The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Abuja

  • Jonathan flags off reconstruction of Lagos – Ibadan highway Friday

    Jonathan flags off reconstruction of Lagos – Ibadan highway Friday

    The Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, on Tuesday said President Goodluck Jonathan, would on Friday launch the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

    Onolememen announced the planned inauguration by the President at a meeting with a delegation of the Association of Luxury Bus Owners of Nigeria (ALBON) in Abuja.

    The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the concession of the 178-kilometre road, which was granted Bi-Courtney Highway Services Limited, was earlier this year terminated by the Federal Government.

    The Government had alleged that the company failed to honour the terms of the concession agreement.

    A fresh contract for the reconstruction of the expressway was subsequently awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc for the Lagos – Shagamu interchange end of the expressway.

    RCC Nigeria Limited is also expected to handle the Shagamu – Ibadan axis of the expressway.

    The minister said the project had been awarded and the government was ready to see it completed in record time.

    “The Lagos/Ibadan Expressway project as you know has been awarded and work will soon commence on it.

    “However, may I use this opportunity to let you know that President Goodluck Jonathan will inaugurate the reconstruction

     

  • Agency takes measures against flooding

    As part of effort to prevent flooding, the Department of Urban Affairs of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council said structures at flood- prone areas and under high tension wire will soon be demolished.

    The FCTA said many of the buildings close to the flood plains have already been  marked for demolition and clearing of drains has begun to allow free flow of water

    The Acting Directorof the department, Alhaji Liman Ibrahim disclosed this in Abuja at the flag-off of FCT flood awareness campaign.

    The one -week sensitisation campaign that would be carried out in all the six area councils may not be unconnected with the recent predictions by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET).

    Ibrahim stated that the sensitisation campaign was a wake-up call by all stakeholders to prepare for flood and adopt measures aimed at preventing, averting and containing flooding incidents.

    According to him, “it is a wake-up call on our relevant stakeholders to take proactive measures towards preventing and tackling the incidence of flooding in the FCT, these measures include but not limited to clearance  of drains to allow for free flow of storm water, demolition of illegal structures built on flood as well as early warning system”.

    The sensitisation teams include officials from National Emergency Management Agency, Federal Fire Service, and Abuja Metropolitan Management Council.

    Part of the flood- prone areas visited includes Dutse Alhaji, Dutse Magaranta, and Kubwa all in Buhari Area Council.

     

  • Glo entertains Abuja youths

    It was a night to remember as telecommunication giant Glo held Abuja residents spellbound at the maiden edition of the Glo Slide and Bounce.

    The event, which took place at the expansive Thisday Dome, featured Nigeria’s finest artistes in concert.

    But for the dexterity of the anchorman, Okey Bakasi, the restless youths were almost set to abandon the show which was scheduled to start 7pm. His hilarious jokes and recharge card freebies helped to defuse tension.

    Eventually, at about 11pm, the concert started with the delectable Chi, whose youthfulness charmed the crowd. Next came Bezhiwa Idakula, otherwise known as Bez. His performance, tailored along Asa’s style, was refreshing for the crowd that has started warming up to the party.

    Waje and her sonorous voice stepped onto the stage with some cool tunes  before Naeto C climbed the stage to pull the roof down with one hit song after another. He gave Abuja a tip of what made him a top-rated music artiste in Nigeria. Being a showman, the youthful crowd did not only follow him round the hall as he climbed one table after the other to get closer to the crowd; they sand along with him.

    By this time, the crowd went wild when Burna Boy took to the stage. The Port Harcourt-based new sensation did not disappoint the crowd as he lived up to his rating. The crowd sang along with him too as he reeled out his hits.

    Omawumi took her turn and the energy she brought to the stage was electrifying. The Abuja youths did not disappoint her as the response showed that she was well appreciated.

    In the words of the Glo Divisional Director, North West),  Kemi Kaka, the idea behind the concert was not only to give back to the teeming customers of the telecom outfit but also to show appreciation to the youths from the federal capital city  and its environs.

    “As you can see, we have to control the crowd which was why we stated that it is strictly on invitation. The size of this crowd shows how much our brand is appreciated. The event mainly is to provide opportunity for our youths and so that is why we are also going to unlock one youth here”.

    The Minister of Culture, Duke Edem, who came in a little after midnight, expressed the appreciation of the government for the event while assuring that government is determined to provide the enabling platform for such events to take place around the country.

    “Government’s role is to provide the enabling environment for events like this to be sustained, going by the added value attached to it for our youths. As a government, we are encouraging other private sector players to emulate what Glo is doing,” he added.

    The masked one, Lagbaja and P Square also ensured that the show lived up to its billing with scintillating performances.

     

  • FCT slates media walk for sickle cell

    FCT slates media walk for sickle cell

    The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has expressed its readiness to sensitise residents on sickle cell anaemia this month.

    The Secretary, Health and Human Services Secretariat, Dr. Ademola Onakomaiya, said this at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja.

    He decried the stigma as well as sicklers’ lukewarm interest in sensitisation programmes.

    “I intend to call people with sickle cell disease, people that are genotipically challenged because it’s not their own doing , we have been doing a lot on that, we have been having loads of sensitisation programme with some NGOs and the department of public health.

    “We will enlighten them, empower them to know that this is you, you are better than the rest of us, you should explore your preventive strategy, don’t stress yourself, don’t do this emotionally. But because of the stigma associated with it, many people will not even want to come unless they have crisis, that is why it’s not that vibrant.

    “You know you empower people, when you empower them, they decide better. Prevention is better than cure.

    “We can have a media walk on sickle cell in July; it’s something that we can do. I tell people if we don’t do it, nobody will do it. Seventy per cent of our population is young. It’s for us to take charge of our country. It is for us to decide where we want to go”

    On bone marrow transplant as a cure for sickle cell anemia, he said, “You can have a bone marrow and die tomorrow and have sickle cell and live forever.”

    On the Karu District Hospital in FCT, the Secretary said it is expected to take off fully before the end of the year .

    The secretary said all the various equipments needed are already on ground.

    He said the contractors handling the construction of the hospital caused the delay,adding that the inability of the contractor to complete the job has brought untold hardship to residents of the area.

    The completion of the hospital, he further stressed, will reduce the problem of congestion in hospitals especially those in the city centre as well as the Asokoro and Nyanya General Hospitals.

    Expressing disappointment at the slow pace of work on the contract which was awarded in 2005, with a completion period of 84 weeks, he urged the company to work towards meeting up the deadline or have it revoked and given to a more serious contactor.

    According to him, four months is enough to complete the job insisting that the people of the area have suffered and that the FCT administration would not condone unserious approach towards important projects.

     

  • ‘Why govt can’t empower every Nigerian youth’

    The Federal Government has said inappropriate placement of youth-related programmes in some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and poor implementation of government policy are responsible for the challenges facing youth empowerment programmes.

    The Minister of Youth Development, Inuwa Abdulkadir who made the position of the Federal Government known at the ongoing Ministerial platform in Abuja, said  the  non-implementation of the National Youth Policy is part of challenges hindering the ministry from making progress in youth related matter.

    ”The National Youth Policy provides that there will an inter-ministerial council to be called the National Youth Development Council under the chairmanship of the President.

    “It will comprise all the chief executives of the core relevant ministries, to serve as forum and clearing house on all youth policy matters of national interest, this has not been implemented,” he said.

    Abdukadir also decried lack of cooperation of some state and local government authorities in the establishment of skill acquisition centers as stated in the national youth policy across the country.

    ”Problems associated with land allocation within areas where centres are to be built, as well as lack of appropriation for the ruining of the youth development centres and personnel,” he said.

    The minister who further mentioned insufficient and late release of funds as part of challenges militating against the ministry, however, recommended “the need to refurbish and upgrade the existing the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre (C&LTC) to meet up with its challenges and execute its mandates”.

    Abdulkadir maintained that in spite of challenges, the ministry would ensure “the completion of on-going national youth development centres in all the six geo-political zones of the country.

    ”Ensuring more young unemployed graduates are given required entrepreneurial, vocational and skills training in specialised vocation, so as to grow youth economy and thereby create wealth.

    ”Articulating integrating leadership and skill development modules in the training of youths as part of the ministry’s input in human capacity development for future leadership roles”.

    On the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), the minister noted that “the implementation of the approved expansion of the administrative structure of the scheme has worked, as it has helped to drive the policies of the scheme, thereby enabling it to cope with the dynamics of youth mobilisation and management for national development and self-reliance”.

    He disclosed that “658 corps members were trained and empowered under the Millennium Development Goals to establish agro-enterprises and not less than 131, 659 corps members were given skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development training in the year 2012”.

    Consequently, the minister called for the “release of more funds to the NYSC scheme for the implementation of its core programmes and for the conduct of skill acquisition training/empowerment of corps members, as well as the establishment of Youth Development Fund in line with global best practices”.

