Aso Villa Reads for 27/5/2019
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
Punch reports that “the Securities and Exchange Commission has pledged to work with the steering committee for Project Lighthouse initiative recently inaugurated by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed. The acting Director-General, SEC, Ms Mary Uduk, who commended the initiative, expressed the commission’s support at the weekend in Abuja, according to a statement on Sunday. Uduk stressed the need for collaboration among relevant agencies to assist the government in its revenue generation drive, describing the Project LightHouse as a positive step in that direction. She said, “It is clear that data and information will certainly aid the generation of more revenue and in the long run, all agencies will be better for it as there will be more resources for government to carry out development. Data gathering and sharing is the way to go, especially in this digital age, as when there is available data, information can be shared and that will increase compliance level as well as improve revenue generation.” According to Uduk, low revenue generation is a source of worry as it will be difficult for government to provide critical infrastructure that will encourage investment in the country. She pledged the full cooperation of SEC in ensuring the availability of relevant data when needed by the committee.”
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Sunday announced a total export sale of crude oil and gas of $490m (N150bn at the official exchange rate of N306.9 to a dollar) in February 2019, which was 32.45 per cent higher than the previous month’s sale. Data in the just-released February 2019 edition of the corporation’s monthly financial and operations report showed that crude oil export sales contributed $350.29m (71.48 per cent) of the dollar transactions compared with $240.23m contribution in the previous month. The report stated that the export gas sales amounted to $139.74m in the month under review, adding that the February 2018 to February 2019 crude oil and gas transactions indicated that crude oil and gas worth of $5.94bn was exported. The report announced a 40 per cent drop in recorded cases of oil pipeline vandalism in February 2019, when compared with the reported incidents of January 2019.” This is according to Punch.
“The Chairman, Presidential Task Force on Apapa gridlock, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has called on the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to assist in the implementation of the Presidential Order issued for trucks to vacate ports’ access roads within 72 hours. Osinbajo, who made the call in a meeting held at the NSC’s Headquarters, in Lagos was represented by Mr. Kayode Opeifa. He maintained that the task force was set up by the presidency to proffer lasting solution to the perennial traffic in Apapa and its environs within two weeks. This Day reported that the Vice President maintained that “the new directive mandates the immediate removal of all trucks from ports access roads in which the Nigerian Shippers’ Council and Nigerian Ports Authority are key agencies that would assist the realisation and urged NSC and NPA to rally round the task force. He also expressed readiness to engage the law enforcement agencies to ensure compliance with the federal government’s directive. His Words: “Any truck driver that violate the Presidential’ Order will face the music.” The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Mr. Hassan Bello expressed the agency’s readiness to give the task force the necessary assistance that would see to the realisation of their mandate.”
“The federal government has assured the strategic investment partners and advisers in the Nigeria Special Economic Zone Investment Company Limited (NSEZCO) of its commitment to the development of special economic zones across the country. The assurance was given by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at a meeting with the representatives of the investment partners of NSEZCO, including the African Export-Import Bank, Bank of Industry, Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, Africa Finance Corporation and the African Development Bank and the legal advisers, Aluko & Oyebode. According to a statement, Osinbajo condemned the recent misrepresentations created about NSEZCO in certain sections of the media and regretted the embarrassment this may have caused the investors. He reaffirmed the government’s endorsement of the strategies and plans put in place for the actualisation of the SEZs.” According to This Day, “the VP also assured the investors of the readiness of the Buhari-led administration to offer all the support required to complete their investments in the company. According to Osinbajo, it is the vision and plan of the Buhari administration to be the pre-eminent manufacturing hub in Africa and a major exporter of manufactured products. Osinbajo restated the government’s commitment to Project MINE (Made in Nigeria for Exports), a Presidential Priority Intervention project, using Special Economic Zones to achieve the objectives of boosting manufacturing’s share of GDP to 20 per cent generating $30billion in annual export earnings and creating 1.5 million new jobs in the export-oriented manufacturing value chain.”
Authority NGR reports that “the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says it recovered N26 billion from 2015 till date from public officials and companies. The Chairman of the Commission, Bolaji Owasanoye, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday. He said the recoveries included cash and houses. He said during the process, monies were traced to houses, noting that recently, the commission recovered 32 houses from a civil servant. “There are situations whereby our efforts lead to the recovery of asset, though much has not been done in terms of conviction. Anti-corruption is not measured only by convictions alone. “If you look at our law, for example, it gives us powers to do enforcement which means we can investigate and prosecute. This is what leads to a conviction. “And the biggest part of what we are supposed to do is prevention to stop the crime from happening,” the chairman said. Mr Owasanoye said public officers who had embezzled public funds usually did not act alone but in concert with owners of companies.”
“Those accusing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of operating multiple foreign exchange (forex) rates are wrong, CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele has said. What obtains are multiple foreign exchange (forex) windows, Emefiele said. The CBN boss spoke at the University of Ibadan (UI) Distinguished Leadership Lecture Series, organised by the university in collaboration with the apex bank in Ibadan. The multiple forex windows ensures that forex reaches critical sectors of the economy, he added. Emefiele noted that the naira exchange rate had substantially converged around N360/$1, whether it is in the parallel market, or in the CBN. Emefiele said: “Let me defend multiple foreign exchange. Banks have responsibility to buy and sell foreign exchange to everybody. If I want to travel, whether you have a bank account or not, you should be free to buy foreign exchange for your trip. We saw a situation whereby the CBN allocates forex to a bank, they only sold to their corporate customers where they can make more money and that put pressure on the market. Then we started allocating forex to banks for Personal Travel Allowances and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and corporates, and people said we are doing multiple exchange rates. That is wrong. I agree that we have multiple forex windows, not multiple exchange rates.” The Nation reported this.
