Federal Ministry of Works

Be Resolute And Business Oriented, Fashola Charges New NERC Commissioners...

Feb

2017

Be Resolute And Business Oriented, Fashola Charges New NERC Commissioners

The Minister of PowerWorks and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, has charged the newly inaugurated Commissioners of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), to be firm but fair, regulate but be business oriented, calling on them to be resolute in the discharge of their duties.

The Minister gave this charge while inaugurating the Commissioners,on Tuesday in Abuja. He stated that with the new Commissioners on board, the Ministry and the Commission will now focus rigorously on policy formulation and regulation respectively.

The Minister who stated that the Commissioners were chosen as ‘’prescribed by law’’, emphasized that their appointments will ‘’provide stability in governance, regulatory actions and institutions building to the sector’’. Furthermore it will allow the Ministry to ‘’focus on policy, coordination and completion of ongoing generation and transmissions projects’’

Fashola, who used the opportunity to reiterate government’s preparedness to create an enabling environment for would be investors to operate, stated that they can now channel their requests and enquiries to the Commission for licenses to generate power, build coal, solar plant etc.

Heequally appealed to youths in the Niger Delta Area to embrace peace and dialogue as he lamented that Nigeria currently lost about 3000MW due to the vandalisation of gas pipelines that provide gas to the power plants in the Country.

The Minister said that with present capacity of 3500MW, the sector would have achieved 6500MW which will significantlyincreasethe quantum of electricity to Industries and Households.

The Six Commissioners inaugurated by the Minister are; Engr. SanusiGarba, Prof. Frank Okafor, DafeAkpeneye. Others are, Nathan Roger Shattti, Dr. MusiliuOseni and Dr. Moses Arigu.

Responding, the Vice- Chairman of the Commission, Engr. SanusiGarba, on behalf of the newly inaugurated Commissioners, commended President MuhammaduBuhari for thehonour given to them to serve the nation as well as steer the affairs of the Commission.

Engr. Sanusi re-affirmed the commitment of the Commissioners in dischargingtheir duties and promised to work diligentlyandhonestly in regulating the affairs of the sector and promise not to betray the confidence charged on them.

FG To Boost Economy By Consolidating On Existing Housing Projects Across The Nation...

Feb

2017

FG to Boost Economy by Consolidating on Existing Housing Projects Across The Nation

The federal government has reiterated that it will consolidate on the various existing housing projects across the nation as a way of boosting the economy and taking Nigeria out of the present economy recession.

The minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, stated this while presenting the 2017 budget proposal of the Housing Sector of the ministry at the Joint Committee on Works, Power, Housing and Urban Development recently.

The minister, while giving an overview of the 2016 appropriation noted that despite the delay in budget passage of 2016 coupled with the process of finalization/standardization of the prototype designs for the National Housing Projects which was concluded around December, the ministry has issued award letters to competent and successful contractors.

The contractors, who have since been mobilized, have moved to their various sites to commence work. He further stated that the ministry was only able to achieve about 57 per cent of the estimated budget appropriation in 2016 due to paucity of funds and delay in releases, adding that the ministry will have done better if sufficient funds were released for designated projects.

Fashola said that the country will soon begin to feel the impact as laid-off workers have been re-absorbed, more are being employed, goods and services are in exchange and the local economy of the various project locations/sites around the country are now taking shapes.

While giving the broad framework of the proposal for 2017, the minister noted that the highlight of this year’s budget will focus mainly on the National Housing Programme, completion and award of new federal secretariats in some states of the federation and payment of outstanding local debt to contractors, adding that this in the overall will positively impact on the nation’s economy.

The chairman, Joint committee on Works, Power and Housing Urban Development, Hon. Ahmed Babba Usman Keita thanked the minister and his team for their efforts and requested that the minister should furnish the committee with a detailed breakdown and clarifications of the proposed 2017 budget to help in facilitating necessary appropriation for the ministry.

Hon. Keita also assured the minister that the committee will use every constitutional means available to it to ensure the release of adequate funds to the ministry.

FG To Ensure Speedy Completion Of Projects In The South –East...

Feb

2017

FG To Ensure Speedy Completion of Projects in the South –East

The Minister of Power, Works, and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola says the present administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari will ensure that contractors handling federal road projects in the South- East complete them within the specified time frame.

Mr. Fashola who stated this when he visited the Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano at Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia said the Federal Government had put modalities in motion for the prompt release of funds and monitoring of the projects.

The Minister, who said that he was in Anambra State to rap- up his inspection tour of federal roads in the South East, noted that it was the intention of Federal Government to ensure that the roads, especially those connecting the States within the zone and with other regions were in good motorable condition.

Mr. Fashola who disclosed that alternative measures were been put in place to end the frequent failure of the Ninth-Mile-Ugwu Onyeama section of the Enugu – Onitsha Expressway pointed out that time and economic activities have improved in places where work had been completed on the Port Harcourt highway.

He reiterated the commitment of the present administration to support the state governments in the zone to achieve their development objectives and appealed to them to allow their Commissioners of Works to liaise with Federal Controllers in their areas to workout modalities for more efficient service delivery.

On the issue of Second Niger Bridge as well as the power situation in the country, the Minister explained that the Federal Government last year gave approval for early pilling works at the site, while it had adopted a three pronged approach to address the power challenges in the Country.

Governor Willie Obiano who expressed delight that the bad portion of the Umunya-Awkuzu axis of the Enugu- Onitsha Expressway would soon be included in the ongoing reconstruction of the highway appealed for more Federal Government presence in the area.

He pledged the support of Anambra State Government to the efforts of Federal Government to transform the Country.

In their separate remarks, the Federal Controllers of Works and Housing respectively in Anambra State, Messrs Edward Bosah and Newton Okorafor assured of the Federal Government commitment to initiate meaningful development in the South- East zone.

The Minister Of Power, Works And Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, Has Disclosed That Th...

Feb

2017

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has disclosed that the works sector received only 53 per cent of the over N300 billion appropriated to it 2016.

He made this known at the ongoing 2017 budget defence before the Senate Committee on Works on Monday in Abuja

Fashola said that although the entire ministry was allocated N456. 94 billion in the 2016 budget, works section had N301.85 billion allocation.

He, however, said that the ministry’s capacity to implement the budget had been directly related to the monies released to it.

“It is not the question of lack of capacity but the question of how much revenue the country earns and how they can give to us to pursue our work.

“We received only 53 per cent on the allocation; there is the possibility that we will get more before the current budget fully winds down,” he said.

Fashola notified the committee that the proposal of the ministry for the return of contractors to work was progressively implemented.

“I doubt that there is any state in the federation where there is no road project going on, whether it is our own direct project or constituency project,” he said.

According to him, the budget is working but more needs to be done in terms of continued funding of infrastructure to recover lost roads.

Earlier, Chairman of the committee, Sen. Kabiru Gaya, had said that budget defence symbolised the commitment of the National Assembly in the pursuit of national economic wellbeing through the road map of key infrastructure, like roads.

While clearing the “padding misconception’’ of the 2016 budget, Gaya said “the budget was brought to us as a draft. We are to amend whatever is to be amended.

“The budget is a draft, we will do our work. The National Assembly could not have been said to have padded the budget.
“By law, it has constitutional rights to appraise the budget proposal sent to it. It will therefore be a misnomer in the process of considering the budget to be seen as padding.”

He, however, emphasized the importance of road infrastructure to the economic wellbeing of the country and called for the rehabilitation of dilapidated roads across the country.

“This will help to promote national economic growth and prosperity,” he said.
The chairman said that major challenge in the development and maintenance of road infrastructure was inadequate funding.

He said that funding and investment needs of the nation’s key infrastructural deficit could not be considerably met by relying on solely on budget.
“We must explore more resourceful ways of delivering quality service in this sector.

“We must consider alternative sources of funding like public-private partnership and foreign investors to support the budget in the future,” he said.

FG Rebooting Economy By Reviving Infrastructure...

Feb

2017

FG Rebooting Economy By Reviving Infrastructure

*Construction workers, suppliers of materials, other support workers benefit as Contractors step up work on South-East roads,others

*As Minister tours Highway projects in South-East Zone , pledges equitable distribution of infrastructure in all parts of the country

*Stresses that the FG is not in competition with any State government as the two are partners in progress irrespective of the political parties

The Federal Government’s strategy of rebooting the economy through infrastructure development across the country has started yielding results as impressive figures came forth during the inspection of the highway projects in the South-East zone by the Hon. Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN.

