The Nation Newspaper

Tag: partnership

  • Lagos, Niger mull partnership on agriculture

    Lagos, Niger mull partnership on agriculture

    The Lagos State Government on Wednesday kick-started discussions on partnership for the development of agricultural commodity value chain with Niger State aimed at ensuring food security and job creation for the two States and the country at large.

    The partnership, which is the second of its kind that the Lagos State Government under Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is entering, was said to be directed at considerably boosting the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of not just the two States, but the the country.

    Addressing journalists after paying a courtesy visit on Governor Ambode at the Lagos House in Ikeja, Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, said the discussion basically centered on how to explore the comparative advantage of the two States to the benefit of Lagos and Nigeria.

    He said: “It was a private discussion. It was just to say hello to him (Governor Ambode) and we did not discuss much. Part of our conversation, we discussed agriculture and we specifically discussed how we can partner with Lagos State to support agriculture to the benefit of Lagos State and Nigeria at large.”

    It was gathered that discussion on the partnership is still at the preliminary stage, while more would be revealed on modalities as to how things will pan out as regard the partnership going forward.

    Governor Ambode had earlier entered into partnership with Kebbi State also on development of agricultural commodity value chain. The agreement, aside being aimed at the production of 70 per cent of Nigeria’s rice requirements annually, also principally centres on boosting the production of wheat, ground nut, maize, millet, sorghum, sugar cane, cows among others.

    He said: “This relationship is visionary and it is also a pointer to the fact that the two states have decided to openly support the vision of Mr. President, President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “The change mantra which President Buhari has been preaching is what this whole relationship is all about that we must look inward. We must start to reintegrate our economy in such a manner that we must not continue to import what we can produce and we must create a value chain where we have comparative advantage to do so,” Ambode had said.

  • NEITI seeks greater media partnership

    NEITI seeks greater media partnership

    The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has renewed its appeal to the media to support its commitment to end corruption, impunity and mismanagement of oil, gas and mining revenues.

    Its Executive Secretary, Mr. Waziri Adio, made the appeal when he visited The Nation.

    He  said  NEITI’s mandate  consistent with that of the media as watchdogs of the society.

    Adio underlined the role of the media in public education, enlightenment and social mobilisation, identifying dissemination of NEITI industry audit reports as an area the support of the media is indispensable

    He said: “NEITI exists to ameliorate and reduce the resource curse syndrome in Nigeria. The EITI approach to reversing the resource curse dwells on management of natural resources for the benefit of the people through the use of transparency and accountability tools. We need the media to help use the information and data disclosed by NEITI to shape public debate required to sensitise the citizens to ask informed questions on the management of natural resource revenues. We also need to empower the citizens and other accountability actors to appreciate their roles and the press to help set this agenda. The end goal is that abundant resources should transform to better living standards for the people.

    According to him,  until NEITI Reports lead to reforms in the extractive sector, sanction infractions and bring about improved quality of life for the citizens, the job of NEITI is far from done.

    Adio said: “As leaders, we should model the values we preach and walk the talk. There must be consequences for bad behavior and this can be reenforced by the Media.”

  • Govt sets condition for partnership on national carrier

    The Federal Government has set out conditions under which it would go into a partnership with any interested party for the re-establishment of a national carrier.

    The Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika said interested parties must have plans for direct transfer of technology through training of Nigerians and also put in place plans for local manufacturing of basic maintenance equipment and spare parts.

    The minister spoke in Abuja during a visit by representatives of Airbus.

    He explained that the conditions were indicative of the seriousness attached to the project by the Federal Government, adding that it is the only way to ensure that the proposed national airline comes on stream on a sound footing.

    The minister stated that the whole process of the establishment and the choice of partners, would be transparent.

    A statemnt endorsed  by the Deputy Director,Press and Public Affairs of the ministry, James Odaudu, quoted the minsiter as saying the vision of the government was to establish a national carrier that would not only be internationally competitive and profitable, but also efficiently and professionally managed while also being affordable an customer-centred.

    Welcoming Airbus’ interest in partnering with Nigeria on the project, he challenged the aircraft manufacturer to be prepared for competition with other interested organisations.

  • FCTA’s N76.5m for Japanese partnership

    The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has released  N76.5 million as part its counterpart fund for various projects in the Territory by the Japanese government.

    The partnership is coordinated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

    FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello said this while receiving a delegation of JICA led by its Country Senior Representative, Mr. Hiroshi Kodama in his office.

    The minister said that N46.5 million out of the N76.5 million is the counterpart funding for integrated solid waste management system in the FCT under the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB).

    Bello revealed that the balance of N30 million is to serve as its share for the water sub-sector projects including metering of water consumers in the FCT, adding that the project would greatly reduce water leakages on the main trunk line.

    According to the statement issued by the Deputy Director/ Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, the Minister said it was very important for the city to have a comprehensive waste management system that would be in place for the benefits of all residents.

    He stated that the FCTA is working to expand access to the dumpsites and also create more access roads into the sites so that the refuse disposal trucks can go in simultaneously from three different entry points.

    According to him, this will ensure that waste is properly disposed at the dumpsites.

    He lamented that the absence of enough entering points to site has made some trucks to dispose wastes on the site indiscriminately.

    The Minister also harped on the need for waste to be properly sorted in the Federal Capital Territory for recycling and other purposes, thereby improving their economic values; adding that waste is wealth.

    His words: “It is very clear that for us to achieve proper waste management in the city, we have to have a system of sorting that will clearly differentiate between the plastics, glasses, metals, the soft waste that you can make into biomass as well as the other solid wastes. This as you know, we don’t have in the system.”

    Bello expressed the desire of the FCT Administration to also partner with JICA on waste management in the FCT Area Councils and satellite towns; saying it would serve as blueprint for practical waste management system in the entire Territory.

    “In the satellite towns, the waste is just being dumped on the streets in the water drainage systems. I have tried for the last eight weeks to move round the satellite towns to work on public awareness, to explain that you don’t just pick your waste and put it in the drainages. The municipal agents are not collecting it and the waste is just solidifying and piling up on the drainage system. Then the rains come, the drains are over flooded,” he added.

    The minister thanked JICA for the solar powered project it is carrying out at the Lower Usuma Dam water treatment plants; stressing that it is a big relief to the Administration.

    “We spend a lot of money to buy diesel for the generators there, since they have to work for 24 hours. If we can get some relief by using the solar system, that is a welcome development,” he said.

    Speaking earlier, the JICA Country Senior Representative, Mr. Hiroshi Kodama noted that JICA has several knowledge and skills particularly in the area of agriculture that it is willing to share with the people of the FCT.

    Kodama recalled that last year; JICA organized a workshop in Gwagwalada on rice cultivation technology especially on improved parboiling technology aimed at improving the quality of rice production in the Territory.

    He said, “For the farmers, we at JICA have a new marketing technology that we call SHEP, (Small Holder Horticulture Empowerment Project).”

  • Gaidam relisGaidam relishes DfID partnership

    Gaidam relisGaidam relishes DfID partnership

    Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam has spoken glowingly of the state’s partnership with the Department for International Development (DfID), an overseas aid arm of the United Kingdom.

    The organisation has been helping the state in reconstructing the state which has been badly damaged by Boko Haram insurgents.

    With support from the DfID-sponsored State Partnership for Accountability, Responsiveness and Capability (SPARC), the Gaidam administration instituted reform programmes tagged Yobe Socio-Economic Reform Agenda or YOSERA.

    The state also brought together members of its executive council, heads of government agencies and members of the House of Assembly for the same of speeding up the reform process.

    At the inauguration of the team in Abuja, Governor Gaidam said the state has been collaborating with SPARC for the past five years in carrying out various reforms in the state. This partnership, he said, has impacted positively on our governance system in the state leading to the adoption of Result Based Management (RBM) system to guide YOSERA, the state’s development plan.

    He said further that the collaboration has given birth to a better Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system for tracking budget performance by establishing institutional structures, drafting policy framework and building human resource capacity. The creation of the Department of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) in the State Ministry of Budget and Planning is one of the outcomes of that process.

    He said: “As part of efforts to internalise the lessons learnt through our collaboration with SPARC, our administration has made it mandatory for MDAs to conduct their activities in a transparent manner and this has checked diversion of funds, misappropriations, revenue leakages and misuse of public funds.  In addition, we have formed Committees to verify execution of contracts, payment of outstanding pensions and gratuity and conduct of Bio-metric enrollment for verification of staff and salaries with the aim of eliminating ghost workers.

    Furthermore, we have set machinery for the establishment of Integrated Personnel Management Information System among others. To cap all our efforts of embracing reforms, we have formed a Governance Policy Advisory Committee under the Chairmanship of the Secretary to the State Government for the purpose of advising on and coordinating reform programmes.  The cumulative effect of these reforms in Public Finance Management is the high standards of accountability and prudence manifested in the ability of the State Government to remain above board and keep paying salaries, overhead costs and even service some capital projects at a time when many States cannot pay staff salaries. From the foregoing I can say that the easy part of the job has been done to our satisfaction. What is left are tough bones that are hard to chew. This requires us to act boldly to advance the reform efforts despite the difficulties and be eager to take on challenges and progress steadily, while at the same time, staying on course.  If we stay on our own path, we will overcome all difficulties and obstacles, make new achievements and finally reach our goals as enunciated in my May 29, 2015 inaugural address.”

