FEC approves N1.9trn to NNPCL to construct 44 roads under tax credit policy – Newstrends
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FEC approves N1.9trn to NNPCL to construct 44 roads under tax credit policy

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The Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday, approved the proposal for  the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to invest N1.9 trillion in the reconstruction of 44 federal roads under the tax credit policy.

 Of this amount, N215.3 billion would be spent on South South and South East roads.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande,, who briefed journalists after the meeting said FEC approved the recommendation to invest in the reconstruction of selected federal roads under the Federal Government Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Policy Phase 2 by the NNPCL and its subsidiaries.

He said: “So, the council approved the proposal by the Ministry of Works and Housing for the reconstruction of 44 proposed federal roads with a total length of 4,554 kilometers in the total sum of N1.9trillion.”

The approval is coming 15 months after the NNPCL expressed interest in investing in the reconstruction of selected federal roads in order to sustain a smooth supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country.

President Buhari had on January 25, 2019, signed the Executive Order 007 which was the instrument that brought about the Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme, with the aim to unlocking funding from the private sector to critical road infrastructure in the country.

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The Executive Order 007 was designed to empower private companies to finance construction or refurbishment of federal roads designated as “Eligible Roads” under the scheme and recoup their investments through deduction of the approved total costs expended on the project from their annual Companies Income Tax.

The Road Infrastructure Scheme is a Public-Private Partnership intervention that enables the Federal Government to leverage private sector capital and efficiency for the construction and refurbishment of critical road infrastructure in key economic areas in Nigeria

Under the initiative, the private participants of the scheme provide the funds for the construction or refurbishment projects and in exchange, the participants are entitled to recoup the funds provided as a credit against the Companies Income Tax they are expected to repay. Under the initial programme, the NNPC is currently constructing a total of 1,804.6 kilometres of roads at a total cost of N621,237,143,897.35

A breakdown of the project funding showed that the North-Central geo-political zone, made up of Federal Capital Territory, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau States, got. the highest chunk of N244.87bn for the construction of 791.1 kilometres of road

The South-South geo-political zone, comprising Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross-River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers state, emerged the second highest beneficiary of the NNPCL Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment project with N172.02bn for a total of 81.9 kilometres of road.

he South West, made up of Ekiti, Lagos, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, and Oyo States, followed with a total allocation of N81.87bn for the construction of 252.7 kilometres of roads.

The NNPCL allocated N56.12bn to the North-East, comprising Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe states,the construction of 273.35 kilometres of roads under the scheme.

The South East geo-political zone; the zone is made up of five states, comprising Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu,and Imo.states, got N43.28bn allocation for the construction/rehabilitation of 122 kilometres of road.

The NNPC allocated N23.05 billion for the rehabilitation of 283.5 kilometres of road to North West geo-political zone, made up of Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Jigawa, and Zamfara States. The road projects are being funded by NNPC and the equivalent amount is deducted by the Federal Inland Revenue Service from the National Oil Company’s tax obligations.

Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi said Council approved the procurement of 31 project vehicles for the hydrocarbon pollution remediation projects in Ogoni land. 

He recalled that in December 2022, FEC had approved some projects for Ogoni and remediation of some polluted site. 

“In view of the fact that we are going to inspect on a regular basis, experts from outside the country, there’s a need to provide project vehicles so that they can effectively inspect, supervise and monitor the remediation exercise. FEC today approved the sum of N1,354,016,250 in favor of Messers Mujav automobile Nigeria limited to provide 31 number of vehicles for the project. These include one 18-seater Toyota Hiece bus, one 30-seater Toyota coaster bus, they’re all supposed to be 2022 models. Then 11 Toyota Hilux double cabin four will drive also to 2022 model, diesel engine. Then 15 numbers Toyota Hilux double cabin four wheel  drives, diesel and petrol engine also 2022 models. Then one Toyota Landcruiser twin turbo 2022 model and lastly two unit of Land Cruiser V6 Prada for the projects. Only 31 vehicles were approved for the hydrocarbon pollution remediation project to ensure effective supervision of the project particularly delimitation sites.“

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Your assessment misleading, APC tackles Obi over socio-economic situations

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Peter Obi and Felix Morka

Your assessment misleading, APC tackles Obi over socio-economic situations

One-time Anambra State Governor Peter Obi came under a scathing criticism yesterday from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over his assessment of the security and economic situation of the country.

At a news conference, Obi disagreed with the claims of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his New Year Day address which chronicled the feats attained by the APC-led administration.

Obi alleged that the political, economic and security situations in the country have worsened under the incumbent administration.

But the APC, through its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka carpeted Obi, describing his assessment as jaundiced, misleading and an attempt to score cheap political points.

In a statement, Morka put a lie to Obi’s claims.

He noted that Obi’s assessment was at variance with all indicators that showed that the nation’s economy is rebounding in significant measure across all sectors.

Dismissing Obi’s claims, Morka said: “While Nigerians celebrated the New Year with hope for a more glorious 2025, Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State and former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, was seemingly stuck in replay of his jangling, gloom-ridden wish-list for our country.

“Obi’s new year message, in which he claimed that the political, economic and security situation of our dear country is worsening daily, is misleading and appears intended to score cheap political points.

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“This claim, at a time when all indicators show that our country is rebounding in significant measure across all sectors, casts Obi, squarely, as Nigeria’s leading doomsayer.”

Morka, who reeled out the achievements of the APC-led administration, said: “In reality, 18 months later, the economy under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, has showed steady record of progress.”

He listed the landmarks as:

The ruling party further argued: “Despite these and other initial beneficial outcomes of ongoing unprecedented reforms, the administration is doubling its effort to ensuring that the reforms deliver their fullest benefits for the sustainable growth and transformation of our country.”

The ruling party said that the Presidential New Year message acknowledged that the “cost of food and essential drugs remained a significant concern for many Nigerian households. And to reverse this trend, Mr. President assured that his administration was committed to lowering food prices by boosting food production and promoting local production of drugs.”

The party also highlighted Tinubu’s resolve to crash the current inflation rate from 34 per cent to 15 per cent in the course of this fiscal year as a move to addressing the threat inflation poses to the country’s economy.

The statement further reads: “With the vigour in the administration’s war on corruption, evidenced by ongoing investigations and trial of  well-heeled Nigerians, Obi’s pontification on the urgent need to tame corruption is a clear case  of carrying coal to Newcastle.”

Faulting Obi, the party said: “It is a thing of irony that Peter Obi, who now arrogates to himself to be omniscient and philosopher’s stone, when it comes to our nation’s challenges, left no record of significant achievement, let alone transformation of any kind, in his eight-year tenure as Governor of Anambra State.

“Like his co-travellers in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Obi’s obsessive pessimism and endless but futile effort to incite public outrage against the administration is borne out of their realisation that President Tinubu is unwittingly cementing their ultimate political irrelevance by his visionary and full-throttle reform and transformation of the fundamental pillars of our national life.”

Appealing for citizens’ support and patience, the APC spokesman assured Nigerians that “under the banner of the Renewed Hope Agenda (RHA), President Tinubu is dutifully turning our nation’s fortunes around.

“He (Tinubu) deserves the support  and patience of Nigerians in order to consolidate on the deep economic foundation he has laid, and deliver a vibrant, prosperous new Nigeria for the good of all.  We urge Nigerians to remain confident of better days ahead.”

Your assessment misleading, APC tackles Obi over socio-economic situations

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Currency in circulation now N4.8tn – CBN report

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Currency in circulation now N4.8tn – CBN report

Currency in circulation has reached an all-time high of N4.8 trillion as of November 2024, recording over seven per cent increase from the previous month.

Also, currency outside banks grew significantly in the same month hitting an all-time high of N4.6 trillion from the N4.2 trillion in the month of October.

These figures were contained in the money and credit supply data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The currency in circulation is the amount of cash–in the form of paper notes or coins–within a country that is physically used to conduct transactions between consumers and businesses.

It represents the money that has been issued by the country’s monetary authority, minus cash that has been removed from the system.

Similarly, currency outside a bank refers to cash held by individuals, businesses and other entities that is not stored in banks.

The currency outside the bank represents about 96 per cent of the currency in circulation.

Nigerians have in recent times been facing acute cash shortage with banks limiting daily withdrawal at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to N20,000 irrespective of the number of accounts held by an account owner.

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According to the latest data, the currency in circulation grew by seven per cent to reach 4,878,125.22 from 4,549,217.51 in October.

Currency in circulation has grown steadily in the outgoing year 2024 with over one trillion naira added to cash in circulation after starting the year with N3.65 trillion in January.

In February, the currency in circulation slightly increased to N3.69 trillion representing an increase of N43 billion or 1.18 per cent from the January figure.

March also saw an appreciable increase to N3.87 trillion while it further increased to N3.92 trillion in the following month of April.

The growth trajectory continued in May with the currency in circulation increasing slightly to N3.97 trillion, an increase of N42 billion or 1.07 per cent while it reached an all-time high of 4.04 trillion, an increase of 2.11 per cent from May.

The July figure also rose marginally with the currency in circulation settling for N4.05 trillion before growing to N4.14 trillion in August and N4.43 trillion in September and N4.5 trillion in October.

In the same vein, currency outside banks grew from N4.2 trillion in October to N4.6 trillion in November, showing increasing preference for other means of storing outside bank deposits.

Economist, Dr. Paul Alaje attributed the development to the expanding money supply, adding, “Money supply is expanding but this may not necessarily be in cash. As it is expanding, it will necessarily induce inflation. But you can’t blame the people. People must look for money. How much was bottled water last year, how much is it today? All of this will induce inflation. If you now ask, what is the cause of inflation? Is it money supply itself or a devaluation policy? It is a devaluation policy. Money supply is an offshoot. So the Central Bank is raising interest rates to actually reduce money supply but the more they try the more money supply expands.”

He stated that the floatation policy of the CBN has created inflation, adding, “It is like chasing one’s tail and I don’t know if you are going to catch it.”

Currency in circulation now N4.8tn – CBN report

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Tinubu not telling Nigerians the truth, says Sule Lamido

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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Tinubu not telling Nigerians the truth, says Sule Lamido

President Bola Tinubu has been accused of not being forthright about the true state of Nigeria under his administration.

Former Jigawa State Governor and senior Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member, Sule Lamido, made the accusation while speaking on the BBC Hausa programme Gane Mini Hanya.

Lamido criticized both Tinubu and former President Muhammadu Buhari for what he described as a lack of transparency in governance.

“Buhari’s and Tinubu’s governments are not being transparent with Nigerians unlike during the time when PDP was in power where everything was transparent and open to all Nigerians,” Lamido said.

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He accused the two administrations of relying on propaganda rather than providing citizens with accurate information.

Lamido also expressed concerns over President Tinubu’s recent loan requests, questioning the logic behind them. “If Nigerians are being told the truth then there is nothing wrong with that, but how would you budget N30tn, generate N50tn and then request loan when you have a surplus of N20tn,” he said, referencing last year’s budget.

He described the situation as “reckless” and “selfish,” adding, “This recklessness and clear-cut selfishness is not done anywhere in the world, but yet you find (some) Nigerians supporting it. Visit social media and see how APC is being criticised, being referred to as calamity, yet you find some protecting it.”

Tinubu not telling Nigerians the truth, says Sule Lamido

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