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Senate not under pressure to approve Buhari’s foreign loans – Committee

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Senator Clifford Ordia, Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, , has said his panel was not under pressure to approve the borrowing plans of President Muhammadu Buhari.

He gave the explanation following insinuations that the panel was being pressured to approve the borrowing plans despite the inability of some agencies to convincingly defend their proposals.

However, Ordia said his panel was scrutinising the documents before it and would submit its report as soon as possible.

He also said that heads of some federal ministries, departments and agencies which hitherto failed to appear before the committee had been coming to defend their borrowing proposals.

He said, “Some of the agencies have come to defend their borrowing plans before our committee but we are still expecting one or two. I think they will come and defend their submissions when we resume plenary.

“So far, we are making progress and very soon, we will come up with our findings. It is not true that we are under pressure to approve the borrowing plans of the President Buhari administration.

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“The borrowing plans had been referred to our committee for the past three months; if we are under pressure, we would have submitted our report in less than one week of its referral. There is nothing like that (pressure) on the Senate.”

Buhari had, while presenting the 2022 budget before the joint chambers of the National Assembly in October, said his regime would finance the N6.26tn deficit contained in the fiscal document with N5trn which it proposed to borrow from local and foreign sources.

He acknowledged the fact that his government had exceeded the borrowing threshold approved by the Fiscal Responsibility Act but insisted that certain necessities had compelled it to borrow more.

Buhari had also admitted that Nigerians had genuine reasons to be concerned over the rate of borrowing but that his regime was doing everything to ensure its judicious utilisation in the best interest of Nigerians.

He had said, “We expect the total fiscal operations of the Federal Government to result in a deficit of N6.26trn.

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“This represents 3.39 per cent of estimated Gross Domestic Product slightly above the 3 per cent threshold set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007. Countries around the world have to, of necessity, overshoot their fiscal thresholds for their economies to survive and thrive.

“We need to exceed this threshold considering our collective desire to continue tackling the existential security challenges facing our country. We plan to finance the deficit mainly by new borrowings totalling N5.01trn.”

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UK local election: Boris Johnson turned away from polling station after forgetting valid ID

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Former prime minister of the UK, Boris Johnson, was turned away from his local polling station after forgetting to bring the required photo identity.

 

Johnson had joined locals in South Oxfordshire on Thursday to vote in the police and crime commissioner election.

Polling officials however told him he would not be allowed to vote without providing his identity.

There are 22 acceptable forms of ID in the UK including passports, driving licences, blue badges, and certain local travel cards.

 

As prime minister in 2022, Johnson introduced the Elections Act which requires photo ID — a development that sparked intense criticisms from Britons.

Last year, the Electoral Commission warned that the new law could exclude hundreds of thousands of people, including minorities and those with disabilities.

A spokesperson for Johnson confirmed he had forgotten the photo ID, but that he was able to cast his ballot after he returned with a valid ID.

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“Mr Johnson voted Conservative,” Sky News quoted the spokesperson as saying.

Downing Street said it would “look into” changing the controversial rules which require photo ID in order to vote, so that ID cards of veterans can be added to the list of valid identification.

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Governors can pay N615k minimum wage if they get priorities right – NLC

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President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, says state governors can afford to pay the proposed N615,000 minimum wage if they get their priorities right.

Ajaero spoke on Thursday during an interview with Channels Television.

 

Recently, organised labour announced that the new minimum wage should be pegged at N615,000.

The proposal came amid ongoing minimum wage negotiations between federal and state governments on one hand, and organised labour on the other.

 

In 2019, the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari pegged the national minimum wage at N30,000.

After the new minimum wage was announced at the time, it took some states forever to implement the increment.

 

Asked during the interview if organised labour’s proposal of N615,000 is realistic, Ajaero said the amount is the “most realistic” given the galloping inflation in the country.

 

The NLC president said organised labour considered factors like transportation, housing, and feeding before arriving at the sum.

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“If you are talking about being realistic, the N615,000 demand is the most realistic. Being realistic is not about slave wage,” Ajaero said.

 

“However, N30,000 is big money if inflation is brought down, and at a single digit.

“Look at the indices that create inflation. If you check them, you can talk about being realistic. All other factors in the country are going high and wages remain constant.”

 

Asked if states can afford the N615,000 proposal, the NLC president averred that it is not about ability to pay but the priorities of states.

“I think we need to understand the issues of ability to pay and not getting the priority right,” he added.

 

“Most of the states that have shown willingness to pay the current minimum wage are not among those getting the highest revenue.

“During the time of Muhammadu Buhari, some states were declared not having enough money to pay and he released funds for them to pay.

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“Those states still refused to pay. It is not the question of either the quantum of money that they have or not, it is what they decide to do with such money.

 

“If they get their priorities right, then a lot can happen.”

 

Organised labour has also threatened to embark on a strike if a new minimum wage is not announced before May 31, 2024.

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15-yr-old Kwara public school student scores 362 in UTME

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A student of a public secondary school, Government Secondary School, Omu Aran, Kwara State, Olukayode Victor Olusola, scored 362 marks in this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, to be among the contenders for the highest scorers in the examination.

Though the Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Prof. Isaq Oloyede, organisers of the exam, had said the Board would not announce the highest scorer to avoid last year’s experience of confusing claims, Olukayode’s score is celebratory, as it is among the highest in recent years.

He scored 95 marks each in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry and 77 in English Language.

 

His exploit is coming against the backdrop of the poor performance of candidates in the exam in which 1.4 million scored less than 200 marks out of 400. The exam was taken by over 1.8 million candidates

Also, Olukayode’s excellent performance is coming at a time when confidence is greatly eroding in what public schools have to offer and some private schools are boasting of being the most expensive in the country.

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Olukayode was born in 2009 and hopes to study Electrical Electronic at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State.

 

His mother, Beatrice Tosin, while giving all the honour to God, also praised the studious and hard working nature of her child.

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