The National Assembly on Saturday postponed its resumption of plenary till February 9 over the All Progressives Congress (APC) registration exercise.
The lawmakers were earlier scheduled to return from their Christmas and New Year break on January 26.
The Clerk of the National Assembly, Olatunde Ojo, who disclosed this in a statement, said the postponement was to enable lawmakers elected on the APC platform participate in their party’s registration exercise.
The statement read: “This is to inform all distinguished senators and honourable members of the National Assembly that the resumption of plenary sessions earlier scheduled for Tuesday, 26th January 2021, is hereby rescheduled for Tuesday 9th February 2021.
“This postponement is to enable members of the All Progressives Congress to participate in the registration and revalidation of its membership scheduled to commence on Monday, 25th January 2021.
“All inconveniences caused by this change of date are regretted.”
The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, had said late last year that the National Assembly members would begin work on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and the Electoral Act amendment when they resume from their holiday.
A federal judge on Friday issued a temporary order that will require the Treasury Department to give former President Trump’s personal lawyers 72 hours notice before providing Trump’s tax returns to House Democrats.
Judge Trevor McFadden, a judge in federal district court in Washington, D.C., appointed by Trump, directed the Treasury Department and IRS to provide Trump’s personal lawyers with the three-days notice before providing the former president’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee.
The order lasts until Feb 5.McFadden announced the order at a teleconference held Friday. The hearing had been requested by Trump’s lawyers in order to get clarity on how House Democrats’ lawsuit over their tax return request was going to proceed under the new administration.
Now that Trump is out of office, the Treasury is a part of the Biden administration, which must determine how it plans to address House Democrats’ request for Trump’s tax returns.
Trump’s lawyers expressed concerns that the Biden administration could provide House Democrats with Trump’s tax returns without giving them advance notice and a chance to have their claims heard.
James Gilligan, a lawyer for the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is representing Treasury and the IRS, said the department doesn’t know if the Biden administration has reached a decision yet on whether it will provide the requested tax returns to the Ways and Means Committee.
“This is only their second full day in office,” he said.
Donald Trump
DOJ proposed that 72 hours notice be provided to Trump’s lawyers in the next two weeks to maintain the status quo in the case for a short period of time.
The Ways and Means Committee filed a lawsuit against Treasury and the IRS in 2019, after the agencies refused to comply with requests and subpoenas for Trump’s personal and business tax returns.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) made the request under 6103 of the federal tax code, which states that the Treasury secretary “shall furnish” tax returns requested by the chairs of Congress’s tax committees. He has said the committee is interested in obtaining the documents because it is conducting oversight and considering legislation related to how the IRS enforces tax laws against a president. But the Trump administration argued that Neal’s request lacked a legitimate legislative purpose.
House counsel Douglas Letter said at Friday’s hearing that the Ways and Means Committee’s lawsuit is still live because the panel still wants to obtain Trump’s tax returns. He said that the request for Trump’s tax returns made under section 6103 did not expire when the new Congress began earlier this month, and that Neal has been authorized by the House’s rules package to reissue the subpoenas as necessary.
McFadden said he’s “very sympathetic” to Trump’s desire to have his day in court before Treasury provides any of the former president’s tax returns to Congress. He suggested that if Treasury decides that it intends to comply with House Democrats’ request, that he might enter an order that would require Trump’s lawyers to be provided notice before the documents could be turned over.
The United States Embassy in London responded Friday to a controversy surrounding President Biden’s removal of a bust of the former Prime Minister Winston Churchill from the Oval Office, stating that the special relationship the two countries share is more than “just a bust.”
In a tweet issued Friday, the embassy shared a video highlighting the “special relationship” both the United Kingdom and the U.S. have shared. The video states that the bust of the British wartime leader, which has appeared in the Oval Office of several presidents including former President Trump, is “just a bust.”
The video then states that the two nations are “the largest investors in each other’s countries.”
“This is the special relationship,” the text of the video reads.
The clip also features images of both British and American soldiers standing beside one another, and various photographs of former U.S. presidents shaking hands with former prime ministers, including former President Obama high-fiving former Prime Minister David Cameron.
For years dating back to the First World War, the United States and the United Kingdom have maintained a “special relationship.” During World War II, Churchill and former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt worked together closely to defeat Nazi Germany.
