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Tag: Fed Govt

  • Fed Govt shops for N40b to replace nine buildings

    •Prison, court, Fed Secretariat, college, others need repair

    ABOUT N40 billion is required to replace nine public buildings that are presently in bad shape, the Federal Government said yesterday.

    The buildings include prisons, court, Federal Secretariat, hospitals, a Federal Government’s college and four blocks of building in the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, including the Power House.

    The country, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola said, was capable of saving billions of Naira yearly, if members of the public embrace maintenance as they do religion.

    Fashola spoke in Abuja yesterday during the public presentation of the ‘National Public Building Maintenance Policy’.

    The minister stated that data from other countries showed that maintenance contributes about three per cent to Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of South Africa, Canada and United States of America.

    On the importance of the policy, the minister said: “The Federal Government’s decision on maintenance is an economic decision. It is meant to empower Nigerians at the base of the economic pyramid, especially those who are artisans.

    “It is also meant to empower the middle class; those who are in small and medium scale enterprises, manufacturers of cottage industry produced equipment and generally drive the growth of Nigeria’s economy.”

    On the financial implication of poor maintenance, the minister said: “We used nine public buildings as pilot; the prison, court, federal secretariat, hospital, Federal Government College and four of our buildings and the power house. The total overview of those nine buildings showed to us that it will cost about N40 billion to replace those buildings.

    “We thought that if we pursue maintenance at about N600 million to N900 million per annum, those buildings can achieve their desired life of between 50 to 70 years. If we had N40 billion in any event, instead of using them to replace existing buildings, we should be using them to expand and provide more for our growing population.”

    He also said maintenance would create employment opportunities.

    “If we spend under a billion a year, we found out that we will be employing over 400 people in just those nine buildings.

    “One of the schools will require about 34 people and I did a quick check; there are about 104 unity schools, so if you multiply 34 by 104 for schools alone, you will begin to see the numbers we are seeing.

    “In the Ministry of Interior alone, if the work begins to get to prison to make sure that there is water, electricity and that roofs don’t leak; just imagine if it spreads across all the police stations in Nigeria because they are public buildings as well. Can we then truly say that there will be no work in this economy?”

    The minister added: “The data available from South Africa, Canada and the United States shows that maintenance as an economy contributes from 1.5 per cent to three per cent GDP contribution and that is massive and that is why I feel I need to let people know that what we have signed unto is enormous and that is why I said this is the work that I have done here that I am most proud of and I hope that I live to see the result.”

    Commenting on recent law prohibiting discrimination against people living with disability, Fashola urged architects to brace up to achieve the five years compliance target set.

    “What President Buhari has done with that law is profound. A new status and new way of life has been presented to us. He has done his job, we must do ours. So, we have to retrofit all those buildings within the next five years and as we do that, people will be employed and lives will change in one month.”

     

  • Do not sign AfCFTA, MAN urges Fed Govt

    THE Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), has urged the Federal Government not to sign the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), saying the measure would save Nigeria  from being used as a dumping ground for foreign goods.

    MAN’s President, Mansur Ahmed, who is also the interim Chairman of Africa Manufacturers Association said this was the stand of the association taken at the 2019 Edition of the MAN Annual Media Luncheon for Commerce and Industry Correspondents in Lagos.

    Ahmed urged the government to withhold its assent to the agreement pending the completion of the ongoing assessment to determine its likely impact on the manufacturing sector and the economy at large.

    He said “The position of the association is that government should not sign the framework agreement until wide reaching sensitisation and proper assessment are conducted on its impact on the economy and the manufacturing sector. Our advocacy on AfCFTA is yielding desired results and as you are aware, Nigeria is yet to sign the framework agreement. MAN is a functional member of this committee that is billed to submit its report to the President in early February. In addition, MAN, being a proactive organisation that strongly believes in evidence-based advocacy commissioned a sector-specific study on AfCFTA. We have shared the study, full report and fact sheets on the highlights of findings with the Presidential Committee on AfCFTA.

    We are confident that the eventual position of Nigeria on the AfCFTA Framework Agreement would be well articulated in a fresh National Negotiation Mandate that is in the best interest of the manufacturing sector and indeed the Nigerian economy. The position would pay utmost attention to emerging issues on AfCFTA and ensure that the industrial aspiration of the country is not compromised on the platter of free trade.”

