The National Assembly has raised budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Works from N657.3bn in the proposed budget to N1.03tn.

This represents N373bn or 56.7 per cent increase from the initial figure in the appropriation bill. It also represents a 65.4 per cent increase from the amount approved in the 2023 budget.

The PUNCH reports that the ministry is responsible for the repairs and maintenance of over 33,000 kilometres of federal government roads across the country.

A copy of the approved budget obtained by our correspondent showed that the increase was due to raising of its capital budget from N617.9bn to N987.3bn.

An analysis of the document also showed that several capital projects were introduced in the approved budget.

The document revealed that N94.83bn was approved for the construction of Lafia road and the dualisation of 9th Mile (Enugu) Otukpo-Makurdi (Keffi Phase Ii) road project, N15bn for the construction of Ota-Idiroko road section one to three, N4bn for construction of Iyin-Ilawe Ekiti road Section one to three, N13.5bn for the rehabilitation of Enugu-Port Harcourt road Section two and four.

Also, the government endorsed N22.750bn for the dualisation of the Benin-Ilesha road, N10.1bn for the construction of Malando-Garin-Baka-Ngaski-Wara road in Kebbi State, while N11bn was approved for the construction of Koko-Besse-Zaria-Kala Kala road in Kebbi State.

The dualisation of Aba-Ikot Ekpene road is expected to gulp N3.75bn, N1.21bn will be spent on the repair of the Iganmu bridge and the rehabilitation of Enugu-Port Harcourt Dual Carriageway Section will get N2bn.

Others include the dualisation and construction of Kano-Kwanar Dauja Hadejia road at the cost of N10.7bn, N12.3bn for the reconstruction of Amasiri-Uburu-Mpu-Ishiagu road, and N5.1bn for the provision of culverts and drains at flood-prone areas in South-West.

The ministry also got approval of N3.35bn to purchase vehicles for consultants and security supervision.

Nigerians have not enjoyed the best road infrastructure since democracy but the Minister of Works, David Umahi, has on several occasions promised to revolutionise the construction of roads for the benefit of Nigerians.

During the budget defence, Umahi asked the National Assembly to increase the ministry‘s 2024 budget to about N1.5tn to enable it to complete at least 10 selected critical roads and bridges in each of the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. With the figure almost granted, Nigerians expect no excuses from the ministry with regards to good and durable roads.

Umahi, at a meeting last week charged contractors to complete 150km of roads in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in 2024.

The target excludes palliative work and other special projects embarked upon by the Federal Government.

“Can we have about 150km of road completed in 2024 in each state? What does that mean? If we have five contractors working together in the same state, then 150km divided by five is 30km, so it’s achievable.

“Nigerians will want to see if can we complete 150km in each of the 36 states and the FCT and you will see the total number of roads completed and that will be a good way to start,” he said.

An explosion in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, has caused panic among the residents.
The explosion, which some residents said occurred in Bodija, reportedly affected several houses in multiple locations.

Some X users said the explosion was devastating.

One of them, @WillieWinehouse tweeted, “A f***ing bomb just exploded in Ibadan! My entire house and street are in ruins!! What is going on!!”

Another resident of Barika, about 15 minutes away from the scene, Motunrayo Adegboro, said, “Some people claimed it was a gas explosion while others said it was a filling station.
“It happened in Bodija. A mall, Ace Mall, even collapsed.

The explosion was heard in some parts of the city, including Oke Itunu, Bodija, Omi Adio, Apete, University College Hospital (UCH), Mokola and Idi Isin.

Reacting to the incident last night, Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde called for calm.

The state commissioner for information and orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, who confirmed the incident, said residents of Ibadan and the immediate environs experienced an uncommon explosion about 8:00 pm.

He said there were various interpretations of the incident but it was important for “us to state categorically that the state government has taken over and in full control of the unfortunate occurrence in order to mitigate the incident.

“All security service chiefs including para military chiefs and Fire Operatives have been deployed by the governor to Reign in the spillover from the explosion.

“His Excellency Governor Seyi Makinde therefore implores citizens to calm down and be rest assured that their interests are being looked after”.

As of the time of filing this report, the number of casualties had not been established, but a viral video showed a lifeless body at the scene.

Meanwhile, the Yoruba Youths Socio-cultural Association (YYSA) has called on the state government to ban borehole drilling in the state.

The association’s national president, Olalekan Hammed said following the terrible explosion that occurred in Ibadan, both the federal and state governments should ban or restrict the construction of boreholes in order to prevent future occurrence of earthquakes.

According to him, it is evident if such a step is not taken there is fire on the mountain.

Kenyan prosecutors announced on Tuesday their intention to charge suspected cult leader, Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, and 94 other individuals with murder and terrorism related to the deaths of over 400 followers.

