President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday sought Senate approval for payment of N148.1bn to five states in the federation.
The sum was for payment for the rehabilitation of Federal roads by Ondo, Rivers, Cross-River, Osun and Bayelsa States.
The letter addressed to President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, was read on the floor of the Red Chamber by Senator Lawan.
A breakdown of the sum revealed that Rivers State would take N78.9billion while its Bayelsa and Cross Rivers States neighbours would benefit total sum of N38.4bn and (N18.3bn) respectively. The South-West states of Ondo and Osun state would take N7.8bn and N4.5bn.
President Buhari however noted that the beneficiary states would be reimbursed through the issuance of promissory notes.
The letter was entitled, “Request for Resolution of the National Assembly for Approval of the Reimbursement of N148.14 Billion through the issuance of Promissory Notes to Bayelsa, Cross River, Ondo, Osun and Rivers State Governments for Federal Road Projects Executed by the States.”
It read in part: “The Senate may wish to be informed that the Federal Executive Council at its meeting of June 3, 2020, approved the reimbursement of N148.14 billion through the issuance of promissory notes to Bayelsa, Cross River, Ondo, Osun and Rivers States government for the federal road projects executed by the states.
“The approval by FEC was subsequent to the recommendation by an inter-ministerial committee which reviewed the request for reimbursement made by the state governments for the projects.
“The committee reviewed the documents submitted and carried out fiscal inspection and verification of the projects in the respective states before making its recommendation to FEC.
“The summary of the amount approved for each of the five states is stated in the table below. Bayelsa, N38, 404, 564, 783.40; Cross Rivers, N18, 394, 732, 608.85; Ondo, N7, 822, 147, 577.8; Osun, N4, 567, 456, 673.63; Rivers, N78, 953, 67,518.29.
“In view of the foregoing, I wish to request the Senate to kindly approve through its resolution, the request for the reimbursement of the total sum of N148,141, 969, 161.24 through the issuance of promissory notes to the five aforementioned state governments for the federal road projects executed on behalf of the Federal Government as detailed in paragraph two above.”
The letter further disclosed that: “The Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning shall provide any information that may be required by the national assembly in its consideration of this request.”
Buhari in another letter, “Transmission of the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020 for consideration and passage into law” sought the legislative endorsement of the Bill by the lawmakers.
“Pursuant to Section 58 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, I formally request the consideration and passage into law by the Senate the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020.
“In particular, the Senate may wish to note that this Bill combines in a single trough, aspects of significant reforms to the laws governing the Nigerian petroleum industry that were previously set out in two distinct draft legislations.
“They are the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020, and the Petroleum Industry Fiscal Bill 2020; while I trust that the Senate, in their usual expeditious manner, favourably consider the passage of this Bill into law.”
In the same vein, President Buhari asked the upper legislative chamber to confirm the nomination of eight Justices of the Appeal Court for appointment as Supreme Court Justices.
The affected Justices of the Appeal Court included M. Lawal Garba (North West), Helen M. Ogunwumiju (South West), Abdul Aboki (North West), I. M. Saulawa (North West), Adamu Jauro (North East), Samuel C. Oseji South South), Tijjani Abubakar (North East) and Emmanuel A. Agim (South South).
Other letters from the Presidency read on the floor of the Senate were those in which President Buhari asked the Red Chamber to approve nominations for the Boards of PENCOM, the National Population Commission and another letter in which he sought the confirmation of Ambassador Muhammad Haruna Manta and Yusuf Yunusa as Non-Career Ambassador-Designates.
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