As part of an effort to ensure the sustainability of the Girls’Education Project, GEP 3 Interventions in Kano State, the State Government in collaboration with the United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF have inaugurated champions to ensure girl child education transition and sustainability of the GEP 3 Interventions in the state.

The champions comprise 8 key stakeholder members which include representatives from the state ministry of education, State Universal Basic Education, SUBEB, Traditional leaders, Civil Society Organizations, HILWA among others.

Speaking during the inauguration, UNICEF Lead Resource Person, Dr. Hafsat Yakasai identified obstacles such as security (sexual harrasment), access to school, and attitudinal perception as factors affecting the transition of the girl child in the state.

Dr. Yakasai however admonished the champions not to relent in their effort to address the menace in order to keep the girls in school.

According to her, “Quite a number of problems were highlighted ranging from access to schools, security (sexual harrasment), attitudinal perception on girl child among others as obstacles against girl child education.

“A number of solutions were proffered. So the essence is to reawaken them to the challenges against the girl child education and how they could ensure the transition of the girls to Secondary education. As champions, they should promote increased community commitment to improving adolescent girls transition to Secondary education. In most cases, girls do not transit after primary education or do not survive to the expected basic level of education that is required for them.

“They are to also through advocacies and campaign activities further sensitize the communities and all stakeholders about the importance and the need to continue to uphold girls child education in high esteem.

“And these meetings specifically provided them with a Terms of Reference, ToR to serve as a guide for them to know exactly what to do, where they were advised to continue working with HILWA to serve as role models for the girl child education for the girls to feel motivated to also go to school.

“To also work with the Girls for Girls, G4G, already established in schools because their girls have a significant level of knowledge of some of the causes why their peers are not in school. So working hand in hand with them will go a long way in acquiring success for the champions in the course of their work. And so, this meeting is part of sustainability activities to ensure key stakeholders at community level take charge of the key responsibility function UNICEF/Foreign Commonwealth Development Office have been facilitating,” Dr. Yakasai however stated.

Earlier, the Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, Danlami Hayyo called on the people to change their perception of the girl child education by ensuring their wards were enrolled in schools to acquire western education.

Hayyo represented by his Permanent Commissioner 1, Kabir Ahmad said the government have already commenced sustainability of the GEP 3 project with tremendous efforts to ensure the girls were enrolled in school.

“Take, for instance, the out-of-school children, those that left school due to one or two reasons, the govt through its policy on free and compulsory education has tried to address that. So you can see that some elements of the GEP 3 project, has been infused in so many govt activities,” Hayyo however stated.

President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Mr. Aminu Umar-Sadiq as the new Managing Director of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).

This was contained in a statement by the Special Adviser, Media & Communications to the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget & National Planning, Mr. Tanko Abdullahi, last night.

According to him, the appointment followed the expiration of the tenure of Mr. Uche Orji.
He said, “The appointment of the new MD follows the expiration of the tenure of the erstwhile MD, Mr. Uche Orji, whose tenure expired on the 30th of September, 2022 after serving two five-year terms, following his appointment on 2nd October, 2012.”

Two Executive Directors were also appointed. They were: Mr. Kolawole Owodunni, Executive Director, and Mrs. Bisi Makoju , Executive Director, all of the NSIA.

Section 16(3) of the NSIA Establishment Act 2011 specifies that the Executive Nomination Committee (ENC) be constituted to begin the process of recruitment and selection process for the replacement of Mr. Orji, the MD, and the Executive Directors.

Aminu Umar-Sadiq, who is currently an Executive Director and Head of Infrastructure, has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Engineering Sciences from University of Oxford (Saint John’s College), Oxford, United Kingdom (UK).
He is Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellow (ATLF) and also Mandela Washington Fellowship (MWF).

Umar-Sadiq commenced his professional career in Mergers and Acquisitions M&A) focused on Infrastructure and Energy at Morgan Stanley Investment Bank, proceeding to Infrastructure focused private equity at Denham Capital Management, all in the UK.

He has worked on several projects including Presidential Fertiliser Initiative, an import substitution program for the delivery of 1 million high quality, lower cost to farmers at lower cost metric tons of fertilizer. He was also a part of the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund, an investment fund focused on the actualisation of five strategic nationwide projects in the transportation and power sectors.

He has a vast experience in investment and infrastructure industry.

Mrs. Bisi Makoju is a Financial Expert with vast experience, in financial risk management, while Mr. Kolawole Owodunni is a professional of 18 years standing in the Financial Services Sector with emphasis in investment management, Risk Management and Treasury. They are all expected to help steer and transform the investment and infrastructure industry and propel the sector to a high pedestal.

