By Ugonne Uzoma

Gov. Hope Uzodimma of Imo has signed two Executive Bills on security and land matters into law, as passed by the Imo House of Assembly.

The first was a bill for a law to establish the Imo State Security Organisation to assist in maintaining law and order in the state and related matters therein.

The second bill established the Imo State land administration and geographic information service for the purposes of regulating land administration in the state and other related matters therein.

Uzodimma, in a statement by Mr Oguwike Nwachukwu, his Chief Press Secretary, pointed out that the two laws could not have come at a more auspicious time owing to the security challenges in Imo and Nigeria, generally.

The governor said the bill was sent to the house of assembly to address the challenges of militancy, attacks on police formations and politically influenced violence.

He said the law was made to assist the law enforcement agencies in maintaining law and order and to secure life and property in Imo.

According to him, the law on security bans unauthorized persons from carrying firearms in the state.

The governor added that the second law would address the several petitions and complaints about illegal land acquisition by some individuals, as well as generallysanitise land administrations in the state.

Earlier, the speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr Paul Emeziem, said the Imo security organisation law would support such other laws in fishing out criminals and ending the spate of criminality.

He said the Imo Land Administration and Geographic Information Service, on its part, would support already existing whitepaper and gazettes on the recovery of fraudulently acquired lands and property. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Joan Nwagwu

The Federal Government says it is hopeful the week-long consultations with stakeholders will end the strike by Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) when conciliation resumes on Thursday.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige said this in a statement signed by Mr Charles Akpan, Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations in the ministry in Abuja.

The Federal Government is hopeful that the unions would call off their strike for peace to industrial reign in the states.

We are confident that a week-long fruitful consultations with all the critical stakeholders would end the ongoing strike.

We held consummate consultations with stakeholders alongside Secretary of the Presidential Implementation Committee on Autonomy of the Judiciary and State legislature, Sen. Eta Enang, he said.

He said other stakeholders included the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Dr Kayode Fayemi, Chairman of Northern Governors Forum, Mr Simon Lalong and officials from the Governors Forum Secretariat.

He said others are the Chairman of Speakers of the State Houses of Assembly as well as the Administrative Secretary of the Conference of Speakers of State Houses of Assembly.

We have deepened the discussion with a meeting with the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the President of the Court of Appeal and other judges who are heads of courts.

That is the President of the Federal High Court , President of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria and we looked at the positions canvassed by each of the components -judiciary , legislature and the governors forum.

At the moment, we have distilled on a holistic basis, what this ministry regards as a conciliatory cocktail position a mix of ideas from all sides , of constitutional positions and even part of Presidential Executive Order No.10.

We have come out with a position and given same to all sides, including the body of Chief Judges of States through their representatives, the chief Judge of Bayelsa as proposals to study and come back.

It contains the positions which each group proposed and which in our joint committee, in our wisdom, we felt was necessary to make for the independence- fund wise of the state judiciary and legislature without breaching the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria .

We have done something that will make the state legislature, judiciary and even the NJC operate optimally, he said.

So that they will open our courts and the state assemblies, so that even the state laws contained in the MOU will be enacted as soon as possible, within the 48 days execution period allowed the states to formalise it, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports JUSUN began a nationwide strike on Tuesday, April 6, when the union directed all its members across the federation to shut down all courts after the expiration of the 21-day ultimatum earlier given over the failure of the government to implement the law recognising financial autonomy for the judiciary.

However on May 6, after a conciliation meeting between the government negotiating team with JUSUN and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), Dr Ngige had expressed optimism that the workers union would soon call off the strike.

NAN also reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had, on May 22, 2020, signed into law an Executive Order granting financial autonomy to the legislature and the judiciary across the 36 states of the federation.

The Executive Order No. 10 of 2020 made it mandatory for all states to include the allocations of both the legislature and the judiciary in the first-line charge of their budgets.

The order also mandates the accountant general of the federation to deduct from source amount due to the state legislatures and judiciaries from the monthly allocation to each state, for states that refuse to grant such autonomy. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Philip Yatai

Prof. Terhemba Wuam of Kaduna State University says the ongoing five-day warning strike by labour unions in Kaduna State will cost the state huge economic losses.

Wuam, a professor of Economic History, who stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna, added that the poor masses would be left to bear the burden.

NAN recalls that the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) on Monday, began a five-day warning strike over sack of civil servants by the state government.

The strike, which entered day three had crippled economic activities in the state with the government and business owners counting their losses.

According to the professor, the suspension of electricity supply, closures of petrol stations and the shutdown of economic activities will have huge economic consequences for the government and the people.

The state government says it is right sizing its civil service so as not to be spending a larger portion of its money on civil servants.

Labour, on the other hand is saying, do not sack our members in the name of right sizing.

While both are right in their arguments, there is something both parties are missing in this unending debate the strategic role of recurrent expenditure in the development of the state.

He said the labour unions failed to put up an argument that when the government pay salaries, it is not only the civil servants that consumes what the state gets from the federation account.

