Day: April 3, 2023

Nigeria will on May 29, 2023 have a new leadership that will steer the affairs of the country in the next four years. The new administration will inherit some humongous challenges especially in the areas of national security which the country has been contending with for over a decade.

Apart from dousing the misgivings generated by the conduct of the presidential election, the incoming administration has a bigger challenge of finding solutions to the multiple internal security challenges in all the political zones of the country.

These include insurgency and terrorism, banditry and kidnapping, pipeline vandalism and massive oil theft, as well as killings and violent separatists’ agitations.

Although the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies have been conducting operations across the country to decimate the various security threats, the new administration will be confronted by the urgent need to totally dominate the environment and restore peace and order across Nigeria.

This means that the incoming government must urgently search for funds to prosecute the war, restore civil authority, resettle displaced persons, address the causes that gave rise to insecurity and properly manage the thousands of insurgents and their families who surrendered to military authorities.

Luckily for the incoming government, there have been lots of successes recorded in the fight against insecurity in the country through joint military operations involving the Army, Air Force, Navy and other security agencies.

For instance, the tempo of military operation under the Joint Task Force Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) in the North East has led to mass surrender of Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists and their family members to troops in different fronts.

Available record revealed that more than 82,000 terrorists and their families surrendered as at the end of 2022, while hundreds of terrorists were killed or captured in various operations in the region.

Military authorities confirmed about 900 arrested terrorists awaiting prosecution and thousands of others including terrorists’ commanders, collaborators and logistics suppliers killed in land and air operations by the Nigerian military.

In the Niger Delta region, the military joint task force, Operation Delta Safe (OPDS) has in 2022, destroyed 37 militant camps and over 1,883 illegal oil refining sites in the region.

According to the Commander, OPDS, Rear Adm. Aminu Hassan, 699 suspects were arrested in the effort to secure the operational environment for oil and gas companies and ensure safety of citizens.

The operations helped to save the nation over N53 billion worth of crude oil, diesel, kerosene and petrol; and recovered 90 assorted illegal weapons and large caliber ammunition.

In spite of recent military successes in all regions, including the North West where prominent bandits were eliminated, the incoming government should focus on enhancing intelligence gathering and sharing, including leveraging technical and communication aspects of intelligence in support of the armed forces.

Although the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Maj.-Gen. Samuel Adebayo, recently said the Defence Intelligence Agency had successfully dominated the threat environment with a combination of special intelligence operations and non-kinetic activities, the government should push them to take more measures to deny enemies of Nigeria the cohesion and capabilities to operate.

They should therefore be empowered and equipped to enhance tactical and technical intelligence drive on all frontiers to sustain the gains recorded and further secure the country.

The new administration will also have to devise ingenious ways to manage the thousands of insurgents who voluntarily surrendered to military authorities, as well as support the thousands of displaced people returning to their homes, especially in the North East, after years of exile.

It is also imperative for the government to sustain the ongoing community-based reintegration of deradicalised insurgents to ensure sustainable peace in the country.

Emphasis on military response to the profound security and political challenges confronting the country will not provide the desired outcome.

Amnesty and negotiations should continue to be pursued to mitigate the conflicts, especially where military actions failed. The 2009 amnesty programme for militants in the Niger Delta region should guide the administration in that regard.

The Deradicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DRR) of insurgents through Operation Safe Corridor started in September 2015, should also be given prominence.

So far, more than 2,000 repentant members of Boko Haram and ISWAP have been rehabilitated, deradicalised and integrated into the society with tremendous success.

According to the National Centre for Counter Terrorism in the Office of the National Security Adviser, transforming those who took up arms into normal civilians is crucial to ending violent extremism.

National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno, also said at a workshop organised by the centre in Abuja on Amnesty Management, Deradicalisation and Community-Based Reintegration, that there should be greater focus on preventing radicalisation of young people by violent extremists.

Monguno agreed that the DDR would fundamentally re-establish state control, secure stability and initiate a process leading to sustainable development of the country.