    AfCFTA is a free trade area being outlined in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement by 49 out of the 55 nations in African. If the agreement is ratified, the free-trade area will be the largest in the world in terms of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organisation. The agreement was brokered by the African Union (AU) and was signed on March 21, 2018 by 44 of its 55 member states in Kigali, Rwanda. Nigeria is yet to sign the agreement.

  • Fed Govt bond auction for January oversubscribed

    THE first Federal Government Bond Auction for 2019 issued yesterday has been oversubscribed.

    A statement from the Debt Management Office (DMO) said the office offered three instruments with total value of N150 billion.

    Total subscriptions from investors for the bonds, the DMO said, “was oversubscribed by N197 billion, indicating a subscription level of 131 per cent”

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    Successful bids were allotted at the rate of 15.20 per cent for the five-year, 15.25 per cent for the seven-year and   15.35 per cent for the 10-year   bonds.

    “The rates for the allotments were consistent with the yields in the secondary market,” the DMO said.

    It was also added that “investor preference   was   mainly   for   the   10-year   bond,   which   had   a subscription level of 299 per cent.”

    In accordance with its policy of keeping the government’s borrowing costs at prudent levels, “the DMO allotted a total of N116.98 billion to successful bidders”.

  • Fed Govt to tackle drug trafficking

    The Federal Government, in conjunction with the United Nations Office for Drug Control (UNODC) and the European Union (EU), yesterday announced its efforts to tackle drug trafficking.

    UNODC Director of Operations Miwa Kato in a statement in Abuja at the launch of the National Survey on Drug Use in Nigeria, said the agency looked forward to working with the Federal Government, as it continued in its efforts to “employ a balanced approach to drug control in order to increase access to drug treatment services.”

    The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ohanire, noted the work being done to mitigate the challenges drug use posed to Nigerians.

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    He welcomed the idea to strengthen drug demand reduction strategies, with a focus on evidence-based drug use prevention and treatment in the new edition of the

    National Drug Control Master Plan for 2020 to 2024, currently being formulated.

     

  • Fed Govt to ratify six IMO conventions

    The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is working with the Federal Ministry of Transportation under the auspices of an Inter-Ministerial Committee to ratify additional six International Maritime Organisation (IMO) conventions before the end of this year.

    NIMASA’s Director-General, Dakuku Peterside, made this known at the eighth Strategic Admiralty Law Seminar for Judges organised by NIMASA in conjunction with Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), in Lagos.

    These conventions include: The Hong Kong International Convention for safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships 2009; Protocol Relating to Intervention on the high seas in cases of oil pollution casualties (Intervention Protocol) 1973; 1996 Protocol on limitation of liability for maritime claims (LLMC).

    Others are 2002 Protocol relating to the carriage of passengers and their luggage by sea (PAL) 1976; International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel (STCW-F) 1995; and the Protocol of 2005 to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Act against the Safety of Maritime Navigation.

    He said that so far, 19 of the conventions have been domesticated by way of regulation, adoption or incorporation under the Merchant Shipping Act of 2007.

    The DG also assured that NIMASA as a responsible agency, is working with relevant stakeholders under the auspices of the IMO Mandatory States Audit Scheme (IMSAS) Corrective Action Plan Committee to ensure that all queries raised in the 2016 IMO Audit report on Nigeria’s maritime sector are addressed before the first quarter of 2019 in order to boost Nigeria’s reelection bid into Category ‘C’ of the IMO General Council.

  • ASUU tackles Fed Govt over N163 billion varsity funds

    THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has asked the Federal Government to stop distorting facts about funds released to the union and the universities.

    It said the ongoing strike by the university teachers will still linger owing to a few disagreements between the government and the union on the mode of releasing agreed funds to the universities.

    ASUU National President Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi spoke with The Nation on the sideline of the Central Working Committee meeting of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), at the weekend.

    He said the union was not a spending agency of government, adding that the comment credited to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, that N163 billion was released to the union was a distortion of facts.

