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The federal government is set to reintroduce toll on some roads that will be built or reconstructed. The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN, made the declaration while fielding questions as guest on the popular Channels Sunrise Daily programme. The minister said it would be pretentious to assume that the roads would get better if we continued to make our roads absolutely toll free. He added that, there would however be alternative roads to the ones that would be tolled. Fashola declared, “We should stop being pretentious that roads can be had for absolutely free everywhere. There will be toll roads if we want to get out of this situation. There will be alternative roads as well so that people can choose.” Fashola also talked about severance package for ex-workers in the three ministries. He explained that the record he met showed that about 50,000 such workers were due severance pay and that about 47,000 have been paid representing about...

A six-story building collapsed in Kenya's capital late on Friday, killing at least three people, KTN television reported, and trapping many others after days of heavy rains and floods. Live footage showed rescuers bringing out two survivors through packed crowds of emergency crews and onlookers in the Huruma residential area in northeast Nairobi. Three children and one adult were taken to the city's Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya Red Cross said on its Twitter feed. People from about 150 households were taking shelter in a nearby village, the aid group said, amid what it called "chaotic scenes". The Daily Nation newspaper reported that scores more were feared trapped. Authorities did not immediately release details on casualties. Privately owned KTN, running live footage from the scene, said 58 people had been rescued from the rubble, including a baby, but "most residents" of the building were trapped inside. It was not clear how many ...

• Blame fuel, forex scarcity Eight airlines operating domestic flights in the country were responsible for a total of 95 cancelled flights and 2,815 delays out of a total of 4,892 flights operated in March. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in its summary reports of complaints received against international and domestic airlines for the month of March 2016, gave the details on how the likes of Aero Contractors; Arik Air; Azman Air; Dana Air; Medview; Overland; First Nation and Air Peace all performed. Apparently in response, the operators have said that the NCAA’s fact sheet was a reflection of one too many challenges facing the sector, among which is the current shortage in aviation fuel supply and attendant rationing among airlines. In the breakdown, the country’s flag carrier, Arik Air, had the highest number of flights operated, put at 1,234. Out of the total, 759 were delayed and 31 cancelled. Aero Contractors follows with 946 number of flight...

Dangote begins $1b cement factory in Edo Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, yesterday disclosed that the Federal Government has concluded plans to meet with the 36 state governors to simplify access to land by investors in the mining industry. The minister stated this at the groundbreaking ceremony of the over $1 billion two-line six million metric tonnes capacity cement plant by Dangote Group at Okpella in Etsako East Local Council of Edo State. The project, to be completed in 26 months, is expected to be the biggest in Africa, as it would be bigger than the Obajana plant, which currently stands at that position. While commending the Dangote Group for championing the Federal Government industrialisation policy, Fayemi lamented that only 0.24 per cent of the country’s GDP comes from the mining industry. He expressed confidence that with continuous investment in that sector, Nigeria is expected to earn $25 billion yearly by the year 2025. The minister, ...

• Nigeria’s debt profile hits N12 trillion • How lawmakers moved votes for polio, ARV drugs to tricycles, town halls • Executive misleading Nigerians on budget, says Jibrin • Govt targets four areas for growth A move to harmonise the contentious issues between the Presidency and the National Assembly over the 2016 budget is set to be fruitful soon. This is coming as more details emerged about how the National Assembly(NASS) tinkered with the budget, moving funds away from critical infrastructure to less important projects such as building of town halls, purchase of tricycles, and building of rural roads .The resolution of the matter follows a meeting by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, ministers, and members of the Economic Management Team. Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, at the weekend said that Nigeria’s local and external debt profile has risen to N12 trillion (465billion). Nwankwo, who disclosed this whi...

