The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Egypt

  • African govts should ratify free trade agreement, says Obasanjo

    Nigeria’s former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has challenged African leaders, to give priority attention to the signing  of the African  Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), saying the deal has in its kitty investments worth $27billion for the continent.

    Obasanjo, who spoke on Tuesday in Cairo, Egypt at the opening of the Intra-African Conference prior to the unveiling of the first Intra-African Trade Fair(IATF), said the trade fair was an essential instrument  necessary to actualise ACFTA, “  which he stressed  is vital for Africa and the continent’s transformation. “It is therefore imperative that all African governments, who believe in Africa’s progress, should not only sign the  ACFTA,, but should ratify it at once,” making a way for its implementation.

    He said the IATFA, which is the first of its kind in Africa, is expected to churn out deals worth over $27 billion, pointing out that the event has been designed to drive inter African trade and to support the implementation of the African  Continental Free Trade Agreement. He tagged ACFTA    a landmark agreement in the context of its value in economic integration, transformation  and progress in Africa’s development.

    The trade fair, in his words, “ will give each participant a platform for sharing in the context of African trade, investment and economic integration, leading to the  transformation and  development  of the continent . It will give opportunities to investors to showcase their goods and services  and share with others the trend and market openings.”

    Read Also: 2019: I’ll never be neutral, says Obasanjo

    Obasanjo praised the Africa-Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) and its Chairman, Professor Benedict Oramah for the efforts and contributions towards bringing the IATF dream to fruition.

    As he put it: “When we started planning for the project, we did not have any financial resources  Afreximbank provided significant financial resources, but Professor Oramah and  other senior management members of the bank committed so much of their time and resources with enthusiasm ad conviction that the trade fair would pay-off and would contribute ultimately towards the actualization of the ACFTA, which will play a vital role in driving business and generating employment  across the continent.

    “Afreximbank and the AU have worked tirelessly since the announcement of the trade fair in Kigali in March this year,” he stated.

     Obasanjo said without uninhibited trading among African countries, intra-African trade fair will amount to sham.

    “Africa needs to focus on what trade is needed, where the markets are, the size of the market, and the standards required by those markets, how and where to implement the value chains that serve the market.

    “We also need to fashion out the medium of payment within Africa for intra-African trade expeditions. These factors need to be combined in ensuring that there is commercially viable return and that the markets chosen are sustainable.”

    He said when Africa actualises its potential, it will earn more respect from the human race.

    Professor Oramah said Africa making history at the IATF, by reversing the colonial strategy of divide and rule, saying  the event signaled Africa’s readiness for economic independence. As he put it, “Africa should use the force of history to change the course of history.”

    He said 1,150 exhibitors from 80 countries would participate in the fair, with close to 40 from outside the continent.

    A large number of exhibitors, many of them from Nigeria were at the fair. The Managing Director of the Bank of Industry, Pitan, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Chairman and Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation,  Tony Elumelu, The Dangote Group, Fidelity Bank Plc, Executive Director, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) BoI, Waheed Olagunju and several firms from Europe, Turkey, China, Indonesia, among others, are in attendance. The Prime Minister of the Arab Democratic Republic of Egypt, represented the Egyptian President at the opening ceremony.

  • Tinubu to PDP: Nigerians will never return to Egypt

    Buhari Groups fixated, says PDP

    Frontline politician  Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has advised Nigerians not to allow the nation return to the path of destruction on which he said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) put it for 16 years.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart who spoke at a National Consultative Forum organised by the National Committee of Buhari Support Groups in Abuja, accused the Atiku Campaign Organisation and the PDP of trying to blackmail the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Police with the accusation of plots to rig the 2019 elections because “they know that they will not win”.

    He also accused Senate President Bukola Saraki of using the mandate of the APC to negotiate and give a lifeline to the opposition. “He left the PDP, joined us, got elected, got our mandate, our majority and sold it for a pot of pottage. God is honest, Saraki is not,” Tinubu said.

    The former Lagos State governor recalled how the rigging machinery of the PDP almost denied him his re-election in 2003 when INEC published what he described as “fake results” on its website, adding that the then Resident Electoral Commissioner insisted that what was published was not the real results for his election to be validated.

    He said it was a shame for the opposition party to be celebrating an American visa for its presidential candidate who, he said, has so many party membership cards enough to build a house. “That is why they are confused,” Tinubu said.

