As part of the efforts to fight unemployment among educated Nigerian youths, the Federal government is to expend a whopping sum of N2 billion on the Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) before the end of the year.

The Project Director of the Scheme, Mr. Dennis Chukwu, disclosed this in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital during a Career Development and Entrepreneurship Skills Training for Interns recently.

Chukwu revealed that the scheme, being funded by the Federal Ministry of Finance, is currently training about 2,000 graduate interns across the country on skills and career development that would make them employers of labour, rather than job seekers.

He added that President Muhammadu Buhari’s government decided to sustain the scheme initiated by the immediate past government owing to his desire to banish unemployment ravaging the potential of Nigerian graduates by exposing them to trainings and opportunities in every sector of the economy.

Chukwu said the scheme had excited 35,000 interns, with thousands of them securing jobs in the civil service and in the business sector and contributing immensely to the growth of the economy.

“Many secured credit facilities and grants through YouWin, and other sources to expand businesses they set up using GIS stipends and many have set up through cooperative associations, some of which have transformed into SMEs; and rather than seeking for jobs, they are now employers.

“In view of its prospect for skills building and job creation, the scheme has developed special programmes for non-oil sector. GIS has entered into special partnerships with governmental and non-governmental organisations to have graduates trained in ICT, agriculture, community health, construction, financial inclusion and the feedbacks of their performances with employers have been encouraging”, he said.

A GIS Consultant, Mr. Victor Ivoke pointed out that it is imperative for job seekers to acquire special skills in order to get good values in the job market.

Ivoke, in his presentation, added that as difficult as situation is in getting jobs in Nigeria is, that graduate with special skills are still being employed with blue chip companies with high pay.

“There is need for job seekers to look for opportunities and in getting opportunities, you must have special skills and that is what we are exposing our unemployed youths to through this scheme.

“There should be need for packaging of employees, so that you can get employees to a good job market, which means you will be the one to tell your employers your wage. It is sad that some of the job seekers even get jobs that can’t sustain them and this is because they didn’t have special skills”, he lamented.

Ivoke told the participants to use the monthly stipends being paid them by the federal government in the course of the 12 months training, saying some of their counterparts had hit the labour market and made big exploits through the stipend without taking credit facility.

The National Council of State of Wednesday said that it approved the steps being taken by the Federal Government to revive the economy.

The council also approved the appointment of six commissioners for the Independent National Electoral Commission, among them Editor of THISDAY Lawyer, May Agbamuche-Mbu (representing South South)

It also approved the appointment of the Inspector General of Police‎, Ibrahim Idris.

All these were disclosed by the Lagos State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, who briefed State House correspondents at the end of the council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.‎

The governor of Jigawa State, Abubakar Badaru ‎who was also at the briefing, provided the details on the confirmation of the IGP.

‎Ambode said: “We deliberated on the appointment of six national commissioners for INEC. You know INEC is supposed to have twelves commissioners. We had earlier approved 6 sometimes last year and additional 6 were actually approved today. And those six represents six nominees from the six geo-political zones.

“You may also wish to know that we approved five new commissioners for the National Population Commission, (NPC) in addition to what was actually approved for INEC.”

He gave the names of the new INEC commissioners as Mohammed Haruna (North Central); AVM Ahmed Tijani Mu’Azu rtd (North East); Abubakar Nahuca (North West); Professor Okechukwu Ibanu (South East); and Dr. Adekunle Ladipo Ogumola ( South West).

The names of the new NPC commissioners are‎: Dr Eyitayo Oyetunji (Oyo); Barr. Patricia Iyaya (Benue), Egr. Benedict Ukpong (Akwa Ibom), Dr. Halu Bala (Kebbi), and Gloria Isofo (Bayelsa).

The Jigawa State Governor who briefed on a meeting of the National Police Council which was also held at the State House yesterday said ‎the appointment of the IGP was unanimously accepted.

He said: “So, the police council did resolve to confirm the Acting Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.”

During questions and answers,‎ journalists demanded to know if the prevailing economic situation was discussed.

Responding‎, Ambode said: “The council was also briefed on the state of the economy. The minister of state from the Ministry of Budget and Planning actually made a presentation to council on the ways and manner in which the federal government is approaching the way to rescue the recession path that we are going through.

