Category Nigeria News

The 2024 budget’s significant imbalance between recurrent and capital expenditures, which the National Assembly raised, highlights the insufficient release of funds for capital projects in Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

The Senate and House Committees on Appropriations’ chairpersons, along with the Presidential Economic Team, were the subjects of a joint session that made this known.

The lawmakers’ revelations revealed that the overall performance of the 2024 budget was only 43%, with only 25% of capital expenditure coming from recurrent expenditures.

READ ALSO: &nbsp, Court Assumes Jurisdiction To Hear Charge Against Emefiele

Senator Solomon Adeola and Honorable Abubakar Birchi, chairpersons of the Senate and House Committees, both called for urgent measures to increase funding for capital projects, stressing that these projects directly affect the majority of the population, in contrast to recurrent expenditures that only provide a small portion of the population.

Senator Adeola further&nbsp, advocates a&nbsp, reduction of&nbsp, the current 80% allocation for recurrent expenditure to a more balanced 60% for recurrent and 40% for capital, arguing&nbsp, that capital projects are vital for economic growth and public welfare, underscoring&nbsp, the need for immediate fund releases to prevent project abandonment and support the president’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

Honourable Birchi, who also echoed this position, urged the government to prioritize funding for essential infrastructure projects such as schools, roads, dams, and hospitals, which serve the broader population, rather than focusing on debt repayments.

Wale Edun, the minister of finance, acknowledged the imminent capital releases but warned against unsustainable spending practices that have led to economic problems in other nations in response. He assured us that once funds are secured, warrants will be issued.

Chijioke Okwuokenye, the Managing Director (MD) of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), has clarified the power interruption in the nation’s capital. &nbsp,

He claimed on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily program on Wednesday that the majority of Abuja’s major cities are affected because they typically receive 20 to 24 hours of supply each day.

“Averagely, we’ve been able to achieve about 16 hours in most of these areas that we are talking about”, he added, saying that there won’t be blackout entirely in the nation’s capital but “availability is going to be reduced. To reach the already-acquired areas, we must reduce the available capacity.

The transmission station was closed, according to Okwuokenye, as a result of a nearby road project that is pending.

According to police, two teenage sisters were detained in Pakistan on Wednesday after allegedly raping their father by setting him on fire as retaliation.

On January 1, the father was attacked in Gujranwala, Punjab, and taken to a hospital where he passed away on Tuesday.

“The girls said that they decided amongst themselves to find a ‘ permanent solution'”, Rizwan Tariq, a senior police official in the city, told AFP.

Then, according to him, they blew their father’s motorcycle while he was sleeping and lit it on fire.

READ ALSO: DHQ confirms that six soldiers were killed by ISWAP terrorists during a raid in Borno.

The pair, who are step-sisters, said their father had been raping the eldest girl for a year, and had twice attempted to rape the younger girl.

Their mothers, who are both married to the man, were aware of the abuse but were unaware of the plan for retribution.

In order to protect the identities of the girls, one of whom is a former marion, the AFP has not given a name to the man.

While the second wife is being interrogated, one of the wives has also been detained.

“We expect to present them before the court in a few days, as soon as we finish the investigation”, Tariq added.

Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has approved the release of N1.4 billion for the immediate dualization of 1.9km road from Ngomari junction to Muhammadu Buhari International Airport, Maiduguri.

At the Government House’s maiden state executive council meeting, approval was given.

Briefing journalists at the end of the Council’s deliberations, Commissioner for Works, Mustapha Gubio, said the road network will ease movement of people in and out of the airport which will soon commence international flight operations.

More roads and drainages would be carried out across the three senatorial districts this fiscal year, according to Gubio, aside from the N1.4 billion that was approved for the dualization of the Gomari Junction to Muhammadu Buhari International Airport and the Hajj Operational Unit at the airport.

READ ALSO: National Air Carrier Will Be Birthed Soon, FG Assures Nigerians

Following the devastating flood disaster, which hacked ominously wreaked havoc on crucial infrastructure in the state, Gubio claimed that various roads and drainage have been completed throughout the state. This included installing asphaltic structures on numerous washed-away roads.

As more money is being given to the sector, Professor Baba Malam Gana, the commissioner for health and human services, made the comment that his government is determined to meet the demand for universal health care.

