Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola
Maureen Ihua-Maduenyi
A pan-African finance company, Shelter
Afrique, has spent over N22.51bn on housing initiatives in Nigeria, the
Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. BabatundeFashola has said.
In a statement made available to our
correspondent, the minister said that between 2005 and 2010, Shelter
Afrique in Nigeria had financed 23 initiatives with a total sum of
N10.435bn ($52,175,000) and another N12.08bn ($60,400,000) over the last
three years on 10 interventions.
“Of these initiatives, 15 represented
lending for construction of housing projects, out of which the largest
was for $7m for 376 houses of different types; and 251 service plots,
followed by 287 mixed housing units for a cooperative society; 55
housing units and 100 service plots and the least was for 16
maisonettes. This is the intervention on the supply side of housing to
provide houses,” he said.
He added that the remaining eight
interventions were for mortgage financing to building societies, credit
line for individual mortgages and related financing, on the demand side
of housing, to provide finance.
The World Bank says it has so far spent
about N7.78bn ($39m) on the third National Fadama Development Project
Additional Financing as part of efforts to support Nigeria’s agriculture
and economic diversification drive of the Federal Government.
The bank also said in a statement signed
by its Task Team Leader, Dr. Adetunji Oredipe, that it would commence
its Fadama Implementation Support Mission from the 10th to 27th of
June across eight states of the country in conjunction with the federal
ministries of Finance and Agriculture.
“The board of the bank had approved
additional IDA credit of $200m on June 28, 2014 to assist the Federal
Government of Nigeria to scale up the impact on the ground and
strengthen the development effectiveness of the Third National Fadama
Development Project by aligning it more closely with the government’s
agricultural programmes,” the bank noted in a statement.
A civil rights organisation, One
Environment, has called on President MuhammaduBuhari, to re-enact the
popular ‘War Against Indiscipline’, to protect the environment and
enhance its sustainability.
The organisation also warned that except
stringent measures were taken to protect the environment, Nigeria
risked serious disasters in about 2040.
The Executive Director, Art Collective
Foundation, Mr. Comedy Nwanyanwu, stated this in an interview with our
correspondent on the sidelines of a press briefing held in Abuja to
herald the inauguration of One Environment scheduled for July 2016.
He also informed that the OE intended to plant 5,000 trees within the next 12 months in Abuja and its satellite communities.
The essence of the OE, he said, was to
bring together environmental experts to discuss the challenges and
articulate ideas that would promote sustainability organic contents.
Nwanyanwu said, “If the government can
enforce some of the policies that we have on ground like sanctions and
environmental sanitation and disposals, there will be sanity. If you go
to the market a lot of people are more concentrated on the goods that
they sell but less interested in the environment through which they
generate money. That is why you see people dumping refuse everywhere
even when they are in taxis and nobody is arresting them.
The Council for the Regulation of
Engineering in Nigeria has carried on with its investigation into the
circumstances that warranted the collapse of a section of the Synagogue
Church of All Nations’ building in Lagos, despite stiff resistance by a
legal practitioner.
At the headquarters of the agency last
week, COREN’s Council of Registered Engineers Investigating Panel met on
the matter but the action was opposed by Mr. Donald Ayibiowu, the
counsel to the two engineers currently facing criminal charges before a
Lagos State High Court for their involvement in the construction of the
building.
The panel was convened to investigate
the professional conduct of the two engineers involved in the
construction of the Synagogue church building, which collapsed on
September 14, 2014.
The two engineers, Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun, were represented at the hearing by their counsel, Ayibiowu.
RESIDENTS of Miniorlu in Obio/Akpor
Local Government Area of Rivers State have appealed to Governor Nyesom
Wike to repair the road linking their community.
The road, which had been in bad shape for the past three years, was graded late last year by Winners’ Chapel Church in Mgbuoba.
Most shops and businesses located along
the dilapidated road have continued to record poor patronage, and some
owners have either relocated or locked up their shops. It was gathered
that only few vehicles plied the road.
A driver, Mr. Joseph Tamuno, said, “The
road was very bad last year until the Winners Chapel Church came and
graded it towards the end of 2015. We were enjoying it until the rainy
season came.
“You can see how the rains have taken
the road back to its bad condition. As it is, only few motorists ply
this road and this is because it leads to their residence.”
A butcher by the road, who identified
himself as Alhaji Omiosetankoko, observed that roads in neighbouring
communities had been rehabilitated by Wike.
Flowers
and boxing gloves dropped by people to pay their respects to boxing
legend Muhammad Ali at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky,
U.S ... on Sunday. Photo: AFP
Muhammad Ali’s brother has taken centre
stage at a Sunday worship service at the church where their father was a
longtime member in Louisville, Kentucky.
An emotional Rahaman Ali clapped and
swayed to hymns and hugged members of King Solomon Missionary Baptist
Church in Louisville’s west end. The church features a painting by Ali’s
father, Cassius Clay Sr., and isn’t far from the pink house where the
boxing champion grew up.
Ali’s younger brother put his hand to
his face, overcome with emotion, as church members paid tribute to his
brother, who died late Friday in an Arizona hospital.
During the two-hour service, assistant
pastor Charles Elliott III asked the congregation to stand to honour
Muhammad Ali. In his tribute, Elliott said “there is no great man that
has done more for this city than Muhammad Ali.’’
Next Thursday, June 9 will be the first
anniversary of the 8th Senate. This is therefore a good period to
critically examine the performance of the Upper Chamber of the federal
legislature. There have been attempts by some people to define the
narrative of the performance based on the initial controversy arising
from the politics of the emergence of its leadership. However, it is
clear that this Senate has more going for it beyond politics.
Early enough, members had settled down
to business of defining how the law making chamber can be relevant and
serve the interests of the constituents. Led by an experienced and
brilliant public officer, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, it was clear to
the lawmakers since their inauguration that the major challenges facing
the country are youth unemployment, security problems, particularly
insurgency in the North-east zone and pervading corruption which has
eroded the confidence of the international community in Nigeria.
The senators were quick to realise that
their relevance would be determined by the ability of the institution
to contribute to the resolution of the identified problems. Also, they
understood that they could only make themselves relevant by tackling
issues that had to do with people’s general welfare. Knowing that the
economy is the sub-structure of the polity and in fact a key to solving
some of the other challenges facing the country, they decided that
legislations, oversights and advocacy that have to do with economic
revival, revitalising businesses and creating employment should be given
priority.
To achieve this, they engaged a team
of experts from the World Bank Group, Department for International
Development, the private sector, professional bodies like the Nigeria
Bar Association (NBA), the academia and others. The task assigned to the
experts was to identify existing laws that needed to be reviewed and
amended to bring them up to global standards, old laws that should be
repealed and new legislations that required enactment, all in a bid to
help the economy grow.
The main concern here is the poor rating
Nigeria continues to get annually in the World Bank Ease of Doing
Business Assessment Report. At least, it is a fact that investors will
not go to a place where they cannot easily establish and operate their
businesses at a profit. Also, the prevailing condition will kill big and
small scale local entrepreneurs. And without these investments,
employment cannot be created, the economy cannot grow and government
will not get money from other sources beyond oil whose price had
continued to be on a downward slope.
The experts in their reports have
identified 54 laws which need immediate attention to achieve the aim of
making it easy for investors to establish and operate businesses in
Nigeria. Their recommendations were later subjected to further debate
and analysis through a business roundtable dialogue with stakeholders in
public and private sectors.
The senate has started acting on the
168-page report. First, the recommendations formed the core of the
Legislative Agenda which, though yet to be publicly launched, is already
being implemented. Second, the legislations recommended for review are
now in various stages of law making process.
As at today, the Senate has passed the
Electronic Transaction Law 2015 and Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law 2015.
The new Railways Act which will enable the private sector invest and
participate in running a vibrant railways sector is in the last stage
before being passed. It is gladdening that the 8th Senate is the one
reviewing the almost a century old Railway Act. In fact, if not for the
decision to constitute a committee of experts to review the work of the
Senate committee on Land Transportation and help straighten the
technical aspects, the Railway Act would have been passed.
Oyetunji Abioye
The Central Bank of Nigeria says the modalities for the planned
flexible exchange rate policy is being worked out and will be released
in due course.
The Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Isaac
Okoroafor, said the Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to adopt a
flexible forex policy was made in the interest of the country, adding
that the proposed policy would help to stabilise the economy.
