Day: April 30, 2024

The Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, has threatened to blacklist contractors executing streetlight projects, who failed to meet the contract terms.

The coordinator of the council, Mr Felix Obuah, gave the warning, while briefing newsmen on the state of streetlight projects in Abuja on Tuesday.

Obuah said that the warning was necessary following the failure of some of the contractors to keep to the terms of their contracts.

He particularly said that some companies were given contracts to maintain and secure the city streetlights but abandoned it.

Obuah insisted that the FCT Administration would not renew contract with any defaulting companies.

He explained that the contracts were to light up every part of Abuja, adding that he would never pay anybody for causing perpetual darkness in parts of Abuja.

‘I have taken a tour of most of the districts and have observed an alarming situation where the lights are not functioning and some of the infrast
ructures have been vandalised.

‘I am not impressed with the way you have handled the maintenance and security aspects of these contracts.

‘FCT Administration will never consider defaulting companies for any job again, especially those who have contributed to the pervading darkness in Abuja’s streets due to incompetence,’ he stressed.

He added: ‘I am aware that this contract is for maintenance and security of streetlights, but I have personally moved around their areas of operation, and I can say that the city is dark.

‘Their payment has been processed and paid, yet the work is not being done perfectly as agreed.

‘Why must we continue to patronise and pay them when the job is not being done? This is unacceptable.

‘It is their duty to provide the security to guard the facilities. If the bulbs are dead, it is their duty to replace them.

‘From what we are seeing now, I don’t think any of them are living up to the agreement they entered with AMMC.’

He said that he had met with the contractors to enable the
m to explain what the problems were, to see where AMMC could come in.

‘I am not interested in pulling anybody down; I am more interested in the job to be done,’ he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

British High Commissioner in Nigeria Richard Montgomery has applauded the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN’s) professionalism and leading role in the growth of the media, not just in Nigeria but in Africa as a continent.

Montgomery expressed the thought in Abuja on Tuesday when he paid a courtesy visit to the Managing Director of NAN, Malam Ali M. Ali.

The British envoy said the agency, through its operational standards, contributed meaningfully to advancing the growth of the media space in the country.

‘The agency has a pivotal role to play in the media environment, and what we always find impressive about Nigeria is that NAN has an incredibly diverse media landscape, and multiple channels with regional and national news coverage.

‘Some news agencies attempt to put out balanced news and you have to think carefully about what the news is, glancing into your mission statement.

‘We see NAN as one of the critical media agencies in Nigeria.

‘I am quite conscious that Nigeria could be quite a difficult place to
be a journalist. Yes, there is media freedom but there are also massive media challenges.

‘I think if you look at international comparative indices we are admiring journalists, people who made it their career to be part of the media sector.

‘We must keep talking to each other about media freedom and professionalism. Sometimes there are political challenges, so we admire people who uphold the profession and standards.’

Responding, the managing director of NAN acknowledged the long-standing relationship between the agency and the high commission.

He said the agency would continue to maintain its position as the biggest news content provider, not just in the country, but across Africa.

‘We are the biggest on the continent; we have offices in the southern parts of Africa, notably in South Africa.

‘We have had a long-standing relationship with the high commission and the British Council over the years, over many decades.

‘We have lived by our core mandate as NAN and we will attain 50 years of existence and
operation as a news agency. We welcome the idea of training and retraining of our staff.

‘We are in dire need of work tools.

‘Many young Nigerians have benefited immensely from the exposure offered to us by the British Council many years ago.

‘We have a strong affinity with the United Kingdom and look forward to greater cooperation and a robust relationship with the high commission under your leadership,’ Ali said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said it has begun the conduct of fresh bid round for marginal oil fields in Nigeria.

The NUPRC said 12 oil fields would be offered together with the five from the 2022 bid round that was put on hold due to the 2023 general elections.

The Commission’s Chief Executive, Mr Gbenga Komolafe, said this at the Maiden Edition of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Policy Dialogue on Monday in Abuja.

The NEITI House Dialogue is a platform for quarterly policy briefing by Chief Executive Officers and policy makers in the extractive industries to update the public on their activities.

It enables them present information and data on key transparency and accountability policy reform efforts either accomplished or ongoing in their respective organisations.

Komolafe, in his presentation, said the bid round would be conducted between 2024 and 2025.

He stated that the Commission would conduct a comprehensive review of all awarde
d assets to ascertain active and idle assets in the industry.

He assured that the process would be fair, transparent and competitive in line with Section 73(1) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

He said it would be difficult to put a figure to the amount that would be generated from the bid round, adding, however, that it would run into billions of dollars.

According to him, the country’s oil production is currently hovering around 1.4mbpd and 1.5mbpd.

He said the petroleum environment prior to the PIA was chaotic, but had been changed with 25 regulations put in place by the Commission.

He added that the sector had become predictable for investors to come in.

Komolafe said the Commission awarded 49 gas flare sites under the gas commercialisation programme of the Federal Government, and generated N4.344 trillion revenue in 2023.

Earlier, in his Opening Remarks, the NEITI Executive Secretary, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, said the Dialogue would host notable policy makers in Nigeria’s extractive industries a
nd related sectors.

Orji said it would address issues that were of interest and topical to the industry.

He added that the policy dialogue would also get the invited policy maker to provide update or status report on the implementation of NEITI report recommendations as it concerned the agency.

‘This is with a view to deepening not just government oversight and reforms in the extractive sector, but making it inclusive of all stakeholders.

‘Selected section of company representatives, media and civil society actors will be invited to the programme live.

‘This is to demonstrate the multi-stakeholders’ nature of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) process,’ he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The police have promised to strengthen measures to check unprofessional handling of explosives across the country.

The police also notes that the measures will check incidents of explosions.

Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun said this at a roundtable summit on Sustainable Development of Mining Industry in Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.

Egbetokun, represented by Deputy Inspector-General of Police Frank Mba, said that the measures would include ensuring that explosives would not get to the wrong hands.

He pledged the commitment of the police to strengthen its partnership with other agencies to secure the mining environment and purge out crime and criminality.

‘We will deploy Interpol and Extrapol to tackle some of the crimes in the sector,’ he promised.

According to him, the police have arrested 198 suspects of illegal miners from January to date with 111 of them being from Nasarawa State.

He said that the arrest in Nasarawa State was successful because of the cooperation of the government in pr
oviding an enabling environment for their operatives to discharge their duties.

In his key note address, Prof. Akinade Olatunji, the President of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, expressed confidence that the summit would change the trajectory of the sector for good.

Olatunji described the summit as apt to reap the potential of the sector in Nigeria, saying that countries that leveraged the potential of the sector would reap the benefits.

‘Those countries that have paid no attention to the uniqueness of the sector are currently paying the price of their lack of coordination and foresight.

In his remarks, Mr Dele Ayanleke, the National President of Miners Association of Nigeria, urged the participants of the summit to be pragmatic and radical in their critique of the challenges confronting the mining industry.

Ayanleke urged them to come up with strategic action plans for the sustainable development of the sector to reposition it for economic survival.

Earlier, in his remarks, the Director-Ge
neral of NIPSS, Prof. Ayo Omotayo, said that the summit was aimed charting a way forward toward delivering a diversified economy and formulating policies to advance the mining sector.

The Managing Partner of Bruit Costaud, Mr Lai Mohammed, said that the report containing insights, expertise and experiences of participants at the end of the summit would be presented to the government for appropriate action.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that on Jan. 16, an explosion in Ibadan caused by storage of explosive miners, killed no fewer than five people, while 77 were injured and 58 buildings were destroyed.

The event was organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru in collaboration with Bruit Costaud.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria