The Nation Newspaper

Tag: generates

  • Immigration generates N24 billion in 10 months

    Immigration generates N24 billion in 10 months

    • Interior Minister says only 48 Nigerians were repatriated from UK

    The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has generated N24.3 billion between January and October this year from the issuance of passports and visas, it was learnt yesterday.

    Comptroller General (CG) of NIS, Martin Kure Abeshi, disclosed this in Abuja while briefing the Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, on the activities and operations of the service.

    Giving the breakdown of the revenue, Abeshi said: “A total of N19, 465, 171, 293. 57 was generated locally while N4, 857, 516, 293 ($24, 657, 443) was generated collectively abroad as revenue generated between January 1st 2015 and October 31st 2015.

    “The NIS currently has a total of 29 ongoing projects, including construction of state command headquarters, divisional officers, border control post, Armory and other facilities spread across our formations.”

    On the challenges facing the NIS, Abeshi expressed sadness over poor funding, especially for capital projects, construction of border control plazas and automation of control posts.

    He added: “Over the years, the NIS has also been contending with inadequate manpower for effective manning of formations and platforms nationwide, lack of adequate officers’ accommodation and basic facilities for border patrol officers, flagrant violation of ECOWAS protocol on free movement of persons by ECOWAS nationals

    “Improper delineation of borderline encourages unfriendly disposition of border communities to border enforcement officers.”

    Abeshi recommended to government the recruitment of “at least 5000 new officers and men annually into the service for the next five years to ameliorate our perennial challenges of inadequate manpower.”

    Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, warned the officers and men of the NIS to take the issue of border patrol seriously to avoid further smuggling of arms and ammunition into the country.

    He also advised them to shun corruption, adding that the government of President Muhhammadu Buhari would not spare anyone caught involved in corrupt practices.

    On the issue of the repatriated Nigerians from the United Kingdom (UK), the minister cleared the air, saying that only 48 Nigerians were repatriated.

    His words: “I got to read about these issues of repatriated Nigerians from the UK last Wednesday. Immediately I saw that, I alerted the Controller General of Immigration because I had to find out the fact of the report.

    “And from my investigation so far, they are about 48 Nigerians that were repatriated. I understand that this issue has been on in the last 18 months. It is not a new issue and I understand that the British government and Nigeria through the Foreign Affairs high commission and of course the Immigration have been in contact on this matter for some time, to the extent that the Immigration sent some of its officers to UK on this issue.

    “But I have asked the Comptroller General of immigration this afternoon to give me detailed report.

    “The reason for the repatriation, from the brief we got from the airport, is that any expatriate who overstays, he or she pays a fine.

    “I raised an observation myself that I think they should look at the issue again. Somebody can come here and he overstays for three months and within those three months you could do all kinds of things.

    “It may be legal or not, but he gets the most out of it. When he comes to the airport, he can pay the fine.

    “Inasmuch as we would want to encourage people to come here, moving in and out of the country should not be accompanied by unnecessary hardship.

    “And as much as possible too, we want a situation whereby the rules and regulations are adhered to. Our security is a priority.”

  • Abeshi: Immigration generates over N24b in 10 months

    The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) generated N24, 322, 687, 586. 57 between January 1 and October 31, 2015 from the issuance of passports and visas within Nigeria and abroad, it was learnt yesterday.

    Comptroller General (CG) of the NIS, Martin Kure Abeshi disclosed this in Abuja while briefing Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau on the activities and operations of the service.

    Giving the breakdown of the generated revenue, Abeshi said: “A total of N19, 465, 171, 293. 57 was generated locally while N4, 857, 516, 293 ($24, 657, 443, 11) was generated collectively abroad as revenue generated between January 1, 2015 and October 31, 2015.

    “The NIS currently has a total of 29 ongoing projects, including construction of state command headquarters, divisional offices, border control post, armoury and other facilities spread across our formations.”

    On the challenges facing NIS, Abeshi expressed sadness on poor funding, especially with capital projects involving construction of border control plazas and automation of control posts. “Over the years, the NIS has also been contending with inadequate manpower for effective manning of formations and platforms nationwide, lack of adequate office accommodation and basic facilities for border patrol officers, flagrant violation of ECOWAS protocol on free movement of persons by ECOWAS nationals.

    “Improper delineation of borderline encourages unfriendly disposition of border communities to border enforcement officers.”

    Abeshi recommended to government the recruitment of at least “5,000 new officers and men annually into the service for the next five years to ameliorate our perennial challenges of inadequate manpower”.

    Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (Rtd) warned the officers and men of the NIS to take border patrol serious and avoid further smuggling of arms and ammunitions into the country.

