By Joshua Oladipo

Gov. Gboyega Oyetola of Osun, on Tuesday, inaugurated a 3.65 kilometre rehabilitated bridge in Gbongan, Ayedaade Local Government Area of the state

The newly rehabilitated bridge, Chief Bisi-Akande Trumpet Bridge was named after the former interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In his remarks, Oyetola said that the inauguration was in fulfillment of his commitment to the development of the ancient town and its people.

The governor appealed to all road users within and outside Gbongan not to engage in any act capable of undermining the newly-rehabilitated road.

The road we are inaugurating today witnessed massive deterioration due to diverted traffic to Gbongan township during the construction of Chief Adebisi Akande Trumpet Bridge at Gbongan Junction.

As a responsible and responsive Government, we rose to the occasion to fix it to improve the socioeconomic development of our people.

The rehabilitation of the road will no doubt improve the socioeconomic life of the people and the town in significant ways.

Besides further giving a facelift to the ancient town, it will also increase commercial and agricultural activities which the good people of Gbongan and environs are noted for.

It is our hope that the people of Gbongan and its environ shall take advantage of this road to improve on their businesses and the general social development of the area, he said.

Oyetola also said his administration would continue to provide services and projects to meet the needs of the people in the state.

It is our hope that you will continue to carry out your businesses and relate with one another in peace, to sustain our ranking as the most peaceful State in Nigeria.

As a government, we shall continue to do all in our power to secure the lives and property of the State and our people, he said.

Earlier, Mr Remi Omowaiye, Commissioner for Works, appreciated the people of Gbongan for their patience, support and loyalty during the rehabilitation period.

Also, Mr Adegboyega Famodun , the APC Chairman in Osun, commended the governor for fulfilling his campaign promises, despite the paucity of funds. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Victor Adeoti/Oluwole Sogunle

Source: NAN News

By Ginika Okoye/Favour Ukabiala

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has bagged the Federal Governments level five platinum level organisation award for outstanding performance in good governance and financial accountability.

The assessment was done by the Bureau of Public Service Reform (BPSR) from Sept. 2021 through the Bureaus Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) initiative.

Presenting the award and report in Abuja on Tuesday, Mr Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), said the assessment was drawn from the Federal Governments commitment to ensure improved service delivery in the public service.

Mustapha, represented by Dr Habiba Lawal, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, congratulated the NDIC for accepting the assessment tool.

He enjoined all the federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to subject themselves to the assessment for improved performance and service delivery.

Dr Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, commended the NDIC for the achievements.

Ahmed, represented by Mr Stephen Okon, the Director, Home Finance of the ministry, said the appraisal should be constant to maintain the standards.

Analysing the SAT report, the Director-General of the BPSR, Dr Dasuki Arabi, said the Bureau assessed 10 pragmatic areas in the corporation.

Arabi said the areas assessed included performance management, strategic plan, budget, procurement, transparency and accountability, among others.

He said the corporation scored 93 per cent in the assessment for high quality work and hard work by the staff.

It is worthy of note that NDIC is the first and only agency under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning which has enthusiastically submitted itself to undergo the assessment.

The Bureau received a marching order in November, 2019 to deploy the tool in all MDAs.

This is an outstanding pace NDIC has set, our humble persuasion is for others to readily emulate it.

The introduction of SAT at this period to identify strengths and weaknesses of MDAs is a practical effort Public Service Institutions (PSIs) must key-in to if they must redeem their usefulness and relevance.

This tool, which has to its credit a United Nation Award, is among the best innovation emanating from the Bureau to rank, reposition and reengineer organisational performance for improved service delivery, he said.

He advised the corporation to collaborate more with other agencies of government for effective service delivery.

Mr Bello Hassan, the Managing Director of the NDIC, said the SAP initiative would continue to assist the Corporation in evaluating its responsiveness to current government policies.

Hassan said the award and report would spur the corporation into doing more to achieve its targets.

We were highly elated for been rated platinum level, but I think for us we have a culture of continuous process improvement, so we are going to look at the report closely most especially on the recommendations.

