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Why Buhari should’t wait till September before ministerial appointments

Published

9 years ago

July 23, 2015

Sahara Weekly

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An economic and social rights group, Centre for Social Justice (CENSOJ), on Wednesday criticized President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration on Monday that his cabinet would not be constituted until September.

The president, who was speaking in Washington at the beginning of his four day official visit to the United States, restated his position that it was neither prudent nor will it serve the interest of the government to make cabinet appointments immediately on assumption of office.

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Mr. Buhari had explained that his administration would first put rules of conduct and good governance in place before the appointments to ensure that due process was followed, apart from the need for sufficient time to correct the ills of the past government.

But, Lead Director of CENSOJ, Eze Onyekpere, said although there was need to put rules of conduct and good governance in place, there was no indication that the President was preparing fresh sets of laws and regulations to guide the conduct of governance.

Mr. Onyekpere said existing Financial Regulations were good enough to facilitate good governance, pointing out that what was lacking in previous administrations was the political will to enforce them.

The president, he said, did not need to reinvent the wheel, but to continue from where his predecessor stopped, considering that governance is a continuum.

“Even if the president is engaged in drawing up new laws and regulations or restructuring Ministries as has suggested, the process needs not take the whole of June, July and August 2015. It can be done in a shorter period. It can be done now,” Mr. Onyekpere said.

In view of the volume and enormity of work to be done to clean the misdeeds of the past, he said more hands should be involved in the cleansing exercise, adding that there was no justification for only one or two persons to carry the load of reforms alone.

“Nigeria is too big for only a few persons to think they can solve all the economic, political and social challenges alone. It cannot work and will only deepen the challenges,” he said.

Even if the president would wait till September 2015, Mr. Onyekpere said it was imperative for some critical sectors of the economy to get Ministers immediately, particularly now that there was no economic policy directive to guide citizens and investors, while economy seems to have stagnated.

“The Naira is fast losing value by the day, while quoted stocks have lost a good part of their value. Investment decisions are delayed and the last budget implementation report that was published was for the second quarter of 2014. No one seems to know, or the public have not been briefed on the implementation of the 2015 budget.

“Besides, no one seems to be in charge of the preparation process of the 2016-2018 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the 2016 budget. We do not see the Permanent Secretaries in the appropriate Ministries managing the processes that would resolve these afore-stated challenges. Hence the need for Ministers in the Finance and Economy portfolios to steer the economic ship of state and move it away from running aground,” he said.

Having got the approval of the National Assembly to appoint 15 special advisers, the director said at no time does the president need advisers, especially on National Assembly matters, than now, particularly with the raging crisis in the National Assembly.

The president, he said, needs the guidance and briefing of the Legislative Adviser to take a principled and nuanced approach to the crisis and to push through principal bills he may wish to forward to the National Assembly in the coming days.

Mr. Onyekpere also criticised the president’s decision to make major domestic policy decision in a foreign land through foreign media organisations, pointing out that the timing of the announcement on the appointments should better have been done in Nigeria.

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Business

Nigeria Launches New Fiscal Incentives to Revitalise Oil & Gas Sector, Aiming to Attract $10 Billion Investment

Published

2 days ago

April 23, 2024

Sahara Weekly

Nigeria Launches New Fiscal Incentives to Revitalise Oil & Gas Sector, Aiming to Attract $10 Billion Investment

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… as FG endorses consolidated guidelines

Sahara Weekly Reports That Today, in a move to further revitalise the oil and gas industry’s contribution to the Nigerian Economy, Wale Edun, OFR, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, presided over a signing ceremony at the Federal Ministry of Finance headquarters in Abuja endorsing the Consolidated Guidelines for the implementation of Fiscal Incentives for the Oil & Gas Sector – a cornerstone of the Presidential Directive aimed at enhancing the Nigerian oil & gas sector’s global competitiveness whilst stimulating economic growth.

