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Tag: FG

  • FG scraps NAPEP, FRC

    FG scraps NAPEP, FRC

    • Rejects merger of EFCC, ICPC
    • Accepts merger of NAMA, NCAA, NIMET

     

    The Federal Government Monday accepted the recommendations by the former Head of Civil Service, Steve Oronsaye for the scrapping of the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) and the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC).

    This was contained in the White Paper on the Report of the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalization of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies submitted by the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke to President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The document dated March, 2014 with 105 pages showed where the government accepted and rejected various recommendations on the scrapping, merger of 270 government agencies. Some of the agencies have been approved for commercialisation and privatization.

    The Oronsaye report was submitted to government on 16th of April, 2012.

    It rejected the recommendation of the merger of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent and Corrupt Practices Commission  (ICPC), Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). The government also rejected the renaming of Code of Conduct Tribunal to Anti Corruption Tribunal.

    But the Federal Government accepted that “the trio of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency NAMA, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency be merged into a new body to be known as the Federal Civil Aviation Authority (FCAA) and their respective enabling laws be amended accordingly to reflect the merger.”

    It also accepted that the enabling law of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology be amended and the college restructured.

    While maintaining that JAMB should continue to exists as the central examination body for admissions into Nigerian universities, it directs that JAMB must play its regulatory role to ensure that all students for undergraduate admissions into Nigerian universities must pass through JAMB including direct entries.

    The government accepted the recommendation that the Bill seeking for the establishment of NEPAD as an agency of the Federal Government be withdrawn from the National Assembly as there are already laws relating to most of the activities being performed by NEPAD.

    Accepting that the Utilities Charges Commission be abolished and it’s enabling law repealed, it directed that the process of repealing the enabling law be initiated by office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

    It accepted the recommendation that the National Agricultural Insurance Corporation be fully commercialised and also accepted the recommendation that the passed bill on the Nigeria Agriculture Quarantine Service should not be assented to by the President.

    The government also accepted that the practice whereby certain categories of retirees are opting out of contributory pension scheme be stopped stating that only the military may withdraw from the scheme.

    Accepting that the Veterinary Research Council of Nigeria should as a professional body be self funding and that further budgetary allocation of the council should cease forthwith, the government accepted partial commercialization of NIPOST.

    It accepted to sell off its shares in NIGCOMSAT and directed that government will retain minority shares. The government also accepted that the functions of NIGCOMSAT that relates to space development be reverted to the National Space Development Agency.

    The government accepted that the function of the Nigerian Institute for Education Planners and Administrators ( NIEPA) be merged with those of the National Teachers Institute.

    While accepting that the Nigerian Film Corporation be commercialised from 2013 fiscal year but with government seed funding, the government accepted that all offices of the Nigerian Institute of advanced Legal Studies outside Lagos and Abuja be closed down immediately to ensure judicious use of available resources in line with government policy

    It accepted that National Council of Arts and Culture be merged with the National Troupe and the National Theatre into one agency called National Council of Arts and Culture.

    The Federal Government also accepted that the Nigerian Financial Reporting Council ceases to be funded by government from 2015, just as it accepted that the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) be self funding from 2014.

    It accepted that the allegation made by the National Boundaries Commission against the office of the Surveyor General of the Federation over the funding of two non existent boundary demarcation be properly investigated.

    The Government also accepted the management audit of the National Institute for Sports.

    But it rejected the recommendation for an amendment in name and status of the Federal Civil Service Commission to the Federal Public Service Commission. It however accepted the recommendation for a single term of five years for the Chairman and members of the commission.

    Accepting recommendation for the scrapping of Fiscal Responsibility Commission  (FRC), the government also directed the AGF to initiate necessary action for the abolition.

    It further directed that the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission should perform the function of Fiscal Responsibility Commission.

    The Government accepted the recommendation that the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission’s enabling law be repealed and the functions of the commission be subsumed under Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation And Fiscal Commission.

