News

Shift to Parliamentary system of govt: We’re advocating for an homegrown system that’ll benefit all Nigerians-Rep Chinda+Video

Published

5 months ago

June 9, 2024

Austin Ojomah

By Gloria Akiba

…says we’ve studied all the demerits and merits of our past parliamentary system

…insists cost of governance will be drastically reduced if we have our own model govt

…the situation now is motion without movement

One of the advocates of a shift from Presidential to Parliamentary system of government in Nigeria, the minority parties caucus leader, Rep Kingsley Chinda has said what is being proposed is an home grown system of government that will benefit all Nigerians from all walks of life.

The Rivers born federal lawmaker representing Obio/Akpor federal Constituency made this disclosure in an interactive session with fellow proponents at the weekend in Abuja.

Hear him:

On recent reactions against the proposed shift by 2031, Chinda said:

“I am one of the strong proponents of the shift from presidential to a homegrown parliamentary system of government.

“Now, yes, we have listened to some criticisms, particularly that of Governor Fashola, who is of the opinion that we should tell Nigerians why the first republic failed and that should be the starting point.

“But I want to assure you that we are not building castles in the air. We took our time to look at the system of government, to look at the problems within the polity, and how, as parliamentarians, we can assist in resolving some of these problems through legislative intervention.

“And then we felt that the entire system that we are practicing is skewed towards failure, one, considering our background, our experiences, our diversity, which, of course, should be an advantage to us.

“And then if you look at the places where systems of government are copied from, they consider their culture, they consider their beliefs; they consider their society in adopting a system of government.
But in Nigeria, we either copy from the United Kingdom or we copy from the United States, without recourse to our background. And that is why we are asking for a homegrown system of government.

“But because we don’t have, perhaps, the proper word to describe it, what we envision is closer to a parliamentary system. And so today, we are asking that we amend our constitution to introduce a homegrown parliamentary system of government.
Now, what led to the failure of the First Republic, whether we had studied it? I will answer Governor Fashola by saying, yes, we have studied it. We have studied deeply the First Republic, the conduct, the successes, and the failure.

“And in doing that, we have even moved to Kano to meet with the only surviving member of the First Republic, Alhaji Dandata and we asked him this question directly. Why did it fail?
And some of his responses were, one, that during the First Republic, many of them were not very well informed as to the system, the rudiments, and the practice. And so to him, that one of the reasons why the parliamentary system failed was ignorance.

“Two, our various tribes and religion and belief in them and then the individual attitude of politicians of that day, which is still in place till today, concerning the issues of power and exercise of power and abuse of discretion.

“And then the constitutional provision that has to do with the sharing of power between the centre and the region. That all these culminated, mainly the power tussle and struggle, culminated into the crisis we had in the South West, which led to the failure of the First Republic.

“And so having heard this, we have also taken into consideration these issues and that’s why we keep saying that it would be wrong for you to introduce a system of government without taking cognizance of your background, where you’re coming from.

“I give you an example. Ask a Nigerian public office holder to exercise discretion today on an issue. He will be influenced by either religion or tribe. Very few public officers in Nigeria will exercise discretion with a neutral background, dispassionately.

“Now, the same public officer, if he is a Briton, asks him to exercise the same discretion, or an American, most often they will look at the nation first in exercising that discretion, most often.
So because we have this inherent issue, it will be difficult for us to import laws that have to do with discretion and bring them hook, line, and sinker to Nigeria and expect it to succeed. It will not succeed.

“We must tweak it to consider our peculiar background. And that’s why we say the time has come for us to move forward.
We’re talking about cost of governance, and government after government has been making attempts to take care of that, either by merging agencies of government or by slashing allowances and salaries of public office holders. How far has that taken us?

“As far as we are concerned, it’s motion without movement. We’re still at the same spot. And so we must do something fundamental if we want to move forward.
And what is that? We have an unwieldy government that is too large for us as a nation to make progress.

