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  • Govt to inaugurate ‘Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet’ campaign November 19

    The Federal Government has said it will inaugurate the “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” campaign on November 19 as efforts towards achieving the national target of ending open defecation in the country by 2025.

    The Acting Coordinator, Clean Nigeria, Mrs Chizoma Opara said this yesterday in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    NAN reports that “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” campaign was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC)on May 8 to ensure all households are mobilised to provide their sanitation facilities.

    According to Opara, President Muhammadu Buhari will perform the national inauguration and kick-start the campaign.

    “In preparation for the inauguration, a date has been fixed and we have got confirmation from the State House that it is November 19 at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.

    “We are hoping that the date does not change as we are working towards that. This is because that day happens to be World Toilet Day. So, it will be a great opportunity to celebrate the campaign with that,” she said.

    The Acting Coordinator also said that in preparation for the inauguration of the campaign, the Minister of Water Recourses, Mr Sulieman Adamu, had begun an advocacy visits to state governors.

    Read Also: Clean power generation for Nigeria

    She explained that the advocacy visits would ensure that the governors buy into the Clean Nigerian campaign.

    “What the minister wants to do is to have the opportunity to engage with all the governors to get them to buy into the ‘Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet’ campaign.

    “It is also to open up the statistics of the states with respect to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector, letting them know how the states are faring, within the country as a whole,” Opara said.

    According to her, part of the advocacy visit by the minister will ensure that states know their statistics in relation to open defecation.

    “It is also to let them know that Nigeria, being number two, is about to take up the number one position as the largest country with people defecating in the open.

    “I hope when governors start seeing these figures on open defecation in their states, it will trigger them to take action and to say they need to stop open defecation.

    “So, letters have been sent out to all governors for the advocacy visits that have commenced in August and will end in October.

    “The minister has also said any governor who wishes to actually pay him a visit in his office in Abuja can also do so. This is what Kaduna and Nasarawa states’ governors have done when they were within the FCT,” she said.

    NAN also reports that the “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” campaign is aimed at mobilising high-level political support, resources and populace towards building a new culture of safe defecation.

    It is also to ensure that relevant government institutions and the private sector must provide sanitation facilities in public places such as schools, healthcare centres, parks and markets to realise total coverage and sustainable access for the populace.

  • World Bank, IFC agree to support Nigeria’s devt

    The World Bank Group and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), have promised to continue to support Nigeria in bridging its infrastructure gap.

    The two organisations gave the commitment in a statement issued by the World Bank’s Senior Communications Office in Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.

    The World Bank Vice President for Africa, Mr Hafez Ghanem, IFC Vice President for the Middle-East and Africa, Mr Sérgio Pimenta, and IFC Vice President for Economics and Private Sector Development, Mr Hans Lankes, were quoted to have discussed during a visit to Nigeria.

    The meeting discussed how the World Bank Group could help Nigeria leverage private and public investments and expertise for inclusive growth.

    Read Also: Slow growth, low investment’ll raise poverty, says World Bank

    According to Ghanem,  the bank can together with the private sector leverage government resources to bridge infrastructure gaps in Nigeria.

    “We have supported and seen success in transport, energy and power sectors using Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) models.

    “The Azura power project is an example of how we have attracted private sector investment in the power sector.

    “We are happy to work with the government of Nigeria on power sector reforms, which will create a better environment to attract more private sector financing,” Ghanem said.

    Pimenta said the financing needs of developing countries often surpassed their own budgets and available donor funding.

    He however, said that private sector resources and expertise could go a long way in bridging the gap.

    “In sub-Saharan Africa, we are increasingly seeing the private sector design sustainable business models that are creating jobs and lifting people out of poverty,” he said.

    According to the statement, the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP), Nigeria faces a $100 billion annual investment gap in infrastructure.

    It added that the new approach to mobilise development financing, was also presented during a workshop with key business leaders and policy makers.

    According to it, under this approach, the World Bank Group’s institutions will work together to mobilise a range of financing solutions (both private and public) for projects in developing countries.

    This, it said, would help expand funding options for low and middle-income countries and enable them to benefit from global best practices and expertise.

