Former Lagos State governor and national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on Sunday met with leaders of the party in the United Kingdom (UK).
Details of the meeting is not made public but some of his aides said it is part of his consultation for the 2023 presidency.
Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu , the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister of State has inaugurated 30 units of operational vehicles donated to commands and divisions of the Nigeria Police Force by the Abuja Municipal Area Council, (AMAC) in Abuja.
While inaugurating the project, the minister said the donation arose from the chairman’s desire to contribute in assisting the police force in fighting crimes within the area council in particular, and by extension the Federal Capital Territory.
She observed that with the increasing reliance on technology, it is becoming more and more essential to secure every aspect of the environment, noting that security begins with good prevention and basic knowledge.
Aliyu also affirmed that since the outbreak of the coronavirus and government declaration of state of emergency, commercial burglaries have almost doubled in major cities across Nigeria, adding that in times like these, swift and smart operations are more important than ever.
She hinted ; “In this wise, the handing over of these operational vehicles is in line with our mandate not just to deliver dividends of democracy to our people, but also to protect lives and property of citizens”.
She, however, used the occasion to pledge the FCT Administration’s commitment in the provisions of basic amenities, as well as maintain the existing ones, while tasking residents to justify government’s investment in their communities.
The minister commended the leadership of Abuja Municipal Area Council for equipping the police in fighting crimes, just as she called on residents to assist the police with useful informations that would aid them for the overall peaceful coexistence of their various councils.
Also, Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council, Hon. Abdullahi Adamu Candido, hinted that the imperativeness of the donation of the security vehicles to the police formation lies in the burning desire to collaborate with other actors in the fight against crimes that are building empires in the nation’s capital.
The AMAC boss stressed that the creation of AMAC Marshal Guards, a security outfit is geared towards tackling the security challenges in the council and ultimately to provide intelligence gathering to other conventional security outfits, engaging in surveillance activities and rendering security services.
Candido revealed that since the creation of AMAC Marshals in 2016, the outfit has employed not less than 600 youths from the council, noting that the increasing unemployment rate has heightened insecurity in the society.
His words , “this has helped to reduce unemployment rate of our youths drastically and has also lessened criminal activities within the council”.
The highpoint of the event was the official handing over of the keys to the Inspector General of Police by the FCT Minister of State.
Another drug colony at Kubwa-Dutse road interchange was bursted by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Monday.
Our correspondent gathered that, two person were appreheded with 45 kilograms suspected Marijuana.
The sting operation that came immediately the team of FCT Ministerial taskforce on City Sanitation, concluded clean up at the Dutse market, got many passersby talking, because the destroyed drug hideout was situated few metres away from one of the Police stations along that axis.
Comrade Attah Ikharo, Senior Special Assistant to FCT Minister on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, hinted that the drug colony was exposed by security intelligence, warranting a marching order from FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello for it’s destruction.
He, however, expressed displeasure over the persistent lawlessness activities of some residents, the suspects and the siezed drugs have been handed over the operatives of Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency for further investigation.
He stated that the efforts have been intensified to track down all criminal elements, and everything that constitute security threat, through aggressive monitoring of all parts of Abuja.
He, however, lamented the illegal activities of roadside traders which he said had returned to the Dutse market, after it was tackled some months ago.
His words, the chaotic situation at the Dutse market which the FCTA invested so much resources and time to tackle, was begining to return, due to the compromise of some market Managers and Unscrupulous officials.
He described the situation as a ticking time bomb waiting to be detonated, he reiterated the administration’s determination to deal ruthlessly with all contravention and those promoting it.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Director , Enforcement of Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) Kaka Bello, said the enforcement team won’t backtrack in it’s mission to restore environmental order to the city.
Bello stated that the destroyed drug colony is suspected to be managed by high profile drug syndicate, going by their confidence to peddle drugs in such highbrow area.
He added that the illegal activities constituting nuisance, have persisted because the city was large and population growth surging high.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration of hiding under fuel subsidy to siphon and fritter a staggering sum of N3trillion ahead of 2023.
