The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Federal government

  • 152 Universities: FG urged to reduce number of varsities

    Rivers state Head of Service, Rufus Godwins, has urged Federal Government to reduce the number of universities in the country to enhance quality and performance.

    Godwins made the call at a public lecture organised by the ‘Claude Ake Chair of Political Economy’, in collaboration with the University of Port Harcourt on Wednesday.

    The theme of the discourse was ‘Shattered Towers and Tattered Gowns: Redefining the Nigeria University System.’

    Godwins said the nation’s universities lagged behind when compared to its counterparts in other parts of the world due to poor funding; poor policy implementation and quality of teaching.

    “If we are determined as a nation to tackle the menace of secret cults, sexual scandals and other vices prevalent in our university system, then we will be good for it.

    “Also, why have 152 universities and none of them is ranked within the top 600 universities in the world or ranked among the best 10 universities in Africa,’’ he said.

    The HoS said the nation would compete favourable with its counterparts if it reduced the number of universities to a more manageable figure while improve funding.

    “The quality of the university system of any nation determines the product of that university. It is this product that feeds into the larger society and the leadership cadre.

    “So, if we have a university system that cannot be trusted in producing the right caliber manpower who can lead the nation, then the society will be worst for it.

    “We need to fix our university system and get the universities involved in dreaming dreams about our country,” he said.

    Godwin said the nation’s universities had long secluded itself from current realities in the nation and was no longer contributing to development of the society.

    He attributed the decline to poor management of the universities by authorities.

    Read Also: Why impeachment of President Buhari may be difficult

    Also speaking, the Chair Occupant of the Claude Ake Chair of Political Economy, Prof. Eme Ekekwe, said that lack of proper policies affected growth of the educational sector.

    He said the lecture was organised to stimulate thinking on ways to improve systems and processes in the nation’s system of learning.

    “We want to discuss how we can make the products of our educational system reach and serve the community. This is because education in isolation does not benefit society.

    “So, our work, products and ideas should be such that they can be translated into things that the community, society and country can use,” he said.

    Nigeria currently has 152 public and private universities according to figures released by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

  • Inherited debts: FG to settle contractors

    …to clear civil servants’ promotion arrears with N34.2bn

     

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, Tuesday disclosed that the Federal Government would settle the inherited debts and contractual obligations to local contractors between 2006 and 2015.

    A statement issued and signed by Oluyinka Akintunde Special Adviser, Media and Communications to the Minister of Finance said Kemi Adeosun made this known while appearing before the Ad-Hoc Committee of the Senate on “Promissory Note Programme and Bond Issuances.”

    According Akintunde, “she explained that the debts owed to various classes of contractors, including the terminal benefits of ex-Nigerian Airways workers, would repaid through promissory notes and bonds issuance.”

    The Minister also stated that the unpaid Federal Government obligations constituted a drag on economic activity across many sectors, adding that the present Administration was determined to address the problem.

    She listed the unpaid obligations to include obligations to pensioners and salary and promotion arrears to civil servants.

    With regards to obligations to contractors and suppliers the minister lamented that they in turn, owe banks, thus increasing the quantum of non-performing loans. The federal government is also burdened by backlogs of unpaid electricity bills by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

    Read Also: Govt to refinance debts with $3b, says Adeosun

    Others are: exporters owed funds under the Export Expansion Grant Scheme and unpaid refunds due to State Governments in respect of projects undertaken on behalf of the Federal Government.

    “The Federal Government is working towards settling these inherited debts. The Small and Medium scaled Enterprises are the lifeline of our nation. The Federal Government will be stimulating the economy by paying these legacy debts,” Adeosun told members of the Ad-Hoc Committee.

    The Federal Government, according to her, has approved the issuance of promissory notes and bonds to settle its contractual obligations subject to the approval of the National Assembly.

    On the ex-Nigerian Airways workers, the Minister explained that their terminal benefits have been reconciled and agreed upon at N45 billion following verification.

    She debunked claims by the ex-workers that there was a presidential approval for the payment of terminal benefits of N45 billion to the workers.

    “There has been a misconception in the media that the President had approved the payment of N45 billion terminal benefits to the workers. There is no presidential approval and no appropriation yet for the payment of N45 billion to the ex-workers,” she said.

    Akintunde noted that earlier, the representative of the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Usman, told members of the Senate’s Ad-Hoc Committee that the Government has paid N34.2 billion to clear the promotion arrears to workers in the MDAs.

    Usman, who is the Director of Funds in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, added that the payment process was still ongoing.

    According to him, “these payments were made to the accounts of the beneficiaries in the MDAs after detailed verification of all documents attached as proof of promotion,” he said.

