Ratifies reversal of sale of Delta Steel, Daily Times, othersN'Assembly approves NDDC N261b budgetUpper chamber may cut recurrent voteTHE Senate yesterday adopted the recommendations ofits ad-hoc committee that investigated the activities of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) between 1999 and 2011.The recommendations included the sacking of the Director-General (DG), Bolanle Onagoruwa, and the indictment of some of her predecessors in office, including Malam Nasir el-Rufai.In a report considered yesterday by the chamber, the panel recommended among other things:'That the former Directors-General, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, Dr. Julius Bala and Mrs. Irene Nkechi Chigbue, should be reprimanded by the NCP for seeking approval directly from the President instead of the NCP as stipulated in the Public Enterprises Act 1999.'That Dr. Julius Bala should be investigated by anti-graft agencies for giving approval to Folio Communication Limited for the illegal sale of assets of Daily Times of Nigeria Plc and that the Director-General, Bolanle Onagoruwa, be relieved of her appointment for gross incompetence in the management of the BPE and for illegal and fraudulent sale of the five per cent of Federal Government of Nigeria's residual shares in Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited (EPCL).'Thepanel, headed by Senator Ahmed Lawan, also recommended 'That Section 1(3) of the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act 1999, which states that the National Council on Privatisation (in this Act referred to as 'the Council') established under Section 8 of this Act may, from time to time, by order published in the Gazette alter, add, delete or amend the provisions of the First Schedule to this Act, should be amended because it contradicts the power of the National Assembly to make laws under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.'Another recommendation, which was adopted by the Senate, was that Section 5 (3) of the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act 1999, which states that 'not less than 10 per cent of the shares to be offered for sale to Nigerians shall be reserved for the staff of the public enterprises to be privatised and the shares shall be held in trust by the public enterprises for its employees', should be amended to include the host communities.It also recommended that the management of BPE should be re-organised to make it effective and efficient; presidential interference in the privatisation process should be avoided in the future; and that the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) should set up an NCP sub-committee to oversee post-privatisation monitoring activities of BPE.The committee recommended that the five-year post-privatisation monitoring period (lock-in-period) should be reviewed upward to 10 years. This is to enable the core investors to implement the Post-Acquisition Plans (PAP) and BPE to monitor compliance.Other recommendations of the panel included:'That the BPE should refund bid bonds approved for refund by NCP, including Kaura Motors Ltd, N61.2 million; Onoja and Sons, N625,000; Agric Multi Services, N1.7 million and Abuja Gateway Consortium, $500,000.'That BPE should close all privatisation proceeds accounts in commercial banks and henceforth, put all proceeds in privatisation proceeds account in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in compliance with section 19 (1) of the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act 1999.'The panel also recommended that the BPE should discontinue the use of privatisation proceeds to settle staff terminal benefits, consultancy fees, transaction expenses and execution of capital projects. Rather, it should approach the National Assembly for appropriation as provided for in Section 80 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.It recommended that the National Assembly Committees on privatisation should intensify their oversight functions of the Privatisation programme and that the BPE should source for funds through budgetary means to settle outstanding staff liabilities in ALSCON (N2.7 billion), Delta Steel Company (N5.2 billion) and Federal Superphosphate Fertiliser Company (N73 million).The panel recommended that the BPE should standardise protective clauses in Share Purchase and Concession Agreements in privatisation of public enterprises in the national interest.It recommended that the Share Purchase Agreement of Volkswagen Nigeria Limited now VON Automobile Nigeria Limited should be rescinded for non-performance as provided in the SPA and re-advertise for sale and that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should immediately be drafted to investigate the economic crimes being perpetrated against the nation at VON premises in Lagos by Barbedos Ventures Limited (BVL).The panel also recommended that the NCP should rescind the sale of ALSCON, Delta Steel Company, Jos Steel Rolling Mills, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja International Hotels Limited (NICON Luxury Hotel) and Daily Times of Nigeria Plc.The panel was raised based on a motion moved on the floor of the Senate that the privatisation was characterised by sharp practices.After putting the question and the report was adopted, Senate President David Mark noted that it was not in the place of thechamber to implement and despite every insinuation, the Senate mustered the courage to consider the report.But reacting in a statement by Muyiwa Adekeye, hismedia advisor, El-Rufai said: 'The decision to sell NITEL to IILL was approved by the National Council for Privatisation, (NCP), chaired statutorily by the Vice President. It was the same NCP that approved IILL's request for extension of time to pay for the purchase, and the failure to meet the new deadline led to IILL forfeiting its deposit to the treasury.'Nowhere in the report is any document shown alluding to the request for or the granting of presidential approval in the NITEL/IILL matter. Once again, El Rufai challenges the Senate to present any evidence to support this spurious recommendation.'Mallam El-Rufai notes that while he is recommended only for a reprimand, other persons are mentioned for criminal investigation. There is no mitigation in this for him as he has not done anything to warrant a reprimand, even if he was still in the service of the BPE/NCP, which is no longer the case.' The Senate also passed the budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for 2011. It amounts to N261.038 billion.The Senate concluded debate on the general principle of the 2012 budget with Mark warning that the budgeting process in the country should be consultative.Speaking on the budget for security which some senators had complained of being over-bloated, Mark said: 'We must get it right because if there is no security in this country, there will be no investment and if there is no investment, then we cannot move forward.'An indication that the recurring clash between the Executive and the Legislature may again happen emerged yesterday as the Senate restated its resolve to tinker with the recurrent revenue proposed in the 2012 budget.President Goodluck Jonathan forwarded a budget of N4.7 trillion to the National Assembly out of which N2.4 trillion is for recurrent expenditure.Briefing journalists in the National Assembly after the Senate had forwarded the budget to its Committee on Appropriation, the Chairman of the Senate Committee onMedia and Public Affairs, Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the chamber had been championing the call forreduction in recurrent expenditure because of the bloated size and would not hesitate to cut the recurrent component of the budget before the National Assembly.The House of Representatives yesterday also approved N261.037 billion for the NDDC as its 2011 budget.It is made up of N243.547 billion for development expenditure, N9.485 billion for personnel expenditure, N7.037 billion for recurrent expenditure and N877 million for non-capital expenditure.The NDDC budget as passed by the House is higher than the N249.5 billion proposed by President Jonathan to the National Assembly last week as the commission's 2011 budget.
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