Raises team on UN report on Ogoni land spillsReps probe alleged lopsidedness in award of FG's projectsCommittee to investigate illegal tax collection on federal roadsTHE Senate has mandated a panel to investigate allegations of abuse of expatriate quota in the country, just as the chamber raised another committee to study the report of the United Nations on Ogoni land in which the global body asked the federal government and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to pay the sum of US$1 billion for clean up of oil spills.Senator Wilson Ake representing Rivers West Senatorial District, alongside 24 other senators moved a motion averring that the Nigeria Immigration Service Cap 11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 confer on the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council delegated powers to grant expatriate quota to companies seeking to employ expatriates in Nigeria , among other things.He further averred that the same law mandates such operators to apply and receive approvals from the board of such multinational companies before making any application for expatriate quota approvals to the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs.Ake submitted that the essence of the expatriate quota is to fill up inadequate supply of manpower but in recent times, there have been complaints of improper application of the regime. He added that while the Bureau of Statistics recently put unemployment ratio at about 32.5million Nigerians, there are many expatriates occupying positions that ought to be occupied by Nigerians.He prayed the Senate to mandate its committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity to investigate the matter.The Senate raised a panel to study the report of the United Nations on oil spills in Ogoni land with a view to ascertaining the adequacy or otherwise of the of $1billion for the cleaning up of the place.This followed a motion moved by Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed (Kaduna North) and three other senators tilted; 'UN Recommended FGN-Shell Fund for Clean Up of Oil Spills in Ogoni Land'.Ahmed called on the Senate to appreciate the recommendation of the UNfor the $1billion fund to clean up oil spills in Ogoni land and welcome the acceptance of responsibility for oil spills by Shell.The lawmaker called on the chamber to consider 'the amount as unrepresentative of the true situation in Ogoni land and grossly inadequatefor the enormous task; and the proposed fund overlooks the issues of compensation to communities, rehabilitation of deprived, destabilized and displaced persons.'He urged the government to review upward the proposed fund in the light of the true and present realities of environmental degradation, social deprivations and economic dislocation of the region.Deputy SenatePresident, Ike Ekweremadu remarked that the way the matter was discussed in the Senate showed that the chamber is alive to its responsibility.Leader of the Senate, Senator Victor Undom-Egba suggested that the issue be referred to committees on petroleum, Niger Delta and environment for further investigation and it was carried. The panel was given eight weeks to complete the assignment.Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has instituted an investigation into what it called 'Lopsidedness in the Award of Federal Government Projects' across the country.Adopting without debate, a motion sponsored by Karimi Sunday (Kogi, PDP), the lower chamber claimed that 86 per cent of the projects, representing N760 billion, was given to the South-South geo-political zone while the north-central allegedly got zero allocation.The House mandated its committee on Federal Character to probe the matter and determine if provisions of the 1999 Constitution on even distribution of resources to all parts of the federation were violated.Sunday had told his colleagues that 'the action of the Federal Executive Council in awarding the project was in breach of section 14 (3) and 15 (5) of the 1999 constitution.'The Presidency had denied the allegation which was first published in a national newspaper (not The Guardian) suggesting that the Federal Government had cornered about 86 per cent of its approved projects amounting to over N760 billion out of N883 billion contracts awarded between March and August, to the Niger Delta region.Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, in denying the report, noted that the Niger Delta projects listed in the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) publication which formed the basis of the report, were initiated not by President Goodluck Jonathan, but by his late predecessor, President Umaru Yar'adua.In a related development, the House of Representatives has mandated its joint committee on Finance, and Works, States and Local Governments, to investigate the alleged illegal tax collection by some local government officials on federal roads in the country.This is even as it has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Hafiz Ringim to rid the country's federal highways of the menace of local government tax collectors.The resolution followed the adoption of a motion titled, 'Illegal collection of taxes and levies on federal roads by some local governments in the federation' introduced by Representative Ezenwa Onyewuchi.The lawmaker in his submission on the floor yesterday expressed worry that certain revenue collectors disguised as local government tax agents station themselves on federal roads and collect illegal taxes from Nigerians who use such roads.Onyewuchi said that tax payers are subjected to multiple taxation because of the action of the local government agents who often tout, block, cause accidents and injure travellers while trying to collect illegal revenue on federal roads.He said the actions of the local government revenue collectors on federal roads are illegal, criminal and likely to taint the image of the country.
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