News
New 2014 Budget Throws Senate Into Confusion
Opening session of the Paris Summit for Security in Nigeria at the Elysee Palace, France, recently.
There was uproar on the floor of the Senate yesterday following a perceived re-introduction of 2014 budget proposal of some federal agencies for consideration by the senators.
The senators were agitated over an entry titled: ‘2014 budget proposal of Federal Government parastatals’, which was listed in the day’s Order Paper.
The senators unanimously condemned the attempt to present another budget for the federal agencies which were already captured in the recently passed 2014 national budget of N4.6 trillion.
The document read by the Deputy Senate Leader, Sen. Abdul Ningi contained 2014 Budget estimates for 52 federal agencies including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), among others.
Sen. Smart Adeyemi (PDP-Kogi) described the document as an attempt by the Executive to indirectly return the 2014 budget to the National Assembly through the back door.
“This amounts to indirectly returning the budget to the National Assembly through the back door.
”We have completed work on the budget and it is waiting to be assented to by Mr President.
”So, I do not see any reason for anybody to bring any budget or expenditure of any agency back to the chamber here, “ he reacted.
Sen. James Manager (PDP-Delta) said the re-introduction of the 2014 budget document amounted to rubbishing the work already done by senators on the 2014 budget.
Manager urged the senate to reject the document in its entirety because Nigerians were anxiously looked awaited the President’s assent of the the budget
“This is strange. That means the committees did not do anything during the budget defence.
“Almost all the issues here have been dealt with during the budget defence. There are some isolated cases like the CBN.
“The National Assembly and the entire country is expecting our brand new budget to be assented to by Mr President, “he declared.
Also rejecting the document, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP-Abia) said: “We have already dealt with the budget.
“And if there is no substantive motion for rescission we can no longer consider anything that comes on this floor as a national budget.”
Similarly, Sen. Ahmed Lawal (APC-Yobe) urged the senators to throw out the document because it did not come as official communication from the President.
“I wish to note that even the tone of the correspondence and the way Rules and Business scheduled this is wrong because this is supposed to be a money bill.
“It should be noted that there was no letter read here with regards to this particular request by Mr President.
Sen. Ayogu Eze (PDP-Enugu) called for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the re-introduction of the document by the Rules and Business Committee.
“If we had allowed this to slip through this chamber, it would have been a very dangerous development that would purport and assume on our Order Paper that there was communication from Mr President.
“So, I think that the senate should take a very serious view of this matter and find out where Ita Enang got this letter in the first place,”he urged.
Responding, the Chairman, Rules and Business Committee, Sen. Ita Enang, explained that the document was presented alongside the national budget by the Budget Office.
Enang said the budget document was listed to ensure compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act which required that the budget proposals of the parastatals should be attached to the national budget estimates.
“This document is from the Budget Office of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja.
“It came along with the national budget and this is not a document that I in any way had tampered with.
“It was produced and given to the Appropriations Committee and these copies are gotten from the Appropriations Committee and circulated.
Ruling on the matter, the Senate President, Sen. David Mark agreed with Enang that the document was in accordance with the directive that national budget must come with budget of the parastatals.
Mark said the Rules and Business Committee should have listed out only few parastatals whose budgets were not yet treated because majority were captured in the 2014 budget.
He directed Enang to withdraw the document and list out only those agencies whose budget are yet to be treated before re-introducing the document on the floor of the senate.
Vice President Kashim Shettima has arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for an official State visit at the invitation of the Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed.
Upon arrival yesterday, Shettima was received at the airport by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Dr. Gedion Timothewos, and other members of the Ethiopian and Nigerian diplomatic corps.
Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Communication, Stanley Nkwocha, revealed this in a statement he signed yesterday, titled: “VP Shettima arrives in Ethiopia for official state visit.”
During the visit, Vice President Shettima will participate in the official launch of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Programme, a flagship environmental initiative.
The programme designed to combat deforestation, enhance biodiversity, and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change targets the planting of 20 billion tree seedlings over a four-year period.
In line with strengthening bilateral ties in agriculture and industrial development, the Vice President will also embark on a strategic tour of key industrial zones and integrated agricultural facilities across selected regions of Ethiopia.
News
RSG Tasks Farmers On N4bn Agric Loan ….As RAAMP Takes Sensitization Campaign To Four LGs In Rivers
The Rivers State Government has called on the people of the state especially farmers to access the ?4billion agricultural loans made available by the State and domiciled in the Bank of Industry.
This is as the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) of Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), a World Bank project, took its sensitization campaign to Opobo/Nkoro, Andoni, Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor local government areas.
The campaign was aimed at enlightening community dwellers and other stakeholders in the various local government areas on the RAAMP project implementation and programme activities.
The Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Maurice Ogolo, said this at Opobo town, Ngo, Port Harcourt City and Rumuodumanya, headquarters of the four local government areas respectively, during the sensitization campaign.
Ogolo said apart from the ?4billion, the government has also made available fertilizers and other farm inputs to farmers in the various local government areas.
The Permanent Secretary who is the Chairman, State Steering Committee for the project, said RAAMP will construct roads that will connect farms to markets to enable farmers and fishermen sell their farms produce and fishes.
He also said rural roads would be constructed to farms and fishing settlements, and warned against any act that will lead to the cancellation of the projects in the four local government areas.
According to him, the World Bank and Federal Government which are the financiers of the programme will not condone such acts like kidnapping, marching ground and other acts inimical to the successful implementation of the projects in their respective areas.
At PHALGA, Ogolo asserted that the city will benefit in the areas of roads and bridge construction.
He noted that RAAMP was thriving in both the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; Lagos and other states in the country, stressing that the project should also be given the seriousness it deserves in Rivers State.
Speaking at Opobo town, the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area, the project coordinator, RAAMP, Mr.Joshua Kpakol, said the programme would reduce poverty in the state.
According to him, both fishermen and farmers will maximally benefit from the programme.
At Ngo which is the headquarters of Andoni Local Government Area, Kpakol said roads will be constructed to all remote fishing settlements.
He said Rivers State is lucky to be among the states implementing the project, and stressed the need for the people to embrace it.
Meanwhile, Kpakol said at PHALGA that RAAMP is a project that will transform the lives of farmers, traders and other stakeholders in the area.
He urged the stakeholders to spread the information to their various communities.
However, some of the stakeholders at Opobo town complained about the destruction of their farms by bulls allegedly owed by traditional rulers in the area, as well as incessant stealing of their canoes at waterfronts.
At Ngo, Archbishop Elkanah Hanson, founder of El-Shaddai Church, commended the World Bank and the Federal Government for bringing the projects to Andoni.
He stressed the need for the construction of roads to fishing settlements in the area.
Also, a former Commissioner for Agriculture in the state and Okan Ama of Ekede, HRH King Gad Harry, noted that storage facilities have become necessary for a successful agricultural programme.
Harry also stressed the need for the programme to be made sustainable.
In their separate speeches, the administrators of Andoni and Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Areas, pledged their readiness to support the programme.
At Port Harcourt City, the Administrator, Dr Arthur Kalagbor, represented by the Head of Local Government Administration, Port Harcourt City, Mr Clifford Paul, said the city would support the implementation of the programme in the area.
Also, the administrator of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Dr Clifford Ndu Walter, represented by Mr Michael Elenwo, pledged to support the programme in his local government area.
Among dignitaries at the Obio/Akpor stakeholders engagement is the chairman, Rivers State Traditional Rulers Council and paramount ruler of Apara Kingdom, HRM Eze Chike Wodo, amongst others.
John Bibor
President Bola Tinubu has ordered the commencement of personnel audit and skill gap analysis across all cadres of federal civil servants.
The president gave this directive in Abuja, yesterday, while speaking at the International Civil Service Conference, reaffirming his resolve to achieve efficiency and professional service delivery in the civil service.
“I have authorized the comprehensive personnel audit and skill gap analysis across the federal civil service to deepen capacity. I urge all responsible stakeholders to prioritize timely completion of this critical exercise, to begin implementing targeted reforms, to realize the full benefit of a more agile, competent and responsive civil service,” the president announced.
Tinubu further directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to prioritise data integrity and sovereignty in national interest.
He called for the capture, protection and strategic publication of public sector data in line with the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2023.
“We must let our data speak for us. We must publish verified data assets within Nigeria and share them internationally recognized as fruitful. This will allow global benchmarking organisation to track our progress in real time and help us strengthen our position on the world stage. This will preserve privacy and uphold data sovereignty,” Tinubu added.
President Tinubu hailed the federal civil service as the “engine” driving his Renewed Hope Agenda, and the vehicle for delivering sustainable national development.
He submitted that the roles of civil servants remain indispensable in modern governance, declaring that in the face of a fast-evolving digital and economic landscape, the civil service must remain agile, future-ready, and results-driven.
“This maiden conference is a bold step toward redefining governance in an era of rapid transformation. An innovative Civil Service ensures we meet today’s needs and overcome tomorrow’s challenges.
“It captures our collective ambition to reimagine and reposition the civil service. In today’s rapid, evolving world of technology, innovation remains critical in ensuring that the civil service is dynamic, digital” the President said.
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack in her welcome address told the President that his presence and strong words of commendation at the conference has renewed the morale and mandate of public servants across the country.
Walson-Jack described Tinubu as the backbone of driving transformation in the Nigerian civil service, and noted that the takeaways from past study tours undertaken to understudy the civil service in Singapore, the UK and US under her leadership, is already yielding multiplier effects.
Walson-Jack assured Tinubu that her office, in collaboration with reform-minded stakeholders, will not relent in accelerating the implementation of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan, FCSSIP 25.
She affirmed that digitalisation, performance management, and continuous learning remain key pillars in strengthening accountability, transparency, and service delivery across MDAs.
Walson-Jack reaffirmed that the civil service is determined to exceed expectations by embedding a culture of innovation, ethical leadership, and citizen-centred governance in the heart of public administration.