FG plans special fund for roads, power

Vice-Presidential Prof. Yemi Osinbajo

The Federal Government is planning to set up an infrastructure fund in order to facilitate easy funding for critical areas of the economy.

The infrastructure fund, according to Vice President Yemi Osibajo, will be planned outside of the budget, to handle major segments of the economy such as road and power.

“Government is working out a document that would guide the administration within the four years of its life-span,” the Vice President told members of the National Economic Summit Group who paid him a visit on Tuesday in Abuja.

According to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Vice President, Laolu Akande, the FG is also planning to use a zero-based budgeting format for its 2016 budget planning.

“Zero-based budgeting is planning according to needs and costs, different from the existing envelope budgeting or traditionally incremental budgeting whereby the planning is based on existing income and expenditure as the deciding factor in national financial planning levels, which often incurs waste and assumes previous costs as constant,” the statement explained.

The Vice President said the zero-based budgeting would be carefully coordinated to ensure that it is policy-driven, especially regarding the proposed social intervention policy of the Buhari administration.

Osinbajo said with the zero-based budgeting, the FG would also focus on a ‘bottom-up’ approach to development.

The Vice President who also met with a delegation from the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers and the Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria, told the NESG that the introduction of the new Treasury Single Account policy and its implementation by Ministries, Departments and Agencies was a creative way of blocking leakages in the system to make way for a workable budget.

During the meeting with the NESG, the delegation praised the government for the introduction of the TSA policy as a sound financial policy and offered to be part of the advocacy.

During his meeting with the CIS delegation and the ASHN, the Vice President disclosed that the government would explore the avenue of utilizing the capital market as another means of providing alternative funding options for the execution of capital projects.

He also observed that allowing retail investors to come into the nation’s capital market would deepen the market with potential for multiplier effects on other sectors of the economy.

The Vice President stated that some of the problems of the capital market were due to unethical practices by some market operators.

He added that those who caused the crash in the market in the past were not punished and called on the two bodies to engage in self-regulation as a means of protecting investors and the market.

In his remarks, the leader of the delegation and Acting President of CIS, Mr. Oluwaseyi Abe, commended the Buhari administration for what it had achieved within 100 days. He cited the feats to include security, power and the anti-corruption crusade.

Fire guts shopping mall, bank in Lagos

Fire guts shopping mall, bank in Lagos

Textile materials and fashion accessories estimated at millions of naira have been consumed after fire gutted a shopping plaza on Broad Street on the Lagos Island area of Lagos State.

Also, a section of the Skye Bank branch in Ikeja was gutted by fire, destroying some property.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the Lagos Island fire started around 8.55am after a power surge.

Workers at the plaza were said to have made frantic efforts to put out the fire before inviting officials of the Lagos State Fire Service and men of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency.

While some traders watched helplessly as their goods burnt, others were said to have struggled to salvage their wares.

A firefighter with the state fire service, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the fire started from the second floor of the three-storey building, adding that more than three fire trucks were deployed in the scene.

He said, “It is a three-storey shopping plaza where they sell female fashion items like bags, shoes and other accessories. The fire started from the second floor and was caused by an electrical surge. We were able to curtail the spread quickly.

“Firemen from the Onikan, Sari Iganmu and Alausa stations responded with 10,000 litres of water each.”

The General Manager of LASEMA, Michael Akindele, said there was no casualty in the incident, adding that some traders were able to save their wares.

“No life was lost and there were no injuries. Traders in areas not affected moved out their goods; everything is under control,” he added.

In the Ikeja incident, PUNCH Metro gathered that the server room of Skye Bank caught fire around 10.50am.

The prompt response of firemen from the Ikeja fire station was said to have prevented the fire from escalating.

Our correspondent was told by a firefighter that the fire was also caused by a power surge.

“They called the fire service on time and that was what saved the day. The fire started from their internet server room. There was a spark, which started a fire.

“But we were able to stand with them till the problem was fixed and banking operation resumed without much delay,” he added.

The Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Fire Service, Amodu Shakiru, called for increased vigilance among residents.

He said, “Both fire were caused by electrical upsurge and that is why we always tell people to be cautious.

“You can use the back of your hand to feel the heat of your electrical gadget. When it is hot, you should know it is a potential hazard.”

Meanwhile, several people were injured and about five shops set ablaze on Monday after some hoodlums clashed at the Alaba International Market.

