The presidency on Thursday said
President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise that governance would not take the back
seat in spite of his busy campaign schedules across Nigeria ahead of the
presidential election was fulfilled.
Femi Adesina, presidential
spokesman, in a statement, listed the administration’s achievements in the last
six months.
The release reads: “Minimum Wage:
January 9, 2019: President Buhari inaugurated the Presidential Technical
Advisory Committee on the Implementation of the National Minimum Wage (PTAC),
with a mandate to advise the Federal Government on how best to fund, in a
sustained manner, the additional costs of implementing the imminent increase in
the National Minimum Wage.
The Committee, chaired by Mr.
Bismarck Rewane, submitted its report on Monday, March 25, 2019.
Also in January 2019, President
Buhari submitted a National Minimum Wage Amendment Bill to the National
Assembly for passage, following the approval of the National Council of State.
The Bill is now awaiting presidential assent.
2. FINANCING GOVERNMENT
January 23, 2019: The Strategic
Revenue Growth Initiatives (SRGI) programme of the Federal Government was
launched by Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, in Abuja
SRGI is built on three (3) main
planks:
Achieve sustainability in revenue
generation
Identify new and enhance the
enforcement of existing revenue streams
Achieve cohesion in the revenue
ecosystem (people and tools).
The Steering Committee of the
SRGI, with membership drawn from all the major revenue-generating agencies,
held its inaugural meeting on February 12, 2019.
3. FINANCING INFRASTRUCTURE
January 25, 2019: President
Buhari signed Executive Order 007 of 2019: The Road Infrastructure Development
and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme.
Through this Scheme, companies
that are willing and able to spend their own funds on constructing roads to
their factories or farms, will recover their construction costs by paying
reduced taxes, over a period of time.
In the first phase, 19 Eligible
Road Projects are to be undertaken by 6 leading manufacturing and construction
firms, in 11 States, and in each of Nigeria’s six geo-political zones, as
follows:
The Companies: Dangote Industries
Limited; Lafarge Africa Plc; Unilever Nigeria Plc; Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc;
Nigeria LNG Limited; and China Road and Bridge Corporation Nigeria Limited.
The Roads: a) Construction of
Ashaka-Bajoga Highway in Gombe State;
b) Reconstruction of
Dikwa-Gambaru-Ngala Road in Borno State;
c) Reconstruction of Bama-Banki
Road in Borno State;
d) Rehabilitation of Sharada Road
in Kano State;
e) Rehabilitation of Nnamdi
Azikiwe Expressway / Bypass, in Kaduna State;
f) Reconstruction of Birnin Gwari
Expressway – Road in Kaduna State;
g) Reconstruction of Birnin Gwari
– Dansadau Road in Kaduna State;
h) Reconstruction of
Makurdi-Yandev-Gboko Road in Benue State;
i) Reconstruction of Zone
Roundabout-House of Assembly Road in Benue State;
j) Reconstruction of
Obajana-Kabba Road in Kogi State;
k) Reconstruction of
Ekuku-Idoma-Obehira Road in Kogi State;
l) Construction of
Adavi-Eba-Ikuehi-Obeiba-Obokore Road in Kogi State;
m) Rehabilitation of
Lokoja-Ganaja Road in Kogi State;
n) Ofeme Community Road Network
and Bridges in Abia State;
o) Rehabilitation of
Obele-Ilaro-Papalanto-Shagamu Road in Ogun State;
p) Reconstruction of Sokoto Road
in Ogun State;
q) Reconstruction of
Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki-Ojota Road in Lagos State;
r) Construction of Bodo-Bonny
Road & Bridges across Opobo Channel in Rivers State; and
s) Rehabilitation of Benin City –
Asaba Road in Edo State.
4. CONSUMER PROTECTION
January 30, 2019: President
Buhari assented to the new Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act
(FCCPA), Nigeria’s first unified and comprehensive Competition legislation.
The new Act establishes the
Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), to replace the
Consumer Protection Council.
The goal of the FCCPA is to
foster a business environment in which markets are competitive and the rights
of consumers are protected.
