FG Flags off the distribution of 20,000 Solar Powered Lighting Systems in rural Nigeria. cc @DrJoeAbah

Prof. Osinbajo and othes

Federal Government has flagged off the distribution of 20,000 solar powered lighting system in rural communities in Nigeria.

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo flagged off the programme, on Tuesday at Wuna village, a rural community in Gwagwalada, Abuja with the distribution of 200 units to the villagers in the first phase.

Osinbajo noted that irrespective of the importance of power to national development, it was not feasible for every Nigerian to tap from the national grid.

The VP said this realisation, compelled  government to start searching for alternative means of providing power to less fortunate Nigerians, especially at the grassroots, hence the solar powered systems.

The acting president also disclosed that a total of 20,000 solar system would be distributed in homes across rural communities in the course of the year.

The power system fell in line with government’s objective of increasing energy production from renewable energy sources from 13 percent of total electricity generation in 2015 to 23 percent in 2025 and 36 percent in 2030, including the goal to increase the percentage contribution of solar energy in the total energy mix.

The project is in conjunction with the Niger Delta Power Holding Company(NDPHC) and Azuri technologies.

Osinbajo said,”In September 2015 President, Muhammadu Buhari spoke to me about what we could do to very quickly accelerate electrification especially in the rural areas.

“We had in mind different manner of projects that we could do to bring electricity to many of our rural communities and villages. He was particularly concerned as we spoke about farming and also education in the rural areas.

“How would we be able to get maximum irrigation facilities, maximum facilities for education. How do we maximise these things if we can’t get power to those areas? Water pumps, irrigation equipment among others.

“Renewable energy, especially solar power seemed to be the one that will be cost effective and that we could deploy very quickly all over the country.

“Once we took that decision we came across Azuri. We expect that this will be replicated all over Nigeria.

“We are starting with 20,000 but I am sure that we’ll add up very quickly. We’ve been talking to the private sector, involving them also in this project. We think that as solar power becomes cheaper, it is becoming cheaper day by day we’ll be able to afford to do even more and deploy more across the country, especially to those places that are not at the moment being served by our grid.

“The grid is one transmission centre but we cannot take all our power from the grid. So, in the next few years it will not be extremely important to be connected with the grid because we’ll be deploying every kind of solution”, he stated.

(LEADERSHIP)

FG agrees with Oil marketers to maintain Petrol price at N145/litre. cc @DrJoeAbah

The Federal Government and major oil marketers in the nation’s downstream sector have reached an agreement to retain the cost of Premium Motor Sprit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, at the current price of N145 per litre.

At a two-day consultative forum of the downstream petroleum sector convened by the presidency earlier in the week, the two sides said they had harmonised efforts at ensuring regular supply of petroleum products across the country. On their part, the marketers said they had resolved to support the federal government’s effort in ensuring sustained and stable supply of petroleum products across the country at the government approved rates.

There had been apprehension that the federal government was planning to increase the pump price of petrol after marketers complained that the landing cost of the refined products could no longer be sustained at the price of N145 per litre. However, the marketers, under the umbrella of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) among others, were said to have agreed with the federal government on the need to address issues that may impede the uninterrupted supply of petroleum product and lead to price distortions.

(PM NEWS)

Nigeria Records Scientific Feat, Produces Tamper proof Electronic Voting Machine. cc @DrJoeAbah

Nigeria has recorded a scientific breakthrough with the local manufacture of an electronic voting machine designed to eliminate all problems associated with existing ones.

Presenting the innovation to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu in Abuja yesterday, the Executive Vice Chairman of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Professor Mohammed Haruna said the device is a solar-powered EMV with a cloud-based collation of election results.

According to Haruna, the device does not store data, thus making it useless to anyone who snatches it. He explained: once the device receives data in form of voting, it sends it to the central electronic system of the electoral body from where it can be viewed online.

Haruna said the scientific innovation would make it possible to conduct all elections: from the presidential to local government in a day, with the results available same day, thereby giving no room for electoral manipulation.

He stated that the tamper-proof device addresses most of the electoral challenges such as ballot box snatching, multiple thumb printing, failure of card reader and alteration of data.

"It also makes provision for diaspora voting and incorporates facial recognition, radio frequency identification device options of voters identification in addition to thumbprint and card reader," he stated.

Patrick Okwu, the Managing Director of the NASENI-supervised Electronics Development Institute, Awka, where the electronic voting machines were produced, while making the PowerPoint presentation to the minister, said that the device has dual identification modes, one is facial and the other is the thumbprint.

The minister commended NASENI for taking up the challenge of producing an indigenous electronic voting machine devoid of usual hiccups.According to Onu, he had thrown the challenge to the agency at a previous visit the Institute in Awka. "This is a major contribution to our nation's growth. It is important that every vote should count. This is what will make democracy very strong and make elections free and fair."

He called for more research to make the handheld machine even smaller, promising to support the agency with more funds from the ministry, for more research in the areas of nanotechnology and artificial intelligence.

It would be recalled that NASENI is currently producing solar panels and has in recent past, produced hydroelectric turbines, LED lights, inverters and farm implements, among others.

(THE GUARDIAN)

General Electric Proposes to Partner with NNPC to Rehabilitate Nigeria’s Three Refineries. cc @DrJoeAbah

General Electric (GE), a US multinational company with an asset valued at $493bn and focus areas on oil and gas, power, water supply, aviation, healthcare, transportation and capital, in Abuja proposed to invest in the nation’s three refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna.

GE, in a presentation to NNPC GMD, Dr Maikanti Baru and his team stated that the company’s teams of partners, including its consortium involving the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) partners, off-takers, traders and some financiers would be engaged in the initiative.

‘’We were involved in the tenders that started around last year which was subsequently withdrawn but our commitment to bringing the refineries on-stream is still very deep and we are very serious about it. We propose that work commences either with the Warri or Port Harcourt Refinery as a pilot, as we set a target to improve the refinery capacity before the end of 2017,’’ the Company stated in its presentation.


GE’s desire to partner with NNPC on the rehabilitation of the three refineries came on the heels of a similar proposal by the Italian company, Eni, to establish cooperation with NNPC for the Rehabilitation and enhancement of the Port Harcourt Refinery.

Leading a high-powered delegation to the NNPC Towers, Jeff Immelt, GE Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said as part of the offering, GE and NNPC have identified some major national power projects in the country and are currently developing the scope of intervention in the projects which have a potential combined capacity of about 4.4 gigawatts.

GE further pledged its readiness to work with the NNPC to make production in the Offshore fields profitable for the benefit of both companies and other stakeholders, expressing the hope to consolidate on its existing working relationship with the Corporation to expand the prevailing power business and help NNPC achieve its vision of becoming the leading power company in Nigeria.

Welcoming the GE team to the NNPC Headquarters in Abuja, Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru expressed delight in the interest GE had to intervene in some vital operational areas of the Corporation.

Dr. Baru noted that GE’s offer of a package that includes projects financing would greatly improve collaboration and initiate the power projects rapidly.

The NNPC GMD also welcomed GE’s offer for support to boost the nation’s offshore production and raise crude oil reserve ratio replacement, urging the company to also tap into the opportunities on offer in medical supplies as the NNPC moves to commercialize the services of its 52 hospitals and clinics spread across the country in the years ahead.


(Africa Business Communities)

CBN Gov Insists on Regulated Foreign Exchange regime to protect Naira. cc @DrJoeAbah

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has insisted on regulated foreign exchange regime to ensure that the naira does not go beyond a certain band in the exchange market.

Also, the Apex Bank said it has no intention of becoming reckless with the nation’s foreign reserves, which increased from $24b it was three months ago to $29.8b last week.

According to the bank, the foreign reserves would not be deployed for the importation of goods that cannot be sourced locally, pointing out that increase in foreign reserves shows that the economy is healthy.

On the agitation for floating the exchange rate, Emefiele described proponents as blackmailers, pointing out that floating the exchange rate carries with it the consequence of a further devaluation of the naira.

The CBN boss who spoke last week at the Monetary Policy Committee [MPC] meeting, said the bank would tighten the forex management knob or strategy by introducing more items to the list of banned goods, to deter their importation to the country, as a way of boosting local production, creating employment and growth, as well as, diversifying Nigeria’s sources of income.

Some stakeholders and experts have in recent times attacked the CBN for the scarcity of forex in the country, resulting in the high exchange margin between the naira and other frontline currencies like the Dollar, saying the monopoly of the apex bank in the exchange market was what was responsible for the disinterest shown by other players in the forex market.

One of the experts, a renowned Economist and avid critic of the CBN policies, Mr. Henry Boyo pointed out that the forex situation, particularly the Dollar/ Naira market will continue to degenerate until the CBN’s overbearing and monopolistic presence in the market is abrogated, pointing out that the apex bank alone supplies 80 per cent of the dollar needs in the market, hence it continues to distort and control the market, making it unattractive to other suppliers, with the attendant rent-seeking and round tripping clusters the development has created because of scarcity.

However the CBN in a sharp reaction at last Friday, defended its position claiming that the real reason some people were oppose to its forex policy was everything, but patriotic or nationalistic.

Its Acting Director of Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor in a statement said: “ Intelligence reports at the disposal of the Bank reveal the involvement of some unpatriotic elements funding the push to have the CBN and the Federal Government reverse its forex policy, which is aimed at conserving foreign exchange, stimulating agriculture and manufacturing, and also promoting exports.


“The present economic challenges that we face have been worsened by our past practice of frittering away huge earnings made from oil sales, over the years. As we have explained severally, our decisions on forex management are prompted by the challenge posed by the level of depletion of the country’s reserves, arising from issues such as a drastic reduction in oil earnings, speculative attacks and round tripping.”

But Boyo insisted that the panacea to a competitive forex market in Nigeria is for the withdrawal of CBN from the market.

His words: “ Once you remove the monopoly of the CBN on the foreign exchange market, you will get a much more harmonious exchange rate regime. The situation where Central Bank supplies over 80 percent of the total dollars or forex sold in the market must be a monopoly.

“Therefore, if CBN has a monopoly of the Dollar market, then it means the dollar-naira market must also be subject to abuses and distortions which are inevitable wherever you have a monopoly. That is the reality. If you want to now ensure that the band between the official and the unofficial market rate are narrower in the market to reduce the distortions of monopoly, then of course what you have to do is to ensure there is some equity within the market.”

(THE GUARDIAN)

FG signs MoU with the British Council and the Tony Elumelu Foundation to develop the Creative Industry.. cc @DrJoeAbah

The Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the British Council and the Tony Elumelu Foundation to develop the creative industry.

Mohammed spoke on Friday night in Lagos at the maiden edition of the Rasheed Gbadamosi Eko Art Expo organised by the Lagos State Government.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Art Expo was in memory of Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi who died in November 2016 and also to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the state coming up in May.

“The MoU with the British Council will enable us to improve capacity building, and between February 28 and March 6, we are training festival managers drawn from 40 major festivals across the country,” NAN quoted the minister as saying at the forum.

“We have also been able to succeed in getting a grant to do a scoping of the cultural industry.

“With this, we know exactly which industry is prevalent well.”

He said with Tony Elumelu Foundation, the federal government would create, for the first time, a task force on the creative economy.

“What we want is to transit from creative industry to creative economy and the task force is going to be co-chaired by somebody in the private sector.

“Today, most of our creative artists, all they have is raw talents; they are very bad business people and they need to work with the private sector to create very workable business models, get new markets and new clientele,” the minister said.

(THE NATION)

FG soon to introduce 'Organic Budget Law' to prescribe exact budget cycle. (GOOD or BAD IDEA?) cc @DrJoeAbah

Dr Joe Abah,(DG BPSR) and Mr Ben Akabueze (DG Budget)

Budget Office says the clause in the roll-over implementation of the 2016 budget as passed by the National Assembly did not cover recurrent expenditure as it is applicable only to capital expenditure.

The Director General Budget Office of the Federation Ben Akabueze has said that the organisation would soon introduce an 'Organic Budget Law' that would prescribe exact budget cycle time frame from presentation till implementation.

He also said that the clause in the roll-over implementation of the 2016 budget as passed by the National Assembly did not cover recurrent expenditure as it is applicable only to capital expenditure.

He spoke today in Abuja at the ‎Lunchtime Reform Seminar on "Developments in the 2017 Budget' organised by the Bureau for Public Service Reforms (BPSR) and the EU-SUFEGOR programme.

"We are working on a law that would specify the time frame for the presentation of the budget by Mr. President to the National Assembly, the time the National Assembly should debate and pass the budget for the President's accent and the time the President must signed it into law. We are conscious that there may be need for amendments and this would be taken care of in the proposal," Akabueze said.

He said since two budgets cannot run concurrently, the National Assembly would repudiate the clause that enable the 2016 budget to run till May this year when the 2017 budget is passed.

While listing the objectives of budget, he said achieving these objectives has however, become very difficult in Nigeria in the recent past.

"Policies, projects and programmes of government were mostly not successfully executed as a result of inadequate or improper budget conceptualisation/implementation. These have reduced the competitiveness of the economy and slowed down production, exchange and consumption. As a result the standard of living of the average Nigerian continued to slide. This Administration is therefore committed to Budgetary reforms that would help turn around the fortunes of the country for good," he said.

He however said that there is a constitutional provision for 50 percent expenditure of previous year's recurrent costs till the budget is passed or till June 30.

On his part the Director General of the BPSR Dr. Joe Abah‎, said the seminar among others is to hold government chief executives to account for the reforms that they drive and also to inform and involve Nigerians in governance.

(DAILY TRUST)

Post-Master General: Nigerian Students fail in English because of WhatsApp, BBM. cc @DrJoeAbah. TRUE or FALSE

Nigeria’s Post-Master General, Adebisi Adegbuyi has said that a lot of students in the country fail English Language because of the usage of social media.

He was speaking during the presentation of award to winners of the 2016 Letter Writing Competitions, organised in Plateau.

Adegbuyi stated that students were used to communicating with short codes on their phones and it had become a part of them.

“It is worrisome that students cannot spell words correctly; they are more used to short codes and symbols they use in sending Short Message Service (SMS) on their mobile phones,” Adegbuyi said.

He added: “The students send messages through social media platforms like the WhatsApp, BBM, and SMS using short-codes and symbols; when they are faced with spelling the full word, they find it very difficult.”

Adegbuyi was represented by Omo Emmanuel, the Assistant Post-Master General (Marketing).

He also advised the students to continually write letters and improve their grammar.

(DAILY POST)

1st and 2nd Quarter Budget Implementation Reports Made Available For Public Viewing. cc @DrJoeAbah

DG BPSR, Dr Joe Abah with Mr Ben Akabueze, DG Budget

BPSR's monthly Lunchtime Seminar series took place, yesterday Thursday, 26th February 2017. It was the first for the new year.

The theme "Reforms in Budget Office of the Federation" had Mr Ben Akabueze, DG Budget as the guest speaker.

 Before the seminar commenced, Dr Abah in a tweet (as seen below) informed all why the monthly seminar is held.

Here's why @bpsr_ng holds monthly Lunchtime Reform Seminars. Next one starts in 40 minutes time. pic.twitter.com/F3r3bpEjJl

— Dr. Joe Abah (@DrJoeAbah) January 26, 2017

It was the need to inform and involve the public on current reform initiatives, he went on to say in his address at the seminar. Dr Abah announced that the "List of every single item money was released against is available on request."

Dr Abah also announced that the 1st and 2nd Quarter Budget Implementation Reports for the 2016 Budget can be viewed on the Budget Office website -  http://budgetoffice.gov.ng/

In his address, Mr Akabueze announced that "Nigeria's rate fell by 80.0% from 28.8% of GDP in 2000 to 5.7% of GDP in 2016."

He went on to state that the "key challenges in Budget controls are poor capital expenditure management and late Commencement of procurement"

Visit bpsr.gov.ng website for latest news from BPSR.

You can also follow us on Twitter - @bpsr_ng

The budget reports are available via http://budgetoffice.gov.ng/

Nigerians Warned! Be Aware of Fraudsters. Application Form into Nigerian Army is Free, Army Insists. cc @DrJoeAbah

The attention of the Nigerian Army (NA) has been drawn to activities of fraudsters demanding money from applicants of the 76 Regular Recruits Intake for trades/non-trades men and women.

The fraudsters posing as army officers with the names, Lieutenant Femi and Lieutenant Gbenga Danjuma respectively, operate with the GSM number 08165007425. The NA wishes to state that the processing of application forms into the Army is free of charge.

Applicants are advised to log on to www.narecruitment.org to process their application forms or if in doubts, call the following phone numbers: 08038575725 or 08061541440.

While effort is ongoing to track and apprehend the fraudulent syndicates, the general public should note that the NA does not charge applicants money or gratification for whatever reasons.

The public is therefore encouraged to report any person or group parading himself or herself as an agent of the NA for the ongoing recruitment exercise.

​The general public is also advised to be wary of dubious offers of recruitment especially through the internet and report such offers or person to the nearest Nigerian Army unit information and Police Stations. ​

You are please requested to disseminate this information to the general public through your medium. Thank you for your usual cooperation.


SANI KUKASHEKA USMAN
Brigadier General
Director

(PR NIGERIA)

Nigeria is currently generating less than 3000 MW, Fashola explains deteriorating power situation. cc @DrJoeAbah

Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola,

The Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said that Nigerians are experiencing irregular power supply due to instability in the national grid owing to low generation.

