Governor Sanwo-Olu Commissions Yaba Bypass Red Line Overpass Bridge

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November 2, 2023

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has commissioned the Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) Red Line Overpass Bridge at Yaba on Thursday.

The bridge is bound to improve traffic flow within the Yaba-Ojuelegba Axis into other parts of the state.

In a statement by the Head of Communication, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Kola Ojelabi, the T-shaped bridge takes traffic from Murtala Muhammed Way into Ojuelegba Road and vice versa over the rail tracks.

Traffic into Ojuelegba Road from Murtala Muhammed had been through a rail level crossing, and this often led to huge delays for train operations, apart from the high potential for accidents with vehicles and pedestrians.

The Yaba Overpass Bridge is one of the four new bridges built by the Sanwo-Olu’s administration on the Red Line rail alignment to eliminate vehicular/pedestrian and train traffic interaction.

Also watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_o6ryVtXOQ

The bridge will facilitate smooth movement for the Red Line, which the Governor had promised Lagosians would commence operations soon.

Speaking on the completion of the bridge, Managing Director of Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Engr. Abimbola Akinajo said the overpass bridge will eliminate incessant accidents at level crossings as well as facilitate unhindered movement for the Red line trains which frequency will be very high.

“We have completed three of the overpasses, Oyingbo, Yaba and Ikeja with the Mushin due for completion by the end of the year. The Federal Ministry of Transport has given assurance to start the four they are expected to construct very soon,” she explained.

Lagos Rail Mass Transit is a rapid transit system in Lagos State. The rail system is managed by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA).

The railway equipment including electric power, signals, rolling stock, and fare collection equipment will be provided by the private sector under a concession contract.

LAMATA is responsible for policy direction, regulation, and infrastructure for the network.

The first section of the network, Phase I of the Blue Line, was originally planned to be completed in 2011, though the construction has suffered many delays caused by shortage of funds and change of government.

The Blue Line opened on September 4, 2023.

Reps Move Presidential Yacht Budget to Student Loan

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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November 2, 2023

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Following public outcry over the allocation of N5.095 billion for the purchase of a presidential yacht in the 2023 supplementary budget, the House of Representatives, on Thursday, said it had scrapped the budgetary allocation.

Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Abubakar Bichi, disclosed this in an interview with journalists on Thursday. He said the budgetary allocation for student loans was also increased from five billion to N10 billion.

He said the committee also increased the budgetary allocation of Ministry of Defence from N 476 billion to N546 billion.

Bichi also disclosed that the minimum wage for workers was considered and approved for onward transmission to the executive. He promised proper legislative oversight to ensure 100 per cent implementation.

FG Allots N17.7b For Presidential Yacht, Air Fleet

In the supplementary budget sent to the National Assembly by the President, the Federal Government had allocated N5 billion to purchase a presidential yacht.

The proposed sum was under the capital expenditure of the Nigerian Navy’s budget.

According to the breakdown, the Navy will require N62.8 billion for its operations, with recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure gulping N20.4 billion and N42.3 billion, respectively

But Bichi said the five billion naira for the presidential yacht has been yanked off from the budget.

He said: “Actually We have submitted our reports to the House and after careful consideration, the House has approved our submissions and the breakdown is as follows:

“As you know, the budget is about N2.1 trillion and the Ministry of Defence has about N456bn but currently the Ministry of Defence has the largest share because we know how important our security is. As you are aware, we had interactions with them yesterday. Currently, we have increased their budget from N456 billion to N546,209,099,671 billion.

“For Police formation and command, we gave them N50bn while the FCT has about N100bn. You know FCT is very important to us, so we want to make sure that FCT can compete with any state in the world. That is why we gave them N100bn.

“On the Office of National Security, their initial budget was N27bn but currently we have increased it to N50bn. For the state house, their initial budget was N28bn and we maintained that.

