Viewpoint

Viewpoint

Justice dispensation in Nigeria is like a shipwreck. And the reasons for this calamity are obvious to the stakeholders. A former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mariam Aloma-Mukhtar, decried in Abuja recently the prevalence of lobbying and favouritism in judicial appointments, instead of being merit-driven.

Her observation is a knock-out on the judiciary. These base criteria, she noted, have led to a decline in standards, weakening of the judiciary and enthronement of incompetent judicial officers. With the “rising culture” label she attached to it, it is obvious that the tumour has been with the system for long.

Politicians of note are involved in this racket. In a highly corrupt country like ours, this is tragic. As someone who chaired the National Judicial Council until 2014 when she retired, revealing what she did to tame the scourge would have made more sense.  However, she was right in stressing that “these practices negate the principles of justice and breed indiscipline.”

Globally, the values of a judge define the quality of the bench. The position is magisterial, reserved only for men and women of distinction – with integrity, honour and high intellect – given the fact that they are expected to deliver justice to all; and hold the power to decide matters of life and death over fellow human beings.

Aloma-Mukhtar is not the only judicial personage to lament the self-immolation of our judiciary. Her successor, Mahmud Mohammed, in fact, initiated a new recruitment process aimed at eliminating the plague. He proposed the advertisement of vacancies in the media, to attract interested applicants. The CJN, serving and retired; serving and retired Justices of the Supreme Court; President of Court of Appeal, serving and retired; other heads of courts and President of the Nigerian Bar Association would be required to nominate candidates.

The method will “ensure that only fit and proper persons and the most intellectually astute, morally sound, meritorious and deserving candidates are appointed as judges of courts. It is the best way to proceed in reforming our judiciary,” Mohammed had intoned.

But Aloma-Mukhtar’s recent misgiving simply means that Mohammed’s reform was either ineffective or it never took off. The dominant practice has been for the Federal/States Judicial Service Commissions to prepare a list of nominees. The NJC screens and successful candidates are then forwarded to either the president or the governor for eventual appointment.

If mundane considerations, as outlined by the ex-CJN, still mess up judges’ selection process, it means then that the NJC deserves a big hit. Its incumbent chairman and CJN, Walter Onnoghen, should now hit the bull’s-eye. Undoubtedly, the extant procedure or Mohammed’s template is open to abuse. For instance, if a CJN once arrested a judgement of an election petition, or tried to influence its outcome in the past, then such a figure cannot be trusted with the responsibility of nominating an upright candidate to the position of a judge.

Again, a retired President of the Court of Appeal, Ayo Salami, a few years ago, took the lid off the disgraceful post-retirement misconduct of some retired senior judges who intimidated judges handling cases at Election Petitions Tribunals, funnelling bribes to them on behalf of their desperate “clients” who wanted to win at all costs.

Therefore, the selection process should be broadened to involve the larger society. It will beget public confidence for our beleaguered judiciary. This works in Kenya, Canada and Australia. In Canada, a Supreme Court nominee submits an application to a screening committee comprising judges, lawyers, government officials and members of the public.

A former Chief Justice of Australia, Anthony Mason, now a law professor at the University of Cambridge, the United Kingdom, says higher courts appointments are made with the public knowing the procedures that are followed. The process, he emphasises, involves consultation and enquiry with professional groups and people who can speak for the public interest.

The racketeering in Nigeria’s judiciary and high-level of indiscipline on the bench have become too rampant and laughable: Judges from courts of coordinate jurisdictions still give conflicting judgements; it is doubtful if granting of ex parte motions, relief not sought, interlocutory injunctions, perpetual injunctions, use of other discretionary powers have been abandoned by the judges who traffic in them. These are abuses driven by graft.

Instructively, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, which prescribes procedures for speedy trials and is meant to address these concerns, is being undermined by judges in many ways, which include giving ruling on interlocutory applications, instead of doing so while delivering judgement in the substantive case. The abuse, says a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Itse Sagay, constitutes “gross misconduct deserving of sanctions by the NJC.”

It is an unworthy judge that waits for the life-span of a legislative tenure to end, before delivering judgement on a pre-election matter.  These and more justify the demand for a paradigm shift in judicial personnel recruitment. Those entrusted with the task have woefully failed the country.

While Aloma-Mukhtar and Mohammed may have expressed their anxieties, which others share, howling over the matter does not solve the problem. The beneficiaries of such flawed appointments should be fished out and sent packing. It is just like the efforts by states to cleanse their payroll by sacking workers who got into the civil service through the back door.