He however cautioned that rushing to grant amnesty would be counter-productive to national security if there are no established policies and legislations, national ownership and coordination mechanism for the amnesty programme.

“Thus, the cooperation of communities is unavoidable in the quest for Government to consolidate on the gains of ongoing Counter-Terrorism Operations while measures to win the hearts and minds of the population are critical, and gradual resettlement and reintegration of affected communities is crucial for success.

“This involves military, political, civil social, economic and humanitarian interventions, implemented within a multi-stakeholder platform,’’ the NSA said.

The NSA said government, its partners and other stakeholders have been successfully implementing the DDR strategy developed in collaboration with International Organisation for Migration.

Thus, the incoming administration should strengthen the programme, including mechanisms to monitor the beneficiaries reintegrated into the society.

It is therefore imperative that in pushing its security agenda, the incoming government should source for new funding for the defence sector and develop solutions to underlying causes of insecurity in the country, which should include tackling extreme poverty, access to education, health care and justice, as well as unemployment.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Society for Corporate Governance Nigeria (SCGN) is seeking to partner with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on specialised and industry-specific trainings for Executives and Board of Directors in the telecom industry.

The President of SCGN, Mohammad Ahmad made this known when he led the organization leadership on a courtesy visit to NCC on Monday, in Abuja.

Ahmad, represented by Tijjani Borodo, a Director and fellow of the society, said that the NGO would also like to partner with the NCC in the area of capacity building initiatives for the sector.

“The Society for Corporate Governance Nigeria would like to partner with the commission on capacity building initiatives for the sector and the organisations regulated by it.

“The society hereby expresses her interest to partner with the commission on Specialised and Industry-Specific Trainings for Executives, Board of Directors, and the Executive Management of organisations in the Telecommunications industry around Board Leadership, Governance and Sustainability.

“The society would like to express her interest in collaborating with the commission to sensitise and create awareness of the guidelines within the sector and organisations regulated by it.

“We can provide framework for compliance and reporting of the anticipated corporate governance guideline.”

Ahmad said that the partnership was to promote good corporate governance and foster best practices in the communications sector and in the country.

“We strongly believe that the partnership will strengthen the commission’s position as a promoter of good corporate governance and setting an example to other regulators as a champion of excellence and progress,” he said.

In his response, NCC’s Executive Vice-Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, represented by the Executive Commissioner Stakeholders Management, Mr Adeleke Adewolu, said the visit was one of great importance for several reasons.

Danbatta said that the SCGN and the commission have had fruitful professional relationships, adding that the NGO was instrumental to the development of the telecommunications Industry Code of Corporate Governance issued by the NCC in 2014.

He said that it was a pioneer code, which was carefully designed to enhance governance in the Nigerian communications industry and which led to the development of similar instruments by other sectors.

Danbatta said NCC had commenced the development of guidelines for the communications sector, adding that members of the SCGN have been part of that process.

He said the NCC had recognised that critical elements of its statutory mandate can only be realised when sector players adhered to best corporate governance and ethical standards.

“This is why we pioneered the development of sectoral Corporate Governance Codes and this is why we insist on the highest possible governance and ethical standards for our licensees.

“This is also why we consider it of utmost importance to strengthen our relationship with stakeholders like the SCGN,”Danbatta said.

He said one of the most important strategies that the NCC had adopted was to harness stakeholder views in the development of its regulatory interventions.

Danbatta also said that SCGN, in its role as a frontline advocacy group for sound governance and ethical business conduct, had been a worthy partner of the commission.

He said that the commission looked forward to many more years of fruitful professional relationship with the SCGN and its members at large.

Mrs Chioma Mordi, Chief Executive Officer, SCGN, said that the NGO had corporate members who spread corporate governance across various sectors.

Mordi called on the NCC to be a part of the society for continuous access to information in corporate governance, both locally and internationally.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that SCGN is committed to developing and promoting corporate governance’s best practices and business ethics founded by Prof. Fabian Ajogwu.

