BusinessDay 14 Dec 2017

Thursday 14 December 2017
House of Reps orders FG
to pay debts owed NDDC
… calls for extra-statutory funding from partnerships
IGNATIUS CHUKWU
House of Representative
Committee
on Niger
Delta Development
Commission (NDDC)
has appealed to the Federal
Government to pay all outstanding
debts to the Commission
within a reasonable
time, an amount expected to
be over N900 billion.
Chairman of the Committee,
Nicholas Mutu,
made the appeal on Tuesday,
when he led his colleagues
to pay a courtesy visit
to the managing director
of the NDDC, Nsima Ekere,
at the Commission’s headquarters
in Port Harcourt.
Mutu told the NDDC
CEO, who received them
in the company of the executive
director of finance
and administration, Mene
Derek, and the executive
director of projects, Samuel
Adjogbe, that the Committee’s
visit was part of its oversight
function to inspect project
sites, look at the books of
the Commission and evaluate
its performance.
Mutu affirmed that the
Committee would support
the NDDC through regular
engagements, with a view to
enhancing the performance
of the Commission and improving
on its service delivery
to the people.
He re-stated the committee’s
displeasure with
the debts owed the NDDC
by the Federal Government
and other agencies that contribute
to its funding, calling
for a change of attitude.
He declared: “In future, we
expect that all statutory obligations
to the NDDC would
be paid as and when due.
The delay in the release of
funds has created a situation
whereby the Commission is
unable to meet its financial
obligations to contractors
and stakeholders.
He advised the NDDC to
set up a mechanism to lev-
BEN EGUZOZIE
Edo pensioners get N244m in October, as govt, BEDC strategise to light up state
Teachers
in
Edo State got
N1,108,476,358.72
for their October
salaries from the
N2,391,150,633 allocation
accrued to the local government
areas from the Federation
Account, while N244
million was used to pay pensioners,
the Joint Account
and Allocation Committee
(JAAC), says.
Besides, the Edo State
government has outlined
strategies to engage the Benin
Electricity Distribution
Company (BEDC) to ensure
stable electricity supply to
residents in the state.
Head, Local Government
Administration, Uhunmwode
Local Government
Area, (LGA), Anthony Osa
erage resources outside the
statutory sources of funds
by working out partnerships
and joint venture arrangements.
To address the challenge
of high rate of project abandonment
across the length
and breathe of the Niger
Delta, which according to
him was put at over 3,000,
the committee had directed
the NDDC to commence the
immediate audit of performing
and non-performing
projects.
He said: “This is with
a view to determine nonperforming
contracts and
give impetus to NDDC to
put in place a mechanism
that will help it to mitigate
the abandoned project syndrome
currently bedevilling
the region. Going forward,
the NDDC should award
contracts to only contractors
with capacity and focus
more on completing on-going
projects as an additional
measure to mitigate contract
failure and enhance value
added service to the Niger
Delta region.”
The Committee chairman
charged the NDDC
to commit 50 percent of its
funds to completing existing
projects while devoting
30 per cent to new projects.
“Other available funds
should be used to pay contractors
with outstanding Interim
Payment Certificates,
IPCs, to facilitate the completion
of existing projects,”
he said.
He called for an urgent
review and implementation
of the Niger Delta Regional
Development Master Plan
by allowing other stakeholders
to own the plan. He advised:
“This will make the
plan acceptable and widely
implemented by the states,
local governments, oil companies,
private sector and
civil society organisations,
as well as other development
partners working in
the Niger Delta.”
Kaduna Eboigbodin, disclosed
at the end of JAAC
meeting held at Government
House, in Benin City,
and presided over by the
state governor, Godwin
Obaseki.
Eboigbodin said the N2.4
billion allocations accrued
to the 18 local government
councils in the state from
the Federation Account for
the month of October 2017.
According to Eboigbodin,
of N2,391,150,633 total
allocation to the councils,
N1,108,476,358 was
set aside for the payment
of teachers’ salaries while
N244,087,081.04 was used
for payment of pension. He
added that the total allocation
distributed to the 18 local
government councils in
Afreximbank sees African economies move away from
commodities dependence as key in fight against poverty
the need for them to come
together, he noted.
Most African countries,
especially those in the Sub-
Saharan region, are grappling
with mounting poverty
due to dwindling economic
fortunes. Most of them have
huge foreign debts, of which
debt servicing now accounts
up to 50 per cent of their
gross domestic products
(GDP).
The International Monetary
Fund (IMF) warned
last month (November) that
debt servicing is becoming
more a burden; and that
such costs could absorb up
to 60 per cent of the coun-
African Export-
Import Bank
(Afreximbank),
Africa’s trade
banking institution,
says African countries
must move their economies
away from commodity dependence
in order to move
their people out of poverty.
President of Afreximbank,
Benedict Oramah,
said Tuesday in Sharm el
Sheikh, Egypt, that moving
away from commodity dependence
was key in fight
against poverty.
The challenge provides
a big lesson to Nigeria, Africa’s
biggest economy, but
is ironically hugely dependent
on whole export of crude
oil, accounting for about 94
percent of its revenue earnings.
The mid-2015 price
upturn in the commodity
has brought recession in the
country’s economy.
Oramah, speaking during
a panel discussion at the
Africa 2017 Forum, organised
in the Egyptian resort
city, said African countries
should, instead, implement
the diversification of their
economies and engage in
production and trade in
higher value goods, similar
to what the Asian nations
did, in order to move out of
poverty.
Nigeria under the present
Muhammadu Buhari administration
has embarked
on an Economic Recovery
and Growth Plan (ERGP),
among other policies aimed
at diversifying its oil-soaked
economy, which has been in
recession since 2016, due to
plummeted international oil
prices.
The Afreximbank boss
warned that if Africa failed
to move in that direction, the
countries would fall deeper
and deeper into poverty.
According to Oramah,
Africa should not depend
on aid and grants for its development,
as there is no
the state is 732,850,981.56.
He said other decisions
reached at the meeting as
directed by the Governor
Obaseki was to ensure stable
power supply in the state.
He said a committee to be
chaired by the 18 commissioners,
assisted by Heads
of Local Government Administrations
and officials of
BEDC was set up to see to the
improvement in electricity
supply across the state.
The three intervention
areas include communities
that have infrastructure for
power supply; those with
deficient power equipment,
which will be fixed and others,
who are not connected
to the national grid, may
have to wait till after the
Christmas celebrations.
record of any country having
achieved development on
the basis of aid and grant.
In the alternative, African
countries should wean
themselves from that mindset,
and should make sure
that their development projects
were bankable in order
to attract the necessary capital,
he said.
He stressed the need for
the continent to come together
under the Continental
Free Trade Area (CFTA),
saying the evidence was
that continents that traded
within themselves developed
faster. African markets
are too fragmented, hence
IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, BENIN City
Petroleum and Natural
Gas Senior Staff
Association of Nigeria
(PENGASSAN)
on Wednesday said the
establishment of modular
refineries would boost economic
development and
availability of petroleum
products in Nigeria.
Festus Osifoh, chairman
of the union, made the observation
during the PEN-
GASSAN Producers Forum
retreat in Benin City with the
theme, ‘Strategic and Information
Based Leadership,
panacea for effective trade
unionism.’
According to Osifoh,
when citizens are allowed to
own and operate their pri-
C002D5556
tries’ government revenues.
Public debt rose above 50
per cent of GDP in 22 sub-
Saharan African countries
by the end of 2016, according
to IMF figures. Worst hit are
the continent’s oil producing
countries of Nigeria, Angola,
Gabon, among others.
The Afreximbank president
said the continent must
leverage on its strengths,
which included its large
and youthful population, its
huge resource base, and the
availability of abundant labour,
which could be tapped
by focusing on labour intensive
industries and engaging
in light manufacturing.
‘Modular refineries will boost development, availability of products’
vate refineries, it will create
more job opportunities for
Nigerians, boost economic
development as well as supply
of petroleum products in
the country.
“We cannot be threatened
if the Federal Government
give licences to private
individuals to operate
modular refineries because
it will create more jobs in
the oil and gas industries.
PENGASSAN today has over
20,000 members and we
want more members.
“So, if they give the licence
to operate the modular
refineries, at the end, who
are they going to employ?
It is going to be your brothers
and mine. At the end of
the day, these people, they
will either be members of
BUSINESS DAY
37
NEWS
… lessons for Nigeria’s oil dependence
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (l), exchanging pleasantries with Adam Nuru, managing director
First City Monument Bank (FCMB), during the commissioning ceremony of Petrolex Oil and
Gas Limited’s 300 million-litre capacity tank farm financed by FCMB, at Ibefun, Ogun state.
PENGASSAN or NUPENG.
So, for us, anything that will
open up the space, we are in
support of it,” he said.
While expressing worry
over the scarcity of the current
fuel scarcity in the country,
he noted that modalities
had been put in place to ease
its scarcity.
Osifoh, who noted that
there were so many factors
responsible for the scarcity
of fuel, assured that they
were currently on top of the
issue as far as PENGASSAN
was concerned.
“We are interested in the
welfare of Nigerians. So, currently,
I think that both the
government and the union,
are all collaborating to ensure
that we have a smooth
Yuletide.