This remedial step makes sense. The depravity should not be like the “billionaire judges” the late jurist, Kayode Eso, bemoaned; or the corrupt judges that a SAN, Femi Falana, says information on them freely circulates within lawyers circles. The country should abort this rot by ensuring that judges pass through the furnace before their appointment, for a better society.

Punch

Last modified on Tuesday, 20 March 2018 11:21

The Land Use Charge Law 2018, LUC, recently enacted by the Lagos State House of Assembly to replace the LUC of 2001, has understandably kicked off a firestorm of protests across the state because of what many see as its shylock provisions that if implemented, will be very oppressive on property owners, tenants and long-term property users in the state.

The LUC is a consolidation of all property and land-based rates and charges payable under the Land Rates Neighbourhood Improvement Charge and Tenement Rates Laws of Lagos State. It is perhaps a major effort at raising the $50 billion which the Lagos State Government says it needs within the next five years to transform the infrastructural landscape of the nation’s melting pot and former capital.

When it comes into operation, property owners will find themselves saddled with charges that could rise to over 400 per cent of what they are currently liable to pay. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode explained that the increase is justified by the steady improvement in the infrastructure of the state in the past 20 years. He also pointed to the fact that since 2001, no rate increases have been imposed contrary to the requirement of the law which recommends an increase every five years.

Several organisations – including the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Lagos Branch and some groups in the Organised Private Sector – have protested and threatened to drag the state government to court. Some landlords associations are also considering class action suits to get the law repealed.

There is no arguing the fact that government has the right under the law to seek ways of shoring up its Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, to continue to provide services to the people. The Lagos State Government has been a pacesetter and a source of inspiration not just to other states but also the Federal Government in the aggressive pursuit of IGR.

We are pleased and relieved that the LASG is already responding positively to the call for another look at the LUC. Also, Governor Ambode has offered to reduce some of the charges between 15 per cent and 50 per cent. This is highly commendable and expected of a responsive, democratically-elected government.

We call on the LASG to take this law back to the drawing board and consult  more widely before re-enacting it into law. LASG should also be mindful of the crushing economic situation the people are passing through because it is the common man that will ultimately bear the brunt of the increase in charges.

Let this law properly reflect Governor Ambode’s mantra that Lagos is for all.

Vanguard

Caution is required as alcohol and tobacco taxes go up in new revenue drive

TAX authorities seem to be firing on all cylinders around here recently. Various revenues collecting regimes and schemes are being churned out by the day. It is, of course, a response to the shrinking revenue base of the government as well as the urgent need for more infrastructure funds.

It is also symptomatic of the enhanced paradigms that have been brought about in revenue collection which are not unconnected with the fresh minds managing the process. Ebullient Mr. Tunde Fowler, for instance, who leads the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), must be mentioned for showing his mettle already.

However, tax which is almost as old as man lugs a lacuna all of its own. All through its long history, mankind has detested both the tax collector and his trade. Unless it is in exchange for valued goods and services, ever seen a man part with his money with a smile?

Of course making money or amassing wealth is at once tough and tricky and no man who has managed to accumulate a bundle is happy to hand it to another man no matter the nobility of the cause. This has always been the abiding trouble in tax business; and the wealthier a man is, it seems, the more adept he is at evading parting with some of his wealth.

Fowler had illustrated this point when he decried the fact that only 943 individuals out of the entire taxable adults in Nigeria pay up to N10 million as tax yearly. Of this figure, 941 are in Lagos and two in Ogun State.

Fowler notes: “That tells us that in all other states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory, there is no billionaire or multi-millionaire.

“But, when you look at the assets and the vehicles that are on our roads, then you will know that something is wrong. If you look at the average house in Ikoyi or the average house in the high net worth neighbourhoods in Kaduna, Rivers, Onitsha and other cities, you find houses that are worth over N500 million. So if an individual has a house worth over N500 million and he did not pay N10 million in tax, where did he get his money from?”

No thanks to years of oil boom, tax collection and payment have been abysmal. Various governments, awash with petro-dollars have been lax in collecting and the citizen didn’t see the need to hand government officials more cash. But oil revenues have dwindled drastically while infrastructure gaps keep widening.

This explains why measures have been put in place in the last two years to capture more tax payers. For instance, the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) has reportedly yielded N20 billion already in just a few months and with little hassles.

