- Extra budget not addressing pressing national needs – Obi
- CBN says old, new naira notes remain legal tender
- NGX extends gaining streak by N87.79bn
BY FESTUS OKOROMADU AND BRIGHT JACOB
President Bola Tinubu has signed the 2023 supplementary appropriation bill of N2.17 trillion into law.
Tinubu signed the Supplementary Appropriation Act, 2023 in his office at the State House in the presence of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume; Senate President Godswill Akpabio; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas; the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Abubakar Bagudu; and Chairman Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacheaus Adedeji.
Providing a breakdown of the supplementary budget, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, said the newly approved expenditure for defence and security consists of about thirty percent, while thirty-five percent is dedicated to the provision of critical infrastructure to be allocated to the Federal Ministries of Works, the Federal Capital Territory, and Housing & Urban Development.
The Minister further explained that thirty-two percent of the supplementary budget was allocated to the new Wage Award for treasury-paid federal workers to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy, in addition to cash transfers to vulnerable persons, and support to the Independent National Electoral Commission, amongst other considerations.
President Tinubu commended the National Assembly for its expeditious consideration and approval, assuring Nigerians that the executive arm of government would ensure the judicious use of the budgeted resources.
Supplementary budget not addressing pressing national needs -Obi
However, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last February 25 presidential election, Peter Obi, has faulted the 2023 supplementary budget, saying it is proof that the Federal Government is uncaring and insensitive to the needs of the masses.
Obi lamented that the budget didn’t capture the “pressing national needs and emergencies” in the country.
He said for the supplementary budget which ought to take into consideration national needs, to come in at this “late” period of the year, it was expected to include “urgent items of national welfare.”
The former Anambra State governor made his submissions on Wednesday in a series of tweets posted via his profile on X.
While referring to the Presidency’s controversial purchase of a yacht, the Senate’s Sport Utility Vehicles and the furnishing of offices, Obi noted that such an act “portrays a government that is totally uncaring and insensitive to the suffering of the majority, and indifferent to the mood of the nation.”
The tweets titled, ‘Observations on the Supplementary Budget’ read in parts, “A supplementary budget is a budget made for very important national welfare needs of the people which were not captured originally in the main budget or do not have adequate funding.
“Admittedly, some items in the current budget may not have taken into consideration the needs of a new administration, but it is expected that a supplementary budget this late in the financial year should reflect mostly urgent items of national welfare.”
Obi cited a report from the United Nations and World Food Programme which stated that come 2024, about 6.5 million Nigerians will go hungry.
Owing to that, the LP presidential candidate wrote that the supplementary budget could’ve captured such a “catastrophe.”
The tweet continued, “Sadly, the most pressing national needs and emergencies have not featured in the supplementary budget that was just announced by the government. For example, the United Nations and World Food Programme have recently warned that up to 6.5 million Nigerians will go hungry next year.
“This number is largely from among citizens in Sokoto, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe and Zamfara States. A caring government, in order to plan for the mitigation of such a pending catastrophe, can request supplementary budget provisions to cushion those under threat.”
He complained that the supplementary budget didn’t feature any “item of urgent social welfare,” but instead, “the items being made to dominate public discourse on the budget include a mysterious presidential yacht, presidential jets, the furnishing of already lavishly furnished presidential quarters and offices, fleets of luxury SUVs, etc.”
The tweets added, “The government’s overall attitude does not indicate that it is aware that the country is in a huge crisis, nor is the government in tune with the plight of the generality of our people.
“Even worse is the fact that most of the funding for these profligate expenditures will be largely borrowed. The least that Nigerians expect from the government at this difficult moment is empathy and realism, not lavish indulgence.”
Old, new naira notes remain legal tender – CBN
In another fiscal development, the Central Bank of Nigeria has instructed all its branches nationwide to continue issuing various denominations of both old and redesigned banknotes in ample quantities to deposit money banks.
The apex bank disclosed this in a statement signed by its Director, Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin, and posted on its X handle on Wednesday.
This comes in response to reports of cash shortages in major cities, despite earlier assurances from the CBN about sufficient cash availability nationwide.
Part of the statement read, “For the avoidance of doubt, while reiterating that there are sufficient banknotes across the country for all normal economic activity, we wish to state unambiguously that every banknote issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria remains legal tender and should not be rejected by anyone, as stipulated in Section 20(5) of the CBN Act, 2007.
“Accordingly, branches of the CBN across the country have been directed to continue to issue different denominations of old and redesigned banknotes in adequate quantities to Deposit Money Banks for onward circulation to bank customers.
“We wish to restate that all denominations of banknotes issued by the CBN remain legal tender. In line with Section 20(5) of the CBN Act, 2007.”
It added that “no one should refuse to accept the naira as a means of payment.”
NGX extends gaining streak by N87.79bn
In the same vein, the Nigeria equities market maintained the positive momentum on Wednesday as the benchmark index (NGX All-Share Index) continued its uptrend by 0.23 percent to close at 70,773.31 points.
Interest in the stocks of BUA CEMENT, GTCO, and UBA which gained 1.90 percent, 0.28 percent and 1.47 percent respectively, outweighed losses in ZENITHBANK, TRANSCORP and FIDELITYBNK which declined by 0.30 percent, 0.32 percent and 3.19 percent respectively to keep the market in the green.
Consequently, the NGX year-to-date return advanced to 38.09 percent while the market capitalization gained N87.79 billion to close at N38.89 trillion.
Further analysis shows that the stocks of JAPAULGOLD, MECURE, PRESTIGE, CORNERST and OMATEK were the toast of investors for the day as their respective share prices recorded an upward trajectory of 9.87 percent, 9.80 percent, 9.76 percent, 9.72 percent, and 9.62 percent.
A breakdown across sub-sector gauges tracked indicated bullish performance as the NGX Banking, NGX Insurance and NGX Industrial goods indexes advanced by 0.26 percent, 2.67 percent, and 0.87 percent.
However, the NGX Consumer goods sector declined by 0.06 percent, while the Oil/Gas sector remained unchanged from the previous day.
Meanwhile, market activity was bullish as the total volume accelerated by 24.27 percent to 558.34 million units while the traded value surged by 79.88 percent to N9.79 billion. Nevertheless, the total deals for the day declined by 9.85 percent to 6,401 trades.
FBNH was the most traded security in terms of volume and value with 209.90 million units worth N4.04 billion traded, changing hands in 196 deals.
At the close of trading, the market recorded 26 gainers, 24 losers, and 70 unchanged. JAPAULGOLD topped the gainers list, while CAVERTON topped the list of losers.
