There are indications that government is planning to sell five power plants under the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), met with the Nigerian Governor’s Forum (NGF) to provide insights on the proposed sale of five power assets.
Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, and Ekiti State Governors, Governor Kayode Fayemi, who disclosed this in a communique issued at the end of the second meeting of the NGF,said the BPE boss’s presentation was part of the consultative process with State governments who are shareholders of the plants.
He was quoted as saying that: “Mr Alex Okoh, Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), briefed the State governors on the proposed sale of five (5) power plants under the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC). The presentation was part of the consultative process with State governments who are shareholders of the plants”.
He also said between February 23rd and 25th,this year,state governors will be joined by a delegation from Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, with the aim of deepening the government’s engagement on routine immunization, health system strengthening and COVID19 vaccination in the country.
He stated that members received a presentation from the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Service (FIRS) and Chairman of the Joint Tax Board (JTB), Mr. Muhammad M. Nami, on the national Data for Tax Initiative.
According to Fayemi, the Data for Tax (D4T) initiative envisages an ecosystem where financial and non-financial data on all individuals and economic transactions will be collated into a central National Tax Data Bank with the National Identification Number (NIN) as the primary unifying code.
“Members pledged their support for the project which is aimed at expanding the country’s tax net to at least 90% of all eligible taxable persons and committed to collaborating with the JTB to increase the country’s aggregate tax revenue by up to 200% as envisaged” he stated.
He also disclosed that the National Convenor of the UN Food Systems and Permanent Secretary of Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Olusola Idowu, delivered a presentation on the National Pathway to Food Systems Transformation.
He added that the role of governors in the plan is to prioritize the establishment of farm settlement estates for groups of smallholder producers, including women and youths, to increase the supply of farm inputs, the use of machinery, access to extension services, and market access.
He assured that the forum affirmed its commitment to the ideals of the programme which many states are already pursuing and committed to working with the federal government to expand the development of these settlements across the country.
“The forum also received a presentation on the status of the country’s digital identification programme from Engr. Aliyu A. Aziz, Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
“To strengthen the national enrollment exercise, which has so far seen the issuance of over 74 million national identification numbers (NIN) to Nigerians across the country, Governors pledged to support the programme through a string of measures, including support for sensitization activities, integration of NIN in state services and collaboration with telecoms providers to improve network infrastructure for sustained identity registration and authentication.
“Governors re-echoed the need to complete the harmonization and integration of databases, to reduce the carriage of multiple identifications (IDs) by citizens noting that being able to uniquely identify persons is extremely important for social security and cross state border management. NIMC is to liaise with State Governments through its various State Coordinators in addition to working with the NGF Secretariat.
“A programme update on NG-CARES was delivered by the NGF Secretariat’s Programme Manager, Mrs. Firo Elhassan Kaka, on the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme.
“All 36 States of the federation have already received letters of eligibility for the programme, and all results achieved by the States with effect from June 2020 are eligible for verification as prior results. These will be assessed for re- imbursement at the next verification exercise.
“The NGF Secretariat’s Health Adviser, Dr. Ahmad Abdulwahab also delivered an update on the country’s health security interventions, particularly on the COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Project (COPREP) and the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHPF).