  • FCT records drop in HIV/AIDS prevalence

    The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has recorded a 10 per cent drop in HIV/AIDS prevalence in the last two years, the FCT HIV/AIDS Programme Coordinator, Dr Yakubu Mohammed has said. The figure was 8.6 percent in 2010 and 7.5 in 2012.

    He said the programme may not have achieved peak performance over the period in terms of intervention on HIV/AIDS in the territory, it has made tremendous progress compared to two years ago. FCT is one of the high risk HIV burden areas in the country as identified by the National HIV Control programme.

    According the Coordinator, who made the disclosure while fielding questions from newsmen during a one-day FCT HIV/AIDS Stakeholders Consultative Meeting on Acceleration of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) Scale- Up in Abuja over the weekend, the reduction is due to a paradigm shift in addressing the challenge of the scourge by the FCT health sector response strategies.

    “What this means is that the prevalence is reducing; and we are committed to sustaining the success recorded so far, as what we want is that by the end of 2015, the HIV/AIDS prevalence in the FCT to be less than five percent

    “With the support of other key stakeholders in the fight against the scourge, we will come out with a blue print that will drive the process for the attainment of our target, for prevention of new cases of HIV/AIDS in the FCT.

    “We have made tremendous progress; and we are still making progress; and although we can’t really say that we have reached where we are expected to be, but we know that our performance has increased, and is still increasing over the period”, he said.

    Earlier in her remark, the Director, Public Health, Health and Human Services Secretariat (HHSS) of the FCTA, Dr Folasade Momoh, noted that given the peculiar HIV/AIDS epidemic profile of the nation characterised by high prevalence rate, high MTCT burden, low PMTCT and ART coverage, low retention rate of persons living with HIV, what is required is strong commitment, efficiency and accountability by all stakeholders, in order to accelerate the attainment of various Universal Access (UA) targets for the elimination of various PMTCT by 2015.

    According to her, the HIV/AIDS epidemic situation in Nigeria still remains a major public health challenge of high magnitude, in spite of enormous resources government is committing to combat it at the national, state, and local government levels.

    She therefore urged all stakeholders collaborating with the secretariat to embrace its initiatives and vigorously pursue the course, in order to contribute towards the realisation of the set objectives; “and in turn reinforce our policy trust and facilitate our ownership and sustainability drive in FCT.”

  • Kogi, Kano urge FERMA to repair roads

    The Kogi and Kano states’ Road Maintenance Agencies asked the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency  to maintain their roads.

    Dr. Abubakar Adama and Mr. Abubakar Jibril, Managing Directors of Kogi State Road Maintenance Agency (KOGROMA) and Kano State Roads Maintenance Agency, respectively, made the appeal recently while leading delegations of officials of their agencies on study tour to FERMA’s headquarters in Abuja.

    They said their agencies were still in infancy, having just been created early this year by their respective state Houses of Assembly in line with the resolution of the National Council on Works held in Lagos last year

    They said their agencies look up to FERMA to assist them build their own technical and human resource capacities, having already established an enviable reputation for effectively maintaining the Federal roads network.

    FERMA’s Managing Director, Engineer Gabriel Amuchi however expressed the agency’s happiness at the establishment of the State Road Maintenance Agencies.

    He said Nigerian roads will be much better if all tiers of government established road maintenance mechanisms to drive routine and periodic maintenance of their networks.

    That way, he said, the situation where roads belonging to the Federal Government are serviceable while those belonging to other tiers are in poor condition would be eliminated.

    Amuchi further averred that state road maintenance agencies needed to learn from the experiences FERMA garnered over its 10-year history, especially measures and strategies adopted to achieve sustained maintenance of Federal roads.

    Among such measures are preventive maintenance and road surveillance programme, development of FERMA cold asphalt and establishment of production centres in different parts of the country, as well as effective monitoring and supervision of field operations by senior engineers and management to ensure set specifications are met.

    He also called for concerted efforts of all state road maintenance agencies enacted by law to press for the actualisation of the five percent fuel user’s charge 40 percent of which accrues to FERMA and 60 percent to the State road maintenance agenciesfor sustainable funding of maintenance of the entire national road network.

     

  • Abuja celebrates amnesty

    Tor a time, it looked as though nothing else mattered at the nation’s capital.

    The prestigious Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja, was filled to capacity. Guests who turned up late had to endure standing. Representatives of the Federal Government as well as staff of the Amnesty Programme were in high spirits. Beneficiaries of the programme could not be happier.

