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Tag: Funding

  • NACA canvasses increased funding for HIV/AIDS

    NACA canvasses increased funding for HIV/AIDS

    For the country to meet the 2030 date set for the elimination of HIV/AIDS, all  tiers of government must increase funding for programmes, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Director-General Dr. Sani Aliyu has said.

    According to NACA, about 180,000 still die yearly of the disease in the country, with 700 new infections daily. Of the over three million people living with the virus, only about 800,000 are on treatment.

    The gap has been blamed on the country’s inability to fund the HIV/AIDS treatment programme.

    Aliyu pointed out that the fight against the scourge had yielded significant results, such as reduction in mother-to-child transmission, decreasing new infections and death.

    Aliyu, who spoke in Abuja at the opening of the Third National Council on AIDS, with the theme: “Nigeria’s HIV/AIDS Response: Taking charge of our destiny”, said if the country must win the battle  to eliminate the disease, it must act now.

    He said with dwindling donor fund, the states have no choice but to take ownership of the programme by providing funding.

    “For those of you who have budget line for the disease, I urge that you keep it up, and for those who don’t have budget line for HIV, now is the time to do so. We should know that donor funds are dwindling.”

    Aliyu said: “We should be getting people to understand the fact they are not only to survive the transmission, but that the epidemic should be defeated. It is interesting to note that collectively, Nigeria has achieved so much in terms of ART coverage and reduction in AIDS-related deaths.  As at December 2015, there were about 1,078 health facilities offering ART services across the country. Over the last three decades, Nigeria has made tremendous progress by placing about  800,000  persons  on  HIV  treatment,  including  44,000 children, by testing over seven million people in 2014 only and having about 2.7 million pregnant women having a HIV test in 2015, with 54,000 placed on treatment.

    “As a result of these achievements, the number of people dying from AIDS-related causes in Nigeria has fallen by as much as 54 percent in the 10 years up to 2013. These successes would not have been possible  without  the  support  of  donors,  partners  and  other stakeholders  working  on  the  national  response.  Despite these strides, we still have a long way to go if Nigeria is to achieve the UNAIDS 90:90:90 targets.

    We cannot afford to be left behind as the rest of the world fast tracks towards ending the HIV epidemic by 2030. With  the  challenges  of  inadequate  domestic  funding, shrinking donor support, a weak health care supporting system, and  a  poorly  coordinated  national  response.  The impact of HIV/AIDS in our country cannot be over emphasised.”

    He noted: “Between 2009 and 2014, the amount committed to HIV and AIDS funding was mostly by the donor/international community of about 70 percent.

