Members of the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, yesterday unanimously agreed to write Governor Siminalayi Fubara, over the delay in the presentation of the 2024 Appropriation Bill.

They also resolved to write Fubara over the delay in the presentation of the state‘s Medium Term Expenditure Framework in line with the 1999 Constitution as amended.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had during his intervention on the face-off between Wike and the governor, directed Fubara to present the 2024 budget to the Martins Amaewhule-led House.

The governor had on December 13, 2023, presented the 2024 Appropriation Bill of N800 billion to the Hon. Edison Ehie-led lawmakers, who are loyal to him.

The budget was passed that same day and was assented to by Fubara on December 14, 2023.

Speaker of the House, Amaewhule, had while speaking on the Order of the Day, cited relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as altered, that empowered the State House of Assembly to receive report of the audited account of the state.

He therefore urged the House Committee on Public Accounts to investigate why the Auditor-General of the state has not submitted the 2022 audited account of the state to the House.

Responding, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Hon. Major Jack, requested the House to give the committee more time to enable it to do further inquiry and consultation before submitting its report.

During yesterday‘s sitting, the Pro-Wike lawmakers, gave first reading to a bill which seeks to amend the Rivers State Traditional Rulers Law No. 4 of 2015.

Presenting the bill, majority leader of the House, Hon. Major Jack, averred that the bill seeks to amend some sections of the Principal Law, and when passed, will make the traditional rulers law be in tune with current realities.

In the same vein, the House gave first reading to a bill which seeks to repeal the Rivers State Advertisement and Use of State-owned Property (Prohibition) Law No.7 of 2022.

The bill was sponsored and presented by the member representing Port Harcourt Constituency II, Hon Tonye Smart Adoki.

Zenith Bank has said its appearance at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was to present documents that would help in the ongoing investigations on the financial misappropriation and fraud linked to suspended minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, and her predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouk.

The EFCC had called in the chief executives of Zenith, Provides and Jaiz banks in connection with the N44.5 billion fraud uncovered in the ministry involving Edu, Umar-Farouk and Halima Shehu.

Zenith Bank clarified that the helmsman of the bank had gone to present documents relating to accounts operated by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to help the agency in its investigations of the Ministry.

EFCC sources, who confirmed the report, said they are being questioned over the matter.

“The CEOs and MDs of Zenith Bank, Providus Bank, and Jaiz Bank are currently being grilled by our interrogators here at the headquarters.

“They were invited and are being probed in connection with the uncovered ₦44bn fraud and the ₦585million involving Halima Shehu and Betta Edu.

“The suspended minister and the coordinator have both made new revelations during their interrogations, and the investigation is still ongoing,” the source said.

While Edu is also still being quizzed at the EFCC, Umar-Farouk and Halima Shehu were the early birds there.

Shehu was the suspended co-ordinator and chief executive officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency domiciled in the ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, who is being probed by the EFCC over an alleged N44 billion fraud.

The banking executives, who have been under stealth scrutiny since the public outcry over the unscrupulous diversion of public funds into private accounts, are now in EFCC custody, presidential sources also stated.

The anti-graft agency is presently probing numerous instances of substantial public funds directed into private accounts, an action sanctioned by Edu and Farouq using their position as ministers.

Farouq, who oversaw the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development under the previous administration, is under investigation for the mismanagement of at least N37 billion in public funds designated for the conditional cash transfer programme of then-President Muhammadu Buhari.

EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale did not confirm or refute the story.

The World Bank has revised upwards its 2024 growth projections for Nigeria from 2.9 per cent projected in October last year to 3.3 per cent for this year and 3.7 per cent for 2025, in its January 2024 Global Growth Prospects.

The global economy is set to rack up a sorry record by the end of 2024 – the slowest half-decade of GDP growth in 30 years, according to the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report.

The World Bank is basing its upward review on the expectation that reforms in the country would begin to yield fruits. This is as it expects global growth to slow for a third year in a row to 2.4 per cent before ticking up to 2.7 percent in 2025.

According to report, growth in Nigeria is projected at 3.3 per cent this year and 3.7 percent in 2025, up 0.3 and 0.6 percentage point, respectively, since June as macro-fiscal reforms gradually bear fruits.

“The baseline forecast implies that per capita income will reach its pre-pandemic level only in 2025. Growth is expected to be driven mainly by agriculture, construction, services, and trade. Inflation should gradually ease as the effects of last year’s exchange rate reforms and removal of fuel subsidies fade.

“These structural reforms are expected to boost fiscal revenue over the forecast period.”

Meanwhile the report projected a rebound in growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to 3.8 percent in 2024 and 4.1 percent in 2025.

It noted that the growth is due to country-specific factors that have temporarily weighed on growth, including reduced fiscal support and metal exporting economies’ adjusting to lower prices, gradually ease.

“Nevertheless, elevated costs of living continue to limit consumption growth, and political instability has increased in parts of the region.

“High debt burdens and interest rates have narrowed fiscal space and heightened financing needs. Despite the projected pickup in growth, increases in per capita incomes will remain inadequate to enable the region’s economies make significant progress in reducing extreme poverty. Risks to the baseline growth forecast remain tilted to the downside.

“They include a further rise in global or regional instability, such as the possible escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, which could drive up global energy and food prices; a sharper-than-expected global economic slowdown; increased frequency and intensity of adverse weather events; and increased defaults if attempts to reduce elevated public debt burdens were to fail. Materialisation of these risks would also exacerbate poverty and limit the ability of many countries to cope with climate change,” it stressed.

Growth in Sub Sahara Africa, according to the report, decelerated to an estimated 2.9 percent in 2023, which is 0.3 percentage point lower than projected in June, with higher input prices for businesses in Nigeria and an energy crisis in South Africa, contributing to a slowdown in the region’s economic activity during 2023.

Growth in the region’s three largest economies, Nigeria, South Africa and Angola, slowed to an average of 1.8 percent in 2023. In Nigeria, the region’s largest economy, growth softened to an estimated 2.9 percent in 2023.

While services growth weakened markedly in 2023, partly driven by a disruptive currency demonetisation policy in the first quarter of 2023, annual oil production increased after a notable decline in previous years

By one measure, the global economy is in a better place than it was a year ago: the risk of a global recession has receded, largely because of the strength of the U.S. economy. But mounting geopolitical tensions could create fresh near-term hazards for the world economy.

Meanwhile, the medium-term outlook has darkened for many developing economies amid slowing growth in most major economies, sluggish global trade, and the tightest financial conditions in decades. Global trade growth in 2024 is expected to be only half the average in the decade before the pandemic.

Borrowing costs for developing economies – especially those with poor credit ratings – are likely to remain steep with global interest rates stuck at four-decade highs in inflation-adjusted terms, the World Bank said.

Global growth is projected to slow for the third year in a row—from 2.6 percent last year to 2.4 percent in 2024, almost three-quarters of a percentage point below the average of the 2010s. Developing economies are projected to grow just 3.9 percent, more than one percentage point below the average of the previous decade.

After a disappointing performance last year, low-income countries should grow 5.5 percent, weaker than previously expected. By the end of 2024, people in about one out of every four developing countries and about 40 percent of low-income countries will still be poorer than they were on the eve of the COVID pandemic in 2019. In advanced economies, meanwhile, growth is set to slow to 1.2% this year from 1.5% in 2023.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday said there is no hiding place for corrupt persons amid the recent arrest suspension and probe of government officials over corruption allegations.

Last Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu ordered the immediate suspension and investigation of Ms Halima Shehu, the National Coordinator and CEO of the National Social Investment Program Agency over alleged financial malfeasance.

The EFCC also grilled the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouk over an alleged N37.1 billion fraud, as well as her predecessor in office, Betta Edu over alleged Fraud.

“We believe that with the kind of President we have, who is ready and willing to do the right thing, and from what we have seen in recent times and the last 48 hours, it is clear that he has provided the political will and leadership and created the atmosphere for us to work,” the EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, said when he received the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in Abuja.

“So, there is no hiding place for the corrupt. We must give our best, we must be committed and give the President the support he needs. Nobody is too big to be investigated in this country. Once you are not playing according to the rules, we will investigate you.”

He further noted that the engagement with the ICPC was sending the right signals to the entire country that the anti-corruption agencies are coming together and extending hands of comradeship and fellowship to each other with a mind to work together.

He recalled that there was a subsisting Memorandum of Understanding, MoU between both agencies.