Benedicta Galley, the mother of Ghanaian Big Brother representative, Selorm 'Selly' Galley says her daughter did not have sex with Tanzanian housemate Nando.
Many had criticised the Ghananian
beauty as she was under the blankets for a long time with Nando, during a session that fuelled speculation the pair had intercourse.
"I Work Hard & I Can Enjoy My
Money"
Wizkid recently replaced his Porshe Panamera car with a
brand new one two weeks after his
car was involved in an accident.
You know the online people, they talk about everything so the star wizzy defense his self.
Photo by Reze Bonna for
The Nigerian government appears
set to scrap at least eight federal
agencies, commissions, and
parastatals out of about 220
recommended for abolition in the
report of the Stephen Oronsaye-
led Presidential Committee on the
Rationalisation and Restructuring of
Federal Government Parastatals,
Commissions and Agencies,
PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.
As part of the rationalisation, the
Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission and the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other
Related Commission are to be
merged into a single entity.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that a
White Paper on the Orosanye-
committee report was extensively
discussed in at least three
meetings of the Executive Council
of the Federation, otherwise known
as FEC.
As part of the deliberations on the
report, a review committee on the
draft White Paper, chaired by
President Goodluck Jonathan,
approved that some agencies be
either scrapped completely or
merged with those performing
similar functions.
PREMIUM TIMES findings reveal
eight of those agencies.
The agencies to be scrapped
completely include the Bureau of
Public Enterprises (BPE); Fiscal
Responsibility Commission (FRC);
Nigeria Export Promotion Council
(NEPC); National Salaries, Incomes
and Wages Commission (NSIWC);
National Poverty Eradication
programme (NAPEP); Utilities
Charges Commission (UCC); the
National Economic Intelligence
Committee (NEIC) and the Public
Complaints Commission (PCC).
Affected Agencies Bureau of Public Enterprises.
The BPE was established with the
mandate of implementing the
Nigerian government policy on
privatization and commercialization
and preparing public enterprises for privatization and commercialization.
The government has already
“directed that a “Sunset Clause”
should be introduced to the BPE to
conclude its assignment and wound
down,” according to the review
committee’s conclusion.
This implies that the BPE would
wind up once it concludes its
assignment of privatization of public enterprises.
Fiscal Responsibility Commission
Another agency that has been
recommended to be scrapped is
the Fiscal Responsibility
Commission, FRC, which was
established to help monitor
government financial activities and
enthrone a regime of prudent,
ethical and effective management
of public monies and resources by
the tiers of government.
Already, the Jonathan-headed
review committee has directed the
Attorney General and Minister of
Justice, Mohammed Adoke, to
initiate the necessary actions to
give effect to the decision to
abolish the FRC.
A third agency that could be
scrapped is the Nigerian Export
Promotion Council (NEPC)
established in 1977 to help
minimize the bureaucratic
bottlenecks and increase autonomy
in dealing with members of the
organised private sector to
promote the export of Nigerian
goods and commodities.
The fourth agency that may be
scrapped is the National Salaries,
Incomes and Wages Commission
(NSIWC), which was established by
Act 99 of 1993 charged with the
responsibility of managing all issues
pertaining to compensation and
renumeration in the the public
service.
National Poverty Eradication
Programme (NAPEP), which the
committee said might be scrapped,
was conceived in 2001 by the
Federal Government to help
address poverty in the country and
related issues, while the Utilities
Charges Commission (UCC) was
established to help evaluate trends
in tariff charged to provide the
government with information
relating to the scheduled utilities
and their tariff charges.
The other agencies that might be
affected include National Economic
Intelligence Committee (NEIC),
which was established to serve as a
vehicle for effective monitoring of
the implementation of
government’s national economic
policies and programmes for the
overall development of the
country, while the Public
Complaints Commission (PCC) was
established to help bridge the gap
between the elite and the down-
trodden in the society.
Under the new arrangement, the
NEPC will merge with the Nigerian
Investment Promotions
Commission (NIPC), which is
currently domiciled in the
Presidency, while the new
organization will relocate to the
Federal Ministry of Trade and
Investment for effective synergy
and utilization of resources.
Similarly, the PCC is to merge with
the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC, which is
currently performing the PCC
functions, while the enabling Act
establishing the PCC is to be
removed from the Constitution of
the Federal Republic through the
amendment of sections 153 and
315.
The law establishing the NSIWC is
to be repealed to give effect to the
transfer of the agency to the
Revenue Mobilisation Allocation
and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC),
while the functions of NAPEP are to
be merged with the National
directorate of Employment (NDE).
Civil servants on the staff of the
UCC, which is to be scrapped, have
been directed to be redeployed to
the Office of the Head of Civil
Service of the Federation.
