President Muhammadu Buhari has signed three bills into law.
The new laws are: The Federal Capital Territory Appropriation Act, 2019, Federal Polytechnic Kaltungo, Gombe State (Establishment) Act, 2019 and the Federal Polytechnic, Daura Katsina State (Establishment) Act, 2019.
The Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Friday.
He said the Federal Capital Territory Appropriation Act, 2019 appropriates a total sum of N243, 374,511.077 for the 2019 financial year out of which N130.7 billion is for capital expenditure while the balance is for recurrent.
He said: “This amount is from the Statutory Revenue Allocation due to the Federal Capital Territory.
This is in addition to the budgetary provision of N23, 023, 593, 146 for Capital Expenditure made in the 2019 National Budget earlier assented to by Mr. President on May 27, 2019.”
As part of his desire to improve and expand admission opportunities for children in tertiary institutions in the country, he said that the President assented to bills for the establishment of two Federal polytechnics in Nigeria.
The Laws establishing the named Polytechnics, he said, are standard with the Laws establishing all other Federal Polytechnics in Nigeria.
Following reconciliation and peace agreement process jointly put in place by the Zamfara state government and the police command in the state, a total of 40 kidnap victims were rescued from their captives between Thursday and Friday in the state.
The state governor, Alhaji Bello Matawalle had recently extended an amnesty offer to bandits in the state to surrender their weapons and embrace peace.
The Police Command in the state also followed the pledge by asking all repentant bandits who had innocent persons in their captivity to release them in furtherance of the peace treaty.
This led to the rescue of 25 persons of Fulani extract comprising men, women and children who were initially held by volunteer vigilante groups yesterday, Thursday.
The 25 victims had been in the hands of their captors in Dansadau emirate of Maru local government area of the state since April 9, this year.
This development was closely followed by another rescue of 15 other persons made up of 13 males and two females by the police from the hands of bandits operating in the bushes of Shinkafi local government area of the state.
Both rescues were confirmed to journalists in the state by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Mohammed Shehu.
“He said “Today being 5th of July 2019, the Commissioner of police Zamfara state Command CP Usman Nagogo psc+ has once again perfected the release of fifteen (15) kidnapped victims from the hands of armed bandits in Shinkafi LGA.
“It would be recalled that yesterday 25 Fulanis abducted by YANSAKAI volunteer group since on the 9th of April, 2019 were successfully released to the Commissioner of Police who later handed them over to the state executive Governor,” the PPRO stated.
In his response to the development, the National Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Mohammed Kiruwa applauded the effort of the state government and the Nigeria Police for this initiative and expressed confidence that all the kidnapped victims under the captivity of the bandits will soon be released to the government in order to reunite them with their relations.
While receiving the kidnapped victims from the Commissioner of Police, Governor Bello Matawalle commended the Commissioner for his dedication and total commitment towards ensuring peace in Zamfara State.
He also described the release of the kidnapped persons to him as a sign that the peace process was succeeding and urged for continued support and prayers from the people of the state.
The governor who directed the Government House Clinic to check the medical statuses of the victims said the state government would organize a ceremony that will bring the Fulanis, the volunteer vigilante members and other people to witness the handing over of the victims to their respective families to further demonstrate that the peace process is working.
One of the rescued victims, Haruna Na-Hantsi is a national from the neighbouring state of Maradi in Niger Republic.
Similarly, another victim, Ibrahim Mohammed Moriki, a Community Health Worker attached to the Kuturu Primary Health Care Center said he was kidnapped by the bandits over 20 days ago while some of those rescued along with him had spent more than two Months in the hands of the bandits before he joined them.
He informed the Governor that they were released from a village called Kagara, under Isa local Government area of Sokoto State before they were brought to the Gusau Government House.