The Federal Government got N73.2m as revenue in March from its estates in the South-West zone of the country, the Federal Housing Authority has said. The FHA, in a document made available to our correspondent, quoted its Acting Zonal Manager, South-West, Ms. Aisha Onotu, as saying that FESTAC Town provided the highest revenue of N58.87m, while Gowon Estate, Ipaja and Diamond Estate, Isheri-Olofin, all in Lagos, contributed N15.2m and N1.1m, respectively. Onotu said FESTAC Town also brought in consent fees of N25.9m, while the sum of N24,887,160 was made from capital development levy. “Ground rent also contributed N4.8m; premium, N420,000; survey, N219, 000; and change of use, N200,000,” she was quoted as saying. Other sources of revenue included searches, which brought in N130,000; mortgages, N107,811; ground rent (corner shops), N29,600; ground rent (kiosks), N58,150; application fees, N21,000; title document, N38,500; certified true copies, N20,000; and service...

There are fears the ongoing fuel scarcity may resurface after a short period of relief, despite efforts to make the commodity available. As multinational petroleum marketing companies continue to promise that they will provide needed foreign exchange to finance their own fuel allocation in the second quarter, there is likelihood others with no international affiliation won’t be able to do the same, and have, therefore, pointed accusing fingers at money deposit banks for selling foreign exchange above the official rate of N197 to a dollar to the marketers. The Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr. Femi Olawore, said banks are selling to his members at above N300 to a dollar, adding they had already made official complaint to the Central Bank of Nigeria through the Minister of Petroleum, who is already discussing the matter with the banks. Olawore said only two International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the upstream and downstr...

• GENCOs Producing A Quarter Of Nation’s Electricity Requirement • DISCOs Unwilling to Invest In Distribution Infrastructure The prevailing darkness across the country is far from being over, as players in the electricity supply chain seem to lack the capacity to meet Nigeria’s power expectations. While the Electricity Generating Companies (GENCOs) are unable to meet the nation’s power requirement estimated to be 200,000 Megawatts (MW), according to figures given by former Minister of power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, the transmission companies and distribution companies lack capacity to bring to consumers the little production achieved at the generation companies. The GENCOs are currently oscillating between 2,905mw and 5000mw, even with installed capacity of 12,522mw, out of which the Advisory Power Team in the office of the Vice President, which carried out a study in conjunction with Power Africa, say about 46 per cent of the generated power are lost during transmissi...

• NPMC distributes 40m litres daily to filling stations • Kachikwu unveils short, long term solutions to ending fuel scarcity • Gov Bello warns marketers against sharp practices. The weeks of agonising pains of fuel scarcity nationwide may afterall be over in a few days as about 257138.679 Metric Tonnes (MT) of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) is expected to arrive at the Lagos Tin Can Island Port yesterday. Expected vessels at Lagos pilotage district obtained by The Guardian from a reliable source listed nine ships carrying PMS to include Oceana with 24000mt of PMS; Han Scholl, 31123mt; Nina, 32900mt; Champion, 23000mt; MSK Mediterranean ,37990.679mt; Armore Sea Leader, 37145mt; Malbec, 30696mt; Torm Trinity, 30000mt and Cumbria, 10282mt. If delivered as expected, this may confirm the Minister of State for Petroleum Resource, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu’s statement that the lingering fuel scarcity would be over in few days. In addition, the Nigeria Product and Marketing Compan...

The Federal Airports Authority (FAAN) has stated that in the past 12 years, passenger traffic at the airports increased from 4.4 million to 15 million a year. With the development, FAAN said it has been working assiduously to expand its capacity to accommodate envisaged growth.It added that the new international terminals being constructed simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enugu will increase capacity and improve passenger facilitation. Speaking in Abuja at the weekend, during the inspection of the new terminal under construction by President of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Olumuyiwa Aliu, the Managing Director, FAAN, Saleh Dunoma reiterated the authority’s commitment to sustain the standards achieved following the recent ICAO audit. He described Aliu as an icon who has positively impacted the aviation globally, emphasising that his policy of, “No country left behind” has addressed the challenges faced by the sector, especially ...