Wuam explained that when the government pay salaries, it was the money the workers use in training millions of children in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, critical in human capital development.

The labour union should tell the government that it is the money they earn as salaries that service half of the state in terms of ensuring that education, health and other government services are delivered.

Both labour unions and the government are missing this point, he said.

The lecturer further pointed out the overwhelming emphasis on the importance of capital projects, stressing, however, that recurrent expenditure could even be more important.

He noted that although capital projects might provide the buildings, the roads and other infrastructure, at the level of the countrys growth and development, the multiplier effect might be limited.

For example, when you pay a Chinese company N10 billion for capital projects executed, that money goes to China.

But if you pay Kaduna state civil servants that N10 billion, they train your citizens, provide health services to the citizens, collect taxes and the money is retained within the economy.

The government has its valid point, but the labour unions have to make the government understand, through dialogue, that what they are fighting for will contribute to the states development agenda, he said.

Wuam advised the state government and the labour unions to consider going to the negotiating table as fast as possible as a better option in the interest of both parties and residents of the state.

He said the most important thing at this point was for both parties to reach a middle ground so that what they were fighting for would be for the development of Kaduna state.

The economic historian further stressed the need for a rethink around the economy.

He said that considering the level of states and Federal governments financial obligations, simply downsizing, or managing the national cake as it was would no longer be sufficient.

According to him, economic productivity will have to be doubled within a decade or stand the risk of total collapse.

He said the fundamentals for doubling the rate of economic growth exists and must be tapped by the government, people of the state and the country. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Habibu Harisu

Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State has called for further collaboration with the U.S. Government agencies in girl-child education and empowerment of women.

Tambuwal made the call when the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard visited him in Sokoto.

He expressed the state Governments willingness to expand the scope of its engagement with the U.S. embassy, agencies and the government into future.

The governor expressed delight for the visit, noting that Sokoto has benefited from the U.S numerous support.

We look forward to further interaction toward promoting quality of higher and general education at all levels across the state.

Sokoto seeks deeper collaborations on human capital development, higher education and empowerment, Tambuwal said.

Earlier, Leonard said that the U.S. in 2015, through USAID invested about 122 million dollars on enhancing education, healthcare and agricultural business in Nigeria.

The ambassador said that U.S. entered into partnership with the Usman Danfodiyo University (UDUS) on the establishment and sustenance of the American Space Centre.

She reiterated the U.S. government commitments toward providing community solutions to security challenges, educational growth, healthcare concerns, agriculture and business development. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Chijioke Okoronkwo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has presided over a virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council(FEC) on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The council observed a minute silence in memory of former Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Aisha Alhassan, who died on May 7.

President Muhammadu Buhari is on a four-day official visit to Paris, France, for the African Finance Summit.

Ministers physically present at the meeting included Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture and Abubakar Malami, Minister for Justice and Attorney-General.

Others were Suleiman Adamu, Minister of Water Resources and Clem Agba, Minister of State for Budget and National Planning.

Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Ibrahim Gambari, Chief of Staff to President were also at the meeting.

At the last meeting on May 5, FEC approved N6.2 billion for execution of various power projects across the country.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Solomon Asowata

Mr Sarki Auwalu, director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has urged Africa to rise to the challenge of harnessing its oil and gas reserves for the development of the continent.

Auwalu spoke on Wednesday at the opening ceremony of the 5th Edition of the Sub-Saharan African International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference organised by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the three-day virtual conference has as its theme: Post COVID-19: From Global Crises to Global Opportunities.

He said: Indeed, for a better and secured future, Africa must rise to the challenge of harnessing its over 125 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and 625 trillion cubic feet of natural gas for the development of the continent.

Africa must not be cowed to abandon its quest to grow its economies by the doomsday narrative of end of oil era and jettison the development of its resources.

Africas resources must be used to fuel Africas development; the same
way other continents utilised dirtier fossil fuels to fuel their economic transformation.

To achieve this, we must take our destinies in our hands and join hands across all spectrum technical, economic, legal, commercial, operational, financial, and political drive regional energy security and economic sustainability.

According to him, Nigeria recognises the reality of energy transition and is committed to accelerated development of its petroleum resources through the emplacement of appropriate legal framework to support upstream asset acquisition, development, production and exports.

However, we are putting increased emphasis on midstream investments and gas-focused infrastructural development for domestic value addition via the Refinery revolution and Decade-of-Gas Initiatives.

The Decade-of-Gas Initiative will leverage Nigerias 203 TCF of natural gas reserves for domestic gas supply (Gas-To-Power), Alternative fuels (Gas-To-People) and Gas Based Industrialisation (Gas-To-Derivatives) elements of the Gas-fired Industrial economy agenda within this decade.

All these efforts will significantly increase the quantum of in-country value addition to drive the contribution of oil and gas to Gross Domestic Production, employment generation and poverty eradication, he said.

Also, Mr Simbi Wabote, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), said the coronavirus pandemic provided a sad realisation of the importance of local content in the oil and gas industry.

