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Tag: Fed Govt

  • Fed Govt, BoI launch N5b fund for artisanal, small scale miners

    Fed Govt, BoI launch N5b fund for artisanal, small scale miners

    The  Ministry of Mines and Steel Development has signed a Memorandum of Understanding  (MoU) with the Bank of Industry (BoI) for the management of a N5 billion fund in support  of artisanal and small scale miners in the country.

    Under the arrangement, the Ministry would contribute N2.5billion which would be matched by another N2.5 billion by BoI.

    A certified artisanal scale miner, under the scheme, can access between N100,000 and N10million; while a small scale miner can access between N10million and N100million.

    The MoU was signed by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi and the Managing Director/CEO of BoI, Mr Olukayode Pitan, in Abuja yesterday.

    The event was witnessed by the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Hon Abubakar Bawa Bwari, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mohammed Abass and Chair of the board of the Solid Minerals Development Fund, Alhaji Uba Saida Malami.

    Speaking at the event, Fayemi said the development is aimed at addressing the issue of insufficient funding and access to capital, which is a major factor militating against artisanal and small scale miners who account for about 80 per cent of activities in the mining sector.

    According to him, the BoI would serve as the custodian and manager of the fund, which would be given to the artisanal and small scale miners at five per cent interest.

    Fayemi said: “This agreement is a meeting of minds between the FMMSD and the BoI. We are in the first instance launching a N5billion fund. With our ministry’s pilot contribution of N2.5billion, BoI will match our contribution with another N2.5billion.

    “Consequently, with this agreement, the FMMSD appoints BoI as the custodian and manager of the Nigerian Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners (ASM) Financing Support Fund, for the purpose of financing artisanal and small scale mining projects involving industrial minerals, precious stones, precious metal (gold), dimension stone and such other strategic minerals in Nigeria as shall be approved by the ministry and BoI from time to time.”

    Fayemi said the fund would be available in the form of term loans or working capital to be utilised for the purchase of requisite items of plant and machinery; payment for drilling, geological and other services related to mining business as may be required, among others.

    He added that proper funding would help to integrate the artisanal and small-scale miners into the formal sector, enhance their growth and development in a structured manner, and spur productivity and job creation in the mining sector.

    Speaking further, Fayemi said: “The single obligor limit of loans to be granted under the Fund shall be from N100,000.00 to N10,000,000.00 for artisanal scale miners; and from N10,000,000.00 to N100,000,000.00 for small scale miners.

    “The loans would be made available to certified industry participants at a single digit interest rate of five per cent per annum, which is by far about the most attractive within our jurisdiction.

    “In addressing the challenge of insufficient funding and lack of access to capital, the ministry secured approval for N30billion (about $100million) from the mining sector component of the Natural Resources Development Fund from the Federal Government. We also secured the World Bank’s approval for $150 million to support the ministry’s Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MinDiver) programme.

    “The Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) is now spearheading the assembling of a $600million investment fund for the sector, working with entities such as the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, the Nigeria Stock Exchange and others. This is a departure from the past, judging by the fact that in 2015, out of the meagre N1 billion allocated to the ministry, only N352 million was released.

    “It is noteworthy that in addition to funding support from multilateral agencies, partnerships on technical cooperation have also been brokered or re-activated with several foreign governments. Existing technical partnerships have been operationalised with the governments of South Africa, China, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Nigeria now takes the lead in regional efforts to develop mining, especially within the framework of the Africa Mining Vision.”

    Mr Pitan in his response said the bank was convinced that the fund would step up a rapid development in the mining sector, just as a similar funding arrangement administered by the BoI boosted the country’s movie sector.

    He said BoI is a pioneer in the area of funding mining activities where other banks are reluctant to invest. He, however  stated that the Fund is not an aid, but repayable by beneficiaries.

    The Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Hon Abubakar Bawa Bwari, would head the Project Management Committee which includes BoI officials with expertise in Mining Finance and Project Supervision. The committee is charged with the responsibility of  appraising, recommending, disbursing, implementing and monitoring the projects as well as recovering the loans and interests from the approved projects.

     

  • Fed Govt plans audience measurement conference

    The Federal Government is to organise an audience measurement conference to provide the broadcast industry stakeholders the opportunity to contribute to efforts at establishing a scientific audience measurement system for the country.

    Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this at the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) third International Summit on Digital Broadcasting in Nigeria in Lagos. He said the conference would hold in October 3.

    “It is imperative that we urgently put in place an industry framework that will ensure that Content Producers receive their just due for the value of the Content they create, as well as provide objective guarantees to the Advertising community on their Return-On-Investment on media placements. This will then have the overall effect of guaranteeing greater spending by the Advertisers, who are all seeking to grow their market share.

    “This industry framework can only happen if the Ministry of Information and Culture, which, fortunately, supervises both the

    Broadcasting and Advertising industries, serves as a catalyst for putting in place a robust Audience Measurement System that is in line with global standards and supports the realisation of the immense potential that the Nigerian Creative and Entertainment industryholds,” he said.

    Mohammed said for the Digital Switch Over from analogue to digital television to be sustained for Signal Distributors, Channel owners, TV Content Producers and Advertisers, the scientific Audience Measurement System is critical to articulate the value of the content to Consumers, as well as the value of the Audience to Advertisers,particularly in the television sector.

    He said lack of a scientific Audience Measurement System has resulted in under-investment in the sector, which is necessary to foster the growth of the industry, as the Advertising community continues to relyon subjective factors when making decisions on the content they want,as opposed to how many viewers the content truly attracts.

    The Minister said as a consequence, television platforms are subjected to renting out space on their Channels to sustain their businesses and content producers have become over-reliant on sponsorship, which, unfortunately, skews the authenticity of their creative output in favour of a few decision makers and not the millions of TV viewers.

    “Further, the value of Nigeria’s Broadcasting Advertising Market is not proportionate with its population when compared to the Top 3 Markets in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Despite having a population three times more than South Africa, Nigeria’s Television Advertising Revenue last year, at US$309million, was behind that of South Africa, atUS$1,301million.

    “By 2020, the gap between South Africa and Nigeria is projected tomarginally decline to 72 per cent. Similarly, in the Radio sector, the valueof Nigeria’s 2016 Advertising Revenue of US$81million was behind its peers,South Africa and Kenya, both at US$343million. Kenya is projected to overtake South Africa in 2017 as the leading Radio Advertising market,” he said.

    Mohammed stressed that in both South Africa and Kenya, the value and growth rate of the Broadcasting Advertising Revenue is largely influenced by the availability of a scientific Audience Measurement  System that provides confidence to Advertisers in measuring their return-on-investment.

    He noted that bringing Nigerian TV advertisement market into line with benchmarks that is two to three times the current size could result in additional $200-$400million of revenue to the industry, based on current comparisons with other African countries.

    The Minister said the Federal Government had already taken a critical long-term decision to support the Nigeria creative and entertainment industry by ensuring and funding the inclusion of a middle-ware that is capable of scientific Audience Measurement on set-top boxes, hencethe need to develop the framework.

    “The existing model will never enable the Nigeria’s creative and entertainment industry to reach its full potential. It stunts the quality of the content that can be created and it also limits the capacity of Television platforms to invest in dynamic offerings that consumers will be attracted to,” he noted

  • Fed Govt owes NDDC N1.8tr, says official

    The Head, Media and Public Affairs, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr Ibitoye Abosede,  yesterday said the Federal Government owed NDDC N1.8 trillion.

    Abosede spoke in Uyo at a one-day Media Capacity Building Workshop for members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Akwa Ibom.

    He lamented that non-remittance of backlog of statutory allocations had hampered development in the region.

    Abosede said the Federal Government had mandated  ministries of Niger Delta Affairs, Budget and National Planning to sit with NDDC Board  on the debt owed the commission.

    “The Federal Government has set up a committee to ascertain the exact money owed the commission,” he said.

    According to him, this is the first time a sitting President will demonstrate this kind of political will towards ensuring the development of the region.

    Abosede, represented by Mr Chijoke Amu-Nnadi, of the department, explained that besides the arrears from statutory allocations, other associated funds for ecology, oil and gas, among others, had not been remitted.

    “These problems of funding and the challenges of the terrain in Niger Delta, which prides itself as the third largest wetland in the world, have hindered development in the region,” he said.

    He said several projects worth N200 billion were cancelled across all nine states of the region due to the challenge.

