NIGERIA CRISES: SENATE REJECTS SALE OF NATIONAL ASSETS

The Senate has rejected the proposed sale of Ni­geria’s assets by the Ex­ecutive arm of govern­ment to shore up the country’s foreign reserves. Supporters of the plan, who include the Senate President Bu­kola Saraki and Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, be­lieve that the initiative will pull Ni­geria out of the present recession. Among the national assets they advised the
Federal Govern­ment to sell are the Nigeria Lique­fied Natural Gas project (NLNG), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the country’s three refineries in War­ri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna. Saraki had, at the resumption of the Senate from its two months’ recess last week, endorsed the sale of the assets. But Senators, who evaluated, on Tuesday, the recommendations of the Ad-Hoc Committee set up by the Upper Chamber to harmo­nise the submissions made by law­makers during the general debate on the economic recession, reject­ed the sale of the national assets.

The Senators, however, asked the Executive to prepare, urgent­ly, and submit to the National As­sembly for accelerated consider­ation and passage, an Economic Stimulus Bill containing all the fiscal stimulus packages, invest­ments and incentives designed to pull the country out of recession. The Senators asked the fiscal and monetary authorities to meet and harmonise all the policies to reduce interest rates to attract gen­uine investors to the real sector, as well as medium-and small-scale farmers and processors. To shore up the country’s for­eign reserves, the Senate advised President Muhammadu Buhari to explore all avenues to restore the oil production target of 2.2 million barrels per day, adding that peace­ful means should be immediate­ly crafted and adopted to stop the vandalism of petroleum and gas facilities in the Niger Delta region. The committee, in its recom­mendation on the sale of nation­al assets, said that “being a sensi­tive issue, it should be approached from a commitment to protecting the common patrimony of Nigeri­ans by preventing the assets from falling into the hands of sharks and assets strippers, while also guard­ing against the fuelling of further inequities in the society and pol­ity.”

--> Other recommendations adopted by the Senate are a plea with the Executive to ensure con­stant meeting of fiscal and mone­tary authorities for harmonisation of all policies, particularly on the lowering of interest rates. The Senate also recommend­ed that the Presidency should en­gage in meaningful and inclusive dialogue with the aggrieved Niger Delta militants to avoid the esca­lation of the unrest in the region and ensure the protection of Ni­geria’s oil and gas assets to facili­tate increase in oil production and boost revenue therefrom. The Senate asked the Presi­dent to appoint a Senior Special Assistant who should lead a team to coordinate the government’s en­gagement with all stakeholders, in­cluding Senators from the region. The Upper Chamber also urged the President to reconstitute the Board of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and all other crit­ical agencies so that they can op­erate in accordance with the ena­bling laws. To solve the age-long problem of saving for the rainy day by the Presidency, the Senate adopted the recommendation seeking for the amendment of Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to make it possible for the Feder­al Government to improve on its savings. The Senate promised to fast-track the consideration and pas­sage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the National Develop­ment Bank of Nigeria, the Nation­al Transport Commission Acts, among others, to revive the econ­omy and provide a level-playing field for both local and foreign in­vestors. The Senate noted that it would immediately commence a sus­tained oversight drive to monitor the activities of the Executive in the implementation of the 2016 Budget. In ensuring that the recom­mendations get to the President on time, the Senate resolved that the report of the 22-point recommen­dations be personally delivered to President Buhari by its leadership. After adoption of the reso­lutions, the Senate Whip, Sena­tor Olusola Adeyeye (APC Osun Central), rose through Order 43 to emphasise that resolutions now adopted represent the corporate decision of the Senate as against individual submissions made by Senators last week during the gen­eral debate.

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