Aso Villa Reads for 20/10/2018
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
This Day reports that “the National Economic Council (NEC) yesterday urged the 36 State Governors to declare state of emergency in the education sector of their respective states to address the rot in the sector. The call was made at the end of the NEC meeting presided over by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo at the State House Villa, Abuja yesterday. Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu who briefed State House Correspondents on the decision said it was sequel to the consideration of an interim report of an ad-hoc committee on the National Education Policy, Prospects, Challenges and Way Forward of the education sector.”
“The Federal Government, through the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), has approved the construction of Ikwe-Onna Refinery to be located in Ikwe, Onna Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The Approval To Construct (ATC) license for the modular refinery was conveyed to the investor in a letter with reference No:DPR/E&S/FAC/6239/S.308/V.2/23 and dated October 15, 2018. Daily Trust reports that “a copy of the approval letter and the refinery project schedule seen by Daily Trust shows the refinery capacity to be 5,000 barrels per day .The project, which is estimated to cost $60m, is expected to be commissioned November, 2019. The ATC was issued following the satisfactory attainment of the requirements for the license. In Nigeria, there are three stages of licencing for the establishment of private refineries: Licence to Establish (LTE), Approval to Construct (ATC) and Licence to Operate (LTO).”
Guardian reports that “a new projection for power generation nationwide was yesterday put at 9000 Mega Watts (MW) effective first quarter of 2020. Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, shared this optimism at the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce meeting in Lagos, saying power generation had steadily rose by 1000MW average per year, since 2015 till date. Fashola, who was addressing businessmen, politicians and technocrats, scored the sector high in the last three years against the backdrop of current 7000MW with more prospects of additions to the grid ahead of the 2020 projection.” The report mentioned that the Minister Fashola “said though the challenges are still enormous, the task of achieving stable power supply nationwide is achievable with more hard work and support from stakeholders, especially the private sector. With the privilege of travelling nationwide to visit all the power plants in the country, the minister said progress of the power sector is best measured between where Nigeria was in 2015 and the current power generation, transmission and distribution indices. Today, according to Fashola, power generation has increased from 4000MW in 2015 to 7000MW and “that power is available as we are averaging 1000MW per year in incremental worth”.”
“The National Economic Council (NEC) says Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account stood at over 2.09 billion dollars as at Oct. 16. Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, said this while briefing State House correspondents after NEC meeting on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Abubakar said that the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, gave the update on the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), Excess Crude Account, Stablisation Fund Account and Natural Resources Development Account. “She presented a budget estimate for the FAAC meetings of 2018; usually these budgets estimates are prepared by the Office of Accountant General and tabled before the NEC for approval. “A total budget of N650 million was approved for the conduct of the FAAC meetings for 2018, later on the minister gave update of the Excess Crude Account as at Oct. 16, 2018 which stood at 2.09 billion dollars.” This is according to Daily Trust.
Business Day (Friday 19, 2018, page 6) reported that “about 69.3 percent of Nigeria’s N8.3 trillion total pension asset is currently in Federal Government Securities, according to the National Pension Commission (PENCOM). This indicates a total of N5.78 trillion investment in Federal Government Securities. A breakdown of the figure indicates that N4.22 trillion is invested in FGN bonds; N1.949 trillion in government’s treasury bills; agency bonds consisting of investments in Federal Mortgage Bank (FMBN) and Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) totalled N10.91 billions; Suck bonds also received N53.15 billion investments, while N6.96 billion is invested in Green Bonds.”
Daily Trust reports that “winners of the 2018 joint All On — United States African Development Foundation (USADF) Off-Grid Energy Challenge were announced yesterday at the Nigerian Off-Grid Energy and Innovators Summit 2018, held at the All On office in Ikoyi, Lagos. A statement said the Off-Grid Energy Challenge was a joint effort by the USADF and All On to develop, scale-up or extend the use of renewable off-grid energy technologies to reach communities not served by existing power grids. Through the challenge, USADF provided $50,000 in seed capital, while All On provided $50,000 in convertible debt to selected energy enterprises. In addition to funding, the winners will also receive technical assistance from USADF and governance support from All On. “We are proud to partner with All On to foster the growth of local enterprises to bring power and connectivity to under-served Nigerians,” said C.D. Glin, USADF’S president and CEO.”
