Drama of "missing" budget laughable, mischievous - Presidency

To the presidency, the drama in the Senate over the "missing" budget is laughable.

According to the President's Liaison Officer to the House of Representatives, Sumaila Kawu, Buhari cannot ask his agents to steal the budget and has no reason to have it smuggled out when he knows there are legal means to explore if he needed to withdraw the document.

He said that the rumor surrounding the budget proposal may have been informed by the locking away of the document in the office of the Clerk of the National Assembly.

His words :
“It is a surprise to us and Mr President in particular; it is laughable. We just laughed when we heard of it.

“Being a joint sitting , Mr President laid  one document on the floor; then it is for the Budget Office or National Planning Commission (NPC) to make copies.

“In this case, once it was laid, the Clerk of the National Assembly locked the document in his office because of the time of the year; it was holiday period and the lawmakers were going on holiday.

“The confusion might have been as a result of that, but our concern in this matter is why we were dragged into it.

“Actually, as our job entails, we lobbied the National Assembly to take a second look at the oil benchmark because our projection was no longer in tune with the current reality.

“We lobbied the National Assembly on the benchmark; it was not illegal or alien to legislature world over and it has nothing to do with stealing or smuggling it out of the Senate.

“We, as the Executive, have to take account of the volatile nature of oil price. The National Assembly was aware of this, but notwithstanding we still have no reason to withdraw it.

“Even if the document must be withdrawn, it must be done legally and there are laid down means of doing that, which the President can explore.

“Buhari will be the last person to assign his agent to be involved in such illegality.”

Kawu described the unfortunate drama surrounding the budget as the work of mischief makers.

Kawu also defended Senator Ita Enang on the allegation of doctoring the budget proposal by the Senate.

“Enang is a hands-on legislator that knows the rules. He was Chairman of Rules and Business committees of the House and Senate, so he knows the rules.

“This is the same lawmaker that tackled the then Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on different versions of Budget being implemented.

“He is very much aware of what is at stake and couldn’t have involved himself in such an illegality," he said.

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What Buhari told parents of the Chibok Girls in Abuja yesterday.

On Thursday, President Muhammadu Buhari met with the parents of the missing Chibok girls and Bring Back Our Girls campaigners at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The group had gone to the seat of power to protest the failure of government to rescue the girls who were abducted from their hostel in a midnight raid by Boko Haram terrorists in April 2014.

Here is what Buhari told them.

“I assure you that I go to bed and wake up every day with the Chibok girls on my mind.

“The unfortunate incident happened before this government came into being.
What have we done since we assumed office? We re-organized the military, removed all the service chiefs and ordered the succeeding service chiefs to deal decisively with the Boko Haram insurgency.

“In spite of the terrible economic condition we found ourselves in, we tried to get some resources to give to the military to reorganize and equip, retrain, deploy more troops and move more forcefully against Boko Haram.

“And you all know the progress we have made. When we came in, Boko Haram was in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno. Boko Haram has now been reduced to areas around Lake Chad.

“Securing the Chibok girls is my responsibility. The service chiefs and heads of our security agencies will tell you that in spite of the dire financial straits that we found the country in, I continue to do my best to support their efforts in that regard.

“This is a Nigeria where we were exporting average of two million barrels per day at over $140 per barrel. Now it is down to about $27 to $30 pbd.

“You have been reading in the press how they took public funds, our funds, your funds and shared it, instead of buying weapons.

"That was the kind of leadership I succeeded. That was the kind of economy we inherited.

“God knows I have done my best and I will continue to do my best,” he said.

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Five Nigerian Athletes Test Positive To Banned Drugs

A shocked audience was on Thursday at the National Sports Commission, NSC, Abuja told how five of Nigeria's athletes who took part in last year's African Games in Congo tested positive to performance-enhancing substances.

The affected athletes, Deborah Odeyemi, Chinazo Amadi, Samson Idiata (athletics), Sunday Eze (para-athletics) and powerlifter, Thomas Kure, have been handed a four-year ban from all sporting activities.

Abujacitynews learnt that Nigeria may lose the medals won by the banned athletes.

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Solomon Dalung confirmed the ban to members of the Nigerian Olympic Committee, NOC who visited him in his office in Abuja.

“It is true that some Nigerian athletes tested positive to banned substances at the last African Games.

“About five medals have been threatened because of the development and that takes us to why we are meeting here with the NOC. We still want to intensify our advocacy on anti-doping. The issue of doping is not always as we say it. Sometimes it could be from the food the athlete has taken or some drugs they took without knowing the implications before the event. So, what we are planning to do is to try to improve on our advocacy on anti doping,” he said.

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What the Senate discovered about "missing budget"

The Senate has said that the 2016 Appropriation Bill was never missing.

However, the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly is accusing President Buhari's Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enang of doctoring the budget proposal.

See what Senate spokesman, Senator Sabi Abdullahi said on the matter after Thursday's plenary.

