The Nation Newspaper

Tag: GOVT

  • Workers to govt: don’t cut wages

    Workers to govt: don’t cut wages

    The Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has urged the President Muhammadu Buhari administration not to reduce workers’ salaries  in its bid to cut the cost of governance.

    Addressing reporters in Lagos, the National President of the association, Mr. Bobboi Kaigama, said it would be undesirable for the economy if anybody, or group of persons, contemplated reducing the salaries of civil servants who are already underpaid in a country where the government had reneged in its responsibilities to the citizenry.

    The labour leader said any cut in salary in any guise would be an invitation to industrial crisis, recalling that many states owed civil servants arrears of salaries and other rightful entitlements, yet these workers were expected to come to work, feed their families, stay healthy, pay children’s school fees and rent.

    “It must be recognised that civil servants pay has lost its value since the last increment was done in 2010. The subsidy removal, devaluation of the naira and the high rate of infrastructural decay has continued to rub innocent civil servants the value of their money despite being paid peanut,” he lamented.

    According to labour, what is being contemplated as pay cut for political office holders cannot be extended to civil servants because the two pay structures cannot be compared.

    ”While a director in the civil service goes home with less than N353, 996.94 monthly, a member of the National Assembly collects close to $181,973.75 or N40 million monthly, made up of basic salary, hardship allowance, constituency allowance, newspaper allowance, wardrobe allowance, accommodation allowance, recess allowance, utilities, domestic staff, entertainment, personal assistant, leave allowance, vehicle maintenance allowance, car allowance, and severance package of 300 per cent of basic salary,” Comrade Kaigama said.

    Insisting that there was no basis to compare the two, he said while political office holders can make do with 75 per cent reduction in emolument, a one per cent cut in the salary of civil servants will end up sending them to their untimely death through unwarranted hardships and miseries.

    The union added that civil servants expectations from the new government were very high after many years of unfulfilled promises by past administrations, which have left them undervalued.

    According to the union, if the government wants to deliver on its change promise, it must be recognised that the pay structure of civil servants has failed to reward them fairly and the new government must acknowledge that genuine engagement with its workforce can only produce a better and more efficient public service which will bring about the change Nigerians desire and require.

  • LCCI decries govt’s inability to meet financial obligations

    LCCI decries govt’s inability to meet financial obligations

    The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has frowned at the inability of governments at all levels to meet their financial obligations, noting that the situation underscored the imperative of economic diversification and prudent management of state resources and efforts at blocking all fiscal leakages as well as the recovery of looted funds.

    While commending the Federal Government’s intervention in mitigating the conditions of the states and local governments, and efforts at blocking all fiscal leakages and recovery of looted funds, the LCCI proposed that appropriate systems, structures and institutions should be put in place at all levels of government to sustain the integrity and transparency of public sector transactions.

    In a communiqué issued after its meeting in Lagos on Wednesday by LCCI Director-General, Mr. Muda Yusuf, the Chamber urged the Federal Government to unveil its economic blueprints in order to stem the tide of declining investors’ confidence in the economy.

    “Council notes that there is yet no clarity in the policy direction of the government and this is a major factor in investors’ confidence. The uncertainty that began in January this year seems to have lingered. Council urged the Buhari administration to make clear pronouncements with respect to its fiscal policy, foreign exchange policy, and tax policy,” Yusuf said, in the document made available to The Nation.

    He listed other areas where such pronouncement would address to include subsidy policy, trade policy, reform of oil and gas sector (upstream and downstream), power sector, 2015 Budget, auto policy, and other sectoral policies. “All these are necessary for the investors to have a clear insight into the policy direction of the government and take strategic investment decisions,” Yusuf said.

    LCCI also noted the current macro-economic challenges facing the nation, especially the decline in foreign exchange inflow, saying that Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) numerous efforts to protect the foreign reserves and stabilise the exchange rate were acknowledged.

    However, the Council expressed concern over the current methodology of the CBN in achieving these objectives. “The current model of foreign exchange management by the CBN has profound negative consequences for investors’ confidence and the stability of the foreign exchange market. Council, therefore, calls for a more strategic framework for the management of the foreign exchange market,” the document said.

