Aso Villa Reads for 28/5/2019

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

According to PUNCH “The Federal Government has procured two coaches for the Lagos — Ibadan standard gauge railway. The Chairman, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Mallam Ibrahim Al- Hassan, said the coaches were shipped in from China to start passenger services from Lagos to Ibadan as the laying of tracks had reached 152 kilometres out of the 156-kilometre stretch. Al- Hassan, who made this known during a project inspection at Ologun Eru, on the outskirts of Ibadan, on Thursday, said the two tracks would be completed by the end of July. “The tracks have been laid up to 152 kilometres. It remains four kilometres to complete. The second track stops at 140 kilometres. I believe by the end of July, both tracks would be at the Ibadan station. We want to complete this as quickly as we can,” he said. He explained that once the tracks were completed, the focus would be on other ancillary works such as the ongoing construction of stations and level crossings. Al-Hassan said, “We want to complete this (track laying) as quickly as we can so that other ancillary services could continue and we could put the tracks to use. Laying the tracks is the most important part. Once we have the tracks from Lagos to Ibadan, then when you look at the stations in Lagos, the ones in Abeokuta, they are already making progress. “By the time we finish laying the tracks, we would be able to move passengers from Lagos to Ibadan. Then the intermediary stations can come up later. We can have temporary stations if we need to.”According to the Managing Director, NRC, Mr Fidet Okhiria, more coaches and locomotives will be procured to start operations on the Iju-Ibadan corridor while work continues on the Lagos end up to the Apapa station.”

According to PUNCH “The Debt Management Office will list five Federal Government of Nigeria Eurobonds on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Friday (today). The listing is in line with DMO’s strategy to diversify the funding base of the Federal Government and facilitate private sector participation in the capital market, according to the NSE. The Eurobonds to be listed are the 7.143 per cent, 12-year, $1.25bn FGN Eurobond; the 7.696 per cent, 20-year, $1.25bn FGN Eurobond; the 7.625 per cent, seven-year, $1.118bn FGN Eurobond; the 8.747 per cent, 12-year, $1bn FGN Eurobond, and the 9.248 per cent, 30-year, $0.75bn FGN Eurobond. According to NSE, the Eurobond issuances are expected to spur private sector participation in the Nigerian capital markets as domestic investors stood to gain increased access to instruments in the secondary markets and a widened opportunity for portfolio diversification. “The listing of the Eurobonds will also facilitate the inflow of foreign investment from international fund managers seeking to diversify their portfolios from both asset class and geographical perspectives, augment the domestic savings base and is ultimately expected to lead to more sustainable growth and development of the economy,” it added.”

According to THISDAY “Julius Berger Nigeria Plc has launched a dedicated website, www.second-river-niger-bridge.com for the Second River Niger Bridge project. The objective of the website, according to the company, is to make project progress visible to the general public. Visitors to the site will have access to visually driven content mainly photos and videos reflecting the actual status of construction works along with key facts and regularly updated data relevant to project progress. The Second Niger Bridge is a federal government’s project that is being managed by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing in collaboration with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority. It will bring great relief to the many commuters who currently use the over 50 year old existing bridge. It will also link the great markets of Onitsha and Aba, as well as the industrial hub of Nnewi and beyond, to both the Northern and Southern parts of the country. Upon completion, the project will reduce strain on the current bridge, ease traffic flow, create opportunities for local residents, improve commercial viability of the immediate area and regenerate economic life. The project is expected to be completed by February 2022. The scope of works include the construction of 1.6 km long bridge, 10.3km Highway, Owerri interchange and a toll station.”

According to THISDAY “In a bid to ensure seamless trade between both countries, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Customs administration in Benin Republic have agreed to establish a bilateral connectivity aimed at facilitating trade and. But as both countries plan to forge closer trade ties, economic activity along the Lagos — Badagry expressway, a major road that leads to neighbouring Benin Republic and other West African countries, has been paralysed due to a failed section and illegal checkpoints on the road. The road, which is also very important to residents along that corridor, is now riddled with potholes as transit between Agbara to Badagry that usually takes 30 to 35 minutes now takes four hours. As at the time of filing this report, not less than 21 illegal checkpoints manned by men of the NCS, police are along that stretch. Also, numerous pot holes frustrate commercial activities along the road on a daily basis. THISDAY observed that security personnel manning several checkpoints were issuing identification numbers to commercial vehicles after collecting N300 from each of them per day. An officer with the Seme border Customs told THISDAY that the state of the road has affected the command’s revenue generation drive. The officer who does not want his name in print said transit cargoes now go through Idiroko border instead of Seme border because of the bad road.”

According to PUNCH “Nigeria is among the African countries that will benefit from 3.2 million Swiss francs donated to the African Development Bank by The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of the Government of the Swiss Confederation. A statement on Thursday said SECO and AfDB signed two agreements to fund African initiatives on the sidelines of the Bank’s 2019 Annual Meetings. SECO contributed three million Swiss francs to the Entrepreneurship Lab for innovative young entrepreneurs and 200,000 Swiss francs to the Urban and Municipal Development Fund for Africa, which aims to help African cities plan and manage urban growth and climate-resilient development by improving governance and basic services. The statement described the E-Lab as a component of the AfDB’s ‘Boost Africa’ strategy, that aims to provide innovative young entrepreneurs with financing, technical assistance and broader ecosystem support through incubators, accelerators, fund managers and others. According to the statement, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa had been named as countries that would participate in the pilot of the initiative. “These days, it’s important that partners work together … to put talents together in a complementary fashion … These are two areas which are forward-leaning and positive for the African continent,” Bank Governor for Switzerland, Raymund Furrer, was quoted as saying. Furrer signed the agreements on behalf of SECO at the Sipopo Conference Centre in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea while the bank’s Vice President for Finance and Chief Finance Officer, Bajabulile Tshabalala, signed on behalf of the bank.”

According to PUNCH, “The Bankers Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday said it was set to commence the disbursement of funds under the Creative Industry Financing Initiative The decision to commence the disbursement of funds under the initiative was made at the end of the committee’s meeting held at the CBN headquarters in Abuja. Present at the meeting were Chief Executives of all the Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria as well as other top officials of the apex bank. The CBN had stated that under the CIFI loan initiative, beneficiaries could get up to N500m loans at nine per cent interest rate. It noted that the creative industries that could apply were fashion, Information Technology, movie production, movie distribution, music and software engineering student loan. Addressing journalists shortly after the meeting, the Director, Banking Supervision Department, CBN, Mr Ahmed Abdullahi, said that the decision to support the creative industry was borne out of the committee’s conviction that the sector held the key to job creation, poverty reduction and inclusive growth. He was accompanied to the media briefing by the Managing Director, FBN Quest Merchant Bank, Kayode Akinkugbe; MD, Ecobank, Patrick Akinwuntan; MD, FSDH Merchant Bank, Hamda Ambah; Citibank MD, Akin Dawodu; and Director of Corporate Communications at the apex bank, Isaac Okorafor. Other issues discussed at the meeting include consumer lending, mortgage financing and the need to encourage the culture of savings among Nigerians. Providing more insights into the outcome of the meeting, Akinkugbe urged interested applicants in the creative industry to submit applications to their banks for approval and disbursement. He also urged them to prepare the business plan or statement on how much they required for their businesses. On real estate, he said the committee had decided to unlock the huge liquidity that various people had in the sector.”