Aso Villa Reads for 11/09/18
Every day, we bring you the best stories the media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
“The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) on Monday launched a joint regulatory investigation in the telecommunications sector with the aim of protecting the rights of consumers”. According to Premium Times, “the joint regulatory inquiry said this was an important step to ensure the rights of consumers in the telecommunication industry were respected and protected. The statement said regulatory inquiry would equally ensure the telecommunication industry remained robust and continues its leading role in the country’s economic growth.”
This Day reports that “the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) in conjunction with the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO), has harmonized standards to boost honey production in Nigeria as well as in Africa. The agency pointed out the need for African countries to trade more with each other, maintaining that honey producers must adhere strictly to standards in a bid to meet expectations of consumers at the global market, while also producing quality products for the domestic market. The Director General, SON, Osita Aboloma, at a technical meeting in Lagos recently, said Nigerian honey is one of the best in the world because of its organic nature and highly sought after.”
“The Bank of Industry (BoI), and the Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to provide a credit line of up to $500 million towards the establishment of modular refineries, and Flare Gas Recovery Programmes in the country. The Guardian reports that “the Managing Director/Chief Executive, BoI, Olukayode Pitan, emphasized the job creation potential of this partnership. “I am delighted to begin the next chapter of a long-term trading relationship with China through CEXIM. This agreement is set to create over 100,000 jobs in Nigeria’s Oil & Gas sector — a decisive move that will advance the Federal Government’s Modular Refineries and Flare Gas Recovery Programme,” he added. As part of the MoU between BOI and CEXIM, the facility will be utilised to finance the purchase of equipment and machinery from China by investors and project owners of modular refineries in Nigeria.”
Business Day reports that “the foreign exchange stabilization policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may have started to yield positive results following the resurgence in export activities of listed firms on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) at half year 2018. The combined export revenues of the seven listed firm in our analysis rose to N5.98 billion at half year 2018 from N5 billion made by the same firms in comparable period in 2017. On the average, the seven firms collectively recorded 19 percent increase in their export revenues during the period. When expressed as a percentage of the total revenue, their collective export revenues to total revenue stands at 2 percent in June 2018 compared with 1 percent in similar period in 2017. Gross earnings from the domestic market marginally rose by 1.3 percent.”
According to Vanguard, “the South-South Innovation Hub has unveiled free business support tool-kit, including legal and accounting services, for start-ups in Edo State and environs, to help young innovators and entrepreneurs formalise and scale up their businesses. Managing Director, South-South Innovation hub, Oluwatobi Gege, disclosed this during an interview with journalists in Benin City, the Edo State capital. The South-South Innovation Hub is domiciled at the Edo Innovates complex, in Benin City, and is open to start-ups in the South South region. Gege explained that the third-party services will include legal, accounting, marketing and administrative services, to be offered free of charge, noting “First and foremost, we commend the Edo State Government for providing the enabling environment for youth in the South-South region to be innovative and embrace entrepreneurship.”
“The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed that a total of 7,503,408 passengers passed through Nigerian airports in the first half of 2018, representing a 23.9 per cent growth from the 6,054,319 passengers recorded in the first half of 2017. The passenger traffic however includes international, domestic, inbound and outbound air travel. NBS observed that this significant growth in both the first and second quarters of 2018 was mainly driven by the increased passenger traffic through Abuja airports, compared with the same period in 2017 when the Abuja airport was closed down during the period for the rehabilitation of the runway. NBS also said there was also a boost in passenger traffic in March 2018 when total air passenger was 1,721,224 with 797,608 arrivals and 923,616 departures, which was a 62 per cent rise from the average passenger traffic from the previous two months — January and February 2018.” Business Day (Tuesday, 11th September 2018, Page 18) reported this.
According to Business Day (Tuesday, 11th September 2018, Page 33), “Armyworm, the destroying caterpillar that has devastated agriculture in Africa would soon be a thing of the past as Nigeria has found a chemical that can destroy the pest, the Nigeria government says. Fall armyworm has cost African economies billions of dollars in crop losses since the pest was first spotted on the continent in 2016, prompting fears of a food shortage as hundreds of farmlands were attacked by the pest. We have found a solution to the armyworm invasion across Africa and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has tested our chemicals which are purely organic and we would be launching next month on World Food Day.” Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development told Business Day on the side lines of the Just concluded Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Kigali, Rwanda. “ It was invented by the research Professor at a University in Nigeria who got the solution from neem tree and after our launch we would be sharing with other Countries,” Ogbeh said. “
