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Senate Commences Jan-Dec Budget Cycle …Each Senator Earns N750,000 As Salary -Lawan
The Nigerian Senate has stated disclosed its readiness to commence the January to December budget cycle as it promised to work towards ensuring that the appropriation Bills are passed within three months if President Buhari presents the document in September ending.
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan made this known yesterday when he received in audience the Forum of Senators who paid him a courtesy call in his office.
Senator Lawan therefore urged the executive to cooperate with the National Assembly to ensure that the 2020 Appropriation Bill is submitted to the parliament before September ends.
Addressing members of the forum which comprises both serving and firmed senators, Lawan also called for more funding of the parliament to enable it oversight the executive.
According to Lawan, his salary as a Senator is not more than N750,000, but emphasised that more funds is required to fund his office and that of other senators adequately. Lawan also said insinuation of jumbo pay for federal lawmakers was untrue.
According to him, the 9th National Assembly in collaboration with the executive arm of government wants to get rid of yearly budget delays which affects past budget issues.
His words “In achieving this, as soon as budget proposals are received from the executive in September, this Senate will spend only three months for its consideration and passage.
“It is our determination that once the executive does its own side of the processes by presenting budget proposal in September of every year, we will ensure the passage of the budget before embarking on Christmas break in December”.
He appealed to the former senators to join in giving the true narratives to Nigerians as regards emoluments of federal lawmakers.
“Although as an important institution, monies are provided for office running, oversight functions by lawmakers etc, which are always added up by the ordinary man on the street as monthly salary of lawmakers.
“My monthly salary is N750,000 and nothing in the radius of millions”, he explained.
Earlier in her remarks, the Chairman of the Senators’ Forum , Senator Khariat Gwadabe told the President of the Senate that as former senators with institutional memory, they will always be there, to support him in leading the 9th Senate and by extension, National Assembly aright.
Meanwhile, Senate President, Ahmed Lawan offered tacit support to the call of the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu for budgetary provision for State Commissioner of Police, across the 36 states of the federation.
He made his position known yesterday when the IGP paid him a courtesy visit.
Adamu said separate statutory provisions for the Commissioner of Police in each state would go a long way in enhancing the funding of the Police and guarantee effective policing.
Senator Lawan who said the nation craved for a Police Force “that is efficient in discharging its functions,” however added that the central police commanded needed organisational restructuring for optimal performance.
He said: “When our Police Affairs Committee is constituted, they will work with you. This administration will work assiduously to give you the support that you require. You need restructuring, we need to look at the command structure to make the Police give us the kind of policing that we require. We want a police force that is efficient in discharging its functions.”
He noted that with the Police Trust Fund Bill passed into law, the IGP and his team already has ample financial reserve to lessen his financial challenge.
“With Police Trust Fund, you will have enough. You are lucky to have the Police Trust Fund passed. Such resources will help us fight the kind of challenges that we face. We shall pass those bills that will give you the kind of support that you require that will make the police perform optimally.”
The courtesy visit which also has the head of Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Mohammed Mustapha Abdallah and the head of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Rabiu Yadudu in the entourage briefed the President of the Senate on their joint investigation on the drug cartel that planted narcotics on two innocent Nigerians, Zainab Aliu and Ibrahim Abubakar, who were arrested in Saudi Arabia.
Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi, Abuja
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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