Buhari to spend largest part of road budget in southwest - Review

As 2016 draws to a close, the question on the mind of Nigerians is: What does 2017 hold? The 2017 budget has been passed, drawing criticism and praise in different sectors.

One major saving grace is that the largest part of the road budget will be expended in the South West of Nigeria.

Buhari to spend largest part of road budget in southwest

According to Vanguard, the federal government has allocated N6.55billion for the

completion of the east-west road project in the Niger Delta ministry budget for 2017 fiscal proposal.

The breakdown of the funds meant for the road projects which has now been extended to sections five, covering Oron in Akwa Ibom State to Calabar in Cross River showed that the Sections 2 (2-2) Ahoada-Kaiama was allocated N2.2bn and followed closely by Section 2 (2-1) Port Harcourt-Ahoada section of the road.

Fayose accuses DSS

According to Punch, the Ekiti state Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to resign because he has failed Nigerians who voted him into power.

Saying that the exchanged rate is now $1 for N500 under Buhari, Fayose lamented that there “is unprecedented hunger in the land” and that Nigerians were being killed in Southern Kaduna and other places.

“It is better for the president to resign because he appears not to have capacity for positivity. If all the presidents that ruled before Buhari had behaved like he is behaving now, he himself will be in jail.”

He accused the Department of State Service (DSS), of recording telephone conversations of Nigerians perceived as critics of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress government.

Army dismisses Shekau's video

According to The Nation, The army yesterday dismissed a new video in which Boko Haram’s elusive leader Abubakar Shekau is disputing a claim that the jihadist group had been routed from its Sambisa Forest stronghold.

“It is mere terrorists propaganda,” the military said. Shekau was boasting that the sect’s fighters remained strong.

He said: “We are safe. We have not been flushed out of anywhere. And tactics and strategies cannot reveal our location except if Allah wills by his decree,” Shekau said in the 25-minute video, flanked by masked armed fighters.

“You should not be telling lies to the people,” he said, referring to President Muhammadu Buhari who said on Christmas Eve that the extremist group had been defeated and driven away from the forest, its last known bastion.

Four ministries get 70% of 2017

According to The Guardian, four federal ministries are to take N1.46 trillion of the N2.98 trillion allocation for recurrent expenditure in the 2017 budget.

The amount which represents about 70% of the combined provision for personnel and overhead costs is that bogus because of the size of the personnel and running costs incurred by the four ministries (Interior, Education, Defence and Health) and Departments and Agencies (MDAs) affiliated to them.

The high recurrent expenditure in these ministries means that less money will be devoted to infrastructure development across the MDAs.

For instance, the nation’s prisons are begging for overhaul as the current state of dilapidation makes it easy for jailbreaks recorded across the country.

Also, education facilities are not only outdated but grossly inadequate. With attention focused more on overheads, the quality of education and health care services may remain poor.