Aso Villa Reads for 18/08/2020
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
In the trading week ended Friday August 14, Nigeria’s stock market recorded value increase in excess of N82billion amid increased activities on the buy-side of Bourse. The market rallied on the back of gains in Consumer Goods (+2.25 percent) stocks as well as that of Oil & Gas (+5.92 percent), and Insurance (+1. 12 percent) as more investors took position in fundamentally attractive counters as against pockets of profit taking activities in Banking sector (-0.03 percent) and Industrial Goods (-2.71 percent). Week-on-week (WoW), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation appreciated by +0.63 percent to 25,199.84 points and N13.145trillion as against week-open low of 25,041.89 points and N13.063 trillion respectively. Business Day reported.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the Economic Community of West African States’ Special Envoy to the Republic of Mali, on Tuesday, met with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. At the meeting held behind closed doors, Jonathan told his successor that the country’s main opposition group, M5, is adamant on its call for the resignation of President Ibrahim Keita. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, disclosed this in a statement titled, ‘President Buhari receives briefing on Mali crisis from ECOWAS special envoy, Goodluck Jonathan’. Adesina quoted Jonathan as saying that the opposition group’s position is not acceptable to ECOWAS. According to Punch, he said Jonathan added that the Constitutional Court had been reconstituted and inaugurated, while vacancies in the Supreme Court had been filled, thus sorting out the judicial arm of government. “President Buhari thanked Dr Jonathan for what he called ‘the stamina you have displayed’ on the Mali issue, and counseled further consultations with the Chairman of ECOWAS, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger Republic,” the statement concluded.
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) , Malam Mele Kyari says the corporation has become an Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) supporting company. Kyari announced this on his twitter account @MKKYARI on Tuesday. He said that with the development, the corporation had joined a group of over 65 extractives companies, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), commodity traders, financial institutions and industry partners commitTed to observing the EITI’s supporting company expectations. “Becoming an EITI supporting company aligns with NNPC’s corporate vision and principles of transparency, accountability and performance excellence. “Our partnership with Nigeria Extractive industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI)and EITI strengthens our commitment towards commodity trading transparency, contract transparency and systematic disclosure of revenues and payments. “We are on a journey towards greater transparency and look forward to deepening our collaboration with the EITI to further this work,” he said. Commenting, EITI Board Chair, Hon. Helen Clark, welcomed the company’s commitment to the EITI. Vanguard reported.
Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi said over 20,000 workers were engaged for the ongoing construction of the Lagos-Ibadan rail project, Vanguard reported. Amaechi said in a statement on Monday that the engagement was in compliance with the local content law inherent in the 1.6 billion dollar contract agreement between Nigeria and China. He made the clarification at a public hearing in Abuja while responding to concerns by the House of Representatives Committee on Treaties, Protocols, and Agreements that local content was not observed in the course of the project. He said, “There are over 20,000 Nigerian workers employed for the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan railway project, only 560 of the workers on that project are Chinese. “Most materials for the project are also locally sourced, except for those that were manufactured outside Nigeria. We have over 150 Nigerians being trained as Engineers in China. The Chinese have also built two training institutions for us, one at Idu and the other one is the Transportation University in Daura, Katsina State.” The minister revealed that only a contract of 1.6 billion dollars was awarded by the present administration in the Ministry of Transportation.
Report submitted to the Federal Government recently indicates that significant progress is being recorded in the Apapa traffic situation while some challenges are still being sorted out, the Presidency has said in a statement. The statement, signed by Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity in the Office of the Vice President, was made available on Monday in Abuja. The report indicated that critical infrastructure including roads around the Apapa corridor was at different levels of completion with some already open for public use. He said that more update on efforts to fix the Apapa traffic situation was given at a virtual stakeholders’ meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Part of the plan to address the problem in Apapa was the idea of fixing some of the roads around the area. Akande listed progress recorded in fixing the road infrastructure relative to the Apapa traffic situation as disclosed at the meeting as the Apapa Wharf road — completed since 2018 and already in use. Others are 1.4 kilometres Liverpool road — almost completed but open for public use, 2.9 kilometres Creek road — almost completed but open for public use, Apapa-Oshodi Expressway from Creek road to Tin Can Port gate 1 — almost completed. Also listed was the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway from Tin Can Port gate 1 to Mile 2 — at an advanced stage of completion and the Tin Can Island Transit Truck Park — completed and now in use. Vanguard reported.
