The Senate yesterday warned proponents of new increment in pump price of fuel, saying they must not take the patience of Nigerians over current economic situation in the country for granted.

This came as it confirmed Vanguard’s earlier exclusive report that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, ordered suspension of treatment of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, following disagreements by senators on the host communities’ funds component of the bill.

The Red Chamber, speaking to journalists, in Abuja, through its spokesman, Senator Abdullahi Aliyu Sabi, asked government not to buy the ideas of ex-NNPC Group Managing Directors, who were reported at the weekend to call for new hike in fuel price given that the current N145 per litre was no longer sustainable.

He insisted that government must be mindful of the activities of the former NNPC bosses,who he noted, were parading themselves as its advisers, saying they may be the agents of enemies of the present federal administration with given tasks to pull government down.

Sabi, who represents Niger North Senatorial District on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, said the former NNPC helmsmen lacked the capacity to speak the way they did, blamed them for the current nation’s economic woes, saying their various administrations in NNPC brought the country to its current situation.

Hear him:”First and foremost, let me say that these are my personal opinion. I’m not making this submission as spokesman of the Senate, which means the position of the Senate. But I’m saying this in capacity as Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, who represents the good people of Niger North Senatorial District.

“I read the newspaper report and I was disturbed, worried and I think for all intents and purposes, I’m very much disappointed.

“First and foremost, let’s underpin the issue as follows: I saw it clearly: former Group managing Directors – almost all of them numbering close to 10 or so. And what came to my mind is that how did we get here?

“The NNPC as an institution was expectedly the life wire of this nation. As we have all known, refineries that we have in Nigeria have not been functional because if they have been functional and if that institution had been up and doing in tandem with its peers in other countries that have similar resource endowment as us, we would not be where we are today.

“For crying out loud, all of these former GMDs, can they be said to be free of blame on how we got here?

“These refineries have not been working; the corporation itself has not been run transparently to the maximum benefit of Nigerian citizens.

“At least, I knew that it was just in this our change administration that the Minister of State (Petroleum), Ibe Kachikwu was able to tell Nigerians that the corporation had declared profit now because he has brought his wealth of private sector experience to bear on that corporation.

“As it is before now, which mean this is talking about just one year of this present government. But before now, going down the lane through the period of the 16 years misrule of the PDP administration, and even before then the military have all been there. Our refineries have not worked. All the problems we are having are as a result of all these people who are assembled now to be the wise men to tell us what should be done.”

He continued: “As far as I’m concerned, all of them that are speaking do not have the moral standpoint to even advise us on what to do because they had a hand in it.

“And I cannot see how you can solve a problem under the same condition that created it. Are we expecting these people’s advice to change the narrative?

“As far as I’m concerned, maybe they are sent to destroy this government. We will not allow them to do that because right now, Mr. President is grappling with inherited problems. He is trying his best to see that things are changed. And I think within this context, whatever it is we need to do to support him to succeed, we have always been ready as we have always done since we came on board to support him.'”

The senator added:”If you look at the arithmetic, if things had been well, it is now that Nigerians are even supposed to enjoy because the price of petroleum has crashed.

“If we are going to get the pains of not getting enough forex, we should have gotten the joy of having a lower price of petroleum product, which we are not getting right now because the institutional base for it which the NNPC fully represents, has been destroyed over the years by these same people who assembled to advice.

“So, no matter how well intentioned their advice is, it’s unfortunate that it is coming from that particular group of people because they have been part of the mess all along.

“I can’t see how they clean themselves out of the mess that is presently in the oil and gas sector.

“So, to my mind, they should have made their advice underground. But to come out in that strong manner, I see it as a slap on us because they are responsible for what we are getting.

“If they had left a legacy of a solid institutional base for the oil and gas industry, we wouldn’t have been in this situation today. You increase the price and add up to the crisis that Mr. President is handling, is that the way to go about it?

“No matter how well intentioned their aim is, while we trace the historical milestone of this organisation down the line and to see that these people at the individual levels have been responsible for the period of unaccountability, deep leakages that has characterised that industry.

“For them to come out today and tell us that this is what needs to be done, I don’t think they have sat down to think through what they were saying. They don’t have the moral foundation to advise us on what to do because they are responsible for where we are.

