Departments
Lagos assembly begins audit of 57 councils
The Lagos House of Assembly has commenced an audit exercise for all the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and the 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state. The Chairman, House Committee on Public Account (Local), Mojeed Fatai, made this known in a statement issued in Lagos on Saturday. Fatai said that the committee was expected to submit its report to the House after the weeklong exercise. The lawmaker explained that the exercise was aimed at checking probity and accountability in the local government administration as provided in the 1999 (Amended) Constitution. He said: “The essence of the exercise is to allow the committee go through the 2019 report of the Auditor General without fear or favour to any local council indicted by the officials of the Auditor General. “Also, t...
Governor Sule: Nasarawa won’t borrow to pay minimum wage
The Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, yesterday told striking workers in the state that the state government would not borrow to pay them the N30,000 minimum wage in order not to burden the state economy. The Organised Labour in the state on June 15, 2021 began an indefinite strike over partial implementation of N30, 000 minimum wage and other welfare-related issues. But the state government during a press conference at the end of an emergency expanded executive council meeting in the Government House, Lafia, maintained that government shall on no account borrow to pay salaries. These were resolutions taken at the Emergency State Executive Council meeting as read by Chairman of the Nasarawa State Civil Service Commission, Alhaji Musa Dangana. Dangana said: “In view of its negative i...
Senate vows to expose MDAs refusing to account for public funds
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has said that the upper chamber will publish the names of government agencies that have refused to appear before the Public Accounts Committee to defend the interrogations of the Auditor-General for the Federation in the 2015 report. Lawan made this known in his remarks after the Senate considered the report of the Committee on Public Accounts on the annual report of the Auditor-General for the Federation on the accounts of the Federation for the year ended 31st December, 2015. According to the Senate President, any public official that refuses to account for public funds at their disposal must be shown the way out of office. He said, “This is one of our major responsibilities as a parliament, to hold the executive to account. “[And] whoever is given t...
Presidency: Nigeria adopting best practices on debt management
The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang, has said that Nigeria is adopting the best practices of sustainable loan debt management as the repayment plan of the debt is tied to the projects for which the loan is taken. Senator Ita Enang disclosed this while presenting the keynote address at the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria 2021 Fellow Conferment Ceremony recently in Lagos. Speaking of the topic “Nigeria Adopting Best Practices in External Borrowing and Debt Sustainability” the Presidential Aide noted that “all the terms and conditions of the loan are laid before the National Assembly and approved in details before execution. According to him,” this is to avoid the terms being approved by the National Assembly after th...
James Ibori loot: Delta asks federal government to return recovered fund to state
Delta State Government on Tuesday reacted to receipt by the Nigerian government of the £4.2 million first tranche of the Ibori loot from the goverment of the United Kingdom. The state government restated its earlier stand that since the returned money was illegally taken out of Delta’s Treasury, it should appropriately be returned to Delta State. This is coming on the dissolution, on Tuesday, of the Delta State Executive Council (EXCO) with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa asking the Secretary to State Government (SSG), all civil commissioners and the governor’s aides to surrender all vital government documents and property to their respective permanent secretaries in the ministries, departments and agencies. The outgoing state commissioner for information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, reiterated the positio...
DELSU matriculates 9,461 new intakes for 2020/2021 session
File Photo Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, on Saturday, matriculated 9,461 students who were offered provisional admission to various departments of the institution. No fewer than 37, 176 candidates reportedly applied for admission to the institution put of which 9,461 were offered admission. Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Andy Egwunyenga, who disclosed this on Saturday during the matriculation ceremony for the 2020/2021 academic session at Abraka hinted that 1, 291 candidates were offered admission to the various postgraduate programmes and 382 to the Intensive and Part Time Programmes of the university. Addressing the fresh students, Prof. Egwunyenga warned that any student involved in cultism, examination malpractices and other social vices would be expelled. He descr...
