A content creator and disc jockey, Ada Ebere, aka Ada La Pinky, has said that she prefers men who use sex toys on their partners.

In an interview with Saturday Beats, she said, “If you get a man that uses toys on you when you are doing it, you have got the greatest man ever.

“Men often believe that using toys will get you addicted and you will not want the real thing again, but that’s a lie. I love a man that knows how to use toys on me.”

The heavily endowed lady also maintained that she was satisfied with her body, saying, “I don’t get intimidated by that at all because I know my body is pretty and if it gets bad, I will get it done. One should get one’s body done if one feels uncomfortable.”

On Nollywood’s portrayal of nudity and sex scenes, Ada La Pinky said, “Nollywood is doing an amazing job and the actresses are all ‘fire’. I don’t think they represent just being sexy. We have different types of movies that are not based on nudity just the same way we have them in Hollywood.

“There are people who tell me that they love my boobs and that it’s because of me, they can wear sexy clothes to showcase their boobs and body. My advice to anybody is that they should wear whatever they are comfortable in.”

There are strong indications that the National Assembly (NASS) is prepared to increase the N47.94 trillion budget for the 2025 fiscal year undergoing its legislative scrutiny.

This followed the requests by several Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government as well as the dismay expressed by the lawmakers at the ongoing budget defence sessions.

The National Assembly has been a beehive of activities during the past few days of budget defence by ministers, heads of agencies, with the government officials and lawmakers lamenting poor budgetary allocations to them by the Presidency.

Beginning from the previous week, precisely on January 9, when the minister of environment, Abbas Balarabe Lawal, appeared for the 2025 budget defence, he requested an increased allocation to the ministry in order for it to achieve its mandate.

Lawal said the total sum of N64.25 billion was proposed for the ministry in the 2025 budget out of which N58.65 billion is for capital expenditure while recurrent expenditure is N5.60 billion.

But the ministry and its agencies – the National Park Service, Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCON), the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), and the Forest Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) – on Thursday appealed to the House of Representatives to increase their budgetary allocations for 2025.

The permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Environment, Mahmud Kambari, highlighted the ministry’s achievements but emphasised that inadequate funding remained a critical challenge.
For his part, the conservator-general of the National Park Service, Ibrahim Goni, appealed for a N5.01 billion intervention in 2025 budget to address funding gaps, insecurity, and illegal mining.

Also, the director-general of FRIN, Zacharia Yaduma, requested increased funding, lamenting budgetary constraints and delays in fund disbursement.

Similarly, the minister of state for defence, Dr Bello Matawalle, said the N50.44 billion allocation to the ministry in the budget was insufficient to address the security needs of Nigeria.

He, therefore, called on the House Committee on Defence where he represented the minister of defence, Mohammed Badaru, on a budget defence session, to approve an additional N20 billion to enable the ministry compensate the families of military personnel who lost their lives in active service.

“We need the sum of N20 billion as an additional fund for payment to families of deceased military personnel…the budget of 2025, it is just N50 billion. We have a shortfall of N18 billion from the last year’s budget. And people expect the ministry to do wonders?

“The Ministry of Defence is supposed to provide some equipment for some of the zones but we cannot. Out of what we have in 2024, we can only provide 20 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs). What can 20 APCs do? In Katsina alone, if we have 50 APCs, we can go inside the bush to flush out those criminals,” he said, adding: “within two months, we’ll finish the issue of banditry.”

Consequently, the committee resolved to increase the budgetary allocation of the ministry of defence when it adopted a motion by a member of the panel and deputy House spokesperson, Hon. Philip Agbese (APC, Benue) who commended the military for their efforts in addressing insecurity.

“I am moving the motion before this committee, Mr Chairman, that we should grant explicit approval to the request that he (Matawalle) has made. It is a fact that one time we saw the Honourable Minister and the Chief of Defence Staff leading our troops to the north-west to confront the bandits,” Agbese said.