He said Nigeria is currently generating less that 3000 megawatts (MW) and that once that is the case, the system shuts itself on and off.

“It is like in your house when you have surges and your circuit breakers trip to protect the system.

“So once it falls below a certain threshold you then have those trip offs. They are in a sense almost necessary to protect the entire system, so what then happens is start-ups; we do black starts from various power plants,” he said.

Mr. Fashola, who stated this while addressing journalists shortly after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council, on Wednesday in Abuja said the sabotage of critical oil and gas platforms from the western axis of the Niger Delta, meant that “the Escravos Lagos pipeline is not operational, the Forcados export terminal too has been out of operation, so if you can’t produce oil you can’t take the gas.


KADUNA POWER STATION 

“The gas is the fuel that the power plants need. You have seen what we have been doing in increasing the capacity in firing transmission but if we don’t have fuel to fire the plants, that is the reason,” he said.

The minister also said apart from the lack of gas to the power plants, other power generating plants also witnessed fire accidents.

“While we were trying to start last week, we had a fire in Afam and that affected the control room and these are normal engineering accidents that can happen, the mechanical parts can break down, we also had another fire in Kainji. We have tried to repair them over the last weekend while negotiations with the gas companies are ongoing,” he said.

Mr. Fashola said the FEC had on Wednesday approved additional payment for the completion of the Odogiyan transmission substation in Ikorodu, Lagos and to provide additional transformer capacity at the substation to 260 MVA transformers and transmission lines of 132KVA.

“This will complete the works in that area generally known within the power industry as Ayobo West,” he said.

He said the contract had been awarded before but was not completed because it wasn’t paid for.

He said It was awarded in 2009 and should have been completed in 18 months which would have been sometimes in May 2011.

“That is the approval we got today and of course the cost has been revised as a result of the economic realities so that this can be completed and put to use and this would add to the expansion capacity to the grid,” he said.

The minister said the initial contract was N3.225 billion with additional N274.3million approved on Wednesday.

“So it goes from about N3.2 to N3.5million,” he said.


SOLVING PROBLEMS

Mr. Fashola said in order to overcome the challenges of power generation, he has been meeting with the gas suppliers, trying to see how the government can pay off some of their debts while other problems are fixed.

“As I continue to say, it is not technical but financial; vandalism of pipelines is not technical, people are destroying, they are hungry.

“Until we resolve these behavioural issues: people collect money, are they remitting everything in a manner that is fair, even if it is not enough;, some people hold up their own share and they ask themselves ‘why should we continue to supply if we can’t get paid because there are bankers and financiers?’

“So we are talking with everybody trying to resolve it.

“As at yesterday we were back to 2900 (megawatts), so we are building up back again and very soon you will see some stability. These are set backs on the road to incremental power but we will overcome them,”  Mr. Fashola said.

(PREMIUM TIMES)

Another “ridiculous” Rumour Dismissed by Presidency. No Truth in VP Osinbajo's Resignation cc @DrJoeAbah

VP,  Prof Yemi Osinbajo

The presidency and Senate President Bukola Saraki have dismissed rumours that some governors are putting pressure on Mr. Osinbajo to step down as acting president.

Mr. Osinbajo is currently acting as Nigeria’s president after a letter to that effect was sent to the Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari shortly before he jetted out to the UK for vacation.

Rumours were rife on social media that Mr. Saraki was working with some governors to force Mr. Osinbajo to resign paving the way for him to serve as acting president.

Mr. Saraki is constitutionally next in hierarchy after Mr. Osinbajo.

In his reaction to the rumours, the political adviser to the president, Babafemi Ojudu, on Wednesday said such reports were “ridiculous.”

“I have read many ridiculous stories saying the Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo is being held hostage by some governors who are trying to compel him to resign. Vice-President-Yemi-Osinbajo1.

“I have equally received several calls regarding this. The story is simply not true. It is a fabrication. Don’t be a purveyor of fake news,” Mr. Ojudu said.

He also said the Vice President is “behind his desk carrying out his task” and that he presided over the meeting of the Federal Executive Council earlier on Wednesday.

On his part Mr. Saraki advised those peddling the rumour to leave him out of it.

In a statement also on Wednesday by his spokesperson, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Mr. Saraki said his first reaction after the rumours emerged was to ignore them.

Mr. Olaniyonu said Mr. Saraki was “inundated with calls from across the country and abroad, it became necessary for me to make clarifications from our own end.”

Mr. Saraki said it is a good thing that the Presidency had also dismissed the speculation and showed that there is no substance to it.
“However, I feel it should be known that those behind this baseless, empty and unintelligent mischief are those who do not love this country,” he said.

“Such suggestions as contained in the speculation can only bring ill-will, disunity and crisis to the country and I therefore advise the sponsors to desist immediately. More importantly, these trouble makers should refrain from linking Senator Saraki’s name to their evil plot.”

(PREMIUM TIMES)

FG presents Cheques to families of 218 deceased officers, Soldiers. cc @DrJoeAbah

Ministry of Defence,

Federal Government on Monday presented cheques for insurance claims to families of 218 deceased officers and men of the armed forces who died in the line of duty.

The Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, who presented the cheques, also promised that the welfare of the serving military personnel would be given priority.

Dan-Ali also said that government owed both serving personnel and families of deceased personnel “eternal gratitude, respect and prayers”.

Dan-Ali, however, expressed satisfaction that with the improved security and “overwhelming successes in the fight against insurgency”, fewer military casualties would be recorded in years to come.

He also noted that life insurance claims being paid over the years had grown “tremendously”.

This, the Minister attributed to heightened activities of insurgents in the North-East and continued militancy in the Niger Delta, especially between 2015 and 2016.

He called for a minute silence in honour of personnel who had paid the supreme price.

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Ambassador Danjuma Sheni, said cheques for insurance claims had earlier been issued to next of kin of 383 officers and men who died in the line of duty during the period.