The charges stem from allegations that Mackenzie incited his followers to starve to death to “meet Jesus,” a case that garnered global attention.

Mackenzie was arrested in April last year after bodies were found in a forest near the Indian Ocean coast.

Despite several extensions to his pre-trial detention due to ongoing investigations, a court recently warned of potential release unless authorities proceeded with charges.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has now stated that, following a thorough analysis of evidence, there is enough to prosecute the 95 suspects, the AFP reported.

The charges against Mackenzie and his co-accused include murder, manslaughter, terrorism, and “subjecting a child to torture.” While the exact court date for the suspects is yet to be confirmed, prosecutors emphasised their commitment to expeditiously handle the matters.

Autopsies have indicated that the majority of the victims died of hunger, but others, including children, exhibited signs of strangulation, beating, or suffocation.

The grim discoveries in what has been labelled the “Shakahola forest massacre” prompted calls for increased regulation of fringe denominations in Kenya.

A Senate commission of inquiry reported in October that Mackenzie had faced charges in 2017 for his extreme preaching, but the criminal justice system failed to deter his activities.

The largely Christian nation of Kenya has grappled with regulating unscrupulous churches and cults involved in criminal activities.

A memo from President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, to the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Betta Edu, has stirred fresh controversy.

In the memo, it was stated that the president authorised release of N3 billion to the now-suspended Minister to verify the National Social Register of the former administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The social registry was established to facilitate cash transfers and other social investment schemes.

Several enterprises received contracts from the N3 billion provided to the suspended minister, a release that has sparked controversy and is being investigated by presidential investigators and anti-graft authorities.

The subject of the document was “CONVEYANCE OF APPROVAL; RE: APPEAL TO USE N3,000,000,000.00 (THREE BILLION NAIRA) FROM THE COVID-19 PALLIATIVE FUND FOR VERIFICATION OF THE NATIONAL SOCIAL REGISTER.”

“The preceding subject refers to. 2. Please be advised that Mr President has approved a N3,000,000,000.00 (Three Billion Naira) expenditure from the Covid-19 Palliative Fund for the verification of the National Social Register. 3. Please appreciate my highest regards. Femi Gbajabiamila, President’s Chief of Staff,” it said.

Remember that numerous companies were named as recipients of this contentious contract. Among them is New Planet Project Limited, owned by Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, which received a whopping N438.1 million for consultancy services.

Periscope Consulting received N277 million, Blue Trend Enterprise received N277.8 million, Laitop Dynamics Interlink Services received N277 million, Memak Nigeria Limited received N277 million, MC Van Management Consult Limited received N275.8 million, and Danzinger Nigeria Limited received N275.8 million.

“Other companies that benefited from the N3 billion contracts include Blue Trend Enterprise, which received N277.8 million.

“Blue trend, has no record of being registered and the owner is unknown. Periscope Consulting-N277million. Periscope Consulting, with registration number 1053019, registered on July 24, 2012, is owned by one Ngozi Maureen Ojiego, known for Interior Decoration. Laitop Dynamics Interlink Services Ltd-N277million.

“Laitop with registration number 1340092, is owned by one Quburat Bolanle Bolanta. It was registered on June 6, 2016. Memak Nigeria Limited with no known ownership and date of registration got NN277million.

“MC Van Management Consult Limited with no records of registration also got N275.8million contract while Danzinger Nigeria Limited with registration number 635448, registered on Sep 23, 2005got N275.8million. Danzinger is owned by one Oladapo Rotimi Mohammed.

“All the contractors claimed they verified 11 million homes in Nigeria in under one month,” Ude added on a post on X.

Edu is also accused of authorizing the transfer of N585 million from public funds to a private account belonging to a project manager in her ministry.

Furthermore, despite the lack of an airport, the minister reportedly granted aircraft tickets and airport taxis for her team’s trip to Kogi State.

The Minister-in-Charge of All Saints Church, Jericho, Ibadan, Ven. Funso Jolayemi, has expressed sorrow over the death of former Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, describing his demise as painful and a significant loss to the church.

Speaking with NAN on Tuesday in Ibadan, the cleric revealed that he received the news of the former governor’s death with mixed feelings, acknowledging that his passing was too painful as the church had lost a robust pillar.

“We accepted his death with mixed feelings. We never wanted him to go; yet, we never wanted him to remain in that terrible condition of sickness. We reluctantly agreed with God that he had gone to rest,” he said.

The cleric eulogised the late Akeredolu as a good and godly man, emphasising his strong commitment to matters of God.

“He was a member of the choir, the Harvest Planning Committee, Memorial Parks and Garden, and also, a newly-elected trustee of our church.

