The Nation Newspaper

Tag: GOVT

  • NLNG’s dividend to govt dips 50% on oil price, militancy

    NLNG’s dividend to govt dips 50% on oil price, militancy

    The financial performance of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited dipped last year on global low oil prices and heightened militant attacks in the Niger Delta.

    While the fomrer started since late 2014, militant attacks peaked early last year resulting in bombing of pipelines including a major gas supplier to NLNG.

    According to the 2017 facts and figures presented to reporters in Lagos yesterday by the management of NLNG led by the Managing Director, Mr. Tony Attah, the company dividend paid to the Federal Government from last year’s operations was $356.1million compared to $1.043billion in 2015, $1.390billion in 2014 and $2.769 billion in 2012.

    The various taxes paid by the firm also plunged. The company income tax (CIT) and education tax (ET) in 2016 dipped to $323.27million from $2.170billion in 2015 and $1.402billion in 2014. Also pay as you earn (PAYE) dropped to $31.322million in 2016 as against $42.842million in 2015 and $46.903million in 2014. However, value added tax (VAT) was higher last year at $24.598million compared to $20.156million in the previous year, $23.976million in 2014 and $165.483million in 2012.

    Attah said since the inception of the company, over $90billion has been generated as revenue, while $15 billion has been paid to the Federal Government as dividends. Also $5.5 billion has been paid to the government in taxes and $13billion for feed gas purchase.

    The NLNG chief said the firm is moving with its plan of developing Bonny – its host community – into Nigerian Dubai. The 25-year development master plan expects Bonny to become mini-Dubai by 2040. Accenture Group is doing the thinking with NLNG on how to actualise the goal, he said.

    Attah also reiterated the need for the National Assembly not to proceed with the proposed amendment of the NLNG Act. According to him, such a step will cost Nigeria a lot of investments and jeopardise future investments by NLNG including Trains 7 and 8 expected to bring $25billion investment, increase the firm’s capacity from 22 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 30mtpa, create 18,000 jobs and push up domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)  supply capacity from 250 tonnes to 1.0mtpa.

    Besides, he explained that the primary aim of the National Assembly to amend the NLNG Act, which was to compel the gas company to pay the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) levy, does apply because NLNG does not produce gas. It only buys gas just like a fertiliser or petrochemical company, he added.

    The NLNG management, it was learnt, has been meeting with the relevant committees of the National Assembly to explain these facts to them and also make them see the entire scenario from the same lens as the gas giant.

  • Expert advises govt, others on ‘affordable homes’

    The construction and mortgage sectors must collaborate more effectively to deliver affordable homes, an estate surveyor and valuer, Mr Emmanuel Okoli, has said.

    Okoli, the president of Osita Okoli and Company,  wants industry operatives to pledge their support for “Family Homes Fund,”  a newly-introduced private sector-driven financing solution to housing challenges by the Federal Government.

    It is aimed at financing mortgages for low-income earners under its social housing programme, by raising about N1trillion. The fund is aimed at delivering solutions to alleviate the country’s affordable housing crisis.

    “In the face of all the odds, there is need for industry professionals to strive to lend their expertise to the Family Homes Fund, or any other such innovative, so that as a united property industry, we can tap into these ground-breaking initiatives to put an end to rising homelessness in our country,” Okoli said.

    On the spate of construction mishaps in the country, he said enforcement of the revised National Building Code (NBC) imbued with specific punishment for culprits in case of collapsed building, was the only way out. Not punishing culprits involved in such incidents sends the wrong message to the public and the industry.

    For instance, Okoli regrets that two years after, nobody has been found culpable in the unfortunate incident of the collapse of the roof of the indoor hall of the sports complex of the U.J Esuene Stadium in Calabar, and also a church building which collapsed during a Sunday service in the same state.

    Stressing the need for a collective effort to ensure the implementation of the Code, which he believes will arrest the national embarassment often caused by the increasing cases of the built environment failures and the near dominance and take-over of the industry by quacks, Okoli warned that the consequences of an ineffective and non-operational NBC in social and economic terms are too monumental for any sane society to ignore.

