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  • We didn’t spend $600,000 on suspended Nigeria Air – Aviation Minister

    The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, says the Nigeria Air project followed due process and is currently at procurement stage awaiting approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

    Mr Sirika also discredited claims that the government spent $600,000 on the design of the logo after the carrier was unveiled at the Farnborough Airshow in London in July.

    The minister spoke in Abuja on Thursday at the 5th Aviation Stakeholders’ Forum.

    Mr Sirika said, “In recent months, misinformation, factual errors, insinuations and fabrications have been peddled in both social and print media on the Nigeria Air project.

    ‘‘These include desirability, inadequate planning, non-consultation with stakeholders, lack of transparency and publications of fictitious amounts allegedly spent by the government on the project, amongst others.’’

    He declared that the federal government was determined to clarify these issues and set the record straight.

    He explained that the current effort to establish the National Carrier predated the composition of the present FEC and his appointment as a minister.

    ‘‘Mr President directed the then Ministry of Aviation to commence the process for the establishment of a National Carrier during the Ministerial briefing on the Aviation Sector.

    ‘‘The ministry set up a committee which came up with the modalities for the establishment of a National Carrier.

    ‘‘The Committee in its report submitted in September 2015 recommended a private sector-led national carrier with 10 per cent government ownership and non-involvement of government in the management of the airline, but the provision of enabling environment for its operation,’’ he said.

    The minister said following approval by the FEC, a consortium of Transaction Advisers (TAs), comprising Airline Management Group Ltd., Avia Solutions Ltd and Tianaero FZE, were appointed in line with best practices.

    He said the TAs completed the Outline Business Case (OBC) Report, which was reviewed by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), which subsequently issued the OBC Certificate of Compliance.

    According to him, the report has been presented to FEC for consideration to move to the procurement phase and then Full Business Case (FBC), where it will be opened for bidding by investors including ordinary Nigerians.

    The minister explained that the estimated funding requirement for the establishment of the project was $300 million up to 2020.

    He added that the expected initial start–up capital of 55 million dollars was made up of 25 million dollars for deposit for new aircraft and 30 million dollars for working capital from June to December 2018.

    According to him, the estimated working capital for 2019 is 100 million dollars and 145 million dollars for 2020 to be provided by the Strategic Equity Partners who are expected to manage the project.

    ‘‘Certain media publications that 8.8 million dollars was expended at the Farnborough Air show are unfounded, malicious, misleading, mischievous and baseless.

    ‘‘The TAs for national carrier coordinated the campaign and provided the additional services that included the development of the brand strategy and the media activities relating to the unveiling of the airline.

    ‘‘Due process was followed in the branding, which included obtaining ‘‘No Objection’’ Certificate with Ref. No. BPP/RPT/18/VOL.1/075 from the Bureau of Public Procurement for payment of N50.8 million for these services is yet to be made.

    ‘‘No foreign company was paid $600,000 for the design of the logo as speculated,’’ he said.

    Mr Sirika said the Nigeria Air project was not lacking investors, stressing that institutions and airlines such as the African Development Bank (AfDB), AFREXIM, US-EXIM, Standard Chartered Bank, Boeing, Airbus and China-Exim Bank, were some of the interested partners.

    He said the desirability of the national carrier was occasioned by the fact that no domestic airline had evolved to fill the vacuum left by Nigeria Airways since it ceased to operate more than 15 years ago.

    According to him, only 28 out of Nigeria’s Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs) with 83 countries are active and the carrier will give impetus to the emergence of Nigeria as hub for the West and Central Africa.

    Mr Sirika said it would promote reliable air transport services and support the growth of the aviation industry and domestic airlines through infrastructure expansion, traffic/routes expansion and manpower development associated with the national carrier.

    He added that it would create employment as well as compete with foreign airlines for a share of international routes through competitive pricing thereby reducing capital flight.

    The Acting Director-General of ICRC, Chidi Izuwah, said the nation’s aviation sector had the capacity to contribute more than the current 0.6 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    Mr Izuwah noted that in 2017, Emirates Airlines generated 25.8 billion dollars as revenue, while the total revenue generated by Nigeria through its crude oil sales was 20.4 billion dollars.

