The 2024 appropriation bill has scaled second reading in the House of Representatives.

This comes two days after deliberation on the bill by lawmakers.

Some lawmakers were concerned about the plan of the government to generate revenue from heavy tax, fearing that it would greatly affect importers.

Others say the proposed 1.7 million barrels per day of crude production is unrealistic. The committees will now have two weeks to conclude the budget defence process.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu presented the 2024 budget proposal before the lawmakers on Wednesday.

The President, who addressed a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja, charged both chambers to work assiduously and “conclude with reasonable dispatch”, their deliberations on the 2024 budget estimates of N27.5trn.

Speaking on the budget which was titled ‘Budget of Renewed Hope’, Tinubu said, “I am confident that the National Assembly will continue to work closely with us to ensure that deliberations on the 2024 Budget are thorough but also concluded with reasonable dispatch. Our goal is for the Appropriation Act to come into effect on the 1st of January 2024.”

The President said the ‘Budget Of Renewed Hope’ will ensure macroeconomic stability, poverty reduction, and greater access to social security, amongst others.

The Medical Director of Optimal Cancer care Foundation Dr Olufemi Olaleye who was sentenced to a life imprisonment on the 24th of October 2023 by a sexual offences and domestic violence court in Ikeja for defiling his wife’s niece reported as a minor has faulted the judgement, appealed the lower court judgement on 35 grounds.

Newsconnect reports that Olaleye accused the court of erring on all counts, totalling about 35, and therefore seeks redress from the Appeal Court, demanding to be absolved of claim for the said crime as well be discharged.

Olaleye in his first ground to the court of appeal said the Honourable Lower Court erred in law when in the absence of any direct evidence it held that the alleged victim of the crime was a child of 16 at the time of the offence.

He said the prosecution did not tender any documentary evidence in support of its case that the alleged victim of the crime was 16 years. The evidence in relation to the age of the alleged victim of the crime were all hearsay evidence, which is prohibited in law.

Newsconnect reports that Dr Olaleye’s team of lawyers to the appellate court is led by Dr. Kemi Pinheiro SAN. Justice Ramon Oshodi of the Sexual Offences Court delivered the judgement which sent Dr Olufemi James Olaleye to a life imprisonment

Below are the following reliefs Dr Femi Olaleye sought from the court of appeal

i. AN ORDER of this Honourable Court allowing this appeal.

ii. AN ORDER of this Honourable Court setting aside the decision of the Honourable Lower Court contained in the judgment delivered on the 24th day of October, 2023 in Charge No: ID/20289C/2022.

iii. AN ORDER setting aside the conviction of and quashing the sentence against the Appellant by the Honourable Lower Court on the 24th day of October, 2023 in Charge No: ID/20289C/2022.

iv. AN ORDER of this Honourable Court discharging and acquitting the Appellant of the offences spelt out on the face of the information filed in Charge No: ID/20289C/2022.

Below is the detailed notice of appeal and Olaleye’s prayers to the appellate court (In PDF Format)

file:///C:/Users/TITILAYO/Downloads/Filed%20Copy%20of%20The%20Notice%20of%20Appeal%20-%20DR.%20OLUFEMI%20V.%20THE%20STATE%20OF%20LAGOS.pdf

Musiliu Akinsanya, also known as MC Oluomo, has been re-elected for a second term as the Lagos State Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).

NigeriaUpdates gathered that Akinsanya, Sulyman Ojora – Deputy Chairman; Mustapha Adekunle (Sego) – Treasurer, and 20 other executive members were elected unopposed on Wednesday at the 10th Quadrennial State Delegates Conference held at the state union secretariat, Agege.

The executives were sworn in by Adejare Kembi, Principal, Excel Practitioners in the presence of the Acting National President of the union, Aliyu Issa Ore; former National Secretary Kabiru Ado Yau; Controller, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Lagos Office Eshomounu Itemoagbo; Assistant Chief Labour Officer in the ministry Anthony Ogwu; and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Lagos State Public Relation Officer Comrade Ismail Adejumo, among others.

Reacting to his re-election, MC Oluomo thanked the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Ore-led national union body, and other stakeholders for standing by him during the crisis.

He commended members of the union in the state for their loyalty to him as their leader and perseverance, promising more assistance for union members.

Speaking, Sanwo-Olu, represented by a Director in the State Ministry of Transportation, Lateef Tiamiyu, hailed the union members for re-election Akinsanya for a second term in office.

He praised Akinsanya’s exemplary leadership qualities and ability to reform the union activities in the state, adding that gone were the days NURTW members took to violence to effect leadership change.

On his part, Itemoagbo described Akinsanya as a leader who is moving in the right direction.

He said Akinsanya’s employment of over 123 graduates to work in various units of the union is highly commendable.

He promised that the ministry would continue to partner with the Akinsanya-led union to ensure more people are employed in the union.

The Commissioner of Police in Lagos Command, CP Idowu Owohunwa, whom CSP Olatunji Oladimeji represented, praised MC Oluomo for cooperating with the police force.

He called for more collaboration between the police and the union.