[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f humans are truly fair to what comes from their mouths about Engr. Philip Ugbomah Chukwumah’s humanitarian gesture, the hope of those trying to fake reality to get support in fulfilling their political aspirations, are definitely sealed up ahead of the 2019 elections.

Ndokwa East is endowed with young talented people who are doing great in their various fields, stemming from engineering down to sciences, arts, education, trading, agriculture, entertainment, fashion, banking,just name it, except politics. It is no longer news how the average Ndokwa East youths lack political recognition.
The very few young people who are admitted into the corridors of political power today, are just there for formality because they are not part of decision and policy makers, rather they are tools been used by the so called political gladiators (The same old politicians from time immemorial).

While some of the said youths are being used as political thugs, others are used as errand boys and girls in the names of Personal Assistants, Legislative Aides, Special Assistant on this matter and that matter. But I am here to say that enough is enough.

Enough of recycling hence it is high time the Ndokwa East youths stand up to their rights by taking their place in leadership come 2019; let the old ones give way and the youths be given the mantle of leadership.

Let’s draw examples from western countries such as Europe, America and Asia, there is a paradigm shift, young leaders are emerging and providing resourceful and purposeful leadership. From Emmanuel Macron of France to Saleh Ali al-Sammad of Yemen not forgetting Vanessa D’Ambrosio of San Marino, Europe, for goodness sake, she is just 29. Yet Africa is still lacking behind and this has to stop come 2019.

Ndokwa East Youths have the charisma, political prowess, dexterity, foresight and innovations to lead. This is because they are abreast with what is happening in and around the world. The fact that Ndokwa East has been stagnated by virtue of recycled politicians is enough for us to cry for a change.

We can’t keep electing the same set of politicians and expect significant development (Its like doing same thing over and over again expecting different result). NOOO! Enough of the recycling of expired politicians. Let us give the Ndokwa East youths a chance in the upcoming election to save us from this abject poverty and restore Ndokwa East to light. God has blessed Ndokwa East with natural resources which we ought to be enjoying the dividends now.

The time is now for Ndokwa East to be great again. Let us support our creative youths… Is a good thing that our own Engr.Philip Ugbomah Chukwumah is willing to contest for the Ndokwa East House of Assembly seat come 2019. We owe him our maximum support if not for anything let us test a youth with power. Lets give him the needed support because he has showed us what he can do when given the chance. Considering his achievements and contributions to Ndokwa East land. I believe and I know you believe he will do the unimaginable if we send him to represent us.Lets vote for a youth that will re-engineering the fortunes of Ndokwa East.

Following his unconditional free -handedness, cheerful giving, care and concern for development dating to his days of little beginning until now, widows, the aged and Christians across the constituency have in addition, nourished his House of Assembly quest with praise and prayers to succeed and to expand his scope of love through effective and purposeful representation.

Let the elders play advisory and counseling role while the youths be in power because it is easier for a youth to meet an elder for advice and counseling. Engr.Philip Ugbomah Chukwumah is a blessing and gift to Ndokwa East and the best choice of representative for the constituency at a time like this. Let us support him to ”Do THE WORK”. Carry go Chukwumah …

Ndokwa East will be great again!

By: Grassroots Publishers

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]n All Progressive Congress (APC) support group, the Change Advocate of Nigeria (CAN) has declared their strong support for Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to clinch the Party’s top job in the forth coming APC National Convention.

CAN who revealed their stance on the ambition of the former Edo State Governor at the weekend in Asaba, the Delta State capital, also threw their weight behind the Second Term ambition of President Muhammadu Buhari who they said has rescued the country’s economy from the fangs of corruption within a short time in office.

In a Press Conference by the group, its National Coordinator, Mr. Osareniye Ikponwmonba, Director of Strategy and planing, Mr Gabriel Nwajei, and the National Youth Leader, Mr Valentine Ogedegbe unanimously endorsed the aspiration of Comrade Oshiomhole for the office of the APC National Chairman stating that, his wealth of experience in various leadership capacities for the past two decades, is very much needed to strengthen the gains of the party.

The group’s resolution as presented by Mr Gabriel Nwajei, read, “the entire National Executive; Nigeria, Diaspora and State executives of Change Advocate of Nigeria, CAN formerly endorse Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole (CON) for the National Chairmanship position for All Progressive Congress, APC 2018 convention. We are encouraging party delegates across the country to support his candidature for the strengthening and unity of the party ahead of next year’s election.

