Daily Times Nigeria Thursday, March 14, 2019
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High public sector debt profile dominates Senate 2019 budget debate Continued from page 1 Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawan (APC Yobe), on the pretext that it was deemed to have been read for the first time by virtue of being laid by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 18, 2018. Senate Leader Ahmed Lawan gave an overview of the fiscal document and said the 2019 budget has been designed to carry over projects that could not be completed in the current fiscal year. He commended government’s efforts in cushioning the effects of economic hardship by retaining N500 billion social intervention fund to cater for government social intervention programmes. The Senate leader mentioned that borrowing is becoming increasingly unsustainable. After the lead debate, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu cautioned on the dangerous trend while acknowledging the need to address infrastructural needs of the citizenry. He said: “We must be able to caution ourselves before we mortgage the future of our children. Some countries are
already in danger including Indonesia because of the borrowing they had in the past. For every money you borrow, there must be a day for payment. “We must therefore be cautious. Yes, it is important that we address our infrastructural needs through appropriate financing but I believe there are other creative ways of funding these infrastructure including Public Private Partnership and concessioning. “For us to depend on borrowing means that we are putting our future in jeopardy. And therefore, it is time for us to ensure that our debt to GDP ratio must not exceed acceptable level”. Ekweremadu also talked about the budgetary cycle, saying Nigeria has increasingly deviated from the financial year proposed by the constitution. He said: “Section 318 of the Constitution said that the financial year is the period of 12 months from 1st January of every year. Which means it is usually between the 1st of January and 31st of December or any other time as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.
“Over the last four years, the average period for which budget had been passed in this Assembly has always been in May. And I believe it is a very dangerous trend. We must have to go back to the Financial Year prescribed by the Constitution. “The implication of what is happening now is that the Executive consistently has brought the budget quite late, usually towards the end of December or shortly before we leave on break in December. And that makes it impossible for the National Assembly to consider this until sometime into January”. Towards next Assembly, he suggested the need for the Executive and the Parliament to ensure discipline regarding the time to prepare the budget, present and consider it. “Now we know that there will be budget next year. I expect the Executive to start preparation of this budget early enough so that latest by September, that budget would have come. And we will have a month or two to do with it so that the implementation will start early during the dry season,” he said.
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President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, signing a condolence register in honour of late Prof. Pius Adesanmi, who lost his life in the ill-fated Ethiopian airline that crashed recently during a candle light gathering for the deceased held at the Unity Fountain in Abuja...on Wednesday
Kwankwanso vows to sack workers employed by Ganduje Our correspondent
Thousands of workers employed by incumbent Kano State governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, may be sacked from service should the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Abba Kabir Yusuf, win the March 23 supplementary election in the state. A source close the PDP leader in the state, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwanso, revealed to The Daily Times that the former governor and his new party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have concluded plans to flush out anybody that joined the service during the administration of Governor Ganduje. According to the source, who pleaded not to be named, the former Defence Minister has directed his son in-law, Abba Kabir Yusuf, to ensure the sacking of the workers. “The former Governor is angry with everybody including civil servants and has vowed to ensure that
those employed by Governor Ganduje, whether at the state or local government level would be flushed out if PDP wins. “In fact, that is one of the first-line actions he is going to take immediately he is sworn-in as the Governor of the state, should he win the election,” the source added. The source further hinted that Kwankwanso, the PDP candidate, Abba Kabir Yusuf and his runningmate, Aminu Abdulsalam, recently held a meeting at Kwankwanso’s Bompai residence where the decision was finalised. According to the source, “they already believe that they have won the election, and that is why they have decided to plot the sack of the civil servants so as to replace them with their own people. “In fact, the party believes that they had won the election before INEC declared the election inconclusive. Kwankwaso declared war on the people he tagged betrayals, particularly, workers employed by Ganduje.”
According to our source, the list of the workers to be sacked contained 765 names from Kano state Internal Revenue Service, 1,000 from Sanitation Vanguard, 125 from Science and Technology Board, many from Kano State Revenue Transport Agency, (KAROTA), 1575 Teachers employed under SUBEB, 1196 Medical officers, 191 Lecturers, 618 Nurses, 300 primary health workers, 289 other teaching staff. Others include 3,781 State Assembly staff, 30 State Emergency Board staff, 114 staff in the Ministry of Justice, 30 staff of Radio Kano, 7 ARTV staff, 6 Conversion/Appointment of corporate security, HMB,PHCB , 5,518. He added that, “so many top politicians in the state who Kwankwanso felt betrayed him, were equally penciled down to be severely dealt with. “As I speak to you, Oga has penciled down the names of so many people he perceived betrayed him, and their heads will roll if the PDP gets to power,” the source said.
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A group of Nigerian Journalist welcoming the new Director of Korean Cultural Centre in Nigeria (KCCN), in Abuja... on Wednesday.