The Nation Newspaper

Tag: GOVT

  • Govt urged to target lower farm produce contamination

    A former Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin, Prof Abiodun Adeloye, has urged the government to cut the contamination rate of plant-origin products.           Adeloye said improved agro produce safety would  help to prevent large-scale outbreaks of food-borne illness and reduce rejection of exports to Europe and the United States (U.S).

    Calling for better oversight on the farms, the expert stressed that it was time farmers and food manufacturers followed good safety practices, and greater focus made on prevention in the production process.

    He urged the government to encourage food production businesses to meet international standards on food safety and hygiene such as International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP).

    Meeting these standards, which take into account criteria such as proper equipment and human resources, he said, would not only increase businesses’ prestige and competitiveness, but help protect consumers’ health.

    Currently, he noted that there was concern about antibiotic residues left behind in meat and consumed by people and pesticides found on agro  exports that were rejected on arrival at their destinations.

    He said the use of antibiotics and chemicals by farmers should be controlled to safeguard human health.

    He urged government agencies to increase inspections, quarantines and test more samples of produce both domestic and foreign.

    He asked relevant agencies to implement measures to ensure food safety and hygiene, tracing the origin of foods of all kinds and focusing on essential farm produce.

  • ‘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.”

  • Govt plans automation of insurance premium

    Govt plans automation of insurance premium

    If plans by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, to deplore the use of technology to monitor vehicles in the country succeeds, motorist will be automatically charged insurance premium for third party motor policy, The Nation has learnt.

    Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mohammed Kari, told a gathering of insurers, brokers and agents in Abuja that the minister plans to constitute a body comprising the Commission, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service to checkmate and control motorists’ activities.

    According to him, the minister believes in the power of technology and has asked that it be fully deployed to increase premium income in the industry.

    She hopes that more tax will be earned because a proper record of vehicles in the country would be ascertained.

    He said: “The minister has said she is constituting a body which will comprise of NAICOM, Federal Road Safety, Federal Inland Revenue and the Customs. By using the Bank Verification Number (BVN) technology, all vehicles in Nigeria will be registered to an individual.

    “She also believes that the tax money will help people know how to avoid use of 10 cars or whether they pay their taxes. Insurance will automatically be charged on vehicles because it will be identified by a number like the BVN. The motorist will automatically get a notice. Technology will assist us in all of these plans.”

    Kari further stated that NAICOM on its part, beyond providing leadership and a sane regulatory environment for insurance entities to operate, has continually introduced market developmental programmes and initiatives aimed at increasing penetration and assisting insurance institutions enhance their premium revenue generation and, by so doing, increase the industry contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    “In 2009, the Commission launched the  Market Development and Restructuring Initiatives (MDRI) programme. This is a medium term industry development plan designed by the Commission with focus on the enforcement of compulsory insurance products, increase insurance awareness, reduction in incidences of fake insures/insurances and increase agency reform.

    “This initiative was successfully launched in the six geo-political  zones and Abuja. The Commission also followed up with massive awareness campaign, roadshows and seminars again in all the zones of the country. These efforts were geared towards making the insurance institutions richer and better.

    “The Commission has also recently embarked on the sensitization of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government on the compelling need for adequate insurance of their assets. We have equally canvassed the engagement of insurance professionals to handle their insurances to ensure they procure proper insurance policies,” he added.

  • Govt still misdiagnosing militancy

    Govt still misdiagnosing militancy

    DURING his recent visit to Port Harcourt to inaugurate the newly built ultra-modern 2 Brigade, Nigerian Army Headquarters complex and an Olympic-size swimming pool, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Tukur Buratai, declared that if talks failed, the army would be ready to attack militants in the Niger Delta. Said he: “Government is still committed to dialogue, and whereby this cannot go on, then, we could resort to other means. The non-kinetic (force) means have always been the first before government can resort to the kinetic means. So, there is need for the Niger Delta Avengers to see reason and dialogue with government.” His statement is a reflection of the sentiment also expressed by President Muhammadu Buhari himself.
    The problem, sadly, is that often, as the amnesty programme indicates, the talks government makes references to revolve around concessions to militants and host communities, especially the former. This is why the amnesty programme, already concluded by the government’s timetable, has been unable to systemically address the problems of the region in a lasting way. More crucially, the army chief’s statement also reflects the worrisome and specious finality of the government’s thinking when confronting complex internal crisis. The government is desperate to keep the oil wells flowing so that revenue projections can be sustained on levels that enable previous and probably comfortable expenditure profiles.
    Thus, rather than paint the crisis as a duality involving talks and force, as the army chief has unfortunately elaborated in line with governmental mindset, a reading of past efforts should have instructed the army and government that both agitators and government have engaged in a dangerous pirouette of violence and failed talks since the 1960s. What the crisis needs is not a restatement of old and failed approaches, but fresh thinking, an understanding of the depth and complexity of the problems which have really never been addressed. Until that fresh thinking is undertaken, defeating the militants today, assuming it were possible, does not mean a permanent peace or solved problem.

