Rotimi Amaechi arrives National Assembly For Ministerial Screening(Photos)

At last, Rotimi Amaechi will be screened today.Daily Trust reports that Amaechi arrived the National Assembly this morning and he was accompany by presidential adviser on national assembly matters (Senate) Senator Ita Enang, the Rivers state All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the last election Dakuku Peterside, among others.

Barring any last minute changes, Amaechi will be screened today alongside 5 other ministerial nominees.

The five others are Heineken Lopkobiri, Adewale Folorunsho, Baba Shehuri Mustapha, Ocholi James and Claudius Daramola.

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Senate is yet to receive ministerial list- Dino Melaye

President Buhari promised to release the full ministerial list by the end of September and everyone was really looking forward to the unveiling of their ministers but it seems the APC leaders have not made up their minds as the senate has not receive any list from the presidency. Chairman of the Senate adhoc committee on publicity, Dino Melaye made this known to National assembly correspondence after the end of today's sitting

"I want to announce we are still waiting for the ministerial list from the president I want to advise there is no need for agitation. September expires 12 midnight today and I want to assure Nigerians that as soon as we get possession of the list, we will communicate to them.
I also want to assure Nigerians that we will attend to the ministerial list expeditiously but diligently. It is not going to be business as usual. We are going to properly screen the nominees and only those who meet the constitutional and moral requirements will be cleared. We want Nigerians not to be agitated. September expires 12 midnight. The doors of the senate are opened 24 hours"he said

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Our economy in trouble, say Okonjo-Iweala, Aganga, Nnaji

Prof. Barth Nnaji, Olusegun Aganga and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

THREE ministers-designate at the heart of the Goodluck Jonathan economic revival team, yesterday, reviewed the Nigerian economy and posited big trouble unless the present consumption pattern is reversed.

Managing Director of the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; immediate past Finance Minister and erstwhile Managing Director of Goldman Sachs, Mr. Olusegun Aganga and former Presidential Adviser on Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji; spoke at the Senate screening exercise where they were confirmed as Ministers.

Okonjo-Iweala who painted a gory picture of the Nigerian economy during a Senate confirmation hearing to return her to her old job as Minister of Finance, asked: “How can we invest in capital if we’re spending all our money on recurrent expenditures.”

The Senate had approved the unanimous opposition by all three Lagos senators to confirm Aganga as the ministerial nominee from Lagos. Other nominees confirmed, yesterday, were Comrade Aba Moro, Benue; Dr. Samuel Ortom, Benue; Senator Idris Umar, Gombe; and Mrs. Viola Onwuliri, Imo.

Screening of nominees

Also confirmed yesterday were Professor Ita Okon-Bassey, Akwa Ibom; and Erelu Olusola Obada, Osun.

The seriousness with which Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala and some of the nominees painted issues were,  however, lacking in the approach of the Senate in the screening of  the other nominees. A number of the nominees were confirmed without as much as a question from the senators who simply asked them to bow and go.

Dressed in a blue blouse and skirt made of African print with black spots and with her landmark headgear, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala entered the Senate chambers at precisely 12.10 p.m. and was let off at 1.15 p.m.

She was quizzed on several issues pertaining to the economy and for the first time was publicly made to disclose reasons for her unceremonious exit from the Olusegun Obasanjo cabinet.

Noting that Nigeria was eating out of what it should be using to develop itself, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said: “I am really worried about the issue of making sure our budget is not eaten up by recurrent expenditure. How can we invest in capital if we’re spending all our money on recurrent expenditures. Can we run a budget that is not negative? Absolutely. We can do it, we have done it. We have been able in the past.

Recurrent expenditure

“I strongly believe that we should try as a country as much as possible live within our means. Right now we need to work very hard because the budget that we have is such that the current expenditure is almost 74 per cent of the budget, therefore, there is not as much left for capital, so we need to work hard to put in place policy that will make it possible to continue to implement fiscal policies that will enable us to tackle the various challenges in the economy while at the same time living within our means.”

She noted that the recurrent expenditure was crowding out other necessary investment in infrastructure especially power and as such solicited the help of senators to help the executive branch of government by giving the push to cut down recurrent spending.