There is an on-going x-ray of corporate organisations that do not pay taxes on property. About 200 of such properties have been found in Abuja alone worth more than N2 trillion. The exercise is already concluded in Lagos; Kaduna is on-going. Proceedings are already in court to get judgments that would enable the tax authorities seize the properties and sell them.

These are just a few of the activities going on in the FIRS and the 36 states’ revenues services under a more collaborative Joint Tax Board, JTB.

Amidst all this, the Federal Government apparently succumbed to a long-sustained pressure from the World Bank to hike excise duty on alcoholic drinks and tobacco.

According to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, “the upward review of the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco will achieve the dual benefits of raising government’s revenues as well as reducing the health hazards associated with tobacco-related diseases and alcoholic abuse.”

Though it is said that the increase followed all-inclusive stakeholders’ engagements, apart from the fact that the increment would be graduated over a period of three years;  we call for caution. The largely downtrodden consumers could resort to illicit smoke and drinks, thereby jeopardising the beverage and tobacco sectors of the economy, and even their health.

The economy is yet to completely come out of recession, inflation remains in the double digits and income has not risen in nearly seven years. There has been also a rash of jacked up levies, charges and tolls from different states. Government must therefore be wary of excessive taxation.

In fact it must create a fine balance between the quest for more revenues and the right of the citizenry to individual wealth and happiness.

The Nation

The natives of the FCT under the aegis of Abuja Indigenous Association (CAIA), have said they will not vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019 polls if their stakeholders fail to channel their pressing problems to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Friday, the spokesman of the group, Ahmadu Yunusa Yusuf, said the natives had already lost confidence in the APC-led administration for failure to address their challenges, especially failure to give them a ministerial slot.

He said the natives had expected that by now the FCT party stakeholders would team up and make a protest visit to the president, seeking a ministerial slot for the people of the territory.

He said the natives would soon embark on another protest against the APC government if the stakeholders fail to take action within the shortest period of time.

The natives further expressed disappointment over what they described as lukewarm attitude of the area council chairmen towards their plight.

 “We can’t imagine that none of these council chairmen has ever gone to the media asking Mr. President to appoint an FCT indigene as minister. And we want to make it categorically clear that we will not vote APC come 2019 election,” he added.

Daily Trust

 

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, recently revealed that about 90 million Nigerians have no access to electricity. The minister, who was represented by the Acting Director in the ministry, Faruk Yabo, at the annual international conference of the Centre for Petroleum, Energy, Economics and Law (CPEEL), University of Ibadan, lamented that despite abundant sources of energy in Africa, such as natural gas, crude oil, coal and renewable energy, half of about 1.5 billion people, who lack electricity in the world live in Africa. 

We commend the minister for publicly acknowledging the power supply challenge and urge him to find solutions to the problem. Good enough, the minister has underscored the fact that for the government to ensure electricity supply to all Nigerians, the focus should be on developing renewable energy along with conventional power plants.

Fashola also disclosed that some of the federal government’s strategy to improve electricity supply include implementation of off-grid renewable energy solutions such as rural mini-grids, stand alone home solutions, Independent Power Projects (IPPs) for federal universities, teaching hospitals and large-scale solar PV projects.

Some of the energy projects expected to be completed and commissioned this year, the minister said, include the 10MW Katsina wind farm, 30MW Gurara Hydropower, I29MW Dadin Kowa Hydropower, 40MW Kashimbila Hydropower, 700MW Zungeru Hydropower and 14 Solar Independent Power Projects (IPPs). Government must ensure that these projects are completed and commissioned as promised.

Besides, we enjoin the government to emulate other African countries that have overcome the energy supply problem such as South Africa and Ghana. We say this because it would be useful to profit from their experiences. Since power supply remains a veritable gateway to rapid industrialisation and economic development for any country, the government must quickly tackle the energy supply deficit.

At the inception of the present political dispensation in 1999, the nation had a generating capacity of 2,000MW. Despite injecting over $16 billion into the beleaguered power sector since 1999, the situation has not significantly improved. At present, Nigeria generates about 7,000 MW. This is far below the expectations of Nigerians. It is estimated that Nigeria should generate about 40,000 MW to ensure stable power supply. For this dream to be realised, it is projected that $2 billion must be invested in the power sector annually for ten years.  Sadly, the nation’s annual budgetary allocation to power sector is so small that it will be difficult to achieve stable power supply so soon. 

