The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fed Govt

  • Fed Govt transfers cooperatives to Labour Ministry

    The Federal Government has transferred the Federal Department of Cooperatives from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity with immediate effect.

    Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity Dr. Clement Illoh said the transfer is contained in a letter from the office of the Head, Civil  Service of the Federation in accordance with the provisions of the Cooperatives Development Act CAP. 23 and Nigerian Cooperative Society Act CAP. N98.

    Dr. Illoh said in line with the transfer,  a Cooperative Department has been established in the Ministry, charged with the broad mandate of ensuring effective coverage, coordination and improved performance of Cooperative Departments of all sectors of the economy.

    He said co-operatives being a good means of alleviating poverty were key to the Transformation Agenda of the government. He assured of the Labour Ministry’s commitment to best practices, delivery of quality services and restoration of people’s confidence in Cooperative Administration in Nigeria.

    He announced the appointment of Mrs. Mojisola Sonubi as the Director of Co-operative Development in the Ministry and directed that the Cooperative Officers in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should return with all the documents, records and registers relevant to Cooperative Development in the country, back to the Department of Cooperatives in the Labour Ministry not later than 15th April.

    Mrs. Sonubi on her part called on the States Departments of Cooperatives, Federation of Cooperative Colleges, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), other relevant national cooperative organisations and special agencies to cooperate with the Ministry’s Cooperative Department as the coordination centre for cooperative activities in the country.

  • Fed Govt arraigns airline, workers over N318m ‘theft’

    Fed Govt arraigns airline, workers over N318m ‘theft’

    THE Federal Government has arraigned four Emirates Airlines workers at the Federal High Court in Lagos over alleged theft of $1.6 million (N318 million).

    Abayomi Abiola, Isiaka Adedeji, Awonubi Abayomi and George Ikpekhia were arraigned along with Emirates Airlines, Pathfinders International Ltd and Nigeria Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Limited before Justice Mohammed Idris.

    They were charged with 11 counts of stealing, fraud, obtaining money under false pretence, willful destruction of evidence and failure to report an illegal international fund transfer.

    According to the prosecution, the accused persons, on December 19, 2007 at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos, stole four bags tagged EK 428682, EK 428683, EK 650162 and EK 650161.

    The bags, it said, contained $1.6 million belonging to Prince Chu Ikem Orji, which the defendants allegedly promised to keep intact for onward delivery to him at Guangzhou, China.

    They were also alleged to have conspired to defraud the victim by willfully destroying the evidence through deletion of baggage details in the airline’s computer system with intent to prevent it from being used in evidence.

    The prosecution said the alleged offences contravene sections 516, 390 (0), 442, 421, 419, 123, of the Criminal Code Act, Cap C38 and 15 (2), (b) and (3) of the Money Laundry Act, Cap. N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

    The defendants pleaded not guilty.

    Prosecution counsel Mr. O. S. Michael urged the court to remand them in prison before hearing of their bail applications, but the defendants’ lawyer Chief Awah Kalu (SAN) said they were granted bail by another judge of the court, Justice Okon Abang, when they were first arraigned.

    Michael said the case before Justice Abang was different from the new amended charges.

    But Justice Idris granted the defendants bail for N5 million with one surety each, who must have landed property within the court’s jurisdiction.

    The defendants must deposit their international passports with the court’s Deputy Chief Registrar, the judge said.

    He adjourned till May 25 for trial.

  • Fed Govt seeks $2b W/Bank, AfDB loan

    Fed Govt seeks $2b W/Bank, AfDB loan

    A few days to a crucial national election and crippling low oil revenue, the Federal Government has gone to borrow $2 billion from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) so it can implement its policies and programmes this year.

    The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the facility was part of the approved 2012-2015 External Borrowing Plan and being a concessionary loan, she said the facility would pose no  burden on the nation.

    The minister who spoke during   an interactive session with reporters in Abuja, yesterday,  also said the  government was working to strengthen the nation’s currency, among others.

