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Friday, 20 October 2023 06:08

FIRS Rules Out Plans for Tax Increase

The FIRS has stated that there are no intentions to further increase taxes.


In a statement by Dare Adekanmbi, the Media and Communication representative of FIRS, the Acting Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, made this disclosure on Thursday.

Addressing prominent tax-paying companies in Nigeria, Adedeji assured them that the government has no plans to raise taxes, despite its efforts to increase the tax-to-GDP ratio from 10.86% to 18%.

“As a revenue-generating agency, our focus is not to introduce any new taxes but to enhance compliance through the use of data,” he said.

Adedeji further added, “Our strategy is simple: we aim to boost tax revenue by taxing prosperity, not poverty. Therefore, it is not our intention to destroy the very source of wealth creation.”

In the ongoing appeal of the petitions filed by Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and Chichi Ojei, Nigeria’s Supreme Court has formed a panel of seven justices to preside over the case.


The three candidates, who represent the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) respectively, are contesting the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.

The court notices, signed by Zainab M. Garba from the registrar’s office, state that, as per Order 2 Rule 1 (2) of the Supreme Court’s Rules 1985, the notice is considered duly served on all parties involved.

According to the notice, the list of justices on the panel includes Musa Dattijo Muhammad, Uwani Musa Abba Aji, Lawal Garba, Helen M. Ogunwumiju, I.N. Saulawa, Tijjani Abubakar, and Emmanuel Agim.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for Monday, October 23, regarding Atiku’s motion to present new evidence demonstrating that President Bola Tinubu submitted a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Friday, 20 October 2023 05:52

NNPCL Addresses Concerns of Fuel Scarcity

There have been concerns about fuel scarcity in certain areas of Nigeria, but the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has reassured the public that there is no need to worry.


In a statement released by the company’s retail subsidiary and posted on its official X handle on Thursday, NNPCL attributed the appearance of queues in Lagos and some parts of the Federal Capital Territory to reduced depot loadout in Apapa, Lagos over the past few days.

However, NNPCL has taken steps to address the issue and has confirmed that it has an adequate supply of petrol for the next 30 days.

The company has advised motorists not to engage in panic buying as the distribution of fuel will return to normalcy soon.

“NNPC Retail Ltd. notes the appearance of fuel queues in some parts of Lagos and a few other locations around the country. This is due to reduced depot loadout in Apapa, Lagos over the past few days, and the root cause has since been addressed. We assure all Nigerians that there is ample supply with a sufficiency of at least 30 days. Motorists are advised to desist from panic buying as distribution will normalize over the next few days,” the statement said.


It is important to note that fuel queues emerged in Lagos and some parts of Abuja on Wednesday, causing panic among motorists.

In June, the Federal Government removed fuel subsidy, resulting in an increase in the petrol pump price to over 617 naira per litre.

IT was a multinational gathering which included 41 embassies. It was a trans-generational assembly which comprised diplomats of the 1960s and 70s, activists of the 1980s and current students, mostly from Bingham University, Keffi. Also in the assembly were government officials, labour leaders, writers and academics. The gathering on Wednesday, October 18, 2023 at the Rotunda Hall of the Foreign Ministry, Abuja was organised by the foreign relations think tank, the Society for International Relations Awareness, SIRA. The theme was: “Africa In The Turbulence of A World In Search of Direction.”

As SIRA President, I welcomed the assembly with the assertion that the slaughter in the Middle East, the war of attrition in Ukraine, the carnage in Syria, the barbaric conflict in Yemen, the blind war in Sudan, the unending battles in Somalia and other such conflicts, diminish humanity. I reminded them that we are confronted with a world in which the richest 10 per cent own 52 per cent of all income, while the poorest 52 per cent get just 8.5 per cent. These realities and climate change, I argued, endanger all humanity.

 

Professor Al-Hassan Conteh, the Ambassador of Liberia and Deputy Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, spoke on behalf of the Corps. He talked about “insurgencies and armed conflicts which have caused wanton global conflicts, including insurgencies, civil wars and inter-state confrontations resulting in excruciating displacements and complex humanitarian emergencies”. He lamented that: “Hundreds of millions of people currently live in protracted displacement due to these wars and environmental disasters. Additionally, terrorism and climate change have caused short- and long-term dislocations.” By way of a solution, the deputy dean posited: “As the history of global, regional, and national conflicts have taught us, diplomacy is the ultimate force that is more powerful than conflict in achieving peace and security.”

 

The chairperson of the occasion, Ambassador Brownson Dede, former Organisation of Africa Unity, OAU, Assistant Secretary General, Political Affairs and past Nigerian Ambassador to Ethiopia and Eritrea said humanity is faced with a dilemma. He said the on-going conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are indications that the world is in turbulence. Ambassador Dede asked rhetorically: “Can we as a country float without direction in the high seas, with no compass?” In emphasising that Nigeria cannot, he argued that foreign policy is too serious a business to be left to diplomats alone, hence the need for organisations like SIRA. He, however, advised against flooding our embassies with political appointees rather than allow career diplomats with professional expertise and knowledge to run them.

The distinguished guest of honour, Ambassador John Kayode Shinkaiye who was Chief of Staff to two African Union Chairmen: President Omar Konare and Jean Ping and at various times, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Equitorial Guinea, Ethiopia and Djibouti said the world is marked by unprecedented change and uncertainty. He observed that: “Africa’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths but paradoxically, that diversity creates challenges in achieving unity and common purpose.”

He said in pursuit of direction, Africa should not just focus on external factors but also on internal dynamics, adding that: “Inclusivity, justice, and the empowerment of all segments of society, are essential components of a thriving Africa.” Ambassador Shinkaiye, who is also the President of the Association of Retired Career Ambassadors of Nigeria, ARCAN, advised that: “As the world seeks direction, Africa can also lead in shaping global discourse. It has valuable insights into sustainable development, and in conflict resolution that can influence international policies and cooperation.” 

The lecturer at the occasion was Dr. John Kayode Fayemi, past Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum and currently, Visiting Professor, School of Global Affairs, King’s College, London. In taking the assembly through human history, his thesis is that: “It is the process of the gradual decomposition of the post-1945 multilateral system and the Pax Americana that underpinned it that is at the heart of the current turbulence which we are witnessing in the international system.” The collapse of the Eastern Bloc, he said, had led to a false “triumphalist narrative” that the West had defeated the East. Russia, he said, might have weakened but it was just a matter of time before it repositioned itself as a major force.

While this was on, he said countries like China, India, Turkey and Brazil, arose “to challenge and successfully erode the economic dominance of the United States.” Fayemi argued that the emergent multi-polarity “speaks to a global reordering in which the old is dying simultaneously as the new is struggling to be born. It is a tense and delicate transitional moment in human history that is packed with doubt and fear as old certitudes are dissolved, new pecking orders are emerging, and existing global governance institutions are straining at the seams.”

He said there are suggestions that humanity might be edging towards a Third World War with climate change, terrorism, banditry and “the volatile cocktail of poverty (and) inequality” complicating matters. Fayemi, who was a former Minister of Solid Minerals, said: “For us in Africa, one clear opportunity is the chance to win ample autonomous space within which to advance our ambitions of structural transformation and, in doing so, take a role as a co-rule maker as the new global order gets fashioned out.” The continent, he said, must avoid being reduced yet again “to the site for a new scramble among the competing powers…”

 Discussant, Benson Upah, lawyer, Labour leader and leadership expert, concurred that the world may well be knocking at the gates of a Third World War. He said there is no charity in international politics and that Africa has to be self-sufficient even if it has to steal buy or technology. The Commandant of the National Defence College, Rear Admiral Olumuyiwa Morakinyo Olotu, said Nigeria has the population and resources necessary for the development but the challenge is how to annex them. He said that countries with military might, also need economic power to succeed. Olotu suggested that beyond diversifying the economy, the primary challenge should be to build Nigeria into an economic power.

