₦airaland Forum

CCECC Project Manager: Why is thr federal government rushing the project when the APC has won the presidential election?

By Kasim Sumaina

Abuja — The federal government, has expressed its readiness to commence the construction of the Ebute-Meta-Apapa rail project by December.

The move, government hinted was to curtail the lingering gridlock crisis along the corridor, thereby decongesting the seaport.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, gave the hint while inspecting the level of work done so far at the Lagos-Ibadan section of the project.

Amaechi, while disclosing the essence of the project rush despite APC winning the Presidential election, noted that it was to ensure that government have an ample time to face the issue of seaport decongestion.

While responding to the question by the CCECC Project Manager on why the federal government is rushing the project when the APC has won the presidential election, the Minister said: "Was the rush because of APC winning election? As a Minister of Transportation, you are Minister of APC as well as PDP. It was not about the APC winning because I have always known that APC will win the election.

"The problem is that there are too much congestions at the seaport, and gridlock in Lagos. The moment we finish this rail likely before December this year, we have to face Ebute Meta to Apapa, and the moment we finish it, nearly almost all the cargoes will be on the track.

"And once we put all the cargoes on the track, we would have resolved the problems of the gridlocks in Lagos and the issue of congestion at the seaport.

"That will equally create employment and economic growth and that is what the target of this government is. It is not about the APC or the PDP," he said.

Asked whether he was impressed with the level of work, he replied: "What we are saying is that the pace of work at kilometre 110 to 121 and kilometre 124 to 157 appear to be slow. However, they have promised to increase their speed and it has to do essentially with the equipment.

"The excuses they gave about lack of equipment at the site is laughable. They claimed that the pressure of work, which was initially 10 years but reduced to three years is affecting their machines. They also claimed that the machines have broken down and are undergoing repairs at their workshops," he said.

The former governor of Rivers state, equally reacted to the feasibility of President Muhammadu Buhari taking a train ride before his swearing in on May 29, noting: "The target is 50 50. We can achieve it if we want to, but what is the benefit of insisting on the train ride before May swearing in when the contractor has given us first or second week in June."

BuhariAdvocate:
I'm sure that innoson not worth 1billion not even talk of 2billion .so its obvious that innoson helping politicians move money abroad through his company.

Chatham House: Security reform suggestions

• End Security votes
•Create US-style inspector general offices tasked with exposing corruption, revealing waste and protecting whistle-blowers.
• Consolidate the numerous security agencies and integrate each of them into either the military and police.
• Consolidate Military support functions by creating joint combat support agencies that could help the force improve its dismal ratio of non-combat elements to frontline units.

post=77566070:
God bless you sis.
It is ALWAYS refreshing to see that we still have some reasonable people like you around here.
Nigeria will be great again.

orisa37:
You can't impose Responsibility without Authority, SERAP can't do that. The Information SERAP wants must be reported by the F.G only.

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent Freedom of Information requests to President Muhammadu Buhari and the 36 state governors in Nigeria requesting them to use their “good offices and leadership positions to urgently provide information on specific details of spending of appropriated public funds as security votes between 2011 and 2019.”

In the separate requests sent to Mr Buhari and the governors, SERAP said: “Given the current security realities in the country, we need the information to determine if public funds meant to provide security and ensure respect and protection of the rights to life, physical integrity, and liberty of Nigerians have been spent for this purpose. Our request is limited to details of visible, specific security measures and projects executed and does not include spending on intelligence operations.”

In the FOI requests dated 12 April 2019 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “’Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) provides that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.’ It is the security of the citizens that is intended and not the security of select individuals in public office. SERAP believes that transparency and accountability in the spending of security votes are critically important to fully implement this responsibility imposed on both the federal and state governments.”

SERAP said: “We are concerned that rather than serving the citizens, the appropriation of public funds as security votes over the years would seem to serve high-ranking government officials at all levels—federal and states. We are also concerned that the practice of security votes entrusts discretionary powers to spend huge public funds on certain elected public officials who may not have any idea of operational issues on security matters.”

