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Keeping the Promises of Lagos Governor-elect, Babajide Sanwo- Olu in View

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2 years ago

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After all the rigours of election, both financial, mental and physical, it is only fair to congratulate the Lagos governor-elect, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his success at the polls.
It also, on the other hand becomes pertinent to keep his campaign promises in close view as it is expected that he will not only fulfil them to the letter but even surpass it, to truly position the state as the center of the nation’s excellence.
Below are his promises:
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT AND TRANSPORTATION
1. Resolve identified gridlock points within 9 months and strengthen state road and traffic agencies
2. Implement the planned integrated multimodal transport system to ensure all modes of transportation
3. Complete Phase 1 of the Blue Rail line (from Mile 2 to Marina) by 2021 and complete the Red line, in partnership with the Federal Government, by 2022
4. Expand Lagos’ major water transport routes from six to 10 by 2021.
5. Develop Quality Bus Corridors on 10 major existing bus routes and extend the BRT network to include new areas and increase bus fleet from 800 to 2000.
HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT
6. Increase health spending from 8.86% to 15% of budget in line with the Abuja Declaration.
7. Ensure all 37 non-functional PHCs in the state are refurbished and adequately equipped
8. Support LASUTH to become a medical Centre of Excellence in at least 2 specialties
9. Reform the sanitation inspectorate to ensure clean, healthy environment
10. Increase Lagos’ water capacity to the needed 550 million gallons per day
11. Optimise waste management by empowering LAWMA to effectively collect and recycle waste; increase the adoption of waste sorting practices to promote recycling; and drive waste-to-energy initiatives in partnership with the private sector.
EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY
12. Increase budgetary allocation for education from 12.07% to 18% during the tenure of the administration
13. Scale up school rehabilitation programme to renovate dilapidated schools and provide adequate furniture and tools for every child in public schools in Lagos.
14. Leverage technology platforms to teach, assess, test and reinforce learning by establishing 300 fully equipped and functional computer labs in secondary schools to complement the existing 12.
15. Facilitate creation of ICT hubs across all the LGAs/LCDAs within first two years.
MAKING LAGOS A 21ST CENTURY ECONOMY
16. Create a conducive business environment to attract investments and industries, encouraging citizen participation and inclusion in governance, empowering the workforce and local talent to drive job and wealth creation, especially opportunities for the youth and repositioning Lagos as the ultimate investment destination for foreign businesses.
ENTERTAINMENT AND TOURISM
17. Restore all historic sites in Lagos; rebrand cultural events like Fanti Carnival, Eyo Festival, Boat Regatta etc. to international standards.
18. Create up to a million jobs in the creative sector; establish the Lagos Film City in partnership with stakeholders
SPORTS
19. Introduce a new sports policy for Lagos to make the sector a viable economic platform
20. Galvanise grassroots participation in sports and revive periodic community sports competition

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GOVERNORS, PEOPLE OF SOUTH-SOUTH DEMAND RESTRUCTURING, FISCAL FEDERALISM.

