Aso Villa Reads for 28/08/18
Every day, we bring you the best stories the media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
Daily Trust reports that “Kainji and Jebba Hydropower Generation Companies (GenCos), operated by Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited (MESL), have delivered an uninterrupted 24 hour electricity supply to seven firms labelled as ‘Eligible Customers’ with a cumulative 1,162.9 Megawatt Hour (MWH) energy capacity. A daily operational report for energy delivery obtained from the Independent System Operation (ISO) arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) shows that the uninterrupted supply was recorded last Friday, August 24, 2018.”
“Two international electricity customers, Niger Electricity (NIGELEC) and Communauté Electrique du Bénin (CEB) have paid $10.104 million (about N3.651 billion) electricity debts they owed Nigeria. An update of electricity payments report released by the Market Operator (MO), a business unit under TCN showed that NIGELEC (Niger) paid $3.788m while CEB (Benin) paid $6.316m totaling $10.104m”. Daily Trust reports that “the breakdown shows the money was paid for two service segments in the Nigerian Electricity Market (NEM) being handled by separate agencies. While the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) got 77.4 percent of the payment amounting to $7.828m (about N2.828m), MO got $2.276m (about N822.432m) representing 22.5 percent of the paid sum. The MO report further disclosed how the N822.4m paid for ancillary services was shared among the five Ancillary Service Providers (ASPs).”
According to Business Day “Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, said on Monday that the government was encouraged by the recent 2.05 percent growth in the non-oil sector for Q2 2018. He attributed the growth to the implementation of policies and programmes under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP)”.
“The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have commenced a process of partnership to strengthen the provision of quick and appropriate emergency medical assistance to disaster victims in the country. A Bilateral Technical Working Group (BTWG) has been established between NEMA and the NMA to draw up details of the working relationship”. Director General of NEMA Engr .Mustapha Maihaja over the weekend “identified the imperatives for the partnership to actively engage members of the association in addressing gaps in the provision of medical supports in the aftermath of disaster incidents. A statement signed by the Head Media and Public relations , Sani Datti said Maihaja stated that 1though there were a number of medical personnel in NEMA, response to disaster situations would always require more professionals “to guide and direct us appropriately.” People’s Daily reported this.
“The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has indicated its readiness to deploy its 40 tank wagons for distribution of 1.8-million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) nationwide if contacted by marketers.” New Telegraph reports that “NRC Director of Operations, Niyi Alli, dismissed reports that the facilities, acquired four years ago to ease the burden on the roads, were lying fallow. He stated that the Corporation had the capacity to lift 900,000 litres of petroleum products at once. If rail is considered by marketers, he noted that 28 heavy duty tankers would be taken away off in one fell swoop, while the cost of transportation would drop by 30 per cent with an accompanying dip in truck breakdown and crashes. The NRC, which is facilitating the revamp of the railway system with $41 billion investment, had ordered the 40 wagons, 20 (each with 45,000-litre capacity) which were delivered in 2012 with the remainders which were taken delivery of in 2013 to create an alternative to road infrastructure.”
A story in This Day reports that “the federal government has released a list of 69 ongoing projects in the south-east. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the list was published in response to criticism by the South East Governors’ Forum. The forum had alleged that there was poor and sectional implementation of capital projects in the region. But the minister disagreed, saying 69 roads and bridges spread across the five states in the South-east are now in different phases of completion. He added that some of the road projects lingered because the previous administrations that awarded them did not release funds while others were poorly funded.”
“In another major round of interventions, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Thursday, August 23 and Friday, August 24, 2018, injected a total sum of $543.22 million and CNY 63.21 million into the inter-bank foreign exchange market. At the Thursdays trading, the Bank offered the sum of $100,000,000 as wholesale interventions and allocated the sum of $55,000,000 to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) forex window. Also, the invisibles window, which caters for customers requiring forex for business/personal travel allowances, tuition and medical fees and others, received $55 million. Similarly, on Friday, August 24, 2018, the Bank injected the sum of $323.22 million into the interbank retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales and sold a total of CNY 63.21 million in the spot and short-tenured forwards, arising from bids received from authorised dealers.” This is according to Business Day (Tuesday 28 August 2018 page 6).
Business Day (Tuesday 28 August 2018 page 7) writes that ”President Muhammadu Buhari will join Chinese and other African leaders to address the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in China, the country’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Zhou Pingjian has said. The summit, billed to hold in September 2018 in Chinese capital, is themed “China and Africa: Toward an Even Stronger Community with a Shared Future through Win-Win Cooperation.” FOCAC is a key platform for the collective dialogue and cooperation between China and African countries .The last summit was held in December 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the Chinese President Xi Jinping announced $60 billion funding support for infrastructural development in Africa.”
“Farmers across the country have applauded the nine per cent interest rate credit policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the agriculture sector, saying it will help boost production if adequately implemented. Some of them who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, called on the CBN to also ensure prompt monitoring of the Commercial Banks to guarantee effective implementation. Business Day (Tuesday 28 August 2018 page A1) reports that under the new policy, agricultural, manufacturing and the sectors considered as growth and employment stimulating, can now borrow long term as much as N10 billion at consolidated nine per cent interest rate. The new credit policy, called Guidelines for Accessing Real Sector Support Facility (RSSF) through Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Corporate Bonds, was released by the CBN in August 23.”
“The Federal Government is to spend the sum of N22,699, 176,016.86 on the rehabilitation of Mayo Belwa-Jada-Ganye-Toungo road in Adamawa State. The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN who was represented by his Minister of State 1, Hon. Mustapha Baba Shehuri and supported by his counterpart, Minister of State 11, Surveyor Suleiman Hassan Zarma, at the Flag-Off Ceremony in Mayo Belwa town, over the weekend, disclosed that the 112km road was due for rehabilitation having been built since 1999.” According to a report in Business Day (Tuesday 28 August 2018 page A1), “Fashola stated that the road, which is presently characterized with failed sections, potholes, alligator cracks, depressions and washouts at the edges, is an important economic route which links and passes through the agriculturally predominant towns of Mararaba, Jamtari Jada, Dashen, Ganye and Toungo. It also leads to the neighbouring Taraba State.”
Leadership reports that “after seven months of fabrication and integration of modules, the $3.3bn Total Egina Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) has finally departed the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) base to the Egina deep-water oilfield, LEADERSHIP can authoritatively report.” Recall that “the Egina FPSO, which was built for Total Upstream Nigeria Limited, (TUPNI) by Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), sailed away from the quay side at Samsung Yard in Geoje, South Korea, on October 31, 2017, arrived Nigeria on January 24th 2018 before sailing away to the oilfield. It was gathered that the FPSO is the largest (330-metres long) ever installed in Nigeria with 200,000 barrels of oil per day left the newly built 500-metre FPSO integration quayside at the SHI-MCI Yard, LADOL Island, Lagos, where the integration of six locally fabricated modules took place.”
