OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE

NEWSLETTER
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10TH, 2017
senatepresident.gov.ng | @SPNigeria
 SGF Visits Senate Leadership
On Monday, November 6th, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha,led a
delegation from the Presidency on a courtesy on the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki
and the leadership of the Senate. The SGF highlighted the role that the Senate has played in stabilizing
the polity and ensuring that this government has a purposeful direction. (Details on next page)

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Executive, Legislature Not in Competition, Says SGF
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, on Monday said that the Executive
and the Legislature are not in competition but would work together to deliver on the promises of the ruling
party to Nigerians. He stated this on a courtesy call on the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola
Saraki and the leadership of the Senate.

The SGF said:

"The role of the National Assembly is quite distinct. You (National Assembly) legislate for the good
governance of the Federation; you provide oversight and you also ensure that funds that are appropriated
are used judiciously for the purposes they are meant and for the benefit of the people of Nigeria. So your
responsibility is so enormous in this enterprise. I will say this and I will say it quite frankly sir, we are not in
competition with the National Assembly. We are not rivals with the National Assembly.

"We are joint partners in this enterprise. If the National Assembly does not cooperate with the Presidency,
I am not very sure we will be able to achieve the desired result that we want to see given the mandate that
we have freely received from the people of Nigeria.

"So, this is basically to come and assure you that in every area that you are soliciting for the cooperation
of the Presidency, being the Secretary to the Government, I would ensure that the National Assembly
receives that cooperation because jointly if we work together, whatever has been lost in the past we can
quickly redeem and recover and make progress so that by the time the first four-year mandate that we
received comes to an end we can show on our scorecard that these were the promises we made.

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2018 BUDGET PRESENTATION
(#BUDGET2018)
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH, 2017
#Budget2018 Presentation: Play-by-Play

1. In accordance with parliamentary procedure, the Senate 2. The President of the Senate delivered the Welcome
passed a Resolution to allow both Chambers of the National Address of the 2018 Budget Presentation. His speech
Assembly to sit in Joint Session to receive the 2018 budget centered around inclusiveness, job creation, over-population,
presentation from President Muhammadu Buhari. revenue collection, and Nigerias dependency on oil.

3. President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces,

3. Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, delivered the closing remarks at
H.E Muhammadu Buhari, delivered the 2018 Budget
the 2018 Budget Presentation. He emphasized cooperation,
Presentation Address. The Budget has been entitled The
policy consistency, and synergy between all stakeholders.
Budget of Consolidation.

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 #Budget2018 Presentation:
10 Highlights of the Senate Presidents Speech
1. ON THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY EFFORTS
I must commend Mr. President, the Economic Management
Team, my Distinguished colleagues and Honourable
members of the House of Representatives as well as all
Nigerians, for working together to make the necessary
sacrifices to get the economy out of recession. Without
doubt, this recovery benefitted from greater policy
coordination, prioritization and passage of economic
reform bills, but more importantly, the resilience of the
Nigerian people.

2. ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2018 BUDGET

It is pertinent to note that the implementation of the 2018
Budget how it is implemented - will be a defining element
of this Administration. We must therefore continue to work
together to steady the ship of this recovery.

3. ON NIGERIA & OIL

As the country gradually recovers, it is important to reset
the fundamentals that drive our economy so we do not
slide back into recession. We must reassess the relationship
between oil and our economy. Oil prices are gradually
inching up, but that is no reason for complacency in our
diversification drive. We must grow our economy away from
oil - as well as the need to increase non-oil revenue
generation and collection.
 #Budget2018 Presentation:
10 Highlights of the Senate Presidents Speech
4. ON INDEPENDENT REVENUE & PLUGGING
LEAKAGES
Revenue from taxes as well as independent revenues from
State Owned Enterprises must be taken seriously. If the
budget is to be funded, we cannot afford to turn a blind eye
to revenue under-performance. While there is a need to
review extant laws guiding the operation of some
Government enterprises, I would urge for more determined
effort on the part of the Executive, to plug leakages.

5. ON PRODUCTIVE BORROWING
We must ensure that our borrowing is targeted at
productive projects that will stimulate the economy. We must
ensure real value-for-money in projects funded by
borrowing, and make doubly sure that the projects are not
overpriced.

6. ON ENSURING THAT THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY

IMPACTS LIVES
As the country emerges from that period of uncertainty,
the question on the lips of many Nigerians has been this:
How does the recovery translate into tangible economic
benefits for me? We must remember that the real gains must
be felt on a personal level by the individual, for economic
recovery to have meaning. People are seeking to get back
to work but cannot find jobs.
 #Budget2018 Presentation:
10 Highlights of the Senate Presidents Speech

7. ON ENSURING THAT THE 2018 CREATES JOBS

While I commend your current efforts at tackling unemployment -
especially among the youth through Federal Youth Programmes such
as YouWin, N-Power, and YES-Programme - deliberate steps must be
taken to make the 2018 budget a job oriented one.

8. ON #MADEINNIGERIA
we must see to the implementation of the Procurement law, with
particular relevance to the part that has to do with support for Made-
In-Nigeria goods. The implementation of the 2018 budget must anchor
on the Made-In-Nigeria project. This should be reflected in
government procurements in 2018.

9. ON THE NEED FOR EQUITY IN DISTRIBUTION OF

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
We must never lose sight of the need for equity and balanced
development across the entire spread of our country. Infrastructural
development should be seen to be well distributed, to create growth
pools away from the major city centres and drive the regeneration of
our rural areasPeople must be able to see a future for themselves in
every corner of this country, not just in the big cities.

10. ON CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE LEGISLATURE & THE

EXECUTIVE
As I close, Mr. President, I would like to advise and caution that there
is no better time in this Administration than now for a rigorous drive
for good working relationship between the Executive and the
Legislature. The early passage of the 2018 budget will depend on this
good working relationship.
Senate Takes Action on Misappropriation of $35million
on Power Projects: Things You Should Know
Heres what you need to know about the Senates
Wednesday, November 8th, Motion on the Monumental
Fraud in the Power Sector:

1. The Motion had to do with the $350million that was released to

the Nigeria Electricity Bulk Trading Company (NBET) by the Federal
Government, from a July 2013 $1billion Eurobond. NBET is a
Federal Government-owned public liability company that deals in
electricity trading and management of associated liabilities. This is
why the release of the $350million to NBET, was to demonstrate the
companys preparedness to assume its role as a government-backed
bulk trader of electricity.

2. Additionally, the release of the funds was intended to provide

NBET with new investors by providing these investors with the
assurance that NBET was a credit-worthy off-taker of power with the
requisite capitalization to meet its obligations. As a confidence-
building measure, this $350million was domiciled in the Nigerian
Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) for structured reinvestments
in a low risk manner that will provide NBET with the necessary
liquidity.

4. However, there have been ongoing attempts by the Federal

Ministry of Power, Works and House to retrieve this $350million,
and divert the funds to some Fast Power Projects that have not
been appropriated by the National Assembly. Already, $35million
of non-appropriated public funds have been spent on the
aforementioned scheme, with $29million paid to General Electric
for turbines, and $6million paid to other entities as consultancy
fees. (Continued on next Page)
Senate Takes Action on Misappropriation of $35million
on Power Projects: Things You Should Know
Moving forward, the Senate has observed that a lot of
questions in the disbursement of this $35 million need answers.
Namely: Who were these consultants, and how were they
procured? Was due process followed in the award of the
$6million consultancy contract? Why was this transaction
cloaked in so much secrecy? Why is the Ministry of Power
Works and Housing constructing new power plants when
government has several idle power plants?

To answer these questions, the Senate has resolved

to:
1) Mandate its Committees on Power and Public Accounts to
invite the Minister of Power, Works and Housing to render a
detailed account of how the public funds were spent on the
Fast Power Project; evidence of the feasibility studies
conducted to show the viability of the project; and the
requisite appropriation by the National Assembly as
required by the Constitution;
2) Mandate the aforementioned Senate Committee to
investigate and consider summoning the NSIA; Nigerian
Electricity Bulk Trading Company to establish the status of the
$350million; and
3) Mandate the Committee on Finance to investigate the actions
of the NSIA inclusive of the issues raised in this Motion. As
well as look into how policy decisions are made decisions
are made on this issue. The Committee has been asked to
submit its report to the Senate in two weeks.
 Senate Considers Final Report on Alleged Fx Violations by
MTN Nigeria: The Senate Presidents Thoughts
On Wednesday, November 9th, we considered the Final Report of the Senate Committee on
Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions on the Unscrupulous Violations of the Foreign
Exchange Act by MTN.

