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Senate, House ‘Ready To Pass Budget 2024 Before December 31’

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  • Federal lawmakers invite ministers, heads of agencies, security chiefs, others

The National Assembly is set to meet the December 31 target for the passage and signing of the 2024 Appropriation Bill in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s request.

President Tinubu, while presenting the bill and laying the budget on Wednesday, urged the lawmakers to give it speedy passage to ensure the continuation of the January to December financial cycle.

Ministers, heads of departments and agencies, security chiefs and chief executive officers of institutions to which funding is appropriated have been summoned by the lawmakers for a parley tomorrow on how to achieve the target.

The meeting will set the template for the process to pass the N27.6 trillion Budget of Renewed Hope.

Chairman of the Senate Appropriation, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, told The Nation last night that a no-nonsense approach will be adopted.

He warned that heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) who fail to defend their votes would run on zero allocation next year.

The Senate committee chairman said the plan for speedy passage of the budget will be threatened should the executive introduce a fresh request.

Senator Adeola said: “We are sitting as a joint committee (Senate and House of Representatives) and what this means is that only one report will come from the Appropriation Committee.

“Unlike in the past when we had to sit together for harmonisation and concurrence, what we will have from the joint committees is the harmonised report. This will save considerable time.

“What we don’t expect from the Executive is the introduction of a new item that had not been accommodated in the budget that is already with us for consideration.

“The strategies we have adopted will make the deadline achievable.

“President Tinubu himself is aware of the exigency of time and he has warned his ministers and heads of MDAs to cooperate with us.

“We believe that nobody from the executive arm of government will flout the directive on this.

“If any agency fails to defend its vote, nothing will be appropriated for such agency for next year.

“We need maximum cooperation from the heads of the MDAs to achieve the set target.

“Any minister who fails to honour our invitation will operate on zero allocation next year.

“So, we are putting a lot of sacrifice into the task to deliver the budget on schedule. This is the only way to sustain the January – December budget cycle.”

Expected at tomorrow’s one-day retreat are members of the Senate standing committees and their House of Representatives counterparts.

A source said: “They are going to have something like a retreat on Tuesday, to be attended by all Senate and House of Representatives committee chairmen and all heads of MDAs.

“The planned retreat by the Senate Committee on Appropriations will enable an interaction on the quick passage of the budget before the National Assembly goes on recess for the Yuletide.”

According to the notice of invitation signed by Adeola, Dr. Ayo Teriba has been invited to speak as a guest lecturer.

The economist is to speak on how to get improved outcomes from the 2024 budget, it was learnt.

On the invitation list are chief executives and heads of MDAs; Service chiefs (Army, Navy and Air Force); Inspector-General of Police (IGP); Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); and Comptrollers-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

Others are royal fathers, heads of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Community Development Associations (CDAs).

 

Credit: The Nation

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Family Raises Alarm As 27-Yr-Old UK Varsity Student Goes Missing In Nigeria

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The family of Daniel Ogoh, a 27-year-old postgraduate student in a foreign university, has raised concerns about his whereabouts after his recent visit to Nigeria.

Daniel’s uncle, Mr. Imade Osamede, revealed that Daniel arrived at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on May 5th, standing at 6.1 feet tall. His name was listed on the arrival manifest and cleared by relevant agencies, with no criminal records against him.

However, Daniel failed to reunite with family and friends upon arrival and has remained unaccounted for. Despite efforts to contact him through his phone numbers, all attempts have been unsuccessful.

Confronted with the alarming possibilities, the family initiated a desperate search and notified law enforcement agencies. Unfortunately, ongoing investigations have yet to provide clarity on Daniel’s disappearance.

“This is really strange and unfortunate. I don’t understand how somebody will arrive all the way from Europe and disappear into the thin air in his country. This has thrown the parents and other family members into emotional trauma. This is a very dark and agonising moment for us.” Imade Osamede his uncle said in a tearful tone.

The source pleaded with anyone with useful information on the issue to report at the nearest police station or contact the family through the following telephone lines +2349035440301, and +2348167082786.

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Dangote Refinery Will Sell Petrol To Only NNPC, Distribution Starts Sunday — Federal Government

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The Federal Government has confirmed that Dangote Petroleum Refinery will start distributing premium motor spirit (PMS), or petrol, on Sunday.

Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, made the announcement Friday at a press conference in Abuja.

Represented by Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Executive Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, Edun stated that all necessary agreements are in place for the loading of the initial petrol batch.

“I am glad to announce that all agreements have been completed and loading of the first batch of PMS from the Dangote Refinery will commence on Sunday, September 15,” Edun said.

The minister said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited will supply about 385,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) to the Dangote refinery starting next month.

“From October 1, NNPC Ltd. will commence the supply of about 385,000 bpd of crude oil to the Dangote refinery, to be paid for in naira,” he said.

“In return, the Dangote refinery will supply PMS and diesel of equivalent value to the domestic market, to be paid in naira.”

 

  • ‘Dangote Refinery Will Sell Pms To Only NNPC’

Edun also said the Dangote refinery will sell petrol to only the NNPC, noting that interested marketers would have to buy the product from the national oil firm.

However, the minister said the Dangote refinery can sell diesel to any off-taker.

