The federal government is considering restart of the direct cash transfers to the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians.
Presently, approximately 3 million people are recipients of these programmes, but due to the escalating cost of living, the government anticipates that an additional 12 million households could qualify for these direct payments.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, revealed this plan during the Ministry’s retreat held in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom state on Wednesday, February 21.
According to the finance minister, “The presidential panel on the social investment programmes, have prepared to go to Mr. President with an internal recommendation to restart the direct payments to the poorest and the most vulnerable. Everything is being done to ease the pain.
“We know that there’s been about 3 million beneficiaries now, but given the way the rates have gone, there are probably another 12 million people, households that can benefit from that payment.”
The minister noted that the expansion of the direct cash transfer aims to reach a wider population struggling with the economic situation and to put more money directly in the hands of those who need it most, allowing them to prioritize their needs and alleviate poverty.
The decision to inform the President of the Panel’s decision before the final report is completed is to keep the President abreast of developments.
Wale Edun stated that technology will be used to ensure smooth and transparent payments, avoiding manual processes and delays.
He said: “The only thing delaying that is not waiting for the end of the report. It is something that the intervention is meant to happen immediately.
“We have experts in technology, the commitment was to make sure that we use technology to ensure that we have a seamless payment, a seamless movement between the registered and the direct beneficiaries, without any manual processes in between. So it’s taking time to automate that process immediately that direct payment will resume”.
Recognizing the significant impact of food prices on household budgets, the government is taking steps to increase food availability and drive down costs.
The minister reiterated President Bola Tinubu’s intervention to release 60,000 metric tonnes of food grains.
He said: “The goal is to put food, to put feed into the mill, into the market, in an attempt to drive down the cost of food and make food available. Right now, that is the key priority in terms of the fiscal side, in terms of the government side.
Defending the plan of the direct cash transfer to the poorest and most vulnerable in society, Wale Edun argued that “history has shown, evidence has shown that when you pay someone directly, you put money in their hand. It reduces poverty because they decide where the shoe is pinching most.
“So it is a direct benefit, it has a direct effect on poverty. It alleviates, and there’s a commitment to immediately start that process. So that is, as far as these interventions are concerned and the landscape which we as a team are facing, we have a commitment to help to bring down inflation”.
“Growing the economy, creating jobs and lifting millions and millions of Nigerians out of poverty, that’s the ultimate goal of President Bola Tinubu and his economic policies.”
The minister acknowledged that the historical reliance on “Ways and Means” financing was a source of inflation. The government he said is committed to reducing this debt burden through various financial and revenue-generating initiatives.
He stated: “On the monetary side, Ways and Means have been identified, and we too agree that the historical legacy of Ways and Means that was inherited has to be dealt with, and has to be paid out one way or the other. And those are the financial engineering, those are the revenue initiatives that we are focused on to remove that burden, that inflationary burden on the economy.”
Edun said that close collaboration between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank is crucial in tackling inflation and stabilizing the Naira. To this end, the Central Bank is using various tools to achieve these goals, including stabilizing interest rates and managing foreign exchange rates.
The minister noted: “It is a battle, and the tactics change because there is a loss or a need to restore the value of the naira, a need to restore the confidence in holding the naira as a store of value. And all the arsenal, all the instruments available are being brought to the fore and used. And surely it is a battle the central bank will win. It is a battle the government will win. That is not a doubt.”
Tochukwu Ojogwu, Nigerian rapper, popularly known as Odumodublvck, has recounted his early struggles as an artiste.
In a post via X on Wednesday, the rapper revealed how he lost his dad because his family couldn’t afford a hospital bed space of N70,000.
He claimed that because of their poverty at the time, they had to bring his father home to die.
The vocalist of ‘Declan Rice’ expressed his strong belief that no musician paved the route for his musical achievement because of his difficult experience.
According to him, he was inspired by other rappers but no artiste paved the way for him.
He wrote: “When my father died my family was poor. We could not pay hospital bed space of 70k (N70,000). We had to take him home.
“Coming to tell me about paving the way for me? That’s God, brother. No use your ego counter reason my reality, bros. I agree say you inspire me. But bros, you pave the way for nobody. Nobody! I hate when n*ggas try to play God.”
Odumodublvck is known for his stage performances.
[DailyTrust]
Jurgen Klopp’s agent, Marc Kosicke, has played down any chance of the German manager joining Bayern Munich as replacement for departing Thomas Tuchel.