A source told PUNCH Metro that the clash was between some Yoruba and Igbo touts, who engaged in a supremacy battle over collection of fees.

A witness said the fight started around 9am, adding that business activities had been grounded as a result of the clash.

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor, who confirmed the incident, explained that the clash was between the market’s transporters and traders unions.

“The transport employers association and the traders association were involved in the incident. The Alaba traders complained that the activities of the transport association were affecting their businesses. They said some of their customers were being harassed and intimidated to pay exorbitant fees, and they were losing them to their competitors.

“This morning, the traders challenged the transport association which led to a scuffle between the groups.”

He added that policemen from the Ojo division and some military officers had restored sanity to the area.

We are negotiating with B’Haram, says Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said that the Federal Government had begun negotiations with members of the Boko Haram sect to secure the release of the Chibok girls.

The President disclosed this while responding to questions from members of the Nigerian community in France under the aegis of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation.

Buhari said that he was worried by the continued stay of the girls in the camps of Boko Haram since April 14, 2014 when they were abducted by Boko Haram fighters.

The President noted that the incident had attracted global attention and sympathy within Nigeria, adding that his government could not fold its arms.

“The issue of Chibok girls has occupied our minds and because of the international attention it drew and the sympathy throughout the the world. The government is negotiating with some of the Boko Haram leadership,” he stated.

According to him, government has to first establish genuine members of the sect so that it will not make the mistake of engaging the wrong persons.

Buhari said, “It is a very sensitive development in the sense that first we have to establish whether they genuine leaders of Boko Haram? That is number one. Number two, what are their terms, the first impression we had was not very encouraging.”

The President said one of the conditions given by Boko Haram sect was to release one of its members who was developing Improvised Explosives Devices.

He, however, said that his government rejected the demand.

Buhari stated, “They wanted us to release one of their leaders who is a strategic person in developing and making IEDs that is causing a lot of havoc in the country by blowing people in churches, mosques, market places, motor parks and other places. But it is very important that if we are going to talk to anybody, we have to know how much he is worth.

“Let them bring all the girls and then, we will be prepared to negotiate, I will allow them to come back to Nigeria or to be absorbed into the community. We have to be very careful, the concern we have for the Chibok girls, one can only imagine having a daughter who is between 14 and 18 years there for more than one and a half years. A lot of the parents who have died would have preferred to see the graves of their daughters to the condition they imagined they were in.”

According to him, the kidnap of the girls has drawn a lot of sympathy throughout the world. This, he said, was the reason government was negotiating for the release of the girls.

President Buhari assured Nigerians in the Diaspora that his administration was doing everything possible to improve the economy through provision of infrastructure in critical sectors.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, had in July confirmed the willingness of the Federal Government to negotiate with the sect.

Adesina, who lamented that the insurgents, killed many people, said the Federal Government would not rule out negotiations with the sect, if it would lead to the end of terrorism.

The Nigerian Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman, a few days ago, said that members of the terror group were surrendering “en masse.”

FG borrows N882bn to finance 2015 budget

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel-Nwaobia

Nigeria’s economic crisis continues to become worse with the Federal Government borrowing N882.12bn so far to finance the 2015 budget deficit.

The amount, sourced internally, included what was budgeted for internal and external borrowing for the fiscal year.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel-Nwaobia, said this in her presentation to the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on Non-Implementation of Capital Projects in the 2015 appropriation in Abuja on Tuesday.

The national economic crisis and the attendant depreciation of the Naira, increase in interest rates and inflation, may not end soon with the figures from the National Bureau of Statistics indicating that the Gross Domestic Product earlier projected to grow at a rate of 5.5 per cent (as of January 2015) now stands at 2.63 per cent as of June 2015 .

This, the Permanent Secretary, who was represented by the Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Alhaji Aliyu Yahaya Gusau, said, “is not unconnected with the global slowdown and its attendant impact.”

“The economy is not expected to outperform global growth rate of 3.3 per cent. Significant drop in oil price has led to exchange rate depreciation, pushing the dollar to N197 as of June 2015. This has led to the adoption of stringent measures in fiscal and monetary policies to ensure stability in the economy,” she explained.

On debt management, she said, “Public debt to GDP ratio as of 2013 was 10.82 per cent, and that the total amount of N882.12bn appropriated for both domestic and external borrowing has been fully raised to finance the 2015 budget accordingly.

“Debt service to revenue ratio however needs to be kept under close watch. Given that it was 19.63 per cent by the end of June 2015 against the cognate arbitrary threshold of 28 per cent.

