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Tag: benefit

  • ‘Five million benefit from Niger Delta Amnesty’ – Boroh

    ‘Five million benefit from Niger Delta Amnesty’ – Boroh

    •Boroh lists gains of initiative since 2009

    Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme,  Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh,  has said over  five million people in Niger Delta have benefited from the initiative  since 2009.

    Gen. Boroh, who is the special adviser to the President on Niger Delta, spoke in Akure  shortly after receiving an award as Niger Delta Peace Ambassador from the Nigeria Union of Journalists NUJ), Ondo State council.

    He said the  programme was initiated in 2009, following conflicts in the region.

    Boroh said he cannot be specific on the amount the Federal Government spent  in restoring peace in the area.

    “For all I know, the programme has impacted  on well over five  million people in the region and aided efforts to achieve peace in the Niger Delta,’’ he said.

    He commended President Muhammadu  Buhari for sustaining the programme, saying this demonstrated  his concern for Niger Delta.

    Also, speaking at a town hall meeting with stakeholders from Ijaw communities in Olodiama at Gelegele in Ovia North Local Government Area of Edo State, Gen. Boroh  urged ex-agitators in Niger Delta to work with communities in protecting national assets, such as oil and gas pipelines.

    He said the Federal Government would sustain the peace  in Niger Delta, adding that the involvement of youths in security and survelliance of oil and gas installations will end attacks on these installations in Niger Delta.

    The Amnesty chief explained that modalities for engaging youths in pipelines security, among other assets in the region, is being discussed at higher levels of government.

    He said the schedule for sensitising stakeholders on security of pipelines was being worked out by the appropriate agency for implementation.

    Gen. Boroh noted that the feasibility study for a National Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme has been approved, in line with the United Nations-Paris Agreement on Gas Flare.

    He said the first phase would focus on 48 identified onshore sites in Niger Delta, adding that the programme is intended to convert gas being flared for cooking and electricity, among other industrial uses.

    The special adviser said “through the programme, about six million households in Niger Delta can access clean energy.

    “It is projected to create 25,000 direct jobs and 300,000 indirect jobs. The programme is private sector-driven and investors are encouraged to key into it.

    “The minister of state for Petroleum will kickstart a road show to sensitise stakeholders on the programme in September”, he explained.

    On the establishment of community-based mini modular refineries in Niger Delta, he said the minister would do a roadshow to sensitise people  on its policy direction.

    Also speaking, a director in the Ministry of Wealth Creation, Cooperative and Employment, Mr. Festus Okougbo, said Governor Godwin Obaseki has set up a seven-man committee to prepare a blueprint for the development  of a Seaport in  Gelegele, adding:  “the committee is about to submit its report. Plans are on the way also to set up an agro industrial park in Gelegele to drive the port for sustainability”.

    An address by the Ama-Okosuwei of Gelegele Gbene and the state Ijaw National Congress (INC) on behalf of the Pere of Olodiama Kingdom, Alawei Wilson G Kororo, the Alagbalabinafa III and Ijaw communities, thanked President Muhammandu Buhari for sustaining Amnesty.

    They said the state Ijaw communities have been denied fair share in the scheme of things, lamenting the absence of governments’ presence in the area despite their natural resources.

    They appealed to the special adviser to facilitate the inclusion of some ex-agitators from Olodiama not captured in the programme, provision of skill acquisition centres in the five Ijaw clans, empowerment of beneficiaries from the communities, provision of slots for INC in the proposed pipeline security and surveillance jobs

    Chairman of Gelegele community Milton Dennis, and the Women’s leader Mrs Ayodele Osia thanked Gen. Boroh for donating a borehole to the community, saying the gesture was a first in the area.

  • ‘Ways to benefit from new media’

    ‘Ways to benefit from new media’

    The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, gave the keynote speech at the 10th Jackson Annual Lecture Series organised by the Department of Mass Communication of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN). The event focused on contemporary issues in the sector. JAMES OJO (400-level Mass Communication) reports.