“Federal Government is to create more desks and deploy more personnel to fast track the ongoing verification exercise of former workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways Ltd. in Lagos. Dr Mohammed Dikwa, Secretary, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), gave the assurance on Thursday while monitoring the exercise at the Skypower Aviation Catering premises at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. The verification exercise for the ex-workers of the national carrier, which was liquidated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime in 2004, began on October 15. The exercise is being conducted by PICA in Lagos, Kano and Enugu ahead of the disbursement of the N22.6 billion approved as part payment of their entitlements by the federal government. Dikwa, who noted the concerns of the aged pensioners, said apart from increasing the number of PICA staff, arrangements had also been put in place to increase the personnel of the anti-graft agencies participating in the verification.” Daily Independent reported this.
“The Brazilian Ambassador to Nigeria, Ricardo Guerra de Araujo, says Brazil will soon inject 1.1 billion dollars into Nigeria’s agriculture. The envoy said on Thursday night in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that an agreement between Brazil and Nigeria on that would be concluded by the end of October. The ambassador spoke at a dinner to sensitise Nigerians to an agriculture programme — Agritech Nigeria — organised by the Osun Government.” According to Guardian the Ambassador said that “Brazil will help to transform Nigeria’s agriculture with the fund by establishing tractor assembly plant in Bauchi State. He said that sustainable use of tractors and modern technology for farming in Nigeria would boost productivity. He added that mechanised agriculture would enhance value addition, food systems development and other opportunities for farmers. The ambassador told NAN that mechanisation of agriculture would reduce hard labour and labour shortages and improve timeliness of agriculture operations. According to him, it will also improve efficiency in the use of resources, enhance market access and help in mitigating climate-related hazards.”
“The African Development Bank has approved a $50 million line of credit to Nigeria’s Fidelity Bank Plc to support small and medium sized, and women-owned enterprises in selected transformative sectors, including close to a hundred SMEs in manufacturing, health and education. Approved by the Bank’s Board, the facility is fully dedicated to financing micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs), with a minimum of 30 percent going to women-owned enterprises. The loan will enhance Fidelity Bank’s liquidity and help meet the demand for medium-term funding to players in the target sectors, contributing to improved quality of lives, job and wealth creation and tax-revenue generation. A statement from the Bank yesterday said the facility complements the Government of Nigeria’s long-term development strategy, as espoused in its Vision 20:2020 agenda. Aligned with Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017–2020 (ERPG), the funding will ultimately boost enterprise competitiveness and expand Nigeria’s economic base”. Daily Trust reported this.
“Federal government said it would soon commence the payment of N5000 to vulnerable poor Nigerians in three states, using the newly introduced financial services of the Nigeria Postal Services (NIPOST) for the cash transfer. The government said the package is under the present administration’s social welfare programme to help the poor and the needy in the society. Under the new contract, NIPOST is expected to dispense the N5,000 cash to the poor in three states including Nasarawa, Benue and Anambra. Bisi Adegbuyi, postmaster general and chief executive officer of NIPOST, made the disclosure in Oyo town at the occasion of 2018 World Post Day celebration. He said NIPOST was able to win the contract due to its innovative programme and use of technology to advance its services to the people across the country. He said:”For instance, the National Cash Transfer Office which caters for the vulnerable, the poor in the society awarded NIPOST the job to transfer cash to the poor . They give them N5000, every month, and because NIPOST has transformed and leveraging on technology, we were awarded the cash disposal of N5000 in Benue, Nasarawa and Anambra.” This is according to Guardian.
According to Business Day (Friday 19 2018, pages 1&34) “Nigeria is now the fastest growing Airbnb market in Africa. The platform, which allows home owners to earn extra income from hosting guests in their spare rooms for specific period has seen a significant growth of 213 percent in Nigeria in the last five years, making it the fastest growing market in Africa. The Airbnb platform offers alternative accommodation option and homestay experience to guest who ordinarily would have stayed in hotels. Chris Lehane, global head public policy and public affairs company. The reports also ranks Nigeria as second, among African countries , with the largest number of premium consumers.”
”The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) paid federal pensioners under the defined benefit scheme about N23.45 billion in the third quarter of 2018. The Directorate’s monthly pension payments seen by Daily Trust showed that the payments were maid between July and September. Analysis of the payments showed that the Directorate paid the beneficiaries N7.16 billion as pension, (including an arrears of N109.58 million paid to 239 parastatals pensioners) in July. In August, the Directorate paid about N9.50 billion to the pensioners and this included arrears of N2.35 billion paid to 7,838 civil service pensioners and N21.30 million also paid to 65 parastatals pensioners as arrears”. According to the report, “In September, the Directorate paid about N7.79 billion to the pensioners and the payment also included an arrears of N7.47 million paid to 50 parastatals pensioners. Further analysis showed that the bulk of the payment went to retirees under the Parastatals Pension Department of the Directorate. About N12.45 billion was paid to pensioners under the Parastatals Pension Department within the three-month period.”
