General
Reps to Investigate Duplication of Functions Across MDAs
By Adedapo Adesanya
The House of Representatives has inaugurated an ad-hoc committee to investigate the duplication of functions rife across ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) of the government.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, who inaugurated the committee, said that the panel aims to reduce the cost of governance and prevent redundancy.
He said that the government has noticed that there was duplication of functions by the different agencies which has led to reduced productivity.
“An organization’s vision and mission must of necessity be derived from the mandate and functions enunciated by its establishment act or any instrument that establishes it.
“Uncertainty sets in when we have multiple agencies carrying out the same functions, leading to bickering, suspicion, and eventually duplication of efforts and waste of hard-earned government resources and time.
“Governments in the past have put in place measures to ensure effective and efficient service delivery by agencies of government, e.g., SERVICOM, but this could not achieve much without a clearly defined mandate,” Mr Gbajabiamila said.
He stressed that “The House of Representatives is not out to witch-hunt any individual or organization, but we are propelled by our desire to ensure good governance and in the exercise of our legislative oversight powers as enshrined in Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
“This Committee is expected to come up with solutions to the apparent continuous conflict of functions and avoidable bickering among established Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s), resulting in ineffectiveness, inefficiency and redundancy in the government workforce.
“The committee is therefore expected to engage relevant stakeholders and members of the public with a view to resolving the areas of conflict among the MDA’s, which may require amending some laws and/or outright repeal, as the case may be.”
Mr Gbajabiamila urged the MDAs and other critical stakeholders to work with the committee to complete its mandate in accordance with its Terms of Reference.
The Chairman of the team, Mr Victor Mela Danzaria, said that most of the laws establishing government agencies were made during the military regime and are not in tandem with democracy.
He said that subject matter has been a thorn in the flesh of previous governments which led to the setting up of various committees in the past.
“It is important to note however that our task is different from that of the Oransanya Committee. Whereas their major concern was to reduce the cost of governance, ours is to streamline, merge and if need be, scrap some in order to bring about efficiency in the governance,” Mr Danzaria said.
He assured Nigerians that the committee would conduct a detailed investigation into the activities of some of the agencies and come up with a report that would have a far-reaching decision that would strengthen the agencies.
Meanwhile, the Chief Whip who moved the motion that led to the constitution of the ad-hoc committee, Mr Muhammed Mongunu, said that during a series of oversight functions, it was observed that there were various agencies duplicating functions.
“It is out of the totality of our oversight functions over three sessions that generated the motion on the floor of the House and the parliament saw that there was the need to come up with something that would address these challenges,” Mr Monguno said.
He added that the committee needs to establish areas of mergers and synergies so that existing laws can be justified.
By Emmanuel Udom
The Abeokuta diocese of the Catholic Church in Ogun State is set to hold a one-day training for all parish correspondents across its over 69 parishes in the state.
Business Post gathered that the training is planned for Saturday, May 3, 2025, at the St Peter & Paul Catholic Hall, located at Itesi along Adetan Road in Abeokuta, Ogun Sstate.
The training will commence from 10 am to 2.30 pm and the event is coming ahead of the church’s Communications Week (ComWeek) fixed for May 25 to June 1, 2025, at the same venue.
The Social Communication Director for the diocese, Fr Gregory Fadele, in a statement said all parish correspondents are expected to be at the venue of the training on or before 9.30 am for registration.
He, however, disclosed that no proxy arrangements would be allowed as refreshments, stationary, certificate of participation, and others would be given to each correspondent drawn from all the parishes of the Catholic church in Ogun State.
By Adedapo Adesanya
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has backed plans to set up an oil trading house called Africa Trading Minerals (Atmin), which will finance the purchase of refined petroleum products by African and Caribbean oil buyers.
The bank has invested $3 billion in the trading house, which it expects to finance about $10 billion to $14 billion of Intra-African petroleum imports.
Atmin will be based in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, and is expected to have around 15 employees.
It will start with crude and then expand into oil products and minerals, according to reports.
Afreximbank will be a controlling shareholder at Atmin, while employees will own some 15 per cent of the firm.
The move takes place as oil majors and Western banks retreat from Africa, and the continent is facing a decline in oil and gas production due to under-investment, while also spending $30 billion annually on fuel imports.
It is also seeking to address Africa’s persistent reliance on imported refined petroleum products, which accounted for an amount of $30billion annually in petroleum import costs due to inadequate refining.
Key products to be traded are refined petroleum products including but not limited to Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO), Jet Fuel, and Kerosene. The eligible exporters are refineries operating in Africa.
According to Reuters, Atmin will be run by Mr Ajay Oommen,a former Shell executive who worked for the oil major for for 17 years as well as Mr Vikram Thakur, who worked for 18 years at Shell, including in business development, trading origination and structured finance, as well as Mr Joseph Kanaan, a trader at Shell for 11 years.
Speaking on this, Mr Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Afreximbank, said that the development will have a direct impact on the volume of the refined petroleum products produced and consumed in Africa.
“It will also have a multiplier effect on the downstream petroleum value chain as it will catalyse critical investments in shipping and marine logistics for intra and extra African trade of crude oil and refined products.
“The multiplier effect will also be seen in marine cargo insurance and other ancillary businesses within the sector. We want to see an increased proportion of the about 4 mbpd of crude oil produced in the Gulf of Guinea refined in Africa,” he said.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A popular Lagos-based socialite, Mr Emeka Daniel Okonkwo, otherwise known as E-Money, has been apprehended by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The younger brother of a well-known musician, KCee, whose real name is Mr Kingsley Okonkwo, was reportedly arrested by the agency on Monday night at his residence at Omole Estate, Lagos.
He was accused of spraying foreign currency at a public function recently, an act believed to be against the Foreign Exchange Act.
At the time of filing this report, the EFCC has not reacted to reports of E-Money’s arrest.
The organisation is said to be looking into the matter with a view to prosecuting the socialite for the alleged offence.
He was said to have been flown to Abuja for questioning and should be taken to court to face the full wrath of the law if the agency is certain that he has committed an offence.
Recall that some days ago, E-Money was at the 50th birthday of another socialite, Mr Obinna Tochuukwu Iyiegbu, otherwise known as Obi Cubana, in Abuja.
He was also spotted at the wedding ceremony of Iyabo Ojo’s daughter in Lagos.
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