Aso Villa Reads for 21/07/2020
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The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Tuesday met with former President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. At the end of the meeting which started around a few minutes after 11am, the Presidency issued a statement indicating that the meeting centred on the crisis on Mali for which the Economic Community of West African States saddled Jonathan with the responsibility of restoring peace. The statement titled, “President Buhari receives briefing from ex-President Jonathan, to confer with other ECOWAS leaders on Mali crisis”, was signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina. Adesina indicated in the statement that Buhari will be consulting with his colleagues from the sub-region on the briefing he received from Jonathan. The statement read, “President Muhammadu Buhari will consult with key leaders of ECOWAS countries in order to find a solution to the crisis rocking Republic of Mali. The President made the pledge Tuesday while receiving reports from ECOWAS Special Envoy to Mali, former President Goodluck Jonathan. The former President was at State House, Abuja, in company with the President of ECOWAS Commission, Mr Jean-Claude Kassi Brou. We will ask the President of Niger, who is the Chairman of ECOWAS to brief us as a group, and we will then know the way forward,’ President Buhari said. Punch reports.
The Federal Government has through the Ministry of Environment commissioned a cassava processing factory in Korokoro Community, Tai Local Government Area of Rivers. The project, which was executed by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), was part of efforts to restore livelihood in the old devastated Ogoni communities. HYPREP in a tripartite collaboration with International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) had already trained fifteen Ogoni youths in cassava processing and fabrication in March 2019. Speaking, the Minister of Environment, Dr. Mohammed Abubakar, represented by the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Dr. Marvin Dekil noted that the factory is a sustainability package for training and equipping Ogoni Youths in economic skills. Abubakar who lauded the efforts of IITA and SDN, disclosed that HYPREP has developed a plan to group the Youths who would operate the factory into cooperatives to enable them access funds to set up their own business. Vanguard reports.
The Senate on Tuesday received from President Muhammadu Buhari, the 2021–2021 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper. The MTEF/FSP document forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration and approval was accompanied with a letter read during plenary by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan. The letter reads: “It is with pleasure that I forward the 2021–2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) for the kind consideration and approval of the Distinguished Senate. “In line with our commitment, we have worked very hard to achieve an earlier submission of the MTEF/FSP. This is to allow the National Assembly enough time to perform its important constitutional duty of reviewing the framework.” “I herewith forward the 2021–2023 MTEF/FSP as the 2021 budget of the Federal Government will be prepared based on the parameters and fiscal assumptions of the approved 2021–2023 MTEF/FSP. I seek the cooperation of the National Assembly for expeditious legislative action on the submission.” The Senate also on Tuesday received another request from President Buhari for the confirmation of Dr. Chukwuemeka Chukwu as Resident Electoral Commissioner representing Abia State. Vanguard reported.
According to Nairametrics, the Federal Government is set to fix 44 roads with the Sukuk funds raised in the bond market. This was disclosed by the Minister for Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, when the sovereign Sukuk Symbolic cheque of N162.55 billion was presented to him by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed in Abuja. What it means: It means that with the release of N162.557 billion to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, the amount appropriated for Road Projects in 2020 Budget has been fully released. The finance minister explained that with the deployment of the Sukuk funds coupled with other capital releases and various interventions by government, the economy would soon be on the path to economic development. Mrs Ahmed added development of federal infrastructure with the development of rail, roads and power is needed for Nigeria’s economic growth and helps ease of doing business. Fashola added that investors in Nigeria’s Sukuk bonds were mostly fund managers, and it was done through a trust agreement they had with the government. He said the public roads that will benefit from the fund would come from all 6 geopolitical areas, with the North-Central getting eight roads, eight roads for the Northeast, North-West seven roads, South-East five roads, South-South 10 roads, and South-West six roads.
The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared N651.18 billion Federation Account Revenue to the federal, states and local governments councils and relevant agencies for the month of June. Mr Henshaw Ogubike, Director Information, Press and Public Relations of FAAC announced the figures in a statement on Sunday in Abuja. Ogubike said the monthly meeting, which held by virtual conferencing, was chaired by Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris. He explained that the gross statutory revenue available in June was N524.52 billion while the gross revenue from the Value Added Tax (VAT) was N128.826 billion and the revenue from the Exchange Gain was N42.832 billion. This brought the total revenue for the month to N696.18 billion. The director said that from this total, the sum of N45 billion was saved in the excess non-oil revenue account and the balance of N651.184 billion was shared to the three tiers of government and relevant agencies. Daily Trust reported.
The federal government has so far raised some N362.557 billion from three tranches of Sovereign Sukuk, all of which are for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Road Projects across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. Patience Oniha, Director General, Debt Management Office (DMO) announced this Monday in Abuja at the symbolic presentation of N162.557bn cheque to Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing for the funding of Forty-Four (44) key Road Projects in the 2020 Appropriation Act. The N162.557bn cheque — the proceed of the third tranche of the sukuk issued in June was presented by Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning. Recall that the third Sovereign Sukuk, which followed the debut issuance of N100 billion in September 2017 and a second issuance of another N100 billion in December 2018, attracted 446% subscription as investors jostled for the instrument in show of confidence. The proceeds of Sukuk Issuances are project-tied and are used to finance specific projects and that of the latest issuance will be used to finance 44 critical Road Projects across the Six (6) Geopolitical Zones of Nigeria. Oniha said the event was a celebration of successful completion of the Third Sovereign Sukuk and that the strong response by investors indicates confidence in the economy, good market awareness and acceptance of sukuk as a financial product. Business Day reported.
