From Magnus Eze and Basil Obasi, Abuja
Life finally returned yesterday to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) after the three-day Sallah holiday to mark the end of Eid-el Fitri Ramadan, which practically stifled business activities for the whole of last week.
At the Federal Secretariat Complex, many civil servants were at their duty posts as early as 9am when Daily Sun visited some of the offices. Markets and shopping plazas recorded high human traffic, while the roads remained busy with buses and taxis plying different routes.
At the Banex Plaza in Wuse 2, which was like a ghost town last Friday, many traders had opened their shops before 8.30am, where banks in the area were also crowded by customers.
The Federal Government had initially declared Tuesday and Wednesday last week public holidays to mark Eid-el-fitr, but the President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, issued a statement stipulating that the Ramadan fast continued till Tuesday as a result of the non-sighting of the moon, hence Sallah celebration had commenced Wednesday and not Tuesday.
Even though work commenced last Friday, most government offices provided skeletal services, as many civil servants used the opportunity afforded by the holiday to travel out of the FCT.
As the holiday hangover went with the weekend, several business operators were still counting their losses yesterday.
National President, National Association of Small Scale Industrialists, Mr. Ezekiel Essien, said that members of his association were heavily affected by the long holiday, as goods worth millions of naira perished because shops were locked during the period.
He said: “Those producing were shut and they could not distribute their goods. Some of the already manufactured goods went bad because of the long holiday. Anything that affects the economy is a serious thing, but since it came from the Federal Government, as law-abiding citizens, we had no problem with that.
“Personally, I had a lot of things to do in Abuja and it really held us back. So, in monetary terms, our members really lost a lot.”
Daily Sun gathered that markets in the FCT also witnessed low business activities. Many of the traders in Abuja metropolis interviewed yesterday said they were yet to recover from the poor sales that lasted for about five days.
One Mrs. Yinka, a food vendor at the Federal Secretariat said: “We already knew Sallah holiday to be for two days and had planned our business accordingly, but suddenly I heard it was extended and my worry was that I already bought all the things I use in cooking and most of these items, like tomatoes, fishes and meat are perishables. To make matter worst, there has been no electric power at all. If the holiday had started on Wednesday to end on Thursday, nobody will complain because you plan accordingly.”
EDUCATION: TETFund rejects plan to expand scope of activities
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has rejected call by some stakeholders in the education sector that the scope of the fund’s activities be expanded to accommodate research institutions and colleges of agriculture.
The call, according to the Fund, is contrary to the Act setting it up, which never recognised research institutions and colleges of agriculture.
The Act, which defined tertiary institutions as a public university, polytechnics or colleges of education, was specific that only such tertiary institutions can benefit from the Fund.
The Acting Executive Secretary of the Fund, Mallam Aliyu Na’Iya, in a statement in Abuja, yesterday, explained that the exclusion of the other categories of institutions was never deliberate but in compliance with the TETFund Act of 2011, as amended.
He said that accommodating research institutions and colleges of agriculture was capable of weakening the strength and capacity of the Fund in playing its primary role as clearly stated in the Act establishing it.
Meanwhile, the President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), in support of the Fund ,expressed fear that such moves could defeat the objectives, as it was in the case of the defunct Educational Trust Fund (ETF).
According to ASUU, at a public hearing organised by the members of House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, the colleges of agriculture were originally to provide skills in areas such as agricultural extension services, combating crop and animal diseases through the application of herbicides, pesticides and other likes.
ASUU expresses belief that expanding the list of the beneficiaries of the Fund to include colleges of agriculture would destroy the objective of intervention, and also result in burgeoning of request from all kind of sources, which TETFund would not be able to address.
“There are 11 federal colleges of agriculture and 15 research institutes under the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria. In addition, there are allied colleges under the Ministry of Agriculture and these include the three federal cooperative colleges in Kaduna, Ibadan and Oji River in Enugu State, as well as colleges of Land Resources Technology in Kuru in Plateau State and Owerri.”
FINANCE: Nigeria loses 1.5% GDP growth to low insurance performance
From Basil Obasi, Abuja
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has lamented that the under-performance of the nation’s insurance sector was denying it an annual 1.5 per cent increment in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The minister made the disclosure at the 2016 National Insurance Conference (NIC) with the theme: “Expanding National Resources and Infrastructure in Challenging Times,” which kicked off in Abuja.
Adeosun noted the need to immediately address the issues responsible for the under-performance “because a 0. 33 per cent increase in insurance penetration can result to a growth of 0.5 per cent in GDP and create over 70,000 jobs annually.”
She argued that the industry was under-performing, compared to its pension and banking counterparts, while identifying low awareness as one of the factors responsible for the under-performance of the sector.
The minister pointed out that out of 57 insurance companies in the country, less than 23 advertised their products.
“The companies put in less than 20 adverts on television, less than 10 adverts on radio and less than 10 adverts on social media. Other factors include poor distribution channels and unethical practices among operators. I’m working vigorously with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to ensure that premium discounting is eliminated among practitioners,” she stated.
The minister also said there was need for recapitalisation of most insurance companies, pointing out: “The first top three banks have over N3 billion capital base each, while the top three insurance companies’ capital base is between N20 and 25 million each.”
The Commissioner for Insurance, Alhaji Mohammed Kari, commended the Insurance Industry Consultative Council for organising the conference to reposition the industry.
He pledged NAICOM’s commitment to making the industry the next growth area for economic development.
Finance: Finance Minister approves N253 bn for capital Projects
From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, at the weekend, approved a total of N253 billion for capital projects.
Recall that N350 billion had earlier been earmarked for capital projects from which the minister had released a total of N253 billion.
Daily Sun gathered that the Ministries that benefited from the fund include, Power, Works and Housing; Transportation/Aviation, Agriculture, Interior, Defence and Education.
Earlier, Minister of State for National Planning and Budget, Haji Zainab Ahmed had said that about N280 billion was sent to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun for approval.
“We have sent to the ministry of finance up to about 50 or 60 MDAs, but I can tell you that Works, Housing, Power, Agriculture, Interior, Education, Information and Environment are some of the ministries we sent. The release of the N350 billion is on-going but we were not releasing budgets based on one-quarter allocation. We needed to scrutinize the process. It took some time but we have sent about N280 billion for projects that have been scrutinized. As I said earlier on, the release will be done for specific projects. Our concentration was on projects that are ongoing, except for a few exceptional circumstances; we are not releasing funds for any new projects.
We have reviewed their projects, approved them and have sent them to the ministry of finance. There are about 60 MDAs already in the first batch. We have another batch of about 30 where the screening process has been concluded” the Minister of State for National Planning and Budget, Ahmed, had said.
The minister said that federal government’s revenue had been seriously affected by the blow-up of oil installations by militants in the Niger Delta, noting that tax revenue and others were performing at 50 per cent.
When Daily Sun contacted the Special Assistant, Media, for the Minister of Finance, Mr. Festus Akanbi, he confirmed that the minister actually approved the fund in three tranches of N107 billion, N20 billion and N126 billion.