“You have the Office of the President and the Office of the Vice President. You have the Office of the Senate President and Deputy Senate President. You have the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. These offices, all of them, come with different budgets.

“You have 360 members of National Assembly. You have the senators. You go down to the states, the same. You have Executive arm, very large.
I can tell you as a parliamentarian today that, well we can decide to say 50% of the salary of every member of parliament will be saved. That will not change much in terms of cost of governance in the country.

“But if we have a situation which we are proposing, commencing from the local government, we try it and see the problems and the successes. If we succeed at the local government level, we move to the next stage, to the state.
And as we are doing this, we will make consequential amendments to relevant laws and then end up at the national. You elect Legislators. There will be no election for the Executive. First, you have saved so much money.

“You can calculate how much we spend on presidential, governorship, and council chairmanship elections.
Now, amongst the councilors, they will elect a chairman and perhaps an assistant, the deputy chairman, amongst themselves. The implication is that any ward that is sending anybody as a councilor will send a chairmanship material as a councilor, unlike what we have today.

“Anybody that is sending any member to the National Assembly will send a member that has the capacity to be the prime minister of the country.
And so you cut down one, number of elections, cost of election, which is the foundation first.
And if you go into governance, as we propose that we have a prime minister who will be the head of the government and a president from Senate who will be ceremonial head.

“What it means is that as a prime minister, you earn the salary of a parliamentarian that you elected as, and you only have perhaps the allowance to function in the office of the prime minister.
Accountability and stewardship is one big problem in our country today, not just corruption.

“You have a situation where different arms of government, the Parliament and the Executive, will appear not to be on the same trajectory. We don’t even know what the other arm is doing.
Recent example, the issues of Central Bank movement to Lagos, Parliamentarians who are not fully informed and aware of the need for that government policy.

“If you have the minister in Parliament and you have a prime minister that will brief the parliament at least every week or once a month, every Parliamentarian will be part and knowledgeable in government policies.

“And then it will be easier and faster for government policies to be executed. It will be less expensive.
When it comes to issues of accountability, we still felt that, look, our laws today, the Nigerian constitution, can allow you exercise discretions that are not morally correct but legally correct. It’s not unlawful, but morally it is wrong.
You have a situation where our president can govern this country for four years without talking to Nigerians. And there is no constitutional provision against that.

“And that’s why in the last government you had the Garba Shehu talking to us. Today you have Ngelale talking to Nigerians. Even during the COVID era, this country was virtually begging her president to address her.

“Other nations hear from their president every month, some weekly. We were begging for it. That is the laws that we have, the system of government that we have.

“And yet people say the Nigerian president is about the most powerful in the world because of the type of presidential system that we are practicing.
Even the American system that we have copied from, you are aware that the Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate. So why do we have all these offices?

“We spend so much on them. And then we at the same time say that we want to cut down the cost of governance.
Look at our budget. What percentage do we have for capital projects? And what percentage do we have for recurrent? It’s difficult for us to make progress.

“Yes, as difficult as it might appear, as new as it will sound, we think that if we are serious minded, we should be ready to make the sacrifice and leave our comfort zone for the country to make progress.
And that’s why we believe that the time has come for us to start considering a homegrown parliamentary system of government that will suit our country without looking at what others practice outside because the circumstances are not exactly the same.

“So in answer to that question, whether we have considered the reasons why the First Republic failed, yes, we have. And we still believe that a homegrown parliamentary system is the best for us as it stands today.
But we have to take it grade by grade, step by step, from the lowest until we get to the presidential level.

On former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s advocacy for Afro democracy, Chinda said: Obasanjo agreed with us that the current presidential system will not help us much.
And so he is calling for Afro-Democracy, that is African democracy and it is still the same idea, the same ideology that we are proposing.

“What President Obasanjo is saying is that we need an African-grown democratic system that will put into consideration the African culture, the African circumstance, African condition.
But for us, charity begins at home. And that was what we exactly told him. We believe in the Afro-democracy, yes, but charity begins at home.
In that Afro-democracy, we need a Nigerian-grown democratic system.

