also lamented that the works on the road have been abandoned. Mr
Onyema, who was only appointed into the position early June, complained
of the shoddy handling of the road contracts in the country, stressing
it is lamentable.

He also said that
the Minister of State for Works, Chris Ogiemwonyi, shared the
displeasure of members of the committee and doubted the competence of
most contractors, handling some roads in the country.

The members of the
committee, who spoke one after the other at the meeting, said Julius
Berger Plc failed in the project, and regretted that the contract which
the Works ministry claimed in its report, is 87% completed, has jumped
from its original contract sum of N11.930 billion to over N33 billion.
They described the increase as “astronomical and bogus.” The lawmakers
criticized the company for failing to appear before them despite an
invitation to it last week. The House had passed a resolution on
Thursday last week, mandating its works committee to invite the
Minister of Works, Sanusi Daggash, over a plethora of abandoned road
projects in the country. Last month, the senate committee on
environment also criticised Julius Berger and other construction
companies for the poor handling of their stone quarries in Abuja. The
committee, which described the operations as dangerous and unhealthy
for the environment, gave the companies about two weeks to clean up
their acts or face sanctions.

Half done

Subsequently, the
committee began its hearings on the dualisation of phases 1-4 of the
Abuja-Abaji Road in Kogi State, handled by Dantata & Sawoe in the
first phase, Reynolds Construction in the second phase, Bulletin
Company Limited in the third phase and Gitto Construction in the fourth
phase. The first phase of the contract was supposed to gulp
N11.227billion, and the commencement date was 3rd August, 2006, and to
be completed February 2, 2009, but the contract the Ministry of Works
told the Committee, was, due to logistics extended to February 2, 2011.

Though the amount “certified so far for the project,” pegged at
N6.445billion is released, the contract, is just at 51% completion
level, while its phase was budgeted at N9.627billion, the contractor
got N5billion, but just about 50.58% completed. The third phase of the
contract, handled by bulletin, was for N9.697billion.

Cable television
networks will soon operate pay-as-you-go. Eddy Aina, a director at the
office of the Director General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission,
NBC, said the organisation is working on and will soon establish a
policy that will compel cable television networks in Nigeria to charge
as the consumers use their services.

Mr. Aina was
responding to concerns raised at the Consumer Forum organised by the
Consumer Advocacy Forum of Nigeria (CAFON) at the Lagos Television,
Agidingbi, Ikeja on Tuesday. Many consumers, including Shola Salako,
president, CAFON, and the convener of the forum complained that the
major cable networks in the country, DSTV and HiTV, are ripping
consumers off by charging for services that are sometimes not provided
or they cannot access due to poor power supply. “In the next few
months, NBC is going to come up with a pay-as-you go policy for the
cable TV networks,” said Mr Aina. “As for tariff, it is an industry
thing. They set up the tariff and if you ask why it is so high in
Nigeria they will tell you the poor infrastructure like poor power
supply made it so. But when government is able to settle the issue of
electricity then we can ask them to reduce the tariff.”

At this edition of
the monthly consumer forum which focused on getting better services
from cable TV networks, officials and members of the Sports Viewing
Centres Association of Nigeria voiced their grievances, particularly as
it relates to their on-going tussle with HiTV.

‘It’s a rip off’

The president of
the association, Seye Aluko, said they are insisting on not paying the
N15,000 monthly subscription fee that HiTV is charging for viewing
centres as against N6,000 for home use. “HiTV started well by telling
us to buy decoder with subscription for N2,500; that time it was only
La Liga they were showing. The next season they got English Premier
League and they increased to N3,000. From that to N4,000; from N4,000
to N6,000; from N6000 to N15,000, haba! HiTV,” said Deolu Ogubanjo,
president of the National Association of Telecom Subscribers of Nigeria.

Mrs. Salako advised the proprietors of the viewing centres to
register with the NBC and the Lagos State Consumer Protection Committee
so that their case can be settled through those authorities. She also
raised questions of consumers who had contacted her before the
programme, including why the cable network goes off when it is raining,
considering that the consumer’s money is still reading whether there is
rain or not? The representatives of DSTV, Segun Fayose and that of
HiTV, Vivian Chigboh, attempted to answer all the questions.

An Abuja High
Court, on Tuesday, said that an order forcefully ejecting Eseme Eyiboh,
the chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, from
his house in Abuja was given in error. The court ordered Mr. Eyiboh to
take back possession of the home.

Earlier this month,
armed policemen stormed Mr. Eyiboh’s residence, located at 7A Iyamoye
Close, off Gimbiya Street, Area 11, Garki, at about 8 a.m and threw out
his belongings. They were accompanied by officials of the court and
relations of the man who is disputing the property with the lawmaker.

History of the case

Mr. Eyiboh, a
member from Akwa Ibom State, has been engaged in a contentious dispute
with Senator Hassan Muhammed Gusau since 2008 over the land on which he
erected his house.

The lawmaker said
that he bought the property in 2007 from the family of late Sheik
Mujaddadi. However, Mr. Gusau also claimed to have purchased the same
property from the same administrators.

When he discovered
the counter sale, Mr. Eyiboh sued the administrators of Mujaddadi’s
estate and sought a court order to keep from being evicted from a
property he claimed he validly bought.

However, in
February 2008, Mr. Eyiboh testified that the senator invaded his home
with 14 young men, a team of armed policemen, and a bailiff from the
Upper Court Area with the intent to evict him.

Mr. Gusau, a
senator from Zamfara, had got a writ of possession from a Sharia court
in Jigawa State and a letter from an Abuja Upper Area Court judge,
directing the police to aid the enforcement of the eviction. Mr. Eyiboh
said that he called in his lawyers who intervened and succeeded in
dissuading the team from carrying out the eviction.

Last month, the
member petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related
Offences Commission (ICPC), alleging that Mr. Akoyi, the judge who
authorised the letter, had abused his office and should be investigated
by the commission.

“I strongly believe
that M.U. Akoyi attempted to help my adversaries take illegal
possession of my property, because he must either have been bribed or
given some other incentives to knowingly exceed his jurisdiction,” Mr.
Eyiboh said.

“I cannot
comprehend how an Upper Area Court in Gwagwalada can direct execution
against a property located in Garki, in the centre of the city,” he
said.

In his written
address, Mr. Gusau argued that he had asked Mr. Eyiboh to sell the
property to him because Sharia law does not allow a non-Muslim to buy
the estate of a Muslim when he dies.

However, Mr. Eyiboh
dispelled that argument, saying that the Sharia Law clause does not
specify that the buyer must be a Muslim, but rather, that the buyer
must be a neighbour, which Mr. Eyiboh was, and Mr. Gusau was not.

The ruling

Delivering the
ruling, Othman Musa said that the court’s decision took precedence over
any of Mr. Gusau’s eviction orders, including the most recent one made
on June 3, 2010. He ordered that the Chief Registrar of the High Court
take the necessary steps to restore Mr. Eyiboh’s possession of the
property without delay.

“I have gone
through the prayers and its counter views canvassed by the third
respondents (Mr. Gusau). It shows clearly that the application has
merit,” said Mr. Musa.

“It is regrettable that the court, on May 28, granted an ex parte
order, which temporarily dispossessed Eyiboh of his valid property.”

Indication emerged on Tuesday that about half of those who picked forms to join the police are barely literate.

Olabisi Okuwobi,
Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo state command, who gave the hint
in Ibadan yesterday, expressed dismay that almost 50 per cent of the
applicants screened in the command headquarters could seldom read or
write simple English, while many among them could not even spell their
names. “Even with the presentation of their school certificate with
credit in English, they could neither read nor write,” Ms Okuwobi said.

The police
spokesperson, also a member of the five-member screening panel for the
applicants in the state, declared that a number of the applicants who
are ‘half-literates’ stand disqualified. “Police force is not a dumping
ground for educational delinquencies,” she said. “We asked them to read
simple English in the dailies they could not, some of them even failed
to write or spell correctly their names.” Assuring that the police
would do a thorough job in screening all the applicants, she described
as unfortunate the fact that a number of them were not qualified,
wondering how they got their results in the first instance.

“Even those who passed through the screening will still undergo
written text to further clarify their competence,” she said, adding
that the police would also verify the certificates of those who pass
the written tests from their acclaimed examination bodies for
clearance. Speaking with journalists, the state commissioner of police,
Baba Adisa Bolanta, expressed satisfaction with the large turnout of
young Nigerians for enlistment into the police, describing it as a good
omen for the future of the country and the profession.

