…….Senate calls for computerization of Oil Sector

……..Senate probes non-takeoff of Hydro-electric power commission

………Senate receives Buhari’s request for approval of 2016 – 2018 External Borrowing plan

The Senate on Thursday mandated its Committee on Housing to urgently work out modalities with the various stakeholders in the National Housing Development sector to ensure the implementation of affordable housing for the poorest Nigerians.

The resolution was reached after consideration of a motion on the “Urgent need to reform the Housing Policy and Mortgage Financing in Nigeria to meet the escalating housing demand in the country.”

Sponsor of the motion, Albert Bassey Akpan, said low and middle class income earners constitute the largest active population in Nigeria.

This population, according to him, finds it difficult to have access to housing in their lifetime.

He recalled that the creation of the National Housing Fund through the National Housing Fund (NHF) Act of 1992 was specifically intended to cater for Nigerians in line with the various Housing policies and International Conventions and Treaties to which Nigeria is a signatory.

Akpan stated that by virtue of the provisions of the NHF Act, a working class Nigerian is required to contribute 2.5 percent of his or her monthly salary to the fund which provides the source of funding to the Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs).

He said, “Access to the fund through the PMI is cumbersome due to stringent and complex eligibility criteria which makes the development of housing through the fund challenging or practically impossible to date.”

“Since the creation of the fund in 1992, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria as at 2013 disbursed only N100.5 billion.

“In 2015, out of 4 million registered contributors to the fund, only 60,000 (1.5%) were able to access mortgage loans through the funds, leading to the construction of only 40,653 houses across the country,” Akpan said.

The lawmaker further lamented that there exist little or no impact of the National Social Housing Development Programme in the country over the years owing to the escalating population growth in Nigeria.

“There is dire and urgent need for a total review of our National Housing Policy framework to meet the needs of our people, especially the poorest Nigerians in line with the various International Conventions/Treaties of which Nigeria is a signatory,” Bassey said.

In his contribution, Senator Fadahunsi (PDP, Osun East) called on the Federal Government to undertake an immediate overhaul of the country’s housing policies with a view to easing the burdens of poor Nigerians.

“There is need to reorganise the housing policy, so that it will benefit the whole of Nigerians as soon as possible,” he said.

Another lawmaker, Senator Binos Yaroe Dauda (PDP, Adamawa South) described Housing as “one of the fundamental needs of man.”

The lawmaker, who called for a review of housing policies and mortgage financing, added, “It is important for this sector to be reformed, so that our people can have houses.”

…….Senate calls for computerization of Oil Sector

The Senate on Thursday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to initiate the process of computerising the nation’s oil sector.

This, according to the Senate, is to curb the multifaceted challenges associated with the oil and gas production, transportation, and sales business in the country.

It also mandated its joint committee on petroleum up stream, downstream and gas resources to convene a public hearing to ascertain the quantity of oil and gas produced daily and the quality control mechanism engaged by NNPC.

Other task for the committee is to determine the amount of waste of petroleum products through pilfering, pipeline vandalisation and leakages, and international best practices of computerized oil and gas business management, including pipeline protection and quantity and quality control.

The resolutions were reached after the Senate adopted a motion sponsored by Senator George Sekibo (PDP, Rivers East) and 29 others on the “need to install computerized oil facilities management gadgets for Nigerian crude oil businesses.”

Presenting the motion, Sekibo said it was of concern that while other countries in the same business venture have gone digital for the past 50 years, Nigeria is still using analogue technology in doing its petroleum technology.

“We still use human beings (4 persons) to monitor a kilometer of pipeline, giving undue opportunities to oil pilfered, giving rise to unnecessary pipeline explosion, causing deaths and unquantifiable loss of products and other human valuables,” he said.

He regretted that Nigeria with over 61 years in oil business could not give account of total amount of products produced, sold, wasted and lost through pilfering, or pipeline vandalization.

He said petroleum products business should have been given priority attention in terms of protection, expansion, quantity and total quality control especially with oil as the mainstay of Nigeria’s income and foreign reserves.

He said Nigeria is the biggest oil producer in Africa with maximum capacity of of about 2.5 million per barrel, but noted that, “this meager quantity is always under attack through pipeline vandalism and oil platform theft which has reduced quantity produced”.

Sekibo said, “one key area of fighting corruption is through effective management of resource itself, that is the source of revenue just as this administration emphasizes on the fight against revenue pilfering by the operators”.

