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Tag: FG

  • FG signs $523,823 agreement with Islamic Bank

    The federal government has signed a $523,823 (N185, 957,165 million) Technical Assistant (TA) Agreement grant with the Islamic Development Bank (ISDB) Group, in Marrakesh, Morocco.

    According to a statement issued and signed by the Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance on Media and Communications, Mr Paul Ella Abechi, “the TA agreement grants would be used to address capacity building/equipment and logistics upgrade in the Hajj Commission and for the improvement of cotton, textile and garment value chain in the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.”

    READ ALSO: Obi blasts federal government “tradermoni”

    The statement added that “the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) will get $243,823.0, for capacity building/equipment and logistics upgrade while the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment will receive the balance of $280,000 for the improvement of cotton, textile and garment value chain.”

    Nigeria’s Minister of finance Zainab Ahmed signed on behalf of the Federal Government while President of the ISDB Group, Dr. Bandar M. H. Hajjar, signed on behalf of the Group, at the 44th ISDB Group Annual Meeting held in Marrakesh, Morrocco.

    Also on the sidelines of the meeting, the Minister was said to have told participants at the conference that state governments in Nigeria are doing their best to boost agriculture and food production. According to her, “State governments in Nigeria are adopting cluster farming which has eased access to funds by farmers, increased growth and allows access to facilities without collateral.”

  • Onitiri asks FG to declare herdsmen terrorists group

    President Muhammadu Buhari has been charged to declare the dare-devil, trigger-happy herdsmen terrorists group forthwith.

    This is because the herders’ activities are becoming too dangerous and unbearable to the people of Nigeria.

    Read also: Suspected herdsmen kill four farmers in Benue community

    According to a statement PDP Lagos Central Senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the just concluded election, said the Federal Government should do the needful and declare total and decisive action against herdsmen before they kill everybody.

    According to Onitiri, herders are now more daring and dangerous than the most dreaded Boko Haram ravaging the North-East because they are now found all over the country attacking anybody in sight.

    Onitiri noted that the herdsmen have killed more people than the Boko Haram within the past one year.

  • Sultan tasks FG, states on building, equipment of hospitals

    The sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III, has on Tuesday tasked government at all levels on adequate construction and equipment of healthcare facilities to help in effective delivery of healthcare.

    The Sultan made the call in his keynote address to the first quarter review meeting of Northern Traditional Leaders Committee on Primary Health Care, which was held in Kaduna.

    The major focus of the meeting was to receive update on Community Health Influencers, Promoters and Services (CHIP) initiative launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018.

    The CHIPS initiative is aimed at using community-based women to improve maternal and child healthcare,  part of which includes educating women on importance of visiting health facilities when need arises in order to avert deaths from preventable diseases.

    The sultan who decried the deplorable status of healthcare facilities in the country said, “I will like us to talk about the position of our health care facilities across the towns and villages.

    “You can’t come around with such  programs, (CHIPS)   advocating about going to clinics for antenatal and you don’t have the clinics. There are so many buildings across the villages in the name of clinics,  but there’s no nurses, nothing.

    “So, we will want to see states and Federal Government embark on construction and equipment of full healthcare facilities across the villages and towns where we have large population of our people.”

    While assuring that traditional leaders in the north will do everything humanly possible to ensuring that new born and mothers live healthy, the sultan said  provision for man power, drugs and shelter are very paramount in ensuring such is achievable.

    The sultan who admitted that the traditional leaders in ten years have recorded tremendous success in the Polio eradication program  however,  noted that, the disease is not the only  health challenge bedeviling the country, “We also have so many other diseases —and one of them is hunger.”

    Meanwhile, the Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib said the meeting is focused on how the traditional rulers can use their unique positions,  as custodians of heritage and culture to mobilize people in communities for improved primary health care, especially  on CHIPS.

    He said the traditional leaders have recorded success in polio eradication program and such success can be replicated in the CHIPS initiative.

    According to Shuaib, “The point to note is how they have have been able to provide leadership in all ramifications towards polio eradication, especially  as they have assisted in casting away doubts on polio vaccines and immunization.