    The Chamber also urged the President to quickly set up an economic team that will interface with the CBN, the organised private sector and key economic ministries to come up with a sustainable model for the management of the foreign exchange market.

  • Govt: it’s a rambling of an old man

    The Ondo State Government has described comments credited to the impeached deputy governor, Alhaji Alli Olanusi, on the petition he wrote to the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as a rambling of an old man, whose blind ambition has driven him to a political dead end.

    Reacting through the Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade, the government said Olanusi needed not “to go to town after writing a petition against the government”.

    It added that rather, he should allow the agency to act on the petition he wrote and come out with its findings, if indeed he has a genuine case against the government.

    The statement reads: “The EFCC is an agency of government with the statutory responsibility of investigating allegations. Instead of jumping the gun, Olanusi should allow the agency do its job, except he is telling the world that the agency is not competent enough or reliable enough to handle his petition without any bias.

    “Government wonders if Pa Olanusi’s expectation is that the graft agency should ride like an invading army arresting and detaining everybody in Ondo State on account of his petition.

    “Apparently Pa Olanusi is dazed as he has lost in his own game and his plans to impeach his boss fell flat on his face. Now spent and left in the lurch, he wants something to keep him in the glare of the public and political relevance.

    “Where was Pa Olanusi when the alleged N18 billion was diverted? What action did he take? Or was he just discovering the alleged graft now that he had been fried in his own stew? What are the particulars of the alleged theft and what are the proofs behind his specious claims?

    “Now that he has assumed the position of EFCC spokesperson and petitioner rolled into one, Pa Olanusi can jolly well provide the juicy details of his phantom theft, including what he got then as a serving deputy governor.”

  • Govt demolishes 32 buildings in Zaria

    •El-Rufai begins land recovery

    Thirty-two illegal buildings were yesterday demolished on the premises of Alhudahuda College, Zaria.

    This is part of Kaduna State government’s efforts to recover government land in state-owned institutions.

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai had given an ultimatum to owners of such property and last weekend reminded them that the deadline would end on Wednesday (yesterday).

    Supervising the exercise, the General Manager, Kaduna State Urban Development Authority (KASUPDA), Mrs. Saratu Hassan, said 32 houses were affected.

    She said the government did not promise to compensate owners.

    Mrs. Hassan said the government would not rescind its decision.

    She said the demolition team would soon move to other areas where there were illegal structures.

    Her words: “The Kaduna State government has saddled our department with the responsibility of demolishing illegal buildings on government land.

    “This is why we are here at Alhudahuda College, Zaria to begin the demolition of illegal structures. When we finish, we will move to other areas.”

    Armed security personnel were on ground to guard officials of the agency.

    Owners of most of the affected buildings, before the arrival of the demolition squad, removed their valuables.

    There was no trouble in Zaria, but in Kaduna there was tension as houses on school and hospital land had been marked for demolition by KASUPDA.

  • Structural engineers to govt.: engage us

    Structural engineers to govt.: engage us

    The national president of the Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers (NIStructE), a division of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Dr. Samuel Ilugbekhai, has identified the non-involvement of local professionals, particularly, structural engineers, as a reason for the spate of failed projects in the country. He lamented that even where local expertise existed, there was a clear preference for foreign practitioners in contract awards.

    He called on the various levels of governments –federal, states and locals- to reconsider this position because Nigerian engineers have the competence and exposure to undertake any construction project ranging from the designing and execution of the jobs.

    According to Ilugbekhai, employing Nigerians is not only cheaper, but provides room for quality job and ample opportunity to expose young practitioners to the rudiments of engineering works.

    He warned that giving foreigners a free hold in the construction industry, including award of contracts to them at the expense of Nigerians, is counter-productive for the desired quest for national development, as such expatriates would increase capital flights and use the country’s resources to develop their own citizens.

    Insisting that no country can develop by neglecting her own professionals, Ilugbekhai said: “We have the confidence that our people are up to the task, but the truth is that the patronage we get is not up to the expectation and this we want the new administration to take note of.

    “Look at our railway, most of the projects are given to the foreigners, without Nigerians’ input. And that is why we cannot develop our own prototype that can well suit our environment,” he said, adding that Nigerians should be given the jobs and be encouraged to bring on board foreign partners if need be, and not vice-versa.

    The engineering body expressed concern over the recent building collapse in Lagos. Tracing the spate of building collapse in the country, he lamented that it has rendered efforts of organisations such as NIStruuctE, and other stakeholders in combating the menace, useless.

    “On the 12th of September 2014, a 7-storey building belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed, killing about 116 people, 84 of whom were foreigners. On  July 9,  a 5-storey building under construction at No 42, Commercial Avenue Yaba collapsed. About six days later, precisely July1 5,  a 4-storey building collapsed at No 29A Oloto Street Ebute Meta, Lagos, with similar stories in other parts of the country,” Ilugbekhai recalled.

    NIStructE, according to him, plans to hold a conference to further educate the public and practitioners in the construction industry.

    The conference, themed: “Structural Engineering Excellence in an Environment Inundated with Collapse,” is scheduled to hold at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja. The conference, he said, is to promote best practices in the development of safe buildings in the environment through qualified, experienced and competent practice of structural engineering.

    The conference, the President further noted, will offer participants the privilege of expanding their frontiers and improving their knowledge in the areas of development of safe buildings; the correct use of standard materials; structural engineering best practices; codes of practices-the interpretation and proper usage; structural engineering competence; enhancement and structural integrity and reliability of structures, among others.

    He then advised prospective developers to employ the services of only qualified, experienced and competent structural engineers at all times, irrespective of the size of their buildings.

     

  • Govt urged to implement SDGs

    A group, Campaign 2015+International has called on Federal Government to accelerate the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are successor goals to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), that expires in September.

    The group said 15 years on from the original adoption of the MDGs at the 2000 Millennium Summit, and less than eight weeks left to September this year, it seems all efforts by stakeholders towards achieving MDGs are not enough.

    The convener of the group, Dr Tola Winjobi spoke while addressing journalists at the Press Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan on the engagement of Nigerian political leaders and stakeholders towards accelerated implementation of SDGs in Nigeria.

    Winjobi lamented that Nigeria has failed to meet some of the MDGs goals, noting that: “Nigerians are still living below poverty line both in relative and absolutes while infant mortality rate for the total population was 69/1000. Unfortunately too, a mere 28 per cent Nigerians have access to improved sanitation facility.

    “The need for all to look beyond 2015 MDGs is paramount as emphasised in the 2010 annual report of the United Nations Secretary-General.”

    According to him, it must be underscored that many organisations  across 40 countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia met and had a group sessions and deliberations which led to the successor goals to MDGs called SDGs.

  • Govt must enact laws for digital switch-over

    Govt must enact laws for digital switch-over

    Last month, Nigeria missed the digital switch-over deadline set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Chairman, StarTimes, Mr. Xinxing Pang, says for the country to achieve analogue switch-out, government must clamp down on illegal operators in the digital pay TV sector. He says relevant laws will also need to be enacted while adequate funding must be provided. Pang, who was in the country as part of activities to mark the fifth anniversary of the firm’s operations in Nigeria, spoke with reporters in Abuja. Blessing Olaifa and  Jill Okeke, were there.

    Nigeria is said to be a difficult terrain to do business. Do you subscribe to this?

    In order to operate in some areas, we need to be granted licenses to commence operations and sometimes the approval from the National Broadcasting Commission [NBC] actually takes longer time. This is one major reason our DTT deployment appears to be travelling on the slow lane. However, this year, we have been able to set up 16 transmitting sites so that we can reach wider areas and the current coverage will certainly improve. For DTT to work, there must be presence of transmitter in that area and NBC needs to grant us frequency per location and sometimes these takes up to six months. We feel it is too slow as we feel that if we apply for licenses because of the digitisation, we should be able to benefit from it and when it takes six months, the whole year is already gone.

    We need the frequency to be able to operate in those areas. DTT is different from satellite broadcasting where you can operate from one location and reach everywhere. With DTT, for you to reach everybody, you must be in multiple locations.

    Startimes has clocked five years in business in Nigeria, how would you describe the journey so far?

    Generally, in the last five years, the company has been growing in leaps and bounds as you can see. Today, we are one of the largest in the pay digital TV market in the country. Currently our DTT platform covers more than 40 cities in the country and last year we launched our DTH which covers the entire country. Meanwhile we have started introducing more channels even with local content. We have also been training and retraining our workers for better efficiency with richer content and the quality of these contents and the quality of our programme is increasing gradually. Our subscriber base is now up to 2.6 million in the country and that has been achieved within the past five years. While we are growing and developing ourselves, we are also contributing to the Nigerian society. Today we have created direct job of about 1000 and indirect jobs of over 10,000 for Nigerians. And since we started business in Nigeria five years ago, we have also contributed almost N4 billion as tax revenue to the coffers of the government. All these are testimonies of StarTimes’ achievements within our years of operation in the country. Our services are being enjoyed a lot more by users and for the three consecutive years, we have been awarded the most popular operator in the country.

    Geographically, Nigeria is wide. What is the level of reach as a company in the country?

    Right now, we are in 46 locations; we however cover more than 46 cities. Take for example, in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, we get as far as to Offa and Omuaran while in Oshogbo, Osun State capital, our coverage gets to as far as Ife and Ilesha.  And in these fringe cities, we intend to improve our coverage. We are in 46 cities but more than 80 cities are benefitting from our services. Actually, we have covered 80 per cent in all the states while our ambition is to be in all the Senatorial zones of the country. It is possible that by the end of this year, we will be in three cities in each of the 36 states. Only about two states are outside our coverage and these are Yobe and Bornu states because of security concerns.  And we shall soon be in the state as soon the security situation improves.

    You just clocked five in Nigeria, in another five years, what are your business plans for the company?

    We have other plans such as improving our DTT networks in order to keep optimising the coverage of the network but since the country is quite big, we have to use the DTH platform as a very good complement to the DTT coverage. The improvement of our network is to promote the popularities of the local content and its development. In order to enable families enjoy digital TV services, we have provided affordable set-top box and also a digital TV set so that every family can afford this and enjoy our services. We are also introducing new programmes which have been provided in our latest bouquets. These bouquets are also affordable for the low income earners.

    You are operating in a competitive environment, yet the price you offer subscribers keep going down, what is the secret? 

    We have lowered our cost so that we can stay in the competition. It is unlike the satellite operators where the cost remains the same no matter their expansion. The same goes for the content fees which is still the same no matter how many people are watching the TV. Here, we need to increase our subscriber base and growth so that we can make profit. The second part is that StarTimes is a high technology enterprise and so therefore, we are involved in research and development as leader in the technology through innovation in designing and producing recast. We hope to use cutting edge technology to lower the cost of just the set-top-boxes. We also have tried to improve our efficiency. We use economies of scale because we are in charge of the technology and we do produce for other people at marginal profit.

    What really do you think is the problem with the inability of the country to meet the digital migration deadline set by ITU?

    Digital migration in the TV industry is not just a simple process as some of you might think. It is like a huge chain that needs adjustment and involves quite a lot in the industry and for different market and entities. This means that all the stakeholders in the process must participate in making it happen because of their different demands. And for StarTimes, we are just a company; what we can do at the moment is the promotion of the digital migration which we have been doing. We cannot make any decision or fully participate in the decision making process. However, there are strange happenings in the digital TV market in the country as some companies are presently operating illegally.

    Secondly, digitalisation is a very complicated process. It consists of several parts such as the shooting, casting, signals from local and states TV stations as well as the private TV and some international channels. We have to aggregate all the signals into one platform. On the same platform, all the channels can be carried in their digital form. Remember that previously, we have been under the analogue system which is just one analogue channel unlike in digital TV where one channel can carry more than 20 channels. At a point, we would advise the government to create some legislation to stop the importation of analogue TV set into the country. It is only when this is done that the digitalisation of the industry can be realised. Also the Nigerian consumers need to be educated on the benefits of digital migration. Also for digitalisation TV to work in this country, government must subsidise the decoder set as it is done in other countries. Digital TV carries rich content, wide coverage and therefore a good marketing strategy must be put in place. Also a professional team which knows the technology, management and operation must be cinstituted. These conditions are really indispensable for the success of digital TV.

    What is your assessment of the market having been around for thses years?

    On operations in Nigeria, we started business in Africa in 2002 and in Nigeria since 2009. We have not stopped promoting the digital migration in the Nigerian market and for StarTimes we have already prepared ourselves for the digital migration. The only issue now is that we cannot decide for the government when they should complete the migration. We wish that the migration can start as soon as possible because we all shall benefit immensely from the migration.

    The issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is important as companies are expected to give back to their host communities. What are your firm’s footprints in this area?

    As an enterprise in Nigeria, we have been involved in doing genuine business in compliance with the laws of the land like paying our taxes regularly. Secondly, we have tried to provide high quality product and services to our customers and thirdly we have been providing support to vulnerable communities which we often don’t want to mention in the media.

    Before 2010, the price of the pay TV services was on the higher side with subscription also very high and unaffordable and with the entrance of StarTimes into the market, a lot of Nigerians can now afford digital TV services. This was made possible with StarTimes which forced our competitors to lower their prices. We realised also that this is a major contribution to the society. We feel honoured to have several awards in the few years of our operation. We are the only digital TV station operating in states with less than $1 gross domestic product (GDP). We are ready to get to the poor even though business may not be doing well in those areas. We are also doing a lot in the areas of healthcare and children. We did a lot to create awareness during the Ebola scourge.

    ‘Digital migration in the TV industry is not just a simple process as some of you might think. It is like a huge chain that needs adjustment and involves quite a lot in the industry and for different market and entities. This means that all the stakeholders in the process must participate in the process because of their different demands. And for StarTimes, we are just a company; what we can do at the moment is the promotion of the digital migration which we have been doing. We cannot make any decision or fully participate in the decision making process’

    Sport is an area where pay TV stations appear to be having interest.  What concrete impacts have you made?

    We believe that the German Bundesliga is an exciting football league in European football right now and we have acquired the media right for the next five seasons. With this, we don’t intend to increase the price of our bouquets as we shall be giving the right to air it free to the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) so that Nigerians can enjoy it. By next week, we shall sign another agreement with another football league in the top five football leagues and with this our sporting content shall hit roof top. We also have the European Cup qualifying series and the qualifiers for the World Cup in Europe and so, altogether there will be more than 500 football matches till 2019. We have concluded the deal with the International Champions Cup for the next five years for the South of the Sahara area. Our platform includes the World Cup Under-20 in the next World Cup in 2017. Our platform is user-friendly to all our customers as our newly launched set top box can receive signal from UHF to DTT.

     

  • Govt mulls reforms in tourism, other sectors

    The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) at the weekend said the Federal Government is planning to carry out reforms of the hospitality and tourism, housing, sports, River Basin and health sectors to encourage growth.

    Its Director-General, Benjamin Dikki, spoke when a former British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Sir Richard Gozney and leader of delegation from Greenpark Worldwide, paid him paid him a visit in Abuja.

    He said the reforms were necessary to make the sectors more competitive and foster the nation’s growth in the face of declining earnings from crude oil.

    In a statement signed by the Head, Public Communications, BPE, Alex Okoh, Benjamin said as part of efforts to reform, the health sector, BPE and the Federal Ministry of Health had begun a review of the sector’s legislations.

    He said the reform would help in repositioning health sector for better performance, by reducing the influx of Nigerian medical practitioners abroad.

    He said failure to regulate medical practice has opened the sector to unqualified operators, adding that such activities would end soon.

    He said the Federal Government was reviewing the five bills introduced to revive the transport sector before presenting them to the National Assembly for approval.

    According to him, once the bills are passed, other new regulatory agencies would be set up or existing ones restructured to move the sector forward.