  • Funding the amnesty programme

    Funding the amnesty programme

    On Thursday, last week, leaders of the Niger Delta met at Kiagbodo, hometown of Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin K. Clark in Delta State to reflect on recent developments. Rising from the meeting, the leaders warned the presidency to show more concern towards the growing impatience, occasioned in Nigeria’s crude oil belt, by the delay in the proposed dialogue between government and regional stakeholders, aimed at bringing lasting peace to the troubled region. The delay by the federal government in firming up a peace deal with the stakeholders, the leaders said, could reverse the gains of the current ceasefire, which could jeopardise the oil sector and dim the hope of the nation’s recovery from its current recession since the economy is oil-dependent.
    However, while the meeting was holding in Kiagbodo, the government made good its promise to pay the stipends promised to the Niger Delta militants under the amnesty programme. Though only the first batch of beneficiaries were paid their August and September stipends, plans are said to be underway to complete the payment for the second and third batch of militants under the programme. This is a commendable development. It must be understood by all stakeholders that human capital development is the enduring fulcrum on which meaningful progress revolves. This empowerment tool is at the heart of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, which has, since 2009 been enabling erstwhile militants to acquire specialised education in many institutions across the world.
    The amnesty programme was conceptualised to embody a social agenda that will underpin the health, education, employment, sense of fulfilment and the general well-being of all the people of the Niger Delta region either directly or indirectly. Through the programme, the pervading atmosphere and culture of gross neglect and general malaise is expected to give way to that of fulfilment, contentment, peace and people-centered development and commensurate progress.
    On the whole, the government was expected to recognise the inviolability of an existing social contract between it and the people’s rights, responsibilities and with promises to deliver the basic necessities as a pre-requisite for decent human existence. These needs include; food, clothing, shelter, basic education, primary healthcare, security, productive assets, etc, which are mainly provided in the breach despite a rich endowment of natural and human resources in the Niger Delta region.
    In spite of the huge revenue from the exploration and exploitation of crude oil and gas which are found in abundance in the bowels of the Niger Delta region, it is quite appalling that the travails of existence in that region have assumed gargantuan proportion. This is the paradox. This paradox has been underlined by the Oil/Primordial Curse Syndrome which many pundits believe is really the bane of the abject living conditions in the Niger Delta and the virtually unending violence or near-chaos in the areas of oil and gas production.
    The dynamics and the increasing incidence of poverty and want in Nigeria, especially in the Niger Delta, have stratified and polarised the society into opposing camps of haves and have-nots; educated and uneducated; north and south etc. The resulting tensions and other social conflicts is eroding the fabric that has held the society together over the decades. Therefore, it is very important to state that the challenge is not only to institute reformative measures to jumpstart and boost the nation’s economic growth alone, but also, there is the need to empower the people of the Niger Delta as a means of revitalising their living standard and rekindling their faith in government and governance.
    It is in fulfilment of the government’s social contract with the people of the Niger Delta region that the amnesty programme becomes one of the veritable means to redress the retrogressive legacies of the past. It must be noted that the programme is not an end in itself or solely designed to financially-empower the core leaders of the various militant groups dotting the creeks of the Niger Delta or their sorely aggrieved foot-soldiers. Rather, the prime intention of the programme is to completely rehabilitate the more than 30 thousand-rich corps of repentant militants who have taken advantage of the new vista created by the amnesty programme.
    In empowering the ex-militants through sponsored training and education in selected schools and technical centres at home and abroad, the programme has contributed, in no small measure, to strengthening the Niger Delta, nay Nigeria’s technological and scientific base through the training of the ex-militants in technical, vocational, liberal and entrepreneurial education to meet the region’s manpower needs.
    A veritable testimonial in reference to the contribution of the PAP to the human capital development of the Niger Delta region is the recent graduation of 51 ex-militants from Novena University, Ogume, in Delta State, with seven beneficiaries graduating in the second-class upper division. Two out of the seven were in Intelligence and Security Studies; two in Political Science and one student each in Energy and Petroleum Studies; Accounting and Computer Science. Thirty-one of this set had second class lower division, 10 with third class while one had a pass degree. Many more are still in schools across the globe.
    As in all human endeavours, it has not been smooth-sailing in some crucial aspects of the programme. There are reported cases where many ex-militants were not paid their stipends for months on end. It is gratifying to note that under the new leadership of the programme, safer and more accountable measures are being put in place. It is also commendable that adequate monitoring and control precautions are now in place to plot the trajectory of the funds released while making sure that they are properly and adequately expended in the true spirit of the programme.
    As Nigeria enters the eighth year of the PAP, there are indications that it may be wound up this year, 2017. But there are also signs and palpable presidential body-language that it may either be reviewed with more ex-militants being inducted into the scheme as a precautionary measure against the simmering unease degenerating into a full-scale war or confrontation. It will be seriously out of point for hundreds of the PAP scholarship beneficiaries to be abandoned mid-stream in their current institutions of studies here and abroad, without a clear-cut and painless exit strategy in place.
    It is also imperative that additional funding should be injected into the programme as a prime factor that will drive the key area of human capital development, which is multi-dimensional in scope. This core aspect of the PAP involves; educational advancement across all the strata of the society, capacity building of the active workforce through training and retraining; individual-based micro-business support programmes, self-employment, job creation and empowerment scheme.
    The amnesty programme needs more funding at this point in time, more than ever before as more emphasis and premium is being placed on creating a well-educated and trained cadre of ex-militants who are proficient in their various disciplines. It is through the infusion of adequate funds that those training centres which are presently short of acceptable standards in equipment and other facilities as well as personnel, would be adequately revamped.
    As a matter of policy, the limited employment opportunities open to the beneficiaries of the diverse human capital development schemes of the programme, should be bridged through the provision of attractive starter-packs inclusive of soft loans (or given gratis) and technical advice on self-employment etc, which will, in turn, create employment windows within the region.
    It is therefore, a good thing that the current Senate has bought into this thought pattern and is ready to liaise with the Presidency to actualise it. Bukola Saraki, the Senate President, has been rather explicit and frank about the need to shore up the financial base of the amnesty programme to guarantee peace and harmony in the Niger Delta and enhance the exploitation of crude oil deposits and gas reserves in the region for the benefit of Nigeria and Nigerians.

  • ITF laments yearly dip in govt funding

    ITF laments yearly dip in govt funding

    The Industrial Training Fund (ITF)  has decried the low funding of the Students Industrial Works Experience Scheme (SIWES) by the Federal Government.

    Its Director-General, Joseph Ari who spoke during ITF’s Field Service Department SIWES Division regulatory agency meeting in Abuja,  lamented that  the agency records yearly decrease in Federal Government’s funding.

    He said: “The schools involved in the scheme are over 395, cutting across universities, colleges of education and polytechnic, as other universities and polytechnic key into the scheme, while participants of the scheme are on the rise, the funding has continued to deplete owing to other commitment of government.

    “ITF has been given very bad image- many people have said ITF have billions of naira that has not been paid, not knowing that what it gets for SIWES is not even adequate to cover the scope of its activities.

    “In 2010, to run the scheme was N2.47billion which was budgeted but what was appropriated or released was N1billion, which is about N1.47billion short fall. That is why every year, we keep having backlog,  N2.33billion was budgeted in 2011, while N1.17billion was appropriated. Over a billion was the shortfall.  In 2012,  N2.88billion was budgeted while N911million was appropriated.

    “In 2013, N1.19billion was budgeted while N1.1billion was appropriated. In 2014, N2.3billion was budgeted while N1.31billion was appropriated;  in 2015,  N2.59billion was budgeted out of which N1.60billion was appropriated. In 2016, the budget for SIWES is N2.85billion and nothing ws released.

    “We are not talking about the overhead that has ceased to be appropriated since 2014; so management in its wisdom felt that we need to have a way forward. A,s we continue with the backlog, we have discovered that many participants of SIWES have left the programme many years before they even got payment.”

    He lamented that the shoddy funding of the scheme was not helping the education of the children which is the key and licence to the world. “With education, you prepare the life long experience and survival of individuals, so we cannot handle this very sensitive scheme with levity,” he added.

    Ari said the management felt there will be need to have a regulators meeting, adding that these are the challenges associated with the scheme. “What are the ways forward? There will be a further meeting with all stakeholders of SIWES in the country where we will take a holistic position on the matter and address it.

  • Bol, firm partner on entrepreneurial training, funding

    Bol, firm partner on entrepreneurial training, funding

    •Equip youths, others for export market on precious stone

    The Bank of Industry (Bol) is collaborating with Laurel School of Mines (LSM) to produce gem stones for export.

    At the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between BoI and LSM in Lagos on Monday, BoI’s Acting Managing Director Mr. Waheed Olagunju said that the partnership would facilitate entrepreneurship and employment in the solid minerals sector.

    He said the collaboration was the boldest initiative the Development Finance Institution (DFI) has taken so far in the solid minerals space in the country.

    Olagunju said: “We have lots of agricultural resources, solid minerals and oil, but solid minerals are the lowest hanging fruits. With gem stones, you do not have to wait like agriculture where you plant to harvest and process. We have gem stones where we can pick them up, add value and within few weeks make thousands of dollars.”

    According to him, the partnership is also coming on the heels of Nigeria’s quest to diversify its revenue base, saying that the gem stones industry is capable of earning the much needed foreign exchange for the Nigerian economy.

