THE presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar has told party members that they must deliver their polling units in order to get appointments in his administration, if he is elected as President.
Atiku gave the condition on Wednesday, January 18, during a town hall meeting with the stakeholders in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The former vice president insisted that if party members and leaders deliver at their polling units, it would be easy for the PDP to win the elections.
Responding to a question, Atiku said, “You are all members of the PDP and supporters of the PDP, you want the PDP to return to power, please I beg of you, make sure you win your polling booths.
“The fact that you are following the governorship candidate or the Senatorial candidate or the House of Representatives candidate or the presidential candidate to campaign is not a qualification that you will get an appointment. It is not a qualification that you will get a contract whether at the local government level, state or Federal level.
“The only way as far as I am concerned if I am President, if you come and say you want a job or you want a contract, I will ask you to let me have the result of your polling booth and that is what I am going to direct to everybody because unless we do that, we will not win the elections.
“You cannot be following the governor all the place or the senator all the place and then you don’t win your polling booth and you come and say you want to be a minister or you want to get this contract.
“So, please as members of our party, let us make sure that we go back to our constituencies and make sure that we deliver our polling units.”
The former Vice President pledged to revamp the education sector in such a way that the incessant strikes by university lecturers will be put to an end.
He also promised to expand the nation’s economy to improve the living standards of Nigerians and workers.
Addressing PDP supporters at the mega rally, Atiku further tasked the residents to vote out the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The APC government has failed us and therefore, it is our responsibility to make sure that they do not return to power.”
THE Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, on Wednesday, January 18, announced that seven persons, including two traditional chiefs, have been arrested over the attack on the Igueben Train Station in the state.
He also stated that a combined team of security operatives had rescued all the remaining 14 persons kidnapped in the attack.
The operation was carried out by a Special Force comprised of soldiers, policemen, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), local vigilance members, and hunters, among others.
Nehikhare spoke while addressing journalists after the first State Executive Council meeting of the year.
“We are pleased to announce that the last two victims have been rescued, and seven suspects are in custody, including two village chiefs. We thank the press for the support they have given in the last few weeks.
“The success story in the kidnapping is that seven persons and two village chiefs have been arrested in connection with the incident,” he said.
The commissioner added that security agencies had rescued two persons remaining in the captivity of the kidnappers.
Nehikhare spoke in the company of the Special Adviser to the state Governor, Godwin Obaseki, on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie.
The ICIRreported that travellers who were waiting to board a train from Igueben in Igueben Local Government Area of the state to Warri in Delta State were penultimate week kidnapped by suspected herdsmen.
The suspected gunmen, armed with AK 47 rifles, had invaded the train station and shot sporadically into the air before herding an unspecified number of intending travellers into the bush.
In the process, some of the passengers, the state police command had revealed, sustained bullet wounds.
The initial reports were that 31 were persons kidnapped, but the state government later said 20 people were abducted, contrary to earlier reports.
THE Lagos State Government has declared a four-day holiday for public servants to enable them to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in the state.
This was confirmed in a circular released on Wednesday, January 18, by the Head of Service, Hakeem Muri-Okunola.
According to the circular, the state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, approved the work-free day for the public servants.
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The work-free days would commence on Tuesday, January 24, and end on Friday, January 27, 2023, for different grade levels of workers in the public service.
Part of the circular read, “Consequent upon the extension of the collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards by the Independent National Electoral Commission, it is hereby notified for the general information that all public servants who are yet to collect their Permanent Voters’ Cards from designated INEC Centers are encouraged to do so before Sunday, January 29, 2023, as it is a civic responsibility to vote.
“To this end, Mr Governor has graciously approved a work-free day to enable public servants to collect their PVCs from their respective local government/local council development areas as presented in the table below.”
The specified dates for different grade levels are: Tuesday, January 24, 2023, for grade levels 01, 03, 07 and 15; Wednesday, January 25, 2023, for grade levels 02, 04, 08 and 13; Thursday, January 26, 2023, for grade levels 05, 09, 12, and 17; and Friday, January 27, 2023, for grade levels 06, 10, 14 and 16.
The circular directed accounting officers to excuse their officers in respective grade levels on the designated days.
“Consequently, accounting officers and all public servants are to ensure compliance whilst giving this circular the service-wide publicity it deserves,” the circular added.
THE African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has expressed sadness over the death of the Vice President of The Gambia Badara Alieu Joof on Wednesday.
Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Rémy Ngoy Lumbu, described the former Vice President as a great champion of human rights committed to the promotion and protection of Human and Peoples’ Rights on the continent.
“The Commission expresses its sincere condolences to the bereaved family, the Government and the People of The Gambia,” Lumbu said in a statement.
Earlier, President of The Gambia Adama Barrow announced that Joof had died in India after a brief illness, without providing further details.
“Fellow Gambians, it is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing away of my Vice President, His Excellency, Badara Alieu Joof. The sad event took place in India after a short illness. May Allah grant him Jannahtul Firdawsi,” Barrow said in a tweet on Wednesday.
No date has been set for Joof’s funeral but the Government has declared seven days national mourning following his death.
The vice president left The Gambia about three weeks ago to seek medical treatment and had not been seen in public for months before the trip.
One of Joof’s last official assignments was the official opening of the 73rd Ordinary Session of the Commission held in Banjul, from 20 October to 8 November 2022.
He was appointed vice president of the West African country in 2022 and previously served as education minister from 2017 to 2022.
Joof was the fourth deputy to serve under Barrow since his historic win in 2016 against former strongman Yahya Jammeh and swearing-in the following year, and the second since the president won re-election in 2021.
THE Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the recommendation for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC LTD.) to invest N1.9 trillion in the reconstruction of 44 federal roads under the tax credit policy.
The council gave the approval today at its meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, briefed State House correspondents on behalf of the Minister of Works and Housing.
“The Federal Executive Council approved the recommendation to invest in the reconstruction of selected federal roads under the Federal Government Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Policy phase 2 by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited and its subsidiaries.
“So, the council approved the proposal by the Ministry of Works and Housing for the reconstruction of 44 proposed federal roads with a total length of 4,554 kilometres in the total sum of N1.9 trillion.’’
Akande said the council also approved the concession of nine federal roads spread across the country.
“In another memo, the Minister of Works and Housing also got approval of the council for concessionaires for nine road corridors under the pilot phase of the value-added section of the Highways Development and Management Initiative following the issuance of the requisite full business case compliance certificate by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission for a period of 25 years for each road corridor as follows.
“The roads that will be under this first phase are the Benin-Asaba corridor, Abuja-Lokoja-Onitsha-Owerri-Aba, Shagamu-Benin, Abuja-Keffi-Akwanga-Makurdi, Kano-Maiduguri, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta and Lagos-Badagry-Seme,’ he said.
Akande added that the minister also got the council’s approval for augmentation of contract for rehabilitation of the Oshogbo-Ilesha road phase 1 in Osun State in the sum of N1.2 billion.
“The approval thereby revises the subsisting contract sum from N3 billion to N4 billion, representing an increase of 33 per cent of the original sum,’’ he said.
THE Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) approved, on Tuesday January 17, the sharing of N990.189 billion to the three tiers of government as revenue from the month of December 2022.
The approved amount is inclusive of gross statutory revenue, value-added tax (VAT), exchange gain and electronic money transfer levies.
From the amount, the federal government received N375.306 billion, the states received N299.557 billion and the local government areas (LGAs) got N221.807 billion, while oil producing states received N93.519 billion as derivation (13 per cent of mineral revenue).
A communique issued at the end of the FAAC meeting showed that the gross revenue available from the VAT for December 2022 was N250.512 billion, which was an increase distributed in the preceding month. From the amount, the sum of N7.215 billion was allocated to the North East Development Commission (NEDC) project.
The sum of N10.020 billion was cost of collection to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS).
The remaining sum of N233.277 billion was distributed as follows: Federal government got N34.992 billion, the states received N116.639 billion, and the LGAs got N81.647 billion.
Accordingly, the gross statutory revenue of N1136.183 billion was received for the month of December, which was higher than the sum received in the previous month.
From this amount, the sum of N31.531 billion was given to cost of collection, and a total sum of N396.896 billion to transfers, savings and refunds, remaining the balance of N707.756 billion, which was distributed as follows: Federal government was allocated the sum of N325.105 billion, states got N165.897 billion, LGAs got N127.129 billion, and oil derivation (13 per cent mineral revenue) got N90.625 billion.
Also, the sum of N24.315 billion from the electronic money transfer levies was distributed to the three tiers of government as follows: the Federal government received N3.648 billion, states got N12.157 billion, and LGAs received N8.510 billion.
The communiqué further disclosed that the sum of N24.841 billion from exchange gain was shared thus: the Federal government received N11.562 billion, states got N5.864 billion, LGAs received N4.521 billion, and oil derivation (13 per cent of mineral revenue) got N2.894 billion.
Petroleum profit tax, companies income tax (CIT) and VAT recorded significant increases, while import duty decreased considerably. Oil and gas royalties and excise duty increased marginally.
