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Senate ‘ll Return FG, ASUU to Negotiation Table — Lawan

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The Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, says the Senate will intervene in the lingering dispute between the Federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) by bringing them back to negotiation table.

Lawan made the promise on Tuesday in Abuja to officials of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), who were led to his office by a concerned Methodist Bishop, Dr Sunday Onuoha.

The NANS President, Mr Sunday Asefon, who spoke on behalf of the students decried their continued stay at home and disruption of the students’ academic programme.

He urged the Senate President to intervene in the dispute between the Federal government and the University teachers.

Responding, the Senate President expressed unhappiness about the turn of events, recalling that the Senate had intervened in the past before everything broke down again. He, however, promised that the Senate would wade in again and expressed optimism that the issues would soon be resolved.

“You are in the right place. We are going to intervene. We will make concerted and sustained efforts to bring back ASUU and the Federal government to the negotiating table. “So that we are able to resolve as quickly as possible those issues that are now very knotty and have stopped our Universities from reopening.

“That is now making our students walking the streets all over the country. “But I want to appeal to you, too, since we are going to make effort to bring back everybody to the negotiating table, you should give us a chance to do that believing that we are going to find a solution.

“Because it is not only enough to bring them back to the negotiating table, but we will participate and I want to make sure that we find the solution when we start the negotiation again.

“Now that you have come here, we are going to make sure that everybody in this sector especially those in public sector who have responsibility and mandate perform their functions.

“We will make sure they do that. “Because you have come, I think we also have some tonic enough in us. Time is of essence and we must do whatever is necessary to get this issue resolved,” he said.

Also, responding to the threat by the students to distrupt political activities, Lawan appealed to them to continue in the path of consultation and avoid confrontation. “I want to also advise, I don’t think it will be necessary to distrupt political activities. We shouldn’t do that and we don’t need to do that.

‘What we need to do is to continue to follow the path of consultation, consolidation and avoid confrontation. “It is when you emphasise consultation, it is much easier for us to find something that you can consolidate.

“Your prayer is that you want the Federal government and ASUU back to negotiate and resolve the issues. “We have taken this prayer. We have endorsed it and we will work for it as quickly as possible.

“It is an opportunity for me also to appeal to ASUU to suspend this strike period because there is no way ASUU can negotiate with the Federal government when it is on strike. “So, it is an opportunity for us to have them, at least create a window, suspend the strike for a certain period and let us see how far we can go.

“I want to be very positive that we are going to resolve this issue as soon as possible by the Grace of God,” Lawan said.

The Senate President said the 2009 agreement which was the subject of the matter was not properly thought out before it was signed. “Somebody just wanted ASUU to go back to the classroom and just signed everything there. “We must understand that there are things that when we promise we should do, we must do,” Lawan said.(NAN)

POLITICS

2024 FCT Budget: Wike presents N1.15trn to NASS

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By Laide Akinboade, Abuja 

The Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister, Barr. Nyesom Wike,  on Monday,  defended the details of the proposed N1.15 trillion 2024 statutory budget aimed at transforming both the capital city and rural communities.

Presenting the budget before the Senate and House Committees on FCT in Abuja, Wike outlined the allocation of funds towards recurrent and capital expenditures, emphasizing infrastructure development and ongoing project completion.

Of the total budget, N421.44 billion is allocated for recurrent expenditure, while N726.3 billion is designated for capital expenditure.

Notably, N80 billion is earmarked for SUKUK loan projects, and N29 billion is allocated for the Abuja Light Rail project.

Additionally, N500 billion is designated for commercial loans to complete ongoing capital projects in the federal capital city and satellite towns.

The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) and Satellite Towns Development Department (STDD) received the largest share of the capital budget, with FCDA allocated N457 billion and STDD N116 billion.

Major road projects included in the budget proposal are the completion of Roads B6 and B12, construction of access road and car park for Abuja Light Rail, and the extension of Inner Southern Expressway (ISEX) among others.

The transportation sector receives N69 billion, with significant allocations for the construction of bus terminals and development projects in education and health sector

The proposed budget also allocates funds for agriculture and rural development, aiming to improve agricultural production, engage youths in agriculture, and enhance food security.

Additionally, allocations are made for social development, legal services, Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS), and Area Council Services Secretariat to ensure effective service delivery and rural transformation.

Meanwhile, the Minister of FCT,  also explained  vote of no confidence he placed on all the lawyers working as staff members of the FCT Administration.

He added that there is no going back on his decision to hire Senior Advocates of Nigeria to stand for FCTA in court.