“On Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, you know how important that ministry is. We maintained their initial figure of N200bn as well. For the Ministry of Housing, you know we have a serious housing deficit in the country and Mr President’s agenda, he wants to build as much as he can, so we have approved N100bn for housing.

“Service-wide votes initially was N615 but currently we reduced to N515bn.

“For INEC, initially their budget was N18bn, and yesterday we had an interaction with the INEC Chairman and he convinced us with his submissions and we maintained their N18bn.

“So far, we have approved N2,176,791,286,33. We will continue to support the government so we can deliver democracy.

On the presidential yacht, Bichi said: “Actually, as far we are concerned, we don’t have that anymore. We have increased the student loan.

“Initially, student loan was N5bn in the budget but we have increased it by N5bn so that our students can access that facility in order for them to go to school. We don’t have the yacht anymore in budget.”

He assured that lawmakers would ensure adequate oversight over the way the funds are spent.

He added: “Our members, especially those standing committees, oversight those projects and ensure the money is used judiciously. From now till three months time, we are going to call them and ask them what they have done with the money.”

Frozen Chicken Imports Threaten Sector, PAN Warns

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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November 2, 2023

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Nigeria’s poultry sector is on the verge of imminent collapse following the recent lifting of the restriction policy on foreign exchange required for the imports of frozen chicken into the country, the Poultry Association of Nigeria has said.

On October 12, 2023, the CBN had lifted the ban on importers of 43 items restricted from accessing foreign exchange on its official platform.

“Importers of all the 43 items previously restricted by the 2015 circular referenced TED/FEM/FPC/GEN/01/010, and its addendums are now allowed to purchase foreign exchange in the Nigerian foreign exchange market,” the bank had stated in a statement.

CBN Lifts Ban on 43 Items After 8 Years

Reacting to that in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by the Director-General of PAN, Onallo Akpa, and the National President of the association, Sunday Ezeobiora, the poultry dealers stated that the over N12tn industry that provided over 20 million direct and indirect jobs might collapse.

They said the recent pronouncement from CBN would make Nigeria revert to the pre-year 2000 when Nigeria was a dumping ground for all sorts of imported poultry products.

“Recall the cases of unhealthy frozen poultry meat stored with chemicals imported into the country.

“The implications of the recent policy of the removal of forex and the further explanation by the CBN that the products were not even banned in the first place contravene the fiscal policy stands of the government and have obviously created an unacceptable impasse in poultry development.

“This recent announcement further heightened the fears of the farmers and investors in the poultry industry and compounded the already collapsing production in the sector,” PAN stated.

UK Commits $27m To Tackle Food Insecurity

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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November 2, 2023

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The British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution, has announced a $26.5m commitment to AFEX, to address food security in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda.

Addressing journalists in Lagos on Wednesday, the Chief Executive Officer of BII, Nick O’Donohoe, said that the investment would support structural improvement in Africa’s agricultural industry, which would significantly benefit smallholder farmers and lead to improvement in security.

According to O’Donohoe, AFEX currently has over 200 warehouses in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda and serves over 450, 000 farmers.

11,000 Out-Of-School Children In Niger Over Insecurity, Says FG

“BII investment will be used to build 20 warehouses in strategic locations in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda. Its capital will also scale warehouse technology and next-generation software that capture post-harvest pricing,” he added.

He maintained that smart storage solutions had the potential to preserve the lifespan of harvest crops and increase the volume of food available.

Donohoe claimed that additional warehouses would provide 230, 000 metric tonnes of storage capacity, enabling up to 200,000 more farmers to access low-cost storage and maximise sales from crop harvests.

He added that the move would help to increase farmer incomes by more than 200 percent.

“Supporting smallholder farmers to achieve a fair wage is vital to ensure they remain in operation, producing more and higher quality crops for local consumption.

“Agriculture in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda accounts for a quarter of gross domestic product and employs 70 percent of their populations 80 percent of whom are smallholder and subsistence farmers. Currently, farmers face a difficult financial outlook due to macroeconomic uncertainty, limited market access, and poor reliability of sales from crop harvests. Yields have fallen, and farmers’ incomes are increasingly affected by price hikes of agricultural inputs and extreme weather events,” he declared.