On the other hand, parastatals,
commissions and agencies the
presidential review committee
accepted should be retained
include the Code of Conduct
Bureau (CCB); Council of States
(COS); Federal Character
Commission FCC); Federal Civil
Service Commission (FCSC);
Federal Judicial Service Commission
(FJSC); Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC);
National Defence Council (NDC);
National Economic Council (NEC);
National Judicial Council (NJC),
National Population Commission
(NPC); National Security Council
(NSC); Nigeria Police Council (NPC)
and the Police Service Commission
PSC), whose law is to be amended
to make the Minister of Police
Affairs its head.
Other agencies and parastatals to
be retained include Bureau of
Public Procurement (BPP); the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN);
Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT);
Infrastructure Concessionary &
Regulatory Commission (ICRC);
National Pension Commission
(PENCOM); Ministry of Special
Duties; National Sports
Commission (NSC); National
Institute for Sports (NIS); Nigeria
Football Federation /Nigeria
Football Association (NFA), whose
enabling law is to be amended to
reflect the directive by the
Federation of International Football
Association (FIFA) that the
organization should be named a
federation.
The National Youth Service Corps
(NYSC) is to be retained, but with a
new structure to reflect a
framework to cover critical areas of
national socio-economic
development that corps members
should be deployed for their
primary assignments, while the
Citizenship and Leadership Training
Centre would focus on the
promotion of moral values and
ethical re-orientation among
Nigerians.
The Council for Registered
Engineers (COREN) and the
Surveyors Registration Council
(SRC) are to be retained, although
they would henceforth not receive
budgetary allocations from
government from the 2015 fiscal
year, while the Federal Roads
Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and
the Federal Highway department of
the Federal Ministry of Works are
to be transformed into an inter-
ministerial department after the
amendment of their enabling laws.
The Committee also approved the
retention of the Office of the
Surveyor General of the Federation
(OSGOF); National Boundaries
Commission (NBC); Border
Communities Development Agency
(BCDA) which is to be relocated to
the Presidency; National Institute
of Policy and Strategic Studies
(NIPSS); National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA);
National Commission for refugees
(NCR); Debt Management Office
(DMO); Niger Delta Power Holding
Company (NDPHC), National
Planning Commission (NPC);
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS);
Centre for Management
Development (CMD); National
Institute of Social and Economic
Research (NISER) and the National
Identity Management Commission
(NIMC).
The committee also resolved to
retain the Nigeria National Merit
Award (NNMA); the New
Partnership for Africa’s
Development (NEPAD); the
National Agency for the Control of
HIV/AIDS (NACA); Nigerian
Christian Pilgrims Commission
(NCPC); National Lottery
Regulatory Commission (NLRC);
National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF);
Service Compact with all Nigerians
(SERVICOM), Nigeria Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative
(NEITI); National Centre for
Women Development (NCWD), and
Federal Road Safety Commission
(FRSC).
The government had earlier
announced that some unproductive
research institutes would be
scrapped while some others would
be merged with relevant research
units in universities.
Nigerian Operators of Commercial
motorcycles,popularly known as
'Okada riders', have dragged GovernornAdams Oshiomhole of Edo State to a Federal High Court in Benin,. challenging the ban of the operation in Egor, Oredo and Ikpoba-Okha, the three local government areas in Benin. metropolis.
The applicants are praying the Court to grant them a perpetual injunction restraining the Respondents by themselves, agents, servants or provides whosoever, from carrying out the orders of the governor in the affected local government areas.
They also want the court to set aside Oshiomhole's verbal ban on the use of motorcycles from plying all roads in the three affected local government areas which took effect from Sunday, 16 June, 2013 and an award of N50 million against the Respondents as general and or exemplary damages/compensation for the breach of their fundamental rights.
The Plaintiff, Charles Apiloko James, on behalf of himself and others, while describing the ban as unconstitutional and illegal, contends that the Governor does not have powers to verbally ban Nigerians from using their validly licensed motorcycles; neither can he make laws nor abrogate existing road traffic laws.
Counsel to the Plaintiff, Dele Igbinedion, said the ban constituted a violation of the rights of his clients to fair hearing. and freedom of movement a as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended and Articles 7 and 12 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.
In the 24-paragraph affidavit in support the suit, the plaintiff averred that Governor Adams Oshiomhole's verbal ban impliedly cancels his licenses, all duly obtained and still valid, adding that the duty of the governor "is to execute laws alidly made by the State House of Assembly," adding that the threat to confiscate and destroy his motorcycle with valid registration number QC 093 GBZ, was ultra vires.
The suit has been fixed for 8 July, 2013 for mentioning.
The Edo State Government had banned the use of Okada in the affected areas after a state Security Council meeting, saying that it was evident that the state had become a safe haven for all manners of bike riders, who have been involved in kidnapping and other forms of violent crimes including robbery.