Kosicke has swiftly looked to stop any rumours before they even begin.
Thomas Tuchel and Bayern Munich on Tuesday announced their decision to move on, meaning that the former Chelsea boss will not be at club next season.
The agent told Sky Germany: “Jurgen Klopp will not coach any club or national team for a year after this current season. “That remains unchanged.”
Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp had earlier announced his decision to leave Anfield at the end of the season.
[DailyPost]
The world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, Binance, has confirmed collaborating with President Bola Tinubu’s administration to block Nigerians from dollar-naira trading on its platform.
In an announcement titled “Commitment to P2P Users in Nigeria,” Binance said it is “working hand in hand with local authorities, lawmakers, and regulators to ensure we act on non-compliance.” The company said it has set upper limits for advertisements, is filtering and removing “bad ads,” and is requiring higher deposits for merchants posting ads to crack down on market manipulation.
On Tuesday, Binance disabled the sell option for its Nigerian users, capping the buy option at $1,802 per user. It also blocked the ability for Nigerians to purchase cryptocurrencies through peer-to-peer trading. This left some crypto asset holders unable to sell Bitcoin, BNB, Ethereum and others via P2P.
The move comes as part of the Tinubu administration’s efforts to halt the freefall of the naira against the U.S. dollar. The naira hit an all-time low of 1,902 per dollar on Tuesday before Binance blocked selling. This mirrors former President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2021 ban on crypto trading.
Binance users criticized the decision, with some threatening to take their business to other platforms. Critics said the restrictions are unlikely to shore up the struggling naira.
With a large population of monthly crypto traders, restrictions on foreign currency accounts have also increased Nigerians’ use of exchanges to store money and receive overseas funds.
A group of international students in the United Kingdom have sued the UK Home Office over an accusation of cheating in the English Language tests.
The students were seeking compensation for unlawful detention and loss of earnings after the Home Office canceled their visas
According to the Economic Times, the UK government has made payments in at least two cases, but lawyers have expressed frustration at the department’s refusal to agree to a standard settlement scheme for wrongly accused students, which they believe would accelerate the process of securing justice.
The law firm Bindmans is representing 23 students who have already won immigration appeals, and overturned the Home Office’s decision to cancel their visas amid cheating allegations, and is pushing for the department to treat this as a group action.
Clients are seeking compensation for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment, loss of earnings (during the period their contested immigration status meant they were prohibited from working) and damage to their mental health.
Attempts to secure compensation come 10 years after the Home Office took steps to cancel the visas of about 35,000 international students, after a BBC documentary revealed evidence of cheating in some English language test centres.
Although cheating happened in some Home Office approved test centres, thousands of students have spent years protesting that they were wrongly affected by the department’s decision to classify 97% of those who took the test as possible cheats.
Some of the firm’s clients were not initially told that they had been accused of cheating but were detained by immigration enforcement officers during dawn raids, with no clear indication of what had prompted the arrest, Alice Hardy, a partner at Bindmans, said.
“Our clients have been through hell. The Home Office deliberately concealed from them the fact that they had been accused of cheating, denying them the opportunity to defend themselves, and instead removed their immigration status with no in-country right of appeal. They lost everything as a result; homes, livelihoods, the right to work, study and pay rent. They suffered the shame and rejection of their families, relationship breakdowns, destitution and the torment of seeing everything they had worked for taken away from them,” Hardy said.
“These situations persisted for up to 10 years and caused untold suffering. It is now apparent that the allegations were based on thin evidence.”
The firm issued the 23 claims between October 2020 and March 2022 but only one case has settled. Lawyers had hoped to persuade the department to develop a scheme, based on the model of the Windrush compensation scheme, that would set out clear categories under which damages could be paid, which they hoped would speed up the process. The Home Office has rejected the lawyers’ proposal, Bindmans said.
“It is open to the Home Office to repair some of the damage done by apologising to our clients and agreeing a sensible, efficient settlement scheme to enable them to move on with their lives. It is deeply disappointing that they are declining to do that,” Hardy said.
At least one student represented by a different law firm has received compensation after an allegation of cheating in the test. Mohammad Bhuiyan received about £13,500 in compensation in 2021 from the Home Office for wrongful detention after being held in immigration detention for 47 days after an accusation of cheating in an English language test.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The 2014 investigation into the abuse of English language testing revealed systemic cheating which was indicative of significant organised fraud. Courts have consistently found the evidence was sufficient to take the action we did.”
