The Nation Newspaper

Tag: scheme

  • Lagos launches pilgrims depository scheme

    Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode will today launch the Hajj Depository Scheme.

    The initiative will enable intending pilgrims to save towards the pilgrimage to Mecca.

    The event will hold at De-Renaissance Hotel in Alausa, Ikeja.

    According to Home Affairs Commissioner Dr AbdulHakeem AbdulLateef, the scheme is fashioned after what is obtained in some Muslim countries, such as, Indonesia and Malaysia.

    He said Al-Barka Micro Finance Bank will be in charge of the scheme.

    The commissioner said two service providers – Med View Air Line and Kausara Travels and Tours- would be honoured on the occasion.

  • CIBN, RIMAN float certification scheme

    The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has entered into strategic partnership with the Risk Managers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) to run a joint certification programme in risk management.

    The agreement, signed in Lagos, will enable both parties award certificate to qualified risk managers after undergoing requisite examinations.

    CIBN President, Mrs. ‘Debola Osibogun, said with the pact, both institutions have the authority to certify risk managers to promote efficiency and professionalism in the profession.  She expressed worry over capacity deficiency in risk management in the country, adding that the partnership would address the challenge. The executive council of both organisations has approved a robust certification document and curriculum for this professional exam, she added.

    RIMAN President, Jude Monye praised CIBN for the efficiency it has brought to the financial services sector, adding that all the needed processes has been met for full takeoff of the project. “It is good to come on board when everything is ready,” he said.

    He said the CIBN has made  arrangement and tidied up process to ensure that the exercise is a success. He said the agreement will lead to the emergence of better qualified risk managers in the country, which will also be of immense benefits to the economy.

    He said the certified risk management programme will enable RIMAN provide a credible and standard platform for certification of risk management; provide continuing professional education for risk professionals and strengthen the practice of risk management through enhanced risk knowledge and skills across the industry.

    “The exercise would help develop sound and competent risk managers who are globally competitive and nationally relevant,” he said.

    He said certification documents have been developed to include the Risk Management Certification documents and the students guide.

    He said:  “The Certified Risk Management (CRM)  document deals with the goals and objectives, training needs assessment, the structure of the programme, risk competency levels, curriculum development, affiliation, training governance and administration, funding and pricing and training universe.

    “While the programme is designed to confer identical knowledge capacity as other world class risk certification examinations, it also harmonises its scope with the Nigeria/domestic risk environment, hence creating not only certified risk managers but subject matter experts in the area of Nigeria Country Risk Management.”

  • Buhari to launch rice farmers’ borrowers scheme

    Buhari to launch rice farmers’ borrowers scheme

    President Muhammadu Buhari will tomorrow launch the ‘Anchor Borrowers’ Programme’ (ABP) for rice farmers in Kebbi State. The programme is designed to assist small scale farmers to increase the production and supply of feedstock to agro-processors.

    An initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), it is aimed at creating  an ecosystem to link out-growers to local processors, increase banks’ financing to the agricultural sector enhance capacity utilisation of agricultural firms involved in the production of identified commodities and as well as the productivity and incomes of farmers.

    The policy document of the programme also indicated that it will build capacity of banks in lending to farmers and entrepreneurs in the value chain and reduce commodity importation. It will also reduce the level of poverty among small holder farmers and create jobs while assisting rural small-holder farmers to grow from subsistence to commercial production levels.

    Under the intervention, the CBN has set aside the sum of N20 billion from the N220.0 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) for farmers at a single-digit interest rate of 9.0 per cent.  The training of farmers, extension workers and banks component involves customised value-chain finance modules for banks and an “agribusiness” training protocol for farmers that is consistent with the aspiration of the anchor borrowers’ programme.   A comprehensive risk mitigation strategy has been incorporated into the ABP model.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Ogun NYSC begins rural health care scheme

    Ogun NYSC begins rural health care scheme

    The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Ogun State has begun rural health care programme for rural communities.

