NEWS
Nigeria’s Excess Crude account stands at $2.09bn – NEC
The National Economic Council (NEC) says Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account stood at over $2.09 billion as at Oct. 16.
Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, said this while briefing State House correspondents after NEC meeting on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Abubakar said that the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, gave the update on the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), Excess Crude Account, Stablisation Fund Account and Natural Resources Development Account.
“She presented a budget estimate for the FAAC meetings of 2018; usually these budgets estimates are prepared by the Office of Accountant General and tabled before the NEC for approval.
“A total budget of N650 million was approved for the conduct of the FAAC meetings for 2018, later on the minister gave update of the Excess Crude Account as at Oct. 16, 2018 which stood at 2.09 billion dollars.
“The Stablisation Fund Account stands at N21.9 billion and then the Natural Resources Development Fund stands at N119. 7 billion.’’
He said that there was also an update on the ad hoc committee set up by NEC to address the problem of crude oil theft and its prevention and control.
Abubakar said that the committee used to be headed by the then Governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, but NEC had approved the nomination of Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, to head the committee.
The other governor members of this committee are governors of Akwa Ibom State, Delta, Bayelsa, Cross River and Ondo.
He listed other members of the committee as the Ministers of Budget and Planning, Finance, Petroleum Resources, and representatives of the all the security agencies in Nigeria.
Abubakar said that the Minister of Youths and Sports, Solomon Dalung, gave a presentation on the sporting activities that were conducted by his ministry.
He said that Dalung spoke specifically on the National Youth Games and the National Sports Festival.
“He indicated that the National Youth Games has been held successfully with 32 states participating and that the next edition of the National Sports Festival is in high preparation.
“The Minister of FCT has agreed to host the 19th edition of the National Sports Festival. He called on governors to support the process by preparing participants on time and supporting their participants to the venue.
“Giving adequate security for the participants including also kitting the participants for the festival as well as paying their participation fees to the organisers of the festival, ‘’ he said
The party faulted the decision of the electoral umpire in a statement on Saturday by the spokesperson for its Presidential Campaign Council, Mr Festus Keyamo.
Keyamo, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said they received the news of INEC’s decision with “great disappointment and disillusionment”.
“We condemn and deprecate this tardiness of the electoral umpire in the strongest terms possible,” he said.
“President Muhammadu Buhari had since cooperated fully with INEC by ensuring everything it demanded to conduct free and fair elections were promptly made available to it.”
The APC campaign council spokesman noted that the postponement was a disappointment to his party and their supporters across the country.
He, therefore, warned INEC against bowing to the purported pressure of the opposition which he said was not ready for the elections.
According to Keyamo, credible demographic projections have predicted a defeat of the opposition party and it needs the breather to halt President Muhammadu Buhari’s momentum.
“We do hope that INEC will remain neutral and impartial in this process as the rumour mill is agog with the suggestion that this postponement has been orchestrated in collusion with the main opposition,” he alleged.
The council spokesman added, “It is in the light of the above that we wish to appeal to Nigerians and our supporters to be patient, calm and resolute despite this temporary setback.
“Let us not give anyone … the opportunity to plunge this nation into a crisis, which is what they earnestly desire.”
INEC had postponed the general elections by a week, less than five hours to the start of the polls.
INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, announced the decision at a short press briefing held at 2:44 am on Saturday morning in Abuja.
According to him, the Presidential and National Assembly elections, initially scheduled for today, February 16, will now hold on February 23, while the governorship and state houses of assembly elections will take place on March 9.
The Independent National Electoral Commission in Nigeria (INEC) on Friday night announced a shift in the general elections dates to February 23 and March 9 respectively.
The new schedule was announced by the Chairman of the commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, early Saturday morning after an emergency meeting with security officials, election observers and other political stakeholders.
He said the postponement was due to logistic and operational reasons.
According to him, the new dates for the elections are 23 February and 9 March for the Presidential and National Assembly, as well as the governorship, state houses of assembly and FCT Area Council elections respectively.
It would be recalled that the Presidential/National Assembly Election was initially billed for today February 16 while the Governorship/States Assemblies election was billed for Saturday, March 2.
According to Prof. Yakubu, “the commission came to the conclusion that proceeding with the election is no longer feasible.”
He added that “This was a difficult decision for the commission to take but necessary” for the success of the elections.
The National Assembly had in October last year approved the sum of N242.245bn for this year’s elections.
Out of the amount, INEC got N189bn, while the police was allocated N27.3bn. The DSS got N10.2bn; NSA’s office, N9.4bn; N2.628bn for Nigerian Immigration Service, and N3.573bn for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has issued an arrest warrant against Walter Onnoghen, suspended chief justice of Nigeria.
At its resumed trial on Wednesday, the tribunal ordered the nation’s security agencies to arrest Onnoghen after he failed to appear before it.
Aliyu Umar, lead prosecution counsel for the federal government, had asked the tribunal to order Onnoghen’s arrest over his refusal to appear before it.
The suspended CJN has not been in court for at least five times since his trial started.
The federal government is prosecuting him for alleged false assets declaration.
Umar, while making an oral application for the arrest warrant, kicked against Onnoghen’s continued absence.
He said both the administration of criminal justice act and the practice direction of the CCT mandates a defendant to be present in court before any proceedings can be conducted in respect of a pending charge.
Adegboyega Awomolo, lead defense counsel, however, kicked against the application.
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