The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fed Govt

  • Fed Govt begins construction of estates in 33 states

    The Federal Government has commenced the construction of mass housing projects in 33 states. To actualise the project, it plans an upward review of mobilisation funds for contractors up to 50 per cent to enable emerging contractors in the building sector deliver their projects satisfactorily.

    The minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who disclosed this at the sixth meeting of the National Council on Lands, Housing and Urban Development, told delegates at the event that with ongoing housing projects, the government had fulfilled the commitment it made at the 2016 council meeting by 90 per cent.

    “At the time of the council meeting in August 2016, I reported that we were finalising designs to accommodate our cultural, climatic and other diversities. I had explained that when the designs were completed, we would commence construction to pilot the designs and test them for affordability and acceptability. I am pleased to report that construction has started in 33 states where land has been made available,” explained Fashola.

    Fashola also stated that stakeholders had resolved to facilitate the use of exchange of letters for the transfer of title to land when states were transferring land to the federal government. He said, “I am happy to report that there has been very inspiring compliance based on the several letters of exchange that I have received and which I have duly signed. All I need say about this in terms of compliance is that if there are still states yet to comply, they should please do so very quickly.”

    The minister said he had personally visited project sites in Taraba, Gombe, Ekiti, Oyo states, adding that “what I saw demonstrates to me very clearly how impactful the National Housing Programme has been, even at the pilot and inception stage.”

  • Tompolo tells Fed Govt to produce his dad’s killers

    Tompolo tells Fed Govt to produce his dad’s killers

    Niger Delta activist and founder of the defunct Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) Chief Government Ekpemupolo has urged the Federal Government to fish out and prosecute the soldiers who killed his father, Chief Thomas Osen Ekpemupolo, last year.

    Speaking on the first anniversary of his father’s death, Tompolo said descendants of the late patriarch would not rest until the masterminds of his death are found and held accountable.

     Tompolo, who is on the run for alleged N13 billion fraud, said they would use all legitimate means to seek the killers.

     He said: “As we mourn and remember our late patriarch, we will seek justice to apprehend and hold accountable the soldiers responsible for his murder so that he can finally rest in peace and we his descendants fulfilled.

     “I will also not be deterred by persecution, and the state act of terror against my person and communities in Ijaw land in the quest for emancipation of our land and people,” he vowed.

    The father of the former militant leader died from his injuries when soldiers invaded Gbaramatu in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State in September, 2016.

    The octogenarian, who was allegedly brutalised by rampaging soldiers, died in a private hospital at Warri, after his limbs were amputated in a desperate bid to save his life.

     Tompolo, who is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly looting NIMASA fund, lamented his ‘persecution’.

     He said: “I have been marked as state enemy No. 1, by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration because of my natural and open association with my kinsman and former President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.”

    Ekpemupolo also traced his ordeal to his support for Governor Seriake Dickson in the 2016 Bayelsa State governorship election.

     He denied involvement in the operation of Niger Delta Avengers, stressing: “In an orchestrated plot, the Army was unleashed on Gbaramatu in search of me, and the rampaging soldiers stormed my father’s home in Kurutie, brutalised him to the point of death.

     “He sustained injuries in one of his legs and due to lack of medical facilities in the area he could not be treated and could also not be timely evacuated because of the siege and blockade by the Army.’’

     Tompolo also accused the Navy of looting his waterfront property, jetties and other valuable, stressing that items worth over N10 billion were looted by the armed forces.

    “In the last taken inventory of my facility, there was over N10 billon worth of building and other materials in the jetty, but information reaching me has it that the jetty has been stripped bare by service personnel of the Joint Task Force (JTF).

    “Some of the materials presumably have been taken to the North. How could this happen under your watch? As rightly observed by other well-meaning Nigerians, let me echo their thoughts by asking, ‘where is the much-touted anti-corruption crusade?

     “The problem of environmental despoliation and degradation as well as political, economic and social injustice arising out of oil and gas explorations aided by policies of the Federal Government looms larger by the day. Intimidation and threat are employed to cow Niger Deltans in the place of engagement and positive tangibles,” he alleged.

     

  • ASUU, Fed Govt to meet tomorrow

    THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is to resume talks tomorrow in Abuja with the Federal Government representatives regarding the implementation of the 2009 agreement between both parties.

    Its National President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, told The Nation on phone that the union would attend the meeting and table its unfulfilled demands, which led the union to embark on an indefinite strike since August 13.

    “The latest is that they (government) have invited us for a meeting on Thursday.  We will attend and there present our demands before them,” he said.

    Last week, ASUU boycotted a meeting with the Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige, and the Education Minister, Malam Adamu Adamu, which was to be hosted by Ngige in Abuja.

    The union’s demands include the non-registration of Nigerian Universities Pension Management Company (NUPEMCO); payment of incomplete salaries in federal universities and gross under-funding/non-funding of state universities; and non-payment of arrears of earned academic allowances.

     

  • Heritage Bank partners Fed Govt

    Heritage Bank partners Fed Govt

    Heritage Bank Plc has partnered with the Federal Government on the  2017 edition of Diaspora Festival Badagry.

    The festival, which held in Badagry, symbolises the emancipation of the black race.

    It was also an advocacy programme that raised awareness about the continuous fight against oppression, neo-colonialism and enslavement.  The two-day event featured carnival procession, boat regatta, fishing competition, dark era procession, diaspora dinner, beauty pageant, fashion show, cultural displays, heritage site visits, heritage night, the festival market, international music, concert and talent hunt.

    Speaking on Heritage Bank’s involvement in the programme, Mrs. Ozena Utulu, a member of the bank’s Brand Management & Compliance Unit said Heritage Bank,said the lendersupported the event  because it promotes  African heritage and culture.

    Also speaking during the event,  the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Diaspora and Foreign Affairs,Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said  the ‘Door- of- No-Return made popular during the transatlantic slave trade in Africa has now become the Door of Return to Africans in the Diaspora through Badagry. She noted that the development would showcase the African continent to the world in good light and on a positive note.

    The marketing consultant to the project, Rufai Ladipo, CEO of Agile Communications Limited said the Diaspora Festival Badagry is an iconic and symbolic festival with a long tradition of celebrating the best in diversity in a rich African culture and heritage.

  • NEPC hails Fed Govt for N20b non-oil export settlement claims

    The Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has said the reintroduction of the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) into the agric product export business will encourage exportation and boost the economy.

    The commission’s Executive Director, Olusegun Awolowo,  spoke in a one-day stakeholders workshop in Port Harcourt Rivers State capital, for non-oil- product exporters to sensitive them on guidelines for the EEG scheme.

    The Federal Government appropriated N20 billion for EEG to settle 2017 export claims.

    Awolowo, represented by the Director, Export Development and Incentives, George Enyekpo, said the EEG, which suspended for more than four years, would encourage competitiveness in export.

    He said the suspension affected earnings from non-oil export, noting that bringing back the EEG will sustain the growth and development of non-oil export.

    Awolowo hailed the Federal Government for the re-introduction, saying the money would offset export claims and reduce loss of revenue.

    NEPC’s Regional Coordinator in Southsouth Mrs Ikejiofor Azuka said in line with the diversification agenda, the commission introduced a Zero-Oil Plan to ensure that the economy would survive at zero export of crude oil.

    Azuka noted that the EEG is a post-shipment export incentive scheme among incentives given to exporters to help them in their export trade.

    She said: “The scheme is aimed at assisting exporters to expand their volume and value of non-oil exports, diversify of the export market and make them more competitive in international market.”

  • We’ll keep fighting Fed Govt to invest in education, says ASUU boss

    We’ll keep fighting Fed Govt to invest in education, says ASUU boss

    CHAIRMAN of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan (UNIBADAN) Dr. Deji Omole has declared that the union will keep fighting to force the Federal Government to wake up to its responsibilities of investing in education.

    He added that it is only the implementation of the agreement reached with the union by the government that will end the strike.

    His position came yesterday as the strike enters its third week.

    Omole spoke while featuring on a television programme, BCOS AM120, monitored in Ibadan.

    He said what was happening in the country’s universities was a mockery of global standards of university education.

    The union asked Federal Government to use public funds to fund public education.

    The ASUU boss, who noted that the union was not running away from negotiation, stated that the issue in connection was about implementation and not negotiation as being peddled by the Minister of Labour Chris Ngige.

    Omole said it was sad that successive government, including the incumbent failed to realise that funding education is an investment, which can bring about enduring positive change.

    Saying that ASUU was not making new demands but seeking implementation of the 2009 agreement and 2013 Memorandum of Understanding, Omole said only properly groomed students with global curricula and standard infrastructure can bring the needed change.

    “When you reached agreement you must implement it. They just finished Ileya festival and why are we celebrating? It was because someone promised to sacrifice his son to God. When he decided to fulfill it, God replaced that with ram and that is why we are celebrating. Jesus Christ also promised to come and die for the sin of the world and he came and fulfill that promise and that is why you still have people who believe in his second coming.

    “Why will government not fulfill their promises contained in signed agreements? That is what brings crisis. Government should see education as investment.”

  • Fed Govt seeks capital market support for tech firms

    The Federal Government has called for a more concerted effort to use the capital market as a growth platform for technological companies and start-ups.

    Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) should consider ways to encourage listing of more technological firms in order to help in the development of the Nigerian technological know-hows.

    Onu, who spoke at the commissioning of a N500 million data centre at the NSE yesterday in Lagos, said the government is working to redirect Nigerian economy from dependence on oil to a more diversified economy driven by innovations.

    He said the government has already launched many initiatives to position science and technology as the fulcrum of the national economic development including the development and use of domestic research to meet the emerging needs of Nigerian private and public sectors.