    The official noted that the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to fund the commission.

    Abosede said the NDDC Board, led by Mr Nsima Ekere, was doing its best to sustain the tempo of development.

    He recalled that following mass discontent leading to arm struggle in the region, NDDC was unveiled to bring development, economic and socio-political stability to the region.

    Abosede said the NDDC had intervened in  64 road projects, with about 50 per cent completed in Akwa Ibom.

    “Because of funding challenge, it is difficult for the commission to complete some major projects,” he said.

    He enjoined development partners to work with the agency to sustain development in the region.

    The official explained that the commission was heavily complementing the states’ development plans.

    Also speaking, Mr Samuel Frank, NDDC commissioner in Akwa Ibom, said the commission was not at war with Akwa Ibom government.

    He said the commission was focusing on providing infrastructure to alleviate the suffering of the people.

    Frank said NDDC did well in the state by rehabilitating roads in rural and urban centres of the state.

    He solicited more cooperation with the media to foster development in the region.

  • Fed Govt, U.S. congressmen discuss security, humanitarian issues

    Fed Govt, U.S. congressmen discuss security, humanitarian issues

    EIGHT United States congressmen arrived in Nigeria yesterday for talks with the Federal Government on security and humanitarian matters.

    The delegation began their four-day visit with a meeting with National Assembly members led by Senate President Bukola Saraki.

    Senator Christopher Coons (D-Delaware) is leading the team.  Coons is a member of the Appropriations, Foreign Relations, Judiciary, Small Business and Entrepreneurship and Ethics committees.

    Other members of the delegation are: Senators Gary Peters (D-Michigan); Michael Bennet (D-Colorado); Representatives Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Delaware); Terri Sewell (D-Alabama); Charlie Dent (R-Pennsylvania); Barbara Lee (D-California) and Frederica Wilson(D-Florida).

    The congressmen, who are on tour of West Africa, will also visit Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and The Gambia.

    In Abuja, they will meet with a range of high-ranking leaders to gain a fulsome picture of the bilateral relationship.

    They are scheduled to meet with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Saraki, House Speaker Yakubu Dogara, other members of the National Assembly, and religious and civil society leaders.

    The congressmen will also visit Lagos, where trade and investment relations will be discussed.

    In the country’s financial capital, they will meet with business executives, tour the Egbin Thermal Power Plant, participate in an American Business Council roundtable, and conclude with a reception featuring alumni of the Young African Leaders Initiative and the Tony Elemelu Foundation.

    Accompanied by Ambassador Symminton, the U.S. lawmakers discussed security, the humanitarian crisis in the Northeast and ways to build a better working relationship between the parliaments of both countries.

    A statement from the Senate President’s media office reported Saraki as saying: “Today’s meeting was held to discuss ways to improve the relationship between the U.S. and Nigeria; look at securing greater support in the fight against terrorism and for the humanitarian crisis in different parts of the country.

    “We also discussed improving agriculture in Nigeria and providing jobs for our people.”

    Saraki said the congressional delegation and the National Assembly discussed ways to strengthen the institutional relationships between Nigeria and the United States.

    “I think the commitment that we have is that they have seen that there is a need to strengthen the institutional relationships between the legislatures of both our countries and that is very key,” the Senate President said.

    On arms purchase from the United States the Senate President said: “As you are aware, there is a new development that has happened in respect to the procurement of arms by the country. For the first time, the U.S. government has agreed in principle to sell arms to Nigeria to help in our fight against the insurgency. Of course, we will look into areas of human rights where there has always been a concern.

    “We hope that following this visit, the sale of the arms to our armed forces will now become a reality. This will represent a new chapter that we are opening — where the U.S. government will be ready to sell arms to Nigeria and that will help to strengthen the efforts of our armed forces in the fight against terrorism, surveillance and intelligence.

    “The commitment that they have made today is that terrorism is an issue that should not be left to Nigeria alone, and if it means that we may need to secure new weapons from other countries, then it is an option that needs to be urgently explored. However, we will also continue to play our own role in the area of human rights.”

    Saraki stressed that the delegation expressed optimism about Nigeria’s future.

    “From all indications, they were very excited about Nigeria and what the future holds for the country. Now, we need to see how we can further strengthen the relations between our two countries,” he said.