The requests read in part: “SERAP urges you to open-up on the matter and provide information and documents as requested. This will be one step in the right direction. Unless the information is urgently provided, Nigerians would continue to see the appropriation of public funds as security votes and the institutionalization of this cash in ‘Ghana Must Go bags’ practice as a tool for self-enrichment.”

“We would be grateful if the requested information is provided to us within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, the Registered Trustees of SERAP shall take all appropriate legal action under the Freedom of Information Act to compel you to comply with our request.”

“The most general purpose of State power is to provide security for citizens and other residents and to enable them lead a life that is meaningful to them. However, the growing level of insecurity, violence, kidnappings and killings in Zamfara State and other parts of Nigeria suggest that successive governments—at both federal and state levels—have been unwilling or unable to satisfactorily implement this fundamental constitutional commitment.”

“SERAP believes that there is a strong link between corruption and insecurity, violence, kidnappings and killings in several parts of the country. Available evidence would seem to suggest that many of the tiers of government in Nigeria have used security votes as a conduit for grand corruption rather than spending the funds to improve and enhance national security and ensure full protection of Nigerians’ rights to life, physical integrity, and liberty. In fact, former governor of Kano State Musa Kwankwaso once described security votes as ‘another way of stealing public funds’.”

“The huge financial resources budgeted for ‘security votes’ by successive governments—at both federal and state levels–have not matched the security realities, especially given the level of insecurity, violence, kidnappings and killings in many parts of the country. The current security realities in the country would seem to suggest massive political use, mismanagement or stealing of security votes by many governments.”

“SERAP believes that the Federal government and state governments ought to push for transparency and accountability in the spending of security votes both at the federal and state levels, if any such funds are to be properly spent to promote and ensure sustainable peace and security for the people of Nigeria.”

“SERAP believes that by providing the information, your government would help put an end to any insinuation that security votes are spent on political activities, mismanaged or stolen. This would in turn contribute to better opportunities for citizens to assess the level of spending and commitment of successive governments to ensuring the security of lives and property of the people.”

“Democratic societies function best with a high level of trust. Corruption, opacity and lack of accountability undermine that trust, and thus undermine the very foundation of democracies.”

“We note that the obligation to provide security and protect people’s rights to life, physical integrity, and liberty ought to be a shared responsibility of the federal and state governments, and not just for the federal government, as state governors also appropriate huge public funds each year as security votes. Many governors reportedly hide the security votes in their budgets as the funds are not expressly stated in their appropriation acts.”

“By Sections 2(3)(d)(V) & (4) of the FOI Act, there is a binding legal duty to ensure that details of spending on specific security measures and projects are widely disseminated and made readily available to members of the public through various means, including on a dedicated website. The information being requested does not come within the purview of the types of information exempted from disclosure by the provisions of the FOI Act.”

“As revealed by a 2018 report by Transparency International (TI), most of the funds appropriated as security votes are spent on political activities, mismanaged or simply stolen. It is estimated that security votes add up to over N241.2 billion every year. On top of appropriated security votes, governments also receive millions of dollars yearly as international security assistance.”

“According to TI, security vote spending exceeds 70 percent of the annual budget of the Nigeria Police Force, more than the Nigerian Army’s annual budget, and more than the Nigerian Navy and Nigerian Air Force’s annual budget combined.”

Ghana has abolished VAT on domestic airline tickets.
Ghana is going to abolish all import duty on raw materials and machineries imported into Ghana.
Ghana is embarking on a massive industrialization drive called One District, One Factory.

One thing you can take away from him is he over performed more than the current administration in terms of the Almajiri school taking away kids from the streets

Okechukwu Isiguzoro, President of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, has called for the arrest and prosecution of traditional rulers found culpable in escalating banditry in Zamfara and other states in Nigeria’s North-West.

In an Interview with Punch Newspaper, Isiguzoro said the arrest of culpable traditional rulers would be a major step in tackling the rising violence in the area.