Wabote said the NCDMB would continue to deploy strategies to promote local content in Nigeria and within the African continent to provide jobs, support businesses and protect investments.

Earlier, Mr Nicolas Odinuwe, Chairman, PETAN, said the aim of the conference was to offer direct access to the primary stakeholders and key players across the entire Sub-Saharan African supply and value chain.

Odinuwe stressed the need for continued collaboration by African countries to foster development of the continent through the utilisation of its oil and gas resources. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Suleiman Shehu

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) command in Oyo State, says it plans to deploy about 2,800 personnel for the state local government councils poll on Saturday.

This is contained in a statement by the corps Public Relations Officer, Mr Oluwole Olusegun on Wednesday in Ibadan.

Oluwole said that the state NSCDC Commandant, Mr Iskilu Akinsanya, made the disclosure during a meeting with Divisional Officers across the 33 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 35 Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) of the state.

All officers and men of the corps will be on duty on the election day as undercover officers.

The Agro Ranger and Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) of the corps will be deployed to all flash spots in the state, he said.

He urged the electorate to participate in the poll without fear, saying the corps was fully prepared to ensure protection of lives and property of residents.

He advised NSCDC personnel that would be deployed to the 3,886 wards and 4,783 polling units across the state to abide by the guidelines of the state Independent Electoral Commission and be good ambassadors.

He also enjoined traditional rulers, community leaders, and religious leaders to caution their subjects against conducting themselves in a manner that would lead to violence in their vicinity.

Akinsanya said the command and other security agencies were ready to deal decisively with individuals attempting to breach the peace in the state during and after the poll.

He enjoined the electorate to observe COVID-19 protocols and to conduct themselves in orderly and peaceful manner during and after the election.

In case of emergency you can contact this control room numbers:09070473188, 08058268164,08077513995,09055533303 and 08160317637, he said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Edith Ike-Eboh

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, says the Federal Government is working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure full implementation of the Auto Gas Policy.

Sylva said this at an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Muhammadu Buhari on Dec. 1, 2020, launched the Auto Gas Policy to help reduce the impact of high cost of petrol price in Nigeria

He said that there was the need to have critical mass of vehicles converted to use gas to achieve the desired impact in the country.

Now, if you have a critical mass of vehicles, may be one million converted to use gas, you must also have a commensurate amount of filling stations that are enabled to fill the one million cars converted.

So, you cannot do one aspect of it in exclusion, they must go hand in hand, if not, the whole programme will not make sense.

We are working right now with the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure that we are able to bring in conversion kits for a critical mass of vehicles.

And then also give soft loans at the same time to downstream operators to fix their filling stations, so that when we fit the two together, it will work.

That process is ongoing, we have already launched the policy and it has brought the attention to Nigerians to know that it is a policy direction now, Sylva said.

According to him, one or two filling stations cannot salvage the whole situation.

He said that ensuring a critical mass of vehicles and filling stations would help the implementation of the policy.

Sylva added that it would help the policy to develop a life of its own.

I can tell you that we are working on that and I think it is a very good development, he said.

On the rehabilitation of the refineries, he said that government had been able to source funds to ensure that they were revamped and functional.

He said that it was unfortunate that the refineries in Nigeria had been like a weeping baby but noted that government believed that there was the need for it to be functional before taking any direction.

The minister said that it would be difficult to sell the refineries at their current state.

What we want to do is to ensure that these refineries are functioning, so, if it is functioning, the first thing we want to do is not to run the refineries as a government.

We agreed that government is not a good manager, so, we want to put an operations and management contractor, professional mangers of refineries.

At some point, we will put out advertisement for professional refinery managers to bid for managing the refinery, so that when it begins to work, it will be given to a professional manager to run.

It is not going to be subject to government issues any more, again, when it begins to work, Nigerians will decide if we should sell it or not

There are a lot options open to government, we can decide to go to the stock exchange or open it for people to buy the shares. Every option will be available but at least, it will be a functional refinery, he said

NAN reports that the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery commenced on May 6 by Maire Tecnimont SPA, an Italian company. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Itohan Abara-Laserian

Cititrust Financial Services Plc has proposed an allotment of N2 billion shares to be listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Ltd after meeting all the regulatory requirements.

Mr Ikechukwu Peter, Country Director/Chief Executive Officer of Cititrust, said this during the presentation of the statutory report to shareholders on Tuesday in Lagos.

Peter said the statutory meeting was in line with requirements of a Public Limited Company wishing to be listed on the NGX in line with the CAMA 2020 Act.

He said: This is a statutory general meeting and step toward our aim of being listed in the NGX. I had earlier said that we would be listing on the floor of NGX on or before the end of the second quarter.

This is actually a step to that aspiration. We have planned to go to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to get our shares registered.

To get this done, we need to get our shareholders approval and we have that now, our counterparties in the NGX are already waiting for us.

We have been having engagements and discussions regarding how it should be done and I can gladly tell you that we are on course and the second quarter is very visible.