“External debt as of June 30, 2015 stood at $7.74bn and $3.42bn for states and the FCT; bringing it to the total amount of $8.31bn.”

The Debt Management Office had put the Federal Government’s total domestic debt as of December 31, 2014 at N7.9tn.

With N882.12bn borrowed from domestic sources already in 2015, the Federal Government’s total domestic debt comes up to N8.79tn.

The PUNCH had exclusively reported on July 27 that the country’s total debt stock stood at N12.12tn as of June 30, 2015 with the domestic debt of the Federal Government accounting for N8.39tn.

Director General of DMO, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, at a press conference in May 2013 to unfold the details of the nation’s Middle Term Debt Management Strategy approved by the Federal Executive Council, had said the domestic debt of the country was too high compared to the foreign debt component.

He said there was an urgent need to rebalance the structure of the nation’s debt because the interest rate payable on domestic debt was too high.

As of 2013, the ratio of the Federal Government’s domestic debt stood at 88 per cent while the ratio of the foreign debt stood at 12 per cent.

Nwankwo said the appropriate ratio should be 60 per cent for domestic debt and 40 per cent for foreign debt, adding that the newly-approved Medium Term Debt Management Strategy would seek to achieve this ratio.

The DMO boss said the time of high borrowing from the domestic market had served its purpose, which included developing a market structure and culture for long-term savings and investment.

“The delisting of Nigeria from the JP Morgan index watch has further heightened the fear of currency devaluation, import restriction and inflation,” Nwaobia also said.

Speaking specifically on the performance of the 2015 budget, the permanent secretary explained that N3.45tn was budgeted for 2015 out of which capital appropriation was N557bn.

She said of this amount, N194.49bn has been released as of September 15, representing 34.89 per cent of total releases.

Members of the House Committee expressed dissatisfaction with the ministry’s presentation, noting that it was “sketchy and lacked essential details.”

Chairman of the committee, Aliyu Patigi, said, “My own view of the presentation is that it is very sketchy and does not give a holistic view for full understanding of what the 2015 budget implementation is all about.

“We had expected you to provide vivid insights into the regime of import duty waiver, using explanatory notes to describe how and what was done and why.

“You have not done that and we can’t say for sure that the position you presented before us is the right one because each day companies keep declaring profits running into hundreds of billions and yet they are given incentives and waiver when sectors such as the textile industry has no such consideration for revival.”

He asked officials of the ministry to ensure that the details sought were provided during the next hearing slated for Tuesday, September 22.

He further said, “On domestic debt of N8.396tn, we are interested in knowing who the Federal Government is indebted to, what necessitated this huge amount of borrowing as well as how this money so borrowed was spent. We also want to know from when to when this debt accumulated and how this amount will be liquidated in both short and long terms,” Patigi said.

Don’t accept Fayose’s rams, Imams tell Muslims

The League of Imams and Alfas in Ekiti has ordered Muslims in the state not to collect rams and other food items for Sallah celebration, if presented to them in any form by the state government.

The League reached the decision at a meeting held on Tuesday at Ansar-u-Deen Society Central Mosque Odo-Otu, Ado Ekiti, where it reviewed the “deliberate marginalisation of Muslim members in Ekiti State Government’s political appointment.”

The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and National Council of Muslim Youth Organisation, Ekiti State, had respectively issued statements condemning Governor Ayodele Fayose for neglecting Muslims in appointments.

The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, had also described “Fayose’s treatment of Muslims in terms of appointment in the state” as “the worst since the state was created.”

The party claimed Ekiti Muslims were not given up to one per cent of the appointments made by Fayose’s administration.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the League said, “Based on the above, the League, Ekiti State Council, hereby resolved that no Muslim in the state should collect rams and other food items, if presented to them in any form by the government.”

The communiqué was signed by the state’s Assistant Secretary, League of Imams and Alfas, Alhaji Quadri Oguntuase; a Representative of Ansar-u-Deen Missioner, Fatai Jimoh and Chief Imam, Ilogbo, Imam Abdul Rasak.

It added, “Any Muslim that collects such rams or food items under any guise has taken Haram (Unlawful) and the punishment of the Almighty Allah awaits the person. (Quran 71 verse 28).”

“This order stands until the government accedes to our demands as earlier published.”

Fayose had distributed chickens and rice to indigenes during the last Christmas celebration in the state as part of his stomach infrastructure policy.