The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fed Govt

  • FG to recruit 10,000 youths from Niger Delta – Boroh

    ABout 10,000 youths from oil-bearing communities in Niger Delta will be engaged by the Federal Government as surveillance and security officers at oil pipelines in the region.

    Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme Brig. Gen. Paul Boroh announced this at a news conference in Abuja, yesterday.

    He said:  “The Presidential Amnesty Programme is responsible for interacting with nine state governments, including Ondo State, and we  aware of what is happening there. They (kidnappers)  are also part of those that will benefit from the Federal Government inclusive principle in ensuring that youths of the region are adequately accommodated in the areas of inclusiveness.

    “Inclusiveness means what do we do in ensuring that youths from the oil-bearing communities are engaged adequately in the oil business. It could be pipeline surveillance, it could be part of the modular refinery initiative. These things will engage youths. Most youths have taken it beyond the normal approach because they are not adequately employed.

    “This, the Federal Government is aware of, and is responsible for ensuring that they achieve in the principle of inclusiveness in the strategic Niger Delta programme. The Strategic Work Plan for the Niger Delta region is an inclusive work plan that will involve youths, particularly those from oil-bearing communities.

    “I have got names of persons from almost all the states; we will collate them and when I meet with our ministerial group, we will look at it holistically to see how we can get them but nothing less than 10,000 youths are going to be engaged from oil producing states because it has to do with surveillance of pipelines. All of them are going to be included.”

    Dismissing fears of a possible hijack of the planned engagement of 10,000 youths by some forces, Gen. Boroh explained that the exercise would involve the leadership of the communities, who forwarded names to his office.

    Speaking  on the Nigeria Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State, Gen. Boroh denied insinuations the Federal Government had  dropped the idea of establishing the institution.

    Gen. Boroh presented three delegates of the Amnesty Programme, who made First Class in Belarus.

    He gave the names of the delegates as Dan Obi Vincent from Rivers, Okorie Chukwuemeka from Imo State and Vincent Isoboye from Rivers State.

  • Fed Govt warns against attacks on law enforcement agents

    THE Federal Government has declared that it will no longer tolerate the spate of lawlessness and attacks on law enforcement agents.

    Acting Secretary to the Government of the Federation Dr. Habitat Lawal gave the warning at a management strategic session of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Abuja.

    A statement by FRSC Corps Public Education Officer Bisi Kazeem quoted the Acting SGF, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary (General Services) in her office, Dr. Ugo Roy, as reminding security agencies of their duty to ensure that citizens obey the laws.

    She said the citizens, on their part, must submit to rules and regulations, and realise that the law enforcement agencies are there to secure their lives and property.

    The statement said: “This nation can longer tolerate flagrant disobedience to laws, assault, maiming, killing as well as abduction of security operatives.”

     

     

     

     

     

  • Fed Govt’s Savings Bond opens for investors at high yields

    The Federal Government has offered for subscription two-year and three-year Savings Bonds to investors at 13.535 per cent and 14.535 per cent. The monthly offer opens today and ends on Friday.

    A statement from the Debt Management Office (DMO) said the two-year bond will be due in August 2019 and the three-year bond has a maturity date of August 2020.

    The offer has a minimum subscription of N5,000 with increases thereafter in multiples of N1,000 up to a maximum subscription of N50 million.

    The Debt Office said the bond is backed by the full faith and credit of the Federal Government, with quarterly coupon payments to bondholders.

    The DMO stated that the savings bond will help broaden the country’s funding base.

    The Federal Government Savings Bond is targeted primarily at retail investors to enable them contribute to the development of the country, while also earning good returns on a safe investment in a Sovereign instrument.

    It was launched by the DMO in March and is issued every month through stockbroking firms trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It promotes savings culture and enhances financial inclusion.

    Since its introduction, the bond has attracted a lot of new investors to the FGN Securities market with its attractive features.

    The income earned on the bond is exempted from taxes and it can be traded in the secondary market on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

  • Fed. Govt should immortalise Tai Solarin, says Foundation

    Fed. Govt should immortalise Tai Solarin, says Foundation

    The Chairman of Tai Solarin Foundation, Dr. Wale Omole, has urged the Federal Government to immortalise the foremost educationist and social crusader, Dr. Tai Solarin, for his heroic contributions to the country’s socio-political and economic development.

    He said Nigeria would have prospered if its leaders had listened to the advice of the pro-democracy crusader, especially his admonition on political decency, abolition of corruption, free and qualitative education and care for the needy.