In another instance, the acting comptroller general of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Sylvester Nwakuche, decried the N13.4 billion capital budget of the service, saying it was inadequate and appealed to the House committee on reformatory institutions to increase it to N70.4 billion.

He said if approved, the N70.4 billion will be used for the installation of modern technology-integrated systems for custodial facilities such as CCTVs, surveillance cameras and accessories in the maximum and minimum security custodial centres nationwide.

“The service will also embark on the general rehabilitation and digitalisation of inmates and personnel activities in the custodial centres nationwide; upgrading and equipping of the service’s seven training institutions for the modern ICT-compliant training centres; purchase of operational vehicles, arms and ammunition; inmate biometric scanners, security gadgets, body cameras, access control and guard tower systems and staff communication gadgets, such as walking talkies,” the CG said.

On its part, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) also faulted the N40 billion allocated to it in the 2025 and proposed N126 billion to the NASS joint committee on INEC and Electoral Matters.

The rejection of the N40 billion allocation was made by INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, during a budget defence session before the joint committee recently.

In his presentation to the committee, chaired by Senator Sarafadeen Alli (APC, Oyo South), Prof Yakubu described elections in Nigeria as a huge burden that requires adequate funding.

Legislators Lament Insufficient Allocations

Meanwhile, the National Assembly Joint Committee on Livestock Development has described the N20.8 billion proposed budget for the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development in 2025 as inadequate for its effective take-off.

The government allocated N10 billion for capital expenditure and N10.8 billion for overhead costs in the 2025 budget of the newly created ministry.

But when the minister of livestock development, Idi Maiha, appeared before the committee to defend the ministry’s budget, the lawmakers said the total budgeted sum was insufficient.

The committee asked the minister to harmonise the adequate financial needs and re-present it in the form of supplementary budget, promising him prompt approval.

The chairman, House Committee on Livestock Development, Hon. Wale Raji, while describing the budget allocation as inadequate, said, “There will be need for you to make special presentation on this or necessary come up with supplementary budget that will reflect the hopes of Nigerians. The budget is abysmally low to respond to the yearnings of Nigerians.”

For the chairman, Senate Committee on Livestock Development, Senator Musa Mustapha, the committee “will try our best to see how we can help the ministry achieve its mandate.”

Similarly, the House Committee on Information and National Orientation said the N8.7 billion budgetary allocation for the ministry was grossly inadequate.

The committee which raised the concern when the minister of information and national orientation, Muhammed Idris, appeared before it to defend the ministry’s 2025 budget, rejected the N1.2 billion capital component of the budget for being insufficient.

The chairman of the committee, Hon. Fatoba Olusola (APC-Ekiti State) said the amount allocated to the ministry in 2024 when the national budget was N28.7 trillion was higher than the N8.2 billion allocated in 2025 when the national budget is N47.9 trillion.

He said it was unacceptable for an agency with the responsibility of disseminating information not to get a substantial amount of the budget.

For its part, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, decried the allocation of only N286 million to service Nigeria’s 109 missions abroad. It kicked against the federal government’s envelop budgeting system, stressing that it was not recognised by any law in the country.

The committee’s chairman, Hon. Wole Oke (PDP, Osun). said, “I have not seen anywhere in our laws where envelop budgeting is mentioned.”

He described the budget as too poor for missions that were supposed to mirror the country’s image, saying, “We’re worried that what you submitted to Mr President was not based on needs assessment, and it is at variance with the law.”

We’ve Powers To Increase Appropriation Bill, Lawmakers Assert

Commenting on the development, a member of the House Committee on Appropriation who does not want to be mentioned, said it was within the powers of the lawmakers to increase the budget at the end of defence exercise.

The ranking lawmaker told LEADERSHIP Weekend that apart from appropriations, he is also a member of many committees where requests and suggestions for increase in allocations to some MDAs were made.

He said, “There is going to be an upward review of what was proposed by the Executive arm of government.

“There is nothing too big about that. We have power on the nation’s purse and as a member of the Appropriations Committee for many years, I can tell you what the standing committees are doing with the budget defence sessions, they will submit their reports and from there we will make the final decision.

“From the happenings at the standing committees, many of which I belong to, the requests made by some ministers and chief executives of agencies are genuine and there will be every need to increase where necessary,” he said.

However, both the House spokesperson, Hon. Akin Rotimi, and his deputy, Hon. Agbese, were yet to respond to LEADERSHIP Weekend’s enquiries on the official position of the legislature at the time of this report.

Only Performance Can Justify Fresh Requests – Reps Panel

Meanwhile, the House Committee on Federal Polytechnics and Higher Technical Education has said only performance should be used to justify demands for more funds by the MDAs in 2025.

The chairman of the committee, Hon. Fuad Kayode Laguda, stated this during a presentation by the executive secretary, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Prof. Idris Bugaje, at the 2025 budget defence session.

Laguda said there was the need for government agencies to judiciously utilise the resources available to them before asking for more, adding that their performance should determine why more resources should be allocated to them.

He said, “Performance is very key. And that is what will help us move forward in 2025. It is an acceptable and known fact that the polytechnics are poorly funded. We know. But we need to justify our need for more and show why we need more. To be honest with ourselves, have we been able to do that? That is what we should answer.

“And if we speak with each other truthfully, we know we are not doing well in that aspect. Not all of us, but most of us are not doing well in that aspect. The whole essence of this committee is to bring out the best in us. And to put corrective measures where it is needed,” he said.

Bugaje had appealed for an increase of its budgetary allocation to recruit more personnel in order to supervise the activities of over 700 Polytechnics and other institutions across the country.

NASS Has Increased Budget In 5 Years

LEADERSHIP Weekend’s investigation showed that in the last five years (2020-2024), the National Assembly has increased budgetary allocations from the estimates submitted by the Executive.

In 2020, the National Assembly increased the budget from the originally submitted figure of N10.33 trillion by former President Muhammadu Buhari to N10.594 trillion which brought an addition of N260 billion.

For the 2021 budget, the National Assembly raised the total estimates from Buhari’s proposed N13.08 trillion to N13.58 trillion, recording over N500 billion increase.

The 2022 budget was also jerked up to N17.12 trillion from the N16.39 trillion proposed by Buhari.

The situation was not different for the 2023 budget which was reviewed upwards from N20.51 trillion to N21.82 trillion, an increase of N1.31 trillion.

In the 2024 budget, the National Assembly increased the N27.5 trillion submitted by President Bola Tinubu to N28.77 trillion with a N1.2 trillion addition.

Queen Damilola, popularly called Queen Dami and former girlfriend of controversial Nigerian singer Habeeb Okikiola a.k.a. Portable, has denied her reported plan to reconcile with the singer in a video that surfaced online on Thursday.

The estranged lovers again become the cynosure of the social media space after the leaked conversation between Dami and Portable suggesting possible comeback of Damilola after they parted ways sometimes in December.

In a video seen by this newspaper on Friday, Queen Dami, addressing the singer, denied making the moves to return to Okikiola.

“Is it impossible to returm to my vomit,” she said while accusing her former boyfriend of exposing her to ridicule.

“Is it not that you ridiculed me, Portable? Let’s wait and see how you too will be ridiculed, except I dealt with you with double standards, or did I tell you that I wanted to return to you?”

Damilola explained that Portable told her that his wife slipped into his DM on Thursday because he told her that Queen Dami wanted to come back. She narrated that Portable said his wife started abusing and fighting him even when she didn’t nurse a plan to return to him. “Did I accept all you told me?

Queen Dami said Portable also asked to take her before his Ifa oracle to swear if she another man has not had sexual intercourse with her since they parted ways.

“I said I cannot swear. I said I’m fed with you, Portable. Whoever listened to the voice note. I told him that I’ve prayed for you in the voice note.

