Despite the abundance of solid minerals in the country, the country realised only N33.86 billion from the sector in 2013.

This figure is contained in the 2013 Solid Minerals, Oil and Gas Audit released by the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiate, NEITI, in Abuja on Monday.

Out of 619 companies that made payments to the government in 2013, the audit was able to reconcile payments made by only 65 entities, representing just over 10 percent of the active players in the industry.

According to the NEITI report, the 65 companies were those that made payments of N2 milliom and above to six government revenue collecting agencies involved in the sector, including Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Mines Inspectorate Department, MID, and Mining Cadastral Office.

The report also showed that payments from the solid minerals sector were not well dispersed with cement manufacturing companies taking a clear lead.  For instance, five cement companies namely – Dangote, WAPCO, Ashaka, UNICEM and CCNN accounted for N30.47 billion of government revenue or about 93% of the reconciled payments

A breakdown of the revenue distribution showed construction companies contributing N1.98 billion and mining and quarry companies, N1.42 billion.

Also, in spite of the fact that every state in the country has huge deposits of solid minerals, only five states accounted for 72% of the total payments in 2013.

The states are: Ogun, 25%, kogi, 20%, FCT 14%, Cross River 9% and Oyo, 4 %.

The audit report noted a lack of clarity on legal and tax regime in the sector as an impediment to revenue generation. Others are inaccurate production data, absence of transfer to states and local government areas and failure to utilise suggestions contained in previous audit reports.

The report recommends among others, that government should develop procedures and systems to collect and verify production data declared by companies; review tax reporting system and put in place a sector-specific fiscal regime for the country, and that mineral exports should be properly taxed.

But Sani Shehu, President of the Miners Association of Nigeria, told www.icirnigeria.org that the cement companies are doing better than other categories in the solid minerals sector because it has access to funding.

“The cement companies are able to access funds at home and abroad because many of them also have foreign connection. There is a movement of offshore funds to support the cement industry in Nigeria. That is why cement is leading in the solid minerals sector. If the government supports other categories of mining, they will perform better than the cement companies, “he stated.

The crisis rocking the Poeples Democratic Parties, PDP, the major opposition party in the country, took an interesting twist on Tuesday as warring factions got conflicting judgements from courts in Lagos and Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

A faction of the party which removed Ali Modu Sheriff as National Chairman of the party at its recently held national convention in Port Harcourt on May 21, along with other members of the National Working Committee, NWC, got a judgment on Tuesday from the Federal High Court in the Rivers State, restraining Sheriff and other members of the NWC from parading themselves as officials of the party.

The Port Harcourt convention also nominated Ahmed Makarfi, a senator and former governor of Kaduna State, as acting chairman and Ben Obi, as acting national secretary.

The court also restrained the former NWC members from receiving nominations and submitting names to the Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC, as officers or candidates of the PDP in any capacity, pending the determination of the motion on notice brought by the party.

But another Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday nullified the caretaker committee appointed by the Port Harcourt convention and re-instated the Sheriff-led NWC. Justice Ibrahim Buba ordered Sheriff to continue to serve as national chairman of the party.

He PDP which ruled Nigeria at the centre for 16 was ousted in the last general election and has been embroiled in a leadership tussle for many months now.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has declared former deputy governor of Osun State, Iyiola Omisore, wanted in connection with the $2.1 billion arms deal.

According to a statement on the Commission’s Facebook page, Omisore, who is also a former senator, was invited to explain the circumstances surrounding the sum of N700,000,000 he allegedly received from former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, a retired Colonel, between June and November, 2014.

Rather than honour the invitation, the anti-graft agency said, Omisore filled a fundamental human rights suit at the Federal High Court to prevent the EFCC from arresting him.

“Justice Husseini Baba Yusuf consequently ordered that Omisore should only be arrested through a due and legal process,” the Commission said, adding that it had consequently obtained an arrest warrant.

The Federal Government on Tuesday said it had saved N220 billion since the commencement of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System implementation in April 2007.

It also announced that other government ministries, departments and agencies, notably, the military and paramilitary, would soon be brought onto the systems, thereby increasing the savings.

Introduced by former president, Olusegun Obasanjo and initially domiciled at the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, the IPPIS is a government initiative aimed at restructuring the public service and also stamp out the scourge of ghost workers that has fuelled corruption in public finance. It also seeks to provide a centralised payroll system and improve administrative capacities of MDAs.