Isiguzoro said: “The recurring death of scores of innocent Nigerians is worrisome. The marching order of President Muhammadu Buhari to security chiefs is timely and there is no need to entertain any fear in ensuring that they quell the rebellion and insecurity in Zamfara.

“The acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu, has identified the nefarious activities of some traditional rulers, who are deeply involved in gold mining, as one of the causes of the rising violence and banditry.

“We are calling for the immediate arrest of these traditional rulers to save Nigerians from bloodshed; otherwise, the North-West could be another North-East.

“We believe President Buhari’s marching order should begin with the immediate arrest and prosecution of these traditional rulers that are promoting banditry across the North.”

The group also warned armed herdsmen involved in the destruction of farmlands in the South-East to vacate immediately, adding that Biafran agitators from the region would soon react if nothing was done.

“The problem in Zamfara is not about banditry alone. You have some socio-economic interests also because of the illegal gold mining activities.

“On the issue of bandits coming from Niger Republic, we believe that there are some cross-border bandits and this makes it a multi-faceted task before us. That is why we believe the efforts should be all encompassing. Of course, we have that effort under the auspices of the Multi-National Joint Task Force in the North-East, and in the North-West region, it will be done also.

“There is this flow of arms coming in from the Maghreb. The porosity of our borders is a problem. Perhaps after the clearance of the bandits’ hideouts in Zamfara, those agencies in charge of the borders must be empowered to prevent such cross-border criminals.”

He added that all the security agencies had ongoing operations in the North-West, which were all in support of Operation Sharan Daji being carried out by the Armed Forces.

“During the wedding, a popular musician for the criminals, Sani Danyaya, was invited from Niger Republic. He spent two days entertaining the suspected bandits with their prostitutes in Zurmi town,

According to him, “sometime in 2016 when the Emir of Zurmi, Atiku Abubakar, gave out his four daughters in marriage, virtually all the famous armed bandits attended the weeding and they allegedly donated huge number of livestock that were slaughtered during the wedding ceremony.

what we need from the members of the affected communities is relevant information that will help the security agencies in the ongoing operation.”

Suspected armed bandits are currently walking freely with arms in some communities in Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State after military began airstrikes, residents in the areas have said.

The residents say since the armed bandits fled the ongoing military airstrikes in several of their hideouts in the bush, they have been forced to accommodate them in their communities out of fear.

“As I am speaking to you now, in Jaja, Rukudawa, and Tsanu communities all in Zurmi Local Government Area, armed bandits are being sighted with guns walking around unchecked because they are no longer safe in the bush,” a source said.

They probably return to the bush at night or sleep in the town, out of fear, residents said.

“The bandits are patronising local shops, clutching sophisticated weapons, buying maltina, peak milk and meat. They move freely. Nobody has the courage to look at them twice. They have informants in the town. They stay with them or move to close-by communities and pass the night,” said a resident who requested not to be named.

The resident said the military airstrikes in Dumburum community in Zurmi hit the armed bandits and forced them to flee.

According to him, airstrikes alone cannot help because in Zurmi local government area, there is a dearth of ground soldiers which makes it easy for the armed bandits to infiltrate civilians unchallenged.

Another resident said it is imperative for the government to engage traditional rulers in the affected areas because there is mutual understanding between the armed bandits and some emirs in the area.

According to him, “sometime in 2016 when the Emir of Zurmi, Atiku Abubakar, gave out his four daughters in marriage, virtually all the famous armed bandits attended the weeding and they allegedly donated huge number of livestock that were slaughtered during the wedding ceremony.

“During the wedding, a popular musician for the criminals, Sani Danyaya, was invited from Niger Republic. He spent two days entertaining the suspected bandits with their prostitutes in Zurmi town, the headquarters of Zurmi Local Government Area,” the source said to PREMIUM TIMES.

He said although Zurmi LGA suffered more bandits attack, the current ongoing military operation would make impact only when more security personnel are deployed in Zurmi, because some people are willing to give out relevant information on the bandits’ movement.

PREMIUM TIMES reported on Tuesday how the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, in a statement, said intelligence had exposed the complicity of “some high-placed traditional rulers” in the ongoing killings of Nigerians across some northern part of the country.

