Business
‘No State Opposes Minimum Wage’
Against the backdrop of agitations for a review of the revenue allocation formula by some state governors as a condition for the payment of the new minimum wage, Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi said yesterday that no state in the country was against the payment of the N18,000 national minimum wage approved by the Federal Government for workers.
Obi made the remarks while fielding questions from journalists in Awka.
He said the only problem facing the state governments was their inability to pay the new wage.
“In the meeting of the Governors Forum, it was unanimously agreed that the Federal Government takes too much of what accrues to the nation.
“There is need to re-adjust because what is left to the states is not enough to enable them pay it,” he said.
Obi also spoke on his second term in office, reiterating that his ambition was to make the state a reference point in infrastructural development, as already identified by donor agencies.
The governor said that as he did in his first tenure, he would at the appropriate rime, invite people to assess his performance and do the propaganda for him.
“I do not believe in propaganda,” Obi said.
On the performance of his party, APGA, in the just concluded elections in the state, he said that the party had done very well.
He said that from results of the elections into the National Assembly and State House of Assembly, the party led by 70 per cent.
Continue Reading
As part of measures to ensure safety along waterways in Rivers State, a Marintime safety and security expert, Capt. Eke Ifeanyi Laurence, has called for the establishment of a civil maritime And Safety unit in the state.
Laurence, who said this in an exclusive interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, said the unit should be stationed in jetties across the state.
He said the outfit will not only check insecurity along the maritime environment, but also create both direct and indirect jobs for the teeming unemployed youths of the state.
“My message to the Governor of the state is for the State Government to help train the youths on maritime safety and security, and engage them positively”, he said.
He argued that once this is done the happenings along the waterways, especially the incessant boat mishaps and piracy will be reduced to the barest minimum.
“All of you know about what is happening now, every day you wake up, the first news you hear is boat mishaps.
“Boat capsizes in Bonny, boat capsizes in Nembe, boat capsizes in Andoni. Boat mishaps all over the state and people are dying every day and goods worth millions being lost.
“So, I want the present Government to train our youths and establish a civil maritime safety and security unit. It will be all over the jetties”, he stated.
Lawrence stated the benefits of the proposed agency to include, monitoring and enforcement of compulsory wearing of lifebuoys or life jackets by boat passengers and drivers, generation of over twenty thousand direct and fifty thousand indirect jobs, and bringing the benefits of the Federal Government’s blue economy programme to the state.
He said Rivers State, which is the second largest maritime state in the country after Lagos, should be able to upgrade safety along its maritime environment to international standard, noting that the trend of sea piracy along the Gulf of Guinea is on the rise
According to him, “Rivers State should play a crucial role in preventing the citizens from dying, and goods from getting lost every day”.
The expert, who is the President of El Bravo Marine And Coast Guard Services Limited, said the proposal will also check the incessant fire incidents in Nembe waterside that have cost many lives and other water fronts in the state.
John Bibor
The Bayelsa State Government has expressed willingness to continue infrastructure and sectoral development of the state under the leadership of the Senator Douye Diri-led “Prosperity Assured” administration.
Speaking to newsmen, last Friday, in Yenagoa, the state capital, during the October–December 2024 monthly transparency briefing, the State Commissioner for Information, Strategy and Orientation, Mrs. Ebiowou Koku-Obiyai, said the exercise became imperative as Government was ready to update the citizenry on the income and expenditures of the state.
She noted that all ongoing projects under the Governor Diri-led administration would be completed, urging citizens of the state to see and appreciate efforts the Government was making in the provision of critical infrastructure projects and sectoral development in all spheres of the state.
“Transparency briefing, so far so good, is all about reporting back to the citizens of the state the income and expenditures of the Government under the watch of our Dear Governor, the distinguished Senator Douye Diri.
“As a Government we’ve a direction, and if you watch closely you’ll better understand where the Government is going. We’ve earmarked critical projects to execute and key among these projects is the nine storey, new State Secretariat complex, which would make workers more productive and their jobs more worthwhile.
“We’ve issues with power, and very soon we’ll also have our own independent power plant to solve the problem of incessant power blackout in the state”, she said.
Rendering stewardship of financial accruals to the State for the three months of October, November and December 2024, the State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Maxwell Ebibai, gave details of the receipt and expenditures.
He said in October, Statutory allocation was N509milliin, Derivation was N8.335million, VAT N5.291billion, exchange rate gains -N11.28billion, non-oil revenue – N905m, electronic transfer levy -N175m, while total gross inflow from the Federation account allocation committee (FAAC) for the month, according to the Commissioner, amounted to N26.514billion, just as he said FAAC deductions gulped 1.735b.
He noted that, total net inflow after FAAC deductions stood at N24.779billion, while other receipts were N86.431billion, making sum total of receipt in the month N101.2billion, with outflows gulping a total of N16.971billion.