    He said the ongoing efforts to ensure utilization of local raw materials for manufacturing will save Nigeria about N3 trillion by 2021.

    He commended the NSE for its contributions to the development of the Nigerian economy noting that the Exchange has all it takes to compete with other global stock exchanges.

    Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar Onyema, said the N500 million data centre was designed to tier 111 standards, within the highest global standards adding that this has further enhanced NSE’s leading advantage over other African stock exchanges.

    According to him, the data centre was designed not only to support the activities of the NSE but also other firms that may want to host their data services at the Exchange.

    “We are very happy with the quality of the data centre,” Onyema said.

    He pointed out that the Exchange will primarily devote the data centre to the services of its broker-dealer community and then, it may extend the services to quoted companies and other stakeholders.

  • ‘Fed Govt begins payment of N200b salary arrears, allowances’

    The Federal Government will this month begin payment of unpaid salary arrears and allowances of public servants

    Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) President, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama, said the payment of the money, which is over N200 billion, excluding pension, would commence from this month.

    “Recently, we wrote a protest letter to the National Assembly and all the parties involved which include the organised labour, Head of Service, Labour Minister, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate President.

    “The meeting was successful and I am happy to announce that the payment will commence as from this September.

    “I commend the National Assembly, most especially the Senate President for their timelyintervention,” Kaigama said.

    He, however, condemned the delay in the constitution of the 29-member National Minimum Wage Committee and warned the government not to stress the patience of workers beyond limit. He said the minimum wage implementation should be holistic and not selective.

    “You are aware that the issue of minimum wage is very topical. While there was a pronouncement to constitute the committee, they have requested for our list which we have send, therefore the committee need to be inaugurated so that the process can go on.

    “We condemned the delay to constitute the 29-member committee of National Minimum Wage for the country.

    “The Federal Government should not take the patience of workers beyond limit as the wage structure is no longer tenable when viewed against the economic reality on the ground,” Kaigama added.

  • Fed Govt, ASUU to resume negotiation this week

    NEGOTIATION between the Federal Government and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the on-going strike by varsity teachers will resume after the Eid-el-Kabir, Labour and Employment Minister Chris Ngige has said

    In a statement issued by Mr. Samuel Olowookere, the ministry’s Deputy Director (Press), Ngige said the meeting would hold after the holidays as requested by the leadership of ASUU.

    He dispelled speculations of uncertainty over talks between the Federal Government and the union.

    “Engagement of the striking ASUU members is still being handled by ministers of Labour and Employment and the ministers of Education.

    “Issues of strike by an employee are a labour matter. The Minister of Labour and Employment is, therefore, synergising with his the Ministry of Education to resolve the dispute.

    “This is normal procedure in government, where ministers brief and report to the President or vice-president to streamline efforts and gains in a given assignment,” he said.

  • Fed govt partners Academy on mortgage, real estate

    To boost mortgage and real estate business in the country, Mortgage and Real Estate Academy (MOREAcademy), in partnership with Centre for Management Development (CMD), a parastatal of the federal government, has concluded plans to hold Mortgage Industry Stakeholders Luncheon on September 19, 2017.

    Its Chairman  and  Western Atlantic Corporations Managing Director, Prince Ade Akinfolurin, made this know during the week in Lagos. According to him, the luncheon is meant to coincide with the historical outing of MOREACADEMY, an establishment of the Federal government in public-private-partnership (PPP) with Western Atlantic Corporation Limited.

    “The luncheon will flag-off the entire training programme of the Academy, and also secure the interest of the participating public in the development of the nation’s mortgage and real estate industry,” said Akinfolurin,  adding that it is meant to further instil public confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari’’s Administration that through MOREACADEMY, a new horizon in delivery of the much needed human capacity in the mortgage and real estate industry could be achieved.

    It is also expected to buttress the importance of MOREACADEMY and its trainings for the nation’s economic interest, taking into consideration the Federal Government’s mandate to various stakeholders in the discharge of their responsibilities. Most  importantly, Akinfolurin said it is a demonstration of the fact that  government is desirous of genuine partnership with the private sector to develop the economy.

    Akinfolurin assured participants of an exciting and top quality training sessions. MOREACADEMY,  he pointed out, “will provide first class trainings and workshops that are structured for the Nigeria economy; hence its relevance . The training programme is expected to draw participants from the banks, primary mortgage institutions (PMI) ; real estate developers, real estate practitioners, state governments, Federal Housing Authorities and  housing corporations in Nigeria.

    MOREACADEMY, a public-private-partnership project between CMD, a parastatal  of National Planning Commission and Western Atlantic Corporations Limited (an investment management, corporate consultancy and training company),  is said to offer courses in both Real Estate and Mortgage Education for mortgage loan originators, mortgage loan processors, underwriters, mortgage brokers, mortgage lenders, real estate brokers/agents, property managers, appraisers/valuers, and real estate inspectors/developers.