Aso Villa Reads for 30/09/2019
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
According to THISDAY, President Muhammadu Buhari Monday in Abuja promised to adequately fund the judiciary, a few days after the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, alleged that paucity of funds was crippling the judiciary. The president said adequate funding of the nation’s judicial system would enable it to effectively discharge its responsibilities. He also said it was the collective responsibility of the three arms of government to ensure fair justice delivery and as well as safeguard the rights of all Nigerians. A statement by the president’s media adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, said the president made the remarks while commissioning the annex building of the headquarters of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), in Garki, Abuja. The event coincided with the valedictory session for President of the NICN, Justice Babatunde Adejumo. Adesina said the president recalled how his administration had increased the budget of judiciary from N68billion in 2014 to N100 billion at present and promised to sustain the trend. ‘‘You will all recall that in 2014, the entire budgetary allocation to the judiciary was N68 billion. ‘‘Today, the judiciary budgetary allocation has gone up to N100 billion. Rest assured that we shall continue to adequately fund the judiciary to ensure it is enabled to discharge its responsibilities,” he quoted him as saying.
According to THISDAY, Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State has expressed appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari over the official approval for the Bakassi Deep Sea Port. Ayade spoke with State House correspondents after a private meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He said that the Bakassi Deep Port, started by his administration, would be of immense economic benefit to the state and Nigeria in general. Ayade said that the Super Highway, which he initiated, would provide a link between the North and Bakassi Deep Sea Port and boost transportation of farm produce. “Every one of you should thank President Muhammadu Buhari for me; thank the Transport Minister; thank the Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority; thank the permanent secretary, Ministry of Transport, thank the Minister of Finance for the approval of the Bakassi Deep Sea Port. “We have got the official approval for the Bakassi Deep Sea Port Outline Business Case, which means that the Nigerian government has now officially recognised the Bakassi Deep Sea Port and has given us the impetus to go for the full business case. “The Bakassi Deep Sea Port is the only port in Nigeria that has an evacuation corridor; so you have a port in Bakassi with a six-lane super highway taking you direct to Northern Nigeria. “So, what Cross River State is trying to do is take the Atlantic Ocean closer to Northern Nigeria; the whole idea is that the Northern part of Nigeria particularly, the North-east and North-west cannot see the desired prosperity unless they get access to the deep sea port.”
As reported by THISDAY, the Calabar Port Complex, located in Cross Rivers State has received its maiden Marguisa Shipping Line’s container vessel, several years after its concession. The port has suffered patronage of container liners due to draft limitations on the channel. Currently, Calabar channel has a draft of 6.4 meters at high tide, but requires Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) to complete the dredging to the advertised draft of 9.4 meters to attract regular and bigger tonnage.But the berthing of the MV Boreas in Calabar signified a milestone achieved through the strategic marketing of Ecomarine Terminals Limited, a terminal concessionaire in Calabar port. The vessel has length of 116.23 meters, Gross Tonnage of 6569 and Net Tonnage of 2874. Built in 2007, the vessel working for a Spain based Marguisa, came with both laden and empty containers and securely anchored at ECM Terminals at about 13.27 HRS. The General Manager, ECM, Diran Akorede, who confirmed this in a statement said, “The berthing of the container vessel at our facility recently was the crowning moment of the several marketing efforts to attract a liner service to Calabar over the years.” He acknowledged the partnership they have enjoyed with NPA over the years, especially the commitment of the Managing Director of NPA, Ms Hadiza Bala-Usman, who he noted from inception of her tenure has given priority attention to resolving some of the key challenges that have bedevilled the port. He also emphasised the need for her to ensure the completion of the dredging. According to him, “In October last year, we had preliminary discussion with Marguisa representative on possibility of commencing calls to Calabar. To make the call viable to Marguisa, we made several concessions on rates and co-opted other stakeholders into the efforts followed with road shows to sensitise potential clients. The maiden call of the vessel was the outcome of such efforts spearheaded by Ecomarine in conjunction with Marguisa,” .
THISDAY reports that the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman, has stated that the authority is commitment to the optimal utilisation of the eastern ports in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s Ease of Doing Business policy. She made this known when members of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc committee on Ports and Habours paid her a working visit in Lagos. The NPA boss added that the management of the NPA was working with all relevant stakeholders towards tackling the challenges that hamper patronage of the ports. She enumerated issues that discourage vessel owners from patronising the eastern ports to include: the level of insecurity on the waterways, shallow depths which hinder the movement of big vessels as well as the problems of poor access roads and rail linkages to ports in these areas. On the issues of draught limitations, Bala-Usman, explained that following the approval of the contract by the Federal Executive Council last year, dredging works have been completed on moving the Warri channel draft to 7.5m while consultants have been engaged to advise on level of investments needed to improve the infrastructural capacity of the port in Port Harcourt.
