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NASS May Pass 2017 Budget Next Week
The Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, yesterday, expressed the hope that the 2017 Appropriation Bill will be ready for the signature of President Muhammadu Buhari by next week despite the hitches being experienced on the passage of the document at the National Assembly.
Lawan disclosed this in an interview with State House correspondents after he met behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
While saying there is nothing to worry about on the document, the Senate leader recalled that the National Assembly had intended to pass the budget in March.
He said that the target could not be met because of some parameters that lawmakers did not have control over.
He said while it was also planned to be passed in April, the residence of the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Danjuma Goje, was raided by the police and parts of the budget documents were taken away.
He said, “This and other things that happened and essentially, the trauma that the chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation had to go through, affected the process of budgeting.
“When we were going on Easter recess, members of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, including that of the House, did not go on recess. They stayed back because that was the arrangement so that by the time we returned on April 25, that was Tuesday, they should lay the report of the budget.
“Unfortunately, that was not possible because of what happened. But the good news is that we are doing everything possible to ensure that we catch up with the lost time.
“So, by the grace of God, I am thinking that by next week, we should be able to finish our own work and pass the budget for Mr. President to sign.”
Lawan also gave an indication that the Senate may consider the list of ministerial nominees sent to it by the President and other matters by next week.
When asked for the purpose of his visit to the President, Lawan said it was his responsibility as the Senate leader to market all bills and requests in the Senate.
He said he was at the Presidential Villa, therefore, to meet Buhari as part of his continuous engagements.
“It was meant to be sure that l get my briefings right so that l can always market presidential requests so well and as scheduled, and this is supposed to be a continuous process and that is essentially why l have come to meet the President,” he said.
Lawan said it was wrong to narrow lobbying in a presidential system to giving somebody money to buy his or her conscience in order to do something.
He said it was meant to involve talking and engaging continuously with people who have mandates and jurisdictions on some issues, saying that was what he meant by continuous and sustained interactions between the President and the Legislature.
He said, “l know clearly that there is independence of each arm but l also know equally well that there is so much interdependence between the two arms, and even among the three arms of government in Nigeria.
“Therefore, we need to always close and narrow the gap, and that is what l mean. My presence here is part of that engagement because even as legislators, we lobby.
“When we have our bills, we lobby our colleagues. We go to their houses. We send some write-ups to explain the necessity of that bill. We move from one seat to the next, talking to our colleagues.
“So, there is nothing wrong, and l believe it is something we need to cultivate as a culture in this democracy,” he added.
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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