The Nation Newspaper

Tag: FG

  • World Bank, FG empower 600 women, young farmers in Cross River

    SIX hundred women and youths trained under the World Bank/Federal Government assisted Commercial Agricultural Development Project (CADP) in Cross River State, are to be empowered to become entrepreneurs in the various agricultural enterprises. The Commercial Agriculture Development Project is a World Bank initiative with the objective of increasing agricultural production and facilitate access to markets for the targeted value chains of oil-palm, cocoa, rice aquaculture and poultry. Speaking at a workshop in Calabar, the State Coordinator of the project represented by the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Mr. Nyambi Inyang, said Governor Ben Ayade ‘’has already graciously granted approval for the empowerment of all the 600 beneficiaries under this programme.

    ‘’We are by this workshop initiating an interface between the service providers and beneficiaries in cocoa, oil palm, rice, poultry and aquaculture value chains. It is intended to facilitate commencement of the empowerment process for our 600 energetic women and youths who have been trained to become entrepreneurs with the capacity to be employers of labour, rather than job seekers.” He said the Cross River CADP Women and Youth Empowerment Programme began with the training and empowerment of the first batch of 100 women and youths in the value chain of oil palm, rice, aquaculture and poultry. He said the current batches were the second and third.

    The training of the second and third batches of benefitting women and youths of the CADP took place from November 25 to December 20 at Songhai Farms at Itigidi and agricultural business park and farms. The 600 women and youths were trained across the value chains of oil-palm, cocoa, rice, poultry and aqua-culture. He pointed out that so far, for the second and third batches, about 515 businesses have been registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) with certificates obtained; 494 investment plans (IPs) have been sent to the World Bank for approvals and 155 approvals have been received from the World Bank and beneficiaries on the verge of opening accounts for deposits of their grants for their various interventions. “As you are aware, the Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) was developed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) in collaboration with the World Bank and other stakeholders in response to Federal Government of Nigeria’s quest for private sector intervention to develop agricultural value chains and accelerate agricultural growth.

    “The project was approved by the World Bank on January 15, 2009, but became effective on July 30, 2009 and was expected to close on December 31, 2014. However, following the request by the Federal Government of Nigeria, the World Bank approved the restructuring of the project to better align it with the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) and to speed up project implementation and disbursements with strategic focus on supporting the commodity marketing corporations, sharpening of focus on the most profitable value chains for new investors, supporting the establishment of aggregation centres, address post-harvest management issues and most significantly, Youth and Women Empowerment in terms of capacity building in entrepreneurship and support to initiate businesses along the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development’s Youth Employment in Agriculture Program (YEAP),” he said. The state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Prof. Anthony Eneji, was grateful that by the performance indictor reports of the programme so far there is a 30 per cent increase in total sales of agricultural products under the targeted value chains of cocoa, oil palm and rice among participating small and medium scale commercial cocoa, oil palm and rice farmers. He pledged the state government’s continued support for the programme.

  • Economic Recovery Plan: FG to provide 15m jobs, 10 gigawatt of electricity

    The Federal Government says it will provide at least 15 million jobs for Nigerians by the year 2020 as captured in the recently launched Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

    The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, gave the assurance at a news conference on ERGP on Tuesday in Abuja.

    Udoma said that the implementation of the plan would deliver some key outcomes including generation of at least 10 gigawatt of electricity by 2020.

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    “We want to bring down the rate of unemployment by creating over 15 million direct jobs by 2020 in agriculture, manufacturing, construction, services and particularly among the youth.

    “We want the manufacturing sector to grow at average of 8.5 per cent, peaking 10.6 per cent by 2020.

    “We want agriculture to also grow by 6.9 per cent over the Plan period; we want self-sufficiency in rice and wheat in 2018 and 2020 at the end of the plan period.

    “We want 60 per cent reduction in imports of refined petroleum products by 2018 and to become a net exporter of refined crude by 2020.

    “We expect an average of 4.6 per cent average real GDP (Gross Domestic Growth) growth rate over the Plan period with 7 per cent by 2020; we want to achieve single digit inflation rate by 2020.

