NASS must urgently effect LG autonomy — Ahmad Lawan

A former president of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, has said that local government financial autonomy is a must.

This is as he urged the 10th National Assembly to as a matter of urgency effect judgment by the Supreme Court on local government financial autonomy.

Mr Lawan made the call during the 10th Senate retreat of the committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution taking place in Kano.

He said the local government are currently in comatose and must be resuscitated, noting that their non functional system could be attributed to the current level of insecurity in the country.

According to him, “I believe the Local Government financial autonomy is a must. The Supreme Court gave a judgment. This 10th National Assembly should give effect to that judgment. States should mind their business and deal with resources that are purely theirs.

“Our Local Government must be resuscitated. At the moment, they are in comatose, collapsed and completely docile and inefficient. In fact, in many states they don’t even exist in practical sense.

“And many of us could attribute the present level of insecurity in Nigeria to the collapse of local government system in Nigeria. Give them the opportunity to serve. If we feel the capacity is not there, let our Professors, present lawmakers and others who deserve to work for a local government should go back and serve at that level if that will make things go better,” Lawan said.

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He also advocated that constitutional roles be assigned to the traditional leaders or monarchs to find lasting solutions to issue of security bedeviling the country.

According to him, “I believe that our royal fathers have roles to play, especially when it comes to dealing with the security issues across the country. I don’t think we are realistic. We appear we just call them or address them and say we have issues please go and help. Can’t we give them the advisory role, official or formal role that will make them do better and even hold them accountable,” the former Senate President, Senator Lawan said.

Speaking while declaring the retreat open, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin cautioned the committees members of the constitution amendment to be very careful in their decision which should reflect the best interest of all Nigerians.

According to Jibrin, the committee would sincerely work in synergy with stakeholders to make sure the outcome of the exercise meet the yearning and aspirations of the people of the country.

He vowed to work with critical stakeholders including executive arm of government, state governors and state assemblies to come up with a robust report to be presented to the Senate for further actions.

“The Senate is ready to come up with a report, bearing in mind that any decision taken would have bearing on Nigerians,” he said.

Mr Jibrin said decisions taken by the committee would have positive effect on Nigerians and generations to come.

Earlier, the chairman, Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, Adebo Ogundoyin reiterated it call for prompt transmission of the National Assembly’s resolution on the proposed amendments to the State Houses of Assembly to allow it to effectively fulfill it responsibilities.

NASS must urgently effect LG autonomy — Ahmad Lawan

CBN gov’s claim on Buhari printing N35tn not correct – ex-President’s aide

A former aide to President Muhammadu Buhari has pushed back against claims made by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Yemi Cardoso, regarding the mismanagement of the economy during Buhari’s administration, particularly between 2015 and 2023.

The aide challenged the CBN governor’s assertion that N35 trillion was printed during Buhari’s tenure, clarifying that the actual figure was closer to N7.5 trillion.

The dispute arose following the release of new data by the CBN, which showed a significant increase in Nigeria’s money supply, rising by 14.22% to N107.1 trillion between January and August 2024, compared to N93.77 trillion in January of the same year.

At a recent press briefing held after the September meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in Abuja, Cardoso had stated, “In 2015, the money supply was about N19 trillion. By 2023, it had surged to N54 trillion. That’s a huge increase, and a substantial portion of that came through the Ways and Means financing.”

Cardoso explained that the N35 trillion printed over the period had resulted in excessive liquidity, with too much money chasing the same volume of goods, contributing to inflationary pressures.

The “Ways and Means” mechanism refers to the process by which the CBN lends money to the government. Cardoso noted that this type of funding was not supported by corresponding economic growth, leading to an oversupply of naira in the economy, which diminished its value.

However, Buhari’s aide, who chose to remain anonymous due to lack of authorization to speak on the matter, refuted Cardoso’s figures. The aide contended that during the eight-year period, the CBN had provided only N7.5 trillion in Ways and Means advances.

“The numbers being cited are simply not correct. When the acting Governor of the Central Bank was in office, the National Assembly summoned the CBN to provide accurate figures. The total sum of Ways and Means advances during Buhari’s tenure did not exceed N7.5 trillion,” he said.

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Citing a report from The Cable, the aide emphasized that the National Assembly had been expected to release a comprehensive report on the matter but had not yet done so. “The last we heard, they promised to release the report in September. The central bank’s official records support our figure of N7.5 trillion,” he added.