” And so whilst he is looking at it from the African perspective, perhaps because of his level, he’s no longer a Nigerian leader, he’s an African leader, he’s a universal leader. So he could look at it from that perspective.

“We are representing Nigerians. We are bringing it down home. So we are on the same note, because when we had an interaction with him, we understood ourselves.
And we told him that for us, as parliamentarians of Nigeria, let us start from Nigeria. And then if it works, no doubt other African countries will want to copy. Their system might not be exactly the same with the Nigerian system, but it should be a home-grown democratic system.

On whether the homegrown system has capacity to pull down corruption, he said: “No doubt, it’s not going to be a magic wand that once you introduce it, all the ills of society will be gone. But then it is a better system to check corruption compared with what we have presently.
Now I give you an example. The issues where you have ministers, permanent secretaries, members run after them on oversight function, every now and then, and then you get little or no result.
What is the whole idea of oversight function? You need to monitor expenditure to ensure that monies budgeted are used for the purpose. If you have them amongst you, accountability is higher. It is easier to check them. They know that they are there every week.

“And so again, one of the criticisms that people talk about is that it will lead to instability of government. But if the society is better, there is stronger check. And I tell you that it will also not lead to instability because the whole fear of instability is that it is easy to remove the prime minister.

“The prime minister should do the writing and he will not be removed. And so if you find a prime minister that is corrupt, he knows that it is easy to remove him, unlike the situation we have now.
You can be corrupt and still remain in your office. Nigerians can criticize, Nigerians can complain, but they cannot do much to remove you.

“But this system is self-cleansing. It doesn’t take much to remove you if you are corrupt. And so that will make people in public office to sit up.
And it’s a system that will be a hands-on for all public office holders. It’s not going to be a place for retirement and all that, you know people who are tired, you want some rest, you come up here and from here you can retire. It’s not going to be that kind of place.

Asked whether the proponents have verified documents of past republis, Chinda affirmed saying: “Yes, we have also looked at the copies of the constitution or the laws that were used in the First Republic. There are some, if you look at the conference report, which is very comprehensive, there are some of those laws that you need to reintroduce, but you’re not going to bring back the entire constitution. It will not work.

“There are some laws in our current constitution that are still valid. That’s why I said that over time we’ll be having consequential amendments of our laws. So some laws will go, some new ones will come. Some of the old laws that are fit for purpose could also come in and you tweak them to consider our local circumstance.

News

Just in: Dangote Refinery Offers To Supply 60M Litres of Petrol To IPMAN Weekly

Published

2 hours ago

November 18, 2024

Naijablitznews

Dangote Petroleum Refinery has offered to supply 60 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, to the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria weekly, which translates to 240 million litres monthly.

Dangote Refinery has offered to supply 60 Million Litres of Petrol to IPMAN weekly.

This Nigeria news platform gathered from the association that the refinery agreed to give 60 million litres of PMS to IPMAN members weekly, depending on patronage.

This came as it was gathered that the $20bn Lekki-based refinery is aiming to raise billions of dollars to import crude oil and increase production.

Also on Sunday, oil dealers stated that petrol prices were declining following the competition occasioned by the deregulation of the sector, especially as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and other marketers imported over two billion litres of PMS in 42 days.

In an interview with The PUNCH, IPMAN National Publicity Secretary, Chinedu Ukadike, said members of the association can lift any quantity of PMS allocated to them by the Dangote refinery, stressing that independent marketers were the ones distributing the majority of the fuel imported into the country.

Recall that the association announced recently that it had signed an agreement with Dangote to lift PMS directly from the refinery without a middleman.

Giving an update, Ukadike said, “We are going to off-take the product in millions of litres. Before now, most of the imported products in Nigeria were distributed through IPMAN. So we can off-take the products, no matter the millions of litres that are produced.”

Asked whether there is an agreed volume that IPMAN would off-take from Dangote once independent marketers start loading petrol from the plant, the National Publicity Secretary replied, “We can take from 10 million litres and above and Dangote has offered to give us over 60 million litres depending on our patronage.

