Saturday 13 June 2015

Akwa Ibom Government Inaugurates Technical Committee For Actualization Of Deep Seaport

Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel has inaugurated a 10-member Technical Committee on the actualisation of Ibom Deep Seaport, with an assignment to pilot the process for the actualization of the project on or before December 31, 2018.

Speaking on Thursday, after the inauguration of the committee, Emmanuel mandated the members to draw up a road map in collaboration with other stakeholders for the next project phase.

He also asked the committee to review the Outline Business Case (OBC) and other relevant documents to guide in the timely delivery of the project and to ensure compliance with the ICRC Act, 2005 and the National Policy on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in the overall project implementation.

“Ibaka Deep Seaport is an audacious attempt to re-write the maritime story of Akwa Ibom State. It holds the promise of an industrial revolution of our State. It holds the promise of the industrialization of Akwa Ibom. It holds the promise of the creation of over 100,000 jobs. It holds the promise of a self-sustaining commercial city with oil and gas support services. It holds the promise of our finally tapping into our awesome and largely untapped maritime potentials,” Governor Emmanuel said.

“It is a seed of greatness which when we plant it, and it germinates, it shall provide economic and social shelter for millions of Akwa Ibom people. It is a project with multiple benefits to our state, our nation and our sub-region. It encapsulates the dream of this administration for the industrial rebirth of Akwa Ibom State. And the industrialization of this State is an article of faith with my administration.”

Speaking further, Emmanuel noted that “The list of countries that trace their roots of rapid industrialization to seaports is endless. Foreign Direct Investments flows ceaselessly in Malaysia because of its freight business. Port Klang alone has trade links with over 180 countries, and more than 500 ports. With this, there is no way their economy will fail to thrive. Even the economy of the United States of America is also largely dependent on its waterborne trade.

“More than 13.3 million Americans work in port-related jobs that generate nearly 650 billion Dollars in annual personal income and 212.4 billion Dollars in federal, state and local taxes. In Florida specifically, sea ports generate more than 550,000 direct and indirect jobs. The story is not different in Singapore and other Asian Tigers. It can also be our story. This is our dream and vision for our State. Together, we can get there. The climb might be steep. But I have never been more hopeful than I am today that we will get there through your significant contribution at this stage of our administration,” he noted.

He congratulated the members of the committee on their appointment, saying “The success or failure of this enterprise, therefore, will not depend on their heads, but on their hearts. If they come to work with the right attitude, the right mind-set and the right passion, they will succeed. When they succeed, we succeed as a people. Therefore, we urge them not to rest on their oars and treat this task as a stroll in the park. They must keep it in their hearts that to whom much is given much is expected. We expect much from them – in fact Akwa Ibom expects them to draw water from stones.

“With so much at stake, we took the greatest care to select men and women who have the strongest set of skills to turn this dream into a reality. The Chairman of this Technical Committee for the Realization of Ibom Deep Seaport, She has the expertise, skills and experience needed for this task. The other members of the Committee are all men and women who have reached the zenith of their professions, and have competences needed for the task ahead. We are proud of all of them,” he added.

The committee has Barr. (Mrs.) Mfon Usoro, a former Director General of Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency as Chairman while Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, Mr. Chidi Izuwah, Mr. Idongesit Udofa, Engr. Ekong Umo-Otong, Rear Admiral Francis Akpan, Barr. Aniekan Ukpanah, Mr. Charles Udonwah, Mrs. Akon Eyakenyi and Engr. Etido Inyang are members.

The committee is to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Transport, Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), and Ministerial Project Development Steering Committee (MPDSC) in all procurement processes in line with the Public Procurement Act 2007; evaluate Technical reports from the Transaction Adviser (TA) & Operator and ensure implementation.

Other terms of reference are to work with the host communities in resolving issues incidental to the realization of the Deep Seaport Project, commence discussion with various investors on the Ibom Industrial City Projects and to submit regular Project Progress reports to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State.

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DG Says NTA Needs $15m To Complete Digitisation

he Nigerian Television Authority has said it requires $15 million to complete its digitisation programme and N6 billion for total restructuring across Nigeria.

The director-general, NTA, Sola Omole, stated this on Friday in Tianjin in Beijing at a seminar on African digitisation.

The seminar, the fifth in the series, was organised by StarTimes, a telecommunication company in China.

StarTimes has a presence in Nigeria through its partnership with the NTA in its digitisation programme.

The forum had over 40 representatives from African countries including Nigeria.

It has as its focus, the challenges of digitisation and why most African countries will not meet the June 17 digital migration and switchover.

Mr. Omole said only four African countries had met the requirement and were ready for the switchover.

“As at now, over 97 per cent of African countries, including Nigeria, may not meet the June 17 deadline,” he said.

Mr. Omole said Nigeria started on a bright note but soon slowed down due to funding challenges.

“We made steady progress through the assistance of our partners StarTimes, but attention shifted to politics and there was lack of funds during the period which affected the programme,” he said. “It will be difficult to meet the June 17 switchover deadline because the structure on ground does not support it, though efforts have been made, there exists several gaps and challenges.”

“NTA needs some time to provide the needed infrastructure and adequate funding which is most critical. The process is capital intensive and most African countries are at various stages of implementation while only a few had advanced. It is said that the switchover will affect countries around you that are analogue. But now that most African countries are not ready, nothing will change.”

The DG said the challenges affecting African countries were the same – funding and providing the structure.

“It is a capital intensive project replacing a whole package from analogue to digital and the training need. It is a complex situation,” Mr. Omole said. “Our organisation needs over N6 billion for restructuring because what we do affects so many agencies that depend on us directly or indirectly as an institution.”

Mr. Omole said the support from the organisation should not be the primary concern but proper funding and providing structure to complete the project.

The chairman of StarTimes, Xinxing Pang, said the digitisation project started in Nigeria in 2009.

He said his organisation had so far provided 15 high power transmitters in Nigeria through its partnership with the NTA.

“What remains is for government to support the project through funding and providing infrastructure for its completion,” he said.

He, however, pledged more support for NTA to complete the project.

Some Nigerian telecommunications officials who attended the programme blamed poor funding that resulted in abandonment of the project.

They also attributed lack of infrastructure for the country’s inability to meet the June 17 switchover deadline.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the project was compromised by the political era, which might have affected the deadline.

“We are not happy that we are in the same boat with small countries also struggling to meet the deadline,” they said.

(NAN

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Buhari To Select Ministers Next Week

President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to unveil list of his Ministers next week baring any unforeseen circumstances that may prevent it, Vanguard reports, citing sources.

A source from the All Progressives Congress (APC) told Vanguard that the president had delayed releasing the list because the 8th parliament was yet to come on board

Apart from the Ministerial appointments, it was gathered that the president would also make some others necessary appointments. This would include appointment into the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation.

Some of those expected to make the new list of Ministers are the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fasola, former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi, former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Abdurrahman Dambazau (retd).

Fashola may be engaged by Buhari as the nation’s Justice Minister and Attorney General. Dambazau may become Nigeria’s defence minister. It will be recalled that Dambazau headed the Security and Intelligence Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council just as Fayemi also headed that of Policy, Research and Strategy.

A former governor of Ekiti State, Engineer Segun Oni, Education minister in the Obasanjo government, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili and Prof. Pat Utomi are also believed to be in consideration.

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Tears as Buhari, wife meet Chibok girls’ mothers

Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari (middle), with two mothers of the Chibok girls, whose daughters are still missing during their visit to the Presidency in Abuja… on Friday | credits: State House

Tears flowed freely on Friday as President Muhammadu Buhari; his wife, Aisha; and the wife of the Vice- President, Dolapo Osinbajo, met with two women whose daughters are among the over 200 schoolgirls abducted last year by members of the Boko Haram sect in Chibok, Borno State.
The emotional-laden encounter took place inside the Defence House, Abuja, where Buhari currently operates from.
Mrs. Osinbajo had earlier led the two women to a meeting with Hajia Buhari, who later led them into another round of meeting with Buhari.
By the time they emerged from the meeting and posed for photographs, the two women again broke down in tears while Mrs. Buhari held them tightly.

Mrs. Osinbajo also joined in the weeping.
The Vice-President’s wife, with misty eyes, later told journalists what transpired during the two separate meetings.
She said, “Hajia Aisha Buhari had for many months wanted to visit Chibok. She also wanted to meet with the mothers. “Today, we had an opportunity for them to meet face- to-face. We had two of the mothers who still have their
daughters missing after a year”.

“Hajia met with them, held them and they cried,
everybody cried. What only a mother will do is to say ‘wait, I want you to see your father and see what your father will do.’
“We were all overwhelmed that at this time when the President is so busy, he had time to meet with the women from Chibok.
“He spoke to them in English and Hausa. He explained to them how he keeps telling everybody to put themselves in their place.
“So, today we have had the opportunity for the
President and Hajia to show that they are our father and mother, for that we are glad.”

Shortly after the photo session, security men quickly whisked the weeping mothers away.
It will, however, be recalled that all efforts to rescue the schoolgirls them abducted over a year ago have yet to yield any result.

