Aso Villa Reads for 01/07/2020
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has requested the approval of the Senate for the confirmation of 42 ambassadorial nominees. One of the nominees from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, was appointed as career ambassador, while the rest are non-career nominees. Some of the non-career nominees are, former minister, Ademola Seriki (Lagos), Debo Adesina (Oyo), Dare Sunday-Awoniyi (Kogi), among others. The President in another letter, asked the upper chamber to confirm the appointment of three nominees as commissioners in the Federal Civil Service Commission. Buhari in yet another letter, sought the approval of the Senate for the appointment of a federal commissioner for the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission. Punch reports.
The Federal Government has inaugurated the States’ Selection Committees on Extended Special Public Works for the recruitment of 774,000 Nigerians to be engaged under the programme. A statement issued by the government on Tuesday said the virtual inauguration of the committees was conducted by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, in Abuja. Keyamo said that the committees would be responsible for identifying and recruiting 1,000 from each of the 774 Local Government Areas in the country. He said that the committees would also identify the public works to be executed in each of the Local Government Areas in all the states, in addition to projects already identified by several federal ministries and agencies across the country. As reported by Punch, the minister explained that the Federal Government would engage the recruited persons for three months, from October to December 2020, in road construction, urban and rural sanitation, health extension and other services. According to him, the recruited Nigerians would receive a total of N60,000 each (N20, 000 per month). Keyamo charged the committees to reach out to various sectors in their different states to recruit eligible persons. He added that the names and phone numbers of members of the committees would immediately be made public for easy access by Nigerians.
The Federal Government is looking generate an annual revenue of N1tn from the collection of stamp duties. It disclosed this on Tuesday at the inauguration of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Audit and Recovery of Back Years Stamp Duties in Abuja. It said the committee was part of moves to recover a backlog of unremitted revenues accruing to it through stamp duty tax in the last five years. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, who represented the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), noted that there was assurance that the collection from stamp duties would be second to oil revenue. He explained that in the face of dwindling oil revenue and the global shift from oil-dependent technological products, it was more compelling to begin to think about how to safeguard the future of the country. He said, “Therefore, this administration has resolved to widen the revenue base by activating the stamp duty revenue collection which has been neglected for more than 20 years. There is assurance that the collection from stamp duty will be second to oil revenue, as it has the potential to yield up to a trillion-naira revenue annually if properly harnessed.” Punch reported.
President Muhammadu Buhari is currently presiding over the sixth virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Ministries of Aviation; Finance, Budget and National Planning; Water Resources as well as Justice are to make presentations at the meeting. NAN observed that about seven cabinet ministers joined the president at the Council Chamber for the virtual meeting while other ministers are participating directly from their respective offices in Abuja. Vanguard reports.
President Muhammadu Buhari has again warned political appointees and other government officials against using their positions to bestow undue advantage on anyone seeking government jobs and other favours, saying this is antithetical to the character of the Administration. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday that Mr. President’s repeated warning followed persistent reports of fraudsters using the business cards and purported referral letters from presidential aides and other government officials to solicit employment, contract, and other favours. He advised Ministries, Departments and Agencies should disregard any purported request from government officials aiming to confer undue advantage on anyone seeking such favours. He said the administration has put in place a systematic and disciplined approach to ensure that the government runs smoothly for all Nigerians, whether in the area of employment or contract procurement. “This system should be allowed to work for all Nigerians without interference,” he said. Vanguard reports.
Nigeria’s Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said on Tuesday that the country was working towards meeting the single exchange rate window requirement for accessing an agreed $1.5bn loan support from the World Bank. Ahmed made the announcement during a webinar organised by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, OSSAP-SDGs and UNDP Nigeria with the title ‘Integrated National Financing Framework for Sustainable Development’. “The minister of finance and the Nigeria central bank are working closely together to meet that requirement,” Ahmed said. BusinessDay gathered that Nigeria’s senior government officials were involved in consultations on Monday to come up with a plan to access the much-needed fund from the Washington-based lender. “We are agreeing on the process and the timeline for the particular requirement,” she said.