The Director General of the Michael Imoudu National Institute of Labour Studies, MINILS, Issa Aremu, said the main challenge of Africa in the unfolding global challenges is how to turn it into an advantage as it did turn the post-Second World War into a force of change leading to independence. A retired Director in the Public Service, Aminu Ahmed Yusuf, said Africa cannot afford to look “Neither East nor West” because the former colonial masters would not allow it. He suggested the continent be principled by defining its interests and pursuing them. Whatever the case, it is clear the human race faces mainly self-inflicted crises which require collective solutions.

A nationwide strike looms as the agreement between the Federal Government and Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, on the implementation of measures to cushion the effects of petrol subsidy removal is currently threatened.

 

The NLC yesterday accused the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, of deviating from the agreement.

 

Recall that Organized Labour, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, suspended its planned nationwide strike, following an agreement reached with the government on October 2, 2023, to, among others, pay N35,000 wage award to federal workers and ensure non-interference with the activities of the NURTW.

Efforts to speak with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, yesterday proved abortive as calls put through his mobile phone rang out without response.

However, the Director of Press in the Ministry, Mr Olajide Oshundun, said he had not seen the NLC statement, since the ministry was not copied.

He said: “If I see the statement, I will discuss it with my minister to respond appropriately. As of now, there is nothing I can say until I see the statement.”

But the NLC alleged that the labour minister was trying to foist a new leadership on the NURTW, in violation of both ILO Conventions 87 and 98, and the agreement reached between the government and labour.

The 30-day deadline for the agreement to come into fruition to avert a nationwide strike expires in less than two weeks

The NLC in a statement issued by the General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, vowed to continue to stand by the democratically elected NURTW leadership and work with them as the legitimate representatives of workers in the transport sector.

‘Not in good faith’

According to the Labour Centre, the current effort by the minister to scuttle the deal with the Federal Government is a clear indication that the government’s negotiation is not in good faith.

It said every avenue would be explored to shield the trade union movement from what it described as emerging irresponsibility.

The statement, titled “Minister Lalong’s reckless move to undermine the critical labour-federal government agreement of October 2, 2023,’’ read: “In a shocking turn of events, the Federal Minister of Labour, Mr. Lalong, has thrown a spanner in the wheel of the implementation of the Labour-Federal Government Agreement by his unmasked partiality in handling a critical item in the agreement which is the apparent government meddling in trade union matters by siding with people, who had illegally seized the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, headquarters with police support.

“This group is now being encouraged to conduct its own delegates’ conference, both at zonal and national levels, to confer legitimacy on their action.

‘’This flagrant act not only constitutes an egregious intrusion into the internal affairs of a union, in violation of ILO Conventions 87 and 98 but also represents a clear attempt to sabotage the recently ratified agreement between the labour movement and the Federal Government.

 

“It is unfathomable that a federal minister of labour, tasked with safeguarding the rights and interests of diverse stakeholders in our industrial relations landscape, would opt to take actions that could undermine the very foundations of our collective engagement.

‘Minister’s decision untenable’

“The minister’s decision, which is clearly morally reprehensible and legally untenable, marks a disheartening departure from the expected standards of conduct within the nation’s industrial relations sphere.

“Despite initial assurances from the minister regarding the illegal occupation of the NURTW’s national headquarters, the democratically elected leadership, led by Comrade Tajudeen Baruwa, has not been reinstated.

‘’Instead, the minister has chosen to endorse and legitimize this hijacking with the state’s backing. This blatant power grab, subverting legality and moral integrity, is an affront on the principles of democratic governance.

“It is now abundantly clear that the federal government never negotiated in good faith and, consequently, was never genuinely committed to honouring the terms of the October 2, 2023 Agreement.

“This serves to affirm our earlier apprehension that the state was manoeuvring to orchestrate a coup d’état against the democratically elected NURTW leadership, potentially alluding to the support of the government, as suggested by Minister Lalong’s actions and statements.