So far, there are 447 MDAs on the system, according to a statement from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, which was given the responsibility of managing the system in 2008.

“The IPPIS initiative is aimed at improving the management of human resources and providing a centralised payroll system in the service.

“A total of 447 MDAs are already on IPPIS to date including all the core Ministries, Medical and Allied Health Institutions, Agencies under Ministry of Science and Technology, among others. 56 of them came on board in 2016,” the statement read.

“Savings of over N220bn have been recorded by IPPIS from inception to date.”

By the end of this year, it is expected that other government institutions not on IPPIS will have come on board. These include the Military, Army, Navy and Air Force; Nigeria Police Force; paramilitary agencies like Nigeria Prisons, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and Federal Fire Service.

Also expected to join are Federal tertiary institution, such as universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, as well as agencies in the petroleum industry.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is to spend about N 8 billion in 2016 on its proposed new head office building in Abuja.

This is contained in the commission’s allocation in the 2016 budget as signed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

A total of N 18,887,531,636 billion was allocated to the Anti-graft agency in 2016, which is significantly higher than the N 10,472,982,781 it got in 2015, perhaps in fulfillment of President Buhari’s promise to increase funding to Anti-corruption agencies in order to enable them effectively tackle the menace of corruption in the country.

According to details of the budget, total recurrent expenditure is put at N 10,402,357,919 billion, while capital expenditure is N 8,485,173,717 billion, as against last year’s N 8,722,658, 981 and N1,750,323,800 for recurrent and capital expenditure respectively.

The EFCC’s head office is presently located on Fomella Street, off Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja.

Apart from the N 7.912 billion allocated for the new head office, another N 58.434 million has been earmarked for the construction of office building while another N12.073 million will be spent on the construction of fences around the plots of land for the commission’s staff quarters.

With the renewed anti-corruption fight of the present administration, the EFCC has witnessed an upsurge in corruption cases across the country.

Civil servants in Bayelsa State on Tuesday called off their  strike over unpaid salaries and pension arrears following a breakthrough in dialogue with the state government on Monday.

They also accepted the government’s proposal to pay 50 percent of monthly salaries from February this year owing to dwindling revenue, especially from the global fall in oil price.

The workers had embarked on the strike after their 21-day ultimatum expired on Wednesday last week and defied Governor Seriake Dickson’s threat to sack any striking worker in addition to losing their pay for the duration they down tooled.

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, were represented in the meeting by Ndiomu John-Bipre and Tari Dounana, state chairmen of NLC and TUC respectively while the state government was represented by the Head of Service, Peter Singabele, and Commissioner for Information, Jonathan Obuebite.

“Labour has accepted the position of the state government to pay 50 per cent of monthly salaries to workers effective from February 2016 and expects the government to effect full payment of workers’ salaries as soon as the allocation from the federal account accruing to the state improves,” the communiqué issued after the meeting read, adding that the 50 percent salary accepted does not mean a downward review of workers’ pay, as the other half would be paid as soon as the state’s finances improve.

The communiqué added, “That in line with the ongoing payment of January 2016 salaries to workers, the government should facilitate the process of payment of salaries to the outstanding MDAs and parastatals, including pensioners without further delays.”

The state civil servants are owed four months’ pay while their local government counterparts are owed 12 months. Pensioners are owed about seven months’ arrears.

The Federal Government has constituted a 10-man Technical Committee to come up with a lasting solution to the ordeals faced by retired civil servants over pension claims.

This was disclosed on Tuesday by the Head of Service of the Federation, Winifre Oyo-Ita, while setting up the committee with  members from the Office of the Head of Service, the National Pension Commission, PENCOM, and the Pension Transition Arrangement Directorate, PTAD.

In a statement issued by spokesperson for the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, Mohammed Manga, Oyo-Ita said it is imperative that there is synergy between the three offices to ensure that those who have served the country are treated with honour.

“Oyo-Ita expressed concern over how Public Servants after serving the country meritoriously for 35 years or after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 60 years have to wait for so long before they could receive their retirement benefits and monthly pensions. A situation she stressed is not ideal for any Public Servant to pass through and must therefore be addressed immediately,” the statement read.

The Director of PENCOM, Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, and her PTAD counterpart, Murtala Olawale Tosin, both assured that their offices would do all that is necessary to assuage the problems faced by retirees.