“The report about a missing budget is not true. We don’t have a budget that is missing. But you recall that the Senate President did inform Nigerians that there is an issue that a committee was asked to investigate. The investigation by the committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, has been submitted in the executive session. It was a decision we took at the last executive session.

“Our findings are these: That Mr. President did lay the budget before the joint session of the National Assembly and thereafter, the Senate went on recess and upon resumption, copies of the document were produced by Senator Ita Enang, who is the SSA to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) and the copies were submitted to the Senate and House of Representatives.

“What we found out is that the document submitted by Senator Ita Enang, upon our resumption, has some differences, discrepancies with what was originally laid by Mr. President in the joint sitting of the National Assembly.

“However, the Senate in defence of its own integrity, honour, will not work with what has not been laid on the floor of the National Assembly. We are constitutionally mandated and duty bound to consider only that budget that had been so laid by Mr President.

“Right now, for reproduction, we are awaiting the soft copy of the originally submitted budget so that the National Assembly can reproduce the copy itself. That is the only time we can have confidence in the document we want to work with.

“The budget submitted by the President is not missing; we already have copies of it but what we are saying is that for us to reproduce for our members, it is easier, based on the quantum of document that has to be produced, that we get the soft copy of that original version so that we can reproduce it.

‘“By next week, we want to go down to business, senators have picked dates to speak during the three days set aside for debate on the 2016 budget.

“The Senate leadership was mandated to speak with all those concerned with the document, that was why the Senate President was in touch with Mr President.”

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Carpenter arraigned for removing woman's tooth

An Abuja based carpenter, Benjamin Joseph was on Thursday arraigned before a Grade 1 Area Court in Lugbe, Abuja for knocking out a woman's tooth.

The 23 years old carpenter was brought before the court on a four-count charge of criminal trespass, assault, causing grievous hurt and theft.

The Prosecutor , Mrs Ndidi Ukaoha, told the court that one Timilade Oluwale of Gosa Borehole reported the accused at Iddo Police Station on December 11, 2015

According to Ukaoha, the accused went to Oluwale's medicine shop on December 10, 2015 for treatment on his injured leg and was charged N1,200, which he could not pay.

The accused person however returned the next day for more drugs but the complainant insisted on payment of the previous day's bill.

“When Joseph came back to her the next day demanding for drugs, she asked for the money in respect of the previous day’s service before she could listen to him.

“She said that Joseph forced his way into the shop and beat her up.

“The accused punched the mouth of the complainant and removed one of her teeth,” Ukaoha said.

The court was also told that the complainant lost N50,000 during the scuffle between her and the accused.

The prosecutor said that the accused's action contravened Sections 342, 365, 241, and 287 of the Penal Code.

The Judge, Mr. Garba Ogbede, granted Joseph bail in the sum of N100,000 and one surety in like sum.

The case was adjourned till February 2, 2016 for hearing.

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Chibok Girls' parents and Bring Back Our Girls campaigners protest, meet Buhari (Photos)

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FG's N5000 stipend not for the lazy - Ngige

The N5000 monthly stipend promised vulnerable Nigerians by the Buhari administration is not without conditions.

Dr Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment said revealed this on Thursday when he said that the Federal Government's monthly stipend for the unemployed would not be paid to indolent people.

Ngige told newsmen at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja on Thursday that youths who would receive the money would have to pass through skills acquisition and training programs.

He also said that some of the beneficiaries will receive more than N5000.

“We also have the programme on the commission cash transfer. We won’t pay N5000 for people to be indolent. No country in the world, would pay people to go home and sleep and collect cash. So, Nigerian would not be an exception.“We will pay some people N5000, we will pay some N10,000, and even for people in teacher conversion scheme, we will pay more than N10,000, N15,000 as stipend while in training, and then after the training they are going to be employed by state governments and the federal government in different institutions. It is not a programme we shall run alone, the state governments are going to buy into it, they are going to synchronize with us, we are going to do it in synergy,” he said.

He added that the skills acquisition centers across the country would be involved in the program.

His words :
“So we want to get back our youths, capture them, teach them to use their hands, and when they use their hands, they can earn money by employing themselves. If you get a bricklayer, or a painter today, you cannot pay less than N5000 for a daily job. And if somebody is able to work 20 days in a month for N5000, he already has N100,000. But, today it is a sad story, that is why Togolese, Ghanaians, people from Benin Republic, people from Niger Republic that do all these skilled job for us.

“80 percent of workers in that specialized category in construction site all over Nigeria,be it in Abuja, in Lagos or in Onitsha, they come from outside, and we don’t know that little drops of water, form ocean, the money or the naira they are paid is repatriated to their country and all of them will come at the end of the day to put pressure on naira in the foreign exchange market.

“So we have decided that we have to train our own youths, let them use their hands to fend for themselves. We will also want to advance some of them into entrepreneurship. If you are very good, we can open a place for you and give you money through the Bank of Industry and SMEDAN and then you move to the next stage where a number of youth will work with you."

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