The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fed Govt

  • Fed Govt to spend N505.6b on water projects

    The Federal Government yesterday said it would  spend N505.6 billion to complete ongoing 116 water projects across the country.

    The government also said outstanding liabilities owed contractors handling some of the projects stood at N88.8billion as at last year.

    Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, who spoke in Abuja during the public presentation of the roadmap for the water sector tagged: Immediate and long term strategies for water sector, 2016 – 2030, promised that the focus was to reform the water sector to meet the demands of Nigerians.

    Adamu, an engineer, explained that as at last year, national access to water supply in the country was 69 per cent, adding that 31 per cent or 52.7 million Nigerians still had no access to potable water.

    The minister lamented that Nigeria’s sanitation condition had continued to decline since 1990.

    He said: “It is imperative to change the trend to achieve 100 per cent access to water supply for our citizens by the year 2030 (the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)target year), when the population is estimated to grow to about 257 million. Presently, 31per cent (52.7 million) of Nigerians, mostly in the rural areas, are still without access to portable water supply.”

    Adamu noted that some of the contracts that were handled by the ministry had been stalled for up to 15 years.

    He said: “A total of 116 projects are ongoing. The total contract cost for these projects is N505.57billion and most of them are at 40 to 60 per cent level of completion. Some of these projects have been stalled for up to 15 years. The total outstanding liabilities for ongoing projects are N88.85billion as at 2015.

    “Of this sum, N66.88billion is for the main ministry’s projects while N20.97billion is for River Basin Development Agency projects. The total contractual commitment to completion is N264.99billion and our focus is on prioritisation and completion of ongoing projects.”

    The minister said out of the 116 ongoing projects, 38 are for irrigation and water drainage, 37 for dams and 41 for water supply.

    He said the government would give priority to ongoing projects based on already established criteria.

    The criteria, according to him include: stage/time of completion, cost of completion, envisaged impact on citizens and the economy, age of abandonment and overall project viability.

    He added that when the projects are completed, 887, 971 direct jobs would be created, and 13.5 million additional populations would be served with potable water.

    “Out of the 116 projects, 38 are prioritised based on the following criteria: irrigation drainage, 10 projects; dams, 13 projects; and water supply, 15 projects. For new projects, only fully prepared with detailed engineering designs and all other relevant bid documents will be considered,” he said.

    According to Adamu, Nigeria has hydro-power potential of about 12, 220 megawatt (Mw).

    “Only about 1,930 Mw has been developed at Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro dams. There are 17 existing dams with combined potential hydro-power capacity of over 200 Mw that are yet to be exploited.

    “Dams that are under study and design have combined potential capacity of about 4,320 Mw including Mambilla (3,050 Mw), Gurara II (360 Mw), Dasin Hausa (150 Mw) and Zungeru (760 Mw).

    “Several other sites with a total potential of 6,460 MW are yet to be fully studied and developed,” he added.

  • Fed Govt’s phoney agricultural policy

    SIR: The APC-led federal government has come up with its variant of policy direction on agriculture ostensibly to demonstrate in bold relief its belief in the long awaited diversification of the country’s comatose economy. It has turned a blind eye to abrogating the constraining federal laws that prevent the states from exploring and exploiting the mineral resources within their territory. Who is fooling who?

    Recently, minister of agriculture, Chief AuduOgbe exuberantly believed that the agricultural policy that would operate from this year to 2020 would position the country as self-sufficient in food supply with surplus for exports including raw materials that will enable economically advanced countries of the world make sophisticated use of the agricultural value chains which the Nigerian technology is yet to exploit.

    The agricultural minister should be pitied and excoriated for wasting the time and intellectual resource of the ministry’s staff in articulating the illusive agricultural promotion policy which is fit for the dust-bin. The supposed agricultural promotion policy is a well packaged brazen deception which is in line with the pseudo-federalism that gave birth to excessive centralization and bureaucratization that crippled governance.

    The APC-led federal government is merely postponing the inevitable path for the sorely needed continued existence of the apparently fragile polity. It does not pay the leadership of the APC and more importantly the federal government to continue playing the proverbial ostrich by resisting the sorely needed fundamental restructuring of governance to enable the federating units [call them “states/grouping of states to be designated as regions] design policies, programmes and projects that are in tandem with the deep yearnings, aspirations, philosophy and world-views of their people. There is a limit to suppressing the inalienable rights of a people which the international communities and institutions abhor.

    Nigeria would have been rubbing shoulders with civilized and advanced countries of the world if the military had not truncated the fundamentals and sacred principles of federal system of government as practiced the world over. The long years of military’s spoliation and the untrammeled corruption and brazen sleaze cum impunity of civilian administrations have placed the country on a failed state status.

