By Christian Ogbonna

Some suspected armed hoodlums on Saturday attacked Abaomege Police Division in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi and carted away valuables and destroyed property.

The Ebonyi Commissioner for Internal Security, Mr Stanley Okoro-Emegha, however confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abakaliki on Sunday.

Okoro-Emegha described the attack as worrisome.

The police division was attacked yesterday, Saturday; it is very unfortunate and worrisome. I urge the police to step up strategy to deal with the hoodlums, he said.

Sunday Okafor, an eyewitness and resident in the area, who spoke with NAN, said the incident occurred on Saturday night.

Yes, it happened on Saturday night; the gunmen came and started shooting sporadically; one police officer was shot but we do not know if he is dead.

The gunmen also destroyed police vehicles and a motorcycle at the division and stole some property, Okafor alleged.

Efforts by our correspondent to get the police reaction were abortive, as the Ebonyi Police Command Spokesperson, DSP Loveth Odeh could not immediately answer her calls or respond to text messages. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Solomon Asowata

Electricity consumer groups on Sunday, kicked against the planned review of electricity tariffs for the 11 power Distribution Companies (DisCos) by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

They maintained that there was no justification for any upward review of electricity tariffs due to the current economic realities and challenges being faced by Nigerians.

The groups, the Energy Consumer Rights and Responsibilities Initiative (ECRRI) and All Electricity Consumers Protection Forum (AECPF) made their views known in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

NAN reports that NERC, the regulator of the power sector had in a public notice, announced that it was working on concluding Extraordinary Tariff Review process for the DisCos.

The commission said it would also commence the processes for the July 2021 Minor Review of the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO-2020) which was done every six months.

However, Mr Adeola Samuel-Ilori, National Coordinator, AECPF said minor review was not automatic even if it was done every six months.

Samuel-Ilori said There are provisions to be fulfilled before they can do any review whether major or minor.

In the major review they have to fulfill the provisions of Section 76(1) of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) which states that a licensee can ask for a review premised on what the licensee has spent so far to improve supply.

This also applies to minor review and we cannot say that supply has improved in the last few months based on the DisCos investments in the sector.

As at today, we are generating 5,866MW to serve the whole Nigeria which is almost 200 million people. That cannot be said to be an improvement, he said.

He also argued that there was nothing like extraordinary review in the EPSRA , stressing that what Nigerians needed now was improved supply not tariff increment.

Also, Mr Surai Fadairo, National President, ECRRI said Nigerians were still struggling to cope with the last tariff increment following the major review done in 2020.

Fadairo said The national minimum wage is N30,000 and most states are yet to implement the payment.

There is rising inflation in costs of goods and services. Some Nigerians have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic and are barely holding on.

There is no justification for any increment in electricity at this point in time. We are even thinking of how government can give electricity credits to Nigerians to ameliorate their plights, he said.

NAN reports that NERC had said extraordinary tariff reviews were carried out in instances where industry parameters had changed from those used in the operating tariffs to such an extent that a review was urgently required to maintain the viability of the industry.

The commission said the reviews would put into consideration, changes in inflation, foreign exchange, gas prices and available generation capacity.

NERC said it would also consider Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) required to evacuate and distribute the said available generation capacity in accordance with EPSRA and other extant industry rules. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Salisu Sani-Idris

The Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company Ltd (ABUMTCO) says the cost of maintenance of its vehicles is the major challenge affecting the smooth operation of the company.

Mr Tunde Akintola, Head, Marketing and Communication of the company, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

Akintola said that the company had over 200 functional buses that transport commuters within and outside Abuja environs, both in the northern, southern and eastern corridors of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He said that the buses moved directly to the northern corridors which covered Gwagwalada and Kwali Area Councils, down to the Central Area, then from Zuba axis down to the city centre in Berger axis.

He said that the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, had directed the company to ensure that a good number of vehicles were deployed to the city centre to transport people to their offices.

