The 8th Senate and the anti-graft war

Since its inauguration on June 9, 2015, the 8th Senate left no-one in doubt on its stance on the key issues on the agenda of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, including fight against insecurity, corruption, youth unemployment and economic revival. To demonstrate its resolve to be on the same page with the President on the daunting […]

Since its inauguration on June 9, 2015, the 8th Senate left no-one in doubt on its stance on the key issues on the agenda of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, including fight against insecurity, corruption, youth unemployment and economic revival. To demonstrate its resolve to be on the same page with the President on the daunting task of fighting corruption, the Senate included the issue, a key item on its Legislative Agenda. The Senate in the last one year not only put legislative mechanisms to prevent large scale waste in public spending, but on several occasions investigated and exposed corrupt practices, wastage and diversion of public resource for purposes other than which they were meant in certain sectors. This was in exercise of their powers under the 1999 Constitution. There are instances of these moves to save public resources for public purposes.
The Senate on February 25, after considering the report of its committee on banking and other financial institutions that investigated the alleged mishandling of the terms of contract in the implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) passed resolutions asking the Federal Government to urgently terminate the contract awarded in 2013 between the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and SystemSpecs which owned the Remita platform deployed for the collection of the funds.
Similarly, the resolution halted further deductions the Federal Government could have paid beyond the N25 billion already deducted by the platform provider based on the charge of one per cent transaction fee for all collections. The Senate also asked the CBN to ensure that the total refund of the portion of the deductions were retained by the CBN and the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), and present evidence of compliance to the appropriate Senate committee.
The Senate directed that N656,504,100, instead of the claim of N7,650,925,566.40, be provided as transaction costs for fund transfers and collections for the period ending  November, 30, 2015. Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, who vowed that the Senate would not be distracted by what he described as series of blackmail, however, urged the lawmakers to ensure that they saw the proof that the money had been refunded.
On June 6, 2015 the Senate, worried by huge amount lost through granting import waivers by the Federal Government, set up a nine-man committee under the chairmanship of Sen Adamu Aliero (APC-Kebbi Central) to look into all waivers, concessions and grants and review all such related policy to recover all government revenues and block leakages. In his remark, the Senate President said the ad-hoc committee was hinged on the determination of the new administration to cut revenue leakage, and the urgent need to protect the nation’s agriculture to ensure local sufficiency rather than relying on importation. He expressed displeasure at the impunity with which people who owed government billions of naira continued to do businesses unfettered.
After months of diligent investigation, the committee on May 24, 2016 presented a report with a shocking revelation of the lost of a whopping N447.4bn to import duty waivers, concessions and grants fraud from 2011 to 2015.
The Senate, based on the 2013 Audit Report submitted to it by the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) is set to debate what may become the largest fraud against the nation’s economy. The report exposed mind boggling revelations of mismanagement in the oil and gas sector.
Receiving the report, Saraki said, “this is just 2013, one year’s report. It is not cumulative. In one year’s audit report you are talking about figures of over $3.8billion. At that time, I am sure the rate was close to N150 per dollar. So you are talking about N650billion. Then you are talking about another N358billion which brings it close to about N1trillion.”
Already, the Senate has extended an invitation to the NEITI Executive Secretary to appear before it and shed more light on the report before the commencement of debate on it. The planned debate of the report had already began generating reactions from stakeholders with the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) welcoming the move, which they described  as the first in the nation’s history.
CISLAC executive director, Auwal Musa, said in a statement that the latest audit report, released on May 23, pointed to recurring shortfalls in remittances from the oil sector to the Federal Government, prompting CISLAC’s call for the senate to use the report as a “springboard to expedite the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill,” noting that, “this will be the first the audit findings of a NEITI report will be debated in the legislature.”
In line with its Legislative Agenda, the 8th Senate has initiated the setting up of an independent  Transparency and Delivery commission that will review and improve the oversight system of the Senate. The commission which is to be launched soon, according to the Senate President, would work closely with the Senate and the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes to draw up a robust oversight scheme, as well as strengthen the internal structuring and capacity of the National Assembly to fulfil its role as an anti-corruption institution.
“The commission’s work will be two-fold. Initially it will concentrate on analysing the processes and tools by which the Senate and the National Assembly in general can, using its legislative remit, assist the anti-corruption agenda of President Buhari and, more specifically, strengthen the institutions through legislative reforms.
“The following medium-term goal is to then deliver recommendations for better ways of working within the Senate and to ensure that it meets the highest global standards, including the newly announced Commonwealth Secretariat anti-corruption ‘kitemark’ system,” it said.
Looking at the achievements of the Senate in its resolve to plug the loopholes in our national purse and cause a departure from the past, President Buhari, no doubt, has an ally in his avowed commitment to eradicate corruption. As a strategic institution with unlimited role in reforming and strengthening anti corruption agencies and institutions, the resolve of the 8th Senate, in particular, and the National Assembly in general, must support the ongoing war against corruption. As equal stakeholders, it behoves upon the Executive to reciprocate the Legislative support by implementing resolutions and decisions of the parliament, particularly as it relates to anti-corruption campaigns.
Isa is Special Assistant to the Senate President on Public Affairs.