The figures came from the restoration of lost jobs for construction workers, creation of indirect jobs through support workers like food vendors, suppliers of materials like sand, laterite, water tankers and improving demand and supply for allied businesses like diesel and fuel to power trucks, tractors, graders and milling machines among others.

According to the Minister, who made several stops to interact with Contractors, workers, members of the community around and journalists, injecting money into the economy by paying contractors who have not been paid for three years, who can now pay their workers, refinance their bank loans, and pay their suppliers have positive multiplier effects now gradually manifesting.

Such positive effect include improving the ease of doing business by reducing travel time on completed road sections, making uncompleted sections temporarily more motorable, reducing the cost of travel and movement of supplies including food and farm produce thus restoring production and ultimately growth to the economy.

Fashola said in addition to restoring jobs and creating new ones, the Federal Government was committed to equitable distribution of infrastructural facilities across the nation’s six geopolitical zones.

Fielding questions after inspecting a section of the on going rehabilitation of Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, Fashola emphasized that the Federal Government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, was not and would not be discriminatory in the allocation of developmental projects across the country irrespective of political affiliations.

The Minister told the newsmen in response to a question, “As I said when I visited the Imo State Government, which was where I started, our government is blind to party when it comes to development. Every state of this Federation is part of the constituency of the Federal Government and we have his mandate to partner and not to compete with them”.

“One of the things that I want to say at this time is that there is no part of the country that the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing is not doing one thing or the other”, he said adding that the mandate of the President was being executed nationwide through the Federal Controllers of Works in the states whom he described as Ambassadors of the Federal Government.

Fashola, who expressed delight at the collaboration that was now emerging between the State commissioners of Works, Infrastructure and Transport “as designated” on one hand and the Federal Controllers of Works, said as such collaborations got better government would be able to overcome some of the challenges that had bogged down road development across the country.

The Minister, however, appealed to the commissioners of Works in the states to provide and sustain the collaboration by providing access and partnership with the Federal Controllers in their states whom, according to him, have been directed to make themselves available to support the states.

On why some of the Federal roads across some states never got adequate attention in spite of their economic importance, Fashola noted that in the past, some of the funds provided for the interstate Federal roads were diverted to build community roads described as “spurs” while neglecting the interstate roads adding, however, that the Federal Government was poised to change such practice.

The Minister, who cited the Imo State situation as example, recalled, “What we saw was that in the past funds that were, perhaps, meant to build interstate roads, because that is our work, we noticed that those funds had gone to building intercommunity roads.”

“So, we saw on our records, Owerri-Umuahia Road under construction. But the truth is that no work is going on there; the work is going on in roads that lead to villages”, the Minister said pointing out that the funds would have been better used in building the Owerri-Umuahia Road that connects two big economies, and that probably would have connected them to Akwa Ibom and to Enugu states to facilitate more trade.

He declared, “The villages to which those roads were being built, what is the business there, there was only one person making coffin. But the main roads which would enhance commercial activities were not getting attention”, adding that even while those funds were being employed in doing community roads, the records being presented to the Federal Government were that the interstate roads were being done.

Stressing Federal Government’s determination to change the situation, Fashola again reiterated, “We have to focus on our own work and get the legislative arm to support us to focus on our own work to build roads that connect states, roads like Owerri- Umuahia-Okigwe, Enugu-Port Harcourt and so on. These are the roads we want to focus on”, adding that without prejudice to what the representatives of the people wanted to do at their local levels those were the roads that must take priority.

The Minister, however, clarified that using those funds meant for federal roads to do community roads should not be seen as diversion of funds since the community roads being built were part of national development but reemphasized that given the choices that must have to be made, roads that carry the heaviest traffic should take priority over others down the line.

Stressing the importance of positive and progressive thinking, Fashola, who said he preferred giving hope to the people everywhere he went, added that whatever had made the contractors to stop work and abandon the sites was in the past as the present administration has come to change the situation.

The Minister told the newsmen, “Everywhere I go I bring hope. Let us stop talking negatively; what happened was yesterday. There was poor funding in the past but the contractors are getting money now. The Buhari Government is now paying contractors”.

As for how long the project would take to complete, Fashola, who based it on how much and how soon more money would be made available to the contractors added, “But they are now getting money after not being paid for three years. From the very first budget that was passed in May last year, we have returned people to work”.

“You heard when the contractor was saying that they have recalled 335 of the workers they laid off. And the people of this community are benefitting by supplying water, gravel, vending food and other businesses. So the economy is on its way back. This is the way out of recession”, he said.

In all the project sites inspected, the Ministry had ensured that the Contractors transparently displayed details of the work being handled, budget releases, the states to be connected by the roads and the staff engaged. For example, the Rehabilitation of Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway Section III: Enugu-Lokpanta being handled by CGC Nigeria Ltd had such a board which indicated that the project which is located in the Southern part of Enugu State is the first section of the rehabilitation project of the dual carriageway connecting Enugu-Imo-Rivers from Enugu to Port Harcourt. It indicated that 252 direct jobs and 57 indirect jobs for Nigerians had been created through the project.

Similarly, Arab Contractors handling the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Enugu- Port Harcourt Dual Carriageway Section II : Umuahia Tower- Aba Township Rail/Road Bridge Crossing in Abia State has created 535 and 436 direct and indirect jobs respectively. On the construction of Abiriba-Arochukwu-Ohafia Road in Abia State, the local contracting firm Beks Kimse Nigeria Ltd has created 30 and 20 direct and indirect jobs respectively. Also in Abia State, the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Enugu-Port Harcourt Dual Carriage Section I : Lokpanta-Umuahia Tower in Abia State has generated 220 direct and 30 indirect jobs for residents.

Earlier, while on a courtesy call to the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha in Owerri, Fashola had told the Deputy Governor of the State, Eze Madumere, who stood in for the Governor that he was in the State to see first hand the projects being executed by the Federal Government and to reemphasize the assertion that the Federal Government was not discriminatory in its distribution of developmental projects.

At the direction of the Minister, the Federal Controller of Works in the State briefed the audience on the number and stage of work on the federal road projects in the State. According to the Works Controller, there are five federal road projects currently going on across the State and at different stages of completion.

They include the rehabilitation, expansion and improvement of Owerri-Ohafia Road which, according to him, is now 60 per cent complete, construction of Ikot-Ekpene Border-Aba-Owerri Dualization Section 1 Phase 1,which, he said was 22 per cent complete, construction of Mbaise -Ngwa Road Phases 1 and 2, 11 per cent complete, rehabilitation of Amawaisu-Ozuakoli Road, 60 per cent complete and Oba-Nnewi-Okigwe Road Section 2, 30 per cent complete.

Also according to him, assessment has been carried out on four other roads including Ihube-Okigwe and Aghara-Owerri Roads and proposals have been written and submitted to the headquarters of the Ministry for the rehabilitation of collapsed sections of the roads.

Speaking after the Controller of Works’ briefing, Fashola added, “I think it is important to emphasize that, perhaps contrary to the impressions that may have been created in some quarters, it is now clear from the list of road projects in the state that the Federal Government is present here and in other states”.

“The question now see is the status of the projects and, perhaps, additional things that the states may want the Federal Government to do”, he said adding, “It is very fairly common knowledge that most of these roads had contractors who had left the sites over the last two to three years before the advent of this administration largely because they were not paid”.

The Minister explained further, “And as I reiterated at the inception of my tour of duty was that the quick starter was to remobilize those contractors back to site on the five roads and others for repairs in the state”, adding that because the 2016 budget did not come into force until sometime in May, 2016 while warrant for payment was issued in June and payment was made in July, mobilization of contractors was already facing some challenges because it was at the peak of the Rainy Season.

He, however, added that having operated the budget now for seven months, one of the things he had come to do in the State was to see for himself what was going on and to do some spot check, even though, according to him, “I get reports with photographs”.

He added, “But one other think I also wish to achieve is to continue to emphasize the importance of our Controllers of Works in various states. If we are going to make progress in providing support and partnership with state governments, the quickest way to do so is through the Controllers”.

“I have met with them, I have briefed them about the role that they will play as ambassadors of the Federal Government in the development and support of the state governments in infrastructure renewal”, Fashola said reiterating that the Federal Government was not in competition with any state government.

He added, “We are partners in progress irrespective of the political parties we belong”, reiterating that the Controllers, whom he described as “our ambassadors”, have the clear mandate to go and support the State governments and not to oppose them. He also advised the State governments to report to him any difficulty they experienced with any of our controllers.

