The Federal Government had made it clear that it would sell or give some national assets to raise funds to finance the 2023 budget deficit of N10.78 trillion.
Our heritage reporter reports other ways the federal government is looking to raise revenue for the budget are through borrowing and project-specific loans.
President Muhammdu Buhari revealed the plan on Friday while presenting the Appropriation Bill of N20.51 trillion for 2023 to the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The budget includes N2.42 trillion in spending by government-owned enterprises. It is also about N3 trillion higher than the 2022 budget.
National Assets for sale in 2022 Earlier in the year the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) announced the sale or concession of 42 assets across the country. The Vanguard reports that some of the listed assets include the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) and Olorunsogo II Power Plant, among 42 transactions to be undertaken this year.
The transactions are 11 in the Energy Sector, 10 in the Industries and Services Sector, eight in the Agriculture and Natural Services Sector, and 13 in the Infrastructure and Public Private Partnership (IPPP) sector.
Full list
Olorunsogo II Power Plant (NIPP) Calabar II power plant (NIPP)
Benin (Ihovbor) II Power Plant (NIPP) Omotosho II Power Plant (NIPP)
Geregu II Power Plant (NIPP)
Afam Power and Afam Three Fast Power Ltd
Yola Electricity Distribution Company Zungeru Hydro Power
Nigerian Film Corporation
NITEL/MTEL In-liquidation
Abuja Water Board (AWB);
Abuja International Conference Centre Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB)
Save Sugar Company (SSC) Divestment of FGN Shares
Nigeria Hotel Ltd (In-Liquidation)
Partial Commercialisation of River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs).
*ATANI–OZUBULU ROAD AND FOUR OTHERS AWARDED BY ANSEC*
In furtherance of Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo’s promise to provide Anambra State people with a network of quality roads, Anambra State Executive Council (ANSEC) has again approved the construction of a set of five roads.
The Atani – Ozubulu road which has been impassable for many years was awarded for construction. The road which is a strategic bypass through which travellers can connect Owerri road without entering Onitsha town is 11.37 kilometres long and 7.3 meters wide. The road will be completed in 18 months by TAMAD Construction Ltd at the cost of N7,638,018,067.72 (seven billion, six hundred and thirty-eight million, eight thousand, sixty-seven naira, seventy kobo).
The contract for Isaho, Umuezeagu to permanent site, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) road, Umudim, Nnewi with a total length of 2.225 kilometres and width of 10.3 meters was also awarded by ANSEC. The work will be done by CBC Global Civil and Building Construction Nigeria Limited at the sum of N1,190,337,952.66 (one billion, one hundred and ninety million, three hundred and thirty-seven thousand, nine hundred and fifty-two naira, sixty-six kobo, and will be finished within 8 months.
The rehabilitation of Awka Etiti-Ichida-Nkwo Igboukwu section of Nnobi-Ekwulobia Federal highway that has a distance of 1.585 kilometres and average width of 10.3 metres was awarded to New Idea Construction Company Limited at the sum of N431,819,189.86 (four hundred and thirty-one million, eight hundred and nineteen thousand, one hundred and eighty-nine naira, eighty-six kobo). The contract is expected to be executed in 5 weeks.
The construction works at Umuagbuchi Eziama erosion road in Uli, Ihiala Local Government Area was revalidated. Measuring 2.6 kilometres long and 10 metres wide, the contract was re-awarded to Messrs Anyi Supreme Industry Limited at the sum of N580,000,000 (five hundred and eighty million naira).
Benejaf International Ltd won the contract to control the gully erosion at Ebenator, Nnewi South Local Government Area which is 1.80 kilometres, 30 metres wide and 16 meters deep. The contract value is N612,225,501.38 (six hundred and twelve million, two hundred and twenty-five thousand, five hundred and one naira, thirty-eight kobo) and the job will be completed in 6 months
Signed
SIR PAUL NWOSU
Commissioner for Information
President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigerians have no reason to complain of hunger as there are farm lands in the country and God has blessed us with rain.