    “That RMAFC enabling laws be amended to accommodate the functions of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission and the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.” It stated

    The Federal Government however rejected the recommendation that Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission be subsumed under the Bureau of Public Enterprises for greater synergy.

    It also rejected the recommendation of the merger of NTA, FRCN and VON into one body to be known as Federal Corporation Broadcasting of Nigeria (FCBN).

    But directed that NTA be fully commercialised by 2013.

    Rejecting the recommendation for the abolition of Federal Character Commission, it said that the commission should be strengthened to perform its constitutional role and functions.

    The Government rejected the recommendation for an amendment in name and status of the Federal Civil Service Commission to the Federal Public Service Commission. It however accepted the recommendation that a single term of five years for the Chairman and members of the commission.

    It rejected the recommendation that the law establishing the Border Communities Development Agency be repealed and its functions reverted to the National Boundary Commission

    The Government rejected the recommendation that government should disengage from funding current expenditure of National Institute on Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) from the 2015 fiscal year and limit itself to certain essential capital requirement of the institute.

    Rejecting the merger of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the National Refugees Commission into one agency to be known as the National Emergency Management and Refugees Commission, the government also rejected the recommendation for the Debt Management Office to become an extra ministerial department in the Federal Ministry of Finance and be delisted from the office of the Vice President.

    It rejected the recommendation that the Act setting up the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) be repealed and also rejected that Road Safety of the FRSC be reverted to the Highways Department of the Federal Ministry of Works.

    The government also rejected the recommendation that the enabling law of the National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS be repealed just as it rejected that the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria and the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission be abolished and their functions transferred to a department under Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    It also rejected the recommendation that government stops sponsoring pilgrims and pilgrimages with effect from 2012 Fiscal year.

    It also rejected the privatization of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigerian (FAAN ) in view of the security situation of the country.

    “Government rejects that the Nigerian Communications commission (NCC), Nigerian Broadcasting commission ( NBC ) and the regulatory functions of Nigerian Postal Service ( NIPOST)) be brought together under a unified management structure to be known as the Communications Regulatory Authority of Nigeria,” It said

    The Federal government also rejected the recommendation that the Act establishing the National Examinations Council be repealed and Council’s activities be returned to the WAEC.

    Government rejected the abolition of the Nigerian educational research and development council (NEDRC) and rejected that NDE and Small Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) be merged to form a single agency for wealth creation.

    Rejecting that the Ministry of Police Affairs be scrapped, the government also rejected the scrapping of Raw Materials Research and Development Council.

    It rejected the scrapping of Energy Commission of Nigeria and also rejected that the National Sports Commission revert to the proposed Ministry of Youth and Sports Development as an agency.

     

  • FG disburses N1.1bn loan facility for rural empowerment

    The Federal Govern-ment through Rural Finance Institution Building, RUFIN, programme, under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, has disbursed loan facility worth N1.1 billion for rural empowerment and development.

    This was revealed by the National Coordinator, RUFIN, Mr. Azeez Olumuyiwa, while making a presentation of RUFIN’s Programme Implementation Report for the 8th Supervision Mission, in Abuja, recently.

    Olumuyiwa said the money was disbursed through micro-finance banks which were linked with the rural people who had access to the loan facility to develop their businesses and farms, thereby raising their standard of living.

    He said: “We are working closely with 11 financial non-governmental organisations in the 12 RUFIN states. We are also working closely with 65 micro-finance banks, and 12 financial cooperatives. What we do for them is to develop their capacity, linking them with the rural people, farmers in 36 local government areas, linking them to the source of finance. Between 2013 and 2014 they have been able to mobilise and give credit worth N1.1 billion to the rural people.

    “So they have been able to disburse this amount to the nook and crannies of the operating states close to over N2 billion has been made available to the groups at the village level.”

    He added that the programme has created 20, 460 jobs in the 12 states of Adamawa, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi and Benue. Others are Edo, Katsina, Lagos, Nasarawa, Imo, Oyo and Zamfara.

