Aso Villa Reads for 08/09/2020

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

The Federal Government on Monday said despite the recent increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit to N162 per litre, the price of the commodity in Nigeria remained among the cheapest in Africa. The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said this at a press conference in Abuja. Mohammed was joined at the briefing by the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman; and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva. The minister said, “In spite of the recent increase in the price of fuel to N162 per litre, petrol prices in Nigeria remain the lowest in the West/Central African sub-regions. Below is a comparative analysis of petrol prices in the sub-regions (naira equivalent per litre): Nigeria -N162 per litre; Ghana -N332 per litre; Benin -N359 per litre; Togo — N300 per litre; Niger — N346 per litre; Chad -N366 per litre; Cameroon -N449 per litre; Burkina Faso -N433 per litre; Mali -N476 per litre; Liberia — N257 per litre; Sierra Leone -N281 per litre; Guinea -N363 per litre; and Senegal — N549 per litre. Outside the sub-region, petrol sells for N211 per litre in Egypt and N168 per litre in Saudi Arabia. You can now see that even with the removal of subsidy, fuel price in Nigeria remains among the cheapest in Africa.” Mohammed added that with the 60 per cent reduction in the nation’s revenue, the present regime can no longer afford to subsidise petrol prices.[Punch]

The Federal Government on Monday said the German firm, Siemens AG, was chosen to expand Nigeria’s power grid because the company was best qualified to rehabilitate the dilapidated electricity infrastructure in Nigeria. Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, who disclosed this in series of tweets via his official Twitter handle, explained that the Siemens deal would expand Nigeria’s power grid capacity to 25,000 megawatts. Nigeria’s power generation on the grid currently hovers between 4,000MW and 5,000MW. Mamman noted that not all Nigerians had access to power, while those who had suffer irregular power supply. “So the Siemens project is here to upgrade the national dilapidated infrastructure. The deal is monumental for this sector because the early phases of delivery will improve the grid’s operational capacity,” he stated. The minister added, “It will open up corridors for evacuation that will greatly reduce the burden of delivered capacity, which is costing the sector so much. Investors will be more confident to participate in the sector as the grid achieves more functional operational capacity. This will also reduce financing cost in the evacuation process.” Speaking on the timeline to complete the project, Mamman said it would be for five years, as implementation would take place in three phases, which, according to him, had already commenced.[Punch]

The Federal Government is to commence the massive airdrop of relief materials to dangerous and inaccessible areas of Borno State, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouq, has said. The minister, who was in Maiduguri at the weekend to deliver relief materials to the state, told the Borno State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Umar Kadafur, who represented the Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, that, “Your Excellency, we have noted and are aware that due to the recent restriction of movement to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic and inaccessibility of communities, due to floods and insecurity; vulnerable persons, especially the IDPs, may require further support in terms of basic necessities, including food from the Federal Government of Nigeria. “To ensure that we are able to provide adequate support, I wish to request that the state government provide the necessary information required to enable collaboration with the Nigerian Air Force to drop food and non-food items in locations that have been made inaccessible due to insecurity or the recent floods.” The minister disclosed that the Federal Government was donating to the vulnerable people in Borno State 26,067 bags of 12.5kg parboiled rice; 26,067 bags of 25kg beans; 26,067 bags of 12.5kg maize/millet; 1,304 bags of 20kg iodized salt; 2,607 kegs of vegetable oil; 4,345 cartons of seasoning cubes; 2,173 cartons of tin tomato. She noted the food items were meant for 26,067 households with a total population of 156,402. The minister had earlier visited Bauchi where she took food items to cater for 70,867 households as palliative for COVID-19.[Punch]