The president reportedly said this on Wednesday during an interview with Tambarin Hausa TV, in Kano State.
Speaking in the interview, Buhari said that one of the policies he undertook upon assuming office in 2015 was to block the Nigerian borders from food importation and force people back to farm.
“I took that decision to stop rice importation and said we should farm what we eat or d#e of hunger. I said that since we have farm land and God has blessed us with rain, what reason does a Nigerian have to say he’s hungry?
If you are hungry, go to the farm. I’m aware that floods have ravaged some farmlands this season but we are still selling rice made in Nigeria, and we can feed ourselves. Is that not an achievement?
We have workers who left their air-conditioned offices and went into farming, and they had bounty harvests. So, we are grateful,” he said.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Friday, ordered an interim forfeiture of 40 landed properties belonging to the embattled former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who is currently in custody in the United Kingdom.
The trial Judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo made the order following an ex-parte motion marked, FHC/ABJ/CS/1242/2022 filed and moved by Ibrahim Buba on behalf of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In a short ruling on the exparte motion according to Tribune Newspaper, the Judge ordered the anti-graft agency to publish the interim forfeiture order of the properties in a national daily within seven days from the date the order was given.
Justice Ekwo specifically asked anybody interested in the properties covered by the interim forfeiture order to indicate within 14 days of the publication of the interim forfeiture order of the court.
Justice Ekwo adjourned till December 5, 2022, for a report, if there is any objection from any member of the public regarding the properties.
The interim forfeiture order covers 10 Ekweremadu’s properties in Enugu, three in the United States of America (USA), two in the United Kingdom (UK), one in Lagos, nine in Dubai, and 15 located in the Federal Capital Territory.
By the ruling, members of the public interested in the properties, covered by the interim forfeiture order should, within 14 days of the newspaper publication, inform the court why the properties should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
The former Deputy Senate President and his wife are currently standing trial in the United Kingdom over alleged organ harvest.
Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has said that sex education should not be taught in schools because it’s targeted at undermining and destroying the moral and religious fiber of our society.
In his keynote address at the 66th National Council on Education (NCE) meeting in Abuja, on Thursday, November 3, the minister said that all available evidences indicated that sex education in schools does more harm than good to the students.
Adding that he has directed the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to quickly review the curriculum and expunge any sexual education content in curriculum being used in schools in Nigeria.
According to him, “While I accompanied the President to his recent trip to the New York, one highly placed government official called my attention to certain materials on sex education being used in schools, and I almost collapsed because I never expected that.
I am one of those persons who believe that sex education should not be taught in our schools. Rather, such knowledge and experience should shared through other means that are known to man.
For me, there are three ways through which sex education could profitably be impacted on adults. First is instinctual. Instinct will be the first teacher for you as regards sex and several other things when the time comes.
The second way is through the process of socialization. Many other things that are not taught in schools or at home comes through the process of socialization which most often, are acquired through interactions or engagements with peers.
Then the third way is through the religious and cultural instructions. From all indications, the increasing advocacy for sex education in schools is targeted at undermining and destroying the moral and religious fiber of our society. Regrettably, it’s being promoted through the social media and other forms of westernization.”
The United States Army has promoted a woman of Nigerian descent, Amanda Azubuike, from Lieutenant Colonel to Brigadier General at a military base in Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA.
Born in London, United Kingdom, to Nigerian parents, Azubuike joined the US Army in 1994 and became an aviator after passing the Army Aviation Officer Basic Course.
Commenting on her leadership qualities, US Army Futures Command Commander, General James Rainey, stated that Azubuike “makes everyone around her better.”
After her aviation career, which spanned 11 years, she continued her career in the Army as a public affairs and relations officer.
Azubuike currently serves as a Deputy Commanding Officer at the US Army Cadet Command and previously served as a Chief of Staff/Senior Military Advisor at the Office of the Secretary of Defense. She was also Chief of Public Affairs at the United States Southern Command, Fort Lauderdale Area, and the Director of Public Affairs, Joint Force HQs-National Capital Region/Military District of Washington.