We are going to improve on our weaknesses identified so that when next we are assessed, we will do much better, Hassan said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the SAT report was presented to the corporation by the SGF. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

Source: NAN News

By Tosin Kolade

The Federal Government, in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), has inaugurated a National Roadmap on Hand Hygiene for All.

The roadmap gives direction for collaborative efforts to implement the Sanitation and Hygiene programmes under the UN Sustainable Development Goal six.

At the public presentation on Tuesday in Abuja, Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, said the Nigeria Roadmap identified strategic goals and opportunities for investments to improve hand hygiene.

Adamu said that it provided actions across the three pillars of political leadership, enabling environment and inclusive programming at scale to increase supply and demand.

The Roadmap has laid out a path for maximising upcoming opportunities in the implementation of hand hygiene in homes, schools, healthcare facilities, among others.

This Roadmap will further increase the awareness of Nigerians on the developing initiative for inclusive hand hygiene in all human context of existence in Nigeria.

Activities to realise these factors have been detailed to include short-term COVID-19 response needs to control the outbreak and medium-term activities to rebuild hand hygiene culture, he said.

Adamu said the long-term approach called for sustenance of hand hygiene culture, adding that the impact of adequate handwashing cut across the whole SDGs Agenda.

He said this has the potential to improve healthcare outcomes and subsequently increase the progress regarding equity, education, and WASH.

Also, Mr Emmanuel Awe, the Director, Water Quality Control and Sanitation, Ministry of Water Resources, said there was need for political leadership to build momentum in all tiers of government.

Awe said that strong enabling environment was crucial, as it would strengthen systems for financing and developing policies in a sustainable manner.

The UNICEF Deputy Representative, Ms Rushnan Murtaza, said the roadmap was a deliberate effort to guide the country in interventions that build on the efforts of government in curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Murtaza said the benefits of hand hygiene in preventing the transmission of infectious diseases were crucial, as it had been proven to reduce deaths from respiratory and diarrhoea diseases in under-fives.

She said to facilitate the implementation of this Roadmap, UNICEF supported the Market Assessment of Hygiene Products and Services in Nigeria.

The report of this assessment is ready and will be widely circulated to facilitate efficient decision-making on sourcing hygiene products and services at all levels.

I understand that the Clean Nigeria Campaign at the National level has already incorporated the core strategies of the hand hygiene for All Roadmap into their campaign strategies, she said.

Murtaza urged all states and local government areas to key into the roadmap and integrate it with their state-specific open defecation free roadmaps.

Commenting, Dr Edwin Isotu-Edeh, WHO Representative, commended the efforts of the Federal Government in prioritising sanitation and hygiene through the campaign for hand hygiene.

There is a huge gap in accesss to handwashing services among households in the country as reflected in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Normal Routine Mapping report, as it stood at only 17 per cent.

There is need for behaviour change to inculcate handwashing as the first line of defense in breaking disease transmission, Isotu-Edeh said.

He called for mainstreaming the roadmap into all development policies and programmes.

According to him, this will help to improve access to basic and improved sanitation and hygiene services sustainably. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Chidinma Agu/Olagoke Olatoye

Source: NAN News

By Ngozi Njoku

A 37- year-old Uber driver, Chukwuemeka Benjamin, on Tuesday appeared before an Ogudu Magistrates Court, Lagos for allegedly stealing a Toyota Camry worth N1.7 million.

Benjamin who resides at Olatinji Street, Ojota, Lagos is charged with conspiracy and theft.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against him by the police.

The prosecutor, Insp Donjour Perezi, told the court that the defendant committed the offences on Aug. 2, at Olatunji street, Ojota, Lagos.

According to him, the defendant conspired to steal a Toyota Camry car with registration No. SMK 03 WC valued N1.7 million and belonging to Chief Olubiyi Afolarin.

He said that the defendant who collected the car on hire purchase from the complainant, claimed to have parked the vehicle in front of his compound on Aug. 1, at around 8:30 p.m.

He came out to clean the car by 4:30 am to resume work only to find it missing, Perezi said.