    ‘’The turnaround time is faster in precious stones, unlike what we have in agriculture or the petroleum sector. We are going to generate a lot of entrepreneurs in this sector. We will be training 1,600 in each location and 200 per location across the country spanning the six geo-political zones, including Lagos and Abuja.

    The BoI boss said that those who are trained and show signs of becoming potential entrepreneurs will be supported by the bank. “We will give them concessional facilities to enable them trade and export gem stones to earn foreign exchange, which would go a long way to help Nigeria diversify the economy while also earning foreign exchange for the country,” he added.

    Olagunju said there would be four batches of 50 each in the locations to ensure that the training is effective. He also stated that the training is expected to last for three days, adding that the course curricular of the training programme will include picking the gem stones, adding value and trading for export.

    On the versatility of the firm in partnership, the Bol boss said LSM is a global player and is currently operating in some parts of Africa successfully as well as in countries in Asia such as Sirilanka, Thailand, Mali and Senegal among others.

    “We are dealing with a reputable institution that is Nigerian and the MoU we are signing is also in sync with BoI’s operation strategy. We operate and collaborate with domestic and foreign development partners. LSM happens to be a domestic development partner in the private sector and the first in the solid minerals space,” he stated.

    Also, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Tope Adebanjo, said if Nigeria channels the required efforts towards gem stone development, the industry is capable of turning the fortunes of the economy around. He maintained that the industry has transformed many economies of the world.

    ‘’It is sad that foreigners are dominating the gem stone business and there are millions of unemployed youths in the country. The industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. We can make Lagos and Abuja another Las Vegas in Nigeria,” he said.

    According to him, Nigeria is tapping next to nothing in the global share index of the industry. He maintained that almost half of the total population of Thailand, which is about 60 million, engage directly and indirectly in gem stone production.

    He, however, listed factors affecting investment in gem stone development in Nigeria to include lack of capital, market, technology, mineral resource and entrepreneurs. He stressed the need to develop entrepreneurs in Nigeria to take advantage of the enterprising sector.

    “The training we are embarking on is about $277 per person for three days, which is less than $100 a day. Selection will be done diligently together with the BOI. Basically, the whole idea is to engage the youth to take over what belongs to them. Nigerians are intellectually sound, ready and willing to work, but the problem is who will lead them to work,” he said.

  • Experts: inadequate funding inhibiting reneweable energy

    Inadequate funding, poor maintenance, prohibitive cost of installation and training are  affecting renewable energy programmes in Nigeria, experts have said.

    Head of Energy and Environmental Desk, German Industry and Commerce, Mrs. Barbel Freyer and other experts, spoke at a seminar tagged: “Startups in renewable energy”, organised by the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.

    She said because of paucity of funds, operators could not access renewable energy materials, adding that banks too were not ready to fund those who want to generate solar, wind, biomass and other renewable energy.

    Mrs Freyer urged banks to provide funds for the development of renewable energy system in Nigeria. She said there was a huge market in the country, stressing that the sector’s contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would increase soon.

    The Council for Renewable Energy (CREN), Projects Implementation Committee’s Chairman Idowu Andrew said consumers were not giving renewable energy enough attention, due to the high cost of maintaining  accessories.

    “Some consumers don’t care about maintenance, they don’t care to call on the technicians to carry out periodical or monthly clean-up on their renewable energy devices,” he added.

    According to him, if routine checks and clean-up are not carried out on the devices, the radiation level will reduce and this will lead to defects in the main device.

    Idowu said the body conducted a research on renewable energy eight years ago, adding that findings showed that many individiuals cannot afford the cost of owning a renewable energy plant.

    “Now, why should I invest about N 7 million in a renewable project, when 20 or 30 people can come together to invest the same amount of money on the project?

    ‘’Failure to make renewable energy private sector-driven, means that many people will find it difficult to invest in it. So, private investors should be allowed to invest more in renewable energy,‘’ he added.

  • Privatisation: Govt reneged on power generation, funding agreements, operators allege

    The Federal Government may be the major cause of the problems being faced by the power sector after its privatisation. It has failed in most of the performance agreements signed with those who bought the power firms.