Sheni assured that the Ministry would ensure transparency and accountability in the payment of insurance claims to families of deceased personnel.

(Radio Nigeria via NTA)

BPSR 2017 Budget Lunchtime Seminar STREAMING LIVE here (http://www.bpsr.gov.ng/) at 12:30pm TODAY. cc @DrJoeAbah

Did you know that the @bpsr_ng Lunchtime Seminar on the 2017 Budget will be streamed live on http://www.bpsr.gov.ng  today, on 26 Jan from 12:30 pm?

Did you also know that DG Budget, Mr Ben Akabueze, will be the speaker at the @bpsr_ng Lunchtime Seminar?

Visit http://www.bpsr.gov.ng/ to join host, DG BPSR Dr Joe Abah and Guest speaker DG Budget, Mr Ben Akabueze.

DG BPSR, Dr Joe Abah with DG Budget, Mr Ben Akabueze,

http://www.bpsr.gov.ng/

Nigerians will behave well if we put in a system where people won’t get away with misconduct says VP Osinbajo. cc @DrJoeAbah

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo

Once a system is in place that punishes bad behaviour and enforces the consequence for misconduct, the people will behave well, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Speaking earlier today at the monthly meeting of the Presidential Enabling Business Council, PEBEC in Aso Rock, Prof. Osinbajo stated that  “we are at a point when we feel obliged to do our very best” to improve in all the factors that will create an enabling environment for businesses in the country.

“We have to be committed to what we want to achieve. We must develop a system that punishes bad behaviour and reward good behaviour,” the Vice President said as the Council considered different options, and decisions that would be taken in the nation’s ports, on starting a business, construction permits, registering property, getting credit, trading across the borders and enforcement of contracts among others.

President Muhammadu Buhari had established the Council demonstrating the highest possible political will necessary to identify and implement the reforms that will improve the business environment in Nigeria, and thereby improve Nigeria’s ranking in the annual World Bank Doing Business global ranking.

Today’s meeting of the Council, with 9 cabinet ministers in attendance, included an interactive session with the World Bank team led by the Country Director, Rachid Benmessaoud, and other senior officials from the Washington DC head office of the global financial institution.

Continuing, the Vice President recalled how between 1999-2007, in Lagos State a reform of the judiciary ended the perception of corruption in that arm of government once the principle of enforcing consequences for bad behaviour was in place. He said in 1999, lawyers in Lagos, in a survey, said there was corruption in the State judiciary by an overwhelming 89%, and yet no one was being sanctioned. “So we decided to deal with the situation.

In the first year we sacked 21 magistrates and 3 judges in the second year. By 2007 when we conducted the same survey, the result was o%,” Prof Osinbajo disclosed explaining further that lawyers surveyed responded that there was no corruption in the Lagos State judiciary.

“Nigerians, like any other will behave well, if we put in a system where people won’t get away with misconduct. We are the ones to do it,” he submitted.

Ministers at today’s meeting included Industry, Trade & Investment Minister Okey Enelamah, Attorney-General/Justice Minister Abubakar Malami, Budget & National Planning Minister Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun, Interior Minister Lt. Gen. (rtd) Abdulrahman Dambazau, Transport Minister Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, Power, Works & Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola, Information & Culture Minister Lai Mohammed, and the Minister of State for Environment Ibrahim Usman Jibril.

Prof. Osinbajo also received a delegation from General Electric, GE, led by its Global CEO Jeff Immelt, and urged the company to speed up its infrastructural engagements in Nigeria. One of such is the proposed concessions deal of the East-West lines of the Nigeria Railways to General Electric-GE- for which the firm would be investing $2B into the Nigerian economy, the refurbishment of the single-gauge lane of the lines and the building/assembling of train coaches here in Nigeria.

Addressing the GE delegation, the Vice President noted that “it is important we move quickly this year and get things done, whatever it is that is required to make things move faster, let us know.”

In his own remarks Immelt agreed with the Acting President that 2017 is critical for the different GE projects in power, gas and transport infrastructure in Nigeria.

The Transport Minister Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, Power, Works & Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola and Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun were also in attendance at the meeting in the Presidential Villa.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the Nigerian Fisheries Forum also met with the Vice President, urging the Buhari presidency to support the restoration of the fishing industry in the country. Prof. Osinbajo asked the Forum, led by its President Elder Philip Amiengheme, to develop a concise roadmap for the industry which the Federal Government can consider.


Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant
on Media and Publicity to the President Office of the Vice President

(PR NIGERIA)

President Buhari is Hale And Hearty says Minister of Information. cc @DrJoeAbah

President Muhammadu Buhari

The minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that President Muhammadu Buhari is hale and hearty, adding that there is no iota of truth in the messages being circulated on the health of the president and the purported emergency meetings of the state governors in Abuja.

In a statement issued and made available to LEADERSHIP in Wednesday, Alhaji Mohammed who was reacting to a subversive messages being circulated via text messaging and the Social Media urged Nigerians to disregard such subversive messages.

Alhaji Mohammed said that the fabricated messages are being orchestrated by those who feel threatened by the emerging order.

He said the naysayers have also resorted to the use of ethnicity and religion as tools to divide Nigerians, overheat the polity and cause panic among the citizenry, in addition to using fake news and disinformation to distort government activities.

Alhaji Mohammed said while opposition and criticism are all part of democracy, the crafting and circulation of subversive materials and scare-mongering are not, hence the full wrath of the law will be brought to bear on those who are bent on subverting the state.

”The source/sources of the fabricated messages are already being investigated and the authors should prepare to face the consequences of their actions.

”The emerging trend of resorting to destabilisation and scare-mongering is not unexpected, considering this government’s clamp-down on the corrupt elements in the society, the plugging of all financial leaks which has derailed the gravy train of the looters of public treasury and the enthronement of probity and transparency in the polity.