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Salary crisis: Buhari to bail out states

By Peter Duru, MAKURDI
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has said that President Muham-madu Buhari would extend bailout to states to enable them offset backlog of salaries and liabilities crippling their economic activities across the country.
He made this known yesterday in Makurdi, the state capital, during separate meetings with students and other union leaders from the Benue State University, BSU.

Ortom further revealed that his predecessor, Gabriel Suswam left behind a debt burden of over N90 billion for his administration, contrary to the N9.2 billion debt as claimed by the former governor.
Benue is among the distressed states in the country. Others include Osun, Enugu, Kaduna, Plateau and Imo. Most of the states or their local governments are said to be owing between four to six months salaries of workers amounting to several billions of Naira.
However, according to Ortom, “the list of the debt (left behind by Suswam) include N50 billion incurred from ongoing contracts, N18 billion on certificated contracts, N12 billion on salary arrears and about N10 billion for bonds and bank facilities and loans.”
He stated that the President had agreed to avail the states some lifeline but noted that Benue State government had concluded arrangements to borrow funds to pay one month of the backlog of salary arrears across board and to also ensure the take off of both the executive and legislative arms of government.
He said the decision was prompted by the need to demonstrate to the state work force that he was determined to address their problems and to persuade striking tertiary institu-tion workers to call off their four-months-old strike.
Earlier, President of the BSU Students’ Union Government, Bobby Taver-shima, had lamented that students of the university had been at home for four months but assured that they would not do anything to jeopardize the administration.
Also, a representative of the National Associa-tion of Nigerian Students, NANS, Gideon Obande appealed to Ortom to clear arrears of bursary owed students in order to alleviate their sufferings.

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Aregbesola- Osun State Salary Crisis Is Beyond My Power.

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Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State on Friday said the economic situation in the state that led to his administration’s inability to pay workers’ salaries was beyond his control.

He said it was heart-rending that he had found himself in the situation which he described as a quagmire.

Aregbesola spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari behind closed-doors at the Defence House in Abuja.

He said he was not happy the same way a head of a family would feel when he cannot meet the needs of his family members.

He said, “No head of the family will be happy that he cannot feed members of the family.

“Extend that to state, it is heart-rending that I am in this quagmire.

“But no matter how sad (I don’t want to use the word ‘depressed’), no matter how unhappy I am, the truth is that I will not fail to say that it is a situation absolutely beyond my control.

“I led an administration in receipt of regular allocation in which I do my budget.

“Unfortunately, this allocation started falling in rapid form that totally disorganised my budget and any other arrangement.”

Aregbesola said those who want to be objective would readily admit that the Osun State of November 2010 when he assumed office and Osun of today are not the same.

He said people must give credit to the changes that his administration had brought about in the state, saying the changes were not miracles but were occasioned by application of resources.

The governor further explained that with the unexpected and sharp decline in revenue, his administration had a dislocation.

The result of that dislocation, he explained, is the sad experience.

The governor added, “Were it to be Osun alone, probably I would not have an excuse.

“I pray it does not continue. I am not sure if there will be any state that will actually escape from the biting effect of the absolute sharp drop which I call economic disaster that we are grappling with.

“Since my inauguration on November 27, 2010, I had made it a duty to pay salary on or before 25th of every month up until January 2014 when that became practically impossible.

“I have been giving the same staff who today are, regrettably and painfully, not being paid annual bonus that we call 13th month salary. There was no demand for it. I just felt that workers must be encouraged, they must be inspired.

“I did that religiously and faithfully from 2010 to 2013. The development that led to this began precisely in July when we received the June allocation and it was short by 40 percent.

“Since then, what we have been receiving from the Federation Account is less than the wages, personnel cost. It is far and not mildly less.”

Aregbesola said he struggled with it till October 2014 when there was nothing else he could do.

He said the situation was further compounded by the fact that his government could not go to bank to borrow to pay the wages commitment.

The governor however said that with the efforts he was putting in place, there might be solution by month end.

“It is a sad development. I am struggling to reduce the pain as much as possible and I am almost at the end of the efforts I am making to ensure that by the end of this month, I will have enough to at least meet to a large extent the salary needs of the workers,” he declared

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President Buhari To Present Minister List To National Assembly

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Baring any last minute changes, President Buhari is expected to present his ministerial list to the National Assembly members for screening and consideration next week. The ministerial list is expected to be made up of only technocrats who he believes will be very productive in whatever capacity they are to function in.

Names like ex Lagos governor, Babatunde Fashola, Oby Ezekwesili, Kayode Fayemi, former Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Abdurrhaman Dambazau amongst others are rumored to be in the list.

There are also reports that the President will be picking his Ministers from all 36 states which is against his wish as he is reported to have wanted a smaller number of Ministers for cost effectiveness. The constitution however dictates that all states must be represented in the Federal cabine

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