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Tag: FG

  • Implement APC report on restructuring, Soludo tells FG

    A former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof Charles Soludo, on Wednesday called on the Federal Government to implement the All Progressives Congress (APC) Committee’s report on restructuring as a step to reposition the country.

    Soludo made the call in Lagos while delivering the inaugural lecture of Ndigbo Lagos Foundation with the theme “The Political Economy of Restructuring the Nigerian Federation”.

    Rcall that the APC Committee on True Federalism was constituted by the Party in August 2017.

    It was set up to consider and make recommendations to the National Working Committee on key items relating to the Nigerian Federation and the agitations for “True Federalism” or “Restructuring”.

    The committee submitted its report to the party in January 2018.

    Soludo said some of the recommendations of the committee, headed by Gov. Nasir -El-Rufai, held great promises for the country’s development.

    He said if such recommendations as creation of state police, resource control and abolishment of the local government system were implemented, the country would be set on the path of progress in just three months.

    The ex-CBN governor said the APC had the opportunity to walk its talk on restructuring to reposition the country, as it controlled the  government.

    Soludo said: “As a first step to restructure the country, let us start with a low hanging fruit —  the APC ‘s minimum template.

    “The APC Committee on Restricturing has many interesting recommendations, but three stand out.

    “It is our opinion that this will be a significant step forward.

    “So, what is holding action on this?The APC currently controls 24 states or thereabouts plus a majority at the National Assembly .

    “The import of this is that if the APC as a political party decides to walk its talk, it can give Nigeria these changes within three months or before the end of 2018.

    “Now that the bill for state police is before the National Assembly, why can’t we follow up with the other ones?”

    He said that the political class was not committed to the agenda of restructuring because they feared it would dismantle their privileges in the current structure.

    The former CBN governor said there was the need to abandon such inertia to act in the interest of this country.

    Soludo said what politicians had demonstrated as the 2019 elections approached was theatre and little substance.

    He said there was the need to put restructuring as part of the ballot for the election in the interest of progress.

    A former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaokwu, who chaired the occasion, urged citizens to be committed to the Nigerian project.

    He said the country would be where everyone wanted to be if all played their part.

    The Secretary of Ndigbo Lagos Foundation, Mr Chima Igwe, said the lecture was organised to celebrate the end of the six-year tenure of Prof.  Anya O.Anya as President of the foundation.

    He said the lecture would be a periodic programme to stimulate discourse on moving Nigeria forward.(NAN)

  • FG targets 2025 to end child labour, trafficking

    Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige has said he was doing everything possible to effectively eradicate forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking as well as secure prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour by 2025.

    Speaking at the World Day Against Child Labour 2018, the Minister said child labour deprived children the opportunity of being educated, while being subjected to physical and emotional abuses that hamper the development.

    He said the campaign against child labour is aimed at accelerating actions to achieve target 8.7/alliance 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), which seeks among other things to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking as well as secure prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour.

    He described child labour as the engagement of children under 18 years of age in any work that deprive them of their childhood and opportunity to be educated, hampering their physical and moral development.

    He said the 2018 theme, which is “generation safe and healthy” and sub theme “elimination of child labour and protection of young workers” is meant to awaken the need to improve the safety and health of young workers and end child labour especially in its worst forms.

    The Minister said practical steps must be taken to eliminate the root causes of child labour and ensure the rights of young workers are protected within the ambits of the law.

     

  • Flood: FG issues red alert to 14 councils in Anambra

    Fourteen Local Government Areas in Anambra state have been identified as highly prone to flood disaster this year.

    Acting Director General, Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Mr Olayinka Ogunwale, disclosed this yesterday in Awka, while presenting a paper on the 2018 Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) at the sensitisation workshop.

    He listed some of the council areas likely to be hardly hit as Aguata, Idemili North, Ogbaru, Anambra-East and West, Njikoka, Anaocha, Ayamelum, Dunukofia, Orumba-North and Onitsha-North and South.

    Ogunwale, who was represented by the Director in charge of Engineering Hydrology in the Agency, Clement Nze, called on the state government and NEMA to intensify efforts to mitigate flood outbreak.

    Describing flood disaster as inevitable, the Acting DG stressed the need for early preparation to reduce its impact.

    He also called just for residents’ attitudinal change towards the environment.

    “Some of the major factors that contribute to recurrent flood disaster in the state are overflowing of rivers, high intensity of rainfall, improper urban planning and flood plains as well as indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the water ways,” he said.

    Commissioner for Public Utilities, Obi Nwankwo, urged residents to avoid practices that would encourage flood outbreak.

     

  • Find lasting solution to farmers, herders crisis – NANS tells FG

    The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Thursday appealed to the Federal Government to find lasting solution to the persistent farmers and herders crisis.

    The association’s spokesman, Mr Bestman Okereafor, made the appeal in Enugu.

    He said that the consistent farmers and herdsmen crisis had claimed lives and rendered many Nigerians homeless.

