Aso Villa Reads for 18/10/2019

Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria

The Federal Government on Monday said that it was engaging the services of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, (ICPC), in fighting corruption in the implementation of its Social Investment Programmes(SIP). The partnership which will officially be made public on Wednesday at the Auditorium of the State House, Abuja, will also witness the launching of a Toll-Free Whistleblower hotline. This was disclosed in a statement issued by the Communications Manager, National Social Investment Office, NSIO, Justice Tienabeso Bibiye. The aim of this partnership according to the statement was to establish a systemic structure to identify, curb and address corrupt tendencies in the Programme. Vanguard reports.

After hours of intense negotiations, the Nigerian government and the labour unions have reached a deal on the implementation modality of the new minimum wage. The government and labour unions had disagreements over the new minimum wage law signed by President Muhammadu Buhari in April, making the country’s workforce threaten to go on strike. Specifically, the disagreements centred on relativity and adjustments of salaries for different categories of workers The Nigerian government on May 14 inaugurated relativity and consequential adjustment committee, which set up a technical subcommittee to work out a template for the adjustment of salaries of public service employees in line with the minimum wage law. However, there was an agreement early Friday morning in Abuja shortly after a meeting between government team led by labour and employment minister Chris Ngige and labour unions. According to Guardian, the meeting, which began at 8:24 pm on Thursday, ended at 3 am on Friday. After the five-hour meeting, Ngige announced the minimum wage implementation model. “For COMESS wage structure Grade level 7 gets 23 per cent, Salary grade level 8 gets 20 per cent, Salary grade level 9 gets 19 per cent Salary grade level 10 -14 gets 16 per cent while Salary grade level 15–17 gets 14 per cent.

In a bid to curb leakages and ensure efficiency in the management of resources of government, Daily Times reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved additional cost saving measures for immediate implementation. Mr. Willie Bassey, Director Information, office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, in a statement on Wednesday, said the decision was aimed at instilling financial discipline and prudence, particularly, in the area of official travels. “Henceforth, all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are required to submit their Yearly Travel Plans for statutory meetings and engagements to the office of the SGF. “And/or the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation for express clearance within the first quarter of the fiscal year, According to Bassey, MDAs are further required to make their presentation using the existing template and also secure approvals on specific travels as contained in the plan, from the appropriate quarters. He stated further that on the nature and frequency of travels, all public funded travels (both local and foreign), must be strictly for official purposes backed with documentary evidence. “In this regard, all foreign travels must be for highly essential statutory engagements that are beneficial to the interest of the country. “Except with the express approval of President Buhari, Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Chairmen of Extra-Ministerial Departments, Chief Executive Officers and Directors are restricted to not more than two.

According to Daily Times, the Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday approved N2.4 billion for the construction of an indoor shooting range for nation’s aviation security. The Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, disclosed this when he briefed State House Correspondents at the end of the Council’s meeting held at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. According to him, the aim is to further train the security personnel, who have obtained Presidential approval to start carrying arms, for improved security in the nation’s airports. “Today, in council two memoranda were considered for aviation. The first is construction of indoor shooting range for aviation security. “Recall some time ago Mr. President in conformity with the Act that established Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), had approved that aviation security carry arms for improved security. “You also recall that these aviation personnel were trained and still receiving training and profiling and all things that will make them efficient.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, on Thursday, said the Federal government will not pay $9.6billion judgment fine to Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID). A British Court judgment had slammed the fine on the Federal government in favour of the Virgin Islands-registered company, earlier this year. A contract required the Nigerian government to pay $300 million for P&ID to set up a way to turn a dirty form of natural gas burned off during oil production into electricity for use by local governments. The P&ID deal was said to have been sealed in 2012 amid mutual recriminations and claims of fraud, while the $9.6 billion was built up through An indigenous environmental consultancy firm, De Mbarukas Limited is partnering the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development to deepen sustainable development opportunities within the country’s sea-shorelines. The Managing Director of De Mbarukas Limited, Mr. Joseph Akpan, who disclosed after a meeting with the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Olamilek Adegbite, said the move was part of the roadmap of the support, growth and development of the Nigeria’s Mining Industry According to him the firm was poised to bringing its over 20 years of experience to bear in the mining industry with the objective of ensuring that Nigeria harness the opportunities that mineral resources offer in sustainable and environmentally friendly ways. He expressed regret that, “in recent times, the domestic mining industry is considered to be underdeveloped leading to Nigeria having to import minerals that she can produce The Managing Director also urged the Ministry to completely take advantage of the over 30km stretch sea-shoreline of the South-South, particularly Akwa Ibom State, to aid the production of common salt and other mineral resources. This Day reports.