The U.S. Embassy’s tweet addressed controversy after Biden removed the bust from the Oval Office when he redecorated the room. Biden has redecorated his office with a bust of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. and Latino civil rights icon Caesar Chavez.
Several British tabloids characterized the removal of the bust as a “snub,” including the U.K.’s The Sun.
Another headline from the conservative Daily Mail read, “Fury as Joe Biden REMOVES bust of Boris Johnson’s hero Winston Churchill from the Oval Office – and replaces it with RFK, Rosa Parks, a Latino American civil rights activist and Martin Luther King.”
However, British officials have sought to give little weight to the change, according to The Washington Post.
“It’s of course up to the President to decorate the Oval Office as he wishes,” a British government spokesperson said in a statement emailed to reporters, according to the newspaper. “We’re in no doubt about the importance President Biden places on the UK-US relationship.”
Trump placed the bust in the Oval Office during his presidency and was photographed with former Prime Minister Teresa May pointing at the object. Obama did not have the bust in the room.
The video from the embassy also comes as Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s relationship is under the microscope. Johnson has previously had a good relationship with Trump and has publicly praised the former president in the past.
application filed by the family of the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha to have access to his bank accounts in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Island of Jersey, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration had in 1999 moved to freeze all the accounts traced to the late dictator in the five countries.
In an application filed by the former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Kanu Agabi (SAN), asked to freeze all accounts traced to Abacha, his family members, relatives and agents in the countries between 1993 and 1998.
The government requested the Swiss authorities to seize and detain all banking and other documents relating to the affected accounts, charge and prosecute all holders of such accounts, in order to recover all stolen monies for Nigeria.
In Friday’s proceedings, a five-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Centus Nweze dismissed the appeal filed by the brother to the late head of state, Alhaji Ali Abacha.
He had applied for the family to be granted access to the accounts.
The panel held that the substantive case that led to the appeal was already statute barred as at April 2004 when it was commenced at the Federal High Court, Kaduna.
The panel recalled that a similar appeal filed on behalf of the Abacha family by one Alhaji Abba Mohammed Sani was dismissed in February last year.
The Supreme Court insisted that no fresh reason was adduced in the new application to warrant a different decision on the accounts.
Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a United Kingdom energy firm, PowerDot, to provide adequate power supply across the state.
The Special Assistant on Media to the Governor, Mukhtar Gidado, who disclosed this in a statement in Bauchi, said the UK company is expected to provide uninterrupted power through incineration of municipal solid waste at an affordable cost.
The company is expected to commence work in March.
He quoted the governor as saying that the agreement is a $70million investment that would provide 10 megawatts of electricity to the state.
Mohammed said: “Today is a very auspicious day. We welcome you to Bauchi and we extend our solidarity to your partners. We will do all the needful for you to operate effectively in our state.
“This MoU that we have signed to provide 10 megawatts of power through waste is key towards providing good governance.”
He said his administration in partnership with the Federal Government would continue to make good use of waste in the state.
Justice Chuka Obiazor of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on Friday fixed March 1 for ruling in the suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the Lagos East Senatorial By-election, Babatunde Gbadamosi, seeking the disqualification of the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer, Tokunbo Abiru, from the election.
Abiru was declared winner of the December 5, 2020 election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The judge picked the date after counsels to the parties had concluded their argument on the matter.
Gbadamosi had dragged INEC, Abiru, and APC to court and asked the court to disqualify the senator for alleged double registration and violation of section 31 of the Electoral Act, amongst others.
In the suit filed on its behalf by Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), the PDP candidate asked the court to direct INEC to delete the name of Abiru and APC from the list of candidates and political parties for the bye-election.
In their responses, the respondents argued that the plaintiffs’ case lacks merit as the candidate was duly nominated and qualified for the by-election.
The APC was represented in the case by Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN) while Kemi Pinheiro (SAN) stood in for Abiru.
The Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said on Friday the Federal Government would evacuate 600 Nigerian irregular migrants from Saudi Arabia next week.
Dabiri-Erewa, who disclosed this on her Twitter handle, said the returnees would be airlifted to Nigeria in two batches.
400 returnees, according to her, will be evacuated to Nigeria on January 28 and the remaining 200 at least 24 hours later.
