The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N3 billion for the Ikorodu lighter terminal project.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, at the end of FEC meeting held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Details later…
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the establishment of six new private universities, including a Naval University in Delta.
The Minister of Education, Alhaji Adamu Adamu, announced this while briefing the State House Press Corps at the end of the FEC meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
According to him, the approvals are a result of the memo submitted to FEC by the ministry.
He said the universities were Admiralty University in Ibusa, Delta state, owned by the Naval Holding Company, Spiritan University in Nneochi, Abia state and Precious Cornerstone University in Ibadan.
Also approved are PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Port Harcourt, Atibe University in Oyo town, Oyo State and Eko University of Medical and Health Sciences, Lagos.
Adamu said more applications were received by the ministry which would later present them to the Council for approval.
The minister said that FEC had directed the National Universities Commission (NUC) to look into the quality of courses offered by new and existing universities in the country.
According to him, government will withdraw the registration of any university that fails to met the standard set for courses being offered.
Also the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, spoke on the recent visits by President Muhammadu Buhari to Cote d’Ivoire and Jordan.
He said that the Abidjan meeting involved top AU and EU nations and Heads of State who discussed on investing in the youth and sustainable development.
“There was a joint Africa Union – European Union declaration made, condemning the issues of slavery in Libya and an agreement for the two regions to put together a force to address slavery and human trafficking in the country.”
He said both the EU and AU agreed to cooperate and address the challenges the two regions were facing with regards to the migration of large number of Africans trying to get into Europe.
Onyeama also said the EU was developing a programme, with the private sector, to invest in Africa so as to increase job opportunities for the youth.
He noted that great emphasis was also placed on the relationship between AU and EU on the basis of mutual respect of the sovereignty of countries in both continents.
He said that President Buhari had meetings with some leaders of West Africa where they discussed political stalemates in Togo and Liberia.
He added that Buhari also met with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to discuss the issue of Nigerian illegal migrants in Germany and the arrangement for their repatriation.
On the Jordan visit, he said that Buhari co-hosted the Akbar meeting with the King of Jordan on the processes dealing with finding solutions to terrorism especially in West Africa.
He said that the summit discussed methods that would stop the radicalization of the youth, the strengthening of the military in West African countries and other measures to secure their borders as well as evolving cyber policies to counter propaganda by terrorists.
He described the Jordan conference as important adding that it was agreed that Abuja should host the forum next year.
Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday presided over the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting in the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari who is presently in Kano to commission some projects.
See pictures from the meeting below:
The Federal Executive Council on Thursday approved a tax relief scheme to attract private sector involvement in the provision of Federal road infrastructure across the entire country.
The approval was the outcome of a Memorandum for the setting up of a Road Trust Fund (RTF) presented by the Honourable Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, to the council at its meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Road Trust Fund concept was jointly developed by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.
The RTF is expected to mobilise significant capital into road provision in order to unlock socio-economic development as well as facilitate investment across all areas of Nigeria to achieve inclusive economic growth.
Federal roads carry more than 80% of national vehicular and freight traffic, accounting for 17 per cent of the total national road network.
Addressing State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting, the Finance Minister explained that the RTF would facilitate and incentivise private sector involvement in Nigeria’s Federal road infrastructure.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola and Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, were also at the post-FEC briefing of the State Press Corps.
Adeosun said, “It is a form of Public-Private Partnership that will accelerate the provision of Federal Roads by allowing private sector operators to collectively fund road provision in exchange for tax credits. This will complement Federal Government’s budgetary allocation to roads.
“Private sector participation is being incentivised through a Tax Credit Scheme that enables all participating companies to claim tax relief based on the amount of capital contribution (on a pro-rata basis).
“We have already consulted with the private sector in the development of the RTF and some companies have already identified roads they wish to reconstruct and are organising their funding. However, this scheme is designed such that Financial Intermediaries will be promoting Road Trust Fund projects and soliciting commitments from interested companies.”
Under the tax relief scheme, companies will be allowed to recover 100 per cent of costs incurred on road infrastructure as a tax credit against total tax payable (including up to 10 per cent for cost of funds).
Adeosun further noted that the tax relief would allow for cost recovery within a single year instead of three years for economically disadvantaged areas.
When completed, the Minister said the roads would be handed over to the Federal Government who may decide to toll the roads in accordance with the National Tolling Policy.
On the role of the Federal Ministry of Power Works and Housing, she explained that the ministry would be responsible for approving the road designs, monitoring all approved Road Trust Fund Projects by managing costs and timelines as well as ensuring that equal development across Nigeria by rebalancing the Federal budget, where necessary.
She added that all costs and contractors would be scrutinised and approved by the Bureau of Public Procurement in line with legal requirements.
“This will ensure that costs are not inflated and that unqualified contractors are not used on the projects,” she stated.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday presided over the meeting of Federal Executive Council (FEC) in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The meeting which started at about 10 a.m., was attended by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, acting Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Dr Habiba Lawal and cabinet ministers.
The president was scheduled to leave Abuja for Turkey immediately after the Council’s meeting.
A statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, on Tuesday, said Buhari would participate in the ninth D-8 Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct. 20.
Adesina said prior to the summit, Buhari, at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, would be on working visit to Ankara, the Turkish capital.
He said the President would during the visit have a private discussion with his Turkish counterpart, while delegations from both countries would hold discussions in various fields including defence cooperation, security, educational and migration issues.
According to the presidential aide, the Nigerian leader will also visit the Grand National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey in Ankara, where he will meet with the Turkish Speaker, Ismail Kahraman.
Adesina said Buhari would also use the occasion to bolster warm and growing ties across broad range of areas of cooperation with leaders of the D8-member countries.
The D8-member countries include Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the settlement of N25.99 billion debt owed power Distribution Companies (Discos) by the Federal Government.
The Minister of Work, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola briefed State House correspondences at the end of FEC presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, the amount, which has been verified was owed by the Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
He also disclosed that the verification of the amount owed by States and Local governments is still ongoing.
Details later…
The President, Muhammadu Buhari is presiding over the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting, currently holding at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Last week, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo presided over the FEC meeting which was held in Abuja.
Recall the Osinbajo stood in for President Buhari who attended the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.
The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Sen. Aisha Alhassan who earlier declare her support for the presidential ambition of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday attended the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Minister had last week openly declared her support for Atiku in 2019 while insisting that President Muhammadu never said he will re-contest as president.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that the meeting holding at the Presidential Council Chamber, started at exactly 11:00 am with Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and other cabinet members also in attendance.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that the presence of Alhassan, who was rumoured to have summited her resignation letter to President Buhari attracted the attention of the photo journalists in the chamber.
The action of the journalists might not be unconnected with the minister’s recent remarks on 2019 presidential election.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that Alhassan, who led a delegation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) team from Taraba State to Atiku later told the BBC Hausa Service categorically that she would dump President Muhammadu Buhari under whom she is recently serving as minister for Atiku should Buhari show interest in contesting the 2019 presidential elections.
Alhassan who spoke in native Hausa language in the video told Atiku: “Mr President, our father, Nigeria’s president for 2019, God willing, in your presence, today are your people who have been placed under your care for forever.”
TheNewsGuru.com reports that Alhassan’s statement has since sparked reactions amongst other cabinet members who saw Alhassan guts as an act of disloyalty to her present leader, President Muhammadu Buhari.
Governors Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna) and some chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had called on Alhassan to resign as minister for declaring that she would not support Buhari in 2019.
“The minister is entitled to her opinion, but I would have saluted her if she had resigned her appointment because she cannot blow hot and cold at the same time,” Amosun said at a recent book launch in Abeokuta.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that El-Rufai in his reaction said he was not surprised at the minister’s outburst because she has never supported President Buhari from the beginning. He noted that the APC leadership had earlier warned President Buhari not to appoint Alhassan as minister.
Meanwhile, the former Vice President had also accused President Muhammadu Buhari of sidelining him after riding on his back, influence and money to become president in 2015.
President Muhammadu Buhari has again called off Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement that the meeting was called off due to the inability of the government to prepare for the weekly meeting.
In a statement issued in Kano on Tuesday, the Minister said the two-day public holidays declared for the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations left little or no time to prepare for the weekly meeting.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that for the first time since his return (on August 19) the President presided over the FEC meeting last week.
The Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday during its weekly meeting approved the 2018-2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF and the Fiscal Strategy Paper, FSP.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udoma, told reporters in Abuja after the meeting that the highlights of the MTEF showed government’s commitment to achieving seven per cent growth in the economy by 2020, in accordance with the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, NERGP.
To achieve the growth rate, the minister said government approved a slightly different trajectory of target growth rate of 3.5 per cent in 2018; 4.5 per cent in 2019 and 7 per cent in 2020.
Other parameters approved under the expenditure framework include crude oil production capacity projected at about 2.3 million barrels per day next year.
“We expect the crude oil production capacity would consist about 1.8 million barrels per day (regularly crude production), and 500,000 barrels per day of condensates, with the price projected at an average $45 per barrel next year.
“We are also committed to explore ways of raising additional revenue, to reduce the debt service to revenue ratio,” Mr. Udoma said.
On the exchange rate of the Naira, the minister said the rate would be about N305 to the dollar, as indicated by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Also approved by FEC was the national Information Communication Technology, ICT, infrastructure backbone project popularly called NIT2, which is domiciled within the Galaxy Backbone Limited.
The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, who disclosed the approval, explained that it was the federal government-owned agencies which engage in service-wide connectivity of all government offices, ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, across the country.
He said with the approval, the Federal Ministry of Finance would commence negotiations for the full implementation of the funding with the communications ministry, to provide the $328 million (approximately N100 billion) required to fund the project.
When completed, Shittu said, the facility would not only cover the entire MDAs, but would be enough for commercialisation to the private sector, particularly GSM companies and other ICT industry operators.
“So, we know Nigeria will be making a lot of money from this facility when completed” he explained.