“With the recent development in our Nation, President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) deserves reelection come 2019 because of the following; Anti-Corruption Fight for recovering stolen money both within and outside Nigeria, Taking the nation out of economic recession, Increase in Agricultural produce, e.g, Rice, Cassava etc, N-Power programme for our young graduates, Presidential assent giving to the Not Too Young To Run bill, Granting Autonomy for Houses of Assembly and to State Judiciaries.

“The Presidential Order for the Post-Humeous Award and Investiture on Late MKO Abiola, now GCFR, Ambassador Babagana Kinkigbe, GCON, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, GCON and others who fought for the struggle of Democracy and making June 12 our Democracy Day. It takes courage to make such decisions as it positively affects our National Lives and coexistence as a nation.

“We acknowledge that there is still more to do in the area of security, Restructuring, Infrastructure, Local Government Autonomy and conducting free and fair elections for the sustenance of our hard earned democracy after all, Rome was not built in day. Our mission as a group is to mobilize youths in the urban and rural areas of the country for the 2019 Presidential Project.” Nwajei read.

While reiterating the resolutions of CAN, the National Coordinator, Mr. Osareniye Ikponmwonba said that the group is going to mobilize for the Presidency come 2019 because of what the President Buhari has done in the past three years. “He has done great things for Nigerians, we believe that he is the only person that can take Nigeria to the next level. We know that over the three years there was alot of economic hardship but we know now the direction of the economy. We believe that when we reelect President Muhammadu Buhari again that this economic hardship that we are facing now is going to be a thing of the past.”

In his response, CAN National Youth Leader, Mr Valentine Ogedegbe said that Change Advocate of Nigeria is endorsing Comrade Oshiomhole for the highest position of our party because the group believes in his antecedence.

The National Youth Leader said, “We are encouraging every delegate across the country to throw their weight behind Oshiomhole for new direction in the party and unity in the party. This is a man that has great experience in the Labour Force of our country. From Labour he came into politics, became the executive governor of Edo State and performed immensely, transformed Edo State from a civil servant state to a business hub within eight years of his administration. This is a man that has left landmark achievements. So we believe him being the national chairman of our party, will strengthen the party and bring cohesion and unity amongst party members across the country for a better Nigeria.

While calling for the reelection of President Buhari, Ikponmwonba commended the President for the notable events within the past few weeks, stating that it is a big step in deepening the democratic process in Nigeria. “So we are encouraging Nigerians to please have patients and reelect President Muhammadu Buhari for the 2019 general election, so that he can conclude this very great works and lay a proper foundation of change that we have brought to this country.” He appealed.

[dropcap]P[/dropcap]resident Muhammadu Buhari finally signed the 2018 budget on Wednesday 20th June. He gave assent to the bill over a month ago, after it was successfully pass by the national Assembly which took over seven months after Buhari presented the  proposal to the lawmakers.

Read the full speech below…

PROTOCOLS

I would like to thank the leadership of the National Assembly, particularly the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as all the Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members, for passing the 2018 Appropriation Bill, after seven months.

2.     When I submitted the 2018 Budget proposals to the National Assembly on 7th November 2017, I had hoped that the usual legislative review process would be quick, so as to move Nigeria towards a predictable January-December financial year.  The importance of this predictability cannot be overemphasized.

3.     While the Federal Government’s budget represents less than 10% of aggregate yearly expenditures in the economy, it has a very significant accelerator effect on the financial plans of other tiers of government, and even more importantly, the private sector, which mostly operates on a January-December financial year.

4.     Notwithstanding the delay this year, I am determined to continue to work with the National Assembly towards improving the budgeting process and restoring our country to the January-December fiscal cycle.

5.     I note, with pleasure, that the National Assembly is working on the enactment of an Organic Budget Law, so as to improve the efficiency of the nation’s budgetary process.

6.     As I mentioned during the presentation of the 2018 Appropriation Bill, we intend to use the 2018 Budget to consolidate the achievements of previous budgets and deliver on Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020.

7.     It is in this regard that I am concerned about some of the changes that the National Assembly has made to the budget proposals that I presented.  The logic behind the Constitutional direction that budgets should be proposed by the Executive is that, it is the Executive that knows and defines its policies and projects.

8.     Unfortunately, that has not been given much regard in what has been sent to me.  The National Assembly made cuts amounting to 347 billion Naira in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to 578 billion Naira.

9.     Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation.  Some of the new projects inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualized, designed and costed and will therefore be difficult to execute.

10.   Furthermore, many of these new projects introduced by the National Assembly have been added to the budgets of most MDAs with no consideration for institutional capacity to execute them or the incremental recurrent expenditure that may be required.