The total number of shares allotted is four billion ordinary shares at 50k each, fully paid to the total value of shares allotted of N2 billion and we have gone to the Corporate Affairs Commission to get our share allotments sorted out, he said.

According to Peter, the company currently has a total number of 55 shareholders which is exactly the number required by law to become a Plc, with the hope to increase.

The thing is for us to position ourselves for more growth, raise capital because before now, we were owned by our parent company 100 per cent and by law, they are supposed to own about 70 per cent as a Plc and the other 30 per cent goes to the public.

This is the opportunity to get more liquidity through this platform because the truth of the matter is that we are headed to the stock exchange, your shares will be actively traded. So, decide to expand your share base just to free up some more cash or get some more cash.

The kind of business we do is financial services business which will require more funding every now and then. There is not much you can do with the money you have but if the fund is restricted, the things you can do will be restricted.

We can only create the value that we can, based on the kind of funding that we have available to us. Listing on the exchange will give us visibility, Peter said.

Peter assured the shareholders of capital appreciation and enhanced value creation noting that on the NGX, it would better position and empower the company to offer more value.

Alhaji Danladi Yaro, Chairman of the company, in his remarks notified the shareholders of the constituted Board of Directors and four Board Committees among others.

The shareholders present at the meeting approved and authorised the company to register its shares with SEC and as well list on the NGX, among others. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Babajide Awoyinfa

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has eulogised one Pa Abayomi Barber, one of Nigerias foremost modern artist for his foresight in modern art.

Mohammed made the remarks at a special exhibition of Barbers artworks held at the National Art Gallery to commemorate his 92nd birthday on Tuesday in Lagos.

Represented by the General Manager of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Prof. Sunday Ododo, the minister said that the elder statesman has devoted his life to the service of the arts.

The Ministry of Information is glad that this nonagenarian has remained active and continues his mentorship of the young ones till date.

It is no wonder that the core of students he trained while at the Centre for Cultural Studies, University of Lagos is waxing strong today as professionals in visual arts and entrepreneurs.

They have well-equipped studios with students eager to learn.

Indeed, many of his students have graduated and set up on their own outfits and training others.

This aligned very well with one of the cardinal points of President Muhammadu Buharis administration of encouraging entrepreneurship among the youths.

We salute the foresight of Abayomi Barber in ensuring that products of his Art School of Thought become employers of labour rather than job seekers.

He is a visionary and the federal government is glad to be part of his celebration today.

It is my ardent wish and desire that the arts sector takes its prime place in contributing to the GDP of the country.

This is why the National Gallery of Art has my support in its quest to become a revenue-generating agency, the minister said.

Welcoming dignitaries to the special exhibition, the Director-General, National Gallery of Art (NGA), Ebeten Ivara, remarked that he was humbled that today we have in our midst a living legend in the visual arts sub-sector

At 92, he said Barber is as relevant to the sector as he was when he started out more than four decades ago as a youngster.

Ivara noted that going through the art book on the foremost artist was very enlightening.

I must say that going through the book on this foremost artist was very enlightening.

One of the interesting aspects of his life is his penchant for self-improvement and appetite to hone his innate skill as an artist.

He was never satisfied as he always yearned for more and by so doing blazed a trail even with little formal education.

This is a lesson for a younger generation.

I urge all of you to get out of your comfort zone and strive to improve whatever skill you have, the director-general said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event, which took place at the exhibition arena, National Museum, was attended by dignitaries in the government parastatals, artistic industry and well-wishers.

Abayomi Adebayo Barber, born Oct. 23, 1928, is a Nigerian contemporary artist, who founded the Abayomi Barber Art School in Lagos.

He is best known for the application of naturalism and surrealism methods in his artworks.

Some of his signature works include life-sized busts of former Nigerian president, Murtala Mohammed; the former Oba of Ile-Ife, Adesoji Aderemi another famous work is an oil painting of Shehu Shagari.

The painter and sculptor Abayomi Barber is known for artworks that manage to combine superrealism with intense expressionism.

In his remarks, the Chairman, Governing Board, National Gallery of Art, Ambassador Azores Sulaiman described the celebrant as an exceptional artist and master of masters.

It always gives me pleasure to be in the gathering of artists.

This is even more so with the calibre of the personality we are celebrating today.

This outstanding artist through his Art School of Thought has raised the bar in art teaching and mentoring.

His style, which does not impede or rush knowledge but strives towards each student learning at his or her pace, is an idea our higher institution should understudy, NAN quotes Sulaiman as saying. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

Algeria has backed off a decision to reopen land borders closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But it will go ahead with a plan to partially resume international flights from next month, the presidency said on Tuesday.

The North African country had said on Sunday it would reopen land and air borders on June 1, but with only five flights a day to and from Algerian airports.

It was decided to keep land borders closed, except in case of necessity, the presidency said in a statement after a meeting of the High-Security Council, chaired by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

It did not elaborate.