The Ministry, he said, was trying to develop a programme that would help the Controllers have, “not only the administrative and democratic authority and autonomy to take control of their states”, adding, “We are also hoping that in this fiscal year they would also have financial authority to support you. When that is concluded, I will announce the details of how it will be done”.

On the National Housing Programme as it concerned the State and others in the Zone, the Minister also asked the Federal Controllers of Housing in the States to brief with all reporting progress in the allocation and clearance of land in preparation for commencement of construction of buildings for the National Housing Programmes.

The Minister, however, noted that electricity still remained an issue, adding that in terms of expansion of the National Grid, progress was being made and the grid was getting bigger. He also said that gas supply was a challenge especially from the damage to the pipelines at the Forcados and Escravos.

Other challenges, the Minister said, included involvement in trying to solve disputes between geometric states over their power project adding that the case that arose out of the dispute has now been taken out of court and the parties have agreed to settle.

“We are at the point now where the issues of financing compensation that was paid in dollars is the last major hurdle to overcome. When that is done, we expect that the power plant would be completed and it is possible to have more dedicated power for this state and especially for its industries and commercial enterprises”, the Minister said.

In his response, the Imo State Deputy Governor, Eze Madumere, described the visit of the Minister as very significant and historic pointing out that since 2011 when the government took office, this was the first time a Minister of Works was visiting the State.

“We have been here since 2011 and we have not seen anything like this”, the Deputy Governor said adding that the fact that the Minister could left every other thing he was doing to come and see things for himself in the state showed that the concern of the President Buhari administration in the development of the state and the country.

Expressing appreciation of the government and people of the state for the new development, the Deputy Governor pledged the readiness of the state government to do everything in its power to assist and support the Federal Government to achieve its developmental objectives in the state.

Public Private Partnership, A Panacea To Housing Deficit In Nigeria- FASHOLA...

Jan

2017

Public Private Partnership, A Panacea to Housing Deficit in Nigeria- FASHOLA

The Honorable Minister for Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN has reiterated the importance of synergy between the Federal Government and the Private sector in the built industry in the provision of mass housing to Nigerians. He said the Federal government must find a way to exploit the Private Sector participation in the industry especially in the area of local content manufacturing of building materials, noting that it would aid in the reduction of prices of the materials and subsequently the cost of the houses.

He made this known during an inspection visit to some selected sites and Polystyrene manufacturing company in Abuja. He said the visit was a follow up to the claims by some sponsors in the built industry during the Affordable Housing Summit held in Abuja earlier in the year that they had all the machineries to partner with the Federal Government in delivering affordable mass housing to Nigerians.

The Minister who expressed satisfaction with what he saw on ground, noted that the concepts of acceptability and affordability were significant and must be factored into any system the Federal Government intends to adopt in the sector, adding that the low and middle income earners in Nigeria may not be interested in most of the houses available on ground at the moment, though beautiful and accepted but because they are mostly not affordable and said government was committed to initiate policies that would address the situation.

At the Citec building and manufacturing factory in Mbora District, Abuja, The minister who was ushered round the factory by the Managing Director, Engineer Bello inspected EPS Polystyrene, a building raw material made from petrochemical products, is a lightweight, rigid, closed-cell insulation available in various densities to withstand load and back-fill forces and is being used to construct facials used in decking for storey buildings.

The Minister said more companies using polystyrene would be encouraged as houses built with it are cheaper, noise proof, self fire extinguishing and does not need the use of air conditioners because it regulates the weather, adding that for the concept of acceptability and affordability to be meaningful to Nigerians, government must do its best to bring down the cost of owning a house.

He said as part of efforts to assist Nigerians own houses with less burdens, the Federal Mortgage Bank has been repositioned to better perform its statutory function so that government on its part would concentrate more on ensuring the provision of acceptable housing designs.

The Minister also visited building sites including: Braines and Hammers at Life Camp and Galadimawa, Sunny Vale at Logokoma and Rockvale at Gudu.

He expressed satisfaction that Nigerian youths were being engaged at the sites in various trades such as masons, building sewage plants, iron mongering, and so on, noting that it has shown that the built sector is important in reducing the unemployment rate in the country.

The Attention Of The Office Of The Hon. Minister Of Power, Works And Housing, Mr. Bab...

Jan

2017

The attention of the Office of the Hon. Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN has been drawn to another sensational offering from the platform of the Premium Times.

Without doubt, the so called “Special Report” with the screaming headline “Works Minister, Fashola, in N166 billion contract mess” fits perfectly into an emerging pattern by Premium Times to create fiction, avoid obvious facts and sensationalise headlines in order to draw attention and sell its struggling platform.

Barely two weeks ago, the same Premium Times published a similarly fabricated report with the mischievous headline, “EXCLUSIVE: Buhari administration plotting to break Nigerian law in award of $800 million contract.”

It is a known fact that the media industry, like other sectors, in the economy, faces challenges thrown up by the recession. Indeed, the challenges of the media industry precede the recession. However, while the Federal Government and well meaning Stakeholders, including the media, are working assiduously to address the challenges, constantly muckraking and deliberately maligning public officials and institutions should not replace the age long responsibility of the media to hold government accountable to the populace.

Examining the mischievous report published by Premium Times readily shows the obvious contradictions and the less than altruistic intentions therein.

To start with, the report established the fact that there was an Evaluation Committee made up of a Chairman and Members who are ranking professionals in their own right. Even by its own admission, the report that went to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) was the work of the Evaluation Committee which does not have the Hon. Minister as member.

Except the publication was insinuating that the Committee colluded to perpetrate fraud for itself and the Ministry, which is not the case, then going to town about “Fashola” being in a “contract mess” leaves much to be desired.

The Premium Times contradicted itself by alleging a “contract mess” and yet admitted that the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing followed Due Process by advertising projects to be awarded and sending the list of selected contractors to the Bureau of Public Procurement. If the Ministry does what is expected of it by law and the institution of Government that it went to did its job, in what way does it amount to a “mess”?
It is pertinent to inform Nigerians that as at this moment, no new contracts have been awarded to date based on the 2016 Appropriation and as such no single kobo has been paid. The ‘contract mess’ which Premium Timessought to mislead Nigerian citizens with is an exchange of correspondence between two government institutions to which the Ministry has adequately responded.

It is worrisome that whilst Premium Times devoted its journalistic energy to the correspondence from the Bureau of Public Procurement, it failed to inform its readers of the response of the Ministry which comprehensively addressed all the issues raised in the Bureau’s referenced report. Is journalism now a one-way traffic?

For the avoidance of doubt, the statutory role of the Bureau of Public Procurement is to vet contracts to be awarded depending on the threshold. At the end of its work, it either issues a Due Process Certificate of ‘No Objection’ or withholds it. Indeed, even if it issues a Certificate of No Objection, the last approving authority for the threshold of jobs so sensationally reported by Premium Times is the Federal Executive Council and not the Hon. Minister or the Permanent Secretary of the Awarding Ministry. It should be noted that the BPP has the final decision on contract prices and in previous memos from the Ministry, the Bureau had reviewed the cost of contracts.

In a regime emphasising Due Process and underscoring efficient institutions, it should be a source of worry if the BPP certifies every piece of document that goes to it as being okay. So rather than sensationalise public institutions doing its job, it would be advisable for media organisations to educate its personnel on how the procurement system works.

Indeed, it is curious to note, that the frivolous allegations being published by Premium Times and most times often instantly “boosted” across social media platforms seems to have gained currency with the resolve of the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammdu Buhari to make budgets work for the people through faithful execution of projects across the country. In the locust years of miserable budgetary allocations to capital development, with scant regard for Due Process, it would seem all was well. A question that should aptly end this clarification meant to set the records straight is: “What do ‘they‘ want?”

* As Minister Chairs The 11th Monthly Meeting Of Power Sector Operators In Lagos * E...

Jan

2017

* As Minister chairs the 11th Monthly Meeting of Power Sector Operators in Lagos
* Encourages Operators, service providers to improve the user experience of consumers by improving metering and reducing estimated billings
* Abuja DisCo, Okpai Power Plant, Shiroro win best performing DisCo, best performing thermal plant and best performing hydroelectric plant respectively in third quarter of 2016

The 11th monthly meeting of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN with Operators in the Power Sector, has held at the Ikeja West Transmission Station, Ayobo, Lagos with the Minister restating the need for the service providers to make optimum customer service their focus.

