Apolitico.com

Speech by His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at the signing into law of the Appropriation (Repeal and Amendment) Act, 2020  Presidential Villa, Abuja.  Friday, 10TH July, 2019 PROTOCOLS 1.           It is my pleasure and honour to sign the Appropriation (Repeal and Amendment) Act, 2020 into law today. I thank the Distinguished Senate President, the Right Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, and all the Distinguished and Honourable Leaders, and Members, of the National Assembly for the prompt review and passage of the amendments to the 2020 Appropriation Act. 2.           You will recall that I signed the 2020 Appropriation Act into law on Tuesday, 17th December 2019. However, it became necessary to revise the Appropriation Act 2020 in response to recent developments, in particular, the COVID-19 Pandemic. Crude oil prices in the world market decline...

By Femi Adesina There’s a wise saying in Yoruba land, which goes thus: “If you like, feed the entire city with pounded yam, egusi soup and stockfish on a daily basis, there’ll still be people who won’t like you.” Let’s be honest and frank with ourselves. There are some people with primordial antipathy towards President Muhammadu Buhari, despite the man’s strong commitment towards transforming every part of the country. Some people have simply closed their minds, eyes and ears, and the President can just do no good. President Buhari, however, equally has very committed loyalists in every part of the country, not minding some people who have chosen to believe the worst things, and addled their minds in the process. Last weekend, wealthy businessman and philanthropist, Chief Arthur Eze, struck the nail on the head. He looked deeply at his own South East region of the country, and came out with a conclusion: “The President is man of the moment for the Igbo and the entire South ...

  A New political party,  ‘National Consultative Front,’  was midwifed on Wednesday by a group of politicians, Labour leaders and human rights activists. Its founders said the new party will have ideological outlook and mobilise Nigerians to take power like the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa. Founding leaders of the new political movement include former military governor of Kaduna State, Col. Dangiwa Umar (rtd), Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), Femi Falana (SAN), Dr. Oby Ezekwesili and former Central Bank Deputy Governor Mailafia Obadiah. Many of those behind the party belong to the different mushroom opposition parties on which platforms they had contested in the past. Having founded a new party, they are expected to resign from their former parties. However, the new association will also have to meet some criteria set by the electoral agency, particularly spread, to qualify for registration. The founders described the new party as an alternative platform that woul...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday affirmed the Nigerian government's commitment to ensure timely delivery of the landmark Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas (AKK) pipeline project within budgetary allocation and specifications. Speaking at the virtual flag-off ceremony of the project at the Ajaokuta, Kogi State and Rigachikun, Kaduna State camp sites simultaneously, President Buhari said the project was very dear to the people of Nigeria and must succeed.   The President, therefore, directed the NNPC and partners to remain focused, noting that the AKK project is part of the delivery of the present administration’s Next Level Agenda for sustainable development, enhancement of economic prosperity and increase of the country’s infrastructure assets.   Governors Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna physically flagged off the commencement of works at Ajaokuta and Rigachikun sites, while the President watched remotely via video-conference from the Council Chamber in Abu...

By Habu Dawaki “There is something that is much more scarce, something finer, something rarer than ability. It is ability to recognize ability”                          -  Elbert Hubbard                                                              Motivation is the act of inspiring others to be what we know they can be, do and have. It is the ability to help bring out the greatness in others. You know most humans tend to see only the worst in others and themselves, as such; they devalue rather than promote what they carry. I believe we need to breathe hope into peoples lives - our children, loves ones, friends, neighbors and the world around us.  If you believe you are destined to do great things you must be careful who you associate with. The people we should ...

By George Udom LOOK AT TINUBU's CABINET AS GOVERNOR OF LAGOS STATE Lai Mohammed, Chief of Staff from Kwara. Yemi Osinbajo, Attorney General from Ogun. Wale Edun, Finance Commissioner from Ogun. Dele Alake Commissioner for Information from Ekiti Rauf Aregbesola Commissioner for Works from Osun State. Ben Akabueze, Commissioner for Budget and Planning from Anambra State. Femi Lanlehin, SA from Oyo State. Aurthur Worrey Commissioner for Land from Delta State. Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, third term Federal House of Representatives member, Representatiing Ikeja Federal Constituency - From Kogi State To name a few. For the eight years that he ruled Lagos, he hired several guys to work with him. Apart from using them to work in his government, he also groomed them politically. Twelve years down the line, see where those Tinubu guys are today - 1. Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN was Tinubu's Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice. He is today, Nigeria's Vice President. 2. Rauf Aregbe...

 By Hakeem Bello “BRF is a genius at breaking it down, laying it all out. When he goes on project tours, he stops to ask the artisans and food vendors on the site about how the project has touched or is touching their lives. And that’s what government communications should really be focusing on: telling and showing the actual impact / outcomes. Not just the contract sum (input) — which is what tends to make the headlines, the media love these numbers — but also the “stimulus” effect on ordinary people and communities and neighbourhoods.” - Tolu Ogunlesi, Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Digital Communications, on “Lessons in/from public sector communication” Right on the money. The stories told by these Nigerians - Abu, Sunday and others during BRF’s tours, can fill a book, but much more than that, they tell a story: Impact.  In 2017, Mallam Abu, a labourer at the site of the Gombe State National Housing Programme, told Fashola that he had worked at the site ...