“What then is your problem? Due to what the people told you and my refusal to swear, you now went to post ‘cut and join’ video on your story to ridicule me.”

She challenged Portable to post their full conversation from the beginning. “Now, post where I began chatting with you. We were chatting without doing video call. Post everything,” she demanded.

The ex-lovers have continued to court controversies after their breakup late 2024 over relationship scandal with Portable accusing Queen Dami of infidelity, abortion, and keeping relationships with multiple men, among them, Fuji singers.

For her part, Queen Dami has consistently denied the allegations, describing them as defamatory.

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers at the early hours of Friday abducted Mrs. Odumosu, wife of a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Hakeem Odumosu.

Mrs. Odumosu was abducted at the gate of her residence in the Arepo axis of Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State while returning home from an outing.

LEADERSHIP gathered that wife of the retired police boss was about entering her home when four masked men shooting sporadically into the air attacked her, dragged her down from her Lexus Jeep and took her through the swampy areas to an unknown destination.

Spokesperson of the Ogun Command of Nigeria Police Force, Omolola Odutola, who confirmed the incident to journalists in Abeokuta, the state capital, said the command has swiftly reacted by deploying operatives to secure her release.

“Information was received regarding the kidnapping of Mrs. Odumosu, a female resident of Aminu Street, Arepo, Ogun State,” she stated.

She added that the Divisional Police Officer has led a team of Police officers to the scene, where they are currently searching the swampy bush area.

The Divisional Police Officer has also contacted Baale Warewa and Baale Maaba, to deploy local security forces to the reverrine area.

She further stated that the State’s Commissioner of Police, Lanre Ogunlowo, has been briefed “and all covert operations have been deployed to assist with digital intelligence to ensure she is rescued unhurt.”

The pump prices of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, have risen to between N1,050 and N1,150/litre depending on the area of purchase, following the hike in the cost of the commodity by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and various depot owners.

Dealers confirmed that PMS prices would continue to rise since the major component in fuel production, crude oil, has been on the upward swing lately.

The National President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Festus Osifo, earlier alluded to this when he pointed out that petrol prices might soon rise if the cost of crude oil continued to increase.

“The crude price rose to $80 per barrel today (Thursday). Without exchange rate improvements, PMS prices will increase in the coming weeks,” Osifo stated in Lagos.

On Friday, there was an upward adjustment in the price of petrol produced by the Dangote Petrochemical Refinery.

The $20bn plant raised its PMS from N899/litre to N955/litre at its loading gantry.

The refinery, in an email statement sent to its customers and obtained by one of our correspondents, said its refined products would now be priced at the new cost.

It noted that marketers buying between two million and 4.99 million litres would now buy at N955/litre, while five million litres and above would buy at N950/litre.

The amount marks an increase of N55.5 or 6.17 per cent from N899.50/litre announced as a holiday discount for Nigerians last December.

This adjustment applies to all stock balances yet to be lifted by the stated time, while pending stock as of the effective time will also be repriced at the updated rates.

The statement added that the new price regime took effect from 5:30pm on Friday.

The notice, titled, ‘Communication on PMS Price Review’, read, “Dear esteemed customer, Trust this email finds you well.

“Kindly be advised that effective from 5:30 pm today (Friday), an upward adjustment has been implemented on the gantry price of Premium Motor Spirit. Quantity Previous Price (NGN/Litre): 2 million-9.99 million – N899.50; 10 million litres & above – N895.

“Quantity New Price (NGN/ Litre): 2 million – 4.99 million – N955; 5 million litres & above – N950.

“Please note that all stock balances yet to be lifted as of the above-stated time are to be repriced at the new reviewed prices. We shall communicate with customers on their revised volumes based on the reviewed prices, in due course.”

The price increase sparked widespread effects on the downstream petroleum sector, particularly private depots and retail markets.

Findings showed that private depots, despite having old stocks, increased their loading costs to N970 in Lagos and N1,000 in Calabar.

