President Muhammadu Buhari will not sign the 2016 Appropriation Bill into law until the National Assembly makes the details of the budget available to him, a top government official has said.

The Senate is currently on Easter break while Buhari will be travelling to Washington, United States, for the Nuclear Security Summit on Wednesday and scheduled to return to the country during the weekend.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told journalists on Tuesday that Buhari was handicapped as far as signing the bill was concerned because the President did not know what was contained in the bill.

He added that the President was in the dark as regards the adjustments the National Assembly had made to the proposal he sent to the federal lawmakers.

The source added, “The President has just received the transmission of the Appropriation Bill (2016 Budget) from the National Assembly and is very anxious to sign it into law, but the National Assembly only sent in the highlights without the details of the budget.

“Although he is anxious to sign the document so that implementation of the provisions could start immediately and ease the tension in the economy and polity, he is afraid he may later discover, when the details are sent, that what is contained therein is not implementable.

“He wishes that the National Assembly could send the details speedily so that it could be considered for assent.

“Ministers are also eager that the budget be signed so they could start implementing their programmes, but they are unable to push the President to sign what has been transmitted because they also do not know what is contained in the details.

“They are particularly worried that the year is gradually aging and the provision of the law in respect of spending the previous year’s budget is not helping matters because of the low capital provision for 2015.

“Because of the low provision made last year for capital expenditure, spending 50 per cent of that provision for the first half of this year will make no impact on the provision of infrastructure.”

The government official explained that the National Assembly’s delay in transmitting details of the budget, as passed to the President, confirmed insinuations that the lawmakers either did not conclude work on the budget or were playing politics with it.

He claimed that the National Assembly might have hurriedly passed the bill in order to pass the buck to the executive to escape the wrath of the people.

“The Budget Office cannot also work on the budget for implementation because it is the details, and not the highlights, that they convert into implementable templates for the respective MDAs.

“The National Assembly may just have passed the bill to pass the buck to the executive and escape the wrath of the public which was gradually suspecting it of sabotage,” he said.

But the House of Representatives said on Tuesday that Buhari was in a position to know the urgent action to take to sign the 2016 Appropriation Bill into law.

It noted that having passed the bill, it was no longer the responsibility of the National Assembly to ask the President to play his own role.

The National Assembly had passed a budget of N6.06tn on Wednesday last week.

The document was transmitted to the Presidency within 24 hours by the Office of the Clerk to the National Assembly, Mr. Salisu Maikasuwa.

However, one week after the passing of the budget, there hasn’t been a presidential assent to the bill.

Hopes had been placed on the budget to inject needed funds into the economy at a time of deepening financial challenges.

Last week, the Presidency had said Buhari was taking his time to study the details of the budget before appending his signature.

When The PUNCH sought the reaction of the House on Tuesday to the delayed signing of the budget, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, said the legislature had played its own part.

Namdas added that it was not part of the responsibilities of the lawmakers to “complain for Mr. President on his action.”

He stated, “The President, we are sure, is taking this issue of budget seriously and will act accordingly at the appropriate time.

“It is his duty to sign the budget; it is his role to do that. It is not for us to complain for him because it is within his purview.

“For us, we have done our own. It is left for the President to do the right thing.”

Namdas stated that Buhari was aware of the problems of Nigeria and did not require further prompting to sign the budget.

The harmonised figure of N6.06tn, passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, was about N17bn less than the initial N6.07tn proposed by Buhari.

However, the National Assembly retained most of the projections of the President, including the $38 proposed as the crude oil benchmark.
Punch Newspaper -

President Muhammadu Buhari has attributed the triumph of the All Progressives Congress in the 2015 general election to the vision of a National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Buhari said this in a recorded tribute which was presented at the 8th Bola Tinubu Colloquium in Abuja on Tuesday.

At the event, which was held to commemorate the 64th birthday of Tinubu, the President said the former governor of Lagos State was the brains behind the merger of Nigeria’s main opposition parties in 2013.

He said without Tinubu’s vision and intelligence, the party would not have been formed and the APC would not be in power today.

Buhari stated, “If Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not participate, there wouldn’t have been a merger and there wouldn’t have been an APC government at the centre. That is absolutely clear.

