General
Osinbajo Heads Committee to Lift 100 million Nigerians from Poverty
By Adedapo Adesanya
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday inaugurated the National Steering Committee (NSC) of the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS) to be chaired by the Vice President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo.
The President in a statement released through his media aide, Mr Femi Adesina, reiterated his commitment to lifting 100 million Nigerians from poverty in 10 years, with a well-researched framework for implementation and funding.
“This journey began in January 2021 when I directed the Chairman of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and Secretary to the Government of the Federation to collaboratively work together to articulate what will lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.
“I am happy to note that the process of designing this inclusive poverty reduction strategy recognised and addressed past mistakes, as well as laid the foundation for a sustainable poverty reduction through the wide range consultations held at all levels of government, development partners, the private sector as well as the civil society,” Mr Buhari was quoted as saying.
President Buhari was confident that the NPRGS would address the underlying causes of poverty on the basis of which it developed programmes that would deal with the multi-dimensional nature of poverty within the practical context of comparative advantage of human and natural resources in the various geo-political zones.
According to him, the major challenge before the committee is to translate the good intention of the government into a positive impact on the average Nigerian in order to create an appreciative impact on the poverty situation in the country.
“If India can lift 271 million people out of poverty between 2006 and 2016, Nigeria can surely lift 100 million out of poverty in 10 years.
“Fortunately, we have already started but we need to unlock the challenges of slow implementation, inappropriate targeting, and absence of adequate resources,” the President said.
The responsibilities of the committee, he noted, include anchoring collaborative efforts; provide oversight for the implementation of the strategy; provide guidance to Technical Working Group and federal ministries, extra ministerial departments and agencies, subnational governments and other stakeholders on meeting the objectives of the programme; as well as monitor progress and any other effort that would enhance the attainment of the objective of lifting 100 million people out of poverty in 10 years.
“The performance of our economy despite COVID-19 gives me comfort that we can achieve our goal, but we need to seriously scale up and work more with state and local governments.
“This call becomes more pertinent in the face of recent forecasts by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and our own Nigerian Economic Summit Group which all agreed that Nigeria needs to frontally tackle her poverty situation if our economic gains are to be sustained,” he told the gathering at the event.
Mr Buhari asked the committee to commence work immediately to enable the Technical Working Group to begin to put things together.
He said the responsibilities were onerous but expressed confidence that the committee would be able to lay the foundation and demonstrate, within the next two years, the practicality of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in or under 10 years.
In his remarks, Vice President Osinbajo said the NPRGS would consolidate other efforts of the government to reduce poverty in the land.
He noted that the President’s position that local governments, states, and the federal government should work jointly to alleviate poverty in the country would be properly reflected in the framework and implementation, stressing the need for access and inclusivity.
The SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha, who is a member of the committee, said the poverty situation in the country assumed an enormous proportion with an increasing population, adding that the situation was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He, however, said the administration responded to the COVID-19 poverty fallout swiftly and was able to ameliorate the situation and ensured a quick exit from recession.
The committee also has as members Chief of Staff to the President, Governors of Ekiti (South West), Delta (South South), Sokoto (North West), Borno (North East), Nasarawa (North Central), and Ebonyi States (South East).
Others are Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning; State for Budget and National Planning; Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development; Agriculture and Rural Development; Industry, Trade and Investments; Labour and Employment, Education and Health.
By Bon Peters
The Area 1 Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in Port Harcourt, Rivers States, has expressed confidence in raking in higher earnings in 2025 after it generated about N200.6 billion in 2024.
A statement by the command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Oscar Ivara, a Superintendent of Customs, said last year’s revenue was higher than the N116.3 billion collected in 2023 by 72.41 per cent or N84.3 billion.
He quoted the Comptroller of the command, Mr Mustapha Hashim, as attributing “this impressive surplus” to the hard work, dedication, and operational improvements within the command, which he insisted have helped increase revenue while improving compliance with customs regulations.
He noted that the command’s strategic focus on enforcement operations and ensuring compliance with customs regulations have significantly contributed to the increase in revenue even as he applauded the improved monitoring systems, increased patrols, and enhanced collaboration with other enforcement agencies which he emphasized have played a critical role in curbing smuggling activities and improving revenue.
