Aso Villa Reads for 19/2/18
Every day, we bring you the best stories the media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria.
Daily Trust reports that the President Muhammadu Buhari- led administration has been commended by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) “for its commitment to developing the nation’s tourism sector.” According to the report, “Secretary-General of the UNWTO, Mr Zubab Pololikashvili gave the commendation in Madrid, Spain at a joint news briefing addressed by him and the Nigeria Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.” The Minister “was at the UNWTO headquarters in Madrid for the signing of Agreement between Nigeria and the organisation on the hosting of the Conference of UNWTO Commission for Africa. Pololikashvili said the UNWTO had been following development in Nigeria with regards to attention given to the tourism and creative sector in the diversification agenda of the government. He said that Nigeria “has all it takes’’ to become the flagship of tourism in Africa and the UNWTO would work with the minister to improve and develop the sector”.
Business Day (Monday, 19th February 2018, Page 28) reported that “Yemi Kale, the Statistician General at National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has predicted the growth rate for Nigeria in 2018 at 2–3 percent arising from increased spending by the government as election draws near. Kale explained that a full year growth of 0.8 to 1.0 percent is anticipated in 2018. He also added that trade balance would come under pressure following growing uncertainty as the country approaches 2019 which might keep growth and recovery muted.”
“The World Bank on Friday announced a $486 million International Development Association credit to support the rehabilitation and upgrade of Nigeria’s electricity transmission substations and lines. The spokesperson of the World Bank in Nigeria, Olufunke Olufon, said the approved credit would help increase the power transmission network and enable electricity distribution companies supply consumers with additional power.” Daily Trust reported this.
According to Business Day (Monday, 19th February 2018, Page 28), “the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, stated during the Business Day Economic Outlook for 2018 in Lagos that Nigeria government is set to build a new world class trade zone and also upgrade the previous two zones to world class standard. He added that the Federal Government is planning to build new industrial zones elsewhere, including Calabar and Kano, through a public-private partnership model.”
Herald, reported that “the Federal Government is set to construct six ultra-modern prisons in the six geo-political zones of the country. Minister of Interior, Abdurahman Dambazau disclosed on Friday at the ground-breaking ceremony of a 3,000-capacity prison at Janguza in Tofa Local Council Area of Kano State. He said that the new prisons would boost the welfare of inmates by providing them with humane environment and facilities as the prisons are in line with the United Nations minimum standard of prisons which was obtained from collaborative efforts of federal and state governments.”
“The Director General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Patience Oniha, stated during an Economic Outlook 2018 Conference by Business Day tagged ‘Navigation from Recovery to Growth’ that the sovereign debt incurred by the Nigerian Government is promoting the economic recovery of the country. She stressed that the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) initiative of the Federal Government is set to help put the economy in a better position to handle any future external shock that may befall it, like it witnessed when its economy contracted for five consecutive quarters, resulting from the external decline in the price of crude oil and cut in oil production.” Business Day (Monday, 19th February 2018, Page 25) reported this.
According to a report by Daily Sun, “President Muhammadu Buhari will, next month, reward three science students with cash gift of N2.25 million. Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu stated this at the 2018 National Final Examination of the 774 young Nigerian scientists’ presidential award, in Abuja. He noted that the three students would be given N1 million, N750,000 and N500,000, respectively. He restated the commitment of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to encourage young ones to achieve their full potentials in the deployment of science, technology and innovation to drive the nation’s effort to promote economic growth and diversification.”
“Following the escalation in farmers-herders’ clashes across the country, the federal government has launched what it calls ‘Agro rangers’ to help contain the trend.” THIS DAY reported that “the agro rangers are made up primarily of operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and about 2,500 of them have been deployed in the programme in the first instance.”
“The Federal Government has inaugurated two committees to develop policies towards improving workplace safety and health of public servants. The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, who inaugurated the committees in Abuja at the weekend, says the Joint Committee for the Development of a framework for the implementation of the Occupational Safety and Health and the Technical Committee for the Development of the Policy framework on public emergency management have two months to complete their assignment.” According to Daily Sun, “the joint committee has national policy on occupational safety and health and the employees compensation act as a working document, the technical committee is expected to develop the public service emergency management policy.”
“The World Bank, on Thursday approved $486 Million international Development Association (IDA) Credit fund for the improvement of the Nigeria Electricity Transmission Network and infrastructure.” According to Business Day (Monday, 19th February 2018, Page 49), “the project will contribute to ensuring adequate and reliable electricity supply that is necessary for Nigeria’s continued economic development. It will also support private sector participation, capacity development and better governance in Transmission Company of Nigeria and sector institutions. Babatunde Fashola, Minister for Power, Works and Housing explained that the project is part of the Power Sector Recovery Program (PSRP) by the Federal Government, which is a comprehensive package of policy, legal, regulatory, operational and financial interventions that will restore the financial viability of the power sector.”