The functions of the FCCPC
include the review and approval of mergers and acquisitions, to ensure that
they do not have anti-competitive effects in the relevant market.
5. SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES
February 8, 2019: President
Buhari presided over the signing ceremony for a Partnership between the Nigeria
Special Economic Zones Investment Company (NSEZCo) and Strategic Investment
Partners. The ceremony also marked the full operationalization of the NSEZCo.
Project MINE – Made In Nigeria
For Exports is the Buhari Administration’s Special Economic Zones programme
that seeks to boost manufacturing’s share of GDP to 20%, generating $30bn in
annual export earnings; and creating 1.5 million new jobs, all by 2025.
A new company, the Nigeria
Special Economic Zones Investment Company (NSEZCo) has been incorporated as the
delivery vehicle for Project-MINE.
NSEZCo is a Public Private
Partnership (PPP) jointly owned by Government of Nigeria (Ministry of Finance)
and a group of Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), including the Africa
Export Import Bank, Africa Development Bank, Africa Finance Corporation,
Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority.
NSEZCo will mobilize public and
private sector funding to develop world-class export-oriented industrial zones
in Nigeria, offering advanced infrastructure and facilities at competitive
costs.
The projects in the pilot phase
include Enyimba Economic City, Funtua Cotton Cluster and Lekki Model Industrial
Park. Infrastructure upgrade work is also ongoing in the brownfield Calabar and
Kano Free Trade Zones, for which the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has
approved the award of contracts in excess of N19.45 billion.
NSEZCo will be working with a
range of local and international partners – anchor tenants, development
advisers and consultants to deliver on this project.
6. HEALTHCARE
February 9, 2019: President
Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the NSIA – LUTH advanced cancer treatment centre
located in the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos.
Structured under a public-private
partnership (PPP) arrangement between the Nigeria Sovereign Investment
Authority, NSIA and the LUTH, the project is a US$11 million investment for the
rehabilitation, equipping and operation of an existing cancer center co-located
in LUTH, which will provide advanced radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment
services.
The PPP is executed as a
Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT). The NSIA owns the center 100% today and but full
ownership is expected to revert to LUTH after 10 years of operations.
The upgraded facility will run as
a joint venture between NSIA Healthcare Development and Investment Company
(“NHDIC”) and LUTH.
The centre is the first of three
projects with the other two, NSIA-AKTH (Kano) and NSIA-FMCU (Umuahia)
Diagnostic Centers, scheduled for commissioning in the first half of 2019.
President Buhari: “We promised to
effect policies that would continually remove debilitating constraints on the
health sector and create sustainable structures to strengthen our healthcare
institutions for the benefit of the people. Today’s commissioning, is in part,
the fulfilment of our commitment to Nigerians for quality and accessible healthcare.”
7. EASE OF DOING BUSINESS
March 1, 2019: Commencement of
National Action Plan 4.0, which will run from March 1 to April 29, 2019.
This was accompanied by the
launch, on March 15, 2019, of the reportgov.ng Website and App to enable the
Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) / Enabling Business
Environment Secretariat (EBES) obtain feedback from citizens.
PEBEC/EBES have also launched, in
addition to ongoing stakeholder engagements across the public sector and
organised private sector, the Business Made Easy campaign to communicate the
reforms
NAP 4.0 will run from the 1st of
March to the 29th of April, 2019. It aims to deepen the reforms delivered over
the past 3 years and drive institutionalization.
NAP 4.0 will focus on initiatives
such as:
enforcing compliance with SLAs
across all indicators/focus areas,
driving the passage of the CAM
Bill 2018 for improved effectiveness of company law in Nigeria
enhancing efficiency in the small
claims court, and
enhancing the application and
approval system for visas on arrival, to mention a few
Over 140 reforms have been
implemented in the past 3 years to make doing business in Nigeria easier,
including:
Online reservation of a business
name within 4 hours
Registration of a new company
with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) within 24 hours
Automatic generation of Tax
Identification Number (TIN) after completion of registration
Creation of National Collateral
Registry (NCR) to support the use of movable assets (SMEs can now use movable
assets as collateral for loans such as motor vehicles, machinery, inventory,
even jewelry).
Passage of the Credit Bureau Act
2017
Small Claims Courts established
in Lagos and Kano for cost-effective and fast resolution of debt recovery
disputes involving small claims of up to N5,000,000
Filing and payment of federal
taxes online available; E-platform accessible to all classes of taxpayers
Removal of the Infrastructure
Development Charge (IDC) for 2-floor warehouse construction permits
applications in Lagos State
Implementation of 24/7 operations
in Apapa Port
Simplified visa-on-arrival
process; application done online and issued within 48hrs
Some reforms that we expect will
be delivered in 2019:
The new Company and Allied
Matters (CAM) Bill, which seeks to repeal and replace the existing CAM Act
Establishment of a National
Trading Platform for Nigeria’s Ports: a unified digital platform through which
all imports and exports happen.
8. MICRO-PENSION
March 28, 2019: President Buhari
launched a new Pension Scheme that allows the self-employed and persons working
in organisations with less than 3 employees to save for the provision of
pension at retirement or incapacitation.
It is a voluntary, self-saving
scheme available only to those not currently participating in the existing
mandatory Contributory Pension Scheme.
To formally flag off commencement
of the Scheme, President Buhari supervised the registration of Sagir Shawai, a
Motor Tricycle operator in the FCT, and presented his enrolment certificate to
him.
9. INFRASTRUCTURE
For the first time in Nigeria’s
recent history, election season did not halt or negatively affect on-going
Federal Government construction projects across the country. Various projects
(Road, Rail and Power) are currently proceeding on schedule:
Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge Rail
Project (160km)
Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano
Expressway (375km)
Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway
Keffi-Akwanga-Lafia-Makurdi Road
(220km)
Lagos-Sagamu-Ibadan Expressway
(130km)
Kano-Maiduguri Highway
Second Niger Bridge (11.9km)
Afam Fast Power Plant (240MW)
Zungeru Power Plant (700MW)
Bodo-Bonny Bridges and Road
(38km)
Energizing Economies and
Energizing Education programmes, taking clean and sustainable electricity to
markets and University campuses across the country.
In February 2019, Nigeria
formally launched its first ever on-grid solar power project, in Torankawa
community in Yabo LGA of Sokoto State. The solar plant provides uninterrupted
electricity supply to 350 households in the community. For about five years
before the completion of this project the community was cut off from the grid.
CITIZENS’ PORTAL: The Buhari
Administration has also launched a Citizen’s Portal on Infrastructure, to
showcase the Government’s investments in infrastructure across the country:
10. ECONOMIC INDICES
Growth:
The National Bureau of Statistics
released figures for Q4 2018 economic growth: 2.38 percent; and for the Full
Year 2018: 1.93 percent – more than double the Full Year 2017 growth rate of
0.82 percent.
This growth in Q4 2018, as well
as for the Full Year, owed a great deal to the performance of the non-oil
sector. The non-oil sector grew at 2.7% in Q4 2018 versus 1.14% in the oil
sector.
In Q4 2018:
The non-oil sector recorded its
strongest growth since the Q4 2015. (The non-oil sector also grew by 2% in Full
Year 2018, considerably better than its 0.47% growth in the whole of 2017).
The services sector, which
accounts for 53.62% of GDP, registered its strongest growth performance in 11
quarters. 39 out of 46 economic activities recorded growth
There has been a sustained
accretion to External Reserves from $23.81 billion in September 2016 to $44
billion as of end-March, 2019.
Manufacturing Purchasing
Managers’ Index (PMI) in the month of March 2019 stood at 57.4 index points,
indicating expansion in the manufacturing sector for the 24th consecutive
month.
Inflation Rate has been trending
downwards from 18.55% as at December 2016 to 15.37% in December 2017, 11.44% in
December 2018 (below the ERGP target of 12.42% for 2018) and further to 11.31%
in February 2019.
Total FX Turnover at the Nigerian
Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) from launch in April 2017 to March
2019 = US$105.9 billion.”
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