2.5m New Jobs Created in 2 Years - NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that 2.48 million new jobs were created in the Nigerian economy between the third quarter of 2012 and the second quarter of 2014.

The Statistician General for the Federation and chief executive of the NBS, Dr Yemi Kale, made the disclosure in Abuja while speaking at a workshop on the review of definition and methodology for computing unemployment statistics in Nigeria.

According to him, the highest number of jobs were created in the informal sector with 1.41 million, followed by the formal sector with 903,804 jobs, and public institutions with 160,591.

Dr Kale also disclosed that a total number of 240,871 jobs were created in the first quarter of this year, indicating a decline of 10.3 per cent from the previous quarter, which recorded 265,702 jobs.

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FG Approves Creation of Great Green Wall Agency

The Federal Government has approved the establishment of the Great Green Wall Agency (GGW).

 

Vice President Namadi Sambo made this known yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, during a meeting of the National Council on the Great Green. He noted that the GGW was a project the President intends to use to impact positively on the welfare of the society.

 

He commended the private sector for their participation in the project, and advocated for youth involvement in the project.

 

“More youths should be employed to guard the forests so that our investments will be fully protected,” he said.

 

The Vice President also stressed the need for a strategic national plan and approach that will address the socio-economic situation of the nation, adding that the plan should include local community participation to ensure the success of the programme.

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Teachers and School Administrators in FCT Begin One-Year Training

School teachers and administrators in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday commenced a one-year training to improve their capacity.

The training programme is organized by the FCT Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) in partnership with the Felicity International Centre for Education Excellence.

At the opening ceremony of the event which held in Abuja, FCT UBEB Chairman, Alhaji Umar Ningi, represented by the board’s Permanent Secretary 1, Mr Benjamin Ogbara, stressed the need for stakeholders in the education sector to constantly undergo training that will enhance their performance to meet international best standard.

 

He promised that the board will continue to collaborate with other stakeholders in the sector to improve the standard of education in the FCT.

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FCTA Set to Clampdown Unpainted Commercial Vehicles

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has expressed its readiness to clampdown on commercial vehicles that are not painted the specified colours.

The Head, Public Relations Unit of the FCT Transport Secretariat, Mr Ifeanyi Ughamadu, made this known to newsmen in Abuja recently. He noted that the deadline for the registration of unpainted commercial vehicles is 1 October, after which the hunt will begin.

He added that all commercial drivers are expected to register with any of the recognised licensed taxi operators, and the secretariat would have their data captured.

“The FCTA has directed the Vehicle Inspection Office and other law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for enforcement,” he said. “Any `kabu kabu’ that violates the law will be apprehended.”

Mr Ughamadu added that the secretariat came up with a policy in order to curb crime perpetuated by taxi drivers in the territory.

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FG Launches Road Safety Manual

The federal government has launched a road safety guidelines developed by the Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI.)

 

The Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolememen, launched the document yesterday in Abuja.

 

“It is my belief that the first edition of the Road Safety Guidelines (RSG2014) which provides information specifically for the country and sets out standard approach to accident data analysis will go a long way to help address some of the developmental challenges we face in the road sector,” he said.

 

Mr Onolememen stressed the need for relevant ministries, departments, and agencies to collaborate in a bid to ensure safety on the roads.

 

The guidelines will serve as a reference document for engineering education and enforcement, and to develop a safe-road network system in Nigeria.

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FCTA to Open Zuba Cottage Hospital in 2015

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has said that it would launch Zuba Cottage in 2015.

 

The Secretary, Health and Human Services Secretariat of the FCTA, Dr. Demola Onakomaika made the disclosure in Abuja recently, while speaking to journalists. He said an supplementary building and the employment of qualified staff are some of the issues delaying the launch of the hospital.

 

“The Zuba case is not abandoned because of the high rate attrition by the healthcare workers in FCT due to the cost of living. This people as soon as they get employment in other places they will leave, last year over 400 left,” he explained.

 

He further explained that the auxiliary building, which is meant to be a staff quarters, was not initially captured in the design of the hospital but was now being added, hence the delay in its opening.

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FG Launches E- Curriculum Portal for Schools

The federal government has launched an e-curriculum portal to help teachers and students in primary, junior and senior secondary schools in the country.

 

The Minister of State for Education, Mr Nyesom Wike, who launched the portal yesterday in Abuja, revealed that it was developed by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) and SIDMACH Technologies Nigeria Limited to address the shortage of the national curricula in schools.

 

“The NERDC e-curriculum portal is a web-based, efficient and effective curriculum management solution for primary and secondary schools,” he said. “This solution will provide digital access to school curricula, provision of sample teaching resources for teachers to prepare lesson notes, provision of sample learning materials for the learners.”

 

 “The portal will provide the teachers across Nigeria to compare notes learn new methods of teaching, build capacity through collaborative teaching resources provided on the portal from time to time,” he added.

 

He called on stakeholders in the curriculum implementation in both government and private educational institutions to support the project and continue to strengthen the quality of the education sector.

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AEDC Procures 23 Vehicles to Boost Service Delivery

The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has recently purchased 18 Toyota Hilux trucks and five Kia Sedan cars in order to improve service delivery to its customers in Abuja, Niger, Kogi, and Nasarawa states.

At the launch of the vehicles in Abuja, the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Neil Croucher, said the procurement of the vehicles, which cost N106, 523,876, was in line with the company’s promise to deliver efficient service in its coverage area.

“Given the very poor state of facilities in our coverage area as at the time we took over management of the company last year, we strongly felt we need to deploy new vehicles like these ones to fast track our responses to complaints by our customers,” he said.

“As you are already aware, we (at AEDC) are investing massively in improving the quality of equipment on our network, and I am delighted by the kind of responses we are getting from our customers on the noticeable improvement in service delivery,” he added.

He however noted that there was still a lot to be done but stressed that the company was willing to continue to improve its services.

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Nigeria’s Electricity Generation Rises to 4500 MW

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has said that Nigeria’s electricity generation profile has risen to about 4500 megawatts.

 

Prof Nebo who made the disclosure in Abuja yesterday said that the improvement  was partly aided by the  construction of a 700MW combined cycle power plant in Bayelsa State.

 

He also attributed the boost in electricity generation and distribution in the country to increase in gas supply to thermal generation plants.

 

“I am very sure that some of you if not all of you would have noticed that within the past few weeks we have averaged about 4,500MW of power delivery and it has been stable,” he said. “And that means that most of you are now getting better power supply than you have had in the recent past.

 

Gas is now coming in and we are expecting even a lot more of gas.”

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FCT Minister Pledges to Pursue Pro-People Projects

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed, has said that his administration will continue to strive to complete all people-oriented projects in the territory.

The minister who made the promise at the weekend in Abuja, debunked rumours that the FCT administration plans to discontinue the community and social development initiative.

“The FCT administration under my watch will continue to support any programme or project that is in conformity with the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan because Mr President sent me here to represent him,” he said.

“The community and social development projects initiative is concerned with the empowerment of communities to develop, implement and monitor micro-social infrastructure projects including natural-resource management interventions as well as strengthening of the skills and capacity of grassroots tiers of government to support communities with a view to improving their standard of living,” he added.

He further stated that instead of abandoning the projects, his administration has sped up work on them, adding that the FCTA will sustain partnership with global financial institutions, towards bringing more development on the doorsteps of the far-flung rural dwellers in Abuja.

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The Final Third and Finishing Strong

Starting today, we enter the fastest part of the year in terms of perception. Somehow, most of us believe the so-called "ember" months i.e. September, October (which has no "ember" to begin with) November and December run way faster than the earlier parts of the year. The reason is not far fetched.

Most people start the year thinking "it's a new year" and look to take things a bit easy. It still feels like a "new year" for many even when Easter comes in early April. For many, the year never really gets started until July. From July, an understanding that time may be running out on the year sort of begins to dawn.

By the time September comes, many projects are packed into a four-month period that should have been done the previous eight months. Most people "work harder" and "faster" and seek to do a lot more than they did in the previous eight months. Before anything gets done, the pressure that goes with the end of the year comes piling and you often end up feeling "the year has gone by so fast!" But that is not true.

Those who make the best of the year are those who make the best of each day! Those who pay critical attention to the parts certainly have the whole under control. Too many times, we are focused on having a great year but we forget that if we don't take care of what is within our immediate control - a day - we cannot do much with a year.

It is never too late to make the year count. If you are given one orange and you divide it into three equal parts and you eat two of the parts, the last part left becomes your new 100 per cent. Try it, it suddenly looks a lot more important than the other two you want to be careful not to expend it too quickly. The reason is because it suddenly dawns on you that your orange could soon be finished!
You are likely to eat it a lot more slowly than you did the first two. We are naturally inclined to wanting to eat our orange and having it at the same time. The final third is often crucial and it could be the difference between a great year and a disastrous one. It is the part that calls for one to finish strong!

The best football teams in the world are often teams that play so well in the final third that  they put their goals away. The final third is the point of delivery of goals. A team that is poor in the final third is likely to suffer more defeats than a team that is very sharp and effective in the final third. A team that has a sharp and effective final third scores many goals: think Barcelona, think Real Madrid, think Manchester City. These teams are threats to their opponents because of the firepower of their final third.

Today is the beginning of your own final third for this year. No matter what you have accomplished or could not accomplish in the first eight months of the year, these last four months are likely to be what your year would be defined by. It is the closing of either a great year or a not-so-great one. It is often the indicator of what the new year would be like because it often informs the plans and agenda for that new year. The beauty of it is that it is in your hands.

Despite the distractions around us, there is a lot more about our lives that are in our hands than our minds are ready to admit. We have been conditioned to believe things would be better if we had something we do not presently have access to. We are hardly conscious of the fact that we have enough with and within us to get something started. We want a great end to the year so we are looking at having a great September to December, but how can you have a great month if you don't pay attention to the essence and value of each day?

Make this final third about each day within each week. A lot can still get done within these 121 or so days left in the year. If we choose to be focused on what counts and what matters. If we choose not to play to the gallery. If we ask exactly what we want out of this final third of the year, the year stays pregnant with possibilities for those who are ready to birth them. Have my best wishes.

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