Headlines
Presidency Assures Delayed Budget Won’t Affect Projects
The Presidency on Wednesday dismissed fears that government operations and projects could be grounded due to the delay in passing the 2019 budget by the National Assembly.
It said there was money to spend till June, drawn from the 2018 Appropriation Act.
“The budget has a 12-month cycle, which means counting from the date it was signed by Mr President.
“The 2018 budget is still running and the cycle will continue until June,” the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, said.
Buhari signed the 2018 Appropriation Act on June 20, 2018.
Enang spoke on a live interview with Channels Television on Politics Today, monitored by our correspondent on Wednesday night.
The Senate on Tuesday passed N8.92tn as the 2019 budget.
The figure was slightly upped from President Muhammadu Buhari’s original proposal of N8.83tn presented to the National Assembly on December 18, 2018.
Asked how soon Buhari would sign the appropriation bill and whether he would delay it, Enang said by legislative procedure, the passage of the budget had yet to be completed.
He explained that the House of Representatives would have to pass the budget as well before a clean copy could be sent to Buhari for his assent.
Enang, who had chaired the Committee on Rules and Business in both chambers, noted that there was a possibility the House could pass the budget with some variations.
He added that if there were variations, the two chambers would have to harmonise the figures again before the National Assembly Clerk would send the final document to Buhari.
Enang stated further that as of Wednesday, there was no budget document on Buhari’s table.
He said, “Unless and until the budget (document) is on Mr President’s desk, there is nothing that can be done.
“It is only the Senate that passed it. The House of Representatives will still have to pass it.
“That is when we can begin to talk about Mr President. We have not got there yet.”
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.”