Presidential Candidate oftheLabourParty (LP), Mr Peter Obi, has said he would dialogue with themembers ofthe proscribed Indigenous Peoples ofBiafra (IPOB) and other agitators to restore peace in the country if elected president come February 25, 2023.
Obi, a former governorof Anambra State stated this while responding to questions on insecurity in thecountry at the corporate headquarters ofthe Media Trust Group (MTG), owners of Daily Trust titles and Trust TV in Abuja. IPOB is a separatist organisation in Nigeria, which claims that its main aim is to restore an independent stateof Biafra in the old Eastern Region ofthe country, comprising mainly today’s South-East and South-South regions.
The group was founded in 2012 by Nnamdi Kanu, a British-Nigerian known for his advocacy ofthecontemporary Biafran independence movement.
It was designated a terrorist organisation in 2017 under theNigerian Terrorism Act and subsequently, Kanu was arrested and taken to court over terrorism-related offences.
The group had been accused of killing security operatives, politicians, traditional rulers and ordinary citizens. Its members were also fingered in thedestruction of symbols of authority like policestations and INEC offices, among others.
In other parts ofthe country, theBoko Haram/ISWAP fighters have been raging war against theNigerianstate for over 13 years while activities of militants occasioned by oil theft have denied Nigeriatheopportunity to benefit from its oil wealth. In the North West, bandits have been terrorising the people ofthegeopolitical zone.
My approach will be different’
While answering questions after his visit to Media Trust, Obi said, “I have said it times without number, Nigeria does not have more agitation than Brazil, if you want I will show you countries that have had agitations in the past, whether it is Brazil, Mexico, whether it is this.
“In our South East, it is a simple thing, I will dialogue, I will discuss, it is a democracy, and in a democracy, you govern by consensus. If anybody says he is not happy, you call him and you sit him down and discuss with him.
People agitate in my house, my wife, my children. If you say to me you have lived with your wife all through and you people have never quarrelled, then you are not married. You disagree and settle it – that is agitation.”
If elected, Obi said he would govern by consensus and listen to all for smooth administration ofthe country.
“I will govern by listening to the people. I will visit every state in Nigeria. We have a huge land in theNorth that if properly invested and cultivated, will change Nigeria. The more I pull people out of poverty, the more I reduce agitation, the more I reduce criminality. What you are seeing in Nigeria today is a cumulative effect of leadership failure over the years and all I want to do is to be seen to be that man who changed this country called Nigeria,” he said.
Asked whether he shares the federal government’s position in designating IPOB as a terrorist organisation, he said, “I don’t want to go into that place. I have told you, I will dialogue with anybody, anything they like let them call you, I will meet and we discuss.
“I don’t like the way people were treated during theEndSARS, I will apologise. We must have a country ofhealing and love; that is what leadership in a democracy is.
I am going to meet people in the North, I am going to meet people everywhere and say come, let’s be a family. I want Nigerians to be proud that they are Nigerians. What we have now is we have a country called Nigeria but we don’t have Nigerians. I want to bring back Nigerians.”
‘I’m not Igbo candidate’
While urging Nigerians to vote for him, he said he is not an Igbo candidate but the most qualified candidate among the 18 flagbearers.
“I am contesting as a Nigerian, I don’t want people to vote for me because I am an Igbo man or because I am from South East because people don’t buy bread cheaper because they are from that zone.
“I don’t want anybody to vote for me because I am a Christian; I don’t want them to vote because it is my turn, it is not inheritance. It is the turn ofNigerians to take back their country. I want them to vote for me because of character and competence, I have thecapacity, I have the commitment, I am qualified,” he said.
The Federal Government only paid lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities for 18 working days in the month of October.
Lecturers and senior members of ASUU, who spoke to PUNCH under strict confidence noted that the government only paid half salaries.
AMILOADED had reported how ASUU called off its eight-month-old strike on October 14, 2022. Lecturers were encouraged to resume back to work by the union on that same day.