    Hard work, determination and hope paid off in the end. Youths of the Niger Delta who once bore arms against the Federal Government and its facilities lay down their weapons and forsook agitation. They embraced rehabilitation, choosing to acquire skills. Today, many of them are pilots, engineers, skilled farmers, among others.

    The event left no one in doubt that the celebrators, the Federal Government and erstwhile militants, now preferring to be addressed as ex-agitators, came to celebrate the success of what was once thought to be a hopeless situation.

    Hours before the celebration of the fourth anniversary of the Amnesty Proclamation and third year of the implementation of the Amnesty Programme, at the prestigious Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja, the expansive hall was filled to capacity.

    Almost half of the hall was occupied, not by the staff of Amnesty Programme office or civil servants but the beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme.

    The Ijaw National Congress (INC) was fully represented, and it almost looked like it was the INC that was being celebrated when the Chairman, Amnesty Programme, who doubles as the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta, Kingsley Kuku, took the podium and invited contributions from each member of the Congress to the ‘struggle’. He went from how the journey started back in their school days to the Kiama Declaration, to the protests borne out of sheer determination, to the arrests and down to the success of the day.

    The event began with Lawrence Pepple, Head of Reintegration Department, who took the guests through how disarmament began with 20,192 persons, through 6,166 for the second phase before ending with the third and final phase of 3,64216.

    In highlighting the positive side of the Federal Government’s programme, Kuku said the country is enjoying peace that has boosted the Nigerian economy, adding that crude oil production now hovers around 2,6 and 2.3.8 million barrels per day. The volume of savings, according to him, translates to about N33.4b per day. Ironically, he noted the country needed about N4 trillion for its national budget but the region was able to provide an estimated N6.3 trillion last year.

    Though he assured Nigerians that the youth will not return to militancy, Kuku took time to debunk insinuations that the reformed youths were involved in oil theft. He hinged his argument on the fact that Niger Deltans are too poor and technically disadvantaged to partake in the lucrative and highly technical illicit venture. He said the illegal trade was perpetrated by some highly placed Nigerians and their international collaborators, adding that the only Niger Delta indigenes that could be found in the circle would be manual labourers that have no real consequence on the illicit trade.

    “Oil theft is highly technical and capital intensive and there is no way you can find Niger Delta youths involved in it. These products are transported in vessels; no Niger Delta indigene has a vessel. Also, it is a supply and demand thing, meaning that if there is no demand, there won’t be supply. In other words, there must be international collaborators involved, Niger Delta youths don’t have such connections. In addition, where would Niger Delta youths have the resources to pay for demurrage running to months in many instances? Peasants can’t engage in such business and majority of Niger Delta youths are peasants,” he said

    He, however, assured that the menace would soon be a thing of the past as President Goodluck Jonathan has taken up the issue with his colleagues around the world. ”It is an international crime of demand and supply but the President is dealing with it because highly placed people in and out of Nigeria are involved, not our Niger Delta youths”.

    Kuku presented 22 trained pilots and instructors who graduated from the African Union Aviation Academy. All of them have been certified as CLPs (Commercial Licensed Pilots) including a 20-year-old Favour Odozor, who is the youngest pilot in the country. She was also presented alongside her colleagues. Fifteen out of 40 ex-militants who became gainfully employed after their formal training by the Amnesty Office were also in the hall as well as 25 ex-militants that also completed their Masters Degrees in various disciplines in the United Kingdom. Several trained ex-militants that have been offered formal employment in the private sector were also invited for the event.

    ”Four years on, the Amnesty Proclamation has generally met the desired goal, which is the stabilisation of security conditions in strategic Niger Delta. A total of 30,000 persons were enlisted in the Amnesty Programme. Of this number, 14,000 have been deployed to universities as well as vocational training centres both within and outside the country. Over 11,700 have graduated in various fields and several of them have been employed including 10 with the Nigerian Army and six with the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), 40 with the Century Energy Group, five with SAP Drilling Oil and Gas Ltd and 30 with the Proclad Group, Dubai, UAE,” Kuku said.

    The Presidential aide also reiterated government resolve to terminate the programme by 2015. He said though there is no going back on the exit date of 2015 for the Programme, Kuku however disclosed that the Amensty office would  complete the training of all enrolled ex-militants. ”Beneficiaries who are pursuing long-term educational programmes shall duly hand over existing Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) who are statutorily empowered to oversee scholarship and training programmes of the Federal Government”.

    Kulu said the Federal Government will pay a N65,000 monthly allowance to 30,000 ex-militants for the provision of critical infrastructure and impactful development projects in the region as contained in the Amnesty Proclamation to help stimulate economic growth of the region.

     

  • New face of Abuja

    New face of Abuja

    Things are looking up in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    That was the submission of the Minister of the territory, Senator Bala Mohammed, at the Ministerial Platform in the nation’s capital city, where he made a presentation.

    The territory is developing at a fast pace, he said. A good network of paved roads has replaced what used to be. Travel time has been remarkably reduced and comfort enhanced.

    He spoke about the lift in the FCT shelter profile, stressing the impact of the well-funded land-swap deal.

    Senator Mohammed left no one in doubt that he believes the nation’s capital has a new and beautiful face, thanks to his ministry.

    He explained that his administration is working on an ultra-modern integrated transportation system, including a light rail linking different parts of the Federal Capital Territory, which is 22 per cent completed. He also mentioned the rapid bus transit which was implemented to replace the smaller buses and the SURE P taxi scheme which was created to ease the transport situation, enhance security and decongest the roads.

    He also said that his administration has embarked on the maintenance and construction of several roads, saying: “We have opened the roads through Bwari where you can travel to Kaduna without taking Suleja and this has reduced travel time by 30 minutes. We have also put in place traffic lights with solar panels all over the city, removed the speed bumps on the highways, reconstructed and maintained the roads to reduce accidents and reduce travel time just like is found in other countries around the world.

    “The housing deficit in the city that was started by my predecessors has been made better by the land-swap system, where private investors, within and outside the country are involved in the development of housing units which will be sold at affordable prices and the administration has spent about N150 billion since inception for resettlement and compensation cost.”

    Bala explained that about 30,000 jobs has being created through Agricultural activities and the FADAMA project which through the involvement of expatriates, has educated a lot of farmers and helped them grow. He added that the FCT policy where the administration buys farm produce from farmers, stores it and sells back to them for cheap rates during scarcity.

    He concluded by saying that in order to realise the dream of making the FCT the model city that it is meant to be, his administration has rid the city of beggars and the destitute, by returning them to their states or rehabilitating them. He further warned that all those people that sell on pedestrian bridges or along the roads will be evacuated.

  • ‘Rail stations to be operational soon in Abuja’

    Preparatory to the completion and commissioning of the abuja rail project, the FCT administration will soon perform the ground-breaking ceremony of 14 rail stations across the federal capital city and some satellite towns.

    The FCT minister, Senator Bala Mohammed disclosed this in Abuja at the 2013 Ministerial Platform at the National Press Centre, Garki 1 District.

    Mohammed praised President Goodluck Jonathan who directed that this mode of transportation be urgently implemented to reduce the over-dependence on the road transportation which has been characterised by traffic congestion and chaos.

    The minister reiterated that the contract for the construction of the Abuja rail, though awarded in 2007, has progressed from 21.12 to 25.57 per cent with 4.38% of that percentage achieved between May 2012 and April 2013.

    According to him, the federal government has practically shown its commitment to complete this project during its current transformational period, thereby signing a $500 million loan agreement with chinese firm Exim to facilitate the implementation of the project.

    He emphasised that the project has positive multiplier-effects on Nigerians as 600 formal and informal jobs have so far been created and would be doubled as work progresses on the vital areas.

    Mohammed revealed that the project comprises design and construction of 45.245 kilometre standard gauge railway tracks and associated permanent way, station buildings, bridges and culverts, communication among others.

    With the clamour for more high-capacity buses, Mohammed said that the FCT administration has increased the number of participants in its operator license scheme to seven and that currently the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has 40 buses, AUMTCO 250, FABREM 40; SHAAXI 40, AUTOSTAR, SECDA as well as REITN newly licensed to add a minimal of 50 buses each before the end of the year.

    The minister recalled that Vice President Namadi Sambo last week commissioned 160 brand new taxis under the Abuja taxi scheme, adding that the number is expected to be increased to 1,000 before the end of the year.

    Mohammed assured that the on-street parking programme would be reorganised due to several complaints from residents to satisfy the yearning of the people in line with the vision and aspiration of president jonathan administration.

    his words: “The on-street parking was introduced to tackle some of the traffic problems especially during peak hours in the Abuja metropolis, ensure orderliness, increase IGR, reduce congestion; it has so far created 1,130 jobs”.

    The minister said that a total of 126 intersections have been signalised in the city, 74 of them with the old incandescent technology, 32 with solar backup, while 26 intersections are currently being upgraded.