“He should thank God that he has gone through so much and has remained relevant, that he is healthy and young.”

Earlier in his address, the President had contended that Tinubu remained one of the most important figures in Nigeria at the moment.

Buhari added, “There are very few patriots, alive or departed, who can match the commitment, resilience and creativity that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has, over the past few decades, demonstrated in organising Nigeria’s public life for good.

“As he adds another year today, my best wishes and prayers go out to a man who deserves a lot of commendation for what he continues to stand for.”

The President’s address, which centred on the theme: ‘Agriculture: Action, Work, Revolution’, highlighted the several opportunities which abound in the agricultural sector.

According to him, it is unfortunate that Nigeria is importing food when it should be exporting.

Buhari said, “Nearly all our crop-based farming activities are dependent on rain-fed agriculture, and this makes our agricultural productivity entirely vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

“In the past few years, on the average, we have spent in excess of $11bn annually importing wheat, rice, sugar and fish. We need not, and indeed we cannot afford to continue on this trajectory.

“Agriculture is the key to our economic growth and social investment policies. Our administration’s key strategy is to ensure that Nigeria becomes self- sufficient in the foods that we consume the most.

“Maize, rice, corn, millets, fruits, poultry products and their derivatives can all be produced at home if we put our hearts into it. Our policy is simple: We will produce what we eat! It is not only logical, it is necessary.”

In his tribute, the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, recalled the role Tinubu played in bringing aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party’s governors into the APC after the crisis in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

Amaechi said Tinubu convinced the members of the APC to allow the New PDP members to join its fold at the time.

He said, “He was able to gather the leadership of the political class together. He was key; more than gathering the public because once you gather the leadership of the political class and ensure that there is unity of purpose, they could share to the public jointly this change mantra.

“We in the New PDP were in constant contact with him and we virtually negotiated through him. By the time the President (Buhari) and others got involved, we had gone far with Asiwaju. He played a key role.”

Also speaking in the tribute video, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, described Tinubu as a visionary, noting that the ex-governor of Lagos was dependable and loyal.

Sanusi, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said, “It was people like Tinubu that insisted that this country could not afford another four years of that kind of thing (past administration) and basically laid down their lives, laid down their resources and gave their all to ensure that change happened.

“He is extremely loyal and that is how you know your friends. It doesn’t matter where you are or what happens to you, you can always be sure that Asiwaju will be there.”

Tinubu, while speaking at the event, recalled that the 2015 presidential election coincided with his birthday.

He said Buhari’s victory at the polls was his biggest birthday gift yet.

The ex-governor described the PDP-led Federal Government from 1999 to 2015 as a deceptive one.

The APC leader recalled that the PDP government claimed that it had established a Nigerian Commodity Exchange to provide a practical solution to a number of challenges that have adversely affected the growth and development of the Nigerian agricultural sector, contending that the initiative was a sham.

He thanked guest speaker and Ethiopian agric expert, Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, for exposing the dubiousness of the PDP-led Federal Government.

Tinubu said, “We have had a series of promises in the last 50 years and particularly in the last 16 years. I remember the article I wrote after the presentation of the book, Financialism: Fetching the water from a dry well’. It was about this commodity exchange.

“The deceptive government at that time announced immediately that same week that commodity exchange had been established. It took an Ethiopian to discover its lies, but thank God, we are taking it more seriously now.

“I salute the President and the entire cabinet that Nigeria is being redirected. There is no option for us but to revalidate our faith in our country and take the hard decision now. Our renaissance must come from within. We have the land, the mind, the capacity and the ability.”

Earlier, several of the contributors at the event decried the over $11bn that Nigeria had spent yearly on the importation of wheat, rice, sugar and fish products.

They noted that the whole of Africa accounted for a mere 5.6 per cent of the global meat production while Asia accounted for 42.3 per cent; Europe, 18.7 per cent; Asia, 42.3 per cent; America, 31.4 per cent; while others accounted for two per cent.

It was generally agreed that the narrative must change for the better.

Some of the dignitaries, who attended the event, included The Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu; the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II; and the Ooni of Ife,Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi.

Others were the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; the governors of Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Niger, Kebbi and Imo states; several senators and members of the House of Representatives.

Senate President Bukola Saraki; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; and the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), were, however, not at the ceremony.

