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Ekiti Assembly Okays N10bn Supplementary Budget For Fayose
The Ekiti House of Assembly has approved the N10billion supplementary budget sent to it by Governor. Ayo Fayose, despite concerns by the governor-elect, Dr Kayode Fayemi.
The budget was passed at plenary, yesterday, by a unanimous decision of the 14 members who were in attendance.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Dr Samuel Omotosho, said the budget was to capture unforeseen expenses of government.
He said the bill went through first and second readings as well as committee review before its passage.
Omotosho denied speculations that the budget was to defraud the state, alleging that the Governor-Elect, Dr Kayode Fayemi, also did the same a month before he left office during his first term.
But the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus in the Assembly has rejected the passage of the supplementary budget.
The APC lawmakers led by the Minority Leader, Gboyega Aribisogan, described the action as a “ploy’’ by the Governor to legitimise fraud.
“The APC lawmakers and some members are not in support of the bill because it has been discovered that the outgoing governor wanted to use the House to legitimise fraud.
“The proposed Appropriation Bill is the handiwork of Governor Fayose and his cronies to cover up massive fraud in some Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs).
“The Appropriation Bill is not meant to improve the lives of our people in the state but to cover up some unapproved spending of the governor.
“The Appropriation Committee did not sit on the bill. The bill was backdated to Aug. 30 to give an impression that the Appropriation Committee had since been deliberating on the bill,’’ he said.
Governor-elect, Dr Kayode Fayemi expressed concern over the ‘hush-hush’ budget on Wednesday.
He urged the Fayose regime to refrain from actions capable of plunging the state into further financial crisis through irregular and unconstitutional means.
The Governor-Elect, in a statement issued by the Media Director of his campaign organisation, Mr Wole Olujujobi, said the consequences of illegal appropriation of public funds would be very grave for individuals who participated in any illegal act to defraud the state.
Fayemi counselled ministry officials and Assembly members against being used for illegal appropriation of public funds.
He warned that participants in such illegal acts would be called upon to account for their actions when the new administration takes effect on October 16.
Fayemi queried the rationale for the N10 billion supplementary budget barely a month to the handover date.
“The media report alleging that Fayose coerced the Ministry of Budget officials to make a demand backdated to August 23, 2018 for a supplementary budget of N10billion a few days to the end of his administration is fraudulent and not in the interest of the state.
“The governor’s covering note also backdated to August 30, 2018 for the legitimacy of such request was equally done with fraudulent intention.
“It is worrisome that the alleged supplementary budget was presented to the Assembly Clerk for immediate approval without presenting it to Assembly members at the plenary to go through all parliamentary procedures in budget processing.
“The latest development today, after the plot leaked on this fraudulent conduct, is that the budget is now before the House for a hush-hush debate for immediate approval,” he said.
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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