Politics

Nigeria: Legislature raises Ministry of Works budget by 56.7%

Published

3 months ago

January 17, 2024

Nigeria’s National Assembly increased the budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Works by 56.7% from N657.3 billion in the proposed budget to N1.03 trillion.

This is an increase of N373 billion over the amount originally stated in the appropriations bill. In comparison to the amount authorised in the 2023 budget, it also signifies a 65.4% increase.

More than 33,000 km of federal government highways nationwide are under the ministry’s care and upkeep. According to a copy of the approved budget, the rise resulted from a capital budget increase from N617.9 billion to N987.3 billion.

The document stated that N94.83 billion had been approved for the construction of the Lafia road, the dualization of the 9th Mile (Enugu) Otukpo-Makurdi (Keffi Phase Ii) road project, N15 billion for the construction of the Ota-Idiroko road, N4 billion for the construction of the Iyin-Ilawe Ekiti road, and N13.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Enugu-Port Harcourt road, sections two and four.

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, requested during the budget defence that the National Assembly raise the ministry’s 2024 budget to around N1.5 trillion in order to allow it to finish building at least ten strategically important roads and bridges in each of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.

In a meeting last week, Umahi assigned contractors the task of finishing 150 km of roads across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory by the year 2024.

“Can we have about 150km of road completed in 2024 in each state? What does that mean? If we have five contractors working together in the same state, then 150km divided by five is 30km, so it’s achievable.

“Nigerians will want to see if we can complete 150km in each of the 36 states and the FCT, and you will see the total number of roads completed, and that will be a good way to start,” he said.

Nigeria has had a slight improvement in infrastructure development over the course of five years (2016–2020), albeit slowly, in a few key areas, including transportation, power, ICT, water, and sanitation. Even with clear progress, the nation still lags behind 23 African nations.

Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit, which represents 30% of its GDP, is below the global standard of 70% established by the World Bank, according to the United States Department of Commerce’s International Trade Office.

Related Topics:David Umahi Featured Ministry of Works Nigeria

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Politics

Burkina Faso investigating reports of northern killings

Published

20 hours ago

April 28, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A government spokesman has revealed that Burkina Faso is looking into reports that 223 people were killed by the Burkinabe army in two villages in the north in February.

The killing was first reported by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), causing a rift between the junta-led West African state and some foreign media that published the report. The HRW report released on Thursday said that the military had executed residents of Nodin and Soro, including at least 56 children, as part of a campaign against civilians suspected of working with jihadist terrorists. The report was based on interviews with witnesses, members of civil society, and other groups.

Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, a spokesman for the government, said that HRW’s claims were “peremptory” and that the junta was not unwilling to look into the claimed crimes.

“An investigation has been launched into the killings in Nodin and Soro,” Ouedraogo said in a late-evening statement, quoting a statement from a regional prosecutor on March 1.

Since Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s militaries took over in a series of coups from 2020 to 2023, violence in the area has gotten worse. This is because of the ten-year fight with Islamist groups related to Al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Attacks on Burkina Faso got much worse in 2023, with more than 8,000 people killed, according to the U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group ACLED.

Politics

S’Africa lengthens troop deployment in Mozambique, Congo DR

Published

3 days ago

April 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a speech that South Africa’s military would keep sending troops to Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are both in the middle of wars.

The extension will leave 1,198 members of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) in eastern Congo for an unknown amount of time. They are there as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force helping Congo fight rebel groups.

The statement also said that 1,495 members of the SANDF would keep working in Mozambique, where they have been since 2021 helping the government fight dangerous extremism in the north.

After two SANDF troops were killed and three were hurt by a mortar bomb in Congo in February, South Africa’s military operations abroad have been looked at more closely at home this year.

Meanwhile, the major opposition party in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance, said that Ramaphosa sent troops into a war zone without being ready.
Under the supervision of the UN, the SANDF has taken on many dangerous and difficult peacekeeping tasks over the years to help war-torn African countries stay stable and peaceful.

In 2003, South Africa was one of the first countries to send troops to Burundi to help the peace process. During the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) peacekeeping mission in 2000, the SANDF led attempts to stabilize the country’s politics, rebuild and improve infrastructure, and train DRC troops.