NEWS
We Need Dialogue, not Protests – FG
The Federal Government says Nigerian youths should embrace dialogue rather than embark on protests, which could have undesirable outcomes.
Alhaji Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, said this while addressing State House correspondents at the end of Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Monday.
He said that was the position of the FEC, which insisted that most of the demands of the protesters were actually being addressed by the federal government.
To those planning to embark on protest, the Minister said even though, it was the democratic right of every Nigerian to engage in peaceful protest, they should know that the government was not opposed to that.
“But what government is doing is to ensure that while there is this right for you to protest, your right will also end where someone else‘s own begins.
“Therefore, while you are thinking of protesting, government is appealing to you to first shelve it because there is a likelihood that this protest may be hijacked by unscrupulous elements and may turn violent.
“Of course, we know that people are saying that there is no intention for violence in this, but our history has shown that there’s the possibility that this protest can be hijacked and could turn violent,” said Idris.
He said the President had listened to the voices of all those who were planning to protest, and the message was that there was no need for protest.
“Indeed, the President is already doing those things that they want the government to do. For example, the government is making efforts to ensure that food is made available.
“At the last Council meeting, we announced that 20 trucks had been given to the state governors for onward distribution to those who are actually in need of them, to poorest of the poor in society.
“The rice distributed is being sold at about 50 per cent of its cost. This rice has been taken to various centres across all the states of the federation, and is being sold at N40,000,” he said.
According to the minister, about 10 trucks have been made available to each state.
“And, indeed, this is just the beginning, I know that some of the comments you hear is that it is never enough.
“Government has not pretended that this supplies are enough. But these are necessary first steps that are being made.
“Of course, this is an interim measure because there is so much investment going into the agricultural sector.
“And the rainy season is here. We expect that the prices of food items will come down as investments are also being made,” he said.
According to the minister, irrigation activities are being increased in many of states, hence it was expected that prices of food items would come down with time.
“The Federal Executive Council believes that some of the answers that some of the youth that want to protest are looking for are already being provided.
“For example, only recently the Federal Government began the disbursement of the students loans. There’s a provision already for over 2 million students.
“Only about 110,000 applications have thus far been received as at last week, of course, more are going to come.
“So, there’s adequate provision for all those who are qualified, who can access these loans and who have fulfilled the conditions,” he said.
According to him, the desire of President Tinubu is that no student or young person that has gained admission into any tertiary institution will be left out because his parents or guardian is unable to pay his or her fees.
“But beyond that, there is also provision for young unemployed people. We are aware of the effort that is being made to ensure that about three million of them are catered for.
“There is also for the general public, the reduction envisaged in reduction in transport costs by the time the CNG initiative of the Federal Government takes full course.
“Already, some of these buses have been imported. Some of the conversion kits are already available. The conversion centres are already beginning to get active,” he said.
He said the delay with the implementation of the programme was because some of the items needed were not such that could be gotten off the shelf.
“First the procurement processes have to be followed.
“And then of course you have to place order for them, and it is envisaged that as we make the transition from fossil fuel to renewables, there is going to be a reduction of over 60 per cent in the cost of transportation.
“If you have your car, it is envisaged that you’re going to spend about 60 per cent less and that money that comes back to your pocket.
“But the emphasis at the beginning is going to be on commercial busses, for mass transit so that workers, will have reduction in the fares,” he said.
Also, Lateef Fagbemi, Attorney General of Federation and Minister of Justice, said the Council approved three memos on fighting crime and corruption in the country.
“Three memos were approved in quick succession, one dealing with exchange of information including investigation. We have an agreement which was signed way back in June 2022.
“After the agreement, what the law requires is that you should come back and have it ratified. And it was presented to Council today, of course it was passed.
“The second one had to do with the exchange of assistance to bring back fugitives, people trying to escape from justice. It is either you bring them to justice or take justice to them. This second aspect, which is mutual assistance has been ratified.
“The third in the series has to do with after conviction what do we do? Some will say okay, if you have these convictions can you bring the person back home to serve his sentence here?
“The same thing goes for any convict from the country we have agreement with, in this case Spain. So, we have an agreement that either way, we can exchange persons sentenced to either serve their sentence here or there.
He said there was no longer hiding place for criminals.
“If they go outside the shores of the country they can be rest assured that the arms of the law are long enough to reach them,” said Fagbemi. (NAN)
Chief Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged President Bola Tinubu to reduce the price of petrol to N300 per litre ,to make things easy for Nigerians during the festive season.
George, the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland, made this plea at an interactive session with newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos.
The price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, is currently above N1,000 per litre.
According to the elder statesman,Nigerians are going through hardship, the President should give an order to reduce fuel price, specifying time frame the people will enjoy such window of relief.
He said that the federal government as well as well- meaning individuals and businesses could bear the cost of such price slash , to bring happiness to all Nigerians.
The PDP leader, who noted that December and January are special months , said that such gesture could start from the middle of December and run through January.
“I have been thinking, as a Nigerian, what can we do because the anger and the hunger are almost equal on the streets of Nigeria.
“What am I suggesting is that Mr President should sit down with his managers and give an order that from the middle of December to the end of January, the cost of petrol will be N300 per litre.
“The government can absorb the losses in the interest of the suffering people.
“If they (government) want others to contribute, let us know how much that is going to cost and ask people to donate, to bear the cost.
“We will be sending a lot of messages of happiness across the tribes and homes.
“Everybody in Nigeria will be happy because it will positively impact on this period of the year. It is a challenge and he (Tinubu) can do it.
“We need this in this December and January to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians, ” George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) life member, said.
Advising the President to take further measures to bring relief to the people, he said that the gesture would crash prices of essential commodities and services for the benefit of all .
He said that government’s efforts should be concentrated on reducing high inflation rate, unemployment, poverty and youth restlessness in order to create a better future for Nigerians
Speaking on the recent presidential election in Ghana, George noted that Nigeria’s electoral system needed reforms to guard against electoral frauds and manipulations.
According to him, the nation will continue to grope for development if the system fails to encourage best candidates to emerge.
Stating that election must reflect the wishes of the people and be devoid of religious and tribal sentiments, George said that Ghana election should be a wake up call for Nigeria.
“INEC performance must improve. The commission must make sure that the voice of the people is heard in elections.
“Electoral offenders should be made to face the music and sent to jail. We must be very firm about due process, credibility and transparency in elections,” he said.
Urging the President to revisit resolutions in the 2014 Constitutional Conference, George said that the current constitution was not federal in principle and practice.
“We should not deceive ourselves, the constitution is a problem. It is a military constitution, it is not democratic,” he said.
George called on the National Assembly to ensure devolution of powers and electoral reforms that would do away with manual collation of election results and mandate electronic transmission of election results from polling units.
George disagreed with political watchers saying no vacancy in presidency in 2027.
On the dwindling strength of the former ruling party, George, who noted that all organisations had its ups and downs, said that selfish interests and disregard for party rules remained PDP’s major challenge.
He said that PDP could bounce back and win presidential election if the leadership decided to elevate national interest above selfish interests and adhere to the party’s constitution.
“We will tell ourselves some serious old truth. We messed ourselves up. ” he said.
Stating, however, that the PDP was not dead, George said that lack of justice, equity, fairness and the inability to adhere to the party’s zoning and rotational principle cost the party victory in 2023.
Calling on the party’s founding fathers alive to wake up and rescue the party, George said that Nigerians were still waiting for the former ruling party to take over power and put things right. (NAN)
President Bola Tinubu, is set to perform the groundbreaking of 2,000 housing units of the Renewed Hope City in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, in the next few weeks.
Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, announced this during an official assessment visit, on Wednesday in Lagos
Dangiwa said Lagos would represent the South-west, while the president would do that of the North-West in Kano, before doing that of the four other regions.
“Arrangements is already on ground, we have gotten sites, and work has commenced for 2000 houses in the Renewed Hope City that we intend to build in Ibeju-Lekki,” he said.
Towards achieving the set goal, the minister said the visiting team also paid a courtesy visit to Gov.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu to discuss area of collaboration between the federal and state governments.He disclosed that the federal and Lagos state governments had agreed to set up a Tripartite committee and ensure all the issues of concerns between the parties were resolved amicably for the benefit of all.
Earlier, the Minister embarked on an assessment visit of deplorable Federal Government buildings and assets across Lagos state in a bid to commence rehabilitation on them in a few months.
Dangiwa said the rehabilitation was necessary as the deplorable buildings posed a challenge and security concerns to the Lagos state government. (NAN)
Gov. Hyacinth Alia on Wednesday presented the sum of N550.1bn as the 2025 appropriation bill to the Benue State House of Assembly for consideration and passage into law.
Alia told the lawmakers that out of the total budget size, N175.4 billion is for recurrent expenditure while the N374.
7 billion is for capital expenditure.The governor said that the total estimate represented a 47.
5 per cent increment over the 2024 revised and approved figure of N373 billion.He stated that the appropriation bill tagged “Budget of Human Capital Development, Food Security, and Digital Economy” was to consolidate the gains made in 2024.
Alia further explained that the proposed recurrent expenditure of N175.
4 billion was 13.55 per cent higher than the previous year.According to him, budgeted capital expenditure of N374.7 billion represents a 71.5 per cent increment on the 2024 revised capital expenditure.
“The budget breakdown indicated that the sum of N212.2 billion, representing 38.52 per cent is for administration; N196.6 billion, representing 35.68 per cent is for the economy; law and justice will take N26.6 billion, representing 4.84 per cent while social welfare will gulp N115.5 billion, representing 20.96 per cent.
“We have the vision. We have the will. And most importantly, we have the people ready to work alongside us to turn this vision into reality.
“Together, we will build a state where every citizen has the opportunity to succeed, where food is plentiful, and where the digital economy opens new frontiers of opportunity for all,” he said.
The governor said the intention of the government was to stay within the limits of its recurring revenue to build the state without accruing unnecessary debts for generations unborn.
He, however, said that since the 2025 budget was a deficit one, it proposed a borrowing plan of a conservative sum of N26bn, representing a modest 4.7 per cent of the proposed aggregate expenditure for 2025.
“This is lower than the state’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 8.2 per cent which is within the benchmark of the 25 per cent debt sustainability threshold.
“Despite these favourable debt ratios, I want to reiterate that borrowing will only be considered as a last resort and for regenerative investment purposes,” he added.
Alia stated that the problem of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) remained a challenge, adding that they have reasonably improved their living conditions.
He said the Bureau of International Cooperation and Development has elicited substantial grants from donors, totalling N85bn. (NAN)
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