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Thursday, 10 September 2015

MPs Named By Watchdog Over 'Expenses Debts'


Twenty-six current and former MPs who had expenses debts written off after a watchdog claimed they failed to pay them have been named.
The list has been released by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) and includes ministers Tobias Ellwood and Edward Timpson.
A total of £2,105.43 was written off last year, and IPSA insists they contacted the individuals concerned asking for the cash several times.

The full list of 26 MPs named by IPSA:
 
But a number of MPs dispute the claims, with some saying they know nothing about them.
Stephen Williams, who was Lib Dem MP for Bristol West from 2005-2015, told Sky's Darren McCaffrey it was "news to him" that he owed money.
"All clear with them," he tweeted McCaffrey.
"They may have allocated something to wrong heading, a very common error. I don't owe anything."
The debts written off range from a few pounds to hundreds.
The majority of the spending was on official credit cards, which are paid off automatically by IPSA before it is checked whether the expenditure is allowed.
Mr Timpson, who is children's minister, put a £127.50 "public transport" bill on his card, and later ticked a box on a form to indicate he did not want to claim back the amount.
He has not repaid the money, according to IPSA.
Mr Ellwood, a Foreign Office minister, was listed as owing money for three claims.
Spending of £5 on food and drink was deemed to be outside of the rules, while a £17 train ticket was a duplicate.
Mr Ellwood, who wrote a letter to IPSA backing a 10% pay rise for MPs, also said he did not want to claim for a £4.50 parking charge.
Chris Skidmore, a parliamentary aide to Chancellor George Osborne, spent £125 on a hotel in London, but this was deemed outside the rules.
Equalities minister Caroline Dinenage paid a £13.50 constituency office telephone bill on a credit card, but this was later ruled to be ineligble.
Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "If sitting MPs are unwilling to pay what is due, the simple solution would be for the amount to be docked from their next salary payment.
"Those former MPs who have been named and shamed should also do the honourable thing and pay up - and if they are unwilling to do so, then surely the obvious sanction would be to remove the parliamentary pass they enjoy as a former member until such time as their debts to the taxpayer are paid up."
Each MP's expenses and office costs for 2014-15 have also been published, with spending rising by 1.6% to nearly £106m.
Spending on flats, hotels, travel and subsistence was down around £150,000 to £11.6m.
Staffing costs and numbers have increased. MPs now employ more than 4,000 members of staff - an increase of more than a third on six years ago.
Last year staffing costs went up by £2.2m to £82.7m.


NNPC signs interim Offshore Processing Agreement to guarantee supply


The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has signed an interim Offshore Processing Agreement (OPA) with three of its joint venture companies.
This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Ohi Alegbe, NNPC’s Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division and made available to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.
It said that the three companies that signed the agreement were Duke, Carlson and Napoil oil companies.
It said that NNPC was determined to sustain the prevailing unimpeded nationwide supply and distribution of petroleum products.
According to the statement, the agreement with the companies was designed to boost the supply of refined petroleum products across the country.
It said that the `stop-gap OPA’ arrangement, designed to run for three months, obliges the corporation to allocate a certain volume of crude oil within the period for refining at offshore locations.
The statement said that the temporary OPA agreement would lapse with the advent of a fresh OPA contracts being envisaged which would take effect at the end of the ongoing public tender process.
It noted that the OPA arrangement would help augment in-country production of refined petroleum products from the nation’s refineries to meet local demand.

APC reacts to Governor Fayose’s comments on Buhari's asset declaration


The All Progressives Congress (APC) has reacted to comments by the Ekiti state Governor. Ayo Fayose, alleging that President Buhari was not truthful to Nigerian about his assets.
An APC chieftain and former House of Representatives member, Hon. Bamidele Faparusi said “Nigerians should know by now that Fayose’s barbaric nature does not represent the value Ekiti people stand for and therefore, should not take any of his utterances serious as his illogical and vague criticism of Mr. President is just aimed at wanting to be in the news all the time and, unfortunately, for wrong reasons."
Faparusi said “We will no longer tolerate his continued dragging of Ekiti towering image in the mud. We owe it a collective struggle to ensure that Ekiti keeps its record as the most educated and sophis­ticated state in Nigeria and we won’t fold our arms and allow an opportunist to derogate the image that had taken years to build.”

Nyesom Wike says he has declared his assets to the relevant authorities and he doesn't need to make it public


Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike says he has declared his assets to the relevant authorities and is not compelled to make it public. Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Sir Opunabo Inko-Tariah, Wike said what is important in asset declaration is the sincerity behind it ...

"The governor has declared his assets and this is exactly what he told newsmen during the tour of his administration’s projects. There is no law compelling him to make his declaration public. He has declared his assets and the declaration was made to the relevant authority. Let me also say that it is not just about asset declaration; it has to do with the sincerity of the person because some may over-declare when they want to steal in future. So, they declare to accommodate the theft in future.
Some may also declare for whatever reason; maybe they have held public offices in the past and they don’t want people to know that they have stolen money. So, people will declare; it is not all about the declaration of assets. What is crucial is the sincerity of the person declaring and you are supposed to declare when you get out of office. But the truth is that if you are a governor or a minister, what matters is the delivery of the dividends of democracy. That is what is important and it is not about what you declare and how much you declare.” Wike said