The Nation Newspaper

Tag: change

  • Nigeria moves for climate change funding

    Unable to still access the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Nigeria has commenced moves to get the cash to battle the effects of climate change.

    The GCF is part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to assist developing countries to counter climate change.

    The Department of Climate Change (DCC) in the Federal Ministry of Environment, is the nation’s Designated National Authority (DNA) to the GCF, and is saddled with driving funding proposals to the GCF to source concessionary funds for implementing sustainable climate adaptation and mitigation projects in the country.

    Intended to be the centrepiece of efforts to raise Climate Finance of $100 billion yearly by 2020, the GCF is supporting projects, programmes, policies and related activities using thematic funding windows.

    With the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the DCC last week held a Stakeholders Forum in Abuja to iron out some notty areas.

    As part of the preparation for the future funding allocation, the DCC, it was gathered, has adopted an all-inclusive process for project identification across the length and breadth of the country to ensure optimal projects which fall into one or more of the three chosen sectors identified and targeted for funding.

    Managing Director of Messrs Kazona Maycroft, the consultants to the project, Mr. Olu Ajayi, wondered why Nigeria, despite being a leading economy on the continent and also one of the most vulnerable nations, has been unable to access the fund.

    Stakeholders said conditions to access the funding is very strigent. This is why the Prof Mobolaji Aluko and Bolade Soremekun, consultants on the project, want the nation’s priorities to be well identified and articulated.

    “We should look at our country’s vulnerable areas, and develop projects related to our vulnerability, with our national circumstances taken into consideration,” they stated.

    However, an erstwhile director of the DCC, Dr Samuel Adejuwon, cautioned that there should be a careful consideration of what has been done before in this regard, in relation to what is to be done.

    “Let us make it somewhat open-ended, such that other consultants can come in to implement, or take to a different level,” he said.

    The Forum comprised stakeholders from various interest groups who explored topics such as coastal resilience, renewable energy and energy efficiency, environmental, social and gender issues, legal and regulatory issues, as well as financial issues/barriers.

    The Africa Finance Corporation and African Development Bank are accredited entities to the GCF.

     

  • Sleepy academia in the era of change

    It is a fact that no nation can genuinely grow beyond the resourcefulness of its ivory towers in as much as nobody ever gives what he or she hasn’t got. It is therefore going to be an indispensable strategy to first straighten, strengthen and revitalize our opaque, morally weak and developmentally disoriented academia, the ivory towers as they are so-called, if this regime of change actually meant business. I say this out of altruistic belief that we are truly ready for development and changes for the better as a country.

    Universities, polytechnics and colleges all over the world are purpose-driven and tailor made to meet and suit the developmental needs of the society and cater for the architectural peculiarities of such a nation. Whether our universities, polytechnics and colleges in Nigeria particularly the public-funded institutions meet this test particularly in contemporary time is very difficult to be answered in the positive. The philosophy behind the establishment of the first generation universities which was essentially to produce replacement for the white administrative officers after independence has remained largely stagnant in reality even when we pay lip service to educational advancement through policy changes. Rather than allow our academia to drive our development, we have allowed our cheap oil money to drive our taste and hence leave behind our academic institutions. In our acquisitive tendencies, we have shifted emphasis from knowledge-driven economy to material taste and ostentatious lifestyles which leads to no other destination than perdition. We buy and acquire all manners of gadgets, cars, and electronics and yet lack the most basic maintenance capability and culture to service and maintain them. Ostensibly, our lush tail wags our dog directionlessly.

    In reality, we have ivory towers that exude neglect and have over time become dejected and disoriented. The lecturers who are supposed to be the drivers of the development locomotive, whether ASUU or ASSUP or COEASU are as dysfunctional and disoriented as the system that engage them. They have become more popular for everything else but academic excellence: incessant strikes, unhealthy union rivalry, cultism, sexual harassment, financial malfeasance; all have found their fertile grounds on the soil of our campuses  and replaced the core academic values of old. Our academia therefore really needed a change and indeed a real surgical operation. If anything will ever truly change in our system and sustainably, then it must start from these ivory towers.

    With the exception of the universities of Ilorin and Lagos which just got their axes together recently, I doubt if any other public university in Nigeria have a predictable academic calendar as I write. Students only know the date they are admitted while their completion date is in the hand of God and this has continued now for more than two decades in all our public tertiary institutions. How then can a nation expect to produce serious future leaders through this kind of a ridiculous system? Little wonder why every Nigerian of means have now helplessly adopted the fashion of sending their wards for schooling abroad and allowed our own institutions at home to slip into decrepit conditions while successive governments pretend that all is well with our nation educationally.

    In a recent interaction with some parents whose children graduated from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife within the last two decades, it was discovered that it took an average of between six to seven years to graduate from four or five session courses. If you are in for courses like medicine, then you can hope for a decade.

    Our universities and polytechnics needed to be reworked, straightened and fixed for excellence in character and learning. For what character can be said to be in institutions with no predictable academic calendar, no predictable culture, no predictable developmental strategy, no predictable dos and don’ts. In terms of learning, the best way to assess the situation is to look at the lips of ASUU or ASUUP. It is ever complaints about remuneration packages and how theirs compare not too favourably with that of a senator. With the advent of private universities, it will seem very reasonable to conclude that ASUU regularly go on strike now to allow its members time to go and attend to their private contracts with the private universities while they come back at the end of the day to collect salaries for work they never did despite the injustice done to their own students and the educational system. To worsen the situation in a compounding manner, when ASUU gets back to work, either SSANU or NASU must go on strike in a manner that will make academic work impossible on the campuses. And one after the other, everybody that have the means “legit or illegit” turns their back at our public higher institutions while our government looks on helplessly.

    The curriculum of our academic institutions has been stagnant, stinking and repulsive to modern development. For example, we have departments of accounting studies that cannot produce certified chartered accountants unless they go for an expensive post-qualification professional examination. One would have ordinarily thought that the reason for studying accountancy in a university or polytechnic is essentially to become a professionally certified accountant ditto for architecture and several other practising courses which leave the impression that our academic institutions are substandard by their curriculum.  Why can’t we have stockbroking or capital market management and administration as part of our university curriculum? The direct implication of all these is that our academia is less than the ivory tower.

    President Muhammadu Buhari in the national interest must give marching orders to the two ministers in the ministry of education to put in motion a wholesale ethical and intellectual re-orientation of the academia. Our institutions must have the right values if the society must have any. Funding must be liberalized with government restricting itself to infrastructure, tuition and research. Services like accommodation and other municipal services should be commercialized with protective controls. The universities and colleges should be encouraged to become centres of commercial and enterprise innovations where students could inculcate the culture of industry and look forward to being entrepreneurs in future rather mere centres of learning academic theories.

     

    • Ige, National Coordinator, Concern For Democracy & Good Governance in Nigeria contributed this piece from Abuja.

  • Facing climate change

    •The recent Meningitis outbreak highlights why governments and citizens should be sensitive to climate and environment

    Climate change is an observable and undeniable fact. The evidence is plain, from the rapid melting of the polar ice cap, rising sea levels, shrinking lakes, expanding deserts, unpredictable weather patterns, to record-breaking summer temperatures, all of them posing subtle and not-so-subtle challenges to human habitation, as well as animal and plant life on the planet.

    In the past three months, meningitis, a heat-related disease that has become a yearly scourge in the Sahel, has killed more than 200 persons and sickened some 1, 500 others in Nigeria alone. Across the region, the casualties run into multiples of these figures. If climate change continues along the present path, it can only bring with it more dire consequences.

    According to new research published online March 27, 2017 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, deaths related to extreme heat are likely to keep rising even if most nations adhere to the international protocol on global warming. But such adherence seems unlikely, considering that the Donald Trump Administration has issued Executive Orders designed to eviscerate the Paris Agreement that his predecessor, President Barak Obama, had played a leading part in fashioning.

    Other countries may well follow the American example, especially if right-wing parties prevail in forthcoming elections in France and Germany. In whatever case, compliance is voluntary, and there are no sanctions for non-compliance. So, the agreement will be only as effective as the 120 nations which endorsed it permit.

    That would be unfortunate because, as reported in the research cited, more and more land surface areas are likely to be exposed to heat stress, and areas already experiencing heat stress would have more frequent and longer heat waves.

    The investigators, using climate models, examined the impact of global warming on human heat stress and looked at how global temperature change could affect heat stress projections in the world’s largest cities, which are particularly at risk. They concluded that, by 2050, more than 44 of the world’s most populated cities could face annual conditions similar to the heat waves that killed thousands in India and Pakistan in 2015. Previously, only 22 of the world’s largest cities faced that prospect.

    It is a sobering thought that, as a megacity, Lagos could face such a risk, and likewise Kano. The dangers are not as remote as they seem. Even if they were, the present generation has a duty to bequeath to the next a healthier, cleaner environment. And the time to begin taking practical steps is now.

    What is to be done?

    Exploring alternative, non-fossil fuels, especially solar power, which we have in great, inexhaustible abundance, would be a good start. Investment in mass transit systems that can move a large number of passengers rapidly and safely from point to point with the minimum of disruption to everyday life can no longer be delayed.

    The modernisation and expansion of the railways will have to be pursued vigorously, as well as the development of water transportation.

    It has been found that infrastructure upgrade cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions and drives economic growth. The ongoing country-wide infrastructure rehabilitation should be sustained.

    It might seem ironic to call for more efficient use of power when the power supply is at best epileptic. Yet, amidst the scarcity, there is a great deal of waste. Electrical appliance should be switched off when not in use. The regulatory authorities should insist on more efficient engines and appliances.

    Afforestation should be much more than ritual tree-planting to curb desert encroachment.  Reforestation rarely figures in public policy. This neglect cannot continue.

    Finally, family planning should be encouraged and even rewarded, to reduce population pressures on resources.

    These steps should be encapsulated in a sustained programme of mass education and public enlightenment conducted through traditional and social media.

  • A change of guards for the change government

    It was purely in the realm of speculation in some quarters that a cabinet shakeup was imminent, and that Edo Ex-Governor Oshiomhole had been penciled down for a ministerial position.

    Well if that is so, that would be good because he is one man I would describe as resourceful. He would be an asset in cabinet. But for some other people holding certain offices, the time for SHAKE-OFF has long come, so let us say goodbye to those ones. This administration is fast approaching the mid-term mark and a change of guards by then is quite in order to steer the ship of state in the second half of the term.

    I must say I cannot understand why it is that when a new president steps in; those on political appointments do not automatically bow out. That is the case with the American presidential system which Nigeria’s is patterned on, but this aspect is never pursued. In America, even judges bow out when a new Number 1 citizen comes in. Here, when people are given a presidential ‘Thank you – for – services’ and then replaced, these appointees march to court to sue the new president!

    Notice that in other climes there is always that transition between elections and handing over; and there has never been the first election petition; talking about in other African countries. That period is for fine-tuning one’s cabinet appointees, transiting in/out of official residence and briefings here and there. But over here where we jettisoned the transparent OPTION A4 and gleefully held onto our rigging machinery; that transition period is devoted in the main to election petitions, tribunals and post election violence and skirmishes. Not much time is left of this for making up an appointment list.

    I was interviewed by some national dailies last year and one of the things I said was that the CBN Governor and the Chief of Army Staff should be dropped. As at the time of that interview, their poor performances had not sunk to the woeful levels we have it today.

    The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (I am believing that is the one with a group of old academic theorists; the same as has been in the last 20 years) that group needs to be disbanded FOREVER.

    The state of the economy is the reason and the proof of their emptiness; evident.

    There is a cunning way people who hope for political positions go about their ‘lobby’. They go to the press and fire a steady stream of criticism against the government in position, attacking every single step or misstep taken with relish. Dr. Reuben Abati even co-hosted a television program with government criticism as its theme. It has worked for many. Femi Fani Kayode was openly  abusive of the PDP president, was made minister of Aviation – and then started hurling his abuses at the APC. Even Dr. Abati mentioned above was made presidential spokesman! And from the second he got his desired appointment to the end of that administration – THE GOVERNMENT COULD DO NO WRONG.

    Now what am I saying – beware of Doctors Abati and Oby Okweselesi Nwodo. So desperate is Dr. Oby for a cabinet position that it only remains to hand her CV to any friend of a friend of a friend of Buhari. But her woeful performance in the Obasanjo administration marks her out – for good. It is simply amusing to note that Abati is hungry for another opportunity in the Change government – he has suddenly found his tongue for criticizing presidents again! What can we say… don’t mind him, jare.

