Blog

FG has not awarded licences for coal mining, says Fayemi

NAN-HE-15

Economy

By Lucy Nwachukwu

Abuja, Sept. 14, 2016 (NAN) Mr Kayode Fayemi, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, said that licences for mining of coal for power generation had not been awarded since the emergence of the current administration.

Fayomi said this at a stakeholders and press meeting on pre-Sustainability in the Extractive Industries (SITEI) at the ministry on Wednesday in Abuja.

The minister was representing by Mr. Egghead Odewale, Technical Adviser/Chief of Staff of the Minister.

He said the Federal Government had stated that coal mining licences would be issued only to companies interested in generating electricity from coal.

Fayemi said the ministry would collaborate with the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, to ensure that coal contributed in power generation in the country.

He said:“ One of the processes for the issuance is applicants must have power generating licence before they can be granted licences for coal-mining in the country.

“We have dedicated that coal deposits in the country would only be awarded for power and licences for mining of coal deposits would only be awarded to those who want to generate electricity.

“Since the inception of this administration, no licences for coal has been awarded which is not for the purpose of power generation, so if you acquire a licence for mining coal you have to also have that for power.

On the licensing process, he explained that once application was filed and it did not have any legal or existing issues to the holder of the licence, it would be awarded.

He added that it must however be for power generation.

Dr Ogbonnaya Orji, Director of Communication, Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), pledged the organisation’s support to sustainability in the extractive industries (SITEI) programmes and operations.

Orji said one of the challenges NEITI had faced was in disseminating reports that focused on the issues in harnessing the opportunities and potentials in oil, gas and mining sector.

“ We have had very limited channels and platform to disseminate this information so when we come across very credible organisations like SITEI, we leverage and partner with them.

“We use their channels, their stakeholders and events that they organise such as the series of conferences they organise to reach out to those we cannot ordinarily reach.

He said NEITI would focus its partnership with the ministry to see how Nigeria could channel its energy and attention to the solid mineral sector that had been ignored over the years.

Earlier, Ms Bekeme Masade, Executive Director, CRS-in-Action and Convener SITEI, said this year’s SITIE was focused on revitalising the Nigerian economy beyond oil, prospects for a thriving export driven extractive sector.

She explained that at a time like this when Nigeria was in doldrums over the lack of funding in oil and gas, it was the prime time to look into the mining sector and resource governance.

“So this year, SITEI, we are looking at resource redistribution and the strengthening of institutions.

“Last year through our research we have said that there was a 3.5 billion dollar opportunity in this sector, so what are we doing to make that happen and how can we strengthen the institutions?

“So we are looking forward to SITEI 2016 releasing a set of principles that will guide the sector.

Prof. Okey Onyejekwe, Special Adviser to the Minister, said the ministry would partner with other actors in the sector to ensure an effective monitoring and evaluation strategy.

He also said the ministry would attempt to create a robust communication strategic framework that would allow regular engagement of key stakeholders in the mineral implementation framework.(NAN)

LCN/IA

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Edited by Idris Abdulrahman

NAN-HE-16

Shares

Lagos, Sept. 14, 2016 (NAN) Equity transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) resumed after the Eid-el-Kabir celebration on Wednesday in an upward trend with market indicators growing by 0.23 per cent.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that All-Share Index closed higher, appreciating by 64.61 points or 0.23 per cent to close at 27,642.13 points compared with 27,577.52 points recorded on Friday.

Similarly, market capitalisation went up by N22 billion to close at N9.50 trillion against N9.48 trillion achieved on Friday.

ConOil recorded the highest price gain to lead the gainers’ table, growing by N2.42 to close at N26.21 per share.

Unilever came second with a gain of N2.01 to close at N42.28 per share, while Dangote Cement appreciated by N1.51 to close at N174.51 per share.

International Breweries increased by 3k to close at N19.3 per share and Stanbic IBTC chalked up 22k to close at N15.22 per share.

Conversely, Seplat topped the losers’ chart, depreciating by N5 to close at N320 per share.

Cadbury trailed with a loss of 20k to close at N13.8 per share and Nigerian Breweries decreased by 12k to close at N141.63 per share.

Diamond Bank dipped 0.07k to close at N1.13 per share and Honeyflour dropped 0.06k to close at N1.3 per share.

In all, the volume of shares traded closed lower with an exchange of 182.29 million shares valued at N1.79 billion transacted in 2,776 deals.

NAN reports that this performance contrasted with 272.85 million shares worth N1.52 billion traded in 2,843 deals on Friday.

GT Bank drove the turnover volume, accounting for 43.43 million shares valued at N1.17 billion of the day’s transactions.

