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FG paid $700m on debt servicing, Edun tells Senate

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The Senate on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts in funding the capital components of the three national budgets running concurrently in the country.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Adeola gave the task when the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, and the Accountant-General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, appeared before the panel over the budgets’ performances.

Adeola lamented the poor funding of the capital components of the budgets and urged Edun to improve on it.

Adeola said, “It is the capital component of the budgets that will showcase this government largely in terms of performances.

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“The capital components tend to showcase various projects that will be executed by this government and people can say the government is doing this, it’s doing that.

“That is why we are emphasising the performance of the 2024 capital component of the project.”

Adeola added that “the N1.84 billion achieved so far out of a N9 trillion capital expenditure component is nothing to write home about.

“I would want you to please look towards this direction. And I want you to do more engagement with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the government.”

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Adeola urged the Minister to engage more with the MDAs because most of them were not aware of the current arrangement regarding the funding of capital projects.

The Senate panel chairman also hinted at plans by the red chamber to organise a public hearing on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited which stakeholders in the oil and gas sector would be invited including the Finance Minister.

Adeola nevertheless commended the Minister for achieving 100 per cent funding for the 2023 supplementary budgets.

He said, “We did the supplementary budget, which we have achieved 100% release, which is highly commendable.

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“It will not be out of place for you to have a periodic report on the implementation level of these agencies so that at least you can be guided on why transiting to the new method of payment as you can be guided.

“As for the main 2023 budget, we are lagging by over 50 something per cent, I also strongly believe that we should work around the clock.”

The Finance Minister told the senators that the FG had made progress in its ongoing forensic investigation into the N30tn Ways and Means.

He also said that the take-off of the electric and Compressed Natural Gas vehicles has been held up by a spike in freight costs.

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Edun pledged that his ministry would intensify efforts in monitoring the revenue-generating agencies, adding that the debt service is up to date.

Edun said, “The procurement of electric and CNG buses and conversion kits, more importantly, has been held up by a spike in the freight costs.

“It’s just the ingenuity of one of the young men that is in that business that when I’ve got a bulk carrier that has a lower freight cost. Otherwise, the trade cost per bus became daunting and it made people just hold up to see whether this procurement was profitable for them.”

On debt payments, he said, “We have paid $700m in debt services for 420 national development agencies and others”

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Speaking on the Ways and Means, “We are also interrogating the N22.7tn that we met on the ground. We instituted a forensic audit to see the impact.

“We are also interrogating the revenues that are due to us from everybody because we need to. The view of the fact that ways and means are going down rather than up, so we are servicing all the debts.”

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Nigerian Man Nabbed For Stabbing Fellow National To Death In France

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A 27-year-old Nigerian man, identified only as Popori, has been arrested in Grenoble, France, for allegedly stabbing a fellow citizen, Monday, to death.

It was gathered that the incident occurred on the evening of Friday, November 22, when a fight broke out between two men during an altercation in a grocery store in Grenoble, Isère, France.

DayFR reports that, according to Grenoble Prosecutor Eric Vaillant, who confirmed information from Dauphiné Libéré, the incident occurred around 8:30pm.

The two men were inside an exotic grocery store when an argument broke out, quickly escalating into a violent altercation.

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One of the individuals suddenly stabbed the other in the chest, for reasons still unclear.
Emergency services arrived on the scene but were unable to revive the victim.

On Saturday, the Grenoble public prosecutor announced that a 27-year-old Nigerian man had been taken into police custody at 12:30pm as part of an investigation initiated by the local judicial police service.

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Longest serving monarch dies at 111

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Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa, the longest serving traditional ruler in Bauchi State, is dead.

Inuwa, the village Head of Beli (Sarkin Beli) in Shira Local Government Area of Bauchi, passed away at the Federal Medical Center Azare, Katagum Local Government Area of the state.

The monarch who was 111-year-old spent 91 years on the throne.

Chief Imam of Beli, Liman Musa Abubakar, confirmed the death of monarch which he described as a great loss to the entire people of Northern Nigeria.

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During one of the interviews with Daily Trust in his lifetime, the late monarch had said, “Their grandfather was appointed as village head of Beli. He spent 12 years on the throne. He died and our father was appointed the village head. He spent 17 years. After that, I was appointed to the throne when I was 19 years old. This means that by my calculation, I was born around 19 12 or 1913. I was appointed to the throne around 1933 by the Emir of Katagum, AbdulQadir.”

The monarch lived and worked with four different first class Emirs of Katagum.

“We lived with the Emir of Katagum Abdulqadir who appointed me for 12 years before he left the throne and died six months later. Emir Umaru Faruqu was appointed. We spent 35 years with him.

When he died, his son, Muhammadu Kabiru was appointed. We spent 38 years with Emir Kabiru before he died, Again, after Muhammadu Kabiru, the present Emir of Katagum, Umaru Faruq II, was appointed. We lived with him for Six years.

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Late Inuwa had said, “I am almost 91 years old on the throne. Alhamdulillahi, we live in peace with the people. And I gave birth to 11 people. Some of them died, but there are seven of them alive – four men and three women.

Many people interviewed said he was a peaceful ruler who [had] listening ears and worked for the peace of the land.”

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Katsina gov presents N682bn 2025 budget to State Assembly

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Governor Dikko Radda of Katsina State on Monday presented the State’s 2025 Budget Proposal to the state House of Assembly.

This is the second full year budget the governor is presenting to the House, which is in the sum of N682,244,449,513.87, covering Recurrent Revenue and Expenditure.

The Budget’s Recurrent Expenditure stands at the sum of N157,967,755,024.36 representing 23.15% while, Capital Expenditure stands at N524,274,694,489.51 representing 76.85%.

The Governor in his speech, announced that, the total of this budget when compared with that of the 2024, has an increase of N200,535,619,501.61, representing 40% increase.

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The Governor, at the beginning of his speech, assured the House that his administration has achieved many of its goals and is on course to meet and exceed its targets.

He insisted that his administration has successfully reversed the tide of insecurity which severely threatened the peaceful co-existence of people in the State.

“Many of our local governments have been restored to normalcy while pushing the bandits to the fringes of the forests and, Insha-Allah, to the end of their existence.

“We have expended a lot of resources in fighting insecurity, and we shall continue to do all we can to protect lives and livelihoods in our dear state. I thank the Honourable Members for your support and dedication to ultimate victory,” he said.

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The Governor while ranking MDAs by allocations, revealed that the Economic Sector got N302,246,140,569.76 representing 44.3%, followed by the Education Sector with 95,995,873,044.70 representing 14%.

In the same vein, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development got 81,840,275,739.70 representing 12% while the Ministry of Rural and Social Development got 58,728,146,293.72 representing 9%.

Other sectors such as the Ministry of Water Resources, 53,832,219,322.46 representing 8%, Ministry of Environment, 49,835,521,799.25 representing 7%, Ministry of Health, 43,881,752,172.75 representing 6%, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs 18,938,508,746.95 representing 3%, Ministry of Works, Housing and Transport 9,684,806,758.56 representing 10%.

Other sectors he said are in the sum of 230,759,902,908.71 representing 31% of the total proposed budget

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