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Tag: Fed Govt

  • How Fed Govt’ll raise N10tr in 2017

    How Fed Govt’ll raise N10tr in 2017

    •Buhari presents budget today

    The Federal Government plans a N7.29 trillion budget for next year, it was learnt yesterday.
    Besides, it would explore new sources of revenue during the 2017 fiscal year as part of the government’s plan to fund the 2017 budget as well as get the country out of economic recession.
    The 2017 budget, which was initially pegged at N6.6866 trillion as contained in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), was revised upward to N7.298 trillion.
    In 2016, the government submitted N6.059 proposed budget to the National Assembly, which eventually raised it to N6.08 trillion.
    He said the Federal Government would issue new oil licences as part of efforts to explore new streams of revenues to fund the 2017 budget.
    He said that the Federal Government would also  review the current joint venture arrangements with oil companies,  marginal oil fields as well as mount pressure on revenue generating agencies to surpass expected targets.
    Minister of Budget and National Planning Senator Udoma Udo Udoma stated this when he appeared before a joint committee of the Senate on Appropriation and Finance to defend the revised Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
    Udoma told the committee that the Federal Government will issue new oil licences, review the subsisting joint venture with oil companies, review marginal oil fields and mount pressure on revenue generating agencies to raise funds to finance the 2017 budget.
    Udoma said the Federal Government pegged oil benchmark at $42.50.
    The benchmark of oil was $38 per barrel in the 2016 budget.
    The government retained the daily oil production volume for 2017 at 2.2 million barrels per day.
    The exchange rate was pegged at N305 to one dollar.
    The exchange rate was N197 to one dollar in 2016.
    Udoma also told the committee that the Federal Government will be targeting N10 trillion as total revenue during the 2017 fiscal year.
    He noted that of the amount, about N5 trillion is expected to be generated from crude oil sales.
    He said that the government expected to raise from non-oil sector about N5.06 trillion.
    According to him, the revenues are expected to come from corporate and company taxes, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, Stamp Duties, capital gains tax, value added tax, Customs, excise, fees, surcharges on luxury items, special levies and Federal Government independent revenue.
    The Federal Government earmarked N1.488 trillion for servicing domestic debts.
    In 2016 budget, the Federal Government voted N1.307 trillion for domestic debt service.
    The Federal Government said that N175.882 billion will be spent on foreign debt services.
    The government spent N54.480 on foreign debt servicing in the 2016 budget.
    Government budgeted N2.058 trillion for capital expenditure.
    In 2016, N1.587 was budgeted for capital expenditure.
    The government said recurrent expenditures will take N1.866 trillion.

  • Oil workers urge Fed Govt to call IOCs to order

    Oil workers urge Fed Govt to call IOCs to order

    • Warning strike likely in Jan.

    Oil workers have urged the Federal Government to resolve the lingering labour issues in the oil and gas industry to avoid an industrial unrest.
    The workers, acting under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), warned that the issues it had with international oil companies (IOCs) could threaten the peace in the industry.
    It warned that if the government failed to intervene, it would go on a three-day warning strike in January before embarking on a nation-wide strike.
    Speaking with The Nation, its President, Igwe Achese, said NUPENG would resist any divestment by the multinationals that did not carry the workers along. He promised a show-down with the multinationals over non-payment of terminal benefits to 48 contract workers and 250 contract workers terminated in Lagos and Port Harcourt by the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), among others.
    “We will embark on a three-day warning strike nation-wide in January as a result of these unresolved labour issues with multinationals operating in the oil and gas industry.
    “This decision was taken at the end of our National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Port Harcourt. The warning strike is preparatory to a nation-wide strike if there is no intervention by the Federal Government,” Achese said.
    He said the January date would be communicated to all members.
    He said union members should wear a red band on their arm to work from next week while Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) are to put green leaves on their tankers preparatory to the commencement of the warning strike next month.
    He said the Union believes that whatever goodwill the government has to encourage investors to the economy should not lead to job . Rather, it should lead to job creation.
    He said: “The unresolved labour related issues which made the Union to issue a 21-day ultimatum for the Federal Government’s intervention include the non-payment of terminal benefits to 48 contract staff and 250 contract staff terminated in Lagos and Port Harcourt by the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC).
    “The others are the refusal of Exxon Mobil Producing to reinstate over 200 NUPENG members sacked through its directives to her labour contractors despite ultimatum jointly issued by NUPENGASSAN.
    “The Chevron issue include the total closure of the company’s Eastern operations through divestment, refusal to discuss the redundancy terms and its refusal to facilitate the formation of Chevron labour Contractors Forum to interface with NUPENG.”
    Achese said Chevron’s refusal to allow workers to unionise was causing industrial relations tension.
    Some of the issues, according to him, include Tecon Oil Services Management reneging on the communiqué signed with the Union on offloading the severance benefits of its members working with the company.
    Others involve Pan Ocean’s non-implementation of annual salary increase for NUPENG members in the company simce 2014 till date.

