THE Federal Government has waded into the controversy surrounding the shooting of the Big Brother Nigeria Reality show in South Africa.
Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed yesterday directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting of the reality programme outside the country.
NBC, according to a statement signed by one of the aides to the minister, Mr. Segun Adeyemi, is to also determine whether the action of MultiChoice, owners of the programme, contravenes any of the country’s law.
The statement reads: “The Minister of Information and Culture has directed the NBC to investigate the circumstances surrounding the reported shooting in South Africa of the ongoing Big Brother Nigeria Reality Show.
“The minister said the NBC should determine whether MultiChoice, by shooting the show in South Africa, has breached the Nigerian Broadcasting Code in any way, as well as the issue of possible deceit, since the viewing public was never told that the event would be staged outside Nigeria.
“As a country of laws, only the outcome of the investigation will determine our next line of action.”
Mohammed said while concerned Nigerians have bombarded his office with calls to complain about what they regard as an anomaly, they should remain calm while the NBC investigates the issue and submits its findings.
Tag: Fed Govt
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Fed Govt directs NBC to probe Big Brother Nigeria controversy
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Fed Govt releases N72b for Lagos/Ibadan rail
The Federal Government yesterday released N72 billion counterpart funding for the Lagos-Ibadan mordernisation railway project.
Chinese partners are expected to add the other part.
Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi who was at the Second Presidential Business Forum at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the funding was released to fast track the project.
The National Assembly is expected to approve the $30billion foreign loan request by the executive for rail projects across the country.
Amaechi said: “On the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan Railway, the Minister of Finance has been kind enough to release the counterpart funding in full.
“I think in the history of Nigeria this is first time that we are releasing counterpart funds in full so that there will be no delay since the Chinese loan appears to have been approved.
“The only thing we need to do is to plead with the National Assembly to approve the $30billion loan.
“If you don’t encourage the National Assembly to make that approval, then, the economy won’t be making the kind of progress we want it to make.
“So, for me here, I will enjoin to persuade the National Assembly to kindly make that approval because they are tied to projects.”
The project, which has been awarded to the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation and to be jointly funded by the Nigerian and Chinese governments, is scheduled to start next month and costs about $1.5billion (N458billon). -
Fed Govt to BBOG: stop grandstanding on Chibok girls
•‘Stick to your advocacy role’
THE Federal Government has advised the BringBackOurGirls Group (BBOG) to see the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration as a partner rather than an adversary in the group’s quest to secure release of the Chibok girls.
Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who spoke in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said it amounted to needless grandstanding for the BBOG to say it would no longer tolerate “delays” and “excuses” from the President on release of the girls.
He added that the BBOG’s continued portrayal of the government as an adversary and the needless firing of darts at the “President, who is doing his utmost best to bring the girls back home safely, are ultimately counter-productive”.
The statement said: ‘’The Federal Government has bent over backwards to carry the BBOG along and to show transparency in the conduct of the search for the girls. The recent invitation extended to the group to witness first-hand the search for the girls by the Nigerian Air Force is a clear indication of this.
‘’However, it came to us as a surprise that in spite of its initial positive report on the tour, the BBOG has too quickly reverted to its adversarial role. BBOG should stick to its role as an advocacy group rather than pretending to be an opposition party. The synonyms of the word ‘advocacy’ do not include ‘antagonism’, ‘opposition’ or ‘attack’.
“In fact, those words are the antonyms of advocacy,” he said.
Mohammed said the needless grandstanding by the BBOG and its use of impudent language should have been reserved for those, who did nothing in the first 500 days of the girls’ abduction, “not for a President who has presided over the liberation of all captured territory, the opening of shuts schools and roads, the safe release of some of the abducted girls and the decimation of Boko Haram”.
He assured Nigerians that the efforts to bring the girls back safely were continuing, but sought their understanding for not divulging any further details so as not to jeopardise the intricate process.
