The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed the 2022 budget of N17.126 trillion against the N16.391 trillion presented by President Muhammadu Buhari. This followed a unanimous adoption of a report laid on the floor of the House during plenary in Abuja by the Chairman, Appropriation Committee, Rep Murktar Betera The N17.1 trillion was against the N16.39 trillion that was proposed by the executive. The House also increased the oil benchmark to 62 dollars as against the 52 dollars that was proposed by the executive, while the exchange rate was retained at N410.15 The House added that the increase in oil…
Author: Newsdesk
The Senate on Tuesday received a formal request from President Muhammadu Buhari seeking the Senate’s approval for the virement of N276,757,232,395 billion to fund expenditures in the 2021 budget. The request which was contained in a letter dated December 16 was read by the Senate President Ahmad Lawan during plenary. According to Buhari, the sum would be sourced from the N365 billion Service Wide Vote for Upscaling of National Social Investment Programme (NSIP). The letter titled, “2021 Appropriation Act: Request for Virement to Fund Critical Expenditure” reads: “The Senate may wish to recall that I signed the 2021 Appropriation on…
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN) have begun a collaboration to aggregate maize under the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the federal government for the 2021 wet season. The maize farmers also inaugurated the 2021/2022 dry season farming in Dadin-Kowa community of Yamaltu/Deba local government area of Gombe state on Tuesday. The team then proceeded to Pindiga community in Akko local government area of Gombe state where the loan repayment ceremony was launched. Abdullahi Baba-Isa, head, CBN’s Development and Finance Office, said the federal government’s intervention in maize farming had yielded impressive results.…
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Transparency International (TI) Nigeria has called on the National Assembly not to disappoint Nigerians the same way that President Muhammadu Buhari has done in refusing to sign the Electoral Act Amendment 2021 bill. CISLAC executive director, Auwal Rafsanjani in a statement on Tuesday also expressed “disappointment over the failure of the president to sign the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021. It therefore called on the National Assembly to veto the president and sign the Electoral Act. “Elections remain a critical aspect of democracy as it is the gateway for all citizens to achieve…
…Frowns at government’s inaction A Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP and senatorial candidate for Kaduna Central in the 2019 elections, Lawal Adamu Usman has extended sympathy to the victims of the dozens killed by bandits in the attacks on several communities in Giwa local government area of the state last Sunday and pledged to look into ways to support them further. Adamu, fondly referred to as Mr LA, blamed the escalation of the security situation in Kaduna to what he described as the levity and condescension in the handling of the situation by the state government under Nasir…
The Inspector General of Police, IGP, Usman Baba has set up a special investigation panel (SIP), to look into allegation of Bitcoin extortion worth N22 million by officers serving at the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), Alagbon, Lagos. A statement by the spokesperson of the Force Headquarters, CP Frank Mba on Monday, said the allegation is against DSP Nwawe Cordelia and others, serving at the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), Alagbon, Lagos. Mba called on the general public with similar experiences of high-handedness or extortion by the officers in question, her team or any other officer at the FCID Alagbon…
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has denied reports that it is conducting survey and recruitment. This is contained in a statement by the spokesperson of the company, Garba Deen Muhammad on Monday. “The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), wishes to draw the attention of the general public to a fake competition trending online which claims to celebrate a so-called “Anniversary Event”. “In the purported contest, unsuspecting participants are encouraged to carry out a survey by filling out a questionnaire on their knowledge of the Company, with the eventual winner standing the chance of winning some cash reward…
Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) on Monday said the booster dose of its Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine appeared to be protective against the fast-spreading Omicron variant in laboratory testing. It added that the current version of the vaccine would continue to be Moderna’s “first line of defense against Omicron.” The vaccine maker said the decision to focus on the current vaccine, mRNA-1273, was driven in part by how quickly the recently discovered variant is spreading. The company said still plans to develop a vaccine specifically to protect against Omicron, which it hopes to advance into clinical trials in 2022. Dr Paul Burton, Moderna’s…
The Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa has reached 9,155,691 cases. The specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) said the death toll across the continent stands at 225,967 and some 8,329,481 patients have recovered from the disease so far. South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Ethiopia are among the countries with the most cases on the continent, said Africa CDC. South Africa has recorded the most COVID-19 cases in Africa with 3,292,609 cases, followed by the northern African country Morocco with 952,628 cases as of late Sunday…
Israeli Prime Minister’s Office on Monday said the Israeli government had approved the ban of all non-essential travel to 10 countries, including the United States to prevent the spread of the Omicron coronavirus strain. The countries include Belgium, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey. “The cabinet ministers have now approved (in a telephone vote) the expansion of the list of red countries, in accordance with the recommendation of the Health Ministry State Classification Committee, pursuant to a discussion that was held yesterday at the Cabinet meeting,” the Office said. The red list’s expansion has to be approved…