    The NBC was published in 2006 to put a stop to the unpalatable trends in the building construction industry, eliminate or reduce to the barest minimum the growing incidences of collapsed building in the country, as well as promote safe, qualitative housing for every Nigeria

    In order to meet with new trends and innovations in the sector, the building code is expected to be reviewed every three years. But unfortunately, several efforts to revise it to meet new challenges had met a brick-wall until the recent efforts of the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.

    Okoli is also worried about the poor state of infrastructure in the country. To stem this trend, he wants a declaration of a state of emergency in the infrastructure sector and the establishment of an Infrastructure Development Fund (IDF). He said they were essential to get the country out of its huge infrastructure deficit.

    Although he noted that the country has completed the development of a National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP), its implementation will require tens of trillions of naira, making him to urge the National Assembly to pass appropriate legislation establishing the IDF and the implementation of the NIIMP.

    Seeking an amendment to the Company and Allied Matters Act that requires companies to contribute three to five per cent of their pre-tax profit to the IDF, Okoli described the infrastructural deficit as large and affecting every sector, adding that investments in the road sector alone requires at least the construction of 18,000 km of new roads annually for the next seven years.

    “Good infrastructure is critical to the overall development of the Nigerian economy, which in turn, impacts the standard of living of Nigerians. The government alone cannot fund the huge portfolio alone due to its limited financial resources and against the backdrop of current global financial tightening and increased competition for available infrastructure funds, so all hands must be on deck to achieve it,” Okoli submitted.

  • Textile workers appeal to govt to reopen moribund factories

    Textile workers appeal to govt to reopen moribund factories

    The Nigeria Union of Textile Garment Workers (NUTGW) has appealed to the Kaduna State Government to ensure the reopening of shut textile industries and payment of workers’ gratuity.

    Its Deputy Secretary-General   Comrade Dele Ojo, urged the government  to reopen the  factories in the interest of the people.

    He said: “People are suffering; those displaced when the factories were closed are still in trouble. Even though we do not have the statistics as to how many have lost their lives, we know the situation is such that everybody is concerned about the welfare of the people that were displaced as a result of the closure.”

    Ojo said the union was always in touch with workers of the closed textile factories with a view to finding solutions to their plight.

    “The union has been doing a lot in terms of advocacy to draw government’s attention to the plight of the industry and our campaign has made it possible for UNTPL to be reopened because of the provisions of the Bank of Industry (BoI) with a current work force of about 1,500,” he said.

    On Kaduna Textiles Limited (KTL), he said: “We were told recently that the management has been able to woo some investors from Turkey, who were interested in making military uniforms. We were told that they have gotten to the stage where investors have shown interest and that they only needed the cooperation of the Ministries of Defence and Interior to give them the go ahead so that they can float a garment factory there.”

    Ojo noted that these were reassuring information, which the union believed would help it get those factories to reopen. He said if this happened, some of the workers would be re-engaged and the issue of payment of their entitlement may also come to bear.

    On FINETEX and NOTEX, Ojo said there was an erroneous belief that their gratuity had not been paid, but because of all the union’s efforts, it was able to convince the chairman of the company, Alhaji Dantata, who made available about N250million for the workers’ gratuity.

    He said this has been paid to the workers. “It is not fair for anyone to claim that NOTEX and FINETEX gratuity had not been paid because it has been addressed,” Ojo clarified.

    On Arewa Textile, he said, “The major problem they have was with Union Bank. We were told that the bank has recovered so much from Arewa Textiles in terms of the debt owed them and we were thinking that the bank would be sympathetic to the workers in carrying out the burden of gratuity for the workers.”

  • Govt owes multinationals $10b in crude oil over-lift

    Govt owes multinationals $10b in crude oil over-lift

    • ‘Debt major investment disincentive’

    The Federal Government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is owing International Oil Companies (IOCs) about $10 billion in unpaid crude oil over-lift bills, The Nation has learnt.

    The huge debts build-up in the last few years, were as a result of  over-lifting of crude oil due to the government as royalty from the oil fields. It was learnt that the NNPC that superintends government’s interests in these oil acreages, often comes to these facilities with vessels to lift crude with a promise to reconcile the transactions with the operating companies, but in most cases, it never did.

