Aso Villa Reads for 05/11/2018

Every day, we bring you the best stories that the media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria

The Nigeria-Canada Investment Summit commenced today and will continue tomorrow. Daily Trust reported that the Summit “will offer Nigeria the opportunity to develop key sectors of the economy through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), the Chief Executive Officer of Prime Essentials Development and Investment Limited, Taiwo Odutola, said this in an interview with Daily Trust.” According to the report, “the investment company which is sponsoring the summit, in collaboration with the Nigerian High Commission in Canada, said the summit was put together to fast track development in key sectors of the economy. Odutola said Canada being a G7 country and a member of the Commonwealth had over the years been Nigeria’s biggest trading partner which was why the forum was aimed at bringing Nigeria’s huge investment opportunities to Canadians. “This is the first time Nigeria and Canada are having an investment summit, although other investment summits had taken place between Nigeria and other countries, which is why the Nigerian High Commission in Canada brought Prime Essentials into the picture to put in different mechanisms that will ensure development in key sectors of the economy,” Odutola said.”

“The Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) has reached advanced stages in the process of approving a 94 megawatt embedded power project to be sited in Apapa, Lagos. People with knowledge of the proceedings say the commission would give its approval to the partnership between Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Disco) and Power House International, a Nigerian infrastructure consulting company this week. Business Day reported that “NERC officials working on the project were expected to have concluded due diligence checks on the documents filed for the partnership by the week ending October 26, so that the documents can be presented to the commissioners for approval. The $93 million project will be dedicated to Apapa to serve both residential and commercial purposes at affordable tariff.”

Linda Ikeji Blog reports that “the Nigerian Army has officially kicked off operation “Crocodile Smile 3”, an initiative aimed at maintaining peace in the restive Delta State communities of Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh. Led by the General Officer Commanding (6) division of the Nigerian Army Maj. Gen. Jamil Sarham, the military team visited both communities on Saturday, urging them to shun violence and embrace peace. According to the force, the initiative called the Operation Crocodile Smile (III), seeks to build a strong relationship between the military and residents, while protecting oil facilities. Addressing community chiefs and the traditional ruler, the GOC said, “We solicit your understanding, support and cooperation throughout the period of the exercise and we urge you to always use dialogue to resolve your differences. “We are here to conduct operation crocodile smile three 2018’’ in your domain, soldiers are servants of the people, we are agents of peace, we engender development”.”

“The Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) will on Friday resume the Lagos-Kano express train service which was suspended a month ago, Daily Trust can report. It would be recalled that the service which is well subscribed, especially by traders from the northern part of the country, was suspended following torrential rainfall which washed away rail line across the country. All states on the rail line including Oyo, Kwara, Niger, Sokoto, among others were affected by the heavy downpour. “Following the rainfalls, the rail lines across the country were virtually washed away which made it difficult for trains to operate. This is why the NRC suspended the operations to put the line in order”, a source said. It was learnt that the decision to resume the operations was reached today by the NRC management. Director of Operations of the NRC, Mr. Niyi Ali confirmed the planned resumption of the service to our correspondent. He said the NRC team of engineers was immediately deployed to the affected locations since the rain started and they have been able to restore the line. “Normal services will resume on the line this Friday”, he said.” Daily Trust reports “that the Lagos-Kano express train, operating on the existing narrow gauge line, leaves Lagos on Fridays and returns on Mondays.”

“The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment have sealed 40 petrol filling stations in Anambra for defrauding motorists. Mrs Cordelia Nwachukwu, the Chief Legal Metrology Officer, Weights and Measures Department of the ministry made this known while addressing newsmen in Awka on Friday. Nwachukwu said the audit and surveillance team which arrived Anambra on October 29, inspected about 100 outlets across the 21 council areas in the state. She decried the short-changing of unsuspecting customers by marketers who use substandard petrol pumps. “The marketers’ reasons for high running cost, evaporation, mechanical error and shortage in supply from tanker drivers are not acceptable. We have been here since one week on audit, and surveillance on oil and gas sector in Anambra. We inspected about 100 filling stations and about 40 of them were found wanting, what that means is that 40 per cent of filling stations here were shortchanging their customers. The 40 filling stations have been sealed and the owners invited for questioning,’’ she said.” Inside Business reported that “Nwachukwu said some of the outdated equipment used by the marketers were also blacklisted and ordered outright removal. She said the ministry would intensify the test and verification of weighing and measuring instruments used for trade in all sectors to ensure Nigerians got value for their money.”