As disclosed during the signing, the Presidential Directives were developed and coordinated by the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Mrs. Olu Verheijen to ensure a competitive framework for the Nigerian oil & gas industry. These Consolidated guidelines for the fiscal incentives are based on extensive collaboration across Finance and Petroleum Ministries and involved several key regulatory bodies including the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

According to Mrs. Verheijen, these new measures have been designed to deliver a competitive Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for Oil & Gas Projects and attract over $10 billion in new investments within the next 12-18 months. They also underscore Nigeria’s commitment to reaching its long term oil production target of 4 million barrels per day whilst enhancing the reliability of gas supply for to boost export earnings and fuel Nigeria’s industrialization.

Mrs. Verheijen disclosed that among the guidelines signed were the NUPRC Guideline on Hydrocarbon Liquids Content in a Non-Associated Gas (NAG) Field, essential for accurately categorising and quantifying the hydrocarbon liquid content in these fields. Additional guidelines focused on the applicability of tax credits and allowances for Non-Associated Gas Greenfield Development and the Midstream Capital and Gas Utilization Allowance, providing taxpayers with clarity on the computation of these benefits.

HM Edun, in his remarks, thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for signing the directive in February 2024 to engender growth in the Nigerian oil and gas sector, which had stagnated for over the last decade. He also emphasised the potential of the guidelines, saying, “The idea is to create an atmosphere conducive to international competitiveness such that investment comes in. And in this case, we know it’s foreign direct investment”.

The signing ceremony was attended by various stakeholders, including NNPC Limited, Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) and the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), further highlighting Nigeria’s unified approach toward reinvigorating its oil and gas sector.

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Education

JUST IN: Government Shuts Down Lead British School Over Student’s Bully (VIDEO)

Published

2 days ago

April 23, 2024

Sahara Weekly

JUST IN: Government Shuts Down Lead British School Over Student’s Bully (VIDEO)

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Sahara Weekly Reports That The Federal Government has reportedly shut down Lead British School following the bully of a student named Namitira in the Abuja-based institution.

Two videos showing the student reportedly named Namtira being manhandled went viral on social media on Tuesday.

In one of the videos, the victim was seen being slapped repeatedly by another female student while asking “Who broke my heart?”

In another video, the victim was seen sitting next to a male classmate who was heard saying “I spoilt her relationship”.

Furthermore, the minister of women affairs has visited the school to address the situation. In a follow up video recorded this morning, the culprit was seen being slapped by a woman who is said to be the victim’s aunty.

This is the face of the bully, she was brought to the school just now by her parent, the lady who slapped her is the Aunt to the bullied girl, the school has also been shut down for three days and minister of women affairs is there to address the issue,

🎥: Gistlover pic.twitter.com/5M7ocJIlZf

— Pamilerin Adegoke (@UnclePamilerin) April 23, 2024

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news

Meet the Nigerian prophet that prophesied the climatic disaster in Dubai and Oman

Published

3 days ago

April 22, 2024

Sahara Weekly

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By Collins Nkwocha

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The prophetic Hall of Fame, prophet Godwin Ikuru of Jehovah Eye Salvation Ministry, Lagos has established himself as a global prophet, giving accurate and precise prophecies to nations, individuals,continents and organisations.

Nigerians will never forget how he enunciated that Tinubu was going to rule Nigeria,a lot of people and prophets made him their enemies and even threatened to him because of that,but God will always fulfil the words of his prophets as Tinubu finally emerged the president despite all the antagonism.

On the 31st of December when this great prophet was dishing out his prophecies for the year 2024,he said categorically and emphatically that the Asian countries will experience a lot of climatic disasters this year.Oman had a very heavy rain that killed 18 people,it included at least nine schoolchildren and their drivers whose vehicle was washed away by the floodwaters.

UAE witnessed the heaviest recorded rainfall in history,this is really alarming as the rainfall caused a lot of havoc.Only the prophetic Hall of fame, prophet Godwin Ikuru saw all these coming.

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