$49.8bn oil money not missing —Senate •Rejects bid to remove fuel subsidy

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SENATORS, on Thursday, ratified the report of its committee on Finance, which probed allegations of missing $49.8 billion oil revenue made by former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Lamido Sanusi.

Lawmakers at the sitting ratified the report, which indicated that the allegation by the former CBN governor was unfounded, indicating that the said money was not missing from government’s coffers.
They also unanimously rejected the proposal that the Federal Government should remove petroleum subsidy, due to the alleged widespread misapplication of the funds.
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₦49.8b: Senate report clears NNPC, Deziani, says no money missing

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The Senate Committee on Finance which investigated the NNPC over allegations of fraud leveled against it by the suspended Governor of the Central Bank, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, today Wednesday May 28th submitted its report to the Senate saying no funds were missing, The Will Nigeria reports.
Sanusi had spuriously claimed in a leaked letter to President Goodluck that $49.8 billion in crude oil revenue was missing.
The detailed report according to sources at the Senate also cleared the NNPC and the Ministry of Petroleum of any wrong doing.
The report however directed the NNPC and the Ministry of Finance as well as other relevant agencies to reconcile a sum believed to be around $300 million dollars.

Dino Melaye's wife took to tweeter as he declares intention to run for Senate

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Former House of Reps member, Dino Melaye has declared his intention to run for work of a Senator-elect in the 2015 general elections. Dino in a media parley yesterday spoke of his intentions.

"My plan for 2015 is that by the grace of God I will be running for the Senate. My posters are already out. I have almost rounded off my consultations. And by the grace of God I'm going to run  to win to represent Kogi West Senatorial District in 2015” He said

His estranged wife, Tokunbo Fabiyi took to Twitter a few minutes ago to speak out on their on-going divorce/child-custody battle and also talk about a few of Dino's side chicks.
Her tweets after the break...

Mismanagement: NNPC Can’t Account For ₦500bn Subsidy Fund – Senate

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The Senate on Tuesday lamented that officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation failed to honour its invitation to give account of how they managed the  N32.00 removed as subsidy on each of the litre of petrol sold in the country between January 2012 and September 2013

Members of the  Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme raised the alarm while addressing journalists, two hours after officials of the NNPC and the Central Bank of Nigeria failed to honour an appointment with them.

Senate Hears How Nigeria's Aviation Minister Used Federal Airport Authority

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A Senate committee holding hearings into the aviation sector in Nigeria today shockingly heard   how the Aviation Minister Stella Oduah spent $1.6 million on the purchase of two armored cars today, also the committee received further confirmation that the minister received several other cars from another agency under her control.

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Senate President David Mark Pleaded with Beijing To Release 490 Nigerian Prisoners

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Senate President David Mark has pleaded with Beijing to release 490 Nigerians languishing in Chinese prisons. He begged the Chinese leader, Mr. Zhang Dejiang to review the cases of  366 Nigerians in Chinese prisons, 120 awaiting trial and four already sentenced to death under the transfer of prisoners arrangement.

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Senate President backs national conference (What do you think ?)

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President of the Senate, David Mark, on Tuesday said the call for national conference by certain sections of the country was in order in view of the discontent in the polity.

Mark, while welcoming senators from their seven-week annual vacation, said every matter about the union of ethnic groups that made up the country should be opened to discussion though with the proviso that the dismemberment of the country should be a no-go area.

He said that the country could not continue to shy away from discussing national issues in view of the discontent in the polity and present global realities.

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Senate panel approves plan to strike Syria

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The United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted on Wednesday to approve President Barack Obama's plan to strike Syria in retaliation for the reported use of chemical weapons by leader Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

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Full Update: US Senate bill authorizes sanctions on Russia or any other country offering Snowden asylum

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US sanctions against any country offering asylum to Edward Snowden are unanimously approved in Congress by voice vote as an amendment to next year’s $50.6 billion diplomacy and international aid bill.

The measure introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham demands the State Department coordinate with lawmakers on setting penalties against nations that seek to help Snowden avoid extradition to the United States, where authorities want him prosecuted for revealing details of the government’s massive surveillance system, according to the Washington Post.

"I don’t know if he’s getting a change of clothes. I don’t know if he’s going to stay in Russia forever. I don’t know where he’s going to go," Graham said. "But I know this: That the right thing to do is to send him back home so he can face charges for the crimes he’s allegedly committed."

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Senate, ASUU, FG meeting deadlocked, strike continues

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The negotiations among the Senate, the Federal government and the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU over the ongoing industrial action embarked by universities lecturers  ended without  parties reaching any compromise.

The meeting which was at the instance of the chairman, Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, PDP Abia North, was called to pacify the striking lecturers with a bid to finding a common ground. However, a source at the meeting revealed that all efforts to push for a call off of the strike proved abortive as members of ASUU stood their grounds. 

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U.S. Senate passes immigration bill, 11 million foreigners on a path to American citizenship.

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The U.S. Senate, after a decade of trying and failing, on Thursday passed a wide-ranging immigration bill that would put 11 million foreigners now living illegally in the United States on a path to American citizenship.

The U.S. Senate's vote passing a broad immigration reform bill fell two votes short of what some of its main backers had said was necessary to pressure the House of Representatives to act.

The Senate voted 68-32 for the bill, giving more than two-thirds support in the 100-member chamber. Earlier, backers said they were pushing to get 70 votes to help sway the more conservative House to consider it.

Senate stops N4bn first ladies’ mission house project

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The Senate on Wednesday dropped the controversial African First Ladies’ Peace Mission House project when it passed the N259.65bn budget of the Federal Capital Territory for the 2013 fiscal year without approving the N4bn appropriated for it.

In February when the budget proposal was brought to the National Assembly, it contained N4bn vote for the construction of the mission house in Abuja, a development that attracted a lot of criticisms from members of the public.

The Senate, during the second reading of the bill, questioned the rationale of committing scarce resources to prosecute a less important structure.

Civil rights groups and political parties had also berated the Federal Capital Territory Administration for budgeting N4bn for the construction of the building for a non-governmental body headed by the wife of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan.

Senate Approves State Of Emergency In Borno, Yobe And Adamawa

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The Nigerian Senate has approved the state of emergency declared last week in three states believed to be the epicentre of Islamist insurgency in the country.

The Senate, after a closed-door session with 100 members (out of the 109 members), approved unanimously by a voice vote the official gazette of the state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, transmitted to it by President Goodluck Jonathan.

“We, therefore, approve Mr. President’s request for a declaration of state of emergency,” said Senate President, David Mark, after the voice vote.

Analyst: Democratic Senate stands in the way of GOP calls for impeachment ( Do You Think Obama Should Be impeached)

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WASHINGTON – Sen. Jim Inhofe is going for the president’s jugular. The Oklahoma Republican has brought up this week the specter of impeaching President Obama for his handling of the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last fall.
Congressman Jason Chaffetz followed suit on Tuesday, telling CNN that an impeachment was a possibility. Though he added, “That’s certainly not what we're striving for."

Things have only gotten worse for the president this week as the list of lawmakers and pundits calling for Obama’s impeachment continues to grow.

The website Salon.com recently compiled a list of 14 public cries impeaching the president.

Host Rob Sachs spoke with Rosalyn Cooperman, a political science professor at Mary Washington University, to discuss what actually merits a real impeachment.

Senate Passes State Of The Nation Bill

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The Senate on Thursday passed the State Of the Nation Bill into law which compels the incumbent President to present a state of the nation address before the joint session of the National Assembly.

The bill seeks to make the President accountable to Nigerians as represented by the National Assembly and to render an account of the President’s stewardship to the nation.

The bill, which was a product of concurrence between the House of Representatives and the Senate, was first passed into law by the 6th National Assembly but the President; Olusgeun Obasanjo,  withheld his assent from it.

Senate summon JAMB registrar over mass failure

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Less than 24 hours National Mirror exclusively reported how internet fraudsters contributed to the mass failure of candidates in the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the House of Representatives yesterday summoned the Registrar of the board, Prof Dibu Ojerinde, for questioning.

Chairman, House Committee on Education, Hon. Aminu Suleiman (PDP Kano), said the summons became necessary following series of complaints and protests by many Nigerians of the mass failure.

It will be recalled that the result of the exam, released last weekend, showed only 10 candidates scoring 300 marks and above from the possible 400 while a majority scored below pass mark of 180, which is 40 per cent of the total mark.

According to the lawmaker, the House heard that JAMB authorities had formally explained some reasons for the mass failure in the exam but the explanation is not enough if the content of the complaints is anything to go by.

Senate Receives Signed Copy Of 2013 Budget From Jonathan

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The Senate today confirmed receipt of the signed 2013 budget from President Goodluck Jonathan.

Senate Spokesman Enyinnaya Abaribe, who confirmed this to journalists in Abuja, said copies of the signed budget were already with all the senators.

Abaribe, who noted that the president was yet to seek an amendment to the budget, however assured that should he do so, the Senate would work on it.

He said within the next few days, all the senators would critically look at the details of the signed budget to be sure that it is in tandem with the one passed by the National Assembly.

According to Abaribe, “every budget is an organic system which means that necessarily, there will be corrections and those corrections come through another appropriation bill that will be sent as a supplementary bill. That is the only way I know that an amendment of the budget can be done. If we get such a supplementary bill, we are going to work with it.”

President made no single-term promise –Ex-Senate Whip

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Former Senate Whip, Senator Kanti Bello, has accused the Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, of telling a lie over his claim that President Goodluck Jonathan agreed to a single term in 2011.

Bello said, as a principal officer of the Senate in 2011, he attended a meeting of governors and lawmakers where the issue of Jonathan’s single term was raised.

The former Senate Whip told our one of correspondents in a telephone interview on Sunday that he personally raised the matter during the said meeting and that Jonathan did not make any promise of serving just one term.

Aliyu had in an interview aired on Liberty Radio, Kaduna, claimed that President Jonathan had agreed to serve for only one term of four years beginning from 2011.

But Bello, a former member of the Peoples Democratic Party, who defected to the Congress for Progressive Change, dismissed Aliyu’s claims.

ICPC probes four govs over alleged graft

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Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission on Sunday said it had started  investigating four governors over alleged misappropriation of public funds and abuse of office.

A statement by the commission’s spokesperson, Mr. Folu Olamiti, said the ICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta, stated this during a programme on Splash FM in Ibadan.

The statement also said the commission had sent some of its operatives to Canada for forensic investigations training on cashless transaction.

Nta, however, declined to name the governors, saying, “It will jeopardise our investigations”.

He said, “It should be noted that those (governors) invited for questioning are still innocent until prima facie cases are made against them. So, those who have no case to answer will be allowed to go as freemen with their image intact.

Senate committee’s report on pension fictitious – Maina’s team

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The disagreement between the Senate and the Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, continued on Sunday, with the taskforce dismissing the Senate committee’s report on pension as fictitious.

The team stated that  the report of the Senate Pension Probe Committees, chaired by Senator Aloysius Etok (Establishment and Public Service) and Senator Kabiru Gaya (State and Local Government Administration) was unfounded.

The PRTT, in a statement in Abuja by its spokesperson, Mr. Hassan Salihu, specifically said the committees had “grossly misinformed and misled the entire Senate with a fictitious report muddled up with a multitude of naked untrue and misleading unjustifiable conclusions”.