    Given our enormous challenges in all three sectors (all major), then Mr. Fashola’s portfolio is far too large for him, even for anyone. That Ministry needs now be split. Power, Works and Housing!

    The EFCC: I quote the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki verbatim            “I want to urge the president to nominate another person  since Magu can no longer act as the Chairman of the EFCC” …I want to urge him (the president) to do same urgently.

    As a woman I have not felt any direct impact of the Ministry of Women Affairs. Neither has any woman I know. I guess I am too far removed. What is worrisome however is that I am increasingly innundated by news reports of horrifying ordeals of Nigerian women. Cases of domestic violence, assault and killings, rape, rampaging herdmen attacking women and last week, the case of police brutality on a nursing mother with her little baby. Sherifat Bello, killed by her husband for ritual purposes and buried in a shallow grave. Titi – the murdered banker! I have not seen the Minister or the Ministry of Women Affairs in any of these. And I wonder.

    Is there anybody AT ALL in charge of the Human Rights Commission?      If so with all that’s going on in every locale nationwide, it is clear that he/she is unable to handle things. Fresh blood is Needed, so that less blood is Spilt please.

    Please is there a Minister for Justice?! That person must be thanking his stars everyday that GANI FAWEHINMI, THE NATION’S GADFLY IS NO MORE!! The Justice Minister really needs to see that this third arm of government is a democratic bedrock and not just one more political appointment. Isn’t it even they in the legal profession who say that Justice Must Be Done, And Must Be Seen to Be Done? The Minister must sit up now, shape up or ship out.

    The delay in budget implementation in an economy in recession is not a recipe for success. The Finance Ministry needs to be beefed up. The Minister Mrs. Kemi Adeosun is doing a great job. There could possibly be 2 ministers of State in that Department, or an agency that can properly interpret economic blueprints to have an impact on the people – the reason for government at all.

    Now this is so important that I wish, like Governor El-Rufai that I could send a memo directly to the President. There should be a sense of normalcy this time in the nominations for cabinet appointments. No rude shocks now of a list replete with opposition party members, while those who were sold out for this presidency, who worked hard in risky circumstances, are not even considered in the formation of government.

    This Is Because The Person Who Cannot Identify With One’s Vision, Will Only Bring Di-Vision.

     

  • ‘Change does not come overnight’

    ‘Change does not come overnight’

    On April 14, Embrace Assembly International, Ikorodu, Lagos will hold its yearly programme titled: Embrace. In this interview with Joseph Eshanokpe, the church’s Senior Pastor, Rev Isaac Adeyemi, speaks on the 10th anniversary of the event, his forthcoming 60th birthday and other issues.

    What is your view on the political situation in the country?
    I know that God in heaven cannot fail. I will be 60 this year and all this time, I have witnessed successive government promising electricity, potable water, good roads, good healthcare, but they have never delivered on their promises. How would I think that in two years, President Muhammadu Buhari would do the magic of what has not been done in the past 40 years? We are just in a hurry and maybe politicians are the ones hiking our expectations. Change doesn’t come over night. Change is gradual and I think those in government also need to demonstrate that they are serious about the change they are talking about.
    What is the theme of your church‘s forthcoming programme and what is it all about?
    This year’s Embrace marks our 10th anniversary and we are also using the opportunity offered by the occasion to launch the Isaac Adeyemi World Evangelistic Outreach. God just gave us the vision to reach out to the world and we believe that Embrace would be the vehicle to accomplish that purpose. In addition to what we have been doing yearly, we intend giving free drugs, eye glasses and other things to the public. We also intend feeding about 20, 000 people being expected at the event. As usual, we believe that souls would be attracted to His kingdom. Some artistes have been shortlisted to perform at the occasion. They include Evangelists Ebenezer Obey, Tope Alabi, Cobhams, Tim Godfrey and Boys Olorun. So, we are believing God to make it a time of breakthrough for soul-winning, signs and wonders. The event comes up on the Good Friday, April 14, and the venue is Ikorodu Town Hall. We are starting at 8am with the medical outreach, and it ends at 4pm. The musical crusade starts from 8pm till dawn.
    The theme of Embrace Season 10 is: “Rejoicing in our King,” taken from Psalm 149:2. We rejoice in this King because He brought salvation and deliverance. He allowed Himself to be killed, so we can have salvation and without Him we are nothing. If there is anyone to be praised, it is this King. So, this year, we are approaching it from the angle of praise, to open people’s eyes to see what this Man has done for them. This is the first year I would be ministering at Embrace since we started, and the reason is to explain more clearly the vision God gave to us on Isaac Adeyemi World Evangelistic Outreach. Before now, we have been reaching out to communities here, but with the new vision, we realised we need to go beyond here. Jesus said when we receive the gift of Holy Spirit; we shall be witnesses unto Him in Jerusalem, Judea, and in Samaria. Jerusalem is our locality, where we have been witnessing in Judea. Now, we have done Jerusalem and Judea, and we believe it is time to go to Samaria and the outer part of the world. And I know that God who has brought the vision has monitored it from afar. I believe He knows we are due to leave the mountain, where we have operated for so long. We’ve stayed too long on this mountain and God is saying we should move to the next mountain. We believe Embrace Season 10 is the auspicious time for us to launch out.
    He says we should go to Ghana, of course, we will head there.

  • It’s time for Change in CAF Exco-Ahmad

    It’s time for Change in CAF Exco-Ahmad

    • Says Nigeria’s support is key to his ambition
    • Pays courtesy visits to Saraki, NFF
    • Jets out last night to Morocco

    Ahmad Ahmad, the head of Madagascar’s Football Association paid a courtesy visit to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the President of Senate Senator Bukola Saraki in Abuja yesterday to solicit for support in his ambition to challenge long-standing Confederation of African Football (Caf) President Issa Hayatou in March 16 presidential elections.

    Ahmad, 57-year-old football administrator and a Deputy Senate President of Madagascar who is also a Caf Executive Committee member, told the Nigerian media in Abuja at the League Management Company’s (LMC) office that Nigeria’s backing with other two prominent African countries South Africa and Egypt is the pivotal for being optimistic that he would eventually edge out the incumbent Hayatou from the position.

    “I am in Nigeria to thank the Federal Government of Nigeria for throwing its weight behind me. Nigeria support to me is very huge and inspirational for me to win the election. Nigeria is a very big country and very experienced in African football. I consider it very important to visit these three power blocs: Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt to solidify my campaign for the election.

    “Nigeria is so important because of the rich talents the country has and administrative expertise too. Nigeria has a pedigree and achievements in the game in the continent and in the international competitions which is very important for any aspiring candidate to get her support which I am happy I have.

    “I am confident of beating the incumbent because I have been discussing with other African nations and we have all agreed that this is the time to effect a change in other to move the game forward in the continent and in the world too,” Ahmad disclosed in not too fluent English language.

    Before visiting the LMC office to chat with the Nigerian media, he had already paid a courtesy visit to the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation at their Wuse Zone 7 Abuja office. He then paid another courtesy visit to the Senate President Bukola Saraki.

    Ahmad left Nigeria yesterday for Morocco to continue his campaign.

    Hayatou, who has ruled the African game since 1988, is seeking an eighth term.

  • Nigerians urged to be instruments of positive change

    The Prelate and Supreme Head of the Motailatu Church Cherubim and Seraphim Worldwide (MCCSW), Elder Israel Akinadewo, has urged Christians to be instruments of positive change in the country.

    In a statement by his Special Adviser on Ecumenism and interfaith, Apostle Emmanuel Olawuyi, to mark the start of the Lenten season, Akinadewo admonished Christians to use the period to reposition themselves towards biblical and spiritual dispositions.

    He said: “Let us move away from self-righteousness, self-justification and self-glorification, but daily be humble to buttress the undeniable fact that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

    “Christians should remember that without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we will still be in spiritual bondage, hence the need to live in accordance with biblical injunctions.

    “Let us eschew love, abhor hatred and maintain good relationship with everyone we meet.

    “Even in the face of intense adversity, Jesus Christ still loved His accusers.

    “Therefore, we must emulate this attitude during the Lenten season and thereafter,” Akinadewo stressed.

  • Pupils advised to be change agents

    Pupils advised to be change agents

    Pupils of Doregos Private Academy, Ipaja, Lagos have been charged to be change agents in the society.

    Africa Leadership Forum Executive Director, Dr OLumide Ajayi, gave the charge while addressing pupils at the 20th Speech and Prize Giving Day of the school.

    He advised them to be ready to embrace change.

    “There would always be need for things to change. The more we ignore our gut-feelings or cutting- edge ideas the more likely we are to maintain the status quo. But the bad news is that if we ignore the signals that call for change there is someone somewhere who is responding positively to the nudge,” he said.

    Ajayi admonished the pupils to exercise leadership skills and commitment to excellence even in the face of challenges.

    He called on parents to teach their wards to approach life with a positive mindset to encourage them to be innovative.

    “What kind of future do we actually anticipate for our children? The answer to this question will determine our choices today in terms of the level and quality of education we give to our children, the moral value we instill in them…if we allow mediocrity in our approach to life, the generation to come would have nothing to build on,” he said.

    Chairman of the occasion, Mr Amos Adeleke, urged the pupils to have good atitude, adding that focus and perseverance yield success.

    The school’s Executive Director, Mr Bernardino Doregos, congratulated pupils who won prizes, noting that they have been inspired to bring out the best in them, and also the teachers who have relentlessly  shown effort  to mould the pupils, hence the award.

    The climax of the event was the presentation of awards to outstanding pupils and teachers.

    Bruce Omogbolahan, who made nine distinctions in the 2016 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), was the cynosure of all eyes.

    Others included: Bello Abubakar, who was the Overall Best in the 2016 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE); Taiwo Oyikansola (overall best in SS2); Mr Akinlabi (rewarded for Staff dedication award).

  • ‘Change begins with me’

    Today’s Town Hall Meeting is unique because it marks the first time we are holding the regular edition of the meeting for the second time in any particular zone. In other words, this is the second edition of the Town Hall Meeting for the Southeast. The first edition was held in Enugu last year. I congratulate the government and the good people of Abia State for this landmark.

    On another level, this is also a unique event in the sense that it is what  I will call two-in-one. In addition to holding this Town Hall Meeting here, we will also be launching, in this state, the national re-orientation programme, ‘Change Begins With Me’, today. This is the first time these two flagship events will be held together. It then means that we will start off with the presentation of the campaign before kick-starting the Town Hall Meeting.

    The ‘Change Begins With Me’ campaign, which was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on  September 8, 2016, is aimed at achieving a paradigm shift in the way we do things. Simply put, it is geared towards achieving an attitudinal change. As they say, you cannot continue to do things the same way and expect a different result. With the total breakdown of our core values in the past years, it is imperative that we re-orientate ourselves with a view to restoring those time-tested values of honesty, integrity, diligence, hard work, punctuality, patriotism and abhorrence of corruption, among others. It is important to stress that ‘Change Begins With Me’ is a national campaign. It has no political, religious or ethnic coloration.

    Now to our Town Hall Meeting. Let me start off by sincerely thanking the Executive Governor of Abia State, His Excellency Okezie Ikpeazu, for his invaluable contribution to the hosting of this double-barreled event and the warm reception that has been accorded us since we arrived here. In fact, that we are here today is largely on the initiative of His Excellency. He invited us to launch the ‘Change Begins With Me’ campaign in Abia State, and we decided, with his permission, to also use the opportunity to hold a Town Hall Meeting. By hosting these events today, His Excellency has shown that it is possible for patriotic leaders to put national interest above political considerations.

    As is customary at our Town Hall Meetings, please permit me to also express my gratitude to my colleagues Honourable Ministers for accepting to be part of this meeting, despite their tight schedule.

    Their presence at this forum is a testimony to the importance this administration attaches to the need to continually engage with Nigerians from all walks of life.

    This is the ninth in the series of the Town Hall Meetings which we launched in Lagos on April 25, 2016, with a view to bridging the communication gap between the government and the people, carrying the people along in the process of governance and also getting the necessary feedback from the citizens. So far, we have also held the meeting in Kaduna, Kano, Uyo, Enugu, Ilorin and twice in Abuja. We will continue to engage with Nigerians through this and other fora, because people’s participation is at the very heart of democracy.

    Your Excellencies, Honourable Ministers, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, one issue that is very important to our administration is the diversification of the economy away from oil. Boosting industrial development, especially through the local production of goods and services, is a major plank of this policy. Patronising Made-in-Nigeria goods and services is also key to the success of the policy. In this regard, I can boldly say that Abia State is a pacesetter. Today, the state supplies high-quality military boots to our military, and that is just one of such impressive ventures by the state. So, while the state is boosting local production of goods and services, the military is patronising Made-in-Nigeria goods. It’s a symbiotic relationship, and there is no better way to give teeth to the economic diversification policy.

    Talking about Made-in-Nigeria products, let me use this important national platform to announce that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has already approved measures to sensitise Nigerians to patronise such products. These measures include the approval given to the Bureau of Public Procurement to increase the patronage of Made-in-Nigeria good and services through a review of its Act. A major way of encouraging growth and development as well as boosting the nation’s economy is by helping the small businesses to blossom. To achieve this, the Federal Government has taken the bull by the horns by working with the states to address the root problems facing the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). This is being done through clinics being organised in each state, and this will be followed up with a huge MSME Trade Fair in Abuja later in the year, where grant agencies and investors will be invited to provide funds for outstanding businesses. I am happy to announce that the clinic was launched here in Abia State, specifically in Aba, on the 26th and 27th of January 2017. That’s a befitting tribute to Abia’s trail-blazing efforts at nurturing MSMEs.

    Also, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, which is presided over by the Acting President, His Excellency Yemi Osinbajo, has approved a 60-day national action plan for ease of doing business in Nigeria. The reforms include making it possible for new businesses to be registered online from start to finish without having to visit the CAC office, streamlining the number of agencies operating at the nation’s ports to just six, introduction of Visa on Arrival, Tourist and Business Visas and 48-hour Visa processing procedures by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), reducing the number of forms required to incorporate a business in Nigeria from seven to one, and opening of additional 28 offices for issuance of Residence Permits in Nigeria, thus bringing the issuance of Combined Expatriate Residence Permit And Aliens Cards (CERPAC) closer to the doorstep of employers of expatriates at all 36 states and FCT.

    There is no doubt that these measures, plus the continuous encouragement of pace-setting states like Abia through patronage and other means, will boost local production in Nigeria and give a much-needed bounce to the nation’s economy.

    I thank you all most sincerely for your kind attention.

     

    • Being a speech by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at the Federal Government’s Second Town Hall Meeting for the Southeast, held in Umuahia, Abia State, on February 27.

  • N8b budget for climate change

    The Clerk of the House of Representatives Committee on Climate Change, Wali Baba Shehu, has revealed that the National Assembly made provision of N8 billion in the 2017 Appropriation Bill for the country to tackle issues on climate change.

    Sheu disclosed this at the Climate Change Knowledge Immersion workshop series, which held in Abuja last week. It was organised by the Federal Ministry of the Environment’s Department for Climate Change and the World Bank for members of the National Assembly.

    “The sum of N8 billion has been dedicated as a new budget line for issues on climate change in the 2017 budget, which will cut across all the MDAs that directly engage in issues of climate change. This is a committed action taken by the legislative arm of government to support Nigeria’s action towards achieving its set goals of reducing carbon emissions by 25 per cent by the year 2030,” Shehu said.

    It was gathered that this is the first time the National Assembly will be dedicating a lump sum to issues of climate change in the budget across the diverse sections of MDAs that work on climate change issues.

    The Director, Department of Climate Change, Ministry of Environment, Dr Peter Tarfa, expressed delight and commended the lawmakers for coming up with the budgetary plans to assist in implementing the country’s plans of action on climate change.

    “This will immensely enhance the capacity of Nigeria to draw from the diverse climate change funds or green funds that are available in the international community, but required a stringent counterpart commitment. It will also enable the much desired collaboration amongst all the MDAs as against working in silos thereby limiting our ability to work collectively,” Tarfa said.

     

    A Director with the Energy Commission of Nigeria, Dr John Epkeyong, however enjoined the lawmakers to tie the appropriation to set targets.

    “I want to appeal to the National Assembly to make sure that whichever department or agency that will be receiving funds from this budget must ensure that their expenditure is based a set target of achieving carbon emissions in any way,” he said.