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5 hours ago

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November 25, 2020

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Governors and people of the South-South geopolitical zone have demanded for restructuring in line with the principle of true federalism, to guarantee peace, security and stability of Nigeria.
The governors , observed that the country is not at peace with itself and not working as it should, particularly, for the people of the South-South region.
Chairman of the South-South Governors forum and Governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa stated this as the position of the zone during the regional stakeholders meeting with presidential delegation led by the Chief of Staff to the President, Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
Governor Okowa, explained the people of the South-South are committed to restructuring of Nigeria in a way that guarantees true federalism and devolution of powers to the states to create and manage their own police and security architecture under a federal structure.
“True federalism guided by the principle of derivation, revenue sharing and control of resources by each State of the federation as it was the case in the first republic.”
He said the kind of federation the South-South geopolitical desires, is one where federating units are constitutionally empowered to create their own structures like Local Government Areas, manage their elections and control their judiciary.
“We are all aware of the huge endowment of this country. As such, it is imperative to stress that with a little bit of efforts, imagination, hard work, sacrifice and leadership, every state of the Federation as of today, has the ability and capability to contribute to the national purse. This should be encouraged rather than the whole country depending substantially on a region of the country.
“What is worse and even more painful in this ugly situation is the deliberate lack of understanding, empathy and the uncompromising attitudes of some Nigerians, who have refused to understand the challenges of the South-South region of the country especially, the degradation of the environment and our waters. As a result, most of the demands of the region have remained unattended to while the resources of the region have been used continually to develop other parts of the country”.
The governors reiterated the call for the relocation of the headquarters of major oil companies, NNPC subsidiaries from Lagos and Abuja to the South-South region.
Governor Okowa requested for immediate implementation of the consent judgment entered in the Supreme Court Suit No: SC/964/2016 to enable the South-South region get its share of $55billion shortfall of collection on deep offshore and inland basin production sharing contracts.
The governors further called for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the region’s major seaports in Port Harcourt, Calabar, Warri in order to enhance the economic development of the South-South region.
In addition, they demanded that the two refineries in Port Harcourt and one in Warri that have continued to bleed the country’s resources in the name of turn around maintenance, should be privatised. According to him: “Enough is enough. Let us now privatise them and in doing so however, allow the States and the region among others, considerable equity in the name of fairness and justice”.
Concerned about the rot in the NDDC, the governors observed that one of the major failures of the intervention agency is its refusal to forge and foster synergy, consultation and cooperation with the state governments especially, on project location, development and execution.
“We have resolved and we, as the State governments will no longer allow NDDC to execute any project (s) in any state of the region without it consulting State governments. Frankly, enough is enough and we have a court judgment to back our position.”
In his remark, the Chief of Staff to the President, Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari, said the stakeholders meeting was at the instance of President Muhammadu Buhari, to the presidential delegation comprising of all the Ministers from the region to visit and consult with representatives of the people regarding the recent EndSARS protest.
Gambari, noted that reports indicated that there were instances , where breakdown of law and order was reported across various locations in the South-South states. He lauded the governors of the South-South States for their quick response and actions in addressing the EndSARS crisis.
Beyond the EndSARS issue, he said, the President acknowledges that the citizens in the region have also been dealing with other concerns that are particular to the region such as the degradation of environment due to decades of mishandling and adherence to environmental standards.
The chief of Staff said he will convey the demands of the region to the President
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, said excuse of insecurity by the multinationals for not relocating to the South-South region is not tenable.
He stressed that the relocation of the multinationals oil companies to the region will help stem restiveness.
He urged the Minister of state for Petroleum to make history by ensuring the oil companies relocate to the region during his reign in office.
The Deputy President of the Senate, Obarisi Ovie Omo-Agege, urged the leaders of the region to avail themselves of the on going review of the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly since most of the issues contained in their demands are constitutional matters.
The Director General of Department of State Services, DSS, Yusuf Magaji Bichi, lauded Governor Nyeson Ezenwo Wike, for his stance against the outlawed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) which hijacked the EndSARS protest and killed 10 security operatives, torched stations and court buildings in Oyigbo.
The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, said fake news gave impetus to the nationwide EndSARS that culminated in the death of civilians, police personnel and their assets.
Adamu alleged that intelligence has confirmed that the EndSARS protest was funded from within and outside the country. He further added that one of the primary objective of the protest was to effect a regime change.
Present at the meeting were: Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike of Rivers State; Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River; Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akw Ibom; Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State; and Godwin Obaseki of Edo State.
Others are: Godswill Akpabio, Minister of Niger Delta; Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum; Goddy Jedy Agba ,Minister of State, Power; Festus Keyamo, Minister of State, for Niger Delta; Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammad. The Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi was however , absent.
Other eminent persons present included: the National Chairman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga, rtd; former President, Nigerian Bar Association, Onueze Okocha (SAN); among others.
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Trump Imposes $15,000 Visa Bond On Nigerians And Others Visiting US

Published

17 hours ago

on

November 24, 2020

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Nigerians planning to visit the United States will have to cough out between $5,000 to $15,000 visa bond.
The United States under President Donald Trump has placed Nigeria and other countries on a visa bond ranging from $5,000 to $15,000.
The new temporary rule means that tourist and business travellers from a dozen African countries, including Nigeria will pay a bond to visit the United States. The new rule will take effect from 24 December.
Other countries whose tourist and business travellers could be subject to the bond requirement are those from Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sudan, Chad, Angola, Burundi, Djibouti and Eritrea. Afghanistan, Bhutan, Iran, Syria, Laos and Yemen are also listed.
Nigerian travellers will have to pay the bond as some categories of visitors overshot the threshold of 10 percent and above overstaying rate.
Overall, out of 177,835 Nigerians who visited the US in 2019, the overstaying rate was between 9.45-9.88 percent.
A total of 17,566 overstayed. Out of the figure, 764 departed late and 16,802 stayed in the country.
But in other classifications, 11.12 percent of 9,336 Nigerian non-immigrant and exchange visitors overstayed.
Another 13.67 percent of in-scope nonimmigrant visitors also overstayed same year.
The U.S. State Department said the temporary final rule, which takes effect Dec. 24 and runs through June 24, targets countries whose nationals have higher rates of overstaying B-2 visas for tourists and B-1 visas for business travellers.
The Trump administration said the six-month pilot program aims to test the feasibility of collecting such bonds and will serve as a diplomatic deterrence to overstaying the visas.
Trump, who lost a re-election bid earlier this month, made restricting immigration a central part of his four-year term in office.
President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, has pledged to reverse many of the Republican president’s immigration policies, but untangling hundreds of changes could take months or years.
Called from Reuters
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NEWS

Shoprite surprises customers on a bumper Black Friday

Published

18 hours ago

on

November 24, 2020

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Shoprite Nigeria’s supermarkets have offered early Black Friday deals and big discounts on everyday essentials as customers are increasingly looking for value, given the pressure many households are currently experiencing.

The Shoprite bumper black Friday offer begins from 25th November and ends in 29th November, 2020 and it’s a pan-Nigeria value added offer.

According to the Shoprite statement, “ In response to COVID-19 pandemic, Shoprite will for the first time offer early Black Friday deals and keep the deals valid for longer, to allow customers more time to plan and shop, and to prevent overcrowding.”

The statement further stated that some of the great deals on offer include Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite products, Power Vegetable Cooking, Ariel Washing Powder and many others products.

Stringent hygiene and sanitizing protocols will be in place at all Shoprite supermarkets in Nigeria to help protect customers and employees as far as possible.

These include, but are not restricted to, the use of face masks, hand sanitizer, social distancing and limited entry where necessary to avoid overcrowding. Customers are encouraged to pay by card and to capitalize on the extended trading hours to make the most of the deep-cut specials that will be on offer.

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