A breakdown analysing petrol price movements at loading depots after the announcement of the new price showed that Sahara depot increased its loading price by N20 to N970/litre from N950/litre on Thursday.

Pinnacle Depot increased its price to N970 from N921, while Wosbab Depot made a similar change to N965 from the N940 it sold a litre of petrol on Thursday.

NIPCO increased its loading costs by N30 to N980 from N950 on Thursday.

Also, a private depot, Rainoil, increased its loading costs to N970 from N950. A private depot, Alkanes, in Calabar, asked retailers to pay N1,000/litre to receive products.

Zone 4 and Mainland depots increased their loading costs to N1,005/litre from N985, which sold products on Thursday.

Marketers speak

Oil marketers operating under the auspices of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria projected a steep increase in the retail cost of petrol, stressing it could hit N1,100/litre in Lagos and neighbouring states.

IPMAN also said petrol customers in the Federal Capital Territory might pay N1,150 for a litre.

The IPMAN National Publicity Secretary, Chinedu Ukadike, said the product would now trade for more than N1,000/litre, especially in hinterlands nationwide.

He stressed that the new change was due to the recent surge in the price of crude oil globally.

Ukadike said, “Yes, Dangote has increased its price to N955. This is only because of the increase in Brent crude. Once it increases, the domestic production cost will also increase.

“Nigerians will likely pay over N1,150 at faraway locations, while locations close to the depot will pay N1,100. This is because we will add about N50 logistics costs. Currently, ex-depot prices have increased to N980.

“This change is immediate because crude oil prices, too, are immediate. The refinery told us it has taken effect today, which means prices have increased already. Deregulation in this sector means price will be controlled by forces of demand and supply.

“So, if the force of supply says Brent crude has increased, it means domestic costs will also change. It is no longer funny now. Even marketers are affected by this up-and-down dwindling of prices. It affects our business.”

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria said retailers could not buy a litre of petrol and sold at N1,000/litre, adding that the margin would be higher than N45.

The PETROAN National President, Billy Gillis-Harry, said the Dangote PMS was exclusive of charges imposed by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and that would form part of what retailers would add to the margin.

Though Gillis-Harry said he could not confirm the exact price of petrol at filling stations, he noted that it would be higher than N1,000/litre.

According to him, PETROAN members would still sell at N935/litre due to the agreement they have with MRS Oil, pending when the agreement changes.

“I’ve already told you that it’s difficult to do any effective amateur projection on price modulation. One of the reasons is that the cost of the production, the selling price, and the landing price, all of that will be taken into consideration. And the PIA (Petroleum Industry Act) has given provisions for how the price will be computed.

“So, at all times, we’ve got to depend on the PIA’s prescription for pricing. You know, the other day you called me and you told me about an association that said the price could be N500/litre. You can see how false the projections are. So, that means they are not informed by any empirical value,” Gillis-Harry stated.

He spoke further that since he got information about the price change, his team had been making analysis.

“So, before I can speak on prices, I must get the feedback from them, from at least 10 states, and maybe four or five depots. So, for today, you can quote me to say, yes, there is going to be a price change, but that price can only come, maybe by the close of tomorrow (Saturday).

“Because right now, we still have an obligation with the MRS to be selling at N935, and some of us bought products there. So, if they change their prices because of the Dangote price, then the conversation will be different.

“After the price of buying, there must be the price of logistics. Once that is computed, we can then look at what is the most humane profit margin,” he submitted.

An oil and gas expert, Olatide Jeremiah, said depots were poised to increase the loading price of refined petroleum products because of the heavy influence of the refinery.

Jeremiah, who is the Chief Executive Officer of petroleumprice.ng, said, “Dangote refinery’s influence on fuel price has become unmatched; private depots, major marketers, and independent marketers will compete with this new price. Therefore, Nigerians should expect an increase in the pump prices of petrol.

“Brent crude oil as of today (Friday) is $81.84, highest in 2025, it is one major factor for the increase.”

