N’Assembly Members to Get N8.64bn as Wardrobe Allowance

The newly sworn in members of the National Assembly will smile home with a whooping N8.64 billion as wardrobe allowance next week, it was learnt last night.

The sum is aside other allowances such as furniture, housing and vehicle, which the lawmakers are entitled to.
It was also learnt that the management of the National Assembly is currently allocating offices to the 469 federal lawmakers in both chambers ahead of their resumption on June 23 from the two-week recess that they embarked on June 10.

The N8.64 billion wardrobe allowance translates to N17.5 million for each of the 360 members of the House of Representatives and N21.5 million for each of the 109 senators.

While the wardrobe allowance, just like the furniture and vehicle allowances, will cover the entire four-year tenure of the 469 federal lawmakers, their housing allowances are paid on a yearly basis.

Based on the approval of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the housing allowance for political office holders is usually 200 per cent of their annual salaries, the furniture allowance is 300 per cent of annual salaries, while a motor vehicle loan is pegged at 400 per cent of their annual salaries.

Accordingly, each of the 107 senators besides the Senate President and his deputy, will be paid N4,052,800 as housing allowance.
This sum will be paid to them every year, translating to N433,649,600 as housing allowance to be paid to the Senate annually, while the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President will be provided accommodation by the federal government.

On the other hand, each member of the House of Representatives will be paid N3,970,425 as housing allowance upon assumption of office.

This implies that the 358 representatives aside the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, will collect a total of N1,421,412,150 as housing allowance. Like that of the Senate, the speaker and deputy speaker will be given accommodation by the federal government.

Following the monetisation of entitlements of public officials undertaken by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, the lawmakers lost the right to occupy houses built and maintained by the government.

Hence, the federal government sold the houses previously occupied by the lawmakers to them.
Since the principal officers of the Sixth National Assembly benefited from the sale of the houses, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) is currently building new ones for the four presiding officers of both chambers.

On the furniture allowance, each of the senators will take away N6,079,200 from the budget of the National Assembly, while the furniture for both the Senate president and his deputy will be provided by the government.
The total sum to be paid to the 107 senators as furniture allowance will be N650,474,400.

In the House of Representatives, each member will be paid N5,955,637.50 as furniture allowance.
This means that the 358 members will collect a total of N2,132,118,225 for furniture.

On the vehicle loan, each of the senators is entitled to N8,105,600, while each House member is entitled to N7,940,850.50, meaning that the 107 senators will collectively take N867,299,200 as vehicle loans while the 358 House members will get N2,842,824,479 for their vehicles.

5 things to do in the 5yrs before retiring

You’re close enough to retirement that you’re already imagining days filled with golfing and grandchildren — but you’re not quite there yet. If you have about five more years before you want to retire, don’t assume that you’re done
planning. There are several actions you can take now to make sure your transition to retirement goes smoothly, and that your retirement itself is enjoyable and stress-free:

1. Reassess your financial readiness.
You may have been planning this retirement for years, but if anything has negatively affected your nest egg or savings strategy, it’s time to reassess.
You need to decide now if you’ll need to work for a few more years past your original target date. Now is a good time to meet with a certified financial planner to determine if you’ll have enough saved to retire. (If you don’t already have one, NAPFA is a great resource.)

2. Look into healthcare in retirement.
Gone are the days when retirees could count on their company’s medical insurance throughout their golden years. These days, if you retire before you’re eligible for Medicare, you’ll have to go through the private insurance market in
order to stay insured — and those prices can be enough to give anyone a heart attack.
If you’re retiring before age 65 (when Medicare kicks in), talk to your employer about the possibility of buying into COBRA.
While it’s not exactly cheap, you’re getting the advantage of the group rate, which means there are no exclusions and no age based pricing policies.

                                       
3. Consider long-term care insurance.
The cost of long-term care can be staggering, whether you need in home nursing or residence in a nursing home. While the cost of long-term care insurance goes up as you age — making it less of a no brainer as you’re nearing retirement — it’s a good idea to look at the numbers and determine if you can fit the premiums into your budget now. Otherwise, you might exhaust your resources on long-term care and have to rely on Medicaid to take care of you.

                                           

4. Downsize.
Whether you’re still chipping away at your mortgage, or have completely paid off your house, now is a good time to start looking into smaller digs. Not only will you be able to tap the equity in your bigger home, but you may also be able to reduce your property tax burden and get settled in the area where you plan to retire.

                                        

5. Start the transition between working and retirement.
Retirees who have no particular hobby or retirement job planned are more likely to suffer from depression. It can be difficult to go from working to retired, particularly if you’ve always defined yourself by your profession.

A great way to combat this issue is by getting involved in your retirement hobby or job before your last day. Build some relationships within your planned activities before you need them, and you’ll have a better time in the weeks and months that follow the end of your career.

Nigeria’s crude oil glut opens US arbitrage opportunities

Part of a growing glut of West African light sweet crude cargoes looks set to arbitrage into North America, following a weakening of differentials and a narrowing of the spread between Dated Brent and US-based crudes.

Much of the overhang of mainly Nigerian crude is expected to flow to Europe, but traders increasingly see an opportunity for a rare diversion into the US market, under favorable arbitrage opportunities.

The WAF to US arbitrage is now open for some import locations but not others, traders said.

“I think the arbitrage to the US East Coast is open but the Gulf Coast is still closed,” a US-based trader said.

Weak buying from Asia for Nigerian and other West African light sweet crudes over the past month has left a large overhang of March and April cargoes, even as trading in May cargoes is well underway.

It is unclear whether the handful of (already loaded) March Bonga and Forcados cargoes not matched to a refiner are now heading to Europe, or waiting offshore.

Meanwhile, light-to-medium sweet grades like Qua Iboe, Forcados and Escravos have experienced softening prices over the last month, enhancing the likelihood of a workable arbitrage to the US, according to traders.

“Only 45% of total WAF programs has moved,” one trader said earlier this week. “At this time of year you’d expect it to be 75%. It’s weighing on the market.”

So far this week, however, industry participants have not observed any specific cargo fixtures.

In the North Sea region, oversupply of light sweet crudes amid European refinery maintenance is also fueling expectations of an arbitrage West, with the Norwegian Ekofisk crude grade top of the list.

Traders said the low Brent-LLS spread and low historical Ekofisk differentials were making this route look increasingly attractive.

Gulf Coast arbitrage on the horizon

A narrow spread between Light Louisiana Sweet — the Gulf Coast benchmark for light sweet crude — and international benchmark Brent has sparked talk of West African crude being an option for import to the US Gulf Coast, but US crude traders say more strength with LLS would be needed in order to make it economical.

US crude traders use the LLS/Brent spread to gauge whether they should source their light sweet barrels domestically, or look to pricier Brent-based crudes.

The issue is complicated by LLS being stranded in Louisiana following the reversal of Shell’s 360,000 b/d then-Houma, Louisiana, to Houston crude pipeline, leaving Texas refiners to pay the roughly $4.00/b cost to barge the crude from the St. James crude terminal.

Another factor affecting demand for West African crudes in Texas is the influx of West Texas Intermediate to the Houston area, with 575,000 b/d being shipped from the Permian Basin on Magellan’s Longhorn and BridgeTex pipelines, and 850,000 b/d of light sweet and Canadian heavy from Cushing on the Seaway crude line.

However, traders say Texas refiners may look more to West African crudes in the months to come as they exit their spring turnarounds and boost already high utilization rates, which stood at 91.1% for the week ending April 3, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

“[West African barrels] may be needed once turnarounds are completed, if there is a concern about sweet crude availability. If so, then LLS could be supported further above WTI [and attracting WAF to the USGC],” one US crude trader said.

West African exports to the US

Once a staple of US Gulf Coast refiners, West African crudes have been almost entirely pushed out of the region, thanks to new shale production in the US.

