₦airaland Forum

desgiezd:
It’s impossible to go to a construction site or to go for inspections without pointing your finger to one thing or the other!

President Muhammadu Buhari is okay with the alterations and padding of the 2022 budget by the National Assembly, the Presidency stated on Sunday night.

In a statement that tried to offer a new interpretation of Buhari’s misgiving about the budget, which he signed, Aso Rock now claimed that Buhari’s comment was misinterpreted.

‘While it is true that the President expressed disagreement with these and many of the other alterations, including the “reduction in the provisions for many strategic capital projects to introduce ‘Empowerment Projects’,” innumerable lies are being spread about the President being “angry” at, had “blasted” or “lashed out” at the Parliament.

‘This cannot be farther from the truth’, said presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu..

In the budget, the National Assembly inserted 6,576 new schemes worth about N37 billion and also reduced the allocation to some capital projects, dear to the executive.

But Shehu said: “As the President of the Senate, Dr Ahmed Lawan said shortly after the budget-signing ceremony, disagreements as the ones listed by the President are normal in the everyday Executive-Parliamentary relationship because, as he explained, “executive and legislative judgements don’t always have to be the same.”

“While we note that there are people who are trying to create a fiasco between the two arms of government on account of the budget, we assure that they will, in the end, be disappointed.

“The Executive and the 9th National Assembly have since moved away from the wild, destructive political games of the past, conducting themselves in a way that puts national interest supreme in their decisions.

” We doubt if there is a patriotic citizen who wants to see the return of the operating environment engendered by the 8th Senate when an elected government was held in chains, held hostage to the desperate political ambitions of a clique, and the public denied needed services including that which impinged on national security. Happily, the 9th National Assembly is more about policy than politics.

“Under the constitution, both arms of government are coequal and at the same time, independent and interdependent. The rule of the game is cooperation and the President, as a democrat fully accepts this.

Shehu also replied critics who wondered why Buhari signed the budget despite his reservations.

He said the Buhari assented to the appropriation bill to Save Value-Additive Projects Programs & Policies and also to demonstrate that he is a democrat.

He also revealed plans by the executive to present to the National Assembly 2022 Amendment Budget Proposals.

“Although over 10,733 projects were reduced and 6,576 new projects were introduced into the budget by the National Assembly, there are tens of thousands more provisions in the 2022 Budget, all of which, when efficiently and effectively implemented, will have significant developmental impact on the lives and livelihoods of ordinary Nigerians.

“Given Mr. President’s commitment to improving the lot of the Common Man, it was felt that it would not be wise to throw away the baby with the bathwater. Ongoing Capital Projects, Critical Recurrent Votes, Priority New Projects – all feature in the 2022 Budget and Mr. President’s forbearance in assenting to the Budget will save these provisions from implementation delays and other challenges.

“President Buhari is a democrat who deeply believes in the supremacy of the Constitution, with its checks and balances across the three arms of Government. In terms of the passage of legislations like the Appropriation Act and other Money Bills, the National Assembly has equal responsibilities with the Executive.

“Indeed, if Mr. President had declined assent to the 2022 Appropriation Bill, the National Assembly has powers to override the President’s veto if they can drum up a 2/3 majority vote. This is the constitution.

“Happily, this situation has not arisen during the tenure of Mr. President’s Administration, and the Executive’s relationship with the Leadership of the 9th National Assembly is much improved over what happened with the 8th National Assembly. It is on account of his confidence in the strength of this excellent working relationship that Mr. President has directed that an Amendment Budget Proposal should be prepared and submitted to the National Assembly, once they return from their recess.

“It is hoped that the National Assembly will carefully consider and approve the 2022 Amendment Budget Proposals, once presented to them in due course, for the benefit of all Nigerians.

“It is important therefore that, in place of “anger” or confrontation, President Buhari showed the democracy-loving side of his personality as he signed the budget at the same time calling for dialogue with the parliament to resolve the contentious issues.