  • Fed Govt to raise N20b for renewable energy projects in Q1

    The Federal Government is planning to raise N20 billion ($63 million) by March to help fund renewable energy projects, the first issuance of green bonds in the country.

    “We are on track to sell the bond in the first quarter, a sovereign, and could have another by the end of the year,” Environment Minister Amina Mohammed said told Bloomberg.

    The sale will also help fund an electric-vehicle commuter project in the city and plug infrastructure deficit, according to information from the Budget and National Planning Ministry.

    The government increased its 2016 budget by 20 per cent, allocating one-third to projects including roads, rail, ports and bridges, to stimulate an economy battered by a drop in oil production and that’s projected by the International Monetary Fund to contract by 1.7 per cent this year.

    “The exchequer can’t get all the money we need,” Mohammed said. “That’s why we must leverage these innovative ways to get funds from the international community.”

    Mohammed said her ministry is targeting off-grid solar-power projects producing as much as 1,200 megawatts in the country’s north. Nigeria’s electricity generation capacity is about 6,000 megawatts, according to the power ministry. South Africa, whose population is a third of Nigeria’s, has a capacity of more than 40,000 megawatts.

    Proceeds from the green bonds will also support environment-friendly projects in the oil-producing Niger River delta, where the government aims to eliminate gas flaring by 2019, Mohammed said.

    There are also plans to continue the cleanup of the Ogoniland oil spills, she said. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell’s Nigerian Unit, SPDC, Exxon Mobil Corp., and Eni SpA’s Agip Oil Co. have paid $1 billion, of which $200 million will be disbursed annually, to help with cleaning up oil spills as old as 50 years in the Ogoni district in the southern Niger River delta.

  • Fed Govt plans N1tr capital base for Bank of Agriculture

    Fed Govt plans N1tr capital base for Bank of Agriculture

    •Lender to begin deposit taking

    The Federal Govern-ment is planning to capitalize Bank of Agriculture with N1 trillion ($3.2 billion) and will allow the lender to take deposits.

    The move becomes exigent as Nigeria seeks to boost farming output and reduce food imports.

    “We are looking at N25 million farmers” as stakeholders or depositors, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Audu Ogbeh told Bloomberg in Abuja.  “We are probably going to take a major step by the end of this year, and by February, March, have a structure in place for the changes we want to carry out,” he said.

    Nigeria’s economy contracted in the first nine months of the year as output of oil, the government’s main source of revenue, dropped due to attacks by militant groups on pipelines in the Niger River delta and prices remained low.

    Farming, which mostly consists of crops including cocoa, accounts for more than 25 percent of gross domestic product, and has expanded every quarter of 2016, while factory output and mining, which includes the oil industry, shrank, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

    The Bank of Agriculture will start lending for farming projects at an interest rate of less than 10 percent, or less than half of commercial market rates, Ogbeh said.

    The bank, created in 1972 to provide credit and technical support to farming projects, lent at least N41 billion to 600 businesses across Nigeria over 10 years, according to information on its website.

