Financial borrowings by FG had helped Nigeria overcome consecutive recessions, says Finance Minister

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed has said that the recent borrowings embarked upon by the Federal Government have greatly helped the country to overcome financial crises occasioned by recession.

She said this on Friday during the Public Presentation and Breakdown of the 2022 Appropriation Bill.

According to her, increased spending by the government at the periods of the two consecutive recessions the nation had gone through had helped exit recession while also escalating public debts brought about by borrowing.

“Having witnessed two consecutive recessions, we have had to spend our way out of recession which contributed significantly to the growth of our public debts”, she said.

“It is unlikely that our recovery from these recessions would have been as fast without the sustained government expenditure funded partly by debt”, she added.

The Minister held strongly that the borrowings had helped the government in providing infrastructure to boost the economy.

2023: Zoning Presidency cannot solve Nigeria’s Problems, Says Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that patriotism and competence were the two major and important factors in determining where the Nigerian President should hail from, and not zoning.

He made the remark on Thursday at the meeting of the PDP National Executive Committee held at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja.

According to him, zoning Presidency or any other public office had never been known to contribute in any way to solving the myriad of problems the nation had been going through since the onset of democratically elected dispensations.

He urged members of the PDP’s highest decision-making body that approved the recommendations of the PDP Zoning Committee to be fair and just in deciding where the party’s presidential candidate would come from.

Former NMA President Enabulele emerges President-Elect, World Medical Association

One-time President, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr Osahon Enabulele, has become President-elect of the World Medical Association (WMA).

His emergence comes after almost one week of voting by participating medical associations from various countries across the world.

Dr Enabulele, a former President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), takes over from Dr Heidi Stensmyren of Sweden as the President-elect of the association.

We may be compelled to declare state of emergency in Anambra- FG

Confirming an earlier press report that claimed the Minister of Justice Abubakar had warned on the possibility of declaring a state of emergency in Anambra State, southeast Nigeria, the federal government has thrown its full weight behind the position of the chief law officer of the federation.

The idea had earlier been muted owing to incessant killings and other criminal activities going on in the state which stakeholders believed could hinder the success of the upcoming November 6 Governorship elections in the state.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while speaking with News Agency of Nigeria had confirmed that the statement by Malami was favourable to the federal government and in line with the need for achievement of law and order towards the coming polls.

IPOB for some months had imposed sit-at-home order on the citizenry, forcefully closing down schools, markets and other public places while also allegedly killing innocent citizens.

IPMAN URGES FG TO UNCONDITIONALLY REMOVE PETROL SUSIDY

In a swift reaction to the presentation of the 2022 budget proposal to the National Assembly, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has called on the Federal Government to remove totally the subsidy on petrol in order to shore up the sector’s contribution to the nation’s revenue.

Mr Mike Osatuyi, National Operations Controller, IPMAN gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Osatuyi said that the petrol subsidy significantly eroded revenues that should have been available to fund the 2021 budget.

Buhari, while presenting the N16.39 trillion ‘Budget of Economic Growth and Sustainability’, had noted the poor performance of oil revenue in the 2021 budget.

The president said this was due to shortfall in production as well as significant cost recovery by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to cover the shortfall between its cost of importing petrol and the pump price.