Daily Watch – Lawan names chairpersons for 69 Senate committees, Failed PoS payments up to 19%
31st July 2019
Data from the Debt Management Office showed that the World Bank loan portfolio in Nigeria increased by $2.19 billion in the last three years. Nigeria’s loan commitment to the bank as of 31 March 2016 stood at $6.72 billion. As of 31 March 2019, the loan commitments of the country to the Bretton Woods institution had risen to $8.9 billion, indicating that within a period of three years, there has been 32.58% increase. Much of the loans from the World Bank came via the International Development Association, which is the concessional window of the institution. The data from the DMO also showed the increasing recognition of Nigeria as a middle-income country, qualifying for commercial loans from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the commercial window of the bank.
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System showed that Nigerians continue to experience declined transactions on Point of Sales terminals all over the country as failed PoS transactions reached 256,228 on Monday evening. The data obtained from the NIBSS live transaction updates showed that the PoS terminals had a high failure rate of 18.9% out of a total of 1,354,658 transactions conducted as of 2135 hrs, Monday. 136,834 of the failed transactions were attributed to errors the customers committed, while 68,874 errors were from issuer banks, and 46,147 errors from acquirer banks. This failure rate contributed significantly to the failed funds transfers carried out by retailers and merchants across the country. The data, however, showed that the NIBSS platform and security breaches had not in any way contributed to the unsuccessful payments while processor errors contributed minimally at 0.27%.
The Senate has confirmed President Buhari’s 43 ministerial nominees after a five-day screening exercise. Buhari had sent the names of his ministerial nominees to the Senate on Tuesday, 23 July 2019, exactly five months after his re-election for a second term in office. Subsequently, the Senate suspended its rules to begin the screening of nominees. The confirmed nominees among others include Ikechukwu Oga (Abia) Mohammed Musa Bello (Adamawa) Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) Chris Ngige (Anambra) Sharon Ikeazor (Anambra) Adamu Adamu (Bauchi) Maryam Katagum (Bauchi) Timi Sylva and Festus Keyamo (Delta), the Director Strategic Communication, APC Presidential Campaign Council for the 2019 General Elections.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has named a total of 69 chairpersons for Senate Standing Committees he has announced. The announcement was made shortly after the lawmakers unanimously voted to embark on annual recess. Senators among the committees loyal to Lawan were given key positions. Some of the committees are Appropriation which is chaired by Barau Jibrin; Finance, Adeola Olamilekan; Police, Dauda Jika; Defence, Aliyu Magatakarda and Army, Ali Ndume. Others are NDDC, Peter Nwabaoshi; Agriculture, Abdullahi Adamu; and INEC, Kabiru Gaya. The Appropriation Committee, which deals with federal budgets, is considered as the most important committee. Senate Services is also highly ranked as it takes care of the Senate and members’ affairs. Committees on petroleum and gas as also important, while public accounts are traditionally headed by the opposition as it provides checks on public spending.