    “When community members saw their leaders are advocating for immunization and vaccines,  they came out and started receiving it. As you can see,  we are just five months away from been declared a polio free nation. This is significant.

    “So in this first quarter meeting,  we are now expanding the horizon of this traditional leaders in terms of what they will be engaging in. Moving forward,  they will be taking up the role President Buhari asked them to take—which is providing leadership around CHIPS program.

    “President Buhari has put in place and laid a solid foundation  for a day in future where no Nigerian will be denied access to health care because they can’t afford it,” the Executive Director explained.

     

  • BudgIT to FG: end fuel subsidy regime now

    A civic technology organisation, BudgIT has urged the Federal Government to end the controversial petroleum subsidy regime after 13 years of operating it.

    According to BudgIT, Nigeria has spent close to N10 trillion on importing petroleum products under the guise of subsidy between 2006 and 2018 to the detriment of socio-economic developments.

    In a statement by its Principal Lead, Gabriel Okeowo, BudgIT noted that Nigeria was dancing on the edge of a razor blade by continuing the subsidy regime.

    BudgIT said its research showed that Nigeria currently imports an average of 91 percent of its daily petrol needs, saying that this exposes local petrol prices to price shocks from international factors of production and exchange rate volatility.

    “There is a near perfectly inverse relationship between the fall in the value of Naira and the rise in the cost of imported petrol. That is, when next the Naira is devalued, Nigeria’s subsidy bill can be expected to jump,” the statement said.

    It explained that the continuation of petrol price regulation perpetuates safety nests for “exceptional forms of corruption within the country’s subsidy regime.”

    The statement added: “Import subsidy creates petrol price arbitrage – the differential between the regulated price in Nigeria and the high petrol prices in neighbouring countries – which is big enough to incentivise smuggling of subsidized products to neighbouring border towns. According to NNPC, there are 2,201 petrol stations in Nigeria’s porous border towns and coastal frontiers, with a combined fuel tank capacity of 144.9 million litres. Analysts argue, ringing corruption alert that the population around that area is far from justifying the size of the petrol market.

    “BudgIT notes with dismay that ‘fuel subsidy’ deprives Nigeria of funds needed for critical socio-economic development as it discourages investors, who generally prefer a deregulated industry, from investing in the downstream sector especially in the area of refinery construction and operation. For instance, the 10 trillion consumed by the subsidy regime is sufficient to construct 27,000MW of electricity or build about 2,400 units of 1000-bed standard hospitals across 774 local government areas of Nigeria, found our research.

    “We equally note that the Nigerian masses worship low oil prices. More so, the political class fears that increases in petrol price (and in the cost of living by extension), occasioned by a deregulated price regime, could become a flashpoint for mass uprisings and political instability. Nonetheless, we can never shy away from the opportunity cost of the corrupt subsidy regime.

    “Nigeria’s population is expected to balloon to 398 million people by 2050. With no strategic framework to end its subsidy program plus zero political will to reform the entire sector, the Nigerian government risks carrying the financial burden of a program that could drown out the development of its other sectors over the next 15 years.

    “It’s high time fuel subsidy is removed. Efficient palliative measures should be provided for those that will be worse hit by the removal. Four sectors – Transportation, Power, Health and Education – should be prioritized to cushion the effects.

    “While we are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to do the needful, we also believe that funding for cheaper mass transit and subsidies to public institutions should be targeted for these groups.”

  • FG to earmark N43.5bn for routine immunization

    The federal government has earmarked the sum of N43.5 billion for routine immunization programme in 2019.

    The Director General Budgte Office of the Federation Ben Akabueze made this disclosure in Abuja at the Nigeria Value for Money in the Health Sector Workshop.

    In his presentation, the DG budget said there was a need to scale-up allocation to primary health care and also called for equity in the allocation of funds to different areas in the health sector.

    Mr. Akabueze explained that because Nigeria was operating a deficit budget it has become very difficult for the country to further borrow to fund projects in the health sector. According to him, this has placed a limitation on “how much we can borrow.”

    To change things, he said Nigeria must seek ways to attract other sources of funding.

    Earlier, the minister for Budget and National Planning Senator Udoma Udo Udoma assured that the federal government will prioritise health expenditures in the 2019 budget cycle.

    The Minister also disclosed that the government was working to improve the country’s mortality rate which is among the lowest in the continent.

    The interest in allocating more funds to health was triggered by “the constrained fiscal space occasioned by drop in oil price and disruption to crude production continues to reflect on revenues. The present administration came to meet a very constrained fiscal space. Revenue dropped from N10.07 trillion in 2014 fiscal year to as low as N5.68 trillion in 2016. Even though it recovered somewhat to N7.17 trillion and N9.17 trillion in 2019 and 2018, it is still low compared to the amount in 2014,” Udoma said.

    The minister for Budget and National Planing also lamented that “dwindling donor funding has further compounded the matters with the country’s transition from the status of a poor country to a developing economy.”

    He, therefore, noted that notwithstanding government’s tight revenue inflow, “there is need to increase expenditure in the health sector and collaborate with governments at all levels on the need to maximize value for allocation to the sector.

     

  • Fg, private sector to partner on Labour-friendly policies

    The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, William Nwankwo Alo, has called for synergy between Government and the private sector in promoting Labour-friendly policies.

    Alo spoke in Abuja when he received in audience the Director-General, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Timothy Olawale, and his entourage.

    He described NECA as a critical and dependable partner in maintaining industrial harmony in Nigeria, and encouraged the Association to join hands with Government to move the country forward.

    The Permanent Secretary pledged Government’s continued support to NECA, and appreciated the Association’s outstanding performance in providing the platform for private sector employers to interact with Government.

    He assured NECA that Government placed a lot of score on the private sector, and appreciated its support.

    The Permanent Secretary was optimistic that Government and NECA would continue to have a robust relationship, which would bring peace and tranquility in the work environment.

    Earlier, the Director-General, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Timothy Olawale, pledged the continued partnership with Government to deepen the nation’s industrial relation’s system, and ensure industrial harmony.

     

  • APC chieftain asks FG to take action over killing of soldiers in Rivers

    Former national chairmanship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief  Ibrahim Emokpaire has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State.

    Speaking to The Nation, Emokpaire condemned the killing of soldiers in Rivers State, saying the greatest democratic country in the world would not tolerate such.

    According to him, it was not the first time soldiers and security agents were being killed in Rivers. “There is no justifiable reason for two of our Nigerian soldiers to be killed. There is no country in the whole world, where military will be mowed down and the commander in chief will take it lightly with perpetrators of such heinous crime.

    Emokpaire said irrespective of the immunity of  Rivers State governor, Nysome Wike, what the Federal Government should do is to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State in order to deter others who think they can kill soldiers and get away with it or without consequences.

    “The men in uniform that are protecting the country cannot just be mowed down just like that without consequences. These are the people that have committed their lives to protect all Nigerians in general and nobody, however high, either with immunity or no immunity from any sector of the country has right to start killing the soldiers without consequences.”

    The former APC chairmanship aspirant urged Buhari to make sure that those who killed the soldiers were apprehended immediately.

    He wondered why many have kept quiet about killing of our soldiers, taking it as business as usual, saying it must have consequences. “We cannot take anything for granted; we cannot turn everything upside down in the name of democracy,” he said.

    He declared that even in the America which is one of the largest democracies in the world, would not tolerate one soldier being killed by anybody. “Even when a soldier was attacked and killed by a terrorist on the street of London, the perpetrator was apprehended immediately. Everybody connected with the crime was apprehended and was locked up for interrogation; the house of the terrorist was shut down completely,” Emokpaire said.

  • Polls: FG orders re-opening of borders

    Nigeria’s borders which were shut at 12 midnight on Friday ahead of the now postponed presidential and national assembly elections  have been re-opened.

    The Comptroller-General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr Muhammad Babandede, confirmed the reopening yesterday.

    He said Immigration officers officers would continue “their normal border control and patrol duties to ensure that all persons crossing Nigeria’s land, air and sea borders travel with valid and genuine documents.”

  • FG vows to dismantle Saraki’s rigging machinery in Kwara

    Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, said   yesterday that the Federal Government would provide a level playing ground for all parties in the coming elections and checkmate alleged political thuggery and other rigging machinery of Senate President Bukola Saraki.

    Speaking during the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress (APC’s) new secretariat and campaign vehicles in Ilorin, the state capital, the minister who doubles as the APC leader in the state, said Kwara was witnessing a revolution and mass movement against the Saraki hegemony.

    He said in all the elections to be held in the state, the government would guarantee a level playing ground for all political parties and ensure that no voter is intimidated by political thugs.

    “Before now, votes never counted in Kwara, average voters were never allowed to vote because of violence,” he said.

    “Now, we are assuring them that this time around the federal government will ensure a level playing field for all political parties.

    “When that level playing field is assured, there is no doubt that the will of the people will prevail.”

    The minister added: “What is happening in Kwara today is a mass action and a revolution.

    “It is not just about campaign because the people of Kwara have decided that they want a change of government because they are tired of the old order.

    “Go to anywhere in Kwara, you hear people saying “O to ge” – “Enough is Enough”.

    “What we are doing is to ensure that we educate our electorate to make sure that we strengthen and encourage them,” he said.

    The minister who named the new secretariat building, “Unity House”, said it is a symbol of unity and a common force to liberate Kwara.

    He said the edifice and the dozens of vehicles were donated by Alhaji Yakubu Gobir, one of the Kwara APC governorship aspirants who lost in the primaries.

    “The significance of this occasion is that one of the aspirants who contested for the governorship ticket and lost is so magnanimous to donate this building for us to use as campaign office.

    “At the same time, he donated these vehicles for the party’s campaigns.

    “For the donor, it is not about him, but about a bigger picture of how do we liberate Kwara and give the state a new lease of life.

    “Another significance of this is that it demonstrated the unity between all the aspirants and all party members.

    Gobir said he donated the campaign office to be used as a rallying point for party members to realise their goal of salvaging Kwara from bad governance.

    He said the edifice and the vehicles were also a symbol of unity of purpose among all those who contested the party governorship primaries.

    Gobir enjoined all party members to go to their wards and polling units and campaign vigorously for the success of the party.

  • Again, FG, ASUU fail to reach agreement… to meet Thursday

    For the ninth time in about three months, the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), again, on Friday, failed to reach a compromise on ending the three months old strike by the university lecturers.

    The lecturers who are demanding the implementation of the agreement entered into by the government with the union have been on strike since November 2019.

    The union is insisting on  government releasing the sum of N50 billion as part of the first tranche of the revitalization fund.  Government on its part, said it does not have the resources and cannot afford to release N50 billion, adding that it had offered N20 billion which the union rejected. The Nation gathered that inability of government to release the fund is the major reason the strike has not been suspended.

    Speaking after the meeting, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, said: ‘The meeting was protracted, but the good news is that we have gotten to the end of the tunnel.”

    Responding to questions on the amount the government plans to release  as revitalization fund, Ngige said: “We meet them half way. We have finished the grey areas and on the issue of N50 billion , we have offered what we have. We do not have N50 billion and we can not do N50 billion but we have offered them something reasonable. So they have taken it back to go and present to their members.”

    The minister however expressed hope that students would return to school soon, saying “we will know when they will go back by Thursday.”

    Also speaking, ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, said:  “We have adjourned till Thursday.”

    Asked the level of progress made so far, he said “I can not tell you that now until I tell my members. It is the feedback we came for today, but we have a piece  of information for our members  and until we tell our members, we can not tell you.”

    The ASUU president was also not forthcoming on the N50 billion revitalisation fund demanded by the union. “Until we meet our members, we can not give any information. But we are making progress and the progress we are making is for everybody’s  interest, and stakeholders will benefit at the end of the day. We will be meeting on Thursday, after which, we will address the press,” he said.

    Ogunyemi also assured that all grey areas had been trashed, saying: “We have trashed all areas, so the progress we have made must first be related to our members. Until we tell them and they tell us what to do, that is only when we can relate to the press. The meeting is adjourned till Thursday.”