The New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) has condemned the description of its 2023 presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, as a spoiler.

The National Secretary, Dipo Olayoku, issued a statement on Monday in Abuja.

Olayoku said an emergency meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) discussed some publications against Kwankwaso.

The spokesman noted that the NNPP discovered that some media reports were sponsored against the party.

Olayoku insists the former governor is the one to beat in the 2023 election and “cannot be a spoiler or a pretender”.

Olayoku said that other political parties and their candidates had made the NNPP candidate their target using the press.

“The report alleged that a chieftain of the party is a mole, working for another party and its presidential candidate.

“According to the report, this has placed the chieftain against Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso.

“We consider these reports as the handiwork of fifth columnists who have been trying to cause disaffection in the party. They will never succeed”, the statement added.

The State Kaduna state Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mr Umar Adoro, on Monday, said its operatives have arrested 121 suspected drug traffickers, sealed 13 properties in Kaduna.

The Commander, Umar Adoro, in a statement, said the operation which was conducted in September, led to the destruction of 27 notorious drug joints across the 23 local government areas of the state.

He mentioned Kawo, Kabala Costain, Numba Zango, Zaria City, Sabon gari, Nupe street and Unguwar Muazu, Unguwar shanu, Maraban Jos, Dan Magaji, Hayin Banki and Kafanchan as the major joints for the illicit drugs outlets.

The commander further explained that out of the 121 suspects, 13 were females, adding that the drugs seized included 247,172kg Indian hemp, 0.041kg Cocaine, 0.004kg of heroin, 0.363kg of Tramadol, 74, 441kg Psychotropic substance and 0.001kg Methamphetamine.

He further gave the grand total weight of drugs seized as; 322,476kg within the period under review.

He appealed to citizens for timely and useful information on illicit drug dealers, to enable the agency to take prompt action, just as he advised parents and guardians to always be watchful of their wards on the friends they moved with all the time.

He said the war against drug trafficking and consumption would continue until it was brought to a standstill in the state.

A pressure group, under the aegis of the Coalition of Northern Groups, has advised electorates across the region to vote for leaders with competence, integrity and capacity that will address the challenges of the North and the country.

The National Coordinator of CNG, Jamilu Charanchi, handed the advice in Gombe Stare on Monday during a public sensitisation and awareness conference on the 2023 general elections.

The sensitisation was themed, ‘Politics of Sentiments, A Critical Factor Militating Development and Democracy in Nigeria’.

Charanchi said northerners and Nigerians must prioritise the interest of the region and nation above other political considerations that would not add value to the country.

According to him, Nigerians must jettison the temptation of voting across religious or tribal lines during the 2023 general elections.

He said that politics of sentiments was responsible for the challenges the country was facing, adding that politics along such sentiments had not benefitted the country.

The national coordinator called on voters in the country to rather focus on choosing solutions-oriented candidates, who would tackle the economic, security and other challenges of the country for the benefit of all citizens.

He said, “We want Nigerians to have a change of mind from voting based on religious and ethnic lines to voting in the interest of one united Nigeria where credibility, integrity and competence will take the centre stage.”

He stated that any politicians who use religion and ethnicity as tools to seek position was an enemy of the people and such candidates and their parties should be rejected.

On his part, the Gombe State coordinator of CNG, Muhammed Babaji, expressed optimism that the 2023 election would bring about a new dawn for the country, if Nigerians shunned violence and embraced peaceful elections.

Babaji appealed to youths from the North and Nigeria to remain committed to the tenets of true democracy that promotes unity, peace, development while praying that the elections would mark a new beginning for Nigeria.

Also, the Gombe State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mahid Abubakar, appealed to youths in the state to shun violence,while assisting security agencies to ensure peaceful conduct of the 2023 elections.

Abubakar said the security agencies remained committed to ensuring the peace and security of lives and property but “we need the cooperation of all stakeholders to succeed and make the state and country peaceful.”

The Chartered Institute of Project Managers of Nigeria has raised concern over the menace of building collapse in the country.

The organisation warned that the trend would continue if the government refused to engage project managers in construction activities.

Building collapses are common in Nigeria where millions live in dilapidated structures and construction standards were often flouted.

Enforcement of safety regulations and use of shoddy materials have been highlighted after a high-rise building under construction collapsed in the Ikoyi District of Lagos, killing at least 45 people in 2021.

Ten people were killed when a three-storey building collapsed in the Ebute-Metta area of Lagos in May 2022.

The government had called for improved construction standards, describing the frequency of building collapses increasingly embarrassing.

An architect and a fellow of the CIPM, Otunba Dejo Olawoye, described Nigeria as a country with the highest number of abandoned projects in Africa.

