Osinbajo Lists Six Poverty Reduction Mechanisms Built Into 2016 Budget

January 19, 2016

Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) has listed six vital poverty reduction mechanisms into the 2016 federal budget which President Muhammadu Buhari which he said the National Assembly is now set to debate.
The Vice President who spoke today when a delegation of Reckitt Benckiser West Africa, a household care products’ company visited him in his office at Aso Villa, said that there are six social protection programmes of the Buhari administration for which funds have been allocated in the 2016 budget.
He told the delegation led by the company’s West Africa Managing Director, Mr. Rahul Murgai and the Chairman in Nigeria, Chief Olu Falomo that the six protection programmes include ‘Teach Nigeria’ where 500,000 graduates would be hired as teachers.
Others are Youth Employment and Empowerment where between 300,000 and 500,000 youths would go through skills acquisition and vocational training; the Conditional Cash Transfer, where one million extremely poor Nigerians will receive N5000 monthly this year; Homegrown School Feeding where one meal a day would be served to public primary school children across the country; Free Education for tertiary education in which 100,000 students of Science, Technology, Engineering would be involved, and Mathematics and the Micro-Credit Scheme that will give N60,000 one time soft loans to market women, and artisans.
“We are dealing with the issues of poverty with the 2016 Budget that is currently being debated,” the Vice President stressed.
He said that in a country where more than 110 million Nigerians are extremely poor, there are bound to be challenges including about 110,000 deaths yearly from Diarrhea.
The company had earlier discussed its ‘Safe the Children Initiative,’ a Corporate Social Responsibility programme designed to curb the deaths of Nigerian children caused by Diarrhea with the Vice President.
Speaking earlier, Mr. Murgai said Reckitt Benckiser which has been doing business in Nigeria for several decades wants to ensure that the people of Nigeria are healthier and happier. He said the company is worried about deaths from diarrhea and has set aside about N1.2 billion to fight it in Nigeria.
Also today the Vice President received a delegation from the Twelve-Twelve Polo and Turf Club, Abuja led by Mallam Murtala Aliyu, the Club’s Advisory Board Chairman. [myad]

FCT Minister Attacks Street Beggars, Prostitutes And Drug Addicts

Greenbarge Reporters

January 19, 2016

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has launched attacks on beggars, prostitutes and drug addicts parading the territory.
He sought for the collaboration of the Social Development Secretariat (SDS) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to wage the battle against these categories of residents that have given the city a bad reputation.
The Minister who received briefing from the FCT Social Development Secretariat at the Banquet Hall, Minister’s Official residence, Gwarinpa I District, (Life-Camp), Abuja today tasked the Secretariat to brainstorm and find the best ways of rehabilitating some of the addicts.
He said that social issues must be approached with the seriousness it deserves as one social problem could have multiplier negative effects on the society.
“You all have enormous responsibilities with serious financial challenges which desires proactive steps to effectively tackle them. You also have to brainstorm on how to efficiently tackle the knotty problems of street beggars, commercial sex workers as well as street hawking.”
The Minister lamented the rampant abuse of Master Plan of the FCT which has led to taken over of plots that were earmarked for sporting facilities in the neighbourhoods, saying that something urgent must be done about it.
Malam Bello advised the Secretariat to work as a team to generate database for tourism facilities as such facilities would not only provide areas of recreation and sight seeing in and around Abuja, but would equally serve as avenues of generating funds to the government.
Also speaking during the briefing, the FCT Permanent Secretariat, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye asked Directors of the Secretariat to take drastic measures as the professionals they are, to think outside the box to move the Secretariat to enviable heights.
He asked them to deliver quality services that would positively impact on the lives of the residents of the Territory.
The Acting Secretary of Social Development Secretariat, Alhaji Salisu Kallamu said that there are 17 Orphanages in the Federal Capital Territory with one being directly managed by the Secretariat.
Meanwhile, the Minister also received briefings from the management of the FCT Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat where he advised the Secretariat repositioned by keying into the policy of the Federal Government which, promotes agriculture and mass food production for the populace.
Malam Muhammed Bello assured the management of his Administration’s resolve to help them achieve the goals of the Federal Government in that sub-sector.
He encouraged them to go into partnership with the Area Councils in order to carry the people along in all their programmes.
The Minister promised that the FCT Administration would soon pay N113 million being counterpart-fund for Fadama III in order to allow FCTA access more facilities in the programme. [myad]

