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Acting President,
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has urged Nigerians to serve God and humanity
selflessly, while promoting unity and peace across the country.

In his goodwill
message to the nation at Easter, Mr Jonathan asked Nigerians to pursue
reconciliation and forgiveness, put the past behind them and forge
ahead towards a bright new dawn.

“We must dedicate
ourselves to the service of our country, continuing in love for one
another even as Christ loved us. We must resolve to do what is right at
all times, and uphold the virtues that strengthen our bond as a nation”.

He therefore urged
Nigerians to use the period for spiritual rejuvenation, and rededicate
themselves to the service of God and humanity.

The president of
the Senate, David Mark, on Thursday urged Nigerians not to allow recent
challenges to shake their faith and loyalty to the country.

Rather than lose
faith, Mr. Mark said, Nigerians should renew their faith in one
indivisible and indissoluble corporate existence of Nigeria and work
towards making the country a great place.

In a goodwill
message to Nigerians to mark this year’s Easter celebration, Mr. Mark
said the challenges facing the nation especially the outbreak of
fresh ethno-religious conflicts in some parts of Nigeria were
surmountable. He expressed optimism that Nigerians can always overcome
any challenge and resolve their differences amicably.

“All we need is
sincerity of purpose and commitment to brotherhood,” Mr. Mark said,
reiterating the need for religious leaders to preach tolerance, love,
piety and peaceful co-existence as an antidote to the incessant crises.

Actualising its
mandate He said the National Assembly will be alive to its
constitutional duties by laying a solid framework for the government to
actualise its mandate to the people.

“The passage of the
amendment of the 1999 Constitution and the electoral reform bill are
clear manifestations that the Senate is making progress in the interest
of the nation,” he said. “We are very confident that the forthcoming
general elections in 2011 would benefit from the constitution amendment
and the electoral reform bill so that those encumbrances that
bedevilled the system in the past would not resurface.” Play by the
rules Mr. Mark also advised had some advice for politicians. “It is
only then that all parties would feel assured and comfortable with the
outcome of elections,” he said. ““It is when we all operate within the
ambits of the law that our democracy will be strengthened where human
rights and sustainable development would be guaranteed.” The Senate
president expressed the confidence that the present leadership at the
executive and legislative arms of government have demonstrated
political will and readiness to get it right this time and urged the
citizenry to demonstrate loyalty and cooperation with the government in
the task ahead.

“Nobody will come from the space to develop our country for us,” he said.

The Ondo State executive council has
approved a sum of N866 million for the payment of statutory
entitlements of former political office holders who served between 1999
and 2007 at the local government level in the state.

The state’s commissioner for
Information, Ranti Akerele, who disclosed this to reporters, said the
payment exercise would not be based on party affiliations and will be
done instalmentally for all former political office holders in the 18
local government.

“The political office holders that will
benefit from the exercise were specified to be paid severance allowance
by the Revenue Allocation Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Committee
(RAMFAC),” he said.

“The payment will be made to all
concerned officers irrespective of the party affiliation, whether you
are in Alliance for Democracy or Peoples Democratic Party, you are
going to benefit from the payment without discrimination.

The Commissioner for Special Duties, Niran Sule Akinsuyi confirmed the sum.

Mr. Akinsuyi, who also supervises the
Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, said those
entitled to the payment, according to stipulation of the RAMFAC,
include the Chairman, Vice Chairman, leader of the council and
councillors.

Close the gap

Mr. Akinsuyi said the instalmental
payment of the benefits would be made in such a way that the gap
between the first payment and the next would not be wide to ensure that
the beneficiaries make meaningful use of the money paid to them.

“The payment would be made to start within the next two weeks,” he said.

The issue of payment of the severance
allowance of former political office holders at the local government
level had always been a source of friction in the state as this has
always been handled with levity by successive governments.

Past officials have complained of unpaid benefits; but the affected
local councils have complained of a lack of money to make the payment.

Acting president, Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday in Abuja warned
African leaders to be diplomatic when making statements about other nations.

He said this while receiving the Liberian President, Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf who was visiting to broker peace between Nigeria and Libya over
statements by the Libyan leader, Muammar Ghaddafi that Nigeria should break up.

Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf was received at the presidential villa at
about 5pm yesterday by Mr. Jonathan and his protocol team, aides as well the
National Security Adviser, Aliyu Gusau and the Secretary to the government of
the Federation, Yayale Ahmed. She came with a special envoy from the Libyan
government which was led by Muhammed Sherif, Secretary General of World Islamic
Call Society based in Tripoli. Others present were Rafa Al-Madani, the
executive secretary of Forum for Arab-African Non Governmental Organisation and
three Embassy staff in Nigeria.

Speaking to journalists after the closed door meeting between
both presidents and their aides, Ima Niboro, the special adviser to the acting
president on media, said the meeting was to create a rapport between the two
countries and to mend fences.

“It is actually an initiative on her part to broker
rapprochement between Nigeria and Libya; so she came with two special envoys
from the president of Libya, President Ghadaffi and the purpose of the meeting
basically is to establish the level of rapport so that the two nations can put
behind them the recent statement that has been made and move forward. So it is
a process that has been initiated and it is continuing and, God willing, we
will see it to the end,” he said.

When asked if Nigeria is actually ready to mend fences, Mr.
Niboro said: “the acting president made it clear that all leaders should be
diplomatic in their comments about other nations, that there are certain kinds
of statement that you can make that can substantially ruffle feathers in other
nations. So he actually said that there should be an effort from all other
leaders to be a little circumspect over the affairs of other nations.”

The peace process, he said, is brokered by the president of Liberia ‘to
reinstate African unity, and to move ahead.’ “The Liberian president is worried
about the statements that the Libyan president made and their potential effect
on African unity and that is why she came and has made this commendable effort
to broker this peace,” he said.

The House of Representatives, yesterday, approved a ₦347.6 billion budget for Abuja this year,
once again giving the Federal Capital Territory the highest annual spending
plan, when considered as a state.

The amount is separate from the ₦138.4 billion allocated last
week in the federal budget under the FCT ministry for major projects in the
capital city.

According to lawmakers, a greater portion of the amount approved
will go to capital expenditure, which targets developmental projects, as the
city battles to contain its rapidly rising population.

The proposed Abuja metropolitan rail project, expected to begin
this year, receives ₦76.8 billion as part of the total capital expenditure,
which stands at ₦278.2 billion. The recurrent cost is fixed at ₦69.4 billion.

Fund for the Abuja Light Rail project- expected to connect the
expanding suburbs of the city – is the second largest capital allocation after
engineering services, which is assigned ₦111.7 billion.

Atai Aidoko, the Chairman of the House Committee on the FCT,
said the approved amount would be applied to the completion of on-going
projects in the territory.

“One hundred per cent of the allocations to the transport
secretariat will be used for the railway project,” he said. The territory’s
satellite towns receive ₦20.2 billion for their infrastructure.

Harmonised allocation

Usman Nafada, the Deputy Speaker, said the allocations have been
harmonised by the Senate. The passage of the appropriation bill, done after
repeated rescheduling, came on Wednesday after members adopted the report of
the House Joint Committee on the FCT, FCT Area Councils and Ancillary Matters.

The report included proposed allocations of ₦269.9 million to
the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council -whose establishment, proposed in a
bill, is yet to be passed by the National Assembly.

Some lawmakers, led by the House Chairman on Business and Rules,
Ita Enang, opposed the allocation, including the funding to the council in the
budget as it presently has not been set up by law.

“We should do the right thing and delete the council,” Mr. Enang
urged his colleagues.

The House resolved against the argument, saying the provisions, though
anticipatory, remain lawful since the government unit exists, though the
processed bill has yet to make it independent.

The minority leader of the House of Representatives, Muhammed
Ali Ndume, has said he is a beneficiary of what he describes as the
“allocation” of votes during the 2007 general elections in the country.

“In 1999, there was no election, there was selection,” Mr. Ndume
said. “In 2003, there was no election, there was selection. In 2007, it became
worse, there was allocation. I am a beneficiary. I want to be elected. I want
to be elected in 2011,” Mr. Ndume said.

The All Nigeria Peoples Party representative stated this while
addressing protesters at the National Assembly complex in Abuja yesterday.

