Aso Villa Reads for 21/5/2019

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

“In line with efforts to reposition the mining and steel sector, the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Hon. Abubakar Bawa Bwari has said the federal government will continue to collaborate with international financial partners to revamp the sector”. This Day reports that the minister “reiterated the commitment of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to give the mining sector the desired priority that would enhance sustainable economic growth. Bwari, informed the team that funding had been one of the major factors mitigating against the development of the sector, but noted the interest of the bank to fund mining in the country was a welcome development. While thanking the team for their visit, the minister said: “One of the potent areas we are looking forward to is funding, and I am sure that you are going to be a pace setter when it comes to funding mining operation in Nigeria.” The minister assured the Executive Secretary, Solid Mineral Development Fund, Hajia Fatima Shinkafi, who facilitated the visit and the team that the federal government would give the necessary support ensuring that the collaboration bring about the desired result. The leader of the team Mr. Mark Buncombe, who is equally the Global Sector Head, Mining and Metals, Standard Bank, informed the minister that the main purpose of their visit was to explore areas of collaboration with government in the Mining sector of the country.”

According to This Day “the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, Monday, cleared the air on the last tranche of the Paris Club refunds, saying the sum of N691.560 billion has already been disbursed to states since March 2019 by the Central Bank of Nigeria after verification. The clarification followed some media reports last weekend that the federal government was set to release N691.560 billion as outstanding and final payment of the Paris Club refunds to the states. Addressing a press conference in Abuja last Thursday, Ahmed had stated: “For the final phase of the Paris Club debt refunds, the total sum of N649.434 billion was verified by the ministry as the outstanding balance to be refunded to the state governments. The payments made by the CBN as at March 2019, is N691.560 billion. The increase in CBN payments partly arose from exchange rate differential at the point of payment. Although, some States still have outstanding balances, which will be refunded, in due course,” she said. However, in a statement issued in Abuja, Monday by her media aide, Paul Ella Abechi, the minister noted that there was no more tranche of Paris Club refunds to be disbursed to states, “because the money has already been disbursed in March 2019.”

“The Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Monday approved a new import levy for sustainable financing of Nigeria’s membership subscription in the African Union, AU.” According to Vanguard, “the Federal Government also approved an extension of a Central Bank of Nigeria intervention that will be used to support the power sector specifically the generation arm of the sector. The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the weekly FEC meeting presided over by the Vice president, Yemi Osinbajo at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja. Ahmed said the FEC approved a rate of 0.2 percent as the new import levy on Cost, Insurance and Freight, CIF that will be charged on imports coming into Nigeria from AU countries. She explained that there are some exceptions on goods originating outside the territory of member countries. According to him, “The federal executive council meeting approved a new import levy for sustainable financing of Nigeria’s membership subscription in the African Union. It approved a rate of 0.2 percent as a new import levy on Cost, Insurance, and Freight (CIF) that will be charged on imports coming into Nigeria but with some exceptions.”

Tribune reports that “the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved an extension to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention fund for power Generating Companies (GenCos) in the country. Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, who disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the council meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja on Monday, said the aim was to continue to support the power sector. She said: “Council also approved an extension of a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention that will be used to continue to support the power sector specifically the generation arm of the sector.” “This is based on a commitment that we signed into as a country, where we have several guarantees to the Generation Companies (GenCos) to bridge any gap that they have after the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) has settled them.” The minister explained that the approval was to enable the power companies to take care of the shortfalls after they have been settled by the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET).

According to Herald, “the Federal Executive Council at its extra-ordinary session on Monday presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo approved N3.8 billion for the execution of various projects in the FCT. The Minister of the FCT, Malam Muhammed Bello, who made the disclosure at the end of the meeting, held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, named the approved projects as the construction of the School of Science, Zuba at a cost of N701 million. He said that N1.9 billion was for the rehabilitation of the failed walkways in the Wuse District with a completion period of 12 months. Bello stated that the council approved N189 million for the preparation of the Electricity Master Plan for phase IV of the FCT with a completion period of 10 months. “The third contract is the design of infrastructure for what we call the institution and research district which is in phase III of the Federal Capital City at a cost of N197 million. The fourth is engineering design of infrastructure for Sector G and H in Phase III of the Federal Capital City, awarded at a cost of N118.575 million with a completion period of six months. The fifth is for the design of inter-septic sewage line for the federal capital city in the sum of N125 million. The next one is the contract for the construction of the School of Science at the permanent site of the FCT College of Education, Zuba at a cost of N701 million with a completion period of 42 weeks.”

“Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.01 per cent at the end of first quarter of 2019, according to a report released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The NBS, in its “Nigeria GDP Report for First Quarter 2019’’, said the figure is 0.12 per cent higher than the growth rate of 1.89 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2018. However, when the figure is compared with fourth quarter of 2018, real GDP growth rate declined by -0.38% points.” According to New Telegraph’s report, “the Aggregate GDP stood at N31,794,085.85 million in nominal terms. “This aggregate was higher than in the first quarter of 2018, which recorded N28,438,604.23 million, representing a yearon- year nominal growth rate of 11.80%. The aggregate was, however, lower than in the preceding quarter of N35,230,607.63 million, by -9.75%. The nominal GDP growth rate in Q1 2019 was higher than the rate recorded in Q1 2018 by 2.54% points,” the report stated. The agency said in the first quarter of 2019, average daily oil production stood at 1.96 million barrels per day (mbpd), lower than the average daily production of 1.98mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2018 by -0.02mbpd, but higher than the fourth quarter 2018 production volume by 0.05mbpd.”

“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday said it has withdrawn 25 Certificates-of-Return issued to some candidates that won the 2019 general elections, following court orders. The Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Mr Festus Okoye, said this at a ‘Forum on Media Coverage of 2019 General Elections’ held in Enugu on Monday, NAN reports. Okoye stated that 20 of the 25 certificates-of-return were withdrawn from All Progressive Congress (APC) members to other APC members; while two from People Democratic Party (PDP) members were withdrawn and issued to other PDP members. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday said it has withdrawn 25 Certificates-of-Return issued to some candidates that won the 2019 general elections, following court orders. The Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Mr Festus Okoye, said this at a ‘Forum on Media Coverage of 2019 General Elections’ held in Enugu on Monday, NAN reports. Okoye stated that 20 of the 25 certificates-of-return were withdrawn from All Progressive Congress (APC) members to other APC members; while two from People Democratic Party (PDP) members were withdrawn and issued to other PDP members. He said that the other three were withdrawn from APC and PDP; and given to other political parties. “Before we left INEC national headquarters on Friday; the commission has withdrawn 25 certificates-of-return from the first owners to their new owners following court orders to do that,” he said. Okoye, however, lauded the media for its openness and robust engagement with the commission before, during and after the election, adding that the media had become critical stakeholders for the success of future elections.” Daily Post reported this.

According to Business Day, “Nigeria’s increased use of technology and constant development of software solutions is working in favour of the country. This is as other African countries — the Gambia, Ethiopia and Kenya are currently understudying the successful implementation of Nigeria’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) and are engaging with local payment service providers and Fintech players to help provide technology expertise in the same area. Following the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommendation, Momodou-Lamin-Bah, accountant general of the Gambia, and his delegation have been in Nigeria over the last two weeks engaging with industry players, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Accountant General of Nigeria, understudying the success and challenges of Nigeria’s TSA, prior to the implementation of a similar model in the Gambia. Momodou-Lamin-Bah, who spoke to select journalists at the CBN office in Lagos on Monday, said, “The technology is still a challenge in the Gambia for now. We would need to work on the technology, especially payment platform gateway and that is why we are here. We have brought this to the attention of our hosts and we have requested for their support. We have requested that the accountant general’s department in Nigeria provide some support including technical support to the Gambia so that we can also implement a TSA in a very successful way. We learnt about the success that Nigeria has registered in this area and we have also reviewed some literature by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which used Nigeria’s experience as a case study on their capacity building on PFM. So, we decided to come and learn from Nigeria, how they have been successful with their approach and learn how they have been able to deal with challenges faced to know exactly what we should avoid and what we should focus more on so that we would be better prepared to implement our own TSA in the Gambia.”