“There is no doubt, both to us and the Nigerian public, about the government’s intentions regarding the implementation of the October 2, 2023, Agreement. It is evident that akin to the NURTW issue, the execution of other facets of the agreement may be jeopardized.

‘’Therefore, we take heed of Minister Lalong’s actions, which flagrantly violate an accord responsibly endorsed by all involved parties.

“We reiterate and emphasize the following points: The NURTW leadership crisis was engineered by the federal government through the Police, aiding the Lagos group, who were members of the lands, parks and garages commission in Lagos State, not the NURTW, to forcibly occupy the union’s headquarters in Abuja.

“Comrade Tajudeen Baruwa’s leadership was democratically elected, adhering to union statutes, the national laws and ILO Conventions.

“The election process began in May 2023 at the zonal levels, culminating in the national delegates’ conference of August 2023 that inaugurated the current leadership of Comrade Baruwa in August 2023.

“The governor of Lagos State previously created Lands, Parks and Garages Commission which led to the Lagos group in 2022 renouncing their membership of the union and taking up offices in the government agency.

“It is inconceivable for non-union members to seize national leadership, bolstered by the coercive powers of the state, invoking the name of the President as a shield and sword.

“The Nigeria Labour Congress firmly rejects Minister Lalong’s endorsement of the holding of illegal conferences. Any deviation from the spirit of our prior agreement on this matter forebodes grave consequences.

‘’The government cannot flout ILO conventions, the Constitution, and our statutes with impunity and believe that all will be quiet.

“As Minister Lalong recklessly steers our nation towards an industrial crisis, we pledge unwavering resistance to all forms of malfeasance and misconduct within Nigeria’s trade union sphere.

‘’We will marshal our resources to ensure that political interference and lawlessness do not corrupt leadership selection processes within the trade union sector.

“Minister Lalong, having descended into the arena, has stripped himself of the moral high ground and authority to continue midwifing the process of implementing the October 2 Agreement.

‘’We will, therefore, be highly constrained to attend any meeting he calls for the purposes of the implementation of that Agreement.

“A Minister of Labour is supposed to be an arbiter and as expected, to provide professional guidance to the government on this matter, instead he chose to contaminate the process with the same level of politics of the murky waters playing out in the larger polity.

“We implore the President to rein in Minister Lalong, and if this does not occur, we will conclude that the minister’s actions align with the President’s directives.

“Our allegiance is to upholding the rule of law and democratic principles, even if the minister chooses to disregard them. We will continue to stand by the democratically elected NURTW leadership, working with them as the legitimate representatives of workers in their sector, to thwart those seeking to contaminate the trade union sphere with political machinations.

“Every avenue will be explored to shield the trade union movement from this emerging irresponsibility.

“We steadfastly uphold the provisions of the October 2, 2023, Agreement, and any continued non-compliance after 30 days will compel our relevant bodies to take necessary actions.

“The onus now rests with the government to either honour the essence of the agreement or persist on Minister Lalong’s perilous course, inevitably leading to a national industrial crisis. The blame for such an outcome will squarely fall on the Minister of Labour, Mr.
Lalong.”

I just read an article, apparently written by sacked former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir David Lawal, which purports to be a rejoinder to a release by All Progressives Congress, APC, National Publicity Secretary, Barrister Felix Morka.

In the miserably incoherent writeup, Mr Lawal pours invective on Barrister Morka, goes shamelessly personal and reinforces blatant falsehoods a man of his age should know better than to be associated with.

Babachir Lawal claims our party, the ruling APC is an Islamic party, that Barrister Morka is the Christian spokesman of an Islamic political party and that decisions will be taken behind his back by his Muslim colleagues in the party.

If I may ask, when Babachir Lawal was the Christian SGF to a Muslim President, where all critical decisions similarly taken behind his back during the afternoon prayer sessions which he was unable to attend, as well?

Lawal claimed that unknown to Felix Morka, leaders of our party had been reaching out to him apparently to sheath his sword.

I can assure him that whoever is "reaching out" to him (if this is not another blatant lie from a crook who should be cooling his heels in jail), is certainly not an emissary of our party or of President Bola Tinubu.

If, indeed, anyone reached out to him, such folk must have merely sought to talk some sense into Babachir's head for his own good.

The problem with this country is this nauseating phenomenon that sees misfits, dullards and bushmen rise to the greatest heights of power.

How did a character like Babachir Lawal become no less than the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, in the first place?

And what even became of that "grass cutter" criminal case?

Barrister Felix Morka, on his part, is a veteran of the struggle for democracy in this country, the democracy that saw Babachir becoming SGF!

I don't know which grasses Babachir Lawal was cutting at the time President Tinubu and the likes of Morka and others were fighting for democracy.

Frankly, I hope, as a national officer of our party, that Morka does not dignify a character like Babachir with a response - indeed but for the purpose of setting the records straight, I think it is beneath any lawyer to be joining issues with someone that should be in jail.

Babachir says our party is an Islamic party but the leader of the Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, recently accused us of forming a Christian majority government?

Babachir says he does not know who President Tinubu is but supported him throughout the primaries, acknowledged on national television that he is a beneficiary of Tinubu's generosity, and, as we all know, desperately wanted to be Tinubu's running mate?

Who do these gaslighters think they can keep fooling in this country?

It must, indeed, take a compound fool of a village goat to assert that Peter Obi won the last election without offering facts and figures to attend the assertion and then to moronically reiterate such kindergarten bluster like some drunken motor park tout.

Indeed, and as I have pointed out elsewhere, if, according to the likes of Babachir, Obi actually came first, Atiku Abubarkar came second, and President Tinubu came third, then President Tinubu would have had first needed to rig Atiku from second position to third, in which case at that stage he would be second, with Peter Obi still in first and Atiku now down to third.

Then, in order for Tinubu to have ended up at first, he would have had to then displace Obi to second and replace him at first.

The problem of course, is that Obi ended up "carrying last"!

In which case, Atiku must have attacked his boy, Obi, from behind (not necessarily surprising given the Cameroonian indigene of Dubai's rumoured preferences), rigged him to third and then replaced him in second.

You would have to be a certified compound fool or a very dull grass cutter to believe that crap.

But come to think of it, is Babachir Lawal even able to intellectually follow this logic or is he still too engrossed cutting grass?

By the way I know Babachir Lawal is not a very bright man and might have hired some shameless hack to write even that poorly packaged article for him.

And, what was that utterly insane crap about Barrister Morka's baptismal name "Felix" and slavery, of all things?

Every authentic Christian would know that any fellow Christian that is christened "Felix" is named after one of a number of saints in Christianity and has absolutely nothing to do with the character Lawal mentioned in his ode to idiocy.

Indeed, "Felix" is the name of four popes and more than sixty saints but I guess Babachir has been too busy cutting grass and pocketing money to know that, hence he concludes it must have something to do with a biblical character with whom he apparently shares similar questionable antecedents.

Someone who should be wearing khaki in jail calls a senior lawyer a slave?

I wonder what we would discover if we were to go to Delta and investigate the ancestry of Barrister Morka, do the same with the origins of Lawal in Adamawa, and then compare both.

Our party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, is not an Islamic party; it is a Nigerian party.

Our President is the Muslim minority head of a Christian majority family.

Our Vice President is a Muslim who built several churches for Christians while the likes of Babachir Lawal were cutting grass and stuffing money into their boxer shorts at the expense of victims of terrorism.

According to Ishaq Akintola of MURIC, the so-called Muslim/Muslim ticket that Babachir Lawal and his co-travellers in political failure, electoral bitterness and inconsolable disappointment keep complaining about has produced a "Christian majority government" for our country!

