Aso Villa Reads for 05/10/2018
Every day we bring you the best stories the media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
Oak TV reports that “those who “spray” naira notes at parties risk going to jail, the Bankers Committee warned yesterday. Mobile courts are to try those bastardising the national currency, it said. Issuing the warning after its meeting in Lagos, the Bankers Committee said the mobile courts would be deployed nationwide to try those mishandling the currency.” The report said that “Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spokesman Isaac Okorafor said the police and the Ministry of Justice would be involved in the operation, adding: “If a celebrant is dancing and you spray him/her, you may go to jail from the party venue because the law enforcement agents will be there, waiting to arrest you. It is the duty of law enforcement agencies to catch offenders and take them to court. Our collaboration with the police will intensify as we move to implement the mobile court for offenders.” Admonishing Nigerians on how to use cash as gift, Okorafor said: “If you want to give, put the money in an envelope, and give it the celebrant. Let’s know that anybody hawking and writing on the naira will face six months in jail or N50,000 or both.”
“Barring any last minute hitch, the first modular refinery in Nigeria will become operational by April 2020. It is expected to produce 5,000 per day of refined products. The ground-breaking ceremony of the refinery was performed on Thursday at the Ibigwe Flow station of Waltersmith Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited. The project is being partnered by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) with 30 per cent equity and financed by the African Finance Corporation with an 18 month completion period. Daily Trust reported that “speaking on the occasion, Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, expressed the commitment of the board in making sure that the project was completed on schedule. He described the project as a very important milestone sequel to the signing of the Shareholders Agreement and the Share Subscription Agreement with Waltersmith in June 2018.
According to Daily Times, the Federal Government on Thursday flagged off a N1.7billion erosion control work on Nduetong Oku-Ikpa road, cutting across Uruan and Uyo Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom. Sen. Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate), did the flagging off ceremony. He said that the project would alleviate the suffering of the people and boost economic activities. Enang sympathised with the people for the inability to convey their farm produce to the market due to the deplorable condition of the road. He assured them that the Buhari administration would continue to implement projects to alleviate the suffering of the people. The presidential aide said that government was committed to improving the living standard of the people by addressing their plight.”
“The National Universities Commission (NUC) has said that a framework will be established for all undergraduates to pass through an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training phase. Daily Times reports that the NUC chairman, Information And Communication Technology (ICT), Development Committee, Mr Johnson Asinugo who disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday during an interactive session between the Directors of ICT of all Nigerian universities with the NUC, ICT committee said that the commission is establishing a framework where all Nigerian university graduates and students would pass through an ICT training phase. He said, “There is no reason why we should graduate a Nigerian student who is computer illiterate. Part of what we are trying to do now is to establish a framework where all Nigerian university graduates or students would pass through an ICT training phase.”
“The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has said that investments into the telecoms sector as at 2017 was $70 billion and has grown at about $5 billion every quarter. The commission added that the sector’s contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose to 10.5 percent as at June 2018, from the initial 9.1 percent in 2016 and that at the end of August this year there were over 160.8 million active voice subscribers with over 104 million being used to access Internet services. This was made known by the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta at the 2018 NCC Day, Abuja International Trade Fair. The EVC who spoke through the Commision’s Head of Public Relations, Reuben Mouka said the theme “Enhancing SMEs in agribusiness through innovative technology” is in line with the ultimate objective of the Commission to use technology as an enabler of the overall economic growth and development in the country”. Authority Ngr reported this.
New Telegraph reported that “Nigeria has recorded a total crude oil and gas export sales of $416.07 million in June, which is 35.78 per cent higher than the previous month. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which yesterday announced this in the June 2018 edition of the Monthly NNPC Financial and Operations Reports, also indicated that the crude oil export sales contributed $274.95 million, which translates to 66.08 per cent of the dollar transactions compared with $244.72 million contribution in the previous month. The export gas sales for the month amounted to $141.12 million. The report indicated that the corporation undertook the repairs of raptured gas pipeline, which supplies gas to most thermal electricity generating plants in the country, leading to appreciable leap in power generation. In all, a total of 744 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) was delivered to the gas fired power plants in June 2018 to generate an average power of about 2,970MW compared with the May 2018, where an average of 742mmscfd was supplied to generate 2,940MW. A total of 211.51 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas was produced in June 2018, translating to an average daily production of 7,056.22mmscfd.”
“President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Abuja, has told former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, that fighting corruption by his administration was non-negotiable. He made the submission while receiving Mbeki who heads the African Union (AU) High Level Panel on Illicit Flows from Africa in the State House. Mbeki, according to the president’s spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, was in Abuja to provide critical updates to Buhari on AU Anti-Corruption Campaign. He quoted him as saying, “For this administration, fighting corruption is non-negotiable. It is a MUST,” adding: “We must fight corruption frontally, because it’s one of the reasons we got elected.” This Day reported that Buhari told Mbeki: “We campaigned on three fundamental issues — security, reviving the economy, and fight against corruption. It’s the reason we got elected, and we can’t afford to let our people down.”
According to This Day, “the efforts of the federal government to demystify business process and boost local content development through the Executive Orders 5 and 6, are beginning to yield positive results. This is just as the country has recorded 80 per cent compliance level on local data hosting in Nigeria. The Head, Research Unit, Corporate Planning and Strategy Department at the National Information Technology Development Agency, Dr. Femi Adeluyi who made the disclosure at the Vanguard Economic Forum Series in Lagos recently, said the remaining 20 per cent would be worked upon to attain 100 per cent compliance level on local data hosting.” The report said that “according to him, the move to ensure domestication of local data in Nigeria, became important to government, owing to the huge loss of revenue to government when organisations host local data abroad that was generated in Nigeria, thus depleting the growth of data traffic in Nigeria, which he said, was inimical to economic growth.”
“The United Kingdom through its national public health institute, Public Health England(PHE) and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control(NCDC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen health security in Nigeria. Voice of Nigeria reported that “the International Health Regulations (IHR) strengthening programme in Nigeria is part of a £16 million project funded by the UK Department of Health, to support the capacities of national public health institutes in five countries. In Nigeria, this project will focus on the key pillars within the mandate of NCDC, including disease surveillance, emergency preparedness and response, public health laboratory services as well as workforce development. At the signing event in Abuja, the IHR strengthening programme was formally launched by the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Paul Arkwright. In his remarks, Ambassador Arkwright emphasised the need for strong collaboration between national public health institutes in ensuring global health security.”
“Investors in the fourteen-solar independent Power Project which was stalled since July 2016 seem to be heaving a sigh of relief as the Federal Government has agreed to extend the deadline for Put Call Option Agreements (PCOA) it signed with them. APCOA is the last stage of getting a power project agreement to financial closure providing a payment guarantee that in the case of default someone else will pick up the tab.” Business Day (Friday 5 2018, page 26) reports that “the quantum of termination payment that will be received by the PCOA will depend weather the termination of PPA was the result of a seller default, a buyer default or a force majeure event. The six months PCOAs extension was done in July and government through the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) expects investors to commit to a pragmatic investment plan within the six-month period.”
