Aso Villa Reads for 10/4/18
Every day, we bring you the best stories the media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria.
“Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu has promised adequate support for the security of lives and property of students of Federal Unity Colleges and other schools in the country”. According to Vanguard, “Adamu gave the promise in Abuja, yesterday, at the inauguration of the Central Planning Committee on Security Education and Awareness Campaign for Principals and Teachers of Federal Government Colleges. Adamu said that over the past decade, Nigeria had grown more insecure, largely due to ethno-religious crisis and Boko Haram insurgency in the north, cultism and ritual killings in the south. He said it was worrisome as the educational institutions had become targets of insurgents. He said: “School security is vital to effective teaching and learning. Presently, the safety of the school child is of primary concern to stakeholders in the education sector. “In different parts of the country, communal and ethnic crisis erupted and hindered the smooth functioning of schools.”
“Plans by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to extend its major gas pipeline infrastructure to connect various parts of the country got a major boost last week following the signing of contracts for the engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and financing for two lots of the Ajaokuta — Kaduna — Kano (AKK) gas pipeline”. Daily Trust reports that the project has been “described as the single biggest gas pipeline project in the history of oil and gas operation in Nigeria” and that “the singing of the contract between the NNPC and a consortium of indigenous and Chinese companies under a 100 per cent contractor financing model, paves way for the historic ground breaking of the 40 inch by 614km gas pipeline in weeks to come. The $2.8 billion AKK gas pipeline is among three unique projects — the Egina $15 billion, Bonga $10 billion, expected to generate up to $40bn investments to revive particularly Nigeria’s gas infrastructure.
This Day writes “that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Monday said the country’s foreign exchange (FX) reserves had risen to $47.3 billion as of April 5. The last time the country recorded FX reserves at this level was in July 2013. Speaking at a seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Emefiele, who was represented by the new Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Mr. Edward Adamu, was also upbeat that the reserves would continue to rise to about $50 billion “sometime later this year”.
“Vice President, Transsion Holdings, Andy Yan, has expressed optimism of Tecno establishing a phone manufacturing plant in Nigeria before long, describing Nigeria’s mobile phone market as the biggest in Africa. Yan disclosed this while answering questions at the Tecno’s Global Spring Launch that unveiled Camon X and Camon X Pro smartphones at Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos”. According to the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) Newsletter, he said “that Nigeria is the biggest market in Africa and one of the most important markets for Transsion Holdings. He noted that Transsion Holdings is planning on setting up assembly factories across African countries of which Nigeria and Egypt are being considered. In his words, “today we have already had several assembling factories outside of China.”
Business Day reports that “the Federal Government is to sign the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with Prospective Power Generators through Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) and Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), in efforts towards improving the power sector. Babatunde Raji Fashola, Minister of Power, Works and Housing disclosed this at the monthly power sector operators meeting in held in Abia State, stressing that the Federal Government through the NBET and TCN was working to improve the power sector by signing PPA’s with Prospective Power Generations.”
According to Daily Trust, “officials of the Debt Management Office, Federal Ministry of Power Works and Housing, Federal Ministry of Finance and Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation have started the inspection of the Roads being financed with the Sovereign Sukuk issued in 2017.” The report recalled that “the proceeds of the N100 billion Sukuk were designated for the financing of 25 Road Projects across the six geopolitical zones of the country. From the list of Road Projects made available to the public when the Sukuk was issued, these were major roads that will facilitate the movement of people, goods and services, thereby contributing to economic growth and development. The team visited the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja Road, the Obajana-Okene Road, the Suleja-Minna Road and the Kaduna Eastern Bypass Road”.
“In his efforts to deepen efficient supply of petroleum products, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Pipeline and Storage Company (NPSC), Luke Anele, yesterday, revealed plans by the company, which was created out of the old Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), to embark on comprehensive audit of the over 5,000km of petroleum products and crude oil pipelines under its watch. According to Anele, the project, which has already been approved by the NNPC management is to be executed by the National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO), an upstream subsidiary of the NNPC Group. “It covers the conduct of integrity test on crude pipelines, the products pipelines and our depots, with special emphasis on refinery attached depots and refinery evacuation lines,’’ he said”. This was reported by The Sun.
