The Nation Newspaper

Tag: utilise

  • Nigeria set to utilise AGOA opportunities

    Ngerian America Chamber of Commerce (NACC) President, Chief Olabintan Famutimi, has said Nigeria is set to fully utilise the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

    Famuti said it was appalling that as at 2014, Nigeria only exported $6 million worth of goods to the US compared to $6 billion exported by other Sub-Saharan African nations.

    He said this at the public presentation of five books by the President of Success Edge Exporters Limited and a member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), export promotion council, Mr. Abiodun Oyefeso.

    Famuti said the AGOA act, which has been renewed till 2025 by the US Congress after its first term from 2000 to 2015 elapsed, was abused in its first term by Nigerian leaders.

    He said instead of getting products out of the 6,500 items allowed to be exported, Nigeria relied only on crude oil.

    Famuti said NACC is working hard to ensure that Nigeria becomes the third economic hub after the contract for the economic hub in Ghana expires this October.

    This, he said, will position Nigeria to take full advantage of AGOA and focus on exportation of non- oil products.

    “It is a shame that most Nigerians rushed to the crude oil business, yet they have not seen crude oil nor known what it is. We are all deceiving ourselves in this country,” Famuti said.

    Chairman of the event, Dr. Kola Christwealth, said Nigeria suffers from economic slavery due to over reliance on crude oil exportation.

    He said:“We must know that economic independence is as important as political independence and for us to be economically free, we must forgo crude oil exportation, which we are even failing at.”

    A former Director-General of the National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Dr John Isemede, said only detailed and planned exportation strategy will take the country out of recession.

    Reviewing one of the books: “How to Succeed in Export Business”, he said there must be balance of trade between imports and exports as the country is rushing to sign partnership agreements with other countries without looking at the critical details.

    The author of the books, Mr. Oyefeso, said for Nigeria to be developed, attention must be paid to solid minerals deposits where it has comparative advantage over other countries.

  • How to utilise recovered loot, by SSANU

    How to utilise recovered loot, by SSANU

    The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has urged the Federal Government to inject recovered loot  into the economy to create jobs.

    It appealed to workers to unite against poverty, deprivation and exploitation by the elite and the ruling class.

    The association, in a communiqué signed by its National President, Samson Ugwoke, and  National Public Relations Officer, Salaam Abdussobur, after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, said the country would gain more by staying together than disintegrating.

    SSANU bemoaned the precarious and pitiable condition of workers in the face of the present economic realities and urged government to take proactive measures to end hardship and suffering in the country.

    “NEC noted that the costs of food items and basic commodities are beyond the reach of the average Nigerian worker, while building materials have become so costly that the common man can no longer afford a decent home,” the union said.

    It also urged the Federal Government to plough back recovered funds into the economy to exit recession.

    “NEC advises the government to announce the huge sums of money so far recovered from looters and immediately plough back these huge amounts into the economy, as saving these money while Nigerians starve makes no meaning.

    “This will give verve to government’s transparency and accountability, especially in the fight against corruption,” it added.

    It called on the government to introduce policies that would attract investors and prevent oligopolies in the food and building industries to protect the masses from exploitation.

    SSANU decried the delay in the negotiation of the minimum wage and urged government to speed up the process.

    It also urged government to urgently implement the earned allowance owed its members, saying, “NEC in session demands implementation of the payment of earned allowances being owed members of SSANU arising from the SSANU/FGN 2009 Agreement as the continued delay is a breach of a Collective Bargaining Agreement and a dishonourable act on the part of government.”

    SSANU bemoaned the sack of its branch chairman  and secretary of the union at the University of Abuja.

    “NEC noted with dismay and shock, the breaches and administrative infractions perpetrated by the authorities at the University of Abuja, leading to the suspension and termination of appointments of the Branch Chairman and Secretary of SSANU at the university.

    “NEC noted that the process leading to these actions were un-procedural, unlawful and unconstitutional. NEC, therefore, urges the Minister of Education to prevail on the Governing Council of the university to immediately recall our illegally terminated officers to avert a national industrial crisis,” it stated.

    SSANU also decried the abandonment of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) owned by Oyo and Osun states, saying the action of the two state governments was jeopardising the careers of its members, students and other members of the university community.

  • Utilise services of PAP graduates, Boroh tells oil firms

    The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh (retd.) has enjoined major oil and gas companies to use the services of those trained in specialised skills in the oil and gas areas under the programme.

    Boroh spoke in Abuja when he visited the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru.

    The presidential aide said 6,505 trained delegates could close existing manpower gaps in the sector with expertise in various areas of the industry.

    Addressing the imperatives for local content in the oil and gas sector, Boroh said the delegates had demonstrated a knack for excellence and were positioned to make meaningful contributions to improve service delivery in the industry.

    The PAP coordinator said his visit to the NNPC Towers centred on special employment considerations for the programme’s graduates in international oil companies in the region.

    He said their jobs would fast-track the reintegration of beneficiaries into civil life and living a violence-free life.

    Boroh described some of the delegates as First and Second Class awardees, who had shown extra-ordinary commitment to further develop their careers in companies or sub-contracting companies operating in Niger Delta.

    Fourteen of the delegates were said to have graduated with First Class/Distinction and 33 others with Second Class Upper/Merit.

    Baru expressed concerns over reduced oil production because of vandalism, piracy, militancy and illegal bunkering.

    The NNPC chief hailed the PAP Office for combating the vices by deploying skills development for thousands of youths in the Niger Delta.

    He expressed optimism that the skills acquired by the delegates in oil and gas would be a huge asset to the nation.

     

  • ‘How Nigeria can utilise $68b WEF vote’

    Experts have  advised the Federal Government on  how it can deploy the $68billion from the World Economic Forum (WEF) to boost economic growth and development.

    A Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Lagos, Omotayo Adeluwa, urged  the government to use the money to train professionals.

    The WEF attracted over $68 billion (about N12.9 trillion) in investments to Africa, the Managing Director of the Forum, Dr Philipp Rosler, said.

    He said the funds were in form of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) as well as private and public investments across Africa, which would continue to yield results in future.

    Rosler said the funds were targeted at investments in projects that would foster the development of the agricultural sector, improve infrastructure, such as roads, railways, hospitals, education, skill development and Information Communication Technology (ICT).

    Adeluwa said the government should use the fund to develop the country technologically. He said the country must move from taking ‘hand-outs’ from the international community to having  a development road map where skills will be developed through technology transfer or exchange programmes so that Nigerians could be trained in the latest technologies.

    He added that Nigeria has no business being a mono economy, as there are many untapped mineral resources in the country.

    Citing his research, Adeluwa said Niger State has a huge deposit of kaolin. However, he regretted, a government hospital was built in the area where the mineral is. He said his suggestions to the government to relocate the hospital and tap the kaolin that could last about 100 years were rebuffed. He said such attitude smacks of ignorance on the part of decision makers.

    Also, the don called on the government to tighten its monetary policy, and have more control over money and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to discourage capital flight.

    The Chairman, Campaign for Democracy (CD), Southwest, Mr Goodluck Obi, said the donors of the cash were monitoring it to ensure that there is transparency and equity in its deployment.

    He said: “Africa has a history of misappropriation of funds, from the beginning the mangers of the fund should identify which areas the funds are needed most to achieve real development and evaluate it at some part to identify its success rate.”

    An area the fund should be channelled, he said, is in addressing the inequality between the rich and the poor. He lamented that while some people live in affluence, others live in abject poverty.