He stated these on Friday in Abuja during the induction of about 100 members who were inducted into the CIPM, a statutory organisation, established to train, approve and discipline all project managers within the nation.

He said, “Nigeria is a country with the highest number of abandoned projects in Africa, maybe in the world. Most 65 per cent of the projects were started 20 years ago and never completed.

“Even the ones that were completed are the ones that were not well managed. It’s one thing to do projects, it’s another thing that its serves its purpose.

“In the last one year, there have been much more collapsed building than ever in Nigeria; this actually a failure of government engaging project managers.

“Project managers are the end of every projects that make sure that the project is done and benefits are coming from it.”

Speaking at event, the President/Chairman Governing Council of the Institute, Dr. Victoria Okoronkwo, said that events of the recent times had challenged the institute a great deal and in an unusual manner.

She said the CIPMN have decided to concentrate most of its valuable energies in seeking for ways to enhance value-added mandates to not just their members, but to the society at large, without focusing much on the negative tendencies and its consequential distractions.

Okoronkwo said that was aimed at becoming alive to the statutory mandates with a view to exploring available measures required to support the government in addressing the myriads of challenges bedeviling the overall project management value chain in Nigeria.

She cited obvious instances of continued building collapses in the country, efforts to repair the terminal at MM2 in Lagos International Airport, poor state of Nigeria roads and other capital projects across the country.

The N3.92tn spent as subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, from January 2020 to June 2022 is higher than the cumulative individual federal budgets for health, education and defence during the 30-month period.

Findings show that over the last 30 months, Nigeria has spent more on fuel subsidy than on either the health, defence or education ministries.

An analysis of petrol subsidy expenditure and ministerial budgets from January 2020 to the first half of 2022 indicated that while the Federal Government spent N3.92tn to subsidise PMS during the period, its budgets for education, health and defence during the same period were N2.28tn, N1.68tn and N3.06tn respectively.

This shows that the government spent more funds on petrol subsidy in the 30-month duration than what the health, education or defence sectors got in the same review period.

Further analysis showed that in 2020, the combined budgets of health, education and defence was N1.922tn, while fuel subsidy alone gulped N450bn.

Fuel subsidy spending, however, jumped in 2021 to N1.43tn, whereas the combined budgets for health, education and defence in that year were estimated at N2.288tn.

In the first six months of this year, the government spent N2.04tn on fuel subsidy, while the cumulative budgets for health, education and defence stood at N2.81tn.

Economists as well as oil and gas experts told our correspondent that the Nigerian fuel subsidy impact was not just taking a huge toll on education, health and defence, but wondered whose interest it was really serving.

They were not comfortable with the persistent rise in Nigeria’s fuel subsidy amidst the country’s high indebtedness and other economic challenges.

They explained that the fuel subsidy cost over the last 2.5 years represented a lost opportunity to invest in key capital resources to raise the literacy, standard of living and security of the average Nigerian.

“Nigeria’s fuel subsidy programme has continued to limit remittances to the Federal Account Allocation Committee by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited for distribution to the Federal Government, states and local government areas,” the President, Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, told our correspondent.

Analysts believe that many Nigerians are shouldering the cost of education, health and security through sundry private arrangements, while fuel subsidy offers zero succoure

They explained that a better incentivised workforce in the health, education and defence ministries was possible by realising savings from subsidy removal or reduction.

They also stated that civil service’s compensation and the national minimum wage remained a delicate topic as the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities underscored the need to address and lay to rest the civil service compensation and incentives conversation.

The PUNCH, for instance, exclusively reported recently that the Nigerian Economic Summit Group had raised concern of impending fiscal crisis in Nigeria following the continued rise in fuel subsidy.

It disclosed this in its September 2022 report titled, “The State of Nigeria’s Economy,” stressing that the Federal Government’s huge fuel subsidy spending had been a drain on the country’s revenue despite the rise in crude oil prices in 2022.

The NESG said the government should cut its fiscal deficit to avert an impending fiscal crisis, highlighting the gradual withdrawal of fuel subsidy as one of the measures to achieve this.

“Embark on the gradual phasing out of the fuel subsidy programme,” the economic think-tank told the Federal Government, stressing that sustaining the programme was “disastrous.”

It added, “Aside from taking a clear position on the fuel subsidy issue, the Federal Government must begin the shutting down phase of subsidy programmes to save the country from impending fiscal crisis.

“Understandably, this suggestion will affect the welfare of the citizens, but it is only in the short term. On the other hand, the more extended effects of sustaining this programme are disastrous.”

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises, Dr. Muda Yusuf, stated that the government should accelerate the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021.