    The Princess Alexandra Auditorium (PAA) of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) was packed full for the 10th Jackson Annual Lecture Series organised by the Department of Mass Communication. The event with the theme: The media and ethical puzzles in political reporting in Nigeria, was held in honour of a doyen of Nigerian journalism, Thomas Horatio Jackson, after whom the department was named.

    Jackson, who was Editor of Lagos Weekly Record, died in 1935.

    The event brought journalists, media managers, teachers, scholars and students together to brainstorm  contemporary issues on the field and also chart a way forward amidst challenges facing the first school of journalism in sub-Saharan Africa.

    At the event was the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, who is an alumnus of the department. Speaking on the topic, New media: A threat or complement to traditional media?, Shehu noted that the new media posed great challenges to the traditional media.

    He said: “As a practitioner in the media enterprise with decades of experience, I know first-hand that the evolution of any new media is a threat to existing one, which is why media professionals rarely enthusiastically welcome new entrants to the enterprise.”

    According to him, the advancement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) brings about rising numbers of channels of mass communication, thereby putting power in the hands of consumers of media content. He said the contest for relevance and revenue among traditional media practitioners had never been fiercer than it is presently.

    The president’s spokesman, however, pointed out that the competition posed by the new media should be an opportunity for the traditional media to re-strategise and focus on harness more opportunities, stressing that traditional and new media must work in complementary fashion.

    He said: “These same channels which represent avenues for competition simultaneously represent unprecedented opportunity. The challenge is for traditional media players to welcome these new technologies and platforms, and deploy them with a spirit of experimentation and adventure.”

    To achieve this, Shehu said traditional media must develop and adapt to digital applications and technologies, which would give its audiences and communities a voice in their news content.

    In his address, the Head of Department of Mass Communication, Dr Luke Anorue, emphasised the significance of the event, describing it as the department’s “historic event”.

    He said: “Ten is a significant number. It is often seen as a milestone, a symbol of completeness, a standard of measurement, the easiest to recite in multiples, and indeed an indication that a movement has come of age, and is serious. Today, we tell ourselves that we are serious and we have come of age.”

    The HOD used the opportunity to discuss the challenges facing the department, pointing out that the department had been facing dearth of cameras, microphones, audio and video consoles to use in radio and television studios. He added that the department needed a standby generator and a bus to mobilise staff during excursions.

    He said: “What we have as advertising, photojournalism and public relations laboratories are shadows of  good 21st century gadgets. We need a constantly upgraded library, especially an e-library that gives global access not only to books, but also to current journals for our undergraduate and postgraduate students. We need a modern and befitting building for the oldest department of journalism and mass communication in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

    A highpoint of the event was presentation of awards of excellence to Mallam Shehu and the first professor of mass communication produced by the department, Prof Nnayelugo Okoro.

  • ‘Illegal miners ‘ll not benefit from $150m fund’

    The Federal Government has said illegal mining firms  will not benefit from the $150 million grant given by the World Bank to support the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.

    This follows the government’s decision to allow operators with reasonable level of commitment to operate in the industry, develop strategic mining areas for growth and further make the sector one of the major contributors to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    Yinka Oyebode,  an aide to the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, told The Nation  on phone that the fund would be used to finance exploration and production of solid minerals. He added that the government was looking at two significant areas for the disbursement of the loans.

    The government, he noted, wants operators with tangible evidence of operation as well as those working in principal mining areas to benefit from the facility.

    He described operators with tangible evidence as those with  proven track records of performance while principal mining areas operators mine strategic minerals.

    According to him, the decision by the government to provide funds for the mining of strategic minerals is in line with the Roadmap for Sustainable Growth in the Mining Sector, adding that the idea would help crystallise the government’s ambition of making the sector one of the major contributors to the GDP.

    He said industrial minerals, metallic minerals, construction minerals and precious stones were among those in strategic areas, which the Federal Government planned to fund.

    He stated that industrial minerals include limestone, barite, kaolin, gypsum feldspar, while metallic minerals are gold, iron, ore, lead, zinc, cassiterite and columbite; granite, marble, dimension stone, gravel, laterite, and sand are construction minerals and precious stones include sapphire, tourmaline, emerald, topaz, amethyst, and garnet.

    Oyebode said: “Two major areas are of great importance to the ministry and the Federal Government as regard the disbursement of the $150million World Bank gave to the sector.

    “First is allowing operators with tangible evidence of operation and those operators who operate in strategic minerals areas to benefit from the loans.  This implies that operators who fail to show enough evidence of participating in the industry would not get the loans.”

    Oyebode stated that while some operators are working in the sector, others are not. He said many people applied for the loans, adding that the government needed to vet the list of the applicants in order to ensure that the money is judiciously spent.

    He said after the vetting, the government will determine those that are eligible for the loans.

    He said the application for the loans, follows an advertorial published in the national dailies for that purpose by the government asking for qualified operators to apply for the loans in order to be able to fund their projects and further encourage the growth of the sector.

    A lot of applications have been received and screened for that purpose. Qualified applicants would emerge and get the loans soon for the growth of the industry, he added.

    He said prior to this period, members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) have met and approved the loans, adding that the approval meant that the loans are ready for disbursement.

  • Benefits of Divine shaking

    Text:”…. there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone” (Ezekiel 37:7).

    It is scripturally axiomatic that things have a tendency of following a natural course of action, unless and until there is a divine shaking, which acts as a catalyst for it to be otherwise. When there is a divine shaking, stagnancy is lost to mobility, speed comes to sluggishness, the weak suddenly becomes strong, the hopeless starts to sing the song of hope, roads that have been declared as closed open, natural orders are suspended, power changes hands, the ignored are celebrated, servants are positioned on horses, the forgotten are remembered and there is a lift up from the pathway to the highway of life.

    The Almighty God took Prophet Ezekiel to a valley of dry bones and asked him if the impossible can ever be possible; that is, can clinically dead bones receive life again? To proof that there is no cul-de- sac in the things of this world with God (Jeremiah 32:27), He asked him to prophesy; and when he did, there was a shaking and dead limbs started to look for their skulls. What this means is that when there is a shaking, students will pursue the right courses and/or vocations they were created to pursue, graduates/employees will get the right employment, square peg workers shall be placed in square hole positions, employers will meet with the perfect employees, doors of humongous business opportunities shall open, brethren that are due for marriages shall be led to where they will meet their right partners, the physically incapacitated shall rise again and compulsory help shall not rest until they have located the needed commissions.

    When a divine shaking is provoked, as God has promised this year, God will lay sinews upon dead bones, He will follow it up with flesh upon them to cover the bones and resurrect the dead to proof to the world that He is the Lord.

    The Almighty God is saying that when He shakes the world for your sake, He would partner with you in whatever you do and wherever you go. God will send help to you from above and cover your nakedness. And, concerning your home, business, projects and commission, you shall never ever be put to shame. Where and when some are lamenting cast downs, you shall be positioned in Goshen to testify of lifting up (Job 22:29; Genesis 47:27; Exodus 9:25,26).

    Wherever you have been hated and forsaken such that no man comes to you, He shall make you an eternal excellency and joy of many generations (Isaiah 60:15). God will give you a voice over envious peers and powers of wickedness. You shall become like a maize seed inside an opaque bottle before chickens; they can see but can’t have access to, eat or destroy (cf Col. 3:3).

    Any attempt to destroy, harm or hurt you shall boomerang as the diggers of evil pits shall be consumed in their pits (Isaiah 49:26; Proverbs 26:27; Isaiah 43:4 cf Daniel 6:24).

    The Almighty God who lifted the siege that resulted into monumental losses in Israel with a shaking shall, during this season of lent, lift every siege placed on the lives of your loved ones and you. Your scarcity shall turn to flourishing. Powers that are saying that even God cannot help you shall see God at work in your lives (2 Kings 7). The custodian of your entitlements shall hear a deafening noise and instruct an instant release what belongs to you. All that once sang “Hossanah to the son of David” in your life but are chorusing “Crucify Him” today because things are untoward with you shall gather to tell the world “He is risen”, concerning you tomorrow, in the name of Jesus.

    To be a partaker of the divine shaking of this season, you need to take your gaze off men, not taking to mind how powerful they are in the schemes of this world and come to Jesus Christ in penitence and faith (Jeremiah 17:5-8; John 6:37) ask Him to forgive all your sins, make a commitment to live a life worthy of true believers, engage yourself more with philanthropic works, love the lovables without forgetting the unlovables and it shall be well with you in the name of Jesus.

     

    Prayer: Lord, I come to you today, use what makes you the Almighty to intervene in my life and situation in the name of Jesus.

  • Ambode: PSP operators to benefit from sanitation policy

    Ambode: PSP operators to benefit from sanitation policy

    Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode yesterday signed the Environmental Management and Protection Bill into law, assuring Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators and other stakeholders they will be carried along.

    Ambode, who spoke at the Lagos House after the signing, said it was targeted at securing public health safety of residents, especially children.

    He said it was disconcerting to see that dysentery and other pandemics were on the rise.

    “While charting a new direction, it became quickly apparent that government would struggle to bear the cost of the wholesale changes while meeting its other obligations.

    “It was necessary to make investor friendly laws that attract the type of capital we need to further our development agenda and achieve our sustainability goals.

    “We believe it is worth the risk involved in changing the legislative framework if the reward is a healthier and cleaner Lagos for our children – our future,” the governor said.

    Ambode said under the Cleaner Lagos Initiative, the commercial sector would be serviced by licensed waste management operators.

    An environmental consortium will provide waste collection, processing and disposal services for residential property through a long term concession.

    The governor said  the consortium would deploy a large multi-dimensional fleet of over 20 landfill and transfer loading station management vehicles, 590 new rear-end loader compactors, 140 operational vehicles and close to 900,000 bins to be electronically tracked and monitored by our new unit PUMAU (Public Utilities Monitoring Assurance Unit) under the Ministry of Environment.

    “Everyone from cart pushers to existing PSPs and casual workers at the dump sites have been considered in the plan and will be accommodated within the new environmental regime.

    “In addition, we are extending opportunities to everyone along the value chain by working to create vocational training in the related areas through LASTVEB,” he said.

    Giving details of the law, the governor said sanitation would now be a daily affair.

    He announced an annual Public Utility Levy (PUL) to replace service fees previously paid to waste management authorities.L

  • ‘How Trump’s presidency ‘ll benefit oil market’

    Nigeria may be on the verge of regaining its crude oil market share in the United States (U.S.) following President Donald Trump’s plan to build more infrastructural projects, The Nation has learnt.

    Nigeria’s exports to the U.S. fell from 950,000 barrels per day (bpd)  in 2010 to 57,000 bpd in 2015.

    Also, Angola suffered a decline in oil exports to U.S. as its exports fell from 484,000 bpd in 2009 to 124,000 bpd in 2015.

    However, all that has been confined to past as Trump plans to build more infrastructure for oil and gas.

    The former President, Association of International Energy Economist, Prof Adeola Akinnisiju, said if the plans materialise, it would open the door for production increase for Nigeria.

    He said Nigeria, which once had the U.S. as the main customer for exports, may find new opportunities to reignite its upstream sector as past oil selling agreements between the two countries become attractive once again.

    Akinnisiju said Nigeria was more likely to benefit from hypothetical unmet growing oil demand in the U.S. than Angola, adding that Angola had built stronger ties with China which is its main crude oil buyer in the recent years.

    He said the past two years witnessed low oil prices for U.S. and other countries, noting that the development created room for a considerable stocking of oil.

    Akinnisiju said: “For sometime now, members and non members of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have  had difficult times, getting enough earnings from the sales of crude oil. The development made U.S. and other countries to stock their oil, with the hope of selling it when the price goes up. The time has come for such countries to sell their crude and mak more money from it.’’

  • Bayelsa to collaborate with CIBN for benefit, says Dickson

    Bayelsa to collaborate with CIBN for benefit, says Dickson

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson has expressed his administration’s commitment to partner Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) to explore areas of comparative advantage for mutual benefits.

    He expressed the commitment in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, in Yenagoa.

    Iworiso-Markson quoted the governor as having expressed government’s readiness when he received the President and Chairman of the Council of CIBN, Prof. Segun Ajibola and other members of CIBN at the Government House, Yenagoa.

    Describing CIBN as strategic to the management of the national economy, the governor said his administration would collaborate with the organisation to showcase the potential of the state.

    He identified crude oil, gas and power generation as areas of comparative advantage the state was endowed with.

    Dickson hailed CIBN for its programmes and other initiatives for capacity building in the financial sector and its decision to establish its presence.

    He said the Chief Economic Adviser, Mr. Duate Iyabi, would liaise with the institute on ways to improve the public financial systems and create opportunities that would be beneficial to the two parties.

    Ajibola told the governor CIBN planned to establish its secretariat and examination centre in Bayelsa.

    According to him, the examination centre, when operational, will enable people in the state and neighbouring states to write the institute’s examinations.

    Ajibola said the institute had been mandated to host the 22nd edition of the World Conference of Banking Institutes in the country this year.

    He said the conference would be a launching pad to exhibit Bayelsa’s and the rest of the country’s investment opportunities and tourist attractions.

    “This is the first time the country will be hosting such a conference and we solicit government’s assistance in that direction.”

  • ‘Sale of national assets’ll not benefit Nigerians’

    ‘Sale of national assets’ll not benefit Nigerians’

    The Federal Government’s proposed sale of some national assets will not be of benefit to Nigerians, a lecturer in the  Sociology Department, Imo State University, Owerri, Dr. Dan Nkwocha, has said.

    The government does not have the necessary policing structures to ensure that the assets to be so disposed are well managed by their new owners.

    In an interview, Nkwocha said the experience of Nigerians with the sale of state-owned assets, such as Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), and National Fertiliser Company of Nigeria (NAFCON) did not encourage them to support the sale of more national assets.

    The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma recently hinted that the government planned to dispose of some national assets to bridge the funding gap in the budget and boost the nation’s dwindling foreign reserves. Some of the items billed for sale include some aircraft in the presidential fleet, and four refineries in Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna.

    The government also proposed to dispose part of its 49 per cent shareholding in the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG). But the sale has met with stiff resistance by many Nigerians, with Dr. Nkwocha warning: “The government should not sale any national asset.”

    He said if the experiences of Nigerians with the sale of national assets in the past were anything to go by, the government had to halt the plan to sell more assets. “Where are PHCN and NITEL?”, he asked, accusing investors who bought the assets of “reaping from where they did not sow”.

    The don said the new owners took advantage of government’s lack of effective policing agents to deny Nigerians the benefits of efficient and cost-effective services post-privatisation.

    He pointed out, for instance, that despite the sale of the assets of the defunct PHCN a few years ago, Nigerians were yet to get improved electricity supply.

    Nkwocha lamented that rather than enjoy improved electricity supply, “Nigerians have become victims of the rapacious profiteering antics of the new core investors who daily fleece electricity consumers for services not rendered”.

    While admitting that the economy is in dire straits, requiring measures to pull it out of recession, he said urgent and aggressive diversification of the economy by exploiting opportunities in the agric and solid mineral sectors, as well as encouraging manufacturing, were better options to put the economy on track than selling the national assets.

  • 10, 000 benefit from group’s free health care

    10, 000 benefit from group’s free health care

    The spate of drug abuse, poor diagnosis and lack of access to quality health care among Nigerians has become worrisome. Most Nigerian youths have become addicted to drug while self-medications have become the order of the day in almost every home.

    According to experts, these have resulted in untimely deaths of individuals and severe medical complications in many.  Worse still, the non-availability of health information has almost made it impossible to prevent even the commonest disease.

    However, in what seems like a rescue mission to improve the quality of health care in Nigeria in consonance with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO), INVIVO Health and Beauty Stores introduced a one-stop destination for all health and beauty needs with over 10,000 Nigerians treated free within one year in its three stores located in Lagos, Abuja and Ibadan.

    Speaking during a tour of its facilities in Lagos and Ibadan, the Director, Mr. John Onyeoguzoro, who revealed that plans are underway to treat 2,500,000 Nigerians free annually.

    “Already two more outlets are currently in the pipeline and these will run a pharmacy and treatment room with a resident doctor offering free consultations on daily basis,” he said.

    Onyeoguzoro noted that INVIVO, a subsidiary of Smartmark Limited, was established to address social problems such as lack of access to primary health care; the menace of counterfeit and fake dugs; self-medication and lack of early diagnosis of potentially fatal disease conditions.

    According to him, INVIVO is determined as a patient-centred and health-focused business, to support the government towards achieving its primary health care goals.

    “Health is one of the basic rights of life, but unfortunately a lot of Nigerians don’t have access to it,” he said.

    The Deputy Managing Director explained that the organisation is managed by seasoned professionals who have spent years of their careers in the pharmaceutical sector and understand where gaps exist and to offer solutions.

    Narrating their experiences since inception in 2014, he noted that the incidence of drug abuse is on the rise among young people.

    “There was a time a young boy came here to ask for codeine-based cough and cold syrup. We walked him out because he didn’t come with prescription. We did that because what he asked for are regulated products and subject to abuse.

    Also conducting reporters round its INVIVO health facility in Ibadan, Dr. Funto Ogundapo revealed that no fewer than 3,000 patients have been treated for free in the last 10 months.

    According to Ogundapo, the clinic offers free medical consultancy, partner with Metro free eye checkups and glaucoma screening.

    Other tests she listed included free HIV/Hepatitis B screening, screening for Cervical PAP Smear, Mammography as well as prostrate screening.

    Continuing, she said the clinic also collaborates with Ibadan South West Local Government Primary Health Care Department to provide free immunisation for children aged 0-59 months and offer vaccination for Hepatitis B at a reduced price.

    Noting the importance of health promotion, Ogundapo hinted that the clinic was into preventive, health promotion services and awareness on tests available for each age group and gender.

    “Reproductive, maternal and child services are also available. Counselling and information are given on the use of family planning and contraceptive. Body mass index calculation and weight management counselling are also given with subsequent follow-up of high risk obesity patients for cardiovascular risk assessment for all customers,” she said.

  • 3,047 pilgrims to benefit from N50m refund

    3,047 pilgrims to benefit from N50m refund

    •2016 Hajj fee is N1.2million

    The Lagos State Government is to get a N50 million refund from the Federal Government on last year’s Hajj operation.

    Some 3,047 pilgrims from the state will benefit from the refund, Commissioner for Home Affairs, Dr AbdulHakeem AbdulLateef said at a Stakeholders meeting in Ikeja last Saturday.

    This is sequel to President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON) to return the unspent funds to the owners.

    The commissioner explained that the money was meant for feeding and other benefits not provided for pilgrims during the exercise.

    He said the pilgrims would get N16,000 each.

    AbdulLateef said: “I am glad to inform you that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode approved the refund of the money as soon as the NAHCON returns the unspent money.

    “This is to tell Lagosians that the present administration doesn’t joke with transparency promised during the campaign.”

    AbdulLateef thanked President Buhari and the commission for the decision.

    Speaking on arrangements for the 2016 exercise, he said intending pilgrims would pay N1.2 million.

    He noted that the state had earlier announced N950,000 but said the N250,000 difference was due to hike in accommodation and other essential needs in Saudi Arabia.

    “Saudi authority has increased fees items by 30 per cent which they attributed to the fall in oil prices in the world. Here in Nigeria, the usual concession on the purchase of dollars by pilgrims from the Federal Government has also been stopped.

    “The government has assured pilgrims that one dollar will be sold to them at the official rate of N197. Each pilgrim will be allowed to purchase a maximum of $1,000 at official rate,” he said.

    The commissioner assured pilgrims that the government would strive to make them comfortable, adding that there are provisions for replacements if any intending pilgrim withdraws because of inability to pay the balance to make up for the 2016 Hajj fees.