By Ubong Ukpong, Abuja

The House of Representatives on Wednesday, expressed deep anger over faulty air crafts in the Presidential air fleet, just as it summoned the National Security Adviser, (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, for investigation.

The House in plenary, during a heated debate on the motion, reiterated that billions of naira was budgeted to maintain the presidential Air Fleet.

The motion, which was moved by Hon Satomi Ahmed was followed by a heated debate by members who were divided over the issue.

Recall that the Vice President Kashim Shettima was on Sunday forced to cancel his trip to the United States where he was scheduled to represent President Bola Tinubu at the 2024 US-Africa Business Summit, due to a fault with his aircraft.

Moving a motion of urgent public importance, Satomi who is Chairman House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, and represents Jere Federal Constituency, Borno State, noted that in April, President Bola Tinubu was embarrassingly, forced to fly in a chartered plane from Netherlands to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to attend the World Economic Forum.

He noted that Vice President Kashim Shettima similarly used a chartered jet recently as presidential jets were undergoing repairs.

He expressed love for the President and Vice president insisting that such incident was a national embarrassment despite billions of naira budgeted yearly to maintain the air fleets.

In his contribution, member representing Balanga/Billiri Federal Constituency, Gombe State, Ali Isah while supporting the call for investigation of the state of the presidential aircrafts, said the development should offer President Tinubu opportunity to travel by road to enable him understand the state of road infrastructure across the country.

He said, “I think this will afford our President and other leaders the opportunity to travel by road and appreciate the state of our roads.

“This happens all the time in some countries of the world.”

However the proposal did not sit well with Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu who presided over Wednesday’s plenary.

“Are you saying Mr President, the number one leader should travel around by road?,” he asked rhetorically amid support from All Progressives Congress lawmakers.

 Supporting Isah’s position, the Minority Leader of the House, Kingsley Chinda argued that “In Britain, the Prime Minister flies British Airways. I don’t see anything wrong with a public officer using commercial transportation.”

Chinda  also said that  bringing the motion to the floor of the House was not necessary as it is the duty of the relevant committee to go ahead with the investigation without necessarily bringing it on the floor of the House .

Chinda further advocated the resuscitation of a national career as a way out of the embarrassment.

The Deputy Speaker however, said it was indeed not necessary to bring the motion  before the whole House as it was within the duty of the relevant committee to investigate the incidence of it deems it fit he therefore called that the motion be stepped down

By Johnson Eyiangho, Abuja

Former Vice-president Atiku Abubakar has asked the Federal Government to halt the move to mop up the sum of N20 trillion from the Pension Fund and other funds to finance infrastructure projects.

Atiku described the move as a “misguided initiative that could lead to disastrous consequences on the lives of pensioners who toiled and saved and who now survive on their pensions having retired from service”.

He said in a post on his X handle yesterday that his attention was drawn to the disclosure of the FG’s move by the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr.

Moreover, Atiku said Edun did not  provided useful details, such as the percentage of the funds to be mopped up from the Pension Funds.

According to him, it is another attempt to perpetrate illegality by the Federal Government. The government must be cautioned to act strictly within the provisions of the Pension Reform Act of 2014 (PRA 2014), along with the revised Regulation on Investment of Pension Assets issued by the National Pension Commission (PenCom). 

“In particular, the Federal Government must not act contrary to the provisions of the extant Regulation on  investment limits to wit: Pension Funds can invest no more than 5% of total pension funds’ assets in infrastructure investments. I note that as of December 2023, total pension funds assets were approximately N18 Trillion, of which 75% of these  are investments in FGN Securities.

“There is no free Pension Funds that is more than 5% of the total value of the nation’s pension fund for Mr. Edun to fiddle with.”

He told the finance minister that there are no easy ways for him to address the challenges of funding infrastructure development in the country as he cannot cut corners but must introduce the necessary reforms to restore investors confidence in the nation’s economy and leverage private resources, skills, and technology.

From Marcel Duru & Charity Winns, Owerri
The Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma has told the leadership of the National Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) that they are partners in progress with him in the service to God and humanity.
He made the remarks on Monday at the Government House, Owerri while playing host to the Executive Secretary of NCPC, Bishop Stephen Adegbite, who led his top officials on a thank you visit to Governor Uzodimma for sponsoring a historical 1000 Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land in 2023.