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Tag: Fed Govt

  • Fed Govt urged to revisit privatisation of power sector

    Fed Govt urged to revisit privatisation of power sector

    The  Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mommas Engineering Meters Manufacturing Company Limited (MEMMCOL),  Kolawole Balogun, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to re-visit the privatisation of the power sector.

    Balogun spoke at a news conference in Lagos.

    He said the role of the DISCOs should be separated from that of electricity marketing companies (EMC) for the development of the power sector.

    Balogun said: “Power sector “re-privatisation” may have to be tabled again, wherein DISCOs role is limited to power distribution up to the transformer-point (at one-end) and allow for electricity marketing companies (EMC) to take it from there to the consumers. So, DISCO ensures power transmission is always and effectively delivered to the connecting transformers, while EMC ensures the power is effectively distributed to the consumers (metered for billings and feedbacks).”

    According to him, most  transformers in place cannot withstand the amount of power required by the consumers.

    “Technically speaking, power transmission companies have enough electricity to supply to the consumers through the DISCOs, routed through power transformers. However, most current transformers in place cannot withstand the amount of power or energy required by the consumers.”

    He argued that the DISCOs have been overwhelmed by distribution and marketing. He said the marketing companies should not be organs of DISCO, but interdependent.

    He added that Nigerians clamoured for locally manufactured electricity meters.

    He said local manufacturers want government to promulgate an enabling law to enhance the patronage of locally-manufactured meters and products.

    He said the country has local manufacturers of meters that can produce close to 150,000 meters monthly, explaining that his company  has the capacity of producing 50,000 meters per month.

    “Infact, more licences should be given to more companies, after accreditation in order to flood the markets with enough and quality meters and smart meters. Investors here and abroad will begin to look into the power sector to stock it with much more funds than we presently have. With time, Nigeria will run an efficient, steady-state power sector to be envied,”he said.

     

  • ‘Forgery’: Fed Govt to serve summons on Saraki, Ekweremadu through Clerk, others

    ‘Forgery’: Fed Govt to serve summons on Saraki, Ekweremadu through Clerk, others

    Court summons are on the way for Senate President Bukola Saraki and his Deputy Ike Ekweremadu through the Acting Clerk to the National Assembly,  Mohammed Sani-Omolori.

    The Federal Government has filed charges in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), following alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Rules 2015.

    Others who will face trial are a former National Assembly Clerk, Abubakar Maikasuwa and Deputy Clerk, Benedict Efeturi, who is due to retire soon.

    The charges were allegedly based on the outcome of police investigation into the alleged forgery.

    But Saraki and Ekweremadu yesterday claimed that they were never invited for questioning by the Police.

    They expressed concern that they were only invited for questioning on June 7, barely three days to the filing of the two charges on June 10.

    There was anxiety in Saraki’s and Ekweremadu’s camps last night on the court action against them.

    They alleged that there were plans to arrest and detain them in prison.

    It was learnt that it had been difficult for the court to serve Saraki and Ekweremadu the notice of hearing of their cads and the charge sheet.

    A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “We have not been able to get access to these leaders of the Senate to serve them both the summons and the charge sheet.

    “But from the look of things, we may invoke relevant sections of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (2015) which empowers us to notify Saraki and Ekweremadu through the Clerk to the National Assembly or by pasting the summons on the conspicuous part of their premises or offices.

    “We will invoke sections 124 and 125(1) (2) of the ACJ Act. Hopefully byMonday, we should have completed the process of serving the summons on them.”

    Section 124 of ACJ Act (2015) reads: “Where service in the manner provided by Section 123(a) of this cannot, by the exercise of due diligence, be effected, the serving officer may, with leave of the court, affix nor of the duplicates of the summons to some conspicuous part of the premises or place in which the individual to be served ordinarily resides or works and on doing so, the summons shall be deemed to have been duly served.”

    Section 125 (1)(2) says: “When a public officer is to be served with a summons, the court issuing the summons may send it in duplicate to the officer in charge of the department in which the person is employed for the purpose of being served on the person, if it appears to the court that it may be most conveniently so served.

    “ The officer in charge if the department shall, on receiving summons, cause it to be served in the manner provided by Section 123(a) of this Act and shall return the duplicate to the court under his signature, with the endorsement required by Section 115 of this Act, which signature shall be evidence of the service.”

    But Saraki and Ekweremadu yesterday said they were yet to be either interrogated or served the court summons.

    A top aide of Saraki said: “As I speak with you, the President of the Senate has not been questioned by the police or served any court summons. Is it ever heard of that an accused person will be charged to court without any form of interrogation?