We accordingly resolved to: Mandate the Central Bank of Nigeria to sanction Stanbic IBTC for the improper
documentation of capital repatriation and loan repayments amounting to $388,195,183 and $199,440,952.07
respectively; Mandate CBN to sanction the activities of Stanbic IBTCs nominees in the matter of dividend repatriations;
Mandate CBN to come up with a proposal for the amendment of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring & Miscellaneous
Provisions) Act, with a view to ensuring the growth of the economy through massive foreign capital inflow and greater
retention of foreign exchange; and Direct the CBN to henceforth give periodic reports to the Senate on the
performance of foreign investment inflows and outflows.

In my comments on the floor, I stated that regulatory bodies must play their role, otherwise, their lapses
create opportunities for the circumvention of our laws. This is because, on this particular issue, it is clear that
the CBN reneged on carrying out its regulatory and supervisory roles in the implementation of foreign exchange loans.

Additionally, regarding our foreign investments, we must begin to hold ourselves accountable.
As the Upper Chamber of Nigerias legislature, the signal that we send here is very important to investors. We are not
hostile to foreign investments coming into Nigeria, however, it is important that these investors play by the rules, while
on our own part, our institutions must play their oversight roles.

The message that we passed today is clear: "Nigeria is open for business to foreign investors, however, our
laws and rules must be followed.

-Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki (CON), President of the Senate

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 UN Secretary Generals Representative Visits Senate
President
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) and Head of the United
Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambers,
visited the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, in Abuja on Wednesday,
November 8th. Find the details of their discussion on the next page

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Senate Presidents Meeting
with UN SGs Special
Representative
The meeting with the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General (SRSG) and the Senate President,
centered around the Nigerian Senates work in the North
East and on IDPs; the devolution of powers agitations in
parts of the nation; Nigerias preparedness for the 2019
elections; migration of Nigerians; and the repatriation of
Nigerias money abroad.

Highlights from the President of the Senates Remarks

include:

On the repatriation of funds: We feel very strongly

about this. We hope to get more support from the United
Nations. It is condescending that people say that Nigeria
cannot manage our own funds.

For us to be going around to beg for our own money

that has been stolen is not tenable. I think the UN can
work on this and send a strong message. There is a
greater role that you can play.

You can follow this link to find out more about

this meeting: https://goo.gl/9tfDuz
Senate Takes Action Death of 26 Nigerian Girls on Spanish Warship
The Senate is set to begin a probe of the death of
26 Nigerian teenagers who died aboard a Spanish
warship while attempting to cross the
Mediterranean.

In a Motion raised by Senator Rose Oko, on

Thursday, November 9th, the Senate condemned in
the strongest terms the murder of the 26 young
Nigerians; while commending the Italian authorities
for immediately stepping into the matter with the
hope of resolving the murders.

International news reports reveal that two men, an

Egyptian and a Libyan, have been arrested and
charged in Italy as investigators look into the
deaths of the teenagers who are believed to have
been murdered.

The Senate has mandated its Committees on

Diaspora, Foreign Affairs and Special Duties to
investigate the unfortunate incident and report back
to the senate within 4 weeks.
Senate President at Burial of
Senator Danjuma Gojes Late
Wife
On Thursday, November 9th, the Senate
President led the Senate delegation to the
burial of Her Excellency, the former First
Lady of Gombe State, and wife of Senator
Danjuma Goje, the late Hajia Yelwa Goje.

In tweet on his personal handle, the

Senate President said:

Today, we paid our final respects to the

late Hajia Yelwa Goje, wife of my friend
and colleague, Senator Danjuma Goje.

May the Almighty grant her Al Jannah

Firdaus, and give her family strength at
this time. Amin.
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