11.   As it is, some of these projects relate to matters that are the responsibility of the States and Local Governments, and for which the Federal Government should therefore not be unduly burdened.

12.   Such examples of projects from which cuts were made are as follows:

•               The provisions for some nationally/regionally strategic infrastructure projects such as Counter-part funding for the Mambilla Power Plant, Second Niger Bridge/ancillary roads, the East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail Project were cut by an aggregate of 11.5 billion Naira.

•   Similarly, provisions for some ongoing critical infrastructure projects in the FCT, Abuja especially major arterial roads and the mass transit rail project, were cut by a total of 7.5 billion Naira.

•    The provision for Rehabilitation and Additional Security Measures for the United Nations Building by the FCT, Abuja was cut by 3.9 billion Naira from 4 billion Naira to 100 million Naira; this will make it impossible for the Federal Government of Nigeria to fulfill its commitment to the United Nations on this project.

• The provisions for various Strategic Interventions in the health sector such as the upgrade of some tertiary health institutions, transport and storage of vaccines through the cold chain supply system, provision of anti-retroviral drugs for persons on treatment, establishment of chemotherapy centres and procurement of dialysis consumables were cut by an aggregate amount of 7.45 billion Naira.

•   The provision for security infrastructure in the 104 Unity Schools across the country were cut by 3 billion Naira at a time when securing our students against acts of terrorism ought to be a major concern of government.

•   The provision for the Federal Government’s National Housing Programme was cut by 8.7 billion Naira.

•   At a time when we are working with Labour to address compensation-related issues, a total of 5 billion Naira was cut from the provisions for Pension Redemption Fund and Public Service Wage Adjustment.

•   The provisions for Export Expansion Grant (EEG) and Special Economic Zones/Industrial Parks, which are key industrialization initiatives of this Administration, were cut by a total of 14.5 billion Naira.

•      The provision for Construction of the Terminal Building at Enugu Airport was cut from 2 billion Naira to 500 million Naira which will further delay the completion of this critical project.

•      The Take-off Grant for the Maritime University in Delta State, a key strategic initiative of the Federal Government, was cut from 5 billion Naira to 3.4 billion Naira.

•   About seventy (70) new road projects have been inserted into the budget of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.  In doing so, the National Assembly applied some of the additional funds expected from the upward review of the oil price benchmark to the Ministry’s vote.  Regrettably, however, in order to make provision for some of the new roads, the amounts allocated to some strategic major roads have been cut by the National Assembly.

13.   Another area of concern is the increase by the National Assembly of the provisions for Statutory Transfers by an aggregate of 73.96 billion Naira.  Most of these increases are for recurrent expenditure at a time we are trying to keep down the cost of governance.

14.   An example of this increase is the budget of the National Assembly itself which has increased by 14.5 billion Naira, from 125 billion Naira to 139.5 billion Naira without any discussion with the Executive.

15.   Notwithstanding the above stated observations, I have decided to sign the 2018 Budget in order not to further slowdown the pace of recovery of our economy, which has doubtlessly been affected by the delay in passing the budget.

16.  However, it is my intention to seek to remedy some of the most critical of these issues through a supplementary and/or amendment budget which I hope the National Assembly will be able to expeditiously consider.

17.   I am pleased with the success recorded in the implementation of the 2017 Budget.  A total sum of 1.5 trillion Naira has been released for the implementation of capital projects during the 2017 fiscal year.  In response to this and other policy measures implemented, we have observed significant improvement in the performance of the Nigerian economy.

18.   To achieve the laudable objectives of the 2018 Budget, we will work very hard to generate the revenues required to finance our projects and programmes.  The positive global oil market outlook, as well as continuing improvement in non-oil revenues, make us optimistic about our ability to finance the budget.

19.   However, being a deficit budget, the Borrowing Plan will be forwarded to the National Assembly shortly.  I crave the indulgence of the National Assembly for a speedy consideration and approval of the Plan.

20.   The 2018 Budget I have just signed into law provides for aggregate expenditures of 9.12 trillion Naira, which is 22.6% higher than the 2017 Appropriation.  Further details of the approved budget will be provided by the Minister of Budget and National Planning.

21.   I thank the Ministers of Budget and National Planning, the Budget Office of the Federation, and everyone who worked tirelessly and sacrificed so much to bring us to this day.  However, the job is only partly done.

22.   I am sure you will remain committed to advancing our Change Agenda, not only in the preparation of the national budget but also in ensuring its effective implementation.

I thank you and may God bless Nigeria.