Zamfara State’s Council of Chiefs however, expressed dismay over the statement credited to the minister, which accused traditional rulers of aiding bandits in the ongoing killings of innocent villagers in the affected areas.

In a press statement issued to journalists after an emergency meeting of the council of chiefs on Thursday in Gusau, the state capital, the spokesperson of the chiefs and Emir of Anka, Attahiru Ahmad, said the council challenges the Minister of Defence, Mr Dan Ali, to name any traditional ruler involved in aiding the bandits.

When contacted, the Zamfara police spokesperson, Mohammed Shehu, said the operation to flush out the bandits is ongoing.

“The criminals don’t have a hiding place, it’s only a matter of time, we will crush them, what we need from the members of the affected communities is relevant information that will help the security agencies in the ongoing operation.”

grandstar:
However, what is the best practice in regards to this? That's my take.

amaniro:
You should be asking yourself because that's my point.

"ln the last four years, therefore, we have been making efforts to determine the exact number of out-of-school children.

"For now, based on the recently conducted National Personnel Audit of both Public and Private schools, Nigeria has an estimated out of school children population of 10,193,918," he said.

amaniro:
Believe this statistic at your Perl. National Bureau of statistics said we're 195million. FG said we're 200 million.

3. Ìbàdàn was founded by “iron and blood” and right from the beginning a military aristocracy was set up where most of the notable warriors of the 1830s controlled the reins of government.

GavelSlam:


Quality teachers, environment, tools and curriculum.

Increase the %age of the Budget that'll be applied to this.

The 24 states are: Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Ogun, Ondo, Kwara, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Yobe and Zamfara. The unaccesed funds amount to about N29.5 billion.

He listed the most endemic states of the OSC to include: Kano, Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Kaduna, Taraba, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Oyo, Benue Jigawa and Ebonyi.

The Federal Government says the number of Out-of-School (OSC) Children in the country has reduced from 13.2 million to 10.2million, following various interventions of the government and development partners.

The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu said this at the 12th Edition of the Ministerial Press Briefing on the OSC Phenomenon held in Abuja on Friday.

Adamu, who was represented by Mr Sonny Echono, Permanent Secretary of the ministry, said that conflicting figures of out-of-school children were being given, ranging from 10 -13 million.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ministerial strategic plan states that Nigeria has 10.5 million children aged 6-14, out of school.

However, a recent Demographic Health Survey (DHS) has shown that the population of out of school children in Nigeria has risen from 10.5 million to 13.2 million.

According to him, the reasons adduced for this unfortunate phenomenon include, though, not limited to the following: financial incapacitation, violent conflicts and ignorance on the part of parents/guardians.

He added that lack of political will to confront the ugly phenomenon, socio-cultural complexities, distance to schools; physically challenged children, child labour, migration and orphanage were other challenges of the OSC.

He listed the most endemic states of the OSC to include: Kano, Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Kaduna, Taraba, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Oyo, Benue Jigawa and Ebonyi.

According to him, the concerns of this administration are two-fold; to find an empirical means of getting the figures right and the best ways of reducing the number to the barest minimum.

"ln the last four years, therefore, we have been making efforts to determine the exact number of out-of-school children.

"However, the good news is that the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and other stakeholders have been working towards this common goal of determining the number of children of school age who are not in school.

"Similarly, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the World Bank, United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF), and other development partners are collaborating to reduce the number of out-of-school children.

"For now, based on the recently conducted National Personnel Audit of both Public and Private schools, Nigeria has an estimated out of school children population of 10,193,918," he said.

Adamu explained that the ministry has, however, encountered some challenges in a bid to reduce the number of OSC.

He enumerated the challenges as inadequate security due to banditry/insurgency, misconceptions about the value of education and slow implementation of UBEC programmes by States Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs).

He listed other challenges to include: low draw down of matching grant by SUBEBs, inadequate funds for special education, inadequate grassroots needs assessment before project execution and wrong location of projects.

