Aso Villa Reads for 21/10/2019

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

According to This Day, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Richard Adebayo, has conducted the induction of 152 inspectors to facilitate weights and measurement standards in the Nigerian trading space. He charged the inspectors to be professional in their dealings and ensure standards of trade facilities are maintained The minister said: “Today the ministry is inducting 152 weights and measurement inspectors in line with the provisions of Section 9 of the weights and measurement act which states that non one shall attain to weighing or measuring by all means, except he holds a certificate from the superintendent that he has sufficient knowledge and skill for the proper performance of duty. “Therefore to enhance standards, you are task is to ensure compliance and adherence to metrological and measurement standards as you’re now certified inspectors and legal metrology officers of weights and measures.”

According to This Day, the Managing Director, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Alhaji Usman Gur, has said that the federal government in collaboration with international donor agencies has set aside over $1.61 billion to ensure constant power supply in the country. Gur, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the TCN, revealed this on Sunday in Kano while briefing newsmen at the Kumbotso power sub-station. According to him, the project will be carried out under the Transmission Rehabilitation Expansion Programme. “We are rehabilitating and expanding to degree 20,000 megawatts by 2022 across the country,” he said. He noted that the federal government has already earmarked about N32 billion to compensate Nigerians whose lands, houses and farms could be affected by the right-of-way to create power lines for the execution of the project. “The total amount that we are going to pay for compensation across the country is about N32 billion and the total project cost is $1.61 billion. The project will be supported by various international donors.”

According to This Day, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, has said that achieving the task of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision, would require initiatives that would prevent and eliminate third party corruption in the National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP). She said steps must also be taken to ensure that all poverty alleviation strategies and programmes remained strengthened and devoid of infractions that could undermine the present administration’s ongoing efforts to empower the poor and vulnerable Nigerians. The minister spoke at a media briefing and formal launch of the National Social Investment Office (NSIO) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Commission (ICPC) partnership on preventing corruption in the implementation of N-SIPs held over the weekend. She added that collaborative engagement between the NSIO and ICPC had become crucial in order to rid the scheme of allegations of corruption which tends to limit the success of the poverty alleviation efforts of the present administration.

As reported by Sun News, the Federal Government has signed an agreements with seven renewable energy investors under the World Bank-funded Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) to provide grants for power projects. Present at the signing of the deal which took place at the weekend at Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, were officials of international donor agencies and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA). The deal provides an Output Based Fund (OBF) for the sale of solar home systems to homes and businesses in Nigeria and the Performance Based Grant (PBG) for the deployment of mini grids to unserved and underserved communities. Following a thorough procurement process, the first six companies to be signed to the OBF are A4&T Integrated Services Limited, ASOLAR Systems Nigeria Limited, Txtlight Power Solutions Limited (Lumos Nigeria), Greenlight Planet, Smarter Grid International and Solar Energy. With these grants, the companies will play a major role in enabling the NEP Solar Home Systems (SHS) component to achieve its goal of electrifying one million Nigerian households in five years using renewable energy solutions. On the other hand, PowerGen Renewable Energy has signed for the PBG under the NEP Mini Grids component. Under this partnership with REA, PowerGen will deploy mini grids to Rokota community, Niger State.

The Federal Government has pledged its full support for the successful hosting of the 2019 All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA), as the country prepares to host the glamorous event in Lagos from Nov.20 to Nov. 23. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the pledge in a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday. ”When you look at the All Africa Music Awards, it’s one of the biggest awards for the music industry in Africa, and what government has done in the past is to provide the enabling environment for the awards to take place. ”We provided support services for AFRIMA, we gave them the backing they need and I think it’s on record that the AFRIMA editions that have been held in Nigeria have been among the most successful. ”This year again, we are ready to partner AFRIMA professionally, give them the maximum support such as effective media coverage and also help them in reaching out to other critical stakeholders,” the Minister said. He said part of the reasons why Nigeria has successfully hosted the music awards is because the country has relaxed its visa regime, with the visa on arrival policy, thus making it easier for people to come in. Guardian reports.

In its determination to make rail transport a viable means of revenue generation, the federal government has taken delivery of additional trains from China. The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who disclosed this on his Twitter Account @ ChibuikeAmaechi, said the first batch of the consignment included two motored cars and four locomotives. He said the trains will service the ever-busy Abuja — Kaduna rail line, as well as the Lagos-Ibadan corridor. According to the Minister, work has since commenced on the second batch of trains to be delivered, as soon as they were ready. According to Amaechi, the federal government remained irrevocably committed to connecting the entire country by rail. The development comes amid concerns of inadequate coaches to service the growing number of commuters, especially on the Abuja — Kaduna rail line. Writing from Qisuyan district, Changzhou, China, where he had test-ran the trains, Amaechi said: “Yesterday, I test-ran and took delivery of more trains in China to service the Abuja-Kaduna and Lagos-Ibadan rail lines.” Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has assured of the Federal Government’s commitment to the renewal of infrastructure across the country, saying Nigerians will sing a new song soon in terms of ease of movement and doing business. Business Day reports.

As reported by This Day, Hadiza Bala Usman, Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), says under her watch, the authority the consolidated revenue funds (CRF) of the agency improved from N18 billion to N30 billion. Usman said her goal is to make the NPA transparent and accountable in its procedures. She listed transparency and accountability in the agency among her achievements. “My achievements, I think, is for me to entrench transparency and accountability in our procedures. Demystify governance and provide stakeholders with an in-road to understand what it is that we do, ” she said. “Also, you look to ensure full compliance on regulations and third-party contractors that may not have been complying with regulations or contractual obligations. “So we have been enforcing that. For example, the audit; we inherited a full backlog of audited financial statements, and we within the three years, have been able to clear up the entire backlog. We have our current audit for 2018 currently being done, and I would say, this is the first time that the Nigerian Port Authority is catching up on its audit. “In other areas, I would speak to our contributions to the Consolidated Revenue Funds (CRF). When we inherited it, we had a contribution of about N18 billion, but we remitted N30 billion in 2017, N30 billion in 2018. “These are clear differentials since my joining Nigerian ports. If you look at an N18-billion contribution to CRF, and then a N30-billion contribution, you can see that there is a huge difference.”

Maryam Uwais, the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, says 620,947 poor and vulnerable Nigerians are benefiting from the National Cash Transfer initiative. Mrs Uwais, in a statement on Saturday in Abuja, said that reports claiming that 6.6 million poor and vulnerable Nigerians were benefiting from the scheme were “not correct.” Media reports had quoted the presidential aide as saying that 6.6 million people were being paid the N5,000 monthly stipend. The programme is a key component of the National Social Investment Programme of the federal government. “Although 1,491,296 households, comprising 6,056,872 individuals have been captured on the National Social Register, only 620,947 of them are currently receiving the monthly payments and are being supported by trained community facilitators. “I also want to clarify reports making the rounds that the Federal Government made a budgetary provision of N30 billion for 2020, as against the usual 500 billion benchmark for the N-SIP since 2016.” Premium Times reports.

Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has assured of the Federal Government’s commitment to the renewal of infrastructure across the country, saying Nigerians will sing a new song soon in terms of ease of movement and doing business. Fashola, who made the declaration while playing host to a United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) delegation led by the Representative to ECOWAS and regional director, Nigeria Regional Hub, Jean Bakole, who paid him a courtesy visit, said the massive renewal of the nation’s roads, bridges, rails, airports, and seaports meant that “in the shortest possible time Nigerians will sing a new song.” The minister noted that work had already started in those areas across the country, pointing out that most of the infrastructure had already been upgraded while some roads had been either completed or nearing completion, adding that in those sections where work had been completed, movement of goods and services had become easier as being testified to by commuters. According to the minister, although some of the road projects are yet to start, those already completed have brought with them better travel experience in terms of the ease of doing business, adding that better experience in the movement of goods and services would translate to industrial growth and development. Business Day reports.

According to People’s Daily, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of the sum of N10billion Special Intervention Fund for immediate repairs and upgrade of the Akanu Ibiam International airport, Enugu. According to a statement made available to newsmen yesterday by Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, this was the high point of the courtesy call on the President by a delegation of governors and leaders of the Southeast yesterday at the Presidential Villa. The President said he was aware of the central nature of the airport, which was closed for repairs since August 24, to the socio-economic development of the Southeast. He also said he was aware of the infrastructure deficits all over the country occasioned by lack of judicious use of available resources in the past. Buhari however declared that his administration was working on remedying this situation. “We’re 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 would not even care who is in government. But when you deny them infrastructure, it will be difficult for them to compete and move across the country and regions. He appealed to the governors to explain this position to their people. “Please, have the courage to continue to explain to your constituencies whenever they feel that there is laxity in government effort to rehabilitate infrastructure.”