  • MDCAN urges Fed Govt to pay salary shortfall, arrears

    The Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has appealed to the Federal Government to begin the payment of outstanding salary shortfall and arrears owed its members from 2016 till date.

    It made the appeal in a communique by its outgoing President, Prof. Balarabe Garko, at the end of the association’s 10th Biennial Delegates’ Meeting and Scientific Conference in Calabar.

    Garko said: “MDCAN is calling on the Federal Government to immediately demonstrate more commitment towards the payment of all outstanding salary shortfall and arrears from 2016 by working closely with the various tertiary health sectors.

    “The Federal Ministry of Health should continue to promote the current industrial harmony in the health sector by continually engaging the various groups with fairness, equity and transparency.

    “The actions and efforts of the Federal Ministry of Health towards the containment of the resurgence of various outbreaks of epidemics of Lassa Fever and Diarrhoea in some states are highly commendable.”

    Prof. Ngim Ngim from the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) was elected at the conference as MDCAN National President.

  • AUPCTRE challenges Fed Govt on workers’ promotion arrears

    AUPCTRE challenges Fed Govt on workers’ promotion arrears

    The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Technical and Recreational Employees (AUPCTRE) has appealed to the Federal Government to expedite action on the payment of promotion arrears to public servants.

    Its Chairman, Federal Capital Territory Chapter, Mr. Benjamin Anthony, made the appeal in a statement issued in Abuja.

    Anthony said: “The payment will go a long way in alleviating the pains of the workers in view of the current economic crunch.’’

    He praised the Federal Government for the approval of N44 billion for the payment of backlog of promotion arrears, salary shortfalls and other claims owed the federal public servants since year 2012.

    According to him, the present administration deserve a special commendation for the giant stride that will encourage workers to put in their best for the country’s development.

    Anthony said this was in spite of the economic challenges facing the country.

    He also urged AUPCTRE leaders in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure strict compliance and implementation of proper placement of salary steps of workers.

    The AUPCTRE chairman said that a circular from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation dated July 14, 2014 marked “HCSF/CSO/HRM/POL.1402/1/25’’ had directed the implementation.

    He said  the circular was, however, not being implemented by many MDAs as directed by the government.

    Anthony said the union observed with dismay that many organisations claimed ignorance of the circular and, in the process, wrongly placed their workers on salary steps during promotion.

  • Fed Govt advised to take action on suicide bombers

    The Country Director, Mercy Corps, Darius Radcliffe, has urged the Federal Government to take action on reported cases of children used as suicide bombers.

    He said yesterday in Abuja, during a briefing that the situation had become worrisome and needed intervention.

    Radcliffe said: “There is an increase in using children. We don’t have the statistics. Obviously, we condemn doing that. It is actually not something we will support. It is something we can look at further as we dig into the issue.

    “Any time children are used in conflicts, there are huge dangers. So, essentially that is something that needs to stop, we need to understand it better and at least action taken.”

    He advocated increased humanitarian support for about 8.5 million victims of insurgency living in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.

    Radcliffe, who spoke on behalf of Nigeria International Non-Governmental Organisation Forum (INGO Forum), appealed for more commitment from international development partners and relevant organisations to address the situation.

    He stressed the need to protect civilians in the Northeast, especially children and humanitarian aid workers.

    According to him, “8.5 million people remain in need of humanitarian assistance this year in the worst-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. Now in its eight year, the crisis shows no sign of abating. Women and children continue to suffer abuse and exploitation.

    “Women, men and children face grave human rights violations and sexual and gender-based violence, including rape. Since the start of the conflict in 2009, more than 20, 000 people have been killed, countless women, boys and girls abducted and children drafted as so-called suicide bombers.

    “So the INGO forum would like to focus on the protection of civilians in conflict, particularly from sexual abuse and exploitation arising from displacement, as well as the dangers faced by humanitarian aid workers,” Radcliffe added.

    The INGO National Coordinator, Drake Ssenyange, hailed efforts of the Federal Government towards rebuilding the Northeast and other support services offered to displaced persons through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

    He said despite these, there was need to advocate further support for the group.

    Ssenyange said hospitals and humanitarian workers have witnessed attacks, adding that each time such occur, they prevent humanitarian support to the region.

