Aso Villa Reads for 9/4/2019

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

“The African Development Bank (AfDB) has said Nigeria and six other African countries are to benefit from the Sorghum and Millet Compact of Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT). The bank said the programme was part of its plan to ensure food security in the Sahel Region in a document titled: “Food Security in the Sahel’’ made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.” According to Daily Trust, “AfDB said the bank was set to launch the programme in Mali on Thursday under TAAT which it initiated as part of its Feed Africa Initiative (FAI). The bank named other countries: Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Sudan and Chad as beneficiaries of the planned support programme. It said it aspired to significantly increase agricultural productivity via the deployment of proven and high-performance technologies to millions of African farmers. “The sorghum and millet compact targets about 40 to 50 per cent of African farmers with technologies relevant to boosting agricultural productivity and self-sufficiency by 2025,” it said.”

According to Guardian “Nigeria may be certified polio-free this December when it would have accomplished interruption of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) transmission for over three years. By July and August, the country would have gone through 36 months without reporting any case of WPV. The last cases were recorded in Borno State between July and August 2016. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), after three years of no incident of the virus on the African continent, official ‘certification’ of polio eradication would be conducted at the regional level.” The report recalled that “the global organisation, for the first time on September 25, 2015, delisted Nigeria from the polio-endemic list after interrupting transmission for 12 months beginning from July 24, 2014. Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, told The Guardian that there were a number of processes to surmount before the certification. These, Shuaib said, include presentation of the country’s complete documentation to the African Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) in December during their third meeting. He hinted that the documentation is an assemblage of verifiable evidence from 1998 to date of what the Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) Programme had done over the years with respect to Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) Surveillance; Polio Supplemental Immunisation Activities (SIAs); and Routine Immunisation (RI).”

Premium Times reports that “the federal government says it will finalise the recapitalisation of the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) in 90 days, in collaboration with the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE). Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said this at the kick-off meeting for the recapitalisation of the bank on Tuesday in Abuja. The minister said it was an opportunity for farmers to become owners of the Bank. Mr Ogbeh expressed worry over the inability of some high profile borrowers to repay loans borrowed from the Bank, noting that the ministry would support the Bank to minimise failures. The minister noted that the recapitalisation would be done with an estimated N250 billion.” The report quoted the Minister say: “We are bringing into life that which we hope and believe will make the BoA a strong element, to make our agriculture sector stronger. We have a new vision for agriculture, we want to create a farmers’ bank and this is the chance for farmers to become owners of the bank. This will give the bank a chance of becoming a large bank in future just like the one in China and the Rabobank of the Netherlands.”

Daily Trust reports that “the authority in charge of Ports Terminal Multi-services Limited (PTML) of the Nigeria Customs Service, yesterday, said it raked into the Federal Government’s purse a total of N36, 728,799,903 for the first quarter of 2019. It said the figure is 43 percent higher than the N25, 656,118,181 collected between January and March 2018 by the command. A statement made available by the Customs public relations officer for the command, Mohammed Yakubu, showed a difference of N11, 072,681,722 between the same quarter in 2018 and the 2019 collections. A breakdown of the monthly collections, according to the statement, indicated that N14, 850,154,616 was collected in January 2019 which is 49 percent higher than N9, 967,751,491 collected same period in 2018. In February 2019 the command collected N10, 024,673,259 which is 38 percent higher than the N7, 267,306,206 collected in February 2018.

