The Nation Newspaper

Tag: review

  • Rivers to review environmental laws

    The Rivers State House of Assembly is to hold a summit on the environment.

    The Chairman, House Committee on Environment, Christian Ahiakwo, in a statement in Port Harcourt, the state capital weekend, said the summit would discuss how to protect the environment.

    Ahiakwo, who is also the chairman, steering committee of the summit, said the conference with the theme “Our environment, our heritage: Environmental sustainability in Rivers State, a right for all” holds at the floor of the assembly between June 13 and 14. It is organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and the Rivers State Waste Management Agency.

    He said: “The summit is aimed amongst other issues, to review the environmental issues in the state, with a view to presenting a bill to the House for possible enactment into Law.

    “Some of the environmental laws that exist in the state are not elaborate enough to capture most areas of environmental concern; for example the noise pollution law currently in place in the state is limited to only to music players.”

    The event is expected to be attended by members of the diplomatic corps, top functionaries of government, top members of the management staff of oil and gas companies among others.

  • REDD+: Countries’ readiness under review

    Nigeria’s national efforts towards Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) received a boost this week as its proponents intensified the initiative, enjoying the support of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF).

    REDD+ represents a country’s efforts to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, and foster conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. The concept is based on the premise that deforestation and forest degradation are the second leading cause of global warming, responsible for about 15 per cent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which make the Term Review (MTR) workshop currently holding in Lafia, Nasarawa State capital, stakeholders are attempting to take stock of progress made so far on the project.

    The National Co-ordinator, Nigeria REDD+ Programme, Dr. Moses Ama, explained that the programme aimed at preparing the country to engage and benefit from the potentially emerging performance-based system from REDD+ within the context of the international climate negotiations of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

    “The development objective of the Nigeria FCPF Programme is to support the nation to design a socially and environmentally sound strategy to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation,” he said.

    Ama explained that the MTR will take a holistic step at the initiative by: reviewing progress towards the achievement of the project development objectives and assess the strong and weak points of the project design; reviewing implementation progress for each component, as well as for the administrative aspects of the project; evaluating compliance with fiduciary/safeguards aspects and overall implementation risks; visiting some of the project states and meet with project stakeholders, including government and community representatives, and jointly reviewing with the government the possibility of requesting for additional financing in support of the Forestry sector in the country.

  • Constitution review: Reps panel okays financial independence for councils

    Constitution review: Reps panel okays financial independence for councils

    •States get more powers 

    The House of Representatives Special Ad-hoc Committee on constitution review has approved the cancellation of the state and local government joint accounts.

    Each local government council, according to the proposed amendment, is empowered to maintain its own account into which shall be paid its allocation from the Federation Account and the state government.

    Members of the committee yesterday endorsed the letters of the Bill for an Act to alter the provision of the 1999 Constitution to strengthen local government administration.

    According to the lawmakers, development at the rural areas across the local government areas requires financial independence.

    The over 50 members committee at a meeting chaired by Deputy Speaker Yussuff Lasun yesterday said the new amendment makes it mandatory that disbursement from the account can only be made base on  a Bye-Law of the Local Government Council.

    A statement from the office of the Deputy Speaker said: “This is aimed at granting financial autonomy to the local government councils and strengthening separation of power at that level.”

    The statement added that the committee also heeded the call for true federalism and restructuring of the country by granting the devolution of powers to state governments.

    It said the committee adopted an amendment that “any person who has been sworn-in as President to complete the term of a person elected as President shall not be eligible to contest for election into such office for more than one single term”.

    Also endorsed by the committee was “the bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the 1999 Constitution to provide for independent candidacy to contest elections at all levels in the country”.

    The lawmakers okayed proposal for financial autonomy for Houses of Assembly and judiciary directly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the state and for related matters.

  • Capital market summit calls for economic policies’ review

    Financial pundits and business leaders yesterday called on the Federal Government to undertake a critical review of existing policies to realign both the fiscal and monetary policies to national aspiration for sustainable and inclusive growth.

    At the capital market summit organised by the Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) yesterday in Lagos, economic and investment experts, leading financiers and business executives said there must be an alignment between government policies and national growth objectives.

    The summit under the theme: The Road to Nigeria’s Economic Recovery- The Capital Market Route, brainstormed on the Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and the 2017 budget and concluded that the capital market remains the most viable linchpin for long-term sustainable economic growth.

    Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi called for a review of the government’s privatisation programme to ensure that the programme realises its key objectives of saving and generating incomes to government and bringing efficiencies to public utilities.