The Nigerian
Communications Satellite (NigComSat) Ltd. yesterday said it is working
with the Nigerian police to use satellite technology to combat crime in
the country.

Ahmed Rufai, the
managing director of NigComSat, made this known during the visit of a
group called the Jonathan Youth Vanguard to the company headquarters in
Abuja. The group had wanted to learn about the electronic voting system
and other devices designed by the company.

“In the next three
months, we will be able to provide a modernised public safety network
for effective policing because policing and crime control thrive on
their capacity to gather intelligence, track and process information,”
said Mr. Rufai. “If you don’t have this capacity, then the criminals
are a step ahead of you.”

The technology

The technology, a
code division multiple access (CDMA) channel, allows several people to
communicate over the same bandwidth at the same time, without
interfering with each other. It is currently being used in radio
communication technologies.

Mr. Rufai said
there are five channel towers in Abuja, three of which were built in
Utako, Nyanya, and Kubwa, and the rest two will be situated in Kuje,
and Gwagwalada. He said three more towers will be needed to fully cover
the city.

The Abuja version of the technology will be commissioned in the next few months,

and the police in the city will be enhanced to monitor and track incidences that are of interest to them, said Mr. Rufai.

“When we are able
to that, Nigerians will be able to sleep with their eyes closed,
because before a criminal can strike, the police should have [struck]
first,” he said. “We now want the police to stop a crime before it is
committed.” The president general of the youth group, George Turner,
commended NigComSat’s efforts and said the money invested by the
federal government in the company was not a waste.

Mr. Turner
expressed his hope that the development would address the problem of
unemployment to a very large extent in the country.

In the last one
week, there has been two oil spills in Qua Iboe, Akwa Ibom state; and
three oil spills in Bayelsa State. In both cases the federal government
has not moved to remedy the situation.

However, yesterday
in Abuja, far away from the spills, key players in the emergency
management sector in Nigeria held a conference to access the access
level of preparedness of the government to handle such emergencies. The
general consensus showed that they were not satisfied with their
performances, but they all blamed it on either lack of funds or
political will on the part of the government to properly handle
emergency situations. Participants at the conference, which was
organised by the senate committee on environment, called for a greater
political will and more funding by the federal government to emergency
management sector.

“We haven’t got a
plan yet,” the senate president, David Mark, said while declaring the
conference open. He added that the country currently have no plan for
emergency management due to lack of political will by the government.
He cited the long standing oil spillage and soil degradation in the
Niger Delta as examples. “We have all that it takes to handle
environmental problems but we do not have the will power,” he said. “It
is not enough to sign agreements and be signatory to international
conventions, but we need to start see how they can be translated into
practical realities. I think all the stakeholders need to come together
with a working plan that will address the problems of environment.”

However, he
expressed concern over series of seminars and conferences organized in
the country without meaningful results and saying it was time for
action and less of the speeches in conferences. “The issue here today
is when something suddenly goes wrong,” he said. “We must seriously
address how to coordinate activities of the response agencies to meet
the emergencies.”

Dire consequences

Grace Bent (PDP
Adamawa state), chairperson of the organising committee added that
developing countries like Nigeria suffer immensely from disaster and
uncontrolled emergencies

More than a
thousand women yesterday stormed the National Assembly to call for the
reinstatement of the female federal lawmaker who was physically
attacked during last week’s fighting at the House of Representatives.

The women, who
staged a protest at the Assembly, condemned the treatment of Doris
Uboh, the representative of Ika federal constituency of Delta State,
who was roughened up last Tuesday by her male colleagues and guards
during a violent session where lawmakers openly jabbed each other and
exchanged diatribes.

Ms. Uboh and 10
other members of a House group, nicknamed Progressives, were attacked
and later suspended from the chamber for leading calls for the removal
of the speaker, Dimeji Bankole, on allegations of corruption.

In a bizarre
episode that clearly discountenanced the touchy question of gender
violence and discrimination, she was dragged out of the chamber by a
number of male colleagues and guards, ripping some of her wears in the
process. She was later hospitalised due to an ear injury she sustained
in the incident.

The women group,
comprising of market women and groups from the Ika constituency,
flooded a part of the National Assembly yesterday, dressed in multi
coloured wears that bore inscriptions denouncing the violence and
calling for Mr. Bankole’s probe.