The PIA calls for the halt of petrol subsidy, but the government has not implemented that aspect of the Act after passing it into law since August last year.

“The oil and gas sector reform, which is now being anchored on the Petroleum Industry Act, should be accelerated in order to ensure the unlocking of the enormous value in the oil and gas sector, particularly the gas sector,” Yusuf stated in his remarks on the Nigerian economy after 62 years.

ThePunch

Muhammad Sadiq-Wali, the Kano State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says his main target is to restore the lost glory of the state, known as the centre for commerce.

He said this when he spoke with newsmen in Kano on Monday.

” Kano State is the private sector is driven and most of our citizens are very industries and we need to encourage them. All they need is support from the government.

“If given the mandate my administration will become economically independent and would promote small-scale businesses and local/indigenous industrialisation.

“This was how countries like China developed their economy,” he said.

He said that his administration would come up with policies that will promote local industries and encourage direct foreign investment for the betterment of the state.

He said that he will use his wealth of experience in the private sector to provide quality leadership to the people of the state as well as ensure economic growth through enhanced Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

“Any government that has the development of the state at heart prioritises infrastructure development in areas where commercial and business activities are booming, to make way for economic growth and increase the drive for revenue generation,” he said.

Sadiq-Wali said that infrastructure such as roads has continued to dilapidate in the state because of the increasing population in urban areas.

“We need to expand and build infrastructure in local areas where you have competitive opportunities,” he said.

He promised to ensure to reduce rural-urban migration to decongest the increasing population in the city and ensure development by building required infrastructure and industries in local areas where raw materials and human resources were available.

“My team agenda also includes Social Service Reforms, Civil service reform and education.

” It is all about re-orientation, re-focusing and making government for implementation, sustainability and wealth creation,” he said.

A new report released by a civic organisation- Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI) has revealed that about 1,432 low-income homes across five states have remained unoccupied despite being completed.

This group also raised concern that despite N65 billion released to Family Homes Funds Limited (FHFL) between 2018 and 2020 to facilitate the development of affordable/social homes, most of them are yet to be subscribed by low-income earners.

The PLSI Executive Director, Olusegun Elemo, disclosed this while analysising the performance audit report on the management of resources for provision of affordable/social homes for low-income earners in Nigeria by Family Homes Funds Limited (2018-2020) in Delta, Kano, Ogun, Kaduna and Nasarawa States.

Elemo told newsmen in Abuja that the Federal Government in its bid to fulfill section 16 (2)(d) of the 1999 constitution as amended, stipulated that the government shall provide suitable and adequate shelter for all citizens, as well as the need to accelerate economic recovery through implementation of Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017 – 2020 initiated by the Family Homes Funds Limited (FHFL) in 2016 as a special purpose vehicle to help address the housing shortage by delivering affordable homes nationwide.

This was followed with implementation of Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) 2020, which planned to provide 300,000 social homes yearly for low-income earners to address the over 22 million housing deficits with a yearly growth rate of 20per cent, according to Shelter Afrique, a Pan-African Real Estate Finance Institution.

He stated that a report by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) had indicated a deficit of over 17 million houses in Nigeria, and this requires about 700,000 new houses to be built yearly, compared to the less than 100,000 houses that are being constructed.

Similarly, the World Bank 2018 Report on Nigeria’s Affordable Housing Project revealed that the demand for affordable housing is huge and growing in the face of a sizable deficit and dearth of existing interventions that supports closing this gap.

The report further stated that macroeconomic conditions in Nigeria are the greatest impediments to affordable housing.

A seed capital of N500 billion was promised by the Federal Government for the provision of affordable/social homes for low-income earners, the government released N65 billion to FHFL between 2018 and 2020.

According to Elemo, despite the release of funds to FHFL to facilitate development of affordable/social homes, there are still visible challenges impeding acquisition of completed homes by low-income earners.

He said: “We have analysed the performance audit report on management of resources for the provision of affordable/social homes for low-income earners in Nigeria conducted by the Auditor-General for the Federation and highlighted challenges impeding acquisition of 1,432 homes built in five states.

“These challenges include the absence of need assessment by the FHFL, constraint with accessing completed homes due to lack of infrastructure and insufficient awareness creation for homes built among others.”

“PLSI will support the FHFL in mobilising buyers/off-takers within the target group of low-income earners to boost acquisition of homes built in Delta, Kano, Ogun, Kaduna and Nasarawa States.”

He called on the management of FHFL to improve on its efficiency and effectiveness in providing affordable/social homes to Nigerians.

Elemo urged FHFL to implement the recommendations offered by the Auditor-General for the Federation to address challenges hindering acquisition of homes built by low-income earners.