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N895.8bn Supplementary Budget Scales 2nd Reading in Senate

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A Supplementary Bill for an Act to authorise the issuance of N895,842,465,917 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation has scaled second reading in the Senate.

This followed the presentation of the lead debate by the Senate Leader, Sen. Yahaya Abdullahi, during plenary yesterday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday requested Senate’s consideration and approval of the supplementary budget to help fight insecurity and purchase vaccines in tackling COVID-19 pandemic.

Leading the debate, Abdullahi said that out of the figure, N173,445,506,664 was for Recurrent (non-debt) Expenditure, while N722,396,959,253 was for contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure for the year ending on Dec.

31, 2021.

He said that the 2021 Supplementary Budget was needed to fund defence, security and health-related expenditure.

“It is also for treatment of additional 50,000 patients under the Nigerian Comprehensive Aids Programme in States (NCAPS).

“We propose to fund N45.63 billion of the N83.56 billion required for the COVID-19 vaccine programme by drawing on existing World Bank loans which will be structured as well as other grants totalling 113.2 million US dollars.

“The balance of N37.93 billion required for COVID-19 vaccines, salaries and other health-related expenditures totalling N41.6 billion and N48.2 billion recurrent component of defence and security will be funded by borrowing N135 billion from some special reserve levy accounts.

“We propose to fund the balance of N722.4 billion for capital expenditure on defence and security, and capital supplementation from new borrowings in the absence of any supplementary revenue sources.

“It has become necessary to prepare the 2021 supplementary appropriation bill considering the urgent need to make provision for procurement and administration of COVID-19 vaccines.

“The availability of COVID-19 vaccines and the procurement terms was still uncertain as at the time of finalising the 2021 budget, hence, there was no provision in the 2021 Appropriation Act for the procurement and administration of COVID-19 vaccines.”

In his contribution, Sen. Emmanuel Bwacha (PDP-Taraba) urged the quick passage of the bill since issues around the budget were not controversial.

On his part, Sen. Kabiru Barkiya (APC-Katsina), who said that the 2020 appropriation for the military was N500 billion but with only N30 billion earmarked for equipment and little amount for recruitment called for the speedy passage of the bill.

“With the supplementary budget, I hope that majority of it will be used for military equipment to fight insecurity and also for staff recruitment.”

For Sen. Adamu Aliero (APC-Kebbi) “The country is in severe distress as far as security is concerned.

“The intervention of the Federal Government is timely. Vaccination of Nigerians is below four per cent. It is good adequate provision is made to cater for Nigerians.”

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, thereafter referred the bill to the Senate Committee on Appropriation for further legislative action to report back on June 29.

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Bandits Invade Niger Local Market,  Village  Head, 20 Others Killed

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From Dan Amasingha,  Minna

After relative  peace since the start of the Ramadan fast,daredevil Bandits  invaded a Niger local market and killed the Village head and 20 traders in Madaka, Rijau local government areas of Niger State.Rijau Local Government which borders  neighbouring Kebbi State, has experienced consistent banditry attacks in the past one year.

Eye witnesses inform our Correspondent that the suspected bandits riding on motorcycles stormed the market  on Thursday  afternoon  around 3.
30- 4pm  when activities at the market  were  at its peak.According  to the source,  the invading  bandits who shot sporadically  into the air to scare away traders later started ransacking big time traders by carting away food stuffs  and Cash.
Villagers who had the pandemonium at the market square fled into nearby bushes to take cover and the Village head who attempted  to find out  what was happening was shot dead at close range.”At the end of the confusion, we discovered that twenty one persons  including our Village  head were wasted,The Source  maintained that, the bandits before leaving  later set about 50 houses  including commercial shops on fire, and a  number of cars and motorcycles were burnt down during the incident.”After  killing innocent victims and burning down the market they also went away with an unspecified number of the villagers to an unidentified destination”Confirming  the incident,  Madaka District Head, Alhaji Isah Bawale  said  it was a black Thursday evening in a telephone interview on Friday morning.He further recounted that the Community  had come under similar attack some times ago when his predecessor  was killed without any resistance from security agencies.When contacted, Niger State Command of Police Public Relations Officer PPRO SP Wasiu Abiodun assured to verify and get back but he couldn’t revert at the time of filing in the report.Meanwhile, the Niger state government, especially the commissioner for security, General Bello Abdullahi Mohammed (retired) is yet to speak on the incident.