    “We want to increase crude oil output from 2.2 million barrel per day (mbpd) to 2.5 mbpd by 2020.

    “We want to achieve at 10 gigawatt of operational electricity capacity by 2020.’’

    Udoma said that the ERGP evolved from the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) which government had been implementing since 2016.

    “Already, following the implementation of the SIP, the economy has shown signs of early recovery in the 4th quarter of 2016 as indicated in the recent report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

    “We need to build on that momentum.

    “This Plan, which succeeds the SIP, sets out Government’s economic programmes and strategic interventions over the next four years (2017-2020).

    “When implemented, it will put Nigeria back on the path of diversified, inclusive, sustained growth. This is therefore, our blueprint for economic recovery and growth.’’

    Udoma further said that the plan would tackle the fundamental problems that held back the progress of the country in the past.

    He said the future prosperity rests upon collective support towards effective implementation of the Plan over the next four years.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ERGP’s projected that Nigeria will make significant progress to achieve structural economic change with a more diversified and inclusive economy in five key areas by 2020.

    The key areas are stable macro-economic environment, agricultural transformation, food security, sufficiency in energy and improved transportation infrastructure.

  • Union urges workers to support FG to tackle economic recession

    Mr Isah Aremu, General Secretary, National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria has asked Nigerian workers to support the Federal Government in its determination to tackle the current economic recession.

    Aremu made the call in Kano on Saturday at a One-Day Interactive session with labour leaders on measures taken by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure stability in the Financial System and Economy.
    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the session was organised by the Corporate Communications Department of CBN to promote financial and economic literacy of participants.

    “As comrades, we must support the present administration under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to sanitise the economy as well as in the fight against corruption.

    “We need to support the government in its anti-corruption crusade, because we need the recovered looted funds to develop the country, “he said.

    He also said there was need for the Nigerian workers to continue to support the administration in view of the achievements it recorded, especially in the fight against insecurity and corruption.

    “The Federal Government has done well in the fight against corruption, even though corruption is fighting back.

    ‘’This is the President that has zero tolerance for corruption because even the thieves are afraid of their loots’’.

    He commended the Federal Government for restoring peace and security, especially in the North-East region in addition to launching of Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

    “This government has three major programmes which include fighting corruption, insurgency and to improve the economy.

    “The government has commendably tackled security challenges and corruption and is trying to sanitise the economy.

    He also commended the apex bank for initiating the programme and expressed optimism that it would enable labour leaders understand and members enlightened on the monetary policy of the government.

    In his remarks, the Acting Director, CBN Corporate Communications Department, Mr John
    Attah, said the programme was organised to inform participants about the monetary policy of the Bank and measures taken by it to ensure financial system stability.

    “We also want participants to appreciate the rationale for the policy measures and their benefits for national development, ‘’he said.

    NAN reports that various representatives of the organised labour in the state attended the event

  • Gani Adams to FG: use tourism to develop Nigeria

    National Coordinator of the O’odua People’s Congress (OPC) , Otunba Gani Adams, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to use tourism as a tool for national development and progress.

    The OPC boss, while speaking in the 2017 edition of the Eledumare Festival  held recently at the National Arts Theatre, Lagos,  called for the renovation of all national monuments.

    Adams also urged the different tiers of government to harness the tourism potential in the country, so that Nigeria  can become a tourist destination. This, he said, would help in creating other avenues for generating income for the country.

    He said: “I appeal to both the states and federal government to harness the tourism potential in the country.

    “Nigeria, no doubt, can become a tourist destination in the world, if the government could tap into the tourism potential that abounds in various parts of the country. This is very important at a time like this when oil dependency seems to be leading us nowhere.

    “The need to tap at the resources for the better life of the ordinary citizens is important and tourism is one huge asset for the country, especially now that the sector is becoming a huge business in the world.”

    On the Eledumare Festival, Adams said it was important to celebrate cultural heritage.  We should also play significant roles in identifying our creator as a race.

    He said the Eledumare Festival is an important festival.He said: It is important in the sense that Eledumare is the supreme being that controls the earth and heaven. Believers in various religious denominations believe in the supremacy of God, the omnipotent and the omniscience.  Moslems call Eledumare Allah,  Christians call Him Jehovah and in the Yoruba language we call him Eledumare.”

    Adams  harped on the need to promote the Yoruba language. He said: “ The Yoruba language is important to our cultural development as a people, and we can hardly make any meaningful progress if we continue to disregard our language”.

  • FG to acquire earth tremor monitoring equipment

    The Federal Government is making provisions to forestall a repeat of the earth tremor that occured in Abuja last year.

    To this end, the government has made provisions in the 2017 budget to acquire some basic earth tremor monitoring equipment that gives definite calculations of the magnitude of quakes.

    The equipment will give experts emperical data to properly educate Nigerians on where such tremors might occur in the future.

    Director General, Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) and President Organisation of African Geological Surveys (OAGS), Alex Nwegbu, explained that the tremor that occured in Kaduna was not the first to have occured in the country.

    He stated that the interpretation of an airbone geological survey conducted by the government a few years back indicated weaknesses in the earth surface due to tectonic movements that have given rise to fractures in the earth surface.

    His said: “There are places that are prone to earthquakes.

    “If you understand the theory of plate tetonics, you will understand that there are parts of the world prone to earthquakes.

    “The whole earth is made up of different plates, joined together, moving against each other.

    “What happened in Kaduna was not the first that had happened.

    “It was a minor earth tremor, which we are still investigating to know the cause.

    “We have had some about 15 to 20 years ago in the South West and, of course, there is a big fracture system that goes through the South West, which we are suspecting could be the cause of the earth tremors in the region.

    “What generated the tremor in Kaduna may not neccessarily have its origin in Kaduna.

    “The source of the stress maybe removed from Kaduna; it might have been a tele transmission.

    “In our 2017 budget, we have made provisions to acquire some basic earth tremor monitoring equipment.

    “Eventhough technically we are in a stable environment where we have not really experineced massive, destructive earthquakes,  we should not just go to sleep.

    “We should be alert to the fact that since we have had this in the past in Kaduna, tbe South West and historically some other areas, we should, to some extent, be on the alert by having instrumentations that will monitor ground movements in various parts of the country.

    “The airborne survey we did, in the interpretation, you will see areas of weaknesses we call fractures, because there have been some tectonic movements that have given rise to fractures, folds, etc, which have created zones of weaknesses.”

    Nwegbu also said Nigeria is in for huge mineral discoveries.

    “We are still at a rudimentary level of exploration where we must go to 200 metres to 300 metres, not even up to a kilometre, and we are discovering minerals.

    “That will show you that by the time we start going deep inside, Nigeria will be in for huge discoveres.

    “The air borne survey that was conducted a few years ago was to tell us of the possiblity of certain mineral deposits like diamond in certain areas, particularly areas that are inaccessible.

    “Going to the tip of the Mambila Mountain, for instance, at the tip of the mountain, it is difficult for one to climb to the top of the mountain to know exactly what is there. But through the air borne survey that flies across, mineral deposits can be picked from anywhere.

    “We have such anomalies or difficult to reach terrains that are very interesting, which we are verifying. Because except you do tbe ground trouting, that means, the airborne has given an indication of how vaiable an area is, you must put boots on ground to verify and get samples, analysis, drilling in order to verify and confirm that what was seen in the air is actually what exists on the ground.

    “Comparatively, if you relate what other African countries are doing, if you look at the graph, you will see that Democratic Republic of Congo spends about $300m every year on just exploration.

    “Compare it to the budget Nigeria has in terms of exploration and you find that we have not really started.

    “To harness the benefit of sustained exploration, Nigeria needs to put at least $200 million every year into the budget on exploration.”

  • Court orders final forfeiture of Naval boss’s N1.83bn to FG

    A Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday ordered the final forfeiture of N1.83 billion, belonging to a former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Dele Ezeoba.

    The court made the order for permanent forfeiture of the sum, following an application by the EFCC prosecutor, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, pursuant to section 17 of the Advanced Fee Fraud Act 2006.

    Joined in the suit as defendants, were Chukwuka Onwuchekwa and Aquila Leasing Ltd.

    The trial judge, Justice Muslim Hassan, had on March 15, issued an interim order for forfeiture of the said sum.