“Council was confident and also approved the measures the federal government is putting in to ensure that Nigeria goes on the path of recovery as quickly as possible.”

The Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, says a total of 12, 077 road crashes were recorded across the country in 2015, the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports.

The FRSC Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi, disclosed this in Uyo on Wednesday while addressing a public enlightenment forum organised for transport stakeholders at old Akwa Transport Corporation (AKTC) park.

Mr. Oyeyemi was represented at the event by the Assistant Corps Marshal in charge of Policy, Research and Statistics, Michael Olagunju.

He said out of 12,077 road crashes recorded last year, 5,400 people representing 65 per cent of those involved in the crashes lost their lives.

Mr. Oyeyemi said the commission would not go back on the October1 deadline for the implementation of speed limiting device nationwide as approved President Muhammadu Buhari.

The corps marshal regretted that most of the crashes would have been avoided if appropriate safety measures were adopted by the motorists while plying the highways.

He described the statistics on road crashes as staggering and reiterated that the speed limiting device would save Nigerians the embarrassment on the highways.

“Most of the road crashes are preventable, if we are able to bring down the speed, we will be saving a lot of lives on our highways,” Mr. Oyeyemi said.

In his remarks, the State Transport Commissioner, Godwin Ntukude, expressed satisfaction with the introduction of the speed limiting device.

Mr. Ntukude called for a technical session with all stakeholders to enlighten them on the workability of the device.

“There is no policy introduced by government that will not have a positive effect on lives of the people.

“Let us have technical session with experts to ascertain whether it can be installed on an expired (Tokunbo) vehicle or not.

“It is important for us to know this so that the good policy would not work otherwise negatively,” Mr. Ntukude said.

Earlier, the FRSC Public Relations Officer, Godgift Uwen, said that the introduction of speed limiting device would make Nigeria join the league of nations like Japan, Australia and Sweden.

The Mozambican government is proposing a total ban on all exports of unprocessed logs, regardless of the tree species from which they come, reports Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.

The national director of forests in the Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development, Xavier Sakambuera, told the paper a bill on this matter has already been drafted and deposited with the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.

There have been many haphazard attempts in the past to outlaw the export of logs from particular species of hardwoods, but this would be the first blanket ban on the export of all logs. As such it is bound to meet with ferocious opposition from logging interests, who are busy destroying Mozambique’s forests to sell unprocessed wood to foreign buyers, often from China.

A complete ban means that forest wardens and customs inspectors will no longer have to determine what kind of trees the logs come from, since all log exports will be illegal.

Current estimates are that Mozambique is losing 220,000 hectares of forest a year. This is due not only to logging, but to the uncontrolled bush fires associated with slash and burn agriculture, and the clearing of land for building purposes.

Sakambuera said the government hopes a ban will greatly reduce illegal logging, and will create more jobs in the timber processing industry.

“There will be a modernization of technology in the timber industry”, he forecast, “which will add value to the product at all stages in the production chain”.

Sakambuera added that, with an export ban in place, the government hopes to harmonise the prices charged in marketing wood throughout the country.

The Ministry of Solid Minerals Development has confirmed that it is aware of the discovery of high grade nickel in Kaduna State. It however advised excited members of the public to be patient and await an official position of the ministry after due investigation.

In a press statement issued at the weekend, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mohammed Abbas, said: “The Ministry of Solid Ministry of Solid Minerals Development is aware of the excitement in the media about the discovery of nickel in parts of Kaduna State.

“This is totally understandable considering the partial assay of the mineral assets referenced. The ministry is aware of the occurrence of the mineral in the area.

“Since the discovery many months ago, technical experts from the ministry have been following up on this development as provided by law.”

Abbas therefore appealed to the general public to allow the ministry to come up with detailed reports on the find.

Stakeholders in the construction industry have welcomed a new system to manage building permits in secondary cities across the country.

The Building Permit Management Information System (BPMIS) was launched by Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) in Musanze District, Northern Province, in collaboration with the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC).

BPMIS is designed to help fast-track organised housing in the country’s six designated secondary cities of Musanze in Northern Province, Rubavu and Rusizi in Western Province, Muhanga and Huye in Southern Province, and Nyagatare in Eastern Province.

BPMIS is designed to allow applicants to submit online permit requests, shorten the time required for one-stop centres to assess, approve and report on permit applications and efficiently provide feedback on sites and plots inspections.
It is expected to enhance transparency in the issuance of building permits because it will contain clear instructions to follow and it will help keep the data that would otherwise be scattered across district offices in the country.

The Executive Secretary of the Engineers Institute of Rwanda, Bonny Rutembesa, said the new system will reduce the cost of doing business because most submissions for permits will now be made online.

“This is really a good answer; it’s a milestone for us. This is an answer that the Government has just given us in line with easing the cost of doing business. It will tremendously cut costs that engineers and architects were making in the process to submit their applications,” he said.

Jean Damascene Habyarimana, the Musanze vice-mayor for economic affairs, said the new system will further improve the district’s services.

“It is a good step in the development of our country. The system will help many people to easily acquire their building permits,” he said. “I don’t mean we were not giving good services but I admit that we were not doing it fast enough.”

The system has already been rolled out in Musanze and Rubavu and will be taken to the remaining four secondary cities by the end of the year, officials said.

Among other information, it will help to collect and store data about applications for building permits, profiles for licensed engineers and architects, and keep data on cities’ master plans.

It will operate in Kinyarwanda, French, and English while people will be paying for its services online through Irembo portal.

The software is a World Bank Group-owned open source application that was successfully deployed in the City of Kigali and is now being extended to secondary cities in the countryside.

The support in construction permits is part of the Bank’s third phase of Rwanda Investment Climate Reform Programme funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) for a total amount of $7.2 million.

At the launch of the software, acting World Bank country manager Norah Kipwola said Rwanda is globally known for making strong gains in building its economy and that modernising the construction industry in secondary cities will in sustaining that feat.

“The World Bank will continue to work with the Government of Rwanda in making the six secondary cities an investment destination and exemplary for other cities in the country,” she said.

Under the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy, the six secondary cities will be developed to achieve sustainable, well-managed and integrated economic growth.

The country also has ambitious targets of moving online most of its services to the people and seeks to achieve at least 95 per cent of the digitisation of the services in the next two years.

The Division Manager of Housing Regulations and Standards at RHA, Harouna Nshimiyimana, urged both the media and leaders to sensitise the public about the new system.

“What we want is for the organised city you see in Kigali to be replicated in other parts of the country. Changing old mindset is not easy but it’s possible. People need to understand that they need to move from the old system and embrace a new thinking,” he said.

Officials also say the system will improve Rwanda’s ranking in annual World Bank Doing Business Report related to dealing with construction permits.

It will also contribute toward the mitigation of environmental impacts through reduction of use of paper by completely eliminating manual processes.

The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, on Tuesday said there was no going back on the Federal Government’s plan to concession the four major airports in the country.

Mr. Sirika made the remark while speaking at an interactive session with Aviation correspondents in Lagos.

The Federal Government had indicated interest to concession the Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt international airports, to improve their safety and capacity.

Mr. Sirika noted that the protest by some aviation unions against the government’s plan was due to the misconception that the airports were going to be privatised and sold to private individuals.

According to him, the concessioning of the airports will ensure that they are properly managed, while the government will still retain their ownership.

The minister said that the current condition of airports in the country had made it extremely difficult for Nigeria to attract the desired number of passengers to transform the country into an aviation hub.

“Nigeria has potential to do between 70 to 100 million passengers annually, within the next five years, if the right things are put in place.

“The 15 million annual passengers which is the country’s current capacity can be improved upon if private investors are allowed to participate in the sector.

“Government does not have money to put into these businesses and we don’t want to sell these facilities either; so that is why we are concessioning them because it is the only way to go,” he said.

The minister noted that aviation was a money spinner and could help the government to generate revenue which would be used to revitalize the Nigerian economy.

To this end, he said the government was committed to the establishment of a national carrier, a Repair, Maintenance and Overhaul (MRO) facility and an aviation leasing company which would all be privately funded.

The minister noted that their absence in the country had constituted a huge challenge to the growth of the aviation sector.

Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman, League of Aviation and Airports Correspondents, Chuks Iwelunmo, pledged that the group would continue to partner with the ministry to take aviation to greater heights.

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.