Echotitbits – Nigeria News

Tag: federal government

  • Federal Government to give states N100m for COVID-19 response

    Federal Government to give states N100m for COVID-19 response

    The Federal Government says it will boost the financial capacity of states with N100million  to promptly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    This was made known on Thursday by the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, during the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja.

    The Minister noted that once the Basic Health Care Provisional Fund (BHCPF) is activated, states will also get access to it to beef up their health response apparatus.

    READ ALSO: More than 10,000 health workers in Africa infected with COVID-19 – WHO

    According to Ehanire, “all states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are receiving support from the COVID-19 response through the Regional Diseases Surveillance Enhancement (REDISSE) Project.

    “With this support, they will receive N100 million to enhance high impact priority response activities. The soon to be reactivated BHCPF will join the funding pool”, he said.

  • [Photos] Third Mainland Bridge: FG, Lagos rehabilitate alternative roads

    [Photos] Third Mainland Bridge: FG, Lagos rehabilitate alternative roads

    Barely four days to the partial closure of the Third Mainland Bridge for rehabilitation, the Federal Government assures residents of Lagos that massive rehabilitation of alternative routes is progressing as scheduled.

    This assurance was made by the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Mr. Olukayode Popoola, during an assessment tour of work progress on alternative routes on Monday.

    Popoola noted that the Federal Ministry of Works and Lagos State Government embarked on the rehabilitation works together but on different access paths.

    He said that the projects were embarked on after a stakeholders’ meeting, where the participants reached an agreement on the need for urgent interventions across major access roads that would serve as alternative routes for motorists during the Third Mainland Bridge closure.

    Ongoing Rehabilitation of Herbert Macaulay Way, Oyingbo to Adekunle section by Oando fuel station

    The Honourable Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde explained that the Lagos State Government agreed to fix bad portions around the Iganmu Bridge and some other roads through its Public Works agency.

    Oladeinde assured that adequate arrangement has been made for effective traffic control throughout the six months partial lockdown of the Third Mainland Bridge, stressing that about 600 LASTMA personnel would be deployed to direct traffic to ensure free vehicular movement.

    Ongoing Rehabilitation of Herbert Macaulay Way, Oyingbo to Adekunle section by Oando fuel station

    The Special Adviser to the Governor on Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Aramide Adeyoye, expressed the importance of the State Government’s intervention on alternative routes so as to alleviate the inconvenience imposed by the partial closure.

    While appealing to commuters to obey traffic rules during the period of the closure, she maintained that the State Government would ensure that all the alternative routes are in good condition before the commencement of repair works on the bridge.

    Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government says the Oyingbo Bus Terminal will begin operations soon.

    The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Lagos State, Gboyega Akosile, disclosed this in a statement posted on his Twitter page on Monday.

    According to him, “some new 27-seater buses which fall under the Bus Reforms Initiative of the Lagos State Government, will make transportation across the State easier”.

    Photos:

  • FG increases price of petrol to N143 amidst “toxic fuel” importation claim

    FG increases price of petrol to N143 amidst “toxic fuel” importation claim

    The Federal Government has increased the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol from N140.80 to N143.80 per litre.

    This increment was disclosed in a statement released on Wednesday by the Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Abdulkadir Saidu.

    “After a review of the prevailing market fundamentals in the month of June and considering marketers’ realistic operating costs, as much as practicable, we wish to advise a new PMS pump price band of N140.80 – N143.80 per litre for the month of July 2020,” the statement read.

    “All marketers are advised to operate within the indicative prices as advised by the PPPRA.”

    In April, the Federal Government had announced a reduction of the petrol pump to N123.50 per litre.

    This upward review in petrol price comes only hours after a UK based newspaper, The Guardian revealed that the petrol that Nigeria buys from Europe is dirty and harmful.

    According to laboratory analysis: “Black market fuel made from stolen oil in rudimentary “bush” refineries hidden deep in the creeks and swamps of the Niger Delta is less polluting than the highly toxic diesel and petrol that Europe exports to Nigeria”, the newspaper reported.

  • Prominent Nigerians mourn Abba Kyari; his last words to Nigerians

    Prominent Nigerians mourn Abba Kyari; his last words to Nigerians

    Following the death of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, condolence messages now trail Mallam Abba Kyari’s passing.

    Among prominent persons who have reacted to the demise of the late administrator is Former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

    In a message posted on his verified twitter page, the presidential candidate in the 2019 general election wrote: “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un. I am saddened by the death of Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari. May Allah SWT comfort his family, forgive his sins and grant him AlJannah Firdaus. Ameen”.

    Former Presidnet Goodluck Jonathan has also condoled with Prsident Buhari and the Kyari family. He wrote in a tweet “May Allah grant him Al Jannah Firdaus & strengthen his family & friends during this moment of grief.”

    A one-time Senator who represented Kaduna Central, Shehu Sanni also noted that the President has lost a trusted & loyal friend. Sanni described Abba Kyari as “a man who took the bullets of his master with smiles, calmness & silence. We knew his cap and his colors but never his mind or his own side of his story. He will be missed.”

    A staunch critic of the Muhammadu Buhari led administration and former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani Kayode has commiserated with the Federal Government over the loss of its Chief of Staff.

    The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity confirmed that the former Aviation Minister called to condole with President Buhari.

    “Former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, phones in to condole with Presidency on passage of Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari. A great lesson for those who rejoice in evil. Fani-Kayode is morbidly anti-Buhari, but human enough to express his condolence.”

    The late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, will be buried on Saturday (today).

    This was made known by the Personal Assistant on New Media to the President, Bashir Ahmad.

    However, Ahmad did not state in his tweet where prayer service would be held for the late CoS or where in Abuja he would be buried.

    His tweet read: “Mallam Abba Kyari will be buried later today in Abuja according to Islamic rites.

    In his last statement to Nigerians, which incidentally was rare through his time in office, Abba Kyari had urged Nigerians to be calm in the face of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

    Kyari appreciated the efforts of frontline workers: “I want to thank all our fantastic, talented and brave healthcare professionals, working across the country in such a difficult time; all the good Samaritans looking out for the most vulnerable in our communities.”

    He also stated that he hoped to be back at his desk soon, alas he would never be back.

    Abba Kyari’s last words to Nigerians: The full statement.

    I am writing to let you know that on medical advice, I will transfer to Lagos later today for additional tests and observation. This is a precautionary measure: I feel well, but last week, I tested positive for coronavirus, the pandemic that is sweeping the world. I have followed all the protocols government has announced to self-isolate and quarantine.

    I have made my own care arrangements to avoid further burdening the public health system, which faces so many pressures. Like many others that will test also positive, I have not experienced high fever or other symptoms associated with this new virus and have been working from home. I hope to be back at my desk very soon. I have a team of young, professional, knowledgeable and patriotic colleagues, whose dedication has been beyond the call of duty, who continue to work seven days a week, with no time of the day spared. We will continue to serve the President and people of Nigeria, as we have for the past five years.

    I want to thank all our fantastic, talented and brave healthcare professionals, working across the country in such a difficult time; all the good Samaritans looking out for the most vulnerable in our communities; the key workers that will keep our country going through this; friends and family and often strangers, who have sent me such warm wishes and displayed such a generosity of spirit.

    We should be calm, measured and diligent – be meticulous in your hygiene, especially with cleaning hands, if possible stay at home or keep your distance. Listen to good advice from the proper authorities: pay no heed to quack cures or fake news from social media. President Buhari will do whatever it takes to protect the health and safety of our people and get the country back on its feet as soon as possible.

    Like the whole world, we are dealing with a new disease. Our experts are learning more all the time about coronavirus, what it does and how we can combat it. What we do know is that while some may become very sick, many others who contract the virus will not, and may have no symptoms at all. This is a disease that recognises no difference between north and south, men or women, rich or poor. We are all in this together.

    Sincerely

    Abba Kyari
    Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari

     

  • Federal and State governments to deploy ICT for economic recovery.

    Federal and State governments to deploy ICT for economic recovery.

    By Tobiloba Kolawole

    The Federal Government and State governments in Nigeria are consolidating efforts to take advantage of the far-reaching potentials in the deployment of information and communications technology for social and economic gains.

    At the opening ceremony of the 6th regular meeting of the National Council on Communications Technology, which held last Thursday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the Executive Governor of Ogun State, His Excellency, Ibikunle Amosun reinforced the need for governments at all level and the private sector to invest in ICT to fast track development and reduce unemployment rate to the barest minimum.

    In his opening address, Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who was the chief host of this year’s NCCT meeting underscores the impact of communication technology on development. He said, “The interests to share and the ideas to exchange among the people have assumed a multi-dimensional proportion and have totally become driven by technology. These evolving challenges of information management have led to advancements in Big Data, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cryptography and Robotic Engineering.”

    It is imperative that a society that is desirous of continued growth and development must not only put in place necessary machinery to ensure seamless information and communication but must also place a high premium on the various means of communication. This is why the conception and hosting of the 6th National Council on Communication Technology in our dear State, is a welcome development at this critical time in our nation’s development.”

    Governor Amosun further emphasized that there is a nexus between modern development and Information technology, which necessitates that any country that is desirous of achieving a turn around transformation in the economy, social welfare delivery, employment, effective agricultural process, education, and other areas must proactively invest in ICT.

    Amosun said “on our part as an Administration in Ogun State, we appreciate the need to deploy technology in all our programmes and policies. Our belief is that, in Ogun State, by building an ICT ecosystem and leveraging on the benefits of technology, we will not only sustain the momentum of the achievement of our Administration, but we will also fast-track the process of development.”

    The Ogun State Governor highlighted his government’s efforts to identify and help channel the exuberant energy of youths in Ogun State towards innovation. He said the aim is to encourage a crop of tech-savvy people who will deploy disruptive innovation technologies to solve society’s socio-economic challenges.

    “This is one of the major reasons, amongst others, for featuring Technology in our 2018 Investors Forum and, the hosting of the 2018 TechSummit Ogun on Thursday 18th January 2018”, Amosun said.

    He also said “Apart from opening up a wide range of opportunities in employment generation for our teeming youth on a macro level, the TechSummit Ogun was also conceived to explore the potential for creating new economies along the ICT value chain, such as web development and maintenance; programming; software design and hardware engineering. It is my joy that our dear State has continued to take full advantage of the expected manpower needs by facilitating ICT hubs to provide needed skills acquisitions.”

    FrontPage recalls that about two weeks ago, the Ogun State Executive Council approved a new ICT policy that highlights the development of human resources; provision of infrastructure; the roles of Government and other stakeholders; and strategies to be adopted in the deployment of ICT towards the development of vital economic sectors such as education, health, Agric, commerce and industry, tourism, etc.

    The Chairman of the National Council of Communications Technology and Minister for Communications, Hon. Adebayo Shittu reiterated the impact of ICT as a veritable tool for advancing the growth and economic diversification in countries. The minister noted that a World Bank econometric study carried out in 2009 showed that every 10% increase in ICT investments generates a 1.38% increase in GDP.

    In his address, Shittu said that “the Nigerian ICT sector today is one of the fastest-growing despite the economic recession and contributed 9.8% in GDP in 2014. The challenge is how to address the issues of revenue, investments, cost savings, employment generation, and national productivity among others.

    “In pursuit of national agenda, we have continued to reposition the ICT sector in the areas of infrastructure and industry development, local content optimization, enabling policy, legal and regulatory framework; deepening of ICT in Government and mainstreaming of ICT into all spheres of national life among others”, Shittu said.

    While highlighting some of government’s efforts towards ICT integration, the Minister said that through Galaxy Backbone, internet access has been provided to about 40 MDAs, over 11,000 nodes of wireless LAN to all MDAs at the Federal Secretariat, over 40,000 email addresses for government officials under the gov.ng and mil.ng domains, which is aimed at ensuring that government data is hosted locally on a secured website with data back-up to MDAs and 200 servers hosting 94 MDAs.

    “We are working to have ICT infrastructure designated as critical national infrastructure. Efforts are being made to procure additional communication satellites to complement the existing NigComSat-2 as a means of reaching areas that cannot easily be covered by terrestrial fiber”, the Minister explained.

    He said further “we are also working to make more investments in building the capacity and harnessing the talents of our youth. In particular, we are increasing Accelerators and Incubator programmes as a means of building and harnessing the capacity of our increasingly ICT savvy youth population.”

    “Going forward, the government will expand its investment in ICT infrastructure to extend connectivity to un-served and underserved areas. In this regard, attention will be paid to the issue of multiple taxations of ICT infrastructure. A robust, safe and resilient infrastructure is the key enabler of a digital economy.”

    Also, the Special Adviser on ICT to the Governor of Ogun State, Bunmi Adebayo stressed the need for a synergy between ICT professionals and service providers on one hand with the aim to recognize problems and attendant solutions for alleviation. He further emphasized the Government’s role in creating and enacting necessary social policies to address such problems.

    Adebayo highlighted some of the achievements of the Ogun State Government through the Bureau of ICT.

    “We have been innovative in this end in Ogun State and it may interest you that Ogun State is the First State to provide the longest Government Sponsored 250-kilometer Fiber optic layout in the Country in partnership with MainOne Cable, a private sector company, in a “Quid pro quo” arrangement by giving concession on Right of Way fees. The first to deploy a Satellite-based ICT solution to deliver Precision Management to Agricultural potentiality of our land, Pertinent positioning of our Agro-cluster and Agricultural yields.”

    The first to host the only CISCO Networks Academy Support center (ASC) for English Speaking West and Central Africa stretching to the Gambia and Southern Nigeria which is managed by the center”, Adebayo said.

    The theme for this year’s meeting of the National Council on Communications Technology was Leveraging ICT as a Vehicle for Economic Recovery and Growth. It began with a technical session on Monday 19th November and ended on Friday 23rd November. The meeting focused on how the highly acknowledged potentials of the ICT sector can be used to achieve the main policy objectives of economic recovery and growth.

    The National Council on Communications Technology is the highest governmental policy advisory body in the ICT sector with the Federal Minister for Communications as the Chairman.

    Members of the NCC includes the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Communications, State Commissioners and highest state official in charge of ICT matters across the 36 states of the Federation; Chief Executives of Government agencies and parastatals in charge of ICT and key private sector stakeholders.