The Minister said on assumption of office in FCT, he was shocked to discover that land racketeering has remained endemic in Abuja because the notorious syndicate was Collaborating with FCT lawyers in court.

He stated that it was not just shocking, but also embarrassing that the lawyers were always losing simple land cases in court.

According to him, more worrisome was the fact that FCTA gets over one thousand five hundred land cases monthly.

He added that he has vowed not to allow any lawyer who is a staff of the administration, to represent it in any court over land cases.

He equally expressed concerns over another discovery that directors in the Land Department, were involved in arbitrary land allocations, which gave rise to the court cases.

Wike  lamented, “Recently Director of land gave 500 hectares of land to one company, you can’t believe, that before we knew it, the company colluded with lawyers in the FCTA, went to court and got a judgment against the administration. It is terrible”.

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POLITICS

Our Legislative Agenda ‘ll Enhance Standard of Living, Says Akpabio

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By Eze Okechukwu, Abuja

The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio has said that the legislative agenda of the 10th National Assembly will bring about tremendous improvement in the standard of living of Nigerians.

Akpabio stated this during the Public Hearing of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and Tetfund and House of Representatives Committee on Students Loan, Scholarship and Higher Education Financing on Student Loan (Access to Higher Education), repeal and reenactment Bill 2024, at the Senate, on Monday.

“The present 10th National Assembly at its inception in 2023 set out for itself a legislative agenda whose implementation will surely bring about a tremendous improvement in the living conditions/standards of the citizenry with Mr.

President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, ” he said.

Represented by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin, he commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his foresight and uncommon passion in supporting the students of the country with the loan scheme.

He said the scheme will address the problems of lack of funding among Nigerian students.

In amending the bill, he said the opinions of all stakeholders would be considered to have the best legislation.

“I wish to urge you to freely express your views and opinions either for or against the subject of this hearing in a manner that will bring about the sustenance of our collective will to be together as a nation to call ours.

” Public Hearings are one of the primary legislative processes that offer the general public and especially relevant stakeholders the opportunity to contribute their quota to law-making.

“There is no doubt that your views at this Joint Public Hearing will go a long way in assisting the committee make an informed recommendation (s) to the Senate and the House of Representatives respectively.

“It is this submission/recommendation of the Committees that the Senate and the House of Representatives will rely on to pass/make relevant laws for the good governance of our citizenry as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended,” he said.

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POLITICS

How Nigeria Can Reach Its Potential–Anyaoku

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A former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, says Nigeria is  still struggling to fulfil  its potential  as a  nation owing to lack of true federalism.
Anyaoku spoke at the “National Dialogue on  the Constitutional Future of Nigeria” in honour of  the late renowned constitutional lawyer, Prof.

Ben Nwabueze.
The dialogue was organised by The Patriots ,a pan -Nigerian group of eminent national leaders of thought.

The programme had the theme, “Lawful Procedures for Actualising a People’s Constitution for Nigeria.”
Anyaoku, who is the Chairman of the Patriots, said Nigeria  had failed to develop like other pluralistic countries in the world because of its inability to devolve powers to federating units.

According to him, other pluralistic countries are far ahead of Nigeria in terms of development  because they have implemented true federalism.
“First, Nigeria is a pluralistic country that is still struggling to become a nation with assured political stability and progressive socio-economic development.
“The fact from across the world is that some pluralistic countries have succeeded in becoming developed nations ,while other pluralistic countries have failed and disintegrated.
“The lesson from this is that pluralistic countries ,which have succeeded in becoming nations have generally practiced true federalism with considerable power devolved to the federating units.
“This fact was acknowledged by our founding fathers who negotiated painstakingly and agreed on the Independence Constitution of 1960-1963,” Anyaoku said.
He said that the Nigeria’s present constitution  lacked the legitimacy that should flow from a democratically -made constitution.
The diplomat added  that the constitution had proven to be unsuitable for tackling many of the serious challenges confronting our country.
He said: “It is a widely recognized fact that the crucial areas of the country have significantly deteriorated and continue to deteriorate.”
Anyaoku said Nigeria had suffered deterioration in many fronts in  security, healthcare, education, economic well-being of the citizens, infrastructure.
He said that the country had equally suffered  in the area of social cohesion,  social values and the sense of national unity.
He said that Nigeria had the option of getting a truly federal constitution by  adopting the recommendations of the 2014 National Confab organised by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Prof.  Nwabueze  was the pioneer Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo , also a Senor Advocate of Nigeria and a leading thought leader.
Nwabueze died on October 28, 2023 at aged 92.

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