    He also advised them to shun corruption, adding that the government of President Muhhammadu Buhari would not spare anyone involved in corrupt practices.

    On Nigerians repatriated from the United Kingdom (UK), the minister cleared the air on the 48 Nigerians repatriated.

    He said: “I got to read about the issue of repatriated Nigerians from the UK last Wednesday, so immediately I saw that, I alerted the Comptroller General of Immigration because I have to find out the fact of the report.

  • Egbin generates over 1000Mw

    Egbin generates over 1000Mw

    For the first time since inception, Nigeria’s largest generation plant, Egbin Power Plc has consistently generated above 1000 megawatts (MW) due to continued investment and upgrade activities on the plant by the Sahara Power Group and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).

    Eight years ago, the plant hit the 1000MW mark for about two hours and never attained it again until now. Prior to the privatisation of the plant in November 2013, the average generation was below 500MW as a result of poor state of its six turbines. At some point, only two of the six units were operational.

    The Chairman, Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Kola Adesina said the feat signposts the unfolding success of the privatisation process and power sector reform in Nigeria. He attributed the achievement partly to the direct intervention of the Federal Government in its determination to resolve the power crisis, which has resulted in recent improvement in gas supply. “This is driving the increase in power supply in the nation, boosting socio-economic development. Prior to this, we had invested heavily and had the plant ready to generate power at full capacity but there was no gas to do so. This is indeed a good development for the power sector in Nigeria,” he said. He commended the government for the recent intervention in the gas situation that has impacted power generation positively, and called for more dynamic policies and incentives for sustainable gas supply across the nation.

    The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Dallas Peavey said the transformation in Egbin commenced following its acquisition by Kepco Energy Resource Limited (KERL), in collaboration with its technical partners, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).

    He said: “Through the injection of close to N50 billion in new capital into Egbin post-privatisation, the Sahara Power/KEPCO partnership has brought to the power plant an unprecedented level of innovativeness, professionalism, human capital development and continuing investment in new technology. The control room panels, installed at the plant’s inception have been removed and upgraded to state of the art digital panels. The highlight of the main plant rehabilitation occurred in the first quarter of 2015, when the company successfully rehabilitated steam turbine (ST) Unit 6 bringing an additional 220mw to the national grid and restoring the power plant to its installed capacity of 1320mw,” he said.

  • ‘Lagos generates 11,000 metric tonnes of waste daily’

    ‘Lagos generates 11,000 metric tonnes of waste daily’

    Managing Director, Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) Managing Director Mr Ola Oresanya yesterday said the state generates 11,000 metric tonnes of waste daily.

    He said on the average, each resident produces 0.65kg of waste, but the state recycles most of it to help preserve the environment.

    Oresanya spoke at a colloquium to mark the 2015 Earth Day where experts suggested ways to halt the deterioration of the environment and minimise the effects of polluting factories, power plants, raw sewage and toxic dumps.

    Organised by the Kuramo Conferences and the Resource Innovation and Solutions Network Nigeria (RISSN), initiators of the Sustainability School Lagos, the theme was: “Solutions for a sustainable future.”

    Oresanya said Lagos has partnered with a technology company, Ericsson, to recycle electronic waste, such as those from the Computer Village.

    According to him, better data management would aid development plans, saying: “Lack of data has been a bane of development in Nigeria.”

    Lafarge WAPCO, Chairman Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, who chaired the event, urged the Federal Government to pay more attention to recycling systems, waste water treatment, solid waste management especially in a populated city such as Lagos.

    He said: “The local sustainability agenda therefore relies heavily on inter-agency resources, making public-private partnerships a major critical success factor for sustainable development.

    “Adopting multi-level collaborative approach in order to deliver sustainable solutions for the growing waste and other resource challenges in Lagos and Nigeria is the only way we can protect the investment climate and ensure sustainability of businesses for the 21st century and beyond.”

    A German chemist and toxologist, Dr Beate Kummer said the government should pay more attention to the importation of what she described as end-of-life vehicles listed for recycling in some European countries.

  • NLNG generates over $10b revenue

    NLNG generates over $10b revenue

    The Managing Director, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Mr Babs Omotowa, has said  the company generated more than $10 billion (about N2 trillion) revenue last year.

    He said company’s gas export in 2013 generated more than $8 billion (N1.6 trillion), while about $1.3 billion (N260 billion) was paid into government coffers as tax.

    Omotowa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)  yesterday in Lagos that the company’s emphasis was geared toward sustainable maximisation of natural gas and increased revenue.

    He said: “About 75 per cent of what we are producing is what we were flaring in the past. Now, the NLNG has been able to change this flaring to revenue for the country.