    A source who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the oil majors in Nigeria have been battling this problem over the years, saying the worrisome aspect of the issue is that the crude oil being lifted comes from oil fields developed under the Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) arrangement.

    Under this arrangement, the oil firms bear the total risk of exploration and development. When the field begins production the oil firm, depending on agreed terms, pays royalty to the government with oil. The royalty oil is the quantum of oil allocated to the NNPC that will generate proceeds equal to the actual royalty payable each month and the concession rent payable each year.

    The source stated that in the PSC arrangement, government and operating companies committed to settling any issue that may arise through an arbitration panel where three lawyers would be present each representing the government or NNPC, the oil firm and, the remaining, an independent lawyer.

    He said the government always abandons the decision of the arbitration panel and goes to a local high court to get judgment in its favour. “This is bare-faced bullying. How can the government flagrantly disregard contractual agreements, send a vessel to lift oil without considering the operator of the asset. They (government) will ask you to go to arbitration and will refuse to abide by the judgment of the arbitration panel.

    “This attitude of the government is a major disincentive to investment in the oil and gas industry. Imagine where a company sources funds, takes the entire risk of exploration and if eventually oil is found, takes the entire risk of developing the field in challenging environments such as deepwater. This happens only in this country and I must let you know it is a major constraint to attracting global investible funds into this country.

    “We all know other existing challenges in operating in this environment such as militancy, joint venture funding issues and the current state of the global oil industry. We hope this administration will address this issue of crude over-lift, among other problems,” the source said.

    When The Nation contacted the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, for comments, he said the issue was channelled to the appropriate department of NNPC for response and the division said it is untrue. He said: “The appropriate unit said it is not true.”

  • Govt to appeal lost graft cases

    Govt to appeal lost graft cases

    •Onnoghen: no steam lost

    The setback suffered by the Federal Government in the prosecution of anti-corruption cases at the high court is temporary, Minister of Information, Culture & Toursim Lai Muhammed said yesterday.
    He urged Nigerians not to be discouraged by the negative outcome of corruption cases, promising that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration will carry on with the anti-graft war.
    The fight, he said, should not been seen as Buhari’s but Nigeria’s push for socio-economic freedom.
    In a statement in Abuja yesterday, Mohammed said the government had appealed against all the negative judicial decisions, and will vigorously canvass its case at the Court of Appeal.
    Besides, the minister disclosed that the government was reviewing the various rulings “to determine whether there were errors on our part or whether the government is the victim of mischief”.
    According to him, no setback will discourage the government from pushing the anti-graft battle.
    He said: “The war against corruption is going to be long, tough and arduous, but this administration is equipped, physically, mentally and intellectually, for the long haul.
    “We must win this war because the law is on our side, the people are on our side and God is on our side. This is only the beginning. So, any setback will not deter or discourage us.”
    Mohammed urged Nigerians to continue to identify with what he described as a “titanic struggle”, noting: “This is not Buhari’s war. It is Nigeria’s war of liberation from poverty, misery, sickness and wretchedness.”
    Nigeria, Mohammed said, cannot afford unnecessary technicalities as far as the war against corruption is concerned, especially because of the adverse and devastating consequences of corruption on the polity.
    He said: “‘Nigerians will appreciate more the grave and dire consequences of corruption when they consider that the $9.2 million found in a village house in Southern Kaduna can finance the construction of one health centre in each of the 774 local governments in Nigeria and fund them for one year.
    “Against this background, one can therefore imagine what Nigeria could have achieved with the $20 billion that was estimated to have been looted in the last three years of the immediate past administration, either in the areas of job creation or infrastructural development.
    “The government is therefore more determined than ever to recover as much of this plundered funds as possible and use them to put our youths back to work, fix our roads and other infrastructure, equip our hospitals and universities and invest in electricity in order to bring our industries back to life and bring back some level of comfort to our homes and offices.”

