Tag: seeks

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Dr. Precious Gbeneol, has called for more commitment in achieving MDGs.

Gbeneol urged governors and chairmen of local councils to redouble their efforts at delivering development to the people.

She spoke in Anambra where she inaugurated some projects executed in partnership with the state government under the Conditional Grants Scheme (CGS).

The presidential aide explained that the targets of the MDGs were centred on good governance.

A statement yesterday in Abuja by the Office Head of Information and Communication, Dr. Chris Otabor, noted that with less than 1,000 days to the deadline, all hands should be on deck to achieve the goals, irrespective of class, position and status.

Dr Gbeneol stressed that the Federal Government was committed to deliver the MDGs in 2015.

The statement said Anambra State Governor Peter Obi supported the MDG chief at the inauguration of the projects, which included three buildings at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Ihiala; Ozubulu small town water supply scheme; buildings at the Holy Rosary Specialist Hospital and Maternity – where a block of maternity building and the School of Midwifery were inaugurated – and the inspection of a general out–patient department building.

Others were: blocks of buildings at the renowned Iyienu Hospital, Ogidi; distribution of 500 school buses to public and private secondary schools, among others.

The statement reads: “The buildings inaugurated at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Ihiala include: the general out-patient department of the School of Midwifery’s hostel block and the School of Nursing’s hostel block. There was an inspection of ongoing construction of the School of Medical Laboratory’s building. The hospital also received a brand new automated ambulance for emergency cases as well as a cheque of N50 million for the completion of some of the ongoing projections.

Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday urged the Cental Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to donate of N10 billion to each of the federal universities as an intervention fund.

The demand followed a donation of N10 billion the apex bank made to Othman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto.

In a statement in Lagos, Falana said: “As there is equality before the law, each of the public universities is entitled to equal treatment by the Federal Government and all its agencies, including CBN.

“Since the CBN claims that it is discharging its corporate duty or social responsibility, it cannot operate on the basis of discrimination or favouritism. Having donated N10 billion to the Othman Dan Fodio University, the CBN should, as a matter of urgency, provide an intervention fund of the same amount to each of the other public universities without delay.”

The activist argued that it is high time the National Assembly complied with relevant provisions of the Constitution by subjecting the CBN to budgetary control and supervision.

He said: “As neither the President nor any other public officer is empowered to disburse funds without appropriation, the CBN governor (Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi) should be restrained from further engaging in impunity.”

Before the donation to the Othman Dan Fodio University, Falana recalled that Sanusi had donated N4 billion available to Bayero University, Kano (BUK) and several millions of Naira to the University of Benin (UNIBEN) and some other universities which gave him doctorate degrees.

“His alma mater, King’s College, Lagos, benefited from the largesse of the CBN,” Falana said.

The frontline lawyer said it was also public knowledge that Mallam Sanusi allegedly donated N135 milliom to selected victims of terrorist attacks in Kano and Niger states.

Falana accused the CBN of operating outside the provisions of the Appropriation Act, in addition to usurping the statutory duties of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the National Universities Commission (NUC) among others.

“Such extra budgetary donation of billions of naira to selected bodies and individuals by the CBN has dangerous implications for the neo-colonial economy. Since the donations and intervention funds are taken from the vaults of the CBN owned by the Nigerian people, they cannot be subjected to the whims and caprices of the management of the bank under a constitutional democracy”, Falana said.

The activist claimed to have been drawing the attention of the Federal Government, repeatedly, to the illegality of allowing the CBN governor to convert the apex bank to a charitable institution over the last two years.

Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has requested the chief Coroner of the Lagos High Court to conduct an inquest into yesterday’s crash of the aircraft conveying the body of the former governor of Ondo state, Dr. Olusegun Agagu to Akure

The request was contained in a letter dated October 3 addressed to the Chief Coroner of the State High Court,Ikeja.

The aircraft, which also killed some of the people travelling with the body of Dr. Agagu to Akure, crashed around Mafoluku shortly after take off following alleged engine failure.

Falana said if the request is not granted within seven days of the receipt of the letter, he would proceed to the Lagos High Court for an order of mandamus with a view to compelling the Coroner to discharge his duty under Law.

The letter reads: “This morning, a chartered Associated Airline plane conveying the corpse of ex-governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Agagu and 20 passengers to Akure crashed at Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos minutes after taking off at the local wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport. I3 out of the 20 passengers on board have been confirmed dead by the Accident Investigation Bureau.

“Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the tragic crash, it is either that the plane was flown by incompetent pilots or totally unfit to embark on the 35 minutes’ flight from Lagos to Akure.

“Whatever might have been the cause of the disaster not less than 13 people have been confirmed dead in suspicious and questionable circumstances.

“The unfortunate incident might have been averted if the ongoing inquest had been concluded and necessary measures were put in place by the Federal Government to preserve the lives of people travelling by air in the country.

“In the light of the foregoing we request you to use your good offices to direct the Coroner for the Ikeja Magisterial District to conduct an inquest into the tragic plane crash without any delay.”

The activist recalled that after the Dana plane crash which occurred in Lagos on June 3, 2012 in which 153 passengers and crew members were killed, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba SAN and himself requested for an inquest into the tragic incident.

He said the request was promptly granted by the Lagos State Coroner.

He lamented the inquest has been unduly delayed due to the desperate moves by the aviation authorities and Dana Airline to cover up the cause of the crash.

Agricultural production is up by about 8 million metric tons since last year, according to Bloomberg, and there are plans to spend about $10 billion on it over the next few years, with help from foreign investors. The country seems set to use agriculture to tackle the oil woes, writes International Business Times

Nigeria may be famous for its oil reserves, but a newly announced project could pave the way for Africa’s second-largest economy to make a name for itself in another industry: food production.

Dansa Foods, a subsidiary of Dangote Group, a manufacturing conglomerate owned by Nigerian billionaire and Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, is investing $36 million in the construction of the continent’s largest high-energy food processing plant.

Dangote Group has operations in several African countries. The conglomerate is known for its subsidiaries Dangote Cement PLC (Lagos:DANGCEM), Africa’s largest cement producer, and Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC (Lagos:DANGSUGA), which operates a huge sugar refinery in the port city of Lagos. (Dansa Foods isn’t yet listed on the Nigerian stock exchange.) This is the conglomerate’s second major investment initiative this month; Aliko Dangote just kicked off a $9 billion project to build Africa’s largest oil refinery, in Nigeria’s southwest, which could double the country’s fuel production capacity.

Nigerian Agriculture Minister Akinwunmi Adesina announced the food processing plant project on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City. “As I have said many times, this is not a populist issue,” he said, according to the Nigerian Tribune. “We are seriously restructuring this sector for greater performance because the future of Nigeria is not in oil but in agriculture. It is not the agriculture in the way we have been doing it before but now as a business.”

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer, but the hydrocarbon industry is riddled with problems. Oil theft brought summertime production levels down to a four-year low of 1.9 million barrels per day, down from an average of 2.5 million last year. The country also lacks enough refineries to turn its crude into fuel and has to import about three-fourths of its domestically consumed fuel from abroad. On top of that is a highly impractical fuel subsidy program, which costs about $8 billion a year and is dripping with graft.

Despite having the second-largest gross domestic product on the continent behind South Africa, the Nigerian government hasn’t translated its oil revenues into broad-based growth — more than half the population lives in poverty, and unemployment is at least 22 percent for the general population and near 40 percent for youth.

Where hydrocarbons have failed to address many of Nigeria’s economic woes, food production could be the solution. Oil accounts for about 80 percent of state revenue and a full 95 percent of foreign exchange revenue, but it only makes up about 14 percent of total GDP. At 40 percent, agricultural production accounts for the biggest chunk of Nigeria’s GDP — but many farmers work small plots of land on a subsistence basis. As a whole, the industry is wildly inefficient; despite a wealth of arable land, Nigeria is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest importer of wheat. It also spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually to import goods it could produce domestically, like citrus and tomatoes, in part because rural areas lack adequate infrastructure for transport and preservation.

All too often, agricultural output rots before it can be consumed.The government is well aware of these shortfalls. Nigeria has already ramped up agricultural production by about 8 million metric tons last year, according to Bloomberg, and plans to spend about $10 billion on it over the next few years, with help from foreign investors. The new plant will help to turn that output into processed food on Nigerian soil, which could drastically reduce the $11 billion that Nigeria spends on food imports every year.