₦airaland Forum

The Federal Government has commenced shortlisting candidates for the 500,000 jobs it promised.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja when a delegation of the National Council for Women’s Societies (NCWS) paid him a courtesy visit in his office.

Mohammed said that applications were being received and government had started processing them for the recruitment.
“The process for the recruitment has started.
“About 1.2 million people applied and they classified them into categories including agriculture support officers, teachers, technical officers and so on,’’ he said.
The minister also said that the payment of N5,000 conditional cash transfer promised by the government would begin before the end of the month.
He said the Minister of Finance, Dr Kemi Adeosun had earlier announced this.
Mohammed reiterated the commitment of the government to improving the well-being and standard of living of the citizens.
“We are very concerned about the welfare of Nigerians and we are not sleeping; we are working day and night to ensure that the country retraces its step.
“Many of our critics have been unfair to us because many of them know that we did not invent the problems we are facing today.
“ This is time to join hands together to support the government to move the nation forward,’’ he said.
The National President of NCWS, Mrs Gloria Shoda, expressed the confidence in the resolve of the government to implement programmes for the advancement of girls and women in the society.
She drew the attention of government to its promise of providing free maternal and children health care and implementation of the National Gender Policy.
Shoda also appealed to government to consider scholarship for girls pursuing medical courses in the universities to address maternal and child mortality.

He first acknowledged the staff and management of Transcorp Power, the biggest producer of thermal energy in Nigeria, providing about 18 per cent of national output: “In accepting this award, I want to dedicate it to Transcorp Power staff who remain committed to realizing our dream of improving access to electricity in Nigeria and making our vision of a well-lit, fully powered Nigeria come true,” he said.

Transcorp Power has supported U.S. President Obama’s Power Africa initiative with a $2.5billion commitment. He thanked the broader coalition of investors in the African power sector, as he urged other institutional investors to consider long-term opportunities on the continent. “I also dedicate this to all stakeholders working hard to improve access to power in Africa. I call on others to please join us in this journey to powering Africa out of poverty,” he added.

As the economies of African regional powerhouses like Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Uganda, Nigeria and Angola struggle due to excessive exposure to commodities’ prices caused by limited diversification, Elumelu proffered a sustainable solution to reduce Africa’s historical external vulnerability.

“Africa has been faced with this same challenge, in my view, for far too long. I choose to look at the recent episodes of economic contraction across the continent as opportunities to diversify our economies and invest in building critical infrastructure, especially in power, to reduce our susceptibility to commodity shocks and break out of the perpetual boom-bust cycles,” he advised.

He emphasized that to ensure a different type of growth trajectory for Africa – one that does not rely exclusively on the export of primary commodities – there must be reliable, accessible, affordable power to support industrialization. “Industrialization must occur on a massive scale for our countries to be powered out of chronic dependency on commodities. We must power Africa’s next phase of development, by targeting and prioritizing growth of our manufacturing, industries and services.
And power is the fulcrum that will make this happen,” he said.

Elumelu revealed that while there is an abundance of private capital available to be deployed to develop the African power sector, government must play its part in attracting these investments. He explained, “While there is huge private capital – local and global – seeking investment destinations, as we know, global private capital goes to where it is most welcome.
Therefore, the challenge before African governments should be how to ensure they create the environment that will attract and retain these investments in our continent.” To the foreign investors gathered at the forum, he advised, “Though there are challenges in investing in Africa, these challenges can be overcome by investing in Africa through partnerships with qualified local partners who possess the right knowledge, requisite capital and technical know how.”


Speaking further, Elumelu urged private and public sector stakeholders to work together in what he describes as “Shared Purpose”. “It is critical for the public and private sectors to work together in “SHARED PURPOSE”, which is a key tenet of Africapitalism – the economic philosophy I espouse which calls for the private sector to play a key role in Africa’s social and economic development by investing in strategic sectors for both economic profit and social prosperity.”

Elumelu, who is also co-chair of the African Energy Leaders Group (AELG), a community of African energy leaders including Presidents and leading corporates, concluded his remarks by examining the role of power in creating opportunities for Africa’s jobless youth. “In the 21st century, the level of poverty we have in Africa and the dire youth unemployment, to a large extent, can be solved by improving access to power, and by extension other infrastructure deficiencies and deficits. Even though we are making progress, there is still a lot to be done. We need faster progress.”

Resumption of plenary by the National Assembly after eights week recess failed on Tuesday following announcement of the death of a member of the House of Representatives, Mr Elijah Oluwatayo (APC-Lagos).

Reports that the aborted resumption was to mark the beginning of the second legislative year of the 8th assembly.


The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, while reading a letter from the family of the deceased, said that Oluwatayo died on July 20, 2016, at the age of 66.

Dogara also announced the death of three former members of the House – Muhammed Useni, Alex Eze and Etim Atakpa.

He said that Useni represented Makarfi Federal Constituency of Kaduna state from 1999 to 2003, while Eze represented Nsukka/Igboeze Constituency of Enugu state within the same period.

He said Atakpa represented Ikot Ekpene/Essien Udim/Obot Akara Federal constituency of Akwa Ibom from 1992 to 1993 on the platform of the defunct National Republican Convention.

“As a serving member is involved, and as the tradition of the House demands, we have to adjourn sitting till Wednesday to honour the deceased,’’ Dogara said.
The House of Representatives in the 8th National Assembly has recorded four deaths of members since inauguration in June, 2015.

dimieprincess:
I don't know why but I despise this man call Sheriff, please pdp should collapse their party and form a new party.