The Nation Newspaper

Category: Northern Report

  • NGO to raise $1b for jobs

    In Abuja-based Non-Governmental Organisation, Roots and Origin has launched a $1billion fund for the purpose of creating jobs.

    The organisation said that as part of its programmes, proceeds from the fund will be used to train unemployed youths pursuant to being self-employed.

    The goal, according to the initiator, Hajia Aisha Pacegi, is to help the country build local content.

    She said: “What we are doing is creating funds. This is where the $I billion challenge comes in. We hope to raise funds and create jobs at the community level through this programme.

    “It’s a global initiative, a profit NGO in the sense that it is from our proceeds that we will give back to society. So whatever you buy, we take a certain percentage towards training, empowerment programmes and helping build local content in the food industry, especially among those promoting healthy lifestyles through eating right.

    “Nigeria is lagging behind a bit with regard to the issue of local content. Take a look at Ghana and what they have been able to do with making their local agriculture produce of world standard. Ghana has many cooperatives, look at what they have done with shea butter. So, we will be among those who will work towards Nigeria handling the local content issue.”

    Pacegi further explained that the organisation is “all about giving and receiving”. It’s about us loving ourselves. Life itself is a gift that we must make proper use of. For me, the first rule in life in giving and receiving. And when we say we want people to learn how to receive, we aren’t talking just money or material things.

    “We are talking about receiving help with skill acquisition. So the minute you understand that loves from your source which is you creator, you will also know that you can give out love too. We will not just train people, we will also make them realise that whatever you need to succeed is right in you. Some people might say that the greatest achievement of man are things like computers or travel to space. But if we think deeply, it is actually mankind understanding the importance of the mind. Most the things we call great are ideas from the mind.”

    Apart from sales of your products, she explained that the organistion intends to raise fund by “doing a lot of merchandising. If you look at it from the perspective that we already have good products, we can merchandise them at the global level. There are seven billion people in the world, imagine that we can use good merchandising to sell as much one billion times. We don’t have to wait for government to do this or that. We can be the one to bring about change.”

    Speaking on challenges envisage and how she intend to go around it, Hajia Pacegi said “this a process that we have started. We don’t plan to be an overnight success. We are in for the long haul and like you rightly noted, we have business plan. What we are now concerned with ensuring that our subconscious doesn’t tell us we cannot succeed on this enterprise. Talking about challenges, I know that we have a lot to do with regard to changing people’s mindsets from one of doubt to that that believes that they can succeed that we all can be part of the success story we are trying to write in our NGO.

    “We are not going to exporting just Nigerian goods. We will be marketing and merchandising brands so that way we will get into the global trade. We now live a global village where people trade online. Today, you can buy something online in Australia and it is sent to you here in Nigeria. Yes, I understand your worry about how we are going to sell. We have plans for that. What I am more concerned about is how we can get the right people to be involved.”

    Explaining further on the modalities to be adopted, Pacegi said “we will be doing more of merchandising. What we will be packaging are healthy food items we eat here in Nigeria. We will be telling the world how they can eat right to remain healthy.

    “We have set a one billion dollar target and we believe that we can achieve it. Growing up as kids, we read a lot of inspirational books and we developed the right mindset which has helped us achieve our dreams and we believe that it will also help us do great things with this idea. We have an idea of a bucket list which we and our partners will look at from time to time, to see if we have achieved these things.  We can do a lot with marketing made in Nigeria products.

    The world is returning to the natural things and we have hundreds of plants in Nigeria that is world will marvel at. We have plants that can prevent and treat diseases. There is so many things that God blessed us with. But we want to use made in America and China, rather than selling our own naturally given plants and food.”

  • Daring the President

    It would have been unimaginable for anyone to disobey or delay in complying with the directive of the military regime of General Muhammadu Buhari, who was the Head of State in 1984.

    His wrath will even be more for any Ministry, Department and Agency (MDA) that flout such directive then.

    But today because of the democratic environment of President Buhari’s administration, some MDAs have hesitated in complying with a dully issued directive of the government.

    To block corrupt loopholes exploited by some politicians and civil servants to beat the system, President Buhari in a circular dated August 7, 2015 directed the payment of all Federal Government revenue into a Treasury Single Account (TSA).

    But either for their dubious reasons to continue to siphon government revenue to private pockets or just stalling to see if the government will relax the directive as time goes on, some MDAs refused to obey the circular one month after it was issued.

    President Buhari, who was irked by the refusal of the MDAs to comply with the directive, on last Monday, last week issued one week deadline for all the MDAs to comply with the directive.

    They are all expected to comply with the directive latest by today or face sanctions from the government.

    A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, reads: “President Muhammadu Buhari has set a deadline of Tuesday, September 15, 2015 for full compliance with his directive that all revenue due to the Federal Government or any of its agencies must be paid into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) or designated accounts maintained and operated in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), except otherwise expressly approved.

    “A circular issued to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Danladi Kifasi, urged the MDAs to ensure strict compliance with the deadline to avoid sanctions.

    “The circular – HCSF/428/S.1/125 of September 4, 2015 – noted that a number of MDAs were yet to comply with Circular Ref. No. HCSF/428/S.1/120 of August 7, 2015 which conveyed President Buhari’s original directive on the payment of all Federal Government revenue into a Treasury Single Account.

    “In this regard, His Excellency, Mr. President has directed that all MDAs are to comply with the instructions on the Treasury Single Account (TSA) unfailingly by Tuesday, September 15, 2015.

    “Heads of MDAs and other arms of Government are enjoined to give this Circular the widest circulation and ensure strict compliance to avoid sanctions,” it stated.

    This is just a wake-up call for all Nigerians, especially in the civil service, to queue behind the anti-corruption drive of the President as Nigeria, in the long-run, will be better for it.

     

     

  • Indigenes urge Buhari to set up committee on Centenary City

    TO resolve the problems associated with the compensation and resettlement of affected communities in the Abuja Centenary City Project, youths in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the auspices of Abuja Original Inhabitants Youth Empowerment Organisation (AOIYEO) have called on the Federal Government to immediately set up a Committee to address the issue.

    The youth said while they remain peace-loving people and believe in the sincerity and deep commitment of the present administration to protect their rights and restore their benefits, they may have no option but to engage in violence to press for their rights as guaranteed, if the right thing is not done.

    President of the indigenous youth organisation, Commandant Isaac David, who spok at a briefing, said  they were aware that in other parts of the country, indigenes had resorted to the use of violence and disruption of state activities to press for their rights.

    David, who said the Committee would ensure a peaceful process during the execution of the Centenary City Project, suggested that the Committee members should include the Presidency, Centenary City Management, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Security Services, traditional rulers, area councils, indigenous NGOs, youth representatives and members of the National Assembly.

    “We know our rights as provided for in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and we cannot continue to watch while our rights are fragrantly abused even by individuals such as Centenary City Plc. It can be seen that the management of Centenary City Plc has been very economical with the truth.

    “We demand that the Management of Centenary City give a breakdown of the expenditure of the N1.237billion and the N65million they [were allegedly] paid as compensation to the original inhabitants. This has become worrisome as the traditional rulers, the President of the Abuja Original Inhabitants Youth Empowerment Organisation and other stakeholders in the affected communities are been threatened that they connived with the Management of Centenary City to divert money meant for them.

    “We need explanation on these issues and especially what happened to the land carved out of the permanent site of the University of Abuja for the resettlement of the indigenes who had infrastructure in their land. Who are the new allotees of the land? The Management of Centenary City should stop engaging in rhetoric and provide the facts so that the issues will be resolved in a transparent and accountable manner,” he said.

    They further said that arising from this, they sincerely advise the Centenary City Plc to stop forthwith further activities in the affected communities located in the Kuje and Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) until the issues concerning the compensation and resettlement are fully resolved.

    “We want to thank the Government for the opportunity given to us to present our perspective on the programme of the Centenary City as it affects the original inhabitants of the FCT.

    “On Friday, August 28, 2015, the Management of the Centenary City Plc met with the President to address the controversies, alleged corruption, incongruities and negative media reports on the activities of the Centenary City Plc in the execution of the Centenary City Programme.

    “While we acknowledge the enormous benefits the Centenary City will bring to the country, we wish to express our appreciation to the Government for expressing their concern for the recognition of the rights of the original inhabitants,” he said.

  • Applicant wins bank’s star prize

    The management of Fidelity Bank Plc in Jos, the Plateau State capital, has presented a cheque of N500,000 to the winner of its August Costumer Reward Prize, Ogbona Chris Anthony, an applicant.

    The Jos branch Manager of the bank, Mr. Stephen Uchendu said: “The presentation of the award is part of the monthly reward the bank gives to its loyal consumers. This category of award is called Rain Support Promo; it is for tenants, who have no houses of their own, and the amount won is to help such customer pay his rent, hence we call it Rain Support Promo.

    “All customers who have such account must have N20,000 in his account to qualify for the draw, the draw runs ones in each month and we use the first Monday of each month to present the award. The winner that is claiming this cheque of N500,000 is the lucky one for the month of August raffle draw.’’

    The prize winner said, “I never believed this was real; I used to be a strong critic of all these promos, but with this presentation, I’m now convinced that they are real. As an applicant, you can imagine what impact this amount will have in my life; as an Igbo man I am going to start business with this money.”

  • Centenary City of controversy

    Centenary City of controversy

    Its founders may have conceived a near-paradise of a metropolis but all the Centenary City has offered is one controversy after another. GBENGA OMOKHUNU reports on the latest: indigenous women taking former Minister of the territory, Bala Mohammed to task over nonpayment of compensation.

    When will dreadful tales end about a city conceived to offer beauty and class? Initiated by the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration to mark the country’s 100th anniversary, the Abuja Centenary City was, at least in the head of its founders, nothing short of a dream land, a metropolis where everything was in its place.

    In reality, the multi-billion naira city has provided nothing but agony and controversy. There is no city to speak of. No houses, no residents, no beautiful lawns or classy cars cruising well paved roads. Forests surround the site. The city has failed to take off.

    That is not all. Many have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to scrap the project. Some have asked whether former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, whose office championed the project, had any personal interests in it and whether or not he declared such interests. Anyim also faced questions regarding how he reportedly sourced N1.2 billion allegedly paid from his company’s account to displaced people.

    Now, some of those displaced people have said they were not paid any resettlement fees as compensation for their indigenous lands acquired for the Centenary City. Indigenous women in Abuja under the auspices of Airport Road Gbagyi Women Association have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over nonpayment of compensation by the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Centenary City Plc.

    Women Leader of Centenary City affected communities, Mrs. Ladi Danladi who made this known in a press statement called on Buhari to sanction the former Minister for FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed for pitching him and his administration against the people.

    According to the indigenous women, Buhari should compel the former Minister for FCT Senator Bala Mohammed to immediately provide adequate compensation for their lost means of livelihood.

    “Professional estimates put the compensation value at more than N10 billion. A lot of our young people are going to be rendered idle and we do not want this to happen because an idle mind is a fertile mind for anything.

    “Compel the Minister to retract his malicious and false accusation that he has paid us one billion two hundred million (N1,200,000,000) naira as compensation. Reassure us that we will not regret our support for your administration by correcting this outright injustice.

    “Proactively handle this to avoid a breach of peace within the FCT and by extension the Nigerian nation. We write to vehemently protest the wicked, malicious and unfortunate deprivation of our means of sustainable livelihood, false accusation, discord and hatred being sown in our community that may lead to breach of peace by the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed.

    “We are the entire women representing the original inhabitant communities of the area presently designated as the centenary city, consisting of the following communities, Baruwa, Dayisna, Kpaikpai and Togo. We as women are the last bastion of peace, as we have been intervening and preventing our men from carrying out their threat of outright confrontation,” they said.

    They explained that their communities have always loved and supported the present administration and they are willing to give President Buhari more support, that however, following the recent development, many of their people are beginning to question the sincerity of the present administration based on the actions of the FCT Minister.

    “The Minister has announced that he is compensating us for our means of sustainable livelihood with a sum of One billion Two Hundred Million Naira (N1, 200,000,000). Your Excellency, this sum is very paltry considering the huge number of our people whose means of livelihood will be terminated. No proper enumeration has been conducted and these figures do not in any way represent the quantity of losses that has been and will be incurred on the loss of our livelihood.

    Reminiscing over the purported one billion two hundred million naira announced to us as compensation, it is on record that the minister has only released the sum of three hundred, nineteen million, five hundred and seventy four thousand, nine hundred and seventy eight naira only.

    “The actual amount paid was N319, 574,978 the affected communities are BARUWA with a population of 702 people paid N80, 467,925, KPAIKPAI with a population of 656 people paid N55, 551,641, TOGE with a population of 681 people paid N86, 614,069 and DAYISNA with a population of 1,015 people paid N96, 941,343. Putting these people together, you will have a total number of 3,054 persons from the 4 communities.

    in Abuja, said that the affected communities namely, Barwa, Dayisna, Kpaikpai and Toga the condemned condemned and disassociate themselves from the statement.