The prosecutor said the offences contravened Sections 287 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The Magistrate, Mrs M.O Tanimola granted him bail in the sum of N300, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

She ordered that the sureties must be gainfully employed while one of them should be a blood relative of the defendant.

Ariyo also ordered that the sureties must show evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State Government.

She adjourned the case until Oct. 14, for mention. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Nick Nicholas/Sadiya Hamza

Source: NAN News

The Russian army has lost more than 50,000 soldiers in more than six months of war in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian figures.

With the invasion now 195 days old, 50,150 Russian soldiers had been killed, the Ukrainian general staff announced on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian army claimed to have already destroyed 2,077 tanks, 4,484 armored vehicles, 236 aircraft and 207 helicopters.

There was no independent confirmation of the figures.

The British Ministry of Defence, on the other hand, estimated that only about 25,000 Russian soldiers had been killed.

Russia itself had not given any information on its own casualties for a long time.

Last Friday, the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk put their losses since the start of the invasion at just more than 2,900 dead.

In contrast, according to the rarely released Kiev figures on their own losses, there were about 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed and 7,000 missing, they said.

Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February and had since taken control of large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.

The United Nations had so far, registered more than 5,700 civilians killed, but, like Kiev, assumes a much higher number of civilian casualties.

The Donetsk separatists last quoted a figure of around 870 civilian deaths in their area.

The British Ministry of Defence also said that a shortage of reconnaissance drones is increasingly complicating the operations of Russias troops in Ukraine.

The British government had regularly published intelligence information on the course of the war.

Moscow accused London of a targeted disinformation campaign. (dpa/NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Ummul Idris/Chioma Ugboma

Source: NAN News

By Jessica Dogo

The United States National Security Agencys (NSA) Cyber Command Centre, says Public-Private Partnership (PPP), is the solution to protecting critical infrastructure worldwide.

Ms. Morgan Adamski, U.S. Director of NSAs Cybersecurity Command Center, said this during a three-week Cybersecurity Virtual Reporting Tour, on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ongoing program was organised by Foreign Press Centers (FPC).

Morgan, who spoke on the brief titled: The Pivotal Importance of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Cooperation in Strengthening Security, said that the focus of the centre was in threefold.

She said the threefold includes creating a forum to build a more comprehensive picture of the cyber threat landscape, protecting small to medium-sized and large companies that produce critical technologies for the U.S. military.

Morgan stated the last fold to be directly countering maligned influence on emerging technology standards such as fifth generation, sixth generation and cloud security, accordingly.

She said: As we are here to discuss today, PPPs are not just nice to have, they are the solution to protect critical infrastructure worldwide.

The focus of the Cybersecurity Collaboration Center is threefold: first and foremost, creating a forum to build a more comprehensive picture of the cyber threat landscape.

Protecting small to medium-sized and large companies that produce critical technologies for the U.S. military, which we call the Defense Industrial Base, against nation-state threats.

And directly countering maligned influence on emerging technology standards such as 5G, 6G, and cloud security.

She, however, said that PPP should not be about seeking the mechanism or the platform for sharing, but should always be about its outcome that drives the format for the most successful collaboration.

It is never about the mechanism or the platform for sharing in PPP. It should always be about the outcome that drives the format for the most successful collaboration.

At the federal level, a collaborative approach is the cornerstone of our efforts.

We leverage on the unique authorities of federal, civilian, law enforcement, military, and intelligence agencies, and further integrate their operations.

At the operational level, we have found that the secret to collaboration between the U.S. Government and the private sector is empowering the art of conversation, she said.

The Director said analysts were needed to discuss, share information and analyse as they work through a problem or trying to understand a threat.

She said no agency or center had the capacity to collaborate with any organisation in the defense of data and systems against adversarial activity, adding that a distributed approach should be taken to a diverse and agile threat.

We need analysts to talk to each other, sharing information and analysis as they are working through a problem or trying to understand a threat.

That is when we discover new things, talk about alternatives analysis, and build the best mitigation guidance for all.

