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FG Proposes N6.5 Trillion Budget For 2017

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FG Proposes N6.5 Trillion Budget For 2017
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo-Udoma and his Minister of State counterpart, Zainab Ahmed
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo-Udoma and his Minister of State counterpart, Zainab Ahmed

The Federal Government is proposing the sum of N6.5 trillion for the 2017 fiscal year, according to a report by Voice of Nigeria.

This was contained in a budget call circular issued by the office of the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

The circular noted that the budget proposal was in accordance with the 2017-2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.

It said the aggregate Federal Government retained revenue for the 2017 fiscal year was projected at N4.1 billion, while the aggregate expenditure level was projected to be N6.9 billion.

“This aggregate expenditure is made up of statutory transfers of N370.7 billion, Debt Service of N1.63 billion, Recurrent (non-debt) expenditure of N2.56 billion and Capital expenditure of N1.76 billion,” the circular read.

“The N1.63 billion in respect of Debt Service is made up of N1.47 billion for domestic debt; N159.6 billion for foreign debt and N177.4 billion for sinking fund to retire maturing loans.”

It said the capital expenditure would be guided strictly by the justification and critical nature of such programmes and budgets.

It also said the N1.76 billion set aside for critical capital expenditure includes N150 billion for Special Intervention Programme, N200 billion for Capital Supplementation and N1.41 billion for MDAs capital expenditure

“Additionally, the Federal Government intends to incur recurrent expenditure of N350 billion on the Special Intervention Programmes, bringing the total to N500 billion,” it said.

The document also directed all MDAs to prepare the budget based on the 2017-2019 MTEF.

According to the circular, the budget preparation should take into consideration the policies and strategies contained in the document as it outlines the development priorities of the Federal Government.

It also noted that the annual budget would continue to be prepared using the Zero-Based Budgeting approach and in line with the government’s policy thrust.

The circular discouraged the practice of regular incremental budget adjustments, each project was to be carefully scrutinised before resources were allocated and that the ZBB process places emphasis on actual needs and not wants.

It said: “Therefore, all MDAs are to carefully scrutinise and justify their projects and programmes for which resources are to be allocated in line with the immediate needs of the country and government’s development priorities.”

The priorities were grouped into six broad pillars to reflect the 26 policy priority programmes of the Government.

It listed the pillars to be economic reforms/growth, social development, critical infrastructure, states/regional development, governance, security and environment.

The Federal Executive Council on August 24 approved the 2017-2019 MTEF and FSP.

The budget call circular is in line with the 2017 budget preparation calendar signalling the commencement of MDAs’ preparation of their 2017 budgets.

Troops Destroy 74 Illegal Refineries

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Troops Destroy 74 Illegal Refineries
One of the illegal refineries later destroyed by the army
One of the illegal refineries later destroyed by the army

Troops of 2 Brigade of the Nigerian Army participating in “Operation CROCODILE SMILE”, an operation aimed at curtailing the activities of militants in the Niger Delta region, have destroyed 74 illegal refineries in the last two days and dismantled camps used by suspected kidnappers and militants in Rivers and Bayelsa states.

According to a statement on Friday army spokesperson, Sani Usman, a Colonel, special equipment, including swamp buggies, were deployed to aid the operation.

“On Wednesday, 7th September 2016 troops of Sub-Sector Bravo in response to a tip off on the presence of suspected kidnappers at Akupoku community, carried out a raid at the location. But no arrest was made as the kidnappers have fled the area.

One of the supposed kidnappers' den set ablaze by men of the Nigerian Army
One of the supposed kidnappers’ den set ablaze by men of the Nigerian Army

“However, the team also raided Ke community, at the verge of the Atlantic ocean where they discovered and destroyed an illegal refinery,” Usman said, adding that three large cooking pots, ostensibly used to refine the crude, and 20 tanks filled with refined Automated Gas Oil, AGO, were destroyed.

The army said its men also found and destroyed another illegal refinery at Bile, including 12 large refining cooking pots.

“The troops exercising along Abonnema axis were also informed of the presence of suspected kidnappers at Abakrikri Fishing Pot, they swung into action and carried out cordon and search operation, however, no contact or arrest was made.

“The troops of 130 Battalion also raided suspected kidnappers camp at Awukiri. Although no contact was made, the troops recovered an AK-47 rifle empty magazine, 6 face masks, 1 machete and several empty shells of expended ammunitions,” the statement added.

Operation Crocodile Smile, the army said, is not only meant to clear militants and miscreants from the creeks of the Niger Delta, it also has humanitarian component.

According to Usman: “The Medical unit of 2 Brigade has been dispensing free medical service at Twon Brass in Bayelsa State. The troops would continue their field training exercise, while the humanitarian assistance will continue with provision of educational materials and free medical assistance to the host communities this Friday.”

FG Kick-Starts Water Project In Jonathan’s Hometown

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FG Kick-Starts Water Project In Jonathan’s Hometown

fg-inaugurates-water-project-in-jonathans-hometown-otuoke

Otuoke, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s hometown, is among communities that would benefit from the Central Ogbia Regional Water Supply Project in Bayelsa State being undertaking by the Federal Government.

Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, who inaugurated the project, said 13 communities, including Otuoke, would benefit from the N5.9 billion project.

Adamu pledged federal government’s commitment to completing all abandoned water projects in order to improve the livelihood of citizens.

He noted that the recently launched roadmap on water resources underscores the need for short and long term strategies for effective and efficient delivery of water to the people.

The minister said: “The project we are inaugurating today is among the high priority projects for water supply.

“This project commissioning, therefore, further demonstrates that the Buhari administration is committed to completing all viable projects that have positive impact on the lives of our people without any political sentiments.”

He called on the host communities to take ownership of the water project by maintaining it for improvement of livelihood and reducing water borne diseases.

Secretary to the Bayelsa State Government, Serena Dokubo, commended the Federal Government and called for more of such projects in other communities.

Dokubo added that the state would also continue to embark on projects that would impact on the lives of the people.

Ben Murray-Bruce, the Senator representing Bayelsa East Senatorial district, noted that the water project would save lives and boost the people’s living standards.

“A lot of children die from consumption of unclean water, a lot fall sick, you have to spend more to take them to the hospital to get cured,’’ Murray-Bruce said.

About 130,000 people are expected to benefit from the N5.9billion project.

Former-President Jonathan has been criticised for failing to provide potable water to his hometown and neighbouring communities despite being in power, either as deputy governor, governor, vice president or president, for 16 years.

INEC Makes U-Turn, Postpones Edo Election

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INEC Makes U-Turn, Postpones Edo Election

INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has agreed to shift the Edo State governorship election by two weeks.

The decision to postpone the election was reached at a security meeting held in Benin, the Edo State capital on Thursday evening.

Nick Dazang, spokesman for the commission, confirmed to journalists that the election would now hold on a new date no less than two weeks from Saturday.

“We have now decided to shift the election forward for another two weeks,” Mr. Dazang said. “We would announce a new date within the next 24 hours.”

Sources said the electoral body decided to reverse itself when the Police and DSS said they could not guarantee the safety of INEC staff during the election.

“The SSS and the police clearly said they can’t guarantee the security of INEC’s personnel and materials,” the source said.

Political analysts say the governorship contest will be majorly between the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Godwin Obaseki, and his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, counterpart, Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

The PDP National Caretaker Committee led by Ahmed Makarfi, had condemned the Police and the DSS for suggesting that the election be postponed, saying that APC may have ‘read the situation’ and was afraid it would lose at the polls.

 

World Bank To Inject $500m Into Basic Education In Nigeria

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World Bank To Inject $500m Into Basic Education In Nigeria
The $500 Million intervention will cater for Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa States
The $500 Million intervention will cater for Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, and Sokoto States

The World Bank has set aside 500 million dollars as grant to fund basic education in five states of the country for five years.

Helen Okoro, the Information Officer of the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Thursday.

She credited the information to Olatunde Adekola, Head, World Bank International Reconstruction and Development team.

Okoro explained that the fund was for the Global Partnership for Education, GPE, which was established to improve access to quality education at the basic level in Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Sokoto and Katsina states.

“Five hundred million dollars has been set aside as Global Partnership for Education (GPE)/ Nigerian Partnership for Education Project (NIPEP) to fund education in the five beneficiary states of Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Sokoto,’’ she said.

Okoro quoted Adekola as commending the Federal Government for the NIPEP project and saying that it was the first time government was focusing on strategies aimed at moving the basic education sub-sector forward.

She said the 2.5 billion dollars credit that the Federal Government requested from the World Bank to finance the 2016 budget could only be released after fulfilling certain conditions.

Okoro also quoted the Executive Secretary of UBEC, Hamid Bobboyi, as assuring the World Bank of the government’s commitment to reposition basic education delivery in Nigeria.

Jos Monarch Wants Confab Report Revisited

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Jos Monarch Wants Confab Report Revisited
The Gbong Gwom Jos, Jacob Da Buba
The Gbong Gwom Jos, Jacob Buba

Chairman of the Plateau State council of Traditional rulers, Da Jacob Buba has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to take a second look at the report of the National Conference convoked by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Gbong Gwom Jos made the remarks when Samuel Ankeli, the Senior Special Adviser to President Buhari on Disability Matters, paid him a courtesy visit in his palace in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

He acknowledged that the Confab was not a perfect one, but added that its recommendations were not entirely irrelevant as to be thrown into the dust bin.