“The 60 million litres is to be given weekly. And we can take and distribute it across the country once we start lifting the product from the refinery.”

On when IPMAN would start lifting the product, Ukadike stated that this would be made public after both parties had concluded discussions on the deal.

He expressed confidence that the direct supply would begin before the end of November.

“We are finalising discussions. You know the meeting between IPMAN and the Dangote refinery was held last week and documentation is in process. So, there are still a few pieces of documentation that we are doing now. Once they are sorted, we will off-take PMS from the plant.

“This is going to happen before the end of this month. The Dangote Group has assured us that even if we want to start taking products from today, we should start,” he added.

Ukadike spoke further, “IPMAN has gathered its members and we have developed a Special Purpose Vehicle to off-take the products from the refinery. So, the issue of individuals going to buy one or two trucks has gone. IPMAN is now going to be a major distributor and our money will be guaranteed.

“The time has gone when some dealers will tell us they have products when they actually do not, and they will lock up our money in their system. So, we are taking this as a very effective measure to be able to ensure that the distribution value chain is efficient.”

Prices drop

Both IPMAN and major marketers confirmed that the pump prices of petrol have started reducing in many parts due to the competition that the deregulation of the downstream sector has caused.

The IPMAN spokesman said the agreement between IPMNAN and Dangote is gradually pushing down the price of PMS.

“By just the announcement that IPMAN and Dangote have met and are ready to transact business, the prices of products have crashed. You would have noticed the drop in prices by N10, N15, or so, and this is due to competition.

“Independent marketers are no longer buying from middlemen. We are going to be buying directly from the producer. So, the competition is setting in. I also want to tell you that before the end of this year, the price will not be as high as what you see now.

“You can see how our meeting with Dangote has significantly removed about N10 from the prices of refined petroleum products. It is a good development. We have not even started. Remember I once told you that prices would drop once IPMAN started lifting from Dangote,” Ukadike stated.

Also confirming the drop in prices, a major oil marketer stated that this was due to the deregulation of the downstream oil sector.

“People are not noticing that prices are going down, primarily because there are no big announcements. Deregulation is in full swing and competition is the order of the day,” the major oil marketer, who spoke in confidence due to lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, stated.

When told that the cost of petrol was still above N1,000/litre and was N1,070/litre in filling stations operated by his company, the dealer replied, “Last week it was N1,080 (in some filling stations) if you were observant.

“You may not see N900; that is below cost. Just stop expecting a permanent fixed price. It can come down and it can go up.”

Deregulation opens imports

While IPMAN has declared its resolve to patronise the Dangote refinery, some major marketers and NNPC are going ahead with the importation of refined products, though they patronise the plant when necessary.

Our correspondent reported on Saturday that within 42 days, the NNPC and other players imported 1.5 million metric tonnes of PMS, 414,018.764 metric tonnes of diesel, and 13,500 metric tonnes of jet fuel.

This is worth about N3tn or $1.8bn. One metric tonne of PMS is equal to 1,341 litres. This means 1.5 million metric tonnes represents 2.011 billion litres of petrol.

The importation of petroleum products continues even as the Federal Government tries to stop it through the naira-for-crude deal with Dangote and other local refineries.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in a recent report that PMS imports into Nigeria surged in October compared to September.

The Dangote refinery began the sale of petrol in September, but it appears this has yet to reduce fuel imports, especially with the sector’s full deregulation.

A document that provided details of imported refined products during the review period showed that companies like Bovas, AA Rano, Matrix, Fatgbems, Deepwater, Raj, T-Time, Rainoil, Prudent, Chisco, Nepal, AYM Shafa, Northwest, Shorelink, and others received petrol from different vessels in Lagos, Warri, Calabar, and Port Harcourt.

In October, NNPCL and its partners imported a total of 994,446.438 metric tonnes of PMS, with Lagos receiving 555,121.617 metric tonnes, Warri 281,100 metric tonnes, Port Harcourt 94,224.821 metric tonnes, and Calabar 64,000 metric tonnes.

