Fashola signs law against phone use, eating by motorists
For Lagos
motorists, especially early risers, who miss their breakfast in their rush to
workplaces but find solace in snacks or other quick-fix food while behind the
wheels, it is the end of an era. In simple terms, it is motorists beware! Just
a bite on that snack or a sip from a sachet or bottle of water from that
harmless hawker while on motion is now a traffic offence in the state. It is
also a crime for Lagos motorists to make or receive phone calls while they are
on motion. And the punishment is a three-year jail term or a fine of N20,000
for first offenders and N30,000 for subsequent offences or both for any
other breaches subject to the discretion of the presiding magistrate.
These sanctions
are contained in the Lagos Traffic Bill, which Governor Babatunde Fashola
signed into law yesterday. The law also banned commercial motorcyclists,
popularly known as Okada, cart, wheel barrow and tricycle operators from
carrying out their activities on the state’s section of the Lagos-Ibadan
Expressway, Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Ikorodu Road, Agege Motor Road, Funsho
Williams Avenue, Eko Bridge, Third Mainland Bridge, Carter Bridge, Lagos-Badagry
Expressway, Victoria Island-Lekki-Epe Expressway and all bridges in the state.
For routes, which the law allows them to operate, commercial cyclists must
limit their activities to between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. One minute outside this
time-frame is an offence.
However,
motorcycles of courier companies are exempted except that they must have engine
capacity of 200cc, bear the prescribed number plates and identification, fitted
with proper mail cabin and without any passenger.
The law also prohibits articulated trucks (trailers
and others) from entering or moving within the Lagos metropolis from 6.00 a.m.
to 9.00 p.m. This, however, does not affect fuel tankers and long passengers’ vehicles. Any
defaulting trailer operator will have his vehicle impounded and to pay a N50,000
fine or a six-month imprisonment upon conviction.
Fashola, who signed the bill at the Banquet Hall of
the State House, Alausa, Ikeja, said the law was in response to the growing
challenge of road and traffic management and the need to ensure that those who
chose the state as their home are not short-changed by regular traffic
offenders. He said his government was committed to addressing transportation
challenges in the state, adding that the law, which took 18 months to prepare, would
complement his administration’s efforts at bringing sanity to the
roads through the provision of adequate highway signs, traffic lights as well
as a traffic radio.
The governor
urged motorists to see the law as a means to changing the state for the better,
adding that the success of the law would be defined by the voluntary compliance
of motorists and road users and not the number of arrests traffic management
officers would make.
For
three hours Thursday, the Senate Committee on Appropriation grilled the
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, over the implementation of the 2012 budget that has pitted the
National Assembly against the presidency. Okonjo-Iweala, who led a delegation
that included the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, told the
senators that the executive arm of government had not violated any law
regarding the release of funds to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs)
in the implementation of the budget.
Others
on the delegation were Director General, Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okogu, the
Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Ogunniyi Otunla, and the
Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy
Emodi. However, Senate President David Mark Thursday dismissed reports of a
frosty relationship between the executive and the legislature over the
implementation of the budget, describing them as “over
exaggerated”.
Okonjo-Iweala, who was summoned by the committee to brief it on
the implementation of the budget, said: “We
have violated no law. We have implemented the budget, releasing monies as and
when due. At no time has the Ministry of Finance or the minister violated the
Appropriation Act.”
Her defense on the piecemeal release of appropriated funds to MDAs that has
irked the legislature was made just as she condemned the practice of allowing
the budget to spill over into a new fiscal year.
She
said the extension of the annual budget into the succeeding year was not good
budgetary practice and pledged that the executive would endeavour to present the
2013 Appropriation Bill in September. This, she added, would give the National
Assembly ample time to consider its passage so that the implementation can run
its traditional course of January to December.
In
her presentation, Okonjo-Iweala said of the N1.3 trillion earmarked for capital
projects in the budget, a total sum of N404 billion had been released. Of the
released sum, N324 billion of the amount was cash-backed, while N184 billion of
the cash-backed sum, representing 56 per cent, had been utilized by the MDAs as
at July ending. The remaining 44 per cent, she said, was yet to be utilized but
she assured the senators that the MDAs were making efforts to utilize these
funds through various procurements preparatory to the execution of projects.
The minister, however, drew a distinction between the utilization
of funds released and the real budget execution which, she said, stood at some
41.3 per cent. She explained that so far, the budget had not fared badly
because going by the quantum of funds budgeted
for capital projects this year, the Federal Ministry of Finance was expected to
release, on average, N113 billion per month.
According
to her, the budget has been implemented for only four months since the budget
cycle effectively began in April. She said it was premature for anyone to
describe the budget as a failure and advised the lawmakers to wait until the
end of the budget year to be able to undertake a fair assessment of her
performance in implementing the budget.
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has released the list of 54
companies that met the July 31 deadline for submission of technical and
financial proposals for the privatization of the 11 distribution companies
(Discos) created from the unbundling of Power Holding Company of Nigeria
(PHCN). A statement yesterday by Head, Public Communications at the bureau, Mr.