    Its Coordinator, Mr. James Afolayan, said no fewer than 10,000 rural dwellers will benefit from the newly inaugurated Health Initiative for Rural Dwellers (HIRD) programme.

    Afolayan, who spoke with newsmen at the launch of the programme in Ilubere village, Odeda Local Government Area said bringing free health care delivery to people at the grassroots became necessary because of lack of quality medical facilities in rural communities across the country.

    He said the HIRD programme aims at mobilising corps medical volunteers in the provision of health intervention through diagnosis, treatment, referrals and proper prevention mechanism.

    Afolayan further said that in driving the health initiative scheme, the NYSC hopes to enhance the general well-being of rural dwellers across communities in Nigeria.

    Afolayan, who said the programme in Ilubere village would cater for about 1,500 residents from 11 communities, assured that the programme would be sustained by the NYSC scheme.

    “Our confidence in the success of this programme lay in the fact that we have been able to secure the support of stakeholders who are assisting our personnel with medical supplies and logistics.

    “The health outreach, which is taking place simultaneously in selected rural communities across the nation, has been designed to address our people’s health challenges.

    “The initiative is for the benefit of everyone; hence our people must take ownership and participate fully for everyone’s  benefit,” he said.

    The chairman, Odeda Local Government Area transition committee, Mr. Segun Adebowale, urged the people to take advantage of the programme for their health benefit.

    He discouraged the use of self-medication and local methods of treatment, even as he emphasised more on preventive medicine and the need to adopt healthy lifestyles.

    The community head of Ilubere, Mr. Rasheed Olaleye, thanked the NYSC for the HIRD programme, saying it would bring much succour to their lives.

  • Abia launches jobs scheme

    Abia launches jobs scheme

    The Abia State government has flagged off a scheme designed to equip youths with requisite entrepreneurial skills.

    The scheme launched at Boys Technical College (BTC), was tagged E4E or Education for Employment.

    Mr. Endi Ezengwa, the programme’s consultant, has been interacting with industrialists, with a view to securing their partnership on the project. Ezengwa, who is also the chairman of Kiara College United Kingdom, said he was partnering with seven government ministries; ministry of youth development, ministry of agriculture and others, adding that bringing in the services of industries would ensure that the programme’s success.

    He disclosed that the programme which was expected to provide employment for about 100,000 (25,000 each year) youths within the first four years of the incumbent administration, stressing that the programme was not political.

    He said that they were going to make use of the existing skill acquisition centres built across the state by the out-gone Chief Theodore Ahamefule’s administration as their training centers.

    “We are here to have a stakeholders meeting with owners of industries and businesses in Aba. We want to consult and carry them along. We want them to also tell us what their needs are so that the programme can be holistic. We don’t want to do haphazard programme. So we have met with ministry of youths, ministry of rural development we are now meeting with educational institutions amongst others. So, we want to be able to carry everybody along in this programme because Okezie Ikpeazu is very serious about youth empowerment and want it to be done properly. So he is the one who sent me. he is willing to invest in this programme but we need to show return on investment. It won’t be business as usual, we have to show that there will be output on investment. We also need to be sure that whatever that we will provide has value for money and that it will be fit for purpose; meeting the three cardinal principles of this programme. This is to prevent what has been happening before from repeating itself. We hope that we will give it our best and make sure that this is something that will last beyond his tenure as a governor.

    “The target audience of this interactive section is industrialists in Aba. There has been so much said about Aba and our ingenuity, creativity and industriousness, but this has not transcended into cash and the improvement of our lives. So E4E is  an interface that we want to create in order to help to transform the energy of the youths; to convert them into money when they become entrepreneurs, self sustaining and also when they work with established industries. That way, it is a win-win programme because it is going to ensure there is low crime rate, more money to everybody and we will all be happy. If we must be like the Taiwan and Chinese, we must learn to think and behave like the people that we are trying to imitate.

    “Students will be taught practical skills and craft on their chosen areas by the stakeholders they are going to learn the trade from and we are going to monitor the project very seriously. If the prospective candidates were supposed to learn a particular trade for 3years for instance, we will make sure that the candidate stays back on the job to complete the training and at the end of the training, they will be certified. This will enable them go for government contracts and even compete favourably with their counterparts from the Polytechnics and universities”, Ezengwa stated.

    Sir Onyebuchi Nwankpa, Director, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, represented by the Senior Technical Officer of the ministry, Mr. Aloy Chukwu, described the state government’s step to empower youths in the state with skills as laudable and describe technical and vocational education as one that would not only to put the youths off the streets, but to ensure that they have food on their tables.

    Chukwu who noted that most economies of the world are now private sector driven said that the benefits of programme would include sustaining existing industries and as well, improve the state economy with well-equipped manpower which the programme was going to provide.

    He expressed the readiness and commitment of the ministry to ensure that they assisted in their own capacity to ensuring that the purpose for which the government initiated the programme was met.

    Speakers at the event however urged the organisers to ensure that the programme works, citing examples of such programmes that looked lofty and yet could not stand the taste of the day or met the purpose for which it was initiated.

    They also want government to assist them by providing them with the enabling environment and machines to work optimally and as such boosting trade and investment in the state even as they prayed that the programme achieves the purpose for which it was meant for.

     

  • Govt to save N180b in new training scheme, says ITF chief

    Govt to save N180b in new training scheme, says ITF chief

    An initiative of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to  engage the services of Nigeria Professionals abroad to begueath requisite skills to youths, will result in about N180billion savings for the Federal Government.

    ITF Director-General, Dr. Juliet Chukkas-Onaeko, who stated this yesterday in Lagos at an interactive session with stakeholders on the need for partnership towards the successful implementation of its mandate in line with the skills needs of Nigeria,  said ITF-Diaspora volunteer skills development programme, has been designed to upgrade the quality of skills in Nigeria to international standards at little or no cost to the Federal Government.

    She said Diaspora Nigerian professionals would be engaged voluntarily on what she tagged, “first-rate skills training for Nigerian youths through the Industrial Training Fund’s Brain Gain initiative.”

    Mrs.  Chukkas-Onaeko, said the Brain-Gain initiative, will be powered by Nigerian experts in the Diaspora who have volunteered to give back to their home country through direct knowledge and technology transfer at no cost to the ITF.

    She said the Nigerian experts, who are specialists in various high-tech sectors, would work with the Fund, based on a yearly volunteer calendar that would ensure that the target of an annual quality training for you, we have mapped out plans to work with not less than 10,000 in renewable energy, robotics engineering, hospitality, oil and gas, and petrochemicals among others, in the next three years.

    “We have been able to identify experts who have skills to contribute to this programme. But in the first phase, we are considering a conservative number of just 10,000. Most of these experts are professionally and financially accomplished people who are willing to play this role at their own cost.”

    She said analysts have put the cost of retaining an expert in the Diaspora under the ITF training scheme at N500,000 monthly. This is a very conservative figure, and it is the amount that would have been spent hiring each volunteer trainer for the programme.

    “When this is computed for a three-year period, the total amount of money that would be saved by the government comes to around N180 billion for 10,000 volunteers in three years.”

    Mrs. Chukkas-Onaeko also called for partnership and support from all stakeholders and employers of labour in the country, stressing that, for the programme to be very successful, other cost components of the programme, such as air fare and insurance, could be further volunteered by stakeholders.

    “For example, we are looking at a situation where airlines operating in Nigeria will voluntarily provide free flight tickets for these experts to further reduce the cost to them and increase the number of experts who will volunteer. Insurance companies can also come along to insure these experts to make them more comfortable to carry out their assignments,” she said.

    She noted that, in view of the numerous developmental challenges confronting Nigeria as a nation and the unwavering resolve and commitment of the Federal Government to initiate transformational changes that would place the country on the trajectory of sustained economic growth, it had become imperative for the ITF, as the foremost manpower development agency, to review its strategies and modus operandi.