Fashola’s remarks formed part of the ten paragraph Communiqué of the Meeting which was attended by high level representatives of Operators at the executive management levels, includingManaging Directors and Chief Executive Officers of GenCos, DisCos and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), as well as various government agencies such as the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET), the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Nigerian Electricity Liability Management Company (NELMCO) and Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA).

Acknowledging the challenges of liquidity in the sector, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) reminded the meeting that all operators must pay their bills to NBET as well as their suppliers and service providers promptly, to ensure that the sector remains functional and friendly to investors even as the meeting commended the efforts being made by Government and international development partners to address these challenges

The meeting, which also agreed on the importance of government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) paying their debts, acknowledged the need for proper verification prior to payment and also noted the on-going verification and data collection exercise which, it noted, was aimed at improving liquidity in the sector.
While also resolving to complete and submit all outstanding audited financial accounts of all operators before the next meeting in order to improve transparency within the sector, the Meeting noted the importance of the need to complete all outstanding work at the Ikot Ekpene switching station that was commissioned on 21st November 2016, to take full advantage of the added capacity to deliver incremental power.

Noting with delight that the family affected by the electrical accident at Oke-Ira, Ogba in Lagos State had been compensated by Ikeja Electric , the Meeting stressed the need for all operators to observe all safety regulations in the sector and to make every effort to avoid such accidents in future.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) reported the progress of the projects in Shagamu, Ikeja West, Ajah, Ayobo, Omotosho, Ayede and Ogba which it said would be completed between April and the end of 2017 and which when completed, would improve power supply in Lagos State and its environs.

The company also reported that with the commissioning of Ikot Ekpene switchyard transmission capacity of the National Grid was now above 6,500MV adding that contrary to insinuations that the Grid was not capable of carrying above 5,000MW of generated energy, the capacity of the grid was dynamic and would continue to grow as more energy was added.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) noted that work was on going to repair all pipelines vandalised in 2016 to restore gas supply to power plants while the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) announced Abuja DisCo as the best performing DisCo in the third quarter of 2016. The score was based on rates of collections, metering progress, health and safety, amongst other indicators.

Okpai Power Plant was announced as the best performing thermal plant in the third quarter of 2016 while Shiroro was announced as the best performing hydroelectric plant. The score for generating plants was based on availability and general compliance with industry standards.

The Meeting, which was chaired by the Minister, was jointly hosted by Ikeja Electric and Egbin Power and, as usual, focused on identifying, discussing, and finding practical solutions to critical issues facing the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.

Earlier, in his opening remarks, Fashola had stressed the need for Operators, especially in the distribution areas of the power sector, to endeavour to improve the quality of their service to consumers pointing out that the consumers being the ones paying the bills, must be treated with all care and respect

The Minister urged the Operators to continue to train and retrain their personnel to recognize that the customer is king adding that even if they could not provide all that the customers required, they owed the customers a duty to explain what they were doing at any point in time

He declared, “We owe a duty to fish out a few staff that are not dedicated and retrain or discard them. I know that they are not many but a few because we get constant reports and we know we have got staffs that are very dedicated. Our staff must know that without customers they don’t have a job”.

“Without the customer, we have no business and I think all those in the private sector understand that. If you don’t have the zeal and dedication to serve, please leave, it is a thankless task but it is a noble task to serve”, the Minister said.
On the frequent complaints of consumers, Fashola listed them to include issues around metering and billing urging, “We must build that trust and that confidence that is needed in service delivery. I have heard complaints of people being charged for things they shouldn’t be charged for. So all of us that are owners of this business must look inside and do whatever is possible to improve service.

Expressing confidence that there would be improved service in the New Year “if we work together and have understanding of each other”, the Minister thanked the Operators for their perseverance thus far. He also advised them, “We have spoken of Undercover Boss here before. Go round; ask the consumers what their experiences have been. It will inform your management decision about what to do”.
On the liquidity issue, Fashola, who acknowledged its challenges to the service providers, recalled his statements concerning the issue both before the meeting and in the past as well as to the Press in which he had explained government’s efforts, working with its development partners, both international and local, who, according to him, “have shown commitment and very inspiring appetite to play in this sector”.
“We are trying to see what we can do together in order to bring the liquidity issue under some control and from there solve the problem”, he said just as he also announced that the members of Parliament have also shown inspiring understanding of what the challenges are.

According to the Minister, “Quick decisions will be made now with collaboration and we will be fair but firm and we expect that people will respect the decisions. These, of course, are matters which the regulator, NERC, will deal with, Bulk Trader, NBET, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Petroleum in terms of gas and, in fact, all the players, will dovetail into one another”.

Speaking on what to expect in the New Year, Fashola noted that government has already listed and identified what the challenges were, adding, “What we are trying to finalize now is what comes first, what follows and what takes dominion, because in solving one problem we might solve three simultaneously and so on and so forth”.

Promising that government would keep in constant touch with the Operators as the issues evolved, the Minister said such constant interaction would also enable the operators to give their own side of the story adding, “We will also use this meeting to share details of what we are seeing and to hear what you are experiencing”.

Reiterating that the intention of the constant meetings remained to review and enhance services and also to meet the needs of the expectant Nigerians, Fashola declared, “I think the top burner issues still remains service. I am conscious of the challenges the operators in the sector face but you and I are working as hard as we can to make that environment more responsive to you”.

“I have said that indeed as pioneers you will carry some burden and you will sacrifice, perhaps, more than you have done. But I am optimistic that things will get better. I am optimistic that we can work together to give Nigerians better service”, he said.

The Minister Of Power, Works And Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola Has Said That The Fede...

Jan

2017

The minister said that many of the bridges in Lagos and across the country had suffered neglect and had not been undergoing routine maintenance.

Fashola said that the current administration was determined to correct the trend and had began the process for maintenance of about 50 bridges across the country "if it receives the support of the legislature’’. "Many of the bridges we built in the country over the last four, five decades have not been under any form of maintenance. "We now have a three-year plan affecting over 50 bridges across the country for maintenance, repairs and restoration. "And it is going to cost about N270 billion over three years. "Our plan is to start with about N70 to N100 billion in year one; starting with the very critical ones so that they do not collapse and then we move to the less critical ones,’’ he said.

The minister said that the government had done all the survey and assessments to unravel the problems of the bridges, adding that, it was waiting for appropriation and approval of funds to execute the projects.

He decried indiscriminate parking and trading activities in some parts of Ebute Ero toward the Third Mainland Bridge.

Fashola warned that government would take action soon. "I want to appeal to those people who use those areas as car parks and trading to start moving voluntarily in their own best interest. "We intend to repose our right of way while work is going on on the Outer Marina to free traffic,’’ he said. Earlier, while receiving a brief from the Federal Controller of Works, Lagos, Mr Godwin Eke, on status of other bridges, the minister directed engineers to begin work to realign the Apongbon Bridge. Mr Gianfranco Albertazzi, the Joint Managing Director, Boroni Prono and Co Nig. Ltd- contractors of the project, told newsmen that some piers, alignment and decks and piles of the bridge were affected. "I have pictures of the affected columns here. They were enlarged but we have strengthened them by another layer of steel and concrete,’’ Albertazzi said. He said that a new kind of cement that dealt with the problem of salinity of both air and water was being used to reduce degeneration of the bridge.

The project was awarded in December 2012 at a sum of N967.3 million.

Reintroduction Of Tollgates: One Of The Needful Steps For Road Development And Mainte...

Dec

2016

Reintroduction Of Tollgates: One Of The Needful Steps For Road Development And Maintenance

Tolling is one of the ways of meeting the critical road and bridge needs of a country, more rapidly than would otherwise be possible with public funds alone, due to both limited and untimely release of public works budgets. Tolls are fast becoming a sustainable way of delivering transportation infrastructure projects, whether public, private or public-private-partnerships funded. It is also note worthy that tolled roads may be funded by accessing capital (debt and equity needed to construct, re-construction or rehabilitate) from commercial market and paid with income generated from tolls over a contractually agreed time frame.

Again, the income from tolling could be used to manage and maintain the road and/or bridge infrastructure and the provision of ancillary services. The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the use of public funds and private road concessionaires, can access this funding option.

Government’s view is that there are substantial benefits to be derived from tolling, provided certain principles are adhered to. Nigeria has long suffered from a sub-optimal road network that imposes significant costs in terms of travel time, vehicle wear and tear and high fatality rates. Limited or poor access resulting from underdeveloped networks also discourages investment and economic development in many regions of the country.

