25112020 - Selfish Northerners opposing restructuring, says el-Rufai

12 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020
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KICKSTART—From left: PS, Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs. Boladele Dapo-
Thomas; MD, International Breweries, Hugo Rochas; Representative of the Vice President, Minister of State for
Labour and Employment; Festus Keyamo, SAN, represented by his Senior Special Assistant on Skill Acquisition
and Entrepreneurship, Dr. Osagie Nurudeen; Chairman, Advisory Board, International Breweries Plc., Peter
Bankole, and Legal & Corporate Affairs Director, International Breweries Plc., Mrs. Temitope Oguntokun, during
the 5th International Breweries Plc. Kickstart Entrepreneurship Summit, held in Lagos.
NAIRA: Basing devaluation on parallel
market rate wrong —CBN
•Says parallel used for corruption purposes
•Retains MPR at 11.5 %
•Gives N1 trn to corporate orgasnisations over COVID-19
•N149 b to targeted households, SMEs
Emma Ujah, Abuja
Bureau Chief
ABUJA—THOSE using
parallel market rate to
put pressure on the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
to devalue the Naira won't
have their way.
The CBN Governor, Mr.
Godwin Emefiele gave this
indication at the end of the
last 2020 Monetary Policy
Committee (MPC) meeting,
in Abuja, yesterday.
He said "It is unfair that
even analysts who should
know are using parallel market
rate to say that our currency
is overvalued and
therefore calling for devaluation.
This is very unfortunate.
"The parallel market is a
shallow market of only
about 5 per cent of the foreign
exchange market
which is patronized by people
who go there for cash to
offer bribes and corruption.
Parallel market is the place
where people who don't
want to provide documents
go.
"I don't see why those
who should know are asking
for devaluation. We
don't agree that the determination
of the foreign exchange
should be based on
a market that is tainted. We
will not use this as our
benchmark to determine
the value of our currency.
"At the E& I (Import& Export)
Window, the rate is
about N386 or N387 / $1.
We don't control the I & E
window. Why will anyone
use the parallel market to
say that the exchange rate
is over N480/$1?"
According to the governor,
the Naira had already
been devalued by about 28
per cent this year, just like
many other currencies of
the world.
COVID-19:
149bn to 317
beneficiaries
Governor Emefiele disclosed
that about N149 billion
had been given to 317
beneficiaries of the COVID-
19 Fund, consisting of Targeted
Households, as well as,
Small and Medium Enterprises
(SMEs).
He said that the organization
was encouraged to increase
funding beyond the
initial N50 billion due to the
positive impact it had on the
Nigerian economy by boosting
outputs and consumption.
According to him, another
N92 billion was given to operators
under the Agri-business/Small
and Medium Enterprises
Investment Scheme
(AGSMEIS) and another
N60 billion to healthcare sector
players, in the battle to
contain the COVID-19 pandemic
and improve the nation's
health sector.
Similarly, Mr. Emediele disclosed
that about N2. 9 billion
of the Creative Industry
Initiative Fund has been disbursed
among operators in
the fashion, music and Information,
Communication
Technology and the movie
industries.
According to the CBN boss,
"the various funds have been
"quite impactful" adding,
these have been helpful in
moderating the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic in the
country."
An elated Mr. Emefiele
said that the various funds
disbursements would be
done in such a way that all
regions of the country would
benefit from the interventions.
"We have insisted that it
should be done in such a way
that it will go round all the
zones. This will boost consumption
and ensure output
is impacted for the good
of our people."
On the current recession,
the governor said, "We are
somewhat cautiously optimistic
that with the record of
performance of various sectors,
in the first quarter of
2021, we will exit the recession."
According to the CBN
By Davies
Iheamnachor
PORT HARCOURT—
GOVERNORS and people
of the South-South Geopolitical
zone have demanded
for restructuring in line
with the principle of true federalism,
to guarantee peace,
security and stability of the
nation.
The leaders and governors
of the region during a meeting
with FG in Port Harcourt
yesterday, noted that the country
is not at peace with itself
and not working as it should,
stating that the people of
South-South region are not
attended to.
Speaking, Chairman of the
South-South Governors Forum
and Governor of Delta
State, Senator Ifeanyi
Okowa while disclosing the
position of the zone during the
regional stakeholders meeting
with presidential delegation
led by the Chief of Staff
to the President, Ambassador
Ibrahim Gambari, at the
Government House, Port
Harcourt on Tuesday, called
for restructuring of the nation
and true federalism.
Okowa said: "True federalism
guided by the principle
of derivation, revenue sharing
and control of resources
by each State of the federation
as it was the case in the
boss, the external reserves
position, stood at US$35.18
billion as at November 19,
2020 compared with
US$35.95 billion at end of
September 2020, as crude
oil prices continue to fluctuate
with downward pressure.
The CBN retained
Monetary policy
Rate (MPR) at
11.5%
It also retained all other
parameters with Cash Reserve
Ratio and Liquidity
Ratio at 27.5 per cent and
30 per cent respectively.
Consequently, the MPC
retained the asymmetric
corridor of +100/-700 basis
points around the MPR.