“He doesn’t play with All Saints Church; it was the church of his pride. He cared for everyone.

“He was a philanthropist par excellence and a singer who was not ashamed to confess God Almighty openly.

“He loved God and he identified with God’s people, both church members and ministers. He would always make people around him laugh and he was ready to close his eyes and say ‘amen’ when it was time for prayer.

“We can boldly say that he had gone to rest. May his good soul rest in perfect peace,” Jolayemi said.

NAN reports that Akeredolu died in the early hours of Dec. 27, 2023, at a German hospital where he was receiving treatment for a protracted illness. (NAN)

Donald Trump’s victory Monday in the Iowa caucuses surprised no one, confirming his grip on the Republican Party and offering clues about the campaign ahead.

Here are five takeaways from the first contest of the 2024 election race, where Trump supporters defied bitter cold to deliver a victory for the ex-president, who swept aside challengers Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley.

– Trump, GOP master –
In his first judgment by voters since his chaotic White House departure in 2021, the verdict is clear: It’s still Trump’s Republican Party.

Just over half of caucus goers voted for the 77-year-old Trump, and entrance polls show he won across the board including with the religious right.

Christian conservatives were initially skeptical of Trump, who is plagued by sexual assault accusations and allegations of a tryst with a porn star. But they warmed to the tycoon since three of his Supreme Court picks spearheaded the bench’s anti-abortion moves.

It marks an extraordinary turn in America, where defeated politicians are often left behind by their party. Not so with Trump.

– Who’s in second? –
Battling for scraps were Florida Governor DeSantis and Trump’s onetime UN ambassador Haley.

While DeSantis narrowly won second spot, he is under immense pressure given he sank everything he had into doing well in Iowa — but still lost by 30 percentage points.

Nevertheless DeSantis told supporters “we’ve got our ticket punched out of Iowa,” as the choreographed political ballet shifts to the northeastern state of New Hampshire.

That is seen as more fertile ground for Haley, considered the more moderate of the top three and who has gained on Trump in the Granite State.

She fared respectably in Iowa, at 19 percent compared to DeSantis’s 21 percent, and on Monday night predicted she would outpace DeSantis next week in New Hampshire and in her home state of South Carolina, another key battleground.

Each claim to be the future of the Republican Party, and could ultimately be looking down the road to the 2028 election.

– What legal problems? –
Will former real estate mogul Trump’s multiple legal challenges weigh him down in 2024? Not on the campaign trail, if Iowa is any indication.

He is under criminal indictment in four cases, but none has dented his popularity with party voters.

CNN polls show most Republican caucus participants, including nearly three quarters of Trump voters, believe he is fit for the presidency even if convicted of a crime.

Trump, who faces yet another trial opening on Tuesday in New York, has put his legal challenges at the heart of his campaign, railing against the alleged “witch hunt” by Democrats.

– All over? –
Not quite. Trump’s resounding victory in Iowa gives him momentum for sure, but the caucuses — with barely 100,000 voters — are quirky party-run affairs that do not necessarily translate nationally.

“I don’t know a single analyst who didn’t think Trump would win Iowa… It’s heavily Republican and evangelical,” Larry Sabato, a political science professor at the University of Virginia, told AFP. “New Hampshire will be much more interesting.”

The state bordering Canada votes on January 23, and Haley is aiming to shrink Trump’s lead there.

– Biden gearing up? –
The White House incumbent, barring a shock, will be nominated in August. But he is already preparing for a rematch of his 2020 Trump duel, saying Monday that the Iowa results make Trump “the clear front runner on the other side.”

Biden’s re-election campaign is flush; earlier Monday it announced a massive war chest of $117 million — a considerable asset in a country known for expensive presidential races.

Republican political consultant Mike Madrid said Biden was the night’s big winner. “He’s gonna get the candidate he wants: Trump.”

[AFP]

Liberia’s outgoing president George Weah has said he has no plans to run for the top job again after his defeat in recent elections, local media reported Monday.

Weah, 57, a former international football star, won the presidency in 2017 but lost in November polls to Joseph Boakai, who is due to be inaugurated on January 22.

Addressing his future with congregants at the church he attends outside the capital Monrovia on Sunday, Weah pointed to his age at the next presidential vote in 2029, according to a recording of his remarks to which AFP had access.

“I am 57 now and our retirement age is 65 and six years from now I will be 63 and I cannot work for two years,” he said.

“You are not going to drag me to politics until I reach 90 years,” he added.

“I became a president, so I say thank you Liberians that I became president whether it was one time or 50 times, but I can guarantee you that it’s one time.”

Weah did not reveal what he planned to do next but said he would work for peace and prosperity, in one of the world’s poorest countries.

