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FEC approves N169.7bn for reconstruction of 4 roads via Tax Credit Scheme

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FEC approves N169.7bn for reconstruction of 4 roads via Tax Credit Scheme

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N169.7bn for the reconstruction of four roads under the tax credit scheme.

Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola made announced this when he briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.

He said the approval was in response to the tax credit scheme, initiated in 2019 by President Buhari after signing Executive Order 7, to allow the private sector to finance public infrastructure in lieu of tax and then to offset it over time using tax credits.

“The two main memoranda relate to the uptake by the private sector in response to the tax credit programme, which we initiated in 2019, by Mr President signing of Executive Order 7 to allow private sector finance public infrastructure in lieu of tax and then to offset it over time, using tax credits.

“So, the first road that was awarded today on that policy initiative is the road from Bali to Sheti through Gashaka to Gembu in Taraba state – 234 kilometers, reconstruction of the road at a cost of N95.232bn

“The existing road, for those who are familiar with it, has no concrete stone base.

“So it’s just laterite on the asphalt so it doesn’t last and it’s breaking up and leading to potholes.

“So, we have awarded this now for reconstruction under the tax credit scheme; there’s a N20bn provision under the NNPC tax credit scheme that will be used to kick-start this immediately.

“So, this is a road that should not suffer from sustained funding challenges.

Now that council has approved it, and it’s a very critical road leading to the Mambilla Plateau.’’

According to the minister, the road also provides access to the Gashaka Game Reserve and also supports access to many farmlands.

Fashola also disclosed that the council gave approval to a private firm, Mainstream Energy Solutions, to invest over N74bn in the reconstruction of three roads in Kebbi and Niger States.

“The second project, which is also on tax credit scheme approved by council, is actually three roads.

“The applicant, in this case, is Mainstream Energy Solutions, a major energy player in the country, is now seeking to also participate in this policy by investing about N74.4bn,” he said.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who briefed on behalf of his counterparts in Aviation, Power and Agriculture, said the Council approved about N3.5bn for the purchase of a property in Abuja for the Ministry of Aviation.

He said the property to be acquired was to enable the ministry to co-locate with many of its agencies.

He further revealed that the Council awarded an N553.5m contract for the establishment and deployment of Advanced Report Generation Utility Engine Web-based Reporting Tools in favour of Msssrs Sinecou Limited with a delivery date of 12 months.

The minister equally disclosed that his Power counterpart got approval for the upward review of the original contract sum in respect of the construction of 232 kilometres Yola, Song, Gombe, Mubi, Gulako 132 KV double circuit transmission line from $16 million-plus N1.248 billion to $16.698 billion-plus N2,33bn.

He added that N409 million was approved for the Power ministry to purchase replacements of defective circuit breakers.

Mohammed stated that the council also gave approval to the Ministry of Agriculture for its National Agricultural Technology Innovation Policy.

The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, said the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning presented a memo on Phase 3 of the Lighthouse programme on the digital infrastructure of voluntary assets and income declaration scheme bids and tax harmonisation normalisation analytics and application programme interface.

He said the update on the project Lighthouse application was on the debt recovery module, the corporate profiling engine as a government gateway, and then the project Lighthouse website, Federal Government revenue performance management module and capacity building.

Agba disclosed that with Phase 1&2, the government had been able to recover N5 billion from contractors, assuring that with the implementation of the third phase, more recovery would be made.

 

Economy

PETROL: ‘Be Wary Of Substandard Product Dumping’, Dangote Refinery Tells Nigerians

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PETROL: 'Be Wary Of Substandard Product Dumping', Dangote Refinery Tells Nigerians

…Says citizens’ health and vehicle longevity are seriously at risk!

The Dangote Refinery on Sunday warned that Nigerians may soon begin to buy substandard petrol, without much concern for either the citizen’s health or the longevity of their vehicles, except care is taken to prevent low products dumping by those open to connive with certain international traders.

The Group’s image maker and spokesman, Anthony Chiejina gave the warning, saying the group was constrained to raise the alarm, despite its desire to refrain from engaging in any media fights.

“We have lately refrained from engaging in media fights but we are constrained to respond to the recent misinformation being circulated by IPMAN, PETROAN, and other associations. 

“Both organisations claim that they can import PMS at lower prices than what is being sold by the Dangote Refinery. We benchmark our prices against international prices and we believe our prices are competitive relative to the price of imports”, Chiejina stated, stressing that the issue on ground was not about being able to land relatively cheaper petrol on ground, but the quality of such products.

“If anyone claims they can land PMS at a price cheaper than what we are selling, then they are importing substandard products and conniving with international traders to dump low-quality products into the country, without concern for the health of Nigerians or the longevity of their vehicles. Unfortunately, the regulator (NMDPRA) does not even have laboratory facilities which can be used to detect substandard products when imported into the country.

