Politics

Lagos Assembly Decries Naira Depreciation

Published

11 months ago

February 14, 2024

The Lagos State House of Assembly has passed a resolution to decry the continued depreciation in the value of the naira against the U.S dollars.
The house passed the resolution at a plenary presided over by the Speaker, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, yesterday.
The lawmakers said the free fall of the naira was worrisome, calling for urgent interventions to reverse the trend.
The lawmakers commended the apex bank for taking some measures to address the problem,expressing the hope that such actions would yield positive results.
Commenting, Obasa advised the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to take some bold steps to salvage the local currency.
The Speaker said the Federal Government could strengthen the naira by reducing foreign trips for seminars and conferences by Ministries ,Departments and Agencies.
Obasa urged states could also help to save the naira by stopping foreign trips for conferences and seminars .
He said: “To save the naira, the federal government and states can stop foreign conferences and seminars.
“If possible, we can bring the resource persons to Nigeria to deliver their lectures. We all need to look inward to support the government.
“Locally, some people in Nigeria doing businesses demand dollars instead of naira. Even at parties now, you see people spray dollars instead of naira.
“We need a way out and to do this, we need the support of citizens. That’s the essence of sensitisation.”
Obasa suggested that depositors of dollars in banks could be engaged for an acceptable arrangement where such funds could be utilised by the government to help reduce pressure on the naira.
He further commended the National Assembly for inviting the CBN governor for discussion on the problem recently.
Obasa urged the government to regulate religious pilgrimages to reduce pressure on the naira.
According to him, this action could be sustained until the naira stabilises.
Speaking earlier under ‘Matter of Urgent Public Importance’, Mr Femi Saheed (Kosofe II) said the current naira-dollar disparity was the direct consequence of the policies of the Godwin Emefiele-led CBN.
According to him, the naira will gain strength if measures such as fixing the nation’s refineries, strengthening the education and health sectors are implemented
“I think the current CBN governor should work on moral suasion to get people to pull out the dollars in their domiciliary account as a step to save the naira” he said.

Politics

APP Wants INEC To Conduct By-Election To Fill Rivers Assembly Vacant Seats

Published

4 mins ago

January 10, 2025

The Tide

The Chairman of Action Peoples Party (APP) in Rivers State, Hon Sunny Wokekoro, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) to conduct by-election to fill the vacant seats of the 27 lawmakers who defected from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress. (APC).

He stated that INEC’s delay to conduct the election was also contributing to the political crisis in the State and becoming worrisome, saying that the recent judgement had confirmed the defection of the embattled 27 lawmakers in Rivers State House of Assembly led by Martins Amaewhule.

Hon. Wokekoro said this while reacting to the recent court judgement by Justice Sika Aprioku that dismissed the suit seeking to compel Governor Siminalayi Fubara to re-present the N800 billion 2024 budget to the 27 lawmakers.

According to him, the judgement had clearly mentioned that the Gov. Fubara was right to have presented the 2024 and 2025 budgets to the Rt Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo led Assembly.

“As a party we are calling on INEC to immediately conduct another election to the seats vacated by the 27 lawmakers following their defection.

“The party will explore the possibility of legal action to compel INEC to conduct the election if our call is not adhered to.

“The judgement has authenticated and confirmed that the Governor has the constitutional right to present both the 2024 and 2025 budgets to Rt. Hon. Oko-Jumbo”, Hon. Wokekoro said.

He expressed the confidence that the APP was poised to win all the seats, adding that the party has credible persons that have the capacity to achieve electoral success.

“Our party is one of the fastest growing parties currently in the country; it is the party to beat at any election”, he stated.

The APP boss noted that the respective constituencies of the defected members were deprived of representation in the state house of assembly as presently headed by the Rt Hon. Oko- Jumbo and enjoined all political parties to join hands in demanding for INEC to immediately conduct a bye election to fill the vacant seats occasioned by the defection.

The party chairman used the opportunity to laud the governor’s approach to developing the state, especially by not borrowing money to execute projects.

Tonye Orabere

Politics

NASS Sets Date For 2025 Budget Passage

Published

3 hours ago

January 10, 2025

The Tide

The National Assembly has set Jan. 31 as the tentative date for passage of the N49.7 trillion 2025 appropriation bill presented to its joint session by President Bola Tinubu on Dec. 18, 2024.

Chairman, Senate committee on appropriations, Sen. Solomon Adeola, stated this on Monday in Abuja at a meeting with the chairmen of standing committees in the Senate.

According to him, Jan. 31 is the date for laying of reports on the appropriation bill before the Senate and the House of Representatives.

He said upon resumption from Christmas and New Year break on Jan. 14, both chambers of the national assembly would suspend plenary for two weeks for budget defence by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

Sen. Adeola also said that NASS had fixed Jan. 9 for an open day on the budget to enable various stakeholders, aside heads of MDAs, to make inputs on the budget.

“A tentative time table has been drawn for consideration of the budget at committee level.

“Budget defence sessions begin from Jan. 7, while reports from various committees are expected to be submitted from 15th to 18th of this month.

“Afterwards, collation and tidying up of the various reports will be done by the appropriation committee, with the hope of laying final report on the budget at the Senate on 31st of this month.

“However, the 31st of January fixed for laying of the budget is tentative, as it is just given to guide our work,” he said.

The principal officers of the Senate who attended the meeting included: the Deputy Leader, Sen. Lola Ashiru and Senate Whip, Sen. Tahir Monguno.

They said that the timeframe for consideration and passage of the 2025 budget by the national assembly was short.

They, however, expressed hope on the timely passage of the budget.

The committee, thereafter, went into a closed door session with chairmen of the various standing committees in the Senate.

Politics

NGO Passes Confidence Vote On Fubara Over Dev Strides

Published

4 weeks ago

December 13, 2024

The Tide

A grassroots organisation known as Sir Siminalayi Fubara Peace Initiative, Friends For Good Governance, has passed a confidence vote on the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara over his development strides in the state within a short time in office.
Apart from the numerous development projects embarked upon by the governor in the state, the body expressed delight over the recent payment of N85,000.00 minimum wage to civil servants in the State to reduce the economic burden of workers and their dependants.
Spokesperson of the organisation, Chief Felix Ologara, who addressed newsmen in Bori, headquarters of Khana Local Government Area described Governor Fubara’s administration as the most compassionate, peace-loving and labour-friendly in Nigeria.
Coordinator of the NGO, Comrade Felix Nnaa, also lauded the governor of Rivers State for staying focused on the development of the state despite the challenges by detractors of his administration.
The NGO also commended the newly elected local government chairmen in the state, particularly the chairman of Khana LGA, Hon Martin Nwigbo and his Tai counterpart, Hon Mathew Dike for modelling their leadership style after Governor Fubara’s in providing essential services to the people.
On his part, the Chairman of Khana Local Government Area, Hon. Martins Nwigbo, who also spoke with the press assured that his administration will give priority attention to the development of Khana, particularly in providing security, economic empowerment, human capital development and restoration of power in the area.