“The Presidency under Muhammadu Buhari and the parliament under Lawan and Gbajabiamila are committed to a good neighborly relationship and this or any other disagreement between the two arms of government will not alter the dynamics of that relationship”.

duduade:
common gettat


all the other ones you have been collecting nko

tamdun:
Is she on something?

A former Governor of Anambra State, Chris Ngige said on Saturday he was offered bribes to accept the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Anambra, Andy Uba, at the party’s primary election.

Ngige, who addressed the party members during a New Year get-together held at his community in Alor, Anambra State, said he rejected the money because it was against his conscience.

The Minister of Labour and Employment insisted that no primary election took place to nominate Uba as the APC flag bearer in the state but some people offered him money to accept that the election went well.

Uba finished behind the eventual winner, Prof. Charles Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Valentine Ozigbor, in the election held on November 6 last year in Anambra.

Ngige said: “13 persons went for the election (primary) and I told them I do not have anointed aspirant. I told them it is God who makes a governor, it is also God who makes a President. I told them to go to the field and convince everyone to vote for them.

“I told them what was going to happen was direct primaries, either by secret ballot or option A4. These aspirants listened to me and used their hard-earned money to run for the election.

“None of them is a thief or stole money, so they used their hard-earned money and we did a primary election and we said everyone would go to their ward, that voting will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

“I even came from Abuja to participate in the process. Somebody of my status could not vote. I didn’t see any electoral materials here in Alor ward one. I am from this place, with no electoral officials or materials except INEC officials. These were the only people who came, our party officials never came.

“By 5:00 p.m., I called Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State and told him nothing happened. I told him to postpone the election from Saturday to Monday he said okay, but they ended up announcing the result.

“At the end, they said I should come and take money and say the election held. I, Chris Ngige should come and take money and say an election that I never participated in took place.

“I told them I have all the money I needed, and that I have contested for all the positions I needed to contest for. It is only one position that I have not contested for. We are the founding fathers of this party, these were the same people who stood against us in the early days of APC and called us Boko Haram party.

“Today, they are saying Ngige does not want people to come in and that I am now putting people who are my brothers in position. Do not listen to them, they are lying.”

jetwonder:
#this lie lie na waaooo!!!!

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has revealed that the digital economy sector was highly instrumental in lifting the Nigerian economy out of recession in 2021.

Mohammed, who disclosed this at the weekend, said Nigeria slipped into recession in November 2020 after its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted for the second consecutive quarter.

He, however, said that the fourth quarter of 2020 Report on the nation’s GDP revealed that the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector recorded the highest growth rate of all the sectors of the Nigerian economy.

He said in the report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the breakdown of the different sectors showed a 14.7 per cent growth rate in the ICT sector.

The minister said the ICT growth rate was greater than the combined 14.21 per cent growth of the second to seventh fastest-growing sectors of the economy in 2020.

“The telecommunications sector alone recorded a growth rate of 15.90 per cent, representing its highest growth rate in the last 10 years.

“In the NBS report for the Q1 2021, the ICT sector maintained its position as the fastest-growing sector of the economy.

“This, therefore, indicates that the Digital Economy sector has proven to be vital for the diversification of the Nigerian economy,’’ he said.

The minister said the feat was recorded through the implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy hinged on eight strategic pillars.

He noted that as part of the efforts aimed at implementing the policy, some projects were implemented nationwide including ICT Innovation Hubs, Digital Skills for Entrepreneurs and Innovators and Community IT Training Centers.

Others were Tertiary Institution Knowledge Centers (TIKC), School Knowledge Centers (SKC), Digital Economy Centers and Emergency Communication Centres (ECC).


The minister also said that during the outgoing year, the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy conducted a transparent bidding process for the provision of the 5G Network service.

He said the auction for the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum for the 5G network service was won by Mafab Communications Ltd and MTN Nigeria Plc.

The minister said that the 5G network service would ensure increased capacity download speed by up to 20 times and decrease latency.