No N3.2bn Severance Pay For Jonathan, Others Till 2016

Former President Goodluck Jonathan; his deputy, Namadi Sambo; immediate past ministers and presidential aides as well as non-returning federal lawmakers will wait till next year before collecting their severance allowances, investigation by The PUNCH has shown.

Their severance allowances as contained in the remuneration package put together by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission is valued at about N3.24bn.

Sources at the Ministry of Finance in Abuja confided in our correspondent on Thursday that the allowances of the political office holders that left office last weekend were not captured in this year’s budget.

The 2015 budget, which was passed by the National Assembly and signed by Jonathan on April 28, makes a provision of N2.3bn for “entitlements of former Presidents/Heads of state and Vice Presidents/Chiefs of General Staff.”

Explaining the reason why the severance pay was not captured in this year’s budget, the official said as of last year when the 2015 budget was being prepared, the outcome of the April 2015 elections could not be ascertained.

He said since the outcome of the elections could not be predicted, there was no way the Budget Office could have determined the number of political office holders that would not be re-elected.

The official added, “You will recall that the 2015 budget was prepared sometime last year and during the budget preparation, the elections had not been held.

“So it would be wrong to include the severance package of political office holders in the budget because as of the time the budget was prepared, these people were still holding political offices.

“Secondly, including their severance package before the elections were conducted would mean that we were pre-empting the outcome of a political process.

“So what we do is to wait for the outcomes of elections and on the strength of this, we can know the number of people that have left office and those re-elected.

“As for those political office holders that are leaving office this year, their severance package would be included in the 2016 budget which would be prepared later in the year.”

Under the severance package put together by RMAFC, Jonathan is entitled to 300 per cent of his annual basic salary.

The President’s annual basic salary is put at N3, 514,705 and therefore his severance allowance will be N10, 544,115 after May 29.

The severance allowance is without prejudice to his other constitutional entitlements as a former head of government.

Similarly, Vice-President Sambo, who left office the same day as Jonathan, is entitled to 300 per cent of his annual basic salary put at N3, 031,572.50. This means that his severance allowance after May 29 is N9, 094,717.50.

For having held the office of vice-president, Sambo also has some constitutional entitlements and perks.
About 76 senators are not returning to the National Assembly either because they did not stand for election or because they lost their bids to return. They are however entitled to N462,019,200 at the expiration of their tenure on June 5.

Like Jonathan and Sambo, they are entitled to 300 per cent of their annual basic salaries as severance allowances. This amounts to N6, 079,200 per senator.

In the House of Representatives, about 290 members are not returning to the 8th National Assembly to be proclaimed into existence by Buhari on June 5.

Each of the members is entitled to N5, 955,637.50 as severance allowance. This means that the 290 members will be paid N1, 727,134,875.

The former ministers, on the other hand, will be collecting a total of N253, 967,212.5. There were 42 ministers in Jonathan’s cabinet. Thirty one of them were senior ministers and 11 ministers of state.

Each of the former senior ministers is entitled to N6, 079,200 as severance allowance while each of the ministers of state will receive N5, 872,740.

This means that collectively, the senior ministers will get N188, 455,200 while collectively, the erstwhile ministers of state will receive N65, 512,012.5 .

The aides to the former President comprising special advisers, senior special assistants and special assistants will get N775, 207,125.

They were 23 of them that worked with the president as special advisers. Apart from this number, however, there were several others estimated at 110, who worked with the vice-president, the wife of the former President and special advisers that were designated either as senior special assistants or special assistants to the President.

This means that there were about 133 aides to the president and each of them is entitled to 300 per cent of their annual basic salary which amounts to N5, 828,625.


Source: Punch

We Will Employ Experts To Calculate Hon. Seun’s CGPA –EPC

The Election Petition Committee (EPC) of the Great Ife Students’ Union for the 2014/2015 session hearing the petition of Awotiwon Ibiyemi questioning the eligibility of Oketooto Oluwaseun a.k.a Hon. Seun, the Students’ Union Secretary General has concluded to employ the service of experts to help with calculating Hon. Seun’s CGPA.

With one week in office, the fate of the mandate given to Hon. Seun by the generality of Great Ife students is yet to be determined. The sitting of the Election Petition Committee that was initially scheduled to hold on Wednesday morning was postponed till the evening.

Following the Committee’s cross examination of the documents tendered by the defendant in the case before it to substantiate the result he used in contesting for the post of the Secretary General of the Students’ Union, the members of the committee failed to reach a common ground as they had divergent opinion and interpretation of what CGPA should be.

Some of the members of the Committee feel Cumulative Grade Point Aggregate (CGPA) can be aggregated at any time, be it during the Harmattan or Rain semester while others said CGPA can only be obtained at the end of a session, that is, after two semesters. The later believe the only thing you will get at the end of a particular semester is Grade Point Aggregate (GPA).
Another high point of divergence in the committee’s opinion lied strongly in the calculation of the CGPA itself. The members after calculating the results had varying aggregates. With this, the correct and accurate way of calculating CGPA is in serious doubt by the committee.

The Committee following the many disparities in its member’s opinion on CGPA calculation and what CGPA actually means has resolved to employ the services of experts to help in giving a professional assessment, calculation and interpretation of the CGPA.

“We want to adjourn this meeting now and employ the service of experts to come and do the calculation before us.” The Secretary of the Election Petition Committee submitted.

The committee chairman was conspicuously absent from the meeting likewise the petitioner and defendant. Judgement for the case has been adjourned till further notice.

Senators, Reps Leave With 109 Jeeps, 360 Exotic Cars

Outgoing Senators and members of the House of Representatives will go home with the operational vehicles of the National Assembly currently in their possession as the 7th Assembly winds down on Friday.

Each of the 109 senators has a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Jeep assigned to them for “operational” duties including the committee activities and oversight functions.

The situation is the same at the House as each member has a 2011 Toyota Camry model attached to them for operational duties.

Apart from the operational vehicles, principal officers, including the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, have additional vehicles assigned to them.

But the Prado Jeeps and Camry are properties of the National Assembly that ought to have been left behind by the outgoing legislators.

The understanding of the management of the federal lawmakers, the vehicles have been valued, taking note of the years of depreciation, to allow lawmakers who wish to go home with them to do so by paying 30 per cent of the purchase price.

To this end, the money is to be deducted from the severance package of the senators and the House members.
But investigations showed that in line with the arrangement, the Prado jeeps, valued at the market price of about N9million, would be given away to senators at a reduced sum of N2.7million.

Regarding the members of the House, each of them will part with about N1.9million to go home with the Toyota Camry, valued at about N6.5million.

Confirming the deal an official of the National Assembly management, who sought anonymity over the “deal” said that “The cars have been used for four years, so this valuation has taken cognizance of the years of depreciation. The vehicles are not taken away free of charge. As a matter of fact, it is optional. A lawmaker who does not want to go with the vehicle will submit it to the National Assembly and it will be so documented.

“The deduction will be done from their severance package at source, which makes it easier. It is a practice that has been put in place over the years.”

It was also gathered that aside the operational vehicles, each of the senators, on resumption in 2011, was given 300 per cent of their total basic salaries as car loans and 300 per cent as housing allowance. About 250 per cent was advanced to them as furniture allowance.


Source: Leadership

Lukmon Fasasi Almost Got Mobbed By Protesting NASU Members

Student blogger and the owner of Lukmon Fasasi's Blog, Lukmon Fasasi almost got mobbed by protesting members of the Non Academic Staff Union(NASU), OAU chapter today while he was taking pictures of the protesting workers for reportage on his blog.

According to Lukmon, he encountered the protesting members of NASU as he was coming from the Maintenance close to the school gate on an investigative duty.
"We were actually coming from School maintenance where we learnt the less seen OAU SU 'aluta jet 2' is. We saw the protesting NASU members. We tried to alight from the bus, but the driver prevented us and said he will be arrested. I decided to take some snapshots of the protesting workers before one of them stormed our vehicle and requested I give him my phone, which I vehemently refused to give him and he ordered me down from the 'town gboro' and asked me to delete the pictures which I did. Meanwhile, LFB will not stop there you know? Myself and Lanre Oyedeji, followed them to the Senate building where we ran into Lukmon Akintola, pmnews reporter. Three of us later had a heroic hearership from the NASU OAU Chairman Comrade Wole Odewunmi who exclusively narrated the whole happening to us."