     

  • Refineries: NUPENG warns NNPC over partnership with investors

    Refineries: NUPENG warns NNPC over partnership with investors

    The Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) not to engage investors as joint technical partners for the rehabilitation and running of refineries.

    The NNPC has advertised for the job.

    The union said it is also worried by similar adverts by the NNPC inviting pre-qualification for rehabilitation, upgrade, operatorship, management and maintenance of NNPC jetties, storage depots and pipeline infrastructure on joint venture partnership.

    In a statement by its Acting General Secretary, Comrade Joseph Ogbebor, NUPENG described the NNPC’s move as privatisation of national assets through the backdoor.

    According to Ogbebor, it is doomed to fail and bring more hardship to the citizens like the  Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

    Ogbebor, NUPENG would fight the joint partnership bid for security reasons and in the interest of oil and gas workers.

    No investor, he said, would want  his money in the JV without having a say in the running of the refineries, storage depots and jetties.

    “NUPENG states that the panacea to these challenges is not in joint partnership basis that will alter the ownership and operatorship structure, but the need to have the political will to make the refineries, pipelines, and storage depots work optimally,” the union said.

    The bidders, it said, would turn out to be those interested in buying the national assets adding that their planned sale through this method is a failure on the part of the NNPC management.

    “It also negates Federal Government’s plan to set-up a special task force to tackle pipeline vandalism and encourage investors to build refineries within the old refineries and use their facilities.

    “NUPENG calls on President Buhari to call the Minster of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to order and rescind the decision and concentrate on re-streaming the refineries, rehabilitate the depots instead of this new plan of partial privatisation through the backdoor that will result to job losses. This may lead the union to embark on a nationwide action,” Ogbebor said.

  • Union advocates workers’, employers’ partnership

    President, Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSEAC), Mr. Chris Okonkwo, has urged employers and workers to work together to drive productivity and elevate the power sector.

    The acknowledgment of workers’labour and constitutional rights, he said, could not be undermined because they are pivotal to ensuring efficiency in the sector.

    Okonkwo, who spoke at the association’s inaugural National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Lagos, said: “Employers should begin to see workers as partners in progress. It is only when they do this that their profiteering capability can be guaranteed. Companies by default are sabotaging themselves because you have to do what you are supposed to do first before you talk about what someone is doing to undo what you have done.”

    He said picketing is a tool in labour recognised by all conventions as a means of showing grievances against management or government. Picketing, he said,  does not mean sabotage and can only be if the intention is to blackmail workers to surrender their rights and allow them to be manipulated.

    The association, according to him, is working with the Ministry of Labour on a meeting over the sacking of 400 workers by an electricity distribution company (DisCo).

    Okonkwo lamented that the aftermath of the sector’s privatisation  was adverse, explaining that workers are bearing the brunt of companies’ failure to make adequate provision during the transition.

  • RB reiterates partnership commitment to reduce child deaths from diarrhoea

    Do you know that one in eight children born in Nigeria do not live to see their fifth birthday, with Lagos State being the second highest contributor to diarrhoea with a prevalence of 7.5% after Oyo State’s 9.2%? This translates to 315,000 children under-five dying needlessly from diarrhoea annually, equivalent to 64 children every hour. In an ambitious drive to help end this, RB held the RB/Save the Children charity ball for the the Stop Diarrhoea programmes.

    RB/Save the Children initiative is a unique partnership and ground-breaking programme to help eradicate child deaths from diarrhoea.

    The partnership since 2013 has berthed innovative new hygiene and sanitation products by RB alongside Save the Children’s sustainable Stop Diarrhoea programme in Nigeria – aimed at preventing, controlling and treating the unnecessary killer.

    Speaking at the ball, the General Manager, RB West Africa, cMurgai, said the combination of RB’s expertise in product development and research, and Save the Children’s experience of delivering life-saving work have helped save thousands of young lives yearly.

    According to the GM, inception phases funded by RB, involving the research and set up of large-scale, innovative programmes to combat diarrhoea in Nigeria and Pakistan are complete, and now in execution phase in Somolu community in Lagos to fully implement the World Health Organisation and UNICEF 7-point plan to ensure comprehensive diarrhoea control.

    “RB and Save the Children have committed to working with national governments and other partners to implement the 7 Point Plan by developing unique products to improve hand washing and community sanitation. This is assured as RB’s expertise in product development and research, and Save the Children’s experience of delivering life-saving work will help save thousands of young lives every year.