It is worth noting that road tolling is a tried and tested model in many countries. Indeed, road tolling is currently in operation in Nigeria on the newly built Lekki-Epe road and on access roads to major airports nationwide. Nigeria had operated some public tolled roads several years ago which were unfortunately discontinued in 2004 with the exception of some airport approach roads, due mainly to legal disputes, revenue leakages and unmet requirements for maintenance of the tolled roads.

Due to the enormity of the benefits accruable to the tolling system, the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari received several proposals on the issue of re-introduction of toll gates, as additional source of revenue to government. In view of the dwindling oil prices and the commodity being the mainstay of our economy and by way of ensuring sustainability and maintenance of Federal roads, tolling appears to be a credible option. The re-introduction of tolling, will therefore, serve as a tool for additional revenue to support effective management of the Federal road network.

Additionally, motorable Federal roads and bridges will reduce journey times and travel costs and ensure safer travel for road users. It can also encourage more investment and diversification of commercial activity to outlying areas that are currently not served by an effective trunk network. Importantly, tolls are also equitable because they are paid by those who use the road or bridge rather than from general taxes and a good avenue for job creation for the nation’s teaming unemployed youth.

Now that tolling is once again being considered as a policy option, Nigeria has the advantage of drawing from its past experience and the good practices of other countries applying same to successfully build, manage and maintain its highways through the instruments of tolling and Public-Private- Partnership (PPP). The challenges and experiences from previous concessionaired projects should be well studied to avoid a repetition of past mistakes. The Federal Ministry of Works should draw from the experience of specialist consultants through the Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility and other International Institutions.

During their maiden press briefing, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola and the Minister of State, Hon. Mustapha Baba Shehuri disclosed that "if we ask everyone to pay a little as our commonwealth and hold those in charge accountable, and use technology…We don’t pay cash, we pay by token or by ticket and money is accountable and will go to the right place ".

On this note, the adoption of technology as professed by the Minister in collecting monies from toll gating will make the system efficient and accountable.

The Minister Of Power, Works And Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola Has Disclosed That T...

Dec

2016

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola has disclosed that the on-going construction work on the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant Project would add 700MW to the national grid when completed.

This is as a result of the pursuit for regular and reliable electricity supply nationwide.

The Minister who was represented by the Director, Energy Resources in the Ministry, Engr. Emmanuel Ajayi made this disclosure recently during the River Closure Ceremony of the project at Zungeru, Niger State.

He described the project being carried out in conjunction with a consortium of major Chinese Companies as one of the biggest hydro-electric power projects in the country.

The Minister commended the efforts of those who contributed to the construction of the project and advised the host communities to maintain peace as government has put in place modalities to ensure adequate compensations and resettlement of the affected people around the project site.

The Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, represented by the Commissioner for Works and Transport, Abdulmalik Usman Cheche stated that Niger State is housing yet another power project of 700MW apart from the 3 other power projects already sited in the State.

He commended the federal government for creating mass employment to their people, he also noted that the project has already created over 5,000 employments to the host communities.

The Governor gave assurance of the safety of the contractors and workers on the site, saying that the deployment of soldiers to the station is government’s proactive response to its citizenry as no responsible government will fold its arms on security of such a huge investment.

The Vice President of SinoHydro Consortuim, one of the contracting companies handling the project, Xiao Jun pledged his company’s readiness to promote the project in line with the contract agreement, he gave assurance that the project would be realized on record time.

The Project Director of employers’ Representative (Engr. (Dr.) Adewumi); the Project Director of CNEEC-SinoHydro Consortium (Wu Guisheng) and the Vice President of PowerChina International Group Limited (Tian Haha) also graced the ceremony.

The Honourable Minister Of Power, Works And Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN,...

Dec

2016

The Honourable Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, said there is need to factor in other existing government policies into the newly proposed National Transport Bill currently being considered by the Senate Joint Committee on Land Transport, Marine Transport and Aviation. He made this call at a one- day Public Hearing on a bill for an Act to provide for the Establishment of the National Transport Commission as an Independent Multi-Model Economic Regulator for the Transport Industry and other Related Matters.

The Minister commended the National Assembly by allowing officials of the ministries and other agencies of government to contribute in the decision making process of this important legislative draft bill for the entire benefit of the people and the nation at large.

Fashola stated that, though he has not been privileged to other bills as its relate to the Ministry of Transport, adding that his intervention and that of the ministry will be more of advisory, cautionary and demanding of perhaps so much retrospection before making a final decision on the bill.

Policy, according to the minister continues almost globally and they originate from ministries. "We must at this point ask ourselves what is the transport policy that we seek to implement?". He noted for example that government has a policy on safety which brought about the establishment of the Federal Road Safety Commission to implement its policy on safety. Also, government's policy on road maintenance led to the creation of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, Similarly, its policy on housing brought about the establishment of the Federal Housing Authority, same in the Aviation sector and other sectors. The minister called for retrospection in making a lasting policy that would make the transport industry a viable one, adding that for this to be achieved, there is need for the Senate committee to constitute a technical body to look into all the grey areas before passage of the bill into law.

Earlier in his opening remarks, the chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on Land Transport, Marine Transport and Aviation, Sen. Olugbenga Asafa welcomed and thanked the special guests and other participants for honouring their invitation. He enjoined the sector professionals and stakeholders to cooperate with the committee as they solicit and galvanized more information on this important bill which is crucial to the transport industry.

He however noted that the establishment of the National Transport Commission connotes an independent regulatory body in the transport sector. The Commission among others is to be responsible for the provision of transport policies, regulate the transport industry, protect the right and interest of service operators and commuters; and create an enabling environment for private sector participation in the provision of essential services in the transport sector.

While declaring the one-day public hearing opened, the Senate President, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki who was represented by the Senate Leader, Sen. Ali Ndume welcomed participants and remarked that the essence of this one-day public hearing is to seek the most updated knowledge on information of matters before us. The Senate President said that, the Senate have identified the National Transport Bill among other bills that will help us develop our transport sector in a manner that would cut cost of doing business with efficiency and innovation.

According to him, 'the bill when passed into law will provide the legal, regulatory and institutional basic necessity to interconnect, synchronized and share government policy in the entire spectrum of transport in the country from aviation to land and marine, adding that it will add enormous potentials to help our entrepreneurs to move goods and services much more efficient and reliably in a multi-model system'.

The proposed bill for an act to create the National Transport Commission is being sponsored by Senator Andy Uba of the Senate Joint Committee on Land Transport, Marine Transport and Aviation.

Fashola Calls For The Harmonisation Of Existing Policies In Creating The National Tra...

Dec

2016

Fashola Calls For The Harmonisation Of Existing Policies In Creating The National Transport Bill

The proposed bill for an act to create the National Transport Commission is being sponsored by Senator Andy Uba of the Senate Joint Committee on Land Transport, Marine Transport and Aviation.

Great UNIBEN....

Nov

2016

Great UNIBEN.

This is the greeting amongst students on the campus of the University, and it has endured after graduation and stayed with the alumni; decades after graduation.
May this greeting endure also for all of you who graduate today, and may you fulfil your destiny of greatness as products of a great institution and citadel of learning.
That this university is great is beyond argument now.
The evidence of this abounds in the human capital supply she has produced for Nigeria in fulfilment of the objectives of founding fathers.
It is a rich store of personnel, not only in quantity, but defining in quality.
In all spheres of Nigeria’s developmental endeavour, there is a representative of great UNIBEN, not only in a participatory role, but also in a leadership role that is setting worthy and commendable examples.
The boys and girls of yesterday have become the men and women who define the developmental character of our nation and they are waiting for you all to join them to play your role.
Therefore, I intend to start my interaction with you today by telling a story.

Many years ago, sometime in 1983, in a Philosophy classroom, a lecturer was telling his students about the theory of evolution, based on the Big Bang and atomic perspective of our evolution.
He charged them not to believe things that were not demonstrable by evidence.
He taught them about cause and effect relationships of man’s existence and that everything was ultimately traceable to Matter – something that can be seen.
The students it appeared seemed to enjoy this explanation of life and their own existence; the problem was that it debunked their understanding of faith, religion and God.
They had grown up believing, as Christians and Muslims, that there is God. But they could not see him. How were they going to resolve this matter of ‘Matter’ and science on one hand, God on the other hand.
This lecturer professed no faith, and did not believe in God, or so the students thought, until one fateful morning when one of the students sighted the lecturer walking out of church after a Sunday morning service.