It was followed by Diamond Bank with a total of 31.02 million shares worth N35.61 million traded and FCMB, which sold 21.92 million shares valued at N22.56 million.

FBN Holdings transacted 16.41 million shares worth N49.99 million and Skye Bank exchanged 14.78 million shares valued at N189.63 million. (NAN)

LUC/OPI/OPI

(Edited by Olisa Ifeajika)

NAN-H-72

Kidnapping

Makurdi, Sept. 14, 2016 (NAN) The Police on Wednesday arraigned three suspected armed robbers at a Makurdi Upper Area Court in Benue.

The accused, Suega Orban, 33; Terseer Ivase, 36 and Akkaayar Shija, 42 are charged with criminal conspiracy, kidnapping and armed robbery.

The Police prosecutor, Sgt. Abdulkarim Abubakar, told the court that a team of Operation Zenda Special Crack Squad arrested the accused, suspected to be mebers of armed robbery group at Gboko, Buruku and Ugbema.

Abubakar said that the police team was in the areas in continuation of their trail of kidnappers and armed robbers terrorizing the state.

He said that investigation revealed that the accused, at different intervals, conspired with eight others to kidnap and rob many people in the state.

“During investigation, we discovered that the accused conspired with Terwase Akwaza aka Ghana, Teryila Ugah aka Jugas, Terzungwe Shiaondo aka General, Aondofa Angbasha, Zico, Anongo Usha, Beeior Ayaku and Faeren, all now at large.

“They kidnapped Pa Tsegba, Mrs Suleyoo, Mrs Indyerkaa, Ebere Innocent OX (B) in Gboko and Tarka Local Government and moved them to unknown destination.

“On July 7, they also attacked Kings Inn Hotel, Gboko, and robbed Dr Solomon Obialu, a lecturer at University of Nigeria and his colleagues, of various sums of monies and a laptop valued at N138,000”.

The prosecutor further said that investigation into the matter was ongoing and pleaded with the court for additional time to enable him to complete it.

He said that the offences contravened Section 6 (b), 1 (1) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provision) Act and 295 of the Penal Code CAP 124 (Reversed Edition) Laws of Benue state, 2004.

No plea was taken from the accused for want of jurisdiction.

The Magistrate, Ibrahim Mohammed, remanded the accused at the Federal Prison, Makurdi and adjourned the case to Sept. 17 for further mention. (NAN)

AEB/OPI/OPI

(Edited by Olisa Ifeajika)

Fashola charges association to evolve housing finance scheme mechanism

NAN-H-71
Finance

By Ella Anokam/Uche Bibilari
Abuja, Sept. 14, 2016 (NAN) The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has charged African Union for Housing Finance (AUHF) to put in place a mechanism that will promote appropriate housing construction finance schemes.

Fashola gave the charge on Wednesday in Abuja at the 2016 Annual Conference and General Meeting of the African Union for Housing Finance (AUHF).

The Minister was represented by Mrs Eucharia Alozie, Director Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the ministry.

The conference was organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC).

AUHF is an association of 56 Mortgage Banks, Building Societies, Microfinance Institutions, Housing Corporations and organisations involved in mobilising funds for shelter and housing in Africa.

Fashola, in his address, identified lack of access to construction finance by housing developers and high risk in current mortgage finance structure as major bottlenecks in the housing sector.

According to him, thse challenges do not support the buying-off of houses to enable developers recoup their investments on time.

“Lack of housing finance in the public and corporate institutions and double digit housing loans are the major challenges in the industry.”

He further identified land for housing, population explosion, high cost of building materials, inflation that brings about unemployment and decreased purchasing power of the low and medium income earners as other bottlenecks.

He, however, added that Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and the NMRC  were established to help in reducing the cost of mortgage loan by improving market efficiency.

He further added that from inception of government initiative in organised housing finance system to date, only a meagre sum had been injected to the system.

“This accounts for less than 0.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as compared to other climes like UK and South Africa among others’’.

This, he said, was due to the inability of financial systems in providing low cost finance that meets the need of low and medium income earners.

The minister stressed that the FMBN as the secondary mortgage institution, should be strengthened by ensuring full compliance with the National Housing Fund (NHF) Act by affected stakeholders.

He said that housing was believed to be a long- term investment and should be protected against high inflation and unpredictable economic down turn.

Fashola, while commending NMRC and other partners on advancing investment in affordable housing, said that the political will of the present administration in housing sector agenda had been further invigorated by the conference.

He further lauded stakeholders and African experts for coming together to proffer solutions to the age long challenge of providing housing finance for Africans, especially Nigerians who were facing harsh economic challenges.

He, however, said that housing was central to the present administration’s policy trust, adding that the conference was timely as Nigeria needed aggressive unleashing of new housing finance investments and opportunities.

