Augustine
Garuba Obiabo Ahmedu, otherwise known as Blackfaze Naija has debunked
the news making the rounds in the media that he has reacted to the
recent interview, where his former band-mate, Innocent Ujah Idibia,
famously known as 2Face alleged that he actually invited him to his
wedding in Dubai, but he declined invitation.Tuface in the said interview claimed that he had paid Blackfaze some money as royalty for co-writing his hit song, African Queen, and that such amount should settle a responsible man.
But speaking exclusively with DailyPost on telephone, the Agatu-born Benue State artist said he never granted anybody interview.
“For me, this is not an issue, I don’t know why this Tuface issue keeps coming up everyday. I didn’t grant anybody interview. Honestly. I’m tired of talking about Tuface. We all have our lives to live, enough of this Tuface thing abeg; I’m tied, he told our correspondent.
Meanwhile, Blackface’s latest singles, entitled ‘See You Move and Internet Song’ are currently enjoying massive airplay on some radio stations across the country.
ABUJA
— PEEVED by alleged comments by Minister of State for Finance, Dr
Yerima Ngama that the 2013 budget was no longer implementable due to
what he called “over-bloated revenue estimates by the National
Assembly”, the Senate yesterday, directed its Committee on Finance to,
as a matter of urgency, summon the two ministers of finance to appear
before it to defend the allegation.
The Senate also said it was awaiting the Accountant-General of the Federation to present before it, the various monies released in the on-going year for ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, in accordance with clauses 6 and 9 of the 2013 Appropriation Act.
The
development came even as Senate President, David Mark blamed the
various committees for not doing enough to monitor budget performances
by the executive arm of government.
The Senate which deliberated the issue at its plenary, mandated Committees on Finance and Appropriation to immediately summon Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as well as the Ministry of State, Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama to appear before it to give explanation and submit its report within three weeks.
The summon followed a motion to that effect, sponsored by the Senate Deputy Leader, Abdul Ningi, PDP, Bauchi Central, and 13 others praying the upper legislative chamber to probe the performance of the budget, with a view to critically assess the position of the nation’s economy.
Senator Ningi, in his lead debate, said the minister’s statement was worrisome, as the National Assembly enactment guiding the implementation of the budget, most especially clause 6 of the 2013 Appropriation Act, stipulates that the “Minister of Finance shall ensure that funds appropriated under the Act are released to the appropriate agencies and organs of government as at when due, provided that no funds for any quarter of the fiscal year shall be differed without prior waiver from the National Assembly”
He said the essence of the motion was to bring the issue to the fore that the National Assembly was not to blame for failure of the executive to implement the 2013 budget.
“There has not been any communication from the executive that there’s a shortfall in the revenue projections and Mr. President said time and again that this economy is healthy”, he said.
While noting that the 2013 Appropriation Bill was passed on December 20, 2012, and subsequently assented to by President Goodluck Jonathan on January 15, 2013, Ningi expressed concern that the release indications from first to third quarter saw the capital at N 855,141 billion while approved budget stands at N1, 591, 657 trillion, saying there was a difference of N736, 466 billion.
He expressed dismay over the minister’s statement, saying it was targeted at blackmailing the National Assembly, considering that all the revenue variables were within the target expectations.
He observed that part of the minister’s argument was that the benchmark being used for the budget implementation was over bloated which made it impossible to be implementable.
Ningi insisted that the alleged declaration by the minister should be discussed because the benchmark fixed for the 2013 budget was $79 per barrel of crude oil whereas the current price of the commodity is now $107 per barrel.
He requested the senate to consult relevant agencies saddled with the responsibilities of monitoring budget performances to get the true state of the nation’s economy.
Contributing to the debate, Senator James Manager, PDP, Delta South, said the development was a wake up call for the National Assembly to find out what went wrong in the budget implementation just as he said it was wrong for the executive to always blame the legislature for budget failure.
Senator Bello Tukur, PDP, Adamawa Central, wondered why it was taking so long to bring out the facts and blamed the Senate committee responsible for monitoring budget implementation for not raising the issue before things got to the present level.