Since most manufacturing industries require adequate power supply to function effectively, the nexus between power supply and job creation should not be lost on the government. There is no doubt that steady power supply is crucial to the industrialisation of the country. The fact that many companies have shutdown and relocated to other neighbouring countries in West Africa due to power shortage and other factors, is not encouraging.

The nation’s power supply deficit is apparently obvious in the textile industries where stable power supply is critical. The nation’s textile industries that used to be mass employers of labour could no longer do so due to poor power supply and unfavourable business climate.

The situation has led to closure of most of our textile industries, loss of jobs and influx of foreign textile materials into the country.

The government should consider entering into strategic partnerships with relevant foreign partners to solve the problem in the power sector. Let the government tap from hydro, thermal, solar, wind and coal sources of energy to address the electricity supply gap. This approach, we believe, is the best way to tackle the nation’s power challenge.

Sun

 


Your Excellency, Ambassador George Adesola Oguntade, CFR, CON,


Permit me to quickly congratulate you on your recent appointment as the Nigeria High Commissioner to the Courts of St. James in London by President Muhammadu Buhari.
We saw the colourful photographs of the 'royal' reception given to you and wife at the Buckingham Palace, all the way from Nigeria High Commission at Northumberland Avenue in central London to meet Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, probably for the first time in your life.


I am writing this open letter to you because I know there are many 'faceless' government agents on social media and they would surely draw your attention to this open letter, and also some Nigerians in Scotland may also alert you of this letter.


If I had sent this letter through the High Commission in London, you're not likely to receive it due to the Nigerian factor of bureaucracy. That's another topic for another day.


This is an open letter and the whole world must surely read my views. As simple as ABC.


I recently saw a poster on social media announcing your scheduled visit to Scotland on Saturday, March 24th, 2018, being organised by Nigerian Community Scotland(NCS).


It is tagged as a TOWN HALL MEETING. To the best of my knowledge, no planned protest to disrupt this event because for now, Nigerians in Scotland undoubtedly regard you as a father and an elderly friend unless otherwise stated.


This is not the first time that officials of the Nigeria High Commission from London shall be visiting Scotland to discuss ideas and listen to views of Nigerians living in Scotland and your visit cannot be the last.


Your Excellency Sir, I can comfortably tell you that such past visits had no positive impact for Nigerians living in Scotland. Many people regarded the whole exercise as a jamboree.None of our recommendations is implemented to date. Same old story after speaking plenty grammar!


Nigerians in the United Kingdom are tired of listening to 'sweet' nothing, propaganda, official lies and rhetorics of government officials whose main work is to attend to the welfare of Nigerians living (legally or illegally!) in the United Kingdom but these well-paid officials always treat fellow Nigerians with utter disdain and disregard for human dignity. I am not here to open a can of worms.


Your Excellency Sir, I won't tell you about the unprofessional attitude of some of the staff working at the Nigerian High Commission in London when Nigerians are desperately in need of passports or visas. You may need to re-train many of them to treat fellow Nigerians with respect and dignity.
I am sure you're not going to tell us all the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari in Glasgow because Nigerians in the diaspora are always in touch with Nigerians living in Nigeria for regular updates. The whole world is now a global village. Nothing is hidden anymore.


Your Excellency Sir, permit me to make a passionate request and if you're able to achieve this project during your tenure as our ambassador, it would engrave your name in gold in many hearts.
The largest percentage of Nigerians in Scotland are living and working in Scotland.


What's the cost of having a consular office in Glasgow to attend to the passport/visa applications of Nigerians in Scotland?
Nigerians(living in Scotland) don't need to be travelling to London to apply for Nigerian passport and visa(for Nigerian-British passport holders).


We have been demanding for a consulate in Scotland for over 10 years without any positive solution.
Do we need to engage in 'fasting and prayer' for the Almighty God to touch the heart of Nigerian government before this miracle of establishing a consular office in Glasgow can happen during our lifetime?


Your Excellency Sir, don't come up with usual excuse that Nigeria is broke and can no longer finance another consulate in Glasgow because London is roughly 10 hours drive from Glasgow and about 6 hours by train and less than 2 hours by air. Enough of such gibberish stories!


