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Tag: Fed Govt

  • Fed Govt, UBEC hail Ekiti on education delivery

    Fed Govt, UBEC hail Ekiti on education delivery

    The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the Federal Ministry of Education yesterday hailed the Ekiti State government on the establishment of the Early Childhood Development Centre.

    The Acting Executive Secretary, UBEC Education Department, Prof. Charles Onocha and the Director of the Basic and Secondary Education Department, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. D.C. Uwaezuole, spoke yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, at the inauguration of the Centre.

    Others at the inauguration, which was performed by Governor Kayode Fayemi, include the governor’s wife, Bisi; House of Assembly Speaker Adewale Omirin; Head of Service Bunmi Famosaya; Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Ganiyu Owolabi and the wife of the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Olori Abosede Adejugbe.

    Onocha and Uwaezuole urged Fayemi to introduce the project to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), using the State Peer Review Mechanism (SPRM).

    The SPRM was designed by the NGF to accelerate development in states through periodic reviews of progress on policies, plans and programmes.

    It enables governors to share experiences, as well as reinforce commendable and innovative practices.

    Ekiti Deputy Governor Prof. Modupe Adelabu, who doubles as the chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), said the administration was determined to lay a solid foundation for quality education.

    She said the rehabilitation of schools and the provision of furniture were part of efforts to improve enrolment in public schools.

    Explaining that Agenda 4 of the Eight-Point Agenda focuses on Education and Human Capital Development, Mrs. Adelabu said: “This Early Childhood Development Education Centre is aimed at achieving this goal because the children brought up in the centre will invariably graduate to the government primary school close to the Centre.”

    She said the Centre, situated on the premises of the State Secretariat, will make life easier for nursing mothers in the civil service.

    Onocha, who was represented by Prof. Rasheed Aderinoye, described the establishment of the Centre as a landmark in education.

    He said: “The inauguration of this Mega ECD Centre today is noteworthy, as Ekiti State and SUBEB, in particular, have complied with the UBEC policy. The occasion shows the commitment of the governor and his deputy, who I understand oversees SUBEB.

    “The Mega Centre undoubtedly will be a reference point for the development of other centres in the states. It will also be an initiative to be emulated by other states.

    “I call on other SUBEBs to emulate Ekiti State in giving priority to Early Childhood Development by providing quality infrastructure that are age-appropriate.”

    Uwaezuole, who was represented by Mrs. Sherifat Adaba, said: “Your Excellency, by setting up this centre, you have demonstrated that the future nurturing of the Nigerian child, albeit Ekiti children, is one of the priorities of your forward-looking government.

    “Early Childhood Education is the foundation for early learning and this explains why a policy on Early Childhood Development was developed to encourage government’s participation in early childhood education delivery.”

  • Don’t shut down education, NLC tells Fed Govt

    Don’t shut down education, NLC tells Fed Govt

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday urged President Goodluck Jonathan to tackle the crises in the education sector to prevent a shutdown of the sector.

    NLC President, Abdulwahed Omar, in a statement, titled: Do Not Allow Education Sector To Shut Down, urged the President to confront the issues threatening the Education sector.

    The statement reads: “We urge Mr President to muster all the necessary will and skill to confront the issues that threaten this vital sector.

    “As President of the country, he has the onerous task of rising up to the challenge of restoring normalcy to the sector, whether the issues are political – as he has made the nation to believe – or are purely industrial.”

    The umbrella labour union noted that the threat of a shutdown deserved the urgency and mobilisation Dr Jonathan could muster.

    The NLC said the challenges in the Education sector were symptomatic of greater ills in the polity.

    The congress recalled that the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), for instance, was in its fourth month and had almost disrupted an academic session with collateral consequences.

    It added that the other leading unions in the Education sector – the Non-Academic Staff Union of Academic Institutions (NASU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) National Association of Academic Technologies (NAAT) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP) – have threatened to go on strike in the next few days, except their demands were met.

    The NLC president noted that the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) had signalled its readiness to embark on a solidarity strike, if the government failed to resolve, within two weeks, its contentious agreement with ASUU.

    The statement reads: “Most of these demands, if not all, are not new, but are subsisting agreements which the government is expected to honour. Some of these agreements border on salaries, which the government has agreed to pay but has elected to observe in the breach instead. For example, the SSANU, whose members are being owed for over three months.

    “The avoidable strike by ASUU has caused enough disruption or damage to the sector. The implications for the polity are grave and should be avoided, at least for the sake of our children.