    He described the current privatisation approach as “privatizing profit and sharing losses” as new owners of privatised assets continue to feed on public funds while holding on to the privatised assets without commensurate efficiencies.

    “We are the only country that privatises wrongly. I was in the United Kingdom when Margaret Thatcher decided to privatise British Airways and London Electricity among others. It was a deliberate policy that you have to get investors. In our own case, what we did was to privatise profit and share losses,” Obi said.

    According to him, to straighten the privatisation policy, government should enact a policy that sets limits and allows the privatised entities to be listed and raise funds from the capital market subsequently.

    He called for a discontinuation of government direct funding of privatised entities through financial interventions and institution of a framework that allows privatised entities to explore capital market to raise funds independently from the investing public.

    “Today you sell an asset to Mr. Obi, tomorrow he says the asset cannot work and government will intervene and give him more money. I am saying get these assets and sell them to the public. All the money you put into power assets, for instance, let them go to the capital market raise additional funds. When they are quoted in the capital market, their operations will become more open and efficient,” Obi said.

    The former Managing Director of Fidelity Bank said government should emplace capital market as cornerstone of its economic development programme noting that rather than resorting to borrowings, government should use the capital market for its infrastructural development.

    “Today we are borrowing from China to build airports. Go to South Africa, India, Turkey, they raise funds from the capital market to build infrastructure. These are institutions that are there deepening the market,” Obi said.

    He called for a deliberate incentive policy that encourages companies to access the Nigerian capital market and list their shares as part of efforts to build a sustainable economic development.

    According to him, in most jurisdictions, there are benefits and support for quotation on the stock market.

    The former Governor of Anambra State also called for immediate commencement of a national savings policy to build up savings that could serve as buffer in the period of economic downturn.

    “If there have been savings since we started exploring oil, we would have been in better position. But, forget about the past. It’s gone. So what can be done about tomorrow, we have to start saving now. If we have $100 billion savings today, most of the problems we have today will be solved. You can then tackle inflation and other issues,” Obi said.

    Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, underscored the importance of creating and building capacity for wealth creation.

    He noted that the capital market remains a very critical institution to getting Nigeria out of economic recession and building long-term growth.

    Chief Executive Officer, Dunn Loren Merrifield Group, Mr. Sonnie Ayere, noted the need to align monetary policies with national economic agenda of the government pointing out that high interest rates are counterproductive to the development of the real economy.

    According to him, the strategy of increasing rates aggressively in a bid to address inflation concerns at this phase of Nigerian development cycle has become counterproductive to the domestic productive economy.

    “We therefore advocate for the removal of structural impediments and the implementation of an efficient policy shift towards the creation of an enabling productive environment – through a reduction in interest rates which would encourage industrialisation and subsequently create. Banks and Pension Funds will only begin to significantly fund the real sector when the only alternative investment outlets are low single digit rates. It is their search for yield that would bring much needed finance to the productive sectors,” Ayere said.

    He pointed out that it is only by making domestic cost of funds economically viable and creating and sustaining a positive yield curve that Nigeria will be able to direct savings including those of pension funds and bank deposits into the productive sectors of the economy.

  • NECA cautions on minimum wage review

    NECA cautions on minimum wage review

    Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has urged stakeholders in the socio-labour community and players in the Nigerian Industrial Relations’ System to be circumspect in their pursuit of increased minimum wage.

    Its Director-General, Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, said  private operators may not be able to increase wages now.

    According to him, economic depression has affected employers and their businesses have nose- dived, causing some to reduce  workers or close shop.

    He said: “There was indeed an understanding that the national minimum wage would be due for discussion after five years. In effect, the 2011 agreement, ordinarily, should be open for discussion in 2016. The clamour for discussions by the NLC and TUC is therefore legitimate.

    “There is a time-tested and enshrined procedure for the discussion of the national minimum wage, which entails the setting up of a National Minimum Wage Committee comprising representatives of the Federal Government, led by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, state governments, usually represented by three state governors, employers in the private sector under the aegis of NECA and organised labour as represented by NLC and TUC”.

    Oshinowo said the principle of reasonableness and superior arguments has always carried the day during minimum wage dialogue, and that conclusions at the platform would not necessarily be for or against increase. He said it would be to examine the need for or against and justifications for whatever positions are canvassed.

    He said: “the issue of procedure should be separated from the substance or subject. Hence, the imperative to respect procedure should take precedence over substance. It is the responsibility of the committee to sort out the issue of desirability of review or sustenance of status quo in the event that timing for upward review is inappropriate.”