He spoke in Lagos at a one-day interactive session between the CBN and industry stakeholders including the organised labour.
Okoroafor said, “The modalities have not been released. The CBN
governor has explained that we have to find a way of creating some
flexibility around the foreign exchange management as it is today and
details will be released in due course.”
He said the CBN would continue to take decisions aimed mitigating sharp practices in the forex market.
According to him, the regulator has also taken extra measures to
prevent Nigerian banks from failing despite the recent increase in
non-performing loans.
To grow the economy, Okoroafor said the CBN had injected intervention funds into the critical sectors of the economy.
The Lagos State Government has issued
retirement benefit bond certificates to the tune of N1.002bn to a set of
275 retirees from the Mainstream, Local Government, Lagos State
Universal Basic Education Board, Teachers Establishment and Pension
Office and parastatals of government, under the Contributory Pension
Scheme for the month of May.
A statement from the Lagos State Pension
Commission said the payment brought the number of retirees paid between
August 2015 and May, 2016 to 3,344.
It stated that the total accrued pension
rights under the Pay-as you-go pension scheme paid on behalf of
retirees by the state government from the period was N14.70bn.
The Director-General, LASPEC, Mrs.
Folashade Onanuga, disclosed this while speaking at the 27th retirement
benefit bond certificate presentation ceremony in Lagos.
Onanuga, who was represented by the Head
of Technical Directorate, LASPEC, Mr. Olawale Otun, advised the
retirees/beneficiaries to make judicious use of the money.
She informed the pensioners that the
activities of fraudsters who always called retirees to inform them of
alleged short payments in their entitlements had been reduced
drastically, due to the steps the commission took, including
sensitisation.
This seems not to be the best time for the organisers of Miss Nollywood and some of the queens the pageant has produced.
Shortly after the organisation dethroned a queen, Adaeze Grace, the successor, Blessing Ogar, also tendered her resignation.
Blessing, in a chat with Saturday Beats, said she resigned because her prize money of N1m wasn’t given to her.
“I resigned some days back from the
Miss Nollywood Beauty Pageant because I was tired of the whole drama and
I had a reputation to keep. It took me this long to resign because most
times, you do not just take drastic decisions in a hurry; you have to
think deeply about what you want to do and take your time. You should
not just resign like that till you are sure of what you want at the
particular time.
“The main reason I resigned was because I
was not given my N1m prize money. The only thing that was given to me
by the organisers of the pageant was my tiara. After the pageant in
December, I have not really had the time to communicate with the
organisers because I was busy with my final year exams. I haven’t had
the time to see them. I took the decision to resign because I saw that
there was no need asking for the money because I did not see it coming. I
felt instead of just sitting down doing nothing, no pet project or
anything, I should just resign. When we discussed about the pet project,
the organisers said I should do what I could and that meant I had to
use my own money. Before I took the decision, I discussed with my family
and friends; so it is no news to them because they gave me their
support,” the ex-beauty queen said.
The dethroned queen had claimed she and other contestants were sexually harassed by the organisers of the pageant.
Nigerians have poured encomiums on
iconic boxer Muhammad Ali, who died on Friday after over three decades
of battling with Parkinson’s disease, reports ’TANA AIYEJINA
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali died on Friday, just days after suddenly being hospitalised with respiratory issues.
The 74-year-old Louisville, Kentucky
native passed away among family and friends in a Phoenix-area hospital
where he was being treated after having difficulty breathing last week.
He had also suffered Parkinson’s for three decades.
“After a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s
disease, Muhammad Ali has passed away at the age of 74. The three-time
World Heavyweight Champion boxer died this evening,” Bob Gunnell, a
family spokesman, told NBC News.
Born as Cassius Clay, he won an Olympic
gold medal as a light-heavyweight in 1960. Four years later, he became
the World Heavyweight Champion after knocking out Sonny Liston in the
match’s seventh round.
During the same year, he converted and joined the Nation of Islam, changing his name to Muhammad Ali.
Along with his boxing mastery, the
famous fighter was also a social activist who lost the esteemed
championship title after he defied the U.S. Army draft during the
Vietnam War in 1967.