    In countries that practice true federal system of government, the sub-national units take care of ministries like agriculture since the climatic conditions of the federating units are not the same. The climate of the south is not the same with the north; therefore why should there be a common policy on agriculture? Of course it amounts to leading the people up the garden path if not plain naivety for the minister of agriculture to have come up with the so-called “Agricultural promotion policy 2016-2020”.

    Nobody who keeps close tab with the brazen discriminatory policies in this country would express surprise on the deceptive agricultural policy. There has been no need for operating federal ministries like agriculture and water resources [and many others like security, education, health, industry etc.] as the states are well placed to operate them. The hidden agenda from the military regimes in operating ministry of agriculture has been to funnel the totality of the annual federal budgets on agriculture to the northern parts of the country for the construction of dams and irrigation to create the false impression that it is the north that feeds the entire country. Provisions for dams and irrigations in the federal budgets were never made for the southern parts of the country on the claim that there are rivers in these areas. What of ministry of water resources? Local governments can conveniently operate the ministry as obtained in true federalism; but in this country, the federal government controls virtually all ministries and brazenly hijacked agencies like internally revenue service for the issuance of motor vehicle plate numbers and drivers’ license; what a shame!

     

    • Polycarp Onwubiko,

    Awka Anambra State.

  • Fed Govt moves to flood market with kerosene

    The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) yesterday said the Federal Government has placed an order for the importation of the Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) or kerosene.

    Its chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Alhaji Sharif Abubakar Usman who spoke in Abuja during the inauguration of the Eastern Zonal Executive, said the cooking fuel will be available to every nooks and crannies of the country.

    Meanwhile, Okronkwo has assured that the price of petrol will crash soon as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) increased access of importers to foreign exchange (forex).

    He said: “Very soon, the products DPK and AGO (automotive gas oil) will be in circulation under the leadership of Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo . Those that are not aware they are aware now. Sooner or later but I cannot say today or tomorrow but very soon AGO will arrive. DPK will arrive this country under the leadership of Okoronkwo.

  •  Fed Govt begins recovery of Apapa Bridge

     Fed Govt begins recovery of Apapa Bridge

    •Drainage problem corrected

    AN emergency repair has started on the dilapidated Apapa Bridge in Lagos, following   an impact assessment  carried out by the Federal Government.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported yesterday that some steel plates and other construction materials had been laid over the portion where the concrete on the bridge has worn off.

    It added that earth-moving equipment was being used to reconstruct a portion of the drainage channel beside the dilapidated bridge.

    Also, the walkways on the Ijora/Marina-bound carriageway were being rehabilitated, creating openings through them into the drainage channel.

    The Ijora/ Marina-bound carriageway had been scarified and covered with some construction materials.

    Also, about 120 metres was scarified and laid with stone base on the service lane of the Apapa-bound carriageway.

    Some workers were removing silt out of the drains, starting from around the diversion on the Ijora/ Marina-bound carriageway downwards to under the damaged bridge.

    An official of the Federal Ministry of Works, who craved anonymity told NAN that 150 metres of the road had been repaired and ready for asphalt surfacing.

    Our source said that the bridge was undergoing temporary repair works, pending the completion of investigations towards commencement of the permanent repairs.

    “We have put steel props under the bridge before covering it with concrete. We added additional steel plates to provide additional strength.

    “Work is still ongoing to correct the problem on the bridge abutment, but the contractor is yet to submit the design for the work.

    “What we are doing on the bridge is a temporary solution; the permanent work will follow later.

    “Yesterday, a pundit integrity test was carried out to know the strength of the bridge; Julius Berger is also carrying out an independent investigation.

    “When all the reports are submitted, we will then begin permanent repair works. For now, we are trying to save the bridge,’’ the official said.

    The source explained that the ministry was using the opportunity of the ongoing repair works to correct a drainage problem on the axis.

    “We are reconstructing about eight metres of the damaged drainage channel; the way the old road was designed did not allow for free- flow of water into the drainage.

    Minister for Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola ordered the closure of the bridge on August 7 “for immediate repairs’’.

     

     

  • Why Fed Govt should swap Chibok girls for militants

    Why Fed Govt should swap Chibok girls for militants

    IF Kabu Yakubu and her wife, Esther, parents of one of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls, Dorcas, have their way, all detained Boko Haram fighters would be swapped for the more than 200 girls still being held by the militants.

    The duo yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to free the militants in exchange for the girls, who were abducted on April 14, 2014, from their dormitory at Government Girls’ Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State.

