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Tinubu’s 2024 Budget Against the North, Northern Senators Cry Out
The Northern Senators Forum claim that its consultants have uncovered N3trillion unexplained increase in the N28 trillion 2024 budget signed by President Bola Tinubu.
The forum said the unexplained increase, which it further claims to be skewed against the North in particular and Nigeria in general, is unacceptable.
The chairman of the forum, Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central), said this in an interview aired on the BBC Hausa Service on Saturday.
Ningi said: “For the past three months, we have engaged consultants to review the budget for us. We have some experts who are working on it line by line.
“We have seen the huge damage that was done not only to the north but to the entire country in that budget. We are supposed to sit with the Senate President to inform him about what we have observed.
“We want to show him what we have seen in the budget that is not acceptable; we will not accept them, and we don’t want the country to continue spending money on those things.
“Apart from what the National Assembly did on the floor, there was another budget that was done underground, which we didn’t know.
“The new things we have discovered in the budget were not known to us. We haven’t seen them in the budget that was debated and considered on the floor of the National Assembly.”
Speaking about discoveries made by the consultants engaged by the forum, Ningi said: “For example, it was said that there was a budget of N28 trillion, but what was passed was N25 trillion. So, there is N3 trillion on top.
“Where are they? Where is it going? So, we need to know this. There are a lot of things. We are coming up with a report, and we will show the president himself and ask him if he is aware or not.
“This is what we intend to do. We are to meet the president. We will talk to him about the Mambila power project, Ajaokuta, and the River Niger dredging. We will talk to him about the Niger Republic. Recently, they said they would construct a dam; this is not good for us.
“The action taken by ECOWAS has affected the relationship between Nigeria and Niger. There was an agreement that they would not construct a dam so that the Kainji Dam would be intact, and we would give them electricity in return.
“Over one billion US dollars was spent on Mambila, the BBC has reported. Where is that money? Who collected the money? We need to know and see what can be done. This Mambila is like the future of the North. Every part of the country has its own symbol that will save it in the future.
“One of our weaknesses in the north is that we don’t love ourselves and our region so much that we don’t care about the future. We are just living anyhow. We just love the region in our mouths, not at heart, and I am seriously worried about that.”
Tinubu hasn’t done well
The NSF chairman explained that the fact that he is a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) does not distract from his patriotic disposition as a Nigerian and representative of the people.
He said: “First of all, I want you to know that I am a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a representative of the people. Based on my opinion, the government hasn’t performed to our expectations.
“Things are getting worse compared to when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took the leadership of the country. People are going through a lot of difficulties. We live in villages.
“We are going there to interact with them, and they are lamenting seriously. They have nowhere to go, so they have no one to express their grievances to other than us.
“I think Bola Ahmed Tinubu didn’t even understand this country, and he didn’t understand the difficulties of ruling a country like Nigeria. Probably he has his own idea of what governance is, but I don’t blame him so much because when he was campaigning for the seat, there was no agreement or promise between him and the people.
“People were just blinded and voted for him because he supported former president Muhammadu Buhari when he was contesting. Some even voted for him because he is a Muslim; as such, he needed their vote on whether he could or could not do the right thing for the country.
“But the most painful thing is that Northerners stood for him and did all they could to bring him to power, but unfortunately, there was no agreement between them and the president on what should be done to the North and the Northerners.
“Especially taking into consideration the importance and significant projects that North has been yearning for and aspiring to get for a long time. For example, the Ajaokuta project, the Mambila power project, the dredging of the Niger River, and other notable projects.
“What mostly disturbs my sleep is that we had a budget in 2013 and 2014 in which we earmarked billions of Naira, but it was neglected by President Goodluck Jonathan. When President Buhari came, we thought it was one of the projects he would pay attention to, but unfortunately, it wasn’t possible for over eight years.
“Even road construction like Kano-Abuja is not yet completed, as if it were cursed by someone, despite the road being the soul of our travellers in the North.
“Indeed, we don’t attack the government as the opposition is supposed to do. But this is a result of the situation and the government we have. These so-called leaders they forced on us were not voted for by us.
“They brought religious issues and ethnic and tribal issues into the process; they used propaganda, saying that no Hausa/Fulani would be trusted to lead the opposition because there would be no peace.
“If you look at it from this scenario, the majority of those in opposition are from the Northeast and the Northwest, but we were not allowed to be the leaders of the opposition in the Senate.
“This is one of the reasons why we said we would go back and look at what is happening under the umbrella of the Northern Senators Forum, which is under my leadership.
“But you can’t do everything here because it involves members of the ruling and opposition parties. It is very difficult to challenge the ruling party under that umbrella once you want the unity of the North.“
He also spoke about the recent decision by the Federal Government transfering some departments of federal agencies to Lagos.
Ningi said, “I will speak not as a member of the opposition but as a northerner. As a Northerner, I know that this is going to happen. We heard about it, and we saw several examples in the past that tell us that all this is possible.
“But as I speak, our people, especially the leaders, are yet to take any action to find the solution. That is why I am not even surprised.
“These things that are happening are of two categories. Some affect the North only, and some affect the entire country. What we are doing now as leaders of the Forum of Northerners is trying to address the problem or reduce its strength without allowing politics to come in.
Security challenge in the North
“These security challenges are happening in the North. There is nowhere in the South where someone will be abducted and spend seven days in custody of the abductors.
“Look at Katsina, Zamfara, and Benue. I am even afraid that one day we will wake up and see that states like Zamfara have been taken away from the country. It is possible, going by what is happening.”
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has urged Nigerians to be careful of those trying to kidnap for ransom.