    According to the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) Board Chairman, Mr. Charles Momoh, and the Country Director, Energy Market and Rates Consultants, Mrs. Rahila Thomas, the government did not honour the agreements signed during the sector’s privatisation in 2013.

    Momoh said while handing over the assets, the government  promised that generation would be between 5,000 megawatts (Mw) and 7,500Mw by 2015.

    This, he said, has not happened  as agreements on improved supply of gas to thermal plants, establishment of cost-reflective tariff and payment of outstanding debts that accrued from unpaid electricity bills of customers, especially ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), have not been respected.

    Mrs. Thomas said the transmission segment of the supply value chain works sub-optimally  because of  underfunding. She said the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) was allocated N30.3 billion for capital expenditure in the budget contrary to the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) requirements.

    To buttress the huge shortfall in capital expediture allocation, she stated that MYTO requirement for 2016 is N205 billion. For 2017, it is N419 billion and N265 billion for 2018.

    She also noted that donors indicated their intention to provide $623 million for the transmission segment but nothing has been done three years after the pledge.

    Momoh and Mrs. Thomas spoke when the Senate Committee on Privatisation, led by its Chairman, Senator Ben Bruce, visited Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Lagos.

    Eko DisCo Chief Executive Officer Dr Oladele Amoda listed the challenges and achievements of the company, including the huge debt of about N10.7 billion owed by customers, power theft and meter bypassing by customers, among others.

    He appealed to the Senators to make a law that would prescribe stringent punishment for offenders involved in vandalisation of equipment, theft and tampering with meters. He urged the lawmakers to include in the 2017 budget appropriation the debts owed by MDAs.

    Bruce said the visit became imperative because people were questioning the privatisation process; “some said it was a mistake to have privatised the sector and why there has not been improvement in power. The generation level has not changed from what it used to be before privatisation. So the committee had to go round privatised entities to know the problems.”

    The committee chair said it was inexplicable that power output had not improved since the sector was privatised three years ago.

    The Federal Government owes the sector N900 billion. Bruce said it would be extremely difficult for the Senate to approve N1 triilion for the government to pay for debts when there was no output to justify such payment.

    The Committee promised to meet other DisCos, Appropriation and Budget Committees as well as stakeholders to find lasting solutions to the problems.

    The committee said the Senate would, before the end of the year,  draft a law against power theft, vandalism of equipment and meter bypassing. It also pledged to appropriate the fund to pay the debts owed the power firms in the 2017 budget, and also meet with the Central Bank, DisCos and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to solve the problem of accessing foreign exchange by power companies.

  • Jakande seeks more funding for education

    Governments at all levels need to improve their spending on education if the country must attain development, Lagos State Governor in the Second Republic Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande said yesterday.

    He spoke at the Founders’ Day of Ilogbo Higher School, Ebute Metta.

    Jakande, who established the school and others in 1981 as governor, lamented that poor funding is the bane of the education sector.

    He explained that the falling standard of education is a serious concern to him because of his interest in education.

    The elder statesman urged the government to do more on education because no society could be better without quality education.

    Jakande hailed the alumni of Ilogbo High School for honouring him with an award as part of activities to mark the 35 years of the school’s existence.

    Ministry of Education District IV Tutor-General Mrs. Lola Are-Adegbite hailed the alumni association for contributing to the school’s growth.

    She called on old students of other schools to emulate the Ilogbo Higher School’s alumini because government alone could no longer fund education.

    The headteacher, Mrs. Bertrice Efole, hailed the old boys for remembering their source.

  • Ortom tasks BSU on funding

    Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, has tasked the management of the Benue State University (BSU) Makurdi to explore other ways of additional funding to help it meet the increasing challenge of running the institution in an era of dwindling state resources.

    Ortom who spoke at the second professional induction and admission ceremony for the 2016 medical graduands of the College of Health Sciences, Makurdi, said that though the government is committed to meeting all its obligations to the institution, the time had come to emulate the practice in developed countries.

