APC's Convention Will Go On Without Buhari, Osinbajo - Rochas Okorocha

Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, yesterday insisted that the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari or Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, cannot stop the All Progressives Congress (APC), from holding its national convention.

Okorocha, who is also APC Governors’ Forum Chairman, spoke after he led his colleagues to a meeting with the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa.

He explained that the party was trying to resolve other issues, before they can announce a date for the convention.

“We came to discuss issues relating to our party and our government and how to move our party forward.

“We discussed a lot of issues on how to move the party forward, how to strengthen the party and how to make sure our party remains victorious in all elections. Very soon we will have a convention. That is part of the things we are discussing.

“The convention not taking place has nothing to do with the absence of the President or the Acting President. We are just putting our house in order and making sure things are in the right form before we kick off,” Okorocha said.

The Governor also dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as no threat to APC.

Okorocha said: “PDP is a non issue; we don’t even care about that. We defeated them when they were in power, so what is different when we are now in power?”

By Ifreke Inyang

Details Of Osinbajo's Meeting With Governors, Ministers

National Economic Council (NEC) chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday received the interim report on Forensic Audit of Revenue Accrued from Revenue Generating Agencies (RGAs) into Federation Account, Excess Crude Account and Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, made the disclosure to newsmen during briefing on the outcome of the NEC meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He ​said that Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State, who chaired the Audit Committee, presented the report to the Council.

He stated that the acting President welcomed the Interim Report and noted that “Council will await the outcome of the final report and then discuss the Report’’.

The governor ​said Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, briefed Council on the balances in the Excess Crude Account; Ecological Fund Account; Stabilization Account and Development of Natural Resources Account as at July 13.

“I also want to brief specifically on the report we got from the Accountant General’s Office on the Excess Crude Account and related matters​”.​

“The balances as at July 13, 2017 are as follow: Excess Crude Account (ECA) has 2.303 billion dollars; Ecological Fund has 27.466 billion naira; Stabilization Account has 2.553 billion naira and the Development of Natural Resources Account has 77.922 billion naira​.​

Ikpeazu also disclosed that the Ad Hoc Committee on Ecological Fund submitted its final report to the Council, and recommended robust governance structure and stringent disbursement criteria to sanitize the management of the fund. 

The committee, which was headed Governor Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State, recommended among others, that disbursement of the fund should be based on the following criteria; “Physical visitation by the Ecological office team and on the spot assessment and verification of the ecological disaster.

“Technical evaluation of the disaster by experts; “community involvement Prior to the disaster, there must be evidence of advocacy; evidence of existing prompt, emergency response mechanism in place before the disaster.

“Monitoring and Evaluation framework must be built into the application of ecological fund as a road map for measuring performance of the fund; a feedback team that will review the reports of the disbursement must be in place.

“Adequate publicity of ecological disaster to create awareness and consciousness in the citizenry to avoid future occurrence is necessary; evidence of cost estimate must be attached to application.

“Adequate justification for the project must be given; due process in vendor engagement must be followed; at all times, 50% of the FG share or N20 billion must be reserved for emergencies at the discretion of Mr President.

“Minister of Communicatio​n, Adebayo Shittu,​ presented a ​m​emo to Council on​ ​need for harmonization of the Right of way charges in respect of​ ​telecommunication and related public utility infrastructure on Local Governments, States and Federal Highways.

​”The memo spelt out roles/responsibilities of L​ocal Councils​, States and telecommunication operators in the management of Right of Way (ROW) issues.
“Council asked ​his Ministry to liaise with the States and relevant stakeholders for the smooth implementation of the ​ROW​ project.‎”

By Wale Odunsi

Happening Now: Osinbajo In Rare Meeting With Governors, Ministers And Heads Of Agencies

Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo is in a meeting with state governors at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Ministers and heads of some agencies are also in attendance in the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting Osinbajo is presiding.

The council is expected to take some “crucial economic decisions.”

The meeting is holding two days after the federal government paid another tranche of the Paris Club refund.

A total of N516 billion was released to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the first tranche.

By Wale Odunsi 

JUST IN: Osinbajo Presents N135.6bn Virement Proposal To NASS

Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday presented a virement proposal of N135.6bn to the National Assembly.

The money is meant to cover projects in the Ministry of Works, Power, Housing and many MDAs.

Osinbajo signed the 2017 budget which was transmitted from the National Assembly to the Presidency at the Presidential Villa, Abuja last month.

Details Later

By John Owen Nwachukwu

In Ten years Time, Nigeria Will Be One Of The Top 15 Economies In The World - Osinbajo

The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday said Nigeria is one of the greatest countries in the world, saying the country, in another ten years might probably be among the 15 largest economies in the world.

Osinbajo disclosed this in his remarks at the palace of Emir of Gusau, Alhaji Ibrahim Bello, during his one-day visit to Zamfara State.

This was contained in a press release, signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the Acting President on Media and Publicity, Mr Olaolu Akande and made available to DAILY POST.

Osinbajo opined that the greatness of Nigeria is not contestable considering the size and diversity of the country, noting that only unity and hardworking will sustain the entity.

According to him, the array of resources the country is endowed with, raging from arable land, solid state minerals, and the rest, coupled with purposeful and committed leadership will stand the country out among many countries of the world.

“The message that l have is only to say that this country is one of the greatest countries in the world, there is no question at all about that. We see that in another ten years, probably we will be measuring with the 15th largest economies in the world.

” A lot of that will depend on how hard we work but more importantly on our staying united. The reason why we are such an important country is that we are a big country and we are diverse, we have arable land everywhere, solid minerals everywhere, even here in Zamfara State.

“The Federal Government is committed to developing all of the mineral resources especially here in Zamfara State. We intend to work very hard on developing mineral resources and we must ensure that all of these places are safe to live and to do business.

“Our country’s size is important and the diversity of our people and resources are important. But we must stay together to be able to reap the fruit of our size and the development of this country. We must remain united to reap the fruit.

” There are many countries in Africa, some of them are not bigger than Zamfara State, infact many of them are not as big as Zamfara State and they are countries in Africa.

“When you look at the sheer size and the diversity of Nigeria, we have the potentials of becoming one of the truly great countries of the world and l think that with the hard-work that we are seeing and with the right leadership, leadership committed to the people, committed to delivering services to the people, we can really make a difference, we can become what God has purposed and planned for us to be.

“I want to thank you again, Your Royal Highness for this warm welcome and to say that we remain solidly with you and will work with you to ensure peace and stability in this place and also to thank you for all that you are doing to support the governor for ensuring that this place is safe for all to live in”, Osinbajo said.

By Ajibola Olaniyi