2017 NEW YEAR MESSAGE – JAYE GASKIA

As our most recent historical experience is once again teaching us, it is one thing to want and take power, it is another thing entirely to govern and be able to govern; both processes require well-articulated programs of action and strategic planning. As the presidency of PMB and the government of the governing APC is making clearer by the day;

‘A Slogan is not the same thing as a program of action; Platitudes no matter how often they are repeated cannot be substitutes for strategic and development plans and policies; and definitely, ‘Good intentions’ is not a substitute, nor is it identical to ‘Good governance’.

Budget of Recovery and Growth: THE ASO ROCK BUDGET THAT DESERVES YOUR ATTENTION

I know the below write up is long but I really urge all of you to read it...


The first time this budget analysis series ran was for the 2016 budget; and it becomes visible each day that the 1810 page document was a horrid, hurriedly put, corrupts conduit filled piece of executive cluelessness. Well, since I’m more of a realist than any of the other-ists, I’ll just say that the fact that the world lost an entire tree to the making of the paper it was inked on is a tragedy.

We have been given a sequel; the 2017 budget was presented to the National Assembly by the President in the presence of the ministers who drafted it and even slept while the presentation was on and it was called the “Budget of Recovery and Growth.”

If you noticed, it is quite a change from the previous budget of change just like the government’s change mantra. Here are some quotes from the President’s speech on what when passed, will be arguably the most important document in the country, sorry, just checked and it is 63 paragraphs long so I will just skip to analysing the 2017 budget as we await the implementation report of the 2016 budget.

Cameroonian Ntiokam Translats SDGs into indigenous African languages

As Ntiokam Divine from Cameroon sees it, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are high-sounding concepts crafted in the specialized parlance of development experts.

To make the concepts comprehensible to a wider audience, especially among the grassroots population, 33-year old Divine is on a mission to translate the SDGs into Africa’s many local languages using terminology understandable to all.

His strategy involves training influential community members, particularly young people, who will in turn educate their communities using translated texts.

MUHAMMADU BUHARI URGES WORLD LEADERS TO DISMANTLE SAFE HAVENS FOR PROCEEDS OF CORRUPTION

President Muhammadu Buhari Monday in New York called on the international community to urgently redouble its efforts to strengthen mechanisms for dismantling safe havens for proceeds of corruption.


Addressing world leaders at the 70th General Assembly of the United Nations, President Buhari also urged his counterparts to do more to return stolen funds and assets to their countries of origin.


Observing that corruption, cross-border financial crimes, cyber crimes and human trafficking are major challenges of the 21st century which the international community must work collectively to overcome, President Buhari reaffirmed his administration's determination to frontally confront the twin evils of corruption and illicit financial outflows.

70TH U.N GENERAL ASSEMBLY: ADDRESS BY MUHAMMADU BUHARI

ADDRESS BY MUHAMMADU BUHARI
PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE 70TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
NEW YORK, 28TH SEPTEMBER 2015.

President of the General Assembly,

Secretary–General


Your Excellencies Heads of State and Governments


Distinguished Delegates


Ladies and Gentlemen,


I would like, Mr. President, on behalf of the Government and people of Nigeria, to congratulate you and your country on your election to preside over the 70th session of the U.N. General Assembly.


2. May I also express appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Sam Kahamba Kutesa and the Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon both of whom worked tirelessly to ensure proper articulation of the post-2015 Development Agenda and to maintain the focus and commitment to the ideals of the United Nations. I thank Mr. Ban Ki-moon for his recent visit to Nigeria when we held very useful discussions.