    “NANS is suggesting to the Federal Government to regulate the activities of the herdsmen across the federation by considering ranching that is in the long run for Nigerian herdsmen,’’ Okereafor said in statement.

    He, however, cautioned a former Minister of Science and Technology, retired Maj.-Gen. Sam Momah, who was currently quoted as allegedly saying “Nigeria may cease to be as a country in the next 12 years if nothing was done to restructure it.’’

    “NANS considers this speech made by Maj.-Gen. Momah as an unwarranted one, and one capable of causing unnecessary tension in the country at this time when the country is undergoing some security challenges.

    “Rather, we expect him as a former minister of the country to spread and preach the gospel of peace as 2019 General Elections beckons,’’ Okereafor said.

  • FG should overhaul security, now

    Sir: For several months now, some parts of the nation have been boiling with hostilities. We have lost count of the number of killings that have taken place. I can’t believe that this is happening in our own very eyes and nothing has been done about these killings up till now! It seems as if the government has now accepted this as the norm because I’m yet to see any drastic step taken by the president to address these urgent issues and put a permanent stop to these security challenges.

    President Muhammadu Buhari should realize that the primary responsibility of government is to protect lives and property and to care for the welfare of the people. The government has failed to provide for the people. The government has failed to protect the people of Nigeria. It now seems as if there is no government in Nigeria. It now seems as if the people have been left to protect themselves and the government has abandoned its responsibility of protecting the citizens.

    Nigerians are now being massacred in their own country even when we have a government that should take decisive action and stop these mindless killings. It ese mindless killings. Benue sis clear that the security agencies are not really up and doing and so not equal to the task in tackling these security challenges. The whole security apparatus in Nigeria needs to be overhauled.

    When you continue to apply a technique that continues to fail you, then you must change that technique or else you will continue to fail. There must be an urgent change in Nigeria’s security ideas or else these killings will never be tackled. The sponsors of these dastard killings must be fished out and punished. The president should personally address Nigerians and publicly condemn these evil acts and come out strongly against these people who want to make Nigeria ungovernable. These people must not be treated with kid gloves. They must be identified and brought to book or else we would only be paying lip service to these issues. The president must urgently rise to the occasion to solve this problem once and for all. We cannot continue to witness these types of premeditated attacks on our people across Nigeria even when we have a sitting president and the service chiefs who seem helpless in tackling the menace. The blood of the innocent people killed in different parts of Nigeria would cry out for justice and until justice is done and the perpetrators fished out and brought to justice, Nigeria may never know peace.

    The president must listen to the voice of reason and urgently restructure the security architecture and bring in people who are capable of tackling these problems and people who have the solutions to these problems on board or else these killings might never stop and might even get worse. If the president cannot remove incompetent security chiefs and overhaul the nation’s security architecture of Nigeria and replace them with more competent hands, then he should bear personal responsibility should these mindless killings of innocent Nigerians continue.

     

    • Tayo Demola, Lagos.

  • FG to review tariff on local alcoholic beverages to save jobs

    The federal government is set to review the recently imposed 500 percent tariff on locally produced alcoholic beverages to save about 200,000 workers in the sector from becoming jobless.

    Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, disclosed this at a meeting with members of the National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Joint Employers and Workers Association.

    He said President Muhammadu Buhari will ask the Minister of Finance and the economic management team to review the tariff.

    Ngige informed government cannot afford to create poverty and job losses while promoting abundant jobs in other countries.

    He said: “You have written to the federal government through me that the increase in excise duty on alcohol and beverages will create job losses because once you add a new cost and pass it on, there will be consumer resistance, resulting in low patronage whereas the products coming from overseas that are being smuggled in which are cheap, will take over the market. It is a statement of fact.

    “I have passed your complaints and luckily we have a listening President who wants the good of all Nigerians.

    “He will definitely ask the minister of finance and the economic management team to review the tariff.

    “We cannot afford to create poverty and job losses here while promoting abundant jobs in other countries. Job losses are not part of this government and will not support the 500% tariff increase.  ”

    The minister said the Economic and Recovery Growth Plan (ELGP) of the federal government was partly tailored towards job creation rather than losses, saying that the Executive Order No. 1 and 4 was for job creation as well as ensuring that jobs created were done by locals.

    He further assured the delegation that the federal government through the Custom and Excise Department was working round the clock to tame the activities of smugglers so as to save local industries.

    Acting General Secretary of the Union, Com. Mike Olarenwaju, said the 500 percent tariff increase by the Ministry of Finance on their products was counter-productive.

  • FG pledges support for windstorm victims in Katsina

    President Muhammadu Buhari  yesterday in Katsina plegded  Federal Government’s assistance  to those affected by the recent windstorm in the state.

    Buhari told the  Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir, during a visit to commiserate with the  people of the state on the disaster that what he saw was quite devastating.

    He said: “I am in Katsina State to commiserate with those affected by the windstorm.

    ”Tell all those affected that I sympathize with them.

    “I pray to Allah to avert future occurrence and that the government will assist those affected.”