A total sum of N N1.424trn, being December 2024 federation account revenue, has been shared to the federal, state and the local governments in Nigeria.

The revenue was shared at the January 2025 Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting held in Abuja.

The N1.424trn total distributable revenue comprised distributable statutory revenue of N386.124 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N604.872 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N31.211 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N402.714 billion.

A communiqué issued by the FAAC indicated that total gross revenue of N2.310 trillion was available in the month of December 2024. Total deduction for cost of collection was N84.780bn while total transfers, interventions and refunds was N801.175bn.

According to a statement from accountant-general’s office showed that gross statutory revenue of N1.226trn was received for the month of December 2024. This was lower than the sum of N1.827trn received in the month of November 2024 by N600.988bn.

Gross revenue of N649.561bn was available from the VAT in December 2024. This was higher than the N628.973bn available in the month of November 2024 by N20.588bn.

From the N1.424trn distributable revenue, the FG received N451.193bn, while states got N498.498bn. All the LGAs got N361.754bn while the sum of N113.477bn was shared to benefiting states as 13 percent for mineral resources.

On the N386.124bn distributable statutory revenue, the central government received N167.690bn; states: N85.055bn; local governments received N65.574bn, with N67.806 billion (13 percent of mineral revenue) given to particular states as derivation revenue.

From the N604.872bn distributable VAT revenue, the federal government received N90.731bn, state governments received N302.436bn and the LGAs received N211.705bn.

The sum of N4.682bn was received by FG from the N31.211bn revenue from ectronic money transfer levy for the month. The state governments received N15.605bn while the LGAs received N10.924bn.

From the N402.714bn exchange difference revenue, federal government received N188.090bn; states: N95.402bn; local government areas, N73.551bn; while the sum of N45.671bn was given to the benefiting states as value of 13 percent mineral revenue).

The US Supreme Court has upheld a law that bans TikTok in the country unless its China-based parent company ByteDance sells the platform by this Sunday.

TikTok had challenged the law, arguing it would violate free speech protections for the more than 170 million users it says it has in the US.

But that argument was rejected unanimously by the nation’s highest court, meaning TikTok must now find an approved buyer for the US version of the app or face removal from app stores and web hosting services.

The White House said it would fall to incoming President Donald Trump’s administration, which takes office on Monday, to enforce the law. Trump vowed to make a decision in the “not too distant future”.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration with other high-profile guests, said he wanted to thank the incoming president for his commitment to work with the app and keep it available in the US.

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers voted to ban the video-sharing app last year, over concerns about its links to the Chinese government. TikTok has repeatedly stated it does not share information with Beijing.

Passed in April last year, the law allows TikTok owner ByteDance until 19 January 2025 to sell the US version of the platform to a neutral party to avert an outright ban.

It would mean that from Sunday, Apple and Google will no longer offer the app to new users or provide any security updates to current users – which could kill it off eventually.

ByteDance has vowed not to sell TikTok and said it planned to shut US operations of the app on Sunday unless there is a reprieve.

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has described the N800bn allocated to the ministry in the 2025 budget proposal as inadequate to fix the country’s road infrastructural needs.

Umahi, a two-time governor of Ebonyi State, disclosed this on Friday at a 2025 budget defence session, hosted by the House Committee on Works.

He called on the committee to consider reviewing the ministry’s budgetary allocation in the 2025 fiscal year upward.

“We plead with you to help us. N800bn cannot do anything for us. It cannot address our road needs and so we plead with you to help us,” Umahi said.

He urged the committee to give the ministry adequate funding to enable it to complete ongoing projects as well as commence work on new projects spread across the country.

Umahi added that the number of road projects the ministry intended to fix couldn’t be funded from the ‘meagre budget envelope,’ stressing that borrowing money to fix the country’s infrastructural needs for the greatness of the nation was a step in the right direction.