Buba said some areas of the report of the National Conference, if implemented, would improve the lot of the citizens and add value to the society.

The Royal father also assured people living with disability in the State that the council of traditional rulers would work to create room for them to contribute their quota in improving the values in the society.

He commended President Buhari for appointing a disabled person as a Special Adviser on Disabled Matters and urged the SSA not to relent in his efforts to make life easier for physically challenged persons.

He said: “I appreciate what you are doing, we are going to work together because there are values which people with disability can add to the society.

“Honestly we do not consciously consider the disabled persons in projects but I promise to accommodate the needs of the disabled in our projects.

“At the national conference, many issues including that of the disabled were discussed.

“President Buhari should have a look at the recommendations made; they may not be perfect but can add value to governance.

“We can leverage on them to build the capacity of the disabled and the traditional institution will lend its support in your areas of engagement with government,” Buba said.

Ankeli, who is on a nationwide tour to sensitize the people on the need to give the disabled to chance to add value in the society, called on traditional rulers and all leaders in different sections of the country to commit themselves to the course of the physically challenged.

The presidential aide stressed that children with disability must be allowed to attend schools so as to gain knowledge which will enable them contribute their quota in governance and eradicate the begging habit which some disabled persons engage in.

Ankeli said, “We are touring the 36 States to discuss disability issues. People with disability are Nigerians but this set of over 25 million people suffer the most in every situation.

Samuel Ankeli, SSA to the president on Disabilities matters
Samuel Ankeli, SSA to the president on Disabilities matters

“When there is crisis, they suffer the most so the rights and privileges of the disabled should be protected.

“We are here to ask you as an ambassador for the disabled persons to advocate to include the disabled persons in discussions.

“A living dog is better than a dead lion, we can do things better than some able bodied because our brains are functional but the key is education and empowerment.

 

“Three million children living with disability are out of schools. Encourage parents to release their disabled children to go to school and people should not harass or intimidate them.

“We are also being faced with the challenge of marriage, people don’t like marrying us but our brains are intact. Please talk to people to allow their children marry the disabled if they so desire.

“The disabled are not remembered for titles but we can contribute our quota if given the opportunity. We need all the supports from government, traditional rulers and individual to add value to the society,” the presidential aide said.

Commonwealth Calls Gender Inequality “Greatest Hindrance” To Development

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Commonwealth Calls Gender Inequality “Greatest Hindrance” To Development
Commonwealth Ministers of women Affairs met in Apia, the capital of Samoa
Commonwealth Ministers of women Affairs met in Apia, the capital of Samoa

The Commonwealth has identified gender inequality as one of the major hindrances to development in Africa.

The Commonwealth secretariat said this in a press release following its Women Affairs Ministerial Meeting in Apia, Samoa.

According to the statement, the under-representation of women and increasing gender inequalities must be reversed if sustainable development goals are to be met.

Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth said: “An increased empowerment and inclusion of women is not just about fairness, it’s about huge economic opportunity that is otherwise simply missed.

She said this during the Commonwealth 11th triennial meeting of mostly female leaders and campaigners from around the commonwealth member-nations.

The meeting had climate change as its standalone priority but also highlighted the inclusion of women in adaptation interventions as key to success.

“Climate change most severely threatens the poor of this planet, the majority of whom are women.  Yet, exclusion and marginalisation prevent women from participating in tackling such an important issue,” Scotland said.

Experts say Climate change poses life-threatening risk to everyone on the planet, and is of particular threat to small island states such as the host Pacific island of Samoa.

A UNDP report estimates the cost of mitigating the effects of climate change to be between $249 billion to $1,371 billion annually by 2030.

Sustainable Development Goals, SDG, number 13, set targets for effective climate-change planning in least developed and developing states that focus on women, children and marginalised communities.

Mariama Williams, Senior Programme Officer at the intergovernmental organisation South Centre, said: “If we are going to meet SDG 13, climate financing is a priority. It must not exacerbate gender inequalities but instead progress gender equality.”

She said: “We need to know how much is going to reach women. This needs gender analysis of distribution to ensure it reaches women’s organisations and local projects to build their capacity and become more involved globally.”

“We know that women die more than men during natural disasters. We know children and pregnant women are more susceptible to vector and water borne diseases. Finance facilities can no longer simply be gender sensitive but must be transformative, gender responsive and inclusive. Gender cannot be secondary, it is crosscutting in mitigation, adaption and policy.”

The Secretary-General, Scotland corroborated  Williams’ position, adding that: “We must make the connections, economic and social, social and environmental, that will ensure truly lasting development, with no-one left behind. Alone we are invisible, together we are invincible.”

Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau Lead In Road Crashes

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Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau Lead In Road Crashes

benue-nasarawa-plateau-lead-in-road-crashes

The Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, has revealed that zone 4, made up of Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau States has the highest rate of road accidents in the country.

The Corp Marshal and Chief Executive of FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi, stated this during a speech to flag off the sensitisation rally on the speed limiting devices and the 2016 ember months campaign in Jos.

He said the zone last year recorded 905 accidents, in which 279 people died.

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He however, said in 2015, road accidents in the zone decreased to 784, but it still recorded 331 deaths- the highest number of fatalities.

He said these accidents were largely caused by human error such as over speeding and urged motorists to exercise caution while driving in these ember months.

Oyeyemi said, “Over time, the corps, through research and statistics has established that speed and speed related offences have been responsible for high percentage of crashes (over 60 per cent) and this prompted the introduction of the speed limiting devices.”

In 2015, a total of 12,077 road crashes were recorded, and  5,400 people, representing 65 percent of those involved in the crashes, lost their lives.

 

Buhari Asks Nigerians To Change

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Buhari Asks Nigerians To Change
President Buhari handing over the "Change begins with med" campaign document to Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed
President Buhari handing over the “Change begins with me” campaign document to Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed

President Muhammadu Buhari has called on Nigerians to be agents of change and to be patient with his administration, saying that “the change we seek will not happen overnight.”

The president made the remarks during a ceremony to officially launch the National re-orientation campaign tagged “Change Begins With Me” in Abuja on Thursday.

“We are under no illusion that the change we seek will happen overnight but we have no doubt that the campaign will help restore our value system and rekindle our national power,” he said.

Buhari said the campaign, which will last throughout his tenure, has become imperative due to the fact that “our value system has been badly eroded over the years.”

He said: “The long-cherished and time-honoured, time-tested virtues of honesty, integrity, hardwork, punctuality, good neighbourliness, abhorrence of corruption and patriotism have given way to dishonesty, intolerance, indolence, unbridled corruption and wide-spread impunity.

“The resultant effect of this derailment in our value system is being felt in the social, political and economic sphere.

“This campaign is part of the determination of our party to seek to carry Nigerians along on the journey to a better and greater society that we can all be proud of.”

President Buhari urged citizens to view change “not merely in terms of our economy and social progress, but in terms of our personal behavior, on how we conduct ourselves, engage our neighbours, friends and, generally, how we relate to the larger society in a positive and definitive way to promote our common good and common destiny.”

“I am therefore appealing to all Nigerians to be part of this campaign.

“In other words, before you ask ‘where is the change they promised us?’ you must first ask, ‘how far have I changed my ways? What have I done to be part of the change for a greater society,” he said.

The “Change begins with me campaign” is a brainchild of the National Orientation Agency, NOA, under the federal ministry of information and culture, headed by  Lai Mohammed.

Electricity Company Cry Out Over Activities Of Vandals

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Electricity Company Cry Out Over Activities Of Vandals

kano-electricity-company-cries-out-over-vandals

Kano Electricity Distribution Company Plc, KEDCO, said it lost materials worth N108,831,550 to vandals in the state within a period of six weeks.

Spokesman of the company, Mohammed Kandi, said items lost to vandals include transformer oil, aluminium conductors, cables and other valuable

He said the increase in vandalism, energy theft and meter bypass in KEDCO areas of operation had become unbearable.

Kandi said the development had caused the company huge losses and setbacks within the period under review, calling on the customers, who bear the brunt to watch over the installations in their areas.

He quoted KEDCO’s Chief Technical Officer,CTO, David Omoloye, as saying “the quantity of vandalized materials from August to date include: 46.5 drums of transformer oil, 2, 130 aluminium conductors (150mm2), 4, 500 aluminium conductors (100mm2), 535 and 15 (150mm2&70mm2).”

He added that other items vandalised  include 825 XLPE Cable (35mm2), 529 (500mm2) &161 (300mm2) Incomer Cables and 40 Busbar.

Omoloye, an engineer, disclosed that these crimes were common in Sabon Gari, Sharada, Tudun Wada, Dala, Dakata, Dutse, Funtua, Hadejia, Kabuga, Katsina, Kumbotso, Malunfashi, Mariri and Nasarawa.

“I am appealing to all our esteemed customers in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa states to safe guard our installations in their domains because when the damage is done they suffers weeks of blackout,” he stated.

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