Dikio vows to stop corruption
in PAP, assures contractors
of payment
By Davies
Iheamnachor
PORT HARCOURT—
THE Interim Administrator,
Presidential Amnesty
Programme, PAP, Col. Milland
Dixon Dikio (retd) has
vowed to stamp out corruption
in the Presidential Amnesty
Programme.
The amnesty coordinator
also clarified that the scheme
owed contractors about
N71.4 billion, noting that the
office would pay based on
their contractual agreement.
Dikio, yesterday said the
figure was based on the report
of an investigative committee
set up by the Presidency
to probe the past activities
of the programme.
He said that the office was
resolved to digitalise the
operations of the amnesty
programme, adding that
such would make it more
transparent to reduce incidences
of corruption.
Dikio noted that in line
with the standard set by the
United Nations, that the
amnesty office must be reorganised
for optimum performance,
adding that he
would restructure the office
to run on a lean and efficient
workforce in line with
international standard recommended
for such programmes.
The amnesty boss said:
"There are many complaints
that I think are process-driven.
For instance
we want to digitalise our
operations and create a system
in which there will be
transparent transactions. If
we do that very well it will
first republic."
He said the kind of federation
the South-South geopolitical
desires, is one where
federating units are constitutionally
empowered to create
their own structures like Local
Government Areas, manage
their elections and control
their judiciary.
He said: "We are all aware
of the huge endowment of this
country. As such, it is imperative
to stress that with a little
bit of efforts, imagination,
hard work, sacrifice and leadership,
every state of the Federation
as of today, has the
ability and capability to contribute
to the national purse.
This should be encouraged
rather than the whole country
depending substantially on a
region of the country.
"What is worse and even
more painful in this ugly situation
is the deliberate lack of
understanding, empathy and
the uncompromising attitudes
of some Nigerians, who
have refused to understand the
challenges of the South-South
region of the country especially,
the degradation of the environment
and our waters. As
a result, most of the demands
of the region have remained
unattended to while the resources
of the region have been
used continually to develop
other parts of the country."
The governors reiterated the
call for the relocation of the
headquarters of major oil
companies, NNPC subsidiaries
from Lagos and Abuja to
the South-South region, requesting
immediate implementation
of the consent judgment
entered in the Supreme
Court Suit No: SC/964/2016
to enable the South-South region
get its share of $55billion
shortfall of collection on
deep offshore and inland basin
production sharing contracts.
The governors further
called for the reconstruction
and rehabilitation of the region's
major seaports in Port
Harcourt, Calabar, Warri in
order to enhance the economic
development of the South-
South region, regretting that
they demanded that the two
refineries in Port Harcourt and
one in Warri which have continued
to bleed the country's
resources in the name of turn
around maintenance, should
be privatised.
On the issues of Niger Delta
Development Commission,
NDDC, Okowa observed that
one of the major failures of
the intervention agency was
its refusal to forge and foster
synergy, consultation and cooperation
with the state governments
especially, on
project location, development
and execution.
He said: "We have resolved
and we, as the State governments
will no longer allow
NDDC to execute any project
(s) in any state of the region
without it consulting State
governments. Frankly,
enough is enough and we
reduce the incidences of corruption".
"I am very conversant with
how the UN runs its DDR
programme. The amnesty
office has become a place for
tenured appointment. That
is far from how to operate a
programme like this.
"I intend to reorganise the
place with the blessings of
my superiors to create lean
and efficient machinery so
that we can drive each phase
of the programme with the
requisite qualified staff, so
that we can deliver set targets
on time.
He noted that the office
owed N71.4bn to contractors,
saying: "The investigation
committee established
that contractors
were owed about N71.4bn
and that is way above our
yearly budget of N65bn.
On our part what we are
committed in doing is to
ensure prudent allocation
of funds in need-driven
line of expenditure.
"I want to also say that
apart from the verification
done by the investigation
committee, we had also
completed a reconciliation
of those figures before I
went on tour, so when I
come back we are going
to start payment after a review
of our records. We
want to assure our contractors
that their payment
will be based soly on their
terms of contract."
He further said the office
could only pay for benefits
captured in the books,
stating that the school fees
and other allowances of
most of the scholarship beneficiaries
under the scheme
had been paid.‘‘
N-Delta leaders demand restructuring as panacea
for peace
have a court judgment to back
our position."
However, the Chief of Staff
to the President, Ambassador
Ibrahim Gambari, said the
stakeholders meeting was at
the instance of President Muhammadu
Buhari, to the presidential
delegation comprising
of all the Ministers from
the region to visit and consult
with representatives of the
people regarding the recent
EndSARS protest.
Gambari, noted that reports
indicated that there were instances
where breakdown of
law and order was reported
across various locations in the
South-South states, commending,
the governors of the
South-South States for their
quick response and actions in
addressing the EndSARS crisis
Ġambari said the President
acknowledged that citizens
have also been dealing with
other concerns that are particular
to the region such as
the degradation of environment
due to decades of mishandling
and adherence to environmental
standards, promising
to convey the demands
of the region to the President
Meanwhile, the Deputy President
of the Senate, Obarisi
Ovie Omo-Agege, urged the
leaders of the region to avail
themselves of the ongoing review
of the 1999 Constitution
by the National Assembly
since most of the issues contained
in their demands are
constitutional matters.