Thank you, next
FG is adding extra ZEROS to the 2024 budget
Happy Friday, Big Brains. If your name is not Tinubu, I hope you’re having a great day. The inflation is killing us because you won’t believe what has become of the salary I was just celebrating the other day. Even me, I don’t believe it.
- Margaret
Word count: ~ 1,000
Reading time ~3 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
FG wants to add extra zeros to the 2024 budget
Yahaya Bello is facing new criminal charges and it doesn’t look good
Foreigners making money in Nigeria will start paying FG’s cut soon
The Big Daily
FG wants to add extra zeros to 2024 budget
Nigeria must be on the list of the world’s most expensive countries to run because our budget just keeps getting fatter and fatter. The Senate first approved a ₦98.5 billion supplementary budget back in June. Then in July, it played “Thank you, next” by approving a ₦6.2 trillion addition to the 2024 national budget, causing it to jump from ₦28.7 trillion to ₦35.055 trillion.
In its defence, FG said the extra zeros were supposed to contribute to the payment of minimum wage and the completion of certain projects.
Just a few months after, the Senate is cooking another supplementary budget to fund more projects. Yesterday, the Senate passed the second reading of a new ₦288 billion supplementary budget for the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).
The passage of the budget followed a correspondence from President Bola Tinubu dated September 19, 2024, which was addressed to the National Assembly.
In a letter that sounds like a Naira Life story, the President emphasised that the FCTA supplementary budget proposal is in line with Section 121 of Nigeria’s Constitution. This shiny new budget is all about aligning with the federal government’s grand plans and the Renewed Shege Hope Agenda, focusing on human capital and infrastructure.
The entire ₦288 billion will be spent on FCT and according to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, one of the interesting projects it will be spent on is the renovation of abandoned Ministry of Agriculture building for the use of the Ministry Livestock, created recently by President Bola Tinubu.
Why is this a big deal?
In case it wasn’t obvious, we have zero confidence in the likely effectiveness of the proposed supplementary budget. It’s not the first one and we can’t say that it will be the last. One project that the second extra budget was meant to support was building and fixing dams. Look how that turned out for the people in Maiduguri. We also didn’t see FG’s focus in the whole dam building area anywhere in Nigeria until the overflowing of the Alau Dam forced about 400,000 people in Maiduguri out of their houses. Do you see where the loss of confidence is coming from?
Another proposed project in the previous supplementary budget projects proposed in the supplementary budget is the Lagos-Calabar coastal road project. ₦150 billion was allocated to kick off this project even though Atiku Abubakar, aka Tinubu’s biggest critic, claims that Tinubu’s son is on the board of directors of the construction company in charge of the project. If that’s true, maybe these budgets are not really for Nigerians.
We want to be proven wrong so let’s see what they do with the newly proposed budget.
Yahaya Bello is facing new criminal charges and it doesn’t look good
Okay guys, a new bombshell just entered the Yahaya Bello’s alleged crimes villa. These days, you can’t even drink water and drop a cup before hearing something new about Bello and it’s never good news.
The Federal Government has brought new 16-count charges against the former Kogi State Governor for an alleged breach of trust involving ₦110.4 billion. The charges against Bello are criminal offences according to Sections 96 and 311 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 312 —think seven years behind bars or a fine that is somebody’s 20-year salary, or maybe both!
Bello will be joined by Kogi State officials Abdulsalami Hudu and Umar Oricha, who are accused of using state funds ranging from millions of naira and dirhams to buy properties in the bougie areas of Abuja and Dubai.
These charges also include accusations of misusing state funds meant for renovations and sending large sums from state reserves to a bank account in the United States of America. Bello is also being accused of unlawfully controlling over ₦677 million obtained from a business entity.
It high-key runs in the family…
In case you forgot, we started doubting Bello’s integrity in May when the EFCC chairman claimed that Yahaya Bello moved $720,000 from Kogi State’s resources to a Bureau De Change operator for his child's education—apparently, he wanted to pay in advance because “he knew he was going.” Since then, the former governor has been avoiding the EFCC's office and the courtroom like some crazy ex.
The Bellos are not new to handling EFCC cases and somehow coming out on top. Last year, Yahaya Bello’s wife, Rashida Bello, his nephew, and three other people were arraigned by EFCC on an 18-count charge “bordering on criminal misappropriation and money laundering to the tune of ₦3,081,804,654.” Rashida and the four other people in this case pleaded not guilty. In what should go down in history as the biggest plot twist ever, Alli Bello, the nephew of the former governor who was eventually granted bail of ₦500m by the court alongside 3 others, currently serves as the appointed chief of staff to Ahmed Usman Ododo, governor of Kogi (present governor of Kogi who was accused of helping Yahaya Bello escape arrest in May).
Judging by his mastery in dodging justice, we’re not holding our breath for the result of this case.
Foreigners making money in Nigeria will start paying FG’s cut soon
You call him T-pain, we call him T-bills because one thing our president will do is bill everybody, including the poor and the foreigners. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, announced that foreigners earning income in Nigeria will be required to pay taxes once the proposed amendment to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Bill, 2024 is passed by the National Assembly.
When they asked the Special Adviser to the president FG is making this decision, he said, “This bill will amend the law that was made some years ago, and it now provides, if the National Assembly passes that bill, that everybody living in Nigeria, foreigners, all of them will now be registered and be given tax identity. Once you are doing some work here and you are earning income, you will be registered and given tax identity and you will be taxed, and you come under our tax structure. The law that was set up initially precluded foreigners from being registered, and so they were not taxed.”
If FG wants to get its bag, we’re not against it but what we want to know is where these funds are going. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, 31.8 million people in this country are still starving and the government isn’t doing anything about it. Let’s hope extra money in FG’s pocket will reduce hunger in the country.
The Big Picks
Lawmakers Blame Secret Service Over Trump Assassination Bid: During their first hearing on Thursday, lawmakers investigating the assassination attempt against Donald Trump in Pennsylvania pointed to failures within the Secret Service as the cause of multiple security lapses that enabled a gunman to open fire on the Republican presidential nominee.
Bobrisky: FG Suspends Senior Prison Officials Over Bribery Allegations: The Federal Government has suspended several senior officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service due to bribery allegations linked to the controversial crossdresser Idris Okuneye, better known as Bobrisky.
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