    But the Minister of Education Adamu Adamu is optimistic that the ASUU strike may end this week.

    Adamu stated this during a briefing with reporters in Abuja at the weekend on the proliferation of illegal institutions.

    ASUU members have been on strike since November 4, 2018.

    The minister said: “Perhaps by next week, I hope the ASUU strike will be over.”

    However, Ogunyemi said the N163 billion referred to by Ngige was released to the universities by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) to meet specific needs in the universities and should not be equated to the revitalisation fund being demanded by the unions.

    He said: “The Minister of Labour referred to the release of N163 billion, which was not released by the Ministry of Education for revitalisation. That fund he alluded to was from TETFUND.

    “TETFUND was there when we carried out the NEEDS Assessment in 2012. What we called Revitalisation Fund today is a product of that exercise of 2012. We have always drawn a line of distinction between what TETFUND gives and what we should access from the NEEDS Assessment Fund. They are different terms of interventions that should not be equated to one.

    “TETFUND as an intervention agency is ASUU brainchild, which became a reality. The funds from the NEEDS Assessment is to fix specific items of deficiency in our system.

    Unfortunately, both Federal and state governments have now relinquished their responsibilities to TETFUND. The Federal Government budget for education in term of capital project funding is worrisome.

    “That is why we keep saying that the Ministry of Labour and Employment should stop saying N163 billion has been released to ASUU. ASUU is not a spending agency of government. We don’t spend government money. When money is released, it goes to the universities and governing councils who are representatives of government in the schools. It is a distortion, if we say N163 billion was released to ASUU.”

    He explained that the issue of university revitalisation has remained contentious with the union demanding a release of N50 billion to the universities before the strike is suspended, while government is saying it cannot meet that demand as a result of the condition of the economy.

    He expressed the hope that when both parties meet again this week, the issues in contention will be resolved to allow students return to classes.

    Ogunyemi said the union has tried to bend backward in its demands as a result of the intervention of Nigerians.

    He said the union was still consulting on whether to end the strike or not.

    According to him, the union wants to take stock of what government has promised.

    He said: “All I can say, for now, is that we are still consulting. We need to take stock of government’s promises in terms of aspects that have been fulfilled and what is left.”

  • Fed Govt to seize payments to AMCON debtors

    The Federal Government has vowed not to write off the debts of obligors to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) but will seize payments due to them and have nothing to do with them going forward.

    Speaking at the inauguration of the AMCON board in Abuja at the weekend, Minister of Finance Mrs. Zainab Ahmed said: “It must be emphasised that government would not deal with debtors that have failed to honour their obligations with AMCON. Payments due to some of these obligors will be put under lien until they enter into a resolution agreement with AMCON.”

    The reason for this decision, she said, “is because AMCON’s debts sit on the government’s balance sheet with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).’’

    So far, the minister lamented that, “AMCON’s repayment of its indebtedness to the CBN was over N1trillion. AMCON’s total debt obligation to the CBN, is in excess of N5 trillion. It is evident that the Federal Government cannot afford to write off this debt in the short term, hence, our moral obligation to pursue obligors and recover the debts owed.”

    She said she had “been briefed on some of the challenges facing the Corporation, which includes obligors resorting to all manners of tactics to avoid honouring their obligations. Whilst some are still enjoying government patronage, others are using the judiciary and adopting legal technicalities to stall recovery’’.

    The finance minister noted that AMCON has been able to recover over N1trillion since inception to end of last year. Out of the recovered sum, cash accounted for 60 per cent while non-cash assets such as properties and equity securities accounted for the balance of 40 per cent.

    She said: “The Corporation has acquired over 12,000 non-performing loans worth approximately N3.7 trillion from 22 commercial banks; injected N22 trillion as Financial Accommodation to 10 banks. The direct impact of that action is seen in the protection of about N3.66 trillion of depositors’ funds and approximately 14,000 jobs were saved.”

    AMCON said it has two major roles:  one is to bail out banks through purchase of non-performing loans; and the second, to recover the loans from the obligors.

    “It has successfully bailed out the banks, it is now at a stage where it must recover the debts. Failure to recover may result to serious consequences, including recourse to tax payers’ money which must be avoided.

