Aso Villa Today for 16/01/2020
Every day, we bring you the best stories that the Media is reporting about the Government of Nigeria
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the Federal Government is ready to engage more qualified teachers to increase the teacher-to-pupil ratio in the country. The President said this on Tuesday in Abuja when he received the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT). He acknowledged that Nigeria has a deficit of teachers, which his administration is addressing through the N-Power Teach Volunteers scheme under National Social Investment Programme (NSIP). ‘‘We have created a dedicated platform under the National Social Investment Programme called N-Power Teach, which engages qualified graduates to man the gaps of basic education delivery in Nigeria,” he said. “These N-Power Teach Volunteers are deployed as teacher assistants in primary schools across Nigeria to support existing teachers. “The aim of this, and many other Government programmes, is to increase the teacher-student ratio at the primary school level thereby enhancing the quality of students moving to secondary schools. “I want to take this opportunity to ask all members of Nigeria Union of Teachers to support these programmes and encourage as many qualified and willing graduates to enrol in the teaching profession,”. Channels TV reports.
Nigeria will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Russian government to facilitate the completion of Ajaokuta Steel before the end of January, according to Olamilekan Adegbite, minister of Mines and Steel Development. Speaking in an interactive session with business editors and correspondents in Lagos, Tuesday, Adegbite said the completion would be on a government-to-government basis. The MoU, he said, was a fallout from a trip made by President Muhammadu Buhari to Russia in October last year. “By the end of this month, an MoU with the Russian government with be signed in order to enable us complete the project,” he said. According to the minister, part funding for the project would come from Afreximbank while the repayment would come from the Ajaokuta project when it starts operations fully. Afreximbank will be pumping in $1 billion while the Russian government is bringing in $460 million with an interest payment less than 5 percent, the minister said. As reported by Business Day, he noted that the project would be on Built, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis. The Russian government would complete the project, operate it for an agreed period of time and then transfer it to the Nigerian government. On the benefit of the project, he said it would create jobs for the country’s population and help in achieving the government’s mandate of lifting over 100 million people from poverty in 10 years.
Organisers of the annual Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) said President Muhammadu Buhari will be on ground to declare the 2020 edition scheduled to hold in Abuja from February 9–13, open. According to a statement signed by the Nigeria Petroleum Summit project director & chief executive, Brevity Anderson, James Shindi, the minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, gave the assurance in a special podcast monitored on the official Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources social media handles. The minister, who also declared his readiness to host the global oil community in Abuja, said, “I look forward to personally receiving you in Abuja for the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) on behalf of the Federal Government and the people of Nigeria. NIPS, the official oil and gas meeting of the federal government, has over the years evolved into a must attend industry vent for all industry stakeholders.’’ He also said the focus of the upcoming NIPS 2020 edition will be on “widening the integration circle, emerging technologies and cross pollination of ideas as we build on the success of previous editions”. Sylva said that with full backing of the federal government, NIPS 2020 will guarantee the attendance of top decision makers and industry leaders from all over the world. Leadership reported.
According to Punch, the Federal Government has begun the implementation of some aspects of the Finance Act with the imposition of 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax on government transactions. The Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, confirmed the development in an interview with journalists on Wednesday in Abuja. The move followed the signing of the finance bill into law on Monday by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). The objectives of the Act are to strategically promote fiscal equity by mitigating instances of regressive taxation; reform domestic tax laws to align with global best practice; and introduce tax incentives for investments in infrastructure and capital markets. It is also aimed at supporting small businesses in line with the ongoing ease of doing business reforms, and raise revenues for the government by various fiscal measures, including an increase in VAT from five per cent to 7.5 per cent.
Nigeria is expected to contribute around 35% of Africa’s total planned and announced oil and gas new-build trunk/transmission pipeline length additions between 2019 and 2023, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. The company’s latest report, ‘Global Planned Oil and Gas Pipelines Industry Outlook to 2023 — Capacity and Capital Expenditure Outlook with Details of All Planned Pipelines’, reveals that Nigeria is expected to provide 6,601.5km of new-build pipeline by 2023. Most of the additions will constitute natural gas, at 6,460km, while crude oil pipelines will account for 142km. Varun Ette, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “In Nigeria, 11 new-build pipelines are expected to start by 2023. Of these, eight are planned projects and the remaining three are from early-stage announced projects. Trans Saharan Gas is the longest upcoming pipeline in the country with a length of 4,400km. This announced natural gas pipeline is expected to start operations in 2021.”
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono has called for stronger partnership between Nigeria and the US especially in the agricultural sector in order to boost food security. He said, “the first priority is to feed ourselves, produce more and create jobs which will in turn reduce the huge burden of unemployment.” Speaking when he received a delegation from the United States Agency and International Development (USAID), led by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, on a courtesy visit, the minister noted the partnership had become crucial towards achieving food sufficiency and job creation for Nigerians. He said there is an on-going four-year strategic programme in the agricultural sector, namely the introduction of mechanised farming to align the country with international best practices which was expected to enhance self-reliance and boost food production in the country. Nanono, stressed that the mechanisation of the sector would encourage the use of technology for the benefit of the people, promote global best packaging of agricultural products and branding of the products towards ensuring global market penetration. He said also stressed the need for capacity building which he said was critical in the sector and expressed confidence in the huge market and potentials available in the country. This Day reports.