    “It’s good to invest in the bank, but they should ensure they have proper management to improve its performance and efficiency,” Musa Tarimbuka, the division head for agriculture at Fidelity Bank Plc, said by phone. “They have disbursed a lot of money over the past 40 years, and the non-performing loans are very high.”

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) kept its benchmark rate unchanged at 14 per cent on November 24 as it seeks to support an economy forecast by the International Monetary Fund to contract 1.7 percent this year.

    It’s also trying to curb inflation, which quickened to an 11-year high of 18.3 percent in October. Food prices rose 17.1 per cent from a year earlier, partly due to the high price of imported food after the naira lost almost 40 per cent of its value against the dollar following the abandonment of a currency peg in June.

    The government plans to distribute 110 rice mills across the country over the next two months at a subsidy of 40 per cent, Ogbeh said. These measures will help boost production and reduce food imports, which were worth about 1.2 trillion naira last year, according to statistics bureau data, he said.

  • Fed Govt opposes Senate’s plan to scrap FERMA

    Fed Govt opposes Senate’s plan to scrap FERMA

    •Minister backs return of toll gates

    THE Federal Government yesterday opposed the Senate’s move to scrap the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA).
    It, however, supported the idea of reintroduction of toll gates being championed by the upper chamber.
    Minister of Works, Power and Housing Mr. Babatunde Fashola stated government’s position on FERMA and toll gates at a public hearing on “Federal Roads Authority Bill, the Infrastructure Development Commission Bill and the motion on the need for the establishment of toll gates on our highways”, organised by the Senate Committee on Works.
    Fashola said Nigerians should be educated to know that road infrastructure must be maintained since roads were not permanent infrastructure.
    The minister said: “Essentially, we have adhered before the House committee and they have agreed to harmonise some of the things that we have shared with them. But what should interest your excellency is that there has been a gap, no doubt about how we had managed our roads ourselves.
    “There is the need to institutionalise the maintenance of road assets. But much more importantly, there is the need for increased awareness and advocacy for users of our road assets that roads are not permanent assets in that way.
    “They are wearing assets, they are assets that diminish once we start to use them. So, from the day the road is opened and we start to ply it, it begins to deteriorate and therefore not only must we maintain them, we must use them carefully, we must use them consciously with the intent to get the best out of it.
    “We welcome the idea of creating a roads fund and we also welcome the idea of creating a maintenance agency. But we think and this will be details of the substance of the presentation that I will make.
    “We think that all of the recommendations that have been made for maintenance should be embodied in the agency that government has already created FERMA.
    “Repeal the existing FERMA law, re-enact it and put all of the new things we want to create inside it instead of creating a new agency because FERMA was set up for maintenance in the very first place.
    “It has acquired the name, it has acquired the brand. We can build on that brand instead of creating new brand.”
    He added: “In order to attract the investment that will enable us achieve private capital infrastructure, two things for me are very instructive.
    “The first is the cultural change from existing mindset. Our experience at sub-national and at national level is that every time private capital comes into infrastructure public works, there is a sense in which rights are agitated, court actions are taken, injunctions are taken in a way that is incompatible with commercial expediency and therefore investors are reluctant.
    “The politics of our response to this kind of situation, where political party was campaigning that once you elect us, we would cancel the toll.
    “Investors don’t like to hear that and I think that within our national parliament, we must engrain that as a position of consistency whether it is party white or black.”
    Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki, who inaugurated the public hearing, underscored the need for the two arms of government to work together in the interest of the country.
    Saraki noted that the only way the government could pull out of funding of certain projects was for the private sector to take over.
    He noted that for the legislature, public hearings were necessary to enable them incorporate the views and inputs of critical stakeholders and the public into the legislative process as a demonstration that the National Assembly not only belongs to the people, but would seek the most updated knowledge and information on matters before us especially Bills and Motions.
    He said that public hearings also give them opportunity to receive inputs of the Executive agencies charged with the responsibility of ensuring the implementation of the laws we passed here.

  • Editors’ Guild to Fed Govt: tackle kidnappings

    The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has urged the Federal Government to take security and legislative measures to tackle increased rate of kidnappings in the country.