    Participants at the workshop discussed how to crowd in private sector financing to solve Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit; identified the reforms needed to support PPPs and developed an action plan to generate future PPPs.

    The statement highlighted the World bank’s portfolio in Nigeria to be $11 billion invested across all sectors, while IFC’s portfolio stood at over $1billion in sectors including manufacturing, financial services and infrastructure.

    The World Bank Group delegation also met with senior government officials including Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, the Minister of Finance, Budget and Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, Minister for Aviation, Mr Hadi Sirika and the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti.

  • NYG: Kano State to honour rugby team

    Kano State Government is set to honour players and officials of the state rugby team that won gold medal at the just concluded National Youths Games (NYG).

    The Permanent Secretary, Kano State ministry of Youths and Sports, Ibrahim Sagagi speaking during a reception held in honour of the team at Kano Motor Club, said the state government is proud of the feat achieved by the youngsters. He said plans were underway to ensure that the government rewards the players.

    The reception which was organised by the  North West representative and board member, Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRRF), David Emeana was attended by top officials from the state ministry and private sector.

    In his remarks, Emeana congratulated the team for the enviable performance displayed at the games, noting that the reception is organised to appreciate the success being recorded in the development of the game of rugby in Kano.

    Similarly, a renown legal practitioner and member of the immediate past Kano State Rugby Board, Barrister Shaibu Sule charged the players to imbibe the spirit of discipline and hard work in their quest to become future stars.

  • Edo okays N2.1b power proceeds for Benin Industrial Park

    The anchor investor in the Benin Enterprise and Industrial Park would soon be moving into the facility. This is because Edo State government has finalised plans to invest the N2.1 billion that will accrue from its divestment of 50 per cent of its equity in Edo-Azura Power Project, into the park.

    In a statement, Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, said the N2.1billion would go a long way in building the needed infrastructure for the park to come on stream.

    The statement read: “The state government is going to divest 50 per cent of its equity in Edo Azura Power project. We will be investing the proceeds into the Benin Enterprise and Industrial Park project as we prepare to have the Anchor investor settle down to business.

    Read Also: We are adopting Edo-HIP to revamp Edo healthcare sector – Obaseki

    “The state government will be providing the needed infrastructure for the project, including access roads and other needed structures to ensure the smooth take-off of the facility.

    “We disclosed earlier that we have an anchor investor for the park. With the funds we now have, we have all that is needed to effectively kick-off. Nothing is going to be left to chance. As is characteristic of the governor, this is a masterstroke as we now have funds to begin the project. We expect other investors to cash-in on opportunities in the new industrial corridor.”

    He noted that the N2.1billion would be instrumental in ensuring that the state government meets its obligations to investors, by deploying the fund in constructing the access roads, clearing the environment as well as other physical structures to drive investment.

    He added that the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for the Enterprise and Industrial Park is being conducted by the Federal Ministry of Environment, which would pave the way for the anchor investor to move into the facility.

  • IAAF tips Brume for WC medal

    The International Associations of Athletics Federation (IAAF) has tagged Nigeria’s Ese Brume as one of the medal contenders at the 2019 World Athletics Championships which begins on Friday in Doha, Qatar.

    Team Nigeria contingent will depart the country by noon aboard Qatar Airways to Doha for the 10-day tournament holding at the iconic Khalifa Stadium.

    The contingent made up of home-based athletes and coaches as well as officials will be led by the Technical Director of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Sunday Adeleye. The foreign-based athletes will join the team in Doha.

    In its preview of the women’s long jump event, the IAAF acknowledged that Brume is the third jumper this season to soar beyond seven metres, which is beyond the qualifying standard.

    Read Also: IAAF dangles N2.6bn on Nigerians, others

    IAAF wrote, “The 23-year-old Nigerian, who was fifth at the 2016 Olympic Games, reached 7.05m in Bursa, Turkey, in late July in a competition that included wind-assisted marks of 7.03m (3.6m/s) and 6.91m (2.7m/s). Brume followed up with a victory at the African Games in Rabat with a 6.69m leap, her last appearance before Doha.”

    Brume is rated behind Germany’s Malaika Mihambo, who is unbeaten in the last nine competitions.

    According to ITTF, the 25-year-old German champion has leaped beyond seven metres in five of those six if her wind-aided 7.11m (2.2m/s) victory at the European Team Championships is included.

    Mihambo leads the world with 7.16m, owns the three best jumps in the world this season, five of the best six, and six of the best eight.

  • Quadri, Abiodun claim fifth Portuguese Super Cup

    Sporting’s Aruna Quadri and Bode Abiodun have propelled their team to their fifth Portuguese Super Cup title at the weekend.

    Sporting has dominated the men’s event of the Portuguese Super Cup since 2015 with Quadri and Abiodun leading the charge for the Lisbon-based team. Sporting again showed its superiority over GDCS Juncal in men and women finals of the competition.

    Quadri spearheaded the 3-0 routing of Juncal with a 3-0 (7-11, 6-11, 7-11) whitewash of Congo Brazzaville’s Saheed Idowu to lift the 14th edition of the competition named José Manuel Amaro Super Cup.

    Read Also: ETTU Champions League: Quadri bows to Assar in Germany

    A recovery from Juncal was thwarted in the second game with Portuguese international – Diogo Carvalho wading off the comeback with a 3-2 (11-6, 2-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-13) win over Russia’s Andrei Bukin.

    It was Abiodun that completed the drubbing when he took down Juncal’s David Bessa 3-1 (2-11, 11-7, 0-11, 7-11) in the last game.

    In the women’s finals, Sporting boosted by their Brazilian export – Bruna Takahashi teamed up with young Patrícia Santos and Bruna Marcelina to bash GD Toledos, which has the trio of Izabela Silva, Renata Corredoura and Anita Luís to claim their first Super Cup title.

    Attention will now shift to the Portuguese League which serves off this weekend.

  • Builders, Australian govt seal building methodology deal

    The Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) and its counterpart, the Australian Institute of Building (AIB) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Sydney, Australia to improve the methodology and technology of building construction.

    The MoU which is aimed at making NIOB and AIB have a shared commitment to become a stronger professional institute and educator within the building construction industry was signed during a construction event tagged: Constructing Our World.

    The event was jointly organised in Sydney by the New-Zealand Institute of Building, Australian Institute of Building and Singapore Institute of Building.

    According to the National President of AIB, Mr. David Burnell, AIB and NIOB will work together to raise the level of professionalism in the building construction industry and education in Australia and Nigeria.

    Read Also: ‘Many Lagos buildings are distressed’

    National President of NIOB, Mr. Kunle Awobodu said the collaboration among members of the two institutes would promote research in the field of construction and also encourage greater participation of members in jointly organised construction events for valuable Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

    The two parties have also agreed to exchange information relevant to the development of the building construction management profession in Australia and Nigeria in order to facilitate an understanding of each other’s work.

    In his goodwill message to the NIOB, the High Commissioner of Nigeria in Australia, Ambassador Bello Kazaure Husseini hoped that the bilateral relationship would advance construction innovations in Nigeria.

    Recounting his experience after a tour of building construction sites in Australia, the Vice Chairman of the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON), Dr. Samson Opaluwah commended the compliance with standards which the group would not relent at promoting in Nigeria.

    The former General Secretary of NIOB, Mr. Fadil Elegbede expressed satisfaction on the new value the Sydney event has contributed to the construction knowledge of NIOB members, taking into consideration cultural differences.

    As NIOB takes a giant step into global activities, expanding the scope of its construction knowledge and skills to overseas, establishing opportunities for academic and training exchange programmes, the President of the institute, Mr. kunle Awobodu  hinted that there were ongoing discussions on collaboration with the New-Zealand Institute of Building and Singapore Institute of Building to create a multilateralism for greater collective drive to technologically shaped construction products.

  • Nigeria needs $3tr for infrastructure

    Nigeria requires a whopping $3 trillion to bridge its infrastructure gap over a 30-year period, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, said on Monday.

    Speaking at one-day workshop on Maximising Finance for Development (MFD) of Infrastructure in Nigeria organised by the World Bank Group in Abuja,  she said the cash amounts to roughly $100 billion per year.