The NiDCOM chief said the evacuation of the Nigerians was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the citizens were being kept in a detention facility by Saudi authorities pending their repatriation.
She said: “Nigerian irregular migrants in Saudi Arabia are due to be evacuated on January 28 and 29, pending any unforeseen issues. Their evacuation was delayed due to issues relating to COVID-19. We appeal to Nigerians to resist traveling abroad without proper documents.”
Nigeria on Friday recorded 1,483 fresh COVID-19 cases.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), which disclosed this on its Twitter handle, said the new COVID-19 cases were recorded in 22 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
It added that the number of COVID-19 fatalities in Nigeria stood at 1,490 as of Friday night.
Also, the total number of confirmed cases increased to 118,138.
Meanwhile, 94,150 COVID-19 patients have been discharged from various isolation facilities in the country.
The breakdown of the figure on a state-by-state basis revealed the following: Kaduna (545), FCT (235), Plateau (127), Nasarawa (80), Oyo (72), Delta (65), Rivers (64), Kano (46), Ogun (46), Bayelsa (30), Gombe (30), Abia (28), and Osun (27).
Others are – Edo (25), Ondo (14), Sokoto (12), Zamfara (10), Bauchi (8), Imo (5), Jigawa (4), Ekiti (4), Borno (4), and Niger (2).
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday said a Nigerian anti COVID-19 vaccine is underway with the ongoing landmark research of a team of Professors from Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).
The Vice President said this at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Reference Laboratory, Gaduwa, Abuja, where he underwent a facility tour, in company of the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire; Minister of State for Health, Dr. Adeleke Olorunnimbe Mamora; and the NCDC Director-General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu.
Osinbajo spoke on the ground-breaking research of several Nigerians towards creating a cure for the COVID-19 virus at the occasion.
He said: “Last week, I was in briefing meetings, listening to the landmark research of a team of Professors from LUTH who are investigating the ‘efficacy’ of some of the drugs in the therapeutic management of COVID-19 and are researching its prophylactic use.
“A few days later, I was listening to Professor Christian Happi and his team who have produced a ground-breaking COVID-19 rapid test, but more remarkably, are developing a Nigerian anti COVID-19 vaccine.”
Prof. Osinbajo said the country had expanded its public health response capabilities and making a progress in the public health sector since after the nation’s first COVID-19 case last year due to the diligent work of Nigeria’s health workers and experts across the nation.
The Vice President, who noted “that we have a critical situation on our hands currently with the increasing number of cases being recorded”, however added that a lot of progress has been made since Nigeria’s first case was reported in February 2020.
He said the country had activated nearly 120 laboratories nationwide – 70 of them public laboratories – and had “significantly” ramped up testing and case management capacity.
“We have expanded the footprint of our sovereign public health response capabilities especially at the subnational level and in areas where previously such capabilities did not exist.
“Not so long ago, test samples had to be flown out of the country for examination. This is no longer the case as we now have the capacity to process samples internally.”
He said: “this very facility is a testament to the strides that we have made during a short period. While we are not yet where we want to be as a nation, we are most certainly not where we were at the onset of the pandemic.”
The Vice President lauded Nigeria’s public and private healthcare specialists and workers in the line of duty for ensuring the safety, cure and prevention of majority of Nigerians from the COVID-19 virus, sometimes under extremely challenging circumstances. He also hailed NCDC.
The Vice-President, who appealed to Nigerians to continue to comply with COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical measures, urged them to comply with the advice of “our scientists and healthcare professionals and to continue to take every measure to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.”
During the tour of the facility in Gaduwa, the Federal Capital Territory, the Vice President was taken round the laboratories and also interacted with a select group of staff.
He paid tribute to the memory of the late NCDC staff, Uche Njoku, who died in the course of service.
The Ekiti State Security Network Agency also known as Amotekun Corps on Friday arrested four suspected kidnappers in the state.
The Corps Commander, Brig. Gen. Joe Komolafe (retd), who disclosed this to journalists in Ado-Ekiti, said the suspects were arrested during a routine patrol in Eda Oniyo, Ilejemeje local government area of the state.
He said: “Our men on routine patrol intercepted these four persons suspected to be kidnappers on Friday morning when they were making their ways into the state from Sokoto State.