  • APC chief to Delta govt: make residents’ welfare your goal

    A stalwart of the Delta State All Progressives Congress (APC), Chiedu Paul Onwuadiamu, has admonished the state government to make the welfare of the residents and the provision of basic infrastructure its priorities.

    In a statement, Onwuadiamu said: “I wish to reiterate the call made by our leader, Chief Hyacinth Enuha, that the bulk of civil servants’ salaries remain unpaid in Delta State. We need not remind the government that local government employees have been without salary for the past eight months.

    “If the asphalting of Usonia Street and Cable Road in Asaba amount to massive infrastructural development to Mr Osuoza and his PDP government in 16 months, then Deltans must brace for hard times before 2019.”

    Onwuadiamu noted that it smacked of irresponsibility for a state so richly blessed with human and material resources to wallow in poverty, poor infrastructural development, hunger and quagmire.

    The APC chieftain added that Osuoza and the Ifeanyi Okowa administration were oblivious of the massive infrastructure deficit plaguing Delta State.

    He said the rainy season had exposed the reality of such infrastructural deficit, making Okpanam Road and other streets in Asaba impassable.

    Same decay could be seen in Warri, Sapele and Ugheli, the politician said. Onwuadiamu advised the PDP administration in Delta State to visit less-endowed Anambra, Edo and Rivers to see how they were developing their infrastructure, even with what he called limited resources.

    The APC chieftain noted that it was an open secret that Anambra and Edo states had performed better than Delta State in the payment of civil servants’ salaries, in infrastructural development.

    He said this was because they possessed better development indices than their rich neighbour (Delta State), which boasts “a monthly statutory federal allocation of N6 billion and a grossly under-quoted N3 billion from internally generated revenue (IGR), a situation attributable to the monumental corruption visited on the state treasury by past and present PDP governments”.

    Onwuadiamu said Okowa was vacationing in Europe and America in the celebration of his 57th birthday with an entourage of at least 30 persons while civil servants’ salaries remained unpaid.

  • Govt: economy in recession

    Nigerians yesterday got a piece of bad news – the economy is in recession.

    But, there is no need to panic because it will be short, according to Finance Minister Mrs Kemi Adeosun.

    Mrs Adeosun, broke the depressing news to Senators in plenary while briefing them on measures adopted to get the economy out of the woods. She said the Federal Government had released N247.9 billion in the last two months for capital expenditure.

    She said N60 billion would be released for capital vote in the next few weeks, adding that N74 billion went to the Works Ministry.

    All the releases, Mrs. Adeosun said, had been fully cash-backed.

    The Minister, however, told the Senators that the recession would be a very short one because the government had measures to reverse the trend.

    She said Nigerians should not dwell on the recession but rather on where the country is going through the measures being taken to save the economy.

    Mrs. Adeosun said: ”Is Nigeria in recession? Technically. If you go into two quarters of negative growth, technically, we are in recession. But I don’t think we should dwell on definitions. I think we should really dwell on where we are going. I think if we are in recession, what I will like to say is we are going to come out of it and it would be a very short one because the policies that we have would ensure that we don’t go below where we need to go and I think with what we are doing, we would begin to turn the corner I believe by Quarter Three.”

    “We are not the only country in recession; many countries are doing far worse than us. But for Nigeria, what Nigerians want to know is ‘how’s that going to affect me’ and I want to assure everybody that what we are doing is going to work and it’s going to turn this economy around,” the minister said.

    She insisted that despite the downturn, Nigeria’s economy remained the biggest in Africa and would continue to be so.