    Its President Mrs. Funke Egbemode and General Secretary Mrs. Victoria Ibangasaid this in a communiqué issued at the end of the Guild’s fourth quarterly Standing Committee Meeting in Yola over the weekend.

    They expressed worry over the increased spate of kidnappings, which they said could scare foreign investors and further weigh the economy down.

    The communiqué reads: “The NGE expresses concern over the upsurge in kidnappings across Nigeria, which has unfortunately become a national menace that has negatively impacted on the social and economic life of the country.

    “The Guild notes that the new dimension the vice has assumed was portraying the country negatively in the eye of the global community, with the potential of scaring foreign investors, at a time their contribution is crucial to revamping the country’s ailing economy.”

    It condemned the abductions of notable personalities, including the wife of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mrs. Margaret Emefiele, former minister Bagudu Hirse, Rev. John Adeyi of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a journalist Iyuadoo Tor-Agbidye, among others.

    The Guild noted that kidnapping has almost become a daily occurrence.

    “In the light of these occurrences, the Guild urges the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, rejig its security apparatchik and develop a pro-active security strategy that will checkmate the menace.

    “It is equally desirable for the government to urgently evolve anti-kidnapping measures and legislations, to combat the current wave of crimes and criminality in Nigeria,” it said.

    The editors called for the strengthening of the judicial system to engender speedy prosecution of kidnap suspects to serve as a deterrent to others, urging security agencies to be alive to their responsibilities.

  • Fayose to Fed Govt: reverse tax increment on workers’ salaries

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has decried the alleged increment in Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax, pension and National Housing Fund (NHF) deductions by the Federal Government.

    The policy, he alleged, were applied on gross salary of Federal Government workers.

    Fayose in a statement yesterday advised the Federal Government to reverse the decision to ameliorate the suffering being experienced by workers “whose take home pay can no longer take them home”.

    He said: “The Federal Government should stop believing that the only way it can take Nigeria out of recession is to impose obnoxious taxes that will further impoverish the people.

    “If government does not have capacity to increase workers salary at this trying period, it should not also increase taxes that will cause decrement in what workers earn.”

    “I sympathise with Federal Government workers who only got to know about reduction of their salaries when they got credit alert last month, but they should remember that I warned them.

    “Workers are already facing hardships owing to the economic recession, which has caused exchange rate to rise to as much as N480 to $1.”

  • Recession: Fed Govt solicits Labour leaders’ support

    Recession: Fed Govt solicits Labour leaders’ support

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, has urged stakeholders in the labour sector to support Fthe ederal Government’s efforts at minimising the adverse effects of recession on Nigerian workers.

    The minister stated this in Abuja, during the week, while declaring open the 4th Registrar of Trade Unions Annual Workshop with the theme The Role of Social Partners in Combating the Challenges of Economic Recession.

    He said a lot needed to be done to stem the tide of recession and that stakeholders in industrial relations ought to come together to proffer ways of minimising it.

    Ngige noted that workers bear the brunt of recession with the survival of trade unions threatened, and  downsising, redundancy, casualisation and indecent work, among others, on the increase.

    Ngige expressed optimism that various actions spearheaded by the Federal Government will improve economic activities and steer the nation’s economy out of recession.

    He advised stakeholders in the labour sector to bargain in good faith, open communication and appropriate disclosure of relevant information devoid of deceit, delay and denial.

    The representative of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Mrs. Adenike Ajala, stated that despite the current economic situation, the organised private sector is committed to ensuring that they provide decent working environment for workers.