    “We also urge Mr President to discountenance the impression that the strikes against his government are politically-motivated, as nothing could be farther from the truth. Those who pursue this line of thinking are those who do not wish Mr President well. Rather than tell him the truth, they prefer to indulge in sycophancy, hypocrisy and boot-licking because it serves their personal motives.”

  • Fed Govt probes attack on Nigerians in Guinea Bissau

    Fed Govt probes attack on Nigerians in Guinea Bissau

    The Federal Government ordered yesterday investigations into Tuesday’s attack on Nigerian Embassy in Guinea Bissau.

    A Nigerian was said to have died and several others injured.

    Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting yesterday, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati described the incident as barbaric and inhuman.

    Stressing that President Goodluck Jonathan and members of the Federal Executive Council deliberated on the incidence yesterday, he said that the President directed the Nigerian Ambassador to Guinea Bissau to begin full scale investigation in to the case and unravel reasons behind the attacks.

    He said the Nigerian Ambassador is to meet with his counterpart in the foreign affairs ministry in Guinea Bissau in carrying out the investigations.

    He said: “When the incident happened, the Ambassador in Guinea Bissau waded in to the matter and protested to the authorities and said that it is unacceptable. You can be rest assured that this government is committed to the protection of the lives of Nigerians wherever they are either within or in Diaspora”

  • Fed Govt withdraws charges against Russians over alleged arms smuggling

    For 15 Russians accused of unlawfully importing arms and ammunition into Nigeria, it was time to go home yesterday. They were freed by a Federal High Court, Lagos.

    This followed an application to withdraw the charges against them by the Federal Government.

    Zhelyazkov Andrey; Savchenko Sergel; Lopatin Alexey; Baranovskly Nikolay;

    Llia Shubov; Dimitry Bannyrh; along with Alexander Tsarikov; Kononov Sergel; Chichkanov Vasily; Varlygin Igor; Komilov Alexander; Mishin Pavel; Korotchenko Andrey; Vorobev Mikhail and Stepan Oleksiuk were arrested by the Navy on October 18, last year, onboard a vessel, MV Myre Seadiver, for allegedly carrying cache of arms into the nation’s water without authorisation.

    They were handed over to the prosecuting agencies, who later charged the accused to court on four counts of unlawful importation of firearms and non disclosure of content of vessel.

    The accused were first arraigned on February 19 before Justice Okechukwu Okeke now retired.

    They had pleaded not guilty to the charge and were released on bail to the Russian Ambassador to Nigeria. The vessel was admitted to bail in a bond of $500,000(USD) to be obtained from First Bank Plc.

    The case was transferred to Justice James Tsoho following Justice Okeke’s retirement.

    They had pleaded not guilty to the offences which were said to have contravened Sections 27 of the Firearms Act, as well as the Provisions of the Miscellaneous Offence Act, 2004.

    At the resumed hearing before Justice Tsoho, prosecuting counsel, Mrs. Usman Hajara informed the court of an amended charge before it.

    She said that all previous charges against the Russians have been dropped while an amended charge against one Stanley Chineye and his firm, Maritime Services Limited was filed.

    Hajara prayed the court to strike out the charges against the Russians, their vessel as well as their company, Moral Security Group Limited, while the amended charge be substituted.

    Tsoho granted the prosecution’s prayer by striking out the charges against the foreigners and fixed November 26 for trial of the new accused.

    According to the amended charge, Chineye allegely acted as agent to the Russian vessel and had allegedly misguided them that he had obtained permit from the Navy for the vessel to enter the nation’s waters, which was false.

  • Fed Govt to ban Tokunbo cars

    Fed Govt to ban Tokunbo cars

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday adopted the Automotive Industrial Policy Development Plan.

    Its implementation is aimed at stimulating manufacturing of cars and phase out gradually the importation of second-hand cars, popularly known as Tokunbo.

    Minister of Information Labaran Maku, who was accompanied by Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Bala Mohammed and Trade and Investments Minister Olusegun Aganga, broke the news to State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Maku said: “The most important discussion, which took most of the council’s time was the presentation to council of a broad policy plan to develop Nigeria automotive industry.

    “This plan, which is part of the ministry’s industrial revolution plan that has earlier been approved, is aimed at ensuring increase flow of investments for the development of the automotive in Nigeria.”

    The government, he said, has identified and designated automotive clusters in Lagos/Ogun; Kaduna/Kano; and Anambra/Enugu states as the locations for the manufacturing of the new vehicle to enable them to share resources and reduce cost of investments.

    The policy, he said, is also expected to revive, expand and develop the petrochemical and metal/steel sectors, and facilitate the return of tyre manufacturing industry to profitability to support the sector.