“The federal government in collaboration with the Coca Cola company and Medshare International on Friday launched the $10.8m “Safe Birth Initiative” program to control the maternal mortality rate in Nigeria . Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health at the official launch ceremony in Abuja said that available data shows that over 53,000 women die annually at child birth and over 240,000 children die in the first 28 days after birth due to poor facilities, poverty, and illiteracy, amongst others.” Business Day reports that “the Minister stressed that the interventions of the Safe Birds Initiative programme covered provision of vital equipment, kits and supplies required for diagnosis and treatment in the antenatal, birthing and postnatal periods, training of technicians and engineers for efficient handling of equipment to ensure sustainability.”

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday, said all arrangements have been concluded to introduce financial literacy programme into the Secondary Schools Curriculum across the country. The CBN Director, Consumer Protection Department, Mr Kofo Abdulsalam-Alada, who disclosed this during school mentoring programme organised by the apex bank in Ikare-Akoko, Ondo State, said the programme was designed to give students the needed knowledge on savings and other investment. According to him, the programme was put together by the CBN in collaboration with Nigeria Education Research Development Council (NERDC) for Secondary school students in commemoration of the World Savings Day.” According to Vanguard, the Director “explained that the financial literacy programme is expected to commence in the current calendar year saying emphasis would be given to some subjects which included Accounting, Commerce and Economics. He advised the Secondary school students to imbibe in the culture of savings in order to meet their future and emergency needs. He said: “We have a collaboration with Nigeria Education Research Development Council (NERDC) in designing a curriculum that will ensure that financial literacy is actually infused into subjects that are being taught in secondary schools in Nigeria. “Series of workshop had been done, pilot testing of some of the design programmes has been carried out in Lagos.”

“The Federal Government, yesterday, said that it has spent N2.7 trillion on infrastructure in just two budget cycles between 2016 and 2018, aimed at improving operating environment for businesses in the country. Disclosing this at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Lagos International Trade Fair organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, said the money was spent at the backdrop of dwindling government revenue. He stated:”The government has spent N2.7 trillion from two budget cycles on capital and infrastructure development across the country, inspite of earning 60 percent less”. Vanguard reported that the Vice President “disclosed that the money was spent on roads, rails, power and other similar projects which cuts across different regions of the country towards making the business climate easier and improving the welfare of the citizens. Reeling out other major policy actions of the federal government directed at improving the business environment while directly improving the living standard of the citizenry, Osinbajo said the government has embarked on various reforms to create the enabling environment and to address the challenges that stifle growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs, in the country. According to him, N15.2 billion interest free loan ranging from N50, 000 to N350, 000 has been disbursed to over 400, 000 market traders and artisans across the 36 states of the federation. He stated further: “We have been able to open bank accounts for about 349, 000 traders under Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) for the ‘Trader-Moni’ scheme.”

Business Day reports that “the Federal Government has vowed that it will continue to deploy fiscal policies that will protect Nigeria’s emerging industries and also encourage investment in critical sectors of the economy and promote local production. Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, made this known at the opening session of 4th Meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Finance Ministers on the Consolidation of ECOWAS Customs Union held Friday, at the ECOWAS Commission, Abuja, a statement issued by Special Assistant Media and Communication to the Minister, Paul Ella Abechi said. This she said “is with a view to achieving the effective implementation of the country’s Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) and the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) within the transitional period of 5 years of implementation of the GET (2015–2019).”” According to the report, “she noted that this is without prejudice to the spirit of regional integration and free trade protocols as Nigeria has been in forefront of supporting regional trade policies, the statement said. According to her, “like every developing economy, Nigeria’s vision to industrialize is very strong. Accordingly, we believe ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) should be designed to promote regional industrialization in a manner that on the long term reduces dependence on imports. We will continue to work within ECOWAS to achieve these laudable objectives,” she promised. She noted that Nigeria believes fervently that ECOWAS regional policies such as the CET, the Customs Union and other fiscal policies should aim seriously at achieving economic growth and industrialization for member states, while reducing import dependency.”

“A total of 230.35Billion Cubic Feet (BCF) of natural gas was produced in the country in July 2018, averaging a daily production of 7,678.17Million Standard Cubic Feet (mmscfd). The sum represents 8.81 per cent increase compared to the previous month of June 2018. This was contained in the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations report for July 2018. The report indicated that for the period, July 2017 to July 2018, a total of 3,084.09BCF of gas was produced, representing an average daily production of 7,834.62mmscfd, while the daily average natural gas supply to gas power plants stood at 744.86mmscfd, equivalent to power generation of 2,898MW.” Daily Trust reports that “according to a statement by NNPC spokesman Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), contributed about 69.38 per cent, 21.69 per cent and 8.93 per cent respectively to the total national gas production in July. A further breakdown of the numbers showed that out of the total volume of gas supplied in July 2018, 127.19BCF of gas was commercialized, comprising of 35.55BCF and 91.65BCF for the domestic and export market respectively. This translates to a total supply of 1,184.81mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 3,055.00mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month, implying that 55.98 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialized, while the balance of 44.02 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.”