The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has established that it is joining forces with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to invest an initial sum of N10 billion to provide over 200,000 solar power for homes under the ‘Solar Power Naija’ programme. The Solar Power Naija programme, which is part of the current administration’s Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) is to be supervised directly by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. According to NAN, this disclosure is contained in a statement issued by the Communication Officer of NSIA, Mr Titilope Olubiyi, on Thursday, December 23, 2021, in Abuja. The NSIA said the fund would…
Author: Temitope N.
The Federal Government and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of N621 billion to fund the construction of critical road infrastructure across the country. According to NAN, the MoU on tax credit was signed in Abuja by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on behalf of the Federal Government; the Chief Finance Officer of NNPC, represented by the General Manager International Energy Relations, Mr Garba Hadejia; and the Executive Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Muhammed Nami. The MoU on tax credit was to actualise the Executive…
The Ogun State government has raised revenue of N29.75billion in the first ten months of 2021. This disclosed by Mr Olugbenga Olaleye, the Chairman of the Ogun Internal Revenue Service (OGIRS) during the budget defence proposal at the Ogun House of Assembly Committee on Finance and Appropriation, according to NAN. The tax chief also proposed revenue of N56.3billion the same period next year. OGIRS Chairman, Mr Olugbenga Olaleye revealed that generated revenue for the first ten months was N29.75 billion, and proposed to generate the sum of N56.3 billion as revenue in 2022. He added that revenue resources for the…
The Nigerian Government met with the German Financing Advisory Unit in a bid to speed up funding required for the $1.9 billion Kano–Maradi railway. This disclosure was made by the office of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, after he met with the financing advisory unit at the Nigerian Embassy, Berlin, according to NAN. The Minister’s office in a statement stated that the meeting was held with representatives of KfW-IPEX bank of Germany, who are serving as advisory in partnership with the African Finance Corporation for the Kano-Maradi rail project to secure funding for the project. Amaechi said the Export…
The Nigerian Government has officially established that it would replace its National Identification Number (NIN) with a suite of digital Tokens. This was made known by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami at the stakeholders’ workshop on the National Identification Number (NIN) Tokenization Solution organised by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in Abuja. FG says the strategy was implemented to ensure privacy protection of individuals during verification transactions and to reduce redundancies during retrieval, usage, transfer, and storage of NIN. They revealed the tokenisation solution would protect personal identifiable information of the users, stating that the…
President Muhammadu Buhari has officially launched Nigeria’s National Development Plan 2021-2025. The President launched the plan as the document was presented before the commencement of the virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday, according to the News Agency of Nigeria. The new plan will succeed the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP 2017-2020) Accompanied by several members of his cabinet including the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; Gov. Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State and as Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed,…
The Federal Ministry of Education has launched a free e-learning website (inspire.education.gov.ng) for all levels of education to facilitate and improve easy learning access. According to NAN, Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Education, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Sonny Echono, at the inauguration in Abuja said the decision was occasioned by the advent of COVID-19 which disrupted learning for two years. He also mentioned that the website would accommodate two million Nigerians at a time Adamu explained that the website, initiated by the ministry had two basic features; Inspire for students and Ignite for teachers, which will allow both learners…
The Federal Government has officially commenced a $73 million intervention fund for sugar irrigation, in a bid to boost Nigeria’s Sugar backward integration programme. This was signed on Tuesday between the FG and operators of the Sugar backward integration programme, according to the News Agency of Nigeria. The event was chaired by Nigeria’s Trade Minister, Niyi Adebayo, at the Presidential Villa, as he emphasized that the project involves irrigation infrastructure on 10,000 hectares of sugar plantations located in six sites. Mr Adebayo said, “The intervention is the setting up of a 73 million-dollar-intervention fund for irrigation, for operators of the…
Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari is expected to travel to Turkey for the 3rd Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit, hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Republic of Turkey. This was disclosed by the office of a President in a statement on Thursday by his Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s media aide, according to the News Agency of Nigeria. The event would be held in Istanbul and themed, ‘‘Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity,’’ will be reviewing the cooperation between African countries and Turkey since the last summit in 2014. A press statement issued by the Presidency concerning the matter reads,…
The Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) has established that some sections of the proposed Custom Service reform bill may cripple the rollout and operations of Free Trade Zones in Nigeria. This was made known on Thursday in a statement by Mr Martins Odeh, Head, Corporate Communications, NEPZA. NEPZA warned that giving the Customs Service the operational powers to make regulation in Free Trade Zones, would not be beneficial to Nigeria’s special economic zones. NEPZA in its submission at the ongoing public hearing on the Custom reform bill in the House of Representatives stated that Free Zones are designated to…
The Federal Government through the Federal Executive Council approved and confirmed Nigeria’s internet technology bill known as the Startup Bill, which would be transmitted to the National Assembly for passage into law. This was mentioned by the Minister of Communications and Digital economy, Isa Pantami, on Wednesday after the FEC meeting presided over by the President, according to NAN. He stated that the bill will encourage young entrepreneurs in the country who have skills and want to do business in the telecommunications sector. He said the bill will also replace the National Digital Innovation Entrepreneurship and Startup Policy. Mr…
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has hinted that the federal government might introduce new tariffs and levies in 2022 as the economy moves on the path of recovery. This was disclosed by Ahmed while addressing stakeholders at a public hearing on the 2021 Finance Bill organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on Monday in Abuja. According to NAN, Ahmed pointed out that a number of reforms and amendments had been recommended in the draft 2021 Finance amendment bill saying that more will be introduced in the middle of 2022. Ahmed said that…
Nigeria mineral production in the mining and quarrying sector rose bu 17.95% amounting to 64.3 million tons in 2020 from 54.5 million tons in 2019. The Top three states with the biggest share of production in 2020 were Kogi (12.5 million tons), Ogun (12.1 million tons), and Cross River (8.9 million tons. Borno, on the other hand, had the lowest total of 5,060 tons. The report reads “The Mining and Quarrying sector is crucial to growth in Nigeria considering the potential to export mineral resources to the rest of the world and the drive for diversification. Essentially, Nigeria is said…
The apex bank is views expanding the use cases of the Central Bank digital currency (CBDC), increasing its adoption and making it more relevant to the payment ecosystem. The pilot phase was unveiled with limited use cases, with a focus on person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-business (P2B) transactions. But Jimoh, who was represented by Chai Gang, said the next phase of the project would see the use cases expanded to make eNaira more scalable and relevant to all socio-economic strata. He disclosed CBN was also looking at onboarding Nigerians without smartphones and leveraging unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) to reach “the…
The Managing Director of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Bello Hassan, has established that the Corporation has paid a cumulative of N101.76 billion to over 535, 815 insured depositors of liquidated banks. Hassan, who was represented by the Zonal Director, Shehu Usman, at the NDIC special day at the 42nd Kano International Trade Fair, said part of the organisation’s assignment was to protect depositors’ money. He said a total sum of N101. 666 billion had been paid as liquidation dividends to 1, 955 creditors and shareholders of 18 liquidated banks. “The Corporation declared full payment of insured and uninsured sums…
Poor government policies, lack of incentives for non-oil export and high exchange rate, among others have been highlighted as factors currently deteriorating the production of locally manufactured products for export sector in the country. NBS This is coming as the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), revealed that the nation recorded a deficit trade balance of about N3,023.50 billion in the third quarter of 2021 as the value of imports continued to outweigh exports. The Group Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Export Promotion Group (MANEG), Ene Dafinone, who disclosed this while speaking on its activities in the country, said the goods…
The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) has established that there are enough locally processed rice to meet domestic demand during this Yuletide season. This is as the association has pointed out that smugglers of foreign rice were having a field day due to the growing demands for their products at the detriment of local rice. According to NAN, this was made known by the National Deputy President of RIFAN, Mr Segun Atho, during an interview on Friday in Lagos. Atho, during the interview, blamed the marketers of foreign rice for allegedly sabotaging the growth of the sector as well…
The Corporate Affairs Commission has disclosed that the use of common seal by companies is no longer mandatory but rather optional. This is part of the legislation under the new Companies and Allied Matters Act CAMA 2020. According to a statement signed by CAC’s Head of Media, Mr Rasheed Mahe, this was made known by the Registrar-General of CAC, Alhaji Garba Abubakar, on Thursday in Abuja, after decalring open a one-day Customer’s Stakeholders Forum. Abubakar, who was represented by Mr Abdulhakeem Mohammed, CAC’s Director Compliance, enumerated a series of reform initiatives embarked upon by the commission, pursuant to CAMA, 2020.…
The Central Bank of Nigeria has decided to give over N5 billion to aid farmers during the dry season in Bauchi State in the cultivation of wheat. This was established by the CBN Comptroller, Bauchi branch, Saladu Idris, at the Secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) According to the apex bank, dry season farming is a rather simple process. However, the CBN has noticed that many of Nigeria’s flour mills have gone out of business and that overall output has slowed. According to Saladu Idris, the CBN has taken initiatives to reach out to farmers through groups, ensuring…
An Abuja division of the federal high court has threatened to freeze Adamawa State Government’s accounts over its refusal to pay back N84 million debt it borrowed from the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) six years ago. While AMCON is the plaintiff/claimant, the Governor of Adamawa State, the attorney general of the state, the Commissioner of Health, the permanent secretary of the ministry of health and the ministry of health are the 1st to 5th defendants respectively. Justice Inyang Ekwo gave the state government a one-month ultimatum to settle with AMCON or risk the court granting AMCON’s request seeking…