Algeria has reported 125,693 coronavirus cases, including 3,388 deaths. (Reuters/NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Kadiri Abdulrahman

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, says the apex bank plans the cultivation of one million hectares of rice in the 2021 farming seasons, to boost food security.

According to information in CBNs official Twitter handle, Emefiele made the statement while unveiling rice pyramids in Ekiti state, the first in the South West under the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the apex bank had earlier unveiled similar rice pyramids cultivated under the ABP in Kebbi and Gombe states .

Emefiele said that the one million hectares of rice would be cultivated through combination of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) farmers and private anchors for each planting season in 2021.

He added that the CBN was already financing about 3.1 farmers for the cultivation of 3.8 million hectares across 21 commodities through 23 Participating Financial Institutions across the country.

He faulted claims in certain quarters, that the banks targeted interventions in the agricultural sector were tilted in favour of a certain section of the country.

Emefiele pushed for more private sector investment in Nigerias agricultural value chain, while urging farmers to repay loans promptly to ensure sustenance of ABP.

The CBN is positioned to ensure the integration of our farmers into the Governments Economic Sustainability Programme, aimed at providing five million homes with electricity using solar energy

We believe significant improvements in domestic production of staple food items would help in attaining our price stability goals while reducing our dependence on imported food items, he said.

He urged Nigerian youths to deploy their talents, energy and enthusiasm into boosting agricultural production.

He assured that the new improved Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) would soon commence operation to aid production and sales of agricultural produce.

Nigerian youths have the talent, energy, enthusiasm, technological adoption capacity and drive to revolutionise agricultural production in Nigeria.

Revamped NCX is to commence operation by the fourth quarter of 2021 to be more responsive to challenges encountered in the production and marketing of food and agriculture produce in the country, he said.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Folasade Akpan

The Federal Government and Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) have expressed their readiness to partner on strengthening fiscal transparency and accountability in states.

National Programme Coordinator, SFTAS Programme for Results, Mr Stephen Okon, made the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the partnership isunder the federal government/World Bank-assisted States Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme.

A statement issued by Communications Specialist for SFTAS, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, quoted Okon as stating this at a four-day pilot workshop for Curriculum Development on Public Financial Management and Open Government Principles (OGP).

He said that the workshopwas organised by PSIN, in collaboration with West Africa Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM).

Okon said that strengthening fiscal transparency and accountability in states through SFTAS programme for results would go a long way in ensuring good fiscal governance for the sustainable development of Nigerias economy.

He explained that the technical assistance component of the programme required implementing agencies and partners to deliver capacity-building to states on the Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs).

This, according to him, is to ensure that they were supported to achieve results, a situation that would attract handsome financial benefits to the successful states.

Aside PSIN, Okoh listed other implementing agencies and partners to include: Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAuGF), Debt Management Office (DMO), Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Open Government Partnership (OGP).

Earlier, Administrator of the institute, Mr Abdulganiyu Obatoyinbo,said that under the SFTAS programme, PSIN was assigned the mandate of providing capacity-building to the states in six core areas.

The core areas, according to him, are improved financial reporting and budget reliability, increased openness and citizens engagement in the budget process, improved cash management and reduced revenue leakages through implementation of state Treasury Single Account (TSA).

Others areas, he said, were strengthened internally- generated revenue collection, biometric registration and bank verification number used to reduce payroll fraud and improved procurement practices for increased transparency and value for money.

Obatoyinbo, however, restated the institutes resolve to deliver on its mandate so as to enable the programme realise its objectives of engendering efficient and sustainable public financial management system in the country.

Director-General of WAIFEM, Mr Baba Musa, said the agency was hired by SFTAS programme coordination unit/PSIN to design curriculum-based and structured face-to-face learning courses on Public Financial Management (PFM) and OGP to ease delivery of capacity-building activities to states.

NAN reports that SFTAS is a programme which focuses on strengthening the fiscal sustainability, transparency and accountability of states across the federation. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Nana Musa

The Minister of State, Finance, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clement Agba has called for urged new approach in implementation of second phase of the National Action Plan (NAP II).

Agba made the call on Tuesday in Abuja at the 2021 Open Government Partnership (OGP) Week for Nigeria OGP National Steering Committee on interactive dialogue with all the Thematic Working Group Co-Chairs.

He urged all government partners in OGP in Nigeria to work hard towards achieving the set goals and objectives of NAP for accelerated progress on OGP.

The minister said the Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) of the OGP published a review of the implementation of the first phase of National Action Plan (NAP l) with rich recommendations that the committee needed to reflect on.

The IRM review of NAP I found that Nigeria substantially implemented three out of 14 commitments in the action plan.

Nigeria, notably advanced commitments in the areas of open budget, ease of doing business and reviewing open government laws.

Nine commitments saw limited implementation, two of these were not started during the implementation period.

The two relate to information-sharing among anti-corruption agencies and building technology for citizen engagement and have been carried over to the next action plan.

For some of the commitments, the details of IRM findings and recommendations are damning and calls for deep reflection from all of us, the minister said.

Agba said the committee must immediately get to the work of implementing the second action plan for better outcomes, seeing that we have about one year left of our implementation cycle.

