COVER
Tinubu Holds Inaugural FEC, Pledges Bouyant Economy
By Matthew Dadiya, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has tasked the new cabinet ministers to hit the ground running by working hard to turn around the fortunes of the country.
He gave the charge on Monday, while addressing the cabinet members at the opening of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.
“We have talents; we have the level of intellectuals and capacity to turn this country around.
You and I know that the expectation is high. Therefore, we must work hard, commit ourselves and create a buoyant economy that will serve every Nigerian” he charged the Ministers.The president also charged the ministers to work as a team, stressing that if they stay focused in the discharge of their responsibilities, the country would quickly move forward.
“Every one of you is a member of this team, we can do whatever we want from our areas of responsibility but it all depends on you. If you stay focused, we will all arrive at a better destination and the country will be better for it,” he said.
Tinubu added that the natural endowments of the country must be properly harnessed to make life better for citizens of the country.
“We must unlock the energy and natural resources of this country. We must start to produce for ourselves, dig ourselves out of the woods, focus on education, healthcare, and make social investments that are essential for the development of our people.
“Our priority areas are defined in our economic programmes. Every area is our priority and you belong in the driver’s position to realise and make that priority a fulfilling promise to the entire nation and the continent of Africa.
“We must achieve the economic growth that is expected of us. We must feed our people, we must leverage on what we have and grow more to satisfy Nigerians,” he said.
Tinubu said he would continue to listen to the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians and make corrections where necessary, as he enjoined the ministers to be bold in taking decisions that would move the nation forward.
“I am ready to listen. Like I said to the Nigerian Bar Association yesterday, I am ready even for corrections because only God is perfect. Don’t be afraid to make a decision; that’s the problem of leadership,” he said.
The president also said that the challenges confronting the nation like security, unemployment and food security would be addressed in order to alleviate the plight of citizens.
FG Suspends Borrowing-Edun
The Federal Government said it has no intention to borrow from any local or foreign organisation with the removal of subsidy on petrol and exchange rate harmonisation.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Chief Wale Edun, revealed this at the end of the inaugural Federal Executive Council meeting on Monday, in Abuja.
He said the benefit of the subsidy removal would be ploughed back into various sectors aimed at boosting government revenue and improving business environment for local and foreign investment.
Edun said that with the increased revenue from subsidy removal, various palliatives have been made available to cushion its effect on a short, medium and long term basis.
He reiterated the President Bola Tinubu-led administration’s desire to bring back the economy from the wood it has found itself over time.
Similarly, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, said investment offers were already coming up in different sectors of the economy, including oil and gas, health, solid minerals and agriculture.
She said that her ministry would collaborate with relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government to achieve the president’s commitment to creation of jobs for the teeming youthful population of Nigeria.
On his part, the Minister of Health, Dr Ali Pate, said that critical sections of the health value chain would be exploited to improve the economy and create jobs for Nigerians.
He said that the president had directed them to be courageous and innovative in taking decisions that would benefit the country, adding that the president has already taken such moves.
Pate said that the president was responsive to the need to set the economy on the path of progress with his move to remove subsidy on petrol from the first day on his inauguration.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, said that the president charged the cabinet members to be transparent in their dealings, especially in disseminating necessary information.
He urged the media to avail themselves of the opportunity of verifying and fact checking their stories in order not to misinform the public. (NAN)
By David Torough, Abuja
Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has declared 281 inmates missing from the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Maiduguri, Borno State.
NCoS said this followed an evacuation after the flood that engulfed the state capital.
A statement onby the Service Public Relations Officer (SPRO), Mr Abubakar Umar yesterday in Abuja said seven other inmates had been recaptured.
Umar said that the service was in custody of the details of the missing inmates, including their biometrics.
“The flood brought down the walls of the correctional facilities, including the medium security custodial centre Maiduguri (MSCC) as well as the staff quarters in the city.
“Upon the evacuation of inmates by officers of the service with support from sister security agencies to a safe and secure facility, 281 inmates were observed to be missing.
