Nation
Senate Passes N315bn NDDC Budget
The Senate yesterday passed the N315.8 billion 2013 Budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary session, decried the continuous late presentation of the budget by the commission and its subsequent late passage.
He advised the NDDC to ensure that it submitted its budget early enough to enhance quick passage and to enable implementing agencies to execute the budget in time.
Meanwhile, the Senate, yesterday in Abuja, approved President Goodluck Jonathan’s request to extend the state of emergency imposed on Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, for another six months.
The Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP-Cross River), had moved the motion entitled: “Request for Extension of State of Emergency.”
He recalled that the Senate passed a resolution on May 21, following which the President declared the state of emergency. This was in order to curb militant insurgency and restore peace in the three states.
Ndoma-Egba said the approval of the extension was based on the same terms and conditions that were earlier approved and gazetted.
The Senators invited service chiefs and the Supervising Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mrs Viola Onwuleri, to further brief the upper chamber on the impact the state of emergency had had on the three states.
The extension of State of Emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states by President Goodluck Jonathan was greeted with mixed feeling by the people of Adamawa.
President Goodluck Jonathan on November 6 wrote to the National Assembly seeking its approval to extend the emergency rule imposed on the three states experiencing the activities of insurgents.
The letter followed the expiration of the six months emergency rule earlier declared in the states in May.
Buba Ardo, a resident of Mubi said that he was happy with the return of peace to the area.
He, however, said he would want to see the emergency rule lifted for so that people, particularly the border communities, could go about their daily activities.
“I am not happy with the proposed extension of state of emergency, it should be removed while the army should remain to patrol the area,” Ardo said.
Also speaking, the Adamawa Secretary of Jamatul Nasril Islam (JNI), Alhaji Gambo Jika, said he was delighted that peace had returned to the state.
“As far as we are concerned in Adamawa, things have normalised except if there are certain things the security agencies see that we cannot see,” Jika said.
Also speaking in the same vein, Mallam Abdullahi Damare, Coordinator of North East Interfaith Mediation Centre, said it was high time the emergency rule was lifted.
He said the security situation in the state had improved to the extent that the emergency rule was no longer necessary.
The Adamawa Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Moses Taparki, also lauded the return of peace and normalcy in the state.
He, however, said it was the duty of the security agencies to decide if things were normal enough to lift the emergency rule.
“If they (security) feel the situation has improve to warrant the removal of the state of emergency they should go ahead to do it but if they feel otherwise so be it”, Taparki said.
Meanwhile, the Director Press Affairs to Gov. Murtala Nyako, Mallam Ahmed Sajoh, has said the Adamawa government was not in support of the extension of the emergency rule.
He said rather than a blanket extension, the security agencies should consider the security situation on state-by-state basis.
The Chairman of Malumfashi Local Government Council of Katsina State, Maharazu Dayi, has been impeached.
Maharazu Dayi was impeached yesterday by 11 out of 12 councillors, barely two days before the local government elections in the State.
The councillors reportedly took action following allegations of misconduct and poor governance against the chairman after a dispute over the distribution of the council’s Paris Club funds.
The development has sent shock waves across the local government area, especially as the impeached chairman is among those who failed to secure the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest in the forthcoming election.
The Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association, Mile 1, Port Harcourt, has urged the state government to utilise the available spaces within the area to build phase 3 of the Rumuwoji Market in order to solve the ever increasing needs of traders.
The association, which said this at a media briefing in Port Harcourt, also described as a welcomed development the decision by the state Governor to open the phase 2 of the market for business.
According to the association, “We consider it as an answer to the various cries of the people, because he is a man on a mission who is out to place the interest of Rivers people first. It is a dream come true for the first time for the market to be dully allocated and open for business”
Chairman of the association, Hon Godspower Wobo, who briefed the press shortly after a meeting of the association in Port Harcourt, also urged the public to disregard the activities of some persons whose stock in trade is to cause disaffection in the market.
He said the attention of the association was drawn to the activities of some strange fellows who went about misforming the people about situation in the market, stressing that apart from his association, no other group exists in the market except subdiary unions.
Wobo also tasked the reallocation committee to tread with caution so as to avoid being deceived by any group.
According to him, time has come for the state government to engage in robust discussion with aggrieved shop owners who went to court and those who paid monies to the state coffers and issued with allocation certificates for the overall interest of peace.
He also advised the public to deal directly with his association, stressing that the meeting was to review activities for the last year as well as unveil their new Constitution.
Also speaking, former Chairman of the association, Deacon Kenneth Eze urged the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara to open the phase 2 of the market, as it is long overdue.
Eze who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the association also urged the public to do business with only the Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association as it is the only union recognised by the traders.
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwunmi Adesina, has debunked reports linking him with the race for Nigeria’s presidency in 2027.
Reacting to the report on his X handle yesterday, following a recent interview with Arise TV, the AfDB boss said his quotes were misrepresented and misinterpreted in several Nigerian media reports.
However, the AfDB president denied the media reports, stating that he never said that he wanted to contest for President.
“A segment of my recent interview on @Arise TV has been both misinterpreted and misrepresented in several Nigerian media outlets. What I said was, “I will be available to serve in any capacity, globally, in Africa, anywhere, including my own country.”
“A listen to the substantive and robust interview, which is available online, will show this to be the case. For clarity and for the record, I did not say that I am running for the office of President of Nigeria,” Adesina said.