President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday in Abuja, confirmed and ratified International Coffee Agreement 2007, following the Federal Executive Council (FEC), approval of Nigeria’s membership of the International Coffee Organisation (ICO).

Malam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, confirmed this in a statement, in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

‘“The FEC meeting had drawn a conclusion on the agreement on October 21, 2020, with emphasis on Conclusion 10, which approved the preparation of the Instrument of Ratification of Nigeria’s membership of the International Coffee Organisation and International Coffee Agreement of 2007.

‘“The 2007 Agreement will strengthen the ICO’s role as a forum for intergovernmental consultations, facilitate international trade through increased transparency and access to relevant information,” Shehu said.

The president’s spokesman added that the agreement would also promote a sustainable coffee economy for the benefit of all stakeholders, and particularly, of small-scale farmers in coffee producing countries.

According to Shehu, the agreement is an important instrument for development cooperation, and will provide the legal framework for core activities undertaken by the Organisation in future.

He disclosed that the Instrument of Ratification was prepared by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) on Wednesday signed a virtual Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Earth Networks, U.S. to advance weather observation across the globe.

NiMet`s Director-General, Prof. Mansur Matazu said the purpose of the MOU was to enter into a mutual beneficial collaboration for Network and Data Services Agreement between the two organisations.

According to him, the realisation of the MOU is preceded by a formal request for collaboration from Earth Networks Inc. by its International Director, Mr Ari Davidou through a draft MoU to the Agency.

“Earth Networks (EN) developed a lightning detection and surface weather monitoring technology that detects a large portion of in-cloud (IC) and Cloud to Ground (CG) lightning.

“EN utilises data to enhance weather forecast and enable its proprietary products known as dangerous ‘Thunderstorm Alerts’ and pulse raid respectively.

”EN also produces and delivers high resolution proof forecasts known as ENcast and other derivative products.

“ NiMet desires to improve its high impact weather forecasting capacity through the utilisation of total lightening data and latest point forecasting techniques to provide related services to its customers and stakeholders,“ he said.

Matazu said the objective of the collaboration was to support the capacity of NiMet to further develop its service delivery through working together to deploy EN Stations in various locations.

He said that the move would contribute to the Nigeria Total Lightning and Mesoscale AWS Network (NTLMAN) and enable EN forecasting services (ENcast).

According to him, through the collaboration, NiMet will be able to access EN data for its internal use and public display in degraded form and to resell sensor data and derivative works to its customers.

The Management of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) Plc, has said it had so far installed 40,000 pre-paid meters across Edo, Delta, Ekiti and Ondo, its franchise states.

Mrs Funke Osibodu, the Managing Director/CEO, BEDC disclosed this at a media parley with newsmen in Benin, on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari initiated the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) to meter about one million electricity customers nationwide.

Osibodu told journalists that each distribution company (Disco) was allocated a number of meters to be installed for its customers, saying that BEDC had taken delivery of 54,198 out the 75,870 allocated to its customers under the NMMP phase zero level.

She explained that the meters were being installed on the pole, to reduce the incidence of bypass and other forms of energy theft prevalent on the network.

“Generally, the NMMP has been working well but slowed down a bit during this rainy season. The next phase called phase one, will commence soon.

”BEDC has been improving on the power supply arrangements for the five classes of customers categorisation,” she said.

The Managing Director also disclosed that between 2019 to date, BEDC had inaugurated several projects to boost its network infrastructure, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She listed the projects to include: the UNIBEN 15MVA-the UNIBEN 33/11KVA injection substation which, she said, had stabilised power supply to the institution and its environs.

“33/11KV injection substation Benin in Edo, DDPA Warri 7.5MVA, 33/11KV injection substation in Delta and 33KV LILO at Evbuabogun injection substation Benin in Edo, among others,” she said.

According to her, BEDC had also reconnected a total of 108 transformers back to the national grid across it’s franchise state of Edo, Delta, Ekiti and Ondo.

“Out of this figure, 34 were reconnected in Edo, 55 in Delta, 12 in Ondo and seven in Ekiti.

“Recognising the financial difficulties that customers are going through, especially during this COVID-19 period, BEDC has also begun a debt repayment scheme for customers in its coverage areas.

“It is a soft landing for customers to settle their outstanding debts. The scheme offers discounts ranging from five per cent to 25 per cent”, she said.

Osibodu added that customers under the scheme, are required to make a 25 per cent down payment and spread the balance over four years.

She disclosed that BEDC had increased the number of its Point of Sale (POS) terminals from 1,175 to 1,341 and had concluded plans to introduce Electronic Billing (e-billing) platforms across it’s franchise areas.

Maritime stakeholders on Thursday disclosed that an improved ease of doing business is a criteria for Nigeria to be eligible as member of the International Maritime Organisations (IMO) council.

They made the call at the Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association, Nigeria (WISTA.NG) summit with theme as : “Objective Appraisal of Nigerians’ Eligibility for International Maritime Organisations (IMO) Council Membership”.

They added that though, the Federal Government had an executive order on ease of doing business, the turnaround time for vessels, bottlenecks faced at ports and many other issues negate the order, giving the country a bad image.

Ms Adaora Nwonu, Assistant Director, Special Duties, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), noted that the country should look into other issues including quality of the country’s representation, last meeting preparation, non-automation of system among others.

“Since 2011, we have been contesting and losing. We need to do a post-mortem to see if steps taken to improve our chances works and work on some issues that worked against us.

“We need to be objective and tell ourselves the truth, is the country really ready for the next IMO election coming up or do we wait for 2023.

“We need to do some detailed assessment on where we want to be, doing a shoddy and poor preparation just months or a year to the election will not help the country,” she said.

Nwonu said that government came up with ease of doing business to change things, but government agencies had also been accused of defaulting the executive orders.

Mr Emeka Akabogu, Senior Partner, Akabogu and Associates, called for a coordinated trade merchant strategy to provide experience that would push Nigeria’s perception for eligibility in IMO seat.

“The problem Nigeria is facing is more of issues of perception by countries who are voting due to issues in our international trade as IMO pushes for speedy trade facilitation.

“Ship owners spend millions of dollars to get their vessels berth in our ports.

“Treatment of vessels that have issue like the MT San Padre Pio vessel that stayed three years on Nigerian waters on allegation of bunkering despite proof to the contrary and even interventions,” he said.

Akabogu noted that being a member of IMO might not improve the country’s maritime space if the needful such as having a single window, trade portal was not addressed.

Ms Sharon Amu, Manager, Pollution Control Nigerian Ports Authority, said that it was good to consider waiting till 2023 to ensure all papers are implemented and reflect in the ease of doing business in the country.

“All maritime government agencies must stand as one and there is need to work on our political strength so that we improve our chances,” she said.

Mrs Nneka Obianyor, a Ship Registrar and Deputy Director at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), noted that Nigeria’s biggest challenge was piracy.

Obianyor added that the deep blue assets and the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act tackled this.

“Getting into the IMO council required lots of effort, commitment and strategic planning.

“With the right support and collective efforts by all stakeholders and full backing of government, Nigeria will surely get into the council for the 2022 to 2023 biennium,” she said.

Earlier, Mrs Eunice Ezeoke, WISTA.NG President , noted that the way forward was for Nigeria to look inward and further develop capacity and infrastructure to change the perception of the country.

According to her, regulatory agencies need to enhance the sector reforms to conform with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Nigeria as a nation must consider the acquisition of a national career with her flag and this will provide sea-time experience for her teeming cadets and seafarers,” she said.