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FG adds 12 million more beneficiaries, resumes cash transfer
The Federal Government is adding fresh 12 million beneficiaries to the three million already in the basket to bring the number to 15 million, in a bid to the restart of the Direct Cash Transfers (DCT) to the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians.
The move is said to be out of the desire to capture more people in the programme due to the escalating cost of living in the country, according to Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, during the Ministry’s retreat held in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom state on Wednesday.
He said: “The presidential panel on the social investment programmes, have prepared to go to Mr. President with an internal recommendation to restart the direct payments to the poorest and the most vulnerable.
“Everything is being done to ease the pain. We know that there’s been about three million beneficiaries now, but given the way the rates have gone, there are probably another 12 million people, households that can benefit from that payment.”
Stressing that the extension was aimed to reach a wider population struggling with the economic situation and to put more money directly in the hands of those who need it most, allowing them to prioritize their needs and alleviate poverty, President Tinubu would be briefed on the panel’s decision before the completion of the final report to keep him abreast of developments.
He added: “The only thing delaying that is not waiting for the end of the report. It is something that the intervention is meant to happen immediately. We have experts in technology, the commitment was to make sure that we use technology to ensure that we have a seamless payment, a seamless movement between the registered and the direct beneficiaries, without any manual processes in between. So it’s taking time to automate that process immediately that direct payment will resume.”
Reiterating Tinubu’s intervention to release 60,000 metric tonnes of food grains to curb hunger in the land, the Minister, said: “The goal is to put food, to put feed into the mill, into the market, in an attempt to drive down the cost of food and make food available. Right now, that is the key priority in terms of the fiscal side, in terms of the government side.
“History has shown, evidence has shown that when you pay someone directly, you put money in their hand. It reduces poverty because they decide where the shoe is pinching most. So it is a direct benefit, it has a direct effect on poverty. It alleviates, and there’s a commitment to immediately start that process.
“So that is, as far as these interventions are concerned and the landscape which we as a team are facing, we have a commitment to help to bring down inflation. Growing the economy, creating jobs and lifting millions and millions of Nigerians out of poverty, that’s the ultimate goal of President Bola Tinubu and his economic policies.”
The Minister, who acknowledged that the historical reliance on Ways and Means financing was a source of inflation, said the government was committed to reducing this debt burden through various financial and revenue-generating initiatives.
He stated: “On the monetary side, Ways and Means have been identified, and we too agree that the historical legacy of Ways and Means that was inherited has to be dealt with, and has to be paid out one way or the other. And those are the financial engineering, those are the revenue initiatives that we are focused on to remove that burden, that inflationary burden on the economy.”
Edun said that close collaboration between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank is crucial in tackling inflation and stabilizing the Naira. To this end, the Central Bank is using various tools to achieve these goals, including stabilizing interest rates and managing foreign exchange rates.
The minister noted: “It is a battle, and the tactics change because there is a loss or a need to restore the value of the naira, a need to restore the confidence in holding the naira as a store of value. And all the arsenal, all the instruments available are being brought to the fore and used. And surely it is a battle the central bank will win. It is a battle the government will win. That is not a doubt.”
With an angry riposte, the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Wednesday, waved away the sweltering criticisms from a groundswell of the public, lacerating Monday Okpebholo, Governor of Edo State, on his now viral video where he exhibited great difficulty in pronouncing the N650 billion figures, he presented to the Edo State House of Assembly as the state’s 2025 budget.
The social media have been awash with the video of the governor repeatedly trying to mention the figure correctly, and even at a point explaining that he was confused, a development, which has elicited different reactions from the public, with critics saying it was emblematic of the degeneration in the nation’s polity, where hugely incompetent people were being recruited into positions clearly beyond them for political purposes.
In the video, Okpebholo appeared to have gone smoothly until he got to the figure, and then began to flutter and stutter repeatedly, thus: “The Edo State 2025 Appropriation Bill of 6 billion… 650… 605 billion… 76 thou… 76 million…“Let me take it again. 506 billion… 605 billion… sorry… 776 billion… sorry, it’s confusing me.”
But in a swift pushback to the barrage of criticisms from the public, who also wondered what manner of budget would stop at just a round figure without fractions Jarrett Tenebe, Chairman of the APC in the state, in apparent defence of the governor, dismissed the issues raised as unfounded, arguing that the “mistake” was common to humans, including world leaders, including Jacob Zuma, former President of South Africa.
In his apparent anger over the meaning being adduced to the supposed blunder, the party boss, inferred that nobody was unfazed in the state, particularly within the APC camp, insisting that the people had willingly chosen the governor to lead them for the next four years and those in opposition of the choice should “go to hell and burn to ashes.”
Hear him: “The Social media has been agog with our governor’s budget presentation about a mistake on 650 billion and the rest of it all. It’s a normal thing. (Jacob) Zuma made such a mistake, and a lot of people make such mistakes. I don’t know figures. You see, that is how to know original figures. Obaseki will not make such a mistake because he has stolen figures. Asue Ighodalo will not make such a mistake because he has stolen billions before.
“Monday is not a thief, so he’s not familiar with figures. So, anybody who wants to talk can continue to talk. It’s nonsense. “He’s the governor of the state, he’s performing, and he will continue to perform. And anybody who does not like his face should go to hell and burn to ashes, period, and thank you,”
The budget titled: The Appropriation Bill is titled “Budget of Renewed Hope for a Rising Edo, the first by the governor, who emerged the winner in the election of Saturday, September 21, and was sworn in on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, which was presented was said to have reflected a 25 per cent increase from the 2024 budget.
Justice Maryanne Anenih of the HIgh Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama on Tuesday ordered the remand of Yahaya Bello, immediate past Governor of Kogi State in Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja pending his bail application.
By the court’s ruling, that the former governor’s bail application would now be given on January 29, 2025, it means that he would be spending the whole of Christmas and New Year period in prison, as the court adjourned further proceedings in the criminal case involving the alleged theft of N110billion against him instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Anenih, who had agreed with the submission that Bello’s bail application was filed prematurely, having been filed when Bello was neither in custody nor before the court, was incompetent, said: “Consequently, the instant application, having been filed prematurely is hereby refused.”
Rejecting his plea, of the former governor, who had earlier filed the application on November 22 before he was arrested on November 26 and arraigned on November 27, Anenih granted bail to Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, with whom he is standing trial on the ground of a N300million bond and that they must produce sureties who must have property worth the said amount within the court’s jurisdiction.
The former governor, is said to have since filed a fresh bail application with a plea to the court for an early hearing date, to prevent him from spending the yuletide period in Kuje correctional centre.
Abayomi Adeosun, the Presiding Magistrate, at the Chief Magistrate Court in Ado Ekiti, on Tuesday returned Dele Farotimi, lawyer and activist to prison till December 20, when his bail application will now be determined in the case of criminal defamation against Afe Babalola, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) foremost lawyer and educationist.
Adeosun agreed with the prosecution that who had told the court that the bail application submitted by Farotime was incomplete and not properly filed, a development which came after a hot argument between police prosecuting lawyer and the legal team of Farotimi, over the propriety of Adeyinka Olumide-Fasuka, (SAN) in the matter, being a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
Samson Osobu, the police lawyer prosecuting the matter, had also objected to the appearance of Olumide-Fasuka to represent the activist, standing trial on a 16 count-charge of defaming the legal luminary in his book, titled: Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System, which accused Babalola of corrupting Supreme Court judges, on the ground that members of the Inner Bar, were barred from appearing at magistrate courts.
Objecting to the senior lawyer taking over the matter, he cited the recent judgment of a court of Appeal in Ibadan, Oyo State delivered on July 16, 2024, where the court ruled that SAN could not appear before the magistrate court.
But countering, Olumide-Fasuka, who explained that the Ekiti state magistrate court law enacted by the House of Assembly allowed lawyers irrespective of status and title to appear in the court especially in criminal matters as it related to the suit against the defendant, urged the court to reject the argument of the prosecuting lawyer, noting that the verdict he cited might not have put into consideration all magistrate court laws across the country.
After listening to the argument, the Magistrate who stepped down his ruling on the matter for him to read the judgement, asked Olumide-Fasuka to step down and allow the most senior lawyer in Farotimi’s team to continue the case, pending his ruling on the matter, enabling Taiwo Adedeji, another lawyer in the team to take over.
After further argument on the matter, the court, which had on Wednesday, last week when Farotimi first appeared, slated the determination of the bail application for Tuesday, shifted proceedings to the new date while ordering that the activist be returned to prison custody till the new date.
Budget blunder: Go to hell, burn to ashes, Okpebholo remains governor – APC
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