The Nation Newspaper

Tag: implementation

  • Body seeks transparency in projects’ implementation

    Association of Micro Enterpreneurs of Nigeria (AMEN) President, Prince Saviour  Iche, has called  for renewed commitment for  industrial strategy, which he said, would create good jobs for everyone in every part of the country.

    Iche said his organisation was ready to work with the government to  pursue an industrial strategy  that  takes an active role, not just in improving individuals’ abilities to access the labour market through boosting skills or transport links, but in how well local economies can  provide jobs.

    According to Iche, the nation requires private sector partnership to push an economic strategy, which creates more and better jobs, adding that the  national picture on jobs was good and a deeper dive into people’s experiences of the labour market shows  issues that need attention.

    He stressed AMEN’s commitment to partnership with government to work to identify infrastructure and skills’ needs and then provide services and skills to ensure local people  benefit from inward investment. He called for improved transparency in infrastructure projects’ provision to prevent wastage of public funds.

    Iche said infrastructure projects should t offer value for money, pointing out that poor investment decisions could lock the economy into inappropriate infrastructure systems for many years with significant harmful effects on future prosperity.

    He  warned against focussing on white elephants projects that deliver scant economic dividends leading to wasting of public money in the process.

  • Nigeria begins EPR implementation

    Nigeria is set to join the league of compliant nations to begin the implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Policy as the nation commence the implementation of the policy to be overseen byNational Environmental Standard &  RegulationsEnforcement Agency(NESREA). The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a deliberate policy to promote total life cycle environmental improvement of product systems by extending the responsibility of the manufacturers to various parts of the entire life cycle of their product, and especially to the take-back, recycle and the final disposal of the product.

     The objectives of the EPR are to reduce waste streams from post-consumer products; to provide clear and measurable targets in terms of prevention, reuse or recycling objectives; and to encourage manufacturing of environmentally friendly products by incorporating waste prevention, reuse and recycling considerations into product design.

     According to the Managing Director of PrePayGo, Mr. Yinka Adeyemi, the EPR will open up opportunities in collection, handling, transportation, and final treatment of post-consumer products. It will also assist in developing standards for the recovery and recycling programmes for specified materials and encourage the establishment of Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) or stewardship organisations.

     The National Waste Management Conference will bring together on 16thand 17th August at the Eko Hotel & Suites in Victoria Island Lagos, which holds stakeholders in the waste and environment sector discuss the EPR and other policies aimed, developing and implementing a sustainable framework for Waste Evacuation and Resource Recovery for Nigeria in line with the sustainable development goal on sanitation as promoted by the global coalition and international community.

  • Malawi to study NEITI implementation in Nigeria

    A high ranking delegation from Malawi is expected to arrive Abuja this week on a study of Nigeria’s implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency the Initiative (EITI).

    While in Nigeria, the Malawian delegation will undertake a one week study of Nigeria’s implementation by NEITI, of the principles of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

    According to NEITI Director, Communications, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, the study will examine how NEITI interventions through its reports and advocacy are supporting the on-going reforms in the country’s oil, gas and mining sectors, and how Malawi can benefit from this experience.

    The delegation is to be received on arrival by the Executive Secretary Mr. Waziri Adio at the NEITI Secretariat Abuja.

    Malawi has a population of about 18 million people and is in Southern Africa. It is rich in solid mineral resources such as uranium, coal and gemstones.

    Malawi joined the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative on October 22, 2015, while Nigeria has been a founding member of the organisation since 2003.

    While the implementation of EITI in Malawi is currently at its infancy as the country is yet to publish any EITI Reports, Nigeria is a ranking member and attained complaint status in 2012, won the best implementing country at the 6th global conference of the organisation held in Sydney, Australia in 2013, and  has published several independent audit reports in oil and gas industry since 2004 . Nigeria has also published similar reports on solid minerals, fiscal allocation and resource disbursements.

    Besides, Nigeria’s implementation of EITI is supported with a specific law, the NEITI Act of 2007.

    Among the 54- member –country world body, Nigeria through the work of NEITI is largely seen as a model worthy of emulation.

    While in Nigeria, the Malawian EITI team led by the Chairman of the country’s multi-stakeholders group Mr. Kulemeka Crispen Clemence is expected to seek exposure to NEITI processes,its mandates, challenges,and success stories in its operations as an agency.  Other areas of interest to the team will include NEITI relations with its multi-stakeholders group like the civil society, the media, the extractive industry companies, government and other covered entities.

    In this direction, the team is scheduled to meet with Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Minister of Mines and Steel Development and the Chair of National Stakeholders Working Group (NEITI Board).

  • Workers demand new salary scale implementation

    Workers demand new salary scale implementation

    Workers of the Federal Polytechnic in Ado Ekiti protested against management for alleged non-implementation of a new salary scale.

    The protest, which started at about 6 am lasted till about noon. The workers accused management of fraud and called on the Federal Ministry of Education to investigate the allegation.

    The workers blocked the main gate and prevented movement into the campus.

    The action was carried out under the auspices of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANIP) and Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU).

    The protesters said they won’t resume work until they are paid. They urged the management led by the Rector, Dr. Taiwo Akande, to place them on the same level with their counterparts in Federal Polytechnics in Ilaro, Idah, Ile Oluji, Auchi, Unwana and Yaba.

    Led by ASUP Chairman Tunji Owoeye, the workers who carried placards and chanted solidarity songs, said the sanitations’s academic staff were still on Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Scale (CONTISS) 7 instead of CONTISS 8 as approved by the Federal Government.

    Students also joined the protest – complaining about what they called obnoxious charges.

    Owoeye said: “We have taken steps. We have met the management several times about this. We have written letters of warning to the management to implement this as is done in other federal polytechnics.

    “We have given 21 days notice, 14 days notice without any move by the management. We have also written our national body. In fact, let me tell you, that my own national body has given approval that by the end of 14 day ultimatum from now, we should have the institution closed down and go back home.”

    Reacting, the Deputy Registrar (Information and Public Relations), Ade Adeyemi-Adejolu said:  “Very sorry that I’m not in a position to talk to you or any of our other colleagues on the protest. Government had forbidden us from externalising the issue. Thanks.”

  • Group expresses worry over delay in implementation of tobacco control act

    Group expresses worry over delay in implementation of tobacco control act

    A group, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), has expressed displeasure with the continuous delay in the implementation of the regulations that would put a control on the use of tobacco products in the country.

    The group expressed its concern yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, during a one-day South-South workshop for the media towards supporting effective tobacco control in Nigeria.

    The event was organised in conjunction with the Rivers State chapter of the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ and African Capacity Building Foundation.

    Speaking at the workshop, the representative of the CISLAC, Mr. Okeke Anya regretted that the government was not doing much in the area of implementing the regulation that would place restrictions on the excessive use of tobacco in the country.

    Anya stated that tobacco was not good for human consumption, noting that the passage of the law should have been swift.

    Anya noted that a national act on tobacco control has been accented by the former President Goodluck Jonathan, and wondered why the regulations have not yet been passed.

    He urged the National Assembly to revisit the process, adding that until the regulations were passed, the law would not be implementable.

    “The government is not doing much about tobacco control in Nigeria. Although there is a national act that has been passed, but the regulations are not there, because the act requires the regulation to carry out the implementation.”

    Anya urged the states to as a matter of urgency replicate the laws in order to regulate tobacco usage, adding that it would help in reducing the government’s expenditure on health.

    “Beyond that, the issue around tobacco is a concurrent issue. Each state is supposed to pass its own tobacco control act. We have seen examples from Lagos, Ekiti and some other states that have passed their local laws on tobacco control.

    “States should pass tobacco control laws. They need to also study the level of Global Adult Tobacco Survey that has been done for them to find out that more young females and males are getting involved in tobacco use.

    “And the devastating health consequences of tobacco use are enormous. So, each state as a way of cutting its own health expenditure, should push towards the passage of strong tobacco control laws.”

  • EITI extols Nigeria over implementation of standard

    EITI extols Nigeria over implementation of standard

    The Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global body which promotes public awareness about how countries manage oil, gas and mineral resources have lauded Nigeria as one of the first countries to implement its standards.

    EITI Country Manager, Alex Gordy, who led his team to the NNPC Wednesday, stated that out of about fifty one (51) countries, Nigeria was key in shaping the global EITI development.

    He expressed happiness that Nigeria has expanded the scope of its implementation of the EITI standards, across the entire value chain of the oil and gas industry as exemplified by the organisation’s Nigerian arm, NEITI.

    Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mallam Garba Deen Muhammad disclosed this in a statement yesterday.

    He stated that Nigeria last underwent EITI validation in 2010 and that the new validation exercise has recently commenced.