Can I really count on you to establish a Consular Office in Glasgow as urgent as possible?
Former acting High Commissioner, when asked the same question once, replied in an undiplomatic manner. Permit me to paraphrase his immortal words:"Can you compare the cost and stress of travelling to London and Nigeria when applying for a Nigerian passport? It is still cheaper to travel to London to apply for your passport and visa instead of travelling to Nigeria?"


From my own personal experience, Nigerian government officials don't always listen to all the suggestions and recommendations of Nigerians in the diaspora.


Nobody is ready to waste time and energy to meet any Nigerian government official in the diaspora to discuss same old topics back and forth without any meaningful and visible progress.


Many Nigerians need to work under this unfriendly cold weather and pay their bills! That's the bitter truth.


Maybe your own approach(as a retired judge!) is going to be different and as the English maxim says, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." We shall be watching you, Sir.


As a retired judge of the federal republic of Nigeria, you must be very familiar with this Latin catchphrase often attributed to Aristotle:"Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas" translating to "Plato is my friend, but truth is a better friend."


Your Excellency Sir, if you're truly our father in the United Kingdom and our loyal friend, you must take the welfare of all Nigerians in the United Kingdom as a serious matter.


For now, on behalf of Nigerians living in the United Kingdom, I wish to call you as an AKOREDE and I hope we won't change that unique sobriquet into another unprintable name.


In conclusion, I warmly welcome you and your entourage to the iconic city of Glasgow in Scotland and all the views to be discussed shall stay permanently in your heart for full implementation.


As they enter through your right ear, never to escape through the left ear, 
such views must constantly prick your conscience as the Nigeria High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.


Thank you for reading my long open letter. I hope to meet you 'face-to-face' one day.


Your Revolutionary Compatriot,


Comrade Dare Lasisi.
Former Commonwealth Secretariat Media Intern.
Social media activist, Writer, and Blogger.

Last modified on Monday, 19 March 2018 17:56

The news of the confirmation of the humungous amount of money collected every month by members of the Senate as running expenses hit Nigerians like a thunder bolt. In the past, there have been unsubstantiated rumours about the exact amount pocketed by members of the National Assembly. But this is the first time that a serving legislator will openly declare the precise sum they collect. Senator Shehu Sani told Nigerians that every senator takes home N13.5 million as running costs which is not part of the monthly salary and other allowances such as housing, transport,  assistants, etc.

Section 70 of the 1999 Constitution as amended provides that a member of the Senate or House of Representatives shall receive such salary and other allowances as the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) may determine. Thus, it is not for the legislature to fix its own remuneration. In the 2007 review of the provisions of the Certain Political, Public and Judicial Office Holders(Salaries and Allowances, etc) Act No. 6 of 2002, being the law regulating the remuneration and allowances of political, public and judicial office holders as at that date, RMAFC stated that it took the following into consideration:  “(a) Changes in the basic fundamentals of the Nigerian economy; (b) External reserves; (c) GDP Growth rate; (d) rate of inflation; (e) correct placement of some category of public office holders who were wrongly placed in the old package; (f)need to modify old salaries and allowances and introduce new allowances that were not included in the old package; (g) need for a living wage to ensure honesty and dignity of the office holders and (h) need to ensure compliance with the provisions of sections 84 (3) and 124 (3) of the 1999 Constitution which states that the remuneration and salaries payable to the office holders and their conditions of service, other than allowances, shall not be altered to their disadvantage after their appointment”.

From the review, members of the Senate and House of Representatives are entitled to a basic annual salary of N2,026,400.00 and N1,985,212.50 respectively. They also get the following as a percentage of their basic salary. Accommodation (200 per cent); furniture (300 per cent); motor vehicle loan (400 per cent); vehicle maintenance (75 per cent); personal assistant (25 per cent); wardrobe (25 per cent); domestic staff (75 per cent); entertainment (30 per cent); utilities (30 percent); recess (10 per cent); and newspaper (15 per cent). However, the constituency vote of the senator is 250 per cent of the basic salary whilst the honourable member gets 100 per cent of the basic salary.

Working with the above figures, in the first year of their being sworn in, the total emoluments of 109 senators comes up to N3.390 billion. In the second and third year, when furniture allowance and motor vehicle loan will no longer be due, the total emolument of 109 senators amounts to N1.844 billion per year. In the fourth year, when the severance package is included, it will amount to N2.506 billion. Thus, the normal allowances of a Senator, excluding the once and for all furniture allowance,vehicle loan and severance gratuity is 735 percent of the basic salary every year.

