Lagos-Ibadan E'(pressway: S ta nley Opa fll
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HEFedeTlIlGovp.rnment has giv",n the conc"'S5ionaire in charge the modernisation lind mantlgemenl of the lagos.lbadan Expn.·ss\V"y, Bi Courtney Ilighway Services. a 60-day ui ll matum 10 complete tis preliminary rep!lirs 10 reduce the agony o f people using thl! road The ultimatum. it said, w.u based on the 'requent complaints from users of th", road The Minis ter of Works, Mf Mike Onolcmemen.
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FG gives concessionaire 60-day ultimatum
glIve the direchvl! when he met the officials 01 81 Coullney Highway led by its Chairman . Chief Wah~ Babala kin . in lagos A sta tement by the F",derlll Ministry of Wor ks on Sunday quoted th", minister as saYing his inspection of the road as his flf"5t a~!ignmenl was informed by the seriousness the Fede ral Governmen t attached 10 Ihe deve lopment of key InfrMtructure According ro Onoiememen. the ellpressway, which Is the busies t in the country. holds a lot of promise for the
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public·private partnership model and Is expected to be the flagsh ip of this mode of project execution ~The Federal Ministry of Works will collaborate and encou rage you to deliver this project on time. If you achieve the timetin",. there will be no qU"rrel. We wou ld hold you accountable in fixing the bad spo ts tllat have continued to be a source 01 pain to travellers on tile road In 60 days , - he ~.d
Onolememen said the company must first repair the road. to ease the pains its users were currently
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being ellposed to. before Ihe main reconstruction work. He urged the company to adopt a short·term solution for the repaiB before the commencement of the modernisation of the road in September Al though details of the repair \!Iork were not disclosed. Ihe sta tement said th e minister made rl!commendailons on what should be done He lIlso VIsited the company's project site office in company with the di rector o f fede ra l highways. the fede ral controlle r of
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• L-R Kadufl(I Slare GoUf'mar. Mr r-bldck \'c!koIlKl. Managing Director, Capllal Oil. "'''r f/ecl1I1I1 Uball; and Pre;ldenf. fndeV£ .1d!!l1t Petroleum M(1fKe1eT3 As.-<ocla1lon 0/ Nigeria. A/hajl Aminu Abdulkodir. at the ;naugurctllon In Kadu.m on Saturday Photo NAN
0/ IPMAN·s .seue1ariat.
Customs generate N34bn from Onne Port Ru heed Bit, tTl yu HE Nigeria Customs Service allhe Ol\ne Port Command. Rive rs State, has coll<?C1ed N34 996bn as revenue lor th!! hrst half of the YI' I'l1 . surp.-'~Ing Illst Yf!ar's performanc", by over N10bn The command also laid that O\'el 43 case! of seizure 76 detention mallelS and five arrests were recorded belween January and June 2011 Star/shes made available 10 OUI corrC'Spo ndenl by the command through electronic mail on Sunday showed that about N17. 125bn was collected in Ihe first quarter (Ja nuary· Malch) while another Nt7871bn was collected for the second qualter (April·June) The co mm,md said NI1.2bn and Nl3bn was collected in the first and second quar ter of lasl year respectively ~A bll!akd()l.' n of the figure al50 showed that Oller N21bn ..... as paid in to rhe FederatIon Account aSfl98inst N1J ibn (paid) into the nonFederatIOn Account during the period uoder review. ~ the Sla.tement added It !pec;nCll II~' 5ilid the command 's Il!~-e nue in
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January this ~'ear was N6. 1bl1, which Win almo~n 100 per cent increaw 0111"1 NJ.2bn it made the same month laSt year. Simiiarly.inFebruary20 11. the command genera ted N4.8On. while N3 2bn was made In Februru-y 2010. The com~nd lecorded N6.077bn and N52bn in MiUCh and April. 201 1 ~ively. The revenue fo r March lind Allli!. 2010 \\'i!S given as 4 .4bn. N4 .2hn. re!pl!Ctl\lely. II said NS.3bn was collected in May 201 1. as
"gainst N3 .04bn made the same month last year. Thl! commllnd Mressed Ihat it had the highest lImOul1t of revenue collection of N7.3bn in the month of June
Although Its performance 10 June 2010. which stood at NS 8bn was lower than what it recorded this year. Ii was also the highest amount for the lirs! six months 1" 5t ~' ea l .
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I Chief Executive OIfiteT of NOSDRA, Mr. R!ter ldabor, and the Chief of Naval Staff. Viti! Admiral 0Ia ibrahim. in Abuja. The Chief 01 Naval was represen ted at the meeting by the Chief of Polky and Plans. Nigelian Navy, Rea r Admiral James OIadimeji.
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Among othel challenges enumerated by Babalakm in the efforts to commence fun operations on the road were the problem of 5ecuring the Right o f Way and the provision of parks for numerous ' ra ilen plying the road
Bank of Agriculture has disbursed N46bn since 2000 - MD HE Bank 01 Agricultu re. formelly the Nigerian Agriculture Coope ralive and Ru ral Development Bank. has provided SIX million jobs and disbursed N46bn SUlCe its inception in 2000 Th", Managing Director 01 the bank. Dr Mohammed Santiraki. made the disclosure to the News A9ency of Nlgerio in Abuja on Sunday H", said B1thovgh the bank encountered milny COnst rain ts. Mwe still disburse an average 01 NSOOm quarterly lind the disbu..-sement will ~ a continuous exe1Ci~ He said that the bank was going to Increase lis lendmg by N10bn belore the ",nd o f the yea r. WIth special focus on small-scale farme rs He said ho-.vewr. that Mwith all the new things coming up In agnc\llture development \1Ie need to scale Ihlit up and ...-e all! planningtospend NIObn this yellr on mamly 5mllllhoider falmers ~This is because we think they are the most productive sub-sedor 01 the agncultural value chain He added that the bank had introduced a new
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scheme tagged ~Credit. which includes credit and extension serVICes to all the loan beneficiaries to Msist small·scale farmers ~Commerclal agriculture fa rmen are also impOrlan t and they have various Khemes supporting them Santurakl also Stlid. ~We are gIving loans a l subsidised rate of eight pet cent for Ihe 5m,,'lholder fll rmers but the challenge is that there is sub~ldy in the loan we give and the government does not compensate us systematically ~ He said Ihe break·even point for agncuhu rallendlng in Nigeria was 14 per cent "and il you lend below that. you are lOSing money_ MFor us M a developml! nt fi nance Ins\ltuhon we see it as pilrt o f ourcontnbution to the 5OCiety, but government needs !o find a way of compen~sa!ing us for the service Santurakl scud that when the bank wac fo rmed In 2000 b}.' the merger of Peoples Bank of Nigeria and the fisk assets of Filmily Economic Advancement Programm", and the NACH. the proposal then \~ M to recapit"lise the bank to the tune of N50bn
Our dive§tment from oil blocks lawful - Shell
THE
Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigelia umited has 5lIid the divestment 01 its eqU1ty from some oil blocks in the Niger Delta is complian! With its contractual rights and regula tory fral'T1e\vorks In Nigeria
The company. in II statement. also rejected any sugge~tions that the divestment exercise was illegal. non traosfJarent or done to underm ine the interest o f any sta.keholders. It reassured stakeholdel'$. including lis worken and
ldabor. who conf"med the meebng. stated thai the agency was _king the llSSlSt;)nce of the Navy in patrolli ng of sea and coastline. especially during oil 5pi1l; proYkling vn9!!Is for oil f\?CO\/\'Ty. assisting with early W<VJling ~em and other communication $Uppor1 a.nd recovery operation in the sea. He Rlid, MNOS DRA is manda ted to co-cminale oU fPIII man<!lgement and ensure the implementallon of the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan consistenl with the Internll tional Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness. Respon~ and Cooperation. ~
host communihes that appropriate COI\slderauon would conlinue to be given to theIT Interesls. wlthm the KOpe of the joint operating agreeml'Tlls. while aU memorandums of understanding and other be agreements would
APCON cautions
Oil spill control HE National Oil Spill Detedion and RI!$pOIlSe Agency has reached an agmement with the Ntgenan Navy to tackle the problem of oil spill across the country. This was ()(I(' of the highjX)inl:s of a meeting between the Oiredor-General
works lor lagos IImJ uthel minist ry officl"l! Whi le plomismg to assist the company in ensuring the safely and secunty 01 its workers. he also lauded the PPP lOitlai1ve as the most pragma tic way o f filling rOlld infrastructure In Nige ria . given Ihe budgetary
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HE Advertising PraditioneB Council of Nigeria MslKlvised eledmnlc broadcasting organisations to obtai n approva l before airing commercial adverb;. The Registrar of APCON. AlhaJi Garba Bello. gave the IIdvlce shortly altet he led membellii of the council on a cou rtesy visit to Governor Patrick Yakoo.va In l{adunaon on Saturday. Bello explained that APCON WM est.t.blished WiUl a mandate to regulate and control advertising practice in 1111 asped5 to ensu re slandaHn . He S<tid APCON had
been operating through the Advertising Standards Panel, which hlld Ihe mandille comlT1l!lcial to scrutinise messages before they were broadC<l5t. Bello appealed to the Kaduna Stale Governmenl to suppor1 the agency in enforcing the requirvnen t lhat "all persons holding advertising positions wi thin Ihe smte a re duly registered as advertising praditiolll!l5." He said in lis effort to ensure stand"lds, APCON was engllged by the Federal Ministry o f Information to design the rebmndlng Nigeria project.
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11'Ie Vice· President, Safety. ElwlTOr1menl. Sustainable Development and Commun jclltions. Shell Sub Sahllran Altica. Mr. Tony Atlah, said. -This IS in support of government's policy of encouraging the growth of Nigerian companies in the 011 and gas sedor and will deliver many opportunities for them .~ He also SlIid MSuggestions that the company's aChons ared liven byulterior moti~ and being done secretly and Illegally to the detriment of stakeholdel5 are untrue. "Since we commenced the process last vear. we have been open and transparent lind have given equal opportunities to all mteresled buyers We went through very ngorous regulated processes, often spanning ~velal months. before possibly re<lchlng an y i'lgreements which i\re lllsa subjf!{;t to requisite government approvals ~