Business

Buhari signs 2019 budget today

Published

5 years ago

May 27, 2019

Eric

Barring any last-minute change in plans, President Muhammadu Buhari will on Monday (today) give his assent to the 2019 appropriation bill.

The assent of the President will officially make the bill become law and signal the commencement of the 2019 fiscal budget.

The development was confirmed by a top official in the Budget Office of the Federation.

The official, who pleaded not to be named as he was not officially permitted to speak on the matter, explained that details of the signed budget would be made available during a public presentation on Tuesday by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma.

Already, the minister had sent out invitations for the event.

The invitation read in part, “Dear Sir/Ma, On behalf of the Honourable Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, CON, the Director General, Budget Office of the Federation hereby invites you to a public presentation of the approved FGN 2019 Budget scheduled as follows: Date: Tuesday, 28th May 2019; Time: 10:30 am; Venue: Main Auditorium, Federal Ministry of Finance, CBD Abuja.”

A presidency source, who also confirmed the signing, told one of our correspondents that the signing of the budget would be performed by the President “around 10 am at the villa.”

Buhari had laid the budget on December 18, 2018 on the floor of the National Assembly but certain extraneous forces such as the Christmas and New Year breaks as well as the general election had affected the quick passage of the appropriation bill.

When the bill was presented by the President to the National Assembly, the sum of N8.83tn was proposed.

It was made up of N4.04tn for recurrent expenditure, N2.03tn for capital expenditure and N2.14tn for debt servicing, among others.

However, after undergoing legislative scrutiny, the lawmakers on April 30 passed the 2019 budget of N8.91tn, raising it by over N90.3bn.

Highlights of the 2019 budget as approved by the National Assembly include the capital expenditure of N2.09tn, recurrent expenditure of N4.05tn, statutory transfers of N502bn, fiscal deficit of N1.9tn, and special intervention of N500bn.

The lawmakers also approved debt service of N2.25tn. Out of the figure, N1.7tn was approved for domestic debts, while the sum of N433bn was provided for foreign debts.

Similarly, the sum of N110bn was approved for a sinking fund to retire maturing debt obligations.

In recent times, there had been a delay in the passage and signing of the Federal Government budget due to disagreements between the executive and the National Assembly.

As a result of the power tussle between the executive and the legislature, the budget implementation had always commenced very late into the year.

For instance, the 2011 budget was passed on March 25, 2011, while that of 2012 was passed on March 14 of that same year.

For the 2013 budget, it was passed by the lawmakers on December 20, 2012, and signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan in February 2013 while 2014, 2015 and 2016 budgets were also signed in May of each year.

The 2017 budget, which was submitted to the lawmakers in December 2016, was not passed and assented to until June 2017.

The 2018 budget, which was designed to consolidate on the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, was presented to the National Assembly on November 7, 2017.

It was passed by the lawmakers on May 16, transmitted to Buhari on May 25 and assented by him on June 20.

Business

FirstBank Appoints New MD/CEO, Alebiosu

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

Eric

First Bank of Nigeria has appointed Olusegun Alebiosu as its new Managing Director with effect from April 2024.

The Bank stated this in a release signed by its acting company secretary Adewale Arogundade.

Alebiosu takes from Adesola Adeduntan, who resigned abruptly on Saturday with eight months left to complete his tenure in December 2024.

The release stated that “following the resignation of the managing director/CEO of FirstBank, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, the Board of Directors has appointed Olusegun Alebiosu as the acting CEO of the 130-year-old institution.

“The appointment takes effect immediately and is subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

The release stated that Alebiosu was until this appointment the executive director, chief risk officer and executive compliance officer since January 2022. Prior to that, he was the Group executive/ chief risk officer, a position he held since 2016.

“Alebiosu brings to the executive management of FirstBank over 28 years’ experience in the banking and financial services industry with cross-functional exposure to Credit risk management, Financial planning and control, Credit and marketing, Trade, Corporate and commercial banking, Agriculture financing, Oil and Gas, Transportation (including Aviation and Shipping) and Project financing.”

It added that the new acting MD/CEO commenced his professional career in 1991 with Oceanic Bank Plc (now EcoBank) and prior to joining FirstBank in 2016 served as Chief Risk Officer at Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, Chief Credit Risk Officer at African Development Bank Group and Group Head, Credit Policy & Deputy Chief Credit Risk Officer at United Bank for Africa Plc.

“He is an alumnus of Harvard School of Government and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management. He also obtained a Master’s degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos and holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

“He is a member of various professional bodies namely, Fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountants (FCA), Associate, Nigeria Institute of Management (ANIM), Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and Member, Nigeria Institute of International Affairs.”

Business

Again, Naira Slumps Against Dollar, Trades at N1,169/$1 in Official Window

Published

4 days ago

April 20, 2024

Eric

The Naira, on Friday, slumped for the second consecutive day against the American dollar at the official window trading at N1,169/$1, according to data from the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).

At the end of trading on Friday, the Naira lost N15 against the dollar when compared to the previous exchange rate of N1,154/$1 on Thursday, April 18, 2024.

The intra-day high and low recorded during the day were N1,236/$1 and N1,021/$1 respectively, representing a lean spread of N215/$1.

Similarly, the Naira slumped against the dollar at the parallel market for the second consecutive day to trade at N1,150/$1 representing a loss of N50 when compared to the N1,100/$1 it traded the previous day.

The British Pound also slumped against the Naira by N50 to trade at N1,500/£1 as against the previous trading price of N1,450/£1 representing a loss of N50 for the local currency,

The Canadian dollar however closed flat against the Naira to trade at N1,000/CA$1 same as the previous trading day rate of N1,000/ CA$1.

The Euro also slumped against the Naira to trade at N1, 280/€1 as against the rate of N1,200/€1 the previous trading rate indicating a gain of N80 in the European currency.

Business

Glo Launches New Internet Solution Products for Homes, Businesses

Published

2 weeks ago

April 8, 2024

Eric

Two new products, which provide internet connectivity solutions specially designed for Residential and SME commercial customers, have been unveiled by digital solutions company, Globacom.

The products, Fibre to the Home (FTTH) and Fibre to the Business (FTTB) were packaged for Glo customers to enjoy reliable and high speed internet through linked fibre services.

Globacom said in a statement in Lagos “With these services, businesses and homes can access dedicated internet speeds of up to 1GBps, allowing unlimited internet usages for seamless video calls, video and music streaming and a whole lot of other dedicated usages to promote business success and equally provide endless entertainment for homes”.

It explained that the new product comes with a unique opportunity for “Residential Estates, High Rise Apartments, Commercial SME Estates to enjoy dedicated high speed internet in their cluster”.

These services, according to Globacom, give exceptional experience and unmatched speed for users at home or in offices and are provided through hi-speed fibre – unlike copper which was being used in the past.

Positioning itself as the premier provider of innovative solutions for businesses of all sizes, Globacom assured customers of the best value for money with the new offerings, adding that users who sign on for these services will also enjoy fully dedicated bandwidth.

“We are committed to delivering the most cost-effective data connectivity experience for homes and businesses in addition to providing dedicated and reliable services.” Globacom concluded.