Dr Oscar, Mgaya, AUHF Chairman, earlier said that the union was working hard to connect members to the progress of policy and opportunities for investment and growth in their own local context.

Mgaya said that the union was also focused on mobilising fund for shelter in Africa from 17 different countries across the continent.

According to him, the conference will be drafting an “Abuja Declaration’’, which will propose way forward in housing development in Africa.

The goals of AUHF are to promote and facilitate housing finance and unlocking its multiplier effects on national economies with a view to ensuring Africa’s economic growth.

The three-day conference which has its theme as “Housing Africa’s Growth Agenda’’ is sponsored by its media partner, Fesadeb Communications Ltd,. organisers of annual Abuja Housing Show and producer of housing programmes. (NAN)

UU/ELLA/EEM/NKO

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Edited by Emmanuel Mogbede/Nkechi Okoronkwo
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NAN-H-70
Electricity
Benin, Sept. 14, 2016 (NAN) The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has promised to add 450 megawatts of electricity to the national grid by 2017.

Addressing the Igbo Community Union in Benin on Wednesday, Obaseki said the 450mw would be generated from the ongoing Azura Power Plant which the APC administration attracted to the state.

He said that when completed, the power plant would not only boost business in the state, but increase the number of small and medium enterprises.

Obaseki also reiterated his desire to create a minimum of 200,000 jobs and boost agricultural production in the state if elected.

He said there was no better time to diversify the economy of the state than now that the price of crude oil in the international market had nose-dived.

“We have moved away from the era of politics of sharing to the era of politics of development.

“Oil money is no longer available for sharing and so there is a need to elect a leader capable of marshaling ways for development aside oil money.

“When we invest to boost agriculture, businesses in the state will also be boosted with an additional 450mw of electricity with the completion of Azura Power Plant,” he said.

Obaseki pointed out that more businesses would lead to employment which would create wealth and boost tax collection, saying this is what politics of development is all about.

He also promised to address the issue of tax extortion.

He said the recent postponement of the governorship election affected his campaign organisation. (NAN)
ESI/CEO/MVO

(Edited by Chidi Opara/Mbadiwe Okwor)

NAN-H-67

Advice

‎Kano, Sept. 14, 2016 (NAN) The Emir of Kano, Mallam Muhammad Sanusi II, has called on Federal Government ‎to seek the advice of economic experts in tackling current economic crisis in the country.‎

Sanusi gave the advice on Wednesday during the traditional Sallah Durbar (Hawan Nasarawa) at the Government House, Kano.‎
He said ‎that consulting the experts would help in enunciating ‎proper solution to the crisis and reduce the hardship people were currently facing in the country.‎

The emir, who is a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), urged wealthy Nigerians to support the less-privileged in the society in order to alleviate their sufferings.‎

‎

‎‎He added that Nigerians, irrespective of religious beliefs and political inclinations, should continue to pray for economic growth and development of the country.‎

‎

He also urged the people of Kano to remain law-abiding and be their brother’s keeper irrespective of religion or ethnic background.‎

Sanusi appealed to the state government to help the people to acquire skills‎ that would make them self-reliant.‎

‎
In his remarks, acting governor of the state, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar, said that paying salary of workers was not a privilege but an ‎obligation, which the state had continued to meet.

He pointed out that the economic crunch had made it difficult for no fewer than 28 states out of the 36 in the country to pay workers’ salary.‎

‎‎
Abubakar said that the state government was spending N62 million weekly for the feeding ‎of boarding school students across the state.‎
‎He called on the people to continue to pray for peace, unity and progress in the country. (NAN)

MNT/OPI/OPI

(Edited by Olisa Ifeajika)

NAN-H-63

Device
By Christian Ogbonna

Yenagoa, Sept. 14, 2016 (NAN) The Bayelsa Chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) on Wednesday pledged to ensure members’ compliance with the installation of the speed limit device.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that enforcement of usage of the device will commence on Oct. 1 with commercial drivers across the country.

The union’s chairman, Mr ThankGod Eribo, who spoke with NAN in Yenagoa, said the device was a welcome development.

“The initiative is as important as the engine of a vehicle, especially to our members, who are the major users of the road; this is what we have been expecting from the Federal Road Safety Commission.

“We will comply with the initiative because the belief of someone on the wheel is to start a journey and arrive at a safe destination.

“Since it is a safety precaution to reduce crashes, we will give 100 per cent compliance.”

The chairman appealed to the FRSC to make the price affordable due to the present harsh economic situation in the country.

“The enforcement date is timely; I urge the authority to also extend the date as well as make the price affordable because transportation business is no longer favourable.

“Before now, we used to load over 20 to 30 vehicles to Warri, Port Harcourt and other parts of the country, but the situation is no longer as it used to be; the traffic for travelling has reduced drastically.

“And there is no hike in transport fare; the fare for the above cities that I mentioned are still the same even as the price of fuel has been increasing; it has been between N1,000 and N1,200,” he said.

Mr Wobin Gora, Sector Commander, FRSC in Bayelsa, said the speed limiter was a necessity to all vehicles, urging commercial drivers in the state and Nigeria to obey the enforcement take-off date.

“The aim is to reduce fatality on the roads to the barest minimum because we have noticed that the major causes of accident are speeding, reckless driving and careless overtaking.

“Please, install one speed limiter today and stay alive; the device is very important; believe me, speed reduction can reduce fuel consumption in a vehicle,” Gora said. (NAN)

OOC/ORO/NKO
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(Edited by Razak Owolabi/Nkechi Okoronkwo)

Work resumes in Abuja after sallah break

NAN-H-62

Resumption

By Monday Ijeh

Abuja, Sept. 14, 2016 (NAN) Civil Servants in Abuja resumed work on Wednesday after a two-day public holiday declared by the Federal Government to mark the Eid el-Kabir celebration.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that workers turnout at the Federal Secretariat located in the Central Area of  Abuja was impressive.

Some of the civil servants who spoke with NAN, said that since they could not travel for the celebrations due financial challenges, they had no reason not to be at work.

Mrs Esther Ejike, a senior civil servant, said that there was no need staying at home after the holiday.

She, however, said that a few of her Muslim colleagues who took casual leave to travel to celebrate with their loved ones, had yet to resume.

She described as encouraging the turnout of workers after the holiday, stressing that full activities would resume on Monday in most government offices.

One of the car park ticket sellers at the Federal Secretariat Car Park, who spoke on grounds of anonymity, reiterated that the level of resumption was encouraging considering the number of vehicles already parked.

He said the car park was relatively filled, but added that some of the workers had yet to resume after the holiday.

NAN, however, observed that there was low turnout of workers at the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) Secretariat.

Some of the staff were seen discussing in hush tones about the current economic challenges in the country.

According to Mr Danladi Kabiru, most of the secretariat staff stayed back because they had travel out of the city.

Such staff,he said, might want to spend the remaining days of the week with their loved ones in their home towns.

Mrs Veronica Adeosun, also a staff of AMAC, said that the low turnout of staff might be due to the current economic challenges in the country and the increased transportation cost.

According to her, some staff might find it difficult raising money to come to work after spending so much for the sallah celebrations.

Some of the Civil Servants urged the Federal Government to consider an upward review of their salaries, considering the country’s present economic situation.

They said that salary increase had become necessary because their present take home pay, could no longer take them home.

Mr Andrew Obi while decrying the situation, expressed his dismay  that the Federal Government had yet to introduce palliatives raising the prices of petroleum products in May.

Similarly, Mrs Edna Uzor, also a civil servant, noted that while the salaries of civil servants had remained static, the prices of foodstuffs especially, had continued to increase by the day.

“There is need for government to consider increasing the salaries of civil servants to enable them to meet their needs.

“It should also put in place policies that will ameliorate the suffering of the common man,’’ Uzor said. (NAN)

BOL/IMC/EEM/NKO

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(Edited by Emmanuel Mogbede/Nkechi Okoronkwo)

NAN-DS-4
Arrest
By Muhammad Nasir Bashir
Dutse, Sept. 14, 2016 (NAN) The police in Jigawa on Wednesday said it had arrested a 30-year- old man, Haruna Barde, for allegedly killing
a 70-year -old woman and her son in Jahun Local Government Area of the state.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PRRO), Alhaji Jinjiri Abdu, confirmed the arrest in Dutse, saying that the incident occurred on Sept. 13
at about 10.30 p.m. in Nahuce village of Harbo town in Jahun Local Government Area.

Abdu said that the victims were 70-year-old Zainab Abubakar and her 50-year-old son, Hassan Abubakar.

He added that “yes, on Sept. 13, we received a report around 10.30 p.m. that one Haruna Barde of Nahuce, Harbo town in Jahun, allegedly attacked one Zainab Abubakar with machete.

“The 30-year-old Barde also attacked the woman’s son, Hassan Abubakar, who tried to save her.

“Upon reception of the report, our men immediately arrived at the scene, rescued and took the victims to hospital and arrested the suspect.

“However, the woman and her son both died minutes later due to injuries they sustained.”

The police spokesman said corpses of the deceased had since been handed over to their family for burial.

He said investigation into the case had commenced, noting that “it is only after investigation that we will know the reason for the attack.”
(NAN)
MNB/JPE/HA
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(Edited by Joseph Edeh/Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu)