General
Nigeria to Begin Production of Military Uniforms in 2023
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria will begin local production of uniforms for its military and paramilitary personnel from January 2023, according to the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).
In a statement signed by its Acting Head of Media and Publicity, Mr Manji Yarling, it was stated that the production of military uniforms would be a joint venture project.
The commission said that the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) and Sur Corporate Wear would lead to the creation of Sur Corporate Wear Nigeria Limited.
“The DICON Sur collaboration which will span a concession period of 20 years, will be responsible for producing uniforms for the Army, Navy, Air force, Police, Civil Defence and other military and paramilitary organisations,” it said.
The Acting Director-General of ICRC, Mr Micheal Ohiani, in a meeting, charged all stakeholders in the project to resolve all issues hindering the completion of the factory and report to the commission in one week.
Also, Mr Jobson Ewalefoh, Director, Contract Compliance Department, ICRC, during the rescheduled meeting, urged all stakeholders to ensure that the project was completed within the stipulated time frame.
Mr Ewalefoh said that the project was important to the nation as it would curb capital flight and create no fewer than 920 jobs.
He said that the project would also be a thing of pride for the nation to produce its uniforms.
The director said that as the project progressed, the DICON Sur joint venture would be expected to begin to source all its raw materials from within Nigeria.
“The fact that we produce our military and paramilitary uniforms locally is a pride to all of us. It is a pride that we all must uphold.
“Sudan is producing their own military kits and I know DICON can do it if they have the right support,” he said.
Mr Ewalefoh assured all stakeholders that ICRC would liaise with all the relevant government agencies to fast-track the ongoing process of securing approval for off-takers when production would begin in January.
He said that going forward, ICRC through its Contract Compliance Department, would make the DICON Sur project a priority and monitor its progress until completed.
The director pledged that the commission would continue to intervene to make PPP projects operate smoothly.
On his part, the Managing Director, Sur Corporate Wear Nigeria Limited, Mr Burhan Karabulut, commended the management of ICRC for intervening and ensuring that the project was hitch-free.
Mr Karabulut also commended the investors for agreeing to release funds for the completion of the project, following the intervention of ICRC and the meeting of stakeholders that ensued.
He said that the company had so far taken the project to 68 per cent completion, adding that the remaining funds for the project would be released soon to meet the completion goal.
“If the work resumes in July, it is assumed that we can start commissioning as of January 2023; but this January, the commissioning will not be 100 per cent production,” he said.
Mr Karabulut, however, said that the designs for the uniforms had yet to be approved, adding that the company could not source its raw materials for production, saying without the approval, the production could not begin.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has approved the board composition and proposed governance framework for the sustainable management and payment of post-privatisation power sector liabilities transferred to the Nigerian Electricity Liability Management Company (NELMCO) Board.
In a meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the council also approved the fast-tracking of the work plan for the concession of the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant (ZHPP).
On the board of the NELMCO board are the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, who is the Chairman; while members will comprise the Minister of Power, Mr Abubakar Aliyu; Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr Alex Okoh; Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Ms Patience Oniha; Managing Director, NELMCO, Mr Adebayo Fagbemi; and all its Executive Directors.
It was also resolved that two key members from the private sector be included on the board.
Also at the meeting, it was noted that the key objectives of the Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Plant concession include leveraging private sector access to finance and reduce the reliance on government budgetary allocation to fund the China EXIM Bank loan; and leveraging efficiencies and better facility management (maintenance) culture of the private sector for long-term preservation of the asset.
The Council had, in its December 2020 meeting, approved the concession of the ZHPP.
Similarly, the team was briefed on the performance assessment report of the nine Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs), which has been forwarded to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the sector regulator, for further review and action.
At the meeting, it was noted that a thorough performance assessment revealed that most of the set performance targets were not met by the nine electricity distribution companies.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Some young non-mainstream creators were recently gathered in Nairobi, Kenya for a two-day residency programme organised by a tech giant, Google.
The bootcamp took place from Tuesday, June 28 to Thursday, June 30, 2022, and helped participants learn how to better connect with their audiences and move the culture forward through platforms like Google Arts & Culture, YouTube and YouTubeShorts.