    “In Lagos for instance, many groups in Epe LGA after linkage and credit from LAPO but two canoes per person and employed two person per canoe to fish for them. A lot of other similar stories run through the various states. In the various participating states, 18,720 beneficiaries have been lifted out of poverty as a result of enhanced access to financial services and increase in income from Agricultural and Micro Enterprises”, he added.

    According to him, RUFIN does not give loan directly to rural people, but rather work with the micro-finance banks and financial NGOs in order to surpass the N1.1 billion of 2013 in 2014.

  • FG to unveil new GDP statistics

    FG to unveil new GDP statistics

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday said that arrangement has been concluded to release the new Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the various sectors in the Nigerian economy.

    The current GDP as at last year is $451 billion with Agriculture having 49%, Services – 30%, Manufacturing – 15% and Oil – 14%.

    Briefing State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo, the Minister of’ Information, Labaran Maku said that the new GDP figures will be released on Sunday at Transcorp Hotel in Abuja.

    According to him, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala briefed the Council on the work done on the GDP by the Ministry of Finance, National Planning Commission, the Chief Statistician of the Federation and international bodies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the last one year.

    Noting that the last GDP figures were released fifteen years ago, he said that such figures need to be reassessed and released every five years in order to know which sectors are doing well and which ones have challenges.

    He said: “Also we received today briefing by the CME and Minister of Finance, that after nearly 15 years, that Nigeria is now ready to rebase its GDP after more than one year of hard work by the ministries of Finance and national planning, the Chief Statistician to the Federation and the international agencies like IMF, AfDB, IDB.

    “You will recall that the last time that Nigeria issued new statistics and GDP figures was 15 years. And this is not supposed to be as we are supposed to be doing this every five years. Every country calibrates its own GDP data to show the progress made or challenges in their economy.

    “Right now the FEC was briefed today that on Sunday at the Transcorps by 2 pm, Nigeria will formally release its GDP figures for the country which has just been worked by institutions in collaboration with international agencies, whose duties it is to work out GDP figures for the countries.

    “So we hope that by Sunday, this new GDP figure will be released and the importance of this is that for the first time in 15 years, we will know scientifically what the new GDP figures are, the contributions of every sectors to the economy, we will be able to know the sectors that recorded the most progress and which ones are lagging behind.”

    Continuing, he said: “We will also know a few economic sectors that have emerged in the last for 10 years which have not been captured properly in the last GDP figures. For example, the telecoms which emerged in the year 2000. We can know scientifically what the telecom sector has made on the Nigerian economy and GDP growth. Secondly, the Nollywood industry is another huge sector that has blossomed particularly in the last 10 years making significant contributions to job creation because we have not been able to know because we have rebased the GDP to really know scientifically how much impact it has made on the economy.”

    “Without appropriate understanding of the GDP and the details of and how sectors are performing, it will affect policy. When the figures hopefully are released on Sunday we will then be able to analyse sector by sector and that will improve our budgetary planning, that will improve national planning, which sectors needed added attention. Even the ones that are doing well, what we do to keep them growing. The importance of this cannot be overemphasized. It will assure investors in some areas and in some others it will pose challenges,” he said

    The Council meeting, which lasted for about 50 minutes, he said, was also briefed by the Health Ministry on the alleged Ebola virus in Nigeria.

    According to him, there is no such virus in Nigeria, but that Nigeria is prepared to handle any the case if the virus is imported into the country from any of the affected West African countries.

    Maku said: “The minister of health which detailed its reports on the alleged findings over the alleged break out of the Ebola fever in Nigeria. The minister of state for health clarified to council that following speculations in the media that Ebola fever was in Nigeria the ministry during the week under took quick checks to verify these reports and so far all the tests showed clearly that there is no Ebola fever in Nigeria.”

    “Nigeria is prepared right now to curtail any outbreak particularly given reports that few counties on the west coast like Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea have reported cases of Ebola fever and given our proximity to these countries Nigeria is ready, the ministry has every precaution including getting vaccines and medicines to ensure that should there be any incidence in Nigeria everything would be dealt with with precision.”

    “So far, there is nothing like Ebola fever in Nigeria and council was reassured that every step has been taken to ready our country just in case, infected persons come into the country from our neighboring countries which unfortunately have been reportedly affected. So citizens are reassured again that there is no Ebola fever in the country and and all the checks so far under taken declared clearly that we don’t have it, yes there are two or three west African countries the ministry has assured that should there be anything like that within our boundary it will be quickly tackled,” Maku added.

  • FG to rehabilitate 30 Dams to Boost Power

    The Federal Government has concluded plans to rehabilitate about thirty dams to boost power supply.

    The dams, recommended by the Ministry of Water Resources, are expected to generate additional 147.60 mega watts to the existing power source.

    Minister of Water Resources Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe who made the disclosure in Abuja during a briefing said access to electricity is put at forty per cent.

    The minister, who was represented by Director, Dams and Reservoir operations in the ministry, Dr Emmanuel Adanu explained that while constructing dams in the past and recently for water supply and irrigation it constituted small hydro power plants in the construction processes.

    According to her, the ministry has partnered energy sectors to conduct studies on the proposed dams and engineering designs of the small hydro power schemes accompanying each of them.

    She said this was to serve project activities and generate electricity to rural communities, adding that the supply of water and energy are important to achieving sustainable national development.

    “In Nigeria, statistics have shown that shown that only forty per cent of the people have access to electricity, sixty per cent of the population has access to safe drinking water while access to sanitation is put at forty one per cent.

    “As part of integrated river basin development, the Ministry and some RBDAs while constructing dams in the 1980’s and recently for water supply and irrigation, incorporated small hydro power plants to generate electricity to serve the project activities and the host of rural communities.

    “Based on the collaboration between the Water and Energy sectors, Federal Ministry of Power conducted the feasibility studies and engineering design of some of the small hydro power schemes mentioned above for rehabilitation and concession to boost electricity supply in Nigeria.

    “No nation can develop without adequate supply of water and energy. Demand for water will continue to increase significantly over the coming decades. The need for increased collaboration and cooperation between the agencies and stakeholders in the water and energy sectors can not be over-emphasized.”

     

  • FG to retire 1,050 civil servants in 3 weeks–Aji

    Alhaji Bukar Aji, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), says 1,050 civil servants that are in the service illegally will be retired in the next three weeks.

    Aji made the disclosure at the ongoing 60th anniversary celebration of the Nigeria Public Service Commission in Abuja.

    He said that the screening done by Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) discovered that the 1,050 civil servants were supposed to have retired from the service long before now.

    “Through the IPPIS, we are able to screen those who are supposed to have retired long time ago and they will leave the service within the next two to three weeks,’’ he said.

    The head of the civil service said that it would create opportunity for those in legitimate service to be promoted.

    Aji said that there had been synergy, cooperation and collaboration between the HOCSF and the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC).

    He assured that the Federal Civil Service would be better in 2014, adding that it would not relent in its efforts to improve the service.

    The Chairman, FCSC, Mrs Joan Ayo said that the commission came into existence in April, 1954 with the functions of employing, promoting and disciplining of civil servants.

    She said that since the commission was the gateway into the service and exit way, the commission should be guided by some rules.

    “As the `entry into’ and ‘exit out’ the service, the FCSC is committed to the traditional core values of the civil service.’’

    She listed the core values as including meritocracy, anonymity, integrity, political neutrality, discipline, impartiality, accountability and transparency.

    Ayo said that the celebration was necessary in order to recall the exploits of the founding fathers of the civil service.

    “We are celebrating the past and looking at where we have got it wrong, so we can improve and do it better,” she said.

    The FCSC boss explained that the civil service was that organ of government that performed vital advisory role.

    “The commission advises the government on policy, anticipating problems and deploying human, material and financial resources for effective execution of public policy.

    The Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. Ayim Pius Ayim, said that government would ensure improved service.

    Ayim, who was represented by Mr Linus Awute, the Permanent Secretary, General Service of SGF, congratulated the efforts of the founding fathers who had worked tirelessly to ensure transparency and meritocracy.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the celebration is: “Civil Service Core Values: The Sine Qua Non for National Development”.