Official: Lagos residents consume N5 trillion worth of food annually
The Lagos State Government says residents of the state are consuming food and agricultural produce worth about N5 trillion annually. Ms Abisola Olusanya, the Commissioner for Agriculture, made this known at a news conference on Thursday in Lagos to commemorate the second year in office of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration. Olusanya said that the amount might increase to N6.3 trillion by 2030, if the population of the state grew to 30 million. “It is worthy to note that in terms of the amount of food we consume in Lagos on an annual basis, it is almost N5 trillion. “If the population is to grow to about 30 million by 2030, Lagos will likely need food worth N6.3 trillion on an annual basis,’’ she said. According to her, currently, Lagos is producing about 20 to 24 per cent of its food...
NIN: Kaduna agency supports enrolment of 2.1 million poor, vulnerable
File Photo The Kaduna State Residents Registration Agency (KADSRRA) says it is supporting the enrollment of 2.1 million poor and vulnerable captured in the State Social Register for the National Identity Number (NIN). Its Executive Secretary, Dr Zayyad Tsiga, made this known in an interview with newsmen in Kaduna on Thursday. Tsiga said that Kaduna State with support from the National Social Safety-Net Coordination Office had so far captured 2.1 million individuals. He said that KADSRRA was working with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to enroll all the poor and vulnerable individuals into the National Identity Database (NIDB). This, Tsiga said, would enable the poor and vulnerable to obtain the state residency card and NIN, which would be required to access social protec...
President Buhari appoints new DTCA, NIIA chiefs
President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Ambassador Rabiu Dagari as Director-General of the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA). The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Gabriel Aduda, in a letter dated April 8, 2021, addressed to Dagari, said the appointment was for an initial period of four years with effect from March 16, 2021. Letter read: “The terms and condition of your appointment is as provided in the appointment of Chief Executives of Government Parastatals and Agencies in the Federal Public Services. “It Is hoped that your performance at the Interview/screening exercise as well as your experiences as a seasoned Diplomat/Administrator will be brought to bear in the discharge of your duties as the Director-General of the Directorate,” Aduda...
Easter: NSCDC deploys 1,850 personnel in Ondo
THISDAY Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Ondo State Command has deployed no fewer than 1,850 personnel ahead of the Easter celebration in the state. The move was to ensure that there is adequate security, before, during and after the celebration in the state. According to the Corps Public Relations Officer, DSC Olufemi Omole, in a statement issued on Thursday “the situation of the country calls for collective efforts to ensure the protection of lives and properties.” He added that the State Commandant of NSCDC in the state, Eweka Edenabu urged the operatives who will provide security in various parts of the state to exercise caution in the discharge of their duties and exhibit a high level of professionalism in their dealings with the civil populace. The Commandant also dis...
Official: Why CCB denies Nigerians access to public officers’ assets information
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) on Wednesday explained why it denies Nigerians access to the details of the assets declared by public officers. The chair person of the bureau, Muhammad Isah, also disclosed that assets declaration would soon become online-based. Mr Isah, represented by his special assistant, Mustapha Musa, spoke in Lagos at a meeting on ‘Promoting Transparency and Accountability in Asset Declaration by High-Ranking Public Officers’. Newsmen report that the meeting was organised by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP). On access to public officers’ assets information, the CCB chair said the bureau never honoured citizens’ requests for such information because the National Assembly had yet to give the guidelines for such public disclosure. He said the...
Nigerian government blames states for failure of past development plans
Federal Government has blamed the states for the shortcomings of the past development plans, saying it did not receive the needed co-operation from the sub-national governments. Speaking at the closing of 19th National Council on Development Planning (NCDP) meeting on Friday in Abuja, Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, said the overall score card of previous plans were adjudged to be below expectations because of inadequate collaboration from the subnational governments. According to her, the previous plans did not make much impacts based on the assertion that the plans were more of federal government than national. “However, the overall scorecard of previous Plans were adjudged to be below expectations and these were among other factors attributed to inadequate collaboration from Sub-...