Cross River State Police Commissioner, Mr. Henry Fadairo
Mudiaga Affe, Calabar
Bandits on Friday operated in Calabar
freely for over three hours, killing an unidentified Inspector of Police
that led a team to stop the robbery operations at a popular hotel
located behind the headquarters of the Zone 6 Police Command.
The robbers also shot another policeman
at the same hotel before making away with his gun to another part of
the Calabar metropolis where they attacked a security operative at a
bank, also snatching his weapon.
Southern City News learnt on Sunday
that the armed bandits operated in the Cross River State capital from
9pm to 12 midnight and snatched seven cars before retreating to their
hideout.
An anonymous source said the armed
robbers took time to dispossess the hotel customers of their belongings
for over one hour before the arrival of the police team whose leader was
killed.
The source said that after leaving the
hotel, the bandits went to the Nelson Mandela Street end of the Watt
market in Calabar-South stabbed and dispossessed one security operative
of his gun.
He said, “The robbers operated at the
hotel for over one hour before the intervention of policemen from the
Federal Housing Police Station. The police team were ambushed by the
robbers some few metres to the gate of the hotel.
Some motorists in Enugu have expressed anger over dysfunctional traffic control lights in parts of the state capital.
Our correspondent observed that
motorists approaching from different directions were given the green
light to move at the same time, leading to accidents.
Such dysfunctional traffic lights are
found in various parts of Enugu metropolis, particularly on Presidential
Road in the New Layout area, as well as Ogui Road, Uwani, GRA,
Independence Layout and other parts of the Coal City.
Some motorists, who spoke with Southern
City News concerning the matter, blamed defective traffic lights for
most of the accidents and other inconveniences on roads within the Enugu
metropolis.
Our correspondent learnt that a major
car cra sh on Uwani Street during the weekend resulted from a
malfunctioning traffic light, which caused two vehicles from opposite
directions to collide.
A motorist, Mr. James Eke, expressed displeasure over the development.
Eke told our correspondent his car once
ran into another vehicle at the intersection between Presidential Road
and Rangers Avenue because of a dysfunctional traffic light.
He said, “I was coming from Presidential Road, heading for Rangers Avenue and the traffic light stopped me at the intersection.
“I waited for the green light, but,
surprisingly, whe
The Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi
has said the proposed stakeholders meeting on public-private
participatory management of some public secondary schools in the state
will still go ahead despite the opposition it has attracted from labour
unions.
The chairman of the state chapter of the
Nigeria Labour Congress, Waheed Olojede, and six members of the
congress are presently detained in Agodi prison after they were arrested
and arraigned for disrupting the meeting to discuss the return of
schools last week.
The union members were charged with seven counts and remanded in prison last week.
Ajimobi, who spoke while addressing
members of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Oyo State
chapter, in his office, said those who disrupted the meeting had no
stake in the education sector in the state.
He added that the initiative would go ahead because of the advantages it would offer.
The governor stated that the state would not tolerate public disturbance and brigandage by any group of people.
The Federal Government has set up an account for the stolen funds it recovered in the last one year.
The Muhammadu Buhari-led government
revealed on Saturday that N78, 325,354,631.82; $185,119,584.61;
£3,508,355.46 and €11, 250 had been recovered from alleged looters, an
amount which adds up to over N115.7bn using the official exchange rate
of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The funds were said to have been
recovered separately by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation; Independent
Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission and the
Department of State Services.
Speaking with The PUNCH on
Sunday, the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against
Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, said an account had been set up for the
funds.
“An account has been set up for it and
at an appropriate time, what is going to be done with the money will be
made public. The amount that is available in that account will be
announced and what will be done with the money will be publicly
announced,” he said.
The committee chairman, however, said
the N1.9tn in cash and assets, which had been frozen by the Federal
Government, were still under legal contention and thus could not be
touched.
He added, “Regarding the funds frozen
under the interim forfeiture, the Federal Government can’t touch it for
now because certain cases have not been concluded and the forfeiture is
interim because technically, the court can order the release to the
owners if the occasion demands it but if it goes the other way, there
will be a permanent forfeiture order and that is when the properties
would accrue to the government and would therefore be used for the
benefit of Nigerians.”
Regarding the naming of alleged looters, Sagay said there was no legal impediment in shaming alleged thieves.