“My take is that the current effort that is being made to turn around this sector will continue.”

Speaking on why the PIB has not been taken beyond the first reading in the Senate, Sabi declared that the Senate resolved that its treatment be suspended following controversies arising from host communities’ funds component of the bill.

He, however, refused to state where opposition against the aspect of the bill was from.

Hear him: “The Senate is already primed because most experts have submitted that we need to do something about the PIB.

” And you know the Senate was billed in our own wisdom, rather than take the whole hog of PIB, to turn in to about one or two components, we wanted to take the management framework but because of the sensitivity of the host community relationship and benefit sharing issue, that issue met some brick wall even before it went ahead.

“And so, we thought it wise to keep it down. But I’m convinced beyond reasonable doubt that by the time we come back from recess, that issue will still get a front burner attention because it’s key to whatever changes we want to see done, going forward on a sustainable basis in the oil and gas industry.”

Police in Zimbabwe have claimed that the southern African country is facing an “imminent terror attack”, hence the move by the security forces to ban all demonstrations and political rallies, reports said on Tuesday.

The police, according to reports, said this while responding to the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’s application to hold its first anniversary celebrations in Bulawayo on Sunday.

The celebrations had been scheduled to take place at the White City Stadium.

Police claimed they feared a full blown war was imminent in the country, as they were threats by pressure groups to attack government infrastructures to force President Robert Mugabe’ to relinquish power, a NewsDay report said.

The police further claimed that the situation in the southern African country was volatile, adding that unnamed pressure groups were planning to attack the country during the demonstrations.

‘Political condoms’

“Serious threats have been received from various pressure groups through social media inciting people to declare a full war in Zimbabwe starting on September 2, to destroy all police properties, to destroy all roadblocks with fire, to blow up all government vehicles and buildings, attack all members of the prison services and release all prisoners in jail, seize Zimbabwe Revenue Authority by force, shut down all major shops until government changes, prevent all airlines from landing and taking off, allow bus operators to operate at their risk and to blow up all Zupco buses and ambulances,” the police wrote in a letter to PDP.

The PDP, however, described as a shame the ban on its rally, with the party’s secretary general Gordon Moyo accusing the police of fighting the ruling Zanu-PFs battles, according to New Zimbabwe.com.

“It is a shame that the police continue to be used as expandable political condoms of a sterile and fading regime of Robert Mugabe. Surely how does a birthday celebration in Bulawayo threaten the Herald?, Moyo was cited as saying.

After its success in Liberia, the African Development Bank is supporting another digital payment project in line with its agriculture transformation agenda. “AGRIPME” (Agri Porte Monnaie Electronique) is a joint project of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Digital Economy in Togo aiming to provide subsidies to farmers through electronic wallets provided by mobile network operators MOOV and TOGOCEL.

To date, 76,522 out of the 150,000 small-scale farmers have been identified and registered, allowing them to benefit from a US $1.3 million subsidy to buy inputs. The Government is essentially aiming to establish a secure database of small-holder farmers, the digitalization of input acquisition and the selection of input suppliers for fertilizers distribution. This innovative input distribution mechanism is based on the fact that Togo is among of the lowest users of fertilizers in the world. Prior to the ongoing reform of the agricultural sector, approximately 6 kilograms of fertilizers per acre were used in Togo, against the recommended 50 kg for good agricultural performance. Key components of the project were related to farmers’ registration, wallet openings, capacity building and sensitization, technical assistance and setting up an agricultural information system.

The Government is targeting 3 million farmers, which represents 70% of its total population. It is important to note the involvement and alignment of mobile network operators in Togo, in supporting the cost of 107,000 SIM cards, prefunding a communication campaign and establishing of call centres for customer support as part of their corporate social responsibility. In a second phase of the project and to speed up results, the Government of Togo will look to leverage on the latest innovative technologies such as geospatial mapping and biometric identification.

The long-term impact of this digital payment innovation resides in an opportunity for more than half the population to be recognized in the financial system and aspire to additional financial services and improved well-being.

