LAURETTA ONOCHIE

LEGISLATIVE REFORM: BILLS SIGNED INTO LAW BY PRESIDENT BUHARI Under President Buhari, Nigeria has seen the most ambitious legislative programme in its history. Several landmark Bills have been passed or amended in the last seven years, including the following: – Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2022 – Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2022, which repeals the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended, and provides a comprehensive legal and Institutional Framework for the prevention and prohibition of money laundering in Nigeria, while also conferring on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the legal status of the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering. – Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2022, which repeals the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 as amended in 2013, and provides for the effective implementation of international instruments on the prevention and combating of terrorism and suppression of the financing of terrorism. – Proc

📍The last few months have been very difficult and truamatic times for all progressive men and women in Nigeria. And I'm not talking about those who wear the toga of retrogressive elements in Nigeria but claim to be progressives. I am talking about those who are genuine progressives and who live by its ideals.  📍Our camp had been divided and polarised. There was tension and anxiety. Blood pressures were raised. Headaches abounded, nausea and all kinds of associated illnesses related to anxiety, prevailed. Even among those who are progressives but do not belong to any political party.  📍At some point, concerned President Muhammadu Buhari called on progressive politicians to conduct themselves in such a way that they reduce the anxiety of the people that subscribe to progressive ideals. Many of us we're hoping that the Presidential will point us to someone specific. But President Muhammadu Buhari, being the fair and just man that he is, stuck to his gun of providing a level pla

The biggest challenge to infrastructure development in Nigeria over the decades has been sustainable financing. Major projects require significant funding, which the annual Federal budgets are incapable of mobilising or deploying. But this has been the model over the years: seeking to tackle everything through the budget; releasing money in bits and pieces year after year. Little wonder the years passed and no progress worth noting was made. That has since changed, since President Buhari assumed office in 2015. Here are the ways in which the administration has been unlocking capital, both within and outside the public sector, and guaranteeing a steadier stream of infrastructure financing. 1) Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) (2018): Established by President Buhari on February 25, 2018 with seed funding of $650 million, as a special investment vehicle for fast-tracking the completion of critical road infrastructure projects across the country. The goal of the Fund is t

  DEAR OSINACHI, 💜I know you are fine. I also know that you are laughing: Laughing at all those people; men and women, who abuse their spouses and pass their children through a living hell. 💙Just as Christians mark the resurrection of Jesus today, I remember how you rose from the dead, a day after you died. A lot has happened since your resurrection, Osinachi.  💜There's now more awareness and exposure, regarding spousal abuse in our nation. Suddenly, the stigma of separation, divorce and being single, is now on the front burner and being bravely discussed and tackled. 💙Some Men are stepping up and refusing to be labelled irresponsible for saying "Enough". Some women too, are refusing to stand by and watch their lives fritter away. They all know that there's no shame in being happy.  EVERYONE DESERVES TO BE HAPPY.  💜Some people have actually left their abusive relationships and wondering what took them this long, while thanking you for opening their eyes of unders

🟢It was in the best interest of democracy, cost implications and the Youth in particular, that the National Assembly declined accent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021. The blackmail by the morbidly corrupt Evil Societies had started before then. But it intensified thereafter. Funds were rolled out by those who bank roll them. They cried louder.  🟢On a different level, masquerading as a youth advocate, Samson Itodo, young nouveau elite, is flying first class across the world, in and out of Nigeria to sell their 2023 plans. Ene Obi covers our TV screens with her wig, causing a shortage of artificial hair in Nigeria. She insults our President on national television. Some others mounted a frenzy of bullying, intimidation, threats and  blackmail against the National Assembly and Mr. President. 🟢Their catchphrase is usually, "This National Assembly is a  rubber stamp". It's all blackmail. The National Assembly, an arm of government, elected to protect the interests

ECONOMY AGRICULTURE • The Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria, launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 17, 2015, has made available more than 200 billion Naira in funding to more than 1.5 million smallholder farmers of 16 different commodities (Rice, Wheat, Maize, Cotton, Cassava, Poultry, Soy Beans, Groundnut, Fish), cultivating over 1.4 million hectares of farmland. • The ABP has substantially raised local production of rice, doubling the production of paddy as well as milled rice between 2015 and 2019. • Between 2016 and 2019, more than 10 new rice mills came on-stream in Nigeria. Many of the existing Mills have expanded their capacity; several new ones are under construction. • More than a billion dollars of private sector investments in the production of Rice, Wheat, Sugar, Poultry, Animal Feed, Fertilizers, etc, since 2015. • Federal Executive Council approval (2020) for a National Agriculture Mechanization Programme, “the Green Imperativ