    He said: ‘’The passage of the Bills will facilitate private sector investment in infrastructure like railways, roads and inland waters ways and  this would require manpower training and capacity building  to drive the emerging change Nigerians yearn for.’’

    Dikki expressed hopes that the bills would be passed by the 8th National Assembly since the 7th National Assembly failed to pass them before it tenure expired.

    He said the government had promised to privatise the refineries and that this would require the passage of the correct Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

    On sports, the BPE’s boss said Dikki said the government had indicated the desire to privatise the country’s refineries and this would require the passage of the correct PIB.

    He expressed the optimism that the National Assembly would have the opportunity to review the original Bill of 2008, which when passed, would achieve the desired result for Nigeria.

    On the sports sector, the DG said a lot of potential abound in the sector, which, if well harnessed, would boost the economy.

    Earlier, Gozney said Greenpark could support the privatisation of the Federal Government, in view of its role as a training management firm.

     

  • Govt urged to improve food safety standards

    A call has been made to the government to work with operators in the livestock meat processing sector to improve food safety standards.

    Deputy Director, Directorate of General Management, Agricultural and Rural Management Institute (ARMTI), Dr. Ademola Adeyemo, said there was need for private enterprises in the meat sub-sector to to improve food safety.

    He urged the government to strengthen regulations to ensure the private sector changes its working practices to ensure food safety and that the meat industry take more responsibility to  ensure  public  safety.

    According to him, operators were focusing on profit, adding that it is time food safety takes a more prominent place.

    He  said there should be    programme to make food business and their employees  aware that the products  meant for consumers’ plates should  be  free  from  elements  which  nurture  the  spread of diseases and ensure safety of the products.

    He said quality   assurance schemes should help not only to raise awareness of safety, they hygiene but also food fraud.

    Adeyemo called for incentives for businesses to encourage cooperation on food safety and for the industry to correct a business that takes irresponsible risks.

    He urged health authorities to pay more attention to tackling food fraud, urging the  strengthening   of meat and livestock inspection and supervision.

  • Union to govt: overhaul agencies

    Union to govt: overhaul agencies

    The Federal Government has been urged to restructure  aviation agencies to address their challenges.

    A formerAir Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) president, Comrade  Agboola Ogunfeitimi, said the restructure was imperative to turn  the agencies round.

    Ogunfeitmi, the Deputy President-General of the new Nigerian Aviation Professional Association (NAPA), said : ” The industry is in a mess. There is need for a general restructuring of the industry. Total restructuring is desirable from the management level to the lowest by  putting the right people into the right position and not people over-staying their welcome in an agency whether in Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA ), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and so on .”

    He lamented high level indiscipline in some of the agencies which he asked the Buhari administration to address.

    On why NAPA was formed, Ogunfeitimi, claimed the leadership of the unions in the sector ” do not have focus. What they are after is grabbing, grabbing and grabbing. They do not inject new ideas into unionism in the industry’’.

    He said: “When I was the National President of ATSSSAN, we assisted the government in policy formulation and hosted several stakeholders fora in which captains of the industry were present.

    “That makes us to be more relevant. After my departure as the president of ATSSSAN, things started going wrong.

    “The workers have lost confidence in the unions.

    “Unionism is not about shouting. Unionism is about dialogue, about exchanging views and make positive change in the industry. It’s about promoting professionalism, about safety and progress.

    “The majority of aviation workers  have lost confidence in the unions and that is what led to the formation of NAPA.Workers believe that there must be a union that will stand right.

    ‘’Unions that will be able to take care of the interest of professionals and administrative cadres, that will also be above board take care of the professionals in the management level and those in the lower cadres and be able to advise government on policy formulation that will engender growth in aviation sector and peace and harmony among staff and management.

    “We should be able to create a system to the effect that those owing the agencies are made to pay up their debts. Unionism is not about salaries and wages alone but how to ensure growth. NAPA of cause, will change the deterioration. NAPA stands integrity, accountability and transparency.”

    NCAA branch which  I inaugurated yesterday. I admonish them to be prudent, be disciplined and be punctual in their assigned official duties.”