    The EITI validation exercise is done in order to assess whether a country is or is not compliant with EITI Principles and Criteria. These include commitment to implement EITI standards; commitment to work with civil society and the private sector; having individuals that lead implementation; and a work plan agreed with stakeholders.

    Earlier in his speech, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Kachalla Baru stated that the NNPC remains committed towards full compliance with the standards required by the NEITI.

    “We have been interacting a lot with NEITI and in those engagements, we have been very cooperative in providing the necessary information. We will always remain committed towards implementing NEITI’s good standards,” Dr. Baru stated.”

  • ‘UNEP Report implementation’ll reduce crimes’

    ‘UNEP Report implementation’ll reduce crimes’

    The Minister of the Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed, has assured that the full implementation of the recommendations in the report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on environmental assessment in Ogoni land will reduce crimes and violence.

    Also, the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, said the Federal Government’s interventionist agency would take part in the Ogoni clean-up.

    She said this was part of its mandatory assignment to ensure the development of every community in Niger Delta.

    Mohammed and Semenitari spoke yesterday while inspecting the venue for the June 2 kick-off of Ogoni clean-up by President Muhammadu Buhari at Numuu-Tekuru Waterfront in Bodo City, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State.

    During last year’s electioneering campaigns, Buhari, the then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), visited Ogoni land and pledged that he would ensure the full implementation of the recommendations in the UNEP report, if elected.

    On August 5, last year, after 68 days in office, the President approved several actions to fast-track the implementation of the UNEP report in Ogoni land.

    These included the amendment of the official gazette establishing HYPREP to reflect a new governance framework, comprising a Governing Council, a Board of Trustees (BoT) and Project Management.

    The minister yesterday said it was a coincidence that the Federal Government decided to kick-off the clean-up at the same location, where Buhari, as Head of State, inaugurated a fish pond for the Niger Delta Basin Development Authority (NDBDA) in 1984.

    Mohammed said: “It is such a coincidence. I do not imagine that President Buhari, when he was making his promise, remembered that this is going to happen at this time, because this fish pond was working and he is the one who inaugurated it. It was about livelihood in the midst of the wealth we take from this land and you see that it is gone.

    “It is a tragedy, but we are coming back again with that hope that we can return the ecosystem to what it was, the livelihood to what it was and provide alternatives to the crimes that are going on now. It is a kind of blessing that comes along. He (President Buhari) made a promise and is trying to deliver.”

    Semenitari said the NDDC had a commitment and a mandatory assignment to ensure that it was part of the clean-up process.

    She said: “Development is a big issue for us and the commission’s assignment is to ensure development of every community. One of the biggest issues for the commission is the matter of the environment, to the extent that it was actually the reason the commission was created.

    “NDDC was created to ensure sustainable livelihood, cleaner environment and more sustainable environment in the region from where crude oil exploration and exploitation occur.

    “Clearly, the commission has a commitment and a mandatory assignment to ensure that it is part of this process, as long as it takes.”

  • Civil society groups seek ‘strict’ budget implementation

    Civil society groups seek ‘strict’ budget implementation

    Some civil society organisa-tions have urged the Plateau State government to implement its budget in a manner that will guarantee good governance, transparency, accountability and alleviate poverty.

    The civil society groups sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said the measure is to ensure that citizens of the state feel the impact of their government through provisions of basic social amenities as stipulated in government’s annual budget for the overall good of the populace.

    The Simon Lalong administration has tabled the state 2016 budget worth N154 billion before the state House of Assembly for deliberation.

    The four CSOs are Search For Common Ground(SFCG), West African Youth Network (WAYN), Community Action for Popular Participation(CAPP) and Leadership Initiative for Good Governance in Africa (LIGGA)

    Programme Manager of Community Action for Popular Participation (CAPP) Mr. Nelson Ananze who revealed their project in a town hall meeting held at Carbinet Office at Plateau state secretariat Jos said, “The project is one of the ways civil society organizations influence government policies so as to enhance good governance in the state.

    Mr. Amanze said, “Four civil society organisations sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), are currently undertaking a project on good governance in the country, particularly in Bauchi, Plateau and River states, respectively. We have the mandate to work in the various states in different thematic areas towards a positive impact on the lives and livelihood of the people as well the general development of a state.

    “These areas of concern are education, human right, conflict management and peace building, environment, health, gender, youth, persons living with disability, excluded and marginalized groups, accountability and transparency.

    The Plateau State Head of Service Mr. Izang Azi who spoke on behalf of government, said, “The current economic reality has placed so much responsibility of budget implementation on citizens as well as government because government has to rely on tax paid by citizens to provide social amenities. If people pay their tax responsibly, government will use the same tax to provide all that is needed to make life meaningful to its citizens in a transparent manner.

    “This administration has commenced sensitisation of the general public on tax payment and government has also promised to be transparent in the application of what ever that is collected through tax. But at the end of the day, if citizens refuse to pay tax, government’s aim of providing social amenities will be defeated.”

  • Union seeks implementation of workers-friendly policies

    The Leadership of Senior Staff Association of Communications Transport and CorporaFtion (SSACTAC) has urged federal and state governments to ensure the effective implementation of the government formulated policies geared towards improving the welfare and living conditions of the workers.

    Speaking to reporters in Abuja, the union’s National President, Comrade Mohammad Yunusa, said the government’s commitment to implementation of programmes would not only better the living conditions of the workers but all Nigerians.

    Yunusa said government has enormous goodwill from the Nigerian workers to achieve positive change for the betterment of the people.

    He also urged the government to reactivate the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) for the training of young Nigerians in industrial entrepreneurship.

    The union’s boss said the training of the young Nigerians would boost the industrial sector of the nation’s economy, stressing that training is key to developing the right attitudes in the young Nigerians’ entrepreneurships.

    He added that the union is totally in support of the war against corruption and other societal ills currently being carried out by the government.

    He said government officials must make things happen by embarking on the right actions, create a system to expand the nation’s economy, stressing that the government invest upgrade industrial and commercial centres to international standards to justify the country’s role as a hub for commerce and industry in the West African sub-region.

    The union’s boss said its leadership would continue to give priority attention to the welfare of its members through meaningful dialogue with government officials at all levels.

  • Labour seeks effective implementation of budget

    Labour seeks effective implementation of budget

    Organised labour has praised the Federal Government for the N6.08 trillion 2016 budget announced on Tuesday. But it stressed the need for the budget’s implementation to the benefit of all Nigerians.

    Commenting on the budget,  the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) lauded the planned recruitment of 500,000 unemployed graduates and holders of National Certificate of Education (NCE) as teachers to curb the escalating rate of unemployment.

    In a statement signed by the Secretary-General, ASCSN, Comrade Bashir  Lawal, said: “We also commend Mr President for his decision to ensure that all the Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) are captured and brought under the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) because this will not only reduce the burden of manual preparation of payrolls, but also curb cases of sharp practices in the system.”

    While praising the government for its resolve to compile the list of the poorest in order to implement its cash transfer programme, the union stressed the need for the policy to be transparent and inclusive without discrimination.

    ”We must equally express joy in the decision of Government to make good its promise to provide a meal per day for primary school pupils,” the union said.

    The ASCSN, however, frowned at the decision of the government that fuel subsidy would not be removed for now because the impression had been created that it might be removed later more-so that no provision was made for fuel subsidy in the budget estimate.

    Also, the National President  Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Comrade Bobboi Kaigama, praised the Federal Government for the N6.08 trillion 2016 budget. He however expressed concerned on the implementation of the budget.

    “However , we are worried that our challenge as a country as regards national budget is not how to propose, draft or present a good budget but its implementation. We are also worried that about N1.8 trillion of the budget will be borrowed to fund the budget.

    “The decision to recruit 500,000 unemployed graduates and  National Certificate of Education (NCE) holders as teachers to curb the escalating rate of unemployment and to ensure that all the Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) are captured and brought under the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) are laudable ideas.

    He said the move would not only reduce the burden of manual preparation of payrolls,  but would also curb cases of sharp practices in the system and will also help to compile the list of the less-privileged in order to implement better transfer programme.

    “We urge that the policy be made transparent and inclusive without discrimination.

    “Additionally, we are still not comfortable with the decision  of government on subsidy. The Congress, therefore, demand for a stakeholders’ meeting which include labour to discuss the subsidy issue and why it has become impossible for us to refine and purchase fuel for  as low as N50 per litre. The price of crude oil in the international market had dropped drastically. This should have a direct effect on domestic consumption of the product,” he said.

    He said the proposed deficit financing  at N2.22 trillion was high, adding that this could be reduced by the recovery of stolen funds.

    “We therefore support the government to use looted funds for the benefit of Nigerians,” he said.