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