Fed. University Of Tech. Minna Sacks 460 Students For Poor Academic Performances

Greenbarge Reporters

January 19, 2016

No fewer than 460 students of the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna in Niger State have been asked to withdraw from the institution for reason of poor academic performances.
They were said to have been unable to measure up to the requirement set for students to move to the next level in the pursuit of the university education,
Information reaching us showed that letters of withdrawal have been served on the affected students by the school management. The students asked to withdraw from the institution were those admitted for the just-concluded academic session. They were in 100 level.
It was learnt that the rusticated students could not garner a Gross Point of 1.5 after the session and going by school’s standards, they could not continue the programmes.
It was gathered that with the cancellation of Pass certificates by Universities in the country by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the inability of the students to make the cut off grade, there was no way they could perform better in the next level of their education.
Students from virtually all the programmes being offered by the Institution were affected by the withdrawal policy.
It was also learnt that some 200 and 300 level students would be affected by the same policy when the University completes the compilation of their results.
Meanwhile, the Information Officer of the University, Lydia Legbo, has confirmed that the students were asked to withdraw from the University because of “poor academic performance.”
Legbo said the institution cannot violate the NUC guidelines and that all the affected students were warned to be dedicated to their studies when they were offered admission. [myad]

South Africa Turns Back On Nigeria’s Crude Oil, Goes For Iran’s

Greenbarge Reporters

January 19, 2016

The South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA) has indicated the move by the South Africa government to stop importing crude oil from Nigeria following the lifting of the sanctions on Iran.
“Fuel-pump Executive Director of the SAPIA, Avhapfani Tshifularo, told journalists that the potential return of Iranian oil exports to South Africa, threatened to displace barrels from Saudi Arabia and Nigeria that plugged the supply gap when sanctions were imposed on Iran, which is OPEC’s fifth biggest producer.
Vanguard quoted Tshifularo as saying: “the re-emergence of Iranian crude oil provides options for those willing to buy from Iran. Iranian imports are likely to displace the Nigerian and Saudi Arabian crudes, since they seem to have filled the gap since South Africa stopped importing Iranian crude oil.”
It was learnt that, data which was compiled by SAPIA from refiners showed that South Africa stopped importing crude oil from Iran in 2013, following which its oil imports from Nigeria rose significantly, with Saudi Arabia emerging the highest exporter of crude to the country.
Recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, (NBS), showed that a sharp decline was recorded in revenue accruable to the Federal Government from the petroleum sector, as the country’s earnings from crude oil export dropped to N5.271 trillion for the nine month period, January to September 2015.
The NBS, in its Foreign Trade Statistics for the Third Quarter of 2015, had noted that the value of Nigeria’s crude oil export for the nine month period 2015, represented a decline of 45.39 per cent or N4.381 trillion when compared to crude oil export of N9.652 trillion recorded in the same period in 2014.
It also represented a decline of 55.67 per cent or N6.62 trillion when compared to total crude oil earnings of N11.891 trillion recorded in 2014.
Giving a breakdown of Nigeria’s crude oil earnings in nine-month 2015, the NBS data revealed that the country earned N1.675 trillion from crude oil export in the first quarter of 2015, N1.984 trillion and N1.611 trillion in the second and third quarters respectively.
This was in contrast to crude oil export earnings of N3.234 trillion, N3.269 trillion and N3.149 trillion for the first, second and third quarters respectively, while in the fourth quarter of 2014, the country earned N2.239 trillion from the export of the commodity in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Further breakdown of the 2015 figures showed that the country earned N505.898 billion, N591.964 billion, N577.361 billion, N698.387 billion and N668.526 billion in January, February, March, April and May respectively.
In the months of June, July, August and September, Nigeria’s crude oil export stood at N617.364 billion, N572.813 billion, N512.823 billion and N525.857 billion respectively. [myad]