Akpabio argued on Tuesday that those behind kidnapping are perpetuating the activity to create an impression that Nigeria is not safe.
Speaking in Abuja during the commissioning of road projects to mark President Bola Tinubu’s third year anniversary, Akpabio said some of the president’s critics have resorted to paying youths to cause mayhem.
Akpabio accused Tinubu’s critics of focusing on insecurity instead of policy and infrastructure.
“Minister you said that people claimed that nothing is happening in Nigeria under the administration of President Tinubu. If they did not say that, how will they go for election? he asked rhetorically.
“If you realize what is happening recently, when they realized that they can’t talk about projects, performance, good laws, transformation in the Petroleum industry, subsidy removal that have been promised Nigerians for decades, they can no longer talk about the high-rise buildings in Abuja such as the NRS building, they resorted to paying young people and recruiting them to cause mayhem in the country.
“Be very vigilant and be careful about people trying to kidnap for ransom. They are kidnapping in order to give the impression that Nigeria is not safe.
“Our men and women in uniform have done tremendously well but many people will not know and that is why I keep saying that the devil you see today, you will soon see them no more.
“Elections will come and go; elections will never be our end; we will see the end of elections; it will never see our end,” he said.
President Bola Tinubu has approved the establishment of a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness and Emerging Public Health Threats and ordered the immediate release of N10 billion as emergency intervention funding.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this on Tuesday.
According to Onanuga, the fund will strengthen the operational preparedness of the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and support critical national public health emergency response activities.
The Presidential Task Force on Ebola will be chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, with membership drawn from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and state representatives.
Onanuga noted that the President’s approval followed a stakeholder meeting convened under the chairmanship of the Chief of Staff to review Nigeria’s preparedness and develop strategies against the possible importation of Ebola into the country.
Ebola recently resurfaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda – both neighbouring countries.
Other key stakeholders at the meeting included representatives of the Ministry of Interior, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Lagos State Government and others.
Onanuga also disclosed that Tinubu directed all states hosting international airports and international border corridors, as well as relevant MDAs, to submit their plans, funding requirements and intervention needs for consideration and coordinated implementation.
Additional measures to be implemented by the Task Force include the intensification of passenger screening at all international airports through enhanced temperature checks and crowd-control protocols; enhanced monitoring of passengers arriving through high-risk airline routes, including Air Uganda, Rwanda Air, Air Tanzania, Air Angola, Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines; and the immediate activation of referral and isolation centres at the Lagos and Abuja international airports, with other airports to follow.
Other measures include the mandatory activation of QR code-based pre-arrival health declaration systems for passengers originating from or transiting through designated high-risk countries, as well as the disinfection of departure halls, cargoes, baggage areas and airport facilities as precautionary environmental measures.
The President also directed the advisory group to consult with security, diplomatic and aviation bodies on regulating flights from affected and designated high-risk countries.
The Task Force was further mandated to designate specific airports or terminals for high-risk flights to enable controlled screening and isolation procedures, and to consider adjusting flight schedules to minimise interaction between high-risk passengers and other travelers.
Disturbed by the increasing level of terrorism and banditry in the country, the Senate has declared that it will consider the amendments to the 1999 Constitution to provide for the establishment of State Police in the country this week.
In a statement on Monday, the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, APC, Ekiti Central, said that after it is considered by the Senate, it would then be transmitted to the 36 State Houses of Assembly for further legislation.
In the statement issued by his Directorate of Media and Public Affairs, the Leader of the Senate explained that all stakeholders across the federation “are on the same page with the National Assembly on the establishment of State Police.”
Bamidele, who explained that the National Assembly would isolate the aspect from the ongoing constitution amendment and pass it into law due to its national exigency, also revealed that President Bola Tinubu and all the state governors were on the same page with the National Assembly on the State Police.
He added that the legislative week, which begins on Tuesday, would be a crucial one for the Senate as the issue of state police would top their agenda.
Section 214 (1) of the 1999 Constitution says: “There shall be a Police Force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force.”
Bamidele said: “Our position is very clear on state police. We are standing with Nigerians on the issue of state police. All strata of the federation have made it clear that there cannot be a better time to establish a state police than now.
“That is where we stand. Where we are coming in is to now help translate this popular desire of the people into reality as elected representatives of the Nigerian people.
“We came to the conclusion that we are going to pass the constitutional amendment in this respect to make a provision for the State Police. If I can tell you as of today, that will come to fruition this very week because there is no need to allow any further delay
“There have been a series of meetings between the National Assembly. When I say the national assembly, I mean Chairman, Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, Senator Barau I. Jibrin and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, both of whom are representing the National Assembly.
“They had been in a series of meetings with the office of Attorney-General, Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila; Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tunji Disu and other stakeholders in the last one week and that is why I can sit here to tell you that we’re pursuing that this week.
“It is going to be the subject we will be dealing with this week. What we have resolved to do is to isolate it with the rest of the bills that we have proposed under constitutional amendment so that we can vote on this as soon as possible.
“The bill can as well be on its way to the 36 States’ Houses of Assembly as soon as possible because you know we will need two-thirds of the state assemblies to approve it before the president can assent to it.
“The president is also with us on this proposal. I am sure he cannot wait for the bill to come to him for assent. I am sure the majority of our governors, as we know, are in support of this bill. The state assemblies are also waiting for this bill to come. We will initiate the proposal for the creation of state police within the week.”
Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, had disclosed that President Tinubu would receive a comprehensive report on the proposed creation of state police as consultations on the constitutional framework for its establishment approached completion.
