Nigerian president’s support for the second term bid of Dr. Akinwumi Adesina at the African Development Bank and the plan by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), to auction 57 oil fields under the June 2020 Marginal Fields bid round are the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
ThisDay newspaper reports that President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday assured the embattled President of African Development Bank, (AfDB) Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, of Nigeria’s unwavering commitment to his second term bid.
President Buhari, while hosting Dr. Adesina, who visited him at the State House in Abuja, said the African Union (AU) had already ratified his candidacy for re-election.
The Nigerian leader spoke against the backdrop of a subterranean campaign to knock out Dr. Adesina from the race with allegations of impropriety levelled against him by some AfDB officials.
The Independent newspaper says that the Nigerian government through the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has disclosed its intent to auction 57 oil fields under the June 2020 Marginal Fields bid round.
The report added that the agency has implored potential participants in the exercise to submit applications for the fields which are located on land, swamp and the shallow offshore.
According to DPR, the exercise, which will be conducted electronically involves five stages such as Expression of Interest/Registration, Prequalification, Technical and Commercial bid submission and Bid evaluation.
The Marginal Fields bid round is expected to take a maximum of six months after the official announcement of kick-off while bidding forms will be provided by the DPR.
The Guardian reports that one major thing identified by stakeholders in the information and communications technology (ICT) industry that will impact both the sector and the Nigerian economy as a whole will be the faster implementation of the New National Broadband Plan (NNBP 2020-2025).
Indeed, a notable achievement of the sector in the last one year of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term in the ICT sector is the draft of the broadband plan, championed by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali-Pantami, with the support of the Prof. Umar Danbatta-led Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Unlike the first National Broadband Plan 2013 to 2018, in which much was not achieved, due to lack of political will and other challenges, the new broadband is primed to impact.
The 2013 to 2018 plan did produce the 30 percent penetration target set before it, but notwithstanding this, the deployment and connections expected of it were not achieved maximally.
The Nation says that the Nigerian Senate on Tuesday approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s $5.513 billion external loan request to finance the revised 2020 budget.
The approval followed the presentation and consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Senator Clifford Odia by the Senate.
Buhari had, in his letter of request, said the $5.513 billion external loan is to enable the Federal Government fund the 2020 revised budget.
GIK/APA