Adamu added that the ministry in collaboration with the National Mass Adult and Non-Formal Education Commission had also developed a template to capture the OSC within the space of the next five years.

" We have sent out our team to countries like Pakistan and Indonesia that have similar issues with Nigeria and find a way they were able to overcome it.

"We have also carried out advocacy and sensitisation programmes on monitoring and mentoring of School Based Management Committees (SBMCs) on school governance in 36 states and FCT.

"Steps are being taken under UBEC to construct 2,493 new classroom, 2,457 VIP toilets,19 laboratories, 91boreholes, 1,266 renovated, classrooms, procured 192,985 pupils and 10,038 teachers' furniture," the minister said.

He said these interventions would further reduce the number of OSC in the country.

Awol1:
You've bought the dummy they sold you.

And hey, they seem to be having the upper hand due to tyranny of the majority not really about strategy.

Have you wondered why Buhari lost the educated south and "won" the illiterate north?

igbodefender:
Nairaland's in-house economist, I hail!
What's the position of Canada with it's oil sands?

Awol1:
They will always paint the picture of its good side. Look beyond the ephemeral and read the lines. Are we done reviving our moribund refineries?

Why would we have to team up with Niger Republic to build a whole new refinery while that fund would have been channeled into making our existing refineries work?

Stop letting these jihadists think for you. Learn to use your God given brain for what it's meant for.

“We are discussing on how the Chinese can withdraw from the understanding they have with Benin Republic without litigation and come back to Nigeria and dedicate crude oil for Nigeria.’’

Nigeria and Niger Republic have been urged to fast track the construction of the Katsina Refinery to improve economic relations between the two nations.

In an interview with Voice of Nigeria, the Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Masari said that the refinery, when completed would accelerate economic activities of the border state, and provide job opportunities to the people.

Governor Masari said the state government had allocated a suitable location in Mani and Mashi local governments, where the refinery would be situated and offered to provide security to protect the installations.

The agreement for the construction of the refinery between Nigeria and Niger, signed a year ago, includes China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which holds eighty percent of the proven oil reserve and the operating permit handling the project.

Governor Aminu Masari told Voice of Nigeria in Katsina that the proposed refinery would utilize the projected 5,000 barrels per day, crude oil from Niger Republic to provide the needed energy for the state and its neighbors.

The agreement signed between Niger and Nigeria provides for the export of crude oil from the Agadem Rift Basin of South East Niger to Nigeria, called the Niger-Nigeria export project.

The MoU followed the upstream approval granted by the Niger government to the Chinese oil company for the Agadem PSC exclusive exploration area 3, the production area expected to feed the Katsina refinery.

The Memorandum of Understanding also provides for the construction of an export pipeline from the Agadem Rift Basin (ARM) to the proposed new refinery in Katsina State.

The refinery project also has the buy-in of Savannah Petroleum PLC, the British independent oil and gas company focused on activities in Niger and Nigeria.

The Savannah Petroleum Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Andrew Knott said: “We expect the Niger-Nigeria export project to provide one of the potential routes to market for Savannah’s existing and future discoveries in Niger.’’

It’s expected that delays basically caused by the stand of the China National Petroleum Corporation, CNPC, on the need to agree to the Nigerien project rather than that proposed on the Benin republic route, would be finalized soon.

The Nigerien Minister of Petroleum, Mr. Foumakoye Gado, said last year, that ” to run a pipeline from Agadem to Benin Republic seaport is like 2080km which will be very costly compared to Agadem-Katsina which is just 120 to 150 km.’’

Also speaking, Head of the joint technical team for the Katsina refinery project, Mr. Rabiu Suleiman said: “We are discussing on how the Chinese can withdraw from the understanding they have with BeninRepublic without litigation and come back to Nigeria and dedicate crude oil for Nigeria.’’

NAN also reports that free passenger train operations commenced in Nov. 26, 2018,

"The train is now available for commercial activities and we believe the passengers and companies on iron ore will patronise the services.

BlackAfrican:
Where did you see privacy sir?

Have you smoked that stuff again?