Also noting the effect of unemployment on the economy, she said: “I think the main problems in the economy have to do with creating jobs. We have unemployment rate of about 14 to 16 per cent, but very large under-employment and the issue is how to make the economy growing in a way that it will create jobs, so those fiscal policies have to be supportive of sectors that are going to be job creating, because we now have growth, but we need to translate that growth into jobs, so those are the kinds of fiscal policies that we need to encourage. We should privatize sectors that are job creating.”

Noting the declining performance of the federal budget, she said: “When I joined the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the budget implementation was 30 percent in 2003, we got up to 90 and 85 percent as at the time I was leaving. And that was a good for any country. As at now the implementation is at 53 percent. I don’t see any reason why the budget will not be fully implemented, if it is reasonable and delivered on time. Budget will be fully implemented if the revenue is coming with less expenditure.”

Expressing concern that the country was not maximally exploiting its oil revenues, she said: “We are losing reserves, it shouldn”t be, we should be increasing our reserves, at the same time. I am aware that part of the reserve maybe due to decision to support the naira, I don’t think is something that is untoward, but if we want to revalue the naira this will not be the time to think about it. I think we should wait until things are more stable, we are growing our economy, we are creating jobs, we make sure our young people are working and the sectors we have are really giving what they should before we think in that direction.”

Investment in oil sectcor

Answering a question on the Joint Venture Companies, JVC, Okonjo-Iweala said: “On the issue of JVC I think there are number of modalities that many countries use to manage the oil sector, exploration in their countries and investment into the oil sector. I think the problem that we have is that our own portion of the joint venture over time we have difficulties meeting that, but I don’t see anything wrong with them per se, I think in the beginning if you are going to go that route, you really need to have strong presence and advise to make sure that what you negotiate really obeys the law that will be of benefit to the country at the end of the day after the whole process.”

Inevitably, she was drawn to why she had to resign from the Obasanjo government after her successful role in erasing most of the country’s debts to the Paris Club of debtor nations.

She said: “I did not run away, I was here. I resigned, I served the country for about three years and when I determined that I could no longer perform and give to the country the way that I would want, I resigned, which is the honourable thing to do, so I did not run away. When the circumstances are appropriate to serve, you serve and if they are not appropriate, you go and do something else. I think three years plus of service is quite substantial, not only in Nigeria, but elsewhere in other countries, it is regarded as a good amount of time to have given the country and I intend to implement and if Iam cleared I will do my job.”

On the usefulness or otherwise of sustaining the subsidy on petroleum, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said that subsidy was a good instrument needful in narrowing the economic gap between the rich and the poor but lamented that where it is not effectively utilized it becomes wasted.

She said that she was especially touched by the wide gulf between the rich and the poor in Nigeria saying that narrowing it was one of the incentives for her returning to the federal cabinet.

She noted: “We have coefficient of inequality. It is this inequality that is holding us down. People keep asking why I want to come back to work, but the reason is simple. In a country where the rich keeps getting richer and the poor keeps getting poorer, we need to bridge the gap. We live in a country, where the rich can just wake up and decide to travel abroad, just as their children school abroad and have access to good healthcare. On the part of the poor, the reverse is the case.”

In addition, Iweala said: “The children of the poor don’t have good schools to attend to and no good healthcare system in a country of 150 million people. That is the inequality we are talking about. We must change this because I know it is possible to do so. I will ensure that we improve the lot of the common people, in order to prevent our young people from moving abroad.”

Aganga who appeared after Okonjo-Iweala also lamented the lopsidedness of the national budget on recurrent expenditure which he said was responsible for the nation’s economic downturn.

Aganga noted that the Nigeria”s huge personnel cost at 75 percent average is a drain on the nation’s resources which has become a burden and an impediment to infrastructural development.

He said: “The level of expenditure has increased significantly. Five years ago it was N1.6 trillion. In 2009 it went up to N3 trillion. In 2010, N4 trillion and in 2011 it is going to go to N4.4 trillion that is hard given the level of revenue we have today.

