President Bola Tinubu has wrote to the national assembly seeking an amendment to the 2024 Appropriation Act. The president has requested that the national assembly increase the 2024 appropriation act by N6.2 trillion. The request from the President was contained in a letter read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday. If the 2024 appropriation act is amended by the lawmakers as requested by the president, it would mean that the 2024 budget would increase to N34.9 trillion from the initial N28.7 trillion that was passed by national assembly in December 2023 and signed…
Author: Michael Chibuzo
The senator representing Borno South in Senate, Ali Ndume has been removed as the Chief Whip of the Senate by the upper chamber. His removal followed a letter by the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday asking the controversial Senator to resign from the party and vacate his position as the Chief Whip of the Senate. The letter from the APC was sent to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, which he read on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday. In the letter signed by the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje and the National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, nominated…
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has nullified the impeachment of Philip Shaibu as Deputy Governor of Edo State by the Edo State House of Assembly. Philip Shaibu was impeached in April by the Edo Assembly following months of face-off with his boss, Governor Godwin Obaseki, but the federal high court has now ruled that the move was illegal. Justice James Omotosho of the Abuja Federal High Court in his ruling ordered the reinstatement of Philip Shaibu as the Deputy Governor of Edo State and said that the impeachment by the Edo State House of Assembly was illegal and…
Stiffer measures to cut raw mineral exports and boost value addition topped talks among African ministers of mining at the Ministerial Roundtable held yesterday to flag off the annual Africa Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS) in Abuja. The measures include an upward review of licence fees, royalties and charges, support for indigenous miners, and value addition as a condition for licences. The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, who chairs the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), urged member-countries to ensure control of their mineral resources, leveraging the global shift to green energy to maximize the benefits…
By Tunde Rahman Governors have been acting tongue-in-cheek in their reactions to last Thursday’s verdict of the Supreme Court, which stripped them of their suffocating grip over the money meant for local governments in the country. As a collective, the governors unreservedly endorsed the judgement. Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Kwara State Governor, AbdulRazak AbdulRahman, who spoke on behalf of the governors, said the forum welcomed the apex court’s ruling granting financial autonomy to the councils, describing the verdict as a relief from the burden on the governors. Addressing State House Correspondents on the matter after a meeting…
…commends First Lady Oluremi Tinubu for her various interventions so far The Oba of Lagos Oba Rilwan Akinlu has appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He was speaking when the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Senator Oluremi Tinubu paid him a visit at his Iga Idugaran palace in Lagos He noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu means well for the nation as he is a man who is grassroots focused. “All that I am saying and appealing is that we should pray for Nigeria and the president. We should…
The Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) has described the position of Senate Whip Senator Ali Ndume on President Bola Tinubu and his administration as a self-serving blackmail to whip up public sentiment. Ndume had recently described the administration as a kakistocracy but the policy analysis group said the Senate Whip’s comment was not fact-based. In a policy statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju, the policy analysis group argued that policies and programmes introduced by the government since assuming office have been well thoughtout contrary to what Ndume had been saying in the media. The statement reads in part:…
As part of its effort to quicken the adoption of CNG as alternative fuel for vehicles, the federal government through the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (P-CNGi) last Thursday signed a MoU with conversion workshops to fasttrack the CNG conversion process. The following day, P-CNGi flagged off the implementation of the free and discounted conversion of petrol and diesel-powered vehicles belonging to road transport owners and e-hailing ride companies to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in Abuja. The government aims to convert 20,000 vehicles to CNG in the next three months, with plans to expand to a minimum of 300,000 conversions…
The federal government has announced that it has reached an agreement with the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to resume travels for Nigerian passport holders into the UAE. This was announced by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris on Monday. The Minister said, “following successful talks and extensive, mutually beneficial negotiations between the Government of the United Arab Emirates and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, an agreement was reached allowing for the resumption of travel to the UAE for Nigerian passport holders.” “This agreement includes updated controls and conditions to facilitate obtaining…
By Bayo Onanuga The Supreme Court judgement on July 11, granting financial autonomy to the 774 local councils and recognising them as the third tier of Nigeria’s governance architecture, was truly historic. It was perhaps the most remarkable judgement ever delivered by the apex court in recent times, as it used its power to interpret the law to give a different meaning to Section 162 of the Constitution. Since 1999, governors have used this section to withhold and tamper with the funds federally allocated to the councils, using a joint account that has proven to be a honeypot of abuse.…