Senate bars FG from awarding contracts to Julius Berger, others

Senate Committee on Works has asked the Federal Government not to award road contracts to Julius Berger Nigeria Limited and other multinational construction companies unless they take part in government road concession programmes.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Ayogu Eze, who gave the directive yesterday during an interface with the Ministry of Works at the 2012 budget defence, lamented that all the multinational construction companies have failed to contribute to the rehabilitation of Nigerian roads despite enjoying high patronage from the Federal Government.

He said: “Despite the patronage multinationals are enjoying from government of the federation, they have maintained studied distance from our development programmes.”

He lamented.

The committee also held that multinational construction companies should be made to take up at least two major roads on concession when a road contract is awarded.

Senator Eze also kicked at the 2012 budget for Works stressing that the poor state of Nigeria roads contributes to poor economic development of the country.

He said, “If we continue the way we are going, there is no way we can move forward in this country; I think federal government should create special fund for the road projects in the country just as the government did in the case of power so that we can move forward.

“If we don’t create a special fund for the road we are just deceiving ourselves, the money created in this year’s budget proposal is just a drop in an ocean, N138 billion for the construction of roads, N6 billion for the Surveyor General and over N30 billion for the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA); you need to convince this committee on how the Ministry will use the money to achieve desirable goals in the 2012 budget”.

Meanwhile, the Minister of works, Architect Mike Onolenmemen painting an unpleasant picture of the state of Nigerian roads lamented that only N75 billion was allocated for completion of on-going projects in the 2012 budget.

He told the committee that N180, 799,815,445 has been allocated to Works in the 2012 fiscal year. N138, 714,051,145 out of the amount is for main ministry, while Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA is to get N32, 530,076,013.

The breakdown of the 2012 budget also include N6,939,436,513 to the office of the Surveyor General; Federal School of Survey, N977019,781; Council for Registered Engineers of Nigeria, N437,402,119; Surveyor Registration Council of Nigeria, N186,522,432; and Regional Center, N215,400,000.

He further told the Committee of the N138.7 billion allocated to the main ministry, over N51 billion would go for payment for pending certificates, leaving the balance of N75 billion to complete on-going road projects in the country.

“N420 billion is needed annually by the ministry to drive most of its projects, given the agreement reached with contractors each year, so we have to prioritize our projects”, he said.

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National Assembly Is Killing Our Democracy, Says Ogunlewe

Chief Adeseye Ogunlewe, former Minister of Works and senator, is currently contesting the chairmanship of Lagos State chapter of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP).

In this interview with The Moment on Sunday, Ogunlewe blames the National Assembly for contributing to the under-development of Nigeria.

He also speaks on the challenges of the Jonathan-led administration, the newly-introduced Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), the controversial local government election in Lagos State, how the local governments can be made effective and other pertinent issues.

In the last local government elections in Lagos State, PDP was able to produce a few councillors. How will this impact on grassroots politics in the state?

We are going to scare the leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), if we start talking of our strategy now because they steal the money the Federal Government gives the local government every month.

Four billion naira for the 20 local governments but cleverly the state government takes 80 per cent from it and gives local governments a stipend to pay salary and that is all.

That is why local government is not functioning at all in Lagos State. The local governments have totally collapsed, people are suffering while some people are enjoying.

It is unjust, it is ungodly and God is a God of justice. They are in power and want to impoverish everybody.

Go to any local government of your choice, you will see poverty and destruction, economic activities paralised but people go on helicopter, the wife and children enjoy at the expense of the masses.

We are going to the tribunal over the local government election because we won so many local governments and they robbed us, we won so many councillorsips and they robbed us, so at the tribunal we will try our luck again.

Kosofe local government is the closest to you, which was allegedly won by your party, what happened?

We were robbed. They brought thugs and carried all the ballot papers because they were the people in charge.

They didn't event count; they refused to announce results at the polling booth, at the collation centre, even at the local government ward collation centre.

They took everything away because they were desperate and because their leadership supports them.

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Goodluck Jonathan launches scheme to generate 100,000 jobs

President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja on Tuesday launched an employment generation scheme to assist youths with creative ability and entrepreneurial skills to create jobs.

Launching the programme, tagged, "Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria'' (YOU WIN), at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, the president said it was designed to address the problem of unemployment in the country.

He said the scheme, expected to generate more than 100,000 jobs in three to four years, was created by the ministries of Finance, Youth Development and Communication Technology with the support of the World Bank and DFID.

The president said that unemployment had become one of the biggest challenges in Nigeria and that it could only be addressed with innovative ideas that would empower youths to create jobs.

"My conviction is that if government decides to create enterprises, to employ people, the rate will go at arithmetic means but if we have a programme where we identify some talented creative youth and empower them to employ, the rate of employment will grow in a geometric progression.

"I believe that in that rate we will be able to create jobs faster than thinking about government to set up enterprises.

"We believe that directly working with young talented people or the gifted ones will help in solving the problem of employment,'' he said.

The president said that N50 billion in the 2011 budget set aside for youth employment would be used for the project, while different patterns would be introduced annually for sustainability.

He called on state governors to support the project, which would be launched in the six geo-political zones and the states.

Earlier, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said that the programme was created in fulfilment of the administration's promise to generate employment for the youth and create wealth for the nation.

She said that apart from the support of the World Bank and DFID, the big players in the business community had promised their support, particularly in mentoring the successful young entrepreneurs.

The Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, said with the official launch, youths with business innovations should submit their business concepts through the website, "www.youwin.org.ng'', which had been created for the project.

She said such business concepts should be innovative, unique, analytical and practical to be able attract sponsorship.

Johnson said equity grant would be offered to 1,200 successful entrepreneurs to be selected across the six geo-political zones to start or expand their business concepts.

The minister said unsuccessful applicants would be assisted with training and funds to achieve their entrepreneurial idea and plan.

A documentary on a successful youth entrepreneur was shown to the audience while two successful entrepreneurs also shared their experiences on the occasion.

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