Again, working with the above figures, in the first year of their being sworn in, the total emoluments of 360 Representatives comes up to N9.898 billion. In the second and third year, when furniture allowance and motor vehicle loan will no longer be due, the total emolument of 360 Representatives amounts to N4.895 billion per year. In the fourth year, when the severance package is included, it will amount to N7.039 billion.

Thus, for the four years, the total emoluments of 109 senators amounts to N9.586 billion whilst the 360 Representatives collect N26.728 billion; bringing the Senate and Representatives together gets the overall personnel vote to N36.314 billion.  However, these exclude medical allowance which is to be provided as a service, special assistants on grade levels 12 and 14, 3 legislative aides, Duty Tour Allowance, estacode, responsibility allowance for principal officers and security. Thus, the cost of these excluded items should not be more than 25%of the total remuneration of National Assembly members which adds an extra N9 billion bringing the four year cost to about N45 billion. Also, it is understandable that the bureaucracy that services NASS has to be paid. But this cannot escalate the budget to current reality of between N125 billion-N150 billion every year. Generally, the personnel allocation of NASS is about 10 percent of their vote whilst overheads take up about 80 per cent-85 per cent. The remaining 5% is usually for capital expenditure.

There is a consensus of opinion in Nigeria that this package of emoluments is extremely generous in a poor country where the bulk of the population live in extreme poverty; the infrastructure is in poor shape and all major human indicators are headed south. To now add N13.5 million per senator every month amounts to extra N17.658 billion every year totaling N70.632 billion over four years. We are yet to get the details of running cost of the Representatives which will definitely be higher than the figures in the Senate considering their number of 360. This is not only outrageous but an affront of incalculable proportions on the majority of citizens who find it difficult to eke out a living.

For the Senate spokesman to affirm that the running cost is already contained in the federal budget and as such, there is nothing new to it is the height of mischief.  For so many years at the Citizens Wealth Platform, we have been pointing out these frivolous, inappropriate, wasteful and illegal expenditure proposals but no one seems to be listening. The fact that legislators have the power of appropriation and they abuse it for their personal gain, rather than for the peace, order and good government of the federation does not justify, legalise or make right this N13.5 million monthly disbursement. It is simply authority stealing, using the legislative process for ignoble purposes and an abuse of power.

It is interesting that every senator and legislator takes home this money quietly and calmly without highlighting the fact that he is Christian or Moslem, Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba, etc. Thus, there is unanimity of purpose in their resolve to pocket this money without due process. And the fact that this has now become public knowledge is something that most of the members of NASS regret.  It is up to Nigerians to decide on how to react to this heist. Impunity rules where men are fearful and refuse to stand up for their rights.

Last modified on Monday, 19 March 2018 17:52

The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), says the N13m allowances being received by senators is only a tip of the iceberg as Nigerians will be shocked when he releases details of the allowances of the principal officers of the National Assembly.

Sagay said this during an interview with our correspondent.

The PACAC chairman was responding to revelations by the lawmaker representing Kaduna-Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani, that senators receive N700,000 monthly and a separate N13.5m as running costs.

Sagay, who has for several years accused federal lawmakers of receiving outrageous allowances, said principal officers of the National Assembly, including the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker, Deputy Speaker and the majority and minority leaders of both chambers, are receiving far more than what Sani revealed.

The senior advocate said the polity might explode when he released the details of their allowances.

He said, “There are many things the press doesn’t know yet. If you come to know the allowances that the leadership of the two houses are getting… My God! It will blow up the country. What is the Senate President getting? It is not the ordinary N13m.

“What does he get as Senate President? What is the leader of the House getting, what is the deputy leader of the House getting? What is the Deputy Senate President getting? What are the minority leaders getting in both houses? Go and find out. It is an explosive stuff, I tell you. Eventually, I will come out with the figures. I am working on them now. When I am ready, I will come out with them.”

Sagay lambasted spokesman for the Senate, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, for saying that the N13.5m allowances were already in the public domain.

The PACAC chairman said it was hypocritical of the lawmakers to have berated him last year when he released details of their allowances.

He added that Sani’s revelation was at variance with the details released by Saraki last year.

He added, “What they released then was their salaries which the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission approved for them. What they are hiding now are the allowances they voted for themselves.

“The salary details released was just about N700,000 but what they voted for themselves is about 20 times that amount. That is the whole point and they were hiding it.

