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Nigeria’s president increases 2025 budget to $36.4 billion

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has increased the size of the 2025 budget to 54.2 trillion naira ($36.4 billion) from 49 trillion naira, he said in a letter to the Senate published on Wednesday.

The president said the increase was due to additional revenue from the government’s revenue-collecting agencies, such as the tax authority, customs and other agencies.

He added that extra revenue from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) was 1.4 trillion naira while Nigeria Customs Service fetched 1.2 trillion naira and other agencies got 1.8 trillion naira.

In December, the government said the 2025 spending plan included a budget deficit of 3.89% of gross domestic product, approximately 13.0 trillion naira.

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InternationalPolitics

Expert Warns Against Underestimating Anti-Trump Forces in 2024 Election

According to Michael Kwadwo Nketiah, a seasoned researcher and International Relations Analyst, the 2024 US presidential elections is far from being a done deal for Trump and the Republicans.

Despite President Biden’s decision to bow out of the race, Nketiah cautions that the establishment forces that worked against Trump in 2020 are still active and may even be more determined to prevent his return to the White House.

Nketiah points out that Biden’s victory in 2020 was largely due to the efforts of an established political machinery, which wanted Trump out at all cost.

He noted that many Democrats had withheld donations to the Biden campaign upon realization that Trump was more likely to win with Biden on the Democratic ticket.

The expert also highlights the numerous “politically motivated trials” initiated against Trump after his eviction from the White House, as well as clandestine attempts to prevent him from appearing on future presidential ballots demonstrates “how far the establishment may go to prevent Trump from returning to the White House and retire him from US politics.“

As the election approaches, Nketiah predicts that the next few days and weeks will be crucial in American politics.

He speculates that the Democratic establishment may either stick with Kamala Harris, the natural successor to Biden, or reinvent Hillary Clinton for a final showdown with Trump.

Only time will tell how this political drama unfolds, but one thing is certain – the 2024 US presidential election will be a wild ride.

By Kwame Asare

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