  • FG set to evolve world class transport system

    FG set to evolve world class transport system

    ​The Federal Government is set to evolve a world class transportation system that will position the country as a hub in the West and Central Africa.

    Speaking at the 12th Intermodal Africa 2014 Exhibition and Conference held in Lagos Thursday, the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar said the government is determined to establish a safe, efficient, affordable and seamless intermodal transport system in line with global best practices while creating an enabling environment for Public Private Partnership (PPP).

    Over 700 participants attended the event.

    The promotion of Inter-modalism, he said, envisages among others the connection of all state capitals, Sea ports, Airports and River Ports with railway lines to complement the existing road infrastructure across the country.

    The Ministry of Transport, he said, granted approval for the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to host the exhibition and conference as a reflection of Federal Government’s efforts and determination to showcase the programmes and projects being undertaken under the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The Maritime Sector, the minister said, remains a key sector of the economy, whose enormous potential deserves continuous harnessing in order to meet the expectation of the government and the people.

    “Over the last two years, Nigeria has been carrying out a number of reform measures aimed at enhancing the operational efficiency in the various ports. For instance 24 hours operation has been achieved in the Lagos Ports where more than 60 per cent of our port activities take place. For the long term, the Federal Government is making concerted efforts towards ensuring the development of Deep Sea Ports in the Country. This is the ultimate solution to the current port congestion as the cargo handling are presently beyond their designed capacities.

    “The Federal Government has recently approved the Development of the Lekki Deep Sea Port here in Lagos which is expected to handle bigger vessels, and also create employment. The Port is to be developed under Public Private Partnership (PPP),” he said.

    ​In the area of maritime safety and security, the minister said, the partnership between the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the private sector is yielding positive results.

    The Federal Government, he added, has granted approval to NIMASA for the removal of wrecks and derelicts on a ‘no-cure-no-pay’ basis in order to provide for safe navigation within our waterways.

    In his speech, the Managing Director NPA, Mallam Habib Abdullahi urged the participants to key into the Federal Government programmes by investing in the transport sect.

    The potential of the sector, Abdullahi said is enormous and called for synergy between the government and the private investors to promote the transport sector and boost the economy.

  • North: FG moves to stop malnutrition devastation

    Determined to stem the tide of malnutrition devastation in Nigeria, the Federal Government is undertaking training on processing and utilization of sorghum novel fortified high energy food for family nourishment and school feeding, especially in the 13 Northeast and Northwest states.

    Deputy Director (Sorghum), Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Okpara Obinna who spoke at the Training of Trainers workshop in Gombe Thursday said sorghum value chain through her novel fortified energy is geared to eradicating malnutrition, stunting and wasting in these areas.

    He said they targeted the 13 states of Northeast and Northwest because of the “great levels of stunting and wasting due to severe malnutrition in these zones.”

    He said they were training “women, youths, hospital nutritionists and school feeding coordinators who have the capacity to step down in their homes, local governments and schools”.

    He said participants were equally thought entrepreneurial development and business to further put the processing into viable use.

    Already, sorghum value chain according to him is impacting positively on farmers in the zones where the crop is promoted as the Ministry in 2013 distributed 500mt of improved high yielding to 100,000 farmers to plant additional 100,000 hectares.

    He said the Ministry went further to train 500 farmers on Modern Agronomic Practices (GAP), harvest and post-harvest management techniques of handling these improved varieties.

    He said the aim is to ensure maximum productivity of quality grin uptake by processors and manufacturers, thereby increasing income, creating wealth and generating employments.

    Mr. Naphtali David Thelta representing the Desk Officer on Sorghum Transformation Value Chain, Abuja said 300 participants had been trained had been trained in Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Taraba and Zamfara.

    He said the training would be monitored through the Desk Officers in all the states by making sure that they push on to ensure the trainings are replicated in all the local governments.

