First Lady urges APC women not to misuse mantle of leadership

By Joan Nwagwu

The First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu has advised the All Progressive Congress (APC) Women in leadership positions not to misuse the mantle of power against their sisters.

Tinubu said this during a symbolic presentation of textile materials in commercial quantities to support businesses of women in politics on Wednesday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the gesture is part of the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) on Social Investment Programme.

Tinubu, represented by the Wife of the Vice-President, Hajiya Nana Shettima, said that it was imperative not to misuse the mantle of leadership against fellow women.

“I want to encourage us all to be resilient. For those that are in the mantle of leadership, they must not misuse it.

“What I mean is that let us be our sisters’ keeper, let’s embrace one another. Let us not just put the blames on one.

“No matter what, let us appreciate one another, it is easier to destroy than to build for sure, we all know it takes a long time,”she said.

On the presentation of the fabrics, she urged the women to accept the little package with an open heart, adding that by the grace of God there would be more of such programmes.

She, however, called for support and understanding for the office of the First Lady.

“Her Excellency is compassionate and in this one year of this administration, she has travelled across the federation due to her pet projects.

“She is someone who is truly committed and wants to put a smile on the faces of the downtrodden,” she said.

Tinubu, while commending Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, National Chairman of the party, said that he was gender friendly.

According to her, Ganduje has given a lot of opportunities to the women in the country, and urged them not to misuse such opportunities.

Earlier, Ganduje said that there waa no doubt that the RHI project was also part of the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President.

“We are not surprised to see the First Lady coming up with this important programme to support the Mr President agenda,”he said.

Ganduje commended women for their unwavering support to national development.

He said that there was a need to increase women participation in politics, adding that as a party they were already discussing it with the chief executive of the states.

“This is by starting with the grassroots politics, women participation in the local government administration, is the first step for them to be interested and are accepted as well.

“So, this programme which is financial inclusiveness for women has to be promoted,” he said.

He urged the beneficiaries to be honest, transparent, committed and be nationalistic for the good of the country.

Also, Mrs Mary Alile, APC National Women Leader commended the First Lady for her commitment and unwavering support for the welfare of women in Nigeria.

Alile described the gesture as remarkable and true inspiration to all women in the country. (NAN)

Edited by Rabiu Sani-Ali

By Ismail Abdulaziz
President Bola Tinubu has continued to put in place measures aimed at reshaping the economy of the country since assuming office in May 2023.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Abuja, on the anniversary of the administrations in office.

Ngelale said that the measures taken so far are legendary because they are what past governments refused to take and one that would ensure continuity and outlast the administration.

‘’Nigerians understand that this president, in his first days in office, dealt with the reform of the fuel subsidy regime, dealt with the reform of the financial markets, particularly with respect to the unification of the foreign exchange rates.

‘’He put an end to the type of incessant and really ravaging, round tripping we were seeing within the sphere of the Central bank of Nigeria. But then again, of course, sometimes when you stop the bleeding, it’s not seen as an achievement.

‘’But there’s a reason many others refused to do what this president has now done. This is why the president has been roundly commended, not just locally but internationally for the reforms he has put in place,’’ he said.

The presidential adviser said Tinubu  was not unaware of the impact of the reforms on the lives of the citizens and has embarked on a broad scope of economic intervention to alleviate the plight of the citizens.

He said one of such measures was the Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprises (MSME) interventions and capitalisation including the N200 billion for all segments of the business population operating in the country.

‘’Specifically, N50 billion in grants. These are not loans. This is not money our people will pay back, but N50 billion in grants being paid to over one million Nano businesses equitably distributed across all local government areas of the federation.

‘’Approximately 1,290 Nano businesses have been given N50,000 grant through that scheme per local government. In addition to that, you have the N150 billion in the form of single digit interest rate loans being provided to hundreds of thousands of MSMEs across all states.

‘’Again, equitably distributed N75 billion being given in loans of up to N1 million, whereas another N75 billion is being given to large scale manufacturers. These are industries that are employing up to 1,000 Nigerians per industry.

‘’We are giving them loans, single digit interest rate, with a moratorium of about five years at about N1 billion each. So the interventions of business have been very important,’’ he said.

The presidential spokesman said Tinubu did not also leave out the development of infrastructure across the country in various sectors.

He said that these investments were aimed at having a ripple effect among people that operate along the value chain segments of such infrastructures.

Ngelale explained that the past one year has also seen significant interventions in the area of accelerating power performance especially with the Siemens Energy agreement and others in the provision of off grid power.

He said that Siemens was into the end to end modernisation of the nation’s power transmission grid to ensure enhanced quality and quantity of power supply to corporate and individual consumers.

‘’A situation in which disadvantaged Nigerians are losing their appliances, microwaves, television sets, refrigerators, freezers, because of this kind of equivocating power current. You recognize that this thing is actually costly to Nigerian families, and it has to be resolved.

‘’So sometimes you would even find that when you have this kind of equivocating power supply with the damage that it does to appliances and the like, and obviously the pocket of our people, what you end up finding is that they actually just want to turn the lights off.

‘’So the Siemens deal with the issue of quality of supply, ensuring that when Nigerians receive their light, whether it’s 6 hours, 12 hours or 24 hours, that whatever they’re receiving is quality electricity supply,’’ he said.

Ngelale added that the president has dedicated one billion dollars for the off grid power through capital formation and mobilisation from multilateral institutions dealing with the supply of off grid solar home systems.

He said that this would be allocated to primary health facilities, rural communities, and rural farms in order to cut about 50 per cent of post-harvest loss in the country because the produce could not reach the markets. (NAN)
IS\YEE

(Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

FG inaugurates Renewed Hope housing delivery portal

By Angela Atabo

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, has inaugurated the Renewed Hope Housing Delivery Portal to grant access to 100,000 houses across Nigeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates web portal, where Nigerians can apply, including those in Diaspora is: https://renewedhopehomes.fmhud.gov.ng

While inaugurating the portal on Tuesday in Abuja, Dangiwa said the ministry, inline with President Bola Tinubu’s agenda,  promised to break all  barriers to home ownership for Nigerians.

He said  that the innovative platform provided an online, transparent, easy-to-use, integrated web-based application for sale of homes under the Renewed Hope housing  Programme of the ministry, earlier inaugurated by the President.

He recalled that in December 2023, the ministry signed an MoU with a consortium of developers led by Continental Civil to deliver 100,000 housing units nationwide.

He said the platform,being inaugurated, was a key part of the partnership.

“I want to take this moment to commend the consortium of developers for their ingenuity. Nations grow when the private sector is properly engaged.

“This is our strategy, and we plan to continue encouraging those who have real value to add to our efforts to deliver the Renewed Hope Vision for Housing delivery.

“The housing platform will also provide the necessary data that we need to achieve our goal of implementing a demand-driven strategy for housing, by helping us to ascertain  the nature of housing needs for different locations and demographics nationwide,” he said.

Dangiwa said that any moment, the ministry had estates in 12 locations and three cities across the country.

He said the estates are sited in Yobe, Gombe, Ebonyi, Abia, Nasarawa, Benue, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Katsina, Sokoto, Oyo and Osun and the  cities are in Abuja, Kano and Lagos.

Dangiwa said  the platform also integrated features that offered flexible payment options, including both one-time payments and instalment plans, catering to different financial situations.

He  said the platform would  provide easy access to mortgage plans, allowing homebuyers to check their eligibility and apply from anywhere in the world.

He added that the platform supported equity contributions for mortgages, streamlining financial planning for buyers.

The minister said that buyers could also apply for  release of up to 25 per cent of their Retirement Saving Account (RSA) balance for additional financial support.

Dangiwa charged all Nigerians to take advantage of the platform to apply for the houses, adding that “with the platform, you do not need to know anybody to own a home. It is transparent, and the criteria are open to all.

The Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Marcus Ogunbiyi ,said that over the years, the ministry had been delivering houses manually but decided to break new grounds to go digital.

The development, Ogunbiyi said, was to reduce human contact by making the houses available to the masses and not by the influence of who they were connected to.

He said that such influences had been tackled with the platform, so all Nigerians needed to do was to apply only and if they qualified, the house would be given.

The Director ICT, in the Ministry, Amiolemem Marcus, said  the Renewed Hope Platform is a state-of-the-art web portal designed to enhance  delivery of houses to revolutionise the real estate and mortgage sectors in Nigeria.

Marcus  said that key features and benefits of the website included its user-friendly interface, simplified registration, search, and application processes for homebuyers and developers.

He said its comprehensive modules included : onboarding, pre-qualification, credit checks via collaboration with credit bureaus, banks statement analysis, product application, property listing, mortgage application, and payment gateway features.

Marcus added that it has a real-time tracking, so homebuyers could monitor the application progress and property development milestones among others.(NAN)

Edited by Chioma Ugboma/Rotimi Ijikanmi

Wike directs immediate reconstruction of Dogon Gada bridge – Coordinator

By Philip Yatai

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, has given a matching order for the immediate reconstruction of Dogon Gada box culvert in Lokogoma village, Abuja.

