The Federal Government on Monday released a list of 69 ongoing road and bridge projects in the South-East to debunk allegation of infrastructure neglect by some governors from the zone.
The 69 projects which included the rehabilitation of the existing Niger Bridge as well as the construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge, cost over N680 billion
In a statement issued in Abuja, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the 69 roads and bridges spread across the five states in the South-east, were in different stages of completion.
The minister said though the contracts for many of the roads were awarded before the advent of the administration, they were either poorly funded or not funded at all, hence work on the roads had lingered.
He said the projects would have remained abandoned but for the funding sourced by the present administration from budgetary allocations, the Sukuk Bond and the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund
According to Mohammed, the government is also looking into the possibility of using a part of the recovered looted money to fund the development of infrastructure across the country.
The governors had alleged infrastructure neglect of the zone by the Federal Government, through the Director-General of South-East Governors Forum, Prof. Simon Otuanya.
Otuanya made the allegation when he presented a monitoring report on the performance of the 2017 federal capital budget in the South East.
The minister, recently, at a function in Ilorin responded that the allegation was “incorrect, unfair and fly in the face of available evidence’’.
He promised to publish the full list of the roads and bridges, as well as give a breakdown of the total figure.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed at The 61st Meeting of UNWTO CAF Held at The Congress Hall of The Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has challenged the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to spur more actions in the electronic payment system to fully exploit the potentials of the sector in economic growth and development.
The minister who was guest at the Electronic Payment Providers Association of Nigeria, (E-PAAN) media workshop in Lagos recently, however, commended the CBN for taking several measures which have seen a tremendous improvement in the overall Nigerian e-commerce sector.
The CBN was a major partner of EPPAN in the organisation of the media workshop which aimed at designing a more robust, recognized and nationally utilized electronic payment system in Nigeria.
The electronic payment system which includes online mobile transactions, ATM withdrawal, Point of sales POS, and others is currently on the fast rise all over the world showing a strong move towards digital and e-payments.
Developments in the sector prompted the coming together of stakeholders to deliberate on issues with a view to harnessing good suggestions that will improve payment system in the country. The deliberations are also expected to strengthen consumers’ confidence in the safety, security, and reliability of payment systems.
In a paper he delivered at a media workshop in Lagos, titled: “The Nigerian Payment System: The journey so far”, Director, Banking and Payments System Department of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Dipo Fatokun said: “This National Media Workshop is aimed at getting stakeholders in the payment system closer to the media team for a better understanding of information about the sector and enhancing our collective knowledge on how issues are reported in order to ensure a stable and sound financial system.
Fatokun noted that so far, the CBN in collaboration with other stakeholders have improved the country’s Payment System through Nigerian payment system Vision 2020.
Part of the initiative he said the CBN has used to improve the sector, included the implementation of Nigeria Uniform Bank Account Number (NUBAN) which has significantly reduced electronic card frauds and helped to put more confidence in the utilization of cards as a means of payment;
Cash-less initiative which has reduced the cost of cash management; Establishment of Nigerian Electronic Fraud Forum (NEFF) to provide a centralized information sharing platform on fraud;
licensing 25 Mobile Money Operators to develop products and financial services that would be accessible to the banked and unbanked population;
Agent Banking as a delivery channel for electronic payments channels in Nigeria where merchants, consumers and salespersons are rewarded either on points or cash basis among others.
licensing 25 Mobile Money Operators to develop products and financial services that would be accessible to the banked and unbanked population;
Agent Banking as a delivery channel for electronic payments channels in Nigeria where merchants, consumers and salespersons are rewarded either on points or cash basis among others.
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