Finally, N’Assembly Reconvenes on Wednesday

Holds special joint session INEC budget to top agenda

The National Assembly, which has been on recess since Tuesday, July 24, 2018 is to reconvene on Wednesday to consider some executive communications before it, including the 2018 Supplementary Appropriation Bill, containing estimates for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the 2019 general election.

According to THISDAY sources, the leadership of the National Assembly under the chairmanship of Dr. Bukola Saraki, who is also the Senate president, met at the weekend and agreed that it should be reconvened on Wednesday.

The day was said to have been chosen in order to give some senators and House members who are outside the country enough time to return to the country and be part of the exercise.

The Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Sanni Omolori, is said to have been

Ogbonnaya Orji, who incidentally told participants at the workshop that, “the overall objective of NEITI’s interest in commodity trading is to improve transparency in the sale of the state share of production by government and state owned enterprises among others.”

Orji, thus called on the companies and government agencies involved in commodity trading to carefully study the templates the NEITI has developed in this regards with a view to internalising the new reporting requirements as part of their respective overall business model.

The statement claimed representatives of government agencies, oil and gas companies at the workshop supported NEITI’s decision to begin audit of commodity trading. They reportedly welcomed the development as a way to improve transparency and fair competition in the business of commodity trading.

They also advised NEITI to focus its planned audit on getting accurate data on oil production; measurement of volumes of government equity crude oil including crude condensate; crude allocation for export and domestic use; accurate computation of in-kind revenues; as well as taxes and royalty.

They equally identified marketing contracts and related agreements; process of transfer of income from sales of equity crude; liftings and other similar transactions as other key areas in commodity trading the NEITI could give adequate attention. The NEITI equally stated in the statement that the National Assembly has agreed to set up a parliamentary group on EITI, drawn from relevant committees in the Senate and House of Representatives, to coordinate legislative actions on implementation of remedial issues identified by its independent audit reports.