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Tag: ICRC

  • ICRC: Friends of IDPs, Chibok girls

    ICRC: Friends of IDPs, Chibok girls

    The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is probably the best thing that has happened to internally displaced persons, reports DUKU JOEL

    With the release of 21 of the abducted Chibok, it has become clear that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is not just another global organisation trying to help people in danger.

    The ICRC and the Swiss government facilitated the return of the girls but even before the freedom of the girls, the organisation had been working very hard to bring succour to people in very dangerous situations.

    In 2016, the ICRC increased its humanitarian response for people in dire need in the North East. Of Nigeria and some other parts of the country where communal clashes and urban conflicts were visible. Of particular mention is the support and provision of food, shelter and essential household items. One other area of intervention carried out by the ICRC is increased access to clean water and medical care. It also strived to facilitate the restoration of missing or broken family ties caused as a result of the crisis in the region.

    In Borno State for instance, ICRC together with the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) gained access to very difficult areas like Sabon Gari, Damboa, DIKwa, Monguno, Gamboru-Ngala, etc where they assisted residents and IDPs with food, Medicare and shelter where necessary.

    An investigation into the activities of the ICRC in the North East by our correspondent revealed that the organisation is ranked very high amongst IDPs and many host communities of Borno and Yobe State apparently due to their effective humanitarian intervention during the Boko Haram crisis.

    Restoration of missing family ties

    Over one thousand disunited families as a result of the Boko Haram insurgents have been re-united in one way or the other  through the efforts of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Nigerian Red Cross Society between January to August 2016 investigation has revealed.

    According to a document obtained from the ICRC, nine children were flown from Dar es Salaam IDP camp in Chad back to Nigeria and reunited with their parents.  The organization has also helped reunite family members by facilitating contacts with each other using Red Cross Messages and free phone calls.

    A total of 1,078 new tracing files for persons searching for missing relatives were opened by the ICRC and the NRCS, while a total of 479 Red Cross messages were also exchanged among separated family members.

    The document also revealed that 899 free phone calls were made available by the Red Cross to persons who were separated from their families.

    Detention visits

    ICRC have also embarked on visits of persons detained in connection with armed conflict and violence and provided support for the authorities on improving detention conditions of detainees. Under the period, a total of 21, 442 detainees in prisons, police and military detention facilities across Nigeria were visited by the ICRC, just as the water and hygiene facilities in those places were rehabilitated.

    Livelihood Support and Micro-finance Initiatives

    This is a Programme that targeted returnees who wished to resume farming in their communities, while cash was also given to people retuning to areas that there were functional markets to help them rebuild their homes. Its aim was to assist 162,000 IDPs and vulnerable persons living in widow or female headed household. Out of the number, 41,000 persons in Yobe received cash to purchase priority commodities by the end of July 2016, just as 16,000 returnees from Adamawa and Southern Borno were given livelihood input grant as well.

    A total of 248,037 returnees from North East and Middle Belt were availed with agriculturalinputs to resume farming again, while 69,624 IDPs in Borno and Yobe States including victims of urban violence in River State received cash to enable them purchase commodities of their choice.

    Widows/female heads of families enjoyed serious assistance from the ICRC as 1000 of them were registered Borno State and were given cash for the running of their families. An additional 250 benefiting from the micro-finance initiative.

    Emergency Relief Assistance

    One of the major concern of the ICRC was to get to the hard-to-reach areas there there was severe food shortage and hunger. With some of them missing out on the planting season for more than 3 years, it is not an exaggeration that the people will remain dependent  on  handouts aid from donor agencies until such a time that their crops are harvested. Worried by the plight of the ICRC provided food rations for three months to  892,040 IDPs in the North East, 319,516 IDPs both in the North East received essential household items with 51 NRCS, NEMA and SEMA were trained across Nigeria.

    Healthcare

    Like any other sector of human existence in the north east, the  health sector  had its fair share of the Boko Haram attacks on the region. Hospitals and health facilities were either burnt down or abandoned by the insurgents. Doctors, nurses and other health and medical personable were either killed, while those that survive fled to safer places leading to complete break down of the system.

    The ICRC in a quick response provided support to primary and mobile state health clinics in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa through the regular medical supplies, equipment supply and training of staff. Two ICRC surgical teams also provided cares the weapon wounded and IDPs in need of emergency surgical care in Maiduguri State Specialist Hospital.

    A total of 308, 594 patients attended 14 ICRC supported centre for primary health care and 6 mobile clinics serving IDPs, returnees and residents in Borno, and Adamawa State.

    A total of 10,499 children were in ICRC supported clinics in the North east, while 8,649 children who suffered from acute malnutrition were also treated at the ICRC supported clinics in Borno State.

  • NPA seeks ICRC’s support to review port agreement

    The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mallam Habib Abdullahi, has sought the support of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to review  its agreements with terminal operators.

    Abdullahi made the appeal during his meeting with the Director-General of the ICRC, Mr Aminu Dikko.

    He said the review of the agreements would boost activities at the ports, giving room for better ports operations and more investor participation.

    Abdullahi said the development of access roads to the Lekki Deep Seaport project would ease transactions.

    He said NPA intends to synergise with the ICRC and other stakeholders to develop fisheries at the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal 2, and turn it into a modern fishing terminal.

    He canvassed the dredging and maintenance of water channels at the Calabar and Warri ports through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) approach.

    The NPA boss said that agricultural exportation could be achieved with ease if there were rail lines to help in transporting agricultural produce to the port terminals.

    He suggested that the ports could be decongested of containers by using them to export solid minerals and agricultural produce to other parts of the world.

    In his speech, Dikko promised to fully support the NPA in its drive to achieve its set goals. He, however, said that for the agency to attract investors there must be a ports master plan to guide it. He noted that the master plan would also inform investors on the activities of the agency and the nation as a whole and guide them on what to invest in.

    He praised the NPA for setting up a PPP unit and assured that the ICRC would help build the capacity of staff in the department.

  • ICRC’s commendation for Nigerian Army

    SIR: Given its antecedents and a longstanding commitment to impartiality, the commendation by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the Nigerian Army’s detention facilities is a plus for the army. According to ICRC, detention facilities under the purview of the army meet international standards. Head of ICRC delegation in Nigeria, Mr Karl Mattli, who made the assessment even, went further to offer additional support to the army in sustaining this standard.

    Let’s contrast this with other bodies that came out within the same time span to accuse the army of right abuses in the fight against Boko Haram. These organisations dish out what has now become traditional criticisms via reports that are strategically released to coincide with when the army is gaining the upper hand on insurgents or whenever it is on the threshold of forging new partnerships to take on the terrorists. Curiously, these same entities have no qualms about other nations using disproportionate force to tackle terrorism even when this leads to astronomically high civilian casualties.

    This development highlights the need for Nigerians to get real and recover their country from grips of Boko Haram – both the militant and political wing of the terror group. The army has made significant gains in routing the militant arm of Boko Haram but defeating the political element of the group becomes a task for which the army needs the active participation of the populace and the country’s political leadership.

    For instance, the commendations from the ICRC barely got the attention of Nigerians, even when it clearly reflected the improvements made by the army under the current Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai. One’s guess is that no frenzy was whipped up because this has no value to the political and propaganda wing of Boko Haram that is not able to use such information for its recruitment drive. It and its backers are unable to demonise the military with the commendation from the ICRC because contrary to the hues are cries of those who hide to under the cover of human rights to unleash psychological warfare, the Nigerian Army has been proven to be highly professional and mindful of national, international laws and conventions in their engagement.

    It is reassuring that General Buratai was able to affirm that International Humanitarian Laws have been integrated into course contents for officers and soldiers. It shows a leadership that has its sight set on long term stability in the country.

    One must also recognise and commend the fact that our soldiers are now motivated to do what they have committed to doing for the country. The Chief of Army staff has ensured those on the front gets not just the hardware they need to take on the insurgents, but has also ensured that they get their entitlement thereby bringing to and end the era of asking soldiers to fight with low morale. This is in addition to General Buratai leading the troops on the ground and not just dishing out orders from an air-conditioned cocoon in Abuja.

    At this point in Nigeria’s quest to stem the tide of terrorism, one must thus appeal to the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai to do all that is necessary in ensuring that the accolades from the likes of ICRC and other international continue to pour in. The glory from such commendations belong not just to the army alone but to the whole of Nigeria because they prove that despite the ill-intentioned reports aimed at putting the country in bad light, the army under his leadership has proven that Nigeria is on the right course.

