Boko Haram: Reject abortion option for 214 rescued pregnant women, group urges FG

The Director-General, Project for Human Development (PHD), Mr Jerry Okwuosa, on Friday urged the Federal Government to declare the plight of rescued pregnant women a national emergency.

Okwuosa, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said the government should also reject the proposed abortion option.

The PHD director-general was reacting to the abortion option by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Xenophobic Attack: FG begins evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa on Monday

As the Xenophobic attack on foreigners including Nigerians continues unabated in South Africa, the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria has stated that evacuation of Nigerians in the hostile country will begin on Monday, 20th April.

The development is a fall out of the xenophobic attacks being meted out by South Africans against other African nationals in their country, including Nigerians.

The statement said that Nigerians who feel endangered, and do not have the fare back home to quickly make themselves available for evacuation.

FG denies Boko Haram’s abduction of 500 children

Nigeria's government has denied that militant Islamist group Boko Haram abducted 500 children from the north-eastern town of Damasak.

I t would be recalled that a former resident said on Tuesday that the militants had taken away about 500 boys when they fled the town earlier this month.

Government spokesman, Mike Omeri said the number was lower, but he could not say exactly how many had been seized.

Regional forces had recaptured Damasak, a trading town, earlier in March.

Jonathan offers164 ex-corps FG’s employment, scholarships

President Goodluck Jonathan has announced automatic employments and scholarships for post-graduate studies for 164 former members of the National Youth Service Corps.

Jonathan made the announcement at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday, during the 2014 President’s NYSC Honours Award and the flag off of the NYSC Hope Alive Programme aimed at helping corps members who suffer permanent disabilities during their service.

Jonathan will not sack Jega but if… – FG

The Minister of Culture and Tourism and the Supervising Minister of Information, Chief Edem Duke, has debunked the rumour making rounds that President Jonathan has an agenda to sack the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, illegally.

The Minister spoke during his maiden meeting with information correspondents at Radio House, Abuja, adding however, that ‘’this is not to say that, if it is time for INEC chairman to naturally exit his office, then the natural course of public service rule will not take place when he has reached age of retirement or exhausted his tenure.”

No bird flu in Obasanjo Farms— FG

The Federal Government has denounced media reports that bird flu attacked Obasanjo’s farm in Otta, Ogun State.  

In a press statement made available to Mega StarNews, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture described the publication in a national daily, as false noting that the write-up, captioned “Bird flu hits Obasanjo’s Otta farm,” has since been found to be a false alarm, misleading assertion and an attempt to exaggerate the bird flu outbreaks within the nation to set off undue panic.

FG orders $100,000 fine on aircraft for air-traffic violations

The Federal Government on Tuesday ordered aviation regulators to impose a civil penalty of 100,000 U.S. dollars on any aircraft engaged in air-traffic violations.

The Minister of Aviation, Mr Osita Chidoka, made this known when the committee on foreign registered, privately owned aircraft operations that was set up following the allegations of unauthorised operations by some operators, presented their reports to him in Abuja.

At N87 per litre, FG still subsidises petrol – PPPRA

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) on Friday said that Federal Government was still subsidising the current pump price of petrol at N87 per litre.

This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja by PPPRA spokesman, Mr lanre Oladele.

The statement said that the Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Mr Farouk Ahmed, gave the clarification.

Re-denominate currencies into coins to increase bargaining power, FG urged

The Director-General, Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr Muda Yusuf, has urged the Federal Government to re-denominate N5, N10 and N20 into coins to increase their bargaining power.

Yusuf said that the re-denomination would also prevent the coin from going into extinction.

According to him, apart from the re-denomination, the government should embark on campaign to re-orientate Nigerians on the benefits of coins.

Capital market operators urge FG to appoint professional as Oteh's replacement

Some capital market operators have urged the Federal Government to appoint a seasoned stock market operator as a replacement to Ms Arunma Oteh, as the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

According to them, the appointment of an experienced capital market operator would facilitate sustained wooing of local investors into the market.

FG replaces 48 damaged steel columns on Eko Bridge to prevent collapse

One of the damaged stell columns on Eko Bridge

Julius Berger Construction Company have replaced all the 48 steel columns of the Eko Bridge damaged by fire in 2008 to prevent collapse of the bridge, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Mr Godwin Eke, has said.

Eke said the columns were installed on a span damaged by fire in 2008 to make the bridge stable pending complete rehabilitation of the bridge.

2015 budget: FG maintains 65 dollars oil price, introduces charges on luxury goods

Okonjo Iweala presenting the budget

Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, said Federal Government would continue with the proposed 65 dollars oil benchmark for the 2015 budget in spite of volatility in the global oil price.

Okonjo-Iweala disclosed this at the public presentation of the 2015 budget on Wednesday in Abuja.

``We have put the following benchmarks, which are operated in the 2015 budget; oil production remains at 2.27 million barrel per day, as I said, benchmark oil price at 65 dollars per barrel.

``We are using an exchange rate of N165 to the dollar and we are projecting a fiscal deficit N755 billion or 0.79 per cent of Gross Domestic product (GDP).