The Togo e-registration of small-scale farmers is encouraging as it demonstrates the role and potential of the private sector in catalyzing the agricultural production by digitally empowering a traditionally excluded portion of the population, making them more attractive to financial institutions.

The third unit at Ingula Pumped Storage Scheme was brought into commercial operation on Tuesday, Eskom CEO Brian Molefe announced on Wednesday.

Each unit adds 333 MW of peak power to the grid, which is key in the power utility's ability to cope with peak demand, especially during winter.

Addressing Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprise, Molefe pointed out that all four units were synchronised on March 3, March 25, May 21 and June 16, which meant 1 332 MW was being fed into the grid in winter. However, the commercial handover is the end date for the completion of the project.

Units 4 and 2 went into commercial operation on June 10 and August 22, while unit 1 went live on Tuesday night.

Unit 3 had a breakdown during synchronisation and would be up and running by the end of the year, Molefe said."The repairs of damaged unit 3 are progressing," he said. "It is the only unit that is expected to come into commercial operation during this financial year."

In addition, Molefe said Medupi unit 5 is on track for commercial operation in the first half of 2018.

"With commercial operation of Ingula and the coming on stream of Medupi unit 5, it will be very hard to go into load shedding," Molefe said.

His positive sentiment about Eskom's finances and operational successes comes as his battle with Treasury reached a turning point on Tuesday evening, when Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown pushed the utility to hand over documents to Treasury over its probe into coal contracts.

"We will submit the information even though the board has not sat down to formally consider the outcome of the report," spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe told Talk Radio 702.

"After our discussions this morning with the public enterprises minister, the decision was we would submit the information (to Treasury)".
 

"Eskom is on a firm financial and operation footing," Molefe said. "Our financial position has improved and our operational performance has stabilised. We do not anticipate load shedding and the new build programme will meet its deadlines. We are prepared to meet excess supply of electricity."

'Almost a miracle'

"We have stabilised Eskom coming from a very poor base with a fleet that was faltering," Eskom chair Ben Ngubane told Parliament on Wednesday. "Plant availability is 80% and more, which is almost a miracle, considering where we were a year ago."

Molefe said there has been a reduced reliance on open cycle gas turbines in 2016, which cost billions to run during South Africa's load shedding crisis. This has resulted in a decrease from R9.5bn in 2014/15, to R8.87bn in 2015/16, to R0.09bn in 2016/17 to date, Molefe explained."Eskom is striving for no further use of diesel to meet demand for the remainder of the year," he said. "The use of diesel in July was zero."

Eskom has come under scrutiny once again over the turbines, as they are massively over budget and delayed, with all four turbines originally meant to go live in 2013.

Carte Blanche interviewed an insider and a mining expert who worked at Ingula, who said the underground contractor was paid billions more than they should have in bonuses, advances and flimsy compensation events, even as the contractors skimped on safety.

The contractor – CMI Joint Venture – comprises two Italian companies, which allegedly have a track record of over-runs and corruption. The third company is PG Mavundla Engineers, which is owned by Philani Mavundla, a friend of President Jacob Zuma who offered to pay for his Nkandla homestead, according to Carte Blanche.

Source: Fin24

Watumishi Housing Company (WHC) is planning to construct 500 housing units for public servants in Dodoma as the government relocates there.

The public entity which is a licensed fund manager for management of the WHC Real Estate Investment Trust (WHC-REIT) has already bought 50 acres and expects to start with 100 houses in the current financial year, according to the company’s chief executive officer Fred Msemwa.

“The WHC board has endorsed the move after we acquired land at Njedengwa near University of Dodoma, which is conducive for the project. The area has tarmacked roads, water supply and electricity.”

He said the houses will be sold to public servants at between Sh35 million and Sh65 million.

WHC-REIT is the main implementor of the Tanzania Public Servant Housing Scheme.

The programme is tasked with building 50,000 housing units in five phases — from the 2014/2015 financial year.

So far, the firm has constructed 700 houses.

The first phase of constructing houses in Dodoma will start this financial year. Other phases will depend on the availability of funds.

He called on public servants to purchase WHC houses which are sold at reasonable prices instead of constructing their own houses which will involve a lot of money.

Meanwhile, WHC sold its units to pension funds through collective investment schemes.