  • LagosHOMS: Allottees to smile as rent-to-own scheme set for roll-out

    LagosHOMS: Allottees to smile as rent-to-own scheme set for roll-out

    The lull in the delivery of housing units under the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme to allottees may be over very soon. The delay may not be unconnected with the change in government and the re-engineering of government operations going on in the state. Now, in furtherance of empowering more residents to own houses, the state is set to roll out a rent-to-own scheme, raising the hope of millions of Lagosians, writes MUYIWA LUCAS.

    In Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, shelter comes second after food. This is why no government interested in the welfare of its people toil with accommodation for its citizens.

    The Lagos State government, aware of the enormous pressure this constitute, has through various schemes tried to ameliorate the sufferings of the people in this regard. One of such initiatives is its Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (LagosHOMS), launched toward the end of the last administration.

    But the continued pressure on the state government to deliver on the scheme has been slowed down. This is because of the change in government and the restructuring of government business. But last week, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Housing, Mr. Olatunji Odunlami, in a meeting with allotees of Mushin, Igando and Sangotedo schemes, assured of the renewed efforts to deliver the houses on schedule.

    Odunlami appealed to the allottees be patient promising that government is determined to deliver quality and well finished houses to the allottees. He blamed the electioneering period which usually affects government business and the reengineering of government business at this period, as the cause of the delay in handing over units in the Mushin scheme, assuring that the allottees will get their house keys by this month end.

     

    The delay

    According to Odunlami, the delay in the delivery of the houses was due to the state government’s afforts at streamlining the approach to providing services to residents.

    He said: “The government is trying to reengineer itself to serve the people better. Those houses ought to have been completed and delivered because the Mushin project is already at 95 per cent but the estate will be completed and keys handed over to the allotees at the end of this month. “The governor has given a mandate to the ministry to do a review of all the ongoing housing estates under the scheme to help in completing all the outstanding.”

     

    Allottees demand

    At the meeting with the state government, the allottees appealed to the government to look into their demands and request, especially since they were supposed to have taken possession of the units since December last year.  They demanded that government should refund rents already paid by allottees to their landlords from December last year to the time they will get their allocation.

    Responding to the demand, Odunlami explained that whether government would pay them the rent that is owed, will involve dialogue.

    “We can keep talking and definitely, government will do what it can do because these are our people. Whatever they have asked and whatever is possible is what we are going to do. Some of them may be saying they want to take back their money. We don’t want them to do that because we have committed to them.

    “But if somebody is insisting that he wants to take his money, maybe he thinks his money has been spent, then they would be asked to come and pick up their money. Government has committed that they look; we are going to deliver to you, as far as it is a commitment of the government, then people should hold on to it. Like I was discussing with someone that even if someone wants to take his money, today-that let me come my money temporarily, we won’t withdraw the allocation. So when he is done, bring back your money and pay it to us. It is just to show your commitment and that is why you are paying. If you don’t do that and then you don’t it on time, then you will have issues at the end of the day.”

     

    Rent-to-own scheme

    Odunlami said to further provide housing for Lagosians, the state government will soon commence a rent-to-own scheme under the Homeownership Mortgage Scheme. He explained that modalities were being worked out to ensure its smooth take off. The scheme was initiated by former governor Babatunde Fashola, to encourage residents to participate in the state’s housing scheme aimed at reducing shortage of homes. He said  under the scheme, those who cannot afford the equity for an outright purchase of a house will pay a rent for a specific period, which will go towards offsetting the cost of the house.

    This, he further explained, is part of government’s efforts aimed at expanding the home ownership schemes as much as possible for people. “For government to bring out a policy, we have to think about it critically; consider the entire element involved vis-a-vis the people for whom you are planning the programme. We are in the process now; we are working out the number to see what it comes to, based on our yardstick which is usually the public servants whom we can easily track. The private sector can also key into the scheme,” Odunlami said.

     

    Other schemes

    The Sangotedo and Igando schemes, the Permanent Secretary assured, would be completed in phases and done simultaneously. The permanent secretary said all previous agreements reached in respect of the houses would be implemented.