Culled From Punch Newspaper

This lady decided to take a selfie in her closet while trying on her new dress but was shocked to notice that the little girl in the picture had been peeping from behind the whole time...The pictures which were shared online by the woman -have gone viral...

The level of moral decadence among teenagers is now very alarming. This is evident in this video

See The Video

Babymamaism has been rampant in the Nigerian entertainment scene.Nigerian male singers keep announcing babies from women they are not married to.

Who are we kidding? A lot don’t even announce it

Now we definitely are not judging- we just want to bring the news of the way two different A list acts are treating the matter.
On Instagram, a fan Folartwo wrote the ‘Ojuelegba’ singer, Wizkid a long note about how he needs to learn about safe s*x and being a good role model.
2SHARES COMMENTS
both men

Babymamaism has been rampant in the Nigerian entertainment scene.Nigerian male singers keep announcing babies from women they are not married to.

Who are we kidding? A lot don’t even announce it

Now we definitely are not judging- we just want to bring the news of the way two different A list acts are treating the matter.

ALSO READ Nigerian British Actor John Boyega Wins Second Award at BAFTA 2016| Dedicates Award to Young Dreamers
On Instagram, a fan Folartwo wrote the ‘Ojuelegba’ singer, Wizkid a long note about how he needs to learn about safe s*x and being a good role model.

fan says

Well, Wizkid has some sort of response to all his critics, and it is explosive. “Still f**king your girl,” he said in new Instagram post, and
then he amended, “Still with your girl!”

Praiz on the other hand was asked about having a babymama in a recent interview with Tribune Newspaper and he screamed “God forbid that. I beg. I reject it in Jesus name,” he said, adding, “I mean, I will like to settle down and I really look forward to settling down.”

Hmm.. the difference in perspective

Controversial daughter of the Former Governor of Oyo State, Kemi Olunloyo is back in the news yet again with more controversy.

This time around the Journalist has taken her controversy to the clerics as she comes for Pastor E.A. Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and Bishop Oyedepo of Winners Chapel.



“PASTOR ADEBOYE KILLED A COP IN 1971; I AM SAYING IT ON CAMERA.

“IN 1971, ADEBOYE THOUGHT HE WAS SHOOTING AN ARMED ROBBER, BUT HE SHOT A COP INSTEAD,” SHE SAID.

Olunloyo added that Pastor Adeboye criticizes single mothers’ and that is why she keeps going after him on social media.

“ADEBOYE SAID IF YOU ARE A SINGLE MOTHER YOU HAVE NO WORTH; I AM A SINGLE MOTHER, WE HAVE WORTH, WE DON’T HAVE TO BE MARRIED,” OLUNLOYO SAID.

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE MARRIED TO HAVE CHILDREN,” SHE ADDED.

She further lamented on how he criticizes women who bleach or whiten their skins and how a woman can be fulfilled without being married.

“I DROVE A $55,000 TOYOTA LAND CRUSIER IN AMERICA, I MADE A $150,000 ANNUALLY AS A PHARMACIST, NOT ADDING WHAT I MADE AS A JOURNALIST.

“I WAS FEATURED ON VOGUE IN 1995 ON A FINANCIAL ARTICLE,” SHE BRAGGED.

“SO WHY WOULD HE SAY I HAVE NO WORTH? THAT’S THE ONLY REASON I AM GOING AFTER HIM.”

She also took a step further to drag T.B. Joshua of the Synagogue Church of All Nations into the controversy as she granted Pulse TV an interview.

Recall that the controversial personality just of late accused Nigerian Rapper, Olamide of being a ritualist.

Davido is one to never do anything small and overtime the singer has proven that money is never a problem for him. Apart from splurging on cars, clothes and expensive trips outside the country, Davido is also known to be very generous when it comes to his fans.

Yesterday, the singer was once again almost mobbed by fans in Lagos Island while shooting the video of his latest song. Then at some point, the 23-year-old singer began to throw money at people and that was when a massive commotion broke out.

The singer started throwing money from one of the buildings on the street and people began to fight each other in order not to miss out. The video, which was shared by a Snapchat user, showed desperate Nigerians climbing the building and the rooftops of different shops to catch the money. It is reported that a woman’s canopy was destroyed during the commotion.



See photos from the video shoot and the video below.

It starts today April 1, 2016: Nigerian police recruitment form - application guideline for. This is to inform you that Nigerian police will start its recruitment.

Below is a list of some of the things that will be required as the Nigerian police online recruitment begins. Before filling the police recruitment form online, ensure you meet these requirements:

1. You must be a citizen of Nigeria.
2. You must have a valid identity card. (You can use voters card, driver's licences or Int'l passport).
3. You must have your first school leaving certificate.

4. Five credit pass including English language and mathematics is compulsory - (For those applying for Police Constables).

5. Ordinary National Diploma (OND), Advanced Level (A level), National Certificate in Education (NCE) or their equivalents for Cadet Inspectors.

6. University degree or HND for Nigerian Police Recruitment Cadet ASP applicants.

Interested candidates can message me on this forum or drop comment for details of the Job.

How competitive are these prices compared to Jumia's? You know we lag students like best deals...

Many are of the opinion that former Lagos state governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was born right at the middle of a money-printing machine, but that is not true.

Some rumours also have it that his parents were very wealthy, so he practically worked for nothing in his life but that is also not true.

The diminutive Nigerian politician had to work his way up the ladder. He was once a cab driver and even a security guard who worked very hard to reach where he is today.

In a special publication by TheNEWS magazine, Tinubu detailed how he worked has a cab driver and a security guard. Here are excerpts from the interview.

Q: When did it strike you to travel out of the country?

A: I was lucky. Even though I was ambitious about travelling out of the country, particularly as my friends like Folabi Salami and Tokunbo Maxwell had just travelled to Germany, I would say that I was just lucky.
Others, like Nurudeen Olowopopo, of blessed memory, and Sola Popoola headed for the United States and it remained Tunde Badejo, Bolaji Agaba and myself. So, the three of us were determined that we must get out of Nigeria, too.

I went to Ikenne, with my late sister, for a big ceremony. We had gone to pick bottles of Coca-Cola from the cold room and wanted to quickly return to the St. Saviour’s Church, where my sister was. There was a sudden rain of bullets and had we not been rushing to the church to ensure that we didn’t miss what was going on there, I would have died. The young man that was standing with me was hit. He slumped and died.

Based on the sad incident and how I had narrowly missed death, my family said to me: ‘This boy, you have always said that you wanted to travel out of the country, it is time to do so.’ So, my mother gathered some money, sold her trinkets to make up for the remaining part of my allowances and joined it with proceeds from the sale of the Volkswagen Beetle given to me by my uncle, the late Ganiyu Tinubu, who used to work at Simpson Street, Ebutte-Metta. He had a Beetle car he bought from a Canadian and had it converted into a convertible, which I used to drive. Nobody taught me how to drive. He asked that I sell it and add the proceeds to the money I needed for my trip. That was what I did.

Bolaji Agaba and I left the same day for the United States, while Badejo left some months later. We got our visas through my family connections. Bolaji’s own had almost expired before we left. On our arrival in the US, we thought we would stay in New York. But Nurudeen Olowopopo said no and we put some money together for Bolaji’s ticket and we headed for Washington D.C. I stayed with the late Sola Popoola at Washington before we started finding our way. We were running out of funds then.
He helped us secure a one-room apartment in Alexandria, Virgina. We got an unregistered used car (they left the licence open) commonly called Gypsy, which we ran as a taxi. We operated at the airport, where we picked passengers, and not anywhere else, like the hotel because it was forbidden for unlicensed cab drivers to do so. We did that for a while to raise some money. We did, and Bolaji went to Tennessee, while I headed for Chicago.

Related News: I Used To Be Music DJ - Tinubu

Q: Can you tell us some unpleasant moments that you had then?

A: One experience I will not forget was when I over-charged a naval officer, who was returning to the country. It was not intentional. Apparently, I didn’t know the direction; there was no GPRS in those days to locate directions. So, he gave me the direction to his house in a Virginia suburb. I gave him the price and the man responded with a slap to my face. He said I should know the correct fare to charge to the location he mentioned. He slapped me and gave me the money.

Another experience was when I took a guy whom I didn’t know was drunk. When I drove to his house, he pointed a gun at me instead of paying the fare. He took my leather jacket and said: ‘Get into your car and get lost.’ He did not pay.

Another interesting one was when I was taking the third Accounting class and equally working as a security guard at a construction site. They were very serious with their kind of security. You just had to do that job. There were about six points with six clocks at the site, which the security man must wind every hour and with a dog in hand. So, there was never a chance of trying to catch a nap.

As I was doing my accounting assignment, I fell asleep. I was dead asleep! The inspector came to the site and found me sleeping, with my head on my books. He simply pulled the register and wrote: ‘I have been here. You were sound asleep. So, see me tomorrow.’ When I woke up, I found that Skiddo (the dog’s name) was gone, and then the register. I just went to a corner, cleaned my face and concentrated on my assignment because I knew the job was already gone.
You can’t lose two things. I ensured that I read well for my test and passed the next day. I opted to post their uniform and the cap to them, but suddenly ran into the man and he handed me my cheque and said the job was gone. I told him I knew and we said goodbye to each other! I had to start looking for another job.

Culled From PM News

I laughed so hard while watching this act of Comedian Seyi Lawand actress, Kate Henshaw at the annual AY Live event, 2016 episode.

The comedian can be seen cracking a joke solo at first before he heads on the crowd to get him a volunteer, not a volunteer actually, cause he picked her himself.



The comedian chose Kate Henshaw and took her up stage telling her that they were gonna be acting a “Hollywood” movie scene… A scene which is quite popular in Hollywood movies, one where a guy meets a girl… they fall in love, gaze at eachother’s eye and then kiss.

After they created the scene on stage, Seyi Law immediately lost his cool as he was feeling like a King after “kissing” the actress.

Watch the video below:

When you have a big thing, you get a huge followership. This was the case for this lady yesterday.She caused quite a scene in a Lagos market with her "over-endowed massive oranges". The men who were shocked on the sight of the "package" -followed the woman around as if she stole their phones or brains...lol My question is to girls on this forum....do you think this is natural?

These mentally unstable couple who seemed to have found love in a "hopeless" place -caused quite a scene in Umuahia, Abia State, after they were spotted in a public display of love. According to online reports, the deranged woman was disappointed after her lover refused to kiss her in public but stopped as soon as he agreed. .

Let's play this quick fun game, guys... Last reader standing wins free airtime
Our game is called ''Finish The SENTENCE ''. Ok?



It's quite simple. Type a fun sentence and leave out a word so that the next reader after you will complete it and start his or hers.

Our winner gets free airtime courtesy the admin of ECHOnigeria Forum

First and last Member to drop a comment win our airtime for today.

We will also give consolatory airtime to the member with most creative sentence

We can do this, right?

I'll go first:

Na Only You Waka _____?!!

D’banj, today May 27 took to Twitter to inform his fans that a telecom company has been ripping him off.
The singer was once a Globacom ambassador and he’s yet to sign with any other telecom company.
Read what he posted below.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday received a petition asking the agency to probe ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on the alleged mismanagement of $2.1billion released to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) for arms deal.

According to TheNation, the petition is also requesting the EFCC to invite Jonathan for interrogation on why he made N400million public funds available to a former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh, for personal and private party use.

According to findings, the May 24, 2016 petition came from a former member of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Ikenna Ejezie, through his counsel, Barrister Osuagwu Ugochukwu.

The petition reads in part: “We are solicitors to Hon. Ikenna Ejezie hereinafter called our client and with you as he has instructed.

“Our client is requesting you to, in the public interest, invite ex-President Goodluck Jonathan for questioning and possible prosecution over his role in the misuse of $2.1billion through the Office of the National Security Adviser (Col. Sambo Dasuki rtd) and disbursement of N400million funds to Olisa Metuh for personal and private political party use.

“Our client notes that Dasuki had stated severally whilst in your commission that the $2.1billion was authorized for disbursement by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan for arms purchase, but later turned out to be for selfish purpose.

Olisa Metuh also had admitted that former President Goodluck Jonathan transferred and/ or authorized release of N400million public funds to his account for political campaign of Jonathan rather than for public interest.

“Our client informed us that the confession of Olisa Metuh is contained in his criminal statement with the EFCC”.

It was the first petition the EFCC will formally receive demanding the investigation of Jonathan, theNation reports.