    He went on: “Come February, we will re-elect Buhari. It is not easy to put together a National Committee, but we are in the same family. As free-minded people, you are all free to be doing other things this morning, but you are here because you have the vision and the determination that Nigeria must continue the foundation and the progress of the future.

    “Working together to re-elect Buhari is a task that must be achieved. Why are they complaining? Buhari is too busy to exchange words with them because he building a foundation of a prosperous Nigeria that will magnify the economy and provide employment for everyone regardless of the status in the society.

    “A fervent man like him will not have time for the nonsense being thrown at him. I give you one message for them and there will be many such messages. Their candidate who is supposed to beat Buhari, has been in our party and many other parties. He has more party membership cards to build a house.

    “All you have to do is to go out there and tell him that a house built on cards will be collapsed with a single stroke of broom. He said they are reformed, but reformed what? Reformed PDP. No. Tell them as you go out that we accept the admission of guilt that they were vagabonds before and now being reformed.

    “But they have not served enough probation. You can only be reformed if you are an ex-convict, a drug addict or a political prostitute. It is because Buhari has no temperament and no tolerance for corruption, he is vigorously ridding the nation of blemish and looting,  bad reputation.

    “I can see them celebrating the visa. What a shame? Yet you want to lead this country with the most vibrant economy in Africa? Why should we allow them?

    “They ran this country from 1999 till 2015. They were planning for 60 years of doing nothing, lack of direction and concern for the citizens.

    “Are we still in this nation where visionary leadership is required? If yes, then they are not competent and not qualified to be leading Nigeria again and say they want to come back to government. If they left our schools in such dilapidated condition, left out hospitals without medicare, they don’t deserve to come back.

    “They say we should not talk about their past anymore because they are ashamed of it, but we cannot go forward  without talking about it because a nation has no history if there are no references. If you give me an application for employment which is the application of Atiku Abubakar, I must look at what you have done before, your experience.

    “We have to look at Halliburton and why they left Nigeria. Go and ask those questions. They spent $16 billion of NEPA money and what they gave us is darkness and when they knew that we were kicking them out, they shared the company through irregularities called privatisation, which I call personalisation of the wealth of Nigeria.

    “We won’t allow that to happen again and I will recommend that we campaign on that. We should find a way to technically dissolve those companies they shared among themselves. There is no way you can industrialise a nation without providing electricity.

    “So many industries in Kaduna, Ikeja and other parts of the country. What were they doing for 16 years? That is why we believe that President Buhari is the best person to lead us and got him elected in 2015.

    “They said he will die, but he did not die and is back hale and hearty and when they saw seriousness on his part, they now said he was cloned. That is because they know so much about forgery. I am glad he told them he is real. They exist to lie.”

    Tinubu also attacked former President Olusegun Obasanjo who he described as PDP’s “new found Jehovah Witness”. After they disgraced the office of the President, fighting in public and abusing each other, telling us how they stole money and dancing naked in the market square, Obasanjo said he has spoken to God never to allow Atiku to become President,” he said, adding:

    “Which God is he now talking to, to say Atiku should be President? I believe he is not telling the truth and not to the God we know. He is just talking to himself.”

    Tinubu went on: “We have sacrificed too much under the PDP and we cannot go back.

    “People must ask you why you belong to this support group. Tell them that you are members of a very committed rescue mission that started in 2015. I remember how things were. So, remind them of what happened because they can’t shut us up.

    “They had the best opportunity for prosperity, but they are now complaining. They were there for 16 years and never added one barrel capacity to the refineries in Nigeria. They didn’t even pay counterpart funding for our rail, electricity and we cannot industrialise a nation without the power source.

    Read also: Looters ‘shun Dubai for Morocco, Jo’burg, Ghana’

    “I stand before you as a very proud individual. When I introduced Independent power generation to fire the industries at Ikeja Industrial Estate, they killed it because there was bribe under the table.

    “Imagine what Buhari is doing today in rail and in feeding our children which creates opportunity for the farmers; it creates small scale business for those cooking the food and a lot of people involved are doing better and we are battling poverty with the best weapon, which is education.

