The House of Representatives on Wednesday joined the Senate in approving $1billion (N165 billion) for President Goodluck Jonathan to purchase military hardware for the fight against extremist group, Boko Haram.

The lawmakers however warned that Nigeria will pay additional N30 billion to service the credit in seven years.

The Senate had on September 25 approved the request made by the president to borrow the amount to tackle the national security challenges.

The House, however, summoned the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to appear before its committees on aids, loans, debt management and finance, and provide them with information regarding the terms and conditions of the loan.

The lawmakers also requested the National Security Adviser, NSA, to provide them with the breakdown of allocations that were appropriated to the Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Department of State Service, DSS, and Nigeria Police Force, NPF.

The decisions were reached during the consideration of the report from Adeyinka Ajayi (APC-Osun)-led committees on aids, loans, debt management and finance, after recommendation by the joint committees’ report.

The report was laid on the floor of the House on Tuesday.

The Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, had last Tuesday issued a week ultimatum to the Committees on Aids, Loans, Debt Management and Finance to furnish the House with a report and recommendations on the president’s loan request.

The house had referred the matter to the joint committee to investigate and advise it on the way forward.

Addressing the house on the matter, Chairman, Committee on Finance, Abdulmumin Jibrin (APC-Kano), said the joint committee was yet to conclude its assignment.

Mr. Jibrin, however, said the committee had so far discovered that the loan would cost the nation N30 billion to service it in seven years.

He said that the joint committee had already engaged some stakeholders and was still expecting to hold talks with others before submitting its findings.

He said that in the course of the interface with stakeholders, the committee discovered that even the military was at a loss as to how the amount was going to be utilised.

He, thereafter, requested for additional two weeks to enable the committee to conclude work.

Mr. Tambuwal, in his ruling, said that he would only give the committee one week because the issue was urgent and needed to be treated as such.

A public hearing by the committee on the loan on September 30 could not hold due to the absence of Okonjo-Iweala and Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah.

Their absence forced the joint committee on finance and loans and debts to postpone the hearing.

This followed the report of the Senate Joint Committee on Finance, and Local and Foreign Debt, on the request.

--NAN

Hmmmmm 165billion naira to fight boko haram
When cease fire is alredy on ground and to cap it
30billion in 7 years as interest. That is 2.5billion
Yearly...... Nigeria good people Great nation

Hmmmmm 165billion naira to fight boko haram
When cease fire is alredy on ground and to cap it
30billion in 7 years as interest. That is 2.5billion
Yearly...... Nigeria good people Great nation
..........................................................................
....................first to coment sha

Omo c bar o

Jona thief..very corrupt govt!

An Appeal To Northern Elders by Alisha4U(f): 9:46am As much as Nigerian leaders call for and promote unity of
our country, Southern and Northern elders still would often
exchange bitter words. Earlier, Naij.com has posted an
opinion by our contributor Hussain Obaro who warned
Southers leaders against presenting the North in the wrong
light and antagonizing Nigerians. Today, Dr. Deborah Nelson, writing from Ilorin, Kwara State, appeals to the Northern
elders and voices her own concerns. “1. Northern elders! During the Yar’Adua administration,
militants’ activities in the Niger Delta led to substantial drop
in crude oil production. To restore normalcy to the region,
Niger Delta elders, led by the then-Vice President, Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan, went into the creeks and persuaded the
militants to embrace peace. Similarly, when activities of the OPC were becoming a threat to national security, Yoruba
elders met with the OPC members and persuaded them to
embrace peace. “But in the North, instead of adopting similar measures to
restore peace to the region, you are busy looking for whom
to blame. According to you, Northern elders, Boko Haram
terrorists are not Northerners but Southerners, financed to
destroy the North. Unfortunately, while you are busy playing
the ostrich, a sizable part of this nation is being destroyed by Boko Haram terrorists and Fulani herdsmen. “2. Northern elders! In 2010, Alhaji Kaita promised to make
Nigeria ungovernable for Jonathan if he was elected
Nigerian president in 2011. In 2010 also, Atiku Abubakar
promised to bring about violent change if he did not
become Nigerian president in 2011. As promised by Kaita
and Atiku, Boko Haram metamorphosed into a deadly terrorist sect overnight as soon as president Jonathan was
sworn in as president in 2011. Just recently, Dr. Junaid
Mohammed threatened that “if this President rigs himself
back into office in 1015, it may very well mark the end of
this country”. One hopes Dr. Junaid Mohammed, his wives
and children will personally participate in his self-imposed mission to destroy Nigeria. “3. Northern elders! You called for investigation and
prosecution of General Ihejirika, rtd., and Senator Sheriff
based primarily on accusation by Mr. Davies. The same Mr.
Davies accused you of using Boko Haram to destabilize
Jonathan’s government. He also accused a high-ranking
official in the CBN, who recently left his post, of financing Boko Haram. But you feigned ignorance of these aspects of
Mr. Davies’ allegations. Of recent, Mr. Obermayr, a member of
European Parliament, accused General Buhari, rtd., of
financing Boko Haram, and Alhaji Atiku of being financed by
al Qaida to destabilize Southern Nigeria. He also accused the
APC of channeling European Parliament financial aids to support insurgency in Eastern Nigeria. As expected, you and
Chief John Oyegun, APC Chairman, are exhibiting incurable
symptoms of selective amnesia as regards those accusations. “4. Northern elders! You often celebrate Boko Haram attacks
on security forces as a manifestation of Jonathan’s
incompetence. But any counter-attack by security forces
against Boko Haram attracts prompt criticism from you.
According to you, Boko Haram terrorists are fighting for their
rights the same way the Niger Delta militants did, hence, the government should stop attacking them and grant them
amnesty. By your actions, utterances and body language,
you created enabling environment for Boko Haram to grow
into the present monster that is currently decimating the
region. You condemn Boko Haram only when they attack
mosques or Muslims. When Emir of Kwarso was killed by the sect, Sultan Abubakar only admonished Boko Haram to ‘stop
killing Muslims’. “5. Northern Nigeria is synonymous with violence. This had
been the norm even before President Jonathan assumed
power. You want everyone to convert to Islam. during every
religious riot, you engineer slaughter of anyone who is not a
Hausa-Fulani Muslim, irrespective of his or her religion. “Mr. Gideon Akaluka was beheaded in Kano in 1996 for just
touching Holy Koran. Hundreds of Nigerians were killed in
the North when you organized a religious riot against the
hosting of Miss World Contest in Nigeria in 2002. In 2005 in
the North, hundreds of Nigerians were killed in religious riot
because a newspaper in Norway published a caricature of Prophet Mohammed. A Yoruba lady teacher from Ogun State
was roasted in Bauchi by her Muslim students who accused
her of touching Holy Koran in 2007. Some bloody religious
riots are Maitatsine riot in Kano in 1983, 1991 riot in Kano
against Evangelist Bonnke, Maiduguri riot in 2006, Sango
Kataf riot, Sharia Law riot in Kaduna in 2000. “In short, there is no year without bloody religious riots in
the North, all perpetrated by you. Consequently, there is no
town in the North today where Muslims and Christians live
together in peace. Added to this is the widespread
destruction of lives and properties of Christians by Fulani
herdsmen in Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa, Benue, Taraba, Plateau, Adamawa states, even down to Anambra, Enugu
and Oyo states. “6. Northern elders! The inspiration for you to always
orchestrate bloody religious riots could be attributed to your
resolve to implement Sultan Ahmadu Bello’s Doctrine which
states, “The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate of
our great grandfather Othman Dan Fodio. We must
ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We must use the minorities in the north as winning tools and the south as a
conquered territory and never allow them to have control
over their future.” “Another source could be the Organization of Islamic
Countries’ (OIC) Abuja Declaration of 1989 which enjoins all
member countries to ensure only Muslims are elected to all
political posts of member nations, eradicate in all its forms
and ramifications all non-Muslim religions in member
nations (Christianity, Ahmadiya, and other tribal modes of worship unacceptable to Muslims), ensure ultimate
replacement of all Western forms of legal and judicial
systems with Sharia in all member nations before then next
Islam in Africa Organization conference, and ensure the
appointment of only Muslims into strategic national and
international posts of member nations. The IAO was founded by OIC in 1989 in Abuja to implement Abuja Declarations and
incidentally, one of you, Doctor Usman Muhammad Bugaje,
is the current Secretary General of IAO. “7. Nothern elders! Because of stiff opposition by you, the
emergency rule imposed in the 3 North-Eastern states is not
comprehensive. If you had allowed for imposition of
emergency rule with a military administrator in Borno state,
Governor Shettima would not have had the opportunity to
organize the controversial abduction. On 11 June 2014, Governor Shettima said Boko Haram might attack Southern
Nigeria. On 15 June, 3 bombs were detected in Winners
Chapel Church in Owerri. Same day, soldiers intercepted 33
buses around 3 a.m. in Abia State with 486 Hausa Fulani
Muslims. 86 of them were confirmed members of Boko
Haram. But, led by Sultan Abubakar, you, Northern elders, called them “innocent Hausa Fulani businessmen” and
demanded for their unconditional release. Even though
none of these ‘businessmen’ had up to even N1,000 on
them! On 20 June 2014, Boko Haram suicide bomber was
arrested while trying to plant bombs in a school in Owerri.
Mallam Shehu Sani said that Boko Haram would like to exchange the girls with their members in government
custody, and the next day Shekau, Boko Haram leader,
announced same to the public. How did Governor Shettima
and Mallam Shehu Sani get the information from Boko
Haram? “8. Northern elders! Governor Shettima is old enough to
make informed decisions, but he decided to play politics
with human lives. If Governor Shettima’s children were in
that school, would he have refused to move the students to
Maiduguri, as advised by the Federal Ministry of Education?
Would he have refused to provide adequate security in the school, as he promised? Why did Shettima replace all
Christian staff with Muslims prior to the abduction? Why is it
that on the night of the said abduction, the staff and their
families did not sleep in the school? Why is it that over 90%
of the girls are Christians? Why is it that none of these
physics students could speak English? Initially, the Principal, Mrs. Asabe Kwambura. said she was present when the girls
were abducted. Why did she change her story that she was
at Maiduguri when the abduction took place? The number of
the abducted girls was put at 129 initially. Why did the
number increase to over 200 after Shettima offered to pay
each family one million naira? “While you mount pressure on the presidency to facilitate
safe return of the girls, you should also cause your son,
Governor Shettima, to provide answers to above questions.
However, you can ignore this suggestion if you, Northern
elders, have actually connived with Governor Shettima to
facilitate the abduction of Chibok girls for political gains. “9. Northern elders! Through deliberate adulteration of
Almajiri System of Islamic Education(ASIE), you had been
able to produce inexhaustible reservoirs of human robots
whom you often use to prosecute endless bloody religious
riots in Northern Nigeria primarily to protect your selfish
interests. While you send your children to acquire Western education, you discourage the less privileged amongst you
from doing same by deceiving them that Western education
is un-Islamic. While you allow your children to be vaccinated
against polio, you discourage the less privileged amongst
you from doing same by deceiving them that it is un-Islamic.
While you send your daughters to acquire Western education, you encourage less privileged amongst you to
marry their daughters off at the age of seven by deceiving
them that it is Islamic to do so. What do you gain by hiding
under Islam, a religion of peace with over a billion believers?
Remember, Allah is watching you, so, do unto the less
privileged amongst you what you want others to do unto you and stop seeing them as expendable. “10. Northern elders! You want power to return to the North
next year at any cost. Some of you, Northern elders, had
gone further once again to threaten to make the country
ungovernable if a Northerner does not assume power next
year. It is a fact that most of you are in your sixties and
above, hence you think you have nothing to loose if you set the nation ablaze. If that happens, you will surely relocate
abroad with your families and from the comfort of your
lavishly furnished palaces, watch innocent Muslims and
Christians kill themselves. If all elders in Nigeria will resort to
violence to press home their demands like you, will there be
any country called Nigeria by the time the winner finally emerges. Please talk like a typical African elder who is an
embodiment of wisdom, peace and humility and not like a
motor park tout. “11. Northern elders! The vast majority of people of Niger
Delta believe, rightly or wrongly, that Hausa-Fulani
politicians use Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen to
destabilize Jonathan’s government. Consequently, they may
destabilize any government headed by a Hausa Fulani
president. Niger Delta people are not against the rest Northerners. To avoid a situation whereby Nigeria will be
forced to fight three wars (the Boko Haram war, Fulani
herdsmen war, and oil and gas war) simultaneously with no
money to prosecute the wars, Hausa Fulani politicians
should step aside for now. There are many capable and
credible northerners (both Christians and Muslims) such as Sam Nda Isah, David Mark, Iyocha Ayough, and many others
whom the North can jointly adopt and support to contest for
presidency. You will as expected, wave this suggestion aside
as an idle talk, hoping that you will cross the bridge when
you get there. From available indices, there may be no
bridge to cross because emergence of a Hausa-Fulani president next year through whatever means, will usher in
unprecedented disruption of gas and crude oil production
throughout the duration of the government. “12. Northern elders! Instead of wasting precious time trying
to blame anyone but yourselves, you should meet with Boko
Haram members and persuade them to embrace peace, just
as Yoruba and Niger Delta elders did. You, Northern elders,
may not feel threatened by the avoidable disaster you have
brought on the North. This is because your people will believe and do whatever you tell them without a second
thought. This also informs your penchant to relish in issuing
threats with or without provocation. Having produced easily
manipulated, inexhaustible reservoirs of human robots
through deliberate adulteration of Almajiri System of Islamic
Education, you are emboldened to play the ostrich while the North is on fire. “May Allah grant you the grace to retrace your steps for the
benefits of the unborn generations in your various
communities, amen.” Source: http://www.naij.com/308060-appeal-to-northern- elders.