“When the nation is in recession, you have to borrow money and do infrastructure. That is how you come out of a recession. It is the infrastructure that is going to be a catalyst for economic activities and then this hunger we are talking about will be a thing of the past. The food sellers will be there, those doing sharp sand, those doing gravel and so on. Support Mr President and let’s borrow money and do this infrastructure so that Nigeria will be great again,” Umahi said.

The chairman of the committee, Akin Alabi, promised to summon the Minister of Finance, and the Head of the Budget Office to explain the rationale behind the low budget of the ministry.

A Nasarawa State High Court has ordered the remand of Timilehin Ajayi, an acclaimed gospel singer, after he was allegedly found in possession of the severed head of a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Salome Adaidu.

The directive was disclosed in a brief statement posted on Friday by the Nasarawa State Police Command via its official X (formerly Twitter) account.

According to the statement, Ajayi was presented before the court as part of preliminary proceedings, pending his formal arraignment.

The case has drawn widespread attention, with many demanding swift justice for the tragic loss of the young corps member.

The statement read, “Timilehin Ajayi was charged to court today and remanded in prison custody pending his formal arraignment.”

News360 Nigeria reported on Tuesday that Ajayi was arrested by churchgoers for allegedly killing and dismembering Adaidu, for suspected ritual purposes.

The church’s Bible Study Teacher and General Secretary, Caleb Umaru, had explained that a member noticed Ajayi acting suspiciously near a river.

He claimed that the said member alerted others when Ajayi threw a bag into the river, which was later retrieved and found to contain his girlfriend’s severed head.

The suspect, who had admitted to committing the crime, however, said he had no regret for his action.

He had alleged that the late Adaidu, who was his girlfriend, was cheating on him which prompted him to kill her.

Meanwhile, members of the deceased family had claimed that their sister was never in a relationship with the suspect and that contrary to reports that Adaidu had visited the suspect, she was allegedly kidnapped.

The President Tinubu Government has spent a total of N9.74bn on the procurement and distribution of food items as part of efforts to mitigate the impact of the food crisis across the country in 2024.

This is according to data from BudgIT’s platform, GovSpend, a civic-tech organisation advocating for transparency and accountability.

A significant portion of the funds was allocated for the supply of rice, beans, maize, and other staple food items.

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security spearheaded these initiatives, with multiple payments made to contractors for the emergency supply of palliative foodstuffs to federal constituencies across the country.

Among the key transactions were payments to contractors for the supply of rice, beans, and gari, aimed at alleviating hunger in vulnerable communities.

Payments, often amounting to approximately N85.45m per constituency, were carried out across various regions from February to November 2024.

Data revealed that the same amount of N85,454,545.46 was expended for each federal constituency that benefited from the palliatives in states including Kano, Ogun, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Adamawa, Kaduna, Jigawa, Ekiti, Oyo, Lagos, Bauchi, Rivers, Borno, Sokoto, and Enugu, bringing the total expenditure to N9.74bn.

Despite this substantial financial outlay, concerns have been raised about the programme’s effectiveness in addressing the root causes of food insecurity.

An economist at Lotus Beta Analytics, Shedrach Israel, argued that palliatives alone cannot resolve Nigeria’s food crisis.

“While food palliatives are crucial for addressing immediate hunger, they do not tackle the systemic issues contributing to food insecurity, such as inflation and structural deficiencies in agricultural systems.

“We need sustainable economic policies that prioritise increasing local agricultural productivity and improving distribution networks to reduce dependency on external food aid,” he said.

Israel added that the N9.74bn spent on food palliatives could have been invested in long-term agricultural innovations and infrastructure development, which would provide lasting solutions to food insecurity.

Similarly, a Kaduna-based agricultural economist, La’ah Dauda, highlighted the need for a more holistic approach to tackling the food crisis.

“The government’s focus on distributing palliatives is a short-term fix to an ongoing agricultural crisis. While essential, these measures fail to address underlying issues such as inadequate irrigation systems, insufficient storage facilities, and weak market access that continue to hinder agricultural productivity across the country,” he said.