    “They are busy changing parties and that is why they are confused. Atiku is now PDP Aladdin. He is going to create 14 million jobs and I say how? They will turn Atlantic into fuel to crash the prices without the refineries working and the population is expanding and people must move around. He just talk of crashing the prices of fuel. They are lying again because a leopard cannot change its skin.

    “They had 16 billion of unprecedented resources and yet, they didn’t bring power to Nigeria. They invested that money in their personal industries. They bought turbines from General Electric and did not add one pipeline to bring gas to the plant.

    “They can say anything now about Buhari. I agree with Okonjo-Iweala that it is difficult to fight corruption. The agents of destruction are there fighting us, but We will win with strong determination.

    “Don’t let them weep things under the carpet  – that when we came in as a government, before then they had too much resources in their hands, but Buhari funded states to pay salaries. In that period, 27 states were unable to pay salaries as at May 2015. The states and local economy would have collapsed long time ago.

    “If PDP members truly love this country, they should humbly step aside and allow Buhari continue with the work of addressing the ills of our nation. However, since they seems to obstruct and remain focused as applicants, we say no job for them.

    “No matter what they say, don’t listen to them, don’t kind them. What they want is to continue to distract with the talk of rigging because they know that they are losing. They want to blackmail INEC and the police. I remember my own election for my second term.

    “On the website of INEC, they announced a funny result, but a woman of great character who was the State Resident Electoral Commissioner said, ‘no’, the result she got from the field are the valid results and not the fake ones published and upheld our election. They know they cannot win.

    “That is why all the noise from either Saraki, a man who used our mandate to negotiate and give lifeline to the opposition. Leadership is about character. How can he now ask us to vote for PDP? He left the PDP, joined us, got elected, got our mandate, our majority and sold it for a pot of pottage. God is honest; Saraki is not.

    The APC chief spoke also on the herdsmen/farmers clashes. He said: “They talk about farmers and herders clashes. If they are honest, they should know that it also happened during their time, but they have … no capacity to convert tragedy into economic prosperity. We have the capacity in this country to do irrigation and utilize our water resources, to create pastures and ranches so that we can convert that misery, that tragedy to opportunity for our people. Livestock is economy.

    “It is not about intellectual talent alone. There are so many unrewarded talents across the world. It is about character, determination, the love of a country and our commitment to nation building. That is what PDP is opposed to and APC is determined to continue as a progressive entity and the man to lead the nation on that path is President Buhari. Tell Nigerians that after Moses crossed the Red Sea, he is not going to return to Egypt”.

     

  • Anxiety as Egypt delays visa issuance for African fair

    Exhibitors who are supposed to travel to Egypt for the 2018 Intra-African Trade Fair exhibition have lamented their inability to get traveling visa from Egyptian Embassy.

    The exhibition is scheduled for between December 9 and 12. With less than four days to go,  no exhibitor has been able to get visa yet, thus creating anxiety among the business community because they are unsure if the embassy will release the visa before the date of the exhibition.

    But officials of the embassy, has assured that work is ongoing to expediate action on the issuance of visa to the intending exhibitors.

    An official, Lucy Akorebe,  said the workers were working round the clock to ensure everyone gets  visa in the next two days. She appealed to the exhibitors and people travelling for the programme to be patient.

    She said: “We are really sorry for the inconveniences, our workers are inside right now working round the clock to ensure everyone gets visa. We have some international passports from Nexim Bank, Nigeria Export Promotion Council, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and other places.

    “I am assuring you that in the next two or three days, everyone will get visa to enable them prepare on time.”

  • Mo Salah joins anti animal export campaign in Egypt

     

    If you think Liverpool goal machine Mo Salah is only concerned about scoring goals for the Reds and thinking about winning laurels, you are wrong.

    On the contrary, the former Roma and Chelsea ace is equally paying blow by blow attention to things happening at home, Egypt.

    Following recent report that the Egyptian government is planning to round up stray cats and dogs for export, Salah has joined in the campaign against the move, insisting that such a policy will not be allowed to take place in the land of the Pharaohs.

    Salah Tuesday took to the social media to pose for a picture with his two pet cats in order to protest the proposed move against cat and dogs.  Those campaigning against the move expressed fears that if the animals are exported they might be shipped to places where they will be butchered and eaten.

    The Liverpool star posted a snap on Twitter with his two pet Siamese cats, along with the caption: ‘Cats and dogs will not be exported anywhere. That’s not going to happen.’

