The Nation Newspaper

Tag: work

  • A governor at work

    A governor at work

    It was an operation conceived in utmost secrecy and executed at dawn when many were still snoring in bed. By the time they woke up, the huge storey building had been levelled, flattened.

    The building used to be the home of a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna. It was the symbol of the defiance of some party men, who are opposed to Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s style. His Excellency was alleged to have personally led the operation. This may not be far from the truth, considering the clinical manner in which it was executed and the delicate nature of the assignment.

    A few days ago, the Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi- led faction suspended El-Rufai and some of his aides. It was the climax of many months of bitter bickering between the factions.  Famous for his reticence, El-Rufai was calm. But, can a ship  have two captains? Will any governor worthy of the Executive Mansion tolerate such insubordination and calculated insult?

    Just as the Hunkuyi faction began to gloat over its success, the governor deployed an old strategy of his that has never failed. The bulldozer moved in. Now, Hunkuyi and his men are grumbling like a child stopped from sucking on his thumb.

    So incensed at the action was Senator Shehu Sani that he told the Senate: “Governor El-Rufai is an affliction on Kaduna State. He is a curse to us. We want to call on Buhari to caution his son. If this crisis is not nipped in the bud, it will grow into something bigger. We in Kaduna State cannot accommodate somebody who has the tendencies of Adolf Hitler, Mobutu Sese Seko and Nebuchadnezzar.”

    The Senator recalled that, exactly one year ago, His Excellency’s bulldozer smashed  APC Vice Chairman (Northwest) Inuwa Abdukadir’s house.

    Sani is not alone. Also complaining are those who know nothing about governance, state policy and power. They are crying like hired mourners who must outdo the bereaved. They say El-Rufai is inhumane, wicked and destructive.

    Does El-Rufai deserve the name calling and abuses? Why won’t anybody consider the peace that has suddenly descended on Kaduna since this demolition and many others? Why won’t anybody praise his mastery of this strategy as the final solution to stubborn problems? Or the governor’s inventive ability.  Instead, they talk about “his huge capacity for mischief, his unbridled ambition, his tempestuous and abrasive mannerism”.

    This is not the first time His Excellency has been excoriated for demolishing a property. He was harassed and cursed in Abuja when he was minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). So bad was the situation that he had to face an inquiry after his tenure. He was accused of grabbing other people’s land and allocating choice plots to his wife, concubines, girlfriends, friends and babies. Not a word did he deny. In fact, he told his inquisitors that he acted in the public interest and dared his critics to go to court. That was the end of the matter.

    When the Shiites ignited a bloody clash by blocking the Chief of Army Staff’s convoy, many were convinced that what they had seen as an age-long problem needed to be resolved immediately. But, they did not know what to do. El-Rufai’s  bulldozers simply rumbled through the place and knocked down the Shiites’ enclave. Hasn’t there been peace ever since?

    For a cleaner city, the government demolished many houses and threatened to remove beggars from the street. Now, Kaduna ranks as one of the world’s cleanest cities – to the envy of others.

    The only situation in which the demolition formula was not applied was that of the Fulani herdsmen, probably because the nomadic cattle men had no fixed property worth demolishing.  El-Rufai simply plunked down a fortune to buy their commitment to peace.

    The government explained that Hunkuyi had not paid ground rent for eight years. In these days of aggressive revenue drive, will any responsible government tolerate that? Besides, to demonstrate that it was all in the public interest, the governor directed that the land should be turned into a public park. A less magnanimous governor would have built public toilets on it.

    Now, according to a Government House source, all the landlords who are yet to pay their ground rent will have their buildings demolished. Watch out, company executives who have failed in remitting VAT and other statutory obligations, your buildings may soon host El-Ruafai’s bulldozers.

    As I was saying, His Excellency has been scorned by many for deploying  demolition as a state policy. To such busybodies, the fact that it has always worked wonders does not count.  They ask in an attempt to deride the formula: Is demolition of a building the same as the demolition of people’s resolve? What manner of governor is this? Was he elected to build or to pull down?

    Going personal, some of his critics have asserted without any scientific proof that diminutive people, among whom I’m proud to number, are prone to sudden anger. How true is this? Is it the fear of domination that drives us to strike first and so fatally? Or just the “I’m in charge here” syndrome?