    Hassan had then ordered the EFCC to make a publication of same in a national newspaper, for the knowledge of interested parties.

    Delivering judgment on Thursday, the judge ordered a final forfeiture of N1.825 billion to the coffers of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    He held that the EFCC, having complied with the provisions of section 17 of the Act, as well the EFCC Act and the fact that the property was unclaimed, it was appropriate to make the orders.

    “Having satisfied that such property is an unclaimed property, and also satisfying the provisions of the law, the court shall order the final forfeiture of the said property.

    “In this view, there is no other proof required to enable the court make an order of final forfeiture; this application is meritorious and hereby granted.

    “An order is hereby made for final forfeiture of the total sum of N1.825 billion to the federal government of Nigeria,’’ Hassan ruled.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the EFCC had, while moving the application, said that the money was traced to the account of Aquila Leasing Ltd and that Ezeoba had agreed, in his statement to the EFCC, to forfeit the money.

    He had said that the money was proceeds of crime fraudulently diverted from the Nigerian Navy, under the leadership of Dele Joseph Ezeoba.

    The anti-graft agency said Ezeoba used the name of “Chukwuka Onwuchekwa’’ to open a fraudulent account in disguise, while he was the one who truly laundered the money.

    EFCC said that the former Naval Chief admitted that the account was opened with Onwuchekwa’s consent while he (Ezeoba) managed it.

    The commission said that in a “desperate bid” to further disguise and conceal the illicit source of the funds, Ezeoba entered into a memorandum of understanding to buy Aquila’s shares from Onwucheka, who was the managing director.

    It said that the shares were worth N2.4 billion, out of which N1.83 billion had been recovered in drafts in favour of the Federal Government.

    The EFCC had therefore, sought for an order of the court to forfeit the entire the N1.825 billion to the federal government.

    Meanwhile, the respondent did not oppose the application for final forfeiture of the sums.

    Counsel to the respondent, Mr Pascal Madu, had said that his clients were not opposed to the permanent forfeiture of the money.

    He, however, said that his clients were not involved in any fraud, adding that Ezeoba, gave them the money to buy shares for him, as part of savings over the years.

     

  • FG assures on containment of meningitis

    FG assures on containment of meningitis

    •WHO, UK supply 1.2m vaccines   

    Minister of Health Prof Isaac Adewole has assured that the rising cases of meningitis in some northern states will soon be contained.
    Adewole also declared that over 1.2 million doses of vaccines have been secured by the government.
    Already the country has recorded 328 deaths as a result of meningitis since November 2016.
    The minister stated requests will be made to the international organisation for additional vaccines in the next few days.
    In a statement yesterday by the ministry in Abuja, Adewole said: “Through our initiatives, we have secured 500,000 doses of the meningococcal vaccines from WHO which will be used in Zamfara and Katsina states while additional 800,000 units from the British government.
    “By next Tuesday, there will be a meeting with the International Review Group of The World Health Organisation (WHO) where request for additional vaccines shall be approved as part of practical and medically certified efforts to stem this ugly incidence.”
    He went on: “We are in constant discussion with World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, E-health Africa and other international health agencies for supplies of vaccines and injections.”
    Adewole hinted the recent upsurge in the disease was not unconnected with the discovery of a different stereotype without commercial vaccines.
    He explained: “Unfortunately, Nigeria had always been bedevilled with the stereotype A in years past but this new strain of the bacterial disease, Meningitis Stereotype C which the vaccine is not commercially available in required quantities and can only be shipped to the country by WHO only if laboratory investigation confirms the existence of the strain type C.
    “Our ongoing spirited effort is geared to upscale through nationwide immunisation campaign while navigating the menace using a combination vaccine by conducting active case finding, strengthening surveillance, case detection, verification and communication management, performing lumbar puncture of suspect cases in a well coordinated atmosphere under NCDC.
    “Our partners are already re-training physicians on the effective collection of cerebrospinal fluid for diagnosis.
    “We are equally advocating for prompt diagnosis and have issued directive to all Federal medical facilities and PHCs to treat all cases of meningitis free of charge.”
    He charged residents of Katsina, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Niger, Zamfara and Jigawa states to seek early attention “when discomforted with symptoms of Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) and avoid clogging together in unventilated and over-crowded rooms.”

  • FG to procure 200 rice mills for farmers

    FG to procure 200 rice mills for farmers

    The federal government will introduce 200 rice milling machines to farmers across the nation, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbe has declared.
    This, he said, would boost production of rice and ensure high quality of rice in the country.
    Audu spoke to newsmen during the FG/IFAD Assisted Value Chain Development Programme Learning Route tagged ‘Maximise dry season production and innovative tools for value chain’ at the Kanko Rice Production Cluster in Wushishi Local Government of Niger state.
    The minister, who was represented by his Senior Adviser International Donor Partners, Appeh Auta, expressed confidence Nigeria will soon achieve self-sufficiency in food production with ongoing efforts by agencies.
    National Coordinator International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), Dr. Ameh Onoja, said N6 billion has been earmarked for rice production.
    He added Nigeria has scaled up its rice production capacity to over 400 million metric tonnes through collective efforts of the federal government, IFAD/ Value Chain Development Programme and CBN Anchor Borrowers Scheme.
    Onoja said this was achieved through the combined effort of 12 rice producing states, currently making Nigeria the second world largest producer of rice.
    If the states embrace dry season farming, importation of the commodity would be a thing of the past, he assured.

    He commended Niger state Government for paying the sum of N63.5m as part of its counter funding for the IFAD programme.
    The Niger State IFAD Programme Coordinator, Dr. Mathew Ahmad said the purpose of the six states coming together under the IFAD programme was to allow for cross fertilisation of ideas to enhance rice production in the country.
    He explained 300 hectares of rice had been cultivated by rice farmers in Kanko.
    Last year, Ahmad stated Niger produced 15, 000 metric tonnes of paddy rice with production expected to increase to 25, 000 tonnes in 2017.

  • Why FG ignored other options for Abuja airport closure

    Why FG ignored other options for Abuja airport closure

    The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, in this interview with Abuja Bureau Chief, Yomi Odunuga and Augustine Ehikioya, talks about the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, national carrier and many other issues. Excerpts:

    Let’s start by asking you about the reconstruction of the Abuja runaway. Are positive that the deadline will be met?

    Of course, the deadline of six weeks closure will be met. I am very sure now that we have done a week; everything is going to the plan. The contractor has mobilized since and everything is looking good. As a matter of fact, I just ordered that we should put countdown clock at the entrance  of the Airport, so each time the contractor is going in there, he is conscious of the countdown and the time. I will also put one for him in his office so as he sits in his office, he sees the countdown. Beyond that, that is just a way of spicing it up, just to create some fun. But the truth is that we have three layers, three sets of consultants. We have the main consultant that we engage for the project, which are private sector consultant. We have got the in-house consultant and the ministry of information in my office had also established some team which created another consultant and these are noble people, well trained, well skilled in project management and they are the consultants for the project. I receive a daily brief from them.

     

    Aviation sector, even before you came in, really put people in doubt as to whether Nigeria really has the capacity to run a thoroughly professional aviation sector. Since you came in, we have witnessed some ups and downs; in what ways do you think your ministry can intervene to make the sector more competitive and professional?

    I don’t believe Nigerians don’t have the capacity to run the aviation sector professionally. A lot of Nigerians are well trained aviators, they have seen it all, made names outside the country and have also helped run the industry within the country for a very long time. Of course, it is not perfect just like any other industry. What the ministry is doing to ensure that the industry is run more professionally and also in such a manner that is done very well by engaging the private sector is that we set out our goals. We came in as a government whereby we want to see aviation industry that is forward looking, it is professional, it is led by the private sector, it is in such a way that it is able to connect people and businesses, countries and towns, continents and nations and of course, provides the link to tourism and so on. That is our vision and all of these cannot happen except we do what we think is necessary to put it straight. So, we thought of our airports which are the gateways, we thought of concession to ensure that they are well built. I thought that this is very clear from the onset and we have not gotten there yet but I think we are getting there. We also thought of establishing a national carrier. This national carrier is private sector driven. I don’t even like the name national carrier, may be Nigeria carrier because it is going to be 100 percent private sector. If government will take any stake if necessary, it may not be more than three or five percent. But we will ensure that it is private sector led and driven and that national carrier would connect with other carriers and make alliances and do what is necessary to reach out to other airlines around the world.