No fewer than 26 travellers were kidnapped on Tuesday by terrorists, locally dubbed as bandits, who blocked the Gusau-Sokoto highway in the North-West region of Nigeria.
This was confirmed by a resident of one of the communities close to the scene of the attack during a conversation with journalists.
It was learnt that the terrorists blocked the road around Kwaren Kirya village under Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State and abducted all the passengers from a Toyota 18-seater bus and a Volkswagen golf vehicle.
“As I’m talking to you now, about 30 minutes ago, these bandits blocked another side of the road. They cleared the passengers of an 18 seater bus and a golf, the situation is worrisome because it has become an everyday thing for these people to be blocking the road,” the source was quoted by Channels TV.
He voiced the alarm about a village, Balge along the highway, claiming that it harbours suspected bandits.
The source urged the authorities to set up security stations in the area to monitor the criminals' actions.
He continued: “There is a village when you pass that Kwaren Kirya called Balge, about 80% of settlers in that village are bandits.”
“There was a time they were chased out of the place but a majority of the people there were bandits. We just need government to help us and station military around the area.”
Police authorities in the state are yet to comment on the latest incident.
The widespread hunger, cost of living crisis and the parlous state of the nation in general are caused by politicians who were not able to gain power in the last general election, the Vice-President Kashim Shettima, has said
The number two man accused politicians who lost in the 2023 general election of plotting to plunge Nigeria into anarchy.
Shettima spoke on Tuesday at a conference on Public Wealth Management in Abuja.
He claimed 45 trucks smuggling food out of the country were intercepted, adding that desperate politicians are sabotaging the country by smuggling food out to other countries to spur food price increment.
“Just three nights ago, 45 trucks of maize were caught being transported to neighbouring countries,” Mr Shettima claimed. “Just in that Ilela axis, there are 32 illegal smuggling routes.”
He further claimed that due to the interception, the price of maize fell.
“And the moment those foodstuffs were intercepted, the price of maize came down by N10,000. It came down from N60,000 to N50,000. So, there are forces that are hell-bent on undermining our nation, but this is the time for us to coalesce into a singular entity,” Mr Shettima explained.
The vice-president stated that some political actors are hell-bent on causing havoc and upheaval in the country over the outcome of last election.
“Forces are hell-bent on plunging this country into a state of anarchy. Those who could not get to power through the ballot box, instead for them to wait till 2027, are so desperate,” Mr Shettima stressed.
He added, “We have to make this country work. We have to move beyond politics. We are now in the face of governance. Sadly, some of our countrymen are still in the political mode.
“They are the practitioners of violence, advocating that Nigeria should go the Lebanon way. But Nigeria is greater than any one of us here. Nigeria will weather the storm.”
Shettima did not mention the names of the politicians he accused of further compounding the country economic woes and undermining President Bola Tinubu’s government.
However, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party’s Peter Obi, top contenders in the general election, have been unrelenting in their criticism Tinubu’s handling of the economy.
Though increment in prices of food has been part and parcel of Nigeria socio-economic fabric but the rise of food prices under the current administration is unprecedented, his sudden fuel subsidy removal and floating of the naira have seen petrol price jump from N145 to N630, shooting food prices up as the naira continue its freefall against the dollar, trading for N1,825 against a dollar on Tuesday.
One hundred and nine illegal miners have been arrested in Nasarawa, the police in the middle belt state have said.
The criminals were arrested on February 19, 2024 in a joint operation by the police and a vigilante group in Nasarawa Eggon LGA of the state.
The Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr Umar Shehu Nadada, who paraded the suspects in Lafia on Tuesday, made this known in a statement on Tuesday.
He, however, said some of the criminals escaped during the raid on their hideouts.
He said “Yesterday, February 19, 2024, at about 0600 hours the anti-kidnapping unit of the command in collaboration with the vigilante group from Nasarawa Eggon LGA engaged in a massive raid of some criminals’ hideouts on the Alogani Hills in Nasarawa Eggon LGA.
“They raided from Mada station in the Wakama area with a view to arresting suspected kidnappers. Unfortunately, some of them ran away, but we were able to arrest 109 illegal miners. And we immediately took them into custody and we have commenced an investigation.”
He added that, “We will continue to raid all the illegal miners in the state with a view to ensuring that the state moves forward.”