    She said: “We have entered negotiations with international financial institutions, specifically, the African Development Bank and World Bank. You know they have some resources for us already programmed, which is in the Borrowing Plan. We have asked them to turn these resources into budget support for us. We are negotiating for $2 billion that will come in foreign exchange. “The terms of this loan from the AfDB are quite reasonable (between three and four per cent) compared to what you can get outside, and this is money that they had committed and set aside for us. “So we have decided to draw on it and use it in the form of budget support to come in form of foreign exchange.

    “Government will get the naira equivalent given to us by the Central Bank.  It will come in two tranches. It will bring in the needed foreign exchange that will help our private sector people to have access.

    “So, it will alleviate the situation. It’s something that we are working on. We are communicating day and night with them. We have to address the needs of manufacturers and others. That is one more thing we are doing and I hope that will help to ameliorate the situation.”

    The CBN governor had on on Tuesday, said the nation’s foreign reserve now stands at about $30 billion in an economy that is partially dollarised, coupled with high dollar demand and low foreign exchange inflow.

    As a first step to check the economic slide, the minister of finance appealed to Nigerians to reduce their appetite for imported goods and patronise made-in-Nigeria products so as to conserve available reserves for more productive uses.

  • APC: Fed Govt plans to arrest our leaders still on

    APC: Fed Govt plans to arrest our leaders still on

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday alleged that the plan by the government to arrest opposition leaders on trumped-up charges has not been shelved.

    Its spokesman Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is bent on decimating the opposition party.

    Mohammed, who spoke at a news conference in Lagos, said the list of persons to be arrested had been expanded to cover more leaders of the party across the states.

    He noted that though when on March 21, the APC issued a statement and raised the alarm over a plot to arrest some of its leaders, especially Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on trumped-up charges, the PDP denied it; the plan is still in the pipeline.

    The APC spokesman said: “Though they rushed to deny it, we have it on good authority that they have not given up on that evil plot. In fact, they have now cast their net wide to ensnare more APC chieftains, including Senator Bukola Saraki, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Senator Femi Ojudu, Hon Dakuku Peterside, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, Senator Sola Adeyeye, Alkali Abdulkadir, Senator Serika Hadi, Senator Jide Omoworare, Hon Nathaniel Agunbiade and Hon Bimbo Daramola.”

    According to him, “the plot is to plant ammunition, Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and Smart Card Readers (SCRs) jammers, which they have dubiously acquired, in the residence, office or vehicle of these APC chieftains. The APC chieftains will then be arrested with fanfare and subjected to trumped-up charges.

    “As newsmen yourselves, you are undoubtedly aware that, since this campaign started, the PDP-led Jonathan administration has dwelt less on issues and more on mudslinging. In particular, it has thrown everything but the kitchen sink at our presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

    “They say he does not have a secondary school certificate, even when the school he attended publicly released his results. They say he is suffering from a terminal disease, even when it was clear that the medical report they used to back that claim was forged. They say he won’t be the one to rule; they say he will approve same-sex law; they say he will jail all Nigerians and they say he is a religious bigot. Plus they commissioned and ran the most untruthful and irresponsible documentary ever made, just to demonise him.

    “When all the muck-raking failed, woefully, because the stock of our candidate rose in direct proportion to the mud-slinging he was subjected to, they went and commissioned an American media man, Richard Grenell, whom they fraudulently called an ex-United States (US) envoy, to write an uninformed opinion piece that Gen. Buhari would Islamise Nigeria if he is elected.

    “Out of their desperation, they resorted to lies and frittered away millions of naira. After commissioning Grenell to write his misleading and unintelligent article, they then went ahead to advertise the trash on the front page of many newspapers for several days, at a huge cost of more than N400 million! There is no better illustration of the idiomatic expression: Grasping at straws! Left with nothing more to use against Gen. Buhari, they held on tight and celebrated what is nothing but trash!”

    He also alleged that there is a massive wasteful spending on the part of government.

    Mohammed said: “Apart from being fraudulent, this PDP-led Jonathan administration is also patently wasteful and corrupt! Or  how else does one describe an administration that has been wooing voters with huge bribes?