    Whatever anybody may say about the El-Rufai formula, it is arguably one of those effective policies of this era. It is in the class of stomach infrastructure, the vote harvesting formula that has seen every Ekiti resident sporting a round tummy and chubby cheeks – all in less than four years. Or the Imo formula that professes erection of statues as a recipe for peace and general well-being of residents. Like the El-Rufai formula, the Imo solution continues to be derided, particularly the Jacob Zuma statue after the former South African president threw in the towel. Many now look at it contemptuously and hiss: “what a wrong erection”.

    The Government House source aforementioned has just told me that the demolition formula was being considered for restive communities. The residents will just wake up someday to discover that their homes are gone. There will be nothing to fight over or somewhere to launch attacks from.

    From many states and neighbouring countries, I am told, inquiries have been pouring in on how to acquire the ABC of the El-Rufai formula. Some of the governor’s aides are said to be packaging a working document on how to set up a centre where the legion of people who want to be well grounded in this formula can be trained. At a price.

     

    Obj’s adventures in Ijawland

    It was thought to be a rumour. Then, the pictures hit the social media. Former President Goodluck Jonathan was hosting former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Otuoke, his Bayelsa State home. “Editorial Notebook” has approached many sources in a desperate bid to report the details of their discussion. Here is an account of the meeting, according to an unconfirmed source, who claimed to be close to a cousin of the sister of one of the cleaners in the sprawling compound:

    (Obasanjo, decked in an Ijaw dress- sparkling buttons and dangling chain – walks in briskly. He is surrounded by a retinue of guards. Jonathan meets him at the door). Welcome sir; you do well Baba. Very courteous of you to visit us here.

    Obasanjo: You see, I don’t dwell on the past. All is forgotten; all is forgiven. You are my son. Even the prodigal son in the Bible got a warm embrace after his repentance. So, let’s leave politics for politicians. I’m now a statesman.

    “But Baba (Jonathan laughs heartily) everybody is talking about your special statement on Buhari and your Coalition for Nigeria Movement, CNM. You even told Buhari not to run.”

    “Yes. Why should he run again? Please, please, I don’t want to discuss politics. Why should he run? I concede to him that he has been fighting the insurgency, but I need to warn that other areas are crying for attention. The economy is not doing well. If people now think that CNM and all that na politics; dat na dem toro.”

    “Even the so-called anti-corruption war; is that how to fight it; going after key opposition figures? Look at my wife. Nobody has complained that his money is missing, yet Magu and his people won’t let her rest. I don’t understand. Perhaps,  all this would not have happened if you had backed me.”

    Obasanjo chuckles, his lips pursed.  He raises his right hand.”My dear, forget the past. Even me, one yeye boy who said he was a governor and now a senator was saying I should face trial for corruption; Halliburton and all that. And I said, ‘okay o. I dey my house. Come catch Obasanjo. He was so disrespectful and I was wondering the kind of senators we now have. Senator my foot!

    “Where is Mama Peace? Where is my pounded yam? Wey fisherman soup? ”

    Jonathan signals to an aide to fetch the former First Lady who had earlier joined him to receive Obasanjo. She walks in fast, beaming.

    “Baba, na like this una go dey look me? All my money, they say it is money laundering. How can I carry money to a laundry; is it cloth? And I say, ‘okay, make we settle. They refused. Is that not persecution? Am I a launderer?”

    Obasanjo, smiling, moves to the dining table, sits. “My dear, don’t worry. We will soon know who owns this country. Just then, the light goes off (for a few minutes and Obasanjo, frowning, speaks. “They even said I, Aremu Olusegun Okikiolakan Obasanjo, chopped $16 billion for light. Me? We shall see o.”

    Lunch over, Obasanjo stands up and the former First Family sees him off to the car.

  • Work and pay

    When the State House Press Corps invited Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to a seminar with the theme, “Journalists and Retirement Plans,” there was probably no way he could have avoided speaking about journalists and pre-retirement. Well, he didn’t mince words during the December 18 event at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

    A report said: “The Vice President recalled his brief encounters working with media houses as legal adviser, and how in all the months he worked he was not paid despite the irregular hours he put in.”

    He reached a conclusion based on this discouraging experience.  He was quoted as saying: “I realised first of all that this is not a profession from which one could make a decent living in the first place unless you find a really good way of doing so.”

    It was a depressing assessment of journalism and journalists. Here was an outsider and observer telling it like it is. What did the insiders think of his directness?  Osinbajo went on to say why things are the way they are.  According to him,”There are a few reasons in my view why remuneration is poor. The first is that it is just simply cheating.  There are owners of media that are just cheats. They just want to get something from nothing and that is not uncommon, it is a general malaise, it is not necessarily restricted to the media.”