    Their appeal came hours after watching her daughter speak in the new video released by the Boko Haram insurgents demanding the swap of their detained members with the Chibok girls

    The video posted by the insurgents on Sunday showed dozens of the 218 girls who were abducted two years ago, with one saying that “some” have died in air strikes by troops on the militants’ hideouts.

    They said the video rekindled their hope of reuniting with their daughter someday.

    Mrs. Yakubu was quoted as saying: “The Chibok girls must be rescued. They must have their lives, the future that Boko Haram tries to truncate.

    “I wanted her to have the best of education; I planned to sponsor her education to whatever level she wanted; but she could not sit for her final examinations because she was abducted.

    “Boko Haram in the video asked the government to release their members so that they could release our girls. If the government knows that it cannot handle the insurgency, it should invite other countries. It is not a crime to seek assistance in a war. It is a shame for them to allow our daughters to languish in captivity for over two years.

    “I don’t regret sending her to school, but I regret putting her in boarding school. If she was a day student, she would be home with me that night. The abduction affected her because she was in boarding school.”

    Apart from her daughter, Mrs. Yakubu said she recognised about 20 other girls in the latest video.

    Her words: “I recognised Saratu Ayuba, Awa Ishaiya and others. In that video, Dorcas has grown up a little and she is slimmer. I cried when I saw her in the video. That is only change I observe, but I thank God she is alive.

    “All the girls that have been rescued have rescued themselves. Not any government has rescued them, no army rescued them.”

    Echoing her wife, Mr Yakubu urged the government to release the detained Boko Haram members in exchange for the girls, saying that the demand had boosted his hope that his daughter and others would eventually make it home.

    His words: “I will sleep well because since she was kidnapped, I have never seen her in other videos released. But today (Sunday), I saw her in the video, and my joy was rekindled.

    “What we have been telling the government is what Boko Haram demanded in the video. We are appealing to the government to help us to release Boko Haram detainees so they can release our daughters.

    “In the video, my daughter was begging the government to negotiate with the terrorists and they (Boko Haram) said unless the government releases their members who were being detained in Abuja, Lagos and Maiduguri prisons, they won’t release the girls.”

    Dozens of the girls escaped on their own within hours of the mass abduction of 276 students that shocked the world.

    In May, a lone Chibok girl escaped from the Boko Haram stronghold in Sambisa Forest, saying she was led to freedom by her disillusioned Boko Haram ‘husband’.

    She was carrying a baby.

    The Bring Back Our Girls (#BBOG) campaigners are also pressing for a prisoner exchange, claiming that the President “rode to power” on the back of their cause, but has not done enough to free the girls.

    “Mr. Buhari can absolutely afford to trade terrorists’ lives for schoolgirls,” said human rights lawyer Emmanuele Ogebe, whose Education Must Continue campaign is paying to educate some of the escaped Chibok girls in the U.S.

    He questioned the President’s sincerity, noting that President Buhari said in May that he had not watched a proof-of-life video sent by Boko Haram to encourage negotiations, apparently as early as January.

     

    Learning from past pitfalls

     

    According to Information & Culture Minister Lai Mohammed, the Federal Government has been wary of talks with the militants as previous negotiations failed because officials have been duped into talks with the wrong people.

    The minister said: “We are being extremely careful,” information minister Lai Mohammed said in a statement. “We want to be doubly sure that those we are in touch with are who they claim to be.”

    A fighter who speaks in the video hints at who could mediate. “We want the government to know that … we don’t trust you, except some few journalists. We have never sent out or accept to be approached by anybody except journalists that we trust.”

    The video was posted by a Nigerian journalist Ahmad Salkida, who lives in Dubai, the United Arab Emirate (UAE) and is known to have good contacts in Boko Haram.

    Salkida said the video was sent to him by Abubakar Shekau’s wing of Boko Haram.

    On Sunday night, the military declared Mr Salkida wanted man, claiming he has “information on the conditions and the exact location of these girls”.

    But the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) yesterday disputed Boko Haram claim that some of the abducted girls have been killed during military bombings of theirs in Sambisa Forest.

    Defence spokesman Brig.-Gen. Rabe Abubakar said in a statement: “It is extremely difficult and rare to hit innocent people during air strikes because the operation is done through precision attacks on identified and registered targets and locations.”

  • Fed Govt stops PTAs from collecting levies in Unity schools

    Fed Govt stops PTAs from collecting levies in Unity schools

    The Federal Government has banned the collection of development levies by Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) in the 104 Unity colleges.

    The Federal Ministry of Education, in a statement, said the ban would take effect immediately.

    The statement was signed by Bem Goong, deputy director of Press in the ministry.

    “No PTA of any Unity college is allowed to initiate any development project in any of the Unity colleges without the express or written authorisation of the Federal Ministry of Education.

    “The measures are aimed at arresting the trend where development levies imposed on parents by PTAs are becoming higher than the fees charged by government which established the schools,’’ the ministry said.

    It added that the Minister, Malam Adamu Adamu, had noted excessive PTA levies in King’s College, Lagos, and Federal Science and Technical College, Yaba, Lagos.

    The mnistry said in the two schools, fees charged for JSS1 in the first term was N69, 400, while the PTA collection was N70,000 at Kings and N74,000 at Yaba.

    “This brings the total paid by parents in these two schools to N139,400 and N143, 400.

    “With the reduction on development levies and ban on charges for new projects as well as pegging of the development levy to N5,000, parents of JSS1 in these two schools will pay N88, 000.

    “I acknowledge the complementary roles of parents and the support by the PTA to the colleges but I will not allow the PTAs to constitute themselves into a government within a government at the level of Unity schools and at the expense of parents,’’ the ministry quoted Adamu as saying.

    It said Adamu expressed concern that PTAs in Unity colleges had formed themselves into national associations and said running additional organisations, such as National Parent and TeachersAssociation of Federal Government Colleges (NAPTAFEGC), increased the burden on parents.

     NAPTAFEGC rejected an alleged 300 per cent increase in the fees of Unity schools.

    Dr Gabriel Nnaji, national president of NAPTAFEGC, told reporters that the alleged increase from N20,000 to N75, 000, was unacceptable.

    He said an average parent with more than a child in Unity schools could not afford the cost.

    But Adamu, on Tuesday, denied knowledge of the increment in fees.

  • Tax policy ‘ll reduce SMEs’ burdens, says Fed Govt

    The Federal Government is developing a new tax policy that will open the country for business, Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has said.

    She said the new tax system will be easy to understand and reduce tax burden on small businesses.

    Addressing members of the tax review committee in Abuja yesterday, Mrs Adeosun said businesses react to tax policy and government is determined to ensure that the tax policy “sends the right message being that Nigeria is open for business and is encouraging businesses with a tax system that is easy to understand and comply with.

    “Areas of our tax code and laws that are in need of review will be addressed as part of this exercise, as will modalities for simplifying our processes and reducing the tax burden on small businesses.”

    Adeosun told members of the committee that the government was keen “to grow revenues and improve our tax collection; we are equally determined to ensure that our taxes are simplified. The task of growing tax revenue must be pursued with a human face and sustainability in focus.”

  • Fed Govt makes changes in NDPHC’s board

    The Federal Government has changed representatives of the six geopolitical zones on the board of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) that oversees the operation of the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), The Nation has learnt.

    NDPHC is a special purpose company owned by the three tiers of the government to implement of the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), which was established to fast-track the achievement of stable power supply.

    An industry source told The Nation that Northeast zone that was represented by Gombe State in the previous administration has been replaced with Taraba State, while Kebbi State replaced Kaduna State for the Northwest zone.

    Plateau State replaced Benue State for the Northcentral zone, and Lagos State represents Southwest zone as against Ekiti State while Edo State replaced Delta State for Southsouth zone.

    For the Southeast, Anambra State replaced Abia State. By the changes, the governors of the nominated states become members of the board.

    With the changes, what remains to constitute the board is the appointment of the executive directors. As a company owned by the three tiers of government, apart from the shareholders comprising representatives of the six political zones of the country, the Ministers of Petroleum Resources, Power, Finance, and Attorney-General of the Federation are also members of the board.

    However, shortly before the expiration of the immediate past administration, the number of executive directors was reviewed. The new structure created positions for four executive directors to head generation, networks, finance and accounts, and corporate services departments.

    The office of the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser was also upgraded to a director’s status. The old structure only made provision for two executive directors responsible for Engineering and Technical Services, and Finance and Administration respectively.

    The executive directors are also members of the board with the Vice President as the Chairman. Whether the current government would uphold the new structure is still to be made known.

    The non constitution of the board fully, according to the source, is delaying activities of the company. He stated that the government needs to fill the vacant spaces of the executive directors and confirm the appointment of the acting managing director to make the board fully constituted.

    Besides, the source said the new structure, which made provision for four executive directors, was to prepare ground for the implementation of the NIPP Phase 11.

    The NIPP Phase 1 focused on power generation from the thermal plants, which are powered by natural gas. The essence was to increase domestic utilisation of gas as well as reduce flared gas. The second phase was planned to centre on generation from hydro plants as part of the diversification of sources of power supply especially in the face of the rampant pipeline vandalism.

    “The project will centre on generation from hydro plants as against the Phase 1 that focused on thermal plants. The choice of hydro power is part of the diversification of sources of power supply, especially in the face of the rampant pipeline vandalism,” he added.

    The thermal power plants built under the NIPP Phase 1 include Alaoji (1,131.4Mw) in Abia State, Ihovbor (508Mw) in Edo State, Egbema (380.7Mw) in Imo State, Gbarain (253.8Mw) in Bayelsa State, Calabar (634Mw) in Cross River State and Geregu (506.1Mw) in Kogi State.  Others are Ogorode (507.6Mw), Sapele in Delta State, Olorunsogo (754Mw) in Ogun State, Omoku (264.7mw) in Rivers State, and Omotosho (512.8Mw) in Ondo State.

  • Fed Govt to employ 500,000 graduates through N-Power scheme

    Fed Govt to employ 500,000 graduates through N-Power scheme

    The Federal Government will employ 500,000 graduates through the N-Power scheme of the Nigeria Social Investment Programme (NSIP), Special Adviser to the President on NSIP, Mrs Mariam Uwais, said in Benin, yesterday.

    Speaking at an NSIP’s Stakeholders Sensitisation Workshop, Mrs Uwais said “we intend to employ 500,000 graduates this first year. It is open to unemployed graduates between the ages of 18 and 35. All you need to do is to go on to the portal that has been opened, and it closes on August 31. The portal is www.npower.gov.ng”.

    Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State praised President Muhummadu Buhari for initiating the programme to aid the less privileged.

    Governor Oshiomhole said: “Let me, on behalf of the government and people of Edo State, appreciate our President for making history in appropriating funds directed at children of the poor in public schools by way of one meal a day for children from primary 1 to 3, recognising that whereas many Nigerians are poor, some are poorer than others, and that it is not their fault.

    “Government has responsibility to identify those ones, the poorest of the poor, not to shed crocodile tears for them or with them, but to boldly appropriate public funds structured in a way to deliver relief to these categories of our people.”

    He said: “For too long, everybody laments the rising unemployed youths, and in this democracy, the youth are the most active, they are the most vibrant. Everybody says youths are leaders of tomorrow, but we are unable to define when is tomorrow. I believe President Muhammadu Buhari has defined tomorrow to mean today, and that government needs to demonstrate beyond rhetoric that not only do we reject youth idleness, but government has created a scheme to enable some youths to be engaged, including being engaged in teaching, being encouraged to acquire skills, and to make them what they should be: part of our human resource which is the most important resource any country needs to grow on a sustainable basis.”

     

  • Fed Govt: past govt responsible for decay in education

    Fed Govt: past govt responsible for decay in education

    The Federal Government has blamed the poor standard of the education sector on successive administrations.

    Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Muhammed Musa Bello, said this while declaring open a training programme for teachers in the Korea International Cooperation (KOICA) supported FCT Model School in Abuja.

    The FCT minister advised the government to continue to invest on human capital development in order to deliver the country out of the woods.

    Bello said education was the bedrock of development, adding that no nation desirous of meaningful growth could afford to neglect the vital sector.

    “If we are to meet our potentials as a great nation, we must refocus our energy to the education sector by redirecting our efforts towards ensuring that it once more takes its pride of place in national development agenda,” he said.

    In his address, Republic of Korea Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Noh Kyu-duk, said his country was interested in providing support to Nigeria’s education sector based on the realisation that human capital remained key element to any development initiative.

    He said Korea embarked on establishment of Model Schools in Abuja to underscore the importance of quality basic education as well as providing access to millions of Nigerian children who are out-of-school.

    According to him, Korea through KOICA has invested more than $32 million in Nigeria.

    Kyu-duk noted that the Abuja Model School Project which was based on the bilateral agreement between KOICA and its implementing agencies would be a public school of reference in terms of high quality education, motivated teachers, quality students, standard infrastructure and operations.

    He said the training programme for the teachers was designed to enhance their capacity in ensuring quality learning outcomes among pupils.

    The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) had disclosed KOICA has so far supported basic education in the construction of 21 additional classrooms in Katsina, 16 additional classrooms in Kogi State, construction of 2 Schools of 15 classrooms each and administrative block in Gombe and Adamawa States.

    The agency has also been involved in the training of teachers and educational administrators in Korea, and supply and installation of IT equipments among others.

    The Country Director of KOICA, Mrs. Sook Hyum Park, said, since inception in 2008 KOICA Nigeria Office has implemented series of Projects ranging from Technical and Vocational Education, Basic Education, Health, Agriculture and various short and long-term scholarships to over 1000 public servants in Nigeria.

     

    End