Senator Ali Ndume, PDP, Borno South, blamed the Minister of State for Finance for making the pronouncement, saying he lacked such powers.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/senate-summons-okonjo-iweala-ngama-to-explain-budget-performance/#sthash.SjKJGnec.dpuf
The Senate also said it was awaiting the Accountant-General of the Federation to present before it, the various monies released in the on-going year for ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, in accordance with clauses 6 and 9 of the 2013 Appropriation Act.
Finance Minister, Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala
The Senate which deliberated the issue at its plenary, mandated Committees on Finance and Appropriation to immediately summon Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as well as the Ministry of State, Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama to appear before it to give explanation and submit its report within three weeks.
The summon followed a motion to that effect, sponsored by the Senate Deputy Leader, Abdul Ningi, PDP, Bauchi Central, and 13 others praying the upper legislative chamber to probe the performance of the budget, with a view to critically assess the position of the nation’s economy.
Senator Ningi, in his lead debate, said the minister’s statement was worrisome, as the National Assembly enactment guiding the implementation of the budget, most especially clause 6 of the 2013 Appropriation Act, stipulates that the “Minister of Finance shall ensure that funds appropriated under the Act are released to the appropriate agencies and organs of government as at when due, provided that no funds for any quarter of the fiscal year shall be differed without prior waiver from the National Assembly”
He said the essence of the motion was to bring the issue to the fore that the National Assembly was not to blame for failure of the executive to implement the 2013 budget.
“There has not been any communication from the executive that there’s a shortfall in the revenue projections and Mr. President said time and again that this economy is healthy”, he said.
While noting that the 2013 Appropriation Bill was passed on December 20, 2012, and subsequently assented to by President Goodluck Jonathan on January 15, 2013, Ningi expressed concern that the release indications from first to third quarter saw the capital at N 855,141 billion while approved budget stands at N1, 591, 657 trillion, saying there was a difference of N736, 466 billion.
He expressed dismay over the minister’s statement, saying it was targeted at blackmailing the National Assembly, considering that all the revenue variables were within the target expectations.
He observed that part of the minister’s argument was that the benchmark being used for the budget implementation was over bloated which made it impossible to be implementable.
Ningi insisted that the alleged declaration by the minister should be discussed because the benchmark fixed for the 2013 budget was $79 per barrel of crude oil whereas the current price of the commodity is now $107 per barrel.
He requested the senate to consult relevant agencies saddled with the responsibilities of monitoring budget performances to get the true state of the nation’s economy.
Contributing to the debate, Senator James Manager, PDP, Delta South, said the development was a wake up call for the National Assembly to find out what went wrong in the budget implementation just as he said it was wrong for the executive to always blame the legislature for budget failure.
Senator Bello Tukur, PDP, Adamawa Central, wondered why it was taking so long to bring out the facts and blamed the Senate committee responsible for monitoring budget implementation for not raising the issue before things got to the present level.
Senator Ali Ndume, PDP, Borno South, blamed the Minister of State for Finance for making the pronouncement, saying he lacked such powers.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/senate-summons-okonjo-iweala-ngama-to-explain-budget-performance/#sthash.SjKJGnec.dpuf
By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North & Henry Umoru
The reasons why governors are asking the Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to quit her job, emerged yesterday.
Vanguard was told that the governors were convinced that the Nigerian economy had been messed up and the decay in the system carefully manipulated by the minister to give Nigerians the false hope that all was well.
Sources close to the meeting of the governors held in Abuja on Tuesday night revealed that the governors were upset to learn that despite a huge revenue earning of over $1.05 trillion reported by the Central Bank of Nigeria for the month of July, the Finance Ministry was unable to remit the statutory allocations in full to states and local governments in the country.
The
source pointed out that whereas the CBN boasted that the federally
collected revenue rose to $1.05 trillion for the month of July, the
finance ministry only distributed a paltry N715.845 billion to the three
tiers of government for the month, blaming the shortfall on oil theft
and pipeline vandalisation.
It was learnt that the government was unable to pay the stipulated revenue accruable to the 36 states in the country and the FCT, asking them to exercise patience and understanding with the centre.
In the sharing, the centre got N227.516 billion (52.68%) as against N235.778 billion it received for June. The states on the other hand, got N115.399 billion (26.72%) against N119.590 billion in the previous month, while the LGAs received N88.968 billion (20.60%) as against N92.199 billion they shared in the previous month.