NATCOM Invests $1 Billion In NITEL, Begins Operations In March

Greenbarge Reporters

January 19, 2016

NATCOM Development and Investment Limited, new owners of Nigerian Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) and its sister company, Mobile Telecommunication Limited (Mtel), said it has spent about $1 billion to revive the moribund national carrier, Footprint to Africa reports.
Chairman of NATCOM, Mr. Olatunde Ayeni, said that the funds and other efforts would see the company roll out its mobile lines, and 4G/LTE services for broadband users and engage 4,000 employees across the country by March.
Ayeni told House of Representatives Joint Committees on Communication and Privatisation, that his company would begin a phased rollout from Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt before expanding to other parts of the country.
He said that the initial financial bid was increased to $252.251 million from $221 million when juxtaposed with the liquidator’s reserved price of $256 million.
NATCOM acquired assets and licences of NITEL and MTEL, percentage interest held in South-Atlantic 3 (SAT-3) consortium, and identifiable assets capable of generating viable business units.
“NATCOM’s full submission was duly made to NITEL/MTEL’s liquidator and Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises on November 7, 2014. NATCOM’s submission was accompanied by a bid bond in the amount of $10 million as stipulated in the liquidator’s Request for Proposal (RFP).”
He said that $10 million had been spent on SAT-3 system, quarterly dues to the consortium, system expansion and upgrade since the acquisition, adding that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had assigned another set of microwave frequency ranges to NATCOM upon request for N176.8 million, computed on the basis of 800 bases station network in the first instance.
NATCOM, he said was requested to pay an additional N6.6 billion to bridge the shortfall of the value of the Naira to the Dollar from N168 to N197, after the payment of the first installment of 30 per cent of the bid price within 14 days of approval by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) and balance within the 90 days, Ayeni said.
NATCOM Development and Investment Limited,has re-branded the name of the company, Footprint to Africa learnt from Nitel and Mtel to Ntel. [myad]

Taraba Gubber Legal Tussle: Group Accuses APC Candidate Of Lobbying Emirs, Elites

Greenbarge Reporters

January 19, 2016

A group going by the name, Taraba Mandate Group has raised alarm with allegation that the governorship flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last year’s election in the state, Hajiya Aisha Alhassan is lobbying emirs and Northern elites to turn the current legal tussle in her favour.
The group, in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, Gani Bako, alleged that Aisha, now minister of women affaris, has set up a lobbyist group with the mandate to reach out to prominent elites of the North in the traditional sector, military and intellectual leaders.
“The job is to try and either convince the headship of the judiciary to skew the up-coming judgement or get the presidency to thwart the wishes of a majority of voters in Taraba state.
“So far, the lobby group has met one disappointment of one form after the other. In fact, in one of their stop-overs, a prominent Emir famous for his radicalism and forthrightness, told the group off and sternly admonished them to go look for good lawyers instead of behaving as if Nigeria hasn’t moved on from the past when decision of this nature could be influenced from the top.”
The group further alleged that Hajiya Aisha has continued her lobbying and that at each stop, her group would regale the Emirs with the usual lies that she actually won the election. “She would then latch into the old sentiment of faith and gender, saying that she is being persecuted also because she is Fulani.”
The group said that many of those she wanted to lobby, especially the Emirs have unanimously told her to go and look for good lawyers if she felt she has a good case. [myad]

PDP Wails Over Handcuffing Of Metuh

Greenbarge Reporters

January 19, 2016

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cried out over the handcuffing of its national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh as he was brought to the Federal High Court in Abuja, the nation’s Federal Capital on charges of diverting the sum of N400 Million, which is part of the money meant to procure arms for the military personnel fighting Boko Haram in the North East.