The protest was organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC),
the Trade Union Congress and civil society groups to demand for electoral
reforms and for the removal of Maurice Iwu as the chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Mr. Ndume told the protesters that the opposition members in the
National Assembly have become incapacitated saying “the opposition in the
National Assembly and in a democracy is supposed to be doing what you are doing
now, but we are paralysed.”

Impartial umpire

The legislator, representing Damboa/Gwoza/Chibok federal
constituency of Borno State, said he supports the recommendations of the
Muhammadu Uwais-led commission on electoral reform and is opposed to the
senate’s recommendation that the president continues to appoint INEC heads.

“You can’t be a player and choose the umpire. The appointment of
the INEC chairman must be done according to Uwais recommendation. You should
stand up and support us that are struggling for that. Secondly, elections must
be completed before swearing in of anybody. Now there is a senator that is to
be sworn in or yet to be sworn in after three years of litigation,” Mr. Ndume
said.

The legislator further challenged the protesters not to relent
in their demand for electoral reforms and not to put the blame of failure of
the reforms on legislators alone.

“It is not enough to request for electoral reform. We must ask for credible
elections. It is not enough to put blame on the minority leader because I am a
Nigerian too.”

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its affiliate unions,
yesterday, accused the leadership of the National Assembly of sidelining
national interest in its recent debate on constitution amendment.

At the end of a protest rally in Abuja, the NLC’s President,
Abdulwahed Omar, in a letter to the Senate President, David Mark and Speaker of
the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, restated the demand of labour and
other civil society organisations for genuine electoral reforms and the removal
of the incumbent Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC), Maurice Iwu.

In the letter also signed by the President General, Trade union
Congress, Peter Esele, and co-chair, Labour and Civil Society Coalition, Dipo Fashina,
the NLC called for the establishment of an independent INEC, while persons
having issues with their elections should not be sworn into office until all
election petitions have been resolved.

It also made a case for the creation of a level playing field
for all political interests.

The NLC listed the issues, which it described as “the popular
aspirations of Nigerians” to include “the need to make the peoples’ vote count
by providing for an electoral arbiter in the INEC that would be truly
independent, fair, efficient and which would not do the bidding of the
President or political party in control of state power at each of the levels of
governance.”

The other issue has to do with “the need to ensure that those
who engage in massive rigging of elections do not get sworn into office until
election results had been validly challenged in the courts,” as well as “the
need to create a level playing field for all political interests, not cluttered
by big money, godfathers, gender identities, regionalism, ethnicity and other
primordial concerns.

“We strongly believe that the amendments to these key sections
will not augur well for entrenching democratic ethos and issues-based politics
in Nigeria,” it noted.

Citing the example of a public official elected on the political
platform crossing over to another party with different manifesto and
programmes, the NLC argued that in the light of recent political experience in
the country, such a movement would do “violent damage to the country’s desire
to consolidate on her democratic norms.”

Remove Iwu

It also said to continue to vest the powers to appoint the INEC
Chairman in the Presidency, despite the high level of partisanship experienced
in recent times amounts to an affront on the wishes of Nigerians.

Urging the National Assembly ensure that Mr. Iwu’s tenure is not renewed
when it comes to an end next June, as its electoral conduct brought shame on
the nation, the NLC said the “monumental costs in unprecedented re-run
elections should not be allowed a day more.”

The House of Representatives is set to reconstitute standing
committees which are currently without leadership. The deputy speaker, Usman
Nafada, gave the indication yesterday at the end of the plenary session of the
House, which began a three weeks recess. The House will reconvene on Tuesday,
April 20.

Of the 84 committees in the House, seven of them are presently
without chairmen. They include Information and National Orientation, Power,
Privatisation and Commercialisation, Lake Chad, Women in Parliament,
Cooperation and Integration in Africa, and Works. The committee chairmen either
resigned, died, or were removed.