Bewildered, confused feeling misled or deceived by a teacher who told him not to believe where they did not see or could not prove, (and this in the student’s mind extended to God) and to see the purveyor of that view walking out of church, with Bible in hand, was the biggest betrayal that was not going to pass unchallenged.
The student walked up to his teacher, quickly conveyed his courtesies of "Good morning sir" and the following conversation ensued:
"What are you doing there sir? You came to church?"
"Yes," answered the teacher. "I worship here every Sunday."
"You believe in God?"
"Yes I do."
"Why have you been deceiving us?"
"How have I been deceiving you?"
"You taught us to believe that God does not exist since we cannot prove it," the student said.
"No. I did not. I believe in God," the teacher replied.
"My faith is different from my job. Your school is training you to become lawyers.
"They have employed me to develop your minds to question and challenge things. To seek knowledge, never to be easily satisfied.

"To think, and to challenge the existing order, to drive change and never to settle for the path well-travelled.
"To dare and to dream, to seek new ways of doing the same thing, because as lawyers, people’s fates will be defined by choices you make.
"Their lives will sometimes depend on your abilities, as will their businesses or their marriages. That is my job.
"Whether you believe in God or not is not my business. That is your personal choice."
Ladies and Gentlemen, that is as best as I can recall this event.
The school where this event happened is where we gather today. The great University of Benin.
The faculty that offered the course in Philosophy is the Faculty of Law.
The lecturer was either Greek or Cypriot. His name was Theodoropolous. I was the student in question.
That encounter shaped my life in many ways; and even if I say so, I am the better for it having gone through it.
If I had to choose a university again, it would be University of Benin.

It is that experience I had that I feel bound to share with you today as you leave the University.
If I successfully connect with only one of you, I believe the effort will have been worthwhile.
That is why I have titled my intervention: "FREEDOM FROM FEAR, CHOICES BEFORE THE NEW GENERATION", in the hope that I will challenge you to take control of what happens to you and what happens around you.
I say this because there seems to be an increasing manifestation of our collective surrender of our individual choices and free will to divine intervention and the possibility of endless miracles.
We are now in the realm and reality of constant expectations of miracles and divine intervention.
Superstitions have taken over reason and logic.
When we pass examinations, win football matches, conduct successful elections, or achieve any feat, we seem all too frightened and unsure of ourselves to take credit for even the most modest of successes attributable to our efforts.
The first thing you hear is God did it.
For the avoidance of doubt, I believe in God, and only He can question my faith.
But I also believe He gave us a lot of free will.

Regrettably, we have surrendered our capacities and abilities in a frightful way to FEAR, that we have become victims of some confidence tricksters who deceive, disentitle and prey on our fears and frailties in ‘gods’ name.
Every man and woman of substance now has a Pastor, Imam, Spiritualist or even a witchdoctor or Dibia who is responsible for telling them what to do, when to do it, in a way that diminishes his abilities and surrenders his talents and free will to divine intervention or spiritual consultation.
Many people are disappearing and are being murdered in a crazed quest for human parts because some who have been entrapped in fear and superstition, believe that you can make money through ritual sacrifice.
Nothing can be further from the truth.
Human parts are tissues, bones, muscles and all that, and they have no place in the materials used to manufacture money.
There is nothing Divine in money making. It is entrepreneurship, production and hard work.
The teaching of science as espoused by Theodoropolous tells me that money is a product of man and not a product of God.

It is manufactured in a place called a Mint, by a process of printing, using special paper, ink, engravement and embossment, to make it difficult to fake or counterfeit.
When we play a football match and get to half-time, which is a few precious minutes to quickly refresh, renew and re-plan in the dressing room, we instead gather to pray, on the field, in a huddle that the whole world is still trying to fathom.

We waste the precious time that is allotted for tactical review, and return to the second half, singing and praying, "He is a miracle working God" in search of divine intervention.
The truth is that we have done well when we prepare and done badly when we do not.
Sometimes of course, working hard does not always bring the expected results but it is better than not working hard.
Yes, God is a miracle worker. I believe, but he is not an unjust God who rewards those who make no effort at the expense of those who do.
I once listened to a sermon broadcast on Television, asking people who are indebted to step forward for prayers that will make their debts disappear.
It frightens me. It does not make sense to me.
Debts are accounting, matters of credits and deficits. They do not vanish.
It is people who live in FEAR who fall prey to such teachings and become victims of misery from poor choices.
I urge you to free your minds from such fears.
There are many teachings about freedoms.
Freedom from want, Freedom of Associations, Freedom of speech, freedom of choice (including the choice of leadership by voting at elections) and many others.
But the least expressed freedom, is the freedom from FEAR, which in my view is the most important.

A mind taken over by fear cannot express free will and will therefore not fully optimize or benefit from the other freedoms.
For example, we have seen that elections are conducted in other parts on the basis of polls, campaigns, analysis of human behaviour rather than any occultic or sacrificial offering.
Candidates who wish to win elections must persuade people to agree to their messages and promises, and seek to change the minds of those who are unpersuaded, by understanding what they want and taking steps to address them.
Those who may not be initial converts can change their minds, as we have seen in our own President who finally won after 3 (THREE) unsuccessful attempts.

For those who do not know, let me share with you some of the things that President Buhari did to win the last election.
A poll was conducted across Nigeria and administered to 20,000 Nigerians as a sample, with each person answering 60 (sixty) questions administered face to face.
That meant that the poll had to analyse 1,200,000 (ONE MILLION, TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND) responses on what Nigerians wanted in the 2015 election.
The top 3 (THREE) were security, corruption and economy, which was to form the core of candidate Buhari’s campaign message that produced President Buhari. This is how to win elections.
Polls are of course not fool proof. They can be manipulated or misinterpreted by those who analyse data. They can also be misunderstood . – Hillary leading but had over 60% Trust deficit.
Let me tell you another story related to me. This is the story of the ram.
A friend related to me how his mother had a bad dream concerning his well-being.
The dream was related to the mother’s Imam.
His response was that there had to be a sacrifice.
I interrupted by asking if the sacrifice involved buying a ram and he said yes.
Seeking to know how I knew. My response was that Ileya (the Muslim festival of Eid-El-Kabir) of Ram sacrifice was 3 (THREE) weeks away and (at the time) any trickster who could not afford one would find foul or fair means to get a ram even though Islam does not make it a matter of compulsion.

Whilst I am not passing any judgement on the Imam and any other man of God, because I cannot question their faith, the coincidence was just too uncanny. Yet I agree I may be wrong.
However, I do not see how sacrifices are solutions to dreams.
Dreams are scientific events occurring as a result of the Rapid Eye Movement during sleep at a stage when our brains are most active.
Let me reiterate again that I have no quarrel with faith. What I seek to advocate is the lack of FEAR, and the resort to faith out of conviction rather than as a result of FEAR.
Fear takes choices away, and choices can and must be the product of conviction.
If we pursue our choices with as much conviction as we pursue our faith, we will certainly be a more prosperous society.
Let us remember, that at least the two dominant faiths are not original to us. They are inherited. The propagators of the faith have made them personal affairs and not public ones.

I have attended meetings in the West and in the Middle East and not on one occasion have these meetings been started or ended with prayers.
Meetings represent public undertakings and places of work and productive undertakings to deliver prosperity.
When those people have worked hard for the week, they go on Fridays and Sundays to their places of worship and their homes to offer prayers, for God to bless and prosper the work of their hands.
Sadly, back home, the head of Governments, heads of ministries, and businesses, devote early mornings at work to prayers with their staff while productive man hours tick away, they do the same at home and on weekends, we socialise.
In effect we spend a lot of time praying and socializing.
How can this lead us to prosperity? If this is not faith influenced by fear, I do not know what it is.
If you visit many construction sites where the Chinese are employed as contractors, you will find that they work on Sundays, but we who have unemployment challenges, do not often work on Sunday.
We have invested a worrisome amount of money in building places of worship compared to what we have in building factories, businesses and schools.
This is worrisome compared to the investments I see in businesses and schools that outstrip investment in places of worship in the West and Middle East.
Recently, while driving along a road of not more than 5 (FIVE) kilometres in a Nigerian city, a colleague and I took an unplanned census of building types and this is what we counted:

1 laundry outfit for washing and dry cleaning clothes (Job place)
3 clinics for healthcare (Job place)
2 petrol filling stations (Job place)
1 bank branch (Job place)
4 shopping outlets (Job place)
1 eatery (Job place)
10 religious houses (Worship place)

As you go around your states and neighbourhoods, I urge you to do a similar count and tell your neighbour what you see.
Again I reiterate, I do not criticise worship, but I am challenging you to think through the choices you will make.
We will not pray our way out of recession, we will plan, and produce our way back to prosperity and out of recession and you are the freshest, youngest and most energetic workforce we will have to work with.
You are the new batteries to power the engine of growth of our country.
Your choices must be clear, free from fear, not reckless but driven by analytical thought, questioning and probing and ultimately determined by convictions.
In order to test the consequences of choices based on faith influenced by fear, I advise you to look at the world map and 2 (TWO) Island nations who are situated on the Northern Hemisphere.
I will not tell you their names. You find that out. But I will tell you they are close to each other. One believes in God and works hard. The other one is the home of voodoo and spends all time practising this.
If you follow their history, the first one is prosperous and the second one seems to have made a permanent contract with poverty.
This can be changed if and when they make the right choices.
While still on this matter, let me speak about traditional medicine as distinct from divination.
Traditional medicine, from herbs, roots, and other endowments of nature have their place of pre-eminence in the assurance of our wellbeing and good health.

