Aso Villa Reads for 21/11/2019
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
According to PUNCH,the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee on Wednesday shared a total of N702.05bn to the three tiers of government for the month of October 2019. The allocation was confirmed by the Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, at the end the meeting which was held at the headquarters of the ministry of finance. The N702.05bn, according to him, was distributed under three major revenue sources. They are the Value Added Tax, where the sum of N104.91bn was allocated, Exchange Gain where the sum N1.107 was distributed, and Gross Statutory Revenue, which was the distribution of N596.04bn. Out of the N702.05bn, the Federal Government received N295.737bn, states got N192.69bn, and the Local Government Councils N144.98bn. He added that the oil-producing states received N49.16bn, based on the derivation principle of 13 per cent. Also, the AGF said the revenue-generating agencies received N19.47bn being the cost of revenue collection.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the issuance of a Sovereign Guarantee of 500 million Euros (N200bn) from the Credit Suisse AG London Branch and a syndicate of international lenders as collateral for 500m Euro facility to the Bank of Industry (BoI). The Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, who spoke with State House Correspondents yesterday after the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the loan was basically to finance major industrialization projects and micro-small and medium enterprises values chains in Nigeria for up to five years tenure at affordable rates. According to Daily Trust, Agba said the rates are single digit rates, said the guarantor of the loan, to be executed through the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, shall be the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
PUNCH reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has signed Executive Order 009 to end open defecation in the country by 2025.The new order states, among others, “That by this Order, Nigeria is committed to being open defecation-free by 2025. “That the National Open Defecation-Free (ODF) Roadmap developed by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources with support from other key sector players across Nigeria be put into effect.“There is established in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources a National Secretariat called ‘Clean Nigeria Campaign Secretariat.’ “The Secretariat is authorised on behalf of the President to implement this Order by ensuring that all public places, including schools, hotels, fuel stations, places of worship, market places, hospitals and offices have accessible toilets and latrines within their premises. “All Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government shall cooperate with the Clean Nigeria Campaign Secretariat. “The National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly shall enact legislation on the practice of open defecation, with appropriate sanctions and penalties.”
The Federal Government Executive Council has approved a justice sector policy for the country essentially to reform the sector by simplifying access to justice. The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, who spoke on this issue, explained that the policy would ensure “speedy determination of justice” and fairness to all Nigerians. Malami spoke further, “The purpose is to have speedy administration of justice, quality administration of justice and access to justice for all. “That is in a nutshell the justice sector policy that was approved by the council.” The FEC meeting, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, also approved a memo seeking to amend the Geneva Convention Act 2004 to “accord greater access to justice by prisoners of war.” The Geneva Convention is domesticated in Nigeria as Geneva Convention Act Cap G3, of the Law of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. Malami said Nigeria was behind the rest of the world in terms of according prisoners of war certain rights and privileges. The minister explained the purpose of the Geneva Convention, saying, “It is a convention that was designed to provide protection to prisoners of war; to people involved in armed conflicts and associated infractions.“For example, there has been in existence a policy that accords protection to prisoners of war; what you can do to them; the level which you can approach them; the type of protection you can afford to civilians during times of war and conflicts.” Punch reports.
According to DAILY TIMES, the Debt Management Office (DMO) on Wednesday offered N150 billion from three Instruments five- year, 10-year and 30-year bonds for N50 billion each to investors at the auction. The statement issued by DMO in Abuja indicated that the bond Auction by the DMO which took place on Wednesday, Nov. 20, was highly oversubscribed. Why I am challenging my investigation by Lagos Assembly over 820 buses in court- Ambode The DMO explained that the total subscriptions received through Competitive bids for the instruments at the Auction was N252.35 billion, indicating a subscription level of 168.23 per cent. It said that the trend of investors’ appetite for the longer tenored instruments continued with subscription of N115.09 billion or 230.18 per cent for the 30-year Bond. According to the statement, the successful bids are allotted at the rate of 12.0000 per cent for the 5-year, 12.9300 per cent for the 10-year and 13.3900 per cent for the 30-year Bonds. “The allotment rates indicated a significant decline from the rates at which the Bonds were issued at the October 2019 FGN Bond Auction. “The total amount allotted for Competitive Bids was N157.93 billion across the three tenors. In addition, the sum of N95.00 billion was allotted through Non-Competitive Bids for all the tenors at the same rates as the Competitive Bids. Overall, the sum of N252.93 billion is allotted to investors at the auction through both Competitive and Non-Competitive Bids”
The Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (nahco aviance) has posted gross revenue of N7.38billion for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2019. The Company subsequently posted a Profit Before Tax of 973.1 million for the Q3 ended September 30, 2019. The figure is 241.3million higher than the amount for the same period last year for Nigeria’s foremost ground handling company. This represents 32.96 percent increase over the same period last year. Profit After Tax which stood at N782 million for the nine-month period compared favourably with the N601.31 million recorded for the same period in 2018. This translates to a positive 30 percent increase. As reported by Business Day, the performance released by the Company to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that the organization was already reaping from the gains of its transformation programme which commenced at the inception of the present management. Earnings per share stood at 48kobo as at the end of the third quarter of 2019 compared to 37kobo as earnings per share as at the end of the third quarter of 2018. The Board appointed a new management for the Company which early this year embarked on a five — year transformation plan.