    “For an organisation with sunset date, all hands must be on deck to provide the support required. Considering the huge portfolio of debt, no obligor must be allowed to go scot free no matter how highly placed,” she said

    In his address at the inauguration,  AMCON Managing Director, Mohammed Kuru told the finance minister that “the most difficult thing is debt collection’’.

  • 2.5m benefit from cash transfer scheme, says Fed Govt

    THE Federal Government said yesterday that about 2.5 million Nigerians have benefitted from its cash transfer programme.

    It added that it was implementing the programme to rescue Nigerians from poverty.

    National Coordinator, National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO), Office of the Vice President Mr. Apera Iorwa stated these yesterday while addressing reporters at the Social Protection Cross Learning Summit in Abuja.

    He said: “At the moment, we have developed the social register in 26 states of the federation. We have a total of 655,000 poor and vulnerable households made up of 2,590,000 individuals within that register. From there, we mine the beneficiaries for the cash transfer programme and other programmes of government.

    “It is our hope that this year, setting the stage for next coming years, we would be in the 36 states of the federation. We will start with the first 30 per cent of the poorest local governments in each state, and gradually, we move to the other local governments. The plan is to ultimately saturate every community in Nigeria.

    “The next two years will see us saturate and having presence in every community; giving all who are identified as poor and vulnerable the opportunity to access social intervention programmes that we are working on.

    “The National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office is established by the Federal Government of Nigeria and bankrolled by credit from the World Bank; the World Bank also giving technical support in building the social register and social safety nets programme.

    “This loan facility is beyond the current administration; the loan is till 2020. So, it’s beyond the current administration. The structure as we believe will go on, and regardless of the government, we know that the Federal Government is focused on Human Capital Development, which speaks a lot to social protection.”

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    He explained that the Tradermoni programme was not a strategy for vote-buying as it has been alleged by opposition politicians.

    Apera stated that the programme was targeted at small-scale businesses and the poor in the society.

    He said: “It is not vote-buying at all because it is increasing the capacity of people to do better in business and enhancing the income of the family.

    “Some of the international delegates that are here from Ghana, South Africa and Malawi said it is difficult to believe that we started only two years ago.

    “We have offices established in the 36 states, including Abuja, and we have 655,000 poor and vulnerable households in our social register, and the register is currently being raised in all these 36 states – it is unprecedented.”

    Director, Social Development, Ministry of Budget & National Planning Mrs. Falilat Abdulraheem explained that previous administrations have had lots of interventions in social protection; but Buhari administration far surpasses all of them in just three years.

    Social Protection Advisor, Hunger Reduction & Livelihoods  Dr. Luke Harman said: “Successful countries in the 21st century are no longer about extracting things from the ground or manufacturing, but the main focus is more on human capital and it is going to be about investing in people.

    “It is great to see that in Nigeria in the last few years, all these investments have been made, for example through the National Social Investment Programme.”

  • Fed Govt to send foreign security experts packing

    A NEW regulation is coming to flush out expatriates operating private security outfits in the country, the Federal Government has said.

    Such expatriates, it was learnt, are being suspected of aiding insurgency and criminalities.

    Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Commandant General Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu stated these in Kaduna at the weekend during the Managing Directors/Chief Executive Officers parley organised by the Kaduna Chapter of Association of Licenced Private Security Practitioners of Nigeria (ALPSPN).

    The NSCDC boss, who was represented at the event by the Assistant Commandant General PGC, Helen Amakiri, said the new regulation’s document is being designed to address the lacuna in the 1986 Private Guard Companies (PGC) Act, which he said has become so obsolete.

    Muhammadu said: “Luckily, Section 35 of that Act empowers the Minister of Interior to make regulations. So, as the regulator of the industry, we asked the permission of the minister, which is the chief regulator, to formulate regulations that will address all the lacuna in the Act; and that we have done.

    “So, we have an up-to-date document called ‘Private Security Regulations 2018’ that can be used to regulate the industry and upgrade it to where we want it to be. It has been gazetted by the Federal Government press.

    “The regulation is going to stamp illegal operators and even foreign operators. The PGC Act says, no foreigner should own private security company in Nigeria. But the regulation has gone further to say that, no foreigner should own, be a director or operative of private security company in Nigeria.