To back his claim, the aide referenced a letter addressed to the Senate Majority Leader by the CBN on January 16, 2023. The letter, which responded to inquiries from the Senate’s Special Committee on Ways and Means, detailed the figures involved.

The letter stated, “The balance of the Treasury Sub-Treasury Account as of December 19, 2022, was -22,719,7033,774,306.90. This account is the designated account for granting overdraft facilities to the Federal Government. We have attached a summary page that details the Ways and Means granted between 2015 and 2022 as Appendix 3.”

The Buhari administration grappled with numerous fiscal challenges between 2015 and 2023, including a drop in global oil prices and a reduction in oil revenue. To manage these difficulties, the government increasingly relied on the CBN to fund its expenditures, printing trillions of naira in the process.

Both Cardoso and Finance Minister Wale Edun have attributed the inflationary pressures and the weakened naira to this money printing, which was not accompanied by productivity growth, making basic goods and services more expensive for Nigerians.

Efforts to reach the CBN and other government officials for a response to the aide’s remarks were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.

Surge in Money Supply
Meanwhile, the CBN’s recent figures show that the money supply in the economy has surged by 14.22% from N93.77 trillion in January to N107.1 trillion in August 2024. Month-on-month, there was a 0.75% increase, rising from N106.3 trillion in July, while year-on-year, the supply increased by 65% from N64.8 trillion in August 2023.

Money supply (M2), which includes currency outside banks, narrow money, demand deposits, and quasi-money, reflects the growing liquidity in the Nigerian economy. In August 2024, currency outside banks was reported at N3.8 trillion, demand deposits at N31 trillion, and quasi-money surged to N72.2 trillion.

This increase in liquidity presents a challenge for the CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee as it seeks to balance economic growth with inflation control.

CBN gov’s claim on Buhari printing N35tn not correct – ex-President’s aide

(PUNCH)

Details of observers damning reports on Edo gov election

Controversy has expectedly continued to trail the Edo governorship election which saw the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaring Senator Monday Okpebolo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner.

The results have been defended by the party that won and their sympathizers, but vigorously challenged by the two other candidates in the poll – Dr Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Mr Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) – as well as their supporters. In this package, Sunday Vanguard publishes the verbatim reports of two observer groups to the election. Yiaga Africa’s report is signed by Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, Chair of the 2024 Edo Election Mission, and Samson Itodo, Executive Director, while Andrew Mamedu, Country Director, signed for ActionAid Nigeria.

Election failed integrity test/standards – Yiaga Africa, highlights inconsistencies in results

Introduction

On Saturday, September 21, 2024, Yiaga Africa deployed the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology to observe the Edo State governorship election.

This involved 300 stationary and 25 roving observers, covering a representative sample of polling units across all 18 LGAs.

The PRVT enables Yiaga Africa to independently assess the quality of Election Day processes and verify the accuracy of the official election results as announced by INEC.

Yiaga Africa observers also deployed to the state and LGA results collation centers to observe the process, ensuring timely and accurate reporting of the election process. Yiaga Africa has successfully deployed this methodology in two presidential elections and sixteen off-cycle governorship elections.

Yiaga Africa’s Election Day situation analysis statement highlighted logistical challenges that led to delays in the commencement of accreditation and voting at various polling units across the state. Inadequate planning in the supply of vehicles for transporting ad hoc officials and election materials, along with the absence of accompanying security personnel, further exacerbated the delays.

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Yiaga Africa also condemns acts of violence and disruption of voting and results collation process by political thugs and hoodlums, particularly violence directed at voters and election officials.
These unwholesome acts undermine the integrity of the elections.

Yiaga Africa extends its sympathies to citizens and polling officials who suffered severe injuries and loss of valuable properties due to these attacks and violence.

Yiaga Africa calls on security agencies to thoroughly investigate these cases of attacks and intimidation against voters and polling officials.

INEC’s official results

Yiaga Africa’s estimates are based on official results announced at the polling unit from a representative random sample of polling units.

As highlighted in our pre-election report, Yiaga Africa will, amongst other factors, consider the quality of Election Day processes in assessing whether the 2024 Edo governorship satisfies the electoral integrity test.

In this regard, Yiaga Africa considered the integrity of accreditation, voting, counting, and collation of results.