The party described the bare-faced move by President Buhari-led administration as outrageous and unpardonable crime against Nigerians.
The PDP, in a statement by its spokesman, Hon. Debo Ologunagba said that while it is not against subsidizing petroleum products for Nigerians, it rejected the plot by the APC government to use a heavily padded fuel subsidy claims to surreptitiously funnel trillions of naira into the pockets of corrupt APC leaders and their cronies in government ahead of their shameful exit in 2023.
The statement reads: “Demanded a full disclosure of specifics of the subsidy templates including details of cost of importation of petroleum products into the country to warrant the additional N2.557 trillion being requested by the APC administration.
“The PDP already has information of how corrupt APC leaders pushed for the additional N2.557 trillion to the N443 billion already approved for fuel subsidy in the 2022 budget just to create a surplus as slush fund ostensibly for APC leaders to share as well as deploy to rig the 2023 elections.
“The APC government cannot justify the proposed increase in fuel subsidy in the face of incontrovertible evidence of slowing economy and consequential decrease in consumption of petroleum products in Nigeria due largely to the rudderless, irresponsible and insensitive economic policies of the APC as well as the adverse effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Nigerians have already noted that the proposed increase is consistent with APC’s typical padding of fuel subsidy ahead of every election cycle. Is it not revealing that while fuel subsidy was N24 billion in 2016 and rose to N144.53 billion in 2017, it spiked to N878 billion in 2018 ahead of the 2019 elections; remained at N551.22 billion in the election year of 2019, only to drop to N102 billion in 2020, after the elections?
“It is clear that the APC increased fuel subsidy to N1.4 trillion in 2021 and now barefacedly seeks additional N2.557 trillion to have a cumulative subsidy bill of N3 trillion in 2022 to prosecute the 2023 elections having realized that it has a tough battle with Nigerians because of its monumental failures.
“It is even more disturbing that the proposed increase is to be funded through external borrowings, which will further impoverish Nigerians, mortgage the future of our nation and burden future generation of Nigerians just to finance the insatiable greed of APC leaders,” the party said.
The PDP, has, however, rejected the bandying of incoherent, unsubstantiated and heavily doctored figures by the APC government in its desperate lies on domestic consumption and landing costs.
The party challeged the APC to present the details of importation costs to Nigerians as no genuine pricing template can support such criminal increase in fuel subsidy beyond the appropriate pricing which experts posit cannot be above N500 billion.
The PDP therefore called on the National Assembly to stand with the people and reject the scandalous N2.557 trillion addition for fuel subsidy at this critical time as approving such would be a great and unpardonable disservice to Nigerians.
No fewer than 33 oil companies lost right to the Marginal oil fields on Thursday for failing to meet up with the 45 days deadline required to pay the signature bonus for the fields.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) made this known at a meeting at a meeting with the awardees in Abuja, declaring that the marginal oil field had been revoked.
The 2020 marginal field awards which was unveiled last May by the then Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) had 57 fields on offer with 665 companies indicating interest to acquire them.
Giving an update on the award process , the Chief Executive of Officer of NUPRC, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe said of the 161 companies shortlisted for the awards only 119 awards were fully paid for with nine awards partly paid for.
Engr. Komolafe explained that “the marginal field guidelines provided for 45 days for the payment of signature bonus which has since elapsed, and we have issued a public notice to that effect as well as notified the relevant potential awardees”.
He stated that N174 billion was realized from the signature bonus paid by the companies for the fields.
He hinted that given the high cost capital and government’s desire to achieve first oil in the fields, the Commission was making concerted efforts “to ensure that the 2020 MFBR exercise is completed within the shortest possible time”.
He, therefore, pointed out that “this engagement with Marginal Field awardees and Leaseholders is for the Commission to state the policy position on the 2020 Marginal Fields Bid Round (MFBR), to enable successful awardees progress to field development phase in line with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021”.
While stating that no new marginal field or farm-out agreements were envisaged under the PIA, he explained that prior to the enactment of the Act, fields were classified as marginal when: they are not considered by license holders for immediate development due to assumed marginal economics under prevailing conditions.
“Similarly, those with exploratory well drilled on the structure and reported as oil and/or gas discovery and left unattended for more than 10 years.
“Fields that leaseholders consider for farm-out due to portfolio rationalization. Lastly, fields which the President may, from time to time, identify as such”.
On what would happen to the fields which signature bonuses were not paid for, he said the fields would be returned to the basket of fields available for awards.
“Accordingly for any field that is in the market, we are going to equally ensure a transparent process of getting across to new awardees. Essentially, one of the challenges that we observed in the review and post mortem exercise is that it is critical that bidders and interested bidders are able to provide proof of fund and proof of funds for field development.
“That will be a key consideration for future awards and the Commission will do its due diligence to ensure that such presentation are genuine so that we do not experience this kind of situation again”, he added.
Engr. Komolafe stressed that the Commission was ready to ensure that disputes amongst parties were quickly resolved to ensure that the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) needed to move the process forward were set up.
“Furthermore, the Commission through the Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre (ADRC) offers opportunity for co-awardees of marginal fields to resolve issues speedily and amicably”, he stated.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has announced that it achieved over a hundred percent of its collection target for the year 2021, N6.405 trillion in both oil (N2.008 trillion and non-oil (N4.396 trillion) revenues as against a target of N6.401 trillion.
This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen by Special Assistant to the Executive Chairman, FIRS, Media & Communication, Johannes Oluwatobi Wojuola, noted that the feat was achieved in spite of the global economic challenges occasioned by the Coronavirus pandemic, as well as the disruption of business activities in 2020 by nationwide protests,
“Notwithstanding the limitations faced in 2020/2021, the Service achieved over a hundred percent of its collection target,” Executive Chairman, Muhammad Nami stated in the FIRS 2021 Performance Update signed by him.
“The FIRS, in the year 2021 collected a total of N6.405 trillion in both oil (N2.008 trillion) and non-oil (N4.396 trillion) revenues as against a target of N6.401 trillion. Companies Income Tax amounted to N1.896 trillion; Petroleum Profits Tax amounted to N2 trillion; Value Added Tax amounted to N2.07 trillion; Electronic Money Transfer Levy amounted to N114 billion; Earmarked Taxes amounted to N208.8 billion; among others.
“Non-oil sector contributed 68.64% of the total collection in the year, while oil sector’s contribution was 31.36% of total collection.
“The Service issued certificates for the sum of N147.8 billion tax credit to private investors and NNPC for road infrastructure under the Road Infrastructure Development Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme created by Executive Order No. 007 of 2019.”
According to the agency’s Spokesman, the report explained that “in line with the law, 2021 income tax revenue is a function of the outcome of business activities in 2020.
“In that year, the country entered into a second economic recession within 5 years. The recession was occasioned by 5-months of lockdown caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. To compound the economic challenges of COVID-19 pandemic, business activities were disrupted by the End-SARS protests.”
It further stated that the deployment of technological tools was a game-changer for the Service.
“Upon the coming into office of the current management, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) began strategic administrative and operational reforms; and the implementation of new policies that would improve its capacity towards the fulfilment of its mandate.
“The deployment of a new automated tax administration system, the “TaxPro Max” in June 2021 was a game-changer. With the solution, taxpayers experienced ease of registration, reporting, payment and issuance of Tax Clearance Certificates while the Service experienced greater efficiency in the deployment of resources thereby leading to improved revenue collection.”
The FIRS stated that strong opposition to its statutory mandates by certain interests posed a major setback in the full implementation of its reforms.
Prof Moyosore Salihu Ajao, a professor of Anatomy at the University of Ilorin has revealed that limited number of cadavers for study in most medical schools in the country has been identified as hobbling the study of anatomy and achievements of its attendant gains.
He made the observation while delivering the 214th Inaugural Lecture at the university, titled, ‘The Belly, the Brain and the Environmental Toxins: Balancing the Conflicts Between Necessity and Cost’.
The scholar observed that a unique thing about the study of Anatomy in most schools is the non-availability of “Raw materials” needed for its practical classes.
According to him,”They are never sold in the market in any part of the world,” he said, referring to the availability of dead bodies for study.
“Since human anatomy is the science that is concerned with the structures of the human body, these structures cannot be fully understood from written descriptions to dimensional pictures or plastic models.
“The dissection of human body (cadavers) is the basis for understanding the structure and functions of the human body for several centuries.
“In other words, to fully understand the importance of cadavers to man is far and beyond what we should overlook.
“The first major challenge I noticed on my assumption of office as a young lecturer in the department of anatomy was the chronic shortages of cadavers in the department and after a quick check on other universities, I discovered that we are not alone in the struggle to get bodies fit enough for dissection,” he stated.
Citing one of his studies, Prof Ajao observed that there are different causes of the lack in the Nigerian varsities which reflected a poor ratio of students to cadaver during study in medical schools in Nigeria.
“This finding is consistent with the earlier report from China, where about 12 to 15 students used a body against International Standard that recommend maximum of six students to one body.
“The National Universities Commission recommends an average of eight students per body in Nigeria.
Ajao said that pressure to produce more doctors in the country keeps mounting every year and so the students’ population continued to rise while provisions of facilities including cadavers supply are limited.
…Vows To Rid Parks Off Drugs , Criminality
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has sealed off a park at Wuse Zone 5 for allegedly playing host to drugs peddlers.
This is as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) raided the said park located at Peb 04 plaza where six persons were arrested for peddling drugs.
Umar Shuaibu, the Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), who led his team to the seal up exercise brief newsmen that all activities at the park are to cease and all illegal structures inside the park will be removed as soon as possible.
The AMMC Coordinator, “The reason why we are here is because of the information we heard about sale of drugs here. It prompted us to dig out history of how the park came to being. Yes, we gave approval for extension, to the owner of PEB 04 Plaza that sort for extension of the building and it was granted. But any extension we grant is specifically for green areas not for any activities or commercialization, anytime we give extension of a building it is for green areas”.
“Even the structures and activities that were not approved by us are taking place here.
“This matter is very weighty,
we sealed off the place pending further investigation on the matter. Already we have called on all park operators in FCT for a meeting in order to ensure that whatever they are doing is in line with the laws and we mentioned specifically the issue of illegal activities like those selling drugs and noise pollution all these we spelt out.
“And this will serve as deterent to others and anyone that is caught violating our laws we will prosecute. NDLEA has raided this park and they caught them with drugs. So it is already established that they were peddling drugs here .
“We have already serve them the enforcement notice and whatever is illegal we are going to remove it as soon as possible .
The demolition will be as soon as possible”, he explained.
Shuaib hinted on possible revocation of the extension, he said, “Definitely, whatever is required and then we are going to have ensure we follow legal processes and ensure due process is followed.
“There are dos and don’t for whatever approval of land that is allocated, normally extensions are for greening of the area but as you can see, it has already been violated”.
Meanwhile, the Director of Development Control Tpl Muktar Galadima, said, FCT administration is in collaboration with NDLEA,
“This is just an eye opener, we are not going to wait and allow another park to be identified, we are working on collaboration with NDLEA, we also want to urge them to spread their tentacle further to other parks. And then we will take necessary action”.
It would be recalled that operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) raided Peb 04 plaza park on January, 19 and arrested six persons for selling drug cookies and noodles.
Rachael Famiyesun, 29, was arrested along with her sales girl, Stella Sunday, 20, for dealing in drug cookies.
They were also caught selling bottles of ‘Zobo’ drink prepared with cannabis.
Another business operator in the garden, Moses Obi was also arrested with his sales girl, Aisha Abdulrahman, 19, for selling indomien noodles prepared with cannabis.
A bar man, Ahonye Jonah, 31, who worked with the garden owner, was equally arrested while one of their customers, 38-year-old Ngozi Justina Emelogu, was also picked during the raid.
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has threatened to shut down any school that fails to provide the necessary information required in building a credible data base required in assessing the health status of the education system.
Mr. Olusade Adesola, the FCTA Permanent Secretary sounded the warning during the official flaging-off the 2020/2021 FCT Annual School Census for all basic and post basic schools in the Six Area Councils of the Territory.
The Permanent Secretary who was represented at the event by the Director of the FCT Secondary Education Board, Mrs Lanre Emeje, also threatened to sanction school proprietors and administrators who default in the data collation process.
He stated that the continuous influx of people into the nation’s capital puts enormous pressure on infrastructure, including educational facilities.
He said, this population growth, has resulted in increased enrolment in schools and the need for additional schools and expansion infrastructure in existing ones.
According to him, “I wish to also commend the private sector participation in the provision of education services to the residence of FCT. You have keyed into the slogan “Education for all is
The responsibility of all”. However, in as much as we appreciate your contributions, we need to know the status, level and quality of the education you are providing. Participation in the Annual School Census is one of the means of providing us with the data on such information which in turn will pave way for any intervention.
“I enjoin all stake holders to take the conduct of the 2020/2021 ASC seriously through diligent participation by providing accurate, reliable and timely data required. Appropriate sanctions including shutting down of any school will be enforced for any school that fails to comply. School heads, Principals and Proprietors will be held accountable for failure to participate.”
Meanwhile, the Mandate Secretary, FCT Education Secretary, Sani Dahir El-Katuzu, said aside providing reliable and timely data of all schools to ensure proper planning, the Annual School Census will also provide an opportunity to evaluate the performance of the school system towards effective management of education in FCT and in Nigeria at large.
He lamented that accurate data for education planning and decision making has been a major concern of the government and this has also created difficulties for development partners to make interventions in certain areas.
He regretted that some principals and head teachers of public and private schools have shown care-free attitude to data collection with many failing to make timely remittance of returns.
According to him, “This problem of data quality is even worsened by the increasing number of schools that may not be included in government figures such as unregistered private schools and religious schools that may be teaching some secular subjects, thus resulting in large figures of out of school children as recorded for Nigeria by International Development Partners (IDPs).”
He therefore advised that all hands must be on deck in the conduct of the 2020/2021 ASC in ICT to ensure that credible, reliable and usable data is provided for effective planning,
research purposes and sound decision making.
Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister on Thursday enjoined civil servants to come up with policies that would reposition and strengthen good governance in Nigeria.
Bello made this known while declaring open the 43rd meeting of the National Council on Establishments (NCE) on Thursday, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
He noted that as the custodian of institutional memory, civil servants are in the best position to reposition the service with a view to impacting positively on the quality of governance.
While describing it as honour to be selected to host the 43rd NCE, Bello hinted that the Civil Service of the Federation was a bastion of stability and solidity upon which successive governments relied on for formulation and implementation of policies, as well as extant rules.
Bello also commended Civil Servants particularly those from the nation’s capital for working tirelessly in the last three decades in beautifying and building the Capital City of the dream of the founding fathers.
He charged participants to use the opportunity of the interaction to boost their knowledge.
Bello also commended the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan for bringing revolutionary changes in the Service and urged all Civil Servants to do their best in implementing the tremendous changes.
The minister called on the Heads of Civil Service of States to also introduce positive changes in their respective states to improve the life of Nigerians.
Earlier, the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Folasade Yemi-Esan, said the meeting is an annual event aimed at brainstorming on matters affecting governance at all levels.
She also reiterated commitment to earlier resolutions that only academic qualifications should be used for appointment into civil service.
The Head of Service encouraged Civil Servants to engage in information Communication and Technology, ICT and Agricultural value Chain.
Mrs Yemi Esan further hinted that the office of the Head of Service is Committed in partnering with all the Head of Service across the thirty six states of the Federation to enable them key into new policies of government.
Other past resolutions of the meeting according to the Head of Service of the Federation included provision that five percent of employment opportunities in the federal civil service should be reserved for physically challenged persons.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on establishment and Public Service, Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, charged civil servants to remain committed to exemplary conduct.
The further revealed that all Civil Service across the thirty six states of the Federation are the engine room of any successive government.
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