Senate Open-Up On The Alleged ‘Missing 2016 Budget’

                                                 Nigerian Senate

Controversy appears to be trailing the passage of the 2016 budget, as there are reports that the budget is missing.

A federal lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Channels Television that there were fears that the 2016 budget had disappeared from the National Assembly.

President Buhari on December 22 presented the 2016 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly.

The Senate on resumption of plenary on Tuesday went into a closed-door session which lasted for nearly two hours.

The lawmaker said the issue of the whereabouts of the budget was discussed during the closed door meeting.

The source further said the Senate had directed its Committee on Ethics and Privileges to investigate the matter.

No Truth To Insinuations

But the Senate spokesman, Aliyu Abdullahi, in an interview with Channels Television said he was not aware that the 2016 budget was missing.

“To the best of my knowledge, I am not aware of any missing budget. What we discussed today is how we are going to work assiduously, as Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to consider the budget as submitted by the president.

“Added to this, we have agreed that we should work hard to make sure that by the end of February the budget is ready for approval or assent by the President,” Mr Abdullahi stated.

The Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin,  said that there is no truth to insinuations that the 2016 budget document is missing.

He said that the claims may have been inspired by the initial insufficiency of the copies of the budget available to all the lawmakers.

“As far as I am concerned, that story does not hold water. We were expecting copies to be printed and sent to the National Assembly but there was a bit of delay.

“As at yesterday, I can confirm to you that the Appropriation Committee in the House received a lot of copies of the budget. By the time the Clerk counted it today, it was not sufficient to go round members.

“I spoke with the Minister of Planning earlier today [Tuesday] and he assured me that before the end of today he will deliver the remaining copies.

“For the soft copy I also reminded him and he sent it to me and I handed it over to the House,” he explained.

Honourable Jibrin said the rumour of missing budget may have been triggered by the delay in the production of more copies of the budget.

“You should realise that we have a new government in place and I think that there is little issue of communication gap and they are trying to get themselves settled. We should be able to excuse them and support the President wherever there is a bit of limitation from his own side,” he told Channels Television’s correspondent, Charles Eruka.

Earlier, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari declined to comment on the budget issue when reporters asked him questions about the alleged missing 2016 budget.

With Channel News

FEC: Buhari shocks Osinbajo, ministers

According a report on The Punch Newspapers, President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday caught most members of the Federal Executive Council unaware as he arrived the Council Chambers for the council’s meeting at about 9.50am.

Only a handful council members were already in the hall for the meeting slated for 10am at the time Buhari arrived.

Immediately he stepped into the hall, the President noted the absence of most of the council members.

“I came too early,” he said as he asked members in attendance to recite the National Anthem.

As of the time the meeting started, only about 19 out of the 36 ministers were in attendance.

The Head of Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita; and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, were also in attendance.

Shortly after, journalists were excused and the meeting went into closed session, some members including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari; National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno; Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; and Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Khadija Bukar Abba; arrived.

They were however not late as they arrived at about 9.55am.

Many of them were seen checking their time and rushing into the chamber when they discovered that the meeting had started.

Some other ministers however arrived after the 10am scheduled take off time.

Patoranking’s Ex Slams Him. Calls Him An Ungrateful Fool And Money Follower

The former girlfriend of the “girlie o” crooner, almost lost it some minutes ago as she took to her page to shade her ex-boyfriend who she says is an artist, although Patoranking’s name wasn’t mentioned. 

She promised to spill the tea when she’s ready. She later deleted the post after a friend told her to calm down….. thank God she deleted it later.Sharp girl.

Obama rubbished on Twitter about Middle East history

US president's State of the Union comment that Middle East conflicts "dated back millennia" met with online ridicule.

It may have just been one line in an hour-long address, but US President Barack Obama is getting creamed for what some said was perpetuating a lie.

Social media reacted quickly to Obama's comment during his final State of the Union address on Tuesday night, when he paid reference to the ongoing Middle East crisis as one that dated back millenia.

"The Middle East is going through a transformation that will play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia," Obama said.

Commentators described Obama's comment as "orientalist" and "obscene." Others like Vox, described the assertion as "dangerous".

Many pointed out that even a basic reading of history would illustrate that pretty much every conflict in the region, even the so-called Shia-Sunni sectarian divide, dated back no more  than 100 years. 

Obama's comment risks "perpetuating the widespread 'ancient hatreds' myth that feeds two dangerous and mistaken beliefs about the Middle East: 1) that these people just hate each other because that's how they are "over there," and 2) that the problems run so deep that they can't be solved and we shouldn't bother trying," Max Fisher wrote  .

"It's reductive and cynical because it paints a picture of the Middle East as perpetually at war because people there are just different."

Obama spent a portion of his speech specifically tackling current hysteria around Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL).

Though he made an effort to disqualify ISIL as a legitimate representation of Islam, commentators said his gaffe exemplified the country's foreign policy campaigns in the Middle East and fed into flawed and inaccurate perceptions over the trouble in the region.

With Aljazeera

Toyin Aimakhu Is Back In A Sexy Look (Photo)

This is Toyin hilarious pictures posted on her Instagram account.