    He urged the media to take role in reporting issues surrounding humanitarian crisis in the Northeast.

    Asked to comment on the allegation that parents ‘donated’ their children to insurgents for use as suicide bombers, Ssenyange said INGO was yet to carry out an independent research on the allegation, but is something they could consider.

  • Why Fed Govt plans broadcast audience measurement forum, by minister

    THE Federal Government plans to organise an audience measurement conference to provide broadcast industry stakeholders the opportunity to contribute to efforts at establishing a scientific audience measurement system for radio and television broadcasting.

    Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed said this yesterday in Lagos at the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) Third International Summit on Digital Broadcasting.

    According to him, the event will hold on October 3.

    Mohammed said: “It is imperative that we urgently put in place an industry framework that will ensure that content producers receive their just due for the value of the content they create, as well as provide objective guarantees to the advertising community on their Return-On-Investment on media placements.

    “This will then have the overall effect of guaranteeing greater spending by the advertisers, who are all seeking to grow their market share.

    “This industry framework can only happen if the Ministry of Information and Culture, which fortunately supervises both the broadcasting and advertising industries, serves as a catalyst for putting in place a robust Audience Measurement System that is in line with global standards and supports the realisation of the immense potential that the Nigerian creative and entertainment industry holds.”

    The minister said for the Digital Switch Over from analogue to digital television to be sustainable for signal distributors, channel owners, TV content producers and advertisers, the scientific audience measurement system is critical to articulate the value of the content to consumers, as well as the value of the audience to advertisers, particularly in the television sector.

    He said lack of a scientific audience measurement system has resulted in under-investment in the sector, which is necessary to foster the growth of the industry, as the sdvertising community continues to rely on subjective factors when making decisions on the content they want, as opposed to how many viewers the nontent truly attracts.

    Mohammed said as a consequence, television platforms are subjected to renting out space on their channels to sustain their businesses and content producers have become increasingly over-reliant on sponsorship which, unfortunately, skews the authenticity of their creative output in favour of a few decision-makers and not the millions of TV viewers.

    “Further, the value of Nigeria’s Broadcasting Advertising Market is not proportionate with its population when compared to the top three markets in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Despite having a population three times more than South Africa, Nigeria’s Television Advertising Revenue in 2016, at US$309 million, was behind that of South Africa, at US$1,301 million.

    “By 2020, the gap between South Africa and Nigeria is projected to marginally decline to 72 per cent. Similarly, in the radio sector, the value of Nigeria’s 2016 Advertising Revenue of US$81 million was behind its peers, South Africa and Kenya, both at US$343 million. Kenya is projected to overtake South Africa in 2017 as the leading radio advertising market,” he said.

    Mohammed stressed that in both South Africa and Kenya, the value and growth rate of the Broadcasting Advertising Revenue is largely influenced by the availability of a scientific Audience Measurement System that provides confidence to advertisers in measuring their Return-On-Investment.

    He noted that bringing Nigerian TV advertisement market into line with benchmarks that is two to three times the current size could result in additional $200-$400m of revenue to the industry, based on current comparisons with other African countries.

    The minister said the Federal Government had already taken a critical long-term decision to support the Nigeria Creative and Entertainment Industry by ensuring and funding the inclusion of a middle-ware that is capable of scientific audience measurement on Set-Top Boxes, hence the need to develop the framework.

    “The existing model will never enable the Nigeria’s creative and entertainment industry to reach its full potential. It stunts the quality of the content that can be created and it also limits the capacity of television platforms to invest in dynamic offerings that consumers will be attracted to,” he noted.

  • Fed Govt spent N1.3tr on capital projects in 2016, says Osinbajo

    Fed Govt spent N1.3tr on capital projects in 2016, says Osinbajo

    THE Buhari administration spent N1.3 trillion on capital projects in 2016, the highest in the history of the country, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    Osinbajo spoke at a plenary of the 2017 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) national conference in Lagos with the theme: “African Business: Penetrating through institution building.”

    The sub-theme of the plenary was: “Conversations with the Vice President”. It was  moderated by Miss Zain Asher, a CNN news anchor.

    “The Federal Government spent about N1.3 trillion on capital projects in 2016, the highest in the history of the country.

