APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the Minister of Power stated that President Bola Tinubu recently stopped the implementation of a hike in electricity tariff and insisted that subsidy be paid on power consumed nationwide is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Punch reports that President Bola Tinubu recently stopped the implementation of a hike in electricity tariff and insisted that subsidy be paid on power consumed nationwide, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, revealed on Wednesday.
Adelabu also stated that the Federal Government would investigate the legality of the five-year licence extension given to privatised power distribution and generation companies, stressing that the operating licences of the firms would have expired on October 31, 2023.
The minister, who spoke at a press briefing in Abuja, further stated that he would sack any non-performing chief executive in agencies under the power ministry, if their non-performance would make him lose his job as minister.
Speaking on the call for a cost reflective tariff, which would lead to a hike in the amount payable for power, Adelabu said, “The power sector is an industry that is very sensitive to any leader.
“You cannot jump overnight and implement the cost reflective tariff. I can tell you that till today the government still subsidises power. Tariff should have been raised months back, but Mr President said until we are able to achieve regular and incremental power supply we can’t touch the tariff.”
The newspaper says that the Spanish Navy has reiterated its commitment to partner with the Nigerian Navy to tackle maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea.
The Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Juan Jell, said this on Monday night in Apapa, Lagos, during the reception on board its warship, Bam Tornado.
Jell explained that the exercise was part of Spain’s three-month deployment of ships within the Gulf of Guinea.
“This ship is in Lagos as part of our three-month deployment within the Gulf of Guinea, which falls within what we call the European coordinated maritime presence. This is the reason why the Spanish Navy together with other navies is ensuring maritime security.
“I must commend the leadership of the Nigerian Navy. Spain wants to partner with Nigeria in addressing maritime security,” he said.
Also, the Commanding Officer, David Castillo, said the purpose of the visit was to ensure maritime security.
“It is an offshore patrol vessel. We have been doing redeployment for more than 100 days in the Gulf of Guinea. We are going to be in nine different countries and nine different ports and this is the fifth one. So, we are more or less in the middle of our deployment. We have been in Togo, Benin Côte d’Ivoire among others,” he added.
The Guardian reports that the Nigerian Government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Algeria for the commencement of direct flights between the two countries.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, while receiving the Algeria delegation yesterday in Abuja, noted that although Nigeria has always had a Bilateral Air Service Agreement with (BASA) Algeria for decades, they have however, not taken advantage of the agreement.
While mentioning that the agreement is a symbiotic relationship, he said it was to specify the route, which is going to be between Algeria and Lagos.
The minister revealed that the Algeria delegation had reached out to Nigeria for the reopening of the route between Algiers and Lagos to revive the BASA that hadn’t been taken advantage of over the years.
He said in the spirit of opening up African Sky, the plan of the Algeria government was to add Abuja to their route while they reciprocate for Nigeria to fly to Oran, one of the largest city in their country, saying the agreement will be finalised in the coming weeks
Keyamo stated that one of the focal points of the current administration is to protect local airline operators and their businesses, which was why they insisted on reciprocity for our local operators, which they have gladly acceded to.
He said: “We are very happy to have Air Algeria back on the soil of Nigeria. We want competition; we want the price of air tickets to go down for the benefit of Nigeria. This is a symbiotic relationship; it is beneficial to Algeria and to Nigeria.”
Ambassador of Algeria, Hocine Latli, who led the delegation said “you can’t have a tied partnership if you do not have a direct flight between the two countries, saying today we are trying to solve this problem of direct flight and restart the dynamic partnership and cooperation between the two countries, especially in the next few months”
“So, it is important today that we have reached a common point that the Hon Minister of aviation and Aerospace has accepted the opening of direct flight from Algiers to Nigeria,” he stated.
The newspaper says that Nigeria has signed a $116 million financing agreement with the French Government to support the investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (I-DICE) programme, an initiative led by the office of Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, who disclosed this via his X handle, said the $116 million is part of a $600 million financing agreement from a consortium of development partners aimed at creating job opportunities in the creative and digital technology sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Tijani said the financing partners include the French Development Agency; African Development Bank (AfDB), Islamic Development Bank and Bank of Industry.
The minister said the agreement would go a long way towards repositioning the Nigerian economy for greater exploits.
Meanwhile, Tijani said that the over one million applicants for the government’s three million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme will be made to undergo an introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) course.
According to him, all the applicants are being onboarded onto the fallow platform ahead of the selection of the first cohort of 30,000 fellows.
Earlier in the week, the minister disclosed that applications for the programme had crossed one million and told the applicants to expect the next steps via their email.
Some of the applicants, who have received the email and confirmed their registration, are now being onboarded onto the fellow platform. While expressing his satisfaction that some of the already onboarded applicants are already completing the AI course within hours, the Minister said.
GIK/APA