”While we will neither stifle press freedom nor abridge the citizens’ right to express themselves freely, whether through criticism or protests, the security agencies will neither allow any resort to violence nor a wilful subversion of the state for whatever reason,” he warned.

(THE LEADERSHIP)

Africa’s problem is planning, not implementation! By @DrJoeAbah. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Posted below is Director General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr Joe Abah's article, published in the blog of Africa Research Institute website.

Director General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr Joe Abah

“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure” [Confucius]

Everywhere you go in Africa, you are likely to hear people say “Our problem is not planning, but implementation.” People regale you with various examples of “beautiful plans” that were “technically perfect” but never made it to implementation. Indeed, the refrain “Our problem is not planning but implementation” receives knowing nods of approval from all and sundry and is generally taken as accepted wisdom. It is likely to win you loud ovation at any workshop or seminar in Africa. You could be forgiven for thinking that Africans are born with a deficiency of the implementation gene, if there was such a thing. The statement that planning is not our problem and the notion that Africans are unable to implement are two of the biggest fallacies there are.

 The statement that planning is not our problem and the notion that Africans are unable to implement are two of the biggest fallacies there are.

For donors by donors

Let us start with planning. There are five main types of plan prevalent in Africa. The first type is “donor plans”: plans written for the benefit of donors. Actually, if the truth be told, they are usually plans written by donors for donors in the name of Africans. From Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, to Structural Adjustment Programmes, to Millennium Development Goals, even to the current Sustainable Development Goals – very few of these plans enjoy top-level government ownership or even, in some cases, awareness. There is often no link to government budgets; no consideration of implementation capacity; and no consideration of institutions and politics. Worse still, purist monitoring and evaluation practitioners virtually force people to promise things they know full well will not happen, just so that the logical framework can be technically perfect. Even the few plans that are “costed” are usually costed by people who do not have basic information about government fiscal policies, unit costs, availability of resources or workable sequence. Is it, therefore, any surprise that many of these plans are never implemented? Do we have an implementation problem or a planning problem?

World peace and goodwill to all

The second type of plan prevalent in Africa is what I would term the “advocacy plan”. These are plans that are intended to be used to put pressure on government to behave in a different way. Most of Africa’s sector plans fall into this category. Sector experts in areas like health and education are rightly passionate about improvements in their field, but are usually blissfully unaware of the pressures on other arms of government. They will write an education or health sector plan which cannot be fully funded even if a country was to spend its entire budget on it to the exclusion of everything else.

When you say to them: “We currently have 100 students to one teacher. Can we first plan to get to 85 students to one teacher over the next two years?” they will say “No! The ‘Education For All’ standard is 30 students to one teacher and we must maintain pressure on government to build more classrooms and engage more teachers.” I approximate with the figures, but you get the gist. When you then ask them where the money should come from to pay for it and still fund security, infrastructure and other priorities, they will usually say that those sectors too should fight for their own resources, as if the resource envelope is endlessly elastic. Do we have an implementation problem or a planning problem?

God forbid!

The third type of plan is the “Plan A Only” plan. The Twitter profile of one Charles Mwabili says “No Plan B – it distracts Plan A.” Yep! You guessed it. He’s African. We have several versions of this type of plan across Africa. Each is usually preceded by good analysis and has at least made an effort to be realistic. However, there is usually no risk analysis, no risk mitigation and no contingency planning. Any questions such as “What if something were to go wrong?” are often met with no more than “God will not let it happen.” Well, Murphy’s law is that whatever can go wrong will. And God lets earthquakes, tsunamis and famines happen. So, with these plans, the moment something does not happen as planned, or happens out of sequence (as life generally tends to do), the plan is immediately thrown into disarray. If you are lucky, aspects of it will be implemented but usually in a haphazard way. Instead of having a Plan B to build a smaller house, given a fall in revenue, the money for the roof of the planned big house gets cut. It never gets built and ends up as an abandoned project. Is not having a Plan B an implementation problem or a planning problem?

In the eye of the beholder

 The “beautiful plan” looks technically perfect and ticks all the boxes, but is completely unrealistic.

The fourth type of plan is the “beautiful plan”. This type of plan looks technically perfect and ticks all the boxes, but is completely unrealistic. It is hailed as the answer to all Africa’s problems and is the type of plan that evokes the most anger when it is not implemented. It plans to pave every street with gold, in a country that has no gold and no money to buy any. The beautiful plan will give everybody an immediate 1000% percent pay rise. It will turn the worst slums into Dubai or Singapore overnight, of course without the need for an autocratic ruler and other institutional conditions. It pretends that politics does not exist, that people do not have self-interest and that everyone’s priorities are uniform. Sometimes, the plan is prepared on a ceteris paribus – all other things being equal – basis and assumes that all projected revenue will come in, all budgeted funds will be fully released, and that the required human resource capacity and capability already exist in abundance. Indeed, it assumes that the common sense of it all should be so blindingly obvious that the plan should just deliver itself. After all, it has happened exactly as planned in other countries. Sorry to bastardise the phrase but ceteris is never paribus, particularly in Africa. Do we have an implementation problem or a planning problem?

The fire brigade

The fifth type of plan is, of course, the “fire brigade plan.” This is the type that was written only to facilitate the theft of public funds from donors or the government itself. It is usually cobbled together shoddily and quickly at the eleventh hour, and only a little intellectual prodding is sufficient to expose its soft underbelly. Fire brigade plans see African countries unable to cater for their athletes during Olympic Games and World Cups. Although we have four years notice that these events will happen, we do not start to plan for them until a few months before the start date. There is little or no preparation, arrangements to take care of athletes at host cities are shoddy, and their allowances are not paid or have been misappropriated. In truth, it would appear that there was never at any time an intention that what was planned would be implemented. Do we have an implementation problem or a planning problem?

The good plan

 A good plan will have a deep understanding of political economy: the way it is, not the way it ought to be.