Bribery Scandal: Sepp Blatter Resigns As FIFA President

Sepp Blatter says he will resign as president of football's governing body Fifa amid a corruption scandal.

In announcing his exit, the 79-year-old Swiss has called an extraordinary Fifa congress "as soon as possible" to elect a new president.

Blatter was re-elected last week, despite seven top Fifa officials being arrested two days before the vote as part of a US prosecution.

But he said: "My mandate does not appear to be supported by everybody."
Fifa was rocked last week by the arrests on charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering as part of a US prosecution that also indicted 14 people.

A separate criminal investigation into how the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were allocated is also under way.

"I am very much linked to Fifa and its interests. Those interests are dear to me and this is why I am taking this decision," added Blatter.

"What counts most to me is the institute of Fifa and football around the world."


Source

The Earlier You Know -Gbolagade

Finally, Resumption!!! Many of you have waited for it, I could sense the feeling in you guys when the freshmen resumption date was postponed but finally it’s here. Being a freshman is one of the best experiences you'll have in this school; you can make legions of new friends, start fresh with them and see some amazing structures for the first time. It can be simply "wowing" and above all, that new smell of freedom in the air that cannot be compared to anything. Of course, as a freshman the spotlight is always on you, all the older students have their eyes glued on you and also some stallites have this "catch them young" policy so please moz girls, BEWARE!

I am not trying to paint the stallites black, in fact most are always willing to help and I am sure you will confirm this firsthand when you ask them with that timid voice "please where is 1000slt?" but some will try to manipulate you and subject you to their egos. Spot the difference and rebuke the latter.

The freshman feeling is nice, but what you should be curious about is the direction of your fate on this campus. Now is when you should start asking questions, making strict decisions and going a long way to prioritizing. Know what your standards of success are and live up to them, know the difference between having good grades and being a true embodiment of knowledge and umpire of wisdom.

Due to the academic workload some freshers are faced with for the first time in their life, they tend to ignore learning; they focus more on making good grades. As a freshman you must be ready to subject yourself to rigorous learning. You must also note that learning goes way beyond the scope of academics (“What interferes with my learning is education.” Albert Einstein). On this campus when you do the assigned work to the best of your ability you'll get good grades, but do the extra work whenever you are motivated to learn, the credit counts towards your future success.

Learning involves intellectually curiousness. An intellectually curious person always wants to know more, he/she asks questions about the "why" of every issue and he/she wants to know beyond the surface and always willing to dig deep in search of knowledge. Making good grades is not bad, in fact good grades will get you through on  this campus but the challenges beyond the walls of this campus requires something more practical and real which learning will offer you  the qualities to overcome them. This university will present to you a platform to widen your intellectual horizons. Exploit this opportunities and become a part of intellectual community-a community that will challenge you to develop and ultimately become a producer of knowledge in your own right.

 Don't bask too long in the euphoria of being a fresher. The University can be such an enlightening experience but it also requires a lot of dedication and sacrifices. You have to make it an experience to remember because here in OAU, nothing will be handed to you, you'll have to work for it. You are a freshman now, what would you have learnt/achieved when you become a graduating "roughman"?. The world belongs to those who take initiative.

 WELCOME TO OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY

Gbolagade

Buhari Appoints Femi Adesina And Garba Shehu As Spokesmen

The Nigerian new president, Muhammadu Buhari has made his first set of appointments in less than 72 hours of his inauguration as he names Femi Adesina and Mallam Garba Shehu as his spokesmen.

According to the Press Statement detailing the appointments, Adesina will now serve as Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity) and Shehu will be the new Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity).
In a similar mannet, Buhari also approved the appointment of Mallam Lawal Kazaure as the State Chief of Protocol(SCOP).

Femi Adesina before his appointment was the President of the Nigeria Guild of Editors and Mallam Garba Shehu was the Director, Media and Publicity of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council.