    “We are suspecting a predetermined agenda because Saraki was invited for interrogation on June 7 and the charges were filed on June 10. Saraki was not a principal officer in the 7th National Assembly; he has nothing to do with the Senate Standing Rules 2015.

    “It is also curious that the police are just planning to interact with Saraki and Ekweremadu after charges have been filed. Yet, this is a case which the police force has been investigating in the last one year. It is just unfortunate that our legal system is being abused.”

  • Akwa Ibom ready for Fed Govt’s N90b loan to states

    The Akwa Ibom State Government yesterday said the state will be among those to enjoy the Federal Government’s N90 billion loan facility.

    The government said it had met the “sustainability analysis” required to qualify for the loan.

    Finance Commissioner Akan Okon addressed reporters in Uyo, the state capital, on the loan facility and related matters.

    Okon, in company of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Commissioner Victor Antai, spoke on the economy under Governor Udom Emmanuel and the management of local government finances.

    The commissioner said the government would avail itself of the window the new loan facility offered in view of the dwindling revenue and huge financial burden facing the government.

    According to him, the state received N5.3 billion as allocation from the Federation Account in May, while its wage bill was N4.8 billion, making it difficult for the state to meet its financial obligations.

    Okon said: “I want to state that in May, we received N5.3 billion and the wage bill was N4.8 billion. With this, you can see that government is in a very tight situation.

    “With the dwindling finances experienced in the state, the government has to key into the window of the new loan facility being offered by the Federal Government.”

    The commissioner said money that came from the Federation Account to the local governments was not sufficient to pay teachers’ salaries and local government employees, much less the pensioners in the local government.

    He said the state would abide by the conditions to qualify for the loan, adding that it would enable the state to meet its financial obligations.

    Okon recalled that between June, last year, and last month, the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) was only N15 billion, adding that this was not good enough in an economic recession.

    The commissioner said as part of efforts to increase the IGR, the government had introduced e-receipt payment into its business.

    He added that electronic receipt payment would eliminate or reduce leakages in government revenue.

    Okon said the electronic receipt was a strategy to enhance the collection of the IGR.

    According to him, the e-receipt was government’s initiative to block leakages in the current manual receipt issuance to tax payers and other government transactions.

    Okon said: “Funds that sometimes get lost in the labyrinth of bureaucracy will be made available to government to provide services to the people.”

    Akwa Ibom did not apply for the first phase of bailout loan given to states last year.

    The state said it was not necessary then.

  • Fed Govt supports steel products export

    Fed Govt supports steel products export

    The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has restated the government’s support for steel companies to enable them meet  local demand and export their products.

    Dr Feyemi spoke during facility tours of the African Foundries Limited (AFL) in Ogijo Local Government Area in Ogun State, and Western Metal Products Company Limited (WEMPCO) on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

    The minister said  issues that inhibited export of steel products would be looked into with a view to subjecting them to a review that would be acceptable and beneficial to both the government and investors.

    “We will review all options and determine which one is more beneficial to government and the investors,” the minister said.

    He added that the government was determined to create the conducive environment and provide incentives to genuine investors, as part of effort to ensure that the sector 5ourish.

    The Chairman of Africa Foundries Limited, P. K. Gupta, said although the group’s investment in Nigeria was over $1b, with over one million tons of steel products from its six steel plants in the  country, the company had had to grapple with the challenges posed by high cost of gas, multiple taxation, bad roads and unnecessary concessions for importation of products whose superior equivalence are produced in locally.

    Gupta said allocating coal blocks to his company and other genuine investors would enable them to provide more jobs opportuni?es to more people as well as assist them to complete the company’s diverse steel  production processes.

    The Managing Director of WEMPCO, Mr Robert Tung, who lauded the government’s commitment to the steel sector, also urged the minister to look into the issue of multiple taxations, among other issues.

  • Fayose accuses Fed Govt of plotting to destabilise Ekiti

    Fayose accuses Fed Govt of plotting to destabilise Ekiti

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has raised the alarm, accusing the Federal Government of plots to destabilise the state with the arrest and detention of his Chief of Staff, Chief Dipo Anisulowo.

    According to the governor, four members of the state’s House of Assembly are slated for arrest and detention for alleged treason.

    Fayose, who spoke at a news conference in Abuja yesterday, said the plot was being hatched by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal and an unnamed Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

    Fayose said: “A few days ago, we got it on good authority that there was a meeting with some politicians from Ekiti State, including an Ekiti born Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a self-professed human rights activist by agents of the Federal Government, with the agenda solely, on how to bring down my administration as the governor of the state.