    Osinbajo lamented that professional associations formed to protect the interest of journalists don’t do enough to tackle media organisations that don’t pay journalists enough or not at all.

    His observation about the legal profession didn’t make his observation about journalism any less depressing:”It is also the same in the legal profession. There many lawyers if they tell you what they earn, you will certainly not want to be a lawyer.”

    Interestingly, this question of work and pay raised by Osinbajo raises questions at this time that the country is considering fixing and implementing a new national minimum wage.   Osinbajo identified a major problem:  ”The private sector does not respect the minimum wage. Even if a minimum wage is set nationally, it is not necessarily respected by the private sector and this is something that should be factored in to the status of a company and whether a company is even complying with the requirements.”

    It is said that “A worker is worthy of his wages.” It must also be said that a worker’s wages should be worthwhile.

  • Great Place to Work targets 1000 customers in 12 African countries

    • Celebrates 5th anniversary

    Great Place to Work, a global research, consulting and training firm, plans to reach 1000 customers in 12 African countries within the next five years.

    The company helps organisations identify, create and sustain great workplaces through the development of high trust workplace cultures.

    The group launched five years ago, has been helping  to transform the level of productivity in Nigeria and indeed, African workplaces as well as their financial performance.

    Currently operating in five African countries, the company said it plans to grow its client base to least, 1000 customers by expanding its reach across 12 African countries including South Africa, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire, among others.

    The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Great Place to Work Africa, Mr. Kunle Malomo, said part of the 1000 customers the company was targeting for the next five years will come from Nigeria, where it plans to reach six additional states.

    Malomo, who made these known  at the company’s 5th anniversary  in Lagos, said Great Place to Work has been in Lagos for the last five years, but targets to be in six more states by next year.

    He listed some of the states that will come on line in 2018 to include Oyo, Rivers, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja), among others.

    Malomo said criteria for choosing the states include good business base, good economy and representation of a concentration of corporate employers that have typically worked with the company in Lagos.

    Preparatory to its aggressive expansion, the company had acquired a United Kingdom (UK) office through the help of its investors. “We wanted to be able to expand across Africa; that we needed the technical and research expertise of a similar business that has a lot of spread.

    That UK business was 16-year- old when we acquired it. It helped us to address some of the challenges in terms of finding the people, the talent to help drive growth,” Malome said.

    He said going forward, the company will also move beyond recognising companies that have created better workplaces to focusing on managers that help create those great workplaces. “We are going to honour specific managers who are transforming the workplaces,” he announced.

    Malome defined a great place to work as “….one where you trust the people you work for, have pride in what you do, and enjoy the people you work with.”

    Reviewing some of the company’s activities in the last five years, the CEO said it now serves over 100 corporate clients. According to him, more than 80 per cent of the biggest banks in Nigeria including financial services companies and multinationals make up the company’s huge clientele.

    “We have surveyed hundreds of thousands of employees who work across more than 100 of those companies so, we are already very excited,” Malomo said.

    He added that feedback from its clients also show that the company was on course, as many of the companies have changed their workplace practices, while others recorded improved financial performance.

  • Valuing Women ’s Work and Activism

    Valuing Women ’s Work and Activism

    Zohra Moosa, Executive Director, Mama Cash

    Women work hard. All day long, they are busy caring for others, creating new knowledge and ideas, solving problems, building our world, and contributing to our economies and societies in endless ways.

    Yet so much of this labour is undervalued and poorly paid. Think of the millions of domestic workers putting in long hours without job security, garment workers in exploitative sweatshops, sex workers whose work is criminalised, and informal sector workers whose work is invisible and unregulated. Patriarchal norms that devalue both women and their labour mean that the work women do, work that is necessary for our survival, is often not even seen as ‘real’ work.

    The devaluing of women’s labour is compounded by other economic injustices: in too many communities around the world, women are denied the right to inherit money or property, or to own land, amounting to a systematic transfer of assets from women to men, generation after generation. Women are also denied access to credit, to bank accounts and to financial and other literacies that would enable them to understand and make use of current economic systems. Meanwhile, the communal land and natural resources that rural and Indigenous women depend on for their livelihoods and to which they are entitled are being stolen by private corporations and complicit governments.

    The cumulative effect of these injustices is that women are denied access to the power and resources— like money and property, but also information about how economic and financial systems work—that make a dignified, self-determined life possible.

    At Mama Cash, we know that feminist activists who are taking on systemic injustices face formidable challenges. Changing deeply-rooted social norms that devalue domestic and care work, challenging factory owners that harass and fire worker activists, standing up to corporations that hire private militias to protect their interests – this is dangerous, sometimes deadly, work.