“The computerization of oil management system assist in the pipeline protection, trigger off alarms when any section of the pipeline is disturbed for whatever reason. The system detects if there is a weak section, captures suspected intruders on the pipeline, and are equipped with fire fighting gadgets in the event of fire outbreak”.

In his remarks before its adoption, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan described the motion as ” genuine effort to ensure that we are not short changed as a country.”

…..Senate probes non-takeoff of Hydro-electric power commission

The Senate has mandated its Committee on Legislative Compliance to investigate the delay in takeoff of the Hydro Electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPADEC) after nine years of its passage into law.

The upper chamber while mandating the committee to probe the utilization of the sum of N612,177,269 appropriated so far to the Commission, directed the panel report back to the Senate within four weeks.

The upper chamber, sequel to the consideration of a motion to that effect, also urged the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, constitute the Commission and make funds available for it in the 2020 budget.

Sponsor of the motion, Senator Muhammad Enagi Bima (APC, Niger South) noted that the Act that established HYPADEC charged the Commission with the responsibility of managing ecological menace due to operation of dams and other hydroelectric power activities.

According to him, the Act establishing the Commission was passed by the Seventh National Assembly in 2010 and signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The lawmaker lamented that the inability of the Commission to takeoff has exposed communities within the area of operation of hydroelectric dams in Nigeria to serious ecological challenges like flooding, loss of lives, health hazards and loss of farmlands.

Senator Bima recalled that the sums of N354,570,637; N247,500,000 and N10,106,632 were appropriated in 2011, 2014 and 2015 budgets, respectively, for the Commission.

He, however, noted that nothing was allocated in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018 budgets, a situation which has “brought enormous hardship on the people of the area.”

……Senate receives Buhari’s request for approval of 2016 – 2018 External Borrowing plan

The Senate on Thursday received a request from President Muhammadu Buhari for the approval of the Federal Government’s 2016 – 2018 borrowing plan.

The letter, which was dated November 26, 2019, was read on the floor by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, during plenary.

President Buhari, in the letter, said the Eighth National Assembly approved only a part of the External Borrowing request forwarded to it in September 2016.

This, according to him, stalled the Federal Government’s implementation of critical projects spanning across the mining, power, health, agricultural, water and educational sectors.

The letter reads: “Pursuant to Section 21 and 27 of the Debt Management Office (Establishment) Act, I hereby request for Resolutions of the Senate to approve the Federal Government’s 2016 – 2018 External Borrowing plan, as well as relevant projects under this plan.

“Specifically, the Senate is invited to note that: While I had transmitted the 2016-2018 External Borrowing Plan to the Eighth National Assembly in September, 2016, this plan was not approved in its entirety by the Legislature, only the Federal Government’s Emergency projects for the North East, (Four (4) States’ projects and one (1) China Exam Bank Assisted Railway Modernisation Projects for Lagos – Ibadan Segment) we’re approved, out of a total of thirty-nine (39) projects.

“The Outstanding projects in the plan that were not approved by the Legislature are, nevertheless, critical to the delivery of the Government’s policies and programmes relating to power, mining, roads, agriculture, health, water and educational sectors.

“These outstanding projects are well advanced in terms of their preparation, consistent with the 2016 Debt Sustainability Analysis undertaken by the Debt Management Office and were approved by the Federal Executive Council in August 2016 under the 2016 – 2018 External Borrowing Plan.

“Accordingly, I have attached, for your kind consideration, relevant information from the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning the specific outstanding projects under the 2016 – 2018 External Borrowing plan for which legislative approval is currently sought.

“I have also directed the Minister to make herself available to provide any additional information or clarification which you may require to facilitate prompt approval of the outstanding projects under this plan.

In a related development, President Buhari, in another letter, addressed to the Senate President transmitted the Companies and Allies Matters Bill, 2019 to the National Assembly for consideration and passage.

The letter reads: “Pursuant to Section 58 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I hereby forward the Companies and Allied Matters Bill, 2019 for consideration and passage into law.”

“The Senate may wish to note that, in this Bill, Section 26(5) of the extant Companies and Allied Matters Act has been amended to: Preserve the powers of the Attorney-General of the Federation to approve the registration of Companies Limited by Guarantee: and Reflect the Ease of Doing Business principles in Executive Order No. 1 of 2017 on the Promotion of Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment,” the letter stated.