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2023 Budget: Lai Muhammed seeks More fund to fight fake news, others

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APC Accuses PDP of Desperation, Seeking Political Gains from National Tragedy

The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, has urged the Federal Government and the National Assembly to appropriate more funds to his ministry to enable him tackle the scourge of “fake News, hate speech and propagate the achievements of government in the past seven years.

APC Accuses PDP of Desperation, Seeking Political Gains from National Tragedy

Lai made the appeal when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Information to defend the budget for 2023 on Tuesday.

Lamenting the paucity of funds and its impact on the activities of the Ministry, the Minister described the situation as “very sad”. He said out of the total of N2.5 billion appropriated to the Ministry and all of its agencies for capital projects in 2022, only a paltry N1.7 billion was released representing 41% to undertake 22 different projects.

Read also>>Senate sets aside Defence Ministry’s budget over minister’s refusal to honour invitation

The Minister further lamented that the Capital budget for the Ministry and its entire agencies in 2023 was slashed to N869 million.

This was as the Minister also complained that only the sum of N525 million representing 58% of the Ministry’s allocation was released for overheads in 2022.

But the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information, Senator, Danladi Sankara told the Minister that the slash in budget is not limited to his Ministry; pointing out that capital votes in the 2022 budget has dropped from N2.5trillion to N1trillion in the budget for 2023.

In response, the Minister said while he was aware paucity of funds was not peculiar to his Ministry; he appealed to the Senate Committee and the Federal Government to increase the purse of the Ministry by granting it special considerations at a time when government is faced with serious challenges.

“If there is any ministry that should adequately funded and not suffer from yearly budget cut is the Information Ministry”.

“We’re going to have a very difficult year and I don’t know how we are going to do it”.

“Yes, while it is true that paucity of funds has affected all government ministries and agencies it is important for government to at a time it is going through challenges rely on its media to put the people’s mind at rest

and ask them not to panic and at a time the government is now swimming th of fake news misinformation”.

Lai pleaded with the Senate Committee that his Ministry would need the money to tackle a gale of fake news, misinformation, disinformation and hate speech.

He said the latest of such misinformation that needs urgent repair is the US Security Alert on Abuja which according to the Minister has affected the image and economy of the country.

“Even if the govt stops working, it should continue to publicise what it has done”.

NEWS

Moghalu Prescribes Good Governance As Panacea To Ethnic Agitation

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The President of the African School of Governance, Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu has admonished state actors against resorting to brutal force in the bid to muscle out separatist agitators.

In the aftermath of Mazi Simon Ekpa, the Finland based Biafran nationalist agitator being caught in legal web and the Nigerian government moving swiftly to seek his repatriation, the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cautioned that ‘We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.’

ALSO READ: Finnish Police Arrest Simon Ekpa Over Terror-Related Allegations

The political economist, while expressing his hope in Nigeria, made it clear that “hope is not a strategy”.

He bared his mind in a series of posts on his verified handle on micro-blogging site, X on Friday.

Moghalu wrote, “Despite sustained contemporary difficulties, I am hopeful about Nigeria. But hope is not a strategy. We need to improve state capacity for effective governance.

“We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.

“We must learn to be honest with ourselves and address the root causes of our problems. Why ignore them, when the problem is actually quite solvable? The problem with continuing with this approach is that when the danger crystallizes, those who thought they were benefiting from

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NEWS

N1.7trn Loan: Atiku Blames NASS For Worsening Nigeria’s Debt Burden

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Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has criticized the federal government’s plan to secure an additional N1.7 trillion loan through Eurobonds to cover a shortfall in the 2024 budget, describing the borrowing as unsustainable and harmful to Nigeria’s economy.

In a statement shared on Thursday via his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Atiku accused the Bola Tinubu-led administration of burdening Nigerians with debt while failing to provide clear answers about the country’s fiscal challenges.

READ ALSO: CSR: Dangote Cement Fuels Education With Support Projects At Lagos Schools

He also faulted the National Assembly for enabling what he called a “voracious appetite” for loans.

The former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate expressed alarm over a recent World Bank report ranking Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), calling the development troubling.

“The recent report released by the World Bank, showing Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), is very concerning,” Atiku stated.

He raised further concerns about the government’s decision to benchmark the proposed loan at an exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official rate being over N1,600.

“What makes this particular loan proposal even more concerning is that it is benchmarked at the exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, whereas the current exchange rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria stands at over N1,600 to 1 USD,” he said.

Atiku questioned the need for additional borrowing, given the government’s earlier claims of record-high revenue collection.

“In July this year, Tinubu boasted that the FIRS and Customs under his watch had collected all-time high revenues to finance the budget. Why are they still borrowing?” he said

He accused the government of a lack of transparency, describing the borrowing spree as detrimental to Nigerians already struggling under economic hardship.

“There is something that they are not telling Nigerians, even as they are being crushed by a combination of their failed trial-and-error policies and loan rackets.”

Atiku also referenced a report by BudgIT, a budget monitoring group, which criticized the 2024 budget for its inefficiencies.

He alleged that corruption, rather than infrastructure or development needs, was driving the government’s borrowing decisions.

“These loans are powered by corruption and not for infrastructure and development needs. This voracious appetite for humongous loans is deeply concerning,” he said.

Reflecting on Nigeria’s financial history, Atiku lamented the return to significant foreign indebtedness just years after former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration cleared the country’s debt.

“It is agonizing to see that just a few years after the Obasanjo administration took us out of foreign indebtedness, we are today back at the top spot in the same conundrum,” he stated.

He called for a more cautious approach to borrowing, urging the government to prioritize fiscal responsibility and transparency to avoid worsening Nigeria’s economic challenges.

 

 

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International News

ICC Issues Arrest Warrants For Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Others

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The International Criminal Court (ICC) has taken a historic step, issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The charges include crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during Israel’s recent assault on Gaza.

In a detailed statement, the ICC accused the Israeli leaders of “intentionally and knowingly depriving the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”

READ MORE: Osun Govt Decries Attempted Murder Of Park Mgt  Chairman By Police

The ICC’s move marks a significant escalation in international scrutiny of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu and Gallant are alleged to have orchestrated policies that caused severe harm to the civilian population in Gaza, leading to widespread condemnation from human rights organizations.

Alongside the charges against Israeli officials, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. Deif has long been a central figure in Hamas’s military operations. Israel’s military claims to have killed him in a July airstrike, although this has not been independently verified.

The warrants highlight growing calls for accountability amid the ongoing conflict in the region. The ICC’s actions are likely to provoke heated debate and may complicate diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the crisis.

With the warrants issued, global attention now turns to how the international community will respond and whether any practical steps will be taken to enforce them.

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