Day: July 3, 2024

Senators from the South-East zone met with the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to demand the release of the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

The senators made the call on Wednesday in Abuja during their close door meeting with the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fgebemi, SAN.

The senators numbering 15 were led by a former Abia Deputy Governor, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe.

They claimed that unless Kanu was released, social and economic activities in the South-East region will continue to be stagnant.

The senators handed over their letter of appeal for the release to Fagbemi for onward passage to the president.

Abaribe, who spoke to the press on behalf of his colleagues lamented that the economy and social life in the region had suffered enough due to the continued incarceration of the Biafra nation agitator.

He noted with grave concern that the peaceful demand of the detained IPOB leader had be
en hijacked by hoodlums and hardened criminals leading to wanton killings of innocent people, including security operatives.

Abaribe said he had already met with Kanu at the headquarters of the DSS and that Kanu had agreed to abide by any conditional release.

He expressed optimism that once Kanu is released, the tension and acrimonies engulfing the South East region since 2021 when he was clamped into DSS custody would become event of the past.

The senators, therefore, pleaded with the AGF to convey their message to Tinubu, and for the AGF to use his position to terminate all charges brought against the IPOB leader by the federal government.

They said that virtually all political and religious leaders as well as stakeholders have unanimously agreed that Kanu be released for peace to bounce back to the region.

It would be recalled that Kanu was re-arrested in Kenya in 2021 by the federal government and brought to the country for trial on terrorism charges.

Although he pleaded not guilty to the charges, J
ustice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja declined to admit him to bail on the ground that he had earlier jumped bail in which Abaribe was his surety.

Kanu has been in the custody of the DSS on the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Federal Government has pledged to close the gender gap being experienced in the National Business and Technical Examinations.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, said this while monitoring the examinations being conducted by the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB), in Abuja on Wednesday.

Mamman said the ministry was introducing skills programmes in schools from basic to tertiary education levels, noting that schools would be bound to implement the programmes.

‘We have a lot of policies and measures to foster female participation in technical courses.

‘I have been in the university and I know how the numbers are growing rapidly in engineering, environmental sciences, medical and allied courses, the ladies are practically taking over .

‘For us in the ministry, there are programmes already in place that is supporting the boasting of female education and I believe in no distance time we will see overall parity closing completely.

‘Once the skill programme is adopted, a
ll schools will be bound to implement it and it’s going to be a game changer,’ he said.

Mamman encouraged students to take up skills programme, to address the problems of quality and employment, adding that once students were able to acquire skills, they would be ready for absorption by employers of labour.

The minister assured that the challenge of funding university education was over, and urged the students to take advantage of the newly introduced scholarship scheme of the government to finance their education.

The Registrar of NABTEB, Prof. Ifeoma Isiugo-Abanihe, said that societal attitude was the bane of low female participation in technical education.

Isiugo-Abanihe said that there had been enlightenment programmes going on, stressing the importance of skills as top priority in building the country’s middle manpower.

According to her, there is a slight increase in the number of candidates that registered for the exams as 67,751 candidate took part in 2024.

‘It is the societal attitude, we don’t
have as many girls as you are seeing here. In this school, you have over 100 boys and 31 girls.

‘There is gender gap in the percentage of female participation in technical schools but it’s coming up. What we are seeing today is not what we used to see before.

‘The female lady mechanics and the rest were not there before, so I am hopeful that there is going to be improvement,’ she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the examination,FG monitored at the Federal Science and Technical College, Garki began on June 24, and expected to end on July 29, 2024.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Women in Energy, Oil and Gas (WEOG), an NGO, has advocated for an innovative and collaborative approach towards decarbonisation for a sustainable energy and zero emission.

The WEOG says, based on its World Decarbonisation Initiative, it will plant 10 million trees with minimum of 20,000 trees in each 774 Local Government Areas, including the FCT.

Dr Oladunni Owo, National President, WEOG, while briefing newsmen on its decarbonisation programme on Tuesday in Abuja, said that Sept. 3 to Sept. 5 had been set aside for its World Decarbonisation Summit.

‘As an organisation, we decided to take a position to go into deep research and align with future energy renewables and climate action committee.

‘After the research, we wanted a pragmatic programme, so we inaugurated a project and also researched on different trees for decarbonising the environment for the ecosystem.

‘By the virtue of industrialisation, we have more carbon in the atmosphere causing depletion of the ozone layers, global warming, carbon pol
lution and emission, among others.

‘Carbon can be captured, converted, captured and stored in the oil well to mitigate emission,” she said.

She said that with decarbonisation, oil and gas resources could still be very useful because research discovered that apart from Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) called fuel, there are other energy value chains.

She listed the other products as fertiliser, polyester, petrochemicals and several other products.

‘How can we make the exploration and production of oil and gas clean in such a way that it will not affect the ecosystem? The simplest way for decarbonising is tree planting.

‘In Africa, there is a huge energy gap, whether it is solar, wind, hydrogen and nuclear; we need every energy resources, including oil and gas, to close the gap,” she said.

Mrs Toyin Yusuf, Chairperson, Future Energy and Renewable Committee, WEOG, listed key projects under the decarbonisation initiative to include 10 million Tree Decarbonisation Project, Renewable Energy Transition Project and
Clean Cooking Project.