No single agency or center has the capacity or the authority to collaborate with every organisation necessary to defend our data and systems against adversarial activity.

Instead, we must take a network and distributed approach to a diverse and agile threat, Morgan said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

Source: NAN News

By Salisu Sani-Idris

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has revealed plans to rehabilitate Kuje General Hospital to improve infrastructure and enhance healthcare delivery in the hospital.

Director-General of the FCT Hospital Management Board, Dr Mohammed Kawu, made the disclosure while briefing newsmen shortly after inspecting facilities in the hospital, on Tuesday in Kuje Area Council.

Kawu stated that the board was working assiduously with the FCT Mandate Secretary for Health and Human Services Secretariat, the Permanent Secretary and the Minister of State to reform services in all general hospitals in the territory.

He also said that the FCT Administration at the higher level was thinking of building bigger hospitals to ensure that there was more than one hospital in each Area Council.

There is also a plan to rehabilitate this hospital, you can see it is looking old, rehabilitation may be much longer, so, we will ensure that we do something very soon.

This is a small facility that was built for a smaller population. Population explosion in FCT is unprecedented, because of so many factors that we all know, he said.

Kawu said that the number of patients that were accessing services in the facility was far higher than the number expected.

But, from what we have seen so far, the condition of the hospital is not as bad as has been portrayed.

We have entered all the wards, the toilets are clean, there is water, electricity supply, and staff are there.

The few people we asked said they were satisfied with the services offered to them, but there is room for improvement, Kawu said.

The D-G also disclosed that the FCT Administration was trying to revitalise its Drugs Revolving Fund to ensure the provision of 90 per cent of drugs in all health facilities in the nations capital.

He assured that the board would engage the FCT Health Insurance Scheme (FHIS)to improve its services, adding that health insurance was a system where services were paid for.

So, if it is beyond what you are supposed to access, you cannot access more than that but we will still engage the FCT Health Insurance Scheme.

Since I was appointed as the Director-General of the Federal Capital Territory Hospital Management Board, I have been going round hospitals in the territory.

I went to Abaji, Kwali and Karshi General Hospitals and I visited Kuje General Hospital alone to see what has been going on and I was not very satisfied, so, I effected a change of leadership in Aug. , I appointed a new Medical Director and new management.

So, I just came round to see if there is an improvement and I can tell you that Im very happy with the improvement that I have noticed.

However, that is not to say there is no room for further improvement and we are doing a lots of things with the FCT Mandate Secretary for Health Secretariat, the FCT Permanent Secretary, the Minister of State to do a lot of reforms, Kawu said.

He stated that the drugs revolving fund needs to be revitalised so that all the drugs that are needed in all the hospitals were provided.

Kawu called on the public to always engage the government properly on issues arising from any complaint they have or whatever they observe about the operation of hospitals in the territory.

He added: There is Medical Director and management of all hospitals, there is Director-General of FCT Hospital Management Board and the Secretary for Health and Human Services Secretariat who is like a Commissioner for Health, the FCT Permanent Secretary, the FCT Minister and the Minister of State.

So, if there are issues that we think are not going well, the best thing to do is to approach one of those authorities and lay your complaint.

The D-G disclosed that the board would provide a new anesthetic machine at Kuje general hospital as soon as possible.

On his part, the Medical Director of Kuje General Hospital, Dr Olufemi Oshideko, commended the FCTA for the provision of equipment, hospital delivery beds, blood bank and other facilities to the hospital since he assumed office.

Oshideko, however, said that the main challenge of the hospital was inadequate electricity supply and manpower, saying, we spend so much money on diesel and the issue of manpower, the brain drain is real.

Whether it is nurses, pharmacists and doctors, we still appeal to the FCT Hospital Management Board to bring in more staff to our facility so that we can serve the public better.

Earlier, Some patients who were at the hospital to seek medical care complained over non- availability of drugs above N500 for FHIS.

Mr Austine Okoro and Mrs Sarah Afolabi, who narrated their ordeals to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the hospital, decried huge out -of- pocket spending on drugs meant to be given at 90 per cent subsided rates to enrollees.