    According to Aganga, whose ministry presented the memo to Council,“a transformed automotive industry will realise its potential as a major driver of economic growth and diversification, job creation, local value addition, and technology acquisition.”

    He said: “These recommendation were adopted at various fora, conferences and consultations with stakeholders, including some original equipment manufacturers (OEM).

    “Council also approved that the government should direct that all vehicle purchased by  the government should be from the local  assembly plants unless it is specialised and National Automotive Council (NAC) has certified that it is not produced in Nigeria.”

    “The Council approved that the approved recommendation should be backed by appropriate legislation to give comfort to investors that there will be no abrupt change in policy,” he added.

    Apart from creating over 700,000 jobs over time, Aganga said the government through the policy is ensuring the reduction of importation of what it can produce locally by making it unattractive to import manufactured products.”

    He said the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) was working with car-maker, Cena of Brazil, to open automotive training centres while two universities have agreed to start degree programmes in automechanical engineering to provide adequate local manpower for the industry.

    While listing pitfalls in similar past policies to include the non-implementation of policies, lack of infrastructure, and inappropriate tariff regime, he said they have been addressed under the new policy framework.

    The policy, which was drawn over the last nine months, he said had the input of the National Automotive Council and foreign car manufacturing giants like Toyota and Nissan, which are expected to soon announce their specific investments in the country.

    “Banks will be encouraged to operate vehicle purchase schemes to enable Nigerians purchase cars on easy terms and the FRSC will kick off a new vehicle car registration/tracking system in the next two weeks to check the smuggling of used cars into the country.” He said

    FEC yesterday also approved the sum of N41.512 billion contracts for rehabilitation and expansion of the outer Southern Expressway and the provision of engineering infrastructure to plot 4075, Asokoro extension (comprising 50 plots) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

    Maku said that the approvals followed the presentation of two memos by the Ministers of FCT and finally approved after deliberations.

    He said: “The Federal Capital Territory again received a lot of attention today at the FEC in the pursuit of FCT policy of improving infrastructure in the city. So, today the minister brought the memo to council seeking the rehabilitation and expansion of the outer Southern expressway from Villa roundabout right down to the outer expressway junction around area one.”

    “The purpose for the expansion is to enable the city to benefit from the expansion already at the southern expressway which today is truncated by the narrow passage that links the expanded road junction from the Villa roundabout right down to the outer southern expressway.”

  • Fed Govt makes $2.525b from PHCN sales

    Fed Govt makes $2.525b from PHCN sales

    The Federal Government has made $2,525,824,534 from the sale of 14 successor companies of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Limited.

    President Goodluck Jonathan will today present the licences to the owners of the successor companies.

    A statement yesterday in Abuja by the Director of Communications, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, said: “So far, of the 14 successor companies scheduled for handover, US$2, 525,824,534 was realised as proceeds. Of the amount, US$1,256,000,000 came from the Distribution Companies (DISCOs) while the Generation Companies (GENCOs) raked in US$1,269,824,534.”

    The BPE said the Federal Government set aside about N384 billion to settle labour liabilities.

    The agency said the President would present the share certificates and licences to the 15 new owners of the PHCN successor companies who have fully paid their bids.

    “The presentation, which is scheduled to hold today at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, is part of the build-up to the activities for the 53rd Independence anniversary of Nigeria,” the statement said.

    It quoted the Director-General of the BPE, Mr. Benjamin Dikki, as saying: “This handover is a culmination of 14 years of painstaking effort by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), the BPE and other key stakeholders to reform and liberalise Nigeria’s electricity industry, which began in 1999.”

    The Electric Power Sector Reform Implementation Committee (EPIC) was set up in 2000 with the mandate to find legal and regulatory frameworks for the sector.

    This gave birth to the National Electric Power Policy, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in September 2001, followed by the passage of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005.

    Electricity workers, under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) have vowed to resist the planned handover of the PHCN today.

    They said the Federal Government should first settle all agreements with Labour before the handover.

    The NUEE and SSAEAC said they would picket the PHCN headquarters in Abuja and Lagos today, if the government hands over the power companies to their investors without abiding by the agreement with Labour.

    The unions’ leadership yesterday directed the members across the country to resist the handover of PHCN’s facilities to investors.

    In a statement by its General Secretary, Comrade Joe Ajaero, the NUEE directed its members to resist what he called the forcible takeover of PHCN.

    The statement reads: “Further to our earlier circular to resist the forcible takeover of PHCN, it is now clearer that the Federal Government is bent on handing over PHCN’s facilities to investors without conclusively settling labour issues.

    “This position of government is not only unfair and condemnable but is a direct affront on the economic, social and physical well-being of the workers and their families.”