    “Activities of these elements that are obviously afraid of facing another electoral defeat in 2018 are being coordinated through the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal and the Attorney General of the Federation.

    “Certain top functionaries of the Ekiti State government and some important members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, and some associates of mine, have now been pencilled down for arrest and indefinite detention by the EFCC under the guise of investigating the funds spent by the PDP on the June 21, 2014 governorship election and the Presidential election.

    “The game plan is to make those to be arrested get detained indefinitely, forced to make statements incriminating me, while at the same time feeding the public with orchestrated fake reports, using their usual media organs.

    “This is coming after their failure to use the Department of State Service (DSS) to coerce members of the State House of Assembly to buy into the impeachment plot against me with a view to silencing me, being a  major voice of the opposition.

    “To achieve this sinister plot against the government and people of Ekiti State, we have been informed that some of their trusted allies in the EFCC have been mobilised to move to Ekiti any moment from now.”

    The governors advised the government and its agents to wait till the end of his tenure in 2018, when he would be available to answer any of their questions, no matter how unreasonable.

  • Group urges Fed Govt to unmask sponsors of Boko Haram Sponsors

    The Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET) has urged the Federal Government to carry out a proper scrutiny to unmask financiers of Boko Haram in the country.

    The group, in a statement yesterday in Abuja, by its Executive Secretary, Ikpa Isaac, also called on various persons or group sponsoring Boko Haram activities in the country to put the interest of Nigerians above their personal interest.

    Isaac said that only a probe of the stakeholders from Borno State can bring a lasting peace to the North east.

    He urged those who he described as ‘crisis entrepreneurs’ and believe in making financial fortunes from the insurgency to allow peace a chance in the interest of the suffering masses in the country.

    According to him, these individuals have sabotaged every effort to end the crisis and are not ready to quit their inhuman business of war mongering.

    The statement read: “The military has adequately demonstrated that they are up the task and all they have achieved in a short span of time should not be thrown away simply because some leaders in Borno State want the war to linger for their own interest.

    “President Buhari has to finally honour the implied promise of exposing these people who have been running terrorism as a business despite the toll of human misery they are exacting on the nation. There is no justifiable reason for the military to have carried out successful operations while the other components of the anti-terror efforts are being frustrated.

    “We have even seen instances were some so called leaders or elites in this area covertly or openly come out to speak for the terrorists. Some also take action or use inaction to aid the cause of the insurgents all in attempts to roll back the gains made in combating Boko Haram.

  • Fed Govt warned on poor health financing

    Healthcare providers have advised the Federal Government against poor health financing as this may affect the planned Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC).

    President, Healthcare Providers Association of Nigeria, (HCPAN), Dr. Adenike Olaniba gave the advice in her lecture during the 30th anniversary of Healthcare Magazine/ 2016 HCPAN’s Mid-Year Capacity Building Meeting in Lagos. It was titled Universal Health Insurance Coverage: The Role of Healthcare Providers.

    Dr. Olaniba said less than five percent of the country was insured under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), adding that there was need for immediate review of NHIS Act 35 of 1999 to make it mandatory for all citizens to sign up under the scheme.

    Olaniba, Consultant Public Health Physician, said the existing structure of health financing will not enable the country achieve the desired health outcomes’

    She said Nigeria presently spends $67per head on healthcare.

    She continued: “WHO report shows that South Africa spends seven times more than Nigeria while Angola’s health budget is three times more than ours. In the United States, healthcare expenditure is $7,000 per head and $6,000 per head in Switzerland. Currently, 59 percent of Nigerians pay for healthcare out-of-pocket”.

    Olaniba said health is wealth, stressing that the government should have long-term commitment to increasing health spending and explore innovative health financing mechanisms.

    “The health indices in Nigeria are poor and need to be improved upon. Nigeria has the eighth-lowest life expectancy at birth and one of the highest maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in the world. Though we have the largest economy in Africa, yet only 3.5 per cent of this year budget is given to health. That is a serious issue with funding.

    “To ensure equity in the distribution of enrollees, NHIS should put a peg on the maximum number of enrollees per facility. For example, 5000, so that all accredited providers can participate in the scheme.”

    On his part, the Chairman, Lagos State, HCPAN, Dr. Ademola Aina said the capacity building meeting was for all health professionals to harness strategies to ensure UHC for all because as professionals health insurance is the only way the rich and poor can access to health.

