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The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola on Friday said that the Buhari administration was focusing on completing road,  power and housing projects to deliver value to Nigerians.

Fashola during an interactive session with 10 social clubs to give account of achievements of the Buhari administration at Lagos City Hall, said that due to completion of some road projects, the construction economy had bounced back and  promoting growth of businesses.

He said that previous governments had reports of uncompleted projects and stressed that, uncompleted infrastructure could not be used and would not deliver values to Nigerians.

He said that people voted for change and there was no need repeating the old system that did not deliver real value to citizens of the nation.

He explained that in the 2015 budget, N19 billion was earmarked for road projects out of which only nine billion naira was released leaving a huge deficient that made several contractors to abandon site.

Fashola said that the trend coupled with huge debts owed contractors affected businesses which in turn impacted the economy negatively.

“And because of dwindling oil revenue, we had to do more with less money,’’ he said.

He said the government decided to prioritize the roads for repair based on six main categories, which included roads that carried heaviest vehicles, those that led to the ports, roads critical to agriculture, ones that required counterpart funding and the Sukuk bonds.

“There is no state where we are not constructing one road or the other,“ he said.

On housing delivery, the minister said the Buhari regime was also completing housing projects started by previous administrations.

“Is it a crime to govern sensibly to reduce waste?“ he queried.

He said that only completed projects were useful to citizens of the nation and urged Nigerians to speak up in favour of the good gesture to complete projects.

He said that pilot schemes were still on-going for new housing projects as there were no empirical evidence of what kind of homes people could afford or their taste preferences.

The minister said that apart from the Shehu Shagari administration, this was the second time the Federal Government was embarking on mass housing initiatives across the country.

He said that there was need to get the product formulation, packaging and delivery right, adding that, there were several unoccupied buildings across the country either because they were not affordable or did not meet the taste of consumers.

“If you don’t sample correctly, the product would fail. When we say we are planning, people think we are joking,’’ the minister said.

He said that the government through the Federal Mortgage Bank was removing impediments to access to loans and was at the same time expanding the scope to capture more beneficiaries.

Speaking on Power, he said that power generation and distribution had improved because government was able to resolve some complex issues that came with the privatisation of power by previous government.

He said that the various power plants across the country were being upgraded to deliver at more optimal capacity, adding that, the problems of estimated billing would be resolved with time.

“Clearly, it is getting better, let us honestly admit,’’ he said. (NAN)

The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, says the Federal Government is committed to supporting the commencement of the Train-7 initiative of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) plant.

Adeosun stated this on Sunday during a visit to the NLNG plant  in Finima, Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers.

She said the most important critical need from the government as a shareholder was the support for the investment to commence.

“That has been very critical and we have been for that approval,  and with the support for commencement, it signals that the government has been committed to Train-7.

“It’s very important to note that the government has done many things that signal its commitment to sustaining this investment in the NLNG and being part of its success story,” she said.

Adeosun said she was in Bonny to inspect the NLNG facility that had been generating huge revenue in taxes and dividends to the government.

Describing the facility as  impressive and a modern hi-tech plant, the minister said:

“We saw the old Trains 1 to 6, and the space for the incoming Train-7 which has the potential of creating 10,000 jobs in the next nine months.

“The jobs to be created will be sustainable for the next five to six years  and this is extremely exciting because the multiplier effects will be huge.’’

She also described the trip to the plant as very revealing, adding that more people would build houses and land value would go up.

The minister said that the Federal Government had made fiscal changes to enhance the competitive position of the NLNG by removing the disparity in VAT in tax treatment between imported and local Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

” That will give an additional market share to NLNG-produced LPG, and of course it is a major objective that the management has campaigned for and the Federal Executive Council has approved it.

“So, we expect greater market share to the NLNG;  of course, that has knock-on effects, it stops people from using firewood to cook, it stops deforestation.

“It has a lot of environmental benefits as well as more revenue to the NLNG,” she said.

Mr Tony Attah, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of  NLNG,  commended the minister for visiting the plant.

Attah said that the NLNG model was working effectively as the organisation had been positioned as a global brand.

Mr Tayo Oginni, General Manager, Production, stated that the delay in investing in Train-7 would drop Nigeria to Number 10 from Number four in gas production by 2025.

Oginni, however,  said that Train-7 would increase NLNG’s production capacity by 35 percent and take the country to number three position in the world.

He also stated that the global energy landscape was changing and Nigeria must lead the transition or lose if nothing was done.(NAN)

As the global community celebrates the 2018 World Photo Day on Sunday, Photojournalists Association of Nigeria (PJAN), Abuja Chapter, has underscored the important contribution of photography to national development.

To this end, the Chairman of the association, Mr Yomi Fayese, has urged state governments to emulate the Federal Government by appointing qualified photographers to high positions in their various governments.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, Fayese lauded the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for promoting the development of photography as a trade and profession.

Fayese noted that for a long time in Nigeria’s development previous military and civilian governments never appointed any photographer to a high position before this administration.

“Since the 1960s, neither the Federal nor state governments appointed a photographer in his professional capacity to the position of Personal Assistant to the President.

“I give kudos to President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for appointing Sunday Aghaeze, Bayo Omoboriowo and others, as Personal Assistants on Photography and Documentation in the Presidency.