Mr Felix Obuah, the Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), made this known in Abuja on Tuesday, during the 2024 Flood Risk Assessment and Community Awareness Campaign.

The campaign was organised by the FCT Emergency Management Department in collaboration with emergency management stakeholders.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the culvert was on the access road that linked over 3,000 residents of Lokogoma village, popularly known as Dogon Gada community to Ring Road II.

The FCT Emergency Management Department had on April 7, barricaded the box culvert, which had collapsed, to avert loss of lives.

The community loses their loved ones to flooding while trying to cross the culvert during the rainy season, due to its low elevation and prone to flooding.

Obuah said that the construction of the bridge would commence immediately after the engineering department concluded their structural designs and other technical requirements.

He assured the community that FEMD was taking necessary action to ensure that no life was lost to flooding in FCT throughout the 2024 rainy season.

“The minister has given a matching order that the construction of the bride should commence with immediate effect.

“As I speak to you, any moment from now work will commence. The engineering process has begun already for the speedy construction of the bridge,” he said.

The coordinator pointed out that human action has an impact on the environment, exposing it to varying degrees of flood risk.

He explained that the exercise was a preparedness and awareness campaign to sensitise residents against actions that would predispose communities to flood.

“I assured FCT residents that with the proactive measure being taken by FEMD and other stakeholders, no life will be lost in 2024 to flooding in 2024.

“We must, therefore, continue to strengthen our collaboration towards flood prevention and mitigation,” Obuah said.

Earlier, acting Director-General, FEMD, Mr Mohammed Sabo, said that the flood risk assessment and awareness campaign was part of strategies to strengthen disaster risk reduction.

Sabo said that other flood prone communities would also be sensitised to mobilise residents to take proactive steps towards preventing loss of lives to flood.

He added that the flood risk assessment would enable FEMD to assess interventions that worked and areas that need additional interventions to prevent flooding.

Also, Mr Florence Wenegieme, Director, Forecasting, Response and Mitigation, said that the bridge had taken many lives over the years during the rainy season.

Wenegiene explained that the people were killed by the flood because they tried to cross the flooded bridge against warnings by FEMD and local divers stationed at the bridge.

Mr Christopher Maikalangu, Chairman, Abuja Municipal Area Council, thanked Wike for the prompt intervention to prevent more people from dying from flooding along the bridge.

He said that the distance from the community to Ring Road II was 800 metres, but the residents had to travel five to six kilometres through alternative routes to get to the ring road.

The leader of the community, Mr Irimiya Kanpani, who could not hide his excitement over the minister’s approval for the recommendation of the collapsed bridge described it as a huge relief,

“Now I can go to sleep knowing that the minister will fulfil his promise and my people will be safe. All I can say is thank you,” he said. (NAN)

Edited by Abiemwense Moru

NBC records significant progress in boundary demarcation under Tinubu

By Philip Yatai

The National Boundary Commission (NBC) says it has advanced the course of definition and demarcation of about 15 interstate boundaries in the last one year.

The Director-General of the commission, Mr Adamu Adaji, stated this on Tuesday in Abuja,while assessing the impact of President Bola Tinubu’s administration in boundary management after one year in office.

According to Adaji, NBC recorded significant progress in defining and demarcating interstate and international boundaries under President Bola Tinubu-led administration.l

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)  that the commission carried out joint meetings of officials, some field investigations and even attempted to demarcate some of the boundaries.

“For those that are yet to be resolved, we are engaging the parties to see how we can resolve them.

“The resolution processes entail physical field exercises, going to trace the boundaries alongside the people or parties concerned,” he said.

At the international level, the DG said that similar feats had been recorded in addressing boundary disputes between the country and her neighbours.

He said the commission had made progress, particularly, in the implementation of the rulings of the International Court of Justice on Nigeria and Cameroon.

“Previously, the Commission had placed about 1,200 pillars along the boundary in strict adherence to the rulings of the International Court of Justice.

“In the last one year, we’ve been able to add about 500 more pillars.

“In the case of Nigeria and Niger, which is a very peaceful boundary, we’ve been able to collaborate with our Nigerien counterpart to erect more pillars to make the boundary more visible.

“This is a boundary that is about 1,500kms in length, but, has only 148 pillars that had been put in place by the colonial masters. You can imagine just 148 pillars covering a stretch of 1,500 km.

“So, we have been able to place about 200 more intermediate pillars in between these main pillars.

“In fact, just last week, we went to sensitise the border communities in Jigawa state to the need to prepare for the placement of 40 more intermediate pillars along the border,” he added.

For Nigeria and Benin Republic border,  Adaji said the boundary had been dormant, which necessitated the commission to reactivate discussions with Benin government, last year.