A total of 285,518.764 metric tonnes of diesel was also imported, with Lagos receiving 162,500 metric tonnes, Warri 58,500 metric tonnes, Port Harcourt 56,018.764 metric tonnes, and Calabar 8,500 metric tonnes.

Between November 1 and November 11; a further 358,083 metric tonnes of PMS, 112,500 metric tonnes of diesel, and 13,500 metric tonnes of aviation fuel were discharged at Nigerian ports.

N10bn equalisation fund

Meanwhile, the independent marketers have appealed to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to pay their N10bn Petroleum Equalisation Fund after many failed promises.

Recently, the NMDPRA promised to pay N10bn to IPMAN members during a meeting with the Department of State Services and stakeholders in the downstream sector, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

In October, the National Vice President of IPMAN, Hammed Fashola, told our correspondent that the intervention of the DSS solved many of the problems facing marketers.

Fashola also confirmed that through the intervention, the NMDPRA agreed to pay the association’s outstanding N10bn.

However, barely a month later, the agency has yet to fulfill its promise.

Before deregulation, the Petroleum Equalisation Fund was set up by the Nigerian government to reimburse petroleum marketers for any losses they suffered arising from the sale of petroleum products at uniform prices throughout Nigeria. It was a form of subsidy managed by the defunct Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board.

Formed in 2021, the NMDPRA encompasses a merger of three defunct regulatory agencies: the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency; the Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board; and the Midstream and Downstream Divisions of the Department of Petroleum Resources.

After President Bola Tinubu announced an end to the fuel subsidy regime, the Federal Government closed down the Petroleum Equalisation Fund, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act.

Meetings were held with marketers in 2023 to reconcile accounts and pay those still owed by the government.

However, it was learnt that members of IPMAN still have an outstanding N10bn with the Federal Government.

Speaking with our correspondent, Fashola recalled that promises were made but not fulfilled.

“Our N10bn PEF outstanding is still with the government. They promised to pay us but they have not.

“That money was what the government used to pay to marketers to ensure we sell petrol at a uniform price. For example, if we all buy petrol at the same place, we cannot sell it at the same price due to the cost of transportation.

“The cost of selling fuel in the north will be expensive because of how much it will cost to convey the product to the far north. So, the Federal Government set up the PEF to pay the cost so that we can all sell petrol at the same rate. This was before the sector was deregulated,“ Fashola said.

He added that after President Bola Tinubu deregulated PMS in 2023, the equalisation fund was stopped, but IPMAN members still have N10bn unpaid by the defunct board.

IPMAN Publicity Secretary, Ukadike, said some marketers need the money to pay back their loans.

Ukadike appealed to the NMDPRA to ensure prompt payment of the N10bn for ease of doing business.

“We appreciate the NMDPRA for the intervention to pay the N10bn to marketers. This will ease marketers’ efforts to be in business and to buy more petroleum products. It will also encourage them to distribute petroleum products nationwide,” Ukadike said.

He disclosed that banks are running after some marketers over unpaid loans, pleading that the fund be paid soon.

“The banks are on us. So, if we get this money, it will help to ease the difficulties marketers are facing and also pay banks their loans. So we appeal that they (NMDPRA) should release this fund as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson requested.

The NMDPRA has not reacted to the matter. The spokesperson of the agency, George Ene-Ita, has yet to reply to messages seeking information about the fund.

Dangote seeks loan

The Dangote refinery is aiming to raise billions of dollars to import crude oil and increase production, according to new reports.

This comes despite the launch of the naira-for-crude deal last month, which resulted in the initial supply of four cargoes to the refinery.

A report by Financial Times, quoting officials familiar with the matter, on Sunday said the Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, is in talks with commercial lenders, development banks, oil traders and other industry participants to raise funds for crude supplies to turn into refined products.

Another official familiar with the matter said it would cost about $2bn every 90 days to secure a minimum supply of 300,000 b/d.

