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...
The Coalition of North East Elders for Peace and Development, Monday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sack his service chiefs, accusing the military of deploying massive strength during the #EndSARS protests in parts of the country, thereby leaving the zone at the mercy of Boko Haram, an Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists. According to the elders, scores of civilians were killed as a result of the strategic and operational blunders, which they argued, was avoidable, had greater tact been adopted. In a statement signed by the chairman, Engr. Zana Goni, the North East elders said pro-active intelligence would have revealed this lapse to the military high command, had the service chiefs not been lethargic in their responsibilities. Consequently, the elders, for the um...
The 36 states governors, through their respective Attorneys General and Commissioners for Justice, have dragged the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, before the Supreme Court over the failure of the Federal Government to fund the courts in the country with recurrent expenditure since May 5, 2009. It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, had in May 2020, signed Executive Order 10, which gave financial autonomy to the legislature and judiciary at the state level. The state governors argued that the Federal Government should also fund state courts if the president must make such order. The plaintiffs in the suit against the AGF, through their counsel, Mr Augustine Alegeh, SAN, are contending that the respondent refused to fun...