As reported by Sun News, Nigeria’s Finance Minister, and head of the nation’s delegation to the 2019 annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund(IMF) and World Bank, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, in this interaction with journalists on the side lines at the ongoing IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington DC, spoke on Federal Government’s new revenue streams and what is being done to improve collections from its agencies . She also gave reasons why Nigeria’s borders with neighboring countries were closed and government’s plan towards the newly signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) among other issues. Let me start by saying the meetings of the World Bank and the IMF is to discuss global issues that affects us all. We have a session called early warning session where threats to global economy prices are discussed in a manner that is dispassionate and together we try to find solutions. Nigeria leads the IMF C group where, we represent the 33 African countries and also other African countries in that meeting. And what we try to do is to put those issues of the African continent on the global agenda. On the side of the World Bank, there is a development control meeting, where African countries are represented and currently South Africa leads that. We change our positions every two years but this time South Africa is unable to attend and so Nigeria is representing the African countries on the global committees. Specifically, we have some special discussions that will ensue, three of them that are important to us in Nigeria are one, Governors corner meeting where I will be discussing on domestic revenue mobilisation, there will be other select finance Ministers from other countries. There is also a debt transparency panel that is being chaired by the World Bank President where I will also be speaking as a panelist. There is also human capital development and jobs creation panel where I will also be participating.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr Timipre Sylva on Thursday assured Nigerians that the Federal Government has no immediate plan to remove fuel subsidy. The minister made this known while fielding questions from legislators at a joint session of National Assembly Committees overseeing the oil sector. “This government is not about to remove subsidy because it is difficult; we believe as a government that our people are going through a lot. “We cannot as a responsible government hip another issue of petroleum price hike or removal of subsidy on Nigerians. “It is not on the cards at all, we are just looking at how we can manage it,” he said. Silver said that the official daily consumption rate of petrol in Nigeria does not reflect the actual consumption rate. As reported by Nations, he maintained that government does not believe that Nigerians consume over 60 million litres of fuel daily. According to Silva, there is lot of smuggling and lots of our neighbours are taking advantage of the cheaper price in Nigeria. He said that Nigeria was subsidising for almost half of Africa which was very difficult to manage.The minister said that government was working to close up such leakages and when achieved, the cost of subsidy would be bearable. He said that fixing the refineries would also help to reduce the cost of subsidy and that government was doing lots to get the refineries working again. On the declaration of Anambra as an oil producing state by President Goodluck Jonathan, the minister said that there were lots of things left undone that would have benefited the state.

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) today, trained ICT journalists in Abuja on the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation Law. The training was aimed at the following: Give participants a general overview of the NDPR and other major data protection laws Provide a platform for participants to ask relevant questions on the NDPR implementation and impact on Nigerians Empower participants with adequate knowledge to educate the public on data protection issues. Swift Reporters reports.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management & Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, on Friday disclosed that over 12.85 million Nigerians are presently benefiting from the Social Investment Programmes (SIPs). President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in 2016 introduced the SIPs to reduce poverty in the land. The Minister spoke while flagging off National Social Investments Office (NSIO) — Independent Corrupt Practices and related offences Commission (ICPC) partnership on preventing corruption in the implementation of the National SIPs. The partnership, she said, aligns with the vision of President Buhari’s administration to rid Nigeria of corruption and other forms of sharp practices. The renewed partnership, she said, is a fight against people, who want to sabotage the effort of the Federal Government in its aim of reducing extreme poverty, She said “I am pleased to say that all these programmes have recorded resounding successes, directly impacting the lives of over twelve million Nigerians, with several millions of indirect beneficiaries, whose living standards have significantly improved through the value of chain created by the various Social Protection Initiatives. “On their individual level, there are over 548,000 graduate and non-graduate beneficiaries under the N-Power; while Home-Grown School Feeding Programme has over 9.8 million beneficiaries; Government Enterprise & Empowerment Programme (GEEP) being coordinated by the Bank of Industry, has over 2.1 million beneficiaries from TraderMoni, MarketMoni and FarmerMoni; and Conditional Cash Transfer initiative has almost 400,000 beneficiaries.” Noting that the poverty rate in Nigeria is almost suffocating, she said, that it was reported that over 120 million people would be living in extreme poverty in Nigeria by the year 2030. “The National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) was set up in 2016 to coordinate and supervise all components of the social protection programme namely the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), N-Power and the National Cash Transfer Programme (NCTP). The Nations reports.

According to Tribune, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of N10billion Special Intervention Fund for immediate repairs and upgrade of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu. Mr Femi Adesina, the President’s Spokesman in a statement, said this was the high point of the courtesy call on the President by a delegation of governors and leaders of the Southeast on Thursday at the State House in Abuja. The President said he was aware of the central nature of the airport, which was closed for repairs since Aug. 24, to the socio-economic development of the Southeast. President Buhari said he was aware of the infrastructure deficits all over the country occasioned by lack of judicious use of available resources in the past. However, according to him, his administration is working on making a remedy to this situation. He said: “We are trying our best to make sure that infrastructure rehabilitation is carried out very quickly. “I personally firmly believe that if we get infrastructure correct, the roads, rail, power, most Nigerians will mind their businesses, they will not even care about who is in government.

The Federal Government is considering introducing excise duties on carbonated drinks, according to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed. Ahmed gave the indication in an interview with newsmen on Thursday on the side-lines of the ongoing World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in Washington DC, United States. She said the idea was one of other areas, besides the proposed increase in VAT, that the government was looking at to broaden its revenue base. As reported by Tribune, the minister explained that the government was working hard to ensure efficiency in existing revenue streams while searching for new ones. She said the government would consult with all stakeholders on the proposal in line with standard policy formulation process. “Any tax that you are introducing will involve a lot of consultations and also amendments of some laws or introduction of new regulations,” she said. Carbonated drinks include soft drink brands such as Coca Cola, Sprite and Fanta, while excise duty is a tax levied on locally produced goods.