We cannot use the pandemic as an excuse, especially as the action plan has been extended by one year, he said.

The minister suggested some new approaches including early warning signs of the possibility of not fully implementing any commitment and measure impact of the work by working closely with the M

Tackling insecurity and imperative of arms control

By Sumaila Ogbaje, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
Proliferation of small arms and light weapons have become a global challenge. This is due to light weapons lethal efficiency, easy accessibility, indiscriminate usage and devastating havocs they wreak.

According to Small Arms Survey of 2018, cited by SB Morgans Report on Small Arms, Mass Atrocities and Migration in Nigeria, there are over 40,009,000 small arms in the hands of civilians or non-state actors in Africa.

The report added that 10,972,000 of that number are concentrated in West Africa, where Nigeria is the most populous and dominant power.
The report also puts arms in the hands of civilian non-state actors at 6,145,000, while the armed forces and law enforcement collectively account for 586,600 firearms.
According to the report, this worrying trend of arms proliferation has an impact on Nigerias internal security.

The various armed groups used their access to firearms to challenge the states security forces, which had resulted to deaths and injuries.

According to preliminary findings from the National Small Arms and Light Weapons Survey (NSALWS), locally manufactured arms, which are normally fabricated in small-scale factories, without legal permits, contribute to a large percentage of arms in circulation in Northern Nigeria, especially in North-Central.
There are also many different points of entry for internationally sourced weapons. Nigerias porous borders facilitate the sourcing of weapons from countries bordering Northern Nigeria such as Chad and Niger that are also tackling insurgencies as well as challenges of documenting the flow of small arms.
According to the report, ammunitions from at least 21 different nations have been used in the herders versus farmers conflicts in North-Central.

Some of these nations include Israel, Poland, Brazil, Iran, USA, Czech Republic, Algeria and Egypt.
The Small Arms Survey, a publication of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland, estimated small arms in the hands of civilian non-state actors nationwide at 6,145,000.
Another report by SMB Intelligence and Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), revealed that the armed forces and law enforcement agencies collectively account for 586,600 firearms, representing about 8.71 per cent of the total small arms and firearms in circulation.
Former Head of State, Abdusalami Abubakar, at a recent meeting of the National Peace Committee (NPC), expressed concern over the proliferation of all calibre of weapons in the country, which he estimated at six million.
Abubakar, who is also the Chairman of NPC, at a dialogue session of the committee with stakeholders held in Abuja, decried the proliferation of weapons.
Abubakar said that the proliferation of weapons has heightened insecurity in the country and led to over 80,000 deaths and close to three million internally displaced persons, across the country.
The Minister of Defence, retired Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi, while receiving the report of the committee set up to facilitate the reform of the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces, acknowledged that arms proliferation was a major factor threatening the nations peace and security.
Magashi said that since the fall of Libya coupled with security challenges in some of the neighbouring countries, they had been massive inflow of arms and ammunitions all over West African, adding that measures were in place to stem the tide.
He assured that the government was committed to ensuring that its laws are obeyed and illegal possession of arms and light weapons checked.
A renowned security expert, Dr Ona Ekhomu, who spoke on arms proliferation, called on the nations intelligence agencies to redouble effort in tracking the movement of small arms and light weapons into the country.
Ekhomu said that investigation by the intelligence agencies was necessary, adding that weapons did not just come one by one, but through cartels that stockpile them.
He said that the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and Department of State Service (DSS) had important roles to play in this regard, adding that DIA works from outside the country where some of the weapons come from.
According to him, there is intelligence in exporting countries about the weapons that are leaving as well as the cartel map, through which some of the weapons being imported could be interdicted.
On legislation, Ekhomu said that Nigeria has legislations on the control of small arms and light weapons, adding that enforcement has been the problem.
He said that the best approach to addressing the problem was to block the flow through the nations borders.

Ekhomu said that it would be more useful to stop the illegal inflow of weapons into the country before thinking on how to retrieve weapons held by criminals.
While the security agencies, especially the armed forces are grappling with this challenge, policy makers are finding ways to upscale their search for solution through Whole-of-Government and All-of-Citizens approach.
In this regard, President Muhammadu Buhari, on May 3, approved the establishment of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) to be domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

Retired Maj.-Gen. Abba Dikko was appointed the pioneer coordinator.
ONSA disclosed that NCCSALW replaced the defunct Presidential Committee on SALW.

NCCSALW is to serve as institutional mechanism for policy guidance, research and monitoring of all aspects of SALW in Nigeria.