The society had collaborated with some institutions to develop sectorial corporate governance codes and guidelines, as well as organise capacity-building training for their sectors and industries.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Stakeholders in the Nigerian fertiliser industry have scored the sector’s productivity and performance very high.

The experts gave the commendations in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.

The Executive Secretary, West African Fertiliser Association (WAFA), Mr Innocent Ikuku, said Nigeria is the highest producer of urea in the whole of West Africa.

Ikuku said that the industry had recorded tremendous improvement in the last five years.

“The Nigerian fertiliser industry is one that has transformed significantly over the last five years.

“From having only a single manufacturer of urea, which was Notore in about 10 years ago, we come to a place now where we have three fertilisers manufacturers.

“Nigeria presently has capacity for more than five million tonnes of urea production annually. So, Nigeria is producing urea beyond what is able to consume.

“So, it means in terms of urea, there is enough supply for the market,” Ikuku told NAN.

He, however, noted that the other inputs required to make fertiliser balance, namely phosphate and potash, were still imported.

He said that the gap must be bridged for further growth and development of the sector.

Ikuku said: “Nigeria is gradually becoming the hub for fertiliser production and distribution for the whole of West Africa.

“This is because Nigeria is where you have excess nitrogen that can be supplied to other countries in West Africa.

“And we have installed capacity for blending that is far beyond what the country needs.

“So, Nigerian fertiliser sector is basically just taking off and if the environment remains friendly and we allow private sector to keep investing as they should, the sector is going to boom in the near future.

“And by implication this affects West African countries and that will improve access to fertiliser and consumption,” Ikuku said.

On his part, Mr Moses Negedu, analyst, Fertilizer Producers & Suppliers Association of Nigeria, commended the growth of the sector.

Negedu, however, said that the sector would experience more growth with the right policies.

“The Nigerian fertiliser sector is a green industry and we believe that since it is growing, there is potential for more growth.

“If we harness the government and private sector coalition then, the fertiliser industry has great potential for growth both for the domestic and international market.

“We must put in place the right policies to steer more growth in the Nigerian fertiliser industry,” Negedu said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), says that the Free Trade Zones (FTZs) Scheme generated a total of N35.1 billion for government as Customs Duty in 2021.

The authority said the sum of N408.3 million was also remitted as Pay As You Earn (PAYE) taxes in 2021.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, the Managing Director, NEPZA said it ensured effective generation of customs duty and administration of taxes applicable in zones operation.

NAN reports that PAYE tax is one of the vital types of taxes in Nigeria that individuals pay to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) within their respective state of residence.

Section 19 of NEPZA Act mandates FTZs enterprises to file returns for statistics and data, while section 8 stipulates that enterprises operating in zones should be exempted from federal, state and local government taxes.

However, they are under obligations to pay all deferred taxes and duties when they extend their businesses to the customs territories.

The NEPZA boss further said that the scheme also generated a total of 19,125 employments in 2021

According to him, a total of 3,000 jobs skills have so far been transferred to Nigerians in 2021.

The managing director explained that the Federal Government approved the establishment of the Special Economic Zones Security (SEZSEC) to be operated by NEPZA.

He said it was for the very reason of creating a viable revenue option to reduce over-dependency on the downstream sector that the Nigerian government adopted the FTZ scheme and created NEPZA with an Act 63 of the parliament in 1992 to regulate and manage it.

“I can confidently say that the authority has done well in the actualisation of its mandate.

“We have experienced a turnaround in the last seven years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration as he continues to show commitment and passion through the Federal Government’s unflinching support for the success of the scheme.

“For instance, in 2017, the present administration buttressed the role of special economic zones in Nigeria’s industrialisation agenda under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP),” he said.

He said the SEZ model was used to accelerate implementation of the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), a four – year road map on industrialisation to create jobs and promote exports, which in turn would facilitate economic growth.

“The successes and prospects of the scheme have been in the last few years made manifest as a result of the entrants of private investors,” Adesugba said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), says steps are being taken to resolve challenges of knowledge gap of the Free Trade Zones (FTZS) scheme by policymakers and stakeholders.

Prof. Adesoji Adesugba, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NEPZA said this on Sunday in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Adesugba said it would also resolve the intra-agency lukewarm cooperation and non-existence of Offshore Banking System being faced by the authority.

“It is interesting to note that steps are being taken to resolve these challenges so as to free up the scheme for greater exploitation, being a veritable option for revenue generation for the government aside oil and gas,’’ he said.

He said it was evident that the authority’s consistent engagement with owners of zones, enterprises operating in the zones and its stakeholders had brought about the desired confidence of investors in the scheme much more than before.

He said it was able to achieve this through management’s open corporate governance system and with the establishment of three subsets.

The managing director listed the subsets as the NEPZA Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre (ADRC), Special Economic Zones Security (SEZs) and the Nigeria Economic Zones Association (NEZA).

According to him, these three-subsets have been deployed appropriately for the scheme’s sustainability.

On infrastructure development, Adesugba said some interventions were done, aimed at repositioning the status of our free zones for global competitiveness.

“We are aware of the inherent competitions posed by neigbouring countries and so the country has no options than to improve and build fresh infrastructure that can be used to attract investors,’’ he said.

He listed the interventions as Pre-built zone factory building and service plots, Pre-built zone warehouses for storage of raw materials and products and Efficient telecommunication facilities.

Others , he listed as a one-stop-shop administrative centre to handle all investors’ needs, training centres to cater for skills needs, among others and 25 Megawatts of electricity in the Calabar and Kano Free Trade Zones

He also included others as the Special Economic Zones Security (SEZSEC)/Police/DSS posts to provide adequate security in the zones and Construction of internal roads in Kano and Calabar FTZs.

Others are Construction of Investors Suites in Kano KFTZ, digitisation of NEPZA’s operation to enhance service delivery and Federal Government investment in improving outside infrastructure (Rail//Roads/Power).

He described Nigeria as the largest consumer market in Africa with more than 200 million inhabitants.

He said investors were taking advantage of this market while developing their export market.

“We definitely have an edge over our neigbours even as we continue to seek improved budgetary allocation to develop world facilities for the scheme to compete favourably.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

A 68-year-old businessman, Nelson Gwede, on Monday appeared before a Wuse Zone 2, Abuja Magistrates’ Court charged with defrauding one Agwu Ogbonna of the sum of N115 million.

Ngwede, a resident of Chika, Airport Road, Abuja, is facing a two-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and cheating.

The two crimes contravene the provisions of sections 312 and 322 of the Penal Code, according to the prosecutor, Edwin Inegbenoise.

Inegbenoise told the court that the defendant, sometimes in March, introduced himself to the complainant as a “financial facilitator”.

“The defendant convinced the complainant that he was going to introduce him to a facility through which he would get liquid cash.

“The defendant provided an account number 4011441873 owned by OCHKWO HANDRAIL NIGERIA LTD domiciled in Fidelity Bank into which the sum of N100,000,000 was paid by the complainant.

“The defendant also provided another account number carrying his name, Nelson Gwede, with number 3039016860, domiciled in First Bank.

“An additional N15 million was paid into this account in exchange for liquid cash.

“The defendant collected the money through the above mentioned accounts but refused to give the cash equivalent to the complainant as agreed,” he said.

The prosecutor added that the defendant’s actions had affected the complainant and prevented him from carrying out his business transactions.

Inegbenoise said that the defendant, during police investigation, mentioned that one Mr ThankGod, now at large, was responsible for the account into which the sum of N100,000,000 was paid.

At the hearing of the matter, Ngwede pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Magistrate Huzaifa Maccido granted the defendant bail in the sum of N10 million with two sureties in like sum that must reside within the jurisdiction of the court.

Maccido ordered that one of the sureties must be a civil servant on Grade Level 14 while the other must be a businessman.

All sureties must be living in their personal houses, the magistrate ordered.

He, thereafter, adjourned the case until May 17, for hearing.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria