Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday met with the Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Akufo-Ado arrived the State House at 11: 09 a.m.
The meeting was still in progress at the Vice President’s wing of the Presidential Villa at the time of filing this report.
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has condemned the appalling ambush, attack and abduction of soldiers, and civilians who were carrying out their duties at the Lake Chad Basin Frontier Exploration.
The terrorist attack resulted in a number of deaths of hardworking and innocent Nigerians, and abduction of some Nigerians.
According to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, the Acting President, who said the objective of the patriotic exercise was to open up new areas for oil exploration for the common good of all Nigerians, commiserated with the families, relatives and associates of those who died in the despicable onslaught.
He also wished the injured persons speedy recovery.
The statement reads: “The Acting President after an emergency meeting with the Military chiefs on Thursday issued fresh directives to the Nigerian military and all security agencies to immediately scale up their efforts and activities in Borno State in order to maintain a strong, effective control of the situation and secure lives and property.
“While commending the military for the progress already recorded with the rescue of some of the abducted, Prof. Osinbajo has also ordered the continuation of search and rescue missions to locate and ensure the freedom of all remaining abducted persons as soon as possible, using all available and expedient means in the circumstances.”
Justice, the Acting President said, would be pursued for the victims and against those who engage in the unacceptable, criminal and terrorist conduct.
Acting President Osinbajo also paid tribute to the resilience, courage and bravery of officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces for their gallant endeavours and sacrifices for the peace, security and territorial integrity of the country.
He eulogised the soldiers who have paid the ultimate price in the mission and others linked to the insurgency.
Osinbajo gave assurance that the welfare of the families of the soldiers will be prioritised.
Osinbajo also commended the diligence of the management and staff of the NNPC, and the lecturers/consultants from the University of Maiduguri in pursuing the Federal Government’s resolve to grow the nation’s current crude oil reserve base through potential exploration in the Lake Chad Basin.
He said that the government will by no means be dissuaded.
Osinbajo said: “Some of these extraordinarily selfless Nigerians from the NNPC and the University Of Maiduguri put their lives on the line that we and generations to come will enjoy the resources of this land. We will never forget that sacrifice.”
Even though pockets of terrorists have been launching attacks recently in Borno State, the Acting President assured the people of the State, the region and all Nigerians, that the Federal Government is not only on top of the situation, but will define the end of the atrocities by both winning the war and winning the peace in the North-east.
Following the resurgence of insurgency in Borno State, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has ordered the service chiefs to return to the Command Centre in Maiduguri.
He gave the order at a meeting yesterday with the service chiefs at the Presidential Villa.
Many people have died and soldiers killed in recent attacks and ambush by the insurgents.
Minister of Defence Mansur Dan-Ali said at the end of the meeting: “We just finished a meeting with the Acting President and the three Service Chiefs. We agreed that they should move back to the Command Centre again and see what are the things happening there.
“We have also agreed that we should get more surveillance devices, cameras that will be able to see distant attackers coming to the position of our troops.
“So also the period of the raining season is a difficult moment for us. We cannot dominate the environment like what we do during the dry season but effort is geared towards the regaining back our areas and we assure that all these ambushes that are happening regularly would be stopped.”
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo said on Thursday that the Federal Government was unequivocally committed to the success of the private sector.
He made the remark during the formal release ceremony to discharge the Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited (IEPL) from the five-year monitoring programme of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) in Eleme, Rivers.
He said the federal government had been focusing on improving significantly the business environment for small and large enterprises.
According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari had last year established a Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).
“The kind of economic growth and prosperity that we are aiming for cannot happen without private capital.
”And that private capital cannot be unlocked without reforming the business environment by removing obstacles and roadblocks to investment and business operations,’’ he said.
NAN
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is scheduled to inaugurate a new world-class fertiliser plant built by Indorama Eleme Fertiliser and Chemicals Limited, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State today.
The plant with production capacity for 1.5 million Metric Tons of Urea fertiliser, According to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on media and publicity, Laolu Akande, is considered the world’s largest single-train Urea plant.
The statement reads: “Eleme Petrochemicals Company Ltd, now Indorama Eleme Fertiliser and Chemicals Limited was privatized in 2006 after the sale of Federal Government’s 75 percent shares to a core investor through a competitive bidding process.
“The Plant has a production capacity of 4000 metric tons (MT) of nitrogenous fertiliser per day or 1.5 MT per annum and was built with an investment of $1.5 billion.
“The fertiliser plant is supported by a Port Terminal at the nearby Onne Port Complex, and a Gas Pipeline of 83.5KM for gas supply.
“The plant will bring about a green revolution in the agriculture sector not only in Nigeria but also in other parts of Africa and beyond, in line with the economic diversification of the Buhari administration.
“Besides making fertiliser available to farmers nationwide at affordable cost, the plant will also boost crop yield for farmers and help in minimising the food grain deficit in Nigeria.”
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is proposing N128 billion for capital projects in the Federal Capital Territory for 2017.
The capital expenditure was broken into 93 per cent for on-going projects and seven per cent for new projects in the FCT.
Osinbajo asked that N222,360,551,512,00 be appropriated for the FCT.
In his letter dated 20 July, 2017 and addressed to Speaker Yakubu Dogara, the acting President explained that the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) runs two budgets – national and statutory budgets .
“The FCT component of the national budget is funded directly by the Federal Government for the provision of district infrastructural development, water supply, sewage treatment and infrastructural development of the Satellite towns of the FCT.
“The statutory budget on the other hand is funded from the statutory allocation, internally generated revenue (IGR) and other sources of funds accruable to the FCT.”
The breakdown showed that N128 billion was proposed for capital expenditure, N52.6 billion for personnel and overhead cost got N41.3 billion.
The letter was referred to the Committees on FCT and FCT Area Councils and Auxiliary Matters for further legislative action.
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is expected to inaugurate a new world-class fertilizer plant built by Indorama Eleme Fertilizer and Chemicals Limited, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Thursday.
The plant with a production capacity of 1.5 million metric tons of Urea fertilizer, According to a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the acting President, Laolu Akande, is considered the world’s largest single-train Urea plant.
The statement said: “Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited, now Indorama Eleme Fertilizer and Chemicals Limited, was privatized in 2006 after the sale of Federal Government’s 75 percent shares to a core investor through a competitive bidding process.
“The Plant has a production capacity of 4,000 metric tons (MT) of nitrogenous fertilizer per day or 1.5 MT per annum and was built with an investment of $1.5 billion.
“The fertilizer plant is supported by a Port Terminal at the nearby Onne Port Complex, and a gas pipeline of 83.5KM for gas supply.
“The plant will bring about a green revolution in the agricultural sector not only in Nigeria but also in other parts of Africa and beyond, in line with the economic diversification of the Buhari administration.
“Besides making fertilizer available to farmers nationwide at affordable cost, the plant will also boost crop yield for farmers and help in minimizing the food grain deficit in Nigeria.”
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has proposed N128 billion for capital projects in the Federal Capital Territory for 2017.
The capital expenditure was broken into 93 percent for ongoing projects and seven percent for new projects in the FCT.
Osinbajo, in the FCT 2017 statutory budget proposal to the House of Representatives, asked that N222, 360, 551, 512, 00 be appropriated for the FCT.
In his letter dated July 20, 2017 and addressed to Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, the acting President said the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) runs two budgets – National and statutory budgets .
He said: “The FCT component of the national budget is funded directly by the Federal Government for the provision of district infrastructural development, water supply, sewage treatment and infrastructural development of the satellite towns in the FCT.
“The statutory budget on the other hand is funded from the statutory allocation, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and other sources of funds accruable to the FCT.
“N30.4billion was appropriated for FCT in the 2017 approved federal budget. The statutory budget is usually presented to the National Assembly after the passage of the federal budget in order to enable the FCTA capture essential capital projects that are often removed from the federal budget.
“The FCTA has prepared the 2017 FCT statutory budget of N222,360,551,512,00 based on the 2017-2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the key assumptions of the Federal Government for 2017 budget.”
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and the former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd), on Wednesday met in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The closed-door meeting started at 4.30 p.m.
The meeting was still in progress at the time of filing this report.
Governor attacks ruling party
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has declared that the bad governance of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has left the country divided.
Speaking while launching the reconstruction/rehabilitation of Abuloma, Fimie, Ozuboko and Amadi-Ama community roads in Port Harcourt yesterday, Wike said: “Nigeria is divided because of the APC leadership style.
“Wherever you go today in this country, there is one problem or the other. Is that how Nigerians want it? Certainly not. We need people who will promote peace through quality leadership.
“The change they said they are bringing is fake change. No person resident in Rivers State who sees what we are suffering from the APC Federal Government will ever support APC.”
But responding, APC’s State Publicity Secretary Chris Finebone said Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders in the state were confused.
Finebone said: “ The bravado you see in Wike and PDP leaders will pale into insignificance as 2019 approaches. Their sins will seal their lips before Nigerians. They will be free but unable to talk; they will be free but unable to campaign. The wrong they have done will go after them.”
The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged Acting President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) not to honour Governor Nyesom Wike’s invitation to inaugurate projects in Rivers State tomorrow.
It noted that Wike is capitalising on Prof. Osinbajo’s joke during his earlier visit to Rivers to inaugurate projects when he referred to the governor as “Mr. Project,” to castigate, taunt, ridicule, insult and abuse leaders and members of the ruling APC.
Rivers APC, through its Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, yesterday in Port Harcourt, declared that Wike and his government did not deserve the Acting President’s attention.
The main opposition APC in Rivers said: “The feedback we are getting from our numerous members in Rivers State is that Wike has invited the Acting President to commission some low-profile projects, just to score cheap political points.
“Of concern to us is the fact that the projects are manifestly demeaning for a President to travel more than a thousand kilometres to inaugurate.
“We are of the strong opinion that the Acting President should either reject or decline the invitation. Wike cannot always resort to using APC leaders to ridicule APC members in Rivers State.
“The reference to the Rivers governor as ‘Mr. Project,’ jokingly made by the Acting President the last time he was in Rivers State is still being used by Wike to taunt, ridicule and insult APC and its members in Rivers State to this day.
“We cannot encourage him (Wike) with further materials to continue his anti-APC propaganda against us, in addition to many of our members being gruesomely killed and beheaded in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area and other councils in Rivers State by the killer gangs that Wike activated for the 2015 elections.”
The Rivers governor, at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Monday, while receiving Anglican bishops of Province of the Niger Delta, said Prof. Osinbajo would inaugurate on Thursday, key projects executed by his administration.
The projects, according to Wike, include Chokocho-Umuechem-Ozuzu Road in Etche LGA, IgboEtche-Chokocho-Rumuokwurusi Interchange Road, Rukpokwu Market Junction to Aluu Road in Obio/Akpor council, Rumuokoro Market and Park in Obio/Akpor council and Ogbunabali Internal Roads in Port Harcourt City council.
Wike said: “As far as God has given us the opportunity to serve the state, we must continue to partner the church. It is by God’s grace that we are here. We will do everything to support the church.”
Archbishop of Anglican Niger Delta Province, Most Rev. Ignatius Kattey, earlier in his remarks, stated that the Rivers governor had laid the foundation for the continuous development of Rivers State.
Kattey urged other leaders to come to Rivers to witness the rapid development taking place under Wike’s leadership.