Ibori released from UK prison – Reports December 21, 2016

Ibori released from UK prison – Reports
December 21, 2016

     

The Punch Newspaper is reporting that the former governor of Delta State, Mr. James Ibori, has been released from the UK prison where he has spent four years and eight months.

Ibori, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, was accused in February 2012 of stealing $250m from the Delta State public purse.

Ibori, who was governor of of the state between 1999 and 2007, admitted to fraud totalling nearly £50m.

He was jailed on Tuesday, April 17, 2012, for 13 years by the Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty to ten counts of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud.

More later

Full breakdown of 2017 budget December 14, 2016

Full breakdown of 2017 budget December 14, 2016
   

Budget size: N7.298tn
(20.4% higher than 2016 estimates)

Assumptions, projections

Benchmark crude oil price – $42.5 per barrel
Oil production estimate – 2.2 million barrels per day
Average exchange rate – N305 to the US dollar.
Aggregate revenue available to fund the federal budget is N4.94tn
Deficit – N2.36tn (about 2.18% of GDP)
The deficit will be financed mainly by borrowing which is projected to be about N2.32tn.
067tn of borrowing will be sourced from external sources while, N1.254tn will be borrowed from the domestic market.
Expenditure Estimates

The proposed aggregate expenditure of N7.298tn will comprise:

Statutory transfers – N419.02bn
Debt service – N1.66tn
Sinking fund – N177.46bn (to retire certain maturing bonds)
Non-debt recurrent expenditure – N2.98tn
Capital expenditure of N2.24tn (including capital in Statutory Transfers)

Recurrent Expenditure

A significant portion of recurrent expenditure has been provisioned for the payment of salaries and overheads in institutions that provide critical public services. The budgeted amounts for these items are:

37bn for the Ministry of Interior;
01bn for Ministry of Education;
87bn for Ministry of Defence; and
87bn for Ministry of Health.
Capital Expenditure: N2.24tn (30.7% of total budget)

These capital provisions are targeted at priority sectors and projects.

Key capital spending provisions in the Budget include the following:

Power, Works and Housing:   N529bn;
Transportation:   N262bn;
Special Intervention Programmes:
Defence:                     N140bn;
Water Resources:   N85bn;
Industry, Trade and Investment: N81bn;
Interior:                     N63bn;
Education                     N50bn
Universal Basic Education Commission: N92bn
Health: N51bn
Federal Capital Territory:   N37bn;
Niger Delta Ministry:      N33bn; and
Niger Delta Development Commission: N61bn;

N100bn provided in the Special Intervention programme as seed money into the N1tn Family Homes Fund that will underpin a new social housing programme.

N14bn allocated as counterpart funding for the Lagos-Kano, Calabar-Lagos, Ajaokuta-Itakpe-Warri railway, and Kaduna-Abuja railway projects.
Statutory Transfers

Budgetary allocation to the Judiciary increased from N70bn to N100bn (to enhance the independence and efficiency of the judiciary)

Ghana: Akufo-Addo wins presidential election, as President Mahama concedes defeat

Ghana: Akufo-Addo wins presidential election, as President Mahama concedes defeat

Ghana's main opposition leader, Nana Akufo-Addo, has won the country's national election after President John Mahama conceded defeat.

Akufo-Addo said on Twitter that Mahama had called him "congratulating me on winning the 2016 Presidential Election".

Crowds of jubilant supporters gathered outside the house of the 72-year-old New Patriotic Party (NPP) leader, who had already claimed victory on Thursday, a day after the voting took place.

Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque, reporting from the capital Accra, described the campaign as "bitterly fought".

Earlier, Mahama had appealed for calm and told his supporters he would respect the outcome of the vote whether he won or lost, in comments aimed at defusing tension ahead of the release of official results of the vote.

"I want to assure the nation that we will respect the outcome of the election, positive or negative, and so let us just be calm," he told supporters gathered outside his house.

Mahama, who came to power in 2012 after beating Akufo-Addo, urged voters to "stay the course", promising to deliver more infrastructure projects.