“The second challenge we have is the level of our recurrent expenditure. In 2009 it represented 30 percent of total expenditure, in 2010 it represented 73 percent of expenditure and 2011 it is going to be 74percent of the expenditure. What that means is that the amount we are investing in infrastructure and development is less than 30 percent of total expenditure, so how can you develop as a country?,,,,

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Nnaji :Stable Power Supply Not Likely Till 2014

Prof. Barth Nnaji , Minister-Designate

The welled-up hope of a stable power supply in the country may yet wait a while before it becomes a reality, given the not-very-bright picture painted by Professor Barth Nnaji, a minister-designate, who was cleared Wednesday by the Senate.

Nnaji explained that there would be a concerted effort to increase the present megawatts generated by 1000 this year and another 1000 next year. The nation currently generates about 3,400 megawatts.

But the minister-designate expressed confidence that the nation could hit a 15,000- megawatt target by 2014, at which time electricity supply would be stable and guaranteed.

Nnaji, a former special adviser to the president on energy, gave the explanations while answering senators’ questions during the confirmation hearing session.

According to him, the government was planning to have four sources of power. These, he said, were the existing power plants, which had a generating capacity of over 5,000 megawatts but which were currently generating about 2,400 megawatts; the existing Independent Power Plants (IPPs) owned by Shell and Agip; the bulk traders who were expected to buy about 6,000 megawatts of power from private companies; as well as the hydro and coal power plants in Mambilla and Zungeru.

Nnaji argued that “if you calculate the amount of power that will come from all the four sources within the next two years, you would have crossed the 10,000 megawatts because they are already being constructed, and will soon be completed, and by 2014, we should be reaching about 15,000 megawatts.”

President Goodluck Jonathan had said stable electricity supply was a major plank of his administration’s transformation agenda for the country.

And while being screened as well, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala yesterday picked holes in the N150,000 cash withdrawal limit policy being spearheaded by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

This disagreement may signal policy clash in the new administration, as the minister-designate is likely to head the Finance Ministry.

The World Bank managing director explained that the policy could have negative effect on the nation’s economy and as such, it must be approached with caution.

Sanusi had announced that as from July next year, the withdrawal limit for private individuals per day shall be N150,000, while corporate entities might not withdraw more than N1 million per day.

Okonjo-Iweala expressed this opinion shortly before the Senate confirmed her nomination along with nine other ministerial nominees.

She also expressed reservation on the Islamic Banking plan, also being sponsored by Sanusi.

The nine other ministerial nominees cleared by the Senate were: Nnaji (Enugu), Mr. Olusegun Aganga (Lagos), Dr. Belllo Mohammed (Kebbi), Comrade Abba Moro (Benue), Dr. Samuel Ioraer Ortom (Benue), Prof. (Mrs.) Viola Onwuliri (Imo), Prof. Ita Okon Bassey-Ewa (Akwa Ibom), Erelu Olusola Obada (Osun) and Idris Umar (Gombe).

This brings to 24 the total number of ministerial nominees cleared so far by the upper chamber, leaving 10 more to be screened today.

Of the 10 nominees cleared Wednesday, only six went through the real crucible of senatorial screening, as the other four were simply asked to take a bow and go in obvious contravention of the Senate’s resolution at the beginning of the exercise to subject all nominees to the same time of thorough grilling.

Those who were given the bow-and-go privilege were the Acting National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mohammed; former Director General of Senate President David Mark’s senatorial re-election Campaign Organisation, Moro; a self-confessed former motor tout who, despite being a primary school drop-out, struggled to obtain a Ph.D degree, Ortom; and Umar, who was until June 4 a senator.

Answering the senators’ questions, Okonjo-Iweala said although she liked the objective of the proposed peg on cash withdrawal, which was to move the country towards a cashless economy, she expressed reservation that it could discourage the people from keeping their money in the banks.

“If you implement a minimum or a maximum withdrawal, people will decide to keep money in their mattresses and not put them in the bank because they will think they will not be able to withdraw them,” she said, cautioning that “we have to go about it carefully.”

The former finance minister, who also addressed the issue of naira revaluation, said it was not a bad idea, pointing out however that the time for it was not yet ripe.

She said: “If we want to revalue the naira, this will not be the time to think about it, I think we should wait and until things are more stable. We are growing our economy; we are creating jobs; we make sure our young people are working and the sectors we have are really giving what they should before we think in those steps”.

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