    Rights activist and President of the Civil Rights Congress (CRC), Mallam Shehu Sani, said yesterday the desire by Nigerians to have uninterrupted power supply should not be done at the expense of casting darkness on their lives.

    In a statement in Kaduna, Sani noted that the Federal Government’s proposed handing over of the PHCN to investors today is another step towards impoverishing Nigerians and selling off the nation’s assets.

    He said the privatisation of the Nigeria Airways and the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) by the government was disastrous.

    The activist said President Jonathan would go down in history as one who approved, execute and presided over the disposition of the nation’s assets.

    He said: “The privatisation of the PHCN and the scheduled hand over to ‘investors’ on today stands condemned. The exercise is nothing but a criminal robbery of our collective assets by a few bourgeoisie elite…”

  • Reps committee faults Fed Govt on Ajaokuta mill

    Reps committee faults Fed Govt on Ajaokuta mill

    The House of Representatives Committee on Industry has berated the Federal government and well-to-do Nigerians over their inability to complete the Ajaokuta Rolling Mill.

    The chairman of the committee, Alhaji Mohammed Onawo stated this while addressing reporters in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, after his committee’s oversight function to KAM Industries Limited.

    Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala visit the private indigenous steel rolling mill recently.

    Alhaji Onawo said: “What we have seen today is quite overwhelming. What we have seen today is a dogged effort of an individual determined to make a change in Nigeria. In the past, people have depended so much on government.

    “That is why I say it is a challenge to the Federal Government for not being able to complete Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill. It is a challenge to other billionaires in Nigeria who just stock money in their houses or take this money outside the country and when they die, their family cannot even access it.

    “There have been cries by everybody that there is no good road. That’s why industries cannot function. With that same environment, you can see the difference here. It is just a way of commitment and this goes to show that government alone cannot do it.

    “So, if edifices like this are established, you can be sure that Nigeria, in the shortest possible time, can become an industrialised nation. Without things like this, our dream of becoming one of the 20 most developed economies of the world by the year 2020 can be a mirage.”

    On the prohibitive lending rates by commercial banks, the legislator said that “the Federal Government and the National Assembly are frowning at the present high rate of lending and high rate of interest.

    “President Jonathan has even said that if the commercial banks do not change their attitude towards investors, the intervention funds that they receive for industrial development or industrial financing would be channelled through development banks; and if they allow that to happen, it would be they that would be losing.

    “Outside this country, people take loan on interest of two per cent. Some of them even go to take loans whose interest rates are very low and sell to entrepreneurs at high rate. They are just interested in making money; they are not interested in developing the economy,” he said.

    In a remark, Deputy Managing Director of the company, Hajia Mariam Yusuf put the current workforce of the company at 2,000.

    She added that the company would employ about 1, 000 more when it’s cold steel rolling mill is completed.

    “Distinguished members of the National Assembly, what you are about to see today is our cold steel rolling mill designed to make car bodies; galvanised roofing sheets, head pans, shovels and more.

    “The establishment of the cold steel rolling mill in Kwara State will create satellite investment opportunities for the downstream companies who will cash in on the opportunity of the cold steel to fabricate and manufacture so many products; including a car assembly plant,” she said.

  • Fed Govt to revive moribund leather tanneries

    Fed Govt to revive moribund leather tanneries

    The Federal Government is planning to revive moribund leather tanneries across the country. The Kano, Kaduna and Aba tanneries are to be upgraded to world class standard.

    The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga broke the news to stakeholders in the leather sub-sector in Abuja. He said the government would carry out an audit of all moribund tanneries with a view to re-tooling and reviving viable ones.

    He said: “Of all the 36 tanneries in the country, only six accounts for the bulk of our export. I have therefore directed the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), and the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) through the National Enterprise Development Programme, to audit all tanneries in Nigeria and work with the owners to re-tool and revive those that can be resuscitated.

    “We have identified clusters in six zones in Nigeria to be upgraded to world-class leather clusters over the next 18 months. They include locations in Kano, Kaduna and Aba, among others,” he said, adding that the Kano Leather Cluster is already one of the most important in West Africa as it sources lots of hides and skin from outside Nigeria to meet its demand.

    Aganga said the Federal Government would provide the requisite infrastructure to support the growth and development of the leather clusters across the country, as part of the Nigeria’s Industrial Revolution Plan.

    He said the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and Small and Medium Enterprises are already working with the Kano State Government on the Kano Leather Clusters. “We want to make the Kano Clusters, which is located in our Free Trade Zone, one of the leading Leather Clusters in the world. We will provide the requisite infrastructure for the six identified clusters like the Common Facility Centres. CFC in Aba is already in place. We will complete the one in Kano as well as other locations.