  • Fed Govt shuts NERFUND

    Fed Govt shuts NERFUND

    The Federal Government has shut down the Nigerian Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND).

    A letter to all staff and management of the organisation signed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse noted that “following the recent developments in your organisation and the failure to reconcile the differences but the Executive Management, Senior Management and staff and in spite of interventions by the Federal Ministry of Finance, the ministry has decided to close down the organisation with immediate effect.

    The letter advised “all staff and management to proceed on compulsory leave.” When contacted, Festus Akanbi the Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance confirmed the development.

    Early in the month, members of staff of NERFUND protested the failure of successive governments to make a pronouncement over the status of the organisation almost 16 years after former President Obasanjo muted the idea of merging DFIs, comprising NERFUND, NDIB and NBCI to form BoI.

  • Fed Govt to get more loans

    • FEC okays debt management strategy

    The Federal Government yesterday said  it will focus more on obtaining external loans over the next three years as earnings from oil dwindle.

    It is exploring this option  to allow local  banks  extend credit facilities to the private sector to spur economic growth.

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

    She was accompanied by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed.

    According to her, the new policy is part of the Debt Management Strategy for this year to 2019 approved by FEC yesterday.

    She said: “Today I presented a memo to the FEC which was approved for the debt management strategy for the years 2016-2019.

    “Nigeria started producing debt management strategy in the year 2012 and three years debt management programme and the previous ones had expired December 2015 and there was a need for a new one.

    “There was a need for a new one for two reasons; one was that the previous one had expired and two; given the current economic challenges and then the economic circus of this government to reflate and diversify the economy.”

    She also said there is need for a new debt strategy in order to base it on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

  • Fed Govt okays $7b investment in Akwa Ibom, says Kachikwu

    Fed Govt okays $7b investment in Akwa Ibom, says Kachikwu

    •Ministers meet stakeholders at town hall meeting

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, yesterday said the Federal Government has approved an investment portfolio of over $7 billion in the Petroleum sector in Akwa Ibom State.

    The minister noted that the approval followed what he called the relative peace the state enjoyed.

    He said: “Let me say that some of the biggest investments coming in the Petroleum sector are in fact coming to Akwa Ibom State. Right now, we are finalising the Independent Power Project (IPP) with Mobil, which will produce 500 megawatt (MW) of power.

    “A major investment is also coming, working with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to develop some facilities, including an ethanol plant. The total value of this investment is over $7 billion. It has been approved by the President. There are major investments coming your way as a result of the peace we enjoy here.”

    The Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, urged the Minister of Niger Delta, Usani Uguru, to ensure the completion of the East-West Road for the development of Niger Delta.

    The minister reiterated the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to the development of Niger Delta through the award of contract for the development of railway from Lagos-Calabar.

    He said: “I met on my table a contract awarded for $12 billion and it was not implemented. That contract was called the Lagos-Calabar railway. The Federal Government has agreed to do the Lagos-Calabar and Lagos-Kano railways.”

    On the development of Maritime Academy of Nigeria at Oron, Amaechi said the policy of the Federal Government was to upgrade the institution to an international standard.

    On the establishment of Maritime University in Okerenkoko in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State, Amaechi said he was not against the establishment of the institution but the Ministry of Transport did not have money to fund for the project.

    He said: “What I am saying is that government does not have funds for it now. The Ministry of Transport does not have money to fund a new university in Okerenkoko. Other ministries can fund it but not Ministry of Transport.”

    The Minister of Niger Delta, Usani Uguru, noted that sections 4 and 5 of the East-West Road had not been abandoned because of diversion.

    He said: “Section 4 of the East-West Road, which passes through Eket, is not abandoned. We are working on it. Let nobody be deceived by the delay as a result of the diversion. It doesn’t mean abandonment. “Also the section 5, Oron to Calabar, this delay is worth more than starting what you cannot finish. If this contract was awarded in 2013, why has it not started until now?”

    Condemning the rowdiness caused by some youths during the town hall meeting, Uguru said: “We have all seen what goes on in the town hall meetings in other regions; none has been so shameful. It is unfortunate. In the midst of that, we begin to complain about how much resources have not got to the region.

    “Why don’t you allow me apply the little we have and have a reason to complain to get more?

    “But in this circumstance, who would you convince to come and put more into it? All we keep crying to insinuate is regional discrepancies on the basis of political alignment. Have we forgotten that in the 17 years of democratic rule, people of the South took 14 years? If you see nothing wrong in the lack of development of the South, why would you see something wrong in the peace and advancement of that region? It is shameful to portray us as people who are not sensible.”