Others, according to her, are the Electric Vehicle Project, Monthly Decarbonisation Webinars, Declaration and Promotion of World Decarbonisation Day, Annual World Decarbonisation Summit and Collaboration and Partnership Opportunities.

She, however, extended invitation to stakeholders, industry experts, and potential partners to join and support the initiative.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the group had earlier held a roundtable engagement with the UN Women and Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) on Women Economic Empowerment for the Oil and Gas Industry.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State, Petroleum Resources (Oil), has called for more investments in the oil and gas industry to ramp up production and boost foreign exchange earnings.

Lokpobiri made the call on Tuesday at the Nigerian Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week holding in Abuja.

The country has over 37.5 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and 209 trillion cubic feet (tcf) and 600 tcf of proven and contingent gas reserves respectively.

According to the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG) Nigeria finds itself in a situation where its daily production has significantly dropped to about 1.3 million barrels of oil and 8.5 bcf of gas.

Lokpobiri, in an opening address blamed the development on lack of drilling investments in the sector, disclosed that efforts were ongoing to change the narrative by attracting more investments into the sector.

‘We have been working hard to ramp up production. The overall objective is to increase production.

‘It is when we ramp up production that we w
ill be able to get the required forex inflow into the country, get money to fund budget, and satisfy energy demand.

‘But you can only increase production by way of increasing investments,’ Lokpobiri said.

Mr Ekperikpe Ekpo, Minister of State, Petroleum Resources (Gas), in an address, said the Ministry had been instrumental in implementing reforms that made Nigeria an attractive destination for investors.

He said the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 and the recent Presidential Directive for Oil and Gas Companies on Tax Incentives, Exemption, Remission, among others by President Bola Tinubu, created a conducive environment for investment.

‘The regulatory frameworks now in place incentivise investment, streamline bureaucratic processes, and provide clarity on fiscal terms,’ he noted.

Earlier, the Chairman, IPPG, Mr Abdulrazaq Isa, had sought for measures by all relevant stakeholders to address the dwindling production level and under-investment in the oil and gas industry.

He said that in spite of the nat
ion’s world hydrocarbon resource base, with over 37 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and 207 tcf and 600 tcf of proven and contingent gas reserves respectively, daily production had dwindled.

He expressed worry that daily production had significantly dropped and stood at about 1.3 million barrels of oil and 8.5 bcf of gas today.

‘This is way below our capacity as a nation and by all globally acceptable standards, this reserves to production ratio is extremely low and a clear indicator that the industry is in a dire situation.’

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Jigawa Government and Bank of Industry (BoI), on Tuesday signed a N6 billion partnership agreement to stimulate industrial development of the north-western state.

Gov. Umar Namadi, while signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Dutse, said the deal was a clear demonstration of commitment to achieving his 12-point agenda of making Jigawa an industrial hub.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the governor also inaugurated the Jigawa branch of the BoI in Dutse, shortly after signing the MoU.

Namadi said that of the N6 billion partnership agreement, N4 billion would be kept as matching fund, while the remaining N2 billion would be used as ‘managing funds’.

The governor said that the MoU would help the prospective enterprises to easily access soft loan for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

‘With this MoU, we are joining hands with the BoI to facilitate access to soft loan to undertake small, medium and even large scale businesses.

‘We are happy to have a BoI branch in our st
ate. All relevant state government agencies are being engaged to enlighten Jigawa citizens and support them to access the opportunities in the bank,’ he said.

Earlier, the Managing Director of the Bank, Dr Olasupo Olusi, had said that the MoU was a clear demonstration of the state government’s commitment toward expanding industrial development.

Olusi, who was represented by the Executive Director, Corporate Services, Mr Usen Effiong, said that

Jigawa had made history by providing the matching and management funds for supporting industrial growth.

He said that N2 billion would be kept as the matching fund while another N2 billion would be used as the managing funds.

Gov. Umar Namadi and Dr Olasupo Olusi, BoI Managing Director during the signing of the N6 billion deal

‘The governor’s action is an indication of the state government’s readiness to unlock business opportunities in Jigawa.

‘With the signing of this agreement, Jigawa has technically expanded access to its manufacturing sector and other releva
nt value chains in the 27 local government areas.

‘Under this arrangement, Jigawa will provide N2 billion and the BOI will match it with N2 billion. The state is also providing N2 billion for the establishment of the managed funds.

‘With this MoU, Jigawa has joined the league of over 40 strategic partners in BoI to bring development and finance services to its people, especially manufacturing industries.

‘The step will support industrial value chain activities and reduce dependency on the neighbouring states for finished goods,’ he said.

He said that the bank had also provided a regional intervention fund of N2 billion in the state branch of BoI for regional companies in Jigawa, in addition to N2.5 billion on the pipeline.

Olusi said that the bank had provided another special fund for industrial development in rural areas in an effort to mitigate rural-urban migration.

‘We want people to move from urban to rural areas for industrial development; that is why we have put a maximum of N10 million per one b
usiness entity who wishes to move to rural areas for industrial activities.

‘Already, we have 1,600 applications from Jigawa,’ he said.

Seeking to newsmen shortly after the inauguration of the branch office, BoI Executive Director, SMEs, Mr Shekarau Omar, said that the N6 billion MoU signed with the Jigawa government was the biggest MoU with a state government in the history of the bank.

He said that the bank had tried to establish a branch in Jigawa in the last 13 years within a positive outcome.

‘The dream became a reality six months after we approached Namadi,’ he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria