The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Idle

  • ‘EU’s $89b free trade pacts funds idle’

    A new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the National Board of Trade, Sweden has revealed that the full potential of European Union’s Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) remains untapped to the tune of almost $89billion.

    According to the report, this is the cash European exporters overpaid, because they did not take full advantage of the reduced tariffs offered by the FTAs that the EU as a bloc has signed with a variety of developed and developing countries.

    Nigerian exporters may have also contributed to this figure as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has refused to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) proposed to it by the EU the report added.

    As governments hurry to negotiate or review FTAs, it is important to understand if businesses are fully using the agreements, said the report, which is the first to use the concept of utilisation rates to systematically analyse FTAs entered into by the EU.

    President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Frank Jacobs, has consistently opposed Nigeria appending its signature to the EPA fearing that goods from the advanced nations would crowd out local products, already suffering from the incidence of dumping from Asian countries.

    His concerns were based on the fact that infrastructure challenge had left Nigeria’s manufacturing sector in a perpetual state of infancy.

    According to Jacobs, any agreement that opens Nigeria’s markets to foreign goods would render the local industry vulnerable and signal death to the economy as well.

    The report showed that a large proportion of this under-utilisation is in exports from the EU to major free trade partners such as Switzerland, and the Republic of Korea, while the biggest share of unused tariff reductions to the EU is in imports from Switzerland, Turkey, South Korea and Mexico valued at an estimated $12.9billion.

  • Why six power plants are idle, by Shell

    Why six power plants are idle, by Shell

    Six power plants remain idle because of lack of gas to fuel their operations, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), has said.

    Its  Senior Commercial Adviser, Upstream Gas,  Emmanuel Anyaeto, said the plants could not operate as there was no infrastructure to convey gas to their locations.

    He spoke on the sidelines of ‘Gas Aggregation Buyers’ Forum’ orginised by the Gas Aggregation Company of Nigeria (GACN), in Abuja, yesterday.

    He said gas producers were also reluctant to supply them gas owing to their rising debt profile which was almost hitting $500million.

    He said Nigeria needed about two billion standard cubic feet of gas to meet its requirement for both domestic and power plants.

    Anyaeto said: “The reason is because we have about six power plants in this country that are standing idle that are not getting gas. The reason why they are not getting gas, even though we are flaring 800million scuf per day is that we don’t have enough pipelines to deliver the gas to the power plants.

    “That begs the question, why were the power plants built far away from where the gas is? he queried, pointing out that the that most of the producers are owed a lot of money. The producers are being owed close to $500million today.”

    He said the power plants, are government owned, but since the government is not paying, the producers now require a guarantee  that they woul be paid upon supply of gas.

    This condition, Anyaeto said, is what the government is yet to  fulfill that has culminated in the shortage of gas for the power plants.

    He said the  amount of investment needed to meet the two billion SCUF in Nigeria is about $6million for gas, pipelines and other infratsuture.

    According to him, producers were readily available for the gas business, but the challenge was whether customers are available to pay for the gas.

    Also speaking, GACN Managing Director, Morgan Okwoche, said the Gas Purchase Agreement (GPAs) that was signed was not effective because there was no security for the electricity generation companies (GenCos), that needs a back up, while the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) was yet to come up with any security instrument.

    He said the N701billion intervention from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was not was extended to the gas producers, stressing that GACN is in a position to certify any invoice dispute free.

    He said GACN wrote to  NBET and the Minister of Power to involve the company to help in disbursing the N701billion to avoid dispute in the future.

  • N1.6b women fund is idle, says minister

    The Federal Government has urged states to access the N1.6 billion National Women Empowerment Fund (NAWEF) lying idle in the Bank of Industry (BoI).

    The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Sen Jummai Alhassan, made the plea yesterday during a one day sensitisation programme for wives of governors, wives of Local government area chairmen, women on elective positions on the effective implementation the fund.

    The minister noted that despite the various intervention to make the funds accessible, states are finding it difficult to access the funds by meeting all the terms of conditions especially the repayment of the loans.

    She explained that the Federal Government had decided to implement the fund in eight pilot states, which she said include, Abia (Southeast), Awka Ibom (Southsouth), Osun (Southwest) and Nassarawa (Northcentral).

    Others are Jigawa (Northwest), Adamawa, Yobe and Borno (Northeast).

    “Unfortunately all together we have got only 25,740 application from all the eight pilot states, when actually we expect 80000 from all the states.

    ”The overall objective of the NAWEF programme is to provide access to financial services for women involved in micro and small scale enterprises to scale up their businesses.

    “The programme is also a revolving loan facility that is interest and collateral free requiring beneficiaries to repay within a specified period of six months or more depending on the kind of enterprise or business to enable other benefit from the scheme.”

    The minister said to sustain the fund, certain conditions have been put in place. These are women guaranteeing each other as members of same cooperative group; women ensuring commitment to repayment as scheduled while less stringent conditions to access the fund to make repayment easy for beneficiaries.

  • N60b UBE funds idle in CBN, says UBEC chief

    N60b UBE funds idle in CBN, says UBEC chief

    •States’ inability to pay matching grant hinders access

    About N60 billion Universal Basic Education (UBE) fund meant to be accessed and used for the growth of basic education by states is lying idle with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission Dr. Hamid Bobboyi has said.
    The matching grant, which is an intervention fund disbursed by the Federal Government to states through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) is meant to support the development of basic education and implementation of UBE scheme.
    Bobboyi, who spoke at a meeting with education correspondents in Abuja, said the inability of many states to access the intervention fund had hampered the growth of basic education.
    According to the statistics obtained from the commission on the un-accessed matching grant from 2005 to 2016 as at March 31, only two states had so far accessed last year’s grant.
    The states are Borno and Rivers. Ebonyi is the least performed state in terms of access and utilisation of the fund as it has about N4 billion un-accessed fund with UBEC.
    Other states include: Ebonyi, Enugu and Ondo with over N3 billion each un-accessed. Bayelsa, Niger, Ogun, and Oyo, each have N2.8 billion un-accessed fund lying idle with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
    He said: “On the issue of matching grant to states, if we provide N1billion to a state, the state is expected to bring its own N1billion and this expands the resource base available to the basic education sector.
    “This is the reason why I feel very worried that after the Federal Government pays its own matching grant, the state would withdraw its own counterpart fund.
    “This is not only against the law, but it negates the entire arrangement that is made in terms of the partnership between the states and the Federal Government.”
    Bobboyi lamented that besides refusal to access the fund, some governors were involved in illegal diversion of their states allocation.
    He said five states were involved in illegall withdrawal of their counterpart funds after the Federal Government released the matching grant to them.
    Besides, he said the commission noticed and closed down the accounts of some states, which placed the funds on fixed deposit .
    The UBEC boss added that some outgoing governors allegedly moved the money from the account of the states’ Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) to the states’ main accounts against the law, thereby creating confusion in the system.
    This, he said, created problems for incoming governors. In some cases, UBEC had to ask for the return of the money before such a state could access fresh allocation.
    “There are many states that were involved in the withdrawal of funds over a period of time. We don’t go out to embarrass anybody but we take action. The kind of action we take is that if we noticed gross violation, we close down the matching grant account, we freeze it and then ask the state to come and tell us exactly what had happened with the fund,” Bobboyi said.
    He, however, said some of these infractions had been minimised with the coming of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
    The UBEC boss, who hailed some governors for their achievements in basic education, lamented that there were serious challenges, including payment of salaries.

  • Idle in the market place (III)

    My great Nigerian sisters and every wonderful fan of this page-God’s page,
    I welcome you all to 2016, our year of greater glory and phenomenal achievement. This is the year that your star will shine and announce you to the world. Your long-term dreams will manifest and showcase you to the world in Jesus name. AMEN!

    IN THE last two editions, I discussed the unfortunate circumstance a lot of people find themselves -how those who have all it takes to live glorious lives and impact on the lives of others are stopped on their tracks by one thing or the other. In any case, every single human being has a giant in him which could either be tied down or burst forth to manifestation. Hmm…sigh! Today, I’ll be discussing how you can guard against being robbed of your great destiny. If you are age 13 and you are reading this article, I thank God for your life because after reading this, no matter how the devil has planned to thwart your efforts to shine now and in future, he will never succeed.

    • Be strong in the Lord

    “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”

    Ephesians 6:10

    God who created us knows we all have a common enemy who will always fight our shinning and well-being in life and that is why He encourages us to be strong in Him. To have a personal relationship with Him and get Him on our side. He certainly would not defend anyone who is a friend to His enemy. And the devil himself knows that there are some human beings whose destinies are untouchable. He may try but when he sees they are sold-out to God and they constantly resist and fight him, he stays away. Those destinies become too hot to handle and only get him into trouble when he tries to attack them. That type of destiny could be yours. However, you need to get deeply acquainted with God and the best time is now. You’d recall I mentioned last week that choices made during adolescent years can influence later life. Spirituality and deep acquaintance with God during mid-adolescence will arm you for your journey through life.

    Everything about our existence on earth is spiritual so is good and evil. The state of one’s mind controls one’s life and if it is corrupted by darkness, one can’t live a normal life. If your spirit is connected to God, you will have a strong grip on your destiny and become exactly what God created you to be. This is not just about going to the place of worship but you must be filled with the spirit of God and in fact exude Godliness. A lot of people go to the place of worship but are full of darkness. It is the wisest thing to ensure your emotions, motions, walk and entire life is scripture-controlled. Life is pivoted on laws, rules and regulations. God’s kingdom operates on spiritual principles and to have the best of Him, these principles must be strictly adhered to.

    Discover the gift of God in your life

    If you develop a deep relationship with God and you begin to carry His presence, it won’t be difficult for you to discover your gift/talent because His light in you would magnify it. In fact, you don’t need to search for it; it will manifest with ease and all you will need do is work on it and make its impact felt. And the more you grow in God, the more it grows. Wow! Doesn’t that mean your star will never struggle to shine? How nice!

    Pay less attention to inanities

    Our adolescence is a time we enjoy spending so much time on unproductive things. We are easily moved by what excites our friends, the latest fad and trends. And in this present age there’s so much slammed on our faces via the social media which could easily derail even the fully-grown adults. Now can you imagine the effect on an adolescent girl? This is why it is so important to get deeply involved with God at a young age because once His spirit dwells inside of you; your mind won’t be easily polluted and you’ll spend less time on inanities!

    Abstain from lust of the flesh

    “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

    1 Peter 2:11

    Sweeties, take it or leave it, if you want your original destiny to shine and be free from oppression, you will never have anything to do with ungodly sex. By that I mean any sex outside marriage. Also, it is important to let you know this includes masturbation. Our manual for living clearly states it wars against our soul which is what connects us to God. Now if we allow our flesh conflict with the spirit of God which is the force behind our journey in life, can we make any good out of life? Sisters, beware be wise!

    Be strong in the lord; not in make-up, fashion, sexy dance-steps, lewd lyrics, sexting, sexy lingerie, sex styles etc. Your star is waiting to shine and every other good thing you’ve ever wished for has no choice but to fall on your laps. Even if you cannot afford to eat a 3-square meal today, you have a beautiful destiny which must be celebrated and which will make you a wonder in the world. Start pursuing it today! If I were you, I’d surrender to Jesus today and let him lead me to my throne of glory this year. Happy New Life!

  • Idle in the market place (II)

    My great Nigerian sisters and every wonderful fan of this page-God’s page,
    I am happy to be with you again today. I prophesy into your lives as it is written in Isaiah 14:3 “And it shall come to pass in the day (today) that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,” in Jesus mighty name. This week, God will visit you with miracles that will wipe out your past ridicule in Jesus name. The light of God will shine upon your ways and turn your frustrations to fulfillment in Jesus name. AMEN!

    Last week, I discussed the cases of three ladies who had bright prospects at a young age; started well in their various fields of endeavour but in their late 30s/early 40s have nothing to show for the wonderful seeds of greatness planted in them by God. It’s very sad that when one of them should be one of the richest women in Africa, she’s living from hand to mouth. No matter what you think, it is an attack against her destiny. This is because we are all created for the glory of God and should move from glory to glory. However, a lot of youths who should guard their destinies jealously don’t even have the faintest idea of the super-stars they are and so pay very little attention to it or better put don’t know how to protect themselves and get their stars to manifest. Unfortunately, some other people who are ready to support the devil in truncating such beautiful destinies have seen the shinning stars  from their childhood and possibly even from their mother’s womb and would do everything to stop the stars from shinning. If Herod was bent on killing Jesus Christ because of his star, who are we not to suffer the same fate?

    I earlier mentioned that we are all endowed with spiritual deposits planted in us by God to make us great in life and turn us to stars and wonders. If these deposits are not working either because they are being suppressed or out rightly stolen by the enemy, such a person can never be fulfilled in life and will only go from stagnation to frustration to non-achievement to lack to trouble etc. I could go on and on. The devil is after people of relevance, significance, those whose lives will promote the kingdom of God, as a matter of fact- human gold mines. You never can tell the type of destiny you carry. Your parents may not even know. The earlier we realise in our adolescence that the whole world lies in wickedness and we have a fierce battle to fight, the better for us.

    Adolescence is viewed as a transitional period between childhood and adulthood, whose cultural purpose is the preparation of children for adult roles. It is a time we see life just the way our peers see it. It is a time our vivid imagination set from childhood practically runs wild and we just want to have the world at our feet and everything our way whether it’s right or wrong. It is a time when an average girl believes she’s already an adult and has every reason to have a boy friend, engage in sex, wear hair extensions, dress up to the nines i.e. dress to kill, master the latest dance steps etc. Girls flutter their eyelashes, wear sexy and colourful clothes, and go around tightening their bottoms. They want to be in shape and up to date. You’re at the age when you think everything is centred on yourself. You are only interested in the present and usually carried away with your emotions. Adolescence is a period when so much time is spent on inanities. A time you don’t want to be left out; a time when you want to be accepted by your peers and seen to be “happening” whether what you are doing makes sense or not. All of these are done with so much gusto like tomorrow would never come. In this generation, the social media makes things worse and exposes you to so much that distract you from what you really should concentrate on. It’s just that age, a very short time out of the number of years God has graciously given us but an improper use of it could lead us to an unfulfilled and wasted life. Since choices made during adolescent years can influence later life, high levels of self-awareness, self-control, spirituality and deep acquaintance with God during mid-adolescence will arm you for your journey through life.

    No wonder Solomon encourages us in Ecclesiastes 12:3 to remember our creator while we are still young before those dismal days and years come when you will say, “I don’t enjoy life.” That is before the devil fully gains his ground in your life, makes you feel you are enjoying life, manipulates you at will for so many years and then you wake up one day suddenly realising you’ve not made any good of your life. Hmm…girls, do you know a lot of women wish they had been serious with God in their teens?

    In this season of great joy and glad tidings, may God cause you to sing a new song of ecstatic joy, reveal His wonderful plans for your life and place you on the original path of your destiny in Jesus mighty name. God loves you, so do I!

  • Idle in the market place

    Idle in the market place

    My darling sisters and every wonderful fan of this page-God’s page,
    I am delighted to be with you again today and my greatest wish and prayer for you is to discover God’s wonderful purpose for your life and move there with speed even before the end of this year in Jesus name. AMEN!

    During the week, I got a distress call from a mother who is very unhappy about the state of her 39-year- old daughter’s life. The single lady – a graduate who happens to be her first child is the least accomplished amongst all her children and doesn’t seem to be doing well. Though she has a job, her mother wants to get her a better accommodation because the lady can’t afford to get a good one. According to her mother, her pay package is not sufficient for her. Her mother thinks she’s not doing well because she would rather do things her own way than listen to her but I think there’s more to this lady’s predicament. A year ago, her mother told me about her latest broken engagement and how she had to pay for her flight ticket abroad to cool off. My worry is if at 39, she’s yet to be independent and fulfilled or accomplished in one way or the other, at what age would she make a meaning out of her life? Here’s a beautiful lady who was so bright and sharp in her adolescence and knew exactly what she wanted from life. I know another single lady whose business acumen from a rather young age fetched her so much money such that one could say she was too wealthy for her age when she was in her 20s. And being a prudent and smart lady, by now in her mid 30s she ought to have made enough money and saved enough such that buying an aircraft wouldn’t be a difficult task for her but, strangely, she’s been practically living from hand to mouth in the last two years. I know yet another 43-year-old single lady who was suddenly laid off in the company where she worked and earned well because of a change of management. When all attempts to get a good job failed, she decided to go into event planning and I tell you in the last four years, life has been so hard for her. There’s always one trouble or the other with the very few jobs that come her way. It’s either she’s underpaid or not paid for months after working so hard. Her business frustration made her settle for the job of a receptionist in a 2-star hotel, yet her salary is not sufficient for her needs. Now, she has to depend on a younger sibling who gives her a monthly allowance. This lady has always wished to be married but no good man comes her way. My question is, when will these ladies become fulfilled in life when their destinies seem to be idle in spite of their efforts?

    Idle means inactive and not at work, without purpose or effect; pointless. There are too many destinies like that in the world today practically rendered useless either due to lack of focus, wrong association, wrong priorities, lack of sense of responsibility, sin or outright satanic attack. Yes, the devil loves to truncate the destinies of great stars and bombard them with different problems such that they get so confused and just slump in the race of life. There are spiritual deposits in our lives planted by God to make us great but it has been suppressed by the devil in so many lives. Some children of the devil who are destiny traders know how to transfer virtues and render the original owner of the virtues useless for life unless God intervenes. You come across people who are loaded with talents, unusual skills and fantastic ideas yet they lack patronage and have become liabilities to others when they are meant to be great assets simply because something has been killed or stolen from their lives. It is indeed a tragedy for anyone not to be accomplished in life and celebrated because we were all created to manifest God’s glory.

    Sisters, our adolescence/youth is indeed the best time of our lives when we want to live out our lives and enjoy life to a hilt. But if I were you, I’d rather focus on my future and lay a solid foundation for all my aspirations and arm myself well enough to journey through life. We all have a common enemy which is the devil who has only come to kill, steal and destroy God’s beautiful plans for our lives.

    The energy wasted on clubbing/partying endlessly and other inanities in your youth could be better spent in equipping yourself with ammunition for your future. You never can tell the sort of destiny/star you have. It could be one the devil has made up his mind to destroy right from when you were in your mother’s womb. Your destiny/star could be one that the African continent has never experienced before. God’s plan for your life could be for you to become the world’s most influential woman some day. How tragic it would be for such a destiny not to manifest! For everyone who is presently idle- you shall fly from the sky of rejection to the firmament of dominion in Jesus name. AMEN!

    •To be continued.