“However, it is important to note that the service is in custody of their details, including their biometrics, which is being made available to the public.
“The service is working in synergy with other security agencies as both covert and overt deployments have been activated to look out for them.
“Presently, a total of seven (7) inmates have been recaptured and returned to custody, while efforts are on ground to track down the rest and bring them back to safe custody.“While this effort is on, the public is assured that the incident does not impede or affect public safety,” he said.
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
After controversies, trucks from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) yesterday lifted petrol from the Dangote Refinery.
NNPCL revealed that Dangote Refinery sold the fuel at N898 per litre.
The national oil company began loading yesterday after moving about 300 trucks to the 650,000 capacity refinery Dangote Refinery located in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State.
Its spokesman, Olufemi Soneye was quoted as saying, “We successfully loaded PMS at the Dangote Refinery today [Sunday].
”“The claim that we purchased it at N760 per liter is incorrect.
“For this initial loading, the price from the refinery was N898 per liter.
”At least, over 70 trucks had loaded at the time of this report.
This marks an end to the month-long debate over the quality and sale of the Dangote petrol.
Speaking to newsmen at the refinery, the Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Devakumar Edwin described the commencement of the petrol lifting moment of pride to every Nigerian.
He said, “My President has been showing presentations that 52 years ago, we were trying to see how to solve the problem of PMS supply and the queues. Now, after 52 years, we have a solution.
“And the solution is local production of PMS and it is from a Nigerian oil company. And as EPC contractor, it was constructed by a Nigerian company.
“So, it’s a matter of pride that a Nigerian oil company, constructed by a Nigerian-owned company, is able to generate PMS from the local crude and daily will not only to meet the entire requirement of Nigeria, but can also have surplus to export. So, it is a time and moment of great pride to every Nigerian.”
Edwin said 44 percent of the PMS production from the Dangote refinery can meet the requirement of the entire country.
“If you look at the refinery as a whole, PMS alone, every day, 650,000 barrels of crude if we’re processing, we can generate more than 54 million litres of PMS.
“And, of course, the refinery has the capacity to produce various other products too. 44% of the production can meet the entire requirement of the country, 56% of the production has to be exported. “So, it is a huge refinery. So, it is not only going to be doing import substitution, but it is also going to make Forex generation through export revenue.
“The gantries are actually 86 and they can load 86 trucks at a go,” he said.
Last Friday, in Abuja, a member of the Presidential Committee on the Sale of Crude Oil and Refined Product and Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji confirmed that the NNPCL remains the sole buyer of petrol from the Dangote refinery while willing off-takers are free to lift diesel and other products from the refinery.
According to Adedeji, the NNPCL would further distribute to other independent marketers after lifting from the refinery.
He said the nation’s oil company will commence the sale of crude oil to the Dangote refinery in naira from October 1.
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a new directive to Payment Service Providers (PSPs), requiring them to comply with enhanced routing guidelines for Point of Sale (PoS) transactions.This move is aimed at strengthening the monitoring of electronic transactions across Nigeria.
The directive issued on Wednesday aims at strengthening the monitoring of electronic transactions across Nigeria following CBN’s initiative to diversify the Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA) structure, which previously operated through a single aggregator. In a circular signed by Oladimeji Yisa Taiwo on behalf of the CBN Payments System Management Department, the apex bank mandates that all PoS transactions from merchant and agent locations—whether physical or electronic—must now be routed through any CBN-licensed PTSA.The directive is part of efforts to decentralize PoS transaction routing and address concerns over the centralization of such transactions under a single entity.In Aug. 2011, the CBN initially granted a PTSA license to the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc to serve as the sole aggregator of PoS transactions.However, to promote competition and enhance service delivery, the CBN awarded a second PTSA license to Unified Payment Services Limited (UPSL) on April 19.This development aims to reduce the dependence on a single aggregator for the management of PoS transactions, promoting transparency and operational efficiency in Nigeria’s growing electronic payments landscape.
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