INEC consistently applied its guidelines in managing the accreditation and voting process in a significant number of polling units.

Despite some isolated incidents of inadequate election materials, the BVAS machines functioned optimally, and all voters in the queue by 2:30pm were allowed to vote, despite the late opening of polls.
The polling officials uploaded polling unit results on the IReV in a timely manner, making it possible for citizens to access polling unit level results.

However, the incidents of results manipulation and disruptions during ward and local government collation in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor and Oredo LGAs, including intimidation of INEC officials, observers and party agents and the collation of results, contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, severely undermine the credibility of the election results.

Inconsistencies

Based on reports received from the sampled polling units, Yiaga Africa can project the expected vote shares for each party within a narrow margin. However, Yiaga Africa is only able to verify the election outcome if it falls within its estimated margins.

If the official results do not fall within Yiaga Africa’s estimated ranges, then the results may have been manipulated.

According to INEC, the All Progressives Congress (APC) received 51.1% of the votes, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) 43.3% of the votes, and the Labor Party garnered 4.0% of the votes.

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Based on reports from 287 of 300 (96%) sampled polling units, Yiaga Africa’s statistical analysis shows inconsistencies in the official results announced by INEC.

For instance, the official results announced by INEC for APC in Oredo and Egor, LGAs fall outside the PRVT estimate.

In Esan West LGA, the official results for PDP fall outside the PRVT estimates.
Also, in Oredo LGA, the official results as announced for LP fall outside the PRVT estimates.
These inconsistencies with Yiaga Africa’s PRVT estimates indicate that the results were altered at the level of collation.

The disparities between the official results released by INEC and Yiaga Africa’s PRVT estimates indicate manipulation of results during the collation process.

Yiaga Africa strongly condemns the actions of some biased INEC officials who altered figures during collation including the actions of some security officials who interfered with the collation process. Yiaga Africa notes that the cases of disruption in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor, and Oredo LGAs in the course of collation created opportunities for election manipulation, raising significant concerns about the credibility and integrity of the results collation process.

Turnout Estimates

INEC’s turnout and rejected ballots for the 18 LGA released are consistent with Yiaga Africa WTV PRVT estimates.
Yiaga Africa is able to estimate that turnout is between 20.9% and 24.1% (22.5% ± 1.6%), while INEC’s official result is 22.4%.
Similarly, Yiaga Africa estimates for rejected ballots are between 2.2% and 3.2% (2.7% ± 0.5%).
Yiaga Africa notes that in terms of turnout, voters did not meet the resilience test as voter turnout plummeted despite high PVC collection rates recorded for the governorship election.

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In this election, only 22.4% of the voters turned out to exercise their civic rights, lower than the 27% turnout observed in 2020.
Nevertheless, Yiaga Africa commends the resilience of the voters who turned out despite the rain and voting delays, staying back to fulfill their civic duties.

Recommendations

1. Yiaga Africa calls for the immediate investigation and prosecution of polling officials and collation officers who are engaged in results manipulation and flagrant violations of the guidelines on results collation.
2. Yiaga Africa calls on INEC to urgently clarify the inconsistencies in some of the results, especially election results from Oredo, Egor, Esan West and LGAs.
3. INEC should issue detailed guidelines for exercising its powers to review declarations and returns made contrary to provisions of the Electoral Act and regulations and guidelines. This should include procedures for receiving complaints, timeframe, format and who is eligible to submit complaints.
4. It is imperative to integrate the IReV and electronic transmission of results into the electoral legal framework to confer legality on polling unit level results uploaded on the portal. To this end, the National Assembly should expeditiously amend the Electoral Act to make electronic transmission of results mandatory.

Conclusion

As noted in our pre-election reports, Yiaga Africa emphasized that the 2024 Edo governorship election would be assessed against three key parameters: the resilience test, impartiality test, and integrity test.
On the resilience test, despite early warnings of potential violence and adverse weather conditions, voter turnout was low.

While voters were given the opportunity to exercise their rights, many chose not to participate, resulting in a partial failure of the resilience test. Nevertheless, Yiaga Africa commends the resilience and patience of voters who did turn out, particularly in the face of logistical challenges and rainfall that caused late opening of polls.

On the impartiality test, Yiaga Africa monitored the role of security agencies and their engagement with the process.

Details of observers damning reports on Edo gov election

Vanguard