    Omole, an old student of Mayflower Secondary School, Ikenne, Ogun State, which was founded by Solarin, paid tribute to the memory of his principal and his wife, the late Mrs. Sheilla, for giving him scholarship to complete his secondary education and for encouraging a group, Friends of Mayflower, to sponsor his education at the University of Lagos, Akoka, where he studied Medicine.

    He said he was happy to name his hospital after the great crusader for justice because he gave him enormous financial assistance to set it up.

    Omole urged Nigerians to defend the legacies of Solarin, recalling that he contributed to post-civil war rehabilitation, reconstruction and reconciliation efforts. He said Solarin went to the war front to supply food and other consumables to hapless women and children, who were victims of the Biafra war.

    He said: “Solarin did a lot for Nigerians. He left a lot of legacies in education, agriculture and journalism. I will thank the Ogun State government for naming after him, the first university of education in the country.

    “Several schools have been named after him because a lot of people appreciated him. I think he deserved to be nationally honoured. I know one day, the man will be immortalised because we have not had a second Tai Solarin.”

    Omole said Solarin would have been distressed by the current boring social condition, if he were alive, adding that Nigeria has regressed because his admonition on transparency, accountability and good governance were ignored.

    He stressed: “I know that when he was alive, he was never hypertensive. But, by now, he would have been very hypertensive. He was crying under Gowon and he wrote ‘The beginning of the end.’ But, the situation is now worse. I know he would have developed high blood pressure if he is alive.”

    Omole lent his voice to the clamour for restructuring, saying there is no alternative to the survival of the country. He said: “No section of the country is to be subservient to another. If people of different cultures agree to come together, then, there is the need to determine how they are to live together. Igbo are different from Yoruba and Hausa are different from Yoruba and Igbo. We need to sit down and look at how we can live together. I assure you if we do this, we will live together in harmony.”

     

  • MOSOP to Fed Govt, Shell: cease talks on resuming oil production in Ogoni

    The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has given the Federal Government and the Anglo/Dutch oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), a seven-day ultimatum to cease engagements on resuming oil production in Ogoni.

    It vowed to resist the divide-and-rule tactics of SPDC and the Federal Government, through the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the oil production arm of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    MOSOP, through its President, Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, yesterday at a news conference at its secretariat, off Ken Saro-Wiwa (formerly Stadium) Road, Port Harcourt, declared that their actions could ignite  conflict and violence that would skirt the forceful attempt to return to in Ogoniland’s four local governments of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme.

    Shell was sent packing from Ogoniland in 1993. A renowned environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and eight activists were hanged at Port Harcourt Prisons on November 10, 1995, during the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha.

    Shell’s spokesman Joe Ollor Obari said: “SPDC stopped oil production in Ogoni in1993 and has no plan to return to oil production there.”

    The umbrella organisation of Ogoni people said: “In the course of the Ogoni struggle, over 2,000 were killed by the invading military, 14 Ogoni communities were decimated and destroyed, and many Ogoni people fled into exile. Ogoni refugees are still held up in Benin Republic and seek sanctuaries in other parts of the world.

    “In recent months, there had been intense and deliberate attempts by the oil industry to return to Ogoni oilfields through the back door.”

     

     

  • Fed Govt spent N34b on overseas training for Niger Delta youths, says Boroh

    Fed Govt spent N34b on overseas training for Niger Delta youths, says Boroh

    SPecial Adviser on Niger Delta to the President and Co-ordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programmes Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh yesterday said about N34 billion was spent in the last three years on overseas training for Niger Delta youths.

    Gen. Boroh added that following his presentation last week at the United Nations, the body urged the Presidential Amnesty Programme to extend its programme to Cote d Voire.

    He spoke at the opening of the Third Quarterly Meeting of Ministers of Niger Delta Affairs, Petroleum Resources, Niger Delta governors, as well as oil and gas companies at the Office of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, in Abuja.

    A Draft Report on a Work Plan for the region covering 2017 to 2019 was unveiled.

    Gen. Boroh said:  “Most of last week, I was at the United Nations headquarters, New York City in the United States of America for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)  and I showed them what we have being doing in the Niger Delta.

    “By the time I finished and gave them our compendium, they were amazed. They were happy and they asked us to be on standby to help in resolving the militancy in Cote d’Ivoire. That means the world is aware of what we are doing to achieve stability and development in Niger Delta.

    “Cote d’Ivoire government is going to contact the Nigerian government and they will call on us to tell them the platform which we put in place towards achieving peace in the region.

    “It is an expensive programme, no doubt about it. Peace is expensive. It is better imagined, we will do everything to ensure we achieve that to prevent conflict. I have seen conflict, violent conflict for that matter, and I don’t want to see it again in our country.

