Aso Villa Today for 13/01/2020
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday signed the finance bill into law. “I am pleased to announce that this morning I signed into Law the Finance Bill, 2019,” Buhari said in a tweet. Buhari said the finance bill was “specially designed to support its implementation and to create a truly enabling environment for business and investment by the private sector.” The president said signing the bill will reform Nigeria’s tax laws to align with global best practices, support MSMEs in line with his administration’s Ease of Doing Business Reforms. As reported by Guardian, Buhari noted that the new law will incentivize investments in infrastructure and capital markets and gaise revenues. The Nigeria president commended members of the Ninth National Assembly for the passage of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin PSC Amendment Bill, and the Finance Bills, he said are both vital to the successful implementation of the 2020 Budget.
The Nation reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the constitution of two committees for the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba State. They are the Inter-ministerial Steering Committee (IMSC) and Project Delivery Committee (PDC). The Minister of Power, Engineer Sale Mamman, according to the ministry’s press statement on Monday, will chair the Inter-ministerial Steering Committee, while the Director in-charge of Renewable Energy in the Federal Ministry of Power will head the Project Delivery Committee, reporting to the Minister of Power through the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry. The Minister’s special Adviser on Media, Mr. Aaron Aritmas, who disclosed this in a statement, said that members of the Inter-ministerial Steering Committee are representatives of Federal Government agencies and Taraba State Government. The statement also noted that the Federal Government agencies involved are Ministries of Water Resources, Environment, Finance, Budget and National Planning, Works and Housing, Justice, Information and Culture, and Mines and Steel Development.
The Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, has advised state governments to take planning seriously, pointing out that the country was able to successfully overcome the recent economic challenges with the aid of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). According to This Day, he said most states appeared to elevate budgeting, thereby relegating planning which according to him is the most important element for achieving success in economic growth. Speaking when he received a delegation of the Katsina State Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Council (KS MSMEC), led by the State Deputy Governor, Mannir Yakubu, who doubles as the chairman of the Council, over the weekend, the minister said, planning had been found to be useful in managing the economy. He said: “We had in the past concentrated our efforts on just budgeting, but budgeting must grow from a development plan and that explains the success we have recorded so far in the economy, although this has not met our expectations, but it has remained consistent in the last ten quarters.” He further commended the state government for setting up the council adding that available statistics suggested that MSMEs employ between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of the working population and remained key to economic prosperity. This Day reports.
The federal government is fine tuning the process of putting in place a medium-term economic blueprint as a successor plan for the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which runs its full course this year. A source privy to the emerging plan, which will most likely be christened Medium-Term Economic Growth Acceleration Plan (MEGAP) 2021–2024, told This Day yesterday that the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning is putting in place details of the new blueprint in collaboration with some players in the private sector prior to its formal launch later in the year. Although the proposed MEGAP will be a medium-term economic blueprint, the source said, a successive long-term Vision 2040 would follow suit. According to him, while the underpinning consideration behind the ERGP (2017–2020) is recovering the economy from recession, when it was launched, MEGAP, as the name epitomises, is being designed to accelerate growth in the economy. The three broad strategic objectives of the ERGP are to restore growth, invest in human capital and build a globally competitive economy.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will on Monday commission some major road projects constructed by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State. During the one-day official state visit, the Vice President will also lay the foundation stone for the first state-owned Cancer Centre in Nigeria. Prof. Osinbajo will be accompanied by Governor Ganduje and other senior government officials in the state. He will commission the Tijjani Hashim Underpass in Kofar Ruwa, the Aminu Dantata Flyover in Sabon Gari amongst other project constructed by the Kano State Government under Governor Ganduje. The Vice President will also make history when he lays the foundation stone of the Kano Cancer Centre, which is the first state-owned cancer Centre in the country, amongst others. Vanguard reports.
