24092020 - BLACK WEDNESDAY: 30 killed in Kogi petrol tanker explosion

Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 — 7
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FEC approves $1.96bn rail contract
from Kano to Niger Republic
By Johnbosco
Agbakwuru
ABUJA---THE Federal
Executive Council,
FEC, yesterday approved
about $1.96 billion for the
award of contract for the development
of the proposed
Kano-Jigawa-Katsina-Jibia
to Maradi rail line in Niger
Republic.
The Council also approved
the sum of N745.2 million for
the procurement of additional
eight Field Forensic Auditors
for the forensic audit of
the Niger Delta Development
Commission, NDDC and another
N12.088 billion Umuahia/Bende/Ohafia
road with a
distance of 45 kilometres.
The approval was disclosed
by the Ministers of Transportation,
Rotimi Amechi, Works
and Housing, Babatunde
Fashola, Niger Delta Affairs,
Senator Godswill Akpabio
and Information and Culture,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while
briefing State House correspondents
at the end of the
FEC virtual meeting presided
over by President Muhammadu
Buhari at the Council
Chamber, Presidential Villa,
Abuja. Briefing on the rail
project, the Minister of Transportation,
Rotimi Amaechi,
said his ministry presented two
memoranda that were approved
by the council.
He said: “Two memos for
the Ministry of Transportation
were approved by the
council. The first one is the
award of contract for the design,
manufacture, supply,
testing and commissioning of
one railway crane of 150 ton
capacity for emergency and
recovery of rolling stocks.
“This is to sort out situations
of accident on the track. It is
for a total cost of
N3,049,544,000. That's the
first memo that was approved
for the Ministry of Transportation.
“The second one is the
award of contract for the development
of the proposed
Kano-Katsina-Jibia to Maradi
rail line in Niger Republic
and to Dutse, the capital of
Jigawa, for a total cost of
$1,959,744,723.71, inclusive
of 7.5 per cent VAT.”
It was gathered that the proposed
rail line from Kano in
Nigeria to Maradi in Niger
Republic is to cover a track
length of 248 kilometres and
will pass through seven senatorial
districts in the North.
The rail contract which was
initially budgeted for the 2018
Appropriation will connect at
least seven cities in Nigeria
and one city in Niger Republic
and is expected to start
from Kano and pass through
Dambatta, Kazaure, Daura,
Mashi, Katsina, Jibia and terminate
in Maradi, Niger Republic.
It will connect about three
states of Jigawa, Kano and
Katsina and when completed,
would assist in the supply of
crude oil from Niger Republic
to the refinery being built
in the border town between
both countries.
The border town is close to
Katsina State and a mutual
agreement for the construction
of the refinery was some
time ago reached between
Nigeria and Niger Republic.
Also briefing, the Minister
of Information and Culture,
Alhaji Mohammed, who
briefed on behalf of the Minister
of Finance, Budget and
National Planning, Dr. Zainab
Ahmed, said Council approved
the procurement of
1,800 units of laptop computers
for training schools and
computer-based test examinations
at three Nigeria Customs
training schools.
He said: “On behalf of the
Minister of Finance, Budget
and National Planning, I want
to report also that she got two
of her memos approved. One
is for the procurement of 1,800
units of laptop computers for
training school and computer-based
test examinations at
three Nigeria Customs Service
training schools in Gwagwalada,
Lagos and Kano for
a sum of N351,540,000, with
a completion period of six
weeks.
“The major advantage of
this particular contract is that
it saves the department a lot
of money in hiring consultants
for training and other services.
“The Minister also got another
approval for
N197,843,100 for the expansion
of the Nigeria Customs
Service's cash management's
software in compliance with
International Public Sector
Accounting Standards (IP-
SAS). This is also going to
enhance the efficiency of the
Department of Customs.”
Also briefing on behalf of
the Minister of State, Petroleum
Resources, Timipre Sylva,
Alhaji Mohammed said:
“Finally, on behalf of the
Minister of State for Petroleum
Resources, a memo was
presented, yesterday, asking
for approval for the augmentation
of the contract for the
construction of Petroleum
Technology Development
Fund corporate headquarters
office in Abuja, for the sum of
N3,773,784,399.48, therefore
raising the initial approval for
the contract to about N14 billion.
