Headlines
Buhari, Osinbajo to Spend N3.3bn on Trips, N149m of Foodstuffs
President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo will spend a total of N3.327bn on foreign and local trips in 2020.
The figure is contained in the details of the 2020 Appropriation Bill that Buhari presented to a joint session of the National Assembly on Tuesday.
The item was tagged Travel and Transport (General) under State House (President) and State House (Vice-President).
In the 2019 Budget, a total of N1.3bn was allocated for the foreign and local trips of the President and the Vice-President. While N1bn was allocated to the President, N301.03m was allocated to the Vice-President.
A breakdown of the N3.327bn allocated to travels for the two officials in 2020 shows that Buhari will spend N2.526bn on his trips while Osinbajo will spend N801m on his trips.
A further breakdown shows that Buhari’s foreign trips will gulp N1.751bn while N775.6m will be spent on his local trips for the year.
In the case of Osinbajo, his foreign trips will cost the nation N517m while his local trips will cost N283.97m.
The figures are outside the N182.25m allocated for travels and transport in the budget of the State House Headquarters.
Foodstuffs for President, Vice-President to gulp N149m
Also in the bill, a total of N149m was allocated for foodstuffs and catering material supplies for both Buhari and Osinbajo.
While the President is expected to spend N98.3m on the item, N50.88m was budgeted for Osinbajo.
Apart from the N149m foodstuffs and catering material supplies bill, the two government officials will also spend N43.916m on refreshment and meal.
The President will spend N25.652m on the item while the Vice-President will spend N18.264m on the same item.
This is apart from the N135.668m budgeted for the same refreshment and meal in the budget of the State House Headquarters. For honorarium and sitting allowance, both of them will spend N184.438m.
While N164.176m was allocated to the President, N20.262m was allocated to the Vice-President.
N478.313m was allocated to the same honorarium and sitting allowance in the budget of State House Headquarters.
Still under the budget of the State House headquarters, a whopping N4.062bn was allocated to what was tagged “annual routine maintenance of mechanical/electrical installations of the villa.” The project is said to be an ongoing one.
N526.234m was also allocated to what is called “phased replacement of vehicles, spares and tyres in the presidential, CVU security/police escort and State House operational fleets.” The project is also described as an ongoing project.
Apart from these, N389.64m was also budgeted for “outstanding liabilities on routine maintenance and other services for 2016.”
N91.681m will also be spent on “purchase of tyres for bulletproof vehicles, plain Toyota cars, CCU vehicles, platform trucks, Land Cruiser and Prado Jeeps, Hilux, Peugeot 607, ambulances and other utility and operational vehicles.”
N32.199m is budgeted for fuel and lubricants (general); N32.5m for wildlife conservation; and N45.4m for sewage charges.
The Punch
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
