News

Reps Scrap Presidential Yacht Budget, Increase Student Loan To N10bn

Published

2 years ago

November 2, 2023

Following public outcry over the allocation of N5.095 billion for the purchase of a presidential yacht in the 2023 supplementary budget, the House of Representatives, on Thursday, said it had scrapped the budgetary allocation.

Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Abubakar Bichi, disclosed this in an interview with journalists on Thursday. He said the budgetary allocation for student loans was also increased from five billion to N10 billion.

He said the committee also increased the budgetary allocation of Ministry of Defence from N 476 billion to N546 billion.

Bichi also disclosed that the minimum wage for workers was considered and approved for onward transmission to the executive. He promised proper legislative oversight to ensure 100 per cent implementation.

In the supplementary budget sent to the National Assembly by the President, the Federal Government had allocated N5 billion to purchase a presidential yacht.

The proposed sum was under the capital expenditure of the Nigerian Navy’s budget.

According to the breakdown, the Navy will require N62.8 billion for its operations, with recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure gulping N20.4 billion and N42.3 billion, respectively

But Bichi said the five billion naira for the presidential yacht has been yanked off from the budget.

He said: “Actually We have submitted our reports to the House and after a careful consideration, the House has approved our submissions and the breakdown is as follows.

“As you know, the budget is about N2.1tn and the ministry of defence has about N456bn but currently ministry of defence has the largest share because we know how important our security is. As you aware, we have interaction with them yesterday. Currently, we have increase their budget from N456bn to N546, 209,099,671 billion.

“For Police formation and command, we gave them N50bn while the FCT has about N100bn. You know FCT is very important to us, so we want to make sure that FCT can compete with any state in the world. That is why we gave them N100bn.

“On the office of national security, their initial budget was N27bn but currently we have increase their budget to N50bn. For the state house, their initial budget was N28bn and we maintained that.

“On ministry of Agriculture and food security, you know how important that ministry is, we maintained their initial figure of N200bn as well. For ministry of housing, you know we have serious housing deficit in the country and Mr. President agenda, he wants to build as much as he can, so we have approve N100bn for housing.

“Service wide votes initially was N615 but currently we reduced to N515bn.

“For INEC, initially their budget was N18bn, and yesterday we had an interaction with the INEC Chairman and he convinced us with his submissions and we maintained their N18bn.

“So far, we have approved N2,176, 791, 286, 33 trillion. We will continue to support the goverment so we can deliver democracy.

On the presidential yacht, Bichi said: “Actually, as far we are concerned, we don’t have that anymore. We have increased the student loan. Initially, student loan was N5bn in the budget but we have increased it to N5bn so that our students can access that facility in order for them to go to school. We don’t have the Yatch anymore in budget.”

He assured that lawmakers would ensure adequate oversight over the way the funds are spent, saying that “our members especially those standing committees oversight those project and ensure the money are used judiciously. From now to three months we are going to call them and ask them what they have done with the money. “

News

JUST IN: Olubadan, Oba Olakulehin, Is Dead

Published

4 hours ago

July 7, 2025

Editor

The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Owolabi Olakulehin, has passed away.

Olakulehin died at the age of 90.

According to The PUNCH, the monarch died in the early hours of Monday.

Olakulehin died during the ongoing 90th birthday and first anniversary coronation celebrations.

He succeeded the late Oba Lekan Balogun.

A source close to the Olubadan-In-Council confided in our correspondent in Ibadan, the state capital, that “we received the message that the paramount ruler passed away this morning. He has joined his forefathers. Though it has to be officially announced by the state government.”

Another palace source, who confirmed the news, said the Otun Olubadan, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, who is the next in line to become Olubadan, is currently out of the country and he is expected back.

“We are expecting a former Governor of the State and the Otun Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, who is currently out of the country, to come back home.

“He must have been briefed,” he said.

News

NBSAP Validation: HOMEF Commends FG, Says It’s A Welcome Step Towards Food Sovereignty, Biosafety

Published

8 hours ago

July 7, 2025

Editor

Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has commended the Federal Government for endorsing the revised National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP).

Recall, in June 2025, Nigeria officially approved its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, NBSAP, 2025-2030, aiming to stop and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

According to the Nigerian government’s statement, the NBSAP fully aligns
with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (K-M GBF), with a focus on halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030.

The revised National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, NBSAP, has been adopted as a comprehensive government policy with 23 national targets, each aligned with the corresponding global biodiversity targets and goals.

Reacting to the development in a statement made available to INFO DAILY by Kome Odhomor, Media/Communication Lead, HOMEF, the Executive Director of the organisation, Dr Nnimmo Bassey, stated that it is a vital step toward protecting Nigeria’s biodiversity and advancing environmental
justice.

“We are especially encouraged by NBSAP’s firm stance on the regulation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), which aligns with ourBlong-standing advocacy for biosafety and food sovereignty. In a time when the indiscriminate adoption of genetically engineered crops is
increasingly being pushed by multinational interests, NBSAP rightly
cautions that unregulated GMO use could be catastrophic to our environment, health, and sustainable development,” he said.

Also, Joyce Brown, Director of Programmes and Lead on Hunger Politics, HOMEF, noted
that “the Strategy’s support for traditional plant breeding,
non-transgenic biotechnologies, and the fair sharing of benefits from biological resources reflects a welcome policy shift. It affirms the rights of smallholder farmers and communities to control their seeds and food system, putting the power back in the hands of people.”

They, therefore, “urged the government to back this with action by halting GMO approvals pending a biosafety audit, reviewing the National Biosafety Management Agency Act 2015 as amended in 2019, in line with the National Biosafety Framework, investing in agroecology, and supporting community seed systems.

“HOMEF remains committed to ensuring Nigeria’s biodiversity thrives, free from genetic pollution and corporate control.”

News

JAMB Releases Results Of Mop-up Examination

Published

17 hours ago

July 6, 2025

Editor

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released the results of the mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) held on Saturday, June 28, 2025.
According to a statement issued on Sunday evening by JAMB’s spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, results have been released for 11,161 candidates who sat for the exam out of the 96,838 candidates scheduled for the mop-up exercise.

The board, however, noted that some candidates who are unable to access their results failed to comply with the prescribed instructions.

“Candidates who are not able to access their results have been found not to have fully complied with the instruction to send ‘UTMERESULT’ (as one word text) to 55019 or 66019 using the same phone number (SIM) used during registration for the UTME,” the statement read.

JAMB urged all affected candidates to follow the correct procedure in order to access their results.