Paper review: Senate gives Buhari final warning

The newspapers for today, April 22 mainly focus on the controversies surrounding the 2016 budget.

The controversy surrounding the 2016 budget is far from over as President Muhammadu Buhari returned the document to the National Assembly, pointing out areas of concern in the budget and demanding adjustment.

The Sun reports that chairman of the House of Representatives committee on media and public affairs, Abdurazaq Namdas, told journalists on Thursday, April 21, that the National Assembly had received a letter from the president identifying grey areas in the budget.

He further disclosed that the leadership of the Senate and House had met over the letter containing the ‘grey areas in the budget’ to ensure and hasten concurrence.

“Speaker Yakubu Dogara met with the president as mandated by the House. I can confirm that we are in possession of the list of the grey areas,” he said.

He however stopped short of disclosing the grey areas pointed out by the president, saying the National Assembly would make them known to Nigerians in due course.

Following President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to sign the 2016 budget, Senators have threatened to override the budget bill next Tuesday upon the lapse of the 30-day constitutional window given the President to sign the bill tomorrow.

Vanguard reports that the threat of veto override was made at a closed-door session of the Senate yesterday night, April 21. Senators across party ranks also protested against the alleged actions of the chairman of the Senate committee on appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje in mutilating the inputs of the Senate committees on the budget. Sources said that several senators demanded Goje’s resignation from the position.

Still on the raging controversy surrounding the 2016 budget, the Guardian reports that the organised private sector (OPS) has appealed that the budget impasse between the presidency and the National Assembly be resolved quickly to check the negative economic effects of the delay in the signing of the document.

In this regard, Senator Ekweremaduto after the closed-door session, which he presided over said:” The Senate in a closed -session deliberated on issues relating to the 2016 appropriation bill and the way forward for the quick resolutions of all the matters related to the early implementation of the budget in the best interest of our nation”

On his part, the Senate leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, denied that senators at the  meeting resolved to remove the chairman of the committee on appropriation, Danjuma Goje.

“Nobody should expect me, on my honour, to disclose details of what we discussed in a closed-door session. It is not true that we asked the chairman of the Senate committee, Danjuma Goje, to resign. That is not what we discussed. Goje was appointed and he could only be removed by a vote of no confidence. We can only ask the elected officers of the Senate to resign, not chairmen of committee. For a chairman that was appointed, we can decide to appoint another one, we can swap chairmen, we change their responsibilities.”

In another development, the Punch reports that officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested Nenadi Usman, the director of finance of the former President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday, April 21.

The former minister of states for finance was alleged to have received the sum of N2.5 billion from the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN), according to the newspaper.

A source at the EFCC said N4 billion was transferred from the account of the CBN into a mysterious account known as the Ministry of External Affairs Library.

It was gathered that the mysterious account was believed to have been a channel put in place by the office of the national security adviser on the instructions of the presidency.

The source noted that the N2.5 billion was said to have been transferred from the account to the her company account while N140 million was allegedly paid into her Zenith Bank account with number, 1000158311, domiciled in 7 Kachia road, Kaduna.

Usman allegedly transferred money to several persons through the bank account of a company, Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited.

Meanwhile, the Nation reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has deffered states’ loans repayment this month to allow states pay workers’ salaries, which have run into many months arrears.

The minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun broke the news after yesterday’s meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

She said: “On the update of the financial situation of the states, it was discussed extensively that currently the Federation Account receipts are among the lowest that have been seen in recent memory. We are looking at N299 billion this month and that is because of the very low oil prices recorded in January and February.

“If you remember, oil prices went as low as $28 and $31 and, of course, that has led to a very low Federation Account as a result of which I approached the President and the governors that we defer the loan deductions from the Federation Account entitlement.

“The aim of this is to ensure that we support them through this difficult period to be able to meet salary obligations. The government is very committed to stimulating the economy and recognises the ability of states to meet salary obligations is a very important part of getting the economy moving again.”

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