E-Waste Dialogue: Ugbechie warns against Nigeria’s ‘disposal culture’, demands bigger NESREA enlightenment budget - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The publisher of Political Economy and immediate past Vice President of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), Mr Ken Ugbechie, has warned that Nigeria’s rising “disposal culture” is accelerating the nation’s electronic waste burden, even as he urged the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) to significantly increase its budget for public enlightenment and media outreach.

Speaking at the 2025 ITREALMS E-Waste Dialogue organised by ITREALMS Media group, with the theme "Nigeria: Recycle Your E-Waste It's Critical" Ugbechie described e-waste as a “crucial national emergency,” stressing that Nigerians must be made to understand the economic value hidden in discarded electronic devices.

Budget 2025 to be rigorously implement says Adeleke - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!


The Governor of Osun, Senator Ademola Adeleke has assured his people that the newly signed budget 2025 will be rigorously implemented for the benefit of Osun people, reports ITREALMS.

He made the pledge while signing Budget 2025 into law, emphasizing that the signing ceremony “further demonstrates our readiness to forge ahead in the new year with the growth and development of our dear State.”

How to survive the last week of January on a budget - ITREALMS

Sponsored@ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!


January is renowned for being a month of extremely slow days, mounting bills and a long, grinding wait for pay-day. This is often the case for folks in paid employment.

However, the difficulties that traditionally accompany the month of January impact entrepreneurs or those in business as well. Usually, discretionary or disposable income is often limited and tightly guarded, with many potential customers trying to wade through to the end of the month after the customary lavish spending that trailed the previous year-end festivities.

Imo Assembly passes 2023 budget, Imo State Council of Elders bill - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The Imo State House of Assembly (IMHA) has passed the 2023 Appropriation Bill to the tune of N458,731,029,167 to the service of the Government of Imo State, reports ITREALMS.

This appropriation, ITREALMS gathered, excludes the consolidated Revenue Fund Charges of N15, 743, 247, 101, hence a total budget of N474, 468, 286, 257.

Oyebanji presents N113.5bn budget estimate to Ekiti Assembly - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, on Thursday presented a budget estimate of N113,572,718,523.82 to the House of Assembly for the 2023 fiscal year aimed at building on a strong foundation already laid for the development of the State.

Christened "Budget of Strong Beginning," it has a total sum of N80,362,578,854.29 as recurrent expenditure and the sum of N34,062,085,464.93 as capital expenditure.

5% telecoms tax: Budget Office differs with Pantami - ITREALMS

ITREALMS ... making leadership SENSE with digital news!

The Director-General of the Budget Office, Mr. Ben Akabueze, has sharply differed with the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantanmi, over the suspension of 5% excise duty on telecommunications services, reports ITREALMS.

Speaking on Arise Television on Global Business segment on Tuesday, September 6, 2022, and monitored in Lagos by ITREALMS, Mr. Akabueze, attempted to justify telecoms tax in the country, saying that Nigeria currently is under-taxing when compared across the continent of Africa.

COVID-19: Atiku advises African leaders to redesign budget, reduce governance cost - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has advised African leaders to reduce governance expenditure which is too high, if the continent must mitigate the effects of ravaging Chinese Virus-19 also known as Coronavirus or COVID-19, reports ITREALMS.

Atiku in a public statement available to ITREALMS, said that Africa is on a crossroads and her leaders cannot afford to be indifferent to the needs of the populace.

He also called on African nations to rebudget, reassign and reduce expenditure with Nigeria on the lead. Pointing out that Nigeria need to think and act her way into taking the right path.

“History will forgive us if we make the wrong decisions, but it certainly will not forgive us if we take no decisions in the misguided belief that others will save us. If Nigeria does not save herself in this season of a global emergency, we may find that a new world order will emerge and we will no longer be the Giant of Africa. We may not even be the Giant of West Africa if we do not take decisive action.

For him, Nigeria, for instance, cannot be considered a serious nation when her leaders refused to cut down on profligacy and instead seek outside help to fund inefficiencies.

We cannot be considered a serious country when we refuse to cut down on profligacy and instead seek outside help to fund our inefficiencies.

“Even in our own individual houses, when things get tight, the first thing we should do is cut down on unnecessary expenditure and then you look for creative ways to generate funds and develop our household economy, before we even seek outside funding,” he said.

*JOIN our alert's group | Share stories with us | Advert placement: WhatsApp | SMS: +2348033592762 *Twitter: @ITREALMS *Email: itrealms.dsa@gmail.com*

PMB: Why I signed 2018 budget despite NASS padding - ITREALM Online

ForTheRecords@ITREALMS: 

• ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, AT THE SIGNING INTO LAW, THE 2018 APPROPRIATION BILL, PRESIDENTIAL VILLA, ABUJA, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20^TH 2018.