The federal government, yesterday, disclosed that the nation spent N10.413 trillion on fuel subsidy in the last 13 years (2006–2019) and justified last week’s discontinuation with the practice, describing subsidy as unsustainable. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alh. Lai Mohammed, who disclosed this at a briefing in Abuja, pleaded for the understanding and support of Nigerians over the action, which he said become inevitable due to falling demand for oil, Nigeria’s main income source. Mohammed, who was flanked by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva and Minister of Power, Mamman Sale, said that the hike in fuel price and electricity tariffs at the same time was a mere coincidence and not deliberately calculated to increase the pains of Nigerians or a demonstration of the current administration’s insensitivity the feelings of the masses.[Vanguard]

President Muhammadu Buhari Monday in Abuja assured Nigerians of the willingness and determination of the Federal Government to provide stable electricity to every home and industry, while considering the economic challenges before individuals, families and businesses, explaining that “implementation of a Willing buyer, Willing Seller Policy for the power sector has opened opportunities for increased delivery of electricity.’’ Speaking at the First Year Ministerial Performance Review Retreat at the State House Conference Centre, the President said the target of providing 11,000 megawatts by 2023 was realistic and realizable, and would provide a lifeline for many businesses and improve the living conditions of many Nigerians. President Buhari noted that increase in price of electricity and deregulation of the petroleum sector were crucial decisions that were taken at the beginning of the year, preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, and continuous delay in implementation of the policy of the “Willing Buyer, Willing Seller’’ and deregulation of the petroleum would be detrimental to the economy, placing the burden of regular light cuts and fuel queues on Nigerians.[Vanguard]

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), says it has remitted N362.34 billion into the Federal Government Consolidate Revenue Fund from 2015 to date, Vanguard reports. The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta disclosed this at a function in Abuja. According to him, the revenue was realised through spectrum fees and operating surplus, which he said helped to boost the revenue generation drive of President Mohammadu Buhari’s administration. The NCC boss further stated that the commission has always supported the development of the innovative services and life-changing solutions with the use of information and communications technologies to promote indigenous content through collaboration with the academics. His words: “The Commission has so far released N336.4 million as research grants to the academia and has endowed professional chairs in two Nigerian universities.’

The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba has said that relevant machinery has been put in motion towards the review of existing social protection policy which is expected to lapse in December. He said efforts were ongoing with all relevant stakeholder MDAs to produce a revised National Social Protection Policy that will run from 2021–2025 before the end of the year. Speaking at a high-level breakfast policy dialogue on the UN-joint fund for social protection to accelerate the implementation of Sustainable Development GOALS (SDGs) in Nigeria, the minister said the meeting with development partners and all relevant stakeholders on social protection will provide an opportunity to discuss the best option or strategy to move the scheme forward in the interest of all Nigerians. He said the dialogue was not only timely but relevant to the priorities of the current administration to alleviate poverty through Buhari’s commitment to lift 100 million people out of poverty within the next 10 years. Agba added that the deliberations will also consolidate a common approach for a productive collaboration that will enable the country achieve sustainable development goals(SDGs) since social protection remained a key strategic target for poverty eradication. He said his ministry was in the process of mainstreaming social protection into the ongoing Medium Term National Development Plans (2021–2025) and Nigeria Vision 2050 adding that poverty reduction and achieving sustainable development required collaborative efforts of all MDAs.[This Day]

President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to ECOWAS leaders not to elongate their tenure in office beyond constitutional limits. Malam Garba Shehu, the president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, in a statement in Abuja said Buhari made the appeal while presenting Nigeria’s General Statement at the 57th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government in Niamey, Niger Republic on Monday. The Nigerian leader urged his colleagues to respect constitutional provisions and ensure free and fair elections. He said: “It is important that as leaders of our individual Member-States of ECOWAS, we need to adhere to the constitutional provisions of our countries, particularly on term limits. This is one area that generates crisis and political tension in our sub-region. As it is, the challenges facing the sub-region are enormous; from socio-economic matters to security issues, the ECOWAS sub-region cannot therefore afford another political crisis, in the guise of tenure elongation. I urge us all to resist the temptation of seeking to perpetuate ourselves in power beyond the constitutional provisions.”[Guardian]

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