  • Fed Govt justifies DSS raid on Judges’ homes

    Fed Govt justifies DSS raid on Judges’ homes

    The Federal Government has justified the Department of State Services (DSS)’s raid on judges’ home as part of corruption probe.
    Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami, said yesterday that the DSS acted within the confines of the Constitution.
    The search on homes and arrest of some High Court judges and Supreme Court Justices happened between October 7 and 8.
    Malami, who said there were reasonable grounds for suspicion cited Section 15 (5) of the constitution as vesting the state with a constitutional obligation to abolish all corrupt practices using all its powers.
    Malami appeared yesterday before a House of Representatives ad hoc Committee investigating the DSS over the arrests.
    Malami said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC ) does not have exclusive rights to any investigation, including financial crimes.
    While he expressed satisfaction with the manner of raid and arrest of the judicial officers because the constitution did not provide any special protection for judges, the Minister said he was duly informed before and after the operation was carried out.
    According to him, as long as the National Assembly had not abrogated Decrees promulgated by the military since 1966, the laws remained valid and subsisting.
    The Garba Datti – led Committee asked the AGF if he instructed the DSS to carry out the operation, acted on its own or whether other security agencies were also instructed to investigate the judges.
    The lawmakers also sought Malami’s opinion on the suitability of the laws that backed the DSS action against the judges.
    Malami said: “When we are talking about constitutional obligations, it goes without saying that all state instruments, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) are under obligation, inclusive of the legislature and the judiciary to take steps that will abolish corrupt practices.
    “It is in respect of that obligation that whatever issue arising from the search and arrest of the judicial officers were carried out.
    “The State was in receipt of multiple petition of corrupt practices by the judicial officers and there was further apprehension that if immediate steps were not taken, the possibility of dissipating existing evidence that were believed to have being kept within their respective domain will eventually be tampered with.
    “Arising from the responsibility created and established by Section 15 of the constitution, the State had to act.
    But the question of which agency has the responsibility of executing it, my response to that derives from the fact that multiple petitions were written to the Office of the AGF, DSS, EFCC and a lot of other agencies of government and to my mind, I have a discretion to weigh the situation and decide which agency against the background of the petition who will act for the purpose of ensuring that the obligation of the provisions of Section 15 (5) of the constitution are carried out.
    “So whatever evolved from the search and arrest of the judicial officers revolved around the need to comply with the responsibility and obligation vested on them by provisions of the constitution and the need to ensure that the investigation is not in any way tampered with negatively.
    “These were the circumstances that led to the operation. It was a clear exercise of the constitutional mandate in respect of what is expected of the State to abolish corrupt practices”.
    On who instructed the DSS to act , Malami explained that the raid and arrest of the judges followed the refusal of the NJC to act on petitions earlier sent to it by the AGF and other investigating agencies.
    “When we got the petitions, I had cause to personally write to the NJC requesting that they take administrative steps to investigate the allegations contained in the petitions.
    “A response was made to my office that the NJC can only act unless the petitions were accompanied with affidavits but I felt there were no reasons why the petitions cannot be looked on their own merit by placing sanctions on the AGF while it was a constitutional obligation.
    “Incidentally, multiple petitions were also written to DSS and I requested that they equally write to NJC to look into the petitions but it was the same response DSS got from NJC that without a supporting affidavit the petitions can’t be looked into.
    “So we have a situation where there’s reasonable ground for suspicion for commission of corruption and we have a body saddle with the primary administrative responsibility of looking at such things first but seems not to be cooperating in that respect.
    “Meanwhile, when the issue of commission of corruption practice is established, the Executive has the responsibility of investigation without recourse to the judiciary.
    “That is how the idea of taking the advantage of Section 15 (5) arose.
    “I asked EFCC and DSS and another agency to investigate because they were in receipt of several petitions on the same subject and I was informed by the DSS before the search and arrest and I did not object.
    “The DSS presented a formal report to me before and after effecting the search and arrest, they informed me that the operation will be done at any hour without restriction.
    “I had no objection that the operation would be carried out at night because I have taken time to go through the administration of Criminal Justice Act and I was convinced that this operation can be conducted at any hour, any moment without restriction.
    “I don’t have to inform the Inspector General of Police ( IGP ) or Commissioner of Police in the State about the DSS operation because they were also under the same constitutional obligation to act and one of the agencies had investigated, came up with a report and I was convinced.
    “If any other agency came up with cogent reason for a search and arrest I will equally give them the permission an they are not under any obligation to reverse back to me when searches are to be carried out, they are re independent and statutory mandate to act without recourse to me but only after the search and arrest they can make a report in order to aid further action on the matter.
    “I was happy with the DSS operation simply because those allegations were established arising from the result of the searches and investigations that were carried out”.
    When asked why the allegations were not refered to the EFCC, Malami said the anti-graft agency does not have exclusive rights over any investigation, while disclosing that many judicial officers failed to file their asset declaration forms with the CCB.

  • Fed Govt backs Umahi’s ban on sale of imported rice

    Fed Govt backs Umahi’s ban on sale of imported rice

    The Federal Government has said it is supporting Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi’s ban on the sale of foreign rice in the state.
    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audi Ogbe, spoke of Federal Government’s support for the governor’s action when he visited Ettem Amagu Rice Farm in Ikwo Local Government Area during his assessment of agricultural potential of the state.
    Ogbeh, who was in company with the Chairman of Presidential Committee on Rice Production, Abubakar Bagudu and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele, hailed Umahi for his agricultural policy, particularly ensuring massive rice production in the state.
    He said: “Mr Governor, I hear you banned the sale of foreign rice in your state. God bless you for it. I also hear you invited young men to return from Lagos and work here. God bless you also for it. They will be happier here in this state than living under the bridge or substandard accommodation in Lagos, Abuja or elsewhere.”
    A statement at the weekend by Umahi’s Chief Press Secretary, Emma Anya, said the minister advised youths to key into agriculture to diversify the economy and see it as a way out of the current recession.
    He promised to bring agricultural equipment, such as rice harvesters, threshers, par-boiling drums, to Ebonyi State.
    Ogbe said: “By the middle of last week, I had some machines ready for you (Ebonyi State). These include threshers and even new par-boiling drums, which operate differently from what women are using. When those machines come, young men will be thought how to enter a farm and harvest rice for farmers. These young men and farmers will make so much money to the extent that they will become millionaires in the villages. So, wealth is here (in farming).”
    The minister, who also announced Federal Government’s plan to plant 1,500 hectares of cashew nuts and set up two cashew roasting plants in Ebonyi State early next year, expressed satisfaction with what he saw at Ettem Amagu and Akueze Rice farms.
    The minister described Ebonyi farmers as the real heroes of President Muhammadu Buhari’s push to diversify the economy, especially through agriculture.
    He said: “Mr Governor, next year, we shall plant for you 1,500 hectares of cashew nuts at 500 hectares in each of the three senatorial districts in your state. We shall also build for you two factories here for roasting cashew.”
    Ogbe also promised that the Federal Government would rehabilitate the Ettem Amagu Ikwo Dam to encourage dry season rice cultivation in the state.
    The minister noted that under Operation 1,037 of the Federal Government, a minimum of 10 dams per state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would be built.
    Emefiele said the apex bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme would begin next year to boost farming and tackle the challenges confronting farmers.
    The CBN also pledged the bank’s readiness to participate in the clearing and re-dredging of the Ettem Amagu Dam.
    The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Rice Production and Kebbi State Governor Bagudu said what he saw in rice-producing states showed that the country had achieved self-sufficiency in rice production and should plan rice export.
    He said: “The success recorded in the last one year is phenomenal. What we have seen in terms of rice output seems to suggest that the goal of self-sufficiency, which we hitherto thought would be achieved in 2017, might have already been achieved.”
    Umahi hailed President Buhari for reviving agriculture across the country.
    The governor expressed the readiness of his administration to partner the Federal Government in all-season farming.
    He said: “There are over 30 dams in this state. They are recharged by very near streams. So, we want assistance from the Federal Government in irrigation. We want assistance for the money to farmers. We want assistance in biomass plants. The cost of buying diesel and maintenance is too high. We also need harvesters to assist our farmers.”

    The team also visited the state’s modern rice mills at Oso-Edda and Ikwo, where they saw live processed rice rolling out of the machines.
    They were also taken to the popular Abakaliki Rice Mill where they witnessed the processing of rice paddies with locally-fabricated machines.
    Before leaving the Government House, the team saw mountains of rice husk in the Abakaliki rice mill, which the Umahi administration said it would use to generate electricity.