    “Never in the history of our country has a president superintended over such a morally-repugnant act as the massive bribery of Nigerians in recent times, especially in the six weeks for which the elections were cunningly postponed.

    “We make bold to say that no president has ever encouraged bribery and corruption as President Goodluck Jonathan has done by ferreting public funds into the pockets of a few in the desperation to woo voters.

    “What this President has done by wooing voters with money amounts to undermining democracy, an action that is unbecoming of a democratically-elected leader of any country. “According to the information in the public domain, an immense amount of money, some as high as $250,000  per head, was given to traditional rulers, youths, entertainers, market women, ethnic militias and artisans.

    “If the money being recklessly given away is from the public treasury, the implication is that they want to loot the treasury to such a level that if they lose the elections, the next government will have no money to spend. If they say the bribe money is not from the public treasury, then where is it from? If the money being nonchalantly frittered away is the president’s personal money, where did he get that kind of money from?”

    To make the matters worse, the bribe money has transformed, in the Jonathan administration’s skewed meaning of that word, from naira to the dollar, a clear indication that the administration has lost confidence in the national currency and has nothing but disdain for it.

    The APC urged Nigerians to ignore Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Suleiman Abba’s directive that voters should leave the polling station after casting their ballot, saying they should stay behind to protect their votes.

  • Fed Govt assures foreign envoys on credible polls

    Fed Govt assures foreign envoys on credible polls

    THE Federal Government has assured members of diplomatic corps on its plan to hold free, fair and credible general elections, warning foreigners to stay clear of the polling areas.

    It solicited for the support and understanding of the international community.

    Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Aminu Wali and Minister of Interior Mr. Abba Moro spoke yesterday in Abuja during a parley with members of the diplomatic corps.

    Also yesterday, the military assured that in the next one week, Boko Haram would have been reduced to nothing.

    The ministers urged diplomats, especially from neigbouring countries, to warn their citizens to stay clear of the polling units.

    Moro, who was not forthcoming on the actual strategy put in place to man the borders during the election periods, however, said that all the agencies have been mobilised to ensure that the country’s security was not bridge.

    Wali, who solicited for the support and cooperation of the international community, also assured that the country was fully prepared for a free and fair elections.

    Justifying the February rescheduling of the elections, he noted that the achievements of the military in routing out the Boko Haram sect has proved the skeptics wrong, stressing that peace and security were very important in achieving free, fair and credible elections.

  • Fed Govt okays N48.7b for new NDIC offices

    Fed Govt okays N48.7b for new NDIC offices

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved contracts totalling N48.7 billion for the construction of new corporate offices of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) in Abuja and Lagos.

    The Minister of Culture and Tourism and outgoing Supervising Minister of Information, Edem Duke, told reporters at the end of the FEC meeting that the corporate head office annex of NDIC in Abuja would cost N14.7billion; Lagos office will cost N24.7billion; while its  training centre in Lekki, Lagos  would be constructed at a cost of N 9.3billion.

    He said a N472.5 million contract was also approved for the purchase and distribution of tricycles (keke) to beneficiaries in Benue West Senatorial District, as a constituency project.

    The Minister of Works, Mike Onolomemen said FEC approved N23.6 billion contract for the dualisation of Suleja- Minna road in Niger State while another contract for rehabilitation of Oshogbolu -Oweto in Benue State at a cost of N7.9billion was also approved.

    He said another contract of N7.1 billion for the reconstruction of Ningi – Mata road was also approved by FEC.

  • Fed Govt pledges more funds

    The Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman, has praised the management of UNILORIN for the judicious use of funds provided by the Tertiary Education Tax Fund (TETFund) to improve its facilities.

    Suleiman, who made the observation at a special interview programme on UNILORIN 89.3 FM, also assured the university that the Federal Government would commit more resources through TETFund to help the university expand its facilities even more.

    The Minister, who was on an unscheduled visit to the university to inspect some projects, said: ”You have done so much at the University of Ilorin by committing the resources allocated to you judiciously.

    “I assure you that we shall do more; we shall give you more resources in the next coming calendar 2015. We, the executive and the National Assembly, shall commit more resources to the University of Ilorin,” he stated.

    Among the projects inspected are the Researchers’ Village, the Central Research Laboratory and the Entrepreneurship Centre.

     

  • Fed Govt to hire more Ph.D holders

    Worried by the serious unemployment in the country, the Federal Government has announced plans to employ more Ph.D holders to address the shortfalls in the Nigerian University System (NUS).

    Prof okojie
    •Prof Okojie

    Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) Prof. Julius Okojie disclosed this in Abuja while presenting provisional licences to nine new private universities approved by the Federal Executive Council, (FEC).

    He said:”I was amazed when some Ph.D holders came to my office, saying they had no jobs; so if you know any Ph.D holder let them come to us”.

    The new universities are: Augustine University, Ilara, Lagos State; Chrisland University, Owode, Ogun State; Christopher University, Mowe, Ogun State; Hallmark University,Ijebu-Itele,Ogun State; Kings University, Ode-Omu, Osun State; Michael & Cecilia Ibru University, Owhrode, Delta State; Mountain Top University, Makogi-Oba,Ogun State; Ritman University, Ikot-Ekpene, Akwa-Ibom State; and Summit University, Offa, Kwara State.

    They bring the number of universities to 138 – 40 owned by the Federal Government; 39 by various state governments; and 59 by the private sector.

    Okojie cautioned the universities to adhere strictly to the guidelines and procedures set out by the regulatory body, stressing that owning and running a successful university goes beyond providing an excellent academic brief.

    Ibrahim-Shekarau
    •Mallam Shekarau

    Minister of Education Ibrahim Shekarau, who presented the licenses, said the need to open up more admission spaces for the swelling population of candidates seeking university education informed the establishment of additional universities.

    “Prior to this approval, Nigeria had 129 universities, serving a population of over 170 million people, in comparison to countries like Brazil and Mexico which have 1,648 and 1,250 universities to service populations of 203 million and 120million respectively.  The gross inadequacy of this figure in relation to population size becomes glaring,” he said.

    Also speaking, the Minister of State for Education, Prof Viola Onwuliri, criticised Nigerians who send their wards abroad to acquire university education, saying they were contributing to negative image of Nigeria.

    She said many Nigerians who studied in the country up to their Ph.D have proved themselves at local and international fora.

     

  • Fed Govt unveils N39.6b Business Devt Project for MSMEs

    Fed Govt unveils N39.6b Business Devt Project for MSMEs

    • Scheme to serve as collateral for MSMEs

    The Federal Government, yesterday launched the first ever Nigerian Business Development Services (NBDS) Network for effective performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

    The N39.6billion (about $200m) project, called the Nigerian Business Development Services Network, is a  private sector business development service providers network that is expected to work with MSMEs across the country to mentor them, provide support services and link them up with financial institutions.

    Speaking during the launch of the NBDS and the unveiling of the National Business Development Services Market Place in Abuja, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment,  Olusegun Aganga, said the new initiative marked another milestone in the current administration’s determination to reposition the MSME sector as the major driver of inclusive and sustainable economic growth in Nigeria.

    “Today marks another milestone in the development of the MSME sector in the country. Over the course of this administration, we have championed the course of MSMEs and we have made them the centre of economic policy, he said, adding that government treated them as a distinct sector and has developed policies and programmes to enable them grow and contribute significantly to GDP growth.

    Aganga explained that in the latest survey on MSMEs, it emerged that access to funding was the biggest challenge for MSMEs in the country, pointing out that approximately 84.6 per cent of small businesses in Nigeria have to resort to personal savings and borrowing from friends and families.

    He said, in addition to helping MSMEs to formalise their operations, the NBDS would also serve as indirect collateral for small business operators.

    Aganga said part of the  reasons formal financial institutions give for not lending to this critical sector, is the informal nature of their operations, their poor record keeping and their lack of collateral in support of loans. “These are the issues to be addressed by business development service providers, he said.