Headed by Permanent Secretary Common Services Office in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Yemi Adelakun, the committee also has as members three persons each from the three offices.

The Kaduna State government has renamed the General Hospital, Kafanchan, as the Patrick Yakowa Hospital in honour of the late governor of the state, who died in a helicopter crash on December 15, 2012.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to Governor El-Rufa’I on Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan.

The state government said it was following a tradition of naming general hospitals in the state after individuals who have distinguished themselves in public service.

“Governor Yakowa capped a distinguished career in public service with the two highest political offices in Kaduna State. He was Deputy Governor and then Governor, before his unfortunate demise in an helicopter crash.

“The general hospitals in the major cities in Kaduna State are named in honour of citizens who had made notable contributions to the state. The general hospital in Zaria bears the name of Hajiya Gambo Sawaba, an activist who fought for Nigeria’s independence. The eminent name of Dr. Barau Dikko, the first medical doctor from Northern Nigeria and first president of the Northern Peoples Congress, graces the hospital in Kaduna that was recently accredited as a teaching hospital,” the statement read.

It added that other individuals after whom general hospitals were named after included the celebrated late traditional ruler of Kagoro, Gwamna Awan, and Yusuf Dantsoho, a renowned public servant.

The Bayelsa State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), on Monday said that it will continue its strike over non payment of salary since January 2016.

Gov. Seriake Dickson had on Sunday ordered the striking workers to resume work on Monday or be sacked.

Dickson, who said that the state had no funds due to dwindling revenue from the federation account, threatened that he would invoke the “no work no pay rule”, against Civil Servants who refused to go back to work.

“The strike is unpatriotic, it is politically motivated and uncalled for,  we have held several meetings with labour leaders and I have proposed many options to them including paying 50 per cent salary but they rejected it and chose to go on strike.

“We have drawn the line and we give them till Monday, any one that doesn’t show up should consider himself sacked, we shall send out a monitoring team, I will also go round myself,” Dickson said.

Mr John Ndiomu, Chairman of the NLC in the state said in Yenagoa on Monday that the strike, which commenced on May 19, would not be called-off until the government clear the backlog of salaries.

It will be recalled that the organised labour in Bayelsa embarked on strike over the non-payment of four months’ salary arrears of civil servants in the state.

“The strike is on it third day, and we’re still on it; it is true that the state government has started the payment for January alone but we will continue to stay at home until the union reaches a decision,” the chairman stated.

The state secretariat, public schools and banks have remained shut while soldiers have been at the gates of the secretariat.

By Tajudeen Suleiman

The Minister of Solid Minerals and Chairman of the Board of Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, NEITI, Kayode Fayemi, has called on members of the National Assembly to study NEITI reports on solid minerals, oil and gas sectors for effective legislation for the extractive industry.

The minister spoke at the public presentation of the 2013 Solid Minerals, Oil and Gas Audit Reports of NEITI in Abuja on Monday. The two volume report details total revenue projections for the extractive sectors in 2013 and the actual accruals to the Federation Account.

“Now that these reports are out, I will like to call on the legislature to take keen interest in the audit findings in designing legislations for the extractive sector and in carrying out their oversight functions,” the minister stated.

He also called on the media and the civil society to carefully study the reports and use the information and data from them to “trigger evidence-led and informed debates, strengthen the demand for holistic reforms, and hold government and companies to account.”

He said similar data provided on the extractive sectors by NEITI over the years have failed to bring the appropriate reforms to the sector because “accountability actors”, especially the citizens and civil society groups, have failed to use the critical evidence to hold government to account.

“Merely publishing information about the extractive sector will not do the trick. Critical actors, especially citizens and civic groups, have to do their parts.”

In the highlights of the reports given by the minister, the NNPC was again indicted for withholding government revenue and for short-changing the government in Offshore Processing Arrangements, OPA, and the crude for product swap arrangements, SWAP.

For instance, the sum of $12.9 billion NLNG payments received by NNPC between 2005 and 2013 was not remitted into the Federation Account while loss through OPA and SWAP came to $211.8 million and $306 million respectively.

Forty one oil and gas producing companies and 16 government agencies participated in the 2013 audit while payments made by only 65 entities out of 619 entities were reconciled by the audit in the solid minerals sector.