“I came out with the figures last year and they wanted to cut off my neck and now it has come out in the open and Sabi Abdullahi is saying it is nothing new but you were denying it in the past. So, they have a guilty conscience because they know what they are doing is shameful.”

Meanwhile, the Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra on Sunday commended Sani for exposing the wages of Nigerian senators.

In a statement by the MASSOB leader, Uchenna Madu,  the group said providence would bless Sani for exposing his colleagues.

The Biafra agitators described other senators as “criminal lions.”

The statement partly read, “MASSOB hails Senator Sani representing Kaduna Central in exposing his fellow distinguished criminal lions roaring in the National Assembly of the Nigerian state.

“MASSOB sees the Nigerian parliament, mostly the senators, as market men and women who always see the National Assembly as a business market where they only make billions of monetary profit without investments.

“The majority of these National Assembly businessmen  and women are so insensitive and shameless in their dealings with the people of their senatorial districts.

“It is only in Nigeria that a senator will openly without shame donate a gas cooker with frying pan or grinding machines and other useless materials unbefitting of a country’s senator to the few people of his senatorial constituents as an empowerments incentives.

“Nigerian parliamentarians  lack innovative empowerments in education, healthcare, economy and technology. They have no visions, intentions or programmes for the poor.”

The group added, “Most worrisome is that the majority of these senators do not exist in the Senate chambers; they only exist during election campaigns or ceremonial functions.

“Most of them are glorified laymen with no qualitative educational background, a man without a good academic insight and exposures as a senator can never be fruitful to his nation.”

Punch

The authorities could do more to protect wildlife across the country

In a devastating blow to conservation of wildlife in Nigeria, an ignorant hunter last week shot and killed an elephant at Janiyi Camp, Idanre, Ondo State after which he took photographs with the animal’s remains as proof of his crime. While the rest of the world may be laughing at us, it should worry the authorities that despite the establishment of protected areas, hunters can now freely enter many of our game reserves to kill protected animals.

It is a shame that a nation which once had the most diverse population of elephants in the world can now boast only a few because they have been hunted almost to extinction. The Idanre Forest Reserve, where the latest tragedy took place, covers 561 square kilometres and is a designated nature reserve of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Legal and regulatory frameworks in wildlife conservation in the country date back to the colonial era. The Forestry Act and Wild Animals Act were patterned after the 1933 London Convention for Protection of African Fauna. This was updated by the Conservation of Biological Diversity and International Law, 1990 UNEP, Nairobi.

Some of the major problems of the Nigerian forest elephants, according to conservationists, are forest conversion for other uses, habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching for their ivory, among others. The Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF) has always argued that the populations of forest elephants are in dire need of protection, because only about 200 of them remain in the wild in the five sites in southern Nigeria. The nation’s other elephant community, known as Savannah specie, is found in the north and they are better protected at Yankari National Park in Bauchi State.

Apparently because Nigerians have still not understood the importance of environment, there is a lot of ignorance about how losing some species of plants and animals can have disastrous impact on the rest of the ecosystem. By killing a rare animal dubbed ‘gentle giant’ because of its harmless nature right in its natural habitat, the damage done to Nigeria’s image is huge. We therefore call on the authorities to find the hunter and bring him to justice if only to deter others from believing they can go into our game reserves and kill protected animals without consequences.

The ownership of wildlife in the country is vested in the federal government, according to Section 20 of the National Park Service Act, which states: “The ownership of every wild animal and wild plant existing in its natural habitat in, National park and anything whatsoever, whether of biological geomorphologic or historical origin or otherwise, existing or found in a National park is hereby vested in the federal government and subject to the control and management by the federal government for the benefit of Nigeria and mankind generally.”

Notwithstanding, there should be deliberate initiatives to protect the nation’s wildlife, even if this has to be done in collaboration with private partners, who have expertise in the field. For instance, at Yankari, there is a whole lot of protection work being done by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in collaboration with the Bauchi State government, which runs the park. The WCS has its Elephant Guardian programme to reduce the conflict between humans and elephants and it has helped to improve the level of tolerance towards elephants and the crop damage inflicted.

 While we call on the federal government to do all within its powers to protect the nation’s wildlife by taking its conservation responsibilities more seriously, it is also important that Nigerians be enlightened on the issues of environment. As things stand, only organised conservation work, government support and enlightenment and good habitat management are capable of saving the forest elephant species from extinction in Nigeria.