I would like to thank the leadership of the National Assembly, particularly the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as all the Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members, for passing the 2018 Appropriation Bill, after seven months.

2. When I submitted the 2018 Budget proposals to the National Assembly on 7^th November 2017, I had hoped that the usual legislative review process would be quick, so as to move Nigeria towards a predictable January-December financial year.  The importance of this predictability cannot be overemphasized.  

3. While the Federal Government’s budget represents less than 10% of aggregate yearly expenditures in the economy, it has a very significant accelerator effect on the financial plans of other tiers of government, and even more importantly, the private sector, which mostly operates on a January-December financial year.  

4. Notwithstanding the delay this year, I am determined to continue to work with the National Assembly towards improving the budgeting process and restoring our country to the January-December fiscal cycle.

5. I note, with pleasure, that the National Assembly is working on the enactment of an Organic Budget Law, so as to improve the efficiency of the nation’s budgetary process.

6. As I mentioned during the presentation of the 2018 Appropriation Bill, we intend to use the 2018 Budget to consolidate the achievements of previous budgets and deliver on Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020.  

7. It is in this regard that I am concerned about some of the changes that the National Assembly has made to the budget proposals that I presented.  The logic behind the Constitutional direction that budgets should be proposed by the Executive is that, it is the Executive that knows and defines its policies and projects.  

8. Unfortunately, that has not been given much regard in what has been sent to me.  The National Assembly made cuts amounting to 347 billion Naira in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to 578 billion Naira.

9. Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation.  Some of the new projects inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualized, designed and costed and will therefore be difficult to execute.  

10. Furthermore, many of these new projects introduced by the National Assembly have been added to the budgets of most MDAs with no consideration for institutional capacity to execute them or the incremental recurrent expenditure that may be required.  

11. As it is, some of these projects relate to matters that are the responsibility of the States and Local Governments, and for which the Federal Government should therefore not be unduly burdened.

12. Such examples of projects from which cuts were made are as follows:

·  a. The provisions for some nationally/regionally strategic infrastructure projects such as Counter-part funding for the Mambilla Power Plant, Second Niger Bridge/ancillary roads, the East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail Project were cut by an aggregate of 11.5 billion Naira.

·  b. Similarly, provisions for some ongoing critical infrastructure projects in the FCT, Abuja especially major arterial roads and the mass transit rail project, were cut by a total of 7.5 billion Naira.

·  c. The provision for Rehabilitation and Additional Security Measures for the United Nations Building by the FCT, Abuja was cut by 3.9 billion Naira from 4 billion Naira to 100 million Naira; this will make it impossible for the Federal Government of Nigeria to fulfill its commitment to the United Nations on this project.

·  d. The provisions for various Strategic Interventions in the health sector such as the upgrade of some tertiary health institutions, transport and storage of vaccines through the cold chain supply system, provision of anti-retroviral drugs for persons on treatment, establishment of chemotherapy centres and procurement of dialysis consumables were cut by an aggregate amount of 7.45 billion Naira.

·  e. The provision for security infrastructure in the 104 Unity Schools across the country were cut by 3 billion Naira at a time when securing our students against acts of terrorism ought to be a major concern of government.

·  f. The provision for the Federal Government’s National Housing Programme was cut by 8.7 billion Naira.

·  g. At a time when we are working with Labour to address compensation-related issues, a total of 5 billion Naira was cut from the provisions for Pension Redemption Fund and Public Service Wage Adjustment.

·  h. The provisions for Export Expansion Grant (EEG) and Special Economic Zones/Industrial Parks, which are key industrialization initiatives of this Administration, were cut by a total of 14.5 billion Naira.

·  i. The provision for Construction of the Terminal Building at Enugu Airport was cut from 2 billion Naira to 500 million Naira which will further delay the completion of this critical project.

·  j. The Take-off Grant for the Maritime University in Delta State, a key strategic initiative of the Federal Government, was cut from 5 billion Naira to 3.4 billion Naira.

·  k. About seventy (70) new road projects have been inserted into the budget of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.  In doing so, the National Assembly applied some of the additional funds expected from the upward review of the oil price benchmark to the Ministry’s vote.  Regrettably, however, in order to make provision for some of the new roads, the amounts allocated to some strategic major roads have been cut by the National Assembly.

