Season Of Probes In The Senate

The senate is recent days have embarked on a probe spree in a bid to reorganize the systems and rid the country of corruption. JONATHAN NDA-ISAIAH reports

The 8th Senate had earlier promised to be a different senate from the previous ones by making laws that will key into the change mantra of President Muhammadu Buhari. The 7th senate had been accused of being a toothless bulldog as most of its resolutions were not adhered to by the executive and also ministers and some agencies ignored senate summons on several occasions .

In trying to break away from that tradition whereby its resolutions and summons are not respected, the 8th Senate had promised to set up a monitoring and evaluation unit where resolutions will be monitored and appropriate sanctions meted to erring government agencies. Senate President, Bukola Saraki had vowed to rid all sectors of the country of corruption in line with Buhari’s mission to reduce corruption to the barest minimum. The senate recorded a victory recently when it passed a resolution calling on the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to abolish fixed charges of N700 on electricity. Last week, in line with the lawmakers’ resolution, NERC abolished the charges much to the joy and relief of Nigerians.

The executive has also embarked on a series of probes to recover stolen funds under the previous administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Not wanting to be left out of the new wave, the Senate has embarked on a series of probes recently.

Senate To Probe Obasanjo, Jonathan Over Power Failure

The Senate is set to investigate the management of the funds appropriated to the power sector since 1999 which covers the administrations of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan.

The lawmakers also in strong terms condemned the inability of PHCN to provide continous and uninterrupted power supply to all parts of the country.

They also urged the Joint Task Force to clear the insurgents in the areas which have power plants in Maiduguri .

The Senate also constituted an adhoc committee on Power to be chaired by Senator Abubakar Kyari to probe the money spent on the power sector from 1999 till date.

These were fallouts of the motion sponsored by senate leader, Ali Ndume tilted disconnection of Maiduguri from the National grid and the general power generation in Nigeria.

Leading the debate, he noted the disconnection of Maiduguri from the National grid and the general power degeneration across the country and the hardships and sufferings occasioned by the lack of electricity supply.

He lamented that the federal government has since spent several billions of dollars from 1999 to date on power generation with nothing to show for it.

Ndume expressed concern that inspite of this huge sum of money, a country with a population of over 150 million people produces only 4,600 mega watts while South Africa with a population of 40 million produces 40 thousand mega watts with additional 11 thousand mega watts to come on stream.

Probe Of Lamorde Over N1trillion Scam

The Senate has commenced the probe of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde over an alleged N1trillion scam inspite of opposition against the move by the PDP Senate caucus.

LEADERSHIP recalls that the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions had on the strength of petition forwarded to it against Lamorde by one Mr George Uboh over an alleged N1trillion scam in the agency, summoned both the petitioner and Lamorde to appear before it today through separate letters last Friday.

The fraud allegedly perpetrated by Larmode was said to have dated back to his days as the Director of Operations of the EFCC between 2003 and 2007, as well as an acting Chairman of the commission between June 2007 and May 2008, when the then chairman of the anti-graft agency, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, was away for a course at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos.

Uboh, Chief Executive Officer of Panic Alert Security Systems, a security firm, in his petition dated July 31, 2015, accused Lamorde of some specific instances of under-remittance and non- disclosure of proceeds of corruption recovered from criminal suspects, including   Tafa Balogun and Alamieyeseigha.

He assured the Senate that he would produce “overwhelming evidence” to back his claims against Lamorde.

Uboh also alleged that the EFCC had not accounted for “offshore recoveries” and that “over half of the assets seized from suspects are not reflected in EFCC exhibit records”.

Probes Of Customs, FIRS Over N567billion   Illegal   Spendings

The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions is set to investigate an allegation of unappropriated spendings totaling N567billion, made by the Nigeria Customs Service ( NCS) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service ( FIRS) from January 2005 till date.

This investigation was as a result of a fallout of a petition by Ngozika Ihuoma, Executive Secretary, Legislative Watch, a non-govermental   organisation.

In a petition dated August 13, 2015 to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, the petitioner

contended that contrary to Section 162 (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), both agencies have failed to render account of the utilisation of Cost of Collection from January 2005 till date.

Section 162 (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) states that:”Any amount standing to the credit of the Federation Account shall be distributed among the Federal and State Governments and the local government councils in each state on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly”.

The petition titled: ‘Re: Investigation of Utilisation of 7% Cost of Collection Paid to Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and 4% Paid to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) from Federation Account from 2005 to Date’ posited that both federal agencies have been shortchanging the Federal Government without appropriation from the National Assembly.

This development, he said, formed part of leakages to the Federation Account.

He therefore called on the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to investigate the utilisation of the 7% Cost of Collection released to the Nigeria Customs Service from January 2005 till date.

The organisation also asked the Committee to investigate the utilisation of 4% Cost of Collection released to Federal inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in the same period under review.

Specifically, he accused the Comptroller-General of Customs for “using 7% of Cost of Collection to buy houses for private uses”.

Attaching a copy of the Summary of Gross Revenue Allocation by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), he revealed that both agencies refused to remit over N567bn to the Federation Account.

Credit: Leadership