Ebibai also declared net balance upon the outflows as N94.238billion, noting that actual recurrent payment took N5.284billion, capital expenditure totalled N38.355billion, while the sum total of both capital and recurrent expenses made in the month amounted to N43.64billion, and balance after capital and recurrent expenditures stood at N50.598billion.
The Finance Commissioner further stated that total balance carried from September to October was N135.446billion, while balance at the close of November was N186.44billikn respectively.
In November, according to the Finance Ministry, gross receipt from FAAC was N37.982,141,546billion, while deductions at FAAC gulped N1.734billion, leaving balance after FAAC deductions at N36.247,717,577billion.
Other receipts for the month of November, including Internally generated revenue (IGR), was N39.254,383billion; cumulative receipt from FAAC and other receipts for the month stood at N75.5billion, while total outflows in November, was N24.275billion; balance before capital and recurrent expenses stood at N51.226billion; the balance after capital and recurrent expenses was N8.302billion; actual capital expenditure gulped N35.8billion; actual recurrent expenditure took N7.1billion, making the sum total of capital and recurrent expenses N42.9billion.
“Balance brought forward from October was N186.44billion, total balance as at the end of November was N194.346billion. Balance at the end of December receipts and expenditures ended in the negative.
“Gross receipts from FAAC in the month stood at N52.269billion, statutory deductions was N1.783billion, revenue from IGR and other sources totalled N35.990billion, while sum total of receipts in the month amounted to N86.476billion.
“Outflows gulped N17.543billon, balance from FAAC and other receipts before capital and recurrent expenses was N68.932billon, while actual capital expenditure took N62.8billion, recurrent expenditure gulped N6.889billion, bringing total expenditure for the month of December to a total N69.7billion, leaving a negative balance of N773million.
“Balance brought forward from November was N194.3billion, total balance as at January 2025 is N193.573billion”, the Finance Commissioner declared.
Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa
A non-governmental organization, the Niger Delta Youth Coalition, (NDYC), is set to write to the National Assembly for amendment of the Act establishing the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) to enable it go into the establishment of large scale farming, to meet up its huge financial needs in developing the region.
Founder and National Co-ordinator of the NDYC, Prince Emmanuel Samuel Ogba, who disclosed this in an interview in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said if amended, it would enable the NDDC to be commercialized in various sectors of its activities, particularly in agriculture, for internal generation of funds to augment its soaring financial needs.
Prince Ogba, an economist and politician, said to this end, his organization would send a private bill to the National Assembly seeking to amend the 2001 Act establishing the NDDC.
He noted that with the present economic challenges in the country, and to provide food for the populace, there is urgent need for the NDDC to be empowered by law to go into agriculture.
Ogba said, “if this happens, it would also provide more employment opportunities for the youths, as most of them would work in the farms, including staff of the Commission”.
The NDYC boss expressed the belief that such additional funds would enable the NDDC to partner with other relevant organizations in agriculture and also help in completing uncompleted projects executed by the NDDC several years ago by past managements of the Commission.
Prince Ogba recalled that by analysis some years back, the NDDC required about five trillion Naira as against a budget of N1.9trillion to complete numerous uncompleted projects of the Commission, adding that such situation was an impediment to its efforts to meet the increasing challenges to accomplish an integrated development of the peoples of the Niger Delta region.
He, however, applauded the present management of the NDDC led by Samuel Ugbuku for carrying out the completion of projects that were not completed by the commission.
He noted that with the NDDC going into food production and processing of farm produce, in a space of three years, the Niger Delta region would have enough food for the region to feed its over thirty million people and the rest of the country.
The current management of the NDDC has completed and commissioned a considerable number of uncomplete projects across the nine states in the region with its mandate to facilitate the rapid, even, and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically regenerative and politically peaceful, to offer a lasting solution to the socio-econimic difficulties of the Niger Delta region.
-
News10 hours agoS’South Deputy Govs Pay Condolence Visit To A’Ibom Colleague
-
Niger Delta7 hours agoHYPREP Presents Scholarship Grants To 300 Ogoni Postgraduate Students
-
Niger Delta8 hours ago
Environmentalist Makes Case For Oceans Preservation
-
Sports7 hours ago
Aruna, renew rivalry at Singapore Smash 2025
-
Business8 hours ago
Expert Tasks Government On Civil Maritime Security Unit
-
Politics10 hours ago
Edo Assembly Drags LG Chairmen To Court, Seeks LG Law Interpretation
-
Nation7 hours ago
Ahaoda West’s Impactful Projects Excite RIMA Boss
-
Niger Delta8 hours ago
A’Ibom CP Cautions Youth Against Violence In Oil Producing Communities