He said that the capital would also be used to develop a soybean processing plant in Ibadan and a drying facility in Uganda.

SMEDAN Seeks 25% Govt. Contracts For SMEs

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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November 2, 2023

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The Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, Charles Odii, has urged the Federal Government to award 25 per cent of its contracts to small and medium enterprises.

Odii said this is because SMEs contribute about 50 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and employ about 60 million people.

Speaking with journalists on Wednesday in Abuja, the DG said, “Government is the biggest spender; the biggest employer of labour. We want small businesses to benefit from contract awards.

“What that means, however, is that small businesses need to be well-equipped to be able to win government contracts.

Tinubu Restates Commitment to Promoting Trade For SMEs

“96% of businesses in Nigeria are small businesses; so it is only 4 per cent that are big.”

The DG noted that a meeting he held earlier with young legislators and small business owners was aimed at getting a first-hand view of their challenges which mostly bothered on cost and funding.

He assured them that SMEDAN would help small business owners reduce production costs.

“A lot of banks want to give funding, but they can’t give small businesses because they are not adequately structured to receive the funding.

“We shall help at least one million entrepreneurs to structure their businesses to become eligible for such funding,” he added.

Presidential Initiative Set to Improve Power Supply

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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November 2, 2023

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The Presidential Power Initiative of the Federal Government is removing constraints in the power sector and making sure that more electricity is produced, generated and transmitted to end users, operators in the industry have stated.

Stakeholders in the sector disclosed this at a briefing in Abuja to mark the 10th anniversary of the industry, where they revealed plans to bring major industry players together this week, through a golf tourney to ensure synergy in the sector.

They stated that though the industry still had its shortcomings, the introduction of the PPI had helped in boosting power supply.

Pres. Tinubu Vows Steady Power Supply

In 2018, former President Muhammadu Buhari established the FGN Power Company as a Special Purpose Vehicle to deliver the Presidential Power Initiative in partnership with Siemens.

The PPI aims to enable the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry to achieve commercial autonomy by facilitating investments in critical infrastructure to support power delivery and service to Nigerians.

Speaking at briefing, the Coordinator, NESI Golf, Adetunji Adeyeye, an industry operator, said, “I’m privileged to know what has happened in the power sector in the last 10 years. We need to see the glass as half full, not half empty.

“True, Nigerians still don’t have light. We are not producing enough. We are not distributing enough. We are not transmitting enough, but it’s not as bad as it was 10 years back.’’

Jigawa Spends N500m on Toilets to Discourage Open Defecation

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Cleopatra Okohai

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November 2, 2023

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The Jigawa government says it has spent N500 million on the provision of improved latrines in schools, hospitals, markets and motor parks across the state.

This was made known by the Commissioner for Water Resources, Alhaji Ibrahim Hannungiwa, on Wednesday in Dutse.

He explained that the government had adopted proactive measures to ensure the sustainability of its leading position as an ‘Open Defecation Free’ state.

According to Hannungiwa, the state is geared towards surpassing the nation’s Open Defecation Free target by 2025.

Hannungiwa said the feat was achieved by putting in a lot of effort through the execution of viable policies and programmes in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The Commissioner added that the state had set up a committee to work out modalities for the sustainability of its Open Defecation Free status by ensuring total eradication of the menace.

“Under this committee, more standard public conveniences would be provided at public places and along highways in the state.

“The state government has done a lot in the area of public enlightenment on the importance of using toilets, especially in rural communities.

“Jigawa State is the first and the only state so far declared Open Defecation Free in the country by UNICEF,” he said, adding that the UN Agency appointed the state governor, Umar Namadi, as Open Defecation Free Ambassador.

He said the governor is expected to deliver a paper on the Nigerian situation in the fight against the Open Defecation at a conference billed to be held in Canada.