He won praise for conceding and promoting a non-violent transition in a region marred by coups.

Before entering politics, Weah was the only African to win football’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or during a career as a striker for top-flight European teams.

Boakai, who is 79, won a narrow victory over Weah by a margin of just 20,567 ballots with a 50.64 percent vote share.

The Presidency has reacted to the calls by Nigerians and opposition parties for the suspension of the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.

Naija News reports that New Planet Projects, a company co-founded by the minister, was reported to have benefited from an N438 million contract from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

A leaked document revealed that the firm received the fund as payment for “consultancy fees” from the humanitarian ministry, which has been enmeshed in several scandals.

However, the interior minister has since denied any wrongdoing, saying he had ceased to be a director of the company in 2019.

Following the development, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Young Progressives Party (YPP) have demanded the immediate suspension of the minister over the controversy surrounding the contract award.

The party described the allegations as “heavy and huge”, adding that Tunji-Ojo’s excuse that he has no interest in the company despite his confession of owning huge shares in the firm is lame.

Reacting to the call in a chat with Daily Trust on Monday, the presidential aide, Bayo Onanuga, asked Nigerians to be patient with the investigation that is being carried out by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The presidential aide also appealed to the citizens to refrain from media trials and mauling of the people and issues being probed.

Onanuga stated that there is no saint, no sinner yet until the EFCC finishes its investigation and confirms that the minister is guilty.

He said: “I will plead that Nigerians should exercise patience and allow the EFCC to complete its investigation. There is no saint, no sinner yet until the EFCC says so. Let’s refrain from media trial and mauling of the people and issues being probed.”

A chieftain of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo sociocultural organization, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, has urged President Bola Tinubu to officially end the war against Igbos, ahead of the 54th Biafra war anniversary.

He urged Tinubu to implement the reconstruction, reconciliation, and rehabilitation and the opening up of the Eastern corridor for economic development and the liberation of the old Eastern region.

In a statement he signed, he said Ndigbo endured persecution and economic strangulation due to the historical neglect of the old Eastern region by past federal governments.

He said while other zones have benefitted from the center, the Southeast has been systematically excluded and deprived of its rightful share.

According to Isiguzoro: “Major infrastructures destroyed during the 3 and 6 months of the Biafra war have not been adequately reconstructed by previous military and civilian governments over the past 54 years.

“Genuine reconciliation from the Federal government towards Ndigbo has been lacking, replaced by the deliberate exclusion of the Southeast from certain privileges and the denial of access to viable seaports in the old Eastern region, such as the permanent closure of the Calabar seaport.”

He also reminded Tinubu that the Federal Government has failed to pay the reparation fees demanded by Igbo leaders during the administrations of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and late Musa Yar’Adua.

“Additionally, the reparation fees demanded by Igbo leaders during the Obasanjo and Yar’adua regimes have not been paid, and the implementation of the 2014 Constitutional conference and the restructuring proposals put forth by the APC committee led by former Governor El-Rufai have been disregarded,” he said.

Isiguzoro also informed the president that he was yet to grant pardon to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, and other agitators.

He added: “Furthermore, the granting of pardons to IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu and Biafra agitators who are genuinely fighting against previous governments’ untold persecution is yet to be realized.

“Another aspect that demands urgent attention is the rehabilitation of the old Eastern region through increased federal presence. The lack of federal infrastructural development in the Southeast is deeply concerning.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo implores President Tinubu to utilize his esteemed office to initiate the end of the war by prioritizing reconciliation, reconstruction, and rehabilitation in the Southeast.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo remains hopeful that President Tinubu, as a leader known for his commitment to justice and fairness, will champion the cause to end the war and bring about lasting peace, reconciliation, and development in the Southeast.”

President Bola Tinubu remarked on Monday that a select few individuals have embezzled Nigeria’s collective resources under the pretext of subsidies over the past four decades.

Tinubu expressed regret that Nigerians are bearing the brunt of this misappropriation.

Addressing attendees at the second-term inauguration of Governor Hope Uzodinma in Owerri, the President assured the public that he was aware of their concerns and affirmed that the challenges arising from crucial reforms were actively being tackled.

He also revealed that his administration will prioritise education and healthcare while facilitating the necessary conditions for industrialisation and investments. This aligns with his vision of fostering economic stability and prosperity within the country.

Tinubu said, “In the past 40 years, a few people were cornering our commonwealth and calling it subsidy, but I call it wasteful. Right now, we are all bearing and sharing that pain. But things are looking up. Things will get better for the good of all Nigerians. With me, there is hope.

“I assure you that there will be substantial development in education for your children; priority is on industrialisation, and healthcare will receive more allocation and attention. We will train more health workers.“