    In March 2016, feminist and environmental activist, Berta Cáceres, was murdered in Honduras. Cáceres had spent years organising her indigenous Lenca community to defend their ancestral lands against local and transnational corporations operating to exploit their territories. Cáceres was murdered because her organisation, COPINH, had been effective in stalling the construction of the Agua Zarca mega-dam.

    Indeed, women are organising worldwide, demanding their rights and not backing down in the face of repression. At Mama Cash, we support economic justice for women by putting resources directly into the hands of activists. Where others devalue them and their labour, we champion them. We do this because we know their hard work is paying off.

    Since 1983, Mama Cash has provided funding and capacity support to self-led feminist groups that are organising to secure their human rights. Over thirty years of resourcing this work has taught us that feminist activism works and that collective action is the key.

    In Pakistan’s Sindh province, the Home Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF), a Mama Cash grantee-partner, has fought for years to secure home-based workers’ labour rights. Almost 80 percent of an estimated 12 million Pakistani home-based workers are women; these ‘invisible’ workers often spend ten hours a day making garments, bangles and other accessories at home. In December 2016, through HBWWF’s work, home-based workers won their fight to receive legal recognition as workers. They can now register to access benefits, a victory in itself, and one that sets the stage for putting home-based workers’ rights on agendas in other parts of Pakistan.

    Women and Land in Zimbabwe (WLZ), another Mama Cash grantee-partner, is a women’s organisation that addresses unequal control over land and natural resources. Nearly 80 percent of Zimbabwe’s population is rural, with women cultivating an estimated 60-80 percent of agricultural output. WLZ supports women to lobby traditional leaders and local authorities to ensure equitable access to land. In recent years, WLZ has grown dramatically, from 2,000 to approximately 10,000 members, increasing women’s awareness of their land rights and the number of women owning and controlling land.

    Victories and advances like these inspire me, and I never tire of hearing about them. Indeed, they drive me to do my work at Mama Cash, helping us to play our role in bigger social change processes, including achieving economic justice for all. Our special role is to mobilise and move resources towards the visionary feminist activists and movements around the world that every day, with creativity and courage, are building a more just future for women—for all of us—worldwide.

    https://www.mamacash.org/en/en-homepage

  • What Oshodi‘ll look like on completion of work, by govt

    What Oshodi‘ll look like on completion of work, by govt

    For those asking what the popular Oshodi Park and market will become after the ongoing construction, the Lagos State Government yesterday gave an insight.

    Ministry of Works and Infrastructure Permanent Secretary Mr Olujimi Hotonu, said there will be a world class Central Business District (CBD) with focus on transportation, security, environment and urban renewal.

    The interchange has three-multi-storey bus terminals with waiting area, loading bays, ticketing stands, drivers lounge, parking areas, conveniences, surveillance tower and CCTV gadgets.

    Other features, Hotonu said, include accessible walkways, pedestrian bridges/sky-walks to link the three terminals, shopping malls with street lighting and a dedicated security team on ground.

    The project is being handled by Messrs Planet Projects.

    He urged motorists and other road users to strictly adhere to safety rules put in place to prevent any disaster.

    The project, he said, has reached advanced stage, adding that upon completion, the project would redefine public transportation and foster economic growth and job creation.

    Planet Projects Managing Director Biodun Otunola said over 1,000 piles (22m) and pile caps have been installed, while the three-multi-storey bus terminal buildings were at advanced stage of construction.

    He said the cars and taxis parks were ongoing with massive walkway under construction, while lighting of the entire Oshodi area was ongoing, all of which were being done by over 500 workers on site.

  • VC to build on predecessor’s work

    Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin Prof. Sulyman Abdukareem has promised to build on achievements of his predecessor, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali.

    Abdulkareem resumed office on October 16.

    Ambali upgraded the faculties from 12 to 15, among others achievements.

    University spokesman Kunle Akogun told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday that 69 projects were inaugurated during Ambali’s tenure.

    He described as rumour, reports that there was a cold war between them, saying the report was an imagination of those who do not mean well for the university.

    The spokesman noted that the incumbent VC praised his predecessor during the 33rd convocation.

    NAN reports that while Ambali was absent on the first day, he was present the second day.

    It was gathered that the alleged friction was because the ex-VC was locked out of the convocation venue on October 20, few days to end of his tenure.

    Sources said Ambali, who was with his friends and relatives, was denied access to the campus through the main gate.

    He reportedly detoured and followed a route linking the school from the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, only for the gate to be shut when security guards saw  him.

    Ambali was said to have tried reaching Abdulkareem, who reportedly promised that the gate will be opened.

    “After over 45 minutes of Prof Ambali’s stay at the locked gate, his followers became agitated and wanted to cause crisis.

    ‘’He pleaded with them and urged them to follow him to his private residence,” the source said.

    A worker, who corroborated this story, said less than 72 hours after Abdulkareem took over, he replaced 28 workers with his people.

    According to him, the workers were supposed to be allowed to understudy them before any transfer.

    It was gathered that the dean and sub-dean of Student Affairs were also moved for their alleged loyalty to Ambali.

    Efforts to get Ambali’s and Abdulkareem’s reaction were unsuccessful.

  • Unions canvass decent work conditions for workers

    Unions canvass decent work conditions for workers

    Organised Labour, last week, joined other workers across the globe to celebrate this year’s World Day for Decent Work (WDDW).

    For over a decade, October 7 has been observed annually as a day to champion the cause of ending workers’ enslavement through casualisation.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) picketed many companies, which allegedly have casual workers, and banned their workers from joining unions of their choice.

    Among those affected were telecommunications giant MTN, CHI Nigeria Limited, Orange Group, Namoh Nigeria Limited, Consolidated Business Holdings, and Abuja Environmental Protection Board.

    NLC President AyubaWabba said the picketing was necessary as the companies, despite repeated warnings and visitations by labour leadership, refused to stop their anti-workers’ activities.

    The companies’picketing, he said, would be done in batches and a continuous exercise until employers stopped the violation of workers’ right and casualisation.

    Chairman, NLC Committee on Casualisation, Solomon Adelegan, who is also the union’s Vice President,  led the picketers. According to him, only the government’s political will can stop workers’ abuse in the country.

    He said:“Political will by the government through laws made by the National Assembly and passed by the Presidency will put a stop to casualisation of Nigerian workers by employers, as any of such laws can be enforced by the law enforcement agencies.”

    Adelegan said this year’s event marked the 10th anniversary of the WDDW, and the second edition to be celebrated under the Ayuba Wabba- led NLC, adding that labour would ensure that the evils of casualisation were tackled.

    To him, picketing is inevitable as employers engage in casualisation, contrary to the laws on employment, international labour and human rights conventions, and the basic principles of decent work signed by member nations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO); and, particularly, UN Sustainable Development Goals on the right and welfare of workers.

    Adelegan said the NLC demands were for employers to stop workers’ casualisation, pay them living wages, and allow them to form and belong to trade unions of their choice in compliance with the labour laws and the ILO Convention 87.

    Others are: “Integrate these workers and their unions in your internal collective bargaining machinery in all work places in compliance with ILO Convention 98 and respect of all national laws and international  labour conventions on the rights of workers.”

    The picketing in Lagos was quite successful as the management of the two companies visited,  Orange Group and Consolidated Holdings, signed agreements with the NLC to allow workers in their organisations to belong to union.

     

    Minimum Wage

    The unions under the auspices of IndustriALL Global, however, dreaw awareness to workers’ plights as they marched across Lagos with placards, and called on the two labour centres, the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to issue ultimatum to the Federal Government on the new minimum wage.

    The IndustriALL Global Union members said the ultimatum should be given to the government over the protracted new minimum wage issue, noting that the government must be given a time frame to either inaugurate a minimum wage committee or face industrial unrest.

    Vice Chairman of the global body, Mr. IssaAremu, said workers could not scontinue to work under a precarious wage, while the government continued to delay on a new minimum wage after the expiration of the N18,000 minimum wage in 2015.

    He said: “We have to call on all the labour centres in the country to give the Federal Government an ultimatum on the new minimum wage. The labour centres should give the government a time frame to immediately constitute and inaugurate a new minimum wage committee to negotiate a new minimum wage failing which we will withdraw our services.

    “We cannot continue to work under this precarious pay, under this high cost of living and hardship. It is our right to have a new minimum wage because the N18, 000 minimum, besides the fact that its life span has elapsed since 2015, the present socio-economic situation makes it imperative for us to have a new minimum wage.”

    Aremu, who is also the General Secretary of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), lamented the working conditions of workers across the country, and called on them to unite and fight against unfavourable working environment.

    He said the ILO set aside October 7 every year for workers to create awareness on their plight, adding that IndustriALL Global Union started marking the event five years ago.

