A federal lawmaker representing Kaduna North Federal Constituency, Bello El-Rufai, has criticised Ministries, Departments, and Agencies for consistently refusing to cut down on their budgets, accusing them of spending public funds on frivolous items.

In a viral video obtained by PUNCH Online on Friday, Bello El-Rufai, the son of the former Governor, Kaduna State, Nasir EL-Rufai, urged the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, to prioritise reducing the budgets of MDAs, noting that Nigerians are increasingly concerned about the yearly rise in government spending.

“Nigerians are tired of every agency buying forks and knives every year; we should show them we are serious and make these drastic cuts,” he said.

He added, “We need to cut down on costs. The recurrent expenditure issue exists in every budget. Even as a young person like myself, I see that we budget for vehicles every year, utensils every year. To open more revenue streams or block loopholes, we need to scrutinise these ministries’ budgets. If they bought vehicles last year, they should hold off because vehicles do not expire.

“These are the little things, Mr Speaker, that unless we start addressing, the loopholes will continue to grow.

“Since I was a boy, every year’s budget includes new computers and furniture, yet these items do not expire. We should cut them out entirely. We cannot implement a tax reform bill to strengthen the fiscal position of this country while, as leaders, we fail to cut costs.”

El-Rufai stressed that showing fiscal discipline as leaders would help restore public trust in government spending.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Friday, ordered MTN Nigeria Communications Limited to pay N15 million damages over the unlawful deduction of a subscriber’s airtime through unsolicited services.

The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of Justices, described as fraudulent, the regular deduction of airtime of customers by the telecommunication giant, for the auto-renewal of services not subscribed to.

It further held that the sending of unwarranted text messages by the company amounted to a breach of subscribers’ right to privacy under section 37 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as the violation of Regulation 28 of Consumer Code of Practice Regulations.

The judgement followed an appeal marked: CA/ABJ/CV/137/2022, which was brought before the court by an aggrieved customer, Mr. Ezugwu Anene.

Anene had approached the court, alleging that he received over 244 unsolicited text messages from MTN for Weekly Guidance and Counseling, a service he said he did not subscribe to.

He told the court that from 2016 to 2018, N20 was unlawfully deducted from his airtime balance, each time he received the text message on his mobile telephone line he gave as 08030735301.

The Appellant alleged that MTN continued to deduct his airtime for Caller Tune Services that was imposed on him.

He told the court that the unwanted deductions persisted, even though he protested at the Abuja office of the telecommunication company and also used a code, 2442, which he was told would activate a Do Not Disturb service on his line.

The price of de-stoned local rice has dropped marginally by six and 10 per cent in Enugu markets, causing many residents to shift patronage to the brand.

The dealers in the commodity attributed the positive development to the harvest season for local rice.

A popular Ogbete Main Market trader, Rose Nwakwo, said that a 50-kg bag now goes for N78,000 as against N84,000 in November.

Another dealer at Garki Market, Enugu, Chidi Orji, said that a five-litre paint container goes for N6,500 as opposed to N7,500.

Mr Orji urged the residents to buy as much as possible before the price would increase again.

Most rice retailers and hawkers selling in cups and bushels are currently stockpiling the commodity.

Eunice Madu, a grain seller in Mayor Market, said she was only stocking bags of the brand for the yuletide.

“I must confess we are selling out almost all our available bags of de-stoned local rice, popularly known as ‘Abakaliki rice’, ahead of the yuletide.
“Most people are turning to it due to its price drop and improved processing and de-stoning qualities,” she said.

Meanwhile, a buyer, Edwin Okoh, expressed joy over the price drop, saying that his salary could get him more than 50kg of the brand for his family.

“It is a thing of joy that the price has gone down to some extent, at least I can get more than a bag for me and my extended family during this yuletide,” he said.

(NAN)