“I challenge state governors to emulate the Federal Government by appointing qualified photographers to high positions.

“We have over 5,000 professional photographers plying their trade in Nigeria and there is no reason why some of them cannot get government appointments and National Awards they qualify for.

“Many of our photographers are highly educated and experienced to merit government appointments but previous administrations had always looked the other way when Nigerians are to be given appointments.”

Similarly, Zacchaeus Tidzalla, Blueprint Newspaper’s State House Photographer, extolled the contributions of photographers to national development, saying: “Photographs speak volumes.

“A photographer can vividly portray what a written story of more than 1,000 words cannot do.

“Many of us were born after Nigeria’s independence in 1960. It is the photographs of pre-independent Nigeria and the hand-over of the colonial masters to the Nigerian elite that give us an idea of what things looked like then.

“About two years ago, a Nigerian photojournalist captured vividly how some soldiers were brutalising a civilian on the street of Nyanya in Abuja; the photograph was published by a Nigerian newspaper and government reacted swiftly.

“That single photograph drew the attention of the public and the government to a wrongful act of some men in uniform; and has led to the establishment of military-civil relations by the army.

“Photographers, through their work, have been able to document facts and realities about some ills in the society”, Tidzalla told NAN.

In a separate interview with NAN, Femi Adebesin-Kuti, Photo Editor of the Guardian Newspaper, said that Nigerian photographers compare favourably with their foreign counterparts in the areas of reporting sports, oil and gas, tourism and corporate world, among others.

Adebesin-Kuti urged Nigerian photographers to improve on the practice of photography from where notable photographers such as Peter Obe, Sam Olusegun and Sunmi Smart-Cole left it.

Also speaking with NAN, Olayinka Akintunde, Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance on Media and Communications noted that photojournalism had helped to enhance and re-define journalism through the use of photographs in reporting of news in print, electronic and online media.

“Photojournalism has opened up new avenues for gathering news from small, self-published newsletters, to the online blog.

“These new avenues mean an increased market and an accelerated pace for the transmission of news through photographic images,” Akintunde said.

NAN reports that World Photography Day is observed worldwide on Aug. 19 every year to inspire understanding of the importance of photography.

On this occasion, millions of people capture capture different ideas and share their world with others and try bringing more happiness through photography.

The day inspires many photographers around the world to disseminate their idea of a single picture with their single purpose, yet motivating multiple minds to think different.

1. This day witnessess a global gallery of images being captured by different people with different skills and levels of knowledge across the world. (NAN)

housing and construction expert, Mr Abdulfatai Efty,  has urged the FCT Development Control to evolve a realistic and practical system to properly monitor construction sites and enforce building codes.

Efty, a board member of the Chicago Association of Realtors, U.S., made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

NAN reports that a four-storey building located at Jabi, Abuja collapsed at about 1.30 p.m on Friday, Aug. 17 killing one person and injured six others.

He called for a well structured and regulated industry where licensed professionals as practitioners were very critical to the development of the nation.

He said that situations where artisans were left to supervise building construction sites at the expense of professional builders all in the name of saving cost should be stopped.

“Until we appreciate the importance of professionalizing and regulating the various sector of our real estate industry and stop our desire for cheap labour and cutting corners, we have a lot of work on our hands.

“A lack of proper building codes and site supervision is just calling for nothing but a continued re-occurrence of building collapse and lost of innocent lives.

“Nigeria has what it takes to achieve all these and more but the biggest missing link is the political will. When are we as a nation going to learn a lesson?

NAN gathered  that the four-storey building had been there for over 15 years before  construction work began on the site only three months ago.

Efty, however, called for strict adherence towards the implementation of the national building codes in the country.

He asked, “Who gave the approval for the continuation of construction on a building that has been abandoned for 15 years?

“Abuja Development Control must evolve a realistic and practical system where all construction sites are properly monitored and building codes enforced.

“Until people start going to jail, this penny wise pound foolish attitude will not stop” he added.

Also, a University Lecturer and Building Expert, Dr Ibrahim Inuwa urged the government to carry out comprehensive assessment on the collapsed building to forestall future reoccurrence.

Inuwa, Senior Lecturer, Department of Quantity Surveying, Abubakar Tafawa Bello University, Bauchi, added that most time the cause could be due to quackery or unethical professional practice. (NAN)

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says a total of 509,668,433 transactions valued at N32.90 trillion was recorded in the banking sector during the second quarter.

The NBS stated this in its “Selected Banking Sector Data: Sectorial Breakdown of Credit, ePayment Channels and Staff Strength (Q2 2018)’’ report released in Abuja.

According to the report, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transactions dominated the volume of transactions recorded.

It said 217,417,961 volume of ATM transactions valued at N1.603 billion was recorded in the period under reveal.

“In terms of credit to private sector, the total value of credit allocated by the banks stood at N15.34 trillion as at the second quarter.

“Oil and Gas and Manufacturing sectors got credit allocation of N3.45  trillion and N2.02 trillion respectively to record the highest credit allocation as at the period under review.

“As at the second quarter, the total number of banks staff increased by 13.67per cent, from 89,608 in first quarter to 101,861,” the report stated. (NAN)