Buhari signs N371.5bn FCT 2018 budget, four other bills into law

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law the
N371,532,518,887 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Appropriation
Bill, 2018 and four others passed and transmitted to him by the
National Assembly.

The FCT Act allows aggregate capital and recurrent Expenditure
of N371, 532,518,887 up to the financial year ending December 31,
2018.

Presidential Liaison to the National Assembly- Senate, Senator
Ita Enang, disclosed this to State House correspondents in Abuja on
Monday.

The FCT Appropriation Act, 2018 was submitted by Mr President to
the National Assembly.

Other bills assented to by the president are the Nigerian Centre
For Disease Control And Prevention (Establishment) Act, 2018; the
Extradition (Amendment) Act 2018; the National Environmental
Standard And Regulations Enforcement Agency (Establishment)
(Amendment)Act, 2018 and the Nigerian Institute Of Mining And
Geosciences, Jos (Establishment) Act, 2018.

The Nigerian Centre For Disease Control And Prevention
(Establishment) Act, 2018 is aimed at promoting, coordinating and
facilitating the prevention, detection and Control of Communicable
diseases and other public health emergencies in Nigeria.

The Act, submitted by Mr President as Executive Bill on October
17, 2017, to the National Assembly is to develop, maintain and
coordinate surveillance systems to collect, analyse and interpret
data on diseases of public health importance, in order to detect
public health threats, guide health intervention and set public
health priorities; lead the response to disease outbreaks, public
health emergencies and disasters in order to minimize the impact on
health; develop and maintain a network of reference and specialized
laboratories for pathogen detection, disease surveillance and
outbreak response.

It is also to develop and maintain guidelines and processes for
specimen collection and transportation to reference laboratories
including the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard reference
laboratories in Nigeria; provide information to the public through
multiple platforms on diseases and public health events; and
provide support and coordinate the control of national and
trans-border responses to mass public health emergencies, such as
mass casualties, floods, nuclear, biological and chemical
terrorism, disease outbreaks and heavy metals poisoning, among
others.

The Extradition (Amendment) Act, 2018 now vests jurisdiction on
extradition proceedings now on the Federal High Court and no more
the Magistrates Court or Magistrates.

The amendment further introduces a new section 15(2) preventing
double jeopardy as protected by Section 36(9) of the Constitution
which prevents a person surrendered to Nigeria in accordance with
extraction treaty; obligation from being arrested, detained,
extradited or otherwise dealt with in Nigeria or any other country
within the Commonwealth or any other country having same
extraditing agreement with Nigeria, if the proceedings relate to an
offence for which he has been previously convicted or acquitted in
the requesting country for which extradition is sought by the
Nigerian authorities.

The National Environmental Standard and Regulations Enforcement
Agency (Establishment) (Amendment) Act, 2018 is an amendment to the
2007 Act and more succinctly defines matters of appointment to the
council, empowers the Agency or appropriate person to cause
immediate abatement of imminent environmental pollution while
appropriate warrant or court order is sought to ensure public
safety, among others.

The Nigerian Institute of Mining and Geosciences, Jos
(Establishment) Act, 2018 establishes the institute to provide
courses of instruction, training and research in geosciences and
mining and produce technicians and such skilled personnel normally
required for the mining and related industries.

Similarly, it provides for both the public and private sectors
alike, laboratory services for rock and mineral identification,
sampling and mineral beneficiation, mineral and metallurgical
analysis; conduct research in mining, quarrying and related
industries; and provide skills training for the artisanal and
small-scale mining operators; among others.

News Express Names Speakers for 6th Anniversary
Lecture

Three eminent Nigerians have joined the list of speakers at the
News Express 6th Anniversary Lecture & Economic Forum holding next
week Tuesday, November 20, 2018, at the main hall of Sheraton Hotel
& Towers, Ikeja, Lagos. They are the Honourable Commissioner for
Information and Strategy, Lagos State, Kehinde Bamigbetan;
Executive Director of Media Law Centre, Richard Akinnola; and
Manager, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Nigeria LNG
Limited, Andy Odeh.

“A seasoned journalist, politician and administrator, Bamigbetan
boasts about two decades experience in government, so he is in a
pole position to speak on how successive governments in Lagos State
have been able to raise the bar of development and retain the
state’s title as Centre of Excellence,” News Express Publisher, Mr.
Isaac Umunna, said in a statement issued on Monday in Lagos.

On Akinnola and Odeh, he said: “A renowned activist and
influencer widely regarded as one of those who presently constitute
the conscience of the Nigerian Nation, Mr. Akinnola will develop
the Lecture theme, Transparency – Bedrock of Sustainable
Development, from the populist perspective.

“On his part, Mr. Odeh, a communication and boardroom expert,
will offer useful insight into how Nigeria LNG has been able to
emerge as a world-class company and the poster boy of Corporate
Nigeria.”

“We are happy to have Messrs Bamigbetan, Akinnola and Odeh agree
to join our list of eminent speakers at the News Express 6th
Anniversary Lecture & Economic Forum. They are, no doubt, a good
complement for the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority
(NPA), frontline activist and administrator, Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman,
who was earlier announced as the main speaker of the day,” Umunna
said in the statement.

He described the News Express Anniversary Lecture and Economic
Stakeholders’ Forum as “an annual programme that has an established
trend of bringing together important business and political leaders
from across the country, as well as multifarious professionals and
influential media stakeholders.”

News Express, which debuted on August 29, 2012, is one of
Nigeria’s most popular and influential online dailies. It is read
by hundreds of thousands of people around the world and records
annual traffic of upwards of 100 million.
By PRNigeria