According to him, the company has a number of drivers, vendors, supervisors and administrative staff, who are capable and well trained.

However, cost of maintenance is killing us, it is one of the major challenges facing the company. For example a good tyre of a bus goes for N300,000 and each bus use a minimum of six tires.

You can imagine when you have up to 10 buses that need tyres, apart from the cost of other maintenance, honestly cost of maintenance is a serious issue.

It is serious to the extent that we find it difficult to maintain the buses very well because of the high cost of spare parts. Some of our buses come for maintenance after every three days.

We dont just deployed vehicle with risk like other transport companies. We make sure that all our buses are in good condition and safety before we can move them to the road.

Majority of the buses you have seen parked here are all in good condition when we need them we deployed them, he said.

Akintola, therefore, appealed to the FCT Administration to review the monthly subsidy being given to the company because of the increase in the cost of operations.

He noted that all over the world no transport company like Abuja urban mass could survive without the support of the government because it was not profit making venture.

It is a call to service to assist the citizens, because transportation is drives the economy, if people cannot move from one location to the other it will be difficult for any business to survive.

Presently the price of diesel per litter is 265 to 270, which we use to buy in the past 160 to 170.

For the pass four to five years we have not changed our transport fares and we already have not less than 100 per cent increase on the cost of operations on daily basis.

We still charge N50 from Luge axis to town, we still charge N100 from Zuba to town in which none of the commercial vehicle can do that, Akintola said.

He, however, commended the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, for being very supportive to the company by ensuring the release of its monthly subsidy to augment its operational cost.

Akintola also appealed to the FCT administration to establish terminal in the four corridors of territory to the Abuja urban mass transport company.

He said that Abuja urban mass transport was the safest among all the transport companies in the city, saying even when passengers forget their things they have an assurance that they will get it.

Apart from finance issue, we also have the challenge of conducive environment. No urban transport system can survive under Abuja environment.

For instance in Lagos you have the bus shelter, terminals for this kind of operation, you have bus stop and people that control traffic properly.

But we are still lacking behind here. You get to Berger Bridge, Nyanya and Zuba axis you realised that everywhere is congested and it is a risk.

You remember what happened in 2014 when Nyanya was bombed, so we must be very careful, he said.

He stressed the need for the FCT transportation secretariat to regulate transport in the territory with a view to check the activities of those who constitute security threat to the operations of Abuja urban mass company. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By EricJames Ochigbo

Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi has commended the vigilance group and security agents in Dekina Local Government Area of the state for the arrest of notorious kidnappers.

Bello gave the commendation in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Onogwu Mohammed, on Sunday after a successful operation where three kidnapped victims were also rescued.

The governor said that the kidnappers had been operating and terrorising communities in the environs.

According to him, the successful fight against criminals in the state is also coming at a time when insecurity is heightened in some parts of the country.

Bello said the gang of notorious kidnappers operating in Dekina Area Council on Sunday met their waterloo on Saturday on Idah Road.

He added that the repel by the Joint Taskforce of Neighborhood watch, vigilantes, hunters and other security agents led to the death of the gang members as three captives were release.

The kidnappers, whose names were Monday Mimiko alias Aneni the law and Abu Billi alias Don German died during crossfire with security personnel while two others escaped with gunshot wounds.

The security team also freed three persons kidnapped by the gang during operation around Egume.

The criminals had been terrorising the Okura axis of Dekina LGA for years engaging in kidnapping and armed robbery.

Confirming the report, Dekina LGA Chairman, Mr Ishaq Okolo, said that he was aware of the operation, noting that the security operatives were acting on the instruction of the governor.

The governor had directed security agents to fish out criminal elements wherever they are in the society.

Okolo urged members of the public to give useful information about criminals to the security agencies noting that all hands must be on deck to ensure a crime-free society, he said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Muhammad Nur Tijani

Yobe State Government has restated its commitment toward improving the quality of healthcare and achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Lawan Gana, said this on Saturday in Kano during a three- day workshop organised by the Yobe State Contributory Health Care Management Agency for the validation and development of implementation plan for the informal sector programme.

