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World Bank Expresses Satisfaction With Implementation Of STEP-B Projects

The World Bank has expressed satisfaction with the level of implementation of the 180 million dollars Science and Technology Education, Post-Basic (STEP-B) projects in selected federal institutions in Nigeria.

 The World Bank Senior Education Specialist in Nigeria Dr Tunde Adekola, expressed the feeling in Abuja on Tuesday at a meeting of the National Education Sector Steering Committee on Donors' Assisted States Education Projects.

 Adekola said that the bank was pleased with the level of implementation of projects since it started in 2007. He said for a long time, Nigeria went back and forth rating unsatisfactory and moderately satisfactory.

 ``World Bank is currently spending N55 billion on education projects in 10 states and we are planning to expand the intervention this year.

``We are basically spending 95 million dollars in the Lagos Eko project while 90 million dollars is for Lagos, five million dollars will be for federal.

``We are also spending 150 million dollars on Programmatic Result Learning project in Bauchi, Anambra, Ekiti and Edo and 100 million dollars on Global Partnership on Education in Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna and Sokoto, ‘’he said.

 Adekola said by June the bank would introduce a policy note on basic education and skills acquisition in Nigeria, where more than 100,000 households had been interviewed.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa'I, ,on her part, appealed to states to address the challenges of the education sector.

Rufa’I said that challenges that could hamper progress had been identified in the sector, including developing sectoral plans and conducting annual school census.

Others are improving literacy, building and equipping technical schools and access to matching grants. She thanked the World Bank for the continuous support of the Nigerian education sector.

 The minister said that the federal component of the Lagos Eko project had also helped in the drive to enhance quality training of education personnel, including teachers.

``I expect the project to complete the work started on supporting the ministry in the provision of some infrastructure for its Education Management Information system,'' she said.

Also, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Dr MacJohn Nwaobiala, said that the World Bank was desirous of improving the quality and access of the Nigeria education.

 ``We believe that when we work in synergy and collaboration, development partners will always identify areas for which they can provide support to Nigeria.

``I want to say that the support we get from our development partners must be efficiently managed and utilised. ``We must review the World Bank strategy from time to time and adopt those that are viable, ‘’he said.

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Customers Of Microfinance Banks Should Expect Lower Lending Rates In 2013 – Operators

Some operators of microfinance banks on Thursday expressed optimism that lending rates in the sub-sector would drop in 2013.  They said that lending rates in the sub-sector would drop as soon as operators were able to access the Micro Small and Me...

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SEC May Shelve Nationwide Dematerialisation Awareness Campaigns – Official

Mr Emeka Madubuike, the Chairman, Securities and Exchange (SEC) Committee on Dematerialisation, says the commission may shelve the nationwide dematerialisation awareness campaigns scheduled to start on Jan. 31.

Madubuike told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Thursday that the postponement was due to the zero allocation to SEC in 2013 federal budget by the National Assembly.

Dematerialisation is the process of replacing paper share certificates with electronic records at the Central Securities Clearing System.

 He said that the campaign would not be feasible because SEC needed funds to carry out the elaborate campaigns.

Madubuike, who is also the President Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), said that the zero allocation would affect other initiatives to revamp the capital market in 2013.

According to him, SEC cannot approve the committee's report for the Jan. 31, 2013 date because of the House of the Representatives’ stance that the commission’s director-general must be removed.

Madubuike, however, called for quick resolution of the impasse by the Presidency in the interest of the capital market and the total economy.

NAN recalled that the House of Representatives directed the withholding of SEC's allocation in the 2013 Appropriation Bill it passed on Dec.20.

This followed the lower legislative chamber's decision not to have anything to do with SEC until Ms Arunma Oteh is removed as the director-general.

 The commission had proposed to spend about N93 million to execute the dematerialisation policy. Oteh had said at the 2nd Annual Capital Market Committee Retreat in Warri, Delta, in December, that some shareholders were resisting dematerialisation policy due to lack of knowledge of its benefits.

Oteh reiterated that asset transfer from one investor to the other would be much easier in a dematerialised market.

The director-general said that road shows and enlightenment campaign were imperative to sensitise Nigerians on its benefits to avoid resistance.

 

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Manufacturing Sector In 2013: Job Creation, Power, Security Top Demands

As we step into the New Year, Florence Udoh speaks with manufacturers on their expectations from the federal government in the new year, after a cursory reflection on 2012 policies. The national president of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Comm...

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Ex-ANAN Boss Urges FG To Make Poilcies That Will Reduce Inflation

A former President of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Mr Samuel Nzekwe, wants the Federal Government to make policies that will reduce the inflation rate in 2013.

Nzekwe told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos that the government needed to take aggressive measures that would address the increase in the nation’s inflation rate.

 ‘’Inflation undermines purchasing power and once the purchasing power is weak, it will affect the people’s standard of living,’’ he said.

Nzekwe said that the high rate of inflation had increased the level of poverty and devalued the nation’s currency.

NAN recalls that the inflation rate increased from 11.7 per cent in October to 12.3 per cent in November.

NAN also reports that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 12 per cent seven times in 2012.

The MPR is the rate at which the apex bank lends to commercial banks.

Nzekwe urged the government to make deliberate effort to stimulate the real sector to produce more goods and services for local consumption and export, in order to shore up the nation’s revenue.

 ``Once more goods and services are produced, the inflation rate will automatically come down,'' he said.

Nzekwe advised the government to make consistent policies that would impact positively on various sectors of the economy.

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No Plan To Hike Fuel Price, Says NNPC’s Spokesman

The pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS) will not be increased in January, the Acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs of the NNPC, Mr Fidel Pepple, has assured.

He gave the assurance on Sunday in Abuja while speaking with newsmen, restating that the Federal Government had earmarked some money for fuel subsidy in the 2013 budget.

Pepple also announced that the vandalised Ije-Ododo and Arepo pipelines in Lagos and Ogun had been restored.

“I can affirm to you that our engineers from the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Ltd. (PPMC) have finally fixed the Ije-Ododo pipeline that was ruptured last Monday by pipeline vandals.

 "Going forward, the good news for Nigerians is that we have resumed pumping petroleum products through the pipeline and system 2B is equally working after the restoration of the pipeline," he said.

Pepple assured motorists that with the restoration of the Ije-Ododo pipeline and the NNPC system 2B pipeline, normalcy had been restored in the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country.

 The general manager said that pumping of the PMS had resumed in earnest to depots and tank farms in system 2B, spanning from Atlas-Cove in Lagos to Ilorin in Kwara.

 He described media reports that fuel scarcity and queues in some parts of the country might last beyond the New Year as “mischievous and misleading”.

Pepple said that that the NNPC was working hard to check fuel scarcity and eliminate queues at filling stations across the country.

He attributed the long queues at filling stations to the activities of vandals and the closure of some filling stations, due to the Christmas holidays.

 The spokesman said that the company had product sufficiency that could sustain the country for more than a month.

He said the NNPC was working hard to supply PMS so as to ease the hardship of motorists before and after the New Year.

Pepple appealed to independent marketers to stop diverting petroleum products to the black market, saying that sanctions would be meted out to culprits.

 The general manager stressed the need for marketers to team up with the NNPC in ensuring steady supply and distribution of petroleum products.

He also called on motorists to desist from panic buying and hoarding as the NNPC was doing its utmost to restore normalcy in the supply and distribution chain.

 

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PH Refinery Management Embarks On Campaign To Curb Pipeline Vandalism

The Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC) has embarked on sensitisation of people in its catchment areas on the dangers of pipeline vandalism.

The Deputy Manager, Community Relations of the company, Mrs Edith Johnson, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Eleme, near Port Harcourt, Rivers, on Friday.

Johnson said that vandalism seemed to be on the increase, explaining that the high rate prompted the refinery to embark on the campaign.

 She enumerated the dangers of pipeline vandalism as pipeline fire, pollution of the environment, loss of lives and economic sabotage.

Johnson said that the enlightment campaign would be carried out at Okrika, Eleme, Port Harcourt Depot areas, trailer parks and other flash points in the area.

Also speaking with NAN, the PHRC Deputy Manager, Safety, Mr Uche Nna, said the organisation had been engaging the host communities on pipeline safety.

Nna said that the company had set up a surveillance team to police the areas. ``Even at that, the rate of vandalism is still very high.

I can speak that between PHRC pipeline outlets through Okrika to Jetty; so sometimes, we have several breakages daily.

``The Local Government chairman (Okrika) has been doing so well recently, trying to ensure that structures that are along that line are being cleared,'' he said.

 Nna said that some people had built structures along the pipelines where they could easily lay pipes underneath to tap oil unnoticed.

He said that the company had many pipelines passing through the community to the jetty where the bulk production of oil was pumped into ships.

Nna said that the pipeline Right of Way (ROW), established by Gov. Chibiuke Amaechi was another measure to check pipeline vandalism.

 He said that the ROW involved PHRC, Shell, AGIP and other companies that had their pipelines running through the 23 Local Government Areas with the state's Ministry of Environment coordinating.

``We have got to a stage where we identify and mark those structures so that as soon as the State Government comes in with the chairman of the Local Government area, we will remove those structures.

``As we are removing the structures, then the oil companies will quickly recover their right of way,`` Nna said.

He said that apart from the fact that the pipelines were vandalized; the vandalism could clear a whole community.

``Once they vandalize the pipeline, if there is no fire coming from dowser strikes or coming from any other source of fire, all the materials, that is, the petroleum products, will find their way to the aquifer.

 ``As soon as they found their way to aquifer, the eco-system is altered, you will have the underground water contamination, you will have soil pollution.

``And to remediate and recover those surfaces and take them out of the water is quite a lot.

 ``And if care is not taken and it gets down to Bonny Basin, that means the whole place is real issue, so it is a real concern,`` Nna said.

 

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