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Women Are Nation Builders, Bayelsa NAWOJ

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From Mike Tayese, Yenagoa

The Nigerian Association of Women Journalists, NAWOJ, Bayelsa State chapter has described women as society builders hence they should be empowered to harness their potentials for nation building.

Chairperson of NAWOJ Bayelsa, Mrs Grace Orumieyefa handed down this during a one day program to commemorate the 2024 International Women Day held at the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ Press Centre in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Mrs Orumieyefa noted that NAWOJ has over the years been at the forefront of advocacy for women rights as the empowerment of women brings empowerment for everyone around her which makes a better society.

Also speaking, Chief Executive Officer, Eunice Nnachi Women Advocacy Foundation, ENWAF, Lady Eunice Nnachi urged women to take advantage of technological advancement to improve their learning and training in order to empower themselves.

“You can learn almost anything using the internet, through YouTube, women should use this medium to learn many things and train themselves.”

While responding to questions, she said, women should not be desperate to get life partners but should ensure that they have partners who can help them to achieve their dreams.

The Keynote Speaker, Mrs Ebi Kakandar who delivered a lecture on “Harnessing the Prospects and Potentials of Women” called on women to shun all forms of laziness, be determined and courageous to pursue their life ambitions.

Mrs Kakandar pointed out that factors such as building a growth mindset, improving your emotional mindset, developing willpower, cultivating strong social support, aspiring for greatness and setting achievable goals are some of the keys to achieving success as a woman.

She encouraged women to seek more knowledge and inspire themselves to be self-reliant.

Various organizations such as NUJ, FIDA, NLC, MWAN, Starzz Initiative, DO Foundation, POWA and other women organizations as well as NGOS delivered Goodwill messages for women advising to aspire for higher achievement.

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Students Loan: FG Explains Delay in Take-off, Sets New Date

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The Federal Government has set the month of March for a definite opening of the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFund) portal for eligible students.

Dr Akintunde Sawyerr, Execute Secretary NELFund, who disclosed this in an interview with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja urged eligible students to register to access the fund.

President Bola Tinubu on June 12, 2023, signed the Access to Higher Education Bill into law to enable indigent student access interest-free loan to pursue their education in any Nigerian tertiary institutions.

The scheme was slated to commence between September and October 2023, but because of unforeseen circumstances, there was a revised timeline to January.

Giving reasons for the delay in starting the scheme as earlier scheduled, Sawyerr explained that the process is technically driven and necessary measures needed to be put in place for proper execution.

“The take-off date is this month (March) and the reason for the delay is that we are trying to get it right.

“This is not a political programme where we say, oh! we are just going to do it, it doesn’t  matter how it works.

“This is a programme that will, probably run beyond me as a human being, not even as a Secretary. This is something that we want to run adequately, so we have to get it right,’’ he said.

Sawyerr, reiterated President Tinubu’s commitment to ensure that lack of finance should not be a reason for any student in Nigeria to halt education at a tertiary level.

According to him, the scheme was designed for indigent Nigerian students in tertiary institutions and applications would be done online.

“We have decided that, all applicants should be able to access this scheme regardless of where they are, who they are and who they know.

“We want this to be a process that is fair to all and we will advertise the portal widely so that applicants will be able to go to the website to fill series of forms and answer certain questions.

“Base on the data they input and their answers to the questions, the system will be able to determine appropriately, whether they are eligible to apply or not,’’ Sawyerr explained. (NAN)

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