I suppose Babachir Lawal is older than Felix Morka but that aside, he can never measure up to Barrister Morka in any ramification, whatsoever.

I accordingly enjoin my learned friend not to pay heed to him other than for the purpose of possibly sending him to jail where he belongs.


Onokpasa, a lawyer, was a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council, and writes from Abuja.

With Olayemi Michael Cardoso's emergence as Central Bank Governor, Nigerians expect a new dawn in monetary policy and a long awaited departure from the horrid rot of the Godwin Emiefele years which saw our country's apex bank decompose into a cesspit of satanic corruption and truly shameful incompetence.

My assessment, including from information not necessarily in the public domain, is that Governor Cardoso has started well.

Mr Cardoso is an intellectual to the core, a quiet man not given to blowing his trumpet or hankering after publicity.

He will just have to come to terms with the fact that central banking is also very much a publicity stunt and necessarily so.

Thankfully, Mr Cardoso, unlike Mr Emiefele, is no con artist.

Nevertheless, he must learn to engage the public in order to rebuild trust and confidence in the apex bank.

That Emiefele was always up and about engaging the public was not the problem; it is the fact that he was doing so while all the time gaslighting and duping Nigerians that is the unforgivable sin that terrible man committed against this nation.

Central banking, like most other facets of serving the public, is necessarily also optical, besides being the serious business of apex banking.

The public must trust that their apex bank is indeed theirs and that its Governor is actually working for them.

The backlash that greeted the recent lifting of forex restrictions on certain imported items is due more to poor communication from the Central Bank than because the change, in and of itself, was necessarily wrong.

The bank must therefore do much better, going forward.

I'm no economist but my projection is that as Mr Cardoso dismantles the diabolical cartel at the CBN, amongst other things, the "official" exchange rate will keep creeping up while the parallel rate hopefully inches downwards.

Ideally, this would see us coming to a point of convergence wherein the difference between the two is nonexistent or at worst negligible, even to the point that there is no longer an incentive to withdraw forex from one's domiciliary accounts and head for the black marketeers when you can get good value by simply converting your forex on your laptop or smart phone.

The lawyer in me does not purpose to teach banking to the chartered accountant in Yemi Cardoso but he must know that the Central Bank he just resumed at is perhaps the very worst public institution in this country and must be restored to sanity, even by fire, by force.

Governor Cardoso must assert the independence of the CBN and be prepared to be stubborn even as nitwits on social media excoriate him over what they barely understand and politicians panic in the face of unschooled public opinion.

He is our central banker, we trust him and will back him to deliver for our national economy.

Indeed, I will be overjoyed but not surprised that Yemi Cardoso succeeds - he is just not the kind of guy to fail.

Nevertheless, it is very easy for even the very best to underperform in this country and I think for our own good, Mr Cardoso will be needing all the help, support and understanding of the rest of us, going forward.

There are many things Governor Cardoso can and must do while tackling exchange rates and other challenges of monetary policy.

Banking in this country is totally unhinged with banks behaving more like shady outfits rather than the bastions of reliability and trust that frames the very concept of banking.

There are quick wins Mr Cardoso can go for to, in turn, win the confidence of Nigerians as we weather the present economic storm that promises to last for a while yet.

He could quickly ensure that Nigerian bankers stop behaving like cutthroats, common criminals and high-end crooks at the expense of their customers.

The phenomenon of failed POS transactions without reversals is a problem the CBN could quickly tackle that would greatly endear it to Nigerians.

To the average bank customer such funds are stranded while in reality they are actually still with their banks.

Only God knows if some people, somewhere, are not steadily stealing such monies.

There are numerous other problems with banking in this country that Cardoso could resolve that would instill greater confidence of the general public in the government and in the apex bank.

There are those salivating for President Bola Tinubu to fail and for everything he touches to flounder.

I don't know how their brains are wired because if they were reasoning well, they should realize that your President's success is the success of your country, therefore ultimately to your own benefit.

