Headline

FG To Earn N180bn From Fire, Cassava Investments – ICRC

Published

1 month ago

April 23, 2023

The Federal Government will earn N180 billion revenue in 15 years from a N15.4 billion investment in cassava and fire detection technology.

The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission announced this in a statement on Saturday.

According to ICRC, the revenue which will be generated from the concession of a Cassava Bio-mass, Bio-ethanol Value Chain and the National Fire Detection and Alarm System is estimated to generate N180 billion.

The statement noted that the NAFDAS project will generate a total of N75 billion in the 15-year concession period, while Cassava Bio-ethanol Value Chain will generate a total revenue of N105 billion within a five-year concession period.

It read, “The Cassava Bio-Ethanol Value Chain will be done on a pilot phase with the aim of building “a Bio-technology Industrial Park on a 20-hectare plot across 20 Universities, Academia and Research and Development Institutes. In the pilot phase, 5,000 special hybrid cassava (TME 419) stems will be planted per hectare, (100,000 stems for 20 hectares).

“It is projected that Cassava production will double from the current 62 million tons to output of over 120 million tons with improved tropical agro-ecology, bio-technology, intense mechanisation and effective partnership resource mobilisation in five years

“The key goal of this cassava – Bioethanol pilot project is to demonstrate the efficacy of a private sector led approach in promoting investment in renewable biomass and create wealth, provide jobs, reduce poverty, improve food security and nutrition, provide renewable energy and reduce carbon footprint” the ICRC said.

It added that the project will be financed with a grant from the federal government and concessionaire investment totalling N11.9billion.

According to The PUNCH, the revenue stream presented by the project includes sales of cassava stem, cassava flour, garri, starch and Bio-ethanol.

Also, the NAFDAS project is to provide fire mitigation hardware, software and equipment that will be linked to a cloud network which will be supervised by the Federal Fire Service through a Private entity.

According to the ICRC, “Through the use of this technology, call and response time in fire incidents will be automated thus drastically reduced, avoidable incidents forestalled, more life and property saved and generally improve the efficiency in fire prevention, detection and management”.

“This means that smoke alarms and other fire detection hardware will be linked to a server which will alert the system when the user is in distress without them having to call for help.

“The project will begin on a pilot scale with seven states of the federation before rolling out to all other states across the country.”

“The total projected cost for the project is put at N3.5 billion whereas government targets a revenue generation of N75 billion within the 15-year period of the concession.

“The revenue stream presented by the project includes margin on installations and annual subscription fee from users of the service.

“Revenue from both projects will be shared between the federal government and the concessionaire at a ratio decided in the concession agreement,” it stated.

Headline

Tribunal Admits U.S. Court Judgment Ordering Tinubu’s Forfeiture Of $460,000

Published

5 hours ago

May 31, 2023

Editor

The Labour Party on Tuesday called its first witness in the ongoing petition between its candidate, Peter Obi, and the ruling All Progressives Congress and the President, Bola Tinubu.

Counsel for the LP and Obi, Jibrin Okutepa, stated that documents from number one to four together with receipts tendered are documents where the vice president, Kashim Shettima, accepted his nomination as the vice-presidential candidate of the APC.

The witness, Lawrence Nwakaeti, who is a legal practitioner, disclosed that he was deposed to the witness statement on March 20, 2023.

Part of the documents deposed to by Nwakaeti referred to the alleged $460,000 forfeiture by Tinubu to the government of the United States.

One of the grounds on which the LP and Obi are praying for the court to nullify Tinubu’s victory is that the president, Tinubu “at the time of the election was not qualified to contest for election to the office of President as he was fined the sum of $460,000 for an offence involving dishonesty, namely narcotics trafficking imposed by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in Case No: 93C 4483.”

While answering questions during the cross-examination, the witness admitted that the judgment was not registered in Nigeria.

He also admitted that there was no certificate from any consular in Nigeria or America in support of the judgment.

He, however, maintained that “the judgment speaks for itself.”

APC counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, asked, “As a lawyer, you are aware that these documents are not registered in Nigeria and there is no certificate attached to the document from the US?” to which Lawrence replied that there are certificates.

“Is there a certificate from the US consular?”

“No certificate from the consular,” Nwakaeti replied.

He also said he had no knowledge of a February 4, 2003, Formal Clearance Report by Legal Attachee from the American Embassy in respect of the alleged indictment and forfeiture.

When asked by Fagbemi, SAN, to produce a copy of the charges against Tinubu, the witness said he had none but maintained that the forfeiture are from civil proceedings.

“You are aware that all the proceedings were civil proceedings?”

“Civil forfeiture proceedings,” the witness replied.

Meanwhile, the Presiding Justice of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani has shifted further hearing in the petition till May 31.

Headline

Otti Freezes Abia Accounts, Sacks Boards Executives

Published

19 hours ago

May 30, 2023

Editor

Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, has directed the immediate freezing of all accounts of the state government and those of its agencies domiciled in every bank and financial institution across the state and around the federation.

He has also dissolved all boards of Abia State government agencies and parastatals and ordered the heads of all the dissolved agencies and parastatals to subsequently hand over to those next in line to them.

The governor gave the orders in a statement he issued through his media office on Monday, which was signed by Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity.

The directive read in part, “With this notice, all banks and other financial institutions in the country are directed to immediately seize from honouring any cheque, document, instrument or directive of any kind not expressly approved by or emanating from him.

“Similarly, Governor Otti has directed the immediate dissolution of all boards of the Abia State Government agencies and parastatals and subsequently ordered the chief executives of these organisations to hand over to those next in line to them”.

The reporter gathered that the news of the sack of the former chief executives of the dissolved boards sparked celebration among staff of such agencies, especially those who were owed some months of salary arrears.

Headline

PICTORIAL: Obi, Datti, Keyamo Present As Tribunal Resumes Hearing

Published

1 day ago

May 30, 2023

Editor

The presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the Labour Party, Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed, are currently in attendance at the ongoing presidential election tribunal PUNCH reports.

Former minister of state for labour and employment, Festus Keyamo, is also present at the tribunal and appearing as a counsel in the legal team of President Bola Tinubu.

Obi and the Labour Party filed a petition challenging the victory of Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, in the February 25, 2023 Presidential election.

In the petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023, Livy Ozoukwu, lead counsel to LP and Obi, said Tinubu “was not duly elected by the majority of the lawful votes cast at the time of the election”.

Among other allegations, they claimed that Kashim Shettima, vice-president, had a double nomination in contravention of the electoral act.

A proper hearing of the petition commenced on Tuesday and the first witness has been called.

See photos below: