Day: June 23, 2024

State ports and freight logistics company Transnet has instituted disciplinary action against Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) Chief Executive Pepi Silinga and some managers following investigations at the company.

Transnet had appointed Bowmans attorneys to investigate what it described as allegations of impropriety at TNPA.

‘Transnet also appointed Bowmans to assist with implementing the recommendations of a forensic report by Fundudzi Investigators which considered the award of a tender for the multi-purpose terminal at the Port of Ngqura,’ Transnet said in a statement.

The state-owned company said investigations have now been completed.

‘In a meeting held on 21 June 2024 and based on legal advice and the recommendations from the investigations, Transnet’s Board of Directors and the TNPA Board agreed to issue disciplinary charges against TNPA Chief Executive Mr Pepi Silinga.

‘On the same day, Transnet also instituted disciplinary charges against managers implicated in the Fundudzi report and o
ther managers at TNPA implicated in acts of impropriety. External independent chairpersons have been appointed to chair all disciplinary proceedings.

‘Transnet will ensure this matter is dealt with swiftly and with the necessary sensitivity. Any further updates will be communicated in due course,’ a statement said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Centre for Citizens with Disabilities is a non-governmental organisation that has, on many occasions, raised concerns about the population of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in the country.

The argument of the organisation has been that without an accurate figure on PwDs, it will be difficult to make adequate plans for their wellness.

It alleges that the 2006 Nigerian census recorded 3.2 million people as living with disabilities, or 2.32 per cent of the total population of 140 million people in that year which, according to it is inaccurate.

It then enjoined the National Population Commission to cooperate with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development for a fair capturing of the PwDs in future census.

Concerned persons living with disabilities have also observed that the ratified United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of 2007 and its Optional Protocol in 2010 have no any impacts on the management of PwDs across the country.

According to them, the Ministry of
Women Affairs and Social Development, charged with submitting reports on progress might not have been doing so, thus limiting the understanding of disability to a treatise of welfare and charity, resulting in total neglect of the several rights of the PwDs.

For instance, Mr James David Lalu, the pioneer Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, explains that it takes 20 years struggle to recognise the rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in the country.

‘There are a lot of things to put in place in a particular building before you can achieve an effective accessibility.

‘One of the efforts we are making is to create a programme to bring together experts on accessibility, within and outside the country”, he explains.

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Similarly, Mr Abdullahi Usman, President, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, notes that many PwDs are live in abject poverty ‘and if you go to some parts of the co
untry, they engaged in street begging because they are not educated enough to know the dangers of it.

‘Our members needs skills acquisition training. If the Federal Government can help us to admit our members into skills centres to acquire different skills, we will appreciate that”.

Concerned by this condition of the people living with disabilities, President Bola Tinubu’s administration through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, announced a new policy direction under the Renewed Hope Agenda that in every social intervention programme undertaken by government, 10 per cent of such would be reserved for PwDs.

Suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Betta Edu, who announced the new policy while inaugurating various empowerment programmes for persons with disabilities in Abuja, said that the President directed that the disability community should be given priority in all intervention programmes of government.

‘Already, we are into conditional cash transfers for 15 million househ
olds; out of this figure, 10 per cent is reserved for the disability.

‘So, we are happy and very proud of the disability commission for pushing on all fronts to ensure that the Renewed Hope Agenda is actually achieved,” she noted.

‘We are providing Point Of Sales (POS) machines to persons with disability across the country so that they can be the last mile distributors of the funds to people living in villages and hard-to-reach areas.

‘We also gave N130, 000 each, as scholarship to some physically challenged students in tertiary institutions.

‘Beyond this, we have also been able to bring officials of the Corporate Affairs Commission to carry out proper registration of their businesses and N20 million has been released for that purpose.

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‘We are having several other interventions such as giving out grants to associations linked to persons with disabilities,’ she said.

Edu said that the Federal Government wou
ld be committed to supporting the educational needs of citizens, persons with disabilities inclusive.

She also said that the ministry would collaborate with the Ministries of Finance, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education, among others, to eradicate poverty in the country.

‘Some people are poor because they do not have access to education while others are poor because they do not have access to quality healthcare services or are poor because they do not have access to jobs,” she observed.

She said that the ministry had been given a full department to coordinate the overall national responses on issues relating to persons with disabilities in the country.

Sharing similar sentiments, Mr Abdullahi Usman, President, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, therefore, commended the president for the gesture and for rectifying the African Charter on Human Rights and the rights of persons with disabilities in the country.

Usman, however, decried the slow level of implementation of the pr
esidential directive which he said that only half of his members had so far benefited from the intervention programme.

‘First, we must appreciate the government of Tinubu with the Renewed Hope Agenda and for his wonderful job of ensuring that there is equal opportunity for all citizens.

‘All we are asking for is to have equal opportunity where inclusive society will be guaranteed because nothing about us is without us,” Usman pleaded.

Ms Chisom Onyekwere, one of the beneficiaries of the Renewed Hope intervention programme that got POS machine, also expressed gratitude for the gesture.

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‘I am a living witness of the Renewed Hope intervention programme and for me, the president has made impact in this one year of his government because I was given POS machine and a token of N100,000 to startup my business through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs,” she said.

Mr Halilu Gayam, Chairman, Nasarawa State Association of
the Deaf, however said that his members had yet to feel the impact of the Renewed Hope intervention programme.

‘We in Nasarawa State have yet to feel the impact of president’s intervention but we use to see in television as other states benefit and we hope our turn will come.

‘Majority of our members in Nasarawa State are well educated because we have special needs school and the areas we would need Federal Government support is job opportunities,” he said.

Also, Ms Brisca Aaron, Executive Secretary, Bauchi State Agency for Persons with Disabilities, said that the state had benefited from the Federal Government’s intervention programmes.

‘The policy has been implemented in Bauchi State because the state is benefiting from the relief materials and other social interventions of the Federal Government to persons with disabilities under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.

‘Bauch is the first in the North-East region of the country to domesticate the discrimination against Persons with Disabilities Law and
we have strong synergy with the Federal Government in promoting disability inclusive projects, especially as it relates to their education, health and social wellbeing,” she said.

Observers, nonetheless, believe that Tinubu means his promise on the Renewed Hope Agenda when he said that it would leverage the nation’s population and resources with main focus on unleashing the nation’s full economic potential. (NANFeatures)

**If used please credit the writer and News Agency of Nigeria

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

National Treasury (NT) has issued the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) Technical Guidelines for 2025.

The guidelines are issued to assist departments at both national government and other state institutions to prepare medium term estimates for 2025 budget.

National Treasury said the 2024 Budget sought to balance stabilising ‘public finances and reduce fiscal and economic risks while promoting economic growth and supporting vulnerable members of society’.

‘The 2025 Budget will see a debt-stabilising primary surplus achieved in 2025/26, a reduction in the fiscal deficit to pre-COVID-19 levels, and a stabilisation of debt-service costs as a percentage of revenue. A lower debt burden allows the government to redirect resources to important social expenditure and will lower borrowing costs for households and businesses.

‘Resources will be available only within the parameters required to meet the objectives of the medium-term fiscal strategy as outlined in the 2024 Budget Review. In this regard, should
the economic outlook remain the same, no additions will be made to the overall envelope. In instances where spending may be accommodated by unforeseen or higher-than-expected revenues, permanent increases to spending will be avoided,’ Treasury said in a statement.

It added that spending institutions and government department pressures must be ‘funded from current baselines and programmes that have not delivered their expected outcomes, or through reprioritisation, either within the department’s or public entity’s budget, or from other departments’ or public entities’ budgets’.

The department added that government was seized with enhancing ‘fiscal credibility and ensure continued transparency and accountability in the management of public finances’.

‘The National Treasury has recognised the need for a comprehensive review of the budget process with the objective to identify and implement reforms that will enhance the efficiency, transparency, and effectiveness of the budget process.

‘These guidelines are i
ssued while the review is at its initial stages, and it is anticipated that implementation will begin in the 2026 MTEF,’ Treasury said.

The department emphasised that while the new administration ‘bring its own perspectives and policies’, in the meanwhile, ‘it is crucial to maintain the current fiscal strategy, which aims to stabilise public finances, and ensure sustainable and inclusive economic growth’.

‘The current fiscal strategy includes a reconfiguration of the Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI) to further expand the pipeline of projects and to test alternative financing and funding models separate from the normal budget process.

‘The intention is to use government’s resources more efficiently to leverage financing from the private sector, as well as development and international finance institutions. In this way, limited public resources can catalyse more funding, capacity and capability to fast-track infrastructure provision and improve its effectiveness,’ Treasury said.

Source: South Afric
an Government News Agency

The Enugu State Housing Development Corporation (ESHDC), and the Okofia Ukana community in Udi Council Area, on Saturday, signed a partnership agreement for housing development in the community.

The partnership also entailed the signing deed of customary grant for the use of large expanse of the village land for new residential and commercial houses.

Mr Gerald Asogwa, the General Manager, ESHDC, and the Corporation’s Secretary, Dr Anayo Edeh, signed on behalf of the corporation while Mr Chijioke Achi, the Chairman of Okofia General Assembly (OGA) and the Village Secretary, Mr Chijioke Orji, signed on behalf of the community.

The ceremony which took place at the palace of the eldest man in Okofia, Chief Jeremiah Ebunyebe, was witnessed by the directors in the housing corporation as well as elders and men of Okofia community.

Asogwa said that the acquisition of the land in the community’s Achievers Layout would fast track the urban renewal programme of the state government.

He said that Gov. Peter Mbah had
planned to expand the Enugu city as the state capital was already filled up.

‘There is no way we will continue to restrict the city growth to the area it occupies today.

‘The Uwani area, developed years ago is already filled up, the same thing with the Independence Layout, the same thing with GRA.

‘What the Governor wants to do now is what other states have been doing such as Lagos state with its Garden Atlantic City or Epe/Lekki,’ he said.

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According to him, it is what a people do in a place that it becomes.

‘In the next couple of months that particular area which we call Blossom Garden Solar City, in which part of your land belongs, is going to have a new face like other major estates in the city,’ he said.

Asogwa thanked the leadership and people of Okofia on behalf of Gov. Mbah and promised that the decision it took to key into the trajectory of the governor would not be in vain.

‘We will develop that place and you people
are going to be proud of your decision,’ he said, adding that a road project had already begun to link the capital city to the estate up to the surounding villages.

He said such development would increase the value of the land, reduce travel time to the capital and open up the area for other investments.

The OGA chairman, Achi, said that with the signing ceremony the community had given the corporation authorisation to begin its renewal programme in the Achievers City Layout, Phase 1 covering a total of 800 plots.

Achi assured that both parties would keep to the terms of the agreement, saying that, ‘it is our desire that the corporation will execute the project satisfactorily.

‘We use this opportunity to thank the Enugu Gov. Mbah for bringing development to the rural community and for other department strides on various parts of the state.

‘We are satisfied with what he is doing in Enugu state as projects dot every corner of the state’.

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The chairman praised Mbah for restoring water supply in the state capital, and appealed to him to extend the water scheme to Ukana and other rural communities.

He also lauded the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Uche Ugwu, for being a true representative of the people and supporting the governor to enable him to realise his development agenda

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Minister of Finance/Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun has described the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project as critical to the industrialisation and economic growth of Nigeria.

Edun stated this on Friday, during a working visit of three cabinet Ministers to the AKK gas pipeline project site where they inspected the River Kaduna crossing milestone of the project in Kaduna.

This is coming just as the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Mr Mele Kyari, assured Nigerians that the project would be delivered by the end of the first quarter 2025.

This is contained in a statement by Olufemi Soneye, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd.

Edun was accompanied on the visit by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Mohammed Malagi, and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo.

Speaking at the project site, Edun described the AKK gas pipeline as the pipeline of prosperity, which is very dear to the President, because it wil
l deliver the critical infrastructure needed to trigger the nation’s economic growth and industrialisation.

‘The AKK gas pipeline is crucial for this administration and its delivery is in line with Mr President’s strategy of bringing prosperity to the people,’ Edun added.

Malagi said the AKK gas pipeline project was a testimony that the Federal Government’s ‘Decade of Gas’ has commenced in earnest.

‘Nigerians should be proud of the AKK Gas Pipeline project. With the delivery of this project, the prosperity that Mr President is always talking about is unravelling right here before our eyes,’ he said.

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Also speaking, Ekpo described the gas pipeline as part of the Federal Government’s many efforts to harness the nation’s abundant gas resources toward improving power generation, revamping ailing industries and creating employment opportunities.

Ekpo urged all stakeholders to support the NNPC Ltd. towards delivering the
project and several other gas projects as the country depends on it to bring prosperity to the people.

The three ministers, who lauded the NNPC Ltd. and its project partner, Brentex/CPP Ltd (BCL) on the progress made so far, also expressed optimism that the NNPC will deliver as promised.

Earlier, the GCEO NNPC Ltd, Mr Mele Kyari gave the assurance the Project would be delivered by first quarter of 2025, as major segments of the job have been completed.

‘Without promising too much, we assure you that this project will be delivered on schedule.

‘Our mission is to work towards delivering it by December 2024. But we are confident this project will be delivered by first quarter of 2025,’ Kyari said.

The GCEO, who said the NNPC Ltd. recognises the strategic importance and enormous value of the project to Nigeria’s economy, said the Company was bankrolling the project on the back of its own balance sheet.

Gov. Uba Sani of Kaduna State, represented by his deputy, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, said the completion of the A
KK gas pipeline would herald the much-needed economic and industrial revival in the state.

‘If you know about the Kakuri Industrial Area and how most of our factories there have become moribund, you will understand why we in Kaduna State are all excited about the AKK Gas Pipeline.

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‘Without doubt, the pipeline will revamp our industries and bring about a huge impact on our people. We can’t wait for it to be completed,’ the Governor said.

The AKK gas pipeline is a 40 inch by 614km linear pipeline system running from Ajaokuta in Kogi State to Kano state.

It has associated intermediate terminal gas facilities and other related equipment to transport natural gas to off-takers at Abuja, Kaduna and Kano.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria