Subsidy report live update: House adjourns till tomorrow

[DT]

House adjourns till tomorrow

The House of Representatives has adjourned the debate on the fuel subsidy report as submitted by the Hon. Faruk Lawan ad-hoc committee to reconvene tomorrow.

Out of the 62 recommendations contained in the report, 35 have been debated so far from which 7 were amended before being carried and adopted by the committee of the whole.




Major amendments so far

[/b]Recommendation 8 : The NNPC is to be given 3 months (90 days) to return illegal deductions by it to the federation account.

Recommendation 16: The Chairman of the Board of the PPPRA and the entire members of the board from 2009 - 2011 should be prosecuted and not merely reprimanded as recommended by the committee.

Recommendation 27: FIRS is to follow up on all listed defaulting companies in the report to pay their taxes and attendant penalties within 3 months.

Recommendation 30: All companies that received funds for the subsidy and did not appear before the ad-hoc probe panel should be compelled to appear before the committee within 2 weeks.

||| Get the full committee report here |||


Youths stage pro-Madueke protest in Port-Harcourt[/b]

Hundreds of youths in Port Harcourt this morning staged  a protest  against what they described  as a plans  by some politicians from a part  of the country to dent the image of the  Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke.

The youths, who protested  under the umbrella of South Youth Leaders Forum, disrupted traffic on some streets in Port Harcourt, carried placards with inscriptions such as: "why should activities in the NNPC be traced to 2009 yet they failed to mention name of the Minister of Petroleum then", "leave Diezani alone", "is it because Diezani is from a minority area that is why the attack?", among others, marched through streets in D line, Woji road and other parts of  the State capital.

Addressing newsmen during the protest,  the National Mobilisation officer, South South Youth Leaders Forum, Prince Presley Iyalagha said youths of the region would not sit and watch political appointees from the Niger Delta being disgraced by some  politicians from some part of the country.

The group described allegations by the Farouk Lawal Probe committee against the Minister of Petroleum as unfounded, stressing that before Diezani  became  Minister of Petroleum it had been one form of orchestrated attack on her or the other..


Committee discovered N999m paid 128 times in 24 hours

Chairman of the House committee that investigated the subsidy regime, Hon. Faruk Lawan has said that the committee discovered a payment of N999m paid a total of 128 times in under 24 hours by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He disclosed this while given his opening address before the consideration of his panel's report by the House. He also said the panel had gone on to recommend punishments and actions that will bring sanity to the Nigerian oil sector and urged other House members to consider the report dispassionately.

"We discovered a payment of N999m within a period of 24 hours. Yesterday, the CBN sent in a letter trying to clarify that payment and all the letter was saying was that yes, that payment was done, but that actually, on the first day, N999m was paid 111 times and then on the second day, it was done 17 times, anchoring the argument we have made in this report. And our position on that was that since we could not establish who received that payment, that this matter needs to be further investigated," Farukl told the House.

"Today is a moment of history for this House. Nigerians elected us to manage their reources, to ensure prudence, to ensure tranparency and to ensure accountability in the way that public funds are managed in this country. This is a challenge to all of us so that in adopting this report, we will send the right signals to the Nigerian people that their representatives are truly committed to their interest," he added.

The committee of the whole, presided over by deputy speaker Emeka Ihedioha is now considering the report clause by clause.


House commences debate of subsidy committee report

The House of Representatives has dissolved into a committee of the whole to commence the debate of the report of the probe panel which was set up to investigate the subsidy regime.

The entire House rose in ovation following the brief exhortation by the Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal before the House began the debate.

"Our only interest here is to mitigate the suffering of Nigerians by showing how the subsidy regime has been hijacked for the benefit of the few.

"By the end of our deliberations, we hope that the executive arm will act upon the resolutions of this House and bring more transparency to bear on the system. Together, we can do all things constitutionally required of us but not without sacrificing our personal comfort, personal aspriations and even personal opportunities that do not benefit the public good.

"For as many as are prepared and determined to make this personal sacrifice and to stand on the side of ordinary Nigerians, whose mandate we hold, I say let's march on dear colleagues," he told the House.

The debate is presently ongoing.


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Subsidy probe: Pro-Diezani protesters storm National Assembly

As the House of Representatives begins its debate on the report of the fuel subsidy probe this morning, youths believed to be sponsored by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs  Diezani Alison-Maduekwe, are currently protesting, though peacefully, at the main gate of the National Assembly Complex.

The protesting youths, numbering about 80, were prevented from entering inside by the security agents at the gate.

The protesters displayed banners with such slogans as "We stand by Diezani on oil reform", "Nigerians stand the Diezani", "We support Diezani and Oniwon".

The security agents also prevented our correspondent from snapping the protesters.



Daily Trust

[sylvelity009]

Hmmmm..
Good progress... hope the fish out all the bad eggs that are behind the fuel subsidy