    On the fear in some quarters that opening discussions on the national minimum wage will automatically translate into an unsustainable wage increase, he debunked such notion, noting that “the beauty of collective bargaining is the opportunity to come to the table with constructive positions and submissions. The principle of reasonableness and superior arguments has always carried the day. Conclusions at the platform would not necessarily be for or against increase. It would be to examine the need for or against and justifications for whatever positions are canvassed”.

    In response to the ability of employers for a new wage level, against the backdrop of the economic recession and its attendant devastating effects on organised businesses, Oshinowo stated that “the private sector cannot afford a pay increase at this point in time. This is the position the employers will canvass at the National Minimum Wage Committee”.

    He added: “The priority now should be for all stakeholders to join hands with government to deliver on inclusive growth that will ensure job security and job creation”.

  • Aremu seeks review of trade pact

    Aremu seeks review of trade pact

    National Union of Textile, Tailoring and Garment Workers General Secretary Comrade Issa Aremu has called on the Federal Government to review its trade agreements to prevent the dumping of goods.

    Aremu said some of the agreements were promoting factories’ closure and loss of jobs.

    He said: “We should review the agreements in the light of the effort to rebuild the nation’s economy.

    “We are not opposing trade but you must be a trading country first to enter into an agreement with the World Trade Organisation. What are we trading on? Nothing.”

    He said further: “We are not even producing for domestic market not to talk of exporting. We should not be eager to sign trade deals that are inimical to economic development.

    “This is because some of these agreements are injurious to workers. Let us put Nigeria first and get our priorities right.’’

    Aremu advised the government to ensure that the country became first a productive economy that produces for its domestic market.

    The Trade Adviser to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment and Chief Trade Negotiator for Nigeria, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe, said the government would soon commence the review of the trade policy.

    Osakwe said the review would promote the government’s diversification policy.

    The review, if adopted, would be the first since it was formulated in 2002.

  • Forex: Manufactures call for review of 41 banned items

    Forex: Manufactures call for review of 41 banned items

    The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has pleaded with the Federal Government to review the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) foreign exchange policy, which placed ban on importers of 41 items from accessing the forex market.

    Speaking in Lagos, MAN President Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs said some of the items that were restricted from accessing the forex market could not be sourced locally.

    He said: “The association has done an analysis on the banned items and we broke the 41 items into 110 and of the 110, 75 are raw materials for our members. It is these 75 items we ask the Federal Government to remove from the list so that our members can source forex to buy their raw materials.’’

    The MAN chief also said that about 44 of its members have closed shop due to unavailability of raw materials.

    “We have lost about 44 of our members. They have gone out of business because of their inability to source foreign exchange to bring in the materials,” he said.

    Jacobs said the way forward to resolve manufacturers’ inaccessibility to forex was for government to review the 41 items that will involve the stakeholders.

    “Such raw materials that cannot be locally available should be removed from the items,’’ he said.

  • Review this pension law please!

    SIR: Some unemployed Nigerian youths like me who lost their jobs some years ago need to have access to their full pensions since the economy is in recession. This would enable us revive and resuscitate our private business in the midst of this recession. After working about three years in an organization, I have about one million naira (N1m) in my pension account yet I cannot have significant access to it until I am 50. I was disengaged about seven years ago at the age of 30 before our office was liquidated. Now am 37 years old, my private business is in comatose and need revival.  Where do I source significant funds to do such? My pregnant wife and two kids have relocated to the village this term. Today, I have eaten my last meal not knowing when 25 per cent of the pension would be released to me or where my next meal would come from. Yet the capitalists in the pension industry are trading with my money, enjoying its dividends, sending their children to the best schools while I starve, and my pregnant wife with 2 kids are now in the village.

    With no money/job for even my healthcare, how sure am I to live up to 50 years? The Nigeria pension law seems archaic and outdated for the present day Nigerian youths. I appeal to President Buhari for an urgent repeal of Nigeria Pension Law so Nigerian youths would have 100 per cent access to their pension upon disengagement. The reason we voted for President Buhari is ‘CHANGE’.

    The current pension law allows next of kin to withdraw the fund upon death whereas a beneficiary like me without a job/means of livelihood/healthcare/starvation/comatose business is as good as ‘dead’.  I am a son of a late palm-fruit cutter and was neither born into a royal/wealthy family nor with a silver spoon.

     

    • Onuoha Samuel,

    onuohasamuel@gmail.com.