“The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has again threatened to withdraw both aviation security and firefighting personnel from some airports over debt in excess of N2.6 billion beginning from May 1. The fresh warning is coming after an earlier notice was issued last December to private and state-owned aerodromes, though was later suspended due to public outcry. The services in question, according to experts, are safety critical without which no airport can process flights. Among the facilities earlier targeted by FAAN are the Murtala Muhammed Airport II (MMA2) terminal in Lagos, Gombe Airport, Gombe, Osubi Airport in Warri, Delta State and Kebbi airport, Kebbi State, all estimated to allegedly owe the sum of N2.608 billion. The Guardian learnt that Gombe Airport is indebted to the tune of N607.3 million, while Kebbi owes N124.6 million as at September 10, 2018. FAAN, in a public notice issued yesterday said following the notice of intention to sanction, issued to the owners/operators of private airports indebted to the Authority, which lapses on Wednesday April 24, FAAN hereby serves another seven days notice of grace till Tuesday April 30, for them to settle all outstanding debts.” Guardian reported this.


According to Premium Times “the Debt Management Office (DMO), says the federal government will on April 24, issue a 30-year bond for the first time. The DMO said in a circular on its website on Wednesday in Abuja, that the N20 billion 30-year paper would mature in April 2049. Other bonds on offer are a 10-year new issue of N40 billion to mature in April 2029 and a five-year re-opening of N40 billion to mature in April 2023, which was offered at 12.75 per cent. The circular, however, did not indicate the interest rates for the new issues. Patience Oniha, the Director-General, DMO had at a news conference on April 4, revealed plans by the Federal Government to issue the 30-year paper. She said the bonds were considered, given the relatively low interest rates compared to 2017 levels of more than 18 per cent.” According to her: “The issuance of the bond will meet the needs of annuity funds and other long term investors while also developing the domestic capital market and reducing the re-financing risk of the federal government. Another area of focus will be the management of risks associated with the debt stock to mitigate debt service costs.””


“Nigeria has been listed among five countries to benefit from the $20 million Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) launched to fund businesses that promote household solar energy systems to rural markets in sub-Saharan Africa in five years. Senior Programme Officer of the fund William Mulehi, who announced this during a media roundtable discussion in Abuja, on Tuesday, said the four other countries to benefit from the fund are Ghana, Ethiopia, Senegal and Somalia. He said: “Since the formation of the fund in 2008, it has basically targeted people living in the rural areas in 19 African countries by making funds available to private companies that can expand the reach of solar energy to the rural communities. Mulehi said the successes recorded in Round One of the REACT Household Solar (HS) programme made it possible for the United Kingdom Department for International Development to make more funds available for the Round One programme.” Daily Trust reported this.


“The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, on Sunday, at the 2019 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), in Washington disclosed that proceeds from the Federal Government’s second $15 billion Green Bond will be used in financing agriculture, power, health and water resources sectors of the economy before the end of 2019. Mrs Ahmed, disclosed this during a media briefing at the end of the recently concluded event. The Minister said following Nigeria’s endorsement of the Coalition Principles as one of the funding members, it became the first SSA country to issue a green bond in December ($10.9 billion) for the financing of solar energy. She said Nigeria was the first Sub-Saharan African country to issue a green bond in December ($10.97billion) for the financing of solar. Beyond that, she said the country is currently in the process of issuing a second green bond $15 billion later this year to finance agriculture, power, health and water resources.” Premium Times reported this.

According to Daily Trust “Mr Ahmed Idris, Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), says over N37 billion has been saved from misapplications, paddings, mistakes and non-compliance by MDAs to the agreed template of promotion arrears payment. A statement by Mr Oise Johnson, Head, Press and Publicity, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), made this known, on Tuesday, in Abuja. He said the AGF gave the figure when he received the National Executive of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) on a courtesy visit. The AGF said following President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that N10 billion be set aside monthly, commencing from May 2017 to offset backlog of promotion arrears, the OAGF inaugurated an in-house committee to verify Ministries, Departments and Agencies’ (MDAs) claims and submissions. “So far, the committee has paid out the sum of N42 billion out of the N55 billion released, leaving an outstanding N13 billion in cash, while a total of N35 billion is yet to be released to the office,” he said. He, however, reassured civil servants of the commitment of the OAGF in line with the president’s directives to the continued payment of promotion arrears owed federal civil servants.”