    In his contribution, Chairman of the Nigeria National Council of IndustriALL Global Union, Igwe Achese, represented by the council secretary, Mr. Ismail Bello, said: “It is a day of action; a day to mobilise workers to organise and fight for change.  It is a day to engage employers-private or public, to respect the law and workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.”

    He listed affiliates of Industriall Global Union in Nigeria to include the NUTGTWN; Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG); National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and National Union of Chemical Footwear and Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE).

    Others are Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN); Chemical and Non-Metallic Products Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (CANMPSSAN) and Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN).

     

    Unemployment

    The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), at its programme to mark the day, however, said employers hide under the high rate of unemployment in the country to casualise workers.

    Its President, Oyinkan Olasanoye, said organised labour was, however, insisting that there must be a condition of service that would bring dignity into the contract staff service and into whatever role they occupy.

    Olasanoye, while speaking on the theme:“End corporate greed: The world needs a pay rise”, lamented that the wage difference between full -time staff and casual workers was very high.

    She added: “But instead of saying they shouldn’t work at all as contract workers, we are saying, the remuneration they are being paid should be something that shows work done with decency.

    “We have seen a lot of workers that have been on the same level for 10 years because they are contract staff. We are working with the house committee of the House of Representatives and labour that there should be a collective agreement for these contract workers.”

    Trade Union Congress (TUC) Secretary General Musa Lawal said ending corporate greed was ending capitalism, which to him is impossible to do. The problem cannot be solved until all workers came together to face the issue, he said.

    The guest speaker, Dr. Francis Anyim, said only a pay rise could stop greed in the workplace. He called for the urgent increase in the wages of workers, saying: “There is an urgent need to address the wage issue, if it is not  listed in the 2018 budget under consideration, there would be industrial actions by the workers as witnessed this year.”

    He joined ASSBIFI  President to call on workers to register to participate in the coming elections to better their lot.

  • Work to resume on Owerri-Aba, Owerri-Port Harcourt roads

    Work to resume on Owerri-Aba, Owerri-Port Harcourt roads

    •Fashola orders contractors back to site

    Despite is in sight for commuters plying the Owerri-Aba and Owerri-Port Harcourt roads, both Trunk A roads.

    The Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has directed the contractors handling the roads to return to site immediately.

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha addressed reporters yesterday in Owerri, the state capital, after hosting Fashola at the Government House.

    The governor hinted that the contractors had been given a marching order to ensure that the roads are completed without further delay.

    He said: “The Minister for Works, Housing and Power is in Imo State for a short meeting. I have made my concern known to him as regards the neglect in the state, especially with regard to the Aba-Owerri Road and Port-Harcourt-Owerri Road.

    “Currently, it appears to me that the minister has done a lot on his part to ensure the completion of those roads. The minister informed me that he has called the contractors concerned to see me immediately with a view to completing the Aba–Owerri Road and Owerri–Port Harcourt Road.

    “We also talked about power supply in the state. He indicated the interest of his ministry to ensure stable power supply. We have also discussed Federal housing project, which he promised will soon be resolved.”

    At the end of the meeting with the governor, Fashola said: “I have to commend Governor Okorocha in his effort to lift the quality of life in Imo State and the lofty achievements and programmes he has embarked upon in his Rescue Mission government.

    “We came in for our monthly Power meeting. Some of the issues we discussed were the expansion and distribution network of some of our communities, like Nebo, New Heaven, Onitsha, Aba, among others, on the power quality and service experience.

    “We have grown the generation capacity from 2,696 MW in 2015 to 7,000 megawatts (MW) in September this year. Transmission has also improved from 5,000 – 6,900. We now have a new problem; that is, our production capacity has exceeded the distribution company’s wholesale power. So, power currently put on the grid is 4,600MW, Compare that with what we had three years ago. We have essentially doubled it, but we can do more.

    “These monthly meetings help us to do local diagnosis of what’s happening in this local distribution company (disco) to what is happening in these local communities. Some of these things I have spoken here, I have also addressed the community issues across the country, communities that host power stations without power. We are solving them one after the other.”

    He added: “The governor has also brought my attention to Egbema Power Plant and its challenges. We inform your Excellency that we make progress month-by-month. “We expect that your power experience should be better and how to extend services to places like Nnewi, Ihiala and Okija, which are parts of the Enugu distribution franchise. We can’t discuss power in these areas without the inter-state geo-metric power issue and how to solve it”.

     

  • Fed Govt begins work on 41 roads

    Fed Govt begins work on 41 roads

    THE Federal Government has concluded plans to begin road repair interventions on 41 damaged highways across the country following flooding.