    “So, we don’t want foreigners in private security industry in Nigeria. The reason is that, we have been receiving intelligence reports that these foreign operators and directors aid and abet terrorism and insurgency, as well as militancy, especially in the Niger Delta and Northeast of Nigeria.”

    The Commandant General, however, asked the private security operators to be ready to upgrade their practices and follow the guidelines.

    ALPSPN National President Dr. Davidson Akhimien asked the Federal Government to employ their service in intelligence-gathering to address the various security challenges confronting the country.

    Akhimien, who was represented by the association’s vice president, Emilia Chasa, noted that security in Nigeria has become a burning issue.

    The private security operators, he said, can assist in the area of intelligence-gathering, as they have their men in every nook and cranny of the country.

    On his part, the Kaduna State Chapter Chairman, Dauda Zuye-Nda Ageni called on the relevant regulators of the ALPSPN to help in adequately addressing challenges of multiple taxation and quackery in the system.

  • Fed Govt shops for private sector investment in ICT Park

    THE Federal Government has started shopping for private sector investment for the actualisation of Abuja National ICT Park.

    It said the Park will create a platform for the acquisition of ICT knowledge, appropriate initiatives, incubating tech ideas into viable startups, research and development, testing and certifications of ICT solutions in Nigeria.

    The Minister of Communications, Dr. Adebayo Shittu who spoke during a Business Roundtable for the Financing of the National ICT Park at the Abuja Technology Village, in  Lagos at the weekend, said ICT/Telecom industry is key to the economy and an avenue for the youthful population and consumers to unlock the potential in the sector through policies and programmes that have the capacity to boost the economy in collaboration with stakeholders.

    Shittu said the objective of the meeting was to appraise the major stakeholders and the private companies operating in the ICT ecosystem of the Ministry’s plan to establish ICT Park and to solicit their cooperation and support towards its success, execution, and operationalisation of the project.

    He noted that ICT Park projects are capital intensive hence the need for industry stakeholders to partner Ministry of Communications to establish the project in order to bridge the practical skills gap that exists between the academia and the industry.

    He said: “The collaboration between the Ministry of Communications and Abuja Technology Village (ATV), had led to a 6344sqm of commercial land earmarked for the establishment of a National ICT Park within the free trade zone owned and operated by the ATV.”

    He added that the event will give insight into ATV free trade zone; showcase the conceptual model of the proposed National ICT Park, present investment and partnership opportunities to venture capitalist, academic institutions, business angels, investment bankers and development partners.

    Shittu said the project is part of government’s preparation for the 4th Industrial Revolution, which is predicted to happen globally in the near future noting that the establishment of the centre will encourage investment in the ICT sector and complement the proposed ICT university which will also produce the required skilled manpower for Africa to partake in the 4th Industrial Revolution.

    In his words “ICTs are essential in driving entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth as well as building strong interface between the academia and the industry, and we want industry participation and synergy on this project that will be of immense benefit to the ICT ecosystem be it the student community, the academia, and the industry”.

    He said the country badly needed adequate pool of qualified manpower to sustain the growth of the ICT sector noting that Government, together with the private sector, is implementing a series of training programmes to disseminate ICT literacy and usage in all spheres of activities across the country.

    Shittu stated that establishment of the park will further facilitate digital capacity building for immediate employment, entrepreneurial skills development, job and wealth creation as well as promoting the digital economy in an era of disruptive technology through effective regulations.

    In her remarks, the Managing Director, Abuja Technology Village, Ms. Hauwa Yabani pointed out that the village was established to serve as a catalyst and desire transformation of Nigeria as knowledge-based economy adding that the park is strategically located and focus on energy, ICT and biotechnology.

    In his presentation, the Managing Director, Rack Centre, Dr Ayotunde Coker, expressed that there should be comprehensive cloud and content distribution ecosystem noting that every country on Atlantic coast of Africa is directly connected by Fibre and direct high-speed fibre connectivity.

    He said technology village funding model should encompass the provision of core infrastructure, power, and tax incentives for investment, exercise duties concessions and input cost concessions.