“They told us they were coming from Ilorin, Kwara State, on motorcycles after they were brought in from Sokoto State in a truck a few days ago. Upon questioning, they said they were heading to Akungba Akoko in Ondo State but with no clear mission here.
“What we found on them clearly gave them away as suspected kidnappers and also with their confession. One of them clearly wrote on his motorcycle in Hausa language, ‘Duniya Ba Hutu’ which means, No peace in this world.
“None of the motorcycles had number plate or documents to show ownership.”
Komolafe added that the suspects upon interrogation did not give a satisfactory response on their mission in the state but confessed to be “professional kidnappers.”
He said the suspects would be handed over to the police for further investigation.
The family of Ibraheem El-Zakzakky, the detained leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), popularly known as Shiites, has revealed that his wife, Zeenat, has contracted the COVID-19 virus while in detention at the Kaduna Prison.
The duo have been in detention since 2015 after being charged with culpable homicide and other sundry offences following a clash between his protesting members and operatives of the Nigerian Army who waylayed the convoy of Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, leading to the killings of hundreds of the protesters.
Making the revelation in a press statement on Thursday, one of the sons of the IMN leader, Mohammad, said his mother is yet to be evacuated despite informing authorities about her status, an act he described as an “assassination tool.”
In the statement, Mohammad said:
“Six days ago, after a routine visit to the Kaduna State prison by my parents’ doctors, my mother complained of fatigue, fever and a complete loss of the ability to smell.
“The doctors decided to carry out a number of standard tests in order to understand what the problem was. Among the tests that were carried out was a test for the novel coronavirus.
“This was a routine procedure and it is important to state that she has been denied treatment for acute medical conditions, including severe arthritis of the knee for years now.
“Meanwhile, the COVID-19 test came back positive. I imagined that due to the diligent way in which the prison management had been conducting and managing the facility, a COVID-19 outbreak would be extremely unlikely.
“But once I heard of the test result, my first action was to ensure that it was tried, tested and confirmed.
“I expected that following our risky entrance into the predictable ‘petri dish’ of Kaduna State prison for what it is, the person in charge of Kaduna State prison would officially do his job and inform the State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, and the chain of command that the current campaign of torture, extortion, corruption and murder has come to this and my mother, Zeenah Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, needs to be immediately hospitalized.
“My mother is still in Kaduna prison at the moment, yet to be hospitalized and to receive proper health care.”
Kais Saied’s administration shuts down claims of anti-semitic remarks . On Wednesday evening, the office of Tunisian president Kais Saied denied claims that he made anti-Semitic remarks this week while trying to calm a group of young protesters after days of unrest — denouncing the “propagation of false information,” and saying it amounted to “calumny.”
The public refutation was in response to a statement issued by the Conference of European Rabbis and relayed by Israeli media on Tuesday — alleging that Kais had accused Jews of being responsible “for the instability of the country” as they asserted that such discourse “constitutes an immediate threat for the physical and moral integrity of Tunisian Jewish Citizens” and asked for the head of state to retract his words.
President Kais Saied.
As Saied had gone to speak directly with the youth after a spate of vandalism and looting in several townships outside the capital Tunis, his office affirmed: “The president mentioned no religion and there was no reasonable motive to deal with the question of religion in the context of protests.”
The administration also stated that the president had spoken with the chief rabbi of Tunisia to reassure him that Tunisia’s some 1,500 Jews — mainly on the island of Djerba, enjoy “the solicitude and protection of the Tunisian state, like all other citizens.
The Libyan House of Representatives welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to lift the travel ban on Libyan citizens and allowing them to enter the United States, a Libyan parliament member said Friday.
The travel ban was imposed by former U.S President Donald Trump at the beginning of his administration in 2016 and banned citizens from several Muslim countries, including Libya, from entering the American soil. Libyan Parliament Member Ibrahim Al-Zgad said the harsh ban imposed on Libyans was a sign of Trump’s ”madness,” adding that the former U.S president had issued it in ”one of his crazy moments.”
President Joe Biden.