I cannot say the same thing about divination and sacrifices.
We must choose to work our iron ore to produce steel and build skyscrapers, machines and tools like others do instead of worshipping the god of Iron.
We must use engineering to manage and control flooding and erosion.
We must probe the treasures of our forests and depths of our oceans as bastions of possibilities that we must manage and dominate instead of worshipping the god of the sea.
If we continue to fear the sea, oceans and waters we will perpetuate the practice of sacrifice, instead of undertaking the enterprise of understanding; and dominating them for energy and transport.
We must approach our rock formations as treasure troves of building materials like marble, tiles and granite rather than treat them as totems of salvation that require animal sacrifice.
We should stop deifying the moon and stratosphere beyond the visibility of our eyes out of fear.
Instead we should develop the courage and resolve to send men and women to land a space craft there.
I fully understand that some of you who have been raised in an environment dominated by your fear, may have been adversely affected by it.
But let me assure you that freedom from fear is not the same as courage. Instead while fear is an emotion, freedom from it is the ability to overcome it by refusing to surrender to it.
It comes from developing an ability to question things, to challenge the existing order and create a new order.

It has been done before. It requires us to know our choices and beliefs and dispense with culture that is not dynamic.
That is why twins survive today. We stopped killing them and turned our backs against a Philistinic practice that was masquerading as a culture.
If you surrender to fear, people less educated, less intelligent and less qualified than you will take over your minds, your homes and your decision making powers.
Many of such people are confidence tricksters who will prosper at your expense by preying on your fear.

Therefore, let me say to you that while your education may not be perfect, while there may be challenges, there is room to improve on it, because your education does not end here.
Indeed, your education has just started.
What you have learnt in the controlled environment of university classrooms will be subject to the test of real life situations.
How you improve and educate yourself depends on how you use your minds.
For example, do you simply repeat and reaffirm what you hear people to say simply because they are highly placed and supposedly intelligent?
Do you verify it yourself before repeating it to others ?
Do you ever ask yourself if those people could be wrong? Yes, they can be. We are all flawed.
Do you ask yourself whether those you quote without question even read as much as you do?
Do you think in terms of these words:- "Impossible", "Improbable," "Unlikely" ?
If you do, please stop it. They are symbols and signposts of fear.
Almost everything that was once thought impossible, improbable, unlikely has happened.
Men and women now fly thousands of Kilometres in the sky. They eat, sleep, even now shower on the Airbus A380, an engineering feat delivered by engineers of Airbus and Boeing who started out life like you, as young graduates like you.

There are now driverless cars, and men have landed on the moon and have communicated back to Earth on missions driven by freedom from fear, sheer dedication, hard work and an indomitable spirit that refused to surrender to divination, but persevered against the odds of failure before success was achieved.
But these men and women who have freed their minds from fear are not done. They are pushing to send men to Mars - The Red Planet, they are looking for cures for cancer, alzheimer’s and other diseases.
This will be the work of science, research and engineering driven by freedom from fear, not by prayer, or sacrifice of fetish to some inanimate deity.
How do you free your mind from impossibility, improbability, and unlikelihoods?
The answer is simple. Remember always, that those words are negatives. Replace them with positive thoughts and actions.
This is what frees your mind from fear and helps you to choose, to see solutions and to look for opportunities, instead of dwelling on and surrendering to problems.
If you see unmanaged refuse as a problem, you may not think of recycling and re-use and the economic opportunities that have multiple benefits, including the ultimate removal of the refuse.

If you dwell on traffic gridlock as a problem, you are unlikely to focus on developing intelligent traffic management solutions like traffic lights or a radio station to manage it and create opportunities for yourself and others.
If you focus on crime and its burden, you may lose the opportunity to focus on crime management strategies like more policemen, crime detection methods, employment and training of judges.
Indeed, as they say, if you see every problem as a nail, the only solution you might evolve is a hammer.
So, please look for the positive angle of a difficult situation, because there will be one, if you look hard enough.
I urge you to free your mind from fear, reach for the skies, choose by conviction and not by fear; trust in your abilities and God given talent, take responsibility, work hard and pray if you believe.
Yes, Sango is the god of lightning and thunder, but all the sacrifices made to Sango has not generated 1 (ONE) kilowatt of electric power.

Electricity is produced by using nature’s gifts , such as gas, water, solar and wind, harnessing their capacity through turbines made from steel to serve our energy needs, not by making animal sacrifices.
I will conclude by urging you to look for the book titled "Start Up Nation" by Dan Senor and Saul Singer , it would provoke your thinking as it did mine.
I am done.
Congratulations on your graduation. May the wind be behind your sails as you set forth in the journey of life.
May you fulfil your true promise, and may you be free from fear so that you can make good choices in your contribution to our national development.

Thank you for listening.

Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Honourable Minister of Power, Works and Housing

Keynote Address Presented At The 32nd Annual Conference And General Meeting Of The Af...

Sep

2016

Keynote Address Presented At The 32nd Annual Conference And General Meeting Of The African Union For Housing Finance (AUHF)

Theme: Housing and Africa’s Growth Agenda at PDTF Centre, Central Business District, Abuja, 14th -16th September, 2016. By The Honourable Minister of Power, Works & Housing; Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN.

Protocols

I am delighted to address you on the occasion of this 2016 Annual Conference and General Meeting of the African Union for Housing Finance (AUHF) holding in Abuja, Nigeria. The political will and momentum of the present administration in her housing sector agenda are further invigorated by this conference taking place few months after the June 2016 National Housing Summit. You will recall that the outcome of the recent National Housing Summit identified Housing Finance as one of the major pillars necessary for realizing Affordable housing delivery in Nigeria apart from others like Land, Concessions/incentives, Off-taker Strategy and General Skills Acquisition. It is indeed, heartwarming and reassuring to note that AUHF is an association of Mortgage Banks, Building Societies, Housing Corporations and other organizations involved in mobilizing funds for housing on the African continent. Also that the goals of AUHF includes promoting and facilitating housing finance and unlocking its multiplier effects on National economies, hence leading to Africa’s economic growth. I understand that the Conference attracts stakeholders from across the African Continent, all with the purpose of advancing investment in affordable housing.

2. Let me begin by thanking the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) and other partners for hosting this important conference. The hosting of AUHF 2016 conference in Nigeria could not have come at a more auspicious time than now that Nigeria needs aggressive unleashing of new housing finance investments and opportunities. I will also like to thank all the stakeholders and experts from Africa and around the world for coming together to proffer solutions to the age long challenge of providing housing finance for Africans, especially Nigerians that are facing harsh economic challenges.

3. Housing, we know is critical to every human development and fundamental right of every citizen. Therefore, Housing is central to this Administration’s policy thrust. However, housing a population of over 180 million is an arduous task that cannot be left for Federal Government alone, especially now that the Government’s revenue and the economy is under pressure. The fund to support the construction and mortgages for the end-users is a big challenge for the government. The production cost versus the selling price of the present housing stock is beyond the reach of majority of Nigerians. Demand for affordable housing has grown over the years as a result of population explosion, rural-urban drift and search for higher quality of life. This demand has rapidly overwhelmed the supply capacity of existing Government resources. Many years of inadequate investment and poor maintenance culture have left Nigeria with a significant housing deficit which is slowing down the country’s development and economic growth and will clearly require close collaboration from stakeholders like the AUHF. The above demanding task is the mandate of my Ministry, Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. Therefore, all stakeholders especially the Private sector and AUHF must play major role in this process of creating innovative housing finance in Nigeria.