    “We have ordered new six ships to be constructed by Samsung and Hyundai Engineering companies to the tune of $1.2 billion  (N240billion) in 2013 and we are expecting its delivery this year.

    “These ships will be deployed in our business in delivering LNG cargoes to consumers around the world.”

    He also said the development would create about 18,000 new employments and shore up the company’s tax remittance by 40 per cent.

    On the scarcity of cooking gas, Omotowa said that more was being done to force down the price of cooking gas in the country.

    “It is sometimes easy to forget the fact that there was a times in Nigeria when cooking gas was almost like a luxury because of its high price of about N7,500 per 12.5kg cylinder. Now NLNG is changing that narrative,” he said.

  • Customs generates N909.9m

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Seme Command generated N909.9 million last month.

    Its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Ernest Olottah, told The Nation that the amount was 13.92 per cent higher than the N783.2 million collected in the corresponding period in 2014.

    “In the month of January, we generated so much because trading activities were high since it is the beginning of the year.

    “As the year goes on, our revenue generation would get higher and we will definitely be able to surpass our monthly target of N1.1 billion,” he said.

    Olottah said the command generated N9.6 billion in 2014, adding that the figure was 3.4 billion less than the N13 billion target for the year.

    He assured that the command would surpass the N13 billion target set for it this year.

    He said the command made 52 seizures with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) N14.5 million.

    “The items that were seized included cars, hard drugs, rice, vegetable oil, paints, second hand clothes, frozen poultry products and general goods.

    The image maker urged Nigerians to desist from smuggling due to its adverse effect on the economy.

    “Smuggling isn’t good for the economy, so we must work together to save our economy and embrace legitimate trade.

    “In the course of importing and exporting any products, protocol must be observed by paying levies and duties to the Nigeria Customs Service as required by the law,” Olottah said.

     

  • PenCom generates over N4.6tr CPS

    PenCom generates over N4.6tr CPS

    The National Pension Commission (PenCom) said it has generated over N4.6 trillion in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) since inception in 2004.

    Speaking at the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on the 2014 Pension Reform Act (PRA), with the theme “New Pension Act 2014, its Implications and Obligations to both Employers and Employees in Nigeria”, organised in collaboration with Lagos Council of Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC), the Director General (DG) of PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, said the coverage of the CPS included employees in the public service of the Federal, States and Local Governments as well as the private sector organisations with three or more employees.

    Represented by the commission’s Head of Compliance and Enforcement Department, Mr. Mohammed Bello Umar, the PenCom boss recalled that the pension reform started in 2004 with the passage of PRA 2004, which provided for a uniform pension system for both public and private sectors. She said the CPS has been successfully implemented since then and the fund under management has grown to about N4.6 trillion while membership is over six million.

    The DG explained that the coverage of the CPS include employees in the public service of the three tiers of government as well as private sector organisations with three or more employees. The PRA 2014, she added, strengthened the powers of the commission to perform its mandate of regulation and supervision of all pension matters, stating that it would further protect and create value for the contributor.

    She said: “Following the successful passage of the PRA 2014, PenCom is working towards significantly increasing the membership of CPS by expanding the coverage to include the informal sector as well as ensuring that the pension assets are invested in ways that are most beneficial to the economy.”

    Earlier in his opening address, Chairman of Lagos State Council of NLC, Mr. Idowu Adelekan, called on the Lagos State Government to pay greater attention to the plight of pensioners who retired from local governments, parastatals, etc whose gratuity and arrears of increment in pension since 2006, had not been paid till date.

    “We have appealed to the state government before now to always put our senior citizens who had dutifully served the state in the fore front and provide for them a happy retirement life. But as we speak, nothing meaningful has changed in the state as far as pension payment is concerned,” he said.

    Mr. Adelekan also expressed the state NLC’s displeasure in the way and manner the state government set up Pension Board with the exclusion of the NLC in Lagos State, lamenting that this is contrary to what is applicable in other states. He however, noted that the workshop was to enlighten the workers in Lagos with the new PRA 2014 and the changes it has brought.

    “The old Act says both the employers and the employees would contribute 7.5 per cent a piece to make it 15 per cent, but in the new Act, the employees now contribute eight per cent and the employers 10 per cent. It is already in operation at the federal level and we want our members at the state to know it, so that workers in the state would not be short-changed,” he explained.

  • Lagos generates N8.4b from land transactions

    Lagos generates N8.4b from land transactions

    Lagos State Government said it generated about N8.4billion from land transactions across the state in the last one year.

    Permanent Secretary, Lands Bureau, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola who disclosed this at a press conference yesterday said this was a shortfall from the N10.28billion recorded in the previous year.

    He blamed the situation on the global financial and economic recessions and constraint of limited availability of Land resources for sale to the public.

    Muri-Okunola explained that before now, money is collected on site and capital contribution paid before selling to the interested person, adding that the new process aimed at reducing the bottlenecks of land purchase has its own attendant consequences.

    He said the government also paid the sum of N1.63 billion as compensation to those whose land were acquired and revoked for over-riding public interest.

    He such projects includes construction of Itire/Okota link bridge and road networks, Agbowa housing scheme, Odo Onasa/Odo Onadele in Epe Local Government Area.

    He said compensation will also be paid to those affected by Lekki/Epe airport project, Toga Zamu community Badagry, establishment of forensic lab in Gayinbo Badagry, Lekki Free trade zone parcel B, Epe and the relocation of Tejuosho plantain seller.

    Muri-Okunola also informed that with the introduction of electronic data management system has reduced the stress of manual operations in conducting searches and archiving titled documents.

    He added about N1billion was generated from the Electronic Data Management Systems (EDMS) activities in the year under review.

    “One of the functions of the Lands Bureau is to provide land for individuals and corporate entities for the execution of projects that will impact on the society. The land Bureau allocated a parcel of land measuring 2,700 hectares to the Dangote Group for the construction of a petroleum refinery.”

    He raised alarm over the increasing rate of encroachment on government land, while urging the members of the public to be weary of the fraudulent acts by individuals’ families and communities that engage in indiscriminate sale of government acquired land.

    “Members of the public are also advice to conduct proper chartings and verifications on properties before effecting payments for land. In addition, land speculators and land grabbers are advised to desist from selling lands that fall under government acquisition or scheme”, Okunola urged.

     

  • Customs generates N85b

    Customs generates N85b

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) says  it generated N85billion in December last year, after it took over the Destination Inspection (DI) scheme from the former service providers at the ports.

    Its spokeman, Wale Adeniyi said the NCS generated N70 billion in the month of November before it took over the scheme.

    As part of efforts to position its officials towards facilitating trade, the NCS said it has come up with different initiatives such as the Single Window project, the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), information technology (IT)-based services and  computerisation  of its operations among others.

    Adeniyi who spoke during an enlightenment campaign in Lagos yesterday, said with the introduction  PAAR,  Customs has shown its readiness to improve the trade environment and reduce transactions cost between importers and the government beyond what the service providers were doing under the Risk Assessment Report (RAR).

    Its decision  to introduce the PAAR  on all goods coming to the country, he said, is to reduce human contact and facilitate trade at the ports.

    Adeniyi  however, urged importers to improve their compliance level to reduce cargo dwell time in transactions and quick release of their consignments from the ports.

    Payment for Customs duty, reconciliation and release of cargoes from ports,  Adeniyi said, can now be done electronically by all importers from the comfort of their offices.

  • Customs generates N151.02b in eight months

    Customs generates N151.02b in eight months

    The Nigeria Customs Service, Tin Can Island Port, Lagos recorded significant revenue for the Federal Government in the first eight months of the year (January-August).

    The Customs Area Comptroller of Tin Can Island Port, Zakari Jibrin, told reporters during a news briefing that the Tin Can Customs generated N151,020,258,220.00 at the end of last month, an increase of N11,617,002,182.00 over N139,403,256,038.000 generated between January and August.

    A breakdown of the revenue shows that N16,343,958,630.00 was made in January, while in February and March N16,273,205,622.00 and N17,560,472,142.00 were generated.

    In April, May and June, the command made N19,184,570,458.00, N19,904,250,113.00 and N17637,678,159.00, while in July and August, it raked in N20,433,467,818.00 and N23,682,655,278.00.

    Jibrin also said within the period, goods worth N481,356,000.00 were seized. The seizures include 92 containers of 40 feet size, 47 containers of 20 feet size and three unpacked vehicles as well as 17 other items.

    He said the seized items include tissue paper, furniture, soaps, vegetable oil, soft drinks, used cloths and generators.

    Others are used tyres, lace materials, television stand, automotive batteries, mosquito coil, expired frozen fish, used shoes, glass, television sets, printed wax, cartons of whisky, bales of second-hand clothing and bags of basmati rice, among others.

    Jibrin said: “In line with the Comptroller-General Nigeria Customs Service Abdullahi Dikko’s directive, we invited you as our partners in progress to take stock of our performance in the period under review. Available records show that the command has performed well in all spheres of our statutory responsibilities.

    “On revenue generation, we have succeeded in sustaining our unprecedented revenue profile since I assumed office as the Area Comptroller. We are making efforts to re-orientate officers and stakeholders on the importance of integrity.

    “Ours can be said to be an integrity-driven administration, which is yielding positive results as can be seen in the records of our performance.”