A good plan is a plan that has a good chance of getting delivered. A plan that has no chance of getting delivered is a bad plan. There is, therefore, no such thing as a “beautiful plan” that does not get delivered. “Beautiful plans” are bad plans. A good plan will factor in resources (human and financial), in a realistic manner based on historical patterns. It will not be based on the pipe dream that internally generated revenue will somehow magically double overnight. Funds for Year 1 will not be based on income from a mining programme that hasn’t even been commissioned, let alone being at break even or making profit. A good plan will have a deep understanding of political economy: the way it is, not the way it ought to be. It will have a best case, middle case, and worst case scenario, based on realistic projections for policy, personnel and funds. It will identify a number of quick wins that are virtually cost-free to buy support and build confidence. Finally, a good plan will have an implementation plan that factors in all the risks to its own implementation! This will include rigorous analysis of risks that accepts some of the risks as unmanageable “show-stoppers”, but also identifies those that can be managed and mitigated (and sets out clear steps for doing so). How many of Africa’s plans are good plans?

The implementation gene

Let us now come to implementation. Are Africans born deficient of an “implementation gene”? Of course not; Africans can implement as well as everyone else. However, there is a science to implementation. One of the foremost advocates of what he calls “deliverology” is Sir Michael Barber, author of the book Instruction To Deliver. In essence, he talks about the need to set clear priorities and measurable goals, use data and trajectories to drive progress, build routines around priorities, focus on solving problems and build relentless persistence in tracking the priorities. He also suggests setting up a dedicated unit to manage delivery. Africans are quick to set up units and a number of countries have already set up delivery units. The extent to which these can function without better planning remains to be seen. Barber’s approach is actually not that difficult to follow, particularly if there is a plan and the political will to implement that plan. Often, the basic plan is missing.

Of course, corruption is an impediment to implementation, as are capacity constraints, politics, funding, geography, ethnicity and religion. I must give religion a special mention as a major impediment to implementation in Africa, given the number of tasks that we should ordinarily perform but would rather delegate upwards to God. In my view, it is possible to blame the high level of religiousness in Africa for a lot of the weak risk management. However, none of these is as big an impediment as poor planning and an absence of preparation. Why would God not let us fail at the Olympics if we are busy wrangling over ethnic issues when others are busy preparing for the Games?

Ready, steady, go!

The Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt made GBP£5 million per second at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Let that sink in, please. PER SECOND! But here’s what is important: in order to achieve that level of income he lifted weights for four hours every day and practised his sprinting every day for 15 years, BEFORE he arrived in Rio. He was not punishing himself in training in order to please donors. He was not punishing himself in order to make anyone else perform differently. As he prepared to be a sprinter, he also readied himself to be a footballer or a cricketer, in case he did not make it at sprinting. The good thing about sports is that it makes you be true to yourself. Your success as a competitor will often depend on whether or not you can overcome your own limitations. In the world of sports, you cannot have a “beautiful plan” to run the 100 metres in under 10 seconds within six months when your weak knees mean that you have never even walked 10 metres in your life without pain, and probably never will. Finally, Usain Bolt did not start preparing for Rio three months before the Games – he started 15 years ago. That is why he never had an implementation problem in Rio.

If we are going to get better at implementation, Africa really must get better at planning and preparation. Of course, Usain Bolt is also blessed with great natural attributes – but Africa is blessed with even more.

Dr Joe Abah is Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, The Presidency, Nigeria, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.

http://www.africaresearchinstitute.org/

NEITI Unveils New Guidelines: Real owners of oil, mining firms to be revealed. cc @DrJoeAbah @nigeriaeiti

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has unveiled new guidelines that would reveal the real owners of oil, gas and mining companies in the country.

NEITI said yesterday in Abuja that the guidelines named “Roadmap on beneficial ownership disclosure,” outlines Nigeria’s strategy towards the implementation and fulfilment of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) standard, which among other things demands public disclosures of the real owners of oil, gas and mining companies.

The document also defined those who fall into the category of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and the reporting obligations expected of them.

A member of EITI, Faith Nwadishi, lauded NEITI for designing the roadmap. She explained that beneficial ownership as enunciated by the global goes well beyond the declaration of intention but a total commitment and designing implementable strategies to expose the real owners of mining, oil and gas companies especially PEPs. “The step is a welcome development.”

(THE GUARDIAN)

Nigeria’s foreign reserve has risen to $28.9 billion. CBN warns govt against reckless spending. cc @DrJoeAbah

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Nigeria’s foreign reserve has risen to $28.9 billion.

This was made known yesterday by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

He told reporters at the end of the bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja that Nigerian government would take from the fund only when necessary.

“The fact that we have began to see some accretion to the reserve does not mean we should be reckless,” Emefiele warned.

He said the CBN “will continue with the policy of ensuring that forex is made available to those who are importing raw materials and supporting the agricultural sector but not to those who want to engage in less important sectors of the economy.

“It is exciting to see this (rise in foreign resreves) happen. We do not run a floating regime, we run a managed float.

“What that means is that from time to time we will continue to intervene in the market to ensure that the exchange rate does not go beyond our expectations and those interventions would be to moderate the risk as we deem necessary”.

On accusations that the CBN often changes exchange rates, Emefiele appealed to “those who are out there fomenting this bad stories in order to portray the monetary authorities in bad light to please assist us, if they have questions they should please approach us, we would respond to them as appropriate.”

“What I had expected is that they would talk to us, I know they know but of course the objectives they’re pursuing is best known to them,” he said.

(DAILY POST)

FG set to build two new hydropower stations. cc @DrJoeAbah

The Federal Government has concluded plans to boost electricity generation in the country with two small hydro power plants capable of adding 2,000 kilowatts of electricity to the country’s energy capacity, The Punch reports.

The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, disclosed this in Abuja on Monday at a press conference to announce the outcome of Nigeria’s participation at the 7th General Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency, which held recently.

Onu said Nigeria would not be left behind in the global quest for renewable energy, which saw the world investing $300bn in the sector in 2016, adding that the country had taken various steps to increase its energy mix.

According to him, the steps include the plan to establish two small hydro power plants in Katsina and Zamfara states, with the capacity for 2,000KW. While 1,000KW will be off grid, he said the balance would be injected into the national grid to boost power supply across the country.

Onu said renewable energy had become very important all over the world and in Nigeria in particular, because of the need for sustainable energy and the need to preserve an environment that was safe for human habitation.

(ENERGY MIX REPORT)

FG Directs NBC To Investigate Why Big Brother Naija Moved To South Africa. cc @DrJoeAbah

The Nigerian government says it is investigating why the reality TV series Big Brother Nigeria, which was re-launched on Sunday as Big Brother Naija, is being shot in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is to investigate why the event could not hold on Nigerian soil.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, asked the NBC to determine whether Multi-Choice has breached the Nigerian Broadcasting Code in any way, by shooting the show in South Africa, as well as the issue of possible deceit, since the viewing public was never told that the event would be staged outside Nigeria.

“As a country of laws, only the outcome of the investigation will determine our next line of action,” the statement signed by Mr Mohammed’s spokesperson, Segun Adeyemi, said on Tuesday.

Nigerians have condemned the decision by South African company, Multichoice, the organisers, the move the show elsewhere.

Big Brother Naija debuted in 2006.

Mimidoo Ucheagwu, a PR agent for Multichoice/Dstv, who said she was not authorised to speak on the matter, told PREMIUM TIMES that NBC has been engaged on the matter.

“The press will be properly briefed in no distant time,” she added.

After a 10-year break, Big Brother Nigeria, a reality TV show in which 12 contestants called housemates lived in an isolated house and competed for a large cash prize, made its way to the screens again as Big Brother Nigeria.

The host of the show, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, a former housemate, said he remains one of the biggest supporters of the show.

Every Sunday on the show, viewers are expected to witness an eviction of a housemate.

The winner of the 11-week contest will be given N25 million cash prize and a brand-new Kia Sorento SUV car.

The series will run for 78 days and end on April 9.

NAN reports that the Big Brother Naija is a special Nigerian version of the continental show Big Brother Africa.

It was specially coined to suit the viewing interest of the Nigerian viewers who largely expressed displeasure over the controversial “Shower Hour” and nudity.

John Ugbe, the Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday that the return of the reality show was based on popular demand by people who wanted it back.

He said “the show has been well developed following the successes of past seasons of Big Brother Africa.

(PREMIUM TIMES)

FG won’t STIFLE PRESS FREEDOM. Minister ASSURES Nigerians. cc @DrJoeAbah

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,

The Federal Government will not do anything to stifle press freedom, because it is keenly aware that a free press is vital to the success of any democracy, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said.

In a statement in Abuja, on Tuesday, the Minister said the federal government has nothing to do with the recent arrest of Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi, Publisher of the online newspaper Premium Times, and a reporter working for the paper, Ms. Evelyn Okakwu.

He said the whole issue of the journalists’ arrest is purely a private affair involving a citizen and a privately-owned newspaper, and wondered how that could now be construed as an attempt by the government to intimidate the press.

”We have said it before and we want to re-state it: The Federal Government has no immediate or long-term plan to stifle press freedom. Even the Social Media, with its warts and all, will neither be regulated nor have its operations tampered with,” Alhaji Mohammed assured Nigerians.

(THE SUN)

Nigeria’s internet users reduced by 536,346 in Dec 2016, reports NCC. cc @DrJoeAbah

The number of internet users in Nigeria’s telecommunications networks declined to 91,910,341 in December 2016, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has said.

The NCC made the disclosure in its Monthly Internet Subscribers Data for November and December, obtained on Monday by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN.

According to the data released, internet users on both Global System for Mobile communications, GSM, and Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA, networks dropped to 91,910, 341 in December as against 92,446,687 users recorded in November 2016, recording a decline of 536,346.

The analysis showed that out of the 91,910,341 internet users in December, 91,880,032 were on GSM networks, while 30,309 were on CDMA networks.

The data also revealed that the GSM service providers lost 536,346 internet customers after recording 91,880,032 users in December as against 92,416,378 it recorded in November.

The CDMA operators, however, retained 30,309 internet subscribers in December, the same figure it recorded in November 2016.

The data revealed that MTN had 31,753,369 subscribers browsing the internet on its network in the month under review.

It explained that MTN recorded a drop of 264,410 internet subscribers in December after recording 32,017,779 in November.

Airtel had 19,363,545 internet users in December, adding 219,845 customers to its November record of 19,143,700.

Etisalat, the data revealed, had 13,752,940 customers who browsed the internet in December revealing a decrease of 379,067 users against the 14,132,007 users recorded in November.

According to the data, Globacom has 27,010,178 customers browsing the internet on its network in December, revealing a decline of 112,714 users from the 27,122,892 that used the internet on the network in November.

The NCC data revealed that the CDMA operators, Multi-Links and Visafone, had a joint total of 30,309 internet users on their networks in December, maintaining the same record of November.

According to the data, Visafone has 30,305 customers surfing the internet in December, while Multi-Links has just four internet users.

Analysts posit that the decline in use of the internet shows that there is urgent need for stakeholders in the industry to sensitise the people on the potentials of internet usage.

Seye Adebayo, a communication consultant based in Lagos, said the Nigerian government, network service providers and other relevant stakeholders should put effort into ensuring that Nigerians are encouraged to embrace the use of the internet. He explained that the need is to ensure that other countries do not leave the nation behind in the global technology revolution.

“We must do something drastic to encourage internet usage. The decline (in number of subscribers) is not something good, really. Internet is the next goldmine; the next ‘oil’. Countries world over are embracing internet usage, especially their youths” he told PREMIUM TIMES in an interview.

“Some people are even calling on government to subsidise internet usage. Nigeria must not be left behind in this global internet revolution.”

(PREMIUM TIMES)