Speaking with newsmen, a senior member of the National Executive Council, said, “We were only paid for the days after the strike. I received a half salary. Other members are angry right now, they are blaming the NEC for calling off the strike.”
Another member, who confirmed the development, said, “Yes, it is true, I received half salary. It seems the government is set to kill unionism in the country but we are ready for them.”
Gov Wike has committed executive recklessness ! Gov Wike has the opportunity of building the database of River state indigenes and be paying all the unemployed people living wage ,including the aged .
He has the opportunity of building agricultural and industrial estates where people will be gainfully employed and productive. What is really wrong with our Leaders ? Gov Wike has shown how to encourage consumption . Our political leaders are just wasteful.
GGM will continue to show our people how to build a sane and productive society.
Nigeria’s INEC Playing Ethno-Religious Card And Incapable Of Conducting Inclusive, Secure, Free, Fair And Credible Presidential Election In 2023
…Intersociety disclosed in a letter to sixteen US Congress Committee Chairs and Ranking Members
Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria: Thursday, Nov 3, 2022
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), Nigeria’s leading independent and not-for-profit research and investigative Democracy and Human Rights organization since 2010 had internationally told sixteen top US Congress Committee Chairs and Ranking Members drawn from the United States’ Senate and House of Representatives that ‘Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is notoriously playing ethno-religious card and incapable of conducting inclusive, pluralistic, secure, free, fair and credible Presidential Election in Nigeria, fixed for 25th Feb 2023’. That is to say that all international promises by Nigeria’s INEC to hold “free, fair and credible polls in 2023” are hoax and do not contain an iota of truth or seriousness. However, Intersociety makes bold to say that the only exception to the above is for INEC to be internationally compelled through a firm threat of withdrawal of multimillion dollar funding supports, sanction and blacklisting to mandatorily and timely issue Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) to 29.5m registered voters denied PVCs since 2019 and 31st July 2022 as well as compelling the Commission to totally flush out estimated 20m ghost or fictitious identities, underage and illegal migrants from the National Register of Voters. Fearfully, going by the statistical realities on ground including bureaucratic entanglements, chronic armchair and carefree attitudes and recalcitrance of the Commission, this exception is almost an act of impossibility or dead on arrival.
Intersociety had also stated in its letter that Nigeria’s INEC’s preparations for the crucial 2023 Presidential Poll especially as they concerned non-discrimination, inclusiveness and pluralism have been dealt a devastating blow by the Commission including by dangerously disenfranchising 77.4m Nigerian citizens of voting age through one ethnically and religiously motivated discriminatory bureaucratic conduct or the other. This was statistically the case during the country’s 2021/2022 Continuous Voters’ Registration (CVR) exercise; to the extent that “30m citizens of voting age were never registered; and out of 27.4m citizens that struggled under the rain and the sun to be registered, 18.1m got disenfranchised or had their registrations destroyed”. These, Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission perpetrated and perpetuated inexcusably, frivolously and irrelevantly. The 77.4m disenfranchised citizens of voting age are strongly projected to be from Nigeria’s estimated 120m truly Nigerian voting population including: 30m unregistered citizens of voting age, 18.1m registered voting citizens whose registrations were destroyed by INEC, 20m registered voters denied PVCs since 2019 and 9.5m newly registered voters yet to be issued with PVCs since 31st July 2022.
Further, several independent findings by Intersociety and others supported by pieces of verified video, pictorial and textual evidence have also indicated that Nigeria’s INEC has systematically flooded the National Register of Voters with millions of ghost or fictitious identities, underage children and illegal migrants as “registered voters for 2023 Presidential Poll”, with number currently estimated at 20m. Nigeria’s INEC is also mindlessly engaging in another round of massive disenfranchisement by denying a total of 29.5m registered voters PVCs. This is to the extent that there are still no fewer than 20m registered Nigerian voters without PVCs since 2019 as well as 9.5m newly registered voters registered between 28th June 2021 and 31st July 2022 who are yet to be issued with PVCs less than four months to the crucial 2023 Presidential Poll. Nigeria’s INEC was investigated and found to have played ethnic and religious card as far as preparations for 2023 Presidential Poll are concerned. Apart from clear discriminatory and segregated CVR exercise, the Commission applied same despicable policies and methods in the 2015, 2019 and 2022 distribution of PVCs; to the extent of 50% PVC distribution for South/non Muslims and 90% for North/non Christians. It was further discovered that the chief motive of the Commission in all this is to conduct the 2023 Presidential Poll with substantial number of the 2019 registered voting population independently and widely criticized for being highly disproportionate in the context of Nigeria’s multi ethnic and religious groupings and their voting populations.