     

    Let us look at the human elements that has made the aviation to be what it is in Nigeria today; a situation where airlines that are initially believed to be functioning well suddenly collapse due to probably lack of aircraft or sometimes, they said the government is not helping by giving them soft loans to buy airplanes and all that, what exactly is your ministry doing about that? Secondly, let us also look at the issue of flight delays, people have said it is because there are no concrete sanctioning measures.

    Delays and cancellations are not new to aviation and they are not also unique to Nigeria. What is bad is though is if those delays are things that can be avoided. For example, anywhere in the world, you can have delays due to weather, even in the US, Russia, UK, etc. You can also have cancellations for one reason or the other. And we put mechanism in place from my ministry or Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, they have not made it public on how you are going to seek redress or how a passenger can insist on his rights, may be because we have consumer protection unit in the NCAA which is alive and have treated so many issues. So, we have things in place. It is just that may be information as regarding to delay and so on is that once it is something that is an act of God and not within our powers, there is nothing we can do but if they are things we are caught doing with negligence, for sure we have mechanism of dealing with them. Recently, we fined about three airlines and they paid because those things are there.

     

    Going back to the national carrier, how soon should Nigerians be expecting this?

    Very soon; it is a process, it is not something that once you say now and it happens the next day. By the way there is Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), there is also Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), there is also Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE). All of these government agencies were established in a situation whereby once you are venturing into something like this, they will have a role to play. You have to appoint transaction adviser, you have to go to BPP to get clearance, ICRC to get clearance, you have to take it to Council for approval by the presidential council, then the bid, then you get to the process of getting cleared.

    So going through the advertisement, going through the short listing, going through the ICRC, going through the BPE, we are now on our way to the council and once council approved, they come back to us for the transaction adviser to do their outline business case which will now be taken to the government to approve and it becomes full business case and then from the business case we go to the market. So, it is a long process that is why since I came we have been talking about concessioning national carrier and nothing happened. People think we are just sitting down doing nothing. We are going through the process so that we would do it according to the law but it takes time. I am thinking at the end of this year, we should be able to have both airport concession and the national carrier.

     

    When you came up with the idea of closing Abuja Airport for six weeks, did you ever imagined the kind of protest and disagreements from different quarters?

    Yes. People sit there and criticize and they think that you can just wake up from your bed and decide to close Abuja airport, no. Firstly, we saw what was wrong with the airport and the runaway as well, we went there and we thought of all the possible ways we could do it without total shutting down. Some of the options were to work in the night from 12 midnight to 6am, may be an hour before the flights would have been an ideal thing but the 3,600km runaway is completely gone bad. If you do that procedure, you will be doing may be only 10 metres a day across and so, if you divide that 10 by 3,600km, it is 360 days. The minimum you can is one year and within that one year, there will be raining season.

    Two raining seasons and before you finished, the remaining runaway would be so dilapidated that you cannot use it. So, that was out of it. If it was spot repairs, may be five or six portions that are bad, then you can shut it down at night, repair it and by the time you do that for two, three weeks, you would have finished those spots and an overlay which is really pretty simple.

    You can be doing that at night until you finish because the main architecture of the runaway is still intact but this one is gone bad so, we cannot afford that. We called consultants, they went there and saw what it is and advised that there is other way we can do it.

    The Nigerian Society of Engineers met on this and agreed that the procedure we want to follow is the best. I was surprised when we went to the National Assembly, the President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers having earlier agreed said that what we are doing is wrong but he was countered almost immediately by the Council of Regulatory Engineers (COREN) who are regulator of Engineers. The president of Nigerian Society of Engineers never went to that runaway for one day, never carried out studies, he just woke up and went to the National Assembly and said what he said. But for people who have been there, COREN went there to check first, took samples and carried out test on the runaway and that is why they are supportive. I know that there is going to be protest but like I read on the social media, one guy was saying if you want everybody to be happy with you, don’t become a leader, go and sell ice-cream. What we are doing is it in the interest of the country.