4. Every Nigerian’s dream is to have a roof over their head! Hence, for an average Nigerian "owning a house" is a mark of economic success and security. Housing is also believed to be a long term investment that protects that investment against high inflation and the unpredictable economic down turn. Therefore, provision of housing is a major tool to reduce corruption. Why is it so difficult for the average Nigerian to realize this dream? Lack of Housing Finance in the public and corporate institutions and double digit housing loans are the major culprits while others include land for housing, population explosion, high cost of building materials, inflation that brings about unemployment and decreased purchasing power of the low and medium income earners.

5. The major housing Finance trends and developments in the Nigerian market can be summarized by tracing the historical tendency of the influence of the financial sector in the housing industry. In 1956, a Secondary Mortgage Institution called Nigerian Building Society (NBS) assumed the role of the main conduit for housing finance delivery. NBS was a British and Nigeria partnership arrangement. Nigeria’s housing finance development can be classified under major political periods, namely pre-independence (1914-1960), post-independence (1960-1979) and a second and subsequent civilian administrations (1979 to date). However, the mortgage institutions decree No. 53 of 1989 led to the establishment of the following; Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMI) as mortgage savings for on-lending property development and mortgage creation. And, the Secondary mortgage institution, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), to function as the Apex mortgage institution for regulation. While the National Housing Policy of 1991 was a bold step by the Federal Government of Nigeria to address the challenge of lack of finance for housing development and mortgage. The National Housing Fund (Act. No. 3) of 1992 is a collating reservoir of long term funds in terms of monthly contributions from workers in the public and private sectors. Unfortunately, most Nigerians see mortgage loans from Government as part of their share of the "national cake" leading to high default rates. This has forced the Government to encourage prospective home owners to approach commercial banks who regrettably have high interest rates. Thus, the Government who is supposed to be a major player in the provision of homes is now seemingly not on the frontline. The Government established the Nigerian Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC) to help in reducing the cost of mortgage loan by improving market efficiency.

6. From the inception of Government initiative in organized housing finance system to date, only a meager sum have so far been injected to the system. This accounts for less than 0.5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as compared to other climes (like United Kingdom, South Africa etc) due to the inability of financial systems in providing low cost finance that meets the need of low and medium income earners. Therefore, the Secondary Mortgage institution (FMBN) should be strengthened by ensuring full compliance with the National Housing Funds (NHF) Act by affected stakeholders, like the Central Bank, commercial banks, insurance companies, Mutual and Trust Fund administrators. However, I am happy to note that with the greater participation of the private sector in housing and embracing the new initiatives of this Administration, the journey to sustainable housing delivery is on course.

7. Ladies and Gentlemen, it may interest you to note that the current Administration has taken cognizance of the housing sector as an important area requiring priority attention for reinvigoration and revitalization. This accounts for the appreciable budgetary allocation to the sector in the current annual estimate. This vision is increasingly being energized by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. Only recently, the Ministry organized a National Housing Summit, where stakeholders met and examined the numerous constraints militating against the provision of affordable housing in Nigeria and proffered a clear, sustainable and strategic blueprint to mitigate same. Identified as a critical factor in the provision of affordable housing was lack of access to construction finance by developers including high risk in current mortgage finance structure which does not support the buying-off of houses to enable developers recoup their investments on time. The Summit resolved that there was need for necessary machinery to be put in place to promote appropriate construction finance schemes. AUHF members are hereby challenged in this regard. In the summit also, various definitions of affordable housing were adduced. However, the consensus from these definitions revealed that there is no one-size-fit all definition for Affordable Housing. The indices that should be used for defining Affordable Housing would include Segregation, Stratification, Classes of people and their income bracket, not more than one-third net household income of the target group and equity contribution of end-users.

8. I am happy to note that despite the challenges that housing delivery has encountered in the country over the years, the renewed vigor and policy re-orientation of this Administration have set the agenda for Housing revolution. In this regard, the Ministry has produced six (6) designs of one bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom flats, bungalows and condominiums that will represent the Nigerian House which responds to our cultural diversity. Another key area of achievement is the pursuit and promotion of local content and standardization of building components such as doors, windows, tiles, roof boards and other accessories to be produced by local manufacturers as part of our support for local industries SMEs and in pursuit of diversification and job creation. Effort is already being made to embrace and deploy modern technology to mass production of housing in all the States of the Federation and FCT using the Traditional procurement platform and the Contractor Finance Initiative model, to reduce the housing deficit.

9. To make the Housing Sector attractive, viable and stimulate growth, the present Administration plans to de-risk lending to approved Housing Developers. This will entail the government providing guarantees and other credit enhancement to developers. Government therefore plans to issue promissory notes to reduce Developers financing requirements. Government recognizes that provision of leverage and guarantees are critical in attracting private sector funds into the industry thereby creating thousands of affordable houses each year as well as generate considerable employment and commercial activities. These are some of the far reaching contribution of the Finance Minister during the Housing Summit.

10. Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to state here that much discussion has been held on the housing deficit. There is therefore need to change the story to begin to discuss the housing opportunities. Regardless of issues facing the sector, real estate projects are increasingly being launched and completed in Nigeria. With the present Administration’s many incentives, new investors are expected in the market to continue to deliver positive results.

11. It is on this note that I call on all stakeholders, especially members of the African Union for Housing Finance here present to join hands with the Federal Government towards the realization of its objectives in providing affordable housing to the people. As agent of change, members are enjoined to borrow a leaf from Nigeria and influence their respect home governments to domesticate or localize their housing options to reflect the peculiarities and expectations of the people as well as provide the private sector the needed impetus to invest in the sector.

12. Finally, I wish to state that though the challenges to the sector are real and obvious, we are convinced that with the renewed commitment of this Administration, coupled with strengthened collaborations with all stakeholders in the industry, the desired revolution in the housing sector will be achieved in not too distant future.

13. I wish you all very engaging and thoughtful deliberations and thank you for listening.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) Also On Wednesday Approved The Construction Of Th...

Feb

2017

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) also on Wednesday approved the construction of the section 1 of the Ilorin-Omuaran-Kabba Road for N21 billion to link Kwara and Kogi states.

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, said that FEC also approved a N589 million consultancy for Environmental Impact Assessment on the 200 kilometre Olorunshogbo Transmission line.

Fashola said the projects were consistent with the programmes of the federal government to reduce travel time and improve power supply to parts of the country..

“The second approval was for consultancy services for professionals to conduct line-route studies, Environmental Social Impact Assessment and resettlement action plan as well as environmental social management plan.

“(It) is in order for us to access the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) loan to support the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to continue its transmission grid expansion programme.’’

The Minister said that the TCN projects cover the routes which the transmission line would pass through.

He added that the 200 kilometre line would enable TCN evacuate power from the Olorunshogbo power plant to industrial clusters in Ogun and parts of Lagos state.

In his briefing, the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbe, said that the committee set up on the rising cost of food prices has submitted an interim report to the Council.

According to him, the committee identified the causes of the rise in prices as high cost of transportation and illegal taxation by states and local governments on producers and transporters.

He said that the good thing was that there was no real shortage of food, adding that Nigerians were groaning under the pain of high prices.

He attributed the high cost of transportation to the complete reliance on roads for evacuation of produce coupled with high cost of diesel and difficulties of trucks to move to places at the old fares.

“So we considered the following alternatives using railway wagons on the current railway networks as we did before. When we moved cattle from the North West to Lagos by rail, we brought down the costs.

“We avoided the multiple taxation visited on transporters in this country by local governments, road blocks, most of them not very legal, along the high ways, which delay movement and cause damage to a lot of foods like tomatoes.

“We decided to work with the state governments and the police to reduce those delays and we are going to adapt what they have in Cote D’Ivioire where trucks carrying food are given labels.

“In fact in Cote D’Ivoire, they cannot be stopped for more than 10 minutes anywhere even if something serious has happened.

“The security agencies will follow them to the port or to their destinations and come back to investigate whatever happens.

“Finally, we shall be looking into our reserves , if the situation in the next few days persists, then we have to see what we can bring out to lower the prices. (This is) because another round of harvests would be coming up again by the end of March,"Audu Ogbe said.

The Minister said there was really no starvation in the country, adding that there was also a lot of pressure on Nigerian food from West, North and Central Africa.
“Our food production is very robust and we are doing pretty well,’’ he added.

FG Approves Construction Of Ilorin-Omuaran-Kabba Road; Consultancy For Transmission L...

Feb

2017

FG approves construction of Ilorin-Omuaran-Kabba road; Consultancy for transmission lines.