    “They will help the small businesses with their accounting records, and with formalisation of their operations. In addition, they will serve as some form of indirect collateral because financial institutions will be more comfortable lending to small businesses when they know that they are being guided by professional businesses development service providers.”

    Aganda praised the World Bank for their productive partnership with the ministry, assuring that the NBDS initiative would go a long way in addressing sector specific challenges hampering the growth and development of major growth sectors of the nation’s economy.

    He said, “The launch of this network and programme would not have been possible without the support of the World Bank Growth and Employment (GEM) project, which is managed under the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

    “This is a $200 million programme, which is focused on stimulating industry-wide activities in certain sectors in order to create jobs and improve the fortunes of participants in those industries.”

    Aganga said the sectors were carefully chosen for their job creation ability and the multiplier effect that the development of these sectors have on the overall growth of the economy. He listed the growth sectors as Information and Communications Technology, Hospitality, Building and Construction, Entertainment and light manufacturing.

    He said the  project involves engaging with stakeholders in these sectors and addressing sector specific issues hampering the growth of these industries. Deserving companies in these industries will also be given grants that will enable them develop their concept, hire additional staff and grow their business.”

  • Fed Govt, SEC, NSE open talks on demutualisation of Exchange

    Fed Govt, SEC, NSE open talks on demutualisation of Exchange

    The Federal Government has opened discussions with key stakeholders in the capital market on the demutualisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Nigeria’s only stock exchange.

    The Federal Government, which played a major role in the founding of the private members-owned NSE in 1960, is in talks with the NSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the possible guidelines, options and approaches for the demutualisation of the Exchange.

    SEC has released draft rules on the demutualisation of the NSE, a member-owned, limited by guarantee self-regulatory organisation (SRO), under which the membership rights of stockbrokers, dealers and other members will be converted into shareholdings in a demutualised Exchange.

    The draft rules, according to sources, are part of the discussion points among the key stakeholders. There are also related concerns by other stakeholders including a push by stockbroking and dealing firms, which are members of the NSE, for a further delay in the implementation of the new minimum capital requirements deadline to ensure their post-demutualised shareholdings are included in their valuations.

    Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, confirmed the discussion between the government and other stakeholders on the demutualisation.

    According to him, the government is engaging stakeholders such as SEC and the NSE because of the importance it attaches to the capital market and the import of such demutualisation on the market.

    He noted that the engagements and discussions with the stakeholders were geared towards ensuring that government comes up with the right policy for the demutualisation.

    President, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, also said the discussions on the demutualisation of the Exchange are ongoing noting that the exercise is of critical importance to the NSE and the entire capital market.

    According to him, giving the position of the NSE, the demutualisation of the Exchange will require input from both the government side and the private sector.

    Nigerian shareholders had expressed supports for the demutualisation of the NSE, describing the release of the draft rules for the demutuali-sation by the SEC as a step in the right direction.

    Shareholders’ leaders who spoke to The Nation said the demutualisation of the Exchange would open up the marketplace for popular ownership and enable minority shareholders who have been part of the growth of the market to benefit from ownership of the market.

    Demutualisation is the process of changing a member-owned stock exchange, otherwise known as mutual exchange, to a corporate entity owned by shareholders. In a mutual exchange, the three functions of ownership, management and trading are concentrated into a single group, hence the broker members of the exchange are both the owners and the traders on the exchange and they further manage the exchange as well.

    In a demutualised exchange, the three functions of ownership, management and trading are clearly separated. The draft rules by SEC simply defined demutualisation as “the separation of the ownership of the Securities Exchange from the right to trade on such Securities Exchange”.

    The NSE has been locked in intense grip of demutualisation with divergent views on the necessity, procedures and timing and other details of the exercise. The released of the draft culminated a four-year exercise to provide amenable template for the demutualisation.