    The Minister said NEDEP is working with a number of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to formalise their operations. Nigeria is one of the largest exporters of finished leather products to West Africa. However, this is mostly through informal channels. We must formalise this to allow the government better channel its incentives.”

    He stressed that the Federal Government was committed to providing an enabling business environment by reducing the cost of doing business in order to grow the sector and make it globally competitive.

    Furthermore, we have developed the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan through which we aim to increase the Nigerian manufacturing sector’s revenue by US$20 billion over the next five years. Under the NIRP, Leather and Leather Products fit within the strategic sectors under the Agro allied and Agro processing group. Our target is to double revenue from Tanneries and Leather-related manufacturing within the next 3 years.

  • Fed Govt dumps Oronsaye’s MDA rationalisation report

    Fed Govt dumps Oronsaye’s MDA rationalisation report

    The Federal Government may have jettisoned the controversial Steve Oronsaye Report on the rationalisation of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

    The government said its expenditure focus in the medium term was to complete ongoing capital projects, particularly those with a high rate of returns.

    This is contained in the 2014-2016 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and approval.

    The government said it could not implement the White Paper on rationalising public agencies because some agencies recommended for closure or merger were underpinned by law, which cannot be repealed in the short run.

    The document reads: “It had been hoped that significant savings would be made from the implementation of government’s White Paper on rationalising public agencies.

    “Unfortunately, very little or no savings are likely to be made from the implementation of government’s White Paper on rationalising public agencies due to the fact that many agencies recommended for closure or merger were allowed to remain partly due to the fact that some of them are underpinned by law, which cannot be repealed in the short run.”

    It said the biometric verification of government employees was being accelerated and extended to all MDAs with the inauguration of implementation committee on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

    On capital projects, the document said: “The focus of government expenditure in the medium term continues to be on completing ongoing capital projects, particularly those with a high rate of returns.

    “The country, however, has faced serious challenges since the first quarter of 2013 as a result of significant disruptions in oil production, which has led to an output drop of almost 400,000 barrels per day.”

  • APC slams Fed Govt for ASUU strike

    APC slams Fed Govt for ASUU strike

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has decried Federal Government’s insincere and amateurish handling of the strike that has paralysed academic work in public universities.

    In a statement in Abuja yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the tepid and half-hearted way the government has handled the strike has shown that it does not place much premium on education, which is the path to national development.

    It said there is no better indication of the government’s disdain for education than the fact that the President Goodluck Jonathan administration has continued in its profligate ways even as students caught in the web of the strike have remained at home when they should be engaged in academic work.

    APC said since the strike began, the Jonathan administration has thrown at least two mega, money-guzzling dinners in Abuja, perhaps the best example of the aphorism ‘Nero fiddling while Rome burns’. In one of such frivolities, the President and his party folks feasted joyously at a post-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convention dinner even as hapless students were bemoaning their fate over the strike.

    The party said it was also in the midst of the strike that the First Lady organised the so-called peace rally that brought hundreds of unsuspecting women to Abuja in what later turned out to be a march of shame. The Abuja gathering must have gulped millions of naira.

    “Yet, some ministers had the temerity to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by saying government will shut down if it meets Academic Staff Union of Universities’ (ASUU’s) demands. What an affront! They did not say Nigeria would shut down when the country paid out N3 trillion in non-existent fuel subsidies; they did not say Nigeria would shut down over the N1 trillion spent in the last eight years on less than 500 people; they did not say Nigeria would shut down due to Federal Government’s monumental profligacy, which includes spending billions of naira to pamper ex-militants, some of who are now so overfed that they are threatening the country’s existence!

    “It is particularly shocking that the government has carried on as if everything is normal, without bothering about the fate of the students, who have been marooned at home since the strike started. Perhaps this is because the children and wards of those at the helm are luxuriating in schools abroad, or because they are too comfortable to worry

    about their less-fortunate compatriots,” it said.

    APC also said the fact that the strike has persisted despite President Jonathan’s directive, widely reported by the media, to the Federal Government’s negotiating team to do everything possible to end it, says a lot about the administration’s

    credibility.

    “In fact, the negotiations between ASUU and Federal Government were called off two days after the President issued his directive. So much for credibility!” the party said.

    APC reiterated its earlier call on the Federal Government, in a statement it issued on August 20, to immediately implement the agreement it willingly reached with ASUU in 2009 and stop wasting its energy on why the agreement cannot be implemented, saying: “Agreements are meant to be respected, not repudiated.”