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Tag: Federal Executive Council (FEC)

  • Tinubu to Meet Labour Leaders on New Minimum Wage as Local Governments Seek More Funding

    Tinubu to Meet Labour Leaders on New Minimum Wage as Local Governments Seek More Funding

    By   Milcah   Tanimu

    President Bola Tinubu is scheduled to meet with labour leaders on Thursday to finalize discussions on a new minimum wage. This comes as the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) calls for a revised revenue allocation formula to better support the country’s 774 local government areas.

    Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, announced the upcoming meeting following the 15th Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the State House in Abuja. This meeting will continue the consultations initiated last week, during which no consensus on the new minimum wage was reached.

    An amendment to the budget will be sent to the National Assembly once a consensus is achieved. Last week’s session ended without agreement, with proposals of N62,000 from the government and private sector, and N250,000 from Organized Labour.

    Idris highlighted that the government is working diligently to establish a sustainable minimum wage that accommodates the needs of the federal, state, and private sectors. The upcoming discussions will aim to reconcile differing views before a proposal is submitted for legislative approval.

    Additionally, ALGON President Aminu Mu’azu-Maifata has urged an increase in monthly allocations to local governments to enable them to comply with the new wage laws. He emphasized that without an adjustment in the revenue-sharing formula, local councils would struggle to meet these financial obligations.

    Mu’azu-Maifata also praised President Tinubu’s commitment to local government autonomy, which he believes will enhance grassroots democracy and allow councils to make impactful decisions for their communities.

    As the nation awaits the final decision on the minimum wage, local government leaders are encouraged to prioritize salary payments, healthcare, education, and security to improve the quality of life at the grassroots level.

  • Tinubu Fails to Provide Vital Details of Newly-Awarded Contracts

    Tinubu Fails to Provide Vital Details of Newly-Awarded Contracts

    By Milcah Tanimu

    President Bola Tinubu’s administration is under scrutiny for its lack of transparency in the recently awarded government contracts. Despite the Public Procurement Act’s requirement for competitive bidding and detailed disclosures, critical information about these contracts is missing.

    Last Tuesday, Tinubu’s aide, Bayo Onanuga, shared details of 20 projects and policies adopted by the Federal Executive Council (FEC). However, only three projects included contractor names, contract amounts, and project durations. The remaining 13 projects lacked at least one of these crucial details, raising concerns about transparency and accountability.

    The projects, which include road construction, street light installation, and bus purchases, are expected to follow competitive bidding processes as mandated by the Public Procurement Act. Yet, the failure to disclose complete information violates these regulations, which are designed to prevent corruption and ensure fair competition.

    Attempts to obtain additional details from Onanuga were unsuccessful, as he did not respond to calls or messages. Experts in public procurement and accountability expressed concern over this lack of transparency. Ijeoma Okereke-Adagba, Project Manager of UDEME at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), and Ayo Ladipo, Head of Tracka at BudgIT, highlighted these issues as part of a broader pattern of non-compliance with procurement laws.

    Okereke-Adagba pointed out that FEC-approved projects often bypass competitive bidding and other legal requirements, such as environmental impact assessments for projects displacing people or properties. She emphasized that this secrecy makes it difficult for civil society organizations (CSOs) to monitor projects and hold the government accountable.

    Ladipo questioned the procurement process for the Court of Appeal building project, approved at N37 billion, noting that only N10 billion was allocated for it in the 2023 supplementary budget. This discrepancy raises questions about the transparency of project budgeting and execution.

    Both experts agreed that the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) is often sidelined, only brought in to issue certificates of no objection after contracts are awarded. This undermines the BPP’s role in ensuring fair and transparent procurement processes.

    The lack of transparency extends beyond individual projects. Ladipo criticized the Tinubu administration for regressing in transparency, citing delays in publishing details of 2024 constituency projects and the 2023 budget implementation report. She also noted that the BPP’s website is not functional, preventing public access to procurement details, and the 2024 budget document on the budget office’s website is not machine-readable, hindering analysis and accountability efforts.

    This situation represents a significant challenge for transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s governance. Both Okereke-Adagba and Ladipo stressed the need for urgent action to address these issues and ensure that government projects adhere to legal and ethical standards.

  • President Tinubu Leads Inaugural FEC Meeting

    President Tinubu Leads Inaugural FEC Meeting

    BY  Milcah  Tanimu

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is currently presiding over the inaugural Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting of his administration. The meeting is taking place at the Council Chamber in the Presidential Villa located in Abuja.

    The recently appointed cabinet members were sworn in and inaugurated the previous week after receiving confirmation from the Senate as mandated by the constitution.

    Joining President Tinubu at the meeting are Vice President Kashim Shettima, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan, and the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.

    Originally slated for the preceding Wednesday, the FEC meeting had been rescheduled to allow the new ministers time to settle into their respective ministries following their swearing-in ceremony just a couple of days earlier.

    As conveyed by WesternPost, President Tinubu had informed his ministers of the new date for the first FEC meeting, which was set for Monday. The ministers had also received an official memo from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) in preparation for the meeting.

  • FG to create new agency for recovered loot

    FG to create new agency for recovered loot

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the establishment of the Proceeds of Crime Recovery and Management Agency Bill.

    The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, disclosed this to State House correspondents after this week’s virtual FEC meeting, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa .

    According to Malami, the bill is targeted and intended to have in place a legal and institutional framework through which all recovered stolen assets are pooled and managed under an agency, ending the era when various government agencies work at variance with regards to recovered assets.

    He explained that once the bill becomes law and the agency is established, it would see to proper documentation and management of such recovered assets and thereby guarantee transparency and accountability.

    “It is a Proceeds of Crime Recovery and Management Agency Bill. It is in essence a bill that is targeted and intended to have in place a legal and institutional framework. The legal component of it is having a law. And the institutional component of it is to have an agency that will be saddled with the responsibility of managing the assets that constitute the proceeds of crime in Nigeria.

    “What happens before now is the proceeds of crime are scattered all over, and mostly in the hands of different and multiple agencies of government inclusive of the police, the DSS, EFCC, and ICPC.

    So, with that kind of arrangement which is adhoc, there is no agency of government that is saddled with the responsibility of data generation, an agency that can give you off head the number of landed assets, number of immovable assets, the amount in cash that are recovered by the federal government by way of interim forfeiture overweigh of a final forfeiture.

    So, it is indeed overtime a kind of arrangement that is not uniform and consistent.

    “So, what this law now seeks to do is to move the fight against corruption to the next level. Next level of transparency next level of accountability and in essence, have in place an agency of government that is exclusively responsible for anything proceeds of crime.

    So, a one-stop shop arrangement by which all the assets that are recovered arising from crimes that are indeed vested in the federal government, you have a one-stop arrangement where you can have an information.