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Humanitarian minister claims N206b inserted in the ministry’s budget is for purchase of military equipment 

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***As Finance minister failed to appear 

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, on Thursday, told Senators that the N206billion inserted in the ministry’s budget was meant for purchase of military equipment. 

The Minister had disowned the money last week saying it was allegedly ‘inserted’ into the Ministry’s Budget by the Ministry of Finance.

The committee had requested the two Minister’s to appear to clear the air on the controversial N206b however, while the Humanitarian minister appeared with her permanent secretary, the Finance minister failed to turn up.

Umar-Farouq spoke when she appeared before the Senate Committee on Special Duties chaired by Senator Yusuf Yusuf (APC – Taraba Central).

At the resumed budget defence on Thursday, when asked for further clarification on the matter by the lawmakers, Umar-Farouq said: “On the N206billion, when we saw it, we didn’t understand what it was meant for because the explanation wasn’t clear. 

“If you put N206billion in Humanitarian Affairs ministry’s budget and the narration is purchase of military equipment, definitely something is wrong. 

“That’s why I said I’m not going to say anything about it until we get clarification from the Ministry of Finance. 

“If we had requested for N206billion

for a different project and then in the Appropriation Bill, it is reading something else, we will not own it. 

“When pressed further by the lawmakers whether she requested the N206billion for another project, but it came with another narration, she simply said, “It is not exactly that way, and that’s why we need that clarity from Finance ministry”. 

However, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed had on Wednesday, cleared the air on the allegations of N206 billion inserted in the 2023 budget of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development. 

In a special meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation which invited her alongside the Director General of the  Budget Office, Ben Akubeze, and the affected minister, Sadiya Umar Farouq, Ahmed said that there was a wrong coding of the projects. 

She said the monetary provision was made for the social safety nets projects, stressing that it was an 800 dollars project that has been approved by the board of the world bank and the  Federal Executive Council. 

According to her, the loan was fully negotiated by the government of Nigeria with the full involvement of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. 

Ahmed had said: “The 2023 Budget proposal has been prepared with the utmost sincerity of purpose and in line with established regulations and procedures. 

“Over the past week, there has been a lot of misinformation in the media regarding certain provisions in the 2023 budget totaling N423.8billion. 

“The expenditures questioned are mostly related to provisions for multilateral and bilateral loan-funded projects. 

“It is instructive that all these projects are now the subject of controversy and were included in the budgets of the MDAs which were transmitted to the supervising Ministers for their review and feedback on 4 October 2022 before the presentation to both the FEC and NASS. 

“Until these recent controversies, none of the concerned MDAs raised any issues on the projects with our ministry. 

“Traditionally, Multilateral/Bilateral financial institutions provide project-tied loans to the Federal government of Nigeria. 

“These loans were previously not fully captured in the FGN budget; only the provisions for counterpart funds & debt service were included in the FGN budget. 

“So, in 2021, we realized there was a gap that was underreporting and in 2021 and 2022 we started making this report. 

“The sum of N206,242,395,000 was provided in the budget of the Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to provide for the social safety need project. 

“This is an 800 dollars project that has been approved by the board of the world bank and approved by the federal executive council. This loan was fully negotiated by the government of Nigeria with the full involvement of the ministry of humanitarian affairs. 

“This project is domiciled in the FAHADM&SD Headquarters. The World Bank is the funding source for the project, with the projected drawdown of $473,500,000, which is equivalent to N206,242,395,000, using the N435.57/USD exchange rate applicable to the 2023 budget. 

“This project was correctly described in the submission from IERD for the 2023 budget, but regrettably, a wrong code was inadvertently used in the process of inputting it, which resulted in it being captured as Purchase of Security Equipment in the GIFMIS Budget Preparation System (BPS), which has a limited dropdown range of project descriptions/codes. 

“The same project was correctly captured in the 2022 budget of the FAHADMSD in the amount of N12,304,500,000 [ERGP1180310], based on the projected drawdown of $30m at N410.15/$ 2022 budget exchange rate.” 

Ahmed also said that the same situation occured in the ministries of Defence and Power respectively, ruling out wrongful insertions. 

“The Honourable Minister of Defence wrote to Mr. President requesting the immediate release of $1,363,880.40 and N158,928,045.37 to implement Phase 1 of the project. HM-MoD also requested the sums of $12,274,923.60 and N11,946,311,375.18 to implement Phases 2 and 3 of the project, all of which Mr. President graciously approved. 

“Further to Mr President’s approval, 50% of the requirement for Phases 2 & 3, amounting to N8,600,000,000 (using the exchange rate of N435.57/USD), has been included in the 2023 budget proposal of the MoD. 

“The 2023 proposed budget for the FMoP includes a total of N195,465,151,790.65 MBPL with a breakdown as follows: 

“Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Project: funded by Export-Import Bank of China. Amount: USD175,757,149.92, which is N76,554,541,790.65. 

“Power Sector Recovery Operation (PSRO); funded by World Bank. Amount: USD 162,000,000, which is N70,562,340,000.00.

“Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) to be executed by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), funded by World Bank and AfDB. Amount: USD55,000,000, which is N23,956,350,000.00. 

“The Nigeria Electricity Transmission, to be executed by Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)): funded by the World Bank. Amount: USD56,000,000, which is N24,391,920,000.000. 

“The total projected drawdown for the four projects is USD448,757,149, which is N195,465,151,790 at N435.17/$. 

“The Federal Ministry of Education (FME) – NUC. The amount in question here relates to the 2022 budget, during which it had a projected loan drawdown of $30m equivalent to N12,304,500,000 (at exchange rate of N410.15/USD). The issue relating to this arose from the NASS committee’s review of FME’s 2022 budget implementation. 

“The project is the “Second Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence for Development Impact Project” and the financier is the World Bank. 

“For 2023, the amount captured for this project and the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standard Enhancement Project is N26,134,200,000  (60 million US Dollars at 345.57 per $; both are World Bank funded projects. 

“The current issues would have been easily clarified between the respective MDAs and the FMFBNP had the affected agencies followed the established budget processes. 

“The proposed 2023 budget for each ministry was circulated for review and feedback, then presented at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) before it was submitted to NASS by President Muhammadu Buhari. 

“It is noteworthy that the total amount of multilateral/bilateral loan-funded projects included in the 2023 budget is N1,771,404,182,322, involving a total of 14 implementing ministries. 

“The aggregate projected multilateral/bilateral loan drawdown and expenditure of N1,771,404,182,322 is shown on Lines 271 and 301 of the MTEF/FSP approved by FEC and presented to NASS. It is also shown on Lines 182 – 195 on page 12 of the 2023 Appropriation Bill. 

“So far, no issues have been raised in relation to the multilateral /bilateral loan-funded projects by the other ministries. 

“It is evident that there are internal coordination issues between the PIUs in some MDAs and the CEOs/Accounting officers of the implementing ministries. We will be taking necessary actions to ensure that this is addressed going forward. 

“Finally, let me state clearly that the allegation that the FMNBNP “padded” the budgets of the affected MDAs by inserting the projects in question makes absolutely no sense. 

“If the projects are in the budgets of these MDAs, the FMBNP cannot procure them, as their procurement can only be handled by the concerned MDAs. 

“Specifically, for multilateral/bilateral funded projects, the PIUs are domiciled in the designated implementing MDAs, and the lenders will not deal with any other agency, including FMBNP, on their procurements”.

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Legislature

Senator Ningi resumes from suspension

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After staying away for 75days out of 90 days suspension slammed on him by the Senate on March 12, 2024, Senator Abdul Ningi ( PDP Bauchi Central), formally resumed legislative activities at the Senate on Tuesday in plenary.

On the strength of motion sponsored by the minority leader Senator Abba Moro on behalf of minority caucus, the Senate recalled Senator Ningi from the three months suspension
Recall that Senator Ningi was suspended by the Senate at the committee of the whole on 2024 budget padding allegation leveled against the Senate during interview he had with the BBC Hausa service.
The Senate had recalled the Lawmaker representing Bauchi Central, Abdul Ningi after 2 Months and two weeks of the 3months suspension slammed on him over his interview in which he alleged padding of the 2024 N28. 7tn budget.

The lawmaker was suspended on the 12th of March, 2023 for three months, but the Senate on Tuesday unanimously resolved to  recall their colleague from suspension.

Recall that, Senator Olamilekan Adeola had come under Orders 9, 10, 41, and 51 to move a motion of privilege and issue of national importance against Ningi over his interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (Hausa Service).

Ningi had, in the interview alleged that the budget passed by the National Assembly for the 2024 fiscal year is N25tn while the one being implemented by the Presidency is N28.7tn. 

The motion, for the unconditional recall of Senator Abdul Ningi was sponsored by the minority leader Senator Abba Moro, Senator Olalere Oyewumi and Senator Osita Ngwu.

Apparently elated to be back in the Senate, Senator Ningi was among the first set of Senators and House of Representatives members to arrive the National Assembly for plenary on Tuesday

Senator Ningi who along with some few other Senators like Suleiman Kawu ( NNPP Kano South), Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (PDP Sokoto South) etc , came into the National Assembly through the Villa Gate, arrived exactly at 10: 40am, 20minutes to 11:00am fixed for commencement of plenary which even started at about 12:10 pm .

Following his suspension , Senator Ningi lost his Chairmanship position of the Senate Committee on National Identity and Population, which was allocated to Senator Mustapha Musa (APC Yobe East), two days after the now lifted suspension

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Legislature

Minimum Wage: Senate tackles Labour over National Grid Shutdown, disruption of Hajj flight

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**Resolves to use legislation to prevent reoccurrence
The Senate on Tuesday expressed displeasure at some of the excesses by some members of Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC) and Trade Union Congress ( TUC) during the nationwide strike for new minimum wage on Monday.
The upper legislative chamber declared that the shut down of the National Grid and the disruption of Hajj flight by some labour unionists were more of economic sabotage than agitation for new minimum wage.
It consequently declared that such situation would not be allowed to re – occur as laws against it would be reflected in the new national minimum wage Act that would be enacted soon after submission of bill to that effect by the executive.
Senate’s grouse against the alleged excesses of labour unionists during the now suspended nationwide strike, came through a motion on the strike action and new minimum wage by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Labour, Senator Diket Plang (APC Plateau Central).

Senator Plang had in the motion, requested the Senate to call on the federal government to expedite action on new minimum wage as a way of stopping the industrial unrest which was however overtaken by sudden suspension of the strike by labour.
But in his remarks, the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio said though it was heartwarming that the strike has been suspended but the excesses by some labour unionists need to be condemned
“One of such excesses, was the shut down of the National Grid which is more of an economic sabotage than agitation for new minimum wage.
“Disruption of Hajj flight by some other labour unionists as said by the Deputy President of the Senate, is also not palatable being a religious exercise.
“Also, disruption or prevention of students from writing their West African School Certificate Examination by some labour unionists during the strike was bad because the examination is not organized by Nigeria but West African Countries “, he said.
He added that such actions would not be allowed to be repeated as required laws against them, would be reflected in the new National Minimum Wage Bill expected from the executive very soon.
He,however commended the labour unions for calling off the strike
“I want to thank the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress for listening to the voice of Nigerians and the international community by calling off the strike to enable negotiations to continue and we wish them well in the negotiations.
“On our part, we will continue to do our best by making contributions and at the same time awaiting the incoming Bill on Minimum Wage for us to enact for the benefit of all Nigerians”, he said .

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Legislature

Senate approves Bill to change National anthem to “Nigeria, We Hail thee”

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**Counters AGF, insists Bill does not need wider consultation

The Senate on Tuesday approved a Bill to change the current National anthem titled “Arise O Compatriots ” to the old national anthem “Nigeria, we Hail thee”.
Following the consideration of the report of its Committees on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, and Federal Character, and Inter governmen Affairs on Tuesday, the Senate passed the bill entitled, “National Anthem Bill, 2024” for third reading.

The Senate passed the bill amidst stakeholders misgivings, including Lateef Fagbemi, the Auditor-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice against hasty passage and the need for a wider consultation.
The bill was read for the first and second time last week Thursday at the Senate. It also received an accelerated hearing at the lower house as it was read for the first, second and third time.

The Bill will be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for assent. If signed into law, it will be the first time Nigeria’s national anthem will be given legal backing.
Mongu nu Tahir, the Senator representing Borno North, while presenting the report of the Committee during plenary informed that the Bill seeks to give a legal framework to the national anthem “so that it can bite and bite with all the legal powers embedded in it.”

He clarified that the Bill, despite the concerns raised by the AGF does not need to be subjected to a wider process of citizen participation through zonal public hearings, resolutions of the Federal Executive Council, Council of State, National and State Assemblies, etc.
He insisted that the Bill is an ordinary Bill, not a constitutional amendment and only requires it to be read first, second and third time after a public hearing.
Presenting the committees report, Monguno however said that the new national anthem is apt as it represents the country’s people, culture, values and aspirations.
“The bill is in tandem with the spirit of unity. It will undoubtedly inspire a zeal for patriotism and cooperation. It will promote cultural heritage. Changing the national anthem will chart a path to greater unity”, Tahir said.
He then recommended that the bill be passed. The Senate then resolved to the committee of the whole to consider the report. After which, Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President put the bill to a voice vote and lawmakers supported it.
The Senate president also noted that the AFG is not a lawmaker and does not have a full understanding of how Bill’s are passed.
The bill was consequently read for the third time and passed.

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