    “We categorically consider the said approval of the report as submitted to Mr. President in it entiréty as fradulent, misleading and deceit. The authority had reneged on our collective position reached between the affected communities and the authority to constitute a standing Committee to fashion out modalities for the relocation and resettlement of the affected communities.

    “We have sincé rebuffed and countered by our letters to some government and concerned authorities, the statement made by the Director of Centenary City Plc, that affected communities have been compensated.

    “It is however, regretable that up to the time of this press briefing, we are yet to receive any response, correspondence or attention from the concern authourities. It is on record that the sum of N319, 574,979:00k only was spent as monetary compensation to the affected communities with respect to their crops and economic trees only,” they said.

    The indigènes explained in a breakdown of how the N319,574,979:00k they got for their crops and economic trees was shared amongst the affected communities, that Barwa village got N80,467,928, Dayisna village got N96,941,343:50k, Kpaikpai village N55,551,641, while Toge village got N86,614,069.

    “We therefore challenge the authority to explain how, and when the said a whoopping sum of over one billion naira, N1.237 was spent as compensation to the affected communities with verifiable evidence.

    “We have resolved to undertake all available legal and constitutional means to make sure that our inalienable rights as guarranteed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are not trampled upon as citizens of Nigeria,” Gade said.

     

     

     

  • Youths urge parties to select credible candidates

    Residents of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) under the auspices of Concerned Youths of AMAC have asked political parties in the council to select credible chairmanship candidates for the poll.

    Leader of the youths, Comrade Shekwo Audu made the call at a press briefing, said that future chairmanship candidates should emulate the present leadership of Hon. Micah Jiba for his sterling performance in office, establishing various skills aquisition centres.

    Continuing, Audu said the era of selecting selfish candidates who do not mean well for the people has passed, adding that any candidate selected must be ready to work in the interest of indigenes and residents of AMAC.

    He also praised the Jiba administration for ensuring that communities in the hinterland are provided with basic dividends of democracy like water, electricity and other infrastructural developments.

    He said indigent children in rural communities are getting more educated due to the council’s commitment to education.

    “Very soon,” he said, “political parties will be organising primaries to select their candidates for the forthcoming Area council elections. Many people have been showing interest to contest in different political parties. We are not against anybody, but we are advising the political parties to select credible candidates that would continue with the good work of the present council chairman, Hon. Micah Jiba.

    “We are appealing that people that mean well for the people of AMAC, just like he does should be selected by all political parties, so that during the election, anybody that wins, the people of AMAC will celebrate, because there will be credible persons to continue with the good works of this present administration.

    “We want to also advise residents of AMAC not to allow politicians to buy their conscience with money; rather they should pray and vote in the right people when the election fully commences. The Jiba-led administration is really doing well and we are praying that God will give us somebody that will come and continue with this good works,” he said.

  • RCCG makes case for health centres in suburbs

    The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) has advocated the building of more healthcare centres in the suburbs of Abuja.

    Pastor-in-Charge of the City of David Parish of the RCCG, Abuja, Gbolade Okenla stated this during the church’s medical outreach at Jahi village in the Federal Capital Territory.

    He said, “The sum of N2 million for each will go a long way in the construction of primary health centres where locals could attend to their health needs rather than embarking on long distances to access medical care.”

    Okenla said this is to fulfill the vision of the General Overseer Enoch Adeboye, that the church must assist communities within their areas of worship, which he referred to its Corporate Social Responsibility.

    “We have to go out and minister to our neighbours and show them the true love of Christ. It’s to let everybody know that in whichever community we are we have to contribute in our own little way to help them,” he said.

    Dr Edache Adikun Etega, a member of the team of medical doctors and laboratory scientists, who participated in the exercise, identified malaria, hypertension, and diabetes as the main cases observed in the community.

    Some of the beneficiaries thanked the church for the exercise while calling on other religious and public-spirited individuals and organisations to emulate the gesture.

    I have collected my drugs and I am happy. I want God to continue to reward this church for helping the masses,” says Mr. Musa Salihu Ahmed, an engineer, who was treated for fracture.

    Blessing Ogwuche, who also thanked the church for the gesture, called on the government to establish a health centre in the area as the residents usually go to Gwarinpa or Asokoro to access medicare.

  • Govts neglect smallholder farmers

    Stakeholders in agriculture have accused government of favouring big-time farmers, while neglecting smallholders. They said governments at all levels grant multinationals and big organisations tax holidays on acquired land, leaving the small-scale growers to their own devices.

    The stakeholders who gathered in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, included Actionaid, Centre for Community Empowerment and Poverty Eradication (CCEPE), the state government and Association of Smallholder Farmers of Nigeria.

    ActionAid’s Food and Agriculture Advisor, Azubuike Nwokoye said government’s preference to big-time investors in agriculture is worrying and that in some instances government gives a moratorium of between 10 and 15 years with low bank interest rate to such investors, neglecting the small holder farmers.

    Nwokoye said, “Smallholder farmers especially women farmers who produce the bulk of the food we consume in Nigeria are neglected. That is why we must put all hands on deck to protect [them]. That is why we must resist the [rich] from forcefully and illegally grabbing our land from us.”

    Director, Kwara State Bureaus of Land, Muideen Abdulkadir said the bureau will assist “organisations, associations and individuals in acquiring land for farming activities.”

    A woman farmer from Asa Local Government Area of the state, Iyabo Babatunde urged the state government to assist women in the state through provision of land and farm implements.

    Mrs. Babatunde said their plight is being compounded by the Fulani herdsmen whose cows invade their farmlands to graze destroying their crops.

    CCEPE Programme Officer, Abdulrahaman Ayuba presented the simplified versions of the United Nations voluntary guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure or land, fisheries and forests in the context of national food security.

    The guidelines contain rights of the farmers, states obligations to farmers, investors, judiciary, communities and agencies’ obligations.

    The guidelines stipulate that farmers have rights to hold and use land, fisheries and forests whether registered or not registered; farmers have the right to demand for justice; rights to be protected against eviction and rights to be informed of prior knowledge of any land deal.

    States obligations include providing necessary laws to recognize, respect and protect people’s land rights; providing access to justice; prevent tenure disputes; seek free prior informed consent of all community members and provide equitable land valuation mechanisms and fair tax systems for land, fisheries and forestry.

    To investors, UN guidelines stipulate disclosure at all times and in all settings, full information of their real investment and land use intentions; respect and recognise the land rights of all community members; seek agreement of all community members before any land contract is signed.

    The guidelines also urge communities to know their rights and how to protect themselves against corrupt behaviours from others; should demand full compensation where their rights are lawfully or unlawfully violated; to provide and promote a conducive environment for negotiations and interactions with investors and the government; provide and apply all available dispute resolution systems and should not discriminate against women on issues that relate to use of land, fisheries and forests.

    Judiciary’s obligations include application and enforcement of all laws to protect interest of farmers and other land rights holders; hear all cases without discrimination on basis of gender, ethnicity and religion and provision of prompt and efficient services without requesting for bribes.

     

  • Gombe donates vehicles to FRSC

    Gombe donates vehicles to FRSC

    The Gombe State government has donated two patrol vans to the state Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to aid its operations.

    The Sector Commander, Mr. Abayomi Omiyale received the vans on behalf of the command.

    He said, “The donation could not have come at a better time or on a better day than on the very first day of the ‘ember months, the period during which most of the crashes in the year actually occur.

    “For the governor to have donated these two vehicles means that he does not want traffic offenders to go unpunished and therefore, you will not enjoy his sympathy if you are apprehended, especially as we go through the ‘ember months

    “For those of you who think you could use Route ‘B’ because Road Safety is operating on Route ‘A’, it is no longer business as usual. We are now ubiquitous, that is, we can now be at different points at the same time.”

    Omiyale recalled that the administration of Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo had earlier donated three ambulances to the Sector Command and equally established a Unit Command in Cham near where majority of the crashes along Gombe-Yola Road used to were happening before that Unit Command was established.

    He said, “Not only that; he provided ample office accommodation for the Command, including residential accommodation and fuels our patrol vehicles on a weekly basis.

    “It is for this reason that the Corps Marshall and Chief Executive of the FRSC, Engineer Boboye Olayemi Oyeyemi himself would have loved to be here but he is out of the country.”

    He said this commitment led to a further decline in the statistics of road crashes, adding: “If you look at January to July of last year, 2014 and this year 2015, road crashes in Gombe State have gone down by 18% from 103 in 2014 to 84 in 2015; injuries have also gone down by 20% from 424 in 2014, to 341 in 2015 and fatalities (death) have also gone down 28%, from 74 in 2014 to 53 in 2015.