The establishment of NCCSALW was part of ongoing restructuring of Nigerias security architecture to address emerging threats and strengthen regional mechanism for the control, prevention and regulation of SALW.
According to ONSA, the impact of the proliferation of SALW across national borders in Africa and the Sahel region has resulted in terrorism, human trafficking, organised crime, and insurrections in West Africa.
According to the ONSA, the new centre is fulfilment of the requirements of the ECOWAS Moratorium on Import, Export, and Manufacture of Light Weapons as well as the UN Plan of Action to prevent, combat, and eradicate illicit trade in SALW.
The NCCSALW will serve as the National Focal Point on SALW in Nigeria and lead a multi-stakeholder process, involving government Ministries, Departments, Agencies and the civil societies in implementing all national, UN and ECOWAS Plans of Action on the control of SALW.
The Centre will maintain international cooperation and also operate zonal offices in the six geopolitical zones to ensure quick response and effective mobilisation of resources, ONSA stated.

Stakeholders are optimistic that with the establishment of NCCSALW the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria will be greatly reduced, (NANFeatures)

**

Source: NAN News

By Adenike Ayodele/Vivian Ibobo

Pastor Olayide Babatunde of the Glorious and Divine Calling Ministry in Ayobo, Lagos, has called on parents to regulate internet use by their children as a strategy to curb sexual assault.

Babatunde gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.

According to Babatunde, use of the internet had contributed much to rape and defilement.

Internet has done more bad than good and has corrupted the minds of our little ones.

What do you want to say about a six-year-old girl operating her mothers phone and dancing stark naked while videoing herself with the phone?

Imagine children between ages five and 12 years singing and listening to worldly music while viewing it on their parents phones, the cleric said.

She added that some children watched porns and other illicit images on the internet.

A five-year-old boy who sees a man lying on a woman in a movie will one day try it on an opposite sex either in school or at home.

We need a serious re-orientation in the country in order to bring back the sanity of our offsprings.

Gone are those days when children didnt have access to iPad, android tablets and other smart phones, she told NAN.

Babatunde also decried fake new spread on social media platforms.

There is no way internet wont be shut down sooner or later in the country with the high level of fake news parading the cyberspace.

Some fake news are being spread by teenagers that are exposed to internet.

For instance, incidents that happened in other countries are falsely spread by teenagers stating that such happened in Nigeria without taking into cognizance consequences of spreading such fake news.

The pastor appealed to parents to be watchful of what their children were being exposed to on the internet.

Parents should stop giving phones to their little children all in the name of pampering.

According to the pastor, internet is a powerful weapon which must be kept away from children. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Ifeanyi Olannye

Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta on Tuesday dissolved the State Executive Council, sacked the Secretary to the State Government, his Chief of Staff, Special Advisers and Chief Strategist.

The immediate past Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, announced this while briefing newsmen on some of the decisions reached by the executive council in Asaba, before the cabinet dissolution.

According to Aniagwu, the commissioners have been directed to hand over to the Permanent Secretaries in the respective ministries.

He said: All special advisers including the chief strategist, the SSG and the political adviser are to hand over to the next person in the line.

The governor, before announcing the dissolution of the council, thanked everybody including those who have been there for the past six years and those who joined two years ago for their contributions.

He noted that the dissolution would also create opportunity for other persons to become members of the cabinet to make their contributions to the development of the state.

Aniagwu added that the governor was aware of the peoples demand for democratic dividends.

The former commissioner said that before the dissolution of the executive council, a number of projects were approved.

He said that the council had dismissed one Mr Bernard Onanomovo, a staff of the state Ministry of Finance, for fraudulently including some names into the payroll of government.

Aniagwu said the council also approved a power purchase agreement with Banktuary Power Solution Nigeria Limited for the provision of electricity to government institutions in Asaba.

The company which came on stream two months ago has a generating capacity of over five Kilowatts of electricity.

The council approved that the total five Kilowatts of electricity that would be generated will not be consumed by government alone.

The excess will be shared to persons that can pay for it or sold to the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), he stated.

The former commissioner said that the council also approve N2.8 billion for the upgrade of the three newly established universities in the state.

Government also approved the state participation in the CBN oil palm development programme which will enable it to access over N7 billion loan to be made available to farmers in the state as soft loans, Aniagwu added.

He said that the council also approved the constructions of a road in Osubi, Okpe Local Government Area of the state, as well as three new secondary schools and a primary school in parts of the state.

On the retuned of the state fund looted by former Gov. James Ibori to Delta, he said that the state government was on touch with the FederalGovernment, adding I believe it would do the needful as a father. (NAN).

Source: NAN News

By Martha Agas

The Northern Governors Forum, has called for calm and dialogue between Kaduna State Government and organised labour, to resolve the ongoing warning strike by workers in the state.

The Chairman of the forum and Governor of Plateau, Mr Simon Lalong, made the call in a statement by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Dr. Makut Macham, on Tuesday in Jos.

He said the forum was concerned of the impact of the strike on the state and its residents following the lockdown of economic activities in the state.

The chairman noted that dialogue and negotiations were effective tools of addressing dispute in labour relations.

He called for restraint and de-escalation of the situation to enable amicable resolutions.

He pointed out that peaceful resolution was only possible when both parties operate within the law in ventilating their grievances.

The chairman explained that inciting comments and some actions would further aggravate the situation and increase tension.

Lalong urged the labour leaders to guard against the hijack of its protests by hoodlums, who may want to take advantage of the situation to cause destruction of lives and property.