The party described the handcuffing of its spokesman as brazen display of authoritarianism by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC).

“This development which expectedly elicited widespread public outcry clearly betrays an extra-judicial, top political witch-hunt policy of the APC, carefully designed to humiliate, embarrass and portray PDP leaders as common criminals and set the stage to cow and decimate opposition and perceived foes of the government.”

A statement by the PDP’s national secretary, Professor Adewale Oladipo National Secretary said that the handcuffing of Metuh was to mortify, dehumanize and break PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, who has been very vocal against the APC administration, and to send a signal to others critical of the government of dare consequences of being vocal.

PDP asked: “is this an attempt to sway the court and ambush the judicial process against our National Publicity Secretary, all because of his stance against observed ineptitude and dictatorial tendencies of this administration?

“The PDP invites all Nigerians and the international community to note the emerging barefaced abuse of state power and violation of constitutional provisions regarding the arrest, detention and eventual arraignment of our spokesperson.

“Nigerians by now should be extremely scared that our country is fast drifting into a police state where being in opposition or holding views divergent to that of the government makes one a criminal and an enemy of the state.
For now, the target of the on-going lopsided war against corruption is the PDP and its leaders. All APC members, including those with known corruption issues are immune from investigation, arrest and prosecution.

“However, more worrisome is the fact that institutions of government, especially security and corrective agencies have now fallen victims of dictatorial abuses. Our fear now is that in no time, ordinary citizens of Nigerians, who in the last 16 years have lived under the rule of law and constitutionally guaranteed personal liberty, would begin to suffer brutality and oppression.

“Under PDP administration, some Nigerians, including APC leader and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu were tried but never humiliated; now we see security operatives under this regime being used to crush and humiliate the opposition.

“Finally, while we study the bail conditions, we urge all PDP members to remain calm, united, focused and continue to pray for the nation and her people. We also urge the media to remain on the side of justice, fairness and rule of law and resist the pressure of being used as a tool to promote arbitrariness and abuse of process in the so-called fight against corruption.” [myad]

Metuh Handcuffed To Court, Granted N400 Million Bail For Alleged N400 Million Loot

Greenbarge Reporters

January 19, 2016

The national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh was presented in a Federal High Court, Abuja today in handcuffs even as he was later granted bail in the sum of N400 million for allegedly cornering the sum of N400 million from the $2.1 Billion arms deal scandal in which the former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Saduki is the central figure.
Justice Okon Abang, in a ruling shortly after Metuh’s bail application was argued today, also ordered that two sureties with N200 million each must own property in Maitama, Abuja.
The judge ruled that the sureties must produce the certificates of occupancy of the said property which must be verified by the Chief Registrar of the court and confirmed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The judge, who also ordered that Metuh must deposit his traveling documents with the court pending the period of his trial, ordered the EFCC to verify the residences of the sureties who must be resident in Abuja.

Meanwhile, Metuh has been returned to Kuje prison in the Federal Capital Territory pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions.

After the court delivered its ruling today prison officials led him to a waiting pick-up van and he was locked up at the rear cabin of the vehicle. The vehicle with registration number PS 682 AA and with inscription, Kuje Prison, FCT Command, Abuja, was driven off from the court premises at exactly 4:10pm. [myad]

Nigeria Signs Bilateral Relations With United Arab Emirates

Greenbarge Reporters

January 19, 2016

Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today, in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, signed six agreements to enhance bilateral relations between them.

The signing of the agreements on trade, finance and judicial matters was witnessed by President Muhammadu Buhari and the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and the UAE Minister of State for Financial Affairs, Obaid Attayar signed the Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement, while the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Okechukwu Enelamah signed the Agreement on Trade Promotion and Protection with the UAE Minister of State for Financial Affairs.

The Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and his counterpart in the United Arab Emirates, Sultan Bin Saeed Albadi signed the Judicial Agreements on Extradition, Transfer of Sentenced Persons, Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters, and Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal and Commercial Matters, which includes the recovery and repatriation of stolen wealth.

At a reception after the signing of the agreements, President Buhari reiterated his commitment to fighting corruption and restoring Nigeria’s dignity in the comity of nations.

The President also urged all Islamic countries to support the fight against terrorism in Nigeria and denounce the atrocities of Boko Haram as un-Islamic and against the teachings of the Holy Prophet.

In his remarks, Crown Prince Zayed Al Nahyan said that the relationship between Nigeria and the UAE will be strengthened by President Buhari’s visit and the signing of the agreements.

Meanwhile, President Buhari has advised telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria not to place their desire for huge profits above the security needs of the country.

Speaking at an interactive forum with members of the Nigerian Community in Abu Dhabi, President Buhari said that the war against terrorism can only be won with collective effort and a commitment by all stakeholders to work in unison to halt the scourge.

The President said that the registration of all mobile phone users without exception will help the security agencies to pre-empt terrorist attacks, adding that telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria must adhere to the rules and guidelines of the Nigerian Communications Commission.

He assured the gathering that his administration will deal decisively with the seeming resurgence of oil theft, vandalisation of pipelines and insecurity in the Niger Delta.

He told them that Nigerian Armed Forces had already dealt “deadly blows” on Boko Haram even as he said that the activities of oil thieves and vandals will soon be brought to an end.

“The oil thieves and abductors are a less problematic target. We will re-organise and deal with them.”

‎President Buhari assured Nigerians at the interactive session that his administration’s war against corruption will continue to be vigorously pursued, pledging that more persons who have abused the public trust will be exposed and brought to justice soon.

He stressed that his government is committed to re-establishing former standards of accountability and probity in the management of public funds which were jettisoned under past administrations.

The President appealed for more patience and understanding from Nigerians as his administration takes steps to safeguard the economy from the shock of falling oil prices.

“In the face of our new economic reality of dwindling oil prices, there are a number of things we can really do without to preserve our economy.

“We must develop the capacity to feed ourselves and we should be spending our resources on real development projects, not luxuries.” [myad]

El-Rufai Flags Off Free Feeding In Kaduna Schools, Says Its Part Of Free Education

Greenbarge Reporters

January 18, 2016

Governor of Kaduna State, Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai, today, flagged off free feeding in the state primary schools, saying that this is part of free education he promised the people of the state.

In the free feeding programme, 1.5 million children in over 4,000 pubic primary schools in the state are expected to be beneficiaries.
Flagging off the School Feeding Programme at Aliyu Makama LEA Primary School in Barnawa, Kaduna today, El-Rufai said that the intervention is aimed to boosting the nutrition and health of the children and also to encourage school attendance.
The governor emphasized that the programme was part of the free education project initiated by the administration to expand access to education and ensure that every child “can have nine years of free, decent basic education no matter the income level of their parent.”
According to El-Rufai, the programme is directly creating 17,000 jobs for caterers, who in turn will employ others to support them.
“It is an unprecedented undertaking in the state, but one that we solemnly pledge to do during the campaign.
“In seeking to take care of our children we are creating jobs, boosting demand and expanding people to new skills and hygienic standard, and providing extra income.”
The governor advised those involved in the programme to discharge their responsibilities with commitment and accountability.
“We invite the schools-based management committees and Parent Teacher Associations to review and provide us with their observation on the implementation of the programme at the school level.”
He said that since the introduction of free education by the government, enrollment in public primary schools in the state had risen by 64 per cent even as he announced that the Federal Government would, in due course, reimburse the state of 60 per cent of the amount it spent on the school feeding programme. [myad]

1...1,9871,9881,989...2,492 Page 1,988 of 2,492