THE Presidency has warned that President Muhammadu Buhari would brook nonsense in the new fiscal year, especially over the 2017 budget currently before the National Assembly.
The Presidency said whoever might try to mess up the budget would attract fury from the president, because the major policies of his administration in the last 19 months would attain maturity and start bearing fruits.
The president has proposed a whopping N7.5 trillion for the current financial year, which is about N1 trillion more than the 2016 federal estimate.
The stern warning is contained in a piece entitled, President Buhari’s strides in the year 2016, by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.
The handling of national budget had constituted a major seed of discord between the National Assembly and the executive arm of government since Nigeria restored democracy on May 29, 1999.
It took a dramatic twist when the budget for 2016 was mired in a controversy of padding with claims and counter-claims over the agent provocateur.
Garba in the statement, said the president, who is not “a man of many words,” would speak through his actions in the current year on the activities and policies of his administration.
“The New Year 2017 has been described as the year in which the major policies of the APC administration will show results in full. President Buhari, who is not a man of many words, will speak through his actions.
“No one, who messes with the President’s 2017 budget, can stand his fury. It is a warning he has given. Let’s watch as the year unfolds.”
The Presidency also spoke on the strategic place of France to Nigeria, saying there was nothing the country could achieve without ensuring a cordial relationship with the country.
This, it reasoned, was because Nigeria, an Anglophone nation, was surrounded by mostly French-speaking countries, who held much allegiance to their former colonial master.
The statement was in reference to the security challenges facing the country, which necessitated a joint sub-regional military operation against insurgency in the North-East.
“In dealing with the EU, particularly France, Italy and Germany, a lot has been achieved on the issues of security and immigration.
“Italy and Germany are training our police and immigration officials. They are also giving skills training to our citizens who entered their countries illegally before their deportation. That way, they can have work to do here on their return.
“Without France, it is difficult to see how Nigeria, surrounded by Francophone countries, can achieve anything.
“President Buhari continues to improve his personal and official relationships with French leaders,” he stated.
On corruption, the president said the “albatross of the war against corruption was the “slow legal-judicial process, which has created a backlog of cases of corruption dating back to the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
But, he was delighted that the major takeaway of the war in 2016 was the introduction of the whistle blowing programme which was designed to further encourage tip off by members of the public with proven information and evidence of undetected act of corruption.
“In the war against corruption, new heights have been reached with the announcement of the whistle blower protection policy. The President has also ordered that the limelight be shone on leaders around him that have been accused of corruption,” he stated.
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“The biggest takeaways in the last twelve months are introduction of the whistleblower program which, by the way has received so much welcome from Nigerians that the website hosted by the Ministry of Finance crashed in few days of its announcement.
“A finder’s fee of between one and five per cent is being offered for whistle blowing that leads to assets and funds recovery. As you go around Abuja, you are likely to come across government ministries or departments moving out of rented accommodations, settling into buildings seized by the EFCC.
“The albatross of the war against corruption has been the slow legal-judicial process. Some of the pending cases go back to the Obasanjo era. That’s a decade ago. This is something about which the President is limited in what he can do by the constitution.
“He will, in that regard, continue to respect the doctrine of the separation of powers as enshrined in our laws.” THE Presidency has warned that President Muhammadu Buhari would brook nonsense in the new fiscal year, especially over the 2017 budget currently before the National Assembly.
The Presidency said whoever might try to mess up the budget would attract fury from the president, because the major policies of his administration in the last 19 months would attain maturity and start bearing fruits.
The president has proposed a whopping N7.5 trillion for the current financial year, which is about N1 trillion more than the 2016 federal estimate.
The stern warning is contained in a piece entitled, President Buhari’s strides in the year 2016, by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.
The handling of national budget constitutes a major seed of discord between the National Assembly and the executive arm of government since Nigeria restored democracy on May 29, 1999.
It took a dramatic twist when the budget for 2016 was mired in a controversy of padding with claims and counter-claims over the agent provocateur.
Garba in the statement, said the president, who is not “a man of many words,” would speak through his actions in the current year on the activities and policies of his administration.
“The New Year 2017 has been described as the year in which the major policies of the APC administration will show results in full. President Buhari, who is not a man of many words, will speak through his actions.
“No one, who messes with the President’s 2017 budget, can stand his fury. It is a warning he has given. Let’s watch as the year unfolds.”
The presidency also spoke on the strategic place of France to Nigeria, saying there was nothing the country could achieve without ensuring a cordial relationship with the country.
This, it reasoned, was because Nigeria, an Anglophone nation, was surrounded by mostly French-speaking countries, who held much allegiance to their former colonial master.
The statement was in reference to the security challenges facing the country, which necessitated a joint sub-regional military operation against insurgency in the North-East.
“In dealing with the EU, particularly France, Italy and Germany, a lot has been achieved on the issues of security and immigration.
“Italy and Germany are training our police and immigration officials. They are also giving skills training to our citizens who entered their countries illegally before their deportation. That way, they can have work to do here on their return.
“Without France, it is difficult to see how Nigeria, surrounded by Francophone countries, can achieve anything.
“President Buhari continues to improve his personal and official relationships with French leaders,” he stated.
On corruption, the president said the “albatross of the war against corruption was the “slow legal-judicial process, which has created a backlog of cases of corruption dating back to the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
But, he was delighted that the major takeaway of the war in 2016 was the introduction of the whistle blowing programme which designed to further encourage tip off by members of the public with proven information and evidence of undetected act of corruption.
His words: “In the war against corruption, new heights have been reached with the announcement of the whistle blower protection policy. The President has also ordered that the limelight be shone on leaders around him that have been accused of corruption.
“The biggest takeaways in the last twelve months are introduction of the whistleblower program which, by the way has received so much welcome from Nigerians that the website hosted by the Ministry of Finance crashed in few days of its announcement.
“A finder’s fee of between one and five per cent is being offered for whistle blowing that leads to assets and funds recovery. As you go around Abuja, you are likely to come across government ministries or departments moving out of rented accommodations, settling into buildings seized by the EFCC.
“The albatross of the war against corruption has been the slow legal-judicial process. Some of the pending cases go back to the Obasanjo era. That’s a decade ago. This is something about which the President is limited in what he can do by the constitution.
“He will, in that regard, continue to respect the doctrine of the separation of powers as enshrined in our laws.”
and then