Thisday 

Often at odds with each other over issues, the Executive arm and the National Assembly have, however, recently found a common ground in pursuing a draconian legislation on “hate speech.” In this, they clearly intend to surpass the colonial overlords, successive military regimes and the world’s most brutal dictatorships in legal savagery. Nigerians should for once exercise their rights to resist blatant oppression by a degenerate political class.

Critical sections of the society — the mass media, civil society, pressure groups, the academia, writers and creative/performing artistes — that may bear the main brunt of the obnoxious law have been curiously and dangerously indifferent, as only a few voices have raised the alarm. They had better wake up. Eternal vigilance remains the price of liberty.

The Hate Speech Bill, according to its sponsors at the Senate, seeks to “eliminate” hate speech and discourage harassment on the grounds of ethnicity, religion or race among others. It prescribes stiff penalties for offences such as “ethnic hatred.” “Any person who uses, publishes, presents, produces, plays, provides, distributes and/or directs the performance of any material, written and/or visual, which is threatening, abusive or insulting or involves the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words, commits an offence,” it states.

If this is not scary enough, the penalties are: a jail sentence of not less than five years or a fine of “not less than N10 million” or both for these offences. Capping it all is the prescription of the death penalty where any form of hate speech results in the death of another person.

Purveying or inciting hatred is bad, but viewed from all perspectives, this is a bad law being proposed by persons so unfamiliar and uncomfortable with the practices and nuances of fundamental rights and democracy. Not even in his first incarnation as a military head of state did President Muhammadu Buhari propose such heavy jail terms and fines against the exercise of free speech and media freedom. The infamous anti-media Decree 4 that headlined the military junta he led in 1984-85 came far short of imposing millions of naira in fines or prescribing the death penalty. Neither did the British colonial masters who drafted and enforced a succession of sedition and anti-press laws contemplate silencing free speech with the death penalty.

The bill is the culmination of threats by senior government officials railing against “hate speech” in response to criticism and inter-ethnic tension, especially the deep alienation felt, and recently stridently expressed, by some sections of the country angered by Buhari’s glaring sectionalism in appointments and actions.

Our legislators should pre-occupy themselves with passing urgently needed bills such as the 2018 budget that is stuck in the parliament, the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill and the Railway Act repeal bill that would unshackle the railway system and open it up to foreign direct investment.

This sits at odds with provisions on basic fundamental rights outlined in Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution, especially Sections 38 and 39 that guarantee the freedom of thought, conscience and religion; and freedom of expression and the press, respectively. The basic law and enabling legislation, also sufficiently prohibit the abuse of such rights and discrimination against persons or groups on account of race, ethnicity or faith.

The proposed law is amorphous and open to abuse: who defines or determines what constitutes hate speech? Unlike Canada, Australia, Belgium, Germany, France and other European Union countries that enacted anti-hate speech laws specifically in response to rising xenophobia against racial and religious minorities, our lawmakers and public office holders reveal by their utterances that it is criticism and public scrutiny that they deplore, not the protection of minorities. Recall that the Senate once accused a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Itse Sagay, of hate speech after his scathing criticism of their poor performance, corruption and greed. Interior Minister, Abdulrahman Dambazau, reacting to public anger at Fulani herdsmen attacks, had also hinted of the impending bill to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act 2011 to punish those who publish hate speech against religious and ethnic groups. To be sure, inciting hatred or mob action against others is to be discouraged; efforts should be made to penalise those who cross the line between free speech and criminality.

There are, however, existing laws that cater for abuse of freedom or harassment of individuals and groups, as pointed out by civil society and mass media groups. Laws setting up the National Broadcasting Commission, Advertising Practitioners Council and the Nigerian Press Code have in-built provisions to stop and penalise violence or incitement against others. Nigerian film and video and the censors board filter out offensive material and pornography among others. If the laws are inadequate, they can be updated; the hate speech bill is a poisoned chalice.

Even without it, overzealous policemen and other security agencies have lately been harassing journalists on spurious grounds, signposting the possible abuse of an already obnoxious law.

Our great challenge today, is lack of strict enforcement of existing laws without fear or favour. We should not descend to the level of failing states like Pakistan and Somalia, where blasphemy laws have seen death sentences and vigilantism. Nigeria should aspire to be a model of liberty and escape its rating as a Flawed Democracy by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s global index on democracy.

The mass media, civil society, lawyers, student and labour unions should take up the gauntlet and resist this evil law.Punch