The duo appealed to the FCTA Health Secretariat to look into the matter. (NAN)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

Source: NAN News

By Rotimi Ijikanmi

The Federal Government says the worst is over with regards to the daunting security challenges in the country, adding that terrorists, bandits and their cohorts will never hold sway anywhere in the country.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, gave the assurance on Monday in Abuja at a media briefing he jointly addressed with some of his colleagues.

Others are Ministers of Defence retired Maj.-Gen. Bashir Magashi, Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and Police Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Dingyadi, as well as the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor.

Mohammed said the security challenges the country had faced were daunting and ranged from terrorism to banditry, kidnapping, separatist violence, crude oil theft, armed robbery and sundry crimes.

He added that the challenges were undoubtedly the greatest to the peace and security of the country since the 1967 to 1970 civil war.

It is the kind of challenge that would have overwhelmed many nations, but thanks to the purposeful leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Today, we are here to tell you that while we may not be there yet, our military and other security agencies have succeeded and are succeeding in substantially restoring security across the nation.

We can say, I want to repeat, that the worst is over and peace and security are gradually returning to the land.

Please dont misunderstand or misrepresent this assertion because we may still witness isolated cases of security challenges here and there, but it will not be on the scale that we have witnessed in the past, he assured.

The minister said the successes recorded was sequel to the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to the military to crush those terrorising the citizens and there should be no hiding place for them.

He thanked the President for his purposeful leadership as well as the military for their ability to rise to the occasion.

Mohammed also commended the media for their watchdog role and called on them to endeavour to give a big part to the successes being recorded by the security agencies.

Speaking in the same vein, Aregbesola said the security challenges the country faced mostly preceded the President Buharis administration.

He equally commended the security agencies for rising to the challenges and for largely degrading the groups and persons constituting the threats.

What we face now mostly are flashes of cowardly attacks from the rumps of groups that have been routed in one location, moving to another to give the false impression that they are still strong.

Our ultimate goal is to eliminate them altogether and restore total and lasting peace over every inch of Nigerian soil.

We have been doing this and will continue to do so through the operations of the four agencies under the Ministry, he said.

The Minister of Defence who gave accounts of the military operations across the country said they were achieving greater results through synchronised ground and air bombardments of the terrorists.

We have been forcing many of them, including Commanders to surrender in droves, with members of their families.

Areas where terrorists hitherto had some freedom of action are being cleared, socio-economic life is gradually returning to most parts of the North East.

Erstwhile Internally Displaced Persons are now returning to their ancestral homes to start life all over, in dignity, under safer and more secure environment, Magashi said.

Specifically, the minister said in the past four weeks, more than 3,407 Boko Haram Terrorists including members of their families have surrendered.

Additionally, he said 66 terrorists were neutralized including one of the key ISWAP Commanders, Modu Chaka Bem Bem and 20 of his fighters, while 55 were rrested and 52 civilians rescued.

He said troops recovered large quantities of ammunition and illicit drugs while the surrendered and arrested terrorists have been subjected to profiling and the relevant legal processes.

Magashi said for the first time, no single incidence of piracy was recorded in the countrys waters in one full year.

He said in the past four weeks, several illegal oil refining sites, consisting of 493 dugout pits, 512 storage tanks, 413 cooking ovens and 59 wooden boats were destroyed.

Additionally, he said several weapons, vehicles, vessels and equipment were recovered.

The minister said about 25,800 barrels of crude oil, 3,200 liters of Premium Motor Spirit and 2,000 liters of Dual Purpose Kerosene were recovered during various operations while 21 pipeline vandals were arrested. (NAN)

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Edited by Maharazu Ahmed

Source: NAN News

By Chijioke Okoronkwo, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

When the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) was established in 1992, it significantly raised Nigerias hope of leapfrogging industrial development via innovation and reverse engineering.

NASENIs mandate include, inter alia: To conduct developmental work in the areas of manufacturing, coordinating the proliferation of technologies developed either within or outside of its centres including patents obtained.