    According to news agency Al-Araby, the Egyptian government has authorised the rounding-up and export of 4,100 stray cats and dogs to other countries, leading to concern they could be sent to places where they would be eaten as food.

    A spokesman for the Egyptian Agriculture Ministry has however been quoted denying these claims as ‘baseless’.

    However that has not stopped Salah, Egypt’s best-known footballer, from confirming his status as an animal lover and supporting his feline friends.

    Salah in the post was seen relaxed with his pets ahead of Liverpool’s return to Champions League action Wednesday against Paris Saint-Germain.

    A win would all but confirm their place in the last 16 but defeat would leave them staring at early elimination.

  • AMI flays attacks on journalists in Cameroon, Sudan, Egypt, others

    African Media Initiative (AMI) has expressed great concern over the growing curtailment of media freedom in many African countries, including Cameroon, Sudan, Egypt and Tanzania.

    It said governments in Africa have a duty to refrain from undue interference with the right to media freedom and must promote and protect citizens’ rights of access to information.

    In a statement yesterday, the media group said in the last four weeks in Cameroon, eight journalists – Joseph Olinga, Michel BiemTong, Gustave Flaubert Kengne, Michel Kalabassou, Mimi Mefo, Josiane Kouagheu, Akumbom McCarthy, and Mathias Mouende – have been intimidated, arrested or tried before military courts across the country over allegations of ‘propagating false information’ or ‘undermining the safety of the state’ under the anti-terror law.

    Cameroon has seen, over the years, an accelerated shrinking of the democratic space where both journalists and citizens are having to adapt to a difficult environment.

    In Egypt, a law enacted last month has been widely criticised as tantamount to extortion of media houses as it requires hefty registration amounts for licences with websites being forced to pay more than $30,000 to register and up to five times that amount for non-compliance. The law is viewed as an attempt by the government to silence the remaining independent media.

    AMI added that on 29 October, the Press Court in Khartoum sentenced Zine El Abeen Al-A’jab, a former editor of Al Mustagila newspaper, to one and a half months in prison or a fine of 5,000 pounds ($104) over alleged “dissemination of false information” among other charges.

    Overall, according to Amnesty International, at least 15 journalists have been arrested and detained between January and October 2018 by the government’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISS).

    In addition, the entire print run of 10 newspapers was confiscated on at least 27 occasions. Al Jareeda, one of the last independent newspapers, has been confiscated at least 13 times this year.

    The statement said on 7 November in Tanzania, South African journalist Angela Quintal, Africa programme coordinator for press freedom group, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and her Kenyan colleague Muthoki Mumo were arrested from their hotel in Dar-es-Salaam and detained by authorities for 24 hours.

    Rights groups and media advocates have recently expressed concerns about the freedom of expression in the country since election three years ago of Tanzania’s President, John Magufuli, whose regime has cracked down on independent media and close down critical newspapers.

    Earlier in 2018, the government approved a new law regulating online content that gives them the right to revoke the permit if a website publishes content “that leads to public disorder” and “threatens national security”, according to media report.

    In view of the above, AMI reiterated that intimidation of journalists, harassment, arbitrary detentions, closures, internet cuts, media closure, censorship, and trials of journalists before military courts over crimes allegedly committed while discharging their duties contravene international treaties and covenants protecting the freedom of the press and the public’s right of access to information .

    It called on African governments to create a conducive environment for a free exercise of the media profession .

    The group demanded the immediate release of journalists arrested.

  • Buhari’ll make Nigerian port a hub in Africa – Peterside

    President Muhammadu Buhari has a bold and robust vision, national determination, and assiduous plans to make the Nigerian ports, the hub of maritime activities in the West and Central Africa.

    This was disclosed Tuesday, by the Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside at the on-going Association of African Maritime Administrations Conference, holding at Sharma El Sheikh, Egypt.

    Addressing over 2000 delegates and other stakeholders at the conference, the NIMASA helmsman

    said the geographical location of Nigeria  trade lines is favourable and its transformation to a regional maritime hub, he said, cannot be by chance but by having a robust plan, identify its strength and weakness through the efforts of the Federal Government to take financial risk and invest in infrastructure and technological development.

    The Buhari administration, he said, has a long-term, strategic port planning system that will ensure in the next two years that the nation’s sea ports provide adequate capacity to meet the demands of key shipping lines and their alliance partners in sizeable blocks of volume.

    This, he said, means the ability of the Nigeria to develop deep sea ports, berth all types of ocean going vessels and conduct cargo operations timely and efficiently.

    Africa, he said, needs leaders like President Buhari that have strategic vision and viable courage to make bold decisions that will enable the Nigerian sea ports and other ports in Africa to stay ready for the future, be a pacesetter, reap first-mover advantages, and thrive in a dynamic and competitive global maritime business.

    Nigeria’s strategic vision for its ports, he said, are being built on the 3 Cs of Connectivity, Capacity, and Competitiveness

    African leaders, he said, need to emulate Singapore in taking the right decision and make the necessary investment to develop port infrastructure and technology to boost efficiency and economy.

    “Today, we are celebrating Singapore based on the Vision of its leaders. And I am also happy to inform you that the Federal Government of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari is doing everything position to make the Nigerian ports the hub of maritime activities in the West and Central Africa.

    The Federal Government, through NIMASA, Dr Peterside said, is emulating Singapore and other maritime nations of the world in terms of short, medium and long term planning that will assist the Nigerian ports to compete favourably with other ports across the globe and urged other African countries to emulate them.

    The maritime time sector forecast released by NIMASA recently and the training of over 2500 seafarers by the agency, he said, were part of the efforts to make the Nigerian ports competitive.

    He urged African maritime administrators to identify areas where they have comparative advantage, their weaknesses and the opportunities they have to reduce poverty and the high level of unemployment ravaging the content.

    “Be ready to take risk, make necessary investment and grow human capacity.”

    He said, there was need for maritime administrators across the continent to come up with beautiful ideas so that people can invest in their programmes the way the World Bank and other financial institutions did for Singapore in 1972.

    Paucity of fund, according to him, cannot, and must not be allowed to delay the growth of the maritime sector in the continent of Africa.

    Nigeria and other African countries, he said, must emulate continue to emulate developed countries by investing in technology to bringing innovation and efficiency to our ports.

    In allaying the fear of other countries in Africa, he said,: “We are not in competition with ourselves, we are not in competition with our neighbouring ports, we are part of the global community, we in competition with the best in the world,” he said.

    He urged port administrators in Africa to leverage on technology to make the ports attractive for business.

    Representatives of over 35 countries from Africa and beyond and other stakeholders are attending the event.

     

  • Court confirms death sentence on 75 in Egypt’s sit-in

    An Egyptian court on Saturday upheld death sentences against 75 people for participating in a 2013 sit-in protest in support of deposed  President Mohammed Morsi.

    Those convicted included senior officials in Morsi’s now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group, state television reported on its website.

    BThirty-one of the 75 defendants were tried in absentia.

    The head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, was sentenced to 25 years in jail in the same case.

    In July, the Cairo Criminal Court recommended death sentences for the 75 defendants.

    The court also announced that the sentences would be referred to the country’s chief Islamic Legal Authority, the grand mufti, for a non-binding opinion, as required by Egyptian law.

    The same court issued Saturday’s ruling after consultations with the mufti.

    The mufti’s opinion was not released but it appears that he did not take the unusual step of opposing the death sentences.

    Among the accused in the case is award-winning photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, who was on Saturday given five years in prison.

    Abu Zeid, also known as Shawkan, has been in jail since August 14, 2013, when he was arrested while covering the sit-in.

    Procedures will now start for releasing Shawkan, 30, because he has already served more than five years in pre-trial detention, judicial sources said.

    Shawkan in April won the 2018 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize.

    On Saturday, the court also sentenced 46 others to 25 years in prison each in the same case.

    Prison terms ranging from 15 to five years were given to 612 co-defendants.

    Charges were dropped against five other defendants who had died since the legal proceedings began.

    The court also ruled that all the rulings could be appealed.

    The case is related to the sit-in protest staged in mid-2013 by Morsi’s loyalists in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square in Cairo.

    In August 2013, security forces cleared the protest with force.

    The operation, in which hundreds of people were killed, came more than a month after the army deposed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected but divisive president.

    The defendants were charged with murder, holding an armed gathering, damaging public property, illegal possession of weapons and belonging to an outlawed group, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Rights group Amnesty International condemned Saturday’s verdicts.

    “These sentences were handed down in a disgraceful mass trial of more than 700 people, and we condemn today’s verdict in the strongest terms,” said Najia Bounaim, the watchdog’s North Africa campaigns director.

    “The death penalty should never be an option under any circumstances.

    “The fact that not a single police officer has been brought to account for the killing of at least 900 people in the Rabaa and Nahda protests shows what a mockery of justice this trial was,” she added, citing another pro-Morsi sit-in held in mid-2013 near Cairo.

    The Egyptian government has repeatedly said that the country’s judiciary operates independently.

    Months after Morsi’s ouster, Egyptian authorities declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation and rounded up thousands of its members and loyalists in the toughest crackdown on the group since it was created in 1928. (dpa/NAN)

  • MIIC, IFC sign deal to support entrepreneurship

    Egypt has signed an agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group,  to support entrepreneurs and emerging companies in Africa, promote innovation and drive economic growth, according to a statement.

    Sahar Nasr, Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, and Mouyyad Makhlouf, IFC Regional Director, Middle East and North Africa at the IFC signed the agreement.

    Under the agreement, the MIIC and the IFC will select 100 promising entrepreneurs from across Africa to connect them with business leaders, international investors, financial institutions and decision-makers at this year’s Africa Conference under the patronage of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in Sharm El Sheikh in December.

    “This initiative will strengthen Egypt’s position as a regional hub to attract innovative entrepreneurs and create a favourable enabling environment for those companies across Africa, which will help them grow, raise capital and maximise global reach,” mentioned Nasr.

    Over the past two years, the IFC has provided nearly $65million in financing to technology companies and start-ups in the Middle East and North Africa, along with leading companies in business accelerators and funds such as Wamda, Flat 6 Labs and Algebra Ventures, noted the statement.

    “Small businesses, including emerging ones, are the cornerstone of most economies in Africa and the Middle East,” said Mouyyad Makhlouf, IFC Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

    “Governments across the continent can help create jobs and opportunities for their people by providing them with access to capital and guidance,” added Makhlouf.

    Makhlouf pointed out that the IFC has invested in Egypt this year $1.2bn,  which is the highest investment rate in the Middle East, especially after taking several measures to improve the investment environment.

    Today’s agreement is the best opportunity to create jobs and remove obstacles that may face entrepreneurs and young people, added Makhlouf, noting that the growth rate in Egypt has reached 5.8 per cent, and the removal of obstacles to small investors and increased employment opportunities would lead to an increase in growth rate.

     

  • ‘Whistle-blower policy has yielded N13.8b from tax evaders’

    The Federal Government announced on Tuesday that its whistle-blower policy has raked in N13.8 billion from tax evaders.

    It added other massive dividends of the policy include N7.8 billion, $378 million and 27,800 Pounds recoveries from public officials.

    Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed told reporters in his country home of Oro, Irepodun local government area of Kwara state.

    He added that “the fight against corruption has been unrelenting, without fear or favour. The administration has driven corruption under the table.

    Nigerians no longer celebrate the corrupt. Looters no longer sleep at night, as the long arm of the law closes in on them.

    “This administration has embarked on institutional reforms to curb corruption. The diligent implementation of the Treasury Singles Account (TSA) has plugged the loopholes being exploited to steal public funds.”

    Alhaji Mohammed urged Nigerians I want to be vigilant and not to yield the space to naysayers.

    He added the “gains of the past three years plus must be preserved. Nigeria must continue on its present trajectory to sustainable growth and development. Never again must we go back to Egypt.

    “The year 2019 is the year of decision for Nigeria. It is the year that the critical decision will be made as to whether Nigeria will continue along the path of development, in all ramifications (social, economic, political, etc), that this administration has embarked upon since 2015, or the country will retrogress and backslide to the throes of massive and primitive looting and lack of development.

    “As we approach this critical fork on the road, I have no iota of doubt that the good people of Nigeria will choose the path of development, having seen the commitment, sincerity and patriotism of this administration. It is clear, from all indications that Nigerians are not going back to Egypt. Because of the support of the people, our party will win, even with a wider margin, in 2019, thus sealing the fate of the naysayers.