  • 168 condemned persons’ terms for review

    168 condemned persons’ terms for review

    The Controller of Prisons in Lagos, Olumide Tinuoye, yesterday said plans were underway to review the sentences of 168 condemned prisoners to life imprisonment.

    Tinuoye addressed reporters after a reception organised in his honour by female prisons in Kirikiri.

    The Prisons chief, who was deployed in March, said the command was in talks with the Ministry of Justice to ensure that awaiting trial inmates, who had stayed long in prison, were freed.

    He also said the command was in talks with state government to deploy gadgets that would detect contraband from the gate so that the carriers would be denied access.

    Tinuoye said: “Having served in Lagos before, I know the major problem we have is the issue of awaiting trial congestion. We are working with the Ministry of Justice to ensure that inmates who have stayed longer do not have reasons to be in this prison.

    “Another thing is the issue of condemned criminals.  We have about 168 condemned inmates in Lagos state. I want to make sure that those condemned have their sentences converted to life imprisonment and by so doing, we will be able to decongest the cell where they are. We have a lot of cells that can take life imprisonment inmate.

    “Another aspect we need to look into is reformation of inmates and their reintegration into the society. A lot of our inmates have graduated with Masters. They did their first degree and masters in prison. What we are waiting for now is enabling laws to enable them be reintegrated into the society,” he said.

    Debunking claims of jail breaks, Tinuoye said what has been experienced in the country was cases of escape which signified a breach in security.

    “What we have been witnessing is escapes and it is not new in the prison system. It happens worldwide and shows a sign that there is security breach. We are working on the security,” he said.

    Praising the Deputy Controller incharge of Female Prisons, Mrs. Lisa Ekpendu for the innovations she has brought to that section,  Tinuoye described her as a different brand of officer.

    “She has done marvellous things here. She built laboratory and alot of resting places for inmates. She is a very energetic woman. She is someone who is very different from all the officers I have been seeing,” he said.

    In her remark, Mrs Ekpendu, who said there were 257 inmates in the female prison, added that nine children were born this year.

    “Have a lot of awaiting trials and most of them come in pregnant. We do not turn anybody down. We have clinic year and beautiful nurses who assist them. In the whole, we have about nine kids year this year,” she said.

  • LCCI renews call for CBN’s exclusion policy review

    LCCI renews call for CBN’s exclusion policy review

    The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has renewed calls on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to review its policy shutting out 41 items from accessing foreign exchange (forex) from its official window.

    Its Director-General, Muda Yusuf said many of the items on the list are inputs for manufacturers, lamenting that this has continued to have negative impacts on the real sector.

    He told The Nation that the exclusion has led to considerable job loss in industries, the distributive trade sector, as well as the maritime sector, adding that the policy has led to considerable loss of customs revenue.

    He warned that if the CBN fails to retrace its step on this policy, the phenomenon of smuggling would be aggravated for some of the excluded items.

    However, Yusuf commended the new forex policy, stating that the Organised Private Sector (OPS) had consistently canvassed this position over the last 18 months.

    He said the OPS is expecting improved liquidity in the forex market, significant improvement in the allocative efficiency of forex and improved investor confidence.

    Yusuf maintained that the new policy will enhance the supply of forex to the market from capital importation, export proceeds and diaspora remittances.

    He said the policy will also moderate the exchange rate in future as the supply of forex improves.

    He said: “The policy is a major incentive to exporters as they will have unfettered access to their export proceeds. Besides the federation account will benefit from better revenue inflows from the CBN as sale of subsidised forex comes to an end.”

    Investors, local businesses and international lenders had called for a devaluation of the naira long before now but the government insisted that devaluation is not an option. This is in the face of strong reasons for devaluation, though observers knew that it was just a matter of time before the government will cave in due to the stark realities of the challenges of a mono economy and the paucity of forex reserve for businesses.

    Head of Trade & Economics at the European Union (EU) delegation to Nigeria and West Africa, Mr. Fillippo Amato commended the policy and stated that it has the potential to attract huge investments into the economy. He said prospective foreign investors who have been holding on to their funds will be impressed with the new policy and will have no choice but to invest as market forces will determine the real value of the naira.

    Emerging Market Specialist at UBS Wealth Management in Zurich, Jonas David said: “It is positive, it is a more credible and flexible exchange rate regime in the long-run; you will see an external rebalancing of the economy, a fiscal adjustment and so on.”

    He however, warned that in the near future, things will get worse before they get better.

    A slide into recession after the economy shrank in the first quarter of the year and a fresh spike in inflation are among issues investors will want to wait out, said David, together with confirmation that the new regime is functioning properly, he added.