The governors, who discussed the development in the financial sector during their meeting, felt that the Coordinating Minister for the Economy was economical with the true position of the Nigerian economy and should give way for the interest of the nation.
A governor, who attended the meeting, confirmed to Vanguard that they were convinced that the minister was merely joggling figures to give Nigerians the false impression that the economy was on a sound footing when the reverse was the case.
“Most of the governors want the finance minister to go because the indices on the ground do not match the figures she continues to churn out on a daily basis concerning the performance of the economy.
“We strongly disagree with the minister that the Nigerian economy has created the kind of jobs and attained the level of stability she claims when most qualified Nigerians are roaming the streets in search of non-existing jobs.
“Last month, we were not paid all our allocations though the CBN released figures showing that the nation even earned more revenue than the preceding months.
“We cannot allow this sort of deceit to continue unchallenged and Nigerians must ask the minister to quit now rather than stay on to manipulate the economy for the benefits of a few influential persons,” a governor said.
But the minister fought back on Wednesday, saying that she would not resign her appointment since she was working hard to move the economy forward and change the conditions of Nigerians.
She said she was not contemplating resigning but helping President Goodluck Jonathan to transform the nation through sound economic policies and programmes.
“She said: “As you see me here, do I look any close to resigning? I dey Kampe.
“We should stop talking about political issues here. The economy should be managed for the good of Nigerians. That is why we are here. Let’s face the facts of the economy,” the minister insisted.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/why-okonjo-iweala-must-go-govs/#sthash.lukkqvrw.dpuf
The reasons why governors are asking the Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to quit her job, emerged yesterday.
Vanguard was told that the governors were convinced that the Nigerian economy had been messed up and the decay in the system carefully manipulated by the minister to give Nigerians the false hope that all was well.
Sources close to the meeting of the governors held in Abuja on Tuesday night revealed that the governors were upset to learn that despite a huge revenue earning of over $1.05 trillion reported by the Central Bank of Nigeria for the month of July, the Finance Ministry was unable to remit the statutory allocations in full to states and local governments in the country.
Okonjo-Iweala
It was learnt that the government was unable to pay the stipulated revenue accruable to the 36 states in the country and the FCT, asking them to exercise patience and understanding with the centre.
In the sharing, the centre got N227.516 billion (52.68%) as against N235.778 billion it received for June. The states on the other hand, got N115.399 billion (26.72%) against N119.590 billion in the previous month, while the LGAs received N88.968 billion (20.60%) as against N92.199 billion they shared in the previous month.
The governors, who discussed the development in the financial sector during their meeting, felt that the Coordinating Minister for the Economy was economical with the true position of the Nigerian economy and should give way for the interest of the nation.
A governor, who attended the meeting, confirmed to Vanguard that they were convinced that the minister was merely joggling figures to give Nigerians the false impression that the economy was on a sound footing when the reverse was the case.
“Most of the governors want the finance minister to go because the indices on the ground do not match the figures she continues to churn out on a daily basis concerning the performance of the economy.
“We strongly disagree with the minister that the Nigerian economy has created the kind of jobs and attained the level of stability she claims when most qualified Nigerians are roaming the streets in search of non-existing jobs.
“Last month, we were not paid all our allocations though the CBN released figures showing that the nation even earned more revenue than the preceding months.
“We cannot allow this sort of deceit to continue unchallenged and Nigerians must ask the minister to quit now rather than stay on to manipulate the economy for the benefits of a few influential persons,” a governor said.
But the minister fought back on Wednesday, saying that she would not resign her appointment since she was working hard to move the economy forward and change the conditions of Nigerians.
She said she was not contemplating resigning but helping President Goodluck Jonathan to transform the nation through sound economic policies and programmes.
“She said: “As you see me here, do I look any close to resigning? I dey Kampe.
“We should stop talking about political issues here. The economy should be managed for the good of Nigerians. That is why we are here. Let’s face the facts of the economy,” the minister insisted.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/why-okonjo-iweala-must-go-govs/#sthash.lukkqvrw.dpuf
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