In 2009, the Gulf Coast was importing 576,000 b/d of Nigerian crude and 218,000 b/d from Angola. The latest preliminary weekly data from the EIA shows that the US has averaged about 86,500 b/d and 25,800 b/d from Angola and Nigeria, respectively, since the start of 2015.

Much of the imports of West African crude to the US are headed to the US Atlantic Coast, which is far more attractive for regional refiners, sources said.

A lack of locally produced crude has led refiners on the US Atlantic Coast to be more beholden to the WTI/Brent spread, as they weigh railing in Bakken from North Dakota, or look to foreign imports, given the high cost of shipping crude from the USGC.

With Bakken by rail currently trading about $5.50/b under WTI, and a freight cost around $8/b to the US Atlantic Coast, in addition to a spread between WTI and Brent around $5/b to $6/b currently, shipments from West Africa are currently limited.

Atlantic Coast refiners in January imported 14,000 b/d from Angola and 6,000 b/d from Nigeria, the latest monthly data available from the EIA showed.

In 2009, the East Coast took 146,000 b/d and 194,000 b/d.

If the spread between WTI and Brent continues to narrow, and offers for West African crudes decline if demand remains tepid, more imports to the Atlantic Coast should be expected, traders said.

Nigeria loses $25m daily to oil theft – PENGASSAN

Workers in the oil and gas industry under the auspices of the Producers Forum of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have revealed that Nigeria loses between $15 million and $25 million daily to oil theft.

The forum has therfore called on the government to equip the security forces to be able to fight the crime headlong.

Emmanuel Onuorah, chairman of the forum, put the quantity of the crude theft at about 250kbpd and 400kbpd from pipeline vandalism, which is the combined production of Ghana, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Onuorah said at a forum in Lagos last weekend that “if the crude oil price is put at an average of $60/barrel, this translates to between $15 million and $25 million lost in revenue.

As a major stakeholder in the industry, we lament the huge loss, which could have been de- ployed into critical areas of national development.

“Huge unbudgeted costs are being incurred to repair or replace pipelines at damaged/theft points. Govern- ment needs to develop the political will to stop pipeline vandalism and oil theft, including sanctioning col- laborators in the military and security services.

“The security forces should be empowered by government to secure our national assets instead of the use of unconventional methods through award of contract to those without security and intelligence know-how to protect these critical national assets.”

Listing some of the evils of pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft, he said pipe- line vandalism was a key cause of massive divest- ment by the International Oil Companies (IOCs) since 2010, adding that the criminal activities had also forced refineries to shut down since the feedstock was always truncated.                                                                                          

“Pipeline sabotage has continually strained Nigeria to resort to importation of petroleum products and waste the limited resources meant for capital and human development programmes.

“Regrettably, sabotaged pipeline is the major reason for spillages and environ- mental devastation set- ting the host communities against both the oil opera- tors and the government.”

Nigeria’s agro industry holds 10m job opportunity

Urgent diversification of the economy through expansion of agro- industries has been brought to the fore, as Roberts Orya, CEO, Nigerian Export Import Bank, says the industry holds 10 million job opportunity.

According to him, the most important pillar for promoting Nigeria’s agro- industrial sector is the potential for job creation across the agric value chain.

He says in a report that the value chain of the agric sector is capable of generating additional 10 million jobs over the next decade, and it can serve as one of the centrepieces of capital formation in Nigeria’s new economy.

“Indeed, agro- processing promises exciting prospects for inclusive growth and social stability,” he says.

Nigeria is heavily endowed with natural assets, unfortunately, the country has concentrated on one – oil, but Orya says the country needs to seriously look towards expansion of agro-industries as key to unlocking the huge potential in agric production.

“One of the reasons economic diversification is an imperative for Nigeria is because the country is too richly endowed with natural assets for us to concentrate on tapping just one. The one we have concentrated on oil is a depleting as- set. Therefore, the economic diversification model that the country needs is one that can help absorb fiscal shocks, fend off monetary instability, provide employment for the teeming work age population as well as generate more revenue for the government to meet its commitments to the people,” Orya notes in the report.

Agriculture, he says, rep- resents the low hanging fruit in the quest to structurally transform the Nigerian economy, saying “the outlook of global agriculture supports this assertion. Since the global spike in food prices in 2008, food security has remained at the front burners of the international policy agenda.”

Beyond this, global agriculture itself is undergoing multiple layers of transition, as “population growth and changing consumption habits have started to drive up demand for food in multiple varieties. By year 2050, the world population will reach 9 billion.That means additional 2 billion people would require food in 35 years’ time, compared with now”.

According to him, the interplay of current domestic demand and supply scenarios also supports a buoyant outlook for agriculture and the agro-industry in Nigeria. On the demand side, Nigeria is a growing market.

He said “we currently profile the over $10 billion we spend yearly on food importation as negative, it actually also paints the picture of an aspect of effective demand which can be served locally, and which can help con- serve our foreign exchange and make the local cur- rency less volatile in value. This therefore provides a strong-financial-returns impetus for additional local investments in agro-food processing. More success with poverty reduction and strengthening of the middle class will further boost food demand growth.”

Nigeria Women - USA Women Preview: Falcons chasing faint hope of qualification

Edwin Okon’s ladies need to win against the Yanks in Vancouver to have any chance of making the round of 16 at the Women's World Cup

Nigeria's senior women team need nothing short of victory against the United States of America to fancy their chances of reaching the next stage of the Women's World Cup on Wednesday morning.

The African champions boast of a point from two games and will face their stiffest opposition in the ‘Group of Death’ when they face Jill Ellis’ side at the BC Place Stadium, Vancouver.

Despite the North Americans leading the group, they are still struggling to exert their supremacy in the competition no thanks to their aging forwards and defenders.

The Americans will have to cope with the quick Nigerian forwards should they dream of continuing their dominance over the Falcons on the international scene.

Edwin Okon will have to cope with the absence of Ugo Njoku who has been handed a three-match ban and fined heavily for serious foul play against Australia’s Samantha Kerr as he would be banking on 101 cap bound Perpetua Nkwocha and Asisat Oshoala to upset the Americans.

“You are a Big Betrayer” Tinubu tells President Buhari

A Former Governor of Lagos State and the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu has surprisingly criticized President Muhammadu Buhari, saying he betrayed the party.

This is in the wake of events that led to the emergence of Ex-Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki as the President of the Eighth Senate and the return of Chief Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President for a third term.

Tinubu, who on Wednesday through the Nation Newspaper, in an article titled “The untold story of PDP’s coup behind Saraki’s Senate Presidency” pointed an accusing finger at President Buhari for displaying neutrality in who emerges as the Senate President without due regard to the fate of the party.

According to Tinubu; “Despite the choice of National Assembly leaders being a mixture of party politics and legislative duty, the aloofness, or the perceived neutrality of the President allowed the ‘fight’ within APC to fester until it went of hand.”

He explained that the invitation of the APC lawmakers to the International Conference Centre, ICC, was said to be at the behest of the President; shockingly, the President did not show up.

“The bewildered 51 APC Senators, who were waiting endlessly for the President in ICC, watched the proceeding of the inaugural session from a nearby TV box.

“Before the 51 APC Senators could race down the five-kilometre stretch from ICC to the Assembly Complex, Saraki had emerged as an unopposed candidate.

“To add insult to injury, President Muhammadu Buhari neither showed up nor sent apology to the stranded Senators at the ICC.

“They were left at the mercy of troops from the Brigade of Guards, who had already been deployed in the centre ahead of the supposed arrival of the President.

“Unfortunately, there was no communication between his office and the 51 APC Senators who heeded his invitation.

“It was around 10.35am, we saw that the inaugural session was already on and Saraki had been elected. If we were to be defeated, it should have been done on the floor.”

In defence of President Buhari, a highly-placed source, said: “The President had actually made up his mind to be at the ICC but there were feelers that some associates and strategists prevailed on him not to dabble in the selection of the Assembly leadership because he will portray himself as an inconsistent leader having promised not to interfere in the internal affairs of the Legislature.

“Probably acting a pro-Saraki’s script, these associates/strategists made the President to realise that his last-minute intervention would amount to dancing to the tune of one man: Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

“Even if President Buhari is not interested in a second term, he owes the APC a duty to keep the party intact.”

Tinubu therefore stressed that the coup in the National Assembly by PDP was a litmus test for Buhari’s leadership prowess.

“The President may need to assert himself by playing a fatherly role to reunite his political platform that is in tatters.

“When some leaders met with the President after the coup in the Senate, he was said to ‘be hollow’ without a solution to the crisis at hand. The time to act is now,” he emphasized.

The APC National leader berated Buhari for the refusal of the APC leadership to address the important index of power-sharing formula deprived its National Assembly members of the much-needed unity.

“If there had been an acceptable formula in place, the situation may not degenerate to this extent. What Saraki did was to be tactical in conceding the Deputy Senate President to the Southeast which is almost relegated to the background by the Buhari administration.”

“Unless an urgent reconciliation is put in place, the anti-party activities which led to Saraki’s Senate Presidency might cause a prolong crisis in the party. And with plans by the APC leadership to enforce discipline, some leaders might call it quit with the party,” Tinubu added.

Buhari to announce ‘shocking’ Ministerial list Next Week, as Fashola sets to bag Secretary

    Fashola to bag Secretary of Government 
·         Buhari continues to clip Bola Tinubu’s wings 

As the days go by in the era of a new Nigeria led by President Muhammadu Buhari, he is still yet to give indication of who will occupy his cabinet. However, a source close to President Buhari has told Newsintels that Babatunde Raji Fashola (Former Governor of Lagos State) has secured himself a top 5 spot on Buhari’s list. This is as Bola Tinubu has started to realise that this new administration may not be the stroll in the park that the envisioned.

Babatunde Fashola,highly regarded  amongst the populace for transforming Lagos within his 8 years as governor,fell out with his godfather, Bola Tinubu, when they supported different candidates for the last Lagos State gubernatorial election. Bola Tinubu was behind the eventual winner Akinwunmi Ambode whilst Babatunde Fashola  supported Supo Shasore who lost at the primaries.  One of the contestants for the governorship post of Lagos told NewsIntels in confidence that “Tinubu is a very vindictive person. Fashola did not even make to the list of nominations that Tinubu sent to President for consideration. This disappointed Fashola so much that he swore to accept any appointment from this current administration. However, we have persuaded him to let bygones be bygones and I am happy to see that he was on the G7 team.”

Newsintels further gathered from our reliable  informant, who tipped us on Femi Adesina’s appointment as Spokesman a week prior, that Babatunde Fashola would occupy the position of the Secretary of the Government and Buhari would announce the Ministerial list next Monday. “The president is just waiting to receive the reports from the transition committee today and thereafter review over the weekend.Barring any major contrary information in the transition committee’s report, Buhari should make this list public as early as Monday that will shock everyone”. The sources said over the telephone.

Tinubu is expected to make inputs into the list but his choices might see him clash with Buhari. The same APC chieftain told NewsIntels that he was aware that Buhari wants a good mix of politicians and private sector players as members of his cabinet. It would be recalled that President Buhari turned down the list Governors, when he retorted that “ I don’t appoint commissioners for the governors and so they cannot appoint my ministers.”

It is now very evident from President  Buhari’s inaugural speech and his commentary on Senator Bukola Saraki’s recent emergence as Senate President, that all is not well between the man Tinubu and his ‘godfather’. In fact, Buhari seems to be poised to prove to the whole world that he is ’everybody’s man and nobody’s man’ as he continues to clipped Tinubu’s now broken wings.

President Buhari’s recent invitation to Fashola to accompany him to the G7 summit in Germany, continue to buttress watchers’ postulation that  Fashola is indeed an anointed one. The chemistry between the two men whilst  at the summit is a testament ti the fact that they are both on the same mental ship.

In fact, political pundits are of the widespread opinion  that Fashola only did not make it as Vice president because he and the President are of the same religion.

Meanwhile, in a related development, the Leadership by Example League International (LELI), has requested for the suspension of the former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and Senator Barnabas Gemade, over their opposition to the election of Senator Bukola Saraki.

In a statement by Dr. Batos Nwadike, Chancellor of the group, recieved by NewsIntels, congratulating Saraki, LELI said it was hopeful that with the election of Saraki as Senate president and Senator Ike Ekweremadu as deputy Senate president, the upper legislative house was poised to give effective leadership to Nigerians through seamless legislations.

“The statement emanating from Tinubu and Gemade to the effect that they do not recognise the avowed election held transparently in the hallowed hall of the red chamber on Tuesday is embarrassing.It expressed worry over what it called ‘April fool in June’ allegedly given to the senators of APC extraction by Tinubu that “President Muhammadu Buhari was coming to address the Senate when there was a due letter of proclamation of the National Assembly.” The statement said.

Assembly poll: Tension in Bayelsa as INEC reverses APGA’s victory

There was tension yesterday in Brass, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reversed itself on the state House of Assembly election into Brass Constituency 2.

The Returning Officer, Mr. Perekemor Bathola, a lecturer in the Niger Delta University (NDU), had on Sunday after the rescheduled elections declared Mr. Alfred Watson Belemote of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) winner.

He had announced that of the 2,805 accredited voters, the APGA candidate scored 849 to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate who scored 380 while the All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 476 votes

However in a shocking reversal, INEC said the election was inconclusive and that the returning officer was forced to declare Belemote winner.

Public Relations Officer of INEC in the state, Mr. Timidi Wariowei, said INEC had decided to suspend the announcement of the result because of conflicting signals from the returning officer.

NIGERIA CBN releases audited financials

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), at the weekend, formally released its audited financial statements for 2013 and 2014, which it had prepared in line with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

The two financial statements posted on its website (HYPERLINK “http://www.cbn.gov.ng” www.cbn.gov.ng) had been approved by its board in accordance with the provisions of the CBN Act 2007.
The IFRS, one of the frameworks internationally recognised and accepted, mandates adopters of the framework to prepare consolidated financial statements.
The released financial statements made available to Daily Sun, indicate that the net income of the bank for 2013 amounted to N209.6 billion while that of 2014 was N35.4 billion, totaling N245 billion, out of which 80 per cent has since been remitted to the Federal Government in accordance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act. The balance of 20 per cent was also transferred to the Reserves within the bank.
The IFRS requirement implies that the financial statement of CBN be consolidated with those of investee entities, namely Nigeria Export-Import Bank, Abuja Securities and Commodities Exchange, Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, Nigeria Interbank Settlement System, National Economic Reconstruction Fund, Financial Markets Dealers Quotation, African Finance Corporation and Agricultural Credit Guarantee Fund.

Thus, the bank now has full IFRS-compliant financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2013 and December 31, 2014, respectively. Hitherto, its financial statements had been prepared under the CBN framework.Meanwhile, the adoption of IFRS by the CBN or any central bank the world over is not without difficulties in view of a number of challenges that include the non-profit-oriented mandates of central banks in their roles of price and financial system stability and economic growth that could be contradicted by the application of some of these IFRS standards, which are for direct profit-motivated commercial entities.Another challenge is the statutory constraints on the central banks. This explains why very few central banks have adopted the IFRS. Many of the central banks, which claim IFRS adoption, did so partially within statutory constraints. But the CBN was, however, able to work around these challenges to conclude a successful adoption of the IFRS. It is worthy of note that the CBN has been able to conclude IFRS adoption within a period of two years as global experience indicated that many of the IFRS adopting central or reserve banks took longer periods of time to conclude IFRS adoption.

Buhari tasks new National Assembly

President Muhammadu Buhari, has charged the new-elected members of the National Assembly to focus on bringing positive change to the lives of Nigerians.

Reacting to the outcome of the just-concluded election of leaders of the National Assembly, the President said he would have preferred the new leaders to have emerged through the process established by the party, All Progressives Congress (APC).

He reiterated his earlier stance that he was willing to work with whoever the lawmakers elected, adding that he had no preferred candidate for the Senate and the House of Representatives leadership.

In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President said he would have preferred that the process of electing the leaders as initiated and concluded by the APC had been  followed. Nonetheless, the President took the view that a constitutional process has somewhat occurred.

“President Buhari had said in an earlier statement that he did not have any preferred candidate for the Senate and the House of Representatives, and that he was willing to work with whoever the lawmakers elected.

“That sentiment still stands. Though he would have preferred the new leaders to have emerged through the process established by the party.”

Adesina stressed that the stability of constitutional order and overall interest of the common man were uppermost on the President’s mind, as far as the National Assembly elections were concerned.

The President called on the elected representatives of the people to focus on the enormous task of bringing enduring positive change to the lives of Nigerians,” the statement added.

FG urged to recover $7.5bn taxes from IOCs

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to consider the recovery of over $7.5 billion from oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria as a major priority in his economic policy agenda expected to be unfolded very soon.

The amount represents cases of underpayments, under-assessments of taxes, royalties, rents, among others, revealed by NEITI in its several independent audit reports, which have not been adequately addressed in the past.

The Executive Secretary, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, made the call in Abuja at an Oil and Gas Conference convened to articulate an agenda for the administration in support of the  proposed oil and gas industry reforms. She explained that at a time when the new administration is in dire need of funds to tackle complex problems facing the nation, recovery of the funds should be pursued vigorously with all political will and seriousness it deserves. Mrs. Ahmed gave the assurance that NEITI was ready and willing to provide every information and data to assist the government to recover the funds.

She also disclosed that a total of $11.6 billion, which represents outstanding total dividends arising from loans and interest repayments from Federal Government’s investment in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) also needs to be recovered into government coffers. “Our 2012 Audit Report discovered that total dividend loans and interest repayment from LNG paid to the NNPC in 2012 was $2.8 billion. However, in the course of NEITI’s audit, NNPC was unable to provide any evidence that the funds were remitted to the Federation Account as required by law.

“The total amount received by NNPC from LNG under the same circumstances, which have not been remitted to the Federation Account stands at $11.6 billion.”

Mrs. Ahmed also used the forum to call for full investigation into the transfer of eight oil wells sold by NNPC to the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) in 2010 and 2011.

“The position of NEITI is that the whole transaction is not transparent.”

The Federal Government needs to carry out a full investigation into the sale to ascertain the actual cost of the oil blocks and revenue loss to the federation in the whole transaction.

She used the forum to convey NEITI’s position for the removal of oil subsidy to save the nation from huge revenue loss and embarrassment that the management of the exercise has represented. “It has been the position of NEITI that the oil subsidy regime is a fraud that should not be allowed to stand any longer. The amount spent so far annually is enough to repair the refineries or even build new ones.”

She advised the new administration to provide the necessary political will required for implementation of other findings and recommendations contained in NEITI’s independent reports, which she said are quite comprehensive and insightful to guide the government to reform the sector.

The conference was convened for experts in the oil and gas industry to articulate an advisory agenda that will help the new administration in its plan to reform the oil and gas industry.

GEJ’s Men Returning Stolen Money - Nasir El Rufai

The new government of Muhammadu Buhari has started receiving money stolen by the cabinet members of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

This was disclosed by the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, in an interview with the journalists on Monday.
He said it was true that they have recovered some money from many people who agreed to do so in the interest of Nigeria.
Mr. El-Rufai, who refused to disclosed the identity of those returning the money and how much was so far been returned, said the action was a welcome development.

                                      
He said it was not good for the government that has good intention to expose those who wish to be Good Samaritans and patriotic through their actions.