The program will see the first batch of 25 young Alté creatives from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Botswana, and South Africa attend the residency and be equipped with entrepreneurial skills on how they can enhance the visibility of their brands.
Google explained that it came up with the idea to upskill and celebrate the young creatives, who are normally not given a chance on mainstream media, which resulted in many of them taking to YouTube and others to tell their stories.
“It’s exciting to see creators that identify as non-mainstream find community on our platform. This comes just a few days after we announced a call for applications for the YouTube Black Voices Fund for 2023 aimed at elevating marginalised voices.
“The aim of the residency is to amplify the impact of the Alté movement in Africa and the world. We also want to showcase how products like YouTube and YouTube Shorts and platforms like Google Arts & Culture can help drive the culture forward,” the Communications and Public Relations Manager for Google West Africa, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, said.
Though it started in Nigeria, it has strongly taken root across the continent. Recent Google Search trends from across Africa show an increase in `Alté’ related searches from 2020, with questions like ‘What is alté?’, ‘Who is an alté?’ and ‘How to dress alte?’, being the most searched alté related questions.
Other top searches in Africa on Alté include alte’ music, alte’ songs, alte’ suit designs, top alte’ vibe, alte’ kids, alte’ Nigeria, alte’ in Ghana Music, and alte’ food.
Google has also invited Alté creatives that have global brands such as Tshepo The Jeans Maker to give career talks to the young creative entrepreneurs on how to further build and monetise their brands.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The House of Representatives has inaugurated an ad-hoc committee to investigate the duplication of functions rife across ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) of the government.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, who inaugurated the committee, said that the panel aims to reduce the cost of governance and prevent redundancy.
He said that the government has noticed that there was duplication of functions by the different agencies which has led to reduced productivity.
“An organization’s vision and mission must of necessity be derived from the mandate and functions enunciated by its establishment act or any instrument that establishes it.
“Uncertainty sets in when we have multiple agencies carrying out the same functions, leading to bickering, suspicion, and eventually duplication of efforts and waste of hard-earned government resources and time.
“Governments in the past have put in place measures to ensure effective and efficient service delivery by agencies of government, e.g., SERVICOM, but this could not achieve much without a clearly defined mandate,” Mr Gbajabiamila said.
He stressed that “The House of Representatives is not out to witch-hunt any individual or organization, but we are propelled by our desire to ensure good governance and in the exercise of our legislative oversight powers as enshrined in Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
“This Committee is expected to come up with solutions to the apparent continuous conflict of functions and avoidable bickering among established Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s), resulting in ineffectiveness, inefficiency and redundancy in the government workforce.
“The committee is therefore expected to engage relevant stakeholders and members of the public with a view to resolving the areas of conflict among the MDA’s, which may require amending some laws and/or outright repeal, as the case may be.”
Mr Gbajabiamila urged the MDAs and other critical stakeholders to work with the committee to complete its mandate in accordance with its Terms of Reference.
The Chairman of the team, Mr Victor Mela Danzaria, said that most of the laws establishing government agencies were made during the military regime and are not in tandem with democracy.
He said that subject matter has been a thorn in the flesh of previous governments which led to the setting up of various committees in the past.
“It is important to note however that our task is different from that of the Oransanya Committee. Whereas their major concern was to reduce the cost of governance, ours is to streamline, merge and if need be, scrap some in order to bring about efficiency in the governance,” Mr Danzaria said.
He assured Nigerians that the committee would conduct a detailed investigation into the activities of some of the agencies and come up with a report that would have a far-reaching decision that would strengthen the agencies.
Meanwhile, the Chief Whip who moved the motion that led to the constitution of the ad-hoc committee, Mr Muhammed Mongunu, said that during a series of oversight functions, it was observed that there were various agencies duplicating functions.
“It is out of the totality of our oversight functions over three sessions that generated the motion on the floor of the House and the parliament saw that there was the need to come up with something that would address these challenges,” Mr Monguno said.
He added that the committee needs to establish areas of mergers and synergies so that existing laws can be justified.