He also tasked security agencies to ensure the enforcement of law and order to protect the people and their properties.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the Nigeria Labor Congress, on Monday declared five days warning strike following the sack of workers in the state, allegedly without following due process.

NLC has shut down power supply, rail and air operations as well as other commercial activities in the state.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Joan Nwagwu

The Federal Government has waded into ongoing strike and picketing in Kaduna State by the organised labour.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige said this in a statement signed by Mr Charles Akpan, Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations in the ministry, on Tuesday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress(TUC) had embarked on a five-day warning strike that commenced on Monday over sack of 4000 workers by the Kaduna state government.

Ngige appealed to the Kaduna state Governor, Malam Nasir El Rufai, President of the NLC, Mr Ayuba Wabba and the President of the TUC, Mr Quadiri Olaleye to immediately cease fire.

We are not unaware of what is going on in Kaduna state . It is a labour issue which has snowballed into a national strike and picketing by the two labour centres and affiliate unions.

We hope and also urge the Kaduna state governor not to escalate matters to such a level where it becomes uncontrollable.

We also appeal to leaders of the labour centres to step down action to make way for discussion .

My ministry is wading into the matter and therefore calls on the warring parties to give peace a chance, he said.

The minister also appealed to all workers on essential duties, including doctors and nurses not to join the strike.

He added that, importantly, I appeal to workers in critical sectors not to tamper with electrical or water installations so as not to bring more sufferings to the people of Kaduna state and the nation at large.

This is because we have it on good authority, following complaints by the Minster of Power that workers have threatened to trigger a nationwide blackout by interfering or switching off the national grid, Ngige said.(NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Chijioke Okoronkwo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says there is need for synergy among stakeholders in order to promote road safety in the country.

Osinbajo made the call on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while receiving on courtesy visit a team led by Sen. Adeleke Mamora, Minister of State for Health, in commemoration of the Global Road Safety Week.

The slogan chosen for 2021 UN Global Traffic Safety Week is Street for Life, to call for 30 km/h (20 mph) speed limits to be the norm for cities, towns and villages worldwide.

Osinbajo, who is Chairman of the National Road Safety Advisory Council, congratulated all of the agencies, ministries of health and transport, and the lead agency on road safety administration and safety management.

We must commend the UN, especially for the resolution, which has brought all of these about.

I think that making road safety a public health issue is one of the very creative ways of ensuring that we all able to synergise as the Ministry of Health is properly brought into the picture properly; which explains why the minister is a key part of the activities of this week and of course the second decade of action.

I think that those synergies are important; the synergies between the ministries and the synergies between the Federal Government, the states and the Local Government Councils.

Many of our streets belong to states and local governments; so, there is absolutely no way we can talk about road safety in any sensible way without bringing in the states and local governments; I think those synergies are important.

And I am sure also that you are walking with the ministries of health and transport in the states of the federation.

According to him, what the federal government is trying to do is first to encourage states to do not just their roads, but federal roads, where they can.

He said that federal roads were practically in all the states.

With this administration, the president was able to open up the states for states to do federal roads and be compensated for where they have sought appropriate permissions in order to do those roads, he said.

Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, Corp Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corp, who is a part of the team, later told State House correspondents that the initiative was geared at promoting reasonable speed limit in the urban areas.

Displaying a card with the inscription 30km/H, Oyeyemi said that the Global Road Safety Week was being celebrated globally.

Speed is the major challenge in the highways; 50 per cent of the fatalities is as a result of speed violations and the global bodys focus is to promote the need for people to be more safety conscious in reducing the speed.

I have seen that a lot of young ones are been killed in urban areas; hence the need to compel member bodies to make sure that the maximum speed limit in urban areas is 30 km per hour.

And we are happy for the vice president for spear-heading this as the chairman of the National Road Safety Advisory Council; so the same thing is going on in other parts of the country.

It is promoting the need in urban areas to cut down the speed maximum of 30 km per hour and we believe we will be able to achieve this with the cooperation of all the road users, he said.

Oyeyemi added that the corps would work with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to ensure that appropriate road signs were installed in the urban areas as well as stop signs at the junctions.

On his part, Mamora said there was need to eliminate the burden of accidents; hence the focus on prevention which, in itself, was part of managing the health of human beings as well.

Speaking, Dr Sydney Ibeanusi, the Country Director and Focal Person for the United Nations Decade of Action on Road Safety and Injury Prevention for Nigeria, said the benefits of the initiatives would be immense.

The short time benefit of this will be to save lives; saving the number of people who are killed or injured on the roads.

In the long term, the huge economic impact, we lose between three to five per cent of our Gross Domestic Product annually from road crashes; that translates to about N6 trillion to N9 trillion every year; so the long time impact is huge.

Most developed countries have realised that and took up road safety as a major economic investment and are reaping the benefits, he said.

He said that the target was to reduce deaths and disability by 50 per cent by the year 2030. (NAN)

Source: NAN News