Continuing, Mr Hashim gave a breakdown of the 2024 revenue figures of the command to include N184.2 billion in the first quarter of 2024, with an estimated monthly collection of N15.4 billion, which he said was later reviewed upwards to N230.3 billion with monthly expected collection of N19.2 billion in the second to fourth quarters of the year.
The agency, however, reported an annual revenue target shortfall collection of about 13.04 per cent, which was largely attributed to the federal government’s food import waiver policy, introduced in July 2024, to mitigate Nigeria’s worsening food crisis.
“The presidential directive, which ended on December 31, 2024, gave waivers to essential food items such as wheat, maize, and grain, which are the major goods imported through the command,” he stated.
In the area of export activities, Mr Hashim posited that the command made notable strides in boosting revenue from agricultural products, which he referred to as a key indicator to Nigeria’s economic diversification.
“This focus has increased export facilitation and boosted the command’s contribution to national revenue,” he said.
He added that the total quantity of cargoes exported in the year 2024 was 17,352,817 metric tons with FOB at $1.5 billion, while the NESS paid was N2.9 billion for both oil and non-oil exports.
The statement also disclosed that a total of 289 ships called at the Area Command in 2024, with import tonnage comprised of bulk cargoes such as wheat, frozen fish, salt, oil well equipment, PMS, AGO, gypsum, bitumen and general cargoes which amounted to 4,080,654.198 metric tons and the duties collected from the bulk cargoes and excise factory contributed to the huge revenue collected in the command.
He said the feat was achieved by advocating full compliance of all customs regulations by ensuring maximum collection of customs duties, levies and payment of all unpaid assessment.
Mr Hashim said with the command’s focused approach, dedication and continued support from partners and stakeholders, the revenue generation, anti-smuggling and trade facilitation drive for 2025 will be effective, promising that the command would deploy all necessary tools to ensure seamless clearance operations this year.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Over 850 cars forfeited to the Nigerian government across various locations in Nigeria will be auctioned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), a statement from the agency has revealed.
The anti-money laundering organisation said the vehicle were seized by the government through court orders from persons involved in various financial crimes, including corruption, money laundering, and cybercrime.
The agency said the auction is in line with the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004, Public Procurement Act, 2007 and the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery & Management) Act, 2022.
It called on interested members of the public to participate in the auction, promising that the process will be transparent and fair.
The exercise will be conducted by the EFCC in partnership with appointed auctioneers in Lagos, Abuja, Benin City, Enugu, Ilorin, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, and Kano from January 20 to 27, 2025.
“The general public is hereby notified that the @officialEFCC through its appointed auctioneers will conduct e-Auction of the under listed vehicles that are subject of final Forfeiture orders in accordance with the EFCC (Establishment) Act, 2004, Public Procurement Act, 2007 and the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery & Management) Act, 2022,” the statement read.
Below are the cars to be auctioned by the EFCC;
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Four major roads are being rehabilitated by the Oyo State government to improve transportation infrastructure and enhance mobility.
The chairman of the Oyo State Road Maintenance Agency (OYSROMA), Mr Busoye Ogunlade, in a statement in Ibadan last Friday, said the roads should be completed in less than eight weeks.
The roads include Bashorun Oluwo-nla road, Agbowo road, Eleyele-Water road, and Zion plaza-Olusoji road.
“Work has commenced on some of these roads, as we speak. However, repairs on other roads will commence soon,” Mr Ogunlade said, advising commuters to follow temporary traffic diversions and cooperate with the ongoing construction efforts.
The OYSROMA chief said the ongoing rehabilitation was based on fund availability and the economic viability of those roads, noting that the move is in line with the commitment of the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde to make the state more attractive to both local and foreign investors.
“Governor Seyi Makinde has given us the mandate to rehabilitate roads across the State, and we have mobilized Engineers, through direct labour to these sites,” he said, adding that to make the exercise have the desired impact on the people, the agency has gone across all zones and picked critical roads that need rehabilitation across the state.
“This is borne out of the complaints we received during zonal town hall meetings from residents of the state. Our Engineers have swung into action and have taken measurements of critical roads,” he said.
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