‘’Let me say unequivocally that the people involved in the negotiations are working 24/7. The negotiations are complicated, tortuous and delicate. Any wrong signal is capable of derailing things. That’s why the less we say about the talks, the better it is for all.
‘’We need a huge amount of confidence-building, the kind of which led to the release of the 21 of the girls. This has been lacking for years, but right now we are confident that we are on the right track.
“We won’t do anything to jeopardise these talks, irrespective of the pressure or provocation from any quarter,” the minister said. -
Fed Govt to sack teachers not registered with TRCN this year
THE Federal Government has said it will sack any teacher found in classrooms without the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria’s (TRCN) certificate and licence before the end of this year.
Minister of State for Education Prof. Anthony Anwukah said this at the maiden induction ceremony for teachers in Imo State University.
Anwukah, who was the chairman of the occasion, said in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by Head of Information at TRCN, Ojewuyi Muyiwa, that there would be no going back on the two-year deadline given to teachers to register with the TRCN.
He urged teachers, who were yet to register with TRCN to do so to avoid being sacked.
The Registrar/Chief Executive of the council, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, urged teachers not to undermine professionalism.
He said the TRCN would soon reintroduce the Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE), which would serve as a major prerequisite for admittance into the teaching profession.
Ajiboye said: “There is no going back on TRCN professionalism drive across the country; hence the council would soon reintroduce the Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE), which would serve as a major prerequisite for admittance into the teaching profession in Nigeria.”
He added that the grace given to teachers to obtain their certificates from the TRCN would soon be over.
On her part, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Victoria Obasi, hailed the efforts of TRCN in repositioning the teaching profession.
She noted that TRCN had become a formidable force to reckon with in teachers’ education across the country and the world over. -
Fed Govt loses $65.4m to vandalism
The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, said the Federal Government lost $65.4 million to oil vandals just as the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) shared N400 billion, as its December allocation.
Adeosun said the allocation was N13.1 billion more than what the three tiers of government shared as revenue for November 2016.
She said the N400 billion was distributed under “four distributable sub-heads”.
They are statutory allocation where the sum of N224.88 billion was allocated; Value Added Tax (VAT) N79.27 billion, exchange gain N52.84 billion and excess Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) N42.99 billion.
From the statutory allocations, the minister said after deducting cost of collections to the revenue generating agencies, the Federal Government got N105.76 billion, states N53.64 billion and local government councils N41.35 billion.
In addition, she said the sum of N15.5 billion was given to the oil producing states based on the 13 per cent derivation principle.
For VAT allocation, Adeosun said the federal government received N11.4 billion, states N38 billion while Local Government Councils got N26.63 billion.
Adeosun said that the federation generated N145.6 billion as mineral revenue and N103.1 billion as non-Mineral revenue.
The minister said the excess crude account now has a balance of $2.45 billion.
Adeosun said that the Force Majeure at Forcados, Qua Iboe and Brass terminals was still impacting negatively on revenue generation.
She added that there was revenue decline of 65.4 million dollars in oil export sales due to a drop in production volume of 1.39 million barrels.
Also, Mahmoud Yunusa, chairman, forum of finance commissioners in Nigeria, said states were determined to keep improving their internally generated revenue.
“Low federation revenue has become a blessing in disguise to us. Initially almost all the states relied heavily on FAAC,” he said.“But now, because the money is no longer there, it has forced us to look inwards at the opportunities and potentials in our respective states and begin to explore them.
“We had to look at cutting cost in running governance and blocking all revenue leakages.”
Yunusa said most of the states have been able to improve their IGR through improved tax collection method and increased tax base. -
More states benefit from Fed Govt’s school feeding programme
The Presidency yesterday said more states are benefiting from the Federal Government’s school feeding programme.
A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, said the Federal Government had so far released over N375 million to feed almost 700,000 primary school pupils in five states.
He said almost all the states except two, are now being processed for the payment of N30,000 monthly stipends to 200,000 graduates who are N-Power beneficiaries.
Akande said Buhari’s Social Investment Programme is on-going.
He said the Federal Government last week released money for this year, to Anambra, Ogun, Oyo, Osun and Ebony states to cover the feeding for 10 school days under the Homegrown School Feeding Programme.
He also said N375, 434, 870 had been paid to 7909 cooks in those states for the feeding of 677, 476 primary school pupils.
Other breakdowns released by Akande are: “Ogun State got N119, 648, 900 paid to 1381 cooks to feed 170, 927 pupils.
“Ebonyi State got N115, 218, 600 paid to 1466 cooks to feed 164, 598 pupils.
“Anambra State got N67.5m paid to 937 cooks to feed 96,489 pupils.
“Oyo State got N72.2m paid to 1437 cooks to feed 103, 269 pupils.
“Osun State got N867,370 paid to 2688 to feed 142, 193 pupils.”
According to him, the monies were paid directly to the cooks for ten days of school.
He said the figures would go up this week when Zamfara and Enugu States are paid N188.7 million and N67.2 million.
He said: ‘In Zamfara, the money would be paid to 2738 cooks to feed 269, 665 pupils. And in Enugu, the money would be paid to 1128 cooks to feed 96, 064 pupils.
“By then, over N631 million would have been released so far in 2017 for school feeding in 7 states, paid to 11,775 cooks and meant to feed over one million primary school pupils-exact number of pupils by then would be 1, 043, 205.”
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Supreme, appeal courts to get judges, says Fed Govt
•Minister extols Justice Belgore at 80
The Supreme and Appeal Court are to get their full complement of judges to ensure quick dispensation of justice, Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed said on Saturday.
He spoke in Abuja at the 80th birthday celebration of a former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Alfa Belgore.
Mohammed represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the event, which was attended by Senate President Bukola Saraki and other dignitaries.
In an interview with reporters, the minister said the three arms of government would reform the judiciary for optimal performance.
“I want to say this is the new dawn of collaboration and co-operation with the executive and legislative arms of government.
“On our own part as government, we will ensure that we give both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal the full complement of judges.
“We will ensure that the Federal High Court is also adequately given enough judges to ensure that the quality of justice would be better and faster,’’ he said.
The minister said the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, had initiated some reforms.
He said the reforms were in line with the position of government to ensure the judiciary truly remains the last hope of the common man.
Mohammed said the Acting CJN was working with government to put through some legislative and judicial proceedings aimed at faster delivery of justice.
Speaking on the celebrator, the minister said he had known Belgore for over 30 years and described him as “a man who is very unique and who has a good knowledge of Nigeria’’.
“One year, I travelled with him from Mecca to Medina and we were in the same car in the journey of about four hours.
“Within the four hours, I learnt more about the history of Nigeria than I had learnt in any textbook.
“When you see a man like that who was privileged to have served Nigeria in many capacities and who has mentored many people and he is still alive today, we can all tap from his wealth of experience,’’ he said.
Born on January 17, 1937, in Kwara State into royalty, Belgore’s early schooling was completed in Nigeria.
He received his professional training at the Inns Court School of Law, London and the Society of the Inner Temple.
He was called to the English and Nigeria Bar in 1964 and upon his return home, he was appointed a Magistrate on July 3, same year.
Belgore was appointed into the Supreme Court bench in 1986 and he rose to the pinnacle of his career on June 12, 2006, with his appointment as CJN.
He retired as CJN on January 17, 2007 when he attained the mandatory retirement age of 70.
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Fed Govt takes civil service pensioners’ verification to Bayelsa, Rivers
The Federal Government has announced the start of the next phase of the verification and biometric capture of civil service pensioners in the South South States of Rivers and Bayelsa.
A statement by the Executive Secretary of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) in Abuja indicated that the verification exercise will take place in Port-Harcourt, to cover pensioners in Rivers State and in Yenagoa, to cover pensioners for Bayelsa on the 16th of this month.
