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By HENRY UMORU & JOSEPH ERUNKE ABUJA—THE drama which had trailed the 2013 budget, following sharp disagreement between the Presidency and the National Assembly, was laid to rest Thursday, as the Senate, in a u-turn, approved a total of N4,987,220,425,601 in the amendment requested by President Jonathan. The amount captured in the amendment is almost the same with the earlier figure approved by the lawmakers in the original budget. The total budget passed by the Senate was 4.987 trillion, out of which N388 billion was for statutory transfers, N591 billion for debt service, N2.415 trillion for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, while the balance of N1.591 trillion was earmarked for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending on the 31 December, 2013. More details soon

OUR Senate is in the caves. We have a duty to save it, from itself, and for Nigerians. How can the Senate in the 21st century be proposing that Nigerian girls can be married at an indeterminate age? The Senate is shamelessly broadcasting its determination to insert the profane provision into the Constitution. Those limiting impacts of the Senate’s decision that girls are ready for marriage at any age they are married to abuse of the girl child massively miss the point about its implications for the future of our society. What would a society be where children are meant to raise their own children? How can a girl by law attain womanhood once someone marries her? Is the Senate banning childhood for girls? Our laws recognise adulthood at 18 – for rights of litigation, voting, and the definition of “minor”. A woman married at less than 18, according to the Senate, would be an “adult” by an act that has telling effects on the health of the girl child. At what age would the “senate adult” ha...

BY HENRY UMORU ABUJA— SENATORS, yesterday, began debates on the report of the Senator Ike Ekweremadu-led Senate Committee on Constitution Review, with many of them rejecting the proposed six-year single tenure for the president and governors. The Senators who spoke vehemently against the single tenure, said the present four year term should continue against the backdrop that the six year tenure would among others encourage corruption. They said that a president or governor who failed to perform in his/her first four years can be thrown out by the electorate. Twenty one senators spoke, yesterday, at the chamber with autonomy for local governments carrying the day, even as they stressed the need for maintenance of the immunity clause for President and the governors.