For instance, Ndudi Elumelu, who chaired the Power Committee,
was removed following the allegations of bribery that trailed the celebrated
investigation into the $16 billion allegedly expended on power reform by the
administration of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo. Since then, the deputy
whip, Tambuwal, has been running the committee. The elections of the former
chairmen of Works, Women in Parliament, and Lake Chad, Chuma Nzeribe, Lynda
Chuba-Ikpeazu, and Ahmed Salik respectively, into the House in 2007, were quashed
at the Court of Appeal.

Dino Melaye, who headed the Information Committee, was removed
when he unsuccessfully campaigned for the ouster of some principal officers who
allegedly mismanaged public funds; while his counterpart in Cooperation and
Integration in Africa, Independence Ogunewe, was sacked when he joined a
campaign to have the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, probed over some financial
impropriety.

The former chairman of the Privatisation and Commercialisation,
Njidda Gella, died last August.

The committees are being run by their deputies.

Wanted during break

Mr. Nafada, while closing the plenary session yesterday, asked
members of the Selection Committee of the House to be ready because they would
be called during the three weeks recess, to reconstitute the committees.

Members of the committee statutorily include all the principal
officers of the House drawn from the majority and minority parties.

“Let me inform members of the Selection Committee that their
attention may be needed during the break for the reconstitution of the
committees lying vacant. The leadership and membership of the committees may be
reconstituted during the break. So, they (members of the Selection Committee)
may be asked to come back for this purpose,” the deputy speaker announced.

Mr. Nafada also said that the electronic voting machine, which
has not been put to use since the return of democracy to the country in 1999,
would be repaired before the House reconvenes to enable the lawmakers vote on
the proposed constitution amendment.

He urged members to read copies of the report of the 44-member ad-hoc
committee, which he headed, in order “to come with useful input” into the
amendment process.

Attempts by some former Speakers of the State Houses of
Assembly, who are currently members of the House of Representatives, to include
themselves and their colleagues as beneficiaries of proposed remuneration for
former presiding officers of legislature, were yesterday rebuffed by the
members of the House.

The lawmakers also proposed that only elected former presidents
of the country, and not military heads of state who came to power via coup
de’tats, should benefit from the remuneration being proposed in a bill titled
‘A Bill for an Act to provide remuneration of former Presidents, Heads of
Federal Legislative Houses and Chief Justices of the Federation and Other
Ancillary Matters, 2010.’ The bill came up for second reading in the House.

Leading debate on the bill, House Leader, Tunde Akogun, said its
provisions were in line with the constitutional requirements and that it would
ensure that those who have served the country in those capacities are
adequately taken care of.

Among them, he said, are former Presidents of the country,
former Senate Presidents, former Speakers of the House of Representatives, and
former Chief Justices of Nigeria.

Friday Itulah (PDP, Edo), said former Speakers and deputy
speakers of the State Houses of Assembly should also benefit from the proposed
salary regime, adding “what is good for the goose is good for the gander.” Mr.
Itulah, who was a speaker of the Edo House of Assembly, drew the attention of
the members to Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution as well as Item 44 of the
Second Schedule of the same document, arguing that since the National Assembly
has powers to legislate for the entire federation, the state should also
benefit from the proposed law.

A former Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Stanley
Ohajuruka, who also made similar demand as Mr. Itulah, said the inclusion of
the former speakers and deputy speakers in the proposed scheme would encourage
the state legislatures “to support whatever we are doing here.” Mr. Ohajuruka,
however, warned that the law should be made in such a way that it won’t
encourage frequent impeachment of Speakers of the state legislatures by those
who want to benefit from the scheme.

Another member and former Speaker of the Benue State House of
Assembly, Emmanuel Jime, argued that the inclusion of the former state Speakers
and their deputies would minimise corruption at the state level because “public
officers would now be aware that they will get something after leaving office.”
But Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta), Ita Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Elizabeth Ogbaga
(PDP, Ebonyi) kicked against the demands by the former Speakers. They argued
that it would not only contradict the provisions of the constitution but also
the doctrine of the separation of powers.

Wary of frequent removals

Mr. Ogor specifically noted that Section 124 of the Constitution
allows only the State Houses of Assembly to prescribe remuneration and salaries
for themselves and governors, but not exceeding the amounts determined by the
Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

Mr. Enang also recalled that the Akwa Ibom legislature has
already made law for the purpose of paying former public office holders,
stressing that the bill under consideration should be restricted to the federal
level.

Patrick Ikhariale (PDP, Edo) wanted a clause to be included in
the proposed law to ensure that only Senate Presidents and Speakers of the
House of Representatives that ended a particular tenure of a parliament would
benefit. This, according to him, would forestall a situation where presiding
officers are removed frequently by those who want to benefit from the proposed
remuneration regime.

Mr. Ikhariale recalled that in the last dispensation, four
Senate Presidents emerged from the South East geo-political zone alone, adding
that such situation would not encourage the implementation of the proposed law.

Alex Ukam (PDP, Cross River) called for the inclusion of a
clause which will make former state governors who eventually become presiding
officers of either the Senate or the House of Representatives not to receive
pension on their former positions until they leave the National Assembly.

Others who contributed to the debate include Abike Dabiri (AC,
Lagos) and Halims Agoda (PDP, Delta) both of who backed the bill.

The bill, which was read for the second time, was referred by the deputy
speaker, Usman Nafada, who presided over the session, to the Committee of the
Whole, for further legislative action.

The
Federal Government is yet to implement the report of the House on the
annual manipulation of unspent budget by senior officials and no arrest
has so far been made in regard to the report, the Speaker of the House
of Representative, Dimeji Bankole, said yesterday in Ibadan at the
inauguration of the leadership of the Yoruba Academy.

He also said there
should be more stringent monitoring of other arms of government, rather
than the usual focus on the executive arms of government alone, to
ensure accountability and faithful service delivery. According to Mr.
Bankole,

“We even
discovered in one single agency, Nigerian Ports Authority, how N11
billion was remitted out of N48 billion,” he said. “I don’t know who
EFCC and ICPC are looking for. It got so bad that I have to take the
floor myself sponsoring a bill to ensure that public funds are
judiciously accounted for. Of course, at the public hearing, civil
servants came and the people condemned it.”

Mr. Bankole, who
said his Speakership is part of the achievements of the Yoruba since the
inception of democracy, said the gap between the government and the
governed is getting wider by the day, as the governed have little to
sway in holding their leaders accountable.

“A week after I became the Speaker, the executive brought the budget
to the House. It was a budget of N1.6 trillion and in the budget
proposal, they brought an item called ‘unspent fund’ of N21billion out
of N1.6 trillion. This means that the budget must have performed to the
95%, but we all knew that the budget performance was between 30% and
35%. I was the deputy chairman of the finance committee before I became
the Speaker, so I had an idea of some of the things. After asking
questions, two weeks later, N21 billion became N450 billion. You now ask
the question, what could have happened to that money or what has been
happening to the money many years before. No arrest was made o! No
arrest was made!”

The country director of the World Bank in Nigeria, Onno Ruhle,
said yesterday that only states that meet pre-conditions for accessing the
bank’s loan, such as a vision with clear goals of what the money is for, would
qualify for such loan.

Mr. Ruhl, who led a team from the World bank for an assessment visit
to Abia State to ascertain its qualification for a $200million loan it is
seeking, said a key objective of the visit was to find ways to accelerate the
partnership between the state government and the Bank to ensure that results
are achieved.

The country director, who also said the team has noted some
progress in the state in some of the key areas, said what the state government
was able to achieve in the past would be a factor in determining whether the
loan will be granted or not. The World Bank loan has a repayment period of
about 40 years.

Receiving the delegation at the Government House, Umuahia, the
state’s governor, Theodore Orji, said the loan it is seeking from World Bank
would be used to execute projects and programmes that would have direct bearing
on the lives of people of the state.

“The state government had done its homework to determine
specific areas that the funds will be channelled into if granted,” he said, and
assured that the loan would be used in such a manner that future generations
would benefit from it.

Qualified for loan

The governor said the visit of the World Bank team afforded them
the opportunity to see things for themselves, and decide whether to grant the
loan to the state or not.

“Our state is qualified for the loan,” Mr Orji said, adding that
the state government feels safer to partner with the World Bank than local
banks.

“Previous partnership with the World Bank, particularly in Abia
State community and social development projects, has been rewarding,” he said.