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola said this yesterday in Abuja at a meeting with contractors handling Federal Government’s projects.

    Fashola said the rehabilitation will be embarked upon alongside ongoing road construction projects.

    Popular among the roads are Benue-Makurdi highway, major highways in the Southeast among other flooded projects inspected by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    “I will quickly also go to the interventions we have already planned, in addition to major construction works that is going on. We also have rehabilitation works using specific contractors to improve motorability and we would be working on 41 roads across the country and trying to make some remediation for them as a result of what has happened during the rainy seasons.

    “We will be intervening across the country, including the Benue-Makurdi, South-East and places where the Vice President visited as a result of flood. So, we are just getting ready to complete our procurement processes and roll-out,” Fashola said.

    He issued a directive to the contractors to ensure completion of the projects before the Christmas season.

    Fashola said it became important, considering traffics and other difficulties commuters might face during the festive period.

    According to him, the meeting was meant to get contractors to site, as the country approaches end of the year.

    On the Federal Government’s N100 billion Sukuk bond, he said if fully subscribed, it would cover 25 major roads.

    Sukuk is one of the financial instruments used by governments and organisations to raise funds.

    However, unlike conventional bonds, which proceeds can be used for a wide variety of purposes, including recurrent expenditure, funds realised from Sukuk issuance could only be deployed to assets such as infrastructure.

    Fashola explained that the proposed 25 roads are integral parts of A1 to A4, saying: “If you look at the proposed 25 roads, they are the roads that are integral parts of A1 to A4.

    “The A1 is the Lagos to Sokoto highway, A2 is the Warri-Kastina, A3 is Port Harcourt-Potiskum, Yobe and A4 is Calabar-Maiduguri. One thing that all these roads share in common is that they originate from our ports and end in the boundary… If Sukuk is fully subscribed for, we will have 25 major roads we would have some interventions.”

    But, the contractors stated that pending projects would be completed only, if funding is made available.

    They blamed the weather for delays in project implementation, stressing that it affected progress of some federal projects.

    However, the contractors promised to resume work at the sites immediately the dry season sets in.

  • Work begins on IIBC, Africa’s first smart city

    Work begins on IIBC, Africa’s first smart city

    Prospective investors, stakeholders, built and construction stakeholders, government officials, operators in the financial sector and other Nigerians, last weekend, converged on Ikate-Elegushi, Lagos, to witness the beginning of dredging of the Lagos Lagoon.

    The dredging signalled the commencement of construction work on the Imperial International Business City (IIBC), a multi-billion naira project, in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State, promoted by the Elegushi Royal Family (ERF) and Messrs ChannelDrill Resources Limited, a real estate developer. The IIBC,  planned to be built as the truly first smart city in Africa, has been described as a smart and eco-friendly city, which will redefine the standard of urban development in Africa.

    The IIBC is a city to be built from the scratch, and is said to be the next big thing after the Eko Atlantic City, but only in terms of size. For instance, it is envisaged to be a city with distinct zones and building regulations, with each zone having low, medium and high density areas with water view. The city will be 3.5 metres above sea level, in spite of the fact that studies have shown that over the next 75 years the Lagoon will not rise beyond one metre.

    Some of the zones already identified in the city include the Marina West Zone, which will enjoy a cosmopolitan lifestyle with waterside dining and leisure; Marina East, built to have a community feel and Nigerian bohemian vibe; Imperial Gardens West, touted as a neighbourhood centre and located in a botanical setting with key viewpoints; Imperial Gardens East, a quiet residential neighbourhood; Imperial Beach, an exclusive residential neighbourhood, which will offer residents coastal living; Kings Island, to be built as an exclusive private island, and Park Avenue, a formal arrangement lining a tropical green boulevard.

    Presenting the IIBC concept, described as a destination for regional and international business to the public, ChannelDrill’s Managing Director Mr. Femi Akioye said the term smart city, has been abused in the Nigerian property sector, as it often represents unfulfilled promises. He blamed it on the proverbial ‘Nigerian factor’, which ab initio plagues the planning and design schemes of newly-developed communities, thereby making living, working, and playing in such developments, at best, sub-optimal.

    Akioye said the IIBC as a smart city, is “an Integrated city  because it combines the features of a ”Green City”, designed with environmental impact consideration. “The ocean doesn’t hide its nature; the Lagoon is a fox. The Lagoon will rise in the next few years, but we are building for the future. We can safely say that IIBC is going to be a flood free city for at least 75 years.  It is also the only island that has more than one entry point. Our roads are designed to make sure that crippling traffic will never occur in IIBC,” Akioye assured.