Gana said thatensuring good healthcare services for all in the state had been an area of priority for the Gov. Mala Buni administration.

He added that our target is to see majority of our people accessing quality and affordable health care services before the year 2030.

The commissioner revealed that the state government had already enrolled 200,000 civil servants in the Formal Sector Contributory Healthcare Scheme.

He noted that the state government earmarked one per cent of its consolidated revenue to the informal sector scheme to cover poor people who would not be able to pay the premium.

He said that the workshop was organised to develop the implementation roadmap for both the formal and informal sector programmes, as well as monitoring and evaluation plan, including funding opportunities and also to provide opportunities for continuous capacity building.

The commissioner emphasised that participants at the workshop were expected to come out with various strategies that would convince residents of the state to enroll into the informal sector programme.

Gana added that the workshop was organised by the Yobe State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency with support from Saving One Million Lives Programme For Results (SOML-PforR).

According to him, health financing is a major priority area in the development of the health sector. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Chinenye Offor

The Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mr Folorunsho Coker, says he will use his fresh mandate to accelerate the growth of domestic tourism.

Coker made the statement in Abuja on Sunday while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on his reappointment last week as director-general of the NTDC by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said that his immediate desire was to hasten tourism growth and foster socio-economic development of Nigeria, using the tourism value-chain.

Coker described his reappointment as another opportunity to collaborate with critical stakeholders in the tourism sector to deepen growth, using domestic tourism as catalyst.

Coker, 55, was first appointed to the position in March 2017.

He said that domestic tourism needed to be used to accelerate the growth of Nigerias creative sector to galvanise economic growth across other sectors, including agriculture and manufacturing.

My agenda is to drive the mission and vision of the NTDC aslaid out by the Federal Government, he stated.

We will promote domestictourism and ensure sustainable practices that will boost the socio-economic wellbeing of our citizenry as seen in other parts of the world.

The director-general also pledged to continue with the existing template on domestic tourism promotion, deepening digital capacity and ensuring training of tourism practitioners.

He said that he would collaborate with the National Assembly to get lawmakers to enact laws to facilitate tourism growth.

Coker said that he was also looking forward to introducing better welfare packages for employees of the NTDC and ensuring that government provided necessary infrastructure for the tourism industry.

He noted that new laws were needed in the tourism sector to open up the sector and make Nigerians to harness opportunities in the sector.

Laws are needed to reflect contemporary realities in the tourism sector and to promote the best of Nigeria, leveraging on technologies to deepen creativity and entrepreneurship.

We will continue our collaborations with our digital partners to shine light on Nigerias rich and diverse cultural heritage, spectacular nature,bustling cities and our welcoming spirit.

We have a digital framework in the promotion of tourism, information and sharing of the nations culture, partnering with Google Arts and Culture, Facebook and Wikipedia, among others for global reach.

Coker reiterated the commitment of the corporation to sustaining collaborations with the private sector, state governments and international agencies to achieve set goals of the NTDC. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Edith Ike-Eboh

By Folasade Akpan
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has called on prospective investors to express interest in purchasing 100 per cent shareholding in any of the five power generation companiesconstructed under National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) listed for sale.

It said this in a document signed by the Director-General, Mr Alex Okoh, and made available to the media on Sunday.

The document said that it was incontinuation of the ongoing reforms of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry and consistent with the Nigerian Electric Power Policy and Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act, 2005.

It also said that the Board of Directors of Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and the National Council on Privatisation had approved the sale of the five companiesthrough a competitive bidding process.

It however, did not say how much was expected to be realised from the sales.

The companies constructed under the NIPP are located in Kogi, Edo, Cross River, Ondo and Ogun.

It listed the five in-service generation plants to be Geregu Generation Company Ltd with gross installed capacity at ISO condition of 506 Megawatts (MW) and Benin (Ihovbor) Generation Company Ltd with 507 MW.

Others are Calabar Generation Ltd with 634MW, Omotosho Generation Ltd with 513MW and Olorunsogo Generation Company Ltd with 754MW.

According to the document, prospective investors are expected to submit separate Expressions of Interest (EoI) for each generation company.

Each bidder must be an experienced power generation company that owns and/or operates utility size power plants.

In case of a consortium, at least one of the consortium members must be an experienced power generation company (the Technical Partner).

The technical partner shall be responsible for providing operation, maintenance and management services under a long term agreement.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the BPE had during its 2021 budget defence at the National Assembly, disclosed plans by the Federal Government to sell some generation companies.

NAN also reports that BPE was created through the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act 1999, to diversify the economy and strengthen the private sector as Nigerias engine of growth and economic driver. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Muhammad Nasir Bashir

The Federal Government has disbursed about N18 million to 1,799 beneficiaries in Kafinhausa Local Government Area of Jigawa, under its Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the programme is one of the four Social Investment Programmes (SIP) of the Federal Government.

The Information Officer in the local government council, Alhaji Muhammad Umar, made the disclosure in a statement made available to newsmen in Dutse on Saturday.

Umar saidthat each of the beneficiaries, selected from Balangu, Dumadumi and Gafaya wards of the LGA, received N10,000.

He quoted the Coordinator, Special Intervention Programme (SIP) in the council area, Mr Umar Aliko, as noting that the gesture was aimed at improving the lives of the beneficiaries and lifting the most vulnerable groups out of poverty.

Aliko also commended the state and local governments for their support and cooperation towards the successful conduct of the exercise.

The statement also quoted thecouncil Chairman, Alhaji Garba Abdullahi, as calling on the beneficiaries to make judicious useof the money.

Abdullahi encouraged the beneficiaries to engage in petty businesses or improve their already-established small businesses.

NAN reports that CCT is a programme initiated by the federal government to reduce poverty through payment of monthly stipend of N5,000 to each registered vulnerable beneficiary.

The programme is focused on responding to deficiencies in capacity and lack of investment in human capital, especially amongst poorest citizens.

It is also designed to deliver timely and accessible cash transfers to beneficiaries and support development objectives and priorities to improve household consumption. (NAN)

Source: NAN News

By Chiazam George/,Ugochukwu Olive

The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has lauded the Federal Government on the approval of implementation of the consequential adjustment of the new National Minimum Wage for pensioners in the country.

The NUP President, Mr Godwin Abumisi, gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the 2021 Workers Day celebration on Saturday in Abuja.

The theme for the celebration is COVID-19 Pandemic, Social and Economic Crises: Challenges for Decent Jobs and Peoples Welfare.

NAN reports that on April 22, the Executive Secretary of Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate, Dr Chioma Ejikeme, announced that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the implementation of the consequential adjustment for pensioners.

The Federal Government approved adjustment in pensions of retirees under the defined benefit pension scheme arising from the implementation of the New National Minimum Wage Act 2019 will take effect from April 18, 2019.

We are happy with the Federal Government now, because it has approved the consequential adjustment of our portion as regards the new minimum wage.

So, we want to use this opportunity to commend the Federal Government for putting smiles on the faces of the pensioners in the country, he said.

He, however, noted that pensioners all over the states were still facing some other challenges which include irregularly payment of their pensions among others.

He, therefore, called on Mr President to intervene in the issue.

We are supposed to be paid our pension on a regularly bases but rather it is difficult for our members to be paid in the most of the states.

That is why we also want Federal Government to listen to our plight, he said.

Also, Mr David Ohuo, a pensioners, told NAN that their members found it difficult in receiving their pensions.

According to him, what the pensioners are going through accounts for the high rate of corruption and it is time to take the bull by the horn.

Many people would not want to retire because outside service there is serious battle to survive, Ohuo said. (NAN)

Source: NAN News