According to the report, the refinery needs to secure more crude to reach the refinery’s capacity of 650,000 barrels per day for the project tagged as a “game changer” for the country.

Earlier this year, a senior executive at the group, Devakumar Edwin, said the refinery bought crude from the US and Brazil and, in July, was in talks with African suppliers such as Libya and Angola to ramp up production.

Recall that last week, the refinery signed an off-taker agreement with IPMAN to lift petrol, diesel and other products directly from the refinery.

The plant began producing jet fuel and naphtha at the start of the year and petrol in September, raising hopes that Nigeria could finally end decades of reliance on imported fuel.

The report further noted that investors have expressed frustration at Dangote’s inability to gain a steady supply of crude, according to one banker involved in the fundraising.

Another added that there was also a major concern among potential financiers over exposure to Nigeria’s currency, the naira, which has fallen sharply following two devaluations over the past year.

“The refinery may never make a profit in real terms,” said the second banker. “It was built over budget, and the naira, which is a major currency of future revenue, has devalued massively.”

The Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African development lender based in Nigeria that is already an investor in the project, is one of the institutions involved in the talks to raise money.

The AFC led a financing round in December for funds to source the initial capital to get the refinery up and running as a commercial operation.

Last month, the government, through the Technical Sub-Committee on Domestic Sales of Crude Oil in Local Currency, agreed to supply the refinery crude in naira for six months in the first instance, pending further review.

The deal will last six months in the first phase because crude oil, being an international product, is priced in dollars, sources confirmed to PUNCH.

But stakeholders including Dangote, have questioned NNPC’s ability to supply the crude the refinery needs because it has sold significant quantities of oil on forward contracts.

Even if NNPC comes through with the crude, Dangote would need another 185,000 b/d, or more than 5mn barrels a month, to meet his target of 550,000 b/d by January and more still once the refinery reaches full capacity.

NNPC has a 7.2 per cent stake in the refinery, which was watered down from 20 per cent after it failed to pay the balance of a deal worth $2.7bn. NNPC paid $1bn upfront in cash in 2021 and the other $1.76bn was supposed to be paid for in crude supplies.

Dangote Industries declined to comment further on the fundraising or the industrialist’s talks with the president.

NNPC did not respond to requests for comment on the fundraising or meeting.

The AFC declined to comment on the discussions over fundraising.

News

Tinubu fires DG names replacement (photos)

Published

2 hours ago

November 18, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

President Bola Tinubu has fired Nura Sani Kangiwa as Director-General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR).

Recall that Sani Kangiwa was appointed NIHOTOUR DG in September 2020 by former president, Muhammadu Buhari.

Though no official reason was provided for the dismissal, it is possible that his tenure had come to an end.

However, in his place, President Tinubu on Thursday last week appointed Abisoye Fagade as the new Director-General of NIHOTOUR.

Dr. Abisoye Fagade is a marketing communication professional.

He is the founder and managing director of Sodium Brand Solutions.

President Tinubu urged the newly appointed officer to discharge his duties with dedication, patriotism, and excellence.

News

Banditry! Police Officer feared K!lled As Gunmen Attack Lawmaker’s Convoy in Abia State

Published

2 hours ago

November 18, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

A policeman attached to the member representing Isialangwa North and South Federal Constituency of Abia State, Hon. Ginger Onwusibe has been feared dead.

The incident happened around 9pm at Ubakala Umuahia South.

According to a police source, gunmen dressed in black and wearing police-style armor jackets had blocked the convoy of the House of Representatives member with a Toyota Corolla.

The lawmaker was not in the vehicle when the incident happened but at least two police officers and a driver were in the vehicle.

The gunmen opened fire on the escorts after they identified themselves as police officers.

In the process, a police officer was killed, while another officer was injured. The attackers fled the scene, and the police station at Ubakala responded with gunfire.

Attempts to contact the Abia State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO) was unsuccessful. Police sources said officers of the command are on the trail of the suspects it believes are kidnappers.