    The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Benson Abounu, congratulated the college management and teachers for their commitment to excellence.

    He said that the graduands were lucky to have as teachers such a crop of highly skilled and experienced professionals and called on them to strive to excel in their practice.

    Earlier, the vice-chancellor, Prof. Msugh Kembe, thanked Ortom for the timely release of funds for the accreditation of programmes of the college, which led to the graduation of the medical students.

    He called for the release of overhead to the school as well as further financial assistance to help the college meet the requirements of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) for increase in the admission quota for medical students and other pressing needs of the university.

    Former Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, Dr. Matthias Oyigeya, who was guest speaker at the event called on the new doctors to keep to the ethics of the medical profession and avoid anything that would bring it into disrepute.

    Benue State chairman of the Nigeria Medical association (NMA), Dr. Obekpa Obekpa formally welcomed the graduands into the association and admonished them on good conduct and to patiently learn from senior members of the association.

  • NASU decries poor funding of public libraries

    The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational Institutions (NASU)  has warned that the decline in the funding of public libraries and the National Library of Nigeria is detrimental to the development of the educational sector.

    NASU made this observation at their regular meeting in Benin, the Edo State capital at the weekend. They decried the concession of e-libraries by some state governors to private operators, as against their administration by Library Boards.

    The group, in the resolutions jointly signed by the Deputy President, Adegoke Adeniyi, and  the Secretary, Damola Adelekun, noted with dismay the derelict state of public libraries due to paucity of funds.

    It, therefore, called on all tiers of government, philanthropists and organisations to devise a steady means of ensuring increased inflow of resources to the sector.

    The group said: “For the country to develop and for the present government’s clamour for eradication of illiteracy to materialise, proper attention must be given to the resuscitation of libraries in Nigeria.

    “The Council-in-Session, therefore, calls on all stakeholders to prioritise adequate funding of this important area of the educational sector and also implore the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) to intervene in funding public and national libraries as it does for public institutions’ libraries.”

    The union decried the low funding of examination bodies over the years.

    It warned that this may have adverse effects on examinations conducted by the bodies as well as on the training and creativity of the youth.

    It called on the federal and state governments to increase budgetary allocations to examination bodies, such as WAEC, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), National Examinations Council (NECO), and National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) to strengthen them and secure the future of the nation’s youths. The union lamented that, Nigeria has continued to remain under-developed in spite of being blessed with mineral resources, large area of arable land and rich cultural heritage due to corruption.

    Commending the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari onthe fight against corruption, the group advised that it should cut across board. “Moreover, the fight against corruption should cut across the three tiers of government”, it added.

    It also charged the government to publish the amount collected so far and the names of the looterss.

    The resolution stated further: “The Council-in-Session also canvassed for a living wage for civil servants in order to stamp out unofficial ways of supplementing their incomes and urged all Nigerians to join hands with the government to fight corruption.”

  • ‘Govt not interested in funding aircraft repair facility’

    Minister of State for  Aviation Hadi Sirika yesterday said the Federal Government was not interested in  financing the establishment of aircraft  Maintenance Repair Overhaul  (MRO) facility as a result of the current economic realities.

    He said government will rather be favourably disposed to creating a condusive environment for private sector investors interested in setting up such facilities.

    Sirika said such facilities have become imperative to create jobs for local aviation professionals as well as contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in addition to curbing capital flight.

    Represented by the Director of Operations, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Abdullahi  Sidi at the Aviation Round Table (ART) meeting in Lagos said the government will only provide conducive environment for the project to thrive.

    “Federal Government will not get involved in the setting up of MRO but will provide conducive environment for stakeholders to build MRO and thrive,” he said.

    In his presentation, the Chief Executive Officer of Bi- Courtney Aviation Services Limited , Capt  Jari Williams,  said Nigeria cannot have airlines without a maintenance base, adding that the biggest problem with setting up an MRO is lack of government policy.

    He said:  “Setting up an MRO require government incentives, tax waivers on  spare parts importation, low interest rates, free trade zones, pioneer status and security.”