The total revenue distributable for the current month of December was drawn from statutory revenue of N707.756 billion, VAT of N233.277 billion, exchange gain of N24.841 billion, and N24.315 billion from electronic money transfer levies, bringing the total distributable for the month to N990.189 billion.
Every Nigerian will be owing N384,864 each when President Muhammadu Buhari leaves office in May 2023, with the country’s debt profile expected to spiral to N77 trillion by then.
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has projected that government’s persistent borrowings would see President Muhammadu Buhari leave a humongous debt of N77 trillion behind for the incoming administration.
Patience Oniha, who heads the agency, said at a public presentation on January 4, 2023 on the 2023 budget at the National Assembly that new borrowings of ₦10.57 trillion was captured in the 2023 budget.
If divided by an official exchange rate put at N422 to an American dollar, 200 million Nigerians would have inherited N384,864 debt per person when the current administration winds down.
Available data showed that 73 per cent of internal debt, which is about 60 per cent of the total debt stock, is government bond, saving bonds, treasury bills, Sukuk and Green bonds.
Of internal debts, 2.3 per cent is government’s promissory notes to companies issued export expansion grant.
With the rising deficit in the budget, industry analysts posit that whoever takes over from President Buhari has tough choices to make on the economy, with the 2023 budget designed as a deficit document to be funded by borrowing.
“There is a strong link between ballooning debt, weak exchange rate and Nigeria’s rising hyper inflation. This is already taking its toll on Nigeria’s assesment by global rating agencies like Fitch and Moody. The worst of it all is that indigenous companies quoted on the Nigeria Exchange Limited are also donwgraded,” a development economist, Kelvin Emmanuel, told The ICIR.
Each Nigerian to owe N384,864 by end of Buhari’s tenure
Emmanuel pointed out a further concern of high monetary policy rate (MPR), which he said chokes businesses in the real sector as a result of high cost of funds, occasioned by ballooning debt stock.
“There’s a problem of double digit inflation. We are going to make our choice next month on who governs Nigeria and we must elect leaders who understand the economy,” he said.
Already, some economists have warned the Federal government that rising budget deficit and debt servicing would starve the private sector of funds needed to drive the real sector of the economy.
The 2023 budget of N21.83 trillion places the recurrent expenditure at approximately N8.27 trillion, while capital expenditure increased from N5.35 trillion to N5.9 trillion and debt servicing also increased from N6.31 trillion to N6.6 trillion.
2023 budget in a glance
The Chief Executive Officer of Cowry Assets Management Limited, Johnson Chukwu, who spoke with The ICIR, said if the government failed to exercise caution on how it funds budget deficits, the private sector would be seriously weakened in its capacity to drive the economy.
Chukwu said, “When we talk of the budget deficit of N12 trillion, we are also talking of a national debt of more than N22 trillion. If the Federal government continues to borrow, the implication is that you are going to crowd out private sector funding for the real sector.
“The increase in projected revenue only gives incentives to spend more even when we haven’t met up with it in the last five years. Now, this has made us to increase the budget deficit, which is putting lots of pressure on our funding the private sector.”
The economist also forewarned that Nigeria may head the way of Ghana if it fails to address its appetite on “unregulated borrowing.”
Nigeria’s budget deficit rises by 370 per cent to N47trn
The Budget Office of the Federation’s recent data analysis indicated that total budget deficit is set to hit N47.43 trillion under President Buhari.
The analysis covers the actual budget deficits and projections for the 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 fiscal years.
According to the figures, deficit financing has risen by 370.54 per cent from N2.41 trillion in 2016 to N11.34 trillion in 2023.
File Photo: President Buhari
In the third and fourth quarters of 2015, total deficit financing amounted to N841.48 billion. It rose to N2.41 trillion in 2016, N3.81 trillion in 2017, N3.65 trillion in 2018, N4.18 trillion in 2019, N6.59 trillion in 2020, and N6.44 trillion in 2021.
While the total deficit for 2022 has not been released, the Budget Office expects the figure to hit N8.17 trillion (of which N6.37 trillion had been spent by November 30, 2022). The office also anticipates a high deficit financing of N8.17 trillion for the 2023 fiscal year.
Between the third and fourth quarters of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020; the first three quarters of 2021, and the first four months of 2022, the Federal government spent N23.66 trillion on personnel costs, pensions, overhead costs, presidential amnesty programme, other service-wide votes, and special interventions.
It also spent N14.13 trillion on servicing domestic and foreign debts, as well as N10.47 trillion on capital expenditure.
Explaining the government budget deficit, an economic professor, Akpan Ekpo, said, “This shows that expenditure has eclipsed the revenue, because they have to borrow, which is why there is a deficit.
