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Buhari Lacks Vision, Capacity To Dev Nigeria -Saraki

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The President of Senate, Bukola Saraki, yesterday said the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by President Muhammadu Buhari lacks the vision, capacity and patience required to develop Nigeria.
According to a statement by Fidelis Soriwei, the spokesperson of the Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr Saraki made the comment when he led his campaign team on a courtesy visit to Government House, Yenagoa.
Mr Saraki, who is seeking the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), urged Nigerians to replace the leadership being provided by the APC, which he said, had caused disunity in the country.
He said Nigeria is in dire need of a leader like him “with demonstrable capacity to unite the deeply divided country and create a sense of belonging through fair distribution of appointments.”
Mr Saraki argued that it was impossible for anybody to give what they do not have as shown by the alleged leadership inadequacies of the current APC leaders.
He stated further that Nigeria needs a young vibrant leader with the capacity to withstand the rigours of governance at all time.
According to the aspirant, running governance must be accompanied with the inseparable willingness and capacity to give 24 hours attention to the demands of the job.
He said the Asian Tigers are respected to have developed their countries because of their painstaking commitment and patience in dealing with issues of governance, traits he said is lacking in Nigeria.
Mr Saraki appealed to PDP delegates to consider him for the candidature of the party to make the requisite difference in the governance of Nigeria.
He also spoke on the raging debate on restructuring, stating that it would be wrong to perceive restructuring as a move to develop a few states.
Mr Saraki said restructuring would create opportunities for the states to actualise their developmental potentials and ensure national growth in the interest of future generation of Nigerians.
“2019 is a very crucial election for this country; we are at the crossroads in this country today. We have never been so disunited as we are today,” he said.
“Wherever you go, people ask questions: where do you belong? We need to address the issue of unity in this country; it is time for everybody to have a seat on the table, a time for everyone to have a sense of belonging in this country. It is not about me.
“There is a new order in the world today, wherever we go, we see leaders that have vision, that are ready to develop their country. A lot of us talked about the Asian tiger, but they did not come by chance, or trial and error, they became tigers because they have visionary leaders.
“They are leaders that are ready to defend their countries, that have an idea of what they want to do. As I keep on saying, you cannot give what you don’t have.
“Where we are now, we have a leadership that has no vision for us. We must bring visionary leadership to the presidential level so we can move this country forward.”
In his remarks, Governor Seriake Dickson said that the time had come for Nigeria to move away from bigotry and leadership founded on feelings of sectional superiority.
He called for a regenerated Nigeria where all Nigerians could be trusted and appointed into sensitive positions, irrespective of ethnicity and region.
He restated the position of the elders and leaders of the Niger Delta that the 2019 election would be a referendum on restructuring.
Mr Dickson said that the people of the Niger Delta who had “made sacrifices for the sustenance of Nigeria with their sweat and blood but are treated with disdain, for the past 60 years, were passionate about the demand for the restructuring of the country.”
He called on the presidential aspirants of the PDP to show restraint in their utterances and to be committed to the pursuit of the objective of electoral victory of the party in 2019.
“I agree with you that our nation must move away from bigotry. We must work together and build a new Nigeria for all Nigerians, a nation for the few as well as a nation for the many.
“We need a nation of all Nigerians and not a nation for one ethnic group, religious faith or one geo-political region in Nigeria.
“We must get quickly to that point where we build a new Nigeria; where to be appointed as Director General of the Department of State Service or the Chief of Army Staff, the Inspector General of Police, the Chief Justice of Nigeria and to be whatever you want to be , you don’t need to come from a particular tribe, or someone who worships one type of God or another.

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MMA Customs Surpassed Monthly Revenue Target In Q1-Comptroller

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The outgoing Customs Area Controller, (CAC), Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) Command, Comptroller Muhammed Yusuf, has said that the command surpassed its revenue target for the first quarter of the year.
Yusuf made the disclosure during his official handing over to the new comptroller of the command in Lagos, yesterday.
He said that the command had consistently surpassed its monthly revenue target of N12 billion in the first quarter of the year under his stewardship.
“We were given N12 billion monthly target in 2024, but with the support of my dedicated officers, we are generating more than the slated target.
“We generated over N14 billion in January and February, while we generated over N16 billion in March.
“I always attribute my success to God because for one to be a good problem solver, you have to be a good listener.
He urged the officer to extend the commitment given to him to the new incoming comptroller to enable customs to surpass the revenue target for the federal government.
Yusuf commended the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, for giving him the opportunity to serve his father’s land.
He also advised the comptroller to have a listing hear and to always encourage the contributions of all officers.
He commended the media as well as the stakeholders for their support, which he said contributed to his success, adding that he prayed to hear good testimony after leaving the command.
In his acceptance message, the new CAC of the command, Comptroller Michael Awe, commended the outgoing CAC for being a team player.
Awe said that he would follow his footsteps and work hard to ensure he surpasses the revenue target of the command.
He said he appreciated the outgone CAC tenacity and peaceful coexistence with officers as well as the stakeholders, adding that he build on the existing structure.
Awe urged officers to always operate within the guideline and procedures of customs to enable them to excel in their operation.
The Deputy Comptroller, Revenue, Nyitamen Iortyer, described Comptroller Yusuf as an understanding boss, adding that his commitment improved the revenue collected in the command.
Iortyer said that in 2023, the command had the highest revenue collected in 2023, which was the highest revenue collected in the history of the command since inception.
He said that in spite of the economic crisis that the command was able to surpass the monthly target continuously from January to March.
Assistant Comptroller of Customs in the command, Mrs CA Nwanchukwu, described Yusuf as a good and supportive boss to work with.
She said the comptroller supported her to tuned her and write up into a book which was published and made available to the customs library.
Nwanchukwu described Yusuf as a peace maker and a team player.
She also wished the new comptroller a successful tenure as she pledged on behalf of officers to double the support given to the former comptroller.