    “We will continue to work simultaneously on the Sangotedo and Igandu schemes, Sangotedo is 60 per cent completed,

    “Look at Anthony Enahoro Estate in Ogba; all its facilities are in place; that estate is connected; they have transformer there, that’s what they are using now. The only thing that they were talking about was the issue of alternative power supply. I think a lot of people felt that alternative power is a responsibility of government, it is not.

     

    Infrastructure, maintenance

    An allottee under the Mushin scheme, Mr. Dotun Coker, appealed to the state government to address the issue of power supply to the estate and others. To this end, Odunlami explained that the estates would soon be connected to the national grid as generating sets would not be allowed under the scheme.

    Besides, the state government would engage facility managers from the private sector to manage the estates. “There is a need for coordinated approach to maintenance and facility managers will be employed. The government is not set to manage the estates, it will provide the necessary wherewithal and allow the private sector to run it,” he clarified.

    In estates such as Anthony Enahoro in Ogba, Odunlami said he is aware of the issue of alternative power supply. He disclosed that though everybody wants to use generator, but for health and other reasons, that will not be possible. “We don’t allow people to bring in individual generator. You won’t be able to control it. That is why the best thing to do is to bring what is readily available, a big generator.      But the running of it is the responsibility of the residents because they are the ones consuming it; that is what we are working on now,” he said.

  • FHA’s Social Housing Scheme to transform sector’s deficit

    FHA’s Social Housing Scheme to transform sector’s deficit

    • 800 Co-operative Societies embrace scheme

    As the housing shortage in the country persists, and home ownership becoming more difficult especially with the high cost of construction, more Nigerians are now keying into home ownership through the mortgage system. And to make the process easier, especially for people in the informal sector or those not captured under the National Housing Fund (NHF), Nigerians are now taking advantage of the window of opportunity now made possible by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), through its Social and Co-operative housing programme. This scheme allows the informal sector, especially artisans and traders, to form themselves into cooperative societies, through which they can apply for mortgage financing or support from the authority. Through this scheme, financially weak members of cooperative societies could latch on to the strength of the group to make real their home ownership dreams.

    As at the end of last week, about 800 Co-operative societies nationwide, with no fewer than 50,000 members, have indicated interest in the Social and Co-operative housing programme of the FHA, says the Managing Director/Chief Executive of the Authority, Professor Mohammed Al-Amin. Many of the cooperative societies, he disclosed, approached the FHA on their own prompting having heard of the social and cooperative housing scheme of the authority, adding that the authority is deliberately cultivating cooperatives in various parts of the country so as to strengthen them to tap into the programme.

    Al-Amin said the authority was focusing on housing delivery for the most vulnerable groups in the society comprising the no-income, low-income and middle low-income earners. To that end, he said the authority had developed special packages for collaboration with non-governmental, faith-based and community-based organisations.The FHA is also working with research institutes for the development of local materials for the construction of houses to make building construction cheaper.

    The FHA boss also hinted that the authority was initiating a savers scheme which would enable workers in the formal and non-formal sectors of the economy own their houses. Also, he said the FHA was working with state governments towards the implementation of a rent-to-own housing scheme which would convert rents paid by tenants for the eventual ownership of such houses. Al-Amin said the preference of many Nigerians for bogus housing designs was one of the major impediments to home ownership, adding that the authority would embark on a campaign to get people to moderate such tastes. He identified lack of housing finance for off-takers, poor conceptualisation and haphazard land acquisition processes as the major causes of the collapse of the National Housing Programmes of the former President Sheu Shagari and the late General Sani Abacha administrations. The FHA, Al-Amin explained, is conscious of these problems, and mobilising all stakeholders to ensure the success of its housing programmes.

    Al-Amin, who was part of the Management Team of the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (FMLHUD) that briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on the state of affairs in the housing sector, said the President was passionate about the delivery of affordable mass housing for Nigerians and the rehabilitation of houses destroyed in the on-going insurgency in the North East.

    The President’s interest, he explained, made him request for a viable road map for the implementation of Social Housing for the masses, adding that Buhari was emphatic that an efficient and effective social housing would, among others, make Nigerians benefit from governance.

  • Ondo introduces new property ownership scheme

    Property owners in Ondo State can now obtain titles for a minimum fee of N15,000 and maximum of N25,000, with the processing and delivery period of the certificates pegged at eight weeks.

    Giving details of the new deal at a Stakeholders meeting in his office on Friday, the state Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, said the issuance of Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) in the state will be done within eight weeks for N25,000 in urban areas, maximum of N20,000 in semi-urban areas and a maximum of N15,000 in the rural areas of the state.

    He said the package is as a result of government’s digitalised C-of-O scheme, which he flagged off on Thursday, with some beneficiaries presented with their certificates.

    The Governor said  the new digitalised scheme will eradicate fraud and unnecessary gatekeeper or agents, adding  that the new systemic titling of land registration is a way of moving away from the old order and a surefooted step to move the state forward.

  • A lawmaker’s jobs scheme for constituents

    A lawmaker’s jobs scheme for constituents

    Someone has disproved the notion that lawmakers cannot make much impact on their constituents because they do not have executive powers.

    The lawmakers representing Enugu East/Isi-Uzo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Kingsley Ebenyi, has ameliorated the economic crunch in his constituency through a jobs scheme.

    Ebenyi, returned for a second term in the March 28, 2015 general election, was groomed as a lawmaker at the Enugu State House of Assembly where he was leader of the House before his posting as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain and the Vatican in 2004.

    He was subsequently elected member House of Representatives in 2011 where he further proved his desirability for re-election in 2015.

    •Some of the grinding machines donated
    •Some of the grinding machines donated

    Ambassador Ebenyi distributed 270 poverty alleviation items among his constituents that included over 50 pieces of Keke NAPEP, substantial quantities of wheelchairs, refrigerators, grinding machines, hair dryers, industrial fans, and power generating sets.

    That was not the first time the lawmaker distributed such economy driving implements. He also built communication cafes for rural dwellers in his constituency in addition to other essential provisions.

    Handing over the items to the lucky beneficiaries that emerged in the 23 ward of the constituency through balloting, Ebenyi appreciated the confidence reposed on him by his constituents, especially for giving him a second chance in the national assembly, promising that with his becoming a ranking member at the assembly, he would be able to afford more assistance to his people.

    He noted that it is his wish that the beneficiaries of the items will use it for the benefit of themselves, their families and for humanity.

    “What inspired me to embark on the project offer is the tremendous support I’ve been receiving from my people since 2011. The people have given me much and to whom much is given, much is expected,” he stated.

    Ambassador Ebenyi also noted that he is worried about the rate of poverty among the people and is praying for its reduction, adding that it was for the sake of reducing poverty among the people that made him embark on such projects.

    On the issue of roads infrastructure in his constituency, he said: “We have roads but it is not all the roads that are tarred and we are pleading with the federal government to complete the ones under construction such as the Obollo Afor-Ikem-Ehamufu-Nkalagu road. If they can do it, it will help alleviate the plight of the people in this locality.”

    Ebenyi urged his people to expect consolidation on the little gains he has made at the national assembly with their renewed mandate. “We have on-going projects and we expect to complete them before the expiration of this tenure and they should also expect more poverty alleviation projects,” he pledged.

    One of the beneficiaries of the distributed items, John Collins Okoh from Nike who is physically challenged said it was a great thing Ebenyi did by providing him with a wheel chair. “If this is what leadership is all about, remembering the down trodden like us, then there won’t be problem again,” said Okoh.

    Keke NAPEP winner, Ekene Eriugo expressed happiness and prayed that he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) remains in power. “I am praying that His Excellency Ambassador Kingsley Ebenyi will become the President of Nigeria. I will try my best to make judicious use of the Keke and keep my promise to God,” said Eriugo.