He continued sarcastically saying that Trump seemed to be affected by the ”mad cow” disease and that his decision was issued as a “dance of the slaughtered rooster” and now his term is over. Al-Zgad said the travel ban had nothing to do with the U.S. – Arab relation, which has always been ”excellent.” Lifting the travel ban was one of the first 15 decrees signed by Biden on his first day at the White House. Commenting on the new U.S president, Al-Zgad said Libya has little hope in Joe Biden, because he is from the Democratic Party.
The party, Al-Zgad said, is the one that contributed to the crisis in Libya in the past, headed by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Libya, and enabled them to rule. Libya slid into chaos following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that overthrew and killed the country’s longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The North African country is today divided into two rival administrations, each backed by an array of militias and foreign powers. The administration backed by military commander Khalifa Hifter rules the east and south while the UN-supported government based in Tripoli, controls the west.
The Federal Government has said that the number of out-of-school children in the country reduced from 10.1 million in 2019 to 6.9 million in 2020.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu on Thursday made this known during the annual ministerial briefing on the activities of the ministries in 2020.
“I can, however, tell you that through the BESDA initiative, we have reduced the figure of out-of-school children from 10.1 million to 6.9 million.” he said.
He added that the National Association of Proprietors and School Owners of Nigeria recorded the enrollment of one million children.
He noted that the sum of $611 million secured through the World Bank credit facility to support Universal Basic Education was put to judicious use.
The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) has frowned at the Presidency’s position on Ondo State government’s order for herders to vacate the state’s forest reserves.
In a statement on Thursday, SMBLF described the Presidency’s position on the quit notice order by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, as a “complete overreach and clear abuse of the constitution in a bid to elevate Fulani herders above the law.”
Akeredolu, in response to the rising insecurity in the state, had ordered herdsmen in Ondo forest reserves to vacate.
But the Presidency, in a statement by Garba Shehu, the President’s spokesman, kicked against the order.
In its statement signed by Yinka Odumakin (South West), Chief Guy Ikoku (South East), Senator Bassey Henshaw (South South) and Dr. Isuwa Dogo (Middle Belt), SMBLF called on the Federal Government to withdraw its unjust order against Ondo government enforcing the vacation order.
“We are supposed to be a Federal Republic and forest reserves in states are fully residual matter to which the Federal Government has no business with.
“The FG’s statement by Garba Shehu that the Governor of Ondo lacks the powers to decide on its reserves in spite of the Land Use Act that vests land in states in the governors was a complete overreach and clear abuse of the constitution in a bid to elevate Fulani herders above the law.
“It is a continuation of the obsessive attachment to Miyetti Allah, like the President instructing Governor Ortom to go and live peaceably with killers after Miyetti Allah killed 78 citizens of the state in January 2019, to prevent Ondo from holding its rights on its reserves in the face of persistent killings of its people by herders occupying the reserves illegally.
“No decent or responsible governor would allow what the FG wants for Fulani herdsmen. The SMBLF therefore asks the Federal Government to withdraw the unjust diktat and allow Ondo to enforce the law,” SMBLF statement read.
The Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to come to the rescue of Nasarawa State from terrorist attacks.
Sule met with Buhari on Friday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja over the insecurity in his state.
After the meeting which they held behind closed doors, Sule told State House correspondents his state had been facing attacks by a group of terrorists that had earlier been dislodged.
He said the dislodged insurgents recently regrouped at the Nasarawa/Benue border and had continued to launch attacks on Nasarawa residents from there.
According to the governor, some of the apprehended terrorists, revealed that they belong to Boko Haram group, Darussalam, who were earlier dislodged from Niger State.
Governor Sule said having spoken to President Buhari about the situation, he had a firm belief urgent action would be taken against the terrorists.
President Biden on Friday is set to take steps to lay the groundwork to increase the minimum wage for federal employees and contractors to $15 per hour.
The order directs the various agencies to review what workers earn less than $15 per hour, and prepare rules for contractors to ensure their workers are not paid less.
Under the order, contractors would also have to provide emergency paid leave to their employees.
Biden hopes to finalize the actions within his first 100 days in office.
In 2014, then-President Obama signed an order raising the minimum wage for federal workers from $7.25 to $10.10, hoping to pressure Congress to increase the federal minimum wage for the first time since 2009.
President Biden.
The minimum wage of $7.25 has remained unchanged for those not employed by the federal government or subject to higher state and local ordinances. Biden’s COVID-19 relief plan includes a plan to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15, but the plan faces Republican opposition and cannot be passed through budget reconciliation, a process that would allow Democrats to sidestep a GOP filibuster.
Biden’s executive action will also restore certain collective bargaining provisions to federal workers and eliminate Schedule F, an employment classification former President Trump created in October that would strip most civil service protections and make it easier to fire them without cause.
Trump was often frustrated about the civil service and his inability to summarily dismiss career civil servants.
The traditional rulers were reacting to a statement credited to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, over an ultimatum Governor Rotimi Akeredolu gave to herdsmen to leave forest reserves in the state.
The Ondo State Council of Obas, on Thursday, called on the President Muhammadu Buhari to caution his aides who comment on security of the country.
The traditional rulers were reacting to a statement credited to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, over an ultimatum Governor Rotimi Akeredolu gave to herdsmen to leave forest reserves in the state.
In a communiqué issued and read by a former Chairman of the council and the Olukare of Ikareland, Oba Akadiri Momoh, at the end of a meeting in Akure, the monarchs said Akeredolu’s action was not to chase out the Fulani in the state but to save it from the activities of the bandits.
The monarchs said, “We are calling on President Buhari to show to the world that he is a father of all irrespective of ethnic affiliation as well as caution his aides to exercise restraints on issues that border on insecurity in the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari
“The governors in the South-West region, the South-West caucus in the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly should use constitutional means to rein in the rampaging criminals masquerading as herdsmen across the region.”
Akeredolu had on Monday ordered Fulani herdsmen to vacate all forest reserves in the state within seven days.
Apart from ejecting the herdsmen, the governor also banned underage grazing, night grazing, movement of cattle within the cities and highways.
He had said, “Today, we have taken major steps at addressing the root cause of kidnapping, in particular, and other nefarious activities detailed and documented in security reports, the press, and debriefings from victims of kidnap cases in Ondo State.
“As the chief law and security officer of the state, it is my constitutional obligation to do everything lawful to protect the lives and property of all residents of the state. In light of the foregoing, the following orders are hereby issued: All forest reserves in the state are to be vacated by herdsmen within the next seven days with effect from today, Monday, January 18, 2021.”
Reacting to Akeredolu’s order, Shehu said the order could not stand because it is a violation of the constitution which gives citizens the right to choose where they wish to reside.
The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, has said that the sale of the Federal government’s properties to fund the 2021 budget will benefit Nigerians and help to boost the economy.
Ahmed said this when she appeared on Channels TV on Friday morning January 22.
Recall that on January 12 during the budget presentation, Ahmed revealed that the Federal government will be selling off some of its assets and use the funds generated to fund the deficit in the 2021 budget. Read here.
In her chat with Channels TV, Ahmed said a lot of government assets are currently moribund and provide little or no value to Nigerians in their current state.
Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed.
“There are some government assets that are dead that can be sold to the private sector to be reactivated and put to use for the benefit of Nigerians.
So we are looking at different categories of government assets that government has not been able to manage, that are lying down and in some cases even completely rundown, to cede them off to the private sector.”she said
She said the Bureau of Public Enterprises will in the first quarter of this year begin to coordinate with other arms of government on the asset sales.
The Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle has denied rumours making the rounds that he donated some new Hilux vehicles to repentant Boko Haram bandits in the state.
Governor Matawalle denied the allegations on Thursday during an interaction with traditional rulers, religious leaders and security chiefs at the Government House in Gusau, the capital.
The governor who was furious at the allegations levelled against him also denied providing logistics to neither operating bandits nor the repentant ones domiciled in Zamfara State.
During the interactive session, Governor Matawalle also asked the 1 Brigade Commander of the Nigerian Army, Gusau, to mention if he ever made such donations.
“I am in receipt of report that l bought Hilux vans to repentant bandits which l never did. Brig. Gen. Bello, have l ever given any vehicle to even repentant bandits in the state as reported recently?” he quipped.
In his response, Gen, Bello said that soldiers in the state, including himself, were surprised when they saw the report.
“Matawalle never did that apart from the 200 operational vehicles given to the security agencies by the state government in 2020,” Gen, Bello said.
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