The call by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) on President Muhammadu Buhari to publicly declare his assets at the end of his tenure in office and encouraging other members of his administration dominates the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Monday.
The Guardian reports that Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has implored President Muhammadu Buhari to recommit to transparency and demonstrate leadership by publicly declaring his assets at the end of his tenure in office and encouraging other members of his administration to do same.
The group also pleaded with the President to direct the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) to take immediate steps to expeditiously, diligently, effectively and fairly prosecute all outstanding high-profile corruption cases currently being handled by his office.
Buhari had stated in his Independence Day address that he would bequeath a country where all citizens have equal opportunities to achieve.
“We have made significant progress in the eradication of deeply entrenched corruption that permeates all facets of our national development,” he had said.
But SERAP, in an open letter dated October 1, 2022 and signed by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, countered the President’s speech, saying, “grand corruption has continued to deny millions of Nigerians equal opportunities.”
The organisation went on: “Promoting transparency and combating corruption and ensuring full and effective respect for the rule of law would send a strong signal of your commitment to leave behind a legacy of transparency and accountability.”
According to the body, millions of people are falling into preventable poverty and live in a continuing state of anxiety and insecurity.
The newspaper says that the acting Federal Controller of Works in Anambra State, Seyi Martins, has promised that the second Niger Bridge will be ready for use by December this year to ease movement into the South East.
He gave the assurance when he hosted members of the Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), who paid an inspection visit to the site in Onitsha, at the weekend.
Martins said the bridge, which is about 1.7 kilometres parallel to the existing one, has a dual carriageway with three lanes on both sides, measuring about 1.6 kilometres in length, while the total length of the project is 11.9 kilometres, clarifying that work on the gateway had reached 95 per cent completion.
The controller revealed that first phase of the project – the bridge proper – had been substantially completed, while the final asphalt surfacing on the Asaba-bound carriageway lane is the only part left.
The Punch reports that the Federal Government is set to re-open the Trans Niger Pipeline that transports about 180,000 barrels of crude oil daily. The pipeline was shut down six months ago due to vandalism and theft on the oil export facility.
Bonny Light, one of Nigeria’s crude oil grades, is transported through the TNP to a designated export terminal.
The pipeline also serves as part of the country’s gas liquids evacuation infrastructure, which is vital for domestic power generation and the export of liquefied gas.
But the TNP was closed by Shell about six months ago after it was vandalized. This stalled the transportation of 180,000bpd of crude via the channel.
The Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services, Bala Wunti, disclosed in a series of tweets on Sunday that the pipeline would be re-opened.
NAPIMS is a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
Wunti said his team visited the people of Bodo Community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, which was part of efforts to re-open the TNP.
“Our visit today is of monumental significance as it provided us the opportunity to re-connect with the good people of Bodo Community,” he stated.
The newspaper says that the Nigerian Export Promotion Council has reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to increasing cocoa production to 500,000 tonnes yearly with a view to making it contribute more to the country’s earnings.
The Trade Promotion Advisor, NEPC Ekiti Export Assistance Office, Mrs Iyabode Abe, said the Federal Government was unrelenting in the bid to ensure cocoa export contributed more to Nigeria’s earnings.
Abe spoke in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, during a technical intervention programme targeted at boosting cocoa production for export with the theme, “Improving cocoa production in Ekiti State for global competitiveness’, organised by NEPC where the council distributed 3,000 hybrid cocoa seedlings to select 60 farmers in Ekiti State.
She said, “During the first quarter of this year, according to the foreign trade report released by the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria exported superior quality cocoa beans valued at N72.59 billion.
“It was learnt that Nigeria exports about 340,000 tonnes of cocoa yearly, meaning that the country is to earn an additional $136m outside the actual cost of the commodity once it perfects the process required to achieve this.
“At the moment, Nigeria’s cocoa production is estimated at 340,000 tonnes. Nevertheless, the Federal Government has declared that it is committed to increasing Nigeria’s cocoa production from 340,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes yearly by 2024.”
The Nation reports that more than 10 years after the introduction of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) by the Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA), insurers are yet to capture vehicles plying the roads for the minimum third party motor insurance requirement by law, findings by The Nation has shown.
Of the 14 million vehicles on the roads, only 3.5 million are captured on the NIID as genuinely insured.
Third party motor insurance policy is one of the compulsory insurance in Nigeria. It is the minimum motor insurance cover any motor vehicle owner.
The insurance law provides that a person who fail to have this minimum requirement commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N250, 000 or imprisonment for one year or both.
The policy takes care of the damage caused by the insured to the third party’s property or vehicle, also the Third Party’s medical expenses if any, in the event of an accident, when the policyholder is at fault.
Meanwhile, NIA, the umbrella body of insurance companies in the industry, created NIID in 2010 to eliminate fake insurance certificates in the market.
The database went live in 2011 so that insurance policies obtained by motorists could be checked real time online on the internet and through dedicated hand-held devices.
GIK/APA