World Bank partners FG, targets 148m digital national IDs for Nigerians

A new partnership between the federal government and the World Bank will see about 148 million working age Nigerians getting digital National Identity Cards by the middle of 2024. Speaking at a dinner organized by the Ministry of Communications in partnership with the World Bank, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to eradicating poverty, improving lives and creating job opportunities for the country’s youth. He said the multilateral financial institution is collaborating with the federal government to ensure the successful rollout and registration of digital national IDs for all Nigerians. Chaudhuri said, “Our main mission here in Nigeria is to eliminate poverty, make lives better, and create jobs for all Nigerian youth. One of the areas that we think has the greatest potential is the area of using digital technologies to transform. Now to do that it begins with having this digital national ID. “So one of the main partnerships we have is working with NIMC to ensure the rollout of the registration so that all 213/220 million Nigerians have a digital national ID, beginning of course with all people of working age and I think the target for that is at least 148 million people by the middle of next year. “The second is helping Nigeria lead the broadband infrastructure for broadband connectivity because without broadband connectivity, digital technologies will lead to a digital divide. So their support has been for good kinds of policies and regulations that will help invite private investment into this space and then fibre At the dinner which was organized in his honour, Minister for Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, announced that the Federal Government has secured a $500 million loan aimed at boosting innovation and entrepreneurship within Nigeria’s digital sector. “Part of my responsibilities is working with BoI to ensure that we domicile that funding locally in Nigeria, work with firms who manage and invest in businesses to ensure that those businesses that will benefit are true, real Nigerian businesses,” the minister said.

Sultan, Kukah seek community involvement in tackling security challenges

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has called for increased community representatives’ involvement in solving the lingering security challenges facing the nation. Abubakar, who was represented by Dr Jabbi Kilgore, the District Head of Kingori made the call during a town hall  organised by the Kukah Centre for Peace in collaboration with Global Right, an NGO on Tuesday in Sokoto. The Sultan said that bad governance, injustice and inequality were some factors contributing to insecurity. He enjoined leaders at all levels to be fair in dealing with their subjects and know that they would give an account of their stewardship after leaving this world. In his keynote address, Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Kukah also identified religious intolerance, fanaticism and injustice as some of the factors responsible for insecurity in the country. Kukah also said  that sectionalism, fanaticism, injustice and religious intolerance were responsible for insecurity in the country. He urged stakeholders at the meeting to come together to form common front in curbing the menace saying insecurity know no religion. Earlier,  Governor Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto state, represented by the Permanent Secretary Ministry for Religious Affairs, Alhaji Abubakar Torankawa rreiterated the commitment of the government to partner with groups and association in promoting peaceful coexistence in the state. The Sokoto state commissioner of police,  Ali Kaigama, also emphasised on the need for public support to community policing drives initiated by the Nigerian Police. Kaigama said the police will continue to partner with the Nigerian army and other sister security agencies in tackling insecurity in the country. In his presentation, Prof. Tukur Baba, the Dean Faculty of Social Sciences in Federal University Birnin Kebbi dwelled on factors that promoted insecurity from pre-independece. Baba advised authorities to change the land use act, taxations and consider global, regional, national and community approaches to holistically deal with the problems of insecurity. He described the assessment by the National Bureau of Statics revealing the poverty index as glaring. ”This is the effect of insecurity, maladministration and poor people attitude in the northwest,” he said.

Staff Capacity Building: OAGF pledges collaboration with ASCON

The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) is to work with the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) to provide the requisite capacity development training for treasury staff.  The Accountant General of the Federation, Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein dropped the hint when the Director-General of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), Mrs. Cecelia Gayya led a delegation from the institution to her office Tuesday in Abuja.  According to a statement by Director (Press) Bawa Mokwa, Dr. Madein said capacity development is essential for effective performance, assuring that Office will sustain a deeper collaboration with ASCON in that regard.    She noted that, “Challenges abound in every position one occupies and every task has its own demands. The complexities will keep increasing and the ability to overcome and achieve the desired result will definitely rely more on the exposure, in terms of skills and knowledge of global trends”.   While reaffirming that staff training is a cardinal policy of her office, the AGF called on the management of ASCON to include Treasury staff in its capacity building programmes on any area within the civil or public service.  She applauded the management of ASCON for considering the Treasury Academy, in Orozo, Abuja as its study Centre, adding that the OAGF will provide all the necessary assistance to bring the idea to fruition.  On her appointment as the first female AGF, Dr. Madein acknowledged that the office comes with much expectation from the government and Nigerians, promising that she will put in her utmost effort to discharge the responsibility creditably.  In her remarks, the Director General of ASCON, Mrs Cecelia Gayya congratulated Dr. Madein on her appointment as the first female AGF and expressed optimism that she has the capacity and experience to succeed in the office.    Mrs. Gayya confirmed that ASCON was willing to partner with the OAGF on staff training and other areas as may be required of it, adding that the institute was working towards making the Treasury Academy in Abuja one of its study Centers.  She said the institute had commenced the training of Chief Executives of parastatals, agencies and commissions, and that the AGF will be included in the next session of the training which will commence in September.

