More ministers yesterday took turns to give an account of their stewardship since their inauguration on August 21, last year.
The ministers are Festus Keyamo (Aviation and Aerospace Development), Abubakar Kyari, Agriculture and Food Security and Sabi Abdullahi, Agriculture and Food Security (state).
The event tagged Ministerial Sectoral Press Briefing is being coordinated by the Information and Culture Ministry as part of activities marking the one-year anniversary of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration. It started last week.
Keyamo revealed plan by the Aviation ministry to power the nation’s international airports with solar.
He explained that when implemented, the N1 billion that the Federal Government spends monthly on diesel to provide light at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos alone would be saved.
Apart from announcing that the suspension of the controversial Air Nigeria project remained in force, Keyamo said that new master plans for the country’s airports and a review of the concession of four of them were likely.
He said: “We are making conscious and gradual efforts towards embracing eco-friendly practices which is what the world is about now. Eco-friendly practices and green technologies in line with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standard on the long-term global aspiration goal of net-zero emissions in the aviation sector is what we are targeting.
“Lagos airport alone, I am told we do N1billion monthly on electricity and I said why? I am still trying to crack that. The first thing I told them to do is to bypass the DisCos and go to the GenCos because we are eligible users. So, why do we pay Disco that will add its own profit? So, we want to cut them off and go to the GenCos straight. We are doing that and those concerned are protesting and trying to meet Mr. President.
“By bypassing, we are saving 30 percent, so if we are supposed to pay N1billion, we will pay N700million in terms of consumption because unlike some other airports that we shut down by 6 pm, Lagos and Abuja airports are run 24 hours. All the international airports must run for 24 hours because of flights coming in internationally.
Keyamo justified the suspension of Air Nigeria project initiated by his immediate predecessor, Hadi Sirika, saying it was never meant to benefit the country and its citizens.
He said: “The Nigeria Air remains suspended, it was never Air Nigeria, it was Ethiopian Air trying to fly our flag. If it is so, why not allow our local airlines fly our flag, why bring in a foreigner to fly our flag?
‘’So, nobody should deceive you that it was Air Nigeria. Air Nigeria must be indigenous and wholly Nigeria or for the full benefit of Nigeria and not that 60 percent of the profit is for another country. How does that benefit us? So, it remains suspended.”
Sirika is currently being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over the Air Nigeria project.
The minister also revealed plans to improve the security situation at the airports and eliminate bureaucracy in the Aviation sector.
He added that plans were ongoing to eliminate touting and reduce the number of human contacts at the airports.
He said: “We have official and unofficial touts at the airports. Before you come out to meet the official touts, there are unofficial touts in uniform inside the airports who deep hands into your bags, and ask for money. They are not under the Ministry of Aviation but we have spoken with the Interior Minister and the National Security Adviser and we are going to work jointly and present a joint memo to try and reduce the human contacts at the airports. “‘’Some of the touts are armed. They(touts) cannot all continue to be lining up and embarrassing our country.’’
Keyamo added that his ministry recently agreed with its counterpart in Saudi Arabia to revive cargo flight operations.
“We are working towards reviving the long-dormant cargo flight between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. This is targeted at enhancing bilateral trade and economic cooperation,” he said.
Govt injected N309b into dry season farming, says Agric Minister
Kyari said that N309 billion had been injected into the economy following the launch of dry season farming.
He added that 118,657 hectares were cultivated for wheat production in 15 states.
The minister who also stated that the ministry supported 107,429 wheat farmers with inputs resulting in an output of 474,628 metric tonnes, said that 42,000mt of assorted food commodities were released from the National Strategic Food Reserve to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for distribution.
He said the ministry distributed 58,500 metric tonnes of milled rice to all states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to curb the escalating prices of the item.
The minister added that the ministry also established animal health centres and veterinary hospitals, six micro earth dams and eight boreholes, 164 milk collection centres, eight cottage feed mills, and seven livestock centres.
Kyari also said crops were fortified with Vitamin A micro-nutrients to enrich the nutrition content and health value of food commodities.
Among efforts to tackle the challenge, listed by him were, the distribution of 60,432 metric tonnes of improved seeds, 887,255 metric tonnes of seedlings, 138 value kits, 501,726 litres of agrochemicals, 62,328.5 metric tonnes of inorganic fertilisers, 1,000- kilogramme fungicide, and 33,200 equipment to farmers across different value chains.
Kyari also said there has also been an improvement of farmland security with the provision of additional resources to agro rangers and other security agencies.
He said: “We are fully aware of how to face the menace of portfolio farmers who have no farmland nor practice any agricultural production except to unfold their portfolios for all kinds of transactions from which they profiteer.
“One of the ways we have tried to defeat this is by ensuring the integrity of data of genuine farmers through the infusion of ICT(Information, Communication, and Technology) and active collaboration with subnational governments, traditional institutions, security agencies, and civil society organisations.’’
Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security Abdullahi said efforts were in top gear to develop and feed and fodder industry for livestock in the country.
’Tinubu creating environment for media to thrive’
Information and Culture Minister Mohammed Idris, who moderated the session, said the Tinubu Administration had created an enabling environment for all the players in the media industry to thrive.
He advised stakeholders in the media ecosystem to come up with bankable proposals to access the Bank of the Industry single-digit loan.
Idris said: “We are creating an enabling environment for all players and stakeholders in the media and information ecosystem to thrive. One highlight here is the recent directive by Mr. President to the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, through the Bank of Industry (BOI), to extend its single-digit interest-rate financing to media organizations in the country.
“It is now incumbent upon media practitioners to develop bankable proposals to access this financing facility being offered by the Federal Government, and I hope that you the media will take full advantage of this great opportunity.”
On the sectorial briefing, Idris explained that the administration is resolute to restore trust in public communication
“Our objective here is to enlighten, inform, and educate Nigerians and the world, and to ensure that everyone is carried along through the provision of detailed, relevant, credible, and timely information.”