     

  • Exorcising the demons of power sector

    Pipeline vandals had such a field day that it seemed no day passed during past administrations without a case of vandalism. And it was at a huge cost, affecting power generation due to lack of gas supply.

    This probably gave past administrations reason to believe that the attacks were the handiwork of economic saboteurs since the frequent breaches took place as soon as major repairs were completed.

    As expected, the action of those cabals behind the vandalism cost Nigeria billions of naira which could at least have been channelled to better things.

    There was so much confusion as to whether those behind the vandalism were generator sets importers, Labour unions who had initially opposed the reforms and privatisation of the power sector, or simply by some unscrupulous elements who were benefitting from the attacks in other ways.

    The manner of the attacks caused then Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo to declare that the sector was under the attacks of ‘demons’ and ‘witches’, which he promised to exorcise.

    During his screening as a Minister by the Senate in 2013, Nebo declared to the lawmakers: “If the president deploys me in the power sector, I believe that given my performance at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where I drove out the witches and demons, God will also give me the power to drive out the demons in the power sector.”

    Throughout his tenure, power generation was at its lowest ebb as the vandalism never stopped.

    The situation got so worse that the whole country was almost in darkness just before the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on May 29.

    Buhari has brought a ‘magic wand’ that immediately fixed the problems in the power sector.

    Vandalism, that more or less was a daily affair under past administration, has not been witnessed in the first 100 days of President Buhari’s administration.

    The ‘demons’ and ‘witches’ since Buhari came on board have either been subdued by the fear of Buhari or running away from actions that will prompt Buhari’s probe of the sector.

    The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Power, Godknows Igala, who has been in the system before this administration came into power, made the revelation of the improved power generation while speaking to State House correspondents last week Monday.

    He said: “There have been more engagements of communities and stakeholders where the gas pipelines pass through so that they can give peace a chance and allow the gas to flow to the power plants.

    “The gas is now passing to the gas pipelines and I think that the government has been engaging the stakeholders in the places where these gas infrastructures pass through.

    “We hope it will be sustained because like I said there is a conscious engagement.” He said

    Igali continued: “There has also been redoubling of efforts with those who supply gas to the power plants. Our friends in the oil sector and gas sector have made sure more gas are available for the power plants that are hungry for gas.

    “Redouble means that there was effort and when there was effort and you put additional effort and additional effort, then, it means that you have redoubled your work and that is what is going on and at different levels the engagement of where the pipelines passed.

    “We saw tremendous vandalism especially before the handover. It has never been so bad. But, now for nearly three months not a single day have we had that kind of vandalism. It is our prayer that this will continue.”

    He said: “Mr. President from inception has made clear the fact that there is a need to redouble efforts by all stakeholders.

    “No doubt, in the past three months, nobody has built any new power station, any new turbines. But then there has been a redoubling of efforts in the way these assets are managed.

    “The Vice President has been holding almost daily meetings with the distribution companies. He added

    It is really hoped that Nigeria has perfectly put behind it the issue of pipeline vandalism for the power sector to play its key role of improving power supply and backing the upcoming industrialisation and revolution in various sectors of the economy.

    Ending poverty, unemployment

     

    With the level of natural and human resources Nigeria is blessed with, no Nigerian ought to have any business with poverty and unemployment.

    But due to corruption, lack of transparency, and unstable power supply, among other factors, many Nigerians could not afford three square meals in a day as many do not even have a roof over their heads.

    But the problems will soon be over as the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo last Wednesday laid the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Economic outline before the 45th Annual Accounting Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Abuja.

    As a way forward from the present economic challenges, he called for immediate social sector investment, which includes investing in the people, education, job creation, national school feeding scheme, conditional cash transfer and reinflating economies of the States.

    To re-inflate states that could not pay workers’ salaries, he said that the Muhammadu Buhari administration has already approved bailout package for the workers in the country.

    Another area to reduce poverty is the commitment of the administration to provide one-meal-a day for all primary school students that will create jobs in agriculture, including poultry, catering and delivery services.

    The multiplier effects of the introduction of the scheme, he said, include 1.14 new jobs; increased food production – up to 530,000 mt/a; attracting investor by investment – up to N980b.

    Through conditional cash transfer to alleviate poverty, he said that 25 million poorest households would be supported.