  • ASUP seeks establishment of body in tertiary institutions

    The Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa Branch of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics has called for the establishment of a special body to monitor finances in higher institutions in the country.

    The Chairman of the branch, Dr Yusuf Hussaini, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Nasarawa, Nasarawa State on Tuesday.

    He said that establishing the body would checkmate the under-hand activities of the management of most of the tertiary institutions.

    According to him, the body will also help in improving the standard of learning in the institutions by tackling corrupt activities in the institutions.

    Hussaini said that many of the institutions were generating a lot of money but that such funds were often stolen by the management of the institutions.

    “I want to call on the government to set up a special monitory body to supervise what is coming in and how the resources are been used.

    “There is need to monitor and to ensure that resources are well managed, in order to improve the standard of education in Nigeria.”

    The unionist, however, appealed to the Federal Government to increase budgetary allocations to the education sector to discourage Nigerians from leaving the country to seek education overseas.

    “If government funds education adequately and provides science and other necessary equipment in institutions of learning, people will be encouraged to study at home rather than going overseas.

    “I believe that increase in funding of the education sector will help in addressing challenges in our institutions of learning.

    Hussaini stressed the importance of education in the development of the country, pleading with government to create the enabling environment to foster development.

    The lecturer also appealed to teachers in tertiary institutions to avoid practices capable of tarnishing their personalities and that of their institutions.

  • FG pays 14 whistleblowers N439m

    For helping the federal government  rake in  N13.8 billion from tax evaders,14 whistle blowers have been  rewarded with the sum of N439.276 million.

    The informants  tipped off government  on the affected  tax  evaders ,Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun told reporters yesterday.

    “The payment was made this week  after the federal government received the sum of N13.8 billion from the affected tax evaders, mostly corporate organizations, based on tips from whistleblowers,” the minister said.

    This reward is different from that given to those who provide information on stolen public funds.

    By June 2017 a total  N375.8 million  had been  paid to the first batch of 20 providers of information  on stolen funds under the Whistleblower Policy.

    The payment, of various amounts totalling N375,875,000, was in respect of  the recovery of N11,635,000,000.

    Government,according to Adeosun, is  actively preparing cases for prosecution against tax evaders by  the end of next month  when the tax amnesty will end.

    She said the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) is faring well as “we are getting far more tips on tax evasions, which of course is a crime against us all.”

    She said that since the introduction of the VAIDS in 2017 to peacefully bring in more tax payers into the tax net to boost revenue, the Federal Government’s data mining efforts have  identified over 130,000 high net worth individuals and companies that have potential tax underpayments issues against them.

    The minister also told reporters of how some people she did not identify had tried to sell off over 100 government properties abroad.

    She said the properties ,belonging to Nigeria’s   foreign missions and federal government agencies, had been left out of  an earlier audit by government officials who went round the world to take an inventory of such properties.

    Some of the buildings were abandoned,she said,and “some people were trying to sell them off and we had to stop them.”

    The  buildings were only captured in a later audit.

    Apart from the Whistleblower initiative, data is being compiled by Project Lighthouse, which  is a unique project of the Federal Ministry of Finance that combines data from Federal and State agencies and overseas countries.

    Adeosun once revealed that, “data have been received from a number of sources including land registries of the Governments of Lagos, Kaduna, Kano and Ogun States as well as the Federal Capital Territory.

    “In addition, Nigeria has been able to request data from a number of nations including traditional tax havens. The data have been received from a number of foreign jurisdictions under the exchange of information protocols.

    “Under the exchange of information protocols, this information relates to bank records and financial filings for tax purposes and is obtained from tax havens who are signatories to the information sharing agreements such as British Virgin Islands and Mauritius.”

    “The data received from overseas countries would only be used for taxation purposes in line with the protocols governing the exchange of information.

    The  common violations by non-compliant tax payers   include  under-declaration of and non-declaration of income earned including income from government contracts and overseas trading; Collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) which is not duly  remitted to FIRS; charging of non-allowable personal expenses to company accounts particularly with reference to overseas school fees; Inconsistency between income declared for tax purposes and the value of assets owned.

    On  the Budget, Adeosun was optimistic that  by the end of this month, about N1. 5 trillion would have been spent on capital projects.

  • Nigeria’s Lassa fever outbreak contained -WHO

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that with declining numbers and only a handful of confirmed cases reported in recent weeks, the critical phase of Nigeria’s largest Lassa fever outbreak is under control.

    According to a statement issued by WHO’s Communication Officer, Ms Charity Warigon in Abuja on Friday, continued vigilance is, however, needed as the country is still Lassa fever endemic.

    She said that this year, 423 confirmed cases, including 106 deaths, had been reported but that national case numbers had consistently declined in the past six weeks.

    The spokeswoman said that the numbers had dropped below levels considered to be of national emergency when compared with data from previous outbreaks.

    Warigon said that in the week ending May 6, only three new confirmed cases of Lassa fever were reported, stating that people could still be infected throughout the year hence the need for continued vigilance.

    The UN agency congratulated Nigeria for reaching a milestone in the fight against Lassa fever but urged the country not to “let its foot off the pedal”.

    It assured the Federal Government its continuous support in maintaining intensified response to the outbreak.

    “WHO continues to help states that have reported new cases by strengthening their capacity to conduct disease surveillance, treat patients, implement infection prevention and control measures, laboratory diagnostics and engaging with communities.

    “Communities are encouraged to remain vigilant and report any rumour to the nearest health facility because early diagnosis and treatment can save lives.

    “Thirty-seven health workers have been infected with Lassa fever and eight have died.

    “This highlights the need to implement standard infection prevention and control precautions with all patients regardless of their diagnosis.

    “Health workers are urged to maintain a high index of suspicion for Lassa fever when handling patients with fever, headache, sore throat and general body weakness, especially when malaria has been ruled out with a Rapid Diagnostic Test.”

    The world body also urged health workers to adhere to standard precautions by wearing protective equipment like gloves, face masks, face shields and aprons when handling suspected Lassa fever patients.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that WHO in its Emergency Report, issued in April stated that in March less than 20 cases were reported each week while only five new cases were reported in the week ending April 15.

    These figures, according to WHO compare with earlier reports issued in January, the beginning of the outbreak, to Feb. 18, when the number of weekly reported Lassa fever cases increased from 10 to 70.

  • Don to FG:  Offer grants for quantity surveying studies  

    A university don, Prof. Henry Agboola Odeyinka, has appealed to the Federal Government to ensure that studies into quantity surveying problems receive adequate research grants.

    He said it was sad that quantity surveying does not receive necessary attention that would encourage researchers to move the frontiers of knowledge forward.

    The Professor of Quantity Surveying and Construction Project Management in the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife’s 318th inaugural lecture series, advised the FG to urgently address the issue.

    In the lecture titled “Unsettling the Uncertainty of Construction in an Uncertain World: The Cost, the Challenges and Conquests,” Odeyinka there abounds great potentials in risk and uncertainty research in construction domain for “those who may be interested in that area.”

    According to him: “For instance,  we need to understand risk impacts on project cost in other procurement methods like management contracting, public/ partnership (PPP) and construction joint venture. With the advent of Building Information Modeling (BIM), we expect some risk factors to be eliminated but the issue is that BIM itself will create its own risk and this also needs researching.

    “Besides, our knowledge of risk impacts on the cost of infrastructure projects needs to be unlocked. In addition, while I have concentrated on the use of MLR and ANN to develop risk assessment models, some other modeling methods need to be employed such as fuzzy logic or neuro-fuzzy which may have the potential of yielding better modelling predictions.”

    Speaking with reporters after his inaugural lecture, Odeyinka said there will be a lasting solution to myriads of challenges facing the nation if the Federal Government pays serious attention to research development.

    He said: “There are a lot of uncertainties in the country which border on insecurity with attendant Boko Haram insurgency, kidnapping, herdsmen’s killings, economic malaise, poverty among other socio-political and economic challenges. These problems could be solved if only the academics in the tertiary institutions would devote more attention to high quality researches.

    “It is not the number of papers that academics had in their archives, libraries nor academic journals that matter but those that are relevant and had the target capacity to address peculiar challenges in the environments where they are found. So, I will advise the academics in tertiary institutions to focus their research works much more on the different sectors of the economy through which issues of economic travails, poverty, insecurity and other national crises could be effectively addressed.

    “In advanced countries, national crises and crucial issues are addressed through education, relevant data and information which could only be accessed and developed through research work in the academia. But in Nigeria, there is a laxity in these areas. Stakeholders, especially in the government circle do not reckon so much with information and data to find the root causes of problems before proffering solutions to them and that is why the problems linger.”

    The university don, therefore, called on the Federal Government to support academic  researches through adequate funding to enable scholars devise relevant data and information that could serve as solutions to the nation’s problems and, at the end, engender socio- economic development.

  • FG to suspend contractor handling Abuja – Lokoja road project

    The Federal Government is considering suspension of Bulletin Construction Company Limited from further handling section II of the Abuja-Abaji Lokoja Federal road project.

    Director of Highways Construction and Rehabilitation Department, Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, FMPWH, Engr. Dayyabu Mamman said during an inspection, Tuesday in Abuja that the contractor vacated project site since December 2017.

    The Section II, Contract Number: 5884 commenced from Abaji – Kotonkarfi – Lokoja.

    The Director briefed the Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Surv. Hassan Zarma, during an inspection of infrastructure projects in the North Central part of the country.

    Mamman lamented over the delay stressing that the project was giving sleepless nights, aside from numerous accidents recorded particularly on the section of the highway.

    His words: “There are so many accidents on this road and this is because of the delay in project execution. The staff left site since December last year and so it’s been giving us a lot of sleepless nights.”

    Asked by the Minister of what measure to take, he advised, “the project should be terminated by the Federal Government. For the past five months, they have not returned to site so we have no other alternative than to terminate the contract.”

    In his remarks, the firm Site Engineer, Mr. Peter Omenye attributed the delay to strike action from the workers.

    He admitted it was already five months since the workers commenced the union strike.

    According to him, the firm has persuaded the union but persisted on their position.

    At Section I of the project in Gwagwalada, the Minister lauded work progress stressing that they were fulfillment of President Muhammadu Buhari commitment to fixing infrastructure deficits.

    He said road projects are always costly due to outsourcing of raw materials such as granites, cement including conducting of soil tests before actual project execution commences.

    Meanwhile, at the National Housing Programme located in the Federal Capital Territory, the Minister appealed to contractors to plant economic trees at the project sites.

    He said this became imperative to green the estate, reduce greenhouse gas and climate change impacts.

    “We want the contractors to plant trees with economic values so it will be beneficial to the residents and green the environment,” Zarma said.

    He noted that the housing project was mainly to reduce housing deficit and increase affordable homes.

    The estate consists of three Condominiums accommodating 72 units of One-bedroom, Two-bedroom and Three-bedroom flats.

    NHP Team Leader, Arch. Toyin Fasohunti said the project will be completed July 2018.

  • Buhari will deliver on mandate – Lawmaker

    Umar Bago, a lawmaker from Niger said on Monday that President Muhammadu Buhari would overcome all oppositions and deliver on his mandate.

    Bago said in an interview with our reporter in Minna that people opposing the President were those used to the corruption and looting of the past.

    The lawmaker said that Buhari has remained committed to the fight against corruption, militancy, cattle rustling and insurgency, and would set the country on the path of progress.

    “President Buhari has proved beyond reasonable doubt to be honest, sincere and committed towards meeting the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians irrespective of political, tribal and ethnic differences.’’

    “The profile of Nigeria had rose high since Buhari assumed duty, because of the high regard the international community has for him”, he said.

    According to Bago, Buhari’s visit to United States was a testimony to the high regard with which the international community now views Nigeria.

    “The President’s track record of integrity is largely responsible for the foreign nations’ positive disposition to assist in checking the activities of insurgency and anti-corruption initiatives in our country,” he said.

    Read Also:  Buhari Leaves Daura for Abuja after APC congress

    He stressed that those wishing the president to fail in his second term bid were not in touch with the grassroots.

    “The love for the president is still overwhelming and unprecedented;  even during the recent APC ward congresses the people told us in clear terms that only the President would enjoy their unconditional support in 2019.’’

    The lawmaker urged politicians to be responsible in their actions and shun negative tendencies that would inhibit the peace, progress and political growth of the country.

    “What the country needs at this material time is peaceful atmosphere, to which the Federal Government is committed, to ensure free, fair and credible elections in 2019.”

    NAN

  • Minimum wage not uniform wage for Nigerian workers – Ngige

    The Federal Government has laid to rest fears by employers of Labour and various state governments that the idea of the minimum wage was to impose on them a uniform pay package for workers in both the public and private sector of the Nigeria Economy.

    Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige who spoke at the Public hearing on the new minimum foe the south south geopolitical zone in Port Harcourt said the fears was unfounded as it was not meant to impose uniform wages on the states.

    A statement from the Director of Press in the Ministry, Samuel Olowokoore quote the Minister as saying that agitations by a section of the Labour Tripartite Stakeholders that a uniform Minimum Wage in the federation is at variance with the tenets of federalism should arise.

    Sen. Ngige said Minimum Wage being a Federal law as contained in section 34 of the Constitution, “means a price floor below which workers may not yield their labour. Above that floor, any state can pay as higher as its resource capacity accommodates.

    “The intendment of the minimum wage therefore is not about uniformity to hold back rich states or members of the private sector who have resources to pay higher from doing so but to set a national base below which the reward for labour in terms of wages would be inequable, indecent and slavish, hence illegal and unacceptable.

    “The intendment is to set an irreducible minimum that can guarantee opportunities for work to earn a fair income; security in the workplace and social protection for workers and their families”.

    The Minister emphasized that the life of a worker and employers especially those in the private sector was intrinsically interwoven with the development of the nation, hence the importance the Federal government attached to interacting directly with workers all over the federation, so as to fully accommodate their aspirations for decent work in the new Minimum Wage.

    He said the committee decided to embark on nationwide public hearing to give workers a say in the wage fixing machinery of the country.

    “Today, in the spirit of give and take, workers and employers, both private and public sectors are all seated side by side to give credence to the maxim that there is no employer without workers and no workers without employers. The aim is to ensure that a new Minimum Wage can assure the attainment of a social Protection Floor for Nigerian citizens in such a manner that workers have access to food, shelter and essential healthcare”, he said.

    He urged workers to utilize the opportunity provided by the public hearing taking place in all the geo-political zones to make necessary input into the work of the Tripartite National Minimum Wage Committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    While commending the government for initiating the wage review in order to uplift the living condition of the nation’s labour force, Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike said there was a great injustice in a nation where workers labour to sustain the nation only to go home in poverty.

    Wike however frowned at the Minimum Wage for the entire country and insisted that every state should be allowed to decide what minimum to pay its workers.

  • Telecom sector contributed N8.6tn to Nigeria’s economy in 2017 – BudgIT

    The telecommunication sector contributed N8.6 trillion to the economy, a report released by a civic technology organization, BudgIT Nigeria, has revealed.

    The report titled: Operational and fund management analysis of the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), showed that Nigeria’s e-commerce sector would grow by N15.5 trillion in the next ten years.

    The USPF was established by the Federal Government in 2006 to facilitate the achievement of national policy goals for universal access and universal service to information and communication technologies (ICTs) in rural, un-served and under-served areas in Nigeria.

    The Fund is being managed to facilitate the widest possible access to affordable telecommunications services for greater social equity and inclusion for Nigerians.

    According to the report, investments in the telecommunication sector had grown since it was liberalized in 2000 by the government of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

    For example, the report noted that investments in the sector rose from $50million in 1999 to approximately $6bn in 2004.

    It added that the increased investment and the GSM revolution also impacted the internet subscription positively with 100.9 million Nigerians been active internet subscribers as at February 2018.

    The report reads: “The rapid expansion of the Nigerian mobile telecoms industry at the turn of the century, due to the proliferation of the internet, computers, smartphones, social media and advancement of digital censors technology, is pushing up the volume of data generated, and increasing the need for planning and decision making.

    “As at the end of 2017, the telecoms and information service sectors’ direct contribution to Africa’s largest economy was approximately 8.7% or N8.6tn.

    “After the full liberalisation of the telecommunications market in 2000 and the successful auctioning of the 2G Digital Mobile Licenses in January 2001- with a total of four GSM licenses issued – the sector effectively took off.

    “Investment in the sector more than tripled, rising from $50million in 1999 to approximately $6bn in 2004. As at 2017, Nigeria’s telephone penetration had 145 million subscribers, down from its historical peak of 154 million in 2016 but astronomical still when compared with 10.2 million subscribers in 2004.

    “The increased investment and the GSM revolution also impacted the internet subscription positively. As at February 2018, the total number of internet subscribers in Nigeria was 100.9 million. However, only 22% of internet subscribers enjoy broadband speeds.”

    BudgIT’s General Manager (Operations), Gabriel Okeowo, who spoke to reporters on the sideline of the 2018 Internet Freedom Forum in Abuja, said the telecom sector remained one of the sectors that is contributing hugely to Nigeria’s economy.

    “The telecom sector is a sector that is contributing hugely to the economy of Nigeria. That figure you quoted is considering the number of workforce, citizens the telecom industry is absorbing in to give them jobs.

    “It looks at how much Nigeria is expending on phone calls, how much Nigeria is expending on data services. All of that when you put it together, today, telecom is contributing that much to the country.”

    Also, its Program Manager for Tracka, Mr. Uadamen Ilevbaoje, noted that tracking ICT projects under the USPF remained a major challenge for the organization.

    According to him, most of the USPF projects are not specified while lawmakers hijack some of them.

    He called on the government to specify its ICT projects in order for Nigerians to track them.

    Mr. Ilevbaoje said: “By government not specifying the projects, lawmakers hijack it and exploit the project by appropriating the funds and USPF does not follow it up.”