Aso Villa Reads for 03/12/2019
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
As reported by Punch, the British Government, through the Prosperity Fund’s Digital Access Programme, is collaborating with the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to draft a new National Broadband Development Plan for the next six years. This is coming almost one year after the expiration of the previous National Broadband Plan (2013 -2018), which lapsed on the December 31, 2018, a statement on Sunday said. The project, according to the partners, will require a variety of technical expertise for the drafting of the plan, conducting outreach activities and facilitating of technical retreats and related events for stakeholder engagement. These activities will generate essential inputs for the process of drafting a robust plan that will be implementable and will usher in broad economic development. Speaking during the Letter of Intent signing at the Federal Ministry of Communications in Abuja, the British Deputy High Commissioner, Ms Harriet Thompson, said “This project contributes to the UK Government’s Prosperity Fund objective of promoting inclusive, affordable, accessible, safe and secure Internet access for the socio-economic development of underserved communities in Nigeria.”
The country earned a total of N876.09bn from Value Added Tax in the first nine months of this year, statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics have revealed. The NBS in its VAT report which was released on Monday said the sum of N289.03bn was generated in the first quarter while N311.94bn and N275.11bn were generated in the second and third quarters of the year respectively. A breakdown of the N876.09bn showed that the highest amount of N256.86bn was received from non-import foreign VAT, while N179.85bn was generated from Nigeria Customs import VAT. A further analysis of the VAT report showed that N85.97bn was received from professional services; breweries, bottling and beverages contributed N31.82bn; banks and financial institutions, N12.68bn; commercial and trading, N45.65bn; while oil production had N27.64bn VAT. Similarly, the government generated VAT of N1.98bn from agricultural plantations; automobiles and assembling, N1.39bn; building and construction, N7.22bn; chemicals, paints and allied industries, N1.45bn; conglomerates, N3.44bn; federal ministries and parastatals, N25.08bn. Punch reports.
Punch reports that the Federal Government is considering a complete restructuring of the N-Power programme and has explained reasons for the delay in the payment of two months stipends to beneficiaries of the scheme. Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, told journalists in Abuja on Monday that officials of the National Social Investment Programmes were of the view that the N-Power initiative should be restructured. The N-Power initiative is one of the four clusters of the NSIP that were designed to stem the growing tide of poverty, unemployment and social insecurity in Nigeria. N-Power is the job creation and economic empowerment component of the NSIP for young unemployed Nigerians. Farouq said, “There are information gaps with regard to the monitoring and evaluation mechanism and framework of the N-Power programme.n“Some officials of the NSIP are of the view that the programmes should be completely restructured. “The ministry is currently engaging the NSIP cluster heads for clarifications; in essence, the handover and taking process for the programme are still ongoing.”
As the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd), submits the reviewed new National Security Strategy (NSS) to President Muhammadu Buhari, indications are that the president is in the process of taking far-reaching decisions that would intensify his efforts to end insecurity in the country, This Day has learnt. The federal government had in May began the review of the strategy document in view of the spiraling crime wave across the country including terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, transnational crimes, crude oil theft, illegal bunkering, small arms proliferation among others. THISDAY learnt that the president is about making major decisions on the fresh strategies suggested in the report submitted to him a month ago on the ways to abate rising insecurity in the country. According to the government, the NSS, which was due for review after every five years and primed to become a people-centered strategy, would focus on the instruments of national power and review of relationships with the country’s allies.
The Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kolo Kyari and other stakeholders have assured that there will be enough petrol in the country for the Yuletide season and beyond. This assurance was also on the heel of the guarantee by the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Adamu that enhanced security will curb fuel diversion. Kolo Kyari gave the assurance yesterday at a meeting of the stakeholders and other government agencies on supplies of petroleum products during the Yuletide season, chaired by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari. According to This Day, he said they had taken stock of their readiness to meet supplies and distribution of petroleum products across the country for the festive period. “We are very sure today that we have a very robust supply plan not just for Christmas but beyond. We are assuring Nigerians that the NNPC has made adequate arrangement to make adequate supply of petroleum products. If there are any issues, we have come together with other agencies of government to ensure those issues are resolved to ensure Nigerians have a very Merry Christmas this year,” Kyari said. The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola said construction work was ongoing on some of the routes used for movement of cargo across the country.