    Established as Lagos Stock Exchange (LSE) in 1960, the stock exchange was conceptualised as a limited by guarantee not-for-profit organisation thriving on the goodwill, reputation and integrity of its members. While Nigeria’s doyen of accounting, Mr. Akintola William, is the only surviving initial signatory to the founding memorandum of the NSE, the membership list of the NSE has always included “the movers and shakers” of the Nigerian economy.

    Beside stockbroking firms and other capital market operators that are dealing members, members of the NSE included Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chief Ernest Shonekan, Mr. Gamaliel Onosode, Mr. Oba Otudeko, Otunba Adekunle Ojora, Mr. Pascal Dozie, Chief Phillip Asiodu, Rear Admiral Allison Madueke (rtd.) and Senator Udo Udoma among others.

    Altogether, the NSE has  360 individual and institutional members including some 255 active dealing members.

    poration, New Nigerian Development Company Limited, Niger State Development Company Limited, Sokoto Investment Company Limited and Yobe Investment Company Limited among others.

    According to the draft of the demutualisation rules, obtained by The Nation, no single entity or person or related entities and persons should be permitted to own, directly or indirectly more than five per cent of the equity and or voting rights in the demutualised securities exchange.

    Besides, the rules stipulate that the aggregate equity interests of members of any specific stakeholder group such as stockbrokers and broker-dealer in the demutualised securities exchange should not exceed 40 per cent.

    The rules, made pursuant to section 313 of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2007, stipulate that the securities exchange should initiate a process for determining the accurate list of members of the Exchange prior to the commencement of demutualization.

    The process of demutualization of the Securities Exchange should include an exchange of membership rights in the Securities Exchange for ownership of shares in the demutualised Securities Exchange.

    According to the rules, strategic investors should be given equity interest in the demutualised securities exchange subject to establishment of the facts that the strategic investor has technical expertise through previous experience in managing other Exchanges and the aggregate number of shares to be offered to the strategic investors shall not be more than 30 per cent of issued and fully paid up capital of the securities exchange. However, if the Exchange is in dire need of funds, it could issue a higher number of shares subject to approval of the Commission.

    The rules stipulate that the trading participants who are shareholders of the securities exchange shall with effect from the date of demutualization reduce their cumulative shareholdings in the demutualised securities exchange to not more than 10 per cent within five years.

    Application for demutualisation must include a valuation report of the securities exchange, the proposed authorized and paid-up share capital of the demutualized securities exchange with the number of shares to be issued, the names of members of the Securities Exchange proposed to be the initial shareholders of the demutualized Securities Exchange and the number of shares to be allotted to each shareholder, the number of shares to be allotted to and held directly or indirectly by the Government of Nigeria or its agencies in the public interest being at least 10 per cent of the total shareholding, the proposed Memorandum and Articles of Association (MEMART) of the demutualized Securities Exchange, the names and profile of council committee on demutualization, the proposed time within which the board of the demutualized securities exchange shall be appointed and the proposed names of directors of the demutualized Securities exchange to be appointed at the first general meeting following the re-registration of the Securities Exchange.

    Other requirements included the proposed plan for the independent management of the commercial and regulatory functions of the demutualized securities exchange and timelines for implementation of necessary structures to ensure the functional separation of commercial and regulatory functions, a detailed five year business development plan for the demutualized Securities Exchange together with the capital expenditure estimates and the sources of finance for the five year period, the manner in which the rights and liabilities of the existing members shall be treated in the demutualization, the procedure for the allocation of shares to the shareholders identified under subparagraphs (c) and (d) and a written declaration that demutualization shall not affect any rights and obligations of the Securities Exchange or render defective any legal proceedings by or against the Securities Exchange.

    Besides, the application must include the proposed timelines for the completion of operational manuals to guide the self-regulatory functions of the demutualized Securities exchange detailing the scope of regulatory functions to be performed by the demutualized Securities Exchange, the proposed rules of the demutualized Securities Exchange and the last audited financial statements of the Securities Exchange. However, the Commission may, in writing, require the Securities Exchange to provide any additional information which the Commission may require.

    The rules also stipulate the governance model, the resolution of the application and other details.