PTAD had earlier concluded verification of civil service pensioners from the North-West and South-East zones of the country in 2015.
As a follow up, pensioners in the North East states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba were recently verified, between November 28 and December 6, 2016.
The directorate said apart from identifying ghost pensioners and putting a stop to fraudulent payments, the exercise has facilitated the restoration of monthly pension payments to genuine pensioners previously removed from the payroll, including those who had never been paid any pension or gratuity.
“4,438 pensioners verified in the North-west and South-East who were hitherto not receiving their pension, were payrolled in November, 2016 and their pension and arrears paid,” the statement said.
The statement indicated that pensioners are expected to come along with the original and photocopies of their relevant retirement credentials for the upcoming exercise as will be published in national dailies and announced on television and radio stations.
“PTAD is equally aware of the sick and infirm pensioners. They are advised to contact PTAD at the centres to enable the mobile verification team reach their homes/hospitals for biometrics,” the statement said.
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Focus on mines, steel development, Fed Govt urged
Minister of Mines and Steel Development Dr. Kayode Fayemi has urged the Federal Government to give special attention to the development of eight critical areas to improve the mineral and mining sector.
This is contained in the Ministry’s Roadmap where the Minister said the government should focus on investor-friendly regulatory environment by conducting reviews its tax system, licensing fees and other fees.
According the document, Nigeria neglects the investor friendliness of its mining sector after the shift to a state-led mining development model. It said significant infrastructure investments would be necessary to unlock mining full value chain potential in Nigeria.
“This will include the development of power plant, rail, roads, water processing plants among others in the country,’’ the report said, warning that failure to take proper action and structure to protect and promote these capital investments appropriately would constrain mining sector’s growth rate.
According to the report, the success in Nigerian mining sector requires partnership across multiple communities, stakeholders and institutions; the role of state governments as co-investors and sector champions are critical.
It also stated that success in mining would require that Nigeria as a society interface with other branches of government, community activists, professional, societies, and investors.
“The high risk allocation in the early phase of mining projects means that activities such as exploration and ore reserve estimation have difficulty in obtaining funding from standard project finance sources.
“The Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) envisioned in the mining act would be operationalised and made available under well defined terms to help de-risk activities in the sector, the report added.
The roadmap said the ministry anticipates that the various initiatives that will emerge from financial sponsors and other market actors will receive support from the SMDF to broaden its capacity to support both exploration and development activities.
The document, which was launched last December said institutional reform, geo-scientific value add and mining as development catalyst, were among the critical factors needed to move the sector forward.
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Fed Govt, GEMS partner on empowering women
The ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in partnership with Growth and Employment in States, GEMS 3 is set to empower women across the country by developing and supporting thousands of women especially in rural areas with access to market and finance.
The GEMS 3 is planned to be implemented in seven states of the federation. They are Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Ogun, Ebonyi, Abia, Niger and Kaduna states. They will serve as the launching platform for the pilot scheme.
The Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar said it is imperative for women to reach their potential and be critical elements for the attainment of inclusive growth and sustainable development.
The minister who spoke at the launch of the Women in Investment and Enterprise (WINIE) project in Abuja, added that this is to provide a platform for the aspiration of next generation of women and girls.
She said: “Women own about 30 per cent of the registered small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria and the average growth rate of these businesses is far lower than businesses run by men. Female entrepreneurs account for 43.22per cent in the ownership structure of microenterprises as against 22.76 per cent in SMEs and only about 10 per cent havecaccess to the finance needed.
“This 10 per cent is to assist them launch a new venture or grow their existing businesses, most women obtain their initial startup investment and working capital from internal sources such as savings and contributions from family and friends.
“This restricts them from being ambitious about their enterprise and seeking advice from business support providers for proper legal and corporate structures. The government is consciously making effort to diversify the economy from being majorly dependent on oil.
“Government’s policy direction is strategically being geared towards creating wealth and employment through the facilitation of an enabling environment for SMEs to thrive in Nigeria.