The fifth Airport Business Summit and Expo for Africa opens in Abuja tomorrow.
It will examine ways to preserve perishable goods and close the gap in agricultural goods production.
The theme of three-day event, according to its organiser, Fortune Idu, is: “Repositioning the airport business to sustain aprovide a platform for experts to share their thoughts on challenges in the sub-sector.’’
About 200 delegates are expected to attend the event.
The Federal Ministry of Health has recalled 2.4 million bottles of codeine containing cough syrup after a recent audit trail of the substance carried out by National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
According to a statement by Mrs Boade Akinola, Director Media and Public Relations of the ministry on Sunday in Abuja, the recall demonstrated the Federal Government’s resolve to stem the abuse of codeine containing cough syrup and other substances in Nigeria.
Akinola said the minister had recently received the final report of the 22-man Stakeholders Committee set up by the Ministry to address the worrisome menace of codeine abuse in Nigeria.
She quoted the Minister of Health Prof Isaac Adewole as saying that the audit trail and subsequent recall of the substance was part of recommendations of Stakeholders Committee set by the ministry to address codeine abuse in Nigeria.
The minister said the committee was drafted from a broad spectrum of the health sector in collaboration with relevant Agencies as part of Pharmacovigilance and renewed effort to monitor drug distribution channels and sanitise the system.
The Minister recalled that the committee was an offshoot of the Press release issued by the Ministry on the temporary ban of Codeine production and distribution.
He said the committee has Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Christianah Adeyeye as the chairman; other members include Muhammad Abdullahi, Chairman of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Others are Elijah Mohamed, the Registrar of Pharmacists Council of Nigeria; Mr Moshood Lawal, Director, Food and Drugs Services, Federal Ministry of Health; Ahmed Yakasai, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) among others.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on May 1, Federal Government banned the production and importation of codeine as active pharmaceutical ingredient for cough syrup preparations to check substance abuse among Nigerians.
The minister directed NAFDAC to ban the issuance of permits for the importation of codeine as active pharmaceutical ingredient for cough preparations.
He also directed the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, (PCN) and NAFDAC to supervise the recall for labelling and audit trailing of all codeine containing cough syrups nationwide.
Read also: http://staging.thenationonlineng.net/nafdac-destroys-counterfeit-products-worth-n650m-in-kaduna/
The federal government had also banned the sale of codeine containing cough syrup without prescription.
The minister said the directive became necessary due to the gross abuse of codeine in the country.
In this regard, the minister said PCN had been directed to continue enforcement activities on pharmacies, patent and proprietary medicine vendors’ shops and outlets throughout the country.
He also directed NAFDAC to carry out its functions in compliance with the new directives.
The minister said cough syrups containing codeine should be replaced with dextromethorphan which is less addictive.
Dextromethorphan is a cough suppressant used to treat coughing, it is also a drug of the morphinan class with sedative, dissociative, and stimulant properties.
The 2018 African Women Intercultural Dialogue (AWID) holds at International Women Centre Abuja on September 25.
The theme of the conference is human trafficking: calling African women, policy makers and influencers to action against cultural realities aiding human trafficking, domestic servitude and sex slavery.
It is endorsed by UN Women Nigeria, UNESCO, International Organisation for Migration -UN Migration Agency, National Agency For Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and National Center for Women Development (NCWD).
A statement by the Programme Coordinator, Cookey Chinaka Iwuoha, said the conference is aimed at providing “a policy briefing insight to re-think socially transmitted beliefs, knowledge, customs, skills, memes and languages that unconsciously support the dis-empowering place of women in developing societies and weakens women’s social capital in Africa.”
AWID Director Imajkus Njingah Ababio explained the conference is organised by All Africa Media Network in partnership with Leadership Development Foundation for Civic Literacy, Sheroes Sisterhood (USA), Association Building Africa (Cameroun), AYANA Think Tank (Rwanda) Celmar Tours (Ghana-USA) African Eye Foundation and Society for Social Right and Civic Literacy supported by Citylights West Africa and Footprint to Africa.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted cloudy conditions over the central states of the country with prospects of thunderstorm and rain over Jalingo and Mambilla Plateau, Lafia, Minna and Abuja on Saturday morning.
NiMet’s Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office in Abuja on Friday also predicted day and night temperatures in the range of 23 to 31 and 14 to 24 degrees celsius respectively.
It added that there were chances of thunderstorm and rain over Abuja, Lokoja, Jos, Makurdi, Lafia, Minna, Ilorin and Taraba axis during the afternoon and evening hours.
The agency predicted southern states would experience cloudy skies in the morning with day and night temperatures in the range of 25 to 31 and 21 to 24 degrees celsius respectively.
It also predicted prospects of rain over Ado Ekiti, Akure, Oshogbo, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Lagos,
Ijebu-Ode, Enugu, Umuahia, Abakaliki, Owerri, Asaba, Benin, Yenagoa, Port-Harcourt, Calabar and Eket axis in the afternoon and evening hours.
According to NiMet, northern states will experience cloudy conditions over some parts of
the northwest with thunderstorm and rain over Maiduguri,
Potiskum, Nguru, Dutse, Gombe, Bauchi, Katsina, Gusau, Kano and Zaria
during the morning hours.
“However, thunderstorm is envisaged over the
whole of this region during the afternoon and evening hours with day and night
temperatures of 30 to 34 and 20 to 23 degrees celsius respectively.
“Atmospheric conditions are favourable for rainfall activities across the country within the next 72 hours,” NiMet predicts.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday in Abuja lauded the Republic of France for its commitment to strong regional cooperation in the fight against cross-border crime and terrorism.
The President made the commendation at a farewell audience with the outgoing Ambassador of France to Nigeria, Denys Gauer, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday.
President Buhari appreciated the roles and contributions of the French government to peace, security and stability in countries in the West and Central African region.
He noted that Nigeria had placed the issue of combating terrorism in the region on international agenda and had received support and solidarity from France in the area of training, information, intelligence sharing, technical and equipment support.
According to the President, at the regional level where Nigeria is conducting joint patrols with neighbouring countries under the Multinational Joint Task Force; France has continued to encourage regional cooperation among Nigeria’s francophone neighbours aimed at addressing the security challenges and humanitarian conditions in the area.
The President also used the opportunity of the farewell visit to formally congratulate France for winning the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
He said: The victory is very important and historic for the country and I think it has raised a lot of positive optimism for French citizens.’’
While recounting the recent visit of President Emmanuel Macron to Nigeria, President Buhari said Nigeria and France would continue to maintain cordial relations and improve economic, cultural and political relations for the mutual benefit of citizens of both countries.
The President also received the outgoing Finland Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms. Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhury, during which he underscored the Finnish government’s support to gender and educational issues in Nigeria.
In his remarks, the French Ambassador, harping on the positive trends in Nigeria’s economy, said more French companies had indicated interest to do business here.
He said the French Agency for Development (AFD) which opened an office in Nigeria ten years ago, had provided a total of two billion dollars facility for projects in the country.
On cultural ties, Gauer said France had concluded arrangements to establish a cinema school in Lagos and some museums around the country in addition to formalizing an agreement on film production.
The Ambassador said he would always keep fond memories of Nigeria and wished the country successful elections in 2019.
In her remarks, Ambassador Suomela-Chowdhury told the President she enjoyed her stay in Nigeria and would continue to promote Nigeria-Finnish relations.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Bello has said that the Federal Executive Council (FCT), in 2017, approved $1.3 billion for the construction of the entire Abuja light rail project.
He said the implementation of the project has been divided into phases, with phase 1 commissioned at the cost of $823million.
Bello disclosed this at the inauguration of the light rail project.
He said: “The Federal Executive Council approved the project in 2017 for construction by CCECC at a cost of US$1.3billion. We hope that the Minister of Finance would consider putting this key project in the next borrowing plans, the Minister of Budget and National Planning would agree to it, the National Assembly would approved it and that China Exim Bank would fund it as a mark of goodwill for the cordial relationship between our two countries.
“The Abuja Rail Mass Transit System is an integral part of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Transportation Master Plan designed primarily to transport large number of commuters and goods between Satellite Towns into the Metropolitan Public Transport system and the different Phases of the Federal Capital City (FCC). The Abuja rail system is packaged into 6 Lots planned for phased development, based on preferential demand and available financial resources The Abuja Rail Mass Transit System is planned to integrate with the National Rail Network when eventually completed.
“The Abuja rail is divided into Six (6) Lots and with total length of 290 kilometres. The Lots are: Lot3: From Transportation Centre via ldu lndustrial Zone ‘0 Nanmad’i Azikwe international Airport; Lot 4; From Kuje Satellite town to Karshi Satellite town with the remaining legs of the Transit way line 2; Lot 5: From Kubwa via Bwari to Suleja; and Lot 6′. From Airport via Kuje and Gwagwalada to Dobi.
“Implementation of the project has been divided into phases, with phase 1 being what we are commissioning today. The segment consists of Lot 1A & 3 with a total length of 45.3 kilometres. Lot1A: starts at ldu lndustrial Zone via Gwagwa-Diedie and terminates at Gbazango Station in Kubwa (18km); Both Lots connect at the ldu Station to enable easy passenger transfer with the National Rail line linking Kaduna and Abuja.
“The project cost US$823,540,545.87 funded 60% by the China- Exim Bank and 40% by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (F CTA). Scope of work include 45.3km 0f double standard gauge rail tracks a maintenance deport, training school, operations control centre and 12 Stations, Abuja Metro Station, Stadium Station, Kukwaba I (National Park Station), Kukwaba ll (Ring Road Station), Wupa Station, Idu Station, Bassaniiwa Station, Airport Station, Gwagwa Station, Deidei Station, Kagini Station and Gbazango Station.”
The minister said that the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has also taken delivery of the three coaches meant for initial operations while awaiting the arrival of the rolling stock of 48 coaches.
Bello said FCTA has concluded an infrastructure soft loan agreement with Exim Bank of China for the supply of the remaining coaches, including their maintenance for three years at a cost of US$194,008,602.43 adding that the Bank would fund the project to the tune of US$157,001,049.89 (85%), while the FCTA would bring in a counterpart fund of US$37,007,552.54 (15%).
He said: “the rail tracks, signalling, stations and other infrastructure were completed in December, 2017, 6 months ago. In line with International best practices, we spent 2 months testing the rail system without passengers, one month with passengers. i am pleased to state that the Federal Ministry of Transportation after working closely with our team of Engineers, the Construction Company China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and the protect Consultants, Messrs Transurb Technical Ltd has granted the Abuia Rail Mass Transit Project (ARMT) (Lot 3 & Lot 1A) Safety Certificate for Commercial Operations. We have also worked and are working closely with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) In the implementation of the project and they have granted relevant approvals for Operations.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Its population, now at 2.5 million, is also growing rapidly.
What about order in the city?
Every administration has always sought to keep the nation’s capital tidy through a master plan drawn up strictly for that purpose. The plan envisages a city where houses are built in proper places, not anywhere the builders please.
During the era of former FCT minister who is now the Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, most residents of the FCT were made to comply with the master plan even when the then minister was tagged “an evil man” for demolishing illegal structures.
Findings revealed that many just do whatever they like without following the rule of law guiding the city.
Successive governments after that of el-Rufai have been trying to maintain the legacy he left behind despite the difficulty and challenges.
As the 2019 elections draw near, the authorities in the FCT want everyone to behave themselves. Do not put up anything in the wrong place, or you will see the master plan machine coming after you.
The Coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Umar Shuaibu, in an interview with Abuja Review vowed to strictly follow the Abuja Master Plan no matter who may oppose it.
Shuaibu said any building without approval will be demolished, bemoaning the level of vandalism going on in the city.
“This year alone,” he said, “we have paid N1.5 billion on electricity. So you can see how expensive it is and what we are facing. Many people are bent on defacing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and by doing things contrary to the development plan of the city.”
He also disclosed that as the 2019 elections approach, any politician, political party or individual caught pasting posters within the city centre and any unauthorised places will be fined and charged to court.
The AMMC boss, while explaining the categories of levies, said individuals will be made to pay N500 thousand and organisations will pay N1 million.
He spoke extensively on efforts of the agency and how to keep Abuja on the right track.
He said, “We face so many challenges. Whenever anyone is given allocation he or she has to come to us for building plan approval. The major challenge we have here is some people will decide to cut corners even if they are given approval and start building without approval, thereby building contrary to the plan. For those that build without approval develop ghettos, building unauthorised structures and without plan. And those places might have been marked road corridors, high tension and no-go areas people develop on them.
“All these are our major challenges. Where an area is marked for green you cannot put up a structure because when you put up a structure there it will collapse. These are also challenges. We also provide street lights, drainages but some indiscipline Nigerians who are bent on destroying Abuja master plan are stealing these facilities. We have serious vandalisation of our street lights. And the cost of providing all these facilities is high. Maintaining them is also much that is the reason why we are paying high bills to Abuja Electricity Development Company (AEDC).
“To keep the Abuja master plan you have to enforce, that is why we are regulating and enforcing the law by ensuring that people do the right thing. When you do not enforce people will not comply. That is why you will see so many buildings that we have marked. We mark for demolition, we give notice to stop work for those who did not comply. If we are not enforcing that law Abuja will not be as beautiful as this because Abuja is developing every day and buildings are coming up every day.
“On several occasion, we have have driven people away from a lot of places, especially at A.Y.A. You can imagine we provided bus stop at several places but people will still prefer to pick passengers at an unauthorised places within the city. We do not have any choice then to start arresting these people. In a city like Abuja we do not want to see people hawking especially at places that are not authorised. We are forced to be arresting them. Hawking in the street is not done in other capital cities across the world. We have tried to provide where the informal sector can practice there trade. We cannot allow people to deface Abuja.
“The best option for offenders is to arrest them and take them to mobile court and charge them to pay. This step will make the people to do the right thing. Our task force are not resting in ensure that they force people to do the right thing. In the task force we have all the security operatives represented to make sure that whatever clearance that we need is achieved.
“In the cause of this job we have been receiving threats from the individuals that though that they are above the law and can do anything. Most time they beat our people on duty. Anybody that past posters at an unauthorised place will be charged to court. For individual the fine is N500 thousand and for organisation is one million Naira. People must know that they cannot past posters anywhere in Abuja now.
“We have gone to political parties and we have carried out several campaigns to let them know that posters are not to be pasted anyhow in Abuja. In doing our job we are only managing the little resources at our disposal, no government agency will say that the budgetary provision is enough.”
Motor parks in Nigeria all seem to be the same, open spaces with sometimes rowdy passengers and more rowdy touts calling for the attention of travelers to board vehicles that are parked in disorderly manners.
More common of these parks are those with no official space, parking haphazardly on major and minor roads, sometimes unmindful of the traffic they create as the touts grab and pull passerby’s especially those carrying bags.
For a nation’s capital like Abuja with its high risings, good road network and structures that make Nigerians boast of it being the most beautiful in West Africa, its motor parks are as lowly and uncoordinated as the motor park in most states or community in Nigeria.
For instance, one can find over 100 vehicles parked around the Wuse market area at any given time. These illegal parks not only block the sidewalks around the market area but also give rise to high traffic incidences around the market, this destroys some of the curbs which occur when multiple cars are parked on areas designed specifically and solely for pedestrians.
Around Berger, over 150 vehicles dominate the sidewalks and streets. Large buses and cabs going to Kubwa, Dei Dei, Gwarimpa, and other distant locations swamp the roads, blocking private cars and vehicles and ultimately causing traffic.. The surrounding air is heavily saturated with the stench of human waste and urine.
Clashes between drivers and the joint taskforce set up by the minister of the FCT has become a common occurrence around Abuja, with taxi drivers blaming the taskforce officials and government solely of wrong doing. One of the drivers that frequent the Lugbe axis Babatunde Olanrewaju spoke with the Nation after one of their clashes with the taskforce said.
“It is not our fault that we park in the road like we do, this is the excuse taskforce and the police use to milk money from us, but tell me, what are we supposed to do? There are no official designated parks around Abuja, they ask us don’t park here but where do they expect us to park? Did they provide us with motor parks and we refused to use it?”
In March, the Lagos State government commissioned a world class bus terminal; it explained that the Ikeja Bus Terminal, Oshodi Transport Interchange under construction and 11 bus terminals being built in strategic locations in the state are modeled after modern international bus terminals in Europe and America.
The terminals feature an array of amenities such as sheltered walkways, 13 ticketing booths, an ATM gallery, a food court, a functional Intelligent Transportation System that will make routes and travel plan easier and commuters can relax comfortably while waiting for their buses to arrive. The terminal is provided with conveniences for both sexes and free Wi-Fi spoLagos bus terminals for commuters etc.
Abuja once had a similar dream, in April 2014 the then Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Olajumoke Akinjide announced that an agreement for the redevelopment of the Utako Motor Park into an ultra-modern transport centre/shopping mall had been signed by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and Intercity Transport Terminal Limited (ITTL).
According to her, the project to be executed in four years will gulp $134,483,543 (N22 billion). This involves compensation and resettlement cost of third party liability. ITTL and its sponsoring contractor, Nerida International will jointly finance and execute the project in its entirety.
She added that the private firm, ITTL is given the land to construct the terminal using its own finances, manage it for 25 years to recoup its investment and then transfer ownership to government – FCTA/AMAC.
This announcement was celebrated with so much hope by residents but four years later, not a single brick has been laid or space cleared, the Utako motor park still remains an eyesore of open field with broken down vehicles and working vehicles parked haphazardly in an extremely dirty environment.
In explaining the sorry state of the park, Chairman National Union of Road Transport Workers at the Utako motor park, Lawrence Fadipe explained that the rainy season brings more hardship on commuters because the environment gets flooded and soggy.
He added, “The park is under Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and they have been promising us things for a long time, we have been holding meetings as well. We know that contract has been awarded to somebody. That’s all we have been told up until now. We pay tickets at the gate, go the gate right now and you will see them collecting money from us but they have not done anything to help our situation, we need them to send a contractor here to level the potholes in the area and provide us with a good drainage system. Let them start from somewhere at least.
“They need to go to Lagos and Sokoto to see them, they have better parks, Abuja is the federal capital of this country. We are supposed to have modern parks, but we do not. There are no streetlights here, people who sleep in their cars urinate and defecate around. But if there were streetlights, people wouldn’t do so.
“It happens in every park because people are loading from Lagos to Abuja and vice versa. So they would like to go back early and therefore sleep in their vehicles. A park is supposed to have at least three buildings where people can sit down, relax, rest themselves, and feel secured. There is supposed to be light. Abuja should be modernised for the masses and see how Nigeria can move forward.”
A visit to the FCTA Transport Secretariat for answers proved abortive as the Assistant Director, Information Transportation Secretariat Ifeanyi Ughamadu who earlier promised to clarify the situation began refusing calls and responding to text messages.
But the Deputy Director Works, AMAC Ibrahim Adamu explained that the private investors pulled out of the deal before the last election, his words, “As at 2014 there was a ministerial committee set up to engage a developer that will develop Utako motor park but prior to election, the developer came out and said that he didn’t have interest in the project anymore and that was what stopped the process till date. But now AMAC is negotiating with new external investors who will come and take over the project. We have to come up with a new plan.”