Aso Villa Reads for 12/11/2019
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
According to Punch, the Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, has said NAFDAC has destroyed fake drugs worth N3.2bn in the past two years. Adeyeye spoke at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday. She said, “The Agency raided two warehouses located within in a residential area in Igbo Amaeze Street, Awada Obosi, Onitsha, Anambra State, where substandard and falsified versions of popular brands of anti-malaria and antibiotics were stored. One hundred and nine cartons of assorted products including Lincocin Capsule, Augmentin, Artesunate, Panadol Extra, Cafcol 250mg Capsules, Busoopan, Laridox, Postinor 2 tablets, Coartem 20/120, Lofnac (Diclofenac Sodium) and Aldomet were seized. Investigation is ongoing to unravel the owners of the products. We also intercepted a truck conveying substandard and falsified medical products en route to Kano. The products are worth about N6m.The agency has destroyed substandard and falsified medical products worth more than N3.22bn (in two years). The Agency in conjunction with the Nigeria Customs Service commenced the destruction of 24 seized containers of substandard and falsified medical products, especially Tramadol. Adeyeye also called on the Federal Government to review the salaries of NAFDAC workers, saying most of them could not afford decent accommodation in Lagos.
The Nigerian Communications Commission in Kano has indicated its readiness to explore the possibility of accessing the $70bn package of the communications sector to improve the competitiveness in the African Continental Free Trade Area initiative. The Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said the process would be in conformity with the initiative of the African Union of creating a single continental market for goods and services. Danbatta, who was represented by the Assistant Director, Policy Competition and Economic Analysis, Alhaji Mohammed Jika, made this known at a two-day sensitisation workshop on the implications of the African Continental Free Trade Area initiative for the communications industry. The event was held in Kano with the theme, ‘Improving Nigerian communications industry competitiveness for the AFCFTA initiative The workshop was organised by the NCC in collaboration with the Nigerian office for Trade Negotiation. Danbatta said the government’s institutional framework was to drive Nigeria’s trade policy initiative that would facilitate free movement of investment and people across the African continent. According to him, the goal of convening the workshop is to draw the attention of industry stakeholders to the need to optimally appreciate the business implications of the AFCFTA, so as to evolve a road map for the future of the industry in the context of the initiative. Punch reports.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday said the trans-Saharan highway project would continue to receive deserved attention and funding by his administration. As reported by The Nation, he said this would bolster economic activities and enhance regional and cultural integration in Africa. President Buhari stated this at the opening of the 70th session of the Trans-Saharan Road Liaison Committee (TRLC) in Abuja with all the Ministers of Works from six member-states in attendance. The meeting, which holds every four years, would review most of what had transpired in the 69th session and get an update on the works of the technical and expert works on the trans-Saharan roads. President Buhari was represented by the Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Dingyadi. The President recalled that when he took over the mantle of leadership in 2015, his administration decided to introduce changes towards sustainable and quality infrastructural development that would drive economic development and job creation. Our commitment is to increase Nigeria’s stock of road infrastructure to ease the cost and time of doing business and improve on economic competitiveness, as envisaged under our Economic and Recovery Growth Plan In view of this, our administration shares the aspiration and vision of the trans-Saharan Road Liaison Committee aimed at encouraging member-countries to develop roads of trans-Saharan within their respective territories. “It is a pride to the African continent, and that is why Nigeria has supported and will continue to support its existence.
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has commenced the trial run of the newly installed Category III Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Runway 18 Right, Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos. The exercise which started on Monday indicated that the equipment was fully operational on a test basis even as all the ILS components — Localizer, Glide Slope and Distance Measuring Equipment are propagating signals optimally. Speaking at the commencement of the test run, Fola Akinkuotu, Managing Director of NAMA, said the alignment of the facility had already been done by the engineers. This, according to him, was to ensure that the equipment aligned with the centre line of the runway and also that it aligned with the descent path that will be comfortable to arrive at the threshold at a good landing height to make a normal landing. In a couple of weeks, we will bring a calibration aircraft to fly in and certify that the equipment is good to go. He said according to the timelines, CAT III ILS would be available at both Lagos and Abuja airports by the third week of December 2019. Explaining the rationale for deploying the facility, Akinkuotu said the agency was responding to the demands and clamour by airlines for better navigational facilities in Nigeria. The CAT II ILSs we have right now is 800 meters visibility. With the CAT III system you will be able to come down lower and when you are closer to the runway you will be able to see it better. A CAT III operation is a precision approach at lower than CAT II minima. Business Day reports.