Therefore, it is most likely correct to say that as it stands today, out of the so called “93.5m registered voters in Nigeria for 2023 General Polls”, according to INEC, the number of truly Nigerians with PVCs is 44m which does not include 29.5m without PVCs and independently estimated 20m ghost or fictitious identities, underage children and illegal migrants captured as “registered voters for 2023 General Elections in Nigeria”. Fears are also very high that the 44m truly Nigerians with PVCs are not ethnically and religiously proportionate or equitably represented along Christian-Muslim lines. For record and intellectual purposes, the statistics supporting Intersociety’s international letter to the sixteen top US Congress Committee Chairs and Ranking Members are drawn from a 24-Page Special Investigative Report on Illegalities of INEC ahead of Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Poll, supported with 43 Statistical References. The Special Investigative Report was concluded by Intersociety on 26th Oct 2022 after five months of compilation (June-Oct 2022), featuring critical evaluation and analysis of INEC’s released statistics and related policy statements from the Commission and other Government agencies including inter-agency bodies (military, police, etc), CSOs, diplomatic bodies, media reports, etc. Included are INEC’s statistics relating to 2015 and 2019 Continuous Voters’ Registration exercises, their Permanent Voters’ Card distribution and collated Presidential Elections’ Results’ from 36 States and the FCT including those that voted with PVCs and others who voted outside voting biometrics or without PVCs.
Intersociety’s letter to the sixteen US Congressional Committee Chairs and Ranking Members was dated 26th Oct 2022 and successfully delivered to them as follows: Honorable Robert Menendez, Chair, Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate; Honorable Jim Risch, Ranking Member, Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Honorable Richard Durbin, Chair, Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate; Honorable Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Honorable Pat Leahy, Chair, Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate; Honorable Richard Shelby, Ranking Member, Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, Honorable Sherrod Brown, Chair, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, United States Senate, Honorable Pat Toomey, Ranking Member, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, United States Senate; Honorable Gregory Meeks, Chair, Committee on Foreign Relations, United States House of Representatives; Honorable Michael McCaul, Ranking Member, Committee on Foreign Relations, United States House of Representatives, Honorable Jerold Nadler, Chair, Committee on the Judiciary, United States House of Representatives, Honorable Jim Jordan, Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary, United States House of Representatives, Honorable Rosa L. DeLauro, Chair, Committee on Appropriations, United States House of Representatives, Honorable Kay Granger, Ranking Member, Committee on Appropriations, United States House of Representatives, Honorable Maxine Waters, Chair, Committee on Financial Services, United States House of Representatives, Honorable Patrick McHenry, Ranking Member, Committee on Financial Services, United States House of Representatives.
For: International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria
Principal Officers:
/s E. Umeagbalasi
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Criminologist/Researcher
Board Chair @ Intersociety
/s C. Umeche
Chinwe Umeche Esquire, LL.B, BL
Head, Democracy and Good Governance Program @Intersociety
/s C.Udegbunam
Chidinma Udegbunam Esquire, LL.B, BL
Head, Campaign and Publicity Department @ Intersociety
/s N.C.Bernard
Ndidiamaka Chinaza Bernard Esquire, LL.B, BL, LLM
Head, Int’l Justice and Human Rights Program @ Intersociety
Contacts:
Mobile Phone/WhatsApp: +2348174090052, Email: info@intersociety-org.ng, Website: https://intersociety-ng.org