Chukwuma Nwoko, identified the companies that submitted bids for Ikeja Disco as
Rockson Engineering Ltd; SEO International;
Oando Consortium;
Amperion Power Distribution Co Ltd; Honeywell Energy Resources International
Ltd; Integrated Energy Distribution & Marketing
Ltd; West Power & Gas Ltd;
Vigeo Holdings, Gumco, African Corporation AFC & CESC Consortium; Daniel Power Plant Company Nigeria
Ltd; and KEPCO/NEDC Consortium.
Rockson
also submitted bids for Benin and Port Harcourt Discos, while Oando also bided
for Eko Disco. The eight other bidders for Eko are Integrated Energy Distribution
& Marketing Ltd; NPD Consortium; SEPCO-Pacific Energy Consortium; West
Power & Gas; Electric Utilities Nigeria Ltd; KEPCO/NEDC Consortium; ENL
Consortium Ltd; and Honeywell Energy Resources International Ltd.
Benin Disco attracted seven bids from Southern Electricity
Distribution Company;
Cable & Rods Company Nigeria Ltd;
Copper Belt Consortium;
Rockson Engineering Company Ltd;
RENSMART Power Ltd;
Duncan Freeman Company/Draytom Energy Ltd; and Vigeo Power Consortium, while
seven other consortiums, Western Consortium; ENL Consortium Ltd; Integrated
Energy Distribution & Marketing Ltd; Skipper Nigeria Ltd; ICOMM Energy Ltd;
Electric Utilities Ltd; and KEPCO/NEDC Consortium submitted bids for Ibadan
Disco. Skipper Nigeria Ltd also bided for Abuja and Kaduna Discos.
Other bidders for Abuja are NAHCO Power Consortium; KANN
Consortium Utility Company Ltd; Interstate Electrics Ltd; and ENL Consortium
Ltd. For Enugu Disco, the bidders are Interstate Electrics Ltd; Rensmart Power
Ltd; Proglobal Power International Consortium; and Eastern Electric Nigeria
Ltd. The two companies that submitted bids for Jos Disco are Masters Energy Oil
& Gas Ltd; and Aura Energy Ltd. NAHCO Energy & Power Ltd; and Skipper
Nigeria Ltd were the only two companies that bided for Kaduna Disco, while
Sahelian Power SPV Ltd; and Profile Energy Consortium Ltd submitted bids for
Kano Disco.
Utility
Integrated Management Services Ltd;
Rockson Engineering Company Ltd; and Power Consortium were the three bidders
for Port Harcourt , while SNECOU Group of Companies Ltd; Vivadis Power Ltd
(ORTECH Consortium); and Integrated Energy Distribution & Marketing Ltd
bided for Yola Disco. Meanwhile, Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji yesterday
met with workers and the management of the PHCN successor companies in a
two-hour crucial meeting where he explained to them government’s position in the ongoing power sector reforms.
Nnaji
who was accompanied to the meeting in Abuja by Minister of Labour and
Productivity, Chief Emeka Nwogu, Permanent Secretary in the ministry of power, Dr.
Dere Awosika, and members of the government-labour negotiating panel told
workers of PHCN that technically, the utility was no longer in existence.
Stating that he was on a first contact interaction with the workers in his
resolve to answer questions that may have troubled their minds over the ongoing
privatization exercise, Nnaji explained to the workers that it was high time
they realized that they were been deceived by officials of PHCN and National
Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) who had since 2004 failed to remit
accumulated funds from the 25 percent deducted from their salaries into their
pension scheme.
ECB may resort to bond market for EU debt crisis
The European
Central Bank (ECB) President, Mario Draghi, said the financial institution may
wade forcefully into bond markets in tandem with Europe’s rescue fund,
stepping up its crisis response, despite the reservations of Germany’s Bundesbank. “The euro is
irreversible,” Draghi said at a press conference in Frankfurt today after
keeping the benchmark interest rate at 0.75 per cent.
Elevated bond
yields “that are related to fears of the reversibility of the euro are
unacceptable, and they need to be addressed in a fundamental manner,” he said. The
ECB may therefore “undertake outright open market operations of a size adequate to
reach its objective.”
The euro declined and Spanish bond yields rose on
disappointment that Draghi didn’t signal imminent ECB action. While
Draghi said the Bundesbank has reservations about ECB bond purchases, and the
details of the plan still need to be hammered out, the proposal, nevertheless,
signals a new chapter in the battle against the debt crisis.
Draghi left open
the question of whether the ECB would print new money by refraining from
sterilizing asset purchases. “Although the ECB did not start to
actually intervene in bond markets today, Draghi sent a strong message that the
ECB will do all it takes,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank in
London. “Of course, the ECB cannot and has not solved the euro crisis. But
all in all, the chances have risen substantially that the worst of the current
wave of the crisis could soon be over.”