13. Another area of concern is the increase by the National Assembly of the provisions for Statutory Transfers by an aggregate of 73.96 billion Naira.  Most of these increases are for recurrent expenditure at a time we are trying to keep down the cost of governance.  

14. An example of this increase is the budget of the National Assembly itself which has increased by 14.5 billion Naira, from 125 billion Naira to 139.5 billion Naira without any discussion with the Executive.

15. Notwithstanding the above stated observations, I have decided to sign the 2018 Budget in order not to further slowdown the pace of recovery of our economy, which has doubtlessly been affected by the delay in passing the budget.

 16. However, it is my intention to seek to remedy some of the most critical of these issues through a supplementary and/or amendment budget which I hope the National Assembly will be able to expeditiously consider.

17. I am pleased with the success recorded in the implementation of the 2017 Budget.  A total sum of 1.5 trillion Naira has been released for the implementation of capital projects during the 2017 fiscal year.  In response to this and other policy measures implemented, we have observed significant improvement in the performance of the Nigerian economy.

18. To achieve the laudable objectives of the 2018 Budget, we will work very hard to generate the revenues required to finance our projects and programmes.  The positive global oil market outlook, as well as continuing improvement in non-oil revenues, make us optimistic about our ability to finance the budget.

19. However, being a deficit budget, the Borrowing Plan will be forwarded to the National Assembly shortly.  I crave the indulgence of the National Assembly for a speedy consideration and approval of the Plan.

20. The 2018 Budget I have just signed into law provides for aggregate expenditures of 9.12 trillion Naira, which is 22.6% higher than the 2017 Appropriation.  Further details of the approved budget will be provided by the Minister of Budget and National Planning.

21. I thank the Ministers of Budget and National Planning, the Budget Office of the Federation, and everyone who worked tirelessly and sacrificed so much to bring us to this day.  However, the job is only partly done.  

22. I am sure you will remain committed to advancing our Change Agenda, not only in the preparation of the national budget, but also in ensuring its effective implementation.

I thank you and may God bless Nigeria.

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

*PMB during the signing of 2018 Appropriation bill into law

2018 Appropriation Bill: Ambode signs N1.046TR budget into law

ITREALMS:

Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode has signed the 2018 Appropriation Bill of the State into law with a total budget size of N1,046,121,181,680.00, reports ITRealms.

Performing the signing on Monday, Ambode said the total budget size comprises of N347, 038, 938, 872.00 to be funded from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, and N699, 082, 242,808.00 from the Development Fund for both capital and recurrent expenditure for the year ending 31st December, 2018.

According to the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Habib Aruna, in a press statement made available to ITRealms, disclosed that Gov. Ambode signed two critical bills into law, namely the Consolidated Transport Sector Bill and the Lagos State Teaching Service Commission Bill.

The Transport Sector Law 2018 provides for the development and management of a sustainable transport system in the State, as well as development, management and maintenance of transport infrastructure and facilities within the State.

The law also regulates the provision of an efficient transport delivery system and ensures availability of a safe and affordable transportation system. It is hoped that with this law, an efficient integrated transport management system will evolve in the State

On the other hand, the Teaching Service Commission Law 2018 provides for the control and management of teaching service matters in the State, and for connected purposes.

The law regulates and co-ordinates the management of teaching service matters and provides uniform guidelines for the effective management of Post-Primary Schools in the State.

Governor Ambode, while presenting the 2018Appropriation Bill to the State House of Assembly, had pledged that his administration would make every effort to complete all ongoing projects as well as initiate new ones to consolidate on the development recorded in the last two and half years.

He said the budget, christened as “Budget of Progress and Development”, would be used to consolidate on the achievements recorded in infrastructure, education, transportation/traffic management, security and health sectors, among others.

Outlining the key components of the budget, Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Olusegun Banjo said capital expenditure would gulp N699.082billion, while N347.039billion would be dedicated to recurrent expenditure, representing a Capital/Recurrent ratio of 67 per cent to 33 per cent and a 28.67 per cent increase over Y2017 budget.

He also listed key projects captured in the 2018 Budget to include the Agege Pen Cinema flyover; alternative routes through Oke-Ira in Eti-Osa to Epe-Lekki Expressway; the 8km Regional Road to serve as alternative route to connect Victoria Garden City (VGC) with Freedom Road in Lekki Phase I; completion of the on-going reconstruction of Oshodi International Airport Road into a 10-lane road and the BRT Lane from Oshodi to Abule-Egba.