“They can’t raise enough domestic resources to finance spending. That gap is a deficit. By the rules, it should not be more than a certain percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP), but it has exceeded that.”
Former Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, saw a need to keep the budget deficit under three per cent of the GDP because of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, and in accordance with the international norm.
The country’s budget deficit to the GDP ratio had risen from 1.69 per cent in 2015 to 2.37 per cent in 2016. It increased to 2.85 per cent in 2018, and to 2.92 per cent in 2019. The Federal government expects the deficit to GDP ratio to be 5.03 per cent of the 2023 budget.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had admitted that the government was struggling to raise revenue for its expenditure.
In a document titled ‘Public Consultation on the Draft 2023 – 2025 MTFF/FSP,’ Ahmed said, “Revenue generation remains the major fiscal constraint of the federation. The systemic resource mobilisation problem has been compounded by recent economic recessions.”
While defending the 2022 budget, she stated, “If we just depend on the revenues that we get, even though our revenues have increased, the operational expenditure of the government, including salaries and other overheads, is barely covered or swallowed up by the revenue.
“So, we need to borrow to be able to build these projects that will ensure that we’re able to develop on a sustainable basis. Nigeria’s borrowing has been of great concern and has elicited a lot of discussions. But if you look at the total size of the borrowing, it is still within healthy and sustainable limits.”
UNESCO invites member states to nominate candidates for the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize 2023, in consultation with their National Commissions, as well as international and regional professional non-governmental organisations in the field of journalism and press freedom.
The prize will recognise a significant contribution to press freedom, especially in high-risk areas.
The recipient will be recognized during the World Press Freedom Day ceremony to be held on May 3, 2023, at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Journalists, organisations, or institutions that promote press freedom worldwide can be nominated for a US$25,000 award.
Nominations must be submitted in English or French and include a brief biography or history of the nominee.
The organiser says, “This Prize is awarded each year to a person, organization or institution that has made a notable contribution to the defense and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, particularly if risks were involved.
“The UNESCO/ Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was established in 1997 by UNESCO’s Executive Board in memory of Guillermo Cano, a Colombian journalist who died in the exercise of his profession.”
The deadline for the submission of nominations is February 15, 2023. Interested applicants can apply here.
THE Senate has passed into law a bill for the establishment of a Federal Medical Centre, in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The passage today of the bill, which was presented by Senator Abdullahi Gobir, is in concurrence with the one earlier passed by the House of Representatives.
The bill was sponsored by Farah Dagogo, a member representing the Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
Dagogo, in his submission, explained that the few health facilities on the ground in Bonny were incapable of handling serious health-related ailments or emergencies and, therefore, there was the urgent need for a good healthcare facility in the local government.
He added that the legislation would guarantee the construction of the Train 7 of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG).
“Currently, existing facilities look more like mere consulting clinics. Besides, Bonny is an island that grapples with many security challenges on the waterway.
“The absence of a good secondary health care facility is a concern to the residents, and this has led to vociferous calls and clamour for the provision of an improved health care system, hence this Bill, which seeks to establish a Federal Medical Centre in Bonny, Rivers State, in order to assuage the health needs of the people, given its peculiar location, and the related industrial activities ongoing in the Island,” he said.
When fully operational, the medical centre is expected to generate employment, and also impact positively on security and criminality in the local government.
The bill is also expected to boost the number of health facilities in the area, as well as bring them up to speed in handling emergency cases.
The spokesperson of the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign, Daniel Bwala, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of using foreign lobbyists to organise its Chatham House debate.
Bwala stated this during an interview on Arise Tv on Wednesday, January 18.
Bwala argued that the performance of the APC presidential candidate in next month’s election, Bola Tinubu, at the Chatham debate lacked the universal standard attached to the institution.
“I remember this last one. The Chatham is a building, but the institution running the Chatham House is the Royal Institute of International Affairs. What they usually do is that they discuss about policies around the World and they raise up policies. They bring policy makers and people who are trying to think of change to come and have a conversation.
“Each time, they invite anybody around the world, you will see representation from around the world so that when you speak they will say you are addressing the world.
“Check the one that Asiwaju did, it is APC Nigeria and APC London. The assistant chair of Chatham House and those other white people you saw are the lobbyists APC briefed to organise the event,” he said.
“They went to make caricatures of themselves. Then in the evening, they were singing BUGA as if what they did in the morning amounted to a display of Intelligence”
Bwala stressed that Atiku was neither obligated to be invited nor to address the Chatham House.
“It is the government of the United Kingdom that will influence foreign policies, not the Chatham House,” he said.