City & Crime further reports that items recovered from the suspects included a Dane gun, cutlasses, knives and illegally mined solid minerals.
Reacting, the state’s Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr Kwanza Yakubu, said, “We commend the Nasarawa State command under the leadership of Umar Shehu Nadada that apprehended these illegal artisanal miners in their hundreds. This can only be achieved with the benefit of hindsight backed by strong local experience.”
The Kano State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission said on Tuesday that it had unsealed the 10 warehouses sealed last week for alleged hoarding of foodstuffs.
The chairman of the commission, Muhyi Magaji, told The PUNCH in a telephone interview that the owners of the warehouses had shown up and they were directed to open and sell to the public.
Magaji said, as a result, Kano had begun to witness a drop in the prices of foodstuffs.
He said, “The action taken by the commission has forced the dealers to bring the commodities to markets as well as reduce their prices.
“We visited a number of markets, including Dawanau International Grains Market, Singer Market and Kwari Market, among others.
“If you go to Shuwari market in Jigawa and Faskari and other markets in the neighboring states, you will see that the prices of grains have reduced compared to before.
“If you recall, during the operation, the owners of such warehouses were nowhere to be found but those opened were stacked full of commodities, including spaghetti, rice, sugar and other food items.
“The owners were issued a notice to report to the commission preparatory to facing charges before the court of law for their illegal activities.”
According to Muhuyi, the operation made a significant impact towards checking the increase in the prices of grains and other essential commodities in the state.
He dismissed the claim by the Management of Dawanau International Grains Market that they were not hoarding foodstuff in order to create artificial scarcity.
The PUNCH reports that grain dealers at the Dawanau International Grains Market recently announced a reduction in the prices of grains following a threat by the state anti-graft agency to prosecute shylock dealers who violated the agency’s order or found hoarding grains to maximize profits.
As a result of the threat, a bag of maize now sells for about N53,000, as against the old price of N60,000, while that of guinea corn now sells for N49,000, as against the former price of N55,000, depending on the quality.
Also a bag of millet, which used to go for N60,000, now costs N53,000 and that of beans now costs between N85,000 and N90,000, as against the old price of between N95,000 and N100,000, depending on quality.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Customs Service, Kano Area Command, said on Tuesday that it intercepted four trucks loaded with food items as part of renewed efforts to tackle smuggling.
The spokesman for the service, Saidu Nuradeen, revealed this in a statement on Tuesday in Kano.
Nurudeen said personnel of the NCS arrested the vehicles transporting a significant quantity of food items intended for illegal export along the Hadejia-Taura-Ringim axis in Jigawa State.
He listed the items to include 1,505 cartons of big and small-sized dried fish, 17 bags of local variety rice, and two bags of beans.
Nuradeen explained that the seizure underscored Customs relentless efforts to enforce the border closure policy aimed at safeguarding the nation’s economy as well as ensuring food security.
“Smuggling undermines legitimate trade channels, poses risks to public health and deprives the government of much-needed revenue.
“The NCS reiterates its unwavering commitment to combatting smuggling activities across all entry points into the country,” he said.
A 300-Level Student at a Private Tertiary Institution In Abeokuta, Ogun State, Simply Identified As Ajoke, has reportedly committed suicide.
Our correspondent gathered that Ajoke, a student of Basic Medical Science at Havarde College of Science, Business and Management Studies, Abeokuta, on Monday evening, drank poisonous substance, suspected to be Sniper.
Her body was discovered in her hostel room located off-campus.
Sources at the college revealed that the deceased, who had been battling depression, must have committed suicide over an “unwanted pregnancy.”
Another Account indicated that the her condition worsened after she found out that her course not been accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.
“For more than four months now, she (deceased) had been depressed because of the fact that the course she was studying was not accredited.
“She used to complain because she claimed her parents used all the money they had to send her to the school.
“Things now got worse when she discovered she was pregnant and she could not even have a certificate for the course she had done for years,” the source said.
But, the provost of the institution, Dr. Ismail Oyetunji, said the circumstances surrounding the death of the student happened outside the school’s premises.
The provost added that the deceased’s parents came to the school last week to pack her belongings after discovering she was pregnant.
He said, “A 300-level nursing student was reported to me this morning by our dean of students affair to have committed suicide. She was impregnated by her boyfriend. Her parent got to know and came last week to pack her belongings from the school.
“She came back to Abeokuta and thereafter decided to commit suicide. She was rushed to Hope Hospital by her boyfriend in the Adigbe area of Abeokuta where she eventually died.
“Everything happened outside the college premises. However, the management of the college sympathises with the parent and relatives of the deceased. We sincerely pray that God will give them the fortitude to bear.”
When asked if the suicide is connected to the non-accreditation of the nursing programme offered in the institution, the provost insisted that the student committed suicide because of the pregnancy.
“No no, it has nothing to do with that. She got pregnant and her parent was aware. They came and packed her belongings in Abeokuta because of that. It happened somewhere outside the school.”
Meanwhile, the Ogun State Government on Tuesday shut down the Nursing Department of the college for allegedly offering a degree programme in Nursing Sciences for six years without accreditation by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN).
The department was shut down during an enforcement exercise carried out by officials of the state Ministry of Health and members of the State Nursing and Midwifery Committee (SNMC).
Speaking during the enforcement exercise, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Kayode Oladehinde, stated that such unauthorised programme contributed to quackery in the profession, thereby posing a threat to the health of the populace.
He maintained that the Nursing Department of the institution would remain closed until fully accredited.
Oladehinde, represented by the Acting Director of Nursing Services, Mrs. Serifat Aminu, described a degree in Nursing obtained from Harvarde College and similar institutions without NMCN accreditation as worthless, explaining that graduates from such schools would be denied licence to practise in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
“We have discovered that many institutions, including Harvarde College, offer nursing degrees to unsuspecting students. Our mission is to clamp down on such institutions because they end up producing quacks in the Nursing profession. This is dangerous for society. Unfortunately, most students are unaware that their time is being wasted,” he said.
He warned parents and candidates desiring to pursue nursing or related programmes to be wary of institutions making false claims by checking the NMCN website for an updated list of accredited institutions, assuring that the government would continue to check quackery in the nursing profession.
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Former Presidential Spokesman, Mr. Laolu Akande, on Tuesday averred that Nigeria is at war and the country’s leaders must be ready to fight the economic and security challenges confronting the nation.
In a string of posts on X, Mr. Akande lamented the rate of the American dollar to the Nigerian naira which has climbed to an all-time high of N1800/$1.
He also bemoaned the activities of food smugglers out of Nigeria despite that the country is facing food crisis, sparking protests all over the country, no thanks to the economic hardship occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy and floating of the naira mid-2023 by the President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Akande, television host of Inside Sources on Channels Television, said those who want to rubbish Nigeria are unrelenting but leaders must be bold and unsparing to stamp them out.
The Journalist and Public Affairs Analyst who has been unequivocal about his stance on bold leadership said the current echelon of people in government must win this war.
He wrote: “Naira is now N1,800 to a dollar! LORD HAVE MERCY! And in one night, 45 trucks attempting to smuggle food out of the country amid rising food prices here in Nigeria!
“Thankfully, the trucks were intercepted according to the Vice President. Let’s be frank with ourselves, it’s like Nigeria is at war!
“Hopefully, our leaders are READY for this fight. [This was the point of My Take last Friday on #InsideSources @channelstv].
“Those who want to rubbish Nigeria are unrelenting, Mr. President & team must rise up with boldness; win this fight once & for all. 1800 Naira to the dollar?”
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has dragged a Bureau De Change (BDC) operator, Husaini Mohammed Auwal, before a Federal High Court, Abuja, over alleged N998,421,564 fraud.
Auwal was arraigned alongside his company, Humak Global Business Links before Justice J.O Abdulmalik on Monday on a six-count charge bordering on allegations of illegal financial transactions.
According to a statement shared by the EFCC on its official X handle, the defendant was arrested following a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) of criminal conspiracy, money laundering and obtaining money by false pretence.
The commission said that Auwal’s company, between 2016 and 2017, carried out BDC businesses without a valid licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, an offence that contravened Sections 57 and 59 (5) of the Banks and other Financial Institutions Act, 2020.
It also alleged that the defendants, on or about August 10, 2020, received a total inflow of N47,250,000 from Khadab Ventures and Trust Limited into Humak Global Business Link’s First City Monument Bank, FCMB, account number 4497159015 in excess of N10 million and failed to report same to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), an offence under 11 (1) and (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
The EFCC said the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges, adding that the prosecutor, Deborah Ademu Eteh, asked the court for a trial date and for the defendant to be remanded in a Correctional facility.
The defence counsel, it said, called the attention of the court to an existing bail application and prayed the court to grant the defendant bail on liberal terms.
“Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the matter till February 23, for a hearing of bail application and March 21, 2024, for trial. She also ordered that the defendant be remanded in EFCC`s custody until the adjourned date,” the statement read.
Auwal was arrested by the EFCC following intelligence received by the Commission on April 28, 2022, from the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, which showed that the defendant was allegedly receiving huge wire transfers from diverse entities through his company`s account and would promptly transfer such funds to various accounts, violating the daily transfer threshold.
Again, the defendant was also allegedly operating a BDC without an appropriate licence.
The Police Service Commission (PSC) has fixed Tuesday, March 5, 2024, for the computer-based test (CBT) for successful applicants for Police recruitment from the just-concluded credentials and physical screening held in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The spokesperson of the commission, Ikechukwu Ani, stated this while speaking to newsmen on Tuesday.
He said a total of 171,956 applicants scaled the screening exercise to take part in the computer-based tests for the general duty positions.
According to him, “The commission after the meeting of the Police Recruitment Board on Tuesday, February 13th, 2024 approved that the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, should conduct the computer-based tests for the Police applicants because of its long-standing pedigree in such examinations.”
The 171,956 applicants shortlisted are made up of 25,818 females and 146,138 males.
The PSC also said successful candidates from the computer-based test will be required to appear for medical examinations before they proceed for training.
Meanwhile, the chairman of PSC, Dr Solomon Arase, has said the commission was on course to conclude the exercise on time so that successful candidates can be quickly injected into the system to join in the renewed war against insurgency and banditry.
The Lagos State Government has said the Ikeja Computer Village is a residential area, hence the reason for the proposed relocation of the electronic gadgets village to Katangua in Abule-Egba area of the state.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on e-GIS and Urban Development, Dr Olajide Babatunde, disclosed this on Tuesday, during a visit to the electronic gadgets’ centre in Ikeja.
The assessment was conducted by the Lagos State Building Control Agency, in collaboration with law enforcement agencies and other pertinent government bodies responsible for such affairs.
Babatunde said that by law, the Ikeja Computer Village is currently located in a residential area, adding that the plan to relocate the centre to Abule Egba has been delayed due to certain reasons.
He, however, said the issues were being addressed already, declaring that occupants of the residential area within the computer village would soon be relocated and settled in Katangua, Abule Egba
He said, “Where the Computer Village is located is, was, and will continue by law to be a residential area, hence we must follow the law. Katangua is the area designated (for such activity) by the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, particularly the Office of Physical Planning.
“We chose Katangua because of the good road network, we are certain that we are not going to be having traffic problems once Katangua is ready to receive the people from Computer Village. The expanse of land is such that when you drive in, the person would get lost because of how huge the place is, it is not something that was not well thought of, it is within the model city plan for the area.
According to Bababtunde, it is incorrect to state that the market is congested, adding that no market springs up without the population around the area.
He added, “We are moving the village into a place where their business would thrive while maintaining the status quo, Ikeja Computer Village was a residential area before, it is presently, and I think it will continue to be a residential area., we must ensure that things are being done according to the law, since the law states that it is a residential area, it should remain as such.
“Katangua market will majorly accommodate the traders within the computer village, they would have market stores and outlets, and they would also have secured title to the stores allocated to them so that if they want to take loans from the properties they have within the market, they can use that with any bank. In addition, there would be banking facilities, clinics, schools, crèche, storage facilities, and some housing including hotels where those who come to the place outside of Lagos would be accommodated within the area.”
Speaking on the price outlook, Babatunde asserted the question was difficult to answer at the moment because of the increase prices of building materials.
He stated, “It would be difficult to answer the question presently, I would have spoken on it if it were last year. You know what the price of cement was a few weeks ago, you know what it is today, so I think it is better for the people who would be constructing the facility to drive the cost, but we must control it. In terms of road accessibility, the access is being planned by the government.”
The Special Adviser noted that the relocation was gradual and consultations with market leaders and the development of the katangua site had already commenced.
He disclosed, “We are planning with the people, they are also ready and we will continue to carry them along on the katangua plan.”
It was earlier reported on Saturday that the Lagos State Government was set to relocate the Computer Village from Ikeja to Katangua in the Abule-Egba area, in a bid to re-organise the markets in the state.