Members of the senate and house of representatives are set to resume plenary in renovated chambers.

The legislators will resume plenary on Tuesday (today) after a break spanning more than five weeks.

The parliamentarians had begun their Easter and Eid el-Fitr vacations on March 20.

They were supposed to meet again on April 16, but the meeting was rescheduled.

On Monday, the house of representatives’ leadership, led by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and his predecessor Femi Gbajabiamila, examined the green chamber.

The renovation of the chamber began in April 2022.

Since then, the legislators have been using a temporary chamber in one of the committee rooms.

In 2019, the national assembly budgeted over N30 billion for the renovation of the complex, but the amount had sparked criticisms.

The sum was later reviewed to N9 billion.

See photos of the renovated green chamber below;

Nigerians have been reassured by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) that the current fuel shortage and lines will end by Wednesday, April 31.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Olufemi Soneye, Chief Communications Officer of NNPCL, on Tuesday in Lagos.

Soneye claims that the company can currently supply more than 1.5 billion litres of products, enough to last for at least 30 days.

“Unfortunately, we experienced a three-day disruption in distribution due to logistical issues, which has since been resolved.

“However, as you know, overcoming such disruptions typically requires double the amount of time to return to normal operations,” he said.

He said, “Some folks are taking advantage of this situation to maximize profits.

“Thankfully, product scarcity has been minimal lately, but these folks might be exploiting the situation for unwarranted gain.

“The lines will be cleared out between today and tomorrow,” Soneye assured.

Similarly, Mr Hammed Fashola, the National Vice President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (lPMAN), expressed hope that the queues in Lagos and Ogun would ease off this week, relying on the words of the NNPCL.

Fashola, however, stated that the queues in Abuja might tarry a bit due to the distance to Lagos.

“The information available to us from the NNPCL was that there was a logistics problem, and when that happens, it will disrupt the supply chain.

“That might be a delay in the movement of ships from the mother vessel to the daughter vessel before it gets to the depot tanks.

“Before we can correct that, surely it will take some days. I think by Tuesday or Wednesday, there will be more products available for lifting by marketers.

“It might take time before it can ease off in Abuja, considering the distance to Lagos and the bad roads; Lagos might be calm this new week,” Fashola assured.

It was gathered that stranded motorists and commuters have expressed concern over frequent fuel scarcity in Lagos metropolis.

This has resulted in a few commercial vehicles, which led to a hike in fares.

The situation within Lagos metropolis showed that only a few filling stations were selling, with long queues in most parts.

This was also the same situation within Abule-Egba and environs: Abbatoir Road in Agege, Akowonjo Road, Bariga, Fola-Agoro, and the popular Lasu-Igando Road.

The few filling stations that dispensed petrol had long queues of vehicles stretching some meters.

Across the metropolis on Monday, petrol queues were seen at filling stations like Mobil, NIPCO, TotalEnergies, Forte Oil, and ConOil along Ikorodu Road.

North West at Maryland, Gbagada, NIPCO along Ijede road, Ikorodu, and TotalEnergies at the NNPC bus stop in Ejigbo stretched to about 500 metres from the pumps.

Credit: NAN

A former director at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), John Ikechukwu Ayoh, has testified against Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the apex bank, in the ongoing case of abuse of office at the Lagos high court.

Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, is presently being tried on a 26-count charge.

Omoile and the previous governor of the CBN entered not guilty pleas to all of the accusations.

Ayoh was the second witness in the case against Emefiele that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) called during the court hearings on Monday.

Ayoh stated in court that he did not work directly under Emefiele during his time at the Apex Bank, which he worked there from June 2014 to April 2019.

Ayoh added that he used to report to Adebayo Adelabu, a former deputy governor of CBN, who is now the minister of power.

The witness said he was the head of procurement and support services (PSS) of the apex bank, which was vested with powers to receive bids and select successful bidders.

The former CBN director said he collected money from contractors as gratification of awarding contracts to them based on the instruction from Emefiele.

The witness said Emefiele usually sends his personal assistant (PA), John Adetona, to collect the contractors’ kickback from him.

Ayoh said he collected $400,000 and $200,000 in cash from contractors on two different occasions and handed them over to Emefiele’s PA.

“The first transaction was $400,000 and the second one was $200,000 in cash. I was in my house when the first envelope was brought to me. His assistant was asked to collect the money,” he told the court.

“One of the vendors had a contract with CBN which involved the implementation of data storage and infrastructure.

“The first package was collected in my residence at Lekki phase one, while the second package was collected at the head office in Lagos.”

During cross-examination by Olalekan Ojo, counsel to Emefiele, Ayoh said he was under duress from the former CBN to accept gratifications on his behalf.

“No, I was under duress from my boss (referring to Emefiele). We were faced with tremendous pressure to bend the rule,” the witness said when asked about aiding the commission of a crime by collecting the money.

Asked if he indicated in his statement with the EFCC that the money was meant to influence the award of contracts, the witness said some parts of his statement implied that.

“Who told you that it (the money) is for gratification,” Emefiele’s counsel asked.

“The cash is for gratification to the governor for awarding the contracts. He (Emefiele) asked for it. He won’t approve the contract without gratification,” the witness said.

On whether he was arrested by the EFCC, the witness said the anti-graft agency invited him and was granted bail afterwards.

Emefiele’s counsel told the court that the witness must have traded being charged by the EFCC to become a witness against the former CBN boss.

• INTERIM BAIL

After the cross-examination of the witness, Emefiele’s counsel sought a fresh interim bail for the former CBN governor, pending the fulfilment of the bail conditions earlier stipulated by the court.

Ojo told the court that the initial interim bail granted to Emefiele ended today (Monday), adding that the defence team has not been able to meet the bail conditions.

He urged the court to grant Emefiele another interim bail that would end on May 17.

Rahman Oshodi, the presiding judge, granted the request and ordered that Ojo swear to an affidavit to provide Emefiele in the next adjourned date.

Oshodi adjourned to May 3, 9, and 17 for the continuation of the trial.