Aso Villa Reads for 14/08/2020
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
The Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) on Wednesday said it has recovered N36.357 billion outstanding debt, comprising $89 million and N2.404 billion owed by some corporate organisations. Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala-Usman, disclosed this during the investigative hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts into the 16 audit queries issued by the office of the Auditor General of the Federation against the agency. Bala-Usman, who was represented by NPA’s General Manager (Finance), Emeka Ezugwu, also revealed plans by the agency to write off debts from 10 years and above. Chairman of the Committee, Wole Oke, who was worried by the disclosure, demanded for the statutory powers derived by NPA to recommend for writing-off of debts. Oke requested for the list of all the affected properties, names of all the occupants, tenancy agreements and actual rent owed, for necessary legislative action. He said the Committee would deploy similar intervention for Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) in the recovery of outstanding debts. Business Day reported.
NTA reports that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has earmarked N2.5 billion for the development of Wawa/Zange grazing reserve in Gombe. Dr Musa Inuwa, the Director in charge of the Gombe office of the ministry disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Gombe on Friday. He said the money earmarked was for the construction of boreholes, veterinary clinics, schools, hospitals among other social amenities in the grazing reserve. He said the Wawa/Zange grazing reserve occupied 130 hectares out of which five hectares were used for the planting of pastures now ready for grazing. The director said that the reserve was among the largest grazing reserves in the country. He said Gombe government handed it over to the Federal Government as part of its contribution to curbing the menace of farmers /herders clashes in the state.
According to Business Day, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has advised newly registered exporters in Nigeria to pay attention to value addition, especially on agro-based products, to create jobs locally. Olusegun Awolowo, executive director/chief executive officer, NEPC, gave the advice, Tuesday, in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, at an export round table with newly registered exporters, organised by the council’s Aba office. The NEPC boss encouraged the intended exporters to start small, noting that there is market for quality products all over the world. Represented at the forum by Roslyn Ekanem, an assistant director and trade promotions advisor, Aba office of NEPC, Awolowo urged them to take a step, stressing that no market is saturated.
The Companies and Allied Matters Amendment Act 2020 will ensure transparency of the ownership and control of all companies involved in property purchase and public contracting in Nigeria, the Federal Government stated on Thursday. Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, said this while commenting on the recent signing of the Act by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). Agba, in a statement made available to our correspondent in Abuja by his Special Assistant on Media, Ojeifo Sufuyan, said the new law expressly required companies in Nigeria to disclose beneficial owners above a certain threshold. He was quoted as saying, “The law gives legal backing to the implementation of Nigeria’s commitment to establish a public register of beneficial owners of corporate entities in its Open Government Partnership 2019–2021 National Action Plan. “While the signing of the law is a milestone, it is only the beginning of a long journey to building a technologically-viable structure of tackling corruption.” As reported by Punch, he said the fight against corruption would require building institutional capacities, processes, as well as collaboration among government, citizens and bilateral partners to ensure that the needs of all stakeholders were captured and met.
The President, Major General Muhammad Buhari (retd.), has pledged that his regime would boost internal security by establishing training facilities for the police and other security outfits in all the geo-political zones of the country, Punch reports. Buhari, who made this pledge on Thursday during the inauguration of a police college in Endeh Hills area of Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area in Nasarawa State, said the measure was aimed at tackling the persistent banditry, kidnapping and armed robbery across the nation. Represented at the event by the Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Muhammad Dingyadi, Buhari said it was the policy thrust of his administration to modernise internal security network in line with international best practices. “I will boost internal security and establish training facilities in all the six-geo-political zones of the country, so as to address the persistent of banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery activities across the nation. This training facility is of great significance as it adds to the existing one in Gwoza in Borno State and that of Ira in Ogun State,” he added.
The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency on Thursday announced that it had commenced palliative maintenance repairs on some major roads across the country. Speaking during an inspection of work on the Abuja-Keffi road, the Director of Operations, FERMA, Godson Amos, told journalists that the agency had commenced work on all alternative routes to the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos. He noted that work was also ongoing on some sections of the Lokoja-Abuja road, just as workers of FERMA were seen fixing the Abuja-Keffi road. Amos said, “Nationwide, we are everywhere. Our people are now working, especially at this time when we have flood-related issues; we are working seriously to ensure that no road is cut off. “For specifics, there is a partial closure of the Third Mainland Bridge, and so all the alternative routes are being taken care of now. The roads are being patched, de-silted and we have free flow of traffic on some of those roads. He added, “This is a continuous process and it is something we are doing across the country.” Explaining what the agency was doing on the Abuja-Keffi road, Amos described it as palliative maintenance measure to ensure that the complaints of the public on multiple cracks and surface failure on the road were addressed. Punch reports.
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday expressed confidence that Nigeria was making progress to reverse the United States suspension of the issuance of “immigrant visas” to Nigerian passport holders. The President, who spoke while receiving report of the Committee on Citizen Data Management and Harmonization, chaired by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, expressed delight that two of the six areas of concern raised by the United States had been fully addressed. President Buhari had set up the committee in February this year, following the imposition of temporary visa restrictions by the American government on Nigerian passport holders. In a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President noted that the suspension, which came into effect on February 21, 2020, didn’t apply to other U.S. visas, such as those for official, business, tourism and student travel. He commended the committee for its patriotic diligence in carrying out the assignment, assuring Nigerians and the international community of the timely implementation of the committee’s recommendations after due consideration. He said: “I also note the progress made by Nigeria towards the removal of the visa restrictions as two out of the six areas of concern raised by the United States had been fully addressed, two are substantially satisfied while some progress is being made on the remaining two. “I am delighted that this progress, especially the uploading of lost and stolen passport and travel documents has been acknowledged by the United States Government.” Vanguard reported.