  • FG decries grazing related clashes

    FG decries grazing related clashes

    The Federal Government Friday expressed deep concern over the occurrence of incessant grazing related clashes in some states in the country.

    Speaking at the Fourth meeting of the National Council on Shelterbelt and Afforestation (NCSA) at the State House, Abuja, Vice President Namadi Sambo said that the NCSA has now become a security issue posing internal security challenges in the country.

    He said: “The NCSA programme has become a security issue since it poses a great challenge to our internal security situation.”

    According to him, government attaches very great importance to the success of the Shelterbelt and Afforestation Programme aimed at reforming and revamping the ecological system of both livestock and plants.

    He said that the programme has been successful in other countries such as Senegal, Rwanda, Burundi.

    Sambo, however, cautioned on timely cultivation in order to attain the planned objective of the programme noting that, ‘now is the best time as the rains have already commenced’.

    The Vice President called the attention of the members of the NCSA to the fact that both the Shelterbelt and the Great Green Wall (GGW) programme commenced on a slow note and directed that action be expedited on the cultivation of crops particularly economic trees and more efforts be channeled towards revitalizing the entire ecosystem to facilitate the economic upliftment of the people’.

    He said that funding for the programme is directly the responsibility of government though further funding from International Development Partners and financial institutions as the World Bank, African Development Bank (ADB) and the private sector will be welcomed.

    He called for collaboration among the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) and also impressed on the need for launching effective campaigns of the programme to the grassroots levels, working with the relevant agencies of government to ensure the required outreach and success of the programme.

    To this end, the Vice President directed the Minister of Agriculture to as a matter of urgency make a power-point presentation to him on March 25th 2014; on all issues of grazing reserves to enable the government seek timely solutions to them. He further requested to be furnished with the plan of action with timelines till the end of the year.

    Earlier the Minister of Environment Laurencia Laraba Mallam notifying the Vice President on the progress of the GGW programme said that initial consultations with the community leaders and community mobilization and sensitization exercise were conducted in December 2013.

    She said that preparations towards supporting local communities to raise about five million seedlings for 2014 planting have been concluded and a Programme Implementation Unit (PIU) has been established.

    Present at the meeting were the members of the NCSA made up of the Ministers of Youth Affairs, Mr. Boni Haruna and Women Affairs, Zainab Maina, the Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries of Education, Water Resources and Environment, representatives of relevant other ministries, Commissioners of Environments from the states (Zamfara and Kebbi) and other stakeholders.

    Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, the Environment Minister said: “With the Vice President, the Federal Republic of Nigeria has given approval for the purchase, distribution and planting of seedlings for the 2014 planting under the Great Green Wall Project.”

    “With this approval, the activity for the 2014 planting season is to commence immediately. The Council also approved a draft bill for the establishment of the Great Green Wall Agency for recommendation to the Federal Executive Council.” She said

    The Coordinator of Great Green Wall Project, Dr. Bukar Hassan said: “For the year 2014, the programme intends to establish 12, 500 hectares of shelter belts, 620 hectares of community buckets and we intend to procure 3.6 million seedlings, that is including all assorted seedlings, the trees and the forest trees and so on. And the funds which the Council precisely approved this morning are for the procurement of 8.5 million seedlings.”

    “And of course as earlier stated by the Minister, it includes ploughing procurement of the lands and the establishment of the orchards which the communities are going to do in collaboration with the programme.

    “This is only about 60 percent of the total requirement if we do the outside details, the balance of the 40 percent are at the cost of N164 million will be established by the community. We have 9 communities in the programme and all of them are going to participate producing 70, 000 each. And this cost I mentioned will be use to provide inputs for seedlings and labour that they are going to use,” he added.

     

  • Nigeria may quit Joint Oil Venture with Sao Tome – Minister

    Nigeria may quit Joint Oil Venture with Sao Tome – Minister

    Nigeria has threatened to pull out of the oil prospecting agreement with São Tomé and Principe which was signed in Abuja on 21 February 2001, as the expected $100 million annual revenue from the venture has become an illusion.