    The president said the government would send a delegation to assess the extent of the damage with a view to giving them all necessary assistance.

    The emir thanked the president for the visit.

    “President Buhari is a good leader who really takes care of people. That is why people love him.

    “You went to many parts of the country to sympathize with victims of such disaster. That is very commendable,” he said.

    Governor  Aminu Masari of Katsina State  told the president that the windstorm destroyed property worth N2.3 billion.

    He said houses and other structures were destroyed at army, air force and police barracks and other parts of the state.

    Masari said that most of the victims were now taking refuge in public schools.

    The disaster, according to him, destroyed classroom roofs estimated at over N200 million.

    He urged the victims to consider the disaster as the will of God.

    The governor said the government would continue to assist the victims to enable them rehabilitate their houses.

     

  • FG slams PDP over infrastructural development in South East, South South

    Information and Culture Minister  Lai Mohammed, has challenged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to present its scorecard of achievements, especially in the area of infrastructural development, in the South-East and the South-South in its 16 years in office.

    The Minister  threw the challenge while inspecting ongoing construction of the Enugu/ Port Harcourt Expressway on Thursday.

    He said it is disheartening that some politicians have made it their pastime to criticize the current administration for allegedly neglecting the two regions without any verifiable proof.

    “I’m particularly glad that we came on this trip for two reasons. I think it has given the lie to those naysayers, who have painted the administration as having done nothing for the South-East and the South-South,” he said.

    “When we were coming on this (third) stretch of the road, I was informed that until this administration came, an entire lane was completely impassable after it was turned to a refuse dump. Now the question is: In 16 years, what did the PDP do on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Road?

    ‘’Everything that we saw (along the Enugu-Port Harcourt road) today is what this administration has achieved, yet some politicians are so fraudulent. They sit in Abuja and accuse the administration of doing nothing for the South-East and the South-South.”

    Alhaji Mohammed said the intervention of the present administration in the provision of infrastructure in the South-East, in particular, has exposed the PDP for deceiving the people of the region for the 16 years it was in power without anything to show.

    ‘’From what you have seen yesterday and today, you will see that this administration has done so much for this zone. We can now see that some people are just misinforming the public. I am glad that from the feedback we are getting, the people in the South-East know what is going on because they know what was going on for 16 years and are also here in the last three years and they have seen the difference,” he said.

    The Minister gave the assurance that the federal government will remain focused on completing inherited projects across the country.

    “The most important thing is that this government has been faithful, sincere, passionate and committed towards infrastructural development.  What we are doing has never been done in almost 16 to 20 years at least along this axis,” he said.

    The minister, who is currently on a nationwide media tour of federal  government infrastructural projects, had earlier inspected ongoing work at the Second Niger Bridge, where he expressed satisfaction with the pace of work.

     

  • Ogun Speaker hails FG over Sagamu passport office

    The Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Suraju Ishola Adekunbi, has lauded the President Mohammadu Buhari-led federal government over the establishment of the Nigeria Immigration Services Passport Office in the Sagamu area of the State. He gave the commendation at plenary while responding to the submission of a Sagamu, who expressed delight over the establishment of the office. Adekunbi explained that the new Office would ease the process of obtaining travel documents by residents of the State.

    In a related development, the Senator Ibikunle Amosun led government in the State has been commended for its giant stride in the provision of infrastructure in the Obafemi-Owode State Constituency and the State at large. The lawmaker representing Obafemi-Owode Constituency, Hon. Tunde Sanusi, gave the commendation while reporting that contractors had been mobilised and that work had commenced on the construction of a pedestrian bridge at Mowe and Ibafo Communities.

    Sanusi who called for the speedy completion of the bridge to ease human and vehicular movement, thanked the Speaker for communicating the yearnings of his constituents to the state government. Responding, Speaker Adekunbi reiterated that the present administration was committed to providing more infrastructural projects to the people in fulfillment of its mission at expanding the road network of the state for more investment opportunities.

     

  • No journalist in detention in Nigeria, FG replies CPJ

    The Federal Govern-ment has debunked report by the press freedom organisation, Committee To Protect Journalists (CPJ), that a certain Nigerian journalist has been in detention for the past two years.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who issued the rebuttal in Abuja, said the person the CPJ was referring to was never a journalist.

    “Let me state here, without equivocating, that contrary to the report by the Committee To Protect Journalists (CPJ), no journalist is in detention in Nigeria.

    “Clement Abiri, who is being referred to as a journalist, is not one. He does not belong to any chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists.

    “He was arrested for pipeline vandalism and crude theft, including militant activities in the Niger Delta,” he said.

    The minister restated the commitment of the present administration to press freedom and gave the assurance that the media has nothing to fear under the present dispensation.

    “We are proud the Nigerian media is one of the most vibrant in the world.

    “We are proud of the role that the Nigerian media has played in our long march to democratic governance.

    “This administration will continue to provide the enabling environment for the journalist to function unmolested,” he said.