Aso Villa Reads for 13/11/2019
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
Daily Trust reports that the African Development Bank (AfDB), Credit Suisse AG, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited and Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) Tuesday signed a $600 million syndicated receivables-backed term loan to boost cocoa productivity in Ghana, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer. Nigerian cocoa farmers and other farmers of the cash crop across West Africa would also be assisted by the bank to develop the cocoa value chain, according to AfDB President Dr Akinwumi Adesina who spoke in Johannesburg after the signing of the facility. Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Dr Adesina, senior officials from Credit Suisse and ICBC, oversaw the signing of the facility, at a ceremony held on the second day of the 2019 Africa Investment Forum. The multi-million dollar agreement is a milestone for the bank-convened Africa Investment Forum, a transactional platform dedicated to transforming the continent’s investment and development agenda, which kicked off in Sandton City, Johannesburg on Monday.
According to Daily Trust, the federal government is making effort to ensure the safety of the environment and mitigate the impact of electronic wastes in the country, Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has said. Dr. Onu disclosed this yesterday when he received the Executive Secretary of E-Waste Producer Responsibility Organisation of Nigeria, Mrs. Ibukun Faluyi, who paid a working visit to the ministry, a statement from the ministry’s spokesman AbdulGaniyu Aminu, said. The minister stressed the importance of disposing of electronic wastes in a way that is environmentally sound. Dr. Onu further said the ministry, through its agencies — National Space Research and Development Agency (NARSDA), National Agency For Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and National Institute For Chemical Technology (NARICT) — is working hard to ensure conversion of electronic wastes to wealth.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has said that it will create a platform that will enable some candidates who scored 250 and above to know why they are denied placements in their respective schools of choice. Dr Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Head of Media and Information, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Lagos. Punch reports that according to him, the development is to further engender transparency and equity as well ensure that candidates do not fall prey to fraudsters who may claim to be in a position to influence their placements if they (candidates), can meet their terms. “The board is urging all candidates to have faith in the system as they need not beg, pay or patronise anybody to secure admission. “Reports reaching us indicate that some persons have been going around collecting candidates’ registration numbers and scores under the guise of helping them to secure placements in their respective institutions of choice.
The Federal Government, Wednesday, inaugurated 14-man Ministerial Committee on the Optimization of Revenue from Mineral Resources Sector to block leakages and illegal mining accruals. The inauguration was done by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite, in Abuja, whose chairman is the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah, as Chairman, while others are; Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Abdulkadir Mu’azu; Director-General Mining Cadastre Office, Engr. Obadain Nkom; Representative of Nigerian Society of Mining Engineers; Representative of Nigerian Society of Engineers; Representative of Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Others are Mining Consultant, Engr. J.O Adeyemo; Representative of Miners Association of Nigeria; Representative of Civil Explosives Dealers Association of Nigeria; Head Mining Group, ACCI, Alh. Sani Shehu; Director, Finance, and Accounts of the Ministry; Director, ASM; Director, IPMT; and Director, MI. Adegbite also charged them on revenue generation that would increase the revenue base of the country and also said them to ensure that revenue generated from artisanal miners’ activities are recorded. He said: “The Ministerial Committee on the Optimization of Revenue from Mineral Resources Sector whose Chairman is the Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah, has become pertinent at this time. This is according to Vanguard.
The federal government has challenged distribution companies (Discos) in the country to invest in infrastructure in order to address constraints in power distribution. According to This Day, this is coming as India has pledged to support Nigeria to help solve the country’s perennial power challenge. The Minister of Power, Mr. Sale Mamman, gave the charge yesterday in Lagos at the 2019 Future Energy Nigeria (FEN) Conference and Exhibition, with the theme: ‘’Advancing Partnership and Solutions for a Sustainable Energy Economy.’’ He said that the ministry was ready to support any investor willing to invest in distribution infrastructure to improve power distribution in the country. Mamman, who added that the ministry would continue to engage with serious investors in the sector, further tasked Discos to invest in their business “Our doors are wide open to any investor that is willing to invest in the power sector. We will work out ways to ensure that the Discos partner with power equipment manufacturing firm to enable them to manufacture distribution equipment locally.
According to This Day, the federal government is seeking to stop tax exemption on dividends paid from the profit of oil companies operating in the country when the Finance Bill currently before the National Assembly is finally passed into law. President Muhammadu Buhari had submitted the bill alongside the 2020 Appropriation Bill on October 8, 2019. The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, said in a statement yesterday that the stoppage of tax exemption on dividends paid by oil companies was one of the features of the Finance Bill, which has passed the second reading in the Senate. The objectives of the bill, as outlined by the president, are to strategically promote fiscal equity by mitigating instances of regressive taxation and reform domestic tax laws to align with global best practices. Ahmed, in the statement by her Special Adviser, Media and Communication, Yinusa Tanko Abdullahi, applauded the attention, speed and commitment with which the parliament has attended to the bill. The minister said the bill would provide efficiency in the administration of individual income taxes in Nigeria.
The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, has said the Federal Government would ensure the maritime sector gets into the mainstream of economic strategy as it will engender economic growth and prosperity in the country. The Minister, who diclosed this in his keynote address at the opening of a two-day Regional Workshop on UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework: A process to mainstream the maritime sector organised by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) in conjunction with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Lagos, said that the Maritime Transport Plan and Strategy when fully completed will also provide a robust enabling framework for achieving Nigerian maritime objective and foster Public, Private sector collaboration and inter-regional cooperation. He added: “This workshop is an essential step in a continuing shift in strategic thinking about the sustainable development of our nations and will no doubt provide an opportunity for stakeholders here present to develop the much needed cooperation framework in addressing the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).” Sun News reports.
