Aso Villa Reads for 30/10/2018

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

A Press statement from the State House disclosed that “Nigeria has left that era in which democratic norms are brazenly subverted, with votes awarded to those favoured by the authorities, and the shortchanged told to go to court if they were not happy. President Muhammadu Buhari stated this Monday while receiving in State House, Abuja, members of the Joint United Nations, African Union and ECOWAS Good Offices Mission on Elections. “I am highly qualified to talk on this, having ended in Supreme Court three times, after participating in elections with disputed results. Where will a man looking for where his next meal would come from, have money to hire lawyers, particularly senior advocates?” the President said. He assured that the 2019 polls would be free and fair, submitting: “The President has only one vote, governors have a vote each, just like anybody else. Let the people vote for whoever they choose, without their will being tampered with.” Thanking the joint team for being in touch with our institutions, particularly the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the President said multi-party democracy gives lots of choice to the people, adding that Nigeria has a vibrant young population, “who trust us to handle their affairs and resources well. A lot depends on leadership.”

“The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) will generate over N300 billion from privatization and commercialization to support the 2018 budget financing, its Director-General Dr Alex Okoh said yesterday.” The Nation reports that “the BPE plans to generate N300 billion into the 2018 budget through the sale of some national assets, such as the Afam Power Plant in Rivers State, Geregu, Calabar and Omotosho National Independent Power Projects, re-privatisation of the Yola Distribution Company, River Basin Development Authorities and the National Parks. Some of the transactions in the pipeline include the concession of Warri Old Port, the reconcession of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, the sale of Afam Power Plant and three National Independent Power Projects. The DG explained that the BPE recently concluded the sale of the Federal Government’s 21 per cent interest in the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The transaction is expected to contribute over N17 billion to the national treasury. Okoh said the process for recapitalisation of the Bank of Agriculture to create a stable financial institution that will support farmers was on-going.”

“The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has launched an intervention programme aimed at increasing local milk production.” The Permanent Secretary in the Agric ministry, Dr Abdulkadir Mua’zu, “stated that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in line with the present administration’s agricultural promotion policy (Green Alternative) and the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) has put in place an intervention programme called Cattle Breed Improvement Programme (CABIP). “CABIP is a private sector-driven, government-enabled genetic improvement programme aimded at sedentary small scale farmers’ herd in dairy clusters and pre-urban dairy farms. CABIP aims to encourage more private sector investment to increase local milk production through artificial insemination to attain an average milk yield from less than 500 litres per cow per lactationb to 2,000 litres per cow per lactation in five years”. Tribune

“Finally, frustrated and desperate residents, motorists and small business owners who have to go in and come out of the port city of Apapa, Lagos, daily may soon have reason to hope for better days as construction work on the abandoned Tin Can-Mile-2 expressway will be flagged off on Saturday, November 17, 2018.” According to Business Day , “it is also the day that the 500 capacity trailer park being built opposite the Tin Can Port will be opened to take out many of the trucks that have for years, taken over the roads in Apapa, while the police and state government traffic officers watched helplessly. The Apapa Oshodi Express way is a 27.5km road that originates from Apapa Port and terminates at Oworonsoki junction and was constructed between 1975–1978 but has not received a comprehensive rehabilitation or reconstruction for many years.”

“The national programme for Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) to increase broadband penetration in the country has been planned to kick off later this year”. According to News Express , “the Current broadband penetration in Nigeria is 22 per cent, up from 4 per cent in 2012. To achieve increased broadband penetration, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has developed a Licensing Framework and instituted a subsidy scheme to enable Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) to roll out fibre in all the zones of the country. Specifically, the project, one of the key high-level interventions of the Nigeria Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council, is to increase broadband penetration across all geopolitical zones of the country, such that at the end of the four-year intervention, all the 774 Local Government Areas will be provided with fibre connectivity. That implies the deployment of at least one fibre Point of Access (PoA), with the capacity of 10 Gbps, in each LGA across the country. According to the Executive Secretary of the Council, Edirin Akemu, who spoke at the weekend in Abuja, the difficulty of using a single Infraco to achieve the desired broadband penetration because of the sheer size of the country, topographic challenges and socio-economic factors necessitated the use of the more companies. “To address those difficulties and fast-track broadband penetration, the National Communications Commission, which is executing the project, has developed a structure to licence 6 InfraCos for the geopolitical zones and an additional one for Lagos because of its peculiarities,” she explained. The licensed Infracos are Infraco Nigeria Limited (for Lagos zone); Brinks Integrated Solution Limited (North-East); Fleet Networks Nigeria Limited (North-West) and Zinox Technologies Limited (South-East). Others are Raeanna Technologies Limited (South-South) and O’odua Infraco Resource Limited. Efforts are underway to licence an Infraco for the North-Central zone, following the withdrawal of the licenced Infraco.”

“Nigeria’s pension assets are expected to rise further as employees in the formal sector now have the opportunity to beef up their pension savings following the release of the new guidelines on Voluntary Pension Contributions (VPC) under the Contributory Pensions Scheme (CPS) by the National Pension Commission (PenCom). The Nation’s assets are currently over N8.14 trillion with over 8 million contributors. A breakdown showed that of the over 8 million registered workers under the scheme, the male participants comprise 5,751,902, while the number of female workers is 2,384,300. Under the new guidelines, contributions by employees in the formal sector shall be non-obligatory”. Business Day (Tuesday October 30, 2018, page 7) reported this.

Daily Trust reports that “Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to cooperate in the area of solar energy and Artificial Intelligence for the mutual benefits of both countries. This was the outcome of a meeting held in Abuja between the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Nigeria, Fahad Al Taffaq Obeid Mohammed. Dr. Onu said the ministry was working hard to develop Artificial Intelligence through one of its agencies, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and would seek to collaborate with the UAE to achieve landmark success in this field. According to the minister, the Federal government is exploiting the advantage of her geographical position along the equator to harvest abundant solar energy to provide energy to rural areas and stimulate the nation’s economy. He commended the UAE for diversifying its economy away from oil, adding that Nigeria was also embarking on economic diversification with emphasis on knowledge and innovation driven options.”

“Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said the government would acquire equipment to protect citizens and combat insecurity in the country. Buhari, who spoke during his condolence visit to Kaduna state called on residents of the state to ensure peace. Kaduna was under attack on Friday, October 9, which claimed lives of over 50 persons. The attack prompted the state governor Nasir El Rufai to impose a 24-hour curfew on residents on two occasions. Despite the curfew, the attacks still continued two days after the initial one, but Buhari has assured the residents that the government was doing everything possible to ensure the security of lives and properties. “The Federal Government will continue to work to ensure that more security assets are recruited and deployed across the country to protect all citizens going about their lawful business and to reinforce the authority of the government,” Buhari said.” Guardian reported this.

According to Daily Trust , “President Buhari’s government’s decision to extend payment of N-power stipends beyond expiry date of Dec. 2018 was indeed timely and welcome development. Indeed, this gladdening news will no doubt reinforce the spirits of N-Power beneficiaries. While we hailed Buhari for this unusual move, we must not forget to give three hearty cheers to Professor Yemi Osinbajo for his adequate supervision of the programme. Thankfully, this harmonious relationship between Buhari and Osinbajo is yielding positive benefits to Nigerians. In spite of all efforts to demean Npower, it’s important to at this juncture note that, when oppositions are busy running haphazardly to discredit this gesture worthy of commendation, President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo are working round the clock to further add brightness to the scheme. Based on testimonies from different angles of this country, N-Power volunteers are tirelessly contributing their quota to their various communities”.

“The National Pension Commission (PenCom) on Tuesday said it had recovered N465.02 million outstanding pension contributions from defaulting employers. PenCom in a statement by its Head, Corporate Communications, Peter Aghahowa, in Abuja said the recovery was affected in the second quarter. The commission said the N465.02 million consisted of principal contributions of N335.70 million and penalty of N129.32 million. “This brought the total recovery by the commission to N14.38 billion which comprised principal contribution of N7.48 billion and penalty of N6.96 billion,” Mr Aghahowa said. “Following the issuance of demand notices on defaulting employers whose liabilities had been established by agents, some employers remitted their outstanding pension contributions and paid corresponding penalties.” PenCom said in the same quarter, 5,634 companies submitted applications for issuance of pension clearance certificates. “Out of the 5,634 applications, Pension Clearance Certificates were issued to 5,427 organisations.” Premium Times