    “Let us do all we can to achieve peace by ensuring that meetings of this nature are attended with open mind and discuss objectively on how best we can resolve our differences. Let me just give an instance of what Federal Government has spent on the area of education on the Presidential Amnesty Programme. The least amount in the last three years is about N34 billion.

    “That is why you hear of graduation in the United Kingdom, graduation in USA, graduation in Philistine, South Africa. It is huge. This year alone, the Federal Government has graduated 177 beneficiaries from the Presidential Amnesty Programme in the United States, and 140 beneficiaries from United Kingdom.

    “Calculate that in pounds sterling and U.S. dollars, it is expensive.   Please, let us appreciate the Federal Government for what it is doing towards ensuring peace and stability and development of Niger Delta.”

    Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Pastor Usani Uguru Usani said: “But today, we are able to see a draft report of the 2017 to 2019 work plan. We are not saying action plan or master plan, we are saying work plan.

    “That means by this plan, our work will be guided. So we are not just formulating what we will do, we are now talking about how we will do it, where we will do it, who will do it. That is why it’s called a work plan for one and half years-between 2017 and 2019.

    “Here, we have established input from the party doing development, helping us to carry out careful analysis on which oil company is taking action where, which party is acting where to be able to align our interests and make sure we eliminate all forms of duplication.

    “So, first choice is tied to the interest of the organisation in carrying out development, which is going to be put up in tabular form so that in this regard we can know exactly what or which company is doing well.

    “On our agenda, we are also domesticating oil and gas business in the region. By that, I want you to have confidence. We have several complaints oil companies not carrying out businesses in their location of operation.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Fed Govt warns against plot to discredit PACAC

    Fed Govt warns against plot to discredit PACAC

    THE Federal Government has alerted the public over an orchestrated plot to discredit the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC).

    The plot, according to Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed, by extension is also aimed at discrediting the government’s anti-corruption efforts, using “419ers” and their ilk.

    In a statement yesterday, the minister said PACAC’s letter head and stamp as well as the signature of its chairman were being forged and used to con people within and outside the country.

    The statement said: “In a particular instance, a letter purportedly signed by the PACAC Chairman, Prof. Itse Sagay, entitled: ‘’Presidential Investigation on Outstanding Federal Government External Contract Debts’’, and a form to be filled for that purpose, are being sent to unsuspecting persons to extort money from them and to portray the country’s highest advisory committee against corruption in bad light.

    “The avoidance of doubt, the President has not mandated PACAC to investigate and recommend for payment some outstanding contract debts, as contained in the letter in question, neither has the Federal

    Government approved the disbursement of $850 million in the 2017 budget for payment of the so-called external contract debt.

    “We are, therefore, using this medium to inform Nigerians and foreigners alike to disregard such letters,’’ the minister said.

    “He said Prof. Sagay and all the members of his committee are men and women of proven integrity who will never allow the committee to be used for any activity that is not within its mandate.”

     

  • Fed Govt to harness oceans’ resources for growth

    Fed Govt to harness oceans’ resources for growth

    THE Federal Government has promised to increase revenue base and create job opportunities by embarking on massive growth and utilisation of oceans resources.

    Speaking during the celebration of the African Day of the Seas and Oceans in Lagos yesterday, the Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi said there was need for Nigeria and other African countries to articulate strategies for effective utilisation of the continent’s maritime resources for sustainable growth.

    The theme of the event is: “Harnessing African maritime potential for sustainable development”.

    Amaechi, who was represented by the Director of Special Duties, Aminu Ibrahim Dutse, called for the formulation of pragmatic and viable policies that will ensure good governance across the continent.

    “In Africa, available data shows that the 10 richest countries by GDP have large maritime domain. The sudden realisation of the economic importance of the seas and oceans cannot be unconnected with the huge oil and gas resources that are daily being discovered in the deep seas and oceans .

    “This administration has realised the need to explore the nation’s maritime resources as efforts are on-going to improve infrastructure at the sea ports,” Amaechi said.

    The Federal Government, Amaechi said, has stepped up efforts to make Nigeria a deserved maritime hub in the West and Central Africa by embarking on comprehensive port reforms and upgrading port infrastructure and linking the ports to the rail network to boost efficiency and quick cargo clearance.

    Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Dakuku Peterside said the Federal Government has assured the agency that the nation’s seas and oceans would play effective role as a facilitator of economic prosperity

    Nigerians, Peterside said, must not be blind to the potential for wealth creation, which abounds in the nation’ territorial seas and waters.

    The seas and oceans, he said, possess huge economic resources that can take the country and the continent to the next level if the people urgently restore degraded resources and further develop others that have remained under-utilised

    The event was organised by NIMASA in furtherance to the declaration of 2015-2925  by the African Union (AU) as the decade of African Seas and Oceans.

    Over 600 participants attended the event.

  • N249.6b ‘hidden’ funds: Fed Govt urges banks to deny in court

    N249.6b ‘hidden’ funds: Fed Govt urges banks to deny in court

    Banks denying their alleged link to the hoarding of funds due to the Federal Government have been asked to direct their denial to the court.

    A Federal High Court in Lagos, on Thursday, granted an ex-parte application by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) for an order directing the banks to remit the funds to the Federal Government.

    Justice Chuka Obiozor, who gave the order, warned that it  would be made permanent on August 8, unless the banks show cause why the order should not be made permanent.

    The office of the AGF, through its lawyer, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), accused seven banks  of unlawfully withholding $793,200,000 (about N249,659,700,000.00) in breach of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.

    The banks listed in the court documents filed by the office of the AGF are: United Bank for Africa (UBA), Diamond Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, First Bank Limited, Fidelity Bank Plc, Keystone Bank Limited and Sterling Bank Plc.

    Sterling Bank, Fidelity and UBA have denied wrongdoing.

    Court documents stated that $367.4 million was hidden by three government agencies in UBA; $41 million was kept in a National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) fixed deposit account with Skye Bank.

    Also, $277.9 million was found in Diamond Bank, $18.9 million in First Bank, $24.5 million in Fidelity Bank, $17million in Keystone Bank and $46.5 million in Sterling Bank.

    Since the court’s order was reported in the media on Friday, many of the banks have continued to deny any wrong doing.

    But, a senior official in the office of the AGF faulted the banks for rushing to the media with their denial.

    According to the official, since the court has adjourned to August 8 and given the banks up till then to show cause why the order should not be made permanent, their concern should be how to convince the court that they acted legally.

    The official, who wouldn’t want to be named, said: “Don’t mind them. Let them continue to deny. They should file their processes and we will meet them in court. They appear not to know the extent of evidence we have against them.

    “There were even some accounts that were dormant, yet millions of U.S. dollars were found in them. Some of the accounts were opened without names.

    “How do you keep dollars in accounts and yet fail to ascribe names to them? Is that a standard banking practice? I suspect what they are doing is not regular banking.

    “We are waiting for them to file. They can start filing by Monday. This case will be interesting. This case will lead us to a lot of other things. I don’t want to say more than that.

    “They should tell us the government officials and agencies that authorised them to breach the government’s TSA policy and why. We are waiting.

    “Those agencies and officials will have to explain to the court where they got their powers to disregard the government’s TSA policy and encourage banks to hoard government’s funds in coded accounts.

    “The government is determined, this time, to ensure things are done well. We will do all it takes to sanitise the banking sector and free money for the government to fulfil its many promises to the people.”

  • Fed Govt to establish Presidential Council for SDGs 

    The Federal Government will soon establish a Presidential Council for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to provide high-level policy guidance, leadership and direction for the realisation of the targets.

    Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire said this at the ongoing United Nations High-Level Political Forum in New York while presenting Nigeria’s Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    According to a statement by her Media Assistant, Desmond Utomwen, the Senior Special Assistant said the process for the establishment of the presidential council had already started, adding that two standing committees on the SDGs had been established in both the Senate and the House of Representatives to enhance the legislative and oversight roles of the National Assembly.

    Mrs. Orelope-Adefulire told the UN forum that the Federal Government remained undeterred in making the required progress in achieving the goals of the SDGs in spite of the “challenges of an already ebbing recession, largely degraded crisis in the Northeast, and resolving militancy in the Niger-Delta”.

    She said some of the Federal Government’s ongoing pro-poor and pro-development interventions had made impacts in the fight against poverty like the Social Investment Scheme targeted at the extremely poor and vulnerable; Home Grown School Feeding Programme for public school children; Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme for unemployed youths and the Women Economic Empowerment programme.

    She listed the N-Power Programme for job creation for the youths and the Conditional Grant Scheme as part of the Federal Government’s efforts to ameliorate the condition of its citizenry.

    “I wish to reaffirm that Nigeria has clearly defined her path to the 2030 Agenda. We count on the strong patriotism and goodwill of the citizenry, the commitment of the stakeholders as well as the support from the global fraternity of nations to ensure that no Nigerian is left behind,” the presidential aide added.

    Mrs. Orelope-Adefulire said Nigeria had increased the national awareness around the goals and put in place mechanisms for identifying and targeting the poor through a “National Social Register’’ in order to ensure that “no one is left behind”.