    “With a total federal budget of less than $30 billion for 2019 and the dependency of Nigeria’s income on oil revenue with unpredictable global price fluctuation, Nigeria no doubt, lacks the fiscal space to self-finance the required infrastructure investment,” she said.

    The minister said the investment required to bridge this huge infrastructure gap has been planned to be financed through both public and private sector participation.

    Read Also: Buhari woos German investors on infrastructure

    Mrs Ahmed said: “The private sector is expected to cater for about 48per cent of the investments which will account for assets that are fully owned and financed by the private sector itself. The remaining 52per cent of the required investment is expected to be financed from a combination of public and private sector for the first phase of the implementation.”

    The private sector is also expected to play a key role in providing critical infrastructure, either directly through privatisation or in collaboration with the government under public private partnership (PPP) arrangements.

    “There are four primary financing options: governments budgets; public debt; other public sources (e.g. Sovereign Wealth Fund, Public Pension Fund); and PPPs, available for financing the investments,” she said.

    In addition to already committed private sector investments, she said government is strategically considering how much, on project-by-project basis, to leverage from the primary financing options to ensure optimal risk allocation.

    Mrs Ahmed commended the effort of the World Bank Group for the timely intervention on infrastructure developmen. “The Federal Government has created an Infrastructure Project Development Facility to finance early project development activities so as to create a pipeline of bankable PPP projects, establish a dedicated cash backed fund (Government Resource Fund) outside the annual budgetary allocation process to finance the government’s contributions on infrastructure involving the private sector,” the minister explained.

    Giving an overview of Nigeria’s infrastructure gap, Mrs Ahmed said the country’s core infrastructure stock is currently estimated at 30per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) which falls far short of the international benchmark of 70per cent.

    She said the effect of weak infrastructure is most striking in the energy and transportation sector. The two sectors, according to her, are key to national and economic development due to their multiplier effect across all sectors of the economy.

    The minister said increased private sector participation, through both PPPs and full privatisation, is required to decrease the burden of the required infrastructure investments by the public sector.

  • Rohr: my squad against Brazil ready

    Nigerians rooting for Chelsea’s duo of Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori to don the Super Eagles colours would have to wait a little longer, according to Coach Gernot Rohr.

    Though enthusiastic about the prospect of adding the duo to the Super Eagles, the German said it is a long process before the players can make the expected switch since they had already featured for England.

    He cited the fact that Abraham and Tomori have played with the English youth teams would make it difficult to process their eligibility for the Super Eagles.

    He used Torino’s Ola Aina as an example of how difficult it was to change nationality. “The two players (Abraham and Tomori) have already played with England and there is a long process to follow before they can feature for Nigeria,” Rohr said in a chat with NationSport.

    Read Also: Rohr unfazed by Nigeria’s drop on FIFA rankings

    He added: “It took NFF one year before we could get Ola Aina to play for us.”

    Meanwhile, Rohr hinted: “My squad he has already submitted the Super Eagles team list for the next month’s International friendly between Nigeria and Brazil to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

    The Super Eagles will face the five-time world champions on October 13 at the National Stadium in Singapore.

    The thee-time African champions Nigeria begin their qualifying campaign for the 2021 AFCON on November 11 against Benin Republic at the southern Nigerian town of Benin City. Sierra Leone and Lesotho are the other teams in their qualifying group.

  • World best: Messi 6, Ronaldo 5, Barca star wins record title

    Barcelona’s Lionel Messi won the best men’s player at the Best FIFA Football Awards in Milan as Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk missed out on the top prize.

    It is the sixth time Messi has been voted the best player in the world ahead or Ronaldo who has five awards, while van Dijk, who won UEFA’s best award, made the final short list for the first time.

    Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp won the men’s coach of the year. Klopp was nominated for the award along with two other Premier League bosses – Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola and Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino.

    The Reds boss announced at the end of his acceptance speech that he has joined the Common Goal campaign.

    Common Goal is a charitable project, started by Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata, with the aim of using the power of football to generate social change and improve people’s lives.

    It’s members donate one per cent of their income to active projects in all continents.

    USA star Megan Rapinoe is named FIFA Women’s Best Player. Rapinoe hailed Raheem Sterling for his stance against and many others after winning the award.