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Squabbles not over! Nigeria kicks-off 2018 budget year, 6 months after

Nigeria on Wednesday had its 2018 appropriation bill, containing the year’s federal spending details as approved by the National Assembly, signed into law

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Nigeria on Wednesday had its 2018 appropriation bill, containing the year’s federal spending details as approved by the National Assembly, signed into law.

President Muhammadu Buhari gave legal teeth to the budget at the presidential villa in Abuja, the country’s capital city but not without a grumble.

The total budget is N9.1 trillion, up from the N8.6 trillion estimates he submitted to the Assembly on November 7, 2017.
The two chambers of the National Assembly passed the budget on May 16, six months after it was presented by the president.

Buhari expressed serious reservations over the treatment meted on the original budget proposal noting that the document had been ‘padded’ by the lawmakers. He said as follows:

“The National Assembly made cuts amounting to 347 billion Naira in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to 578 billion Naira.

“Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation. Some of the new projects inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualized, designed and costed and will therefore be difficult to execute.

“The provisions for some nationally/regionally strategic infrastructure projects were cut by an aggregate of 11.5 billion Naira. Provisions for some ongoing critical infrastructure projects in the FCT, Abuja especially major arterial roads and the mass transit rail project, were cut by a total of 7.5 billion Naira.

“The provision for Rehabilitation and Additional Security Measures for the United Nations Building by the FCT, Abuja was cut by 3.9 billion Naira from 4 billion Naira to 100 million Naira; this will make it impossible for the Federal Government of Nigeria to fulfill its commitment to the United Nations on this project.

“The provisions for various Strategic Interventions in the health sector were cut by an aggregate amount of 7.45 billion Naira.

“The provision for security infrastructure in the 104 Unity Schools across the country were cut by 3 billion Naira at a time when securing our students against acts of terrorism ought to be a major concern of government.
“The provision for the Federal Government’s National Housing Programme was cut by 8.7 billion Naira.

“At a time when we are working with Labour to address compensation-related issues, a total of 5 billion Naira was cut from the provisions for Pension Redemption Fund and Public Service Wage Adjustment.

“The provisions for Export Expansion Grant (EEG) and Special Economic Zones/Industrial Parks were cut by a total of 14.5 billion Naira.

“The provision for Construction of the Terminal Building at Enugu Airport was cut from 2 billion Naira to 500 million Naira which will further delay the completion of this critical project.

“The Take-off Grant for the Maritime University in Delta State, a key strategic initiative of the Federal Government, was cut from 5 billion Naira to 3.4 billion Naira,” he said.

The President said about seventy new road projects have been inserted into the budget of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.

“In doing so, the National Assembly applied some of the additional funds expected from the upward review of the oil price benchmark to the Ministry’s vote. Regrettably, however, in order to make provision for some of the new roads, the amounts allocated to some strategic major roads have been cut by the National Assembly,”

However, in a quick reaction, the lawmakers through Bala Na’ Allah, the deputy leader of the Senate who represented Senate President Bukola Saraki, and the Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Doguwa, who represented Speaker Yakubu Dogara, said the lawmakers had no option than to tinker with the budget estimates.

Mr Na’ Allah said their job as parliamentarians is a difficult one.
“The way the budget came, if we had allowed it to go that way, we would have been in trouble with those who elected us,” the lawmaker told journalists after the budget signing ceremony.
The senator also said they decided to alter the budget in order “to balance between the six geo political zones” across the country.

He said it is the “balancing efforts” by the National Assembly that led to the observations raised by Mr Buhari.

On his part, Mr Doguwa said “certainly you wouldn’t expect us to just rubber stamp and just bring it back. We have to do the nitty-gritty of budget consideration.”

Politics

Congo DR: President Tshisekedi reshuffles cabinet, appoints ex-vice president, Bemba as defence minister

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Former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean-Pierre Bemba, has been appointed as the country’s defence minister in a sweeping government reshuffle.

President Felix Tshisekedi has appointed Bemba who was detained for over 10 years for war crimes as part of an overhaul of the 57 members of government, which the president’s spokesperson said was “urgent and necessary”, in an announcement on Congo’s national television late on Thursday. No further details were given.

President Tshisekedi appointed Vital Kamerhe, his former chief of staff who was released from prison in Dec. 2021 following an embezzlement conviction, as economy minister while Nicolas Kazadi continued as finance minister.

The reshuffle is more extensive than predicted by observers. One notable commentary has been from the Director of the Congo Research Group and a Professor at Canada’s Simon Fraser University, Jason Stearns, who stressed that the exercise was “a deeply political shuffle,”

“Key positions are given to senior politicians who have large constituencies to please but little expertise in their new ministries. Kamerhe is not an economist. Bemba was a rebel but has little formal military training,” he said.

Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to hold in Congo DR on December 20, 2023, kicking off a year of complex preparations in the vast Central African country, large parts of which have been overrun by armed groups.

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Politics

Confusion as Nigeria’s ruling party, APC suspends secretary to government, Boss Mustapha

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Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has suspended Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation of Nigeria (SGF).

Mr. Mustapha was suspended by Gwadabawa ward, Yola north LGA of Adamawa state, as announced by Mu’azu Kabiru, chairperson of APC Gwadabawa, who said Mustapha failed to assist the party at the ward level when his attention was needed.

Kabiru said the SGF has failed to recognise the importance of the party’s executives in Gwadabawa who have worked to keep the ward united.

The suspension has however The acting chairperson of the APC in Adamawa, Samaila Tadawus, dismissed the suspension, saying that it was unconstitutional.

It should be recalled that Nigeria recently held general elections recently as President Muhammadu Buhari, who has been in office since 2015 will be completing his second term of four years by May 29.

The elections ushered a new political wave traceable to the presidential candidacy of dark-horse, Peter Obi of the Labour Party who appears anti-establishment and an appealing candidate to the demography of young voters. Obi came third at the national polls in the February 25th elections but his popularity has influenced victories for less popular candidates of the Labour Party at different levels across the country.

The opposition’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, won the Yola north LGA which is Mustapha while Aisha Binani, the governorship candidate of the APC, won the LGA but not by a wide margin during the governorship election.

Anti-party activities, that is, being engaged in activities that undermine or are detrimental to your political party, or may ruin its chances at the polls or bring it into disrepute, are common in Nigeria during election season. Perfect, the most notable in the 2023 election season was PDP’s G-5 governors who openly worked against the candidate of the party in the presidential poll.

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