Draghi said ECB bond purchases would be in the
secondary market, focus on shorter-term maturities and address investors’ concerns about
seniority. They would only be used to complement buying by the rescue fund in
the primary market, to which strict conditionality is attached, he said. ECB
officials are working on the plan and details will be fleshed out in coming
weeks.
Unlike the ECB’s previous
bond-buying programme, which was shelved in March, Draghi said no decisions
have been taken on whether new purchases would be sterilized. If they aren’t, the ECB would
be entering similar territory to the Federal Reserve and Bank of England by
pumping new money into the system without draining it elsewhere.
The euro initially climbed as much as 0.5 per cent
to $1.2405 after Draghi’s comments before falling to $1.2151 at 6:10 p.m. in Frankfurt.
The yield on Spain’s two-year bond dropped 10 basis points to 4.8 per cent, while
those on longer- dated maturities rose. Italy’s 10-year yield
surged 58 basis points to 6.32 per cent.
“The market reacted positively when
Draghi said the ECB will address the seniority issue,” said Mohit
Kumar, head of European fixed income strategy at Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest bank. “But then when
details emerged, it suggested he is giving guidelines without giving concrete
measures.”
New electricity policy targets gas access for new plants
The
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is working on a new
regulation that would ensure that electricity power plants in the country have
adequate arrangements for gas supply before being granted operating licences.
When the law comes into force, the prevailing lack of gas supply to the
generation plants, which has plagued the electricity power sector, is expected
to be a thing of the past, as the future plant owners would be made to factor
in gas supply into their power plant plan.
Chairman
of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Sam Amadi, said in Abuja, on
Wednesday, that the proposed procurement framework also focuses on the role of
the bulk or special trader (now established as Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading
Plc) and on the distribution licensees who are authorized to procure
electricity through bilateral power purchase agreements.
Amadi noted that the new framework
would facilitate the involvement of the private sector in the provision of
generation capacity to a buyer on the basis of rules that provide certainty,
transparency and fairness of the procurement process and its outcome.
He added: “Comments and observations have been invited from all
stakeholders and members of the public on the draft guidelines and regulations.
The general public is requested to send in their comments to the commission
within 30 days of publication, starting August 1, 2012.”
He stressed that the framework
comprises guidelines and regulations to govern bulk electricity generation
procurement and establishes a systematic, transparent and competitive process
for procuring additional electric generation capacity at least cost to consumers.
“NERC
has so far issued over 40 licenses to potential independent power producers for
the supply of new electricity on-grid generation capacity of more than 10,
000MW. All the proposals were unsolicited, and the resulting cost to the
Nigerian power system and the consumer could be significant and perhaps
unacceptable if this un-orderly approach continues.
“In
order to avert such costs both to the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry
(NESI) and the Nigerian consumer, NERC seeks to evolve towards the procurement
framework already mandated in the Market Rules for the Transitional and Medium
Term Stages of the Nigerian Electrical Power Sector, 2010, brought into effect
by Presidential order in February 2009,”
he said. There is a growing disquiet in government over the ability of this
administration to meet up with its electricity targets for this year and
neighboring years owing to poor planning for gas and a seeming cosmetic
approach to solving the real problems of the sector.
Govt. to commence digital loading of petroleum products in N
Controversies
over the accuracy of records for crude oil export and import, and the payment
of subsidy claims to marketers may soon be laid to rest, as the government is
planning to introduce 100 per cent electronic system of loading of petroleum
products, beginning from November. The Executive Secretary of Petroleum
Equalization Fund (PEF), Mrs. Adefunke Kasali, gave the hint in Abuja
yesterday, during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
She
said the project had been tagged ‘Project
Aquila’, and would help to track down fraudulent marketers
and enhance prompt payment of marketers’
claims. “With project Aquila, the first thing is that there
must be loading and there must be receiving.
One of the things that we have had is an issue where we were never sure that an
item that was loaded was received. “And
in some cases we even had situations where it was purportedly received, but it
was never loaded.
“Aquila will ensure that there is a genuine
transaction and that the product was loaded and received. The other thing with
Aquila is that the processing of that transaction is now very smooth and
efficient and then the payment is done typically under two weeks.” Kasali said at least 60 per cent of the depots in
the country had been covered since the agency commenced electronic tracking of
loading and movement of fuel tankers across the country in April.
According
to her the agency was working very hard to ensure that all the depots in the
country are “Aquila ready” by the end of November. She explained that the
project would entail using the latest Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
tag, which would be administered to companies and operators. “With Aquila we have moved to an end-to-end
electronic solution where it is loaded and dispatched by a mobile computer
working with an RFID device, so that at each of our depots, our depot
representatives have this device, this is the mobile computer part of it and
the RFID device, which reads the information,”
she said.
According to her, the new
electronic solution would bring more efficiency and effectiveness in
determining the volume of petroleum products bridged across the country to
facilitate payments. She described the electronic solution as “the first full end-to-end operation and payment
solutions anywhere in the country.”
Kasali said the new software was designed to “have
little human interference” and thereby not
vulnerable to manipulation
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