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Tag: FEC

  • FEC approves new policies for oil, labour, insists fuel importation will end by 2019

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved new policies for oil and labour sectors of the economy.

    This was revealed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr. Ibe Kachikwu and Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige in an interview with State House correspondents after the FEC meeting in Abuja.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the FEC meeting was chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa.

    Kachikwu said the Federal Government was committed to ending fuel importation into Nigeria by 2019.

    On the plan to end it, he said: “In terms of specifics, what a policy document does is that it gives you a general guideline in terms of where you are headed. Then, you go into the specifics in other separate documents for purpose of execution.

    “If you take the 2019 timeframe for refinery for instance, it won’t tell you what I’m doing today, but it will tell you that I have set a timeline to exit importation and to get the refineries working by 2019.

    “But if you ask me specifically off the shelve what are we doing on that? There is a steering committee already in place, which I head. There is a technical committee team already set up headed by chief operating officer in NNPC. We have had series of meetings with individuals who are willing to put money into the refineries.

    “I need to state this clearly. This is not a sale and this is not a concession. This is a financing scheme and there are over 30 people who have indicated interest in that financing.

    “They are going to go through the usual due process mechanism to see who qualifies for that financing. What we have resolved, however, which we have at least have a landing is that each of the refineries would be repaired by the individual company that built the refinery.

    “Who does the work is different from who finance the work to be done. We are still dialoguing who is going to get the financing opportunity, but who is going to get the contracting opportunity to do the work is already decided. If you check the companies that built, I think is Chioda in the North, Saitem in Warri, if I’m not mistaken. I have forgotten the one in Port Harcourt. But, all of them have reached agreement with us in terms of willingness and readiness to do the work.

    “Government is not putting money into this. lt is going to be sector-led effort and they will recover their money through incremental volumes that will arise from the production increase arising from the repairs. We are doing about 30 per cent performances on most refineries now. So, if you get them to above 90 per cent template, we are going to use some of the product line to pay for some of the debts and free ourselves from the importation problems.”

    Noting that the refineries, when repaired cannot cover the required consumption, the minister said some level of efficiency and upgrade would increase their capacity.

    He said: “We are banking on the fact that efficiency steps we are taking will reduce the consumption. We have gone from the 50 million litres per day when I resumed office down to today that is about 28 million litres per day.

    “So, obviously, efficiency has wiped off smuggling, efficiency has reduced consumption and also whatever gains we made under the subsidy regime by taking the subsidy out has also taken out. So, if we are reducing the level of consumption and increasing the efficiency of the refineries, we are banking that we will be able to exit importation completely.

    “And this is not building in Dangote refinery that is 165,000 barrel cap on it, or the modular refineries we are looking at or the AGIP we are looking at.

    “So, I think we are finally on course and we are going to be very aggressive on target,” he said.

    But he added that improving oil production target was very dicey.

    According to Kachikwu , the council yesterday considered the Nigeria Petroleum Policy document.

    He stressed that the essence of the gas policy, which was considered three weeks ago, was to change the imperatives of Nigeria from an oil producing country to a gas producing country.

    Kachikwu was optimistic that the change process that was started in 2015 will be brought to logical conclusion in the next few years, if the new document is well-executed.

    Ngige said FEC received the National Employment Policy, which will guide the administration.

    He added that the last employment policy in operation in Nigeria was approved in 2002.

    “That’s 14 years and in that 14 years, a lot of things have changed in labour and employment industry. Things like employment for people with disabilities, decent jobs programme and doing jobs without polluting the environment and other things that are new and contemporary in the labour market.”

    On the issue of minimum wage, he said the ministry is awaiting the nominations from other bodies and groups.

    “Once these nominations are in place, the President will then inaugurate the committee,”Ngige said.

    Mrs. Ahmed said her ministry presented the National Social Protection Policy to the council.

    The policy, she said, is a framework that seeks to provide social justice, equity and inclusive growth by using a transformative mechanism for mitigating poverty and unemployment in Nigeria.

    According to her, the social investment programme started by the Federal Government since 2016 were drawn from the policy, which is presently in a draft form.


  • Maitama Sule: FEC observes moment of silence

    Maitama Sule: FEC observes moment of silence

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday observed a minute’s silence in honour of Nigeria’s one time Permanent Representative to the United Nations and First Republic Minister, Alhaji Maitama Sule.

    Speaking shortly before observing the moment of silence in Abuja, acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo described the late elder statesman as a father of the nation and one of the great contributors to the growth and stability of the country.

    “He will be sadly missed by all of us who regarded him as a mentor and as a father of the nation and one of the great contributors to the growth and stability of the nation.

    “Yes, he was buried yesterday. I’m sure many of us followed at the proceedings.

    “The Federal Government was represented by a delegation led by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, and several members of the Federal Executive Council.’’

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that President Muhammadu had earlier sent a letter of condolence from London to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State commiserating with the government and people of Kano State over the irreparable loss of the elder statesman.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the two-time minister and former Nigerian Permanent Representative to the United Nations died in the early hours of Monday at 88.

    TheNewsGuru.com that the Kano State Government declared Tuesday as a public holiday to mourn and bury the elder statesman.

     

     

  • Sci-tech will make Nigeria 9th largest economy in the world – Minister

    The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has said if science and technology (Sci-tech) is exploited and harnessed, could result to achieving the projection of Nigeria as the 9th largest economy in the world.

    The Minister stated this on Wednesday after his Ministry had presented the 2017 to 2030 Science and Technology Roadmap to a sitting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in Aso Rock, Abuja.

    The Science and Technology Minister after the FEC meeting said the roadmap is aimed at projecting Nigeria to occupy the position of the 9th largest economy in the world by 2050.

    He is hoping that the roadmap will exploit the country’s rich and viable cultural heritage to achieve self-reliance in technology adding that it will be difficult to attain economic height without science and technology.

    “In the road map we also identified all the things that we need to do to place Nigeria in a position; because there are estimates that by 2050 Nigeria will, by purchasing power parity, be the 9th largest economy in the world.

    “But we cannot do this without science and technology.

    “In essence, the difference between the developed nations of the world that are the richest in the world and then the developing countries that are poor, the main difference is science and technology.

    “How do you apply science and technology to nation building?

    “So this roadmap will help our nation to take us to where we should be,” said Dr. Onu.

    He said the country was worried that many primary and secondary school students did not like to study mathematics and science subjects, which, he said, had resulted in the utilization of foreign expertise to do major projects such as construction of refineries, dams, airport, sea port, major roads and bridges.

    He added that if there was anything to do in the country, the tendency was to import. He opined this has lead to the export of foreign exchange, creation unemployment, putting undue pressure on the local currency and aggravating poverty.

    Onu said the roadmap would prepare Nigeria to be a truly great nation where it could use its resources to meet the needs of the nation for self-reliance and self-confidence.

    He noted that the country had a rich science and technology heritage where its ancestors understood their environment and had built long walls in Benin.

    The minister also said the elders also developed a leader industry that was erroneously called Moroccan leader.

    Onu also mentioned the fine artefacts and craft as well as iron technology since 3000 years ago as shown by carbon dating.

    “You can imagine that our ancestors did that and today we are unable to have our own iron and steel being produced in the country.

    “This is to let our young people to know that they have a heritage and that they should aspire to be far better than their ancestors,” he added.

    He explained that the road map intended to integrate the work of investors and researchers as well as link them up with the universities and the private sector.

    He stated that the linkage is important because it is the private sector that takes the innovations up and commercialises them.

     

  • FEC approves $186m, N500million for completion of AFAM power plant, Baro port

    The Federal Executive Council presided over by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday approved 186.6million dollars for the completion of the AFAM Power plant.

    The Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola stated this while briefing State House correspondents alongside the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, on the outcome of the Council’s meeting in Abuja.He said that the AFAM project was part of the ministry’s roadmap for incremental power to the grid.

    “Council ratified the earlier approval given for GE to undertake that project so that we can complete 240MW of emergency power through 830MW turbines this year.’’

    Fashola also revealed that the Council also approved “2.2million dollars for the construction and rehabilitation of the sub-station to enable the evacuation of the power, once the turbines are installed’’.

    In his contribution, Amaechi revealed that the Council approved N500million for the completion of Baro River Port in Niger state.

    “We hope that in the next four to six months we should be able to complete the Baro River Port.

    He said the Council directed the Minister of works, Power and Housing to look into possibility of reconstructing the roads leading to the River Port while the Ministry of Transportation would look at the revival of the narrow gauge to the Port.

    The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, disclosed that the Council granted permission to the ministry to sign a multilateral convention to implement tax treaty related matters to “prevent tax erosion and profit shifting’’.

    She said: “The benefits are the convention will swiftly modify existing bilateral tax treaties to implement tax treaty related matters in a cost efficient manner instead of individual negotiation and amendment of

    the treaty.

    “It will address tax treaty abuse, promote transparency and drastically curtail illicit financial flows and ultimately it will increase the tax revenue of the government.’’

  • FEC approves appointment of doctors nationwide, 2017 ICT roadmap

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the employment of more medical doctors to various hospitals across the country.

    Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole on Wednesday told State House Correspondents after the FEC meeting that the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria would coordinate the exercise with his ministry.

    He said: “At today’s meeting, Council considered a memorandum from the Federal Ministry of Health to centrally coordinate, place and fund the placement of house officers in accredited health institutions across the country.

    “By this singular act, the suffering of thousands of Nigerian young doctors will be put to an end. This new programme will be centrally coordinated by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria with effect from 2018.”

    The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, also disclosed that a new roadmap to restructure the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector for better service delivery has been unveiled.

    He said when fully implemented, it would generate about 2.5million job opportunities.

    His words: “We thank God that at last the ICT roadmap 2017 to 2020 has been approved for implementation by the government. This roadmap is essentially a framework for development of ICT in Nigeria generally.

    “It is also one of the pillars of Economic Recovery and Growth Plan and it aims among others to ensure the creation through ICT of 2.5 million jobs between now and year 2020.

    “Another aim is to ensure broadband penetration to all parts of Nigeria, particularly to ensure that by year 2020 we will have penetration level of 30 per cent.

    “We believe that the contents of the ICT roadmap would assist in harnessing innate skills and opportunities available to Nigerians. We know that our youths are very intelligent, very dynamic and they would utilize the implementation of the ICT roadmap to ensure that jobs are created and to really get Nigeria digitized.

    “This policy when properly implemented will contribute to growing the Nigerian economy such that even with government revenue it could increase the GDP to about 20 per cent by 2020. As of this year, the contribution of ICT to Nigeria’s GDP is a little above 10 per cent.

    “Finally, we believe ICT will also contribute in making businesses easy and service delivery easy because of the e-government and e-commerce components of it.”

  • PHOTOS: Osinbajo presides over FEC meeting

    Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, on Wednesday, presided over the weekly Federal Executive Council Meeting.

    The meeting was held at the Council Chamber of the State House in Abuja.

  • Buhari absent at FEC but present in governance

    By Nkechi Odoma

    It is public knowledge that President Muhammadu Buhari did not make the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday.

    For three consecutive Wednesdays, the president did not show up for the FEC meeting and Nigerians have begun to ask questions with some offering answers that suits their interpretations of the occurrence.

    Those genuinely concerned have advised the President to take his time and rest so that he would fully recover before continuing with task of governance , but some with selfish intentions, have advocated a drastic measure that would suit their interests, calling on the President to resign.
    Information Minister Lai Mohammed, not one to shy away from giving an accurate report of the condition of the President, has explained that there is nothing to worry about and that the commander-in-chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces has only decided to take a rest from official functions on the advice of his doctors.

    While addressing State House correspondents after a meeting of the FEC on Wednesday, Lai said the President only chose today to rest on that particular day and recalled that he was in his office the previous day.

    “He is taking his doctors’ advice so that he can fully recover,” the minister said.

    The President’s wife, Aisha, who is also in a position to know equally, dismissed fears expressed in certain quarters saying the President’s condition is nowhere near the pitiable state some would want us to imagine.

    The wife of the president is equally know for her frankness and sincerity even when the matter is about her family members and she did not hide it when she felt that those who contributed to the success of the current administration were being left out.

    At that time, she was applauded because her views appeared confrontational, but now that her candour is giving a positive image of the President, many have tend to ignore her verdict.

    But aside the two, recall also that on Tuesday, it was reported by many Nigerian media organizations that the President was in office and that he even met with the minister of justice as well as the managing director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    This report which has not been controverted by any of the organs of the media that carried the story, is now being questioned on the basis that no picture of the said meeting was made available to the public, forgetting that not all functions within the villa are for press coverage.

    When the president did not turn up as expected at the FEC meeting as reported, the cynics got a slice of what they were hoping for and could no longer be appeased. For the president to have preferred to listen to his doctor’s advice is for them, enough proof that he is on life support.
    But what an irony. These are the same people that will not let their loved ones do anything contrary to a physician’s advice.

    For as long as one can remember, it has been the better side of caution for people not to question the advice of their physician even if it all other issues point to the contrary.

    Is it therefore not surprising that some would now be expecting Baba to defy his doctor just to prove a point?

    A one day break, by all standards is usually not too much to allow for an employer to grant an ailing staff. One wonders why the case of Buhari should be different.

    Much as Lai Mohammed’s explanation has sufficed, there are others who would want to subject it to further scrutiny in order to rubbish the fact and logic in the statement just to stretch forth their earlier position and bad wishes for the president.

    It is well known that there are some who are praying for the worst to happen to the Nigerian president in their calculation that they stand to benefit if there is a change of guards at the villa.

    They were the ones that sponsored all sorts of reports about the president when he was in the UK. They forget that power belongs to God and He alone can give or take.

    In further attempts to heat the polity, some have come up with mischievous comparisons between what happened between 2009 to 2010 when then president Umaru Yar’Adua took ill and was flown abroad for treatment and what is happening now.

    Commentators like Femi Fani- Kayode seeking for an occasion tried to draw more parallels between the two dispensations.
    But how mischievous can some people be.

    The situation under question is neither similar not comparable to what happened in the Yar’Adua era in the sense that there is no concealment in the present circumstance and Nigerians are fully aware that of the President’s condition having himself admitted to them on his return from the UK that he had been never been this ill.

    Another thing is the veracity of all the facts in the narrative. When the President was in the UK, he called several persons to either felicitate with them or condole with them over the loss of loved ones. Though he spoke with like former head of state, Yakubu Gowon are not known to condone frivolity that it can be imagined that they could have been manipulated to act to a script. Later, he was placed on speakerphone while speaking to a live audience in kano through the governor’s cell phone.

    Even Fani-Kayode would admit that was not the voice of his brother.

    When he came back, the whole world saw him walking on his feet via live television and spoke with the presence of mind that registered how sound he was. So there is nothing hidden about it.

    It has been stated previously that the president is human and like all mortals is subject to certain vagaries that affect every living being which include the tendency to fall sick

    But in a reassuring way, President Buhari has been able to show that he remains the man for the job as he has despite the distractions kept his eye on the ball and has not allowed the challenges to affect his passion to steer the affairs of the nation in such a way that would benefit the common man.

    It was while all these were going on, when people were saying he is being fed through a tube that the exchange rate improved in favour of the naira and it was during this period that the whistle blower policy became effective to the extent that millions of dollars and other hard currencies were recovered in the apartments of those who looted the economy during the previous administrations.

    Within this period also, the Boko Haram had tried in vain to re-launch their heinous activities and recapture territories to use as their operational base but were defeated and further degraded.

    Also within this period, fuel supply remained at a constant and at a stable price. This is worth mentioning because there was a time when even with a ‘healthy’ president around, product availability and price kept playing see saw with Nigerians.

    Also within the period, power supply increased to over 3,000 megawatts while efforts to consolidate and improve on generation have been fruitful.

    Good evidence that the president is much in control of his government is the fact that all his men are working as a team and have continued to give their best with all sense of responsibility. Compare this with what happened during the contrived interim national government (ING) and you will get the picture that there is coordinating factor.

    Another fact that cannot be ignored is that the president’s body language has been very much present in all walks of life. This is manifest in the re-orientation of the average Nigerian to work hard and avoid corrupt tendencies.

    This obviously has stayed the hands of many from corruption and introduced a new regime in the country where abstaining from corruption and exposing same has become the rule rather than the exception.

    With such advantages of having the Buhari persona in command, it did not matter to many that he was absent as the FEC meeting. The activities of government have been at a full swing that his absence at the federal executive council meeting is not being noticed as it has become an insignificant development overlooked by well meaning Nigerians for the general good.
    Odoma, a public affairs commentator contributed this piece from Abuja.

  • Why Buhari did not hold FEC meeting today – Presidency

    Why Buhari did not hold FEC meeting today – Presidency

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, has explained that President Muhammadu Buhari did not convene Wednesday’s (today) Federal Executive Cabinet, FEC due to the just concluded Easter break which ran over into the new week.

    Shehu stated that the council secretariat had no time to prepare and circulate memos to Ministers.

    “The staff on the Council secretariat resumed on Tuesday after the Easter. There was no time to prepare and circulate memos to ministers.

    “By practice, the ministers receive council memos two or three days ahead of meetings because they must read them and sometimes undertake research.

    “It is not a rubber stamp council so everyone must prepare themselves well for debates,” Shehu said in a statement.

    TheNewsguru.com recalls that last week, President Muhammadu Buhari was also absent at the FEC meeting, which was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    TheNewsguru.com reports that it was the first time Osinbajo presided over the meeting, after the President returned from his 50-day medical vacation in London, UK on March 10.

  • Buhari is not sick, he will be back in office by tomorrow – Lai Mohammed

    Buhari is not sick, he will be back in office by tomorrow – Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said President Muhammadu Buhari deliberately assigned Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to preside over Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council so as to attend to other official matters.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the minister’s clarification came on the heels of speculations on the President’s health condition as being reported in the social media and some traditional media organisations

    The minister, who was addressing State House correspondents after the weekly FEC meeting, said the president’s absence at the meeting was not something abnormal or unusual

    “When you came in this morning Mr President was not in the chamber and the Vice-President did preside over the FEC meeting.

    “Understandably, that has sparked a lot of controversies and agitations in the minds of people.

    “ I just want to make this clear; Mr President is in town; Mr President is attending to other issues; Mr President looked at the agenda, it was a very light agenda, and said that the Vice-President should preside.

    “It is not unusual for the kind of interest that had been shown, especially giving the fact that Mr President was away for a while on medical treatment.

    “We are not surprised that the people are wondering whether Mr President ill again; he is not ill; he is not sick and I’m sure that later in the day or tomorrow morning, he will back in the office.

    “It is not unusual even if the President is hale and hearty and everything is going well, for the VP to come and preside over the meeting of the Federal Executive Council,’’ he said.

    Mohammed announced that already, the president was meeting with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir Lawal, on national issues.

    On the forthcoming two-year anniversary of the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government, the minister disclosed that his ministry would soon roll out a comprehensive programme meant to inform Nigerians of the achievements of the government so far.

    He said that under programme, all cabinet ministers would address Nigerians on the achievements of their respective ministries in the last two years.

  • FEC approves N4.6bn for new fire equipment, employment of fire fighters

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N4.6 billion for the purchase of new fire-fighting equipment to contain fire incidents in the country.

    The Minister of Interior, retired Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazau, gave the indication at a joint State House Media briefing with the Aviation Minister, Alhaji Hadi Sirika.

    Danbazau said there was an appropriation of about N5.2 billion for the purchase in the 2016 budget but the figure dropped after a no objection approval by the Bureau of Public Enterprises.

    “Today’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the procurement of some fire-fighting equipment.

    “The last time equipment were procured was sometime in 1996.

    “The equipment in the inventory today were those procured between 1985 and 1996, and since then there was no procurement.

    “On assumption of duty I went round their stations and I discovered surprisingly the dearth of fire-fighting equipment.

    “And with the experiences in fire incidences all over the country we discovered that such a situation should no longer hold and therefore we reflected that in the 2016 budget with the aim of equipping the fire service and also improve its capacity.

    “So (it is for) both equipment and training and of course the welfare of the personnel.

    “This approved procurement is going to go a long way to provide the service with the necessary equipment even though this is just a start.

    “We also, hoping that the 2017 budget will avail us with the opportunity to procure more equipment for the Federal Fire Service.’’

    Danbazau also said that the ministry was making some effort to improve on the existing facilities at the Fire Training School.

    He said that the ministry intended to partner an entity involved in training of fire fighters, particularly in the oil and gas sector, to train the nation’s fire fighters and improve their capacity to carry out their services.

    The minister said that since the various states possessed their separate fire services and had suffered fire incidents, the federal government would partner them on fire fighting.

    Danbazau mentioned Kano, Lagos and Kebbi as states that suffered recent fire incidents, adding that the national council on fire service in Kano last month agreed to standardise fire service delivery all over the country.

    He said that the meeting criticised the operation of several standards operated by each state and accepted to change the trend.

    “We are moving ahead towards that and also be able to ensure that the necessary fire codes are observed by everybody,’’ he said.

    The minister also hinted that NEC discussed the need to have an inter-ministerial meeting to consult with various ministries and states in order to ensure that prevention measures were carried out.

    He said it was important that every building observed the building codes by having fire equipment, such as fire hydrants, for preventive measures.

    “These are some of the very measures that we intent to take in the very near future to ensure that we reduce the losses and also prevent fires from happening,’’ he added.

    He said that stakeholders meeting would be held with experts to enforce building codes in the country to secure the buildings and ensure that they generate their revenues for the government.

    On the strengthening of the country’s fire-fighting workforce with young professionals, the minister said that all agencies under the ministry had been directed to prepare for recruitment in 2017.

    “It is not just the fire service, but all the services under the ministry of interior have been directed to prepare for recruitment into the services this 2017 budget.

    “This directive has been given to them couple of months back because of the realisation that they need the manpower and particularly fire service which needs a lot of energy to be able to tackle some of its challenges.

    “So there is no doubt that we are going to carry out some recruitment exercises.

    “But that is not to say that even the older ones who have not reached retirement age are not of any use.

    “They are very useful; we need them to share their experiences with the younger ones.

    “I terms of capacity building certainly we cannot do away with them.

    “So there is absolutely no doubt that we are going to carry out some recruitment exercises for all the services and we want to make the fire service attractive,’’ said the minister.