Budget Padding: Stop jumping into matters without confirming – Presidency knocks Peter Obi
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, has tackled Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, over his statement on the alleged padding of the 2024 Appropriation Act. Onanuga told Obi to stop jumping into matters in the public space without first of all confirming their authenticity.
“There was no padding. My advice: don’t always jump into a matter in public space without first of all confirming its authenticity,” he wrote under a tweet by Obi on the alleged padding of the 2024 budget. DAILY POST recalls that Obi had earlier decried the lack of transparency in managing public funds over the matter, stressing that it’s a breach of trust.
The statement followed the claim by Senator Abdul Ningi alleging that projects worth N3.7 trillion in the 2024 Appropriation Act are not traceable. Ningi, who is the Chairman of Northern Senators’ Forum, had alleged that the National Assembly debated and passed N25 trillion as 2024 budget and not the N28.7 trillion that is being implemented by the Federal Government.
He made the allegation while speaking in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service. The senator also accused the President Bola Tinubu administration of not being fair to all sections of the country in the implementation of the budget.
Reacting to Ningi’s allegations, Obi said it was deeply disconcerting and a matter of grave concern and even shameful to read about the alleged N3 trillion discrepancy between the budget approved by the Nigerian Senate and the one being implemented by the presidency. Obi said it’s worrying because the amount involved represents over 10 per cent of the national budget.
According to him, Nigerians deserve full accountability of all the scarce resources placed in public trust. “Therefore, we, the Nigerian people, demand a public explanation from both the National Assembly and the Presidency regarding the purpose and process of adding this alleged N3 trillion,” Obi said. The Presidency had in a statement on Sunday, said the claim by Senator Ningi was “false and there is no truth whatsoever in the allegation”.
SOURCE: Dailypost
JUST-IN: Tinubu Directs States To Implement Wage Award For Workers
President Bola Tinubu has appealed to 36 State governors of the Federation to begin paying the wage awards to workers pending the determination of the new minimum wage to reduce the hardship of the economy on the people. The president noted that if the states had implemented the wage awards, it would provide much-needed relief without causing inflationary pressures.
Speaking in Minna, Niger State capital at the flag-off of the agricultural mechanization revolution for food security and the commissioning of the remodelled domestic terminal of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport on Monday, the President stated that all states needed to adopt the wage award, saying that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) would also adopt same. He said: “If all of you, the sub-nationals have been paying the wages award, pending the determination of the new salary wage. Let all the states start paying the wages award. Whatever they are taking now plus the wage award would relieve the public.
“Please, I am not giving an order, I am appealing to you states, start paying the wages awards, let everyone start paying it. It is a relief to the people. The mechanism is the fact that it won’t be inflationary if we announce the new salary wage in a few weeks or months, they would have gotten used to the basic wages of N30,000 plus the wages award, and it will have a dampening effect on the market. Please get sub-nationals together and NEC should adopt this.” The President assured that the student loans and other economic measures would soon commence as steps were being taken by the government to relieve the people of hunger.
“The student loan programme will commence, there will be unemployment benefits for our graduates, and the social security programme for the elderly and vulnerable will commence, we are fine-tuning all these areas. We will relieve people of hunger.” Tinubu also outlined plans for a comprehensive programme to address the challenges of violent attacks, cattle rustling, and other related issues pledging to organize an inauguration of the Livestock Change programme in Nigeria within the next few weeks, aiming to transform the current challenges into economic opportunities.
“Give me two to three weeks. You will be part of the inauguration of the livestock change in Nigeria. I know what it means to economic sabotage for roaming cows to eat up the crops and vegetation of our lands, it could be painful but when we reorient the herders and make provision for cattle rearing. The Governors should provide the lands and as the President, I am committed to giving you a comprehensive programme that will solve this problem.” He applauded the continued and aggressive determination of the Niger state governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, in ensuring agricultural revolution for food security including efforts being put in place for Niger state to be one of the top food producers in the country while pledging his support to the state government.
He added: “We have seen the level of commitment here from the state level, we have seen leadership and the success story of any leader is the ability to do what they ought to do at the time they ought to do it. You are doing the job, you are walking the talk and I must support you. “Whatever support you need, you will get. We appreciate your efforts in the infrastructure development of the state, and I guarantee you the federal support. We flag off the hope, you deliver the hope and you reassure Nigerians.”
SOURCE: Leadership