I hope and pray my President succeeds and a critical part of that success shall proceed from the bowels of the Central Bank of Nigeria.


Onokpasa, a lawyer, was a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council, and writes from Abuja.

Nigeria, China Harbour sign Lekki Deep Blue Seaport contract

As Nigeria continues to reap heaps and bounds of dividends from the 3rd Belt And Road Initiative (BRI), the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and three Chinese partners have signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) for new projects valued at $2 billion.

Another $4 billion is the worth of letters of intent for new projects and investments.

This is just as the Federal Ministry of Works also signed an MoU with China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd for the construction of the Lekki Blue Seaport contract at the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos.

Vice President Kashim Shettima, who is representing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Belt And Road Initiative Forum in Beijing, China, today witnessed the event, which also had the Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Power, Works and other top government officials present.

The Vice President who commended all stakeholders and their Chinese counterparts said Nigeria has never been this ripe and ready for businesses to thrive in.

He said with the painstaking efforts by the Tinubu administration to ensure a level playing ground for all investors following the removal of all bottlenecks, the coast is now clear for deepened economic and trade collaborations.

Khalil Halilu, Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of NASENI, said the crystallisation of the agreements was a fulfillment of NASENI's commitments towards boosting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) drive of the Tinubu administration.

“This is a very important day for us at the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure because it is a day to show the results of some of the work that we have been doing in the last six weeks since I assumed the leadership of NASENI," the Executive Chairman said.

The MOUs to partner NASENI for investments in Nigeria were listed in a release by NASENI to include: i. Shanghai Launch Automotive Technical Co Ltd – an MOU to establish a new energy automobile facility for the production of new energy electric vehicles.

ii. .China Great Wall Industry Corporation – an MOU for the turnkey delivery of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) assembly line projects.

iii. Newway Power Technology Company Ltd – an MOU for the transfer of technology on lithium batteries, electric vehicles and allied technologies.

The ten Chinese firms who presented Letters of Intent to the Vice President to pull together 4 billion US Dollars in investments are TBEA (solar products); DongFeng Vehicles Co. (vehicle design and production) and HiLong Energy (CNG, LNG, methanol)

Others are Space Star Technology (Drone technology transfer); ENRIC (clean energy utilization technology); and Hidier Group (development of new industrial park), China State Construction Company (building technology and materials); CIMC (natural gas infrastructure delivery); Value Platform International Services Ltd (vocational training) and Acadia Technologies (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd. (smart grids and microgrids).

During the signing of the MoU on the construction of the Deep Blue Sea Port at the Lekki Free Trade Zone, the Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi, said the massive project was yet another indication that Nigeria still remains an industrial haven for many investors.

The event which was held at the Nigerian Embassy in Beijing later saw the Vice President meeting with several communications, tech, railway, power and construction giants.

They include the China National Electric Engineering Co. Ltd, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), China Railway Construction Corporation ( CRCC), China Communications Construction Co. Ltd (CCCC), HUAWEI Technologies, Senteng International Company Nigeria Limited, China National Electric Engineering Co. Ltd and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. Ltd.

Stanley Nkwocha
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications
(Office of the Vice President)
19th October, 2023


President Bola Tinubu has signed the Instrument of Ratification of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa, which was adopted by the Thirtieth Ordinary Session of the Assembly, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the 29th day of January, 2018.

"I, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, do hereby formally declare that the Federal Republic of Nigeria accepts the aforementioned Protocol and undertakes to faithfully perform and carry out the stipulations therein contained;

"In witness whereof, I, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, have set my hand and Seal of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on this Instrument of Ratification at Abuja on this 19th day of October in the year Two Thousand and Twenty-Three."

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

October 19, 2023

President Bola Tinubu has directed the withdrawal of the nomination of Engr. Imam Kashim Imam to serve as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA).

The President's withdrawal of the above-mentioned nomination is directed with immediate effect.

All other appointments to the Board and Executive Management team of FERMA are not affected by this directive.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

October 19, 2023