Continued from yesterday

He said he brought them from the village to Lagos so his mother could have peace of mind. He said, “I planned to set up businesses for them. But since I brought them from the village, it has been from one trouble to another. I have never had rest.  I never knew this would happen. I don’t know how I will inform my mother in the village now.” PUNCH Metro learnt that the corpse of the victim had been deposited at the Mainland General Hospital morgue, while the suspect had been transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba. The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident.

She said, “The suspect stabbed the victim to death while sleeping at about 6.30a.m. on Olorunkemi Street, Bariga. The case has been transferred to the SDCI.”

Buhari, others spent N64bn on foreign trips in 2015 – Adeosun

“The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun yesterday informed members of the House of Representatives that the Federal Government spent N64 billion on foreign trips. The minister, who addressed the lawmakers at a plenary session on the ongoing sectoral debates on how to diversify the economy, said government was trying to reduce the huge amount of money being spent on foreign trips on government officials. She revealed that government spent N4 billion yearly on rent, pointing out that they would turn all their agencies that deal with rent to recovery agencies.

The minister disclosed that government inherited N60 billion as a result of fertiliser supplied and were not paid for. Adeosun lamented that while N165 billion was being spent monthly on personnel cost, N18 billion had been spent on road construction thus far. She said in view of the dwindling economy, government had started growing the non-oil sector of the economy, adding that the country could not continue relying on oil proceeds. The minister hinted that over 99.6 per cent of what government agencies generate was spent, stressing that what they were doing at the moment was to block unnecessary spending and wastages. While saying they were trying to control these government agencies to really know how much they generate, Adeosun admitted that they do not know the true size of government revenue.

She wondered why some of the oil companies they pay subsidy were not paying tax to the Federal Inland Revenue Service(FIRS). On capital projects, the minister assured the lawmakers that they would invest more on power, housing, transport and roads. Adeosun, however, expressed optimism that investing in capital projects would drive industrialisation and grow the economy. She further disclosed that government was trying to reduce the counterpart funding to states from 50 per cent to 10 per cent.

The minister noted that they were cleaning up the pension reform in order to ensure that as people retire, they get their pension as at when due” – Nigerian Pilot.

FG can’t guarantee full budget implementation — Finance Minister

“The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said on Thursday that there was no guarantee that the Federal Government would implement the 2016 budget in full.

The minister, who took her turn to address members of the House of Representatives at the ongoing sectoral debate initiated by the House, explained that much depended on how much money was available to the government from crude oil sales to implement the N6.06 trillion budget. The session was presided over by the Speaker, Mr.Yakubu Dogara. Adeosun, however, gave the lawmakers an assurance that all the funds generated by the government would be carefully spent and followed up. “I cannot promise that every single agency will receive every money appropriated for them. The budget is an estimate and funds will be released based on revenue,” the minister said. Only on Wednesday, the minister had reported a drop of N18.25billion in revenue accruable to the Federation Account and meant for sharing by the three tiers of government for the month of April. Adeosun told the lawmakers that in spite of the drop in revenue, no ministry or agency was expected to lobby for funds, adding that there would be a need assessment before money would be released in the months ahead. According to her, a detailed plan of projects by each ministry or agency will be studied before money is released.

On President Muhammadu Buhari’s numerous foreign trips, the minister put up a defence thus, “Nigerians have underestimated how badly our international reputation was damaged. I would rather talk about how much has been restored.”

She gave an example of how the President used such trips to seek for the return of the country’s looted funds. But, the minister complained that the drawback was that some of the countries gave tough conditions for the return of the looted money. “These countries, who have enjoyed the benefits of being in custody of the funds, are not in a hurry to return them to Nigeria’s coffers,” she added. She mentioned Switzerland as still keeping $320 million of the late Gen. Sani Abacha’s loot on the excuse that Nigeria must fulfil certain conditions before the money would be handed over to the Federal Government. Contrary to the belief that the recovered funds were in cash, Adeosun told the lawmakers that in some cases, they were wrist watches, landed properties and other jewellery” – Punch.

Concluded

Bashorun J.K. Randle is a former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and former Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region. He is currently the Chairman, JK Randle Professional Services. He can be reached via [email protected]