    He said ICRC, as the agency with the responsibility of ensuring transparency in the concession processes, would continue to support the government in its plan to transform aviation infrastructure through Public Private Partnership.

  • 2019: Buhari's former minister, 'Mama Taraba' retrieves computers, furniture donated to APC secretariat

    Former Women Affairs Minister, Aisha Alhassan, who recently resigned her appointment and dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC), has retrieved computers and furniture she donated to the party’s state secretariat in Jalingo, the state capital.

    According to Aaron Artimas, APC publicity secretary in the state, Alhassan, popularly called “Mama Taraba” also removed rugs, air-conditioning sets and tables she had bought for the political party when she was a member.

    “We find this development shameful, unfortunately it is true. The former minister has emptied the office she furnished when she was a member of the APC,” Artimas told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Wednesday in Jalingo.

    Artimas said the party leadership obliged her request and watched as she removed everything from the party secretariat, and expressed surprise that the former minister stooped so low to recover even minor items she had donated to the party.

    “It is amazing to us because Aisha Alhassan was the highest beneficiary of the party in the state,” he claimed.

    Artimas said Alhassan had embarrassed herself with that action because she was still keeping the benefits that accrued to her as minister under the APC-led federal government.

    “It is a very shameful action, but we shall leave her to conscience,” he said.

    Reacting, however, Alhassan said she did not order the removal of the items, but supported it because of the injustice the party meted to her.

    “I bought the items with my money; when my boys told me they were removing them from the party secretariat, I gave them the go ahead because the APC does not deserve anything of mine,” she told NAN in an interview from Abuja.

    She dismissed the claims that the items were moved from Jalingo to Abuja.

    “I could not have moved the items to Abuja. I merely gave my boys the nod to move them out because the APC was wicked to me. If I had left the party on my own, I would not have bothered about the items, but you know the circumstances that pushed me out.

    “I bought the items to furnish the party secretariat, but since I have moved to the UDP, I did not see anything wrong with moving with all my belongings. They should buy their own furniture for the offices,” she said.

    Alhassan, who was screened out of the gubernatorial race by the party, resigned as minister of women affairs and also withdrew her membership of the party before joining the UDP to pursue her governorship ambition.

    Alhassan had contested for the seat in 2015, on the platform of the APC, but lost to the incumbent, Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

     

  • JUST IN: Buhari’s minister, Shittu sues NYSC, says ‘I wasn’t invited for national service’

    JUST IN: Buhari’s minister, Shittu sues NYSC, says ‘I wasn’t invited for national service’

    The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has sued the National Youth Service Corps, alleging that the body failed to serve him with a call-up letter in 1979 to enable him to observe the mandatory one-year national youth service, while he was still below the age of 30.
     
    The minister filed the suit marked FHC/IB/CS/111/2018 before the Federal High Court in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, through his lawyer, Mr Olalekan Ojo (SAN).
     
    Joined as defendants in the suit are Director General, NYSC; the Oyo State Coordinator, NYSC; the NYSC and the Attorney General of the Federation.
     
    The minister is urging the court to declare that the NYSC had waived his obligation to observe the one-year compulsory service by allegedly failing to serve him with a call-up letter in 1979 after he finished from the Nigerian Law School.
     
    The suit followed Shittu’s disqualification from Oyo State governorship race by his party, the All Progressives Congress.
     
    The party had screened him out of its governorship primary in Oyo State after it became known that Shittu skipped the compulsory national youth service.
     
    But relying on Section 2(1) of the National Youth Service Corps Act, 1973, Shittu, who read Law from the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, and graduated in 1978, contended that his failure to serve should be blamed on the NYSC.
     
    He is urging the court to declare that “the possession of the NYSC Discharge or Exemption Certificate is not one of the requirements for the appointment of the plaintiff as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or for his election as a state Governor or as a senator, pursuant to sections 147, 177 and 65 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
     
    Shittu prayed the court to perpetually restrain the NYSC and the other defendants from calling upon him to serve under the NYSC scheme “or from imposing any liability on or making the plaintiff to suffer any liability, be it civil or criminal, on account of his purported non-service under the NYSC scheme.”
     
    He urged the court to order the NYSC to issue to him a Certificate of National Service, “having served the nation as member of the Oyo State House of Assembly immediately after graduating from the Nigerian Law School.”
     
    In the alternative, he wants the court to order the NYSC to issue to him an Exemption Certificate in view of his service as a lawmaker in Oyo State.

  • Macron’s minister resigns on live show

    Emmanuel Macron’s environment minister has dramatically quit the French government live on air, questioning whether the administration is truly committed to green issues.

    Nicolas Hulot, a high-profile former television personality, told France Inter radio on Tuesday morning that he no longer wanted to give the impression “that we’re up to standard on these issues and so I am deciding to quit the government”.

    In an emotional address, the long-time environmentalist said his tenure had been an “accumulation of disappointments”. He also claimed he felt “all alone” in pushing for environmental priorities in government.

    “It’s a decision of honesty and responsibility,” he added, stating that it was “the most difficult decision of my life”.

    Macron’s recruitment of Hulot was seen as a coup for his environmental credentials because the sought-after activist had previously refused to be a minister for presidential predecessors Jacques Chirac, Nicholas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande.

    The resignation is a blow for the French president, who has presented himself as the defender of the Paris climate agreement on the world stage.

    The outgoing minister said that he had not told his cabinet colleagues about his resignation beforehand as they would only have tried to dissuade him from quitting. The radio presenter on the programme the minister was appearing on also appeared not to know about the resignation, asking him: “Are you serious?”

    Hulot said despite the policy problems both Macron and the prime minister Edouard Philippe were “always affectionate and loyal to me” during his tenure.

    Responding to the resignation, a spokesperson for the French government said: “It’s his way of doing things. I think the most basic courtesy would have been to warn the president of the Republic and the prime minister.”

    Hulot had previously warned that the government’s ambitious environmental agenda had been a flop. In May of this year he warned he would consider his position over the summer, telling the French media: “One thing I don’t do well is lying – especially to myself. By this summer I will have enough elements to be able to evaluate if I can actually contribute to this societal transformation.”

  • Serving senator, ex-minister, 13 others dump PDP for APC in Ebonyi

    The senator representing Ebonyi South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Sonni Ogbuoji, and an ex-Minister of State for Power and Steel, Goddy Ogbaga and 13 others on Saturday defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

    The defectors announced their defection during a rally organised by the state chapter of the APC in honour of President Muhammadu Buhari and the party’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.

    Addressing the defectors and other party members at the rally held in Abakaliki, the state capital, Oshiomhole commended Ogbuoji and other defectors for what he described as their bold initiative to leave the PDP for the APC. He stated that the Federal Government was committed and focussed in tackling the numerous challenges confronting the country.

    He said, “We now have an elected senator, Chief Sonni Ogbuoji, who has decided that the PDP’s umbrella is shredded that it can no longer protect any one. He has now joined the progressives.

    “He has watched the determination of the APC-led Federal Government to flush out all crises inflicted on the country by the immediate past administration of the PDP.”

    Oshiomhole added that the Federal Government had embarked on execution of numerous projects in the South-East including the Onitsha/Enugu highway and the 2nd Niger Bridge among others.

    He also urged party supporters to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards, saying it was the weapon for the actualisation of total victory of the APC in the 2019 general elections.

    Earlier in his speech, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, noted that the people of Ebonyi State had resolved to align themselves with the APC and would vote for Buhari in 2019.

    He said, “If the elections are conducted today in Ebonyi State, the APC will clinch all the elective offices at the wards, local government and state levels.’’

    The minister urged South-East geopolitical zone comprising Abia, Imo, Ebonyi, Anambra and Enugu states to embrace the APC and be in the mainstream of the country’s politics.

    Some of the other defectors were a former Ebonyi State Attorney General, Augustine Nwankwegu and a former Secretary to the Ebonyi State Government, Prof. Bernard Odoh.

    Speakers at the event included ex-governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, the immediate past governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Martin Elechi and the APC National Vice-Chairman South-East zone, Chief Emma Eneukwu.

  • Corruption: No going back on Buhari’s Executive Order No 6 – Minister

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said the Federal Government will not be intimidated by criticisms from those opposed to the Executive Order No. 6 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on July 5.

    The executive order empowers the Federal Government to temporarily seize landed properties suspected to be proceeds of financial crimes to prevent them from being sold before the outcome of court cases.