He emphasized that more medical doctors, nurses, and midwives would be trained to provide modern medical services as more hospitals and clinics would be rebuilt, equipped for proper diagnosis and treatment across the state, with the governor’s allocation of 15% of the total state budget to the health sector.

“The state has lost 45% of its institutions due to insurgency, hence the need to reconstruct and build more health facilities. This year, more front-line health workers will be produced, according to Gana, who added that the two nursing colleges in Monguno and Gwoza will be finished.

Two Nigerians, Olutayo Sunday Ogunlaja, 39, and Abel Adeyi Daramola, 37 will face a combined 40-year jail term for participating in a romance scam. &nbsp, &nbsp,

A statement by the US Attorney, Alexander Uballez and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, revealed through the Department of Justice, the duo were convicted following a four-day trial and less than three hours of deliberation.

“According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the scheme, which began in January 2016, involved the creation of a fictitious persona named” Glenn Brown “on the dating website eHarmony.com. Olutayo Sunday Ogunlaja, 39, and Abel Adeyi Daramola, 37, both Nigerian nationals, worked with another individual who used this fake profile to initiate a romantic relationship with a victim in Albuquerque, New Mexico and subsequently request money from them”, the statement read in part.

The victim was misled into believing that their financial support was required for “Glenn Brown” to finish a allegedly construction project in Malaysia and then safely return to the United States throughout the course of the fraud.

The victim sent approximately $560, 000 to various accounts in the United States, Canada, and Malaysia between January 2016 and April 2017.

READ ALSO: Kanu Rejects FG’s Request For Trial Resumption, Insists On Change Of Judge

On September 27, 2016, the victim wired approximately $28, 000 to a Woodforest Bank account in the name of Daramola Cars, as instructed by the fraudulent “Glenn Brown” persona. A seafood importer in Denmark was later given a check for $ 18, 000 by Daragola, which was then issued with a $ 14, 000 check.

Daramola denied knowing about the romance scheme, but the FBI said extensive evidence, including text and WhatsApp messages, revealed his role as a provider of bank accounts for various fraud schemes, including romance fraud schemes.

Ogunlaja’s involvement included obtaining fraudulent funds from his Bank of America account.

Specifically, on March 9 and March 15, 2016, the FBI said “Glenn Brown” instructed the victim to deposit $20, 000 cash into Ogunlaja’s account.

Following these deposits, Ogunlaja&nbsp, made multiple cash withdrawals and transfers to Daramola’s account.

Following the verdict, the court ordered that Ogunlaja and Daramola remain on conditions of release pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled.

The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, was charged with accepting gratification, corrupt demand, and receiving property inadvertently from the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja.

According to the evidence presented in the case file, Justice Rahman Oshodi’s ruling on Wednesday concluded that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had successfully established territorial jurisdiction to hear counts 8 to 20 of the 26-count charges brought against the former CBN Governor.

The court, however, agreed with lawyers to Emefiele, that counts 1 to 4 of the charge are unconstitutional, as they are not based on any existing laws in Nigeria.

READ ALSO: EFCC Asks Court To Strike Out Emefiele’s Application On Jurisdiction

On the basis of alleged abuse of office and irregular allocation of $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion, respectively, the EFCC arraigned Emefiele on April 8, 2024.

In counts 1 through 4 and 8 to 26 along with counts 8 to 26, which are all alleged abuses of office, contrary to and punishable by Section 73 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2011, accepting gratification, contrary to and punishable by Section 8 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000, receiving fraudulently obtained property, contrary to and punishable by Section 328 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2011, and granting corrupt advantage, contrary to Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences

Justice Oshodi noted in his ruling that while counts 1 through 4 relate to the general offence of abuse of office as defined by criminal law, the specific conduct alleged in those counts is not deemed to be an offence by any written law at all. Consequently, the court struck out these counts.

Regarding counts 8 to 26, the judge emphasised that by applying established legal principles, the evidence presented was sufficient to affirm the court’s territorial jurisdiction.

Justice Oshodi made it clear that Emefiele’s allegations against her are unsubstantiated and that this conclusion is only applicable to the jurisdictional objection.

After that, Justice Rahman Oshodi decided that Emefiele’s objection to the court’s territorial jurisdiction over counts 8 to 26 was rejected, noting that the prosecution has established a sufficient territorial nexus to compel her to answer the charges.