According to sectoral breakdown of the budget, General Public Services is earmarked to gulp N171,623bn, representing 16.41 per cent; Public Order and Safety, N46.612bn, representing 4.46; Economic Affairs, N473,866bn, representing 45.30 per cent; Environmental Protection, N54,582bn, representing 5.22 per cent, while Housing and Community Amenities got N59,904bn, representing 5.73 per cent.

Health sector got N92.676billion, representing 8.86 per cent; Recreation, Culture and Religion got N12.511billion, representing 1.20 per cent; Education got N126.302billion representing 12.07 per cent, while Social Protection got N8.042billion representing 0.77 per cent.

Under the budget, there are provisions for completion of the five new Art Theatres; establishment of an Heritage Centre at the former Federal Presidential State House recently handed over to the State Government; a world class museum between the former Presidential Lodge and the State House, Marina; construction of four new stadia in Igbogbo, Epe, Badagry and Ajeromi Ifelodun (Ajegunle) and completion of the on-going Epe and Badagry Marina projects.

On Housing, there are provisions for completion of on-going projects especially those at Gbagada, Igbogbo, Iponri, Igando, Omole Phase I, Sangotedo and Ajara-Badagry under the Rent-to-Own policy, among others.

Also speaking, Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade put the projection for revenue (IGR) at N897billion, while the remaining part of the budget would be funded by deficit financing.

”Today is a good day in our State, the Governor just signed the 2018 Appropriation Law. For the first time the Law has about N1.046trillion as total amount that we would spend in 2018.

“The Budget is tagged “Budget of Progress and Development” and in terms of capital and recurrent expenditure, we have 63 per cent Capital and 37 per cent Recurrent and that shows that we are really big on infrastructural renewal.

“In terms of revenue, we are expecting a total of N897billion both from the State and Federal receipts, so the rest would be funded through budget deficit financing. We are focusing this year on completing all projects that we have started knowing fully well that people would say that this is an election year, but the Governor is focused on delivering the dividends of democracy; we are not slowing down, we want to really ensure that we touch every aspect of Lagos that needs to be touched in terms of infrastructural renewal, welfare and other things that the Governor promised,” Ashade said.

Ayo Midele/GEE 

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Budget padding scandal: No-one should be a judge in his own cause

Commenary@ITRealms:

Very few Nigerians will be amazed by the way the House of Representatives handled the allegations of budget padding and abuse of office which Abdulmumin Jibrin, former Chair on Appropriation, levelled against a fraction of the House leadership including the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun, Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, Chief Whip, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, as well as 10 other members of the House. To ensure that the issue remains on the plate, Jibrin has been consistent in issuing statements through both the traditional and new media which clearly identify Dogara, Lasun, Ogor and Doguwa as the main targets of his charge. And to press the point, he rightly labeled the clique the QUARTET. 

  

But even in this atmosphere of suffocating change, nothing seems to have changed in the National Assembly, at least not in the House of Reps. Instead of investigating his allegations, the House in its typical, ever-evolving Machiavellian antics that the Nigerian populace has witnessed since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, presented a dubious resolution summoning Jibrin, himself the hunter as Professor Olatunji Dare, the ace satirist, would have characteristically put it, to appear before an ethics and privileges committee. Talk of the hunter being hunted. It’s as if there are no more people with conscience in the green chamber.

And the “honourables” scheming to nail Jibrin at all cost executed their act with a well-choreographed carnival-like fanfare, prancing about the floor without shame, hugging and back-slapping, each brandishing green scarves with the inscription: I Stand with Dogara. In the end, what ought to be a solemn occasion for demanding answers to the issues raised by Jibrin in the interest of public good, was turned into a grand spectacle of pure self-service and reckless endorsement of corruption.

Though originally well-spoken of by the public, the lawmakers by determinedly choosing the option of closing their eyes to the accused and turning the heat on the accuser shot themselves in the foot. That ugly display on the floor of the House has further reduced their worth in the eyes of the people.

And Dogara should know better. An experienced lawyer that he is, the Speaker knows the meaning of the well-worn Latin phrase deployed in the second leg of the title of this piece. Translated in English it means that, “No one should be a judge in his own cause.”  It’s a legal principle that forbids any person from assuming the role of a judge in a case in which he/she has an interest. In this particular case of budget padding and corruption in the House, Dogara, the Speaker of the House is one of the accused persons; to that extent, he is an interested party.

If the House must then investigate as it should the allegations against him and others, the logical step to take is for him to step down from his position as Speaker and allow for a colleague to be elected as Speaker for the purpose of presiding over the investigation. If at the end of investigation he is acquitted he returns to his seat as Speaker. It’s such a simple process that anyone who is not aiming at covering up would easily accede to in order to preserve honour and integrity. But by refusing to step down and subject himself to investigation, the Speaker leaves one with no other option than to deduce that he has something to hide or, at best, that he is indeed guilty of the allegations against him.

Anyone would be forgiven for drawing this conclusion, given the desperation with which Dogara exploited his position as Speaker to finagle a resolution of the House glossing over the budget fraud and corruption allegations involving him, and instead recommending his accuser for a most ridiculous trial for all kinds reasons including “campaign of calumny and infringing on the integrity of the House as an institution.”

But rather than denigrate the House of which he is a proud member as claimed by his traducers, the former chairman of appropriation merely stated the facts. And countless times he has challenged any member of the House who has evidence of malfeasance, corruption or abuse of office involving him to make them public. Up till the time of writing this piece, no one has picked up the gauntlet. 

In fact, the Speaker being one of the accused worsened his case with the clear violation of a sacred legal maxim through that House resolution presided over by him, and directing his accuser to appear before an ethics and privileges committee made up of members appointed by him. There can be no better example of sitting as a judge in your own cause. This is against the principle of natural justice, equity and good conscience.   

Besides, there is no way Jibrin will not be found guilty if he appears before the committee headed by Nicholas Ossai, who on July 26 told Premium Times that it was wrong for Jibrin to claim that the 2016 budget was “padded.” According to the report, Ossai said the budget was only “amended.” He was also quoted as saying, “In legislature, you don’t talk about padding. Budget is an appropriation bill and is like other bills that you amend. You know in bills you talk about clauses. Every head in the budget is a clause. So, legislators have power to amend it.” How would he now get justice before a man who has made this one-sided statement?

Still, this country has Jibrin to thank for his unprecedented revelations. Now, the depth of the rot in the House of Reps is in the open. Rather than applaud and encourage those working to crucify him, it will serve this country well to focus on his message and squeeze adjustments from it. It is the way to go if Nigeria is serious about entrenching transparency and accountability in public governance.

*Godwin Onyeacholem is a journalist. He can be reached on gonyeacholem@gmail.com

 

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Budget impasse: Buhari in crucial meeting with Osinbajo, Udoma

ITRealms:

In effort to resolve the budget impasse between the Executive and Legislature in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, Tuesday summoned his Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udo Udoma to the State house, Abuja, reports ITRealms.

President Buhari, ITRealms recalls had been away in China on a state visit for the past one week.

Whereas Presidency was trading blame with the National Assembly for the delay in assenting to the 2016 budget, the National Assembly on the other hand said they have done their best as far as the 2016 appropriation bill is concerned, insisting the ball is in the Executive court.

Development experts have also warned that with the continuous of blame between NASS and the executive arm of government, the Federal Government and indeed, Nigeria may shut down in June due to the delays in assenting to the budget.

Meanwhile the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked presidency and NASs to resolve whatever issues they have because Nigerians are the ones suffering while the two elephants fight.

Also, Senator Udoma had earlier met with Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki ahead of this meeting with Mr. President.

It is expected that the meeting between the trio of President, his vice president and Udo Udoma is to fashion a way forward.

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!

Obiano proposes N101.4bn budget for 2016

ITRealms:

Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State Thursday presented a budget of N101.4bn to the State House of Assembly in Awka, the state capital, reports ITRealms.

Obiano also said that the proposed budget represents a significant decrease of 38 per cent over the current fiscal year’s budget estimate.

The decrease, he said, further stresses the need for prioritization and doing more with less in the 2016, just as works and infrastructure tops his budget witn N30bn.

“In the coming fiscal year, Capital Expenditure is projected at N52.8bn while Recurrent Expenditure will be N48.6bn,” he said, stressing that these figures imply a Capital to Recurrent Expenditure ratio of 52:48 as against 67:33 in the current year. 

Equally, during the 2016 fisca year, Gov. Obiano said his administration will be totally focused and committed to aggressive development of the “Economic Pillars and Enablers.”

Obiano assured he would continue to partner with the private sector to deliver on economic objectives in the areas of agriculture, industry, trade and commerce as well as oil  and gas.

“While our economic enablers will require a great deal of public sector financing and support; we shall not relent in this area,” he assured.

Some key budgetary allocations for Gov. Obiano in 2016 include “ Works & Infrastructure – N30.0 billion;  Education – N3.0 billion;   Health – N2.45 billion; Public Utilities – N1.8 billion; and Agriculture (Rural Development) – N1.02 billion.”

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +ITRealms DSA @WillieIsWorking

 

ITREALMS ... everything news digitally!