    Mohammed, who addressed journalists in Lagos, said the opposition to the order was expected as it had sent jitters into the camp of the corrupt persons and their cohorts.

    He said, “As you are aware, President Muhammadu Buhari has declared a national emergency on corruption, with the signing on July 5, 2018 of the Presidential Executive Order No. 6 of 2018.

    “Summarised, Executive Order No. 6 of 2018 aims to, among others, restrict dealings in suspicious assets subject to investigation or inquiry bordering on corruption in order to preserve such assets from dissipation, and to deprive alleged criminals of the proceeds of their illicit activities which can otherwise be employed to allure, pervert and/or intimidate the investigative and judicial processes.

    “This is the administration’s most potent weapon against corruption till date! Expectedly, there have been pockets of opposition to this executive order. Those opposed to it say it is unconstitutional, dictatorial and amounts to the usurpation of the powers of the legislature and the judiciary.

    “The truth is that having realised the potency of the order in giving muscle to the fight against corruption – which by the way is one of the three cardinal programmes of our Administration – the corrupt and their cohorts have become jittery. They have every reason to be. Henceforth, it won’t be business as usual.

    “For starters, this executive order will immediately affect 155 high-profile corruption cases. The aggregate value of funds involved in these ongoing cases is N595,409,838,452.25. This is a huge amount by any standard. It is higher than the N500bn allotted to the administration’s Social Investment Programme in the 2018 budget and the N344bn allocated for the construction and rehabilitation of roads nationwide in the 2018 budget.”

    The minister said Buhari thought it necessary to sign the executive order at this time to further give impetus to his administration’s anti-graft campaign.

    He said the President had the power to do so under Section 5 of the constitution, adding that Buhari was not the only President to have signed an executive order.

     

  • Buhari’s administration starts, completes 73 ecological projects in three years — Minister

    The federal government said on Monday that it initiated and completed 73 Ecological Projects across the country in the last three years.

    The Minister of State, Industries, Trades and Investments, Aisha Abubakar, made the disclosure in Bauchi during a visit to Governor Mohammed Abubakar of the state.

    “I wish to also inform Your Excellency that about 73 projects were initiated and completed during the administration of Mr President, and as we speak, we have commissioned 43 out of the 73 projects.

    “Just on Thursday, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hajiya Kadijat Abba Bukar commissioned a similar project in Azare Town of Bauchi State,” she said.

    Ms Abubakar, accompanied by Habiba Lawal, from the Federal Ecological Funds Office, said that she was in the state to commission one of the projects.

    “We are here on behalf of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, to commission an ecological project, as some projects have been commissioned nationwide.

    “We are here in Bauchi to commission the channelization of the flood waters within the premises of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi,” she said.

    “It has been a problem for over five years, we found it on the database bank of the Ecological Fund Office.

    “After looking at the importance and significant of having a good teaching hospital and providing quality service to human lives and good environment for the people, we sort the approval of Mr President and in February 2017, he assented to the request,” she explained.

    The minister explained that about five more projects would be commissioned in Bauchi State before the end of the tenure of the present administration.

    Responding, Governor Abubakar commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the gesture including the erosion control project in Zaki Local Government where communities face erosion threats and destruction yearly.

    The governor called for similar intervention at the Tambari Housing Estate and Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, Bauchi, also being threatened by erosion.

    Mr Abubakar assured that the state government would support President Buhari in every way possible to enable him excel.

  • JUST IN: Fayemi tenders resignation as Buhari’s Minister

    The Minister of Mines and Steel, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has finally resigned his appointment by President Muhammadu to enable him to pursue his Ekiti State governorship ambition.

    Fayemi, it would be recalled, had emerged the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after polling 941 votes to defeat other party contenders such as Segun Oni, Kayode Ojo, Olufemi Richard Bamisile, Oluyede Oluwole, and Aluko Daniel Olugbenga, at the party’s primary in the state.

    According to reports, the minister’s resignation as contained in the letter sent to President Buhari takes effect officially from today Wednesday, May 30, 2019.

     

  • Ex-governor, ex-minister, two others docked for allegedly receiving N450m from Diezani

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday arraigned a former governor of Zamfara State, Mahmud Shinkafi, alongside three others before Justice Fatima Murtala of the Federal High Court sitting in Zamfara on a five-count charge of conspiracy and money laundering.

    Others charged alongside Mr Shinkafi are the former Minister of State, Finance, Bashir Yuguda, Aminu Nahuche, and Ibrahim Malaha.

    The defendants allegedly conspired and received a cash payment of N450 million, part of the $115 million that was allegedly distributed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Deizani Allison-Madueke, for the purpose of influencing the outcome of the 2015 general election.

    One of the charges read that “You Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, Aminu Ahmed Nahuche and Ibrahim Malaha on or about 27th, March 2018, at Gusau, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court conspired among yourselves to receive cash payment of the sum of N450, 000,000 (Four Hundred and Fifty Million Naira Only) from Odia Akpotune without transacting through a financial institution and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 18(a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act and punishable under 16(2)(b) of the same Act.”

    All the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to them.

    The counsel to the prosecution, Johnson Ojogbane, requested the court for a trial date in view of the plea of the defendants.

    The defence counsel, J. C Shaka, moved a motion for bail asking the court to admit the defendants to bail pending the conclusion of the matter.

    Subsequently, Mr Ojogbane informed the court that the prosecution had filed counter affidavit praying the court to refuse bail.

    Justice Murtala, after listening to the arguments between the parties, granted the defendants bail in the sum of N5 million each and two sureties in like sum.

    Screenshot_20180528-142519 Screenshot_20180528-142703 Screenshot_20180528-142614

    One of the sureties must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court while the other must own a landed property within the jurisdiction of the court. Both sureties shall be public or civil service not below grade level 16.

    The court also ruled that the defendants deposit their recent passport photographs and international passports with the registrar.

    The case has been adjourned to June 27 and 28 for the commencement of trial while the defendants are remanded in prison custody pending the perfection of their bail terms.

     

  • Nigeria lagging behind smaller African countries in productivity, competitiveness – Buhari’s Minister

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has said though Nigeria is abundantly blessed in human and natural resources, she lags behind smaller or even less-endowed African countries in productivity and competitiveness.

    Ngige said this at a news conference to commemorate the 17th National Productivity Day and Conferment of National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) Award on Thursday in Abuja.

    Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved May 22, for the 2018 annual National Productivity Day and Conferment of National Productivity Order of Merit Award.

    “In order to achieve high productivity and competitiveness, therefore, Nigeria‘s productivity and competitiveness gap, as a matter of priority, needs to be closed.

    “So, real competitiveness means the ability to produce goods and services that can compete in the domestic and international markets while promoting and maintaining a high living standard and quality of life for the people.

    “Therefore, only nations with organisations that have high levels of productivity will become domestically and globally competitive.

    “This has the capacity to exploit existing market opportunities to sustain and expand employment and real income growth in the long term,” he said.

    He said that the present administration’s commitment to the change and sustainable growth cannot be overemphasised as it would improve the standard of living of Nigerians.

    He said that the government was conscious of the critical place of productivity in the realisation of the change agenda.

    “No nation can be self-reliant and competitive in the international market without productivity improvement in all sectors of the economy.

    “Productivity is indeed the most important determinant of socio-economic growth, wealth creation, employment generation and overall improved standard of living. Indeed, no nation enjoys a standard of living higher than its level of productivity.

    “Given this cardinal role of productivity, it is imperative that the citizenry be consistently reminded of the need for developing a productive mindset that would ensure the productivity growth of all sector of the economy, ’’he said.

    He said it was against the backdrop that the federal government through the National Policy on Productivity declared that a day shall be observed as the National Productivity Day throughout the country yearly.

    Speaking, Kashim Akor, Director-General, National Productivity Centre (NPC), said that selection of the awardees was done by a committee set up for the purpose of the nomination.

    Mr Akor said the nomination of the individuals’ awardees was based on ”efficiency, hard work, innovation, creativity, punctuality, among others to the development of their organizations.”

    He also noted that the nomination for the companies was based on those that are contributing to the diversification aspect of the government.

    “We also look at their contributions to the economy, generation of wealth, creation of jobs, and acclaimed breakthrough in terms of research among others,” he said.

    He said as part of the programme to mark the day, there would an Award Lecture with the theme: “Productivity for Economic Recovery and Sustainable Growth’’ by Ibukun Awosika, Chairman, Board of Directors, First Bank of Nigeria Ltd.