    “The power sector reform is also ongoing as it is one of the most important sectors in the country,” Osinbajo said.

    Responding to Asher’s questions, Osinbajo said the administration had set a solid foundation for the nation’s economic recovery which, he described, as the most important reform of the administration.

    He said: “We were dealing with a mono-economy (relying on one major export or natural resource) and a financial industry that was essentially opaque.

    “We have set a foundation of rebuilding the economy, creating the Single Treasury Account (TSA), monitoring government’s spending, modifying the tax system to be more efficient and implementing executive orders.”

    According to the vice president, the administration has also cleared what he described as a mess inherited from the previous administration.

    On whether poor Nigerians in the rural areas have felt the impact of the reforms, Osinbajo said diversification into agriculture had been embraced in most northern states with a lot of transformation.

    “For the economy, we are going to see a tripling in the harvesting of rice, prosperity is returning to some states like Kebbi and Zamfara.

    “The rural areas where the highest level of poverty is experienced, there is a turnaround as the highest number of people who went for 2017  hajj were farmers.

    “There is a lot of export of agricultural products, what we need to do is to engage in more value added exports and we have quite a few investors,” Osinbajo told the conference.

    He noted that agricultural sector had witnessed hi-tech farming and investments with more people taking to farming.

    The vice president, who also spoke on the efforts of government in tackling corruption and laundering the country’s image, noted: “Government ownership of business encourages corruption. The more private sector involvement in businesses, the more efficient the system will be and the less corrupt the system will be.

    “We are currently working on a `one-government system’ to tackle bureaucracy.  For example, if you need five different approvals from five government agencies, under this system communication with one agency is sufficient as all the agencies will liaise with one another.

    “We have introduced technology in a lot of processes. For example, company registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC); the less human contact, the less incidences of corruption.

    “We must punish offenders, there must be consequences for offenders, fighting corruption is multi-sectoral and we have to work together.

    “Convictions on corruption cases have been slow, from my experience as a former prosecutor, getting cases to court is slow, the system allows a lot of inefficiencies.

    “We have to try cases efficiently and secure convictions so people can see the consequences of corruption.”

  • How Fed govt can eradicate poverty, by scholar

    An Islamic scholar, Ustadh AbdulGaniy Raji, yesterday claimed that over 112 million Nigerians are unemployed.

    Relying on figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Raji quoted the bureau as saying that two million Nigerians lost their jobs early this year.

    He spoke during the distribution of The Companion Zakat Fund at Old Secretariat, Ikeja GRA, Lagos.

    According to him, between 1993 and 2013, World Bank reported that over 35 million graduates joined people living below poverty level in the country.

    He defined poverty as people living below a dollar per day.

    “Between 1993 and 2013, nations like China, Russia, Indonesia and few others have reduced poverty rate in their countries, but the employment rate kept increasing in Nigeria,” he said.

    Raji said the essence of Zakat is to banish poverty in the land, adding “there is no religion that wishes its adherents to be wealthy than Islam if only Muslims followed its laid down principles.”

    The Companion National President, Alhaji Musibau Oyefeso, said the Zakat fund was created to ease Muslims desire to fulfil their obligations and earn mundane and spiritual rewards.

    Oyefeso added that it was also meant to better the lives of the less privileged.

    “This year alone, we have disbursed N7 million to 83 beneficiaries. Some are for medical relief, education support, accommodation, among others,” he said.

    He appealed to the beneficiaries to utilise the items received.

    Zakat, he said, if well managed would eradicate poverty in the society.

    Oyefeso appealed to government to re-structure various financial assistant programmes to cater for Muslims.

    “The way it is structured now, Muslims have been excluded because it is forbidden for Muslims to collect interest-based loans. Let them involve Muslim experts in the scheme to ensure that the Muslim populace benefit from it,” he said.

    A Muslim leader, Dr Muiz Banire, said Nigeria needed divine intervention because it seems the nation is not progressing.

    “So many things that earn you the wrath of Allah abound in this country. Apart from lack of fear of God, we have wronged Allah badly, hence my call for divine intervention. Other countries that do not worship God are doing things that please Allah,” he said.

    Nigeria, he said, would continue to face one crisis or another “because poverty leads to hunger, hunger leads to anger and anger will definitely leads to crime.”