“However, the important
thing about this particular
contract is that the building
has since been completed, it
has since been in use and we
inherited this augmentation
from 2012, but since governance
is a continuum, we are
honouring the augmentation,
but this headquarters building
has been completed, the
contractors have been magnanimous.
Buhari greets Elumelu, as he makes list of
Time's 100 most influential people worldwide
By Johnbosco
Agbakwuru
LAGOS — TIME has
named Chairman of
United Bank for Africa, UBA,
Mr Tony Elumelu, in the list
of the 100 most influential
people in the world on its annual
list. He was listed alongside
two other Nigerians, including
Tomi Adeyemi and
Tunji Funsho.
The list, which is now in its
seventeenth year, recognises
the activism, innovation, and
achievement of the world's
most influential individuals.
Elumelu, who is one of the
only four Africans on the 2020
list, is recognised for his track
record of business turnaround,
value creation and
economic empowerment of
young Africans.
He is the Founder and
Chairman of Heirs Holdings,
his family owned investment
company, committed
to improving lives and transforming
Africa, through longterm
investments in strategic
sectors of the African economy,
including financial services,
hospitality, power, energy
and healthcare.
He is also the chairman of
UBA which operates in 20
countries in Africa, the United
Kingdom, France, and
is the only African bank with
a commercial deposit taking
licence in the United States.
Elumelu also chairs Nigeria’s
largest quoted conglomerate,
Transcorp, whose subsidiaries
include Transcorp
Power, one of the leading generators
of electricity in Nigeria
and Transcorp Hotels Plc,
Nigeria’s foremost hospitality
brand.
He is the most prominent
champion of entrepreneurship
in Africa, having in 2010
created The Tony Elumelu
Foundation (TEF), the philanthropy
empowering a new
generation of African entrepreneurs,
catalysing economic
growth, driving poverty
eradication and ensuring
job creation across all 54 African
countries.
Since inception, the Foundation
has funded about
FIDAU
PRAYER:
Kaduna State
Governor , Mal
Nasir el-Rufai
(left), in a chat
with former
president Olusegun
Obasanjo,
during the 3-
Day Fida'u
prayer for the
late Sarkin
Zazzau, Alh.
Shehu Idris,
held at the
Emir of Zazzau's
palace in
Zaria, Kaduna
State, yesterday.
10,000 entrepreneurs and created
a digital ecosystem of
over one million as part of its
ten year, US$100m commitment
through the TEF Entrepreneurship
Programme.
Self-funded, the Foundation
is increasingly sharing its
unique ability to identify, train,
mentor and fund young entrepreneurs
across Africa, with
institutions such as the UNDP,
the ICRC and leading European
development agencies.
Buhari congratulates Tony
Elumelu on being named 100
most influential people of
2020
Congratulating Elumelu in
a statement by his spokesman,
Femi Adesina, yesterday, President
Muhammadu Buhari
commended his vision of Africapitalism,
which espouses
that Africa’s private sector
must play a leading role in the
continent’s development
through long-term investments,
entrepreneurship, and
regional connectivity. The
President added that it was
just a matter of time before
such caught global attention.
We need stringent laws to
punish road traffic offenders
--- Justice Dongban-Mensem
By Chris Ochayi
ABUJA — President of the
Court of Appeal, Justice
Monica Dongban-Mensem,
yesterday, disclosed that the
laws against traffic offenders
in the country were not stringent
enough.
Justice Dongban-Mensem,
who made the observation
during the 9th annual road
safety conference and FRSC/
KRSD easy competition
award 2020, held at ICT hall
of Federal Road Safety Corps,
FRSC, headquarters in Abuja,
noted that the absence of
severe punishment was responsible
for the reckless and
dangerous driving that often
result in death or injury.
Justice Dongban-Mensem
spoke at the event to mark the
10th memorial of the passing
of her son, Prince
Kwapda’as Rangna’an Samson
Dongban, who was killed
by unknown motorist in Jos,
Plateau State and in whose
memory the Kwapda’as Road
Safety Demand, KRSD Foundation
was established.
She said: “We have set aside
this day for annual conference
to remember him and several
others who have departed this
world in similar circumstance
and place at the front burner
of public discourse the unabating
road crash incidences
in our country.
“It’s my conviction that the
penalties currently listed in
our laws are no longer as
COVID-19: FG denies ordering
arrest of passport seekers at
Embassy in Switzerland
By Victoria Ojeme
THE Federal government,
yesterday, dismissed
insinuations that it ordered
arrest of passport seekers at
the country's embassy in
Switzerland over breach of
COVID-19 protocols.
Government's reaction came
against the backdrop of a
widely-circulated social
media video alleging that
embassy officials used the
police to arrest Nigerian
citizens at the embassy
premises in Bern.
A statement by Abdur-Rahman
Balogun, head, media
and public relations unit of the
Nigerians in Diaspora Commission,
NIDCOM, said: "In
view of the video circulating
on social media alleging that
the Nigerian mission in Switzerland
invited police to arrest
Nigerians who were at the
Nigerian Embassy in Switzerland
to procure their passports,
it is imperative to state
the facts of the matter and put
the incident into the proper
and true perspective.
"In line with COVID-19
protocols, the Embassy in
Bern, Switzerland is only allowed
to attend to 10 applicants,
however, the Mission
worked out a program that
made it possible to attend to a
maximum of 20 daily, spacing
out the appointments.
"But on this day, 64 Nigerians
besieged the Nigerian
mission in Bern. It turned out
that only 10 of them were on
scheduled appointment . So
54 of them had no appointment
for that day. That apart,
they had not made the mandatory
online payment and
stringent as they were when
first enacted. On the contrary,
the grievous acts of over
speeding, reckless or dangerous
driving often result in
death or injury. It appears as
though, drivers found guilty
of road offences are given a
proverbial slap on the wrist
“We shall continually embark
on fresh initiatives so as
to change this anomaly. Now,
we are in the process of sponsoring
a Bill in National Assembly.
The Bill is entitled:
‘Proposal to the National Assembly
for the amendment
and addition of some Sections
to the Federal Road Safety
Commission Act 2007’.
“This amendment seeks to
impose stringent penalties
that are meted to traffic offenders.
This should ensure that
errant drivers are effectively
precluded from reckless behaviour
on our roads or otherwise
adequately punished
for it. The idea is to implore
deterrence.
“Also, we are reviewing the
provisions on Third Party
Motor Insurance Policy. In
Nigeria, third party insurance
is compulsory under the Motor
Vehicle (Third Party) Insurance
Act 1950. “It is one of
the six compulsory classes of
insurance under the laws of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
However, this policy stops
at coercing motorists to buy
the stickers. Motorists pay the
annual premium of N5,000
and it stops there."
majority of the applicants
came from Italy and Spain
without any appointment
whatsoever and without any
payments made on line..
"The Embassy only reopened
after Covid-19 pandemic lockdown
in July and were restricted
to attending to a limited
number as stipulated by the
country’s COVID-19 protocol.
"Ambassador to Switzerland,
Amb. Baba Madugu,
was addressing them and appealing
to them to respect the
Covid-19 rules in place and
also follow due process, they
barged in through the front
door and overcrowded a hall
that was meant to receive only
10 people at a time. "The mission
did not call the Police as
erroneously stated in the video
but invited the Embassy
Protection Unit to bring calm
and decorum back to the hall."
"The men of the Embassy
protection unit addressed
them, looked through the appointment
list and advised
those not on appointment and
those who had not made their
payments on line to calm
down, while they were given
phone numbers and e- mail to
access, book an appointment and
make their on line payments
"Those on appointment and
those who had made their online
payments were attended to, while
others were advised to follow the
due process, with an assurance
that everyone will be attended to
as long as the rules were abided
by.
"The affected Nigerians left the
hall peacefully only to the surprise
of Swiss officers of the Embassy
protection unit and the
mission, some of them recorded a
video which definitely misrepresented
the true scenario.