News

Senate Reviews CCB Act …Bill Passes Second Reading …Tasks FG On Chibok Girls’ Rescue

Published

9 years ago

April 15, 2016

L-R: Director-General Oganiru Enugu State Investment Summit, Mr Ike Chioke, Chairman United Bank For Africa, Mr Tony Elumelu, Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu and Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, during the 2016 Oganiru Enugu State Investment Summit in Enugu onTuesday

The Senate, yesterday, passed for second reading, a bill seeking to amend the Act establishing the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and its tribunal.
Leading debate on the bill, which was read for the first time on Tuesday, the sponsor, Peter Nwaoboshi (PDP Delta-North), said that the amendment would redraft section 3(d) of the Act.
Nwaoboshi said that the procedural codes that were being employed by the bureau’s tribunal were not provided for in the nation’s Constitution.
Senators who contributed threw their weight behind the amendment of the Act. Sen. Dino Melaye (APC Kogi-West) said that the amendment was very apt as it had become clear that the CCT was delving into criminal trials.
Melaye urged all senators to support the amendment, stressing that it was justified. Other senators who contributed included Jubrin Barau (APC Kano North), Sam Anyanwu (PDP Imo East) and the Minority whip, Biodun Olujimi.
Olujimi said “we are licensed as senators to look at Acts and Laws to see how we can make them better: there is no doubt that this Act needs amendment.
“We do not want the Act to be used inconclusively; this is a straight forward thing, it should go to the committee and we conclude.’’
However, Sen. Yahaya Abdulahi (APC-Kebbi North) while supporting the amendment, expressed reservations over the timing in view of ongoing trial of the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, at the CCT.
He said that although the amendment was apt, the perception of Nigerians, especially with regard to the timing should be taken into consideration.
“But for the credibility of this senate I think we should re-examine the timing of this,” he said.
In his remark Deputy President of the Senate, Mr Ike Ekweremadu, who presided at the plenary, said that the amendment had nothing to do with the trail of the President of the Senate at the CCT.
He said that Saraki’s trial had already started before the amendment bill was introduced, adding that they had no link.
“This bill will not affect the proceedings at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
“We should not be afraid to do the job which the Constitution has given us.
“We support the CCB and the CCT but we must make sure that in doing their work, there must be fairness and respect for human rights.
“We must at all times be courageous to do our work,” he said.
The lawmakers voted for the passage of the bill for second reading and it was referred to the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions and its Judiciary and Human Rights counterpart.
The committees were directed to submit their reports in two weeks The CCB amendment bill was laid on Tuesday alongside seven other bills among which is the amendment of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
Meanwhile, the Senate, yesterday, resolved to invite the National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno and other security chiefs to brief it on their efforts to secure the release of the Chibok school girls.
The upper chamber also commended the Bring Back Our Girls group for their doggedness in the campaign for the release of the Chibok girls.
It asked security agencies to do everything humanly possible to ensure the release of the girls.
The resolutions followed the adoption of a motion by Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) and three others entitled “Abduction of Chibok school girls-two years after.”
The motion elicited angry reactions from Senators who felt that two years was long enough for the government to have recovered the school girls.
Senator Melaye lamented the plight of the girls and their parents.
He insisted that the Federal Government cannot be said to have succeeded until the girls are rescued.
He said: “We cannot succeed as a government until those girls are released. Getting back the over 200 Chibok school girls into the society is important and a must for our security agencies.
“The abduction of over 200 girls by Boko Haram has wrongly affected us as a people as could be seen in the international condemnation of the government’s slow reaction to this unprecedented outrage committed against Nigerian womanhood. Never before has such criminal viciousness been perpetrated on Nigerian womanhood.”
Melaye noted that yesterday “made it 730 days, 17520 hours and 1,051 minutes that our Chibok school girls have been under captivity. It will be recalled the night of 14-15 April, 2014, 276 girls were kidnapped from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, the responsibility for the abduction was claimed by Boko Haram. Luckily, 57 of the school girls managed to escape making 219 still missing.”
He said that outside propaganda videos created by the Islamist militant group, none of the girls has been seen and the families of the missing girls have been traumatized because of their daughters.
Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, in his contribution said that Melaye and some other members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) used the abduction of the Chibok school girls to win last year’s general elections.
Akpabio wondered why those who led protests against the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan to rescue the girls have suddenly kept mum.
He said, “I remember in 2014, Dino Melaye used to wear T-shirt and he led the protest to ensure that the abducted school girls were released.

News

FG Ends Passport Production At Multiple Centres After 62 Years

Published

1 day ago

September 19, 2025

The Tide

The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.

Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.

He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.

“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.

He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.

“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.

“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.

“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.

He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.

Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.

He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.

News

FAAC Disburses N2.225trn For August, Highest In Nigeria

Published

2 days ago

September 19, 2025

The Tide

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.

This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.

The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.

Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.

The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.

From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.

From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.

Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.

From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.

News

KenPoly Governing Council Decries Inadequate Power Supply, Poor Infrastructure On Campus

Published

2 days ago

September 19, 2025

The Tide

The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.

The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.

The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.

Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.

He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.

This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.

The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.

Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.

He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.

The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.

Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.

Chinedu Wosu