“Diesel will be sold in naira by the Dangote refinery to any interested off-taker. PMS will only be sold to NNPC, NNPC will then sell to various marketers for now,” he said.

Edun’s statement contradicts NNPC’s claim on September 7 that it does not intend to be the sole distributor of petrol produced by the Dangote refinery.

In addition, the minister said all associated regulatory costs pertaining to the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and others would also be paid for in naira.

“We are also setting up a one-stop shop that will coordinate service provision from all regulatory, and security agencies, and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth implementation of this initiative. This will be located in Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Lagos,” Edun said.

“The technical committee that worked to flesh out this initiative will transition to an implementation execution and monitoring committee that will be working out of Lagos for the next three to six months.”

 

  • ‘Crude Oil Sale In Naira Will Reduce Cost, Pressure On Local Currency’

Speaking on the approval to sell crude oil to local refineries in naira and purchase petrol from the refiners in the local currency, Edun said the decision would reduce pressure on the local currency.

On July 29, the federal executive council (FEC) approved a proposal by President Bola Tinubu directing the NNPC to sell crude oil to the Dangote refinery and other refineries in naira.

The minister said the move would also eliminate unnecessary transaction costs, and improve the availability of petroleum products in the country.

According to Edun, the implementation committee chaired by him, and the other technical committee had worked intensely with the NNPC and Dangote refinery to fashion out the details of the modalities for the implementation of the approval by the FEC.

Edun thanked Tinubu for championing the initiative and assured the president that he could count on the committee to implement his vision.

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I Met Native Doctor On TikTok; He Asked Me To Remove My Girlfriend’s Tongue, Eyes, Lungs — 21-Yr-Old Suspect Narrates Murder Of 100-Level Kogi Student

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The Kogi State Police Command has apprehended and paraded four suspects linked to the gruesome murder of 19-year-old Damilola Olowoyo, a first-year student at Federal University Lokoja.

The main suspect, Jeremiah Paul (20), was arrested alongside accomplices Emmanuel Otitoju, Banabas Olugbenga, and Ajayi Basit Ayomide.

Jeremiah Paul, from Chikun Local Government in Kaduna State, confessed to masterminding the killing as part of a money ritual scheme initiated through a native doctor he contacted on TikTok.

Paul shockingly revealed that he befriended Damilola with the intention of using her for ritual purposes.

“I met Damilola last Sunday and we started chatting. I already had it in mind that I wanted to use her for rituals,” Paul stated.

He lured her to his home after drugging her with a mixture of codeine and Sprite. Once she became weak, he led her to an uncompleted building where he strangled her to death.

Paul explained how he was instructed by the native doctor, based in Ibadan, to remove specific body parts.

“I removed her eyes, tongue, lungs, and other parts, placed them in a calabash, and sent them back to the native doctor via a driver,” he said.

Paul said the arrangement was facilitated entirely online, with the ritualist sending back a soap purported to grant wealth after receiving the body parts.

Parading the suspects at the Police headquarters, in Lokoja, on Friday, the Police spokesperson, William Aya, stated that Paul lured the deceased into the bush and killed her for a money ritual.

The image maker disclosed how the suspects were arrested, and said there was a complaint made to the Commissioner of Police (CP), over the disappearance of Olowoyo, a student in the Department of Biological Science, Federal University Lokoja.

He said, “The Commissioner of Police swung into action and assigned the matter to the State Intelligence Department. The operatives swung into action immediately and started working on the phone of the deceased since it could not be reached. With the help of the technical unit at the force headquarters, we were able to apprehend Jeremiah Paul in connection with the case.

“The suspect actually confessed to us that on 4th of September, 2024, that he met the deceased Olowoyo and lured her to the bush. At first, he pretended that he liked her. When she accepted, he took her to an apartment. Before then, he gave the deceased a drink. Unknown to her, inside the drink, he had put some codeine.

According to him, “This worked in her system which made her weak for the suspect to carry out his heinous crime. He took the deceased to an uncompleted building before strangling her to death and dismembered her body. He removed her eyes, lungs, liver, tongue and fleshy part of her buttocks with the purpose of performing some rituals.

“Initially, he called the parents of the deceased that he had kidnapped the lady and demanded for ransom, in which he was paid, before killing the girl. He collected a ransom of N400,000 from the parents.

It said, “Further investigation also revealed that one of the suspects here was the first person that approached the girl, but because he couldn’t provide what was being demanded from him, he withdrew. The main suspect, Jeremiah Paul decided to step in. He came with his friend from Kaduna State to commit this crime.”

“You may be seeing somebody as a human being but he is not. This act that Jeremiah Paul and his gang have carried out is an inhuman act. Imagine a 20-year old boy going this far; killing an innocent lady and removing her sensitive body parts, in the name of carrying out rituals.

“It shows that in the society we are living in, people need to be very careful. I am calling on students across the various institutions to be very careful with their friends, course mates and neighbours they are mingling with. Some people will be within the school environment but they are not students.

“Some may have admission and they are in school, but they have their own aim of being there. Students should be contented with what they have. Because of little things, this girl lost her life.”

He appealed to parents and students to be conscious of people they are moving with.

He added that the command will arraign the four suspects as soon as the investigation is concluded.

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