``And we are keeping domestic borrowing at a downward trend, the same as last year at about N570 billion which is comparable to the N572 billion for 2014,’’ she said.

According to her, GDP growth is projected at 5.5 per cent as also projected by the National Bureau of Statistics.

FG explains challenges in 2014 budgets

The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Wednesday named oil pipeline vandalism as one of the challenges in the achievements of revenue projections for 2014 budget.

Okonjo-Iweala, who said this during the Public Presentation of the 2015 Federal Budget in Abuja, said the resulting shorting in oil was also one of the key challenges.

According to her, ``we faced a quantity shock in the sense that the oil produced averaged about 2.2 billion barrels per day in the first three quarters of 2014''.

She said the figure fell short of the 2.28 million barrel projected in the budget and the effect was compounded further by the more recent fall in price.

FG to commercialise federal housing estates

The Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs Akon Eyakenyi on Friday, inaugurated Interim Management Team and Technical Board of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA).

Eyakenyi, at the Inauguration, gave the 18- man team 18 months to ensure the restructuring of the FHA.

The minister, who would co-chair the team with Managing Director of FHA, said it would work out modalities to ensure the delivery of affordable and quality houses to Nigerians.

She said the board would also work towards the commercialisation of FHA by putting in place an effective monitoring and feedback mechanism to meet its targets.

Austerity Measure: FG to sack 60,000 ‘Ghost Workers’

As part of the austerity measures aimed at cushioning the effect of dwindling oil revenue accruing to the government as result of the fall in oil price in the international market, Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that the Federal Government would weed out 60,000 “ghost workers” from the payroll.

Okonjo-Iweala said the government would save N160 billion naira by weeding out the 60,000 “ghost workers” from the payroll, although she did not give a time frame.

She also said that a significant portion of the billions of dollars draingnificant portion of the billions of dollars drained from the oil savings account over the past two years was distributed to powerful governors instead of being saved for a rainy day.

Reuters reports that Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, is grappling with financial difficulties owing to a 30 percent fall in the price of oil since June, which has added pressure on the government’s already depleted fiscal buffers.

Frozen chicken importation might bring back Ebola, FG warns

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has warned Nigerians involved in the smuggling frozen chicken to desist from doing so as it could bring back the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD.

The warning was contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the Federal Department of Animal Production and Husbandry Services.

The department noted that poultry products had continued to find their way into local markets through several land borders despite the ban on such products.

It quoted the USAID Agricultural Information Network as reporting that 90 per cent of frozen chicken come in through Benin Republic and other West African countries.

Drop in oil price: Sagay, Farounbi urge FG to tackle corruption, diversify economy

A constitutional lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), on Monday advised the Federal Government to tackle corruption and increase productivity in the non-oil sectors of the nation’s economy.

Sagay gave the advice in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

The government had on Sunday announced the introduction of austerity measures to address the global fall in the price of crude oil.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, said the measures would see Nigerians paying taxes on luxury goods.

Sagay, however, said that the oil glut could be a blessing in disguise for Nigeria.

He said that the country must stop its dependence on oil as the major source of its revenue and diversify into other sectors.

"Nigeria is blessed with abundant resources and not just the oil from the Niger-Delta region. But we have become very lazy and have been depending on oil revenue for many years now.

"In the first Republic, the regions were very productive. They developed their own resources and even paid money into the coffers of the Federal Government.

"But today, all the states queue up to collect allocations from Abuja, which is not good for our economy," Sagay said.

He said that the government should demonstrate the political will to end corruption and wasteful expenditure in the public sector.

According to him, these issues must be addressed due to the impending harsh economic realities being faced by the country.

 Mr Yinka Farounbi, Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, also called for the diversification of the economy.

"We have been saying this all along that our dependence on crude oil as the mainstay of our economy should be minimal.

"There are other natural resources that can enhance the country’s internally generated revenue.

``Agriculture is also there but we have not been able to tap into these sectors because everybody is concentrating on crude oil," he said.

The NBA chairman expressed fear that the impending structural adjustment would increase the rate of poverty in the country.

"The impending structural adjustment will further plunge the citizens of the country into poverty. It will make them to become poorer," he said.

Activist urges FG to deploy soldiers to public schools nationwide

Hajiya Ladi Abubakar, a woman activist in Sokoto State, on Friday advised the Federal Government to deploy soldiers to public schools in the country.

Abubakar told newsmen in Sokoto that the deployment of well- equipped soldiers would go a long way in stopping insurgents from disrupting academic activities in public schools.

She said that the measure would enable school authorities to work together with the security officers to ensure steady academic activities.

She said that the case of the recent bomb blast at a Yobe school and Federal College of Education, Kontagora, Niger State, could have been prevented if adequate security measures were taken.

The activist also called on the management of secondary schools and tertiary institutions in the country to raise awareness on how to effectively tackle any security threat.

Abubakar also called on Nigerians to be security conscious and to promptly report to security agencies any suspicious activity in their immediate environments, saying such measures would go a long way in helping to tackle the security challenges in the country.