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Nigeria Requires $15bn Annually To Close Infrastructure Gap -Don

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Prof. Joseph Oyedele of the Department of Estate Management, Obafemi Awolowo University(OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun, says Nigeria needs $15 billion annually to fix infrastructural needs of the country.
Oyedele said this while delivering a lecture at the Critical National Assets and Infrastructure summit organised by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Osun Command, on Tuesday in Osogbo.
He said the amount is needed for the next six years to close the infrastructural deficit in the country.
The don, who spoke on the topic “Protection of Critical National Assets and Infrastructure As a Panacea for Underdevelopment”, noted that the country’s infrastructural challenge was huge.
According to him, the significance of critical infrastructure to economic development cannot be overemphasised.
He said that all hands must be on deck in protecting the critical assets and infrastructure, adding that both public and private sectors must collaborate in finding workable solutions to ensure the security of sites of critical national infrastructure.
“Nigeria’s infrastructure challenge is huge. Recent reports suggest that the country requires between 12 billion and 15 billion US dollars annually for the next six years to meet the infrastructure requirements.
“The establishment of NSCDC is therefore one of the measures to protect critical national assets and infrastructure (CNAI) and which is supported by NSCDC Act 2003 and amended NSCDC Act of 2007”, he said.
Also, Speaking, Prof. Olayinka Karin, the Vice-Chancellor of Fountain University, Osogbo, said that community leaders, citizens, law enforcement agencies, among others have critical roles to play in the protection of public infrastructure.
Represented by Prof. Role Lalude, a lecturer in the University, said that public infrastructure must be protected at all cost.
In his remarks, Dr Amintayo Adaralewa, the Osun NSCDC Commandant, called for the collaborative efforts in protecting the public infrastructure.
“It is important to stress that the basic difference between developed and developing countries lies in the sophistication and prioritisation of critical national assets and infrastructure which are now automated, linking man to machines, and sectors to sectors.
“We must be constantly reminded that patriotism is a duty and not a choice.
“For this reason, the clarion call here is for all and sundry to collectively deal with the criminality predisposing national assets to various forms of threats and vulnerabilities,” he said.
Earlier, Vincent Linus, Head of Department, NSCDC Critical National Assets and Infrastructure( CNAI), said the summit was organised to highlight strategic protection plan of the Corps for critical assets and infrastructure.

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FG Now Spends N600bn Monthly On Petrol Subsidy -Rainoil CEO

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The Chief Executive officer, CEO, Rainoil Limited, Gabriel Ogbechie, has said the federal government now spends N600 billion on petrol subsidy monthly.
Speaking during the Stanbic IBTC Energy and Infrastructure Breakfast Session in Lagos, Ogbechie, said the federal government resumed petrol subsidy following the devaluation of the naira in the foreign exchange (FX) market.
He said with the current daily consumption at 40 million litres and the foreign exchange rate at N1,300, the government’s subsidy per litre on petrol falls between N400 and N500.
“When Mr President came last year, one of the things he said is that subsidy is gone and truly, subsidy was gone because immediately, the price of fuel moved from N200 per litre to N500 per litre,” he said.
“At that point, truly subsidy was gone, because officially, naira was exchanging maybe for anything between N450 to N470. But a few weeks later, they merged the exchange rates and naira officially moved to about N750. At that point, subsidy was beginning to come back.
“Again, depending on what the exchange rate was, we could go into an argument on whether the exchange was N750 or N500, or whatever.
“But the moment the two markets officially closed by January this year due to a policy, the CBN came and officially, the market went to about N1300 at that point that conversation was out of the window. There was officially subsidy on petrol.
“If you want to know where petrol should be. Just look at where diesel is. Diesel is about N1300, Petrol is selling for N600. So I can tell you for free top of my head, there is at least N400 or N500 per litre subsidy on petrol today.
“If you look at what our daily consumption say, conservatively 40 million litres a day if you’re spending N500, that’s at least N20 billion every day, N600 billion every month or N7.2 trillion depending on how you look at it. So subsidy is definitely back on petrol.”
According to him, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) being the only petrol importer in the country proves the continued existence of subsidy.
However, he urged the government to prioritise modular refining to improve self-sufficiency in petroleum products.

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