…Okays N700m ballistic boats, N564.2m transformer analysers
By Abdullahi Mohammed, Abuja
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday approved a new Whistle Blower Bill to be presented to the National Assembly for passage into law.Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mr Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the weekly FEC meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.She said the bill was approved to strengthen the fight against corruption and to also enable protection for whistleblowers that provide information for use by government.
“The Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning presented a number of memos today. The first is the draft whistleblower bill for 2022. This memo has been reviewed by council and approved with a provision to ensure alignment with the Evidence Act.“The purpose of operationalizing and putting in place a whistleblower bill is to strengthen the fight against corruption and to also enable protection for whistleblowers that provide information for use by government.
“As you know since 2016, the council had approved the setting up of the Presidential Initiative of Continuous Audit (PICA). PICA has been working in partnership with EFCC, ICPC, DSS, NFIU as well as the office of the Attorney General of the Federation.“We noticed that the whistleblower policy response has lost momentum. We embarked on engagements in the six geo-political zones and one of the main outcome that we found is that people are concerned about their safety as a result of providing information. So this bill is critical to ensure the effectiveness of the retention of the whistle policy,” she said.
The minister said the council also approved N9.24 billion for the 2022/2023 Group Life Insurance Cover for public servants.She said the memo was presented to council by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan.“The Head of Civil Service of the Federation presented a memo to Council on Group Life Insurance Cover for the period 2022 to 2023. This is an insurance cover that is covering all government officials in all government agencies, military and intelligence agencies. Council approved the total sum of N9.24 billion for the insurance cover for 2022 to 2023.
“As you know, the insurance will take effect from the date of payment and in Nigeria, by our laws, the insurance cover is 30% of the annual emolument of any staff of government that is deceased and this cover is paid by the insurance company to the beneficiaries of the deceased staff,” she said.She said the council also approved the Finance Bill 2022 that is designed to support the implementation of the 2023 budget.“If you recall at the public presentation of the budget to the National Assembly, by His Excellency Mr. President, the President had committed to the parliament that a 2022 Finance bill will be submitted to the parliament by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning to support the implementation of the 2023 budget.
“So, we have been working on this bill and have done a lot of consultations. The bill we presented before council today has five focus areas including tax equity reforms, climate change and green growth provisions, job creation and economic growth reforms, reforming tax incentives as well as generating revenue enhancing tax administration.“This Finance bill is amending a number of fiscal laws, including the capital gains tax, company income tax, customs excise tariff Act, Federal Inland Revenue Service Act, personal income tax, stamp duties act, tertiary education tax, VAT Act, Insurance Act, Nigerian police Trust Fund Act, as well as the National Agency for Engineering Act NASANI. finance control management act, as well as the fiscal responsibility.“So with this approval from Council, His Excellency Mr. President will be conveying to the National Assembly, a request for the consideration of this bill,” she said.
The minister said the council also approved the design, construction and supply of nine numbers Ballistic Riverian assault boats and nine numbers patrol boats with all associated accessories in favour of Messers Sewa West African Limited in the sum of N689,722,681.30 inclusive of 7.5% VAT for the Nigerian customs service.Also speaking, the Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning Prince Clem Agba said the council also approved the revised National Social Protection Policy presented by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.“Council approved the revised national social protection policy 2021 to 2025. This revised national social protection policy is an offshoot of a previous policy that was implemented from 2017 to 2020. The review was carried out in collaboration with all relevant ministries departments and agencies at both the federal and state levels as well as other key stakeholders, including development partners.“Recall that when the first policy was in place, there was no ministry like humanitarian affairs.
Now we have that ministry. And since it’s part of the review process to do this every four years, the review had to be done.“In reviewing this policy, statewide consultations were embarked upon to harness and advise ideas from all from all stakeholders for the efficient and effective coordination of the policy.“The National Social Protection Council is to be set up to be chaired by His Excellency the Vice President, with the Secretariat domiciled in the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the ministers of labour and employment and then the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development who serve as Vice Chair of that council. Also, there’s going to be a technical working group, which will be co chaired by those two ministers,” he said.Also speaking, the Minister of Power, Mr Abubakar D. Aliyu said the council approved contract for the procurement of 20 number transformer tons ratio analyzes awarded to Segulu Stembek Global Services Limited at the sum of N564,231,854.08 with 7.5% VAT with a completion new period of four months.He said the transformer tons ratio analyzers is a state-of-the-art testing device for reliable testing and diagnosing of power transformers.
“This is a new technology which is more reliable. It is going to be used by the TCN in testing transformers across the country to know their reliability and to also detect any fault,” he said.