NCAA, ICAO sign Civil Aviation MasterPlan agreement

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has signed the Civil Aviation MasterPlan (CAMP) agreement with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada to foster development in the industry. The Director-General Civil Aviation (DGCA) Capt. Musa Nuhu confirmed the development in a statement on Wednesday in Lagos. Nuhu represented Nigeria at the signing ceremony, while ICAO’s Secretary-General, Mr Juan Salaazar signed for the international body. CAMP is a course for senior and middle managers of the State’s Civil Aviation Authorities (CAAs) on the recovery from the impacts of COVID-19, in accordance with the relevant ICAO provisions. Nuhu explained that the partnership with ICAO was to enable the sector to attain its full potential, while also making significant contributions to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The director-general said that the partnership with ICAO would further lead to more direct and indirect job opportunities for qualified Nigerians in various fields. The NCAA chief said that it was high time the sector in the country played its key role of developing the nation through air travel. Nuhu stated that the industry had played pivotal roles in the development of many countries around the world and Nigeria with the biggest economy in Africa could not operate in isolation of the others. He said: “CAMP is a process to plan for the short, intermediate, and long term development goals through implementing policy directives and to drive change and transformation. “Civil aviation masterplan would be critical to facilitate the growth of the sector and the deployment of required action plans. “This is to stimulate the development and growth of the industry, thereby acting as catalysts and enabler of national economy. “We need to have an orderly growth and development of the industry in tandem with our national aspirations. “Economies of many countries depend almost entirely on aviation and aviation played a significant role in the development of Dubai and Emirates is its global brand.” In a bid to ensure the development to the industry in particular and Nigeria at large, Nuhu said that all relevant stakeholders within and outside the ecosystem would be carried along.

Nigeria, India partner to block illicit drug flow

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and Narcotics Control Bureau of India have agreed to collaborate to block the traffic of illicit drugs between Nigeria and India. The Director Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, said in a statement that the two agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Wednesday in Abuja. He said the Chairman of NDLEA, retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, who signed the MoU on behalf of the agency, said the move represented a robust partnership in efforts to exterminate incidences of drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking in the two countries. He said, “this bold step taken by the two agencies is an affirmation of our foresight and commitment to the task of ensuring the safety of our citizens and the global community at large.” According to him, the MOU constitutes a fundamental step towards positioning the two countries, India and Nigeria, at the forefront of confronting and dismantling transnational drug trafficking networks. “This is with brazen capabilities of outmaneuvering legitimate drug law enforcement. “With our understanding of the changing dynamics of the illicit drug problems, locally and globally, every major organisation around the world is working assiduously to curb the menace. “They also know that working with partners greatly helps in addressing the trafficking and abuse of narcotic and psychotropic substances,” he said. Marwa said the governments of both countries remained committed to eradicating the problem posed by illicit substances, notably synthetic opioids and Amphetamine Type Stimulants (ATS) which posed a potent threat to our citizens. He acknowledged the courage exhibited by the two agencies in the course of past meetings that culminated in the MoU. The NDLEA boss stressed that the partnership would impact greatly on efforts to prevent illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, precursor chemicals and related matters between the two countries. The Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria and Head of the Indian delegation, Ambassador Shri Balasubramanian, signed on behalf of his country. Balasubramanian said the negative impact of drugs on global financial and political systems was enormous, and that proceeds of drug trafficking were often directed towards terrorism financing. The Indian high commissioner observed that drug trafficking did not only affect the health of the individual that consumed it but equally the economy of the country as well as national security. He advised that both countries should take advantage of their similar demographic advantage to address substance use problems. He added that the liberal trade relations and educational advantages enjoyed by both countries had been negatively applied to further criminal drug trade. “I urge that all hands must be on deck to ensure that merchants of death do not succeed in their evil trade,” he said. Balasubramanian pledged the commitment of the Indian government to ensure the enforcement of the provisions of the MoU.