    “In order to achieve the partnership’s long-term ambition, to eliminate childhood death from diarrhoea, RB is creating a game-changing social enterprise scheme whereby all profits from the sale of two innovative products will be reinvested into the Stop Diarrhoea programmes and into continued product development.

    “For the first time, RB will not be making a profit from these products and the revenue will be reinvested into The Stop Diarrhoea Initiative (SDI) to combat mortality and morbidity amongst children under the age of 5 years due to diarrhoea in Nigeria,” Rahul said.

    The charity ball was an avenue to enable its stakeholders and partners appreciate the work that is being piloted in Lagos State, share milestone achievements and appreciate their support and commitment.

  • FG seeks partnership for improved healthcare delivery

    FG seeks partnership for improved healthcare delivery

    The Federal Government on Tuesday sought partnership with stakeholders to boost the country’s healthcare delivery system.

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, made the call when he received national officers of Health and Managed Care Association of Nigeria (HMCAN) in Abuja.

    Adewole stressed the need for an effective synergy among all stakeholders in the health sector to provide efficient and quality health service to citizens.

    He charged the association to marshal an efficient way of monitoring the quality of services being provided by various health and medical facilities in the country.

    On the part of government, the minister said the “inverted health pyramid system’’ would be reversed and restore the pyramid system for the benefit of larger population.

    Adewole regretted that only about 15 per cent of Nigerians currently access healthcare under the inverted pyramid system, hence the need to take healthcare services to the door steps of rural communities.

    According to him, government will make sure that primary healthcare is made accessible to majority of Nigerians under the planned reversal policy.

    To achieve this, the minister emphasised that the APC-led administration under President Muhammadu Buahri would establish 10,000 additional primary healthcare centres to cover all the electoral wards in the country.

    He explained that secondary (general hospitals) and tertiary (teaching hospitals) would only serve as referral centres and stop being over burdened with treating primary ailments.

    The Chairman of HMCAN, Dr Kolawole Owoka, had earlier pledged to support federal government quest to deliver improved healthcare services to citizens.

    “It is time government gets closure to the people using quality healthcare services,’’ Owoka said.

    He noted that Nigerians were ready to pay for quality health services if they can access them at affordable rates.

    The chairman expressed optimism that the government plan of providing affordable and accessible healthcare service was achievable within two years.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that HMCAN comprised members of the various health care managers working with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to provide affordable and accessible healthcare services in the country.

     

  • War movie: Army seek partnership with filmmakers

    War movie: Army seek partnership with filmmakers

    Unlike the Nigeria Police, whose activities are common in Nollywood films, the Nigerian Army only enjoys references  in war-related and historical movies – the military thinks with their subtle war against insulgents, there is need to partner Nollywood filmmakers on movies that will endear the military to the people.

    Major General Rogers Ibe Nicholas, Chief of Civil/ Military Affairs, Nigerian Army Headquarters revealed that this is part of the new focus of the military under the leadership of Major General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, Chief of Army Staff.

    The army chief made this known at the unveiling of the movie, 76, set against the backdrop of war and nation building. The movie which stars Rita Dominic, Chidi Mokeme and Ramsey Nouah among others is an Adonis and Tonye Princewill production which was inspired by events around the botched 1976 coup d’etat.

    Interestingly, Princewill who is the Executive Producer of the movie, disclosed that the execution of the movie was done with approval and support from the Nigerian Army. He revealed that the army made available the facilities at Mokola Barracks, Ibadan, where the movie was shot.

    The Major General said, “With every regime come different concepts and ideas. So with the coming of Maj Gen T.Y Buratai as Chief of Army Staff, he has a vision which is to have a professionally responsive Nigerian army in discharge of its constitutional mandate. And part of that is to develop a military/ civil relationship that will close the gap between the military and the civilians. That is what we are trying to do. The issue of people not having channels to complain is now a thing of the past. Right now, we have a human rights desk in our office. We are collaborating with the National Human Rights Commission and the Nigerian Bar Association.”

    “We welcome and encourage any filmmaker who wants to do a movie on the insurgency war as long as it is within the confines of the law. Interested participants can come up and we will look into it and collaborate.”

    Asked about funding, the army chief said, “When we are collaborating with a filmmaker, it means that there is counterpart funding for it. This means that it is a two-way traffic, not that the Nigerian Army alone will fund such movies. If you come up with a proposal and you think that it will be beneficial to the Nigerian Army and indeed, Nigerians as a whole, then we will be ready to look into it.”

    Adonis Productions is already considering the challenge thrown by the Nigerian military. Princewill who is also the patron of the Nigerian Association of Movie Producers expressed his willingness for collaboration with the Nigerian military.