Nigerian president signs budget, wealth fund bills

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed an amended 4.485 trillion naira 2011 budget on Friday, a plan which will keep sub-Saharan Africa's second biggest economy just within a 3 percent deficit target.

Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga said the budget assumed total revenues of 3.348 trillion naira based on a benchmark oil price of $75 a barrel, meaning the budget deficit would stand at 2.96 percent.

Jonathan also signed a bill to create a sovereign wealth fund, paving the way for Africa's biggest oil exporter to improve the management of its often-squandered windfall crude oil earnings.

"I have just signed the 2011 appropriation bill and the sovereign wealth investment fund into law," he told reporters in the presidential villa in the capital Abuja.

Jonathan originally proposed a 4.226 trillion naira budget in December but lawmakers inflated the plans three months later to 4.972 trillion naira, a proposal the president rejected.

Parliament later pruned the spending plans after negotiations with the government and on Wednesday passed the revised version which Jonathan signed.

The government has said the 2011 budget is supposed to mark a period of fiscal consolidation in sub-Saharan Africa's second biggest economy. Aganga had described the lawmakers' first inflated version as "unimplementable".

Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi has also repeatedly warned of the damage loose fiscal policy could do to the economy in Africa's biggest crude oil exporter.

On Tuesday, the central bank unexpectedly raised its key interest rate to 8 percent and doubled lenders' cash reserve requirements in an effort to curb inflation and ease pressure on the local naira currency.

The proposals for high public spending were highlighted as a major factor in the decision to tighten monetary policy again.

Nigeria set a 3 percent deficit threshold in a fiscal responsibility act in 2007 but has struggled to achieve that target in recent years.

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Suspected Nigerian Islamists attack police barracks, bank

Gunmen believed to be members of a radical Islamist sect attacked a police barracks and a bank in north Nigeria Friday, police said.

"There was an attack today on a police barracks and a bank by gunmen believed to be (members of the) Boko Haram sect," Borno State police commissioner Mohammed Jinjiri Abubakar told AFP of the incident in Damboa, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of Maiduguri, the state capital.

"They robbed the bank and used explosives on a police barracks," he said.

The police chief could immediately not say if anyone was injured or killed.

"We still don't have details on casualities. I am on my way to ascertain the situation and extent of damage from the attacks," he said.

Police have blamed the sect for a series of bomb attacks and shootings in Maiduguri in recent months.

Most of the attacks have targeted military and police personnel, community and religious leaders, and politicians.

Boko Haram, which means 'western education is sin' in a local dialect, launched a short-lived uprising in parts of the north in 2OO9 in a doomed bid to establish an Islamic state.

The attempt was crushed in a brutal military crackdown that saw hundreds of people, including many sect members, killed and its headquarters and mosque destroyed in Maiduguri, where most of the violence has occurred.

The sect has since staged a low-level insurgency and has been blamed for recent raids on churches and a prison.

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Tinubu charges lawmakers to review 1999 Constitution

The former governor of Lagos State and a leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday called on the incoming National Assembly, especially those elected on the platform of the ACN to ensure that the 1999 Constitution was reviewed.

Speaking at a retreat organised for the ACN National Assembly members-elect in Osogbo, Mr Tinubu said there was a need for the lawmakers to amend the constitution, which he said was a product of the military.

"The constitution is not the best for a democratic society like Nigeria. It is important for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to call a constitutional conference for the review of the constitution," he said.

Mr Tinubu, in his paper titled "The case for True Federalism in Nigeria" said members of the ACN in the National Assembly should ensure that no stone was left unturned until true federalism is achieved, even as he called for a review of the revenue sharing formula.

The former governor noted that the increase of the minimum wage should automatically cause a recalculation in the allocation ratio between federal and the state government because there are more state employees than federal ones.

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‘Kano State owes N110 billion'

he incoming governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is inheriting a debt portfolio of about N110 billion.

This was disclosed by the transition committee constituted by Mr Kwankwaso to look into the books of the outgoing government of Ibrahim Shekarau.

Addressing journalists in Kano on Wednesday, the spokesperson of the governor-elect, Jaafar Jaafar, said, based on the documents tendered before the transition committee by the state's accountant general, the outgoing administration incurred liabilities to the tune of N77,418,638,297.02, in addition to a foreign loan of $209,635,334.

The state government, according to the committee, spent about N420 billion within eight years without leaving anything on the ground to justify the expenditure.

"It gives us concern that despite the N420 billion they squandered, the incoming government will inherit N77 billion liabilities," he said.

The spokesperson also noted that there was sharp disparity between the statutory allocation figures tendered before the committee and the one obtained from the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Mr Jaafar further revealed that the offices of the head of service and the state accountant general gave conflicting figures of Kano workers' salary bills.

"While certain office puts the figure of the workers at 40,000, the other office puts it at 42,000. This is an indication that something is wrong somewhere," he said.

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Post-election litigation is minimal, says Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said the post-election litigation this year had reduced by 80 percent when compared to the 2007 elections, and is expected to further reduce by 95 percent in 2015.

Mr Jonathan claimed the reduction was due to some changes made before the election which, he said pointed to a transformation in Nigeria's electoral process.

He revealed this at the presidential inaugural lecture which was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Abuja yesterday.

Mr Jonathan fielded questions from the audience after a lecture by Ladipo Adamolekun, a public administration scholar and former dean of the faculty of Public Administration at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

Mr Jonathan said the change came when he advised the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman to make sure results were counted and distributed to the party agents at the polling units.

He added that this might have informed the drop in the number of post-election litigation.

"I think the implementation of this, from what the legal adviser of PDP told me a week ago when we discussed how many cases were in court, he said the numbers of litigations have dropped compared to 2007 by over 80 per cent. That shows that even in terms of electoral processes we are transforming; we are going somewhere," Mr Jonathan said. "In fact, I remember when I was acting president, the vice-president of South Africa came to visit and I asked her the length of time they allowed after election in court, because I was a bit worried that after election, two years into tenure of four years matters are still in court. She was surprised that somebody should go to court after elections; but in Nigeria; you will be surprised that nobody is going to court after elections."

The president also gave indications that he may not be dissolving his cabinet totally, saying that ministers who performed above a 60 percent average should be allowed to continue.

In another response to a question, he said 60 percent of speculations in the dailies on incoming ministers were wrong. He also spoke on the influence of lobbyists in the ministerial selection process.

"There are people lobbying for ministerial positions for what I term as personal reasons, either for themselves, their wives and then those who love the country," he said. "Those who love the country when they come to you for a particular person, if you analyse it you will see that they have no relationship with that person; they don't have any relationship. They are only lobbying because they feel that that person has the background to do the job. Those are those who love this country. Unfortunately, they are less than 10 per cent."

He also decried the short tenure of ministers stating that if a government comes up with a good policy and leaves immediately, there is a tendency that such a policy would die.

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Badagry killings: Injured ASP dies

The only survivor of the Army/Police clash in Badagry, Lagos, is dead.

Taofeek Afolabi (44), an Assistant Superintendent and the Operations Officer of the Police Station died yesterday, 48 hours after the clash, in which the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) , Mr. Salihu Samuel, and Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) Samson Okedusi and two others were killed.

The deceased was in the same vehicle with Samuel and Okedusi when they were allegedly attacked by soldiers in front of the 242 Battalion Barracks on Tuesday on their way to a meeting with the Commanding Officer.

Afolabi died at the Lagos State Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, bringing the death toll to five police officers.

Before his death, he narrated how they were attacked to reporters and senior Army officers on Tuesday.

The late Afolabi said he managed to crawl into the bush after he was shot in the lungs.

He said he later crawled to a filling station, where some people recognised him and took him to the hospital.

Deputy Medical Director, Badagry General Hospital, Dr. Tunji Olabuntu confirmed that the deceased was treated in the hospital and later referred to the Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.

Until his death, the late Afolabi was the only witness to the attack and the police authorities were hoping to present him to the panel investigating the matter.

Police spokesman Samuel Jinadu also confirmed Afolabi’s death.

Jinadu said: "Medical personnel had been battling to save Afolabi’s life after he was badly injured."

A new DPO has been posted to Badagry. He is Mr. Dakolo Aliko, a Chief Superintendent of Police.

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Akala deproscribes NURTW

Out-going Oyo State Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala yesterday deprosribed the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).

In a four paragraph statement by his Chief Press Secretary,Abraham Ojo, the governor said he took the decision to ensure “ the return of peace and tranquility to every part of the state”.

The statement reads:” The de-proscription order was given by Governor Alao-Akala following recent peace and tranquility being enjoyed in every part of the state.”

The statement said members of the union were law abiding.

The NURTW was proscribed by the government in August last year following a leadership crisis .

Reacting, NURTW Chairman, Alhaji Lateef Akinsola a.k.a. Tokyo said: “ Modupe lowo Akala.(I thank governor Akala).”

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