    Read Also: Whistle-blower policy yields N123bn

    “The fear of this impending victory explains why they have been running from pillar to post, desperate to thwart the victory of the APC in 2019. They labour in vain.”

    Reeling out the achievements of the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration, the minister said: “Never in the history of our country has any administration embarked on such a massive infrastructural development as this administration. The whole country is one huge construction site. Roads are being constructed in all the six geo-political zones. As you all know, I have been touring the various infrastructural projects of the Federal Government across the country, with the media. So far, we have inspected about 10 projects, including the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail project, the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, the Oyo-Ogbomoso road, the Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Port Harcourt roads, the 2nd Niger Bridge, the Abuja light rail project and the Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa-Bida road.The Administration had built over 700km of roads and rehabilitated about 650km.

    “In the area of agriculture, it has been a huge revolution. Let’s take one of our national staples, such as rice, as an example. When we came in, there were 5 million rice farmers. Today, we have in excess of 11 million rice farmers. Our rice import has been cut by over 80 per cent. These didn’t happen by accident. It was a result of our Anchor Borrowers Programme. There are more millionaire farmers today than at any other time in the history of our nation. Today, Nigeria is closer to achieving self-sufficiency in rice than at any other time in the history of our country.

    “This administration has employed 500,000 unemployed graduate under its Social Intervention Programme (SIP). No government in our country’s history has ever done that. This Administration has been daily feeding 8.5 million school children in 23 states. That has never been done before in Nigeria. This administration has been proving 10,000 Naira every two months to over 300,000 families as social security for the most vulnerable. This has never been done before in Nigeria. This administration, realizing that SMEs are the biggest employers of labour, has been growing such enterprises at an astronomical rate through its Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme. This is unprecedented.

    “In the area of power, this administration has taken power generation to 7,000MW. This is unprecedented in Nigeria. Distribution is at 5,000MW. This has never been achieved before. Model houses are being built across the country as a prelude to a massive housing scheme.”

  • Al-Sisi : Rumours main threat to Arab countries

    President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt has warned that Arab countries, including Egypt, were vulnerable to imploding from within under what he described as a barrage of rumours aimed at spreading instability.

    Addressing a military academy graduation ceremony in Cairo, Sisi said that his government had detected 21,000 rumours over a period of three months.

    Al-Sisi, who was elected president after he led the army in ousting Mohamed Mursi following mass protests against the Islamist president’s one year in office, sees himself as trying to rebuild Egypt following years of turmoil that began in 2011.

    “The real danger is blowing up countries from within. Rumours, acts of terrorism, loss of hope and feeling of frustration, all these work in a grand network aimed at one objective, only one objective, and that is to move people to destroy their country,” Al-Sisi said, speaking in Arabic.

    “Destroying our countries will not happen unless it came from within. We must be alert and pay attention to what is being spun against us in secret,” he added, without naming any party.

    He said that while he understood the economic hardships that ordinary Egyptians are enduring due to economic reforms, nothing justifies “causing chaos and destroying the state”.

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    Al-Sisi’s government has faced criticism from ordinary Egyptians over the raising of fuel, electricity and transportation prices, part of IMF-backed reforms that called for lifting subsidies on fuel prices causing economic hardships to many Egyptians.

    Critics accuse Al-Sisi’s government of presiding over the most serious crackdown on dissent since 2011, jailing thousands of people, most of them Islamists but also including liberals who opposed his policies.

    Supporters say Al-Sisi’s policies were necessary to bring stability to the most populous country in the Arab world and save it from the anarchy and destruction witnessed by other Arab countries such as Syria and Libya.

    At the ceremony, which was attended by senior army officers including former army chief Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, Al-Sisi also lavished praise on army officers who overthrew the monarchy in 1952 in what is known as the “July 23 Revolution”, including the late presidents Mohammed Naguib, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat.

    Sisi also decorated Youssef Siddiq, one of the Free Officers who fell out of favour with the Revolutionary Command Council due to differences over running the country after 1952 until he died in 1975, with the Nile Medal, the country’s highest honour.

    “My dad had no medals or any decorations. This is the first medal to be placed in the history of Youssef Siddiq,” Siddiq’s daughter, Laila, who received the medal, told Reuters.

    “What happened today was an act of justice to Youssef Siqqiq and his history, which had been deliberately suppressed,” she added.