Blog

(FLOWERBUDNEWS) The Chairman, House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Rep. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo (APC-Ondo) has said that the Commission had been spending illegally and without appropriation for 11 months.

This is even as he said that the NDDC had been running foul of the appropriation laws for the past 14 months as it had yet to submit any budget proposal to the National Assembly for approval since Sept. 2018.

He said that since the expiration of the approved 2018 Budget, the commission had been spending without approval.

Speaking in an interview with newsmen, in Abuja, Tunji-Ojo said that the commission had also running foul of its 2020 Budget as it was yet to submit its 2020 proposal three months after its was due.

He said that all the expenditure by the NDDC amounted to extra-budgetary, which according to him, in violation of the NDDC Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Rep said that the committee will carry out a thorough investigation on the matter and make strong recommendations ‘no matter whose ox is gored’.

“It is a pathetic story, it is not a palatable experience and I am happy that the ninth Assembly is living up to expectation as the people’s house and looking after the people of Nigeria.

“We know that the NDDC is still operating 2018 budget, passed by the previous assembly, we are in November and the 2019 budget has not been brought to the National Assembly yet.

“It is unheard of; it is an aberration and illegal.

“It is beyond normal reasoning because preparing a budget and summiting to the house is not a difficult matter,’’ he said.

Quoting Section 18 of the NDDC Act, he said “the commission shall not later than September 30 each year submit an estimate of the expenditure and income of the commission for the succeeding year for approval’’.

Tunji-Ojo said that going by the Act, the NDDC should have submitted its 2020 budget latest on Sept. 30, 2019.

According to him, it is unheard of; it is ridiculous to say that 14 months after which they should submit the 2019 budget, the house is still calling on them to bring it.

The lawmaker questioned the basis of NDDC operation and the legitimacy and authority of the commission’s activities in the last 14 months.

“This is an era of change; it is an era of Next Level; we must follow the law and ensure transparency and accountability becomes the hallmark of all we do.

“We shall look at all the laws and adequate recommendations will be made by the committee no matter whose ox is gored.

“We promised our people that there will be new dynamics and that the equation will not be the same; we promised them that this commission will work for and with them, fending for their priority.

“We are not loosing focus on that.

“What is important to me is that after four years, I want to look back and see a better Niger Delta region by performing our oversight duty responsibly to the delight of our people,’’ he said.

(NEWS INVESTIGATORS) The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the Senate, on Wednesday, rejected the Bayelsa and Kogi Governorship election results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The senators, led by the Minority Leader of the Senate, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, made the rejection at a news conference in Abuja.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that INEC had declared the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), David Lyon and Yahaya Bello winners of the gubernatorial elections.

“We want to call the attention of Nigerians. We are very disturbed by the elections that were held last weekend in Bayelsa and Kogi.

“We totally reject the pronouncements after the elections by INEC and we are worried about the trend of what happened during the election.

“We know that the results that were announced were not a true reflection of what happened in the field.

“We are much more concerned about the fact that it seems that all the gains made by the PDP in all the period of democracy starting in 1999 seem to have been eroded from the elections starting in Osun, Edo and culminating into last weekend.

“We are further pained by the fact that the PDP woman leader, Salome Abuh, after declaration of result, hoodlums still chased her to her house and burnt her to dead in the clear view of security agents.”

The caucus called on President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Inspector-General of Police and other security agencies to immediately fish out the killers of Salome.

“We hear that the police are launching an investigation but this is something we don’t want to be put under the carpet because it involves life,” Abaribe said.

Meanwhile, the spokesman of the Senate, Sen. Godiya Akwashiki, in his reaction to the outcome of the Bayelsa and Kogi gubernatorial elections said: “I don’t think it will be right for the Senate to say anything about the election.

“Nigeria is not a lawless country and we must obey it. The Electoral Act has spelt out everything that there should be primaries between aspirants in political parties so a candidate will emerge.

“After the primaries, INEC will set aside a day for general election. Based on the Electoral Act, the elections have come and gone. If anyone has any grievances, the one knows what to do,” he said.(NAN)

(NEWS INVESTIGATORS) Google announced that it’s limiting audience targeting on election ads, a major shift for one of the internet’s largest ad platforms that comes after Twitter opted to drop political ads altogether and Facebook said it’s considering policy changes including limits around targeting.

Under a new policy announced Wednesday, election messaging on Google’s ad platforms can target audiences based on only three general categories: age, gender and location, down to a postal code level.

Political organizations and candidates will no longer be able to aim their ads at would-be voters using more personal information, such as political affiliation and voting records.

Political advertisers will still be able to place contextual ads based on the subject matter of, for instance, YouTube videos or news articles that people are watching or reading.

The company also announced that it would clarify its ad policy to add examples of what’s prohibited in ads.

Material that will now be expressly banned includes deepfakes — sophisticated visual forgeries generated using artificial intelligence — and “ads or destinations making demonstrably false claims that could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process,” Scott Spencer, Google Ads’ vice president of product management, wrote in a blog post.

Read More at:

(FLOWERBUDNEWS) Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has urged the National Assembly probe the restoration of the $195 million Coastal Waterways Security contract awarded by the Ministry of Transport.

The CSOs led by Mr Solomon Adodo, Convener, Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative (EUYI) made the call on Wednesday in a press briefing in Abuja.

Adodo who addressed the press on the issue regretted that the contract awarded to HLSI security systems had been restored in spite of its cancelation by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

“Following our petition, the House Committee on Public Petitions invited all concerned Parties to seven (7) sessions of public hearings which spanned a period of two months.

“Minister of Transport, Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Chief of the Naval Staff, Ministry of Defence and Civil Society Groups were invited to the public hearings.

“The records bear it clear that at the end of the exhaustive Public Hearing, the House Ruled on the matter and the Federal Executive Council had to cancel the said contract.

“The cancellation of the said contract was as a result of obvious flaws and in the overall national interest.

“To our consternation and dismay however, our findings indicate that the contract was allegedly smuggled into the 2018 and 2019 National Budget.

“The desperation to go ahead with this contract despite its grave implications of economic sabotage and national security compromise raises very strong questions,” Adodo said.

According to Adodo, the CSOs in their petition to the NASS raised concern over the security implication of the contract which ceded the control of our waterways to a foreign firm.

He emphasised that all over the world no nation leaves affairs of National Security totally in the command and control of a private firm and that Nigeria should therefore not be an exception.

“This clandestine contract contravenes the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, Chapter 1V, Part III, Section 217, sub section 1&2.

“It states that there shall be Armed Forces for the Federation as may be established by an Act of the National Assembly.

“The Federation shall, subject to an Act of the National Assembly made in that behalf, equip and maintain the Armed Forces as may be considered adequate and effective for the purpose of –(a) defending Nigeria on land, sea, or air; (c) suppressing insurrection and acting in aid of civil authorities to restore order when called upon to do so by the President, but subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly; and (d) performing such other functions as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.”

“It also negates the provision of Part 1, section 4 and particularly sub section A of the Armed Forces Act which provides thus: ’the Navy shall, in particular, be further charged with- Enforcing and assisting in coordinating the enforcement of all customs, laws, including anti-bunkering fishery and immigration laws of Nigeria at sea; Enforcing and assisting in coordinating the enforcement of national and international maritime laws ascribed or acceded to by Nigeria; Making of charts and coordinating of all national hydrographic surveys; and Promoting, coordinating and enforcing safety regulations in the territorial water and the Exclusive Economic Zone of Nigeria.”

The CSOs therefore urged the NASS to restrain the Minister of Transportation Mr Rotimi Amaechi, from going ahead with the contract so as not to jeopardise or expose our nation to further security and economic dangers. (NAN)

Ahead of Thursday’s caucus meeting of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) holding at the Presidential Villa and the Friday’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, some acclaimed members of the party from across the country have taken a protest to the national secretariat of APC, demanding that its national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, should be sacked. (more…)

Cross River State governor, Sir Ben Ayade, Thursday, presented an appropriation bill of one trillion, one hundred billion, one hundred and sixty seven million, five hundred and seven thousand naira, nine kobo, for the 2020 fiscal year. (more…)

(FLOWERBUDNEWS) Countries and donors have pledged 2.6 billion U.S. dollars to eradicate polio worldwide.

Nearly half of the fund has been donated by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to boost the ‘last mile’ efforts to wipe out the polio viruses.

The funds would be used for immunization of 450 million children facing a threat from the polio viruses.

Globally, extensive vaccination in developing countries eradicated two of the three strains of wild polio viruses responsible for causing the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced early this month.

The African countries have managed to nearly stamp out the disease that cripples lower limbs, mostly among children. Not a single case of polio has been reported from Nigeria since 2016, the last country in the region afflicted with the virus. Authorities are likely to certify the country “polio-free” next year.

The donations from governments and various philanthropies were confirmed during the Reaching the Last Mile (RLM) forum on polio held in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

“The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is not only moving us closer to a polio-free world, but it’s also building essential health infrastructure to address a range of other health needs,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO.

Since 1998, polio cases have declined by 99 percent globally, and only one strain of polio virus afflicts large parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to the WHO, parental refusal to get their child vaccinated led to ongoing transmission of the wild poliovirus in both countries.

In an effort to control the spread of viruses in Pakistan, the Emirates Polio Campaign launched in 2014 delivered more than 430 million vaccines in remote parts of Pakistan.

“We remain firm in our mission to reach every last child and believe together we can consign polio to the pages of history,” said Her Excellency Reem Al Hashimy, UAE Cabinet Member and Minister of State for International Cooperation.

An INEC trained staff and a graduate of Kogi Polytechnic identified as Cooper Fabulous KSP was shot dead yesterday in Kogi State gubernatorial election.

His friend took to social media to mourn him and wrote….

‘God have mercy on us in Kogi State Kogi Poly Just Graduate Student Business Administration.  Fabulous Goes home

It not easy to say God bye. Election why do u go with our brother, Course, Friend, Manager.

Fabulous death is a grate lost to business Students and Kogi Student’s in General .R.I.I. God No why , we love u but God love most’.