The House of Representatives has approved the federal government’s request for $6.183 billion (N2.343 trillion) as external borrowing in 2021 Appropriation Act. The approval followed the consideration and adoption of clauses in the report presented by the committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management, chaired by Hon. Ahmed Dayyabu Safana. The House also gave approval for the bill seeking to establish a Defence Research and Development Bureau (DRDB) to conduct and coordinate robust research and development in the Armed Forces of Nigeria. The approval was sequel to the consideration and adoption of the 5 parts and 34 Sections of the Bill’s report, presented by Chairman House Committee on Defence, Hon. Babajimi Benson. Presenting the report, Benson said the objective of the Bureau was to condu...
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Tuesday presented a budget of N153.4 billion for 2021 to the state House of Assembly for approval. Presenting the budget christened ‘MEGA Budget ‘, Obaseki said that it was made up of N94.8 billion recurrent expenditure and N58.6 billion capital expenditure. “Mr Speaker, you will note that the recurrent component is larger than the capital. It is to help us deal with the social and economic consequences of COVID-19. “The total receipts of N153 billion expected for 2021 comprise of N71 billion from the federation account and N36 billion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). “We also expect N9.8 billion from aids and grants; most of them have already been finalised. We expect to raise N15.3 billion as loan and 13.8 billion as capital development fund rec...
In a paper titled “The Pandemic’s Toll on Women and Girls,” Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates, has tasked global leaders and policymakers on the protection of women and girls in the fight against the coronavirus. Gates said that to recover fully from this pandemic, leaders must respond to the ways that it is affecting men and women differently. In the paper, she puts forward a set of specific, practical policy recommendations that governments should consider in their pandemic response—to improve health systems for women and girls, design more inclusive economic policies, gather better data, and prioritize women’s leadership. Writing in the paper, Gates described how previous disease outbreaks, including AIDS and Ebola, tend to exploit existing forces of ine...
The House of Representatives has stressed the need for speedy production of local vaccines for the treatment of COVID-19 in Nigeria. The House also mandated its standing Committees on Healthcare Services, Health Institutions and Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria to invite the Hon. Minister, Federal Ministry of Health, the Executive Director/CEO, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Executive Director, May and Baker Nigeria PLC to brief the Committees and deliberate on possible ways of getting the needed legislative support to fast track the production of vaccines in Nigeria and report back within four (4) weeks for further legislative action The resolutioms followed the adoption of a motion on notice, moved by Rep. J...