     

    • Charles Ibekwe,

    Owerri, Imo State.

  • ICRC advocates dredging of Warri Port

    The Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr Aminu Dikko has urged the Federal Government to dredge the Warri/Escravos water channels.

    Dikko made the plea on Thursday in Warri after he led a team from the ICRC on an inspection tour of facilities at the concessioned terminals in Warri Port.

    He said that the development would help to rejuvenate business activities at the port.

    The terminals inspected included the Julius Berger, Associated Maritime Services Ltd (AMS) and the Integrated Logistics Services (INTELS) terminals.

    The director-general expressed satisfaction at the significant level of investments put in place by the concessionaires.

    He said that the concession had contributed greatly to the growth of the economy.

    According to him, Julius Berger for instance, had invested almost 23 million dollars to buy equipment.

    He said, “The concessionaires have made significant investments running into billions of dollars to improve their facilities which was part of the development plan.’’

    “The monitoring and evaluation visit is a critical component of the mandate of the ICRC.

    “It helps to ensure that infrastructure assets that have been granted to the private sector by the Federal Government are improved upon.

    “So far, it has been successful; we also had the opportunity to interact with the guarantor which is the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA),’’ the director-general said.

    Dikko said that there was a dearth in vessels sailing into the Warri Port which by implication had affected the envisaged revenues accruable to government.

    “As a result of restiveness, vessels are not comfortable coming into the Warri port because of its attendant negative impact on the anticipated business opportunities which is a setback for the concessionaires.

    “The channels are supposed to have been dredged by government over time.

    “As it is now, big vessels cannot come in due to the shallow depth.

    “Any big vessel coming will have to stay somewhere to reduce the cargoes to make the vessel lighter.

    “This takes a lot of time and additional costs and it is a major disincentive to businesses,’’ Dikko said.

    He commended the management of NPA for providing adequate security for the terminal operators and other stakeholders in the port.

    According to him, there are several Naval boats at the different terminals, permanently located to provide security to both the workers and ships coming into and going out of the port.

    Earlier, the Delta Port Manager, Mr Abubakar Umar, who conducted the ICRC team round the concessioned terminals, identified draft as a major issue in the port.

    According to Umar, ocean-going liners cannot come in, while importers also have concerns about the security in the waterways.

    In his remarks, Mr Ranko Donanchi, Head of Operations, INTELS, decried the dearth of business at the Warri port, adding that the company handled only 16 vessels in 2015.

    Donanchi said that that Intels had aligned with the Federal government’s policies in the areas of port development and standardisation, local content initiative, technology transfer and community development.

    Also speaking, the Public Relations Officer of the Julius Berger Terminal, Mr Henry Osunbor, said that the company had met the statutory requirements as regards fees, taxes, insurance and port terminal maintenance.

    The Director of the AMS Warri base, Mr Jimoh Ohwo, said that the company had also made commendable progress in its operational and developmental plans.

    “Our staff strength has increased from 15 to 68 with additional 171 dock labourers (casual).

    “We have built perimeter fences, access control with ISPS, CCTV cameras, boardroom, among others, as part of our developmental plan.

    “Between the months of May and June 2014; we had three vessels with combined tonnage of 260,203 tonnes,’’ Ohwo said.

  • No new concession on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, says ICRC

    No new concession has been granted on the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Express-way, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), has said.

    In a statement, the Head, Communications, ICRC, Ms. Deborah Okafor, said to the “best of its knowledge, there has been no new concession  granted  as  required  by law and the National Policy on Public Private Partnership on Lagos Ibadan expressway,” saying news reports that Government  has  granted  a  new  ‘secret concession’ on the expressway  through  “a  back  door  arrangement,” are false.

    She  said after the termination of the concession granted to Bi-Courtney  Highway  Services  Limited,  the Federal Government decided to reconstruct  the  Lagos-Ibadan  expressway  as  a  traditional  procurement through  Engineering,  Procurement  and  Construction (EPC), adding however that the  government could not wholly  finance the project and had secured private financing from a consortium of banks to ensure the speedy completion of the road.

    According to her government  is  bound  to  repay  the financing arrangement (such as interest  payments, loan repayment, fees, charges and associated returns on equity  investment)  either  through  the  annual  budgetary system or from revenues  accruable  to Government if the operations and maintenance of the road is granted as a concession to a private party.

    If  and  when  the  Federal Government decides to grant concession over the operations  and  maintenance  aspect  of  the  project,  the  ICRC,  as the regulatory  agency,  will  ensure  that the project passes through a normal competitive  process  as  provided  for under the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (Establishment, Etc) Act, 2005 Act, (the Act) and the National PPP Policy on Public Private Partnership.

    The ICRC wishes to state further that: a) Any  PPP structuring over the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway can only take place  after the ongoing reconstruction is completed and handed over to the Federal Government.

    The  Federal  Ministry  of Works would then commence the process of procurement  of  a  competent  project  proponent  to  handle  the Tolling,

    Operations  and  Maintenance  of  the  road  in compliance with the Act and Policy,  which  requires that such a process must be done competitively and transparently.

    Any new concession over the road must, in due course, be certified by ICRC to have complied with the Act and Policy.

  • ICRC decries dominance of foreign experts in project structuring

    ICRC decries dominance of foreign experts in project structuring

    The dominance of foreign experts is responsible for the low local capacity in project transaction structuring in Nigeria, Acting Head of Communications, Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mrs Deborah Okafor, has said.

    In a statement signed by Mrs Okafor in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), she said the Director General of ICRC, Aminu Dikko, made the statement at the first quarter 2015 meeting of the Public Private Partnership Units Consultative Forum (3PUCF).

    Represented by Dr. Chidi Izuwah, Director of PPP, the DG said that effort must gear towards encouraging local experts.

    The 3PUCF is a brain child of the ICRC and it provides a platform for Heads of PPP Units in Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to share knowledge and experience. It also ensures synergy in efforts towards institutionalising the Federal Government’s PPP Programme.

    Principal Private Sector Specialist, African Development Nigeria Field Office, Mr. Emmanuael Akinwunmi, said that the idea of regional PPP hub was to stimulate more private sector led intervention in the region. According to him, the challenge in accessing project finance in the country is usually due to shortage of integrity and ideas rather than lack of money.

    He said that opportunities were available within African Development Bank (AfDB) to both public and private sector agencies in the areas of funding for project structuring, execution and capacity building.

    Mr. Nurudeen Lawal, from the National Planning Commission, emphasised the importance of the roles of MDA’s in ensuring the successful implementation of the National Infrastructure master plan.

    Representative of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Abubakar Yarima, identified legislation as one of the bottlenecks to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in some sectors, particularly rail and power sector. He called for a review of existing laws in these sectors.

  • ICRC reiterates commitment to PPP

    The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has said Nigeria is emerging as an African champion in the successful use of the public private partnership (PPP) model for public infrastructure. The success, however, hinges on the country’s ability to create a strong enabling environment for the private sector, combined with significant and growing expertise in the public sector.

    Its Director-General, Mr. Aminu Diko,  made this known in the 2012  ICRC annual report made available to The Nation.  Diko, who noted that the 2012  fiscal year represented the its fourth year of operations, said the commission is committed to ensuring the delivery of quality infrastructure in a manner that is transparent and represents the best value for taxpayers through PPP.

    The DG advocated the values inherent in the initiative to include “ensuring on-budget-on-time delivery, transferring risk, optimising cost over the whole life-cycle,  and engaging the expertise of the private sector.”

    These values, according to Diko, are delivered by harnessing the incentives and disciplines of a robust capital market, strong rule of law and high sovereign credit quality that results in strong competition, which generates great deals for the citizens.

    According to the report, a total of 22 projects were active and at various stages of development for purposes of PPP procurement in 2012.

    Included in the projects are the Second Niger Bridge; Lagos-Iseyin-Kishi-Kaima Road modernisation project; concession of Onne Port Independent Power Project; 18 Agro Industrial Estates and Development of hydroelectric power plants among others.

    Diko said he took pride that with the support of the World Bank Institute (WBI), the ICRC began work on the development of guidelines for contracts disclosure in the country. This, he said,  is to ensure that the management of PPP contracts in the country is transparent and efficient.

    In the 2012 fiscal year, the ICRC received a total of N1, 129, 372, 000 through monthly allocations. However, a key challenge militating against the commission is the inability to fully discharge its functions of monitoring the efficient execution of concession contracts.

    This is aside issues related to the support and commitment of key stakeholders, adequate budgetary provisions for projects preparation development and implementation, gaps in PPP competencies, and challenges with the institutional, legal, and regulatory environment.

    The Commission also had issues of non-integration of PPP projects into the National Planning framework, inconsistency in the PPP project pipelines and inappropriate framework for screening projects.

    Its chairman, governing board, Senator Ken Nnamami, agreed that the use of PPP is imperative as a veritable tool to bridging the budgetary gap, implementing infrastructure projects at a faster rate and reducing the whole life of projects.

     

  • Govt, ICRC sign pact to concession 33 silos

    Govt, ICRC sign pact to concession 33 silos

    N100b required to manage facilities.

    The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to concession the 33 silo complexes across the country.

    The pact became imperative as a result of the inability of the Federal Government to manage the facilities.

    Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said during the signing ceremony that the agreement would take effect on the facility at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), adding that it costs the Federal Government about N100 billion to manage the facilities.

    The minister described the move as necessary to encourage Public Private Partnership (PPP) to operate the silos, adding that it will sustain the development programmes of the agricultural sector.

    Adesina added that the silo complexes are part of the ministry’s storage infrastructure under its Strategic Grains Reserves.

    “Running and managing these huge infrastructure is extremely expensive. At the current guaranteed minimum price rate, about N100billion will be required by the Ministry to stock the silo complexes. Government does not have the resources to manage them. We therefore want the private sector to lease this huge storage infrastructure to improve their management, efficiency and profitability,” he said.

    According to a statement signed yesterday in Abuja by Press and Public Relations of the Ministry Mrs. Idowu Jokpeyibo, the 13 silos have 311, 000 metric tons storage capacity. They were in existence and operational before the present administration , adding that an additional 20 silo complexes were being completed by the present administration to make them 33 with a total storage capacity of 1.3million mt.

    According to the Minister, the network of strategic grain reserve silos were established to among others; provide immediate food relief in terms of emergencies, provide appropriate mechanism and Guarantee Minimum Price (GMP) scheme to make farmers earn remunerative prices for their produce. Others include providing a mechanism for price stabilisation and storage capacity for excess production and reduction of post-harvest losses.

    “The cost of managing the silos is what brought about concession of the silos,” he added.

    The concession, he said, would be done in a transparent manner and in partnership with the ICRC in line with the extant regulations.

    Earlier, the Director General, ICRC, Alhaji Aminu Dikko said the MoC would enable due diligence and diagnostic study of the silos to develop appropriate economic models for the PPP transactions.

    The Director of Strategic Grain Reserve, Dr. Jide Olumeko said the agreement will increase capacity of the facilities from the current status, from less than 10 per cent to about 100 per cent after the concession.

    According to him, the pact would spell out the roles and responsibilities of each party to the MoC towards the actualization of the proposed concession exercise.

  • Diko is new ICRC chief

    President Goodluck Jonathan has appointed Mr. Aminu Diko as Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).

    This is contained in a statement issued in Lagos by the Acting Head, Communication Department, ICRC, Mrs. Deborah Okafor.

    The statement said that Diko had since assumed office.

    “Diko, a seasoned corporate lawyer, was formerly the Executive Director, Contract Compliance Centre of the commission.

    “His experience and expertise, spanning over a period of 30 years, will be critical in steering the commission towards ensuring successes in using the Public Private Partnership (PPP) as a modern procurement option.

    “This will be predicated upon a proactive regulatory regime that will require strategic stakeholder engagement to engender the development of critical national infrastructure,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Okafor as saying in the statement.

     

     

  • Senate confirms Nnamani for ICRC

    The Senate on Tuesday confirmed the appointment of former Senate President, Ken Nnamani and Barrister Aminu Diko, as Chairman and Director General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission respectively.

    Though the nominees received a smooth confirmation, some of the senators insisted that the upper chamber should ensure that future nominations complied with the Federal Character principle.

    Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, in his contribution said that it was important for the Senate to ensure that Federal Character Principle was at all times adhered to.

    He criticised a situation where indigenes of Akwa Ibom State are allegedly skipped in favour of other people from the South- south geo-political zone in appointments.

    Senator Ita Enang, (Akwa Ibom North East) noted that Edo State had always had lion share of appointments meant for the zone.

    The lawmaker insisted that the trend should be checked to ensure equity and balance in appointments in line with the Federal Character principle.