“Post deregulation, NNPC set the pace by selling PNS to domestic marketers at N971 per litre for sale into ships and at N990 for sale into trucks. This set the benchmark for our pricing and we have even gone lower to sell at N960 per litre for sale into ships while maintaining N990 per litre for sale into trucks.

“In good faith, and the interest of the country, we commenced sales at these prices without clarity on the exchange rate that we will use to pay for the crude purchased.

“At the same time, an international trading company has recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, intending to use it to blend substandard products that will be dumped into the market to compete with Dangote Refinery’s higher quality production.

“This is detrimental to the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria. We should point out that it is not unusual for countries to protect their domestic industries to provide jobs and grow the economy. For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips to protect their domestic industries.

“While we continue with our determination to provide affordable, good quality, domestically refined petroleum products in Nigeria, we call on the public to disregard the deliberate disinformation being circulated by agents of people who prefer for us to continue to export jobs and import poverty”, the Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer further said.

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Economy

YULETIDE Decorations: LASG To Divert Traffic At Ajose Adeogun

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YULETIDE Decorations,: LASG To Divert Traffic At Ajose Adeogun

The Lagos State Government will divert Traffic, away from a section of Ajose Adeogun Street in Victoria Island, for the mounting of end-of-the-year decoration, for a duration of three weekends starting from Saturday 19th October 2024.

The aforementioned exercise, according to Commissioner for Transportation, Oluwaseun Osiyemi,  will be carried out in three phases with each phase focusing on different sections of the street. 

To this end, the following alternative routes have been mapped out for motorists during the cause of the mounting; 

 During the First Phase which will cover Jubril Martins to Chicken Republic – (Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th October 2024)

Traffic inward Eko-Hotel Roundabout will be diverted to the other half (existing section) of Ajose Adeogun Street by VCP Hotel to form contra-flow traffic and exit at Eko-Hotel Roundabout to continue journeys.

Alternatively, Traffic inward to Eko-Hotel Roundabout from VCP Hotel will be diverted through Jubril Martins into Muri Okunola to link Patience Coker and access Ajose Adeogun Street to connect destinations.

During the Second Phase which will cover Molade Okoya Thomas to Mounis Bashorun section – (Saturday, 26th and Sunday, 27th October 2024). 

Traffic inward Ajose Adeogun Street from Eko-Hotel Roundabout will be diverted to a right turn into Molade Okoya Thomas to link Younis Bashorun to access Ajose Adeogun Street to continue journeys. 

During the Third phase of the project spanning 10 meters inward Ajose Adeogun (Saturday, 2nd November, 2024).

Motorists from Adetokunbo Ademola Street will maintain a lane movement for about 10 metres into Ajose Adeogun Street to connect their destinations, while Motorists inward Eko-Hotel Roundabout on Ajose Adeogun Street will maintain a lane movement for about 10 metres into Eko-Hotel Roundabout.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr Oluwaseun Osiyemi while imploring Motorists to note the ease of movement plan assured that the State’s Traffic Management Authority will be on ground to manage vehicular activities along the corridor to minimise inconveniences.

The Commissioner therefore advised Motorists to be patient, as the Partial closure is part of the traffic management plans for the commencement of End of Year Decoration of Ajose Adeogun Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, by Zenith Bank PLC.

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Economy

NLC Kicks, Says Petrol Hike Will Further Deepen Poverty, Job Loss

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NLC kicks, Says Petrol Hike Will Further Deepen Poverty, Jobs Lost

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has kicked against the current petrol price hike, stressing that the latest increase in the pump price of petrol will further deepen poverty as production capacities dip.

The Congress added that the increase would lead to more job loss with multidimensional negative effects, and therefore, demanded its immediate reversal.

NLC’s position is contained in a statement signed by its President, Mr Joe Ajaero on Wednesday in Abuja, titled, “What next after increase in pump price?”.

The labour leader said the previous increases had not produced any good results, rather, people only got poorer.

He said the Congress was dismayed by the latest increase in the pump price of petrol without commensurate capacity of Nigerians or mitigatory measures.

“Even following the logic of market forces, we find it an aberration that a private company (NNPCL) is the one fixing prices and projecting itself as a hegemonic monopoly.

“We challenge the government to go to the drawing board and present us with a blueprint for inclusive economic growth and national development instead of this spasmodic ad hocism and palliative policy.

“It needs no stating the fact that the latest wave of increase has grossly altered the calculations of Nigerians once again at a time they were reluctantly coming to terms with their new realities,” he said.

It would be recalled that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) had raised the pump price of petrol by 14.8 per cent to N1,030 per litre from N897 across its retail outlets in the FCT.

Earlier in September, the NNPCL had increased the price of the product from N615 to N897.

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