He said that officials from the two countries had met and agreed to continue with the resolution process.

“I think in about a week or two, we will be going to Cotonou to inaugurate a committee that will search for relevant documents to resolve the outstanding grey areas.

“We have grey areas in the Ogun state section and of course the northern part, where issues of the exactness of the instrument to use, are still being contested by the two countries.

“But, the good thing is that, we have been able to activate discussions. We even had a kind of memorandum of understanding to create cross-border cooperation.

 “The agreement to that effect has been signed by the two countries.

“It was initiated last year, and just recently, we both signed the agreement to formalise the promotion of cross-border cooperation,” he said.

On the border with Ghana, Abaji said the Commission has been able to, reopen discussions towards defining the maritime boundaries

He attributed the success so far recorded to the commitment of the Tinubu-led government in the pursuit of his eight-point agenda to renew the hope of the citizens.

He said: “I think, largely, we will credit the commitment of the government to the promotion of enhanced security.

“The Tinubu’s administration is supporting agencies like the National Boundary Commission, whose activities border on the promotion of security.

“We have improvement in our budget provision.

“Though we can’t say it’s enough, but at least, there is great improvement and that has been able to spur us to carry out some activities that, ordinarily, it would have taken longer time to carry out.

“With that encouragement, I think the states are also keying into this renewed hope agenda of the federal government.

“They are beginning to cooperate more and to give boundary activities priority attention,” Adaji said.

Speaking on n challenges, the DG said that boundary management was capital intensive, adding that non-establishment of State and Local Government Boundary Committees in some of the states and local government councils was equally a challenge.

He said discussions were ongoing to encourage the state and local councils to not only establishe the committees, but make them functional.

He also said that going forward, the commission would strengthen cross border cooperation, including constructing a shared infrastructure to encourage peaceful coexistence among border communities. (NAN)

Edited by Rotimi Ijikanmi

Minister tasks FCTA workers on intellectual development for improved productivity

By Philip Yatai

The Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr Mariya Mamoud, has advised workers in FCT Administration to invest in intellectual development for improved productivity.

The minister gave the advice in Abuja on Monday, at the maiden edition of the FCTA’ maiden Book Exhibition, organised by the Department of Reform Coordination and Service Improvement (RC&SI).

Mahmoud, who was represented by Hajiya Asma’u Mukhtar, Permanent Secretary, Social Development Secretariat, FCTA, said that the move would translate to sustainable growth and development of the territory.

The minister identifying books as windows to the world, offering insights, knowledge, and perspectives that transcend boundaries and time, stressed the importance of continuous learning for self-development.

She called on the FCTA workers to equip themselves with the necessary tools and knowledge to enable them navigate complex challenges.

This, she said, would enhance FCA’s commitment to providing quality services to the residents of the territory.

“This book exhibition serves as a testament to our commitment to fostering a culture of learning and growth within our administrative framework.

“It is a reflection of our belief that investing in the intellectual development of our staff is not just a noble endeavour, but a strategic one.

“The diverse array of books on display covers a wide spectrum of subjects, ranging from public administration and governance to urban planning, sustainability, economics, and beyond.

“Each volume holds within its pages the potential to inspire, educate, and empower us to become better leaders, decision-makers, and agents of positive change,” she said.

In his remarks, the Head of Civil Service, FCTA, Dr Udo Attang, said that books have always been a cornerstone of knowledge and wisdom.

Attang, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Women Affairs Secretariat, FCTA, Mr Adetoyi Kolawale, argued that reading books would help in shaping and reshaping workers’ minds and skills, and impact on their productivity.

The head of service said that the theme, “Enhancing Intellectual Capacity for Effective Service Delivery”, underscores the critical link between knowledge and performance.

“As public servants, educators, and community leaders, we understand that the quality of our service delivery is directly proportional to the depth of our understanding and the breadth of our skills.

“Intellectual capacity is not merely about acquiring information; it is about nurturing the ability to think critically, solve problems creatively, and make informed decisions that benefit our communities,” he said.

He thanked the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and Mahmoud for their tireless support towards building a productive workforce for the FCT.

Earlier, Dr Jumai Ahmadu, the acting Director, Reform Coordination and Service Improvements, explained that the exhibition was organised to promote professionalism among workers.

Ahmadu said that the effort was in line with the 6th Pillar of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021-2025.

According to her, investing in the intellectual development of workers will not only enrich the workers, but also enhance their value as individuals and impact FCTA in the long run.

“By embracing life-long learning, we equip ourselves with the tools necessary to navigate the challenges and seize the opportunities that lie ahead,” she said. (NAN)

Edited by Abiemwense Moru