    Taking investors through the project, Akioye said on electricity, IIBC comes with an independent power plant (IPP) to ensure that it does not only enjoy stable power supply, but will also use clean energy supply. The IPP will also make the city to be self- sustaining. Besides,  IPP will ensure that there is no need for generators by residents, leading to clean city.

    Also, there will be a waste treatment plant to be built on the Island, which will be producing methane that will be used for production of more electricity or cooking gas. “Electricity will be available on 24/7 basis; cooking gas will also be piped into each building thereby eliminating the usage of gas cylinders in the city,” Akioye explained.

    Shedding light on the power project within the development, Akioye explained that due to intermitent power supply, the developers have assumed that Lagos does not have the capacity to uptake the new demand levels of the island. “Therefore, a new intake substation on the Island would be supplied directly from an existing substation on the mainland via a subsea cable,” he said.

    Akioye added that exhaust gasses from the generators used in the IPP will be treated by a dedicated gas cleaning plant to ensure that fumes released into the atmosphere complies with the exhaust of generators with international standards; secondary power will be generated by alternative sources such as waste to power plants, while the fuel, which is liquefied natural gas (LNG), will be supplied to the city via barges. “Fuel will be pumped into bulk fuel storage bays via pipelines from the coast. Bulk storage feeds into a treatment plant before entering generator supply streams,” he explained. Infrastructure development in the city is being handled by Mott MacDonald Limited, London, United Kingdom (UK).

    ChannelDrill Chairman, Mr. Emeka Ndu, is also of the view that  his firm believed that the “Nigerian factor” can be one that speaks excellence, which is why the firm is now telling a new story- a happy story of Nigeria and in Nigeria.

    “Our IIBC story tells of how through thorough and meticulous design, uncompromising vision and latest technology. We are solving the challenges we face in our societies. We are solving these challenges in a technologically smart, environmentally friendly, and socially sustainable manner. The old story tells of the challenges of unanticipated floods, unnerving traffic, unstable power, unmanaged waste, and unavailable ICT.  But our story tells of how all of these challenges have been solved in the Imperial International Business City. Our story tells of details, of care, of passion, of love, of devotion. A devotion to excellence. A devotion that never ends,”he said.

    Elegushi family head, Oba Saheed Ademola Elegushi, the IIBC project becomes imperative, considering that with the rising population of Lagos State, and in view of the fact that land is fixed in supply, the family thought it is necessary to contribute to the accommodation needs of the people.

    “Besides, this is a legacy, not necessarily for making money. We have travelled all over the world and we see the infrastructural wonders in all those places. Then, I asked myself, is it a curse that balckman cannot do something better? That was part of the reason for conceiving the project. Initially, it was like a dream, but we thank God, it has become a reality”, said Oba Elegushi.

    General Manager, Dredging International Services Limited, Mr. Stefan Van Velthoven, consultant handling the reclamation work, also allayed the fear of flooding in the IIBC, considering that flooding has been a regular occurrence in the Lekki axis.

    According to him, the scenario has been played out at the preliminary stage of planning to ensure the safety, serenity and comfort planned for the IIBC. “We have been collaborating with Channeldrill Resources to ensure that nothing untoward happens in the future. We have set 3.5 metre above the sea level and we had already mobilised to site equipment to commence the first phase of sandfilling, which is about 100 hectares  and within the next one year, we will complete the second phase,” he said.

    With an area of 200 hectares, IIBC will be zoned into residential, mixed use and commercial areas. Each zone will have low, medium and high density area, each zone will also be divided into inner city, water ways view and Lagoon view areas.

    The projects topwaterways, underground drainage, sewage, water and water treatment plant, Independent electricity ( Gas Generated), fiber optics cable, cloud enabled communication network and smart city/house infrastructure for willing subscribers, a mini marina, first smart shopping mall in Africa, cloud enabled 24 hours spy eyed security connected to a central security center, world class hospital within a dedicated healthcare zone.

    Access roads to the new city are currently three and they are Freedom Road through Lekki Phase 1 (Lekki Third Roundabout), Kunsenla Road by 4th Roundabout off Lekki-Epe highway, Oba Saheed Ademola Elegushi road by SPAR supermarket before Jakande. Other access roads will be through Femi Okunnu and Jakande roundabout in the future.

    Land will be sold at plot sizes of 650 square metres, 800 square metres, 1000 square metres and 1200 square metres. Buyers will get a contract of sale documents immediately payment is confirmed.