“Bankole, what
happened to the N9bn capital vote,” one T-shirt read, while another
said “EFCC must probe Bankole!” The calls re-echoed the demands of the
‘progressive’ group of lawmakers in the chamber, which is led by Dino
Melaye and received the support of Ms. Uboh, the only female member of
the chamber to openly do so.

The group canvassed
for two weeks, accusing Mr. Bankole of misusing the House 2009 capital
vote of N9 billion and asking for his removal.

At the chamber’s
resumption, where the issue was to be discussed officially, members of
the group were physically attacked by members loyal to the speaker, and
were later suspended for the rest of the year.

“For one year, it
means there will be no one to represent Ika in the House of Reps,” said
Nwadimeje John, who led a delegation of supporters from Delta State.
“We are asking the National Assembly to rescind that decision.”

Reversal of suspension

Members of the
Abuja Market Women Association, who led the protest and were barred
from the main complex of the National Assembly, asked for more than a
reversal of the suspension order.

“We want to see
Dimeji Bankole, if we cannot see him, let us see (Senate President)
David Mark. We want to talk with them,” said Felicia Sanni, the group’s
president general.

The group condemned
the violent acts that led to Ms. Uboh being hospitalised, asked for her
re-instatement, and also demanded investigations into the allegations
raised by the Rep group.

“The entire
Nigerian women were ashamed and surprised that this type of treatment
was meted on a woman by her male colleagues,” Mrs. Sanni said.

For hours, they remained and were stopped from gaining access to the main Assembly complex.

The chairperson, House committee on Women Affairs, Binta Garba, told
journalists later she was “advised” not to receive the protesting
women, and said the House has not been served any letter of the protest.

A move by some
lawmakers at the House of Representatives to investigate the alleged
unauthorized release of fund from the N10 billion earmarked by the
Presidency to celebrate the 50th independence anniversary of the
country, was defeated yesterday.

However, President
Goodluck Jonathan’s request for extra budget of N639.8 billion scaled
second reading in the House. House minority leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume,
had, while raising a point of order, asked his colleagues to probe the
controversial release of funds by the executive arm to celebrate the
nation’s independence anniversary without the approval of the National
Assembly. Mr Ndume, who relied on Order 8 (4) of the House Standing
Rules, argued that the privileges of the lawmakers had been breached
collectively because the federal government has started spending part
of the N10 billion earmarked for the event. He demanded for an ad-hoc
committee to halt what he called “a step towards unconstitutionality.”
When Speaker Dimeji Bankole, who appeared uncomfortable with the point
of order, put the question whether it should be considered or not,
members roundly rejected.

Moving on

The lower
legislative chamber also read for the second time the Supplementary
Appropriation Bill forwarded to it by Mr Jonathan and asked its
Committees on Appropriation and Finance to expedite action on the bill
and report back for final consideration tomorrow (Thursday). Mr
Jonathan had proposed a supplementary budget of N639.8 billion and a
request for the amendment of the N4.6086 billion 2010 Budget to address
shortfalls in the projected revenue and approved aggregate expenditure.
The proposal, he said, will cater for the recently announced civil
servants’ wage increase and the forthcoming 50th anniversary
celebration of Nigeria’s independence.

Development fund Of
the N639, 824, 478, 183 proposed, N507, 125, 967, 248 is for additional
recurrent (non-debt) expenditure while the balance of N132, 698, 510,
935 is for contribution to the Development Fund for additional capital
expenditure for the year ending 31st December, 2010.

The sum of N287, 324, 427, 248 is to take care of the recent
increment in the wages of civil servants with N187.195 billion for core
civil servants; N61.641 billion for wage increase for universities;
N22.933 billion for polytechnics, N28.247 billion for Colleges of
Education; N74.592 billion for medical professionals; and N12.714
billion is earmarked for payment of two months arrears to the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

An attempt by the
senate to debate a request from President Goodluck Jonathan for a
downward review of the 2010 budget suffered a glitch yesterday as the
senators could not debate the bill over disagreement on its content.

The senate, on
Tuesday failed to deliberate on both the budget cut and the
accompanying supplementary budget request due to some concerns on the
bill which could not be resolved before the plenary. Deputy senate
leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, who made the withdrawal request before the
senate, said the bills had “some concerns” which are yet to be
resolved. He, however, did not say what the concerns were. But sources
within the senate said they were not yet fully satisfied with the
planned deductions from some affected sectors. Mr Jonathan had, earlier
this month, urged the National Assembly to legalize a downward review
of the 2010 budget in the face of dwindling government revenue.
Discussions on the proposals may, however, continue today.

Slashing federal spending

The budget review
will slash federal expenditure and reduce the oil price benchmark by at
least $10. Part of the president’s recommendation to the lawmakers is
the reduction of the oil benchmark price, initially increased by the
lawmakers to $67, back to its original $57 per barrel. In a letter to
the lawmakers, dated May 29, 2010, Mr. Jonathan affirmed his earlier
position that the N4.6086 billion budget which he signed into law in
April 2010 was no longer feasible in the light of current economic
realities of the nation.

“Recent revenue
developments indicate significant shortfalls in both oil and non-oil
revenue, which may well continue for the rest of the fiscal year, with
adverse implications for the financing of the budget,” Mr Jonathan said
in the letter. “Given the recent drop in international oil prices from
the over $80 per barrel to under $70 per barrel, it is prudent to
revise the oil benchmark price to a more realistic level.” However, the
letter sent by Mr. Jonathan refused to name his preferred figures for
either the oil price or the total reduction in the budget. He, however,
is said to have called for a total reduction of 40% in the budget.

Supplementary bill

The president also
requested for fresh appropriation for “critical expenditure heads that
were either inadvertently omitted or under provisioned for.”
Accompanying the 2010 budget cut proposal is an additional
supplementary budget proposal to authorize the executive to access some
N639.8 billion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. The bulk of the
supplementary budget, about N507 billion, is for recurrent expenditure
while the balance of N132.6 billion is for contribution to the
Development Fund for additional capital expenditure.

A large chunk of the N507 billion set aside for the recurrent
expenditure will be shared amongst the office of the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Information and
Communication Ministry, and the Ministry of Women Affairs to be used
for Nigeria at 50 celebration in October. The balance is intended to
apply to outstanding allowances of various government agencies.

Police in Uyo, Akwa
Ibom State, yesterday, arrested scores of youth who had staged a march
in support of a governorship aspirant accused recently by the state
government of murder.

Truckloads of
security personnel disrupted a protest organised by the youth group and
sealed off the campaign office of James Akpanudoedehe, a former
minister of the Federal Capital Territory, who now seeks the state
governorship seat, arresting at least 30 of the men in the process.

The state police
commissioner, Walter Rugbere, told journalists the men will be charged
to court Wednesday for failing to secure permission for the procession,
and constituting “public nuisance.”

Mr. Akpanudoedehe
was arrested last week after the state government accused him of having
a role in the murder of a prominent politician who was gunned down in
the state a forthnight ago.

His arrest heightened tension in a state already fraught with rampant cases of kidnapping, murders, and overall insecurity.

The opposition
blamed the state governor, Godswill Akpabio, of running a highhanded
administration that brooks no dissent. But the state government had
always disputed this.

“By laying the
blame for Inyang’s murder on the opposition, even ahead of police
investigation, the state government is employing scare tactics and
wants to be the judge in its own case,” said Mr. Akpanudoedehe, days
after Paul Inyang, top PDP official, was shot dead while worshiping in
church.

Mr. Akpanudoedehe,
former minister, who is now seeking to become the state’s next
governor, said the administration’s policies have become more
intimidating, as more persons announced their decision to challenge the
re-election of the incumbent governor, Mr. Akpabio.

Inciting messages

The police said
yesterday’s arrest was to maintain peace that was threatened by
“inciting messages” displayed on the placards of the protesters, and
the harassment of motorists.

But reports from
witnesses said the protest by Mr. Akpanudoedehe’s supporters was
peaceful, and did not engage in forceful behavior such as harassment of
motorists, as claimed by the police.

The youths
reportedly converged as early as 6 a.m, marched through some of the
major streets in the capital city, including Oron Road, Ikot Ekpene
Road, Iboko Street, NEPA Line, and Abak Road.

They were later
stopped by a detachment of over 100 policemen deployed from the Police
Headquarters, Ikot Akpan Abia, who arrived in two separate batches.

While one batch
reportedly pursued the demonstrators along the streets as they were
making their way back to the former minister’s campaign office, the
other batch was stationed outside the office.

The police admitted they shot several canisters of tear gas to help disperse the youth.