Transfer of technologies developed in the areas of spares, components and system engineering to entrepreneurs for the production of goods and services.

The Chief Executive Officer of NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Haruna, recently appraised the activities of the agency saying it was making multisectoral impact in the country.

Haruna said that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed NASENI to produce more solar cells to boost the alternative power sources in the country.

He said that the president also directed the implementation of modular irrigation project and the production of more farm implements, to boost agricultural activities.

The president is impressed that NASENI is delivering on its mandate. I gave him the usual quarterly briefing and he is happy with what we have done in this quarter.

Therefore, he has directed us to do more, particularly in the modular irrigation project that we are commencing from Adamawa, the solar cells production and also agricultural implements.

On the power sector, the NASENI boss said that the agency had been able to impact on the power sector, leading to the establishment of a factory in Karshi, Abuja.

According to him, the factory has the capacity to produce 7.5 megawatts of solar energy.

Through our research and development activities in solar, it is so successful that through local innovations we now have a factory, 7.5 megawatts capacity limited liability company.

The company is 100 per cent owned by government in Karshi-Abuja, producing solar modules of highest quality.

These modules are installed in many places, we have dealers who buy these and distribute and we participate in installations in private and government buildings.

7.5 megawatts cannot meet the needs of the nation and that is not making the price of solar power affordable because the cells used are imported.

Solar cells are products of silicon and silicon is obtained from silica, which is nothing other than the sand that we have abandoned, he said.

He said this informed the presidents approval for the agency to obtain the facility from China in order to achieve 100 per cent made in Nigeria products.

When that is done, solar power supply will be affordable because the most expensive component is the cells, he said.

On security, Haruna said that a unit of the agency, the Nigerian Machine Tools Osogbo, Osun, also produces protective wares for security men.

He said that the company was also in the process of assembling armoured personnel carriers, in collaboration with Azerbaijan and Indonesia.

The Nigerian Machine Tools Osogbo has been doing a lot in the production of protective wares; anti-ballistic helmets, and other bullet proof vests and boots among others.

With NASENIs collaboration with Indonesia and Azerbaijan, we have trained people on how to assemble armoured personnel carriers as well as produce certain components of the carrier, he said.

Haruna also said that NASENI had trained Nigerians for mass production of helicopters.

He said that two helicopters successfully produced, were awaiting accreditation by the Nigerian Aviation Authority before it could start flying.

The helicopter project of NASENI is a technology we copied from Belgium and also from Indonesia.

We imported after training staff on all aspects of it, from design to production to assembly, repairs and maintenance.

After they qualified, including pilots, we assembled two helicopters, which we bought CKD from these places and assemble it with a view of producing the parts by part, to have a wholly or fully made in Nigeria helicopter.

Now, these helicopters in the helipad and hanger, were developed in our site in Karishi where our solar manufacturing plant is.

He, said, however, that for expansion, the president had approved the projects to be relocated to Nigeria Air Force Institute of Technology, Kaduna, because of the already developed facilities there in order not to reinvent the wheel.

Haruna said that the agency moulded what companies like Innoson needed in the production of spare parts in commercial quantity.

However, if there is a unique car, in which only one item of the spare part is needed, instead of mass production, we do produce it because we have facility to recycle scrap metal and molten iron ductile iron even alloys and use it with our moulds to give us the shape and size of any component and machine appropriately, because we use computer aided manufacturing and design.

Haruna also revealed that the agency produced laboratory equipment for science students in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions across the country.

On agriculture, he said that the president had approved N24 billion for NASENI for the execution of a smart modular irrigation project.

More so, Haruna said the statutory one percent of the federation account meant to be drawn for its running was dedicated to execution of some priority projects that had been approved by government.

The application of these funds is in some priority projects approved by government; the capital components include payment of 15 per cent of the local counterpart funding for three key projects in the power sector; the development and production of solar cells locally; development and production of electric power transformers and the third one is high voltage testing laboratory.

Now, these are projects with 85 per cent funding support from China, which is part of what is approved and being implemented in the 2021/2022 Borrowing Plan.

That is number one and in that, out of the 48.79 million dollars representing 15 per cent of what Nigeria is paying as the 15 per cent counterpart funding based on the money remitted to NASENI in the first and third quarters, 23.9 million dollars had been remitted in these two quarters.

He said that the other areas of application of the fund included the development and domestication of technologies NASENI had acquired from a partnering organisation in Italy, de Lorenzo.

According to Haruna, the partnership with de Lorenzo is the production of technical science laboratory equipment for primary schools, secondary schools and tertiary institutions.

The third component is the development of skills development centres in six geopolitical zones.

For now, one each per zone; the fourth component of application of this fund is in the development of three out of 12 new centres approved by the president for different states of the federation and of course, continue research and development, reverse engineering and assembly of some military equipment in collaboration with two different private companies.

The companies are the Nigeria Machine Tools Limited, Oshogbo and PROFORCE, manufacturer of some military hardware, based in Ogun, and of course, completion of the remodeled NASENI headquarters, he said.

According to him, the funds have been applied to priority areas.

The NASENI boss said that President Buhari was impressed with the agency and had urged it to do more particularly in the modular irrigation projects, the solar cells production and also other agricultural implements.

Deserving no less attention, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was excited that Nigeria had all it required to manufacture wide range of products locally.

We are set to manufacture our own vehicles, clean energy trucks and cars, and we are on course to manufacturing our own weapons, armoured mobile platforms and aircraft; we have all it takes.

But I believe that MSME in technology and manufacturing, especially in the clean energy or green economy, deserves special mention.

I am convinced that this sector will be crucial in global industrial development in the coming years and will leapfrog Nigeria to economic prosperity, Osinbajo said.

Osinbajo acknowledged the ingenuity of some of the innovators as they defined the future in terms of clean energy automobiles and precision engineering.

No doubt, the challenge of leapfrogging industrialisation is hinged not only on harnessing local talents, but exploiting requisite know-how externally.

In a tech-savvy world, techies say Nigerian scholars and researchers must show more interest in artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics and mechatronics in order to catch up with the rest of the world.(NANFeatures)

Source: NAN News

By Chinenye Offor

The House of Representatives Committee on Commerce has lauded the trajectory of positive results by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

The commendation is contained in a statement issued by CACs Head of Media unit, Mr Rasheed Mahe, on Monday in Abuja.

Mahe said the Mr Femi Fakaye-led House of Representatives committee on commerce, commended the commissions leadership led by its Registrar-General(R-G), Alhaji Garba Abubakar, at its headquarters to wrap up its oversight visit.

FakayecommendedAbubakar for keeping the agency afloat and turning things around in accordance with his pledge to the National Assembly.

According to Fakaye, the commission has been breathing fresh air since Abubakar assumed office as the R-G.

Heurged the R-G to take steps to maintain the achievements for economic growth, adding that CAC was one of the vital organs that gave life to the Nigerian economy.

Other members of the committee, however,charged the commission to review and revisit certain areas of its operations that needed improvement.

They lauded the commissionscreation of sustained public awareness on its activities and achievements with special emphasis on the rudiments of ensuring successful online registration of companies.

The R-G, in his response, expressed his commitment to sustain and improve on the gains so far recorded.

Abubakar, who described the year 2020 as the best year for the commission in terms of revenue generation and remittance.

He complained that slash in fees was negatively affecting some of its operations.

Abubakar said that the commission was able to surmount most of its challenges and achieved set targets, as well as objectives, because of its dedicated and committed staffers.

According to him, the CAC willcontinue to ensure improvement of its workforce through the provision of adequate work tools, conducive working environment.

The CAC boss also promised to sustain routine training and retraining of members of staff within the available resources.

Abubakar said that the commission was on the verge of deploying a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution to beef up its customer service in line with global best practices.

Highlight of the visit was the guided facility tour of the Status Unit, Special Projects Unitand the Server room. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Kevin Okunzuwa/ Bashir rabe Mani

Source: NAN News