    The Joint Development Zone (JDZ) Treaty between the Federal Government of Nigerian and Democratic Republic of São-Tomé and Principe saw the two countries establishing a Joint Development Authority (JDA) with headquarters in Abuja.

    The Nigeria – São Tomé and Príncipe Joint Development Authority allows a joint prospecting for petroleum and other resources along the Nigeria – São Tomé and Príncipe maritime border, with Nigeria owning 60 percent equity and São Tomé and Principe 40 percent.

    But the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs 2, Dr. Nuruddeen Mohammed while appearing before the Hon. Abubakar Momoh- headed House of Representatives Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa, described the venture as “Frustrating.”

    He said the estimated $100m annual income from São Tomé and Principe Joint Venture was not forthcoming.

    “Frustration is setting in,” Mohammed told the lawmakers at the National Assembly.

    According to him, the venture which was established under optimist oil prospecting projections, has proved to be a drainpipe on the country as Nigeria has been paying the bills of the venture alone for the past five years, with no visible returns.

    According to the Minister, for almost five years, Nigeria has been single- handedly paying the bills of the authority.

    He said the project had continued for this long because São Tomé and Principe “is a small country of about 170,000 people, so they are more desperate for oil.”

    He revealed that: “The prospect of oil is very little if any, we should look again at the treaty. Question is: were we too optimistic by setting up the JDA, should it be scrapped?” He asked rhetorically.

    He said due to the dwindling prospects of oil in the zone, Sao Tome and Principe has decided convert the JDA activities from oil prospecting to fishing.

    “Should Nigeria convert its oil mining licences to fishing licences? São Tomé has agreed in principle but Nigerian is yet to respond,” he said.

    While answering questions from the committee, Mohammed revealed that some of the challenges besetting the venture include Boundary issues, with Niger, Benin, Cameroon, as well as Issue of bilateral military function, piracy, Illegal fishing and poaching.

    He said because of the security challenges in the zone, “We have said we must come together to have a joint military function to protect ourselves.

    The Committee had earlier questioned the none remission of revenue from the joint Development Authority to the federation account.

    The Chairman of the Committee Abubakar Momoh said that since Nigeria has 60 percent of the venture, “we need to know what is going on.”

    He said Nigeria cannot continue for fund a venture that is of no economic benefit. “The establishment was set up by protocol, if it’s not viable we can pull out.”

    The lawmaker said since the Ministry of Integration and Cooperation in Africa is now subsumed under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should furnish the committee with reports on the revenue situation from the Joint Development Authority.

    The committee members however flayed the attitude of the two Nigerian Executive Directors in the JDA saying they are hardly available when called as they were busy globetrotting “if you call them, they will say they are in America. I wonder if that is how they run businesses” the Chairman said.

  • $1.69m fraud: Ajudua to know fate on bail application in March

    $1.69m fraud: Ajudua to know fate on bail application in March

    An Ikeja High Court on Thursday fixed March 31 for ruling on the bail application filed by a Lagos businessman, Fred Ajudua, charged with 1.69 million dollars fraud.

    Justice Kudirat Jose fixed the date after hearing arguments from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) counsel, Mrs E.A. Sanusi and Ajudua’s counsel, Chief Charles Edosomwan (SAN).

    Ajudua and one Charles Orie are being prosecuted for allegedly defrauding two Dutch businessmen – Messrs Remy Cina and Pierre Vijgen, of 1.69 million dollars (about N252.8 million).

    They were re-arraigned before Jose on Feb.5 following the transfer of the case from the former trial judge, Justice Joseph Oyewole.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Orie was on March 12 granted bail while Ajudua is still being remanded at Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Lagos.

    Addressing the court on Thursday, Sanusi said the EFCC had filed a 16-paragraph counter affidavit on March 10 opposing Ajudua’s application for bail.

    Sanusi argued that there was likelihood that the first defendant (Ajudua) would jump bail and interfere with the prosecution witnesses.

    “My Lord, it is a 2003 case and we have not been able to do anything. We have only called six witnesses to testify against the defendants,” she said.