  • Govt to establish chamber of commerce for Niger Delta youths

    Govt to establish chamber of commerce for Niger Delta youths

    •Buhari ‘ll sustain anti-graft fight, says Osinbajo

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday said the Federal Government will establish a chamber of commerce for Niger Delta youths.
    He spoke at a meeting with a delegation of Niger Delta Expatriate Mentorship Committee, an initiative led by the Minister of Niger Delta, Mr. Uguru Usani Uguru, in his office.
    Osinbajo restated that the Federal Government was keen in its desire to support the establishment of a chamber of commerce for young people in the Niger Delta region to drive creativity and entrepreneurship.
    The Vice President hailed the initiative and noted that the expatriate mentorship scheme, which is in partnership with UNESCO, aligns with the commitment of the Buhari Presidency for the region and was capable of catalysing development in the region.
    He observed that the international mentorship/internship would expose beneficiaries to international standard, best business practice and technology.
    The leader of the organisation and Chief Mentorship Officer, Mr. Chika Olejeme, said under the National Expatriate Mentorship Strategy, selected youths would be sent abroad for international mentorship and internship.
    Thirty countries in Europe and the United States of America have already signed up to the programme.
    Speaking at another meeting with a delegation of the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers at the the State House, Abuja, Osinbajo said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was committed to sustaining the anti-corruption fight.
    He also said the government would ensure that the system was cleaned up and government business was done the right way.
    In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo said: “If we are not able to sustain the trouble against corruption, we will end up in a very, very bad way as a nation.”
    The Vice President noted that the Defence contract of $15 billion, which was frittered away by a few people, was half of the country’s foreign reserves.
    Stressing that the fight against corruption is a difficult fight, he said: “We have seen it in so many different ways that at almost every state, corruption fights back and fights very fiercely.”
    “We should be able to examine our priorities because for us corruption is not a moral issue, it is an existential issue. To a large extent it will determine whether we will survive as a corporate whole because of the way people feel that when I get into an office I will go after the resources of the state, and I will go after it in the most vicious and the most reckless manner that is possible.”
    In response to the malaise of corruption, he said the intellectual elites, whether religious, political or academic, must stand up for what is right.
    The leader of the association, Prof. Godwin Nwabueze Okeke, hailed the Vice President for being available for the visit and urged him to declare open the forthcoming 50th Conference of the Association at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka in June, 2017.
    He said the association was solidly in support of the Federal Government and was ready to assist in whichever way needed.

  • Govt okays $1.3b loans for DBN

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved credit facilities of $1.3 billion to support the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN).

    The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun made this known at the end of the FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    She said the DBN has got $1.28 billion loans from some development partners, but the approval of the National Assembly is required to access the loans.

    The loans will be used to finance the many Micro-Small and Medium Enterpreneurs (MSME) in the country.

    She said: “The other memo was an approval for credit facilities totaling $1.3 billion to support the DBN. As you know the DBN recently received its licence and is been funded by some long term loans from some of our development partners.

    “So the World Bank had given us $500 million repayable over 21 years and all of this is at concessional rate. The African Development Bank (AfDB) are giving us $450 million and KFW are giving us $200 million and the French Development Agency are giving us $130 million.

    “To access this money, we are ready to disburse but there were two requirements that we need to make and one of them is the legal opinion by the Attorney General of the Federation and the other is the National Assembly’s approval.

    “Before it goes to the National Assembly, it needs to be approved by FEC and the FEC simply approved today so that these loan requests should go to the National Assembly for approval. So we can access this money and the DBN can take off fully as it is expected to transform financing to our MSME sector.

    “The Council enthusiastically approved these facilities which are long tenor meaning that the DBN will be able to lend to our MSMEs over much longer periods and at much lower rates. So the impact on the SMEs will be quite considerable.”

    On the fear that the loans will add to the rising debt profile of the country, she said  focus should be placed on the uses the loans will be put and not on debt profile.

  • Govt under-exploring solid minerals sector, says don

    The Federal Government is yet to fully explore opportunities in the non-oil sectors, especially solid minerals, the former Chairman, Metallurgical Society of Nigeria, Prof John Ade Ajayi, has said.

    In a telephone interview, he said the sector was abandoned for crude oil exploration, adding that it provides more than 70 per cent of the government’s foreign earnings.

    One of the policies of the Federal Government is to diversify the economy. Ajayi said diversification would be incomplete until the government explored solid minerals and other sectors.

    He said minerals, such as iron ore, diamond, marble, and gold have value, which when properly utilised, would bring about economic growth.

