Joint Committee

Nigeria’s oil and gas industry has lost huge investments due to the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has said.

The Senate has approved the sum of N11,352,457,101.70 as year 2020 budget for the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF), the implementation of which will lapse by April 30, 2021.

Oil prices yesterday maintained their upswing, hitting their highest in about 13 months on the back of vaccine rollouts expected to increase demand even as producers kept supply reined in.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Timipre Sylva, on Monday disclosed that Nigeria will join the global community in achieving complete elimination of gas flaring by 2025.

The Senate on Thursday summoned the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emeifele, and the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Lamido Yuguda, to brief it on the opportunities and threats of the crypto currency on the nation’s economy and security.

The Senate on Wednesday referred President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for the confirmation of the newly appointed Chief of Defence Staff and Service Chiefs to its Joint Committee on Defence, Army, Airforce and Navy for screening.

Sen. Kabiru Gaya, Chairman, Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Committee (INEC) says the National Assembly plans to submit the amended Electoral Bill to President Muhammadu Buhari before in February for his assent.

Data on the highly contagious COVID-19 variant identified in England do not suggest that vaccines will be less effective against it, while data on the South African variant should be available within weeks, a top British vaccines expert said.

The Senate has passed President Muhammadu Buhari’s Finance Bill 2020 transmitted to the National Assembly two weeks ago for consideration and passage.

The Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari, has warned that without the passage into law of the Petroleum Industry Bill, 2020, there would not be further foreign investments in the oil and gas industry.

The meeting was held by Parliament’s Joint Committee on Education, Science and Technology/Telecommunication and Information Technology/Political Affairs, Peace, Security, and Infrastructure to proffer solutions to digitising education in West Africa.

The Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, Sidie Tunis, has urged his colleagues and Members of Parliament to pressure their home governments to increase budgetary allocation to agriculture.

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has proposed N205 billion as capital budget for 2021 to enable the ministry make significant progress on all its ongoing projects.

The Senate on Tuesday faulted the policy adopted by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 which allowed only private laboratories to carry out tests on intending travellers abroad.

Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has received the interim report of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) on science, innovation and economy.

Responsibility of stamp duties collection between FIRS and NIPOST was raised at an interactive session on the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) organised by Joint Senate Committees on Finance and National Planning in Abuja on Thursday.

The House of Representatives joint committee on Finance, Appropriation, National planning and Economic Development and Aids, Loans and Debts Management yesterday received with shock that the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, remitted less than two percent of billions generated in three years to Federal coffers.

Not a few Nigerians are amused at the theatre of the absurd playing out at the Niger Delta Development Commission. The whole circus show climaxed last Monday when three dramas took place during the House of Representatives Probe Panel of the 20-year-old interventionist agency.

The Presidency and Senate were yesterday locked in exchanges over the continued stay in office of service chiefs.

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has described the controversy surrounding the planned employment of 774,000 Nigerians as an attempt by the National Assembly to bypass him in the implementation of the project.

Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo, SAN, will appear before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Labour on Tuesday to defend the 774,000 job recruitment across the country.

The House of Representatives has commenced investigations to identify and block revenue leakages that cost Nigeria in excess of $30 billion annually.