Just In: Senate Approves N2.1tr Supplementary Budget

By

Rhoda Onuzulike

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November 2, 2023

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The Senate has approved President Bola Tinubu’s 2023, N2.1 trillion supplementary budget for the 2023 fiscal year.

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, hit the gavel announcing the approval after putting the report to a voice vote by Senators.

Cabinet Okays N2.1Tn Supplementary Budget For 2023

This was a sequel to the adoption and debate of the report of the Senate Committee on Appropriations during Thursday’s plenary.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Adeola Olamilekan, had laid the committee’s report which was adopted and debated before Akpabio put it to voice vote and Senators across party lines voted in favour.

FG Allots N17.7b For Presidential Yacht, Air Fleet

By

Rhoda Onuzulike

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November 2, 2023

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In the breakdown of the N2.178 trillion 2023 supplementary budget proposed to the House of Representative on Tuesday, the Ministry of Defence received the highest allocation of N476.543 billion, N300 Billion to the Ministry of Works allocated N300 billion, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security got N200 billion.

Under the State House section of the budget, N2.9 billion was earmarked for purchase of SUV vehicles; the purchase of official vehicles for the office of the First Lady (N1.5 billion); renovation of the residential quarters of Mr. President (N4 billion); renovation of Dodan Barracks—the official residence of Mr. President (N4 billion); renovation of the official quarters of the Vice President in Lagos (N3 billion); construction of an office complex in Aso Rock (N4 billion). In the Office of the National Security Adviser section, the Presidential Air Fleet will receive a budget allocation of N12.7billion. In the Nigeria Navy section, N5 billion was earmarked for a Presidential Yacht.

N5 billion was allocated for the renovation of 100 schools; another N5.5 billion was for Education Loan Fund (funding for Student Loans); Housing got N100 billion; the Federal Capital Territory Administration got N100 billion; the Department of State Services (DSS) got N49bn; and Police Formations and Command got N50 billion.

Cabinet Okays N2.1Tn Supplementary Budget For 2023

In the supplementary appropriation bill, Service Wide Votes was allocated N615 billion.

Other allocations include the Department of State Services (N49 billion), the Office of the National Security Adviser (N29.7 billion), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (N18 billion) for the conduct of the forthcoming off-cycle governorship election in Bayelsa, Kogi, and Imo States on November 11.

The proposal is, however, subject to the approval of the National Assembly.Senate Passes N2.17trn Supplementary Budget

The Senate has passed the N2.17 trillion 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Bill after the third reading.

The passage followed the adoption of the report of the harmonised sittings of both chambers on the bill as submitted by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC Ogun West).

Reps Gives AGF 72 Hours to Submit Report on N100bn COVID-19 Funds

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Cleopatra Okohai

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November 2, 2023

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The House of Representatives has given a 72-hour ultimatum to the Accountant General of the Federation, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Madein, demanding a comprehensive report on the utilisation of N100bn COVID-19 intervention funds.

The fund was allocated by the former President, Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to Ministries, Departments, and Agencies between 2020 and 2022.

Rep. Bamidele Salam, the Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, issued this ultimatum in Abuja on Wednesday.

The lawmaker expressed disappointment with the AGF’s failure to comply with the committee’s resolution to submit the report by October 27, 2023.

The House had mandated the committee to investigate the expenditure related to COVID-19 interventions, particularly in the years 2020 to 2022.

“A letter was sent to the Accountant General, requesting details of all disbursements according to the Appropriation Act and other interventions provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria to MDAs,” he stated.

According to him, the submission deadline was set for October 27, adding that as of now, the committee had not received the requested information.

He emphasised the importance of this document for guiding their investigation, while instructing the AGF to submit the report by Friday, November 3, 2023.

The House’s resolution came in response to a motion regarding the alleged mismanagement of COVID-19 intervention funds from 2020 to 2022, which were allocated to various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.