    Ajayi said metallic objects could be extracted from iron for the use of automobile industry while marble could be made into tiles and other products. Gold and diamond can be used for ornaments and others.

    He said solid minerals are either available on the surface or below the surface of the earth, advising government to explore the resources to an advantage.

    Ajayi said: “Just as petrol, kerosene, diesel, methanol, plastic and other petrochemical products are extracted from crude oil processing, metals, tiles and other valuable products can be derived from solid minerals, once the government and other stakeholders are ready to do so. These materials are used by automobile, real and other sectors of the economy. To boost the operation of automobile and other sectors, the government must make use of its solid minerals.

    “Any attempt by the government to give priority to exploration of solid minerals would put the economy on the path of growth.’’

    He said the process of converting solid minerals into finished products, begin with the discovery, exploration, movement of the solid minerals to the specified production centres, extraction of useful materials from the solid minerals, refining and turning them into final products.

    He said the process has long-term benefits on the country when it is completed. Solid minerals, according to him, would help in boosting the government’s earnings, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment opportunities, and raising the standard of living of people once they are well explored.

    He said developed economies, such as the United States, Britain, and Japan leverage solid minerals to drive key sectors of their economies, urging the Federal Government to follow similar path.

    Ajayi, a lecturer in the Department of Metallurgical and Material Engineering, Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), said mining should be done professionally to enable government aggregate its potential.

    He decried mining by quacks, adding that the issue made the sector less competitive.

    It would be recalled that the Federal Government last year provided a roadmap to accelerate the growth of the solid minerals and allied sector. Through it, the government plans to regulate the sector, monitor operators to ensure compliance and reposition it for growth.

    The Mines and Steel Minister, Dr Kayode Fayemi, said the government was interested in making the sector viable such that it would contribute to economic growth.

  • Govt restates commitment to infrastructural devt, others

    Renewed hope has come for the rehabilitation, reconstruction and completion of the Apapa Truck Park, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Tin Can Island /Oworonshoki Expressway, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has said.

    Others are Wharf Road and the Mosimi/Sagamu Road in Ogun State. The roads are receiving attention, he said.

    Fashola assured that the Federal Government was committed to completing road projects across the country.

    He spoke during an inspection tour of road projects in Lagos State at the weekend.

    He said the ongoing projects across the country were to develop infrastructure to improve commerce and bring the nation out of recession, in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision.

    “We have to fulfil Mr. President’s mandate to get this economy out of recession and set it on the path of inclusive growth where money trickles down to the most vulnerable people,” he said.

    The minister said that the infrastructural renewal commitment of the Federal Government was giving opportunity to various artisans and other construction professionals job opportunities. He said government would back up training of artisans with an economic programme.

    “There must be an economic programme and that programme is the infrastructural renewal that puts everybody to work- from the architects to those who really build,” he said.

    Answering questions from reporters, he condemned the theft of manhole covers on Eko Bridge and urged residents of the state to take ownership of the manhole covers to prevent their theft.

    Inspecting the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the minister said government would continue to disburse funds to ensure contractors continued with the work.

    At the Port Access Link Road project in Apapa, Executive Director, Borini Prono, (contractor handling the project), Mr Paolo Prono, said the firm needed additional one month to complete the sanitary plant building on the site.

  • Ogun NLC chair sues govt

    The Ogun State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Akeem Ambali, has sued the government at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria(NICN) sitting in Lagos, for sacking him.

    Ambali is praying the court to declare his dismissal unconstitutional and illegal.

    The defendants are Local Government Service Commission, Civil Service Commission and Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.

    The embattled NLC boss was sacked in November, following allegation of portraying the government in bad light during the 2016 World Teachers Day celebration.

    Until his dismissal, Ambali was Deputy Director, Social Welfare, at Sagamu Local Government Council.

    Justice K.I Amadi adjourned till June 28 and 29 for hearing.

    When the matter came up for mentioning before Justice K. I Amadi of Court 6, lead counsel to the claimant, Femi Falana, was represented by Ahmed Gbadamosi. A. O Ajidele, a Deputy Director, Civil Education, Ministry of Justice appeared for the defendants.

    Ajidele prayed for more time to file court processes in response to the suit.

    Justice Amadi adjourned till June 28 and 29 for hearing.