     

    After these six weeks, what are the other maintenance that will be carried out at the Abuja airport and other airports?

    Abuja airport closure was for six weeks but the entire work is for six months and they will continue to work until they finish the runaway and make sure that the runaway is good. Government is thinking of doing another runaway so that these kinds of things do not happen. Just like we have in Lagos, we have two runaways in Lagos, we have two runaways in Port Harcourt, there are two runaways in Kano.

    So, it is high time Abuja should have two runaways. We are doing quite a lot of things which people don’t see with the naked eyes but they are the things that make everything to work; the navigation equipment, communication equipment, radars that see every flying object and try to separate one from another one so that there is no collision.

    These are the things that we have been doing silently and people don’t see. But you need something that will improve the security and safety of the passengers and the efficiency by which they travel. If you are able to fix the safety, efficiency and the security of travel, you would have achieved the intent and purpose of aviation. The remaining things are aesthetics- the air condition, the robust fantastic looking and terminal buildings and so on are things that are desirable, must have but they are not critical to the operation of aviation.

     

     It is always said that people in your position work so hard, they don’t have time to relax. How do you relax?

    Well, I used to create time for me to relax by playing polo or swimming in my house or visiting friends. Occasionally, before now, I go for holidays every three or six months. I will check out some places and relax but since I took this job, unfortunately, I have not been able to do any of those. I remember some two, three months ago, there was a polo tournament being played in Port Harcourt and I sent a team there with the intention to play but believe me, in the week long tournament, I was there only once and I landed Port Harcourt, I went to the field, I found them playing, I played for about 30 to 40 minutes and I got up and came back and I never went back until the end of the tournament. It is very difficult. I know that we need it for the brain to function very well.

     

    What’s yours philosophy for life?

    Keep it simple. Everything you are doing keep it simple. You have to be very sincere in what you are doing. I remember you or your colleague once asked me why is it that I don’t have my photos around the airports and agencies and I told them that the best picture I would leave behind is the work I would have done as a minister. My image and what I have done would not be out of the minds of Nigerians but if I become the worst Aviation Minister Nigeria ever had my photo would not change that.

  • N45,000 new fee a directive from FG – Jos varsity

    N45,000 new fee a directive from FG – Jos varsity

    The Management of the University of Jos has said that its new charges of N45,000, a 67 per cent increase from the former N27,000, was a directive from the Federal Government.

    A statement by Mr Monday Danjem, the Registrar, said on Saturday in Jos, that the fee was compulsory for all undergraduates.

    Danjem was reacting to a directive by the Students Union Government (SUG), asking students not to pay the reviewed fee.

    “The statement is to clarify issues raised by the students union, which are capable of misleading students and members of the public, into believing that management just decided to hike the charges,” he said.

    He advised students seeking to be accepted by the school to pay the new charges at the commencement of the 2016/2017 academic session.

    The statement said that the university received the directive to review the charges from the National Universities Commission (NUC) on Jan. 22, 2015, and presented it before the Governing Council and Senate, who both ratified it for implementation.

    He faulted the students’ claims that the university was charging tuition fees.

    “The students will only pay charges approved by government and captured in the budget.

    “Every charge is tied to a specific cost for the services provided like hostel maintenance, students health insurance, library, ICT bandwidth and network maintenance, I.D. card among several others.

    “The charges are verifiable facts and are clearly listed in the university’s school charges schedule,” he said.

    Danjem said that the old charges were no longer realistic in view of the increase in the cost of most goods and services like cleaning services, electricity and other utilities, accreditation expenses, stationery, examination expenses, among others.

    “For instance, we used to pay a monthly charge of N12 million for electricity supply per month, but that has gone up to N23 million. We must take steps to make up for the shortfall,” he said.

    He said that management consulted widely before implementing the new charges, and particularly noted that it held three meetings with the SUG, before taking a final decision.

    “It was in this spirit of openness and transparency that management also convened a meeting with parents and guardians during which it was collectively resolved that the new charges be implemented,” he said.