    On the N247.9billion released, Mrs Adeosun noted that N107 billion was for projects in the Works and Housing sector. Agriculture received N29.1 billion.

    She asked the lawmakers to continue to believe in the country’s ability to recover from its economic problems.

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that Nigeria’s economy may contract by 1.8% this year. To Mrs Adeosun, this should not cause panic.

    “I am not too worried about the IMF projection. I will tell you why because IMF job and function is global economic surveillance. They equally issued a negative report on Britain as a result of Brexit,” she said, adding: “I don’t think we should panic every time IMF speaks. I think we need to be confident around what we are doing and where we are going. I remain extremely confident, as I said, around Nigeria. IMF has given their projections which is we may continue into negative territory and I am not sure what we have seen suggests that. ”

    On what was inherited from the immediate past administration, Mrs. Adeosun said: “I inherited very little by way of reserves.

    “I inherited significant debt, contractor debt. Cash calls of $5 billion dollars outstanding to the oil companies.

    “I mentioned the cash calls of $5 billion dollars outstanding to the oil companies. I equally mentioned the fact that many of the contractors even though we have paid them N107 billion” find it very difficult to work because they are owed and some of them have not been paid since 2012.

    “Their claims are over N390 billion. So, I didn’t inherit reserves that are positive; I inherited reserves that tend to be more negative than positive because the economy is actually in very good hands and we are doing absolutely our best to get through this difficult period and I explained how we are doing that; we have been extremely disciplined around our spending.

    “We are investing in essential infrastructure; we have released N74 billion to Works in two months compared to N19 billion for the whole of last year. We are doing everything possible to avert and to manage the situation which we didn’t create, unfortunately, but which we inherited and we as a nation we must all get out of.”

    On the loans the government has taken to fund the budget, Mrs. Adeosun described them as more of local loans.

    “We have been borrowing largely from the domestic market because we needed to get the exchange rate sorted out to enable us borrow from the international market,: she said, adding:

    “The international borrowings will begin to come in quarter three; that is always our projection. We would take initial money from Nigeria as we sorted things out and we go on the road to borrow internationally.”

    Adeosun said: “The projected rate of implementation of the budget I found that difficult question to answer simply because there are quite a few moving part in terms of our revenue and many of our revenues will come in Quarter Three.

     On areas of priority, she said: “I think we have been fairly consistent that we needed to invest in infrastructure and in our releases we have tried to prioritise those areas and also to work with seasonality.

     ”For example, Works Ministry needs to have their money during the dry season because during the rainy season work stops and we are trying to time the releases to ensure maximum impact.”

     On the 2017 budget, “I believe the minister of Budget and Planning has started working on putting that document together and I am very sure in good time for us to go back to the calendar that we like, which is the December calendar.

     ”The releases are fully cash backed. We have stopped the practice of releasing or approving releases that are not cash backed. We have changed that process, we now start from the position how much cash do we have and then we release appropriately.”

     On the exchange rate, Mrs Adeosun said: “We predicated the budget on N197 and the rate is now N280 per dollar.

     On social intervention, she said: “The question about the interest of Nigerians, I think it is a very good one. Job creation and reserves. One of the things that I mentioned that we have done is release this money for the first time for the social intervention programmes.

     ”We have released N15 billion of capital and we put in N5 billion this month for recurrent and so that recurrent will continue to increase as they roll out the implementation of things like the duty calls, the agriculture extension workers and the other job creation initiatives.

    “Also beyond that, the police. One of the upside from the cleaning we have done on the pay roll was that the police were able to recruit 10,000 new officers but there is no impact on their salaries because we have cleaned up those who have or who shouldn’t have been there and so they can now create 10,000 new jobs. So, there is quite a bit of job creation activity going on as a result of some of the interventions we have done.”

    On what the government inherited, the minister said: “I think at a time like this blaming who was responsible doesn’t actually take us anywhere but I will tell you what I inherited. I inherited very little by way of reserves.

    “I inherited significant debt, contractor debt. Cash calls of $5 billion dollars outstanding to the oil companies. I mentioned the cash calls of $5 billion dollars outstanding to the oil companies.

    “I equally mentioned the fact that many of the contractors even though we have paid them N107 billion find it very difficult to work because they are owed and some of them have not been paid since 2012.  Their claims are over N390 billion.

    The international borrowings will begin to come in Q3 that is always our projections we would take initial money from Nigeria as we sorted things out and we go on the road to borrow internationally.”

     If you look at what is happening in the petroleum sector. Before subsidy we were subsidising around 45 million litres of fuel a day. Now without subsidy, usage has dropped to 26 million litres; so what does that tell you? All the smuggling that was going out of the country based on the subsidy that we were providing have stopped; those are real savings to the economy, which we are now redirecting into the essential infrastructure that will get this economy going.”

  • Govt ‘ll respect court’s tariff decision, says Fashola

    Govt ‘ll respect court’s tariff decision, says Fashola

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola yesterday reacted to the recent court judgment which outlawed the 2015 electricity tariff increase of distribution companies (DisCos).

    He said Nigeria will play by existing rules governing her power sector at the same time respect the rulings of her courts.

    He spoke in Abuja when 14 solar power investors signed their respective Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) for the building of 1,125 megawatts (Mw) solar stations in 11 states.

    Justice Idris Abubakar of a Federal High Court in Lagos had overturned the tariff which was approved for the DisCos by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

    According to him, even though the court disbanded the tariff and NERC was contesting it, the government will maintain its dual obligation to protect electricity consumers and operators in the sector.

    The minister said electricity consumers in the country must come to the reality that the rates charged by the DisCos in their respective networks will never remain permanent.

    He said they will continue to respond to extant economic realities and indices from which they are calculated. He noted that they can either go up or come down depending on these indices.

    He stated that Nigerians erroneously believed the 2013 privatisation of the power sector was going to bring an immediate end to the sector’s challenges and dearth of public electricity in the country.

  • Buhari: coup no longer acceptable to change govt

    Buhari: coup no longer acceptable to change govt

    NLC, PDP condemn Turkish coup attempt

    290 dead, 6,000 held

    President Muhammadu Buhari has joined other world leaders to condemn the aborted coup in Turkey.

    He said the toppling of a government through a coup was no longer acceptable.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) also condemned the plot.

    Tension remained high in the country after more than 290 people died in the coup attempt.

    Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of several Turkish cities in support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

    Officials accused some judges and the coup plotters of being loyal to moderate cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Mr. Erdogan has often accused of attempting to overthrow the government. But Gulen has denied the claim. He says Erdogan may have been the architect of the action.

    The United States says it is not ready to extradite Gulen. It insists that Turkey should provide evidence linking him with the plot.

    The Turkish President said yesterday there could be no delay in using capital punishment,  adding that the government would discuss it with opposition parties.

    Speaking to a crowd of supporters who called for the death penalty outside of his home in Istanbul, Erdogan said: “We cannot ignore this demand.” Turkey abolished capital punishment in 2004 to meet European Union accession criteria and has not executed anyone since 1984.

    Erdogan also called on his supporters to continue protesting the coup attempt in the streets and public squares until Friday, saying the threat against him was not completely eliminated.

    President Buhari said “The removal of a democratic government by force is no longer acceptable. Violence can never solve any problem but only complicates them and sets back the progress of democratic societies,” he said, noting that President Erdogan is one of Nigeria’s close international partners and sincere supporters in its current war against terrorism, adding that all should resist  the “destabilization of democratic countries through coups d’état  in the 21st century.”

    “The ballot box doesn’t require violence to remove any government perceived to have lost its popularity and public support.

    “Despite its limitations, democracy is still better and more durable than a violent change of government.” He added

    The President praises the courage and immediate response of ordinary citizens who in face of guns and tanks defied the rebel soldiers and forced them to abandon their mad quest for power.

    President Buhari called on the President of Turkey to pursue reconciliation and offer Nigeria’s support to the government and people of Turkey in their hour of trial.

    The NLC in a statement by its President Ayuba Wabba, said reasons adduced for the attempted coup notwithstanding, only the people have the legitimate right to constitutionally change a government they willingly elected.

    The NLC said further that while no one can deny him his place in history for reforms, gross incidents of constitutional violations and human rights abuse abound under his government and got carried away and became disdainful of his own people.

    The statement reads: “”We at the Nigeria Labour Congress condemn this coup attempt, the reasons adduced by the officers notwithstanding. Any change or attempt to change a legitimately elected government that falls short of the recognised democratic process shall be ultra vires, null and void.

    “In spite of the rich coup culture of Turkey, this fact should have been obvious to the officers and men involved in this bloody coup. At the risk of contradiction, in the recent past, Turkey, whether we like it or not, has acquired a certain level of sophistication that renders anachronistic and embarrassing, coup-making as a process for regime-change.

    “This notwithstanding, Mr Recep Tayyip Edorgan, the Turkish President at whom the coup was targeted should do a soul-search to see where he has betrayed the trust of the people who gave him the mandate to rule.

    The PDP in a statement by the spokesman of the caretaker committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said:”It is very sad and unacceptable. We condemn it and thanked the people of the country for rising in defence of democracy”, the statement said.

    The party declared that there is no alternative to democracy anywhere in the world and prayed God for the repose of the souls of those who lost their lives in the event, describing it as necessary sacrifice for long term freedom of the people of Turkey and other parts of the world.

  • Govt committed to flood-free Lagos, says commissioner

    Lagos State Government is committed to ensuring a flood-free city in its fight against the damaging effects of climate change, Commissioner for the Environment Dr Babatunde Adejare, has said. Speaking at a media workshop organised by Coastal Cities at Risk Project in Lagos last Thursday, Adejare said the government invested in effective drainage system and has created an enabling environment for private sector participation in waste disposal and flood prevention.

    He decried the attitude of those who still defecate and also dispose their waste improperly, saying about 13,000 tons of waste are generated in the open daily. The government, he said, lacked the financial and technical capacity to evacuate the waste and needed private participation sector’s support to do it.

    “There are houses in Lagos which do not have proper toilets and the landlady is collecting rents there, people throw away their refuse in our drainages causing flooding. Lagos does not have the capacity yet to take waste management to the level it should be so we need more capacity in that respect. We need to realise that governance is shared responsibility between those in government and the people,” Adejare said.

    The workshop with the theme:  “Building capacity towards effective communication and agenda setting for enhancing resilience to climate change in Lagos,” focused on the report of a research project on coast al cities at risk of climate change.

    The project was carried out by researchers at the Department of Geography, University of Ibadan and it focuses on the effects of climate change on the coastal city of Lagos. Other cities involved in the project include: Bangkok in Thailand, Vancouver in Canada and Manila in the Philippines.

    According to the research team leader for Lagos, Dr Ibidun Adelekan, Lagos is one of the 10 cities in the world at most risk of climate change.

    She said by 2030, the city will be one of the five cities in the world.  Adelekan said sea level has risen by 63.6mm over the 20 year period with an average rate of 3.18mm per year.

    The team leader also said increased urbanization especially in Lekki and Ajah areas of the state has given rise to heavy rainfall and urban flash flooding, storm surge, windstorm and frequency and severity of climate hazards and associated risks have increased in Lagos since the turn of the century.

  • Govt ‘ll eliminate child labour, says Ngige

    Govt ‘ll eliminate child labour, says Ngige

    The Federal Government has vowed to eliminate child labour. The Minister of Labour and Employment Senator Chris Ngige, said the Buhari administration has renewed its commitment to promoting internationally recognised Child Labour Rights.

    At an event marking the World Day Against Child Labour, Ngige said: “I want to use this opportunity to express and renew our commitment to promoting internationally recognised Child Labour Rights, Conventions and Protocols adopted and ratified for the elimination of child labour, enforcement of minimum age at work and promotion of the African Charter on Rights of the Child.”

    He described child labour as a socio-economic challenge affecting not only Nigeria and Africa, but also the world.

    He called on stakeholders to join the government in mobilising support for the ratified International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions No.138 on Minimum Age for Employment, and No. 182 on Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, including the implementation of National Policy on Child Labour, National Action Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour in Nigeria and List of Hazardous Child Labour in Nigeria.

    Earlier in his remarks, the Country Director of ILO, Mr. Dennis Zulu, represented by Mrs. Agatha Kolawole, stated that ILO through its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour will continue to support the efforts of the Federal Government of Nigeria with increased focus on policy support and technical advisory services.

    She called for renewed commitment of stakeholders in the supply chain, saying the implementation of the National Plan of Action against Child Labour must be strengthened to ensure the elimination of child labour and the protection of vulnerable children in Nigeria.