FG Eyes $500m World Bank Loan for Rural Roads
Photo Credit:Punch Newspapers
The Federal Government is seeking a $500m loan from the World Bank to enhance rural road infrastructure and agricultural marketing across the federation.
The international lender said the fund was expected to address the dire need for better connectivity in rural Nigeria, where 92 million people currently lack access to good roads.
This request was contained in the final draft of the Resettlement Policy Framework for the Nigeria Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project Scale-UP implemented by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The RAAMP-SU project aims to improve rural access and climate resilience, thereby boosting agricultural potential and marketing prospects for agrarian communities. This, in turn, will contribute to better livelihoods for the rural populace.
The project's objectives include improving rural access and climate resilience of communities in served rural areas, strengthening institutional capacity for rural road network management, and fortifying the financial and institutional foundations for sustainable management of both rural and state road networks.
The RAAMP-SU initiative is an extension of the earlier Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, supported by the World Bank and the French Development Agency. The project is led by the Federal Department of Rural Development within the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, with oversight by the Federal Project Management Unit.
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Eid-el-Kabir: Police Ban Durbar Activities In Kano
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The Kano State Police Command has banned Durbar activities during the forthcoming Eid-el-Kabir celebrations in the state.
A statement by State Commissioner of Police, Mr Usaini Gumel, stated that the ban became necessary to the sustain the peace already achieved by the Police Command, in conjunction with other relevant security stakeholders.
"In furtherance, a ban on all contending parties has been placed restraining both from conducting Durbar activities for the upcoming Eid-el-Kabir celebrations," Gumel said.
He, however, advised worshippers to conduct their normal Eid prayers at various designated praying grounds, as was traditionally done in the past.
"In this trying period, the police will enforce the existing court order and prevail on the two contending parties regarding the Kano Emirship tussle to remain apart and respect the court order," he said.
The commissioner said the command would want to see continued collaboration and cooperation from all stakeholders to collectively work together to build a safer and more secure environment.
He urged the general public to keep reporting any suspicious movement of persons or items to the nearest police station.
Court To Hear Suit Seeking Ganduje's Sack, June 26
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A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed June 26 to hear a suit seeking the removal of the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Ganduje.
Justice Inyang Ekwo fixed the date on Thursday after the plaintiff's lawyer, Benjamin Davou, sought the leave of the court to allow time to reply to Ganduje's preliminary objection.
The plaintiff, the North Central APC Forum, led by Saleh Zazzaga, is in the suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/599/2024, querying the propriety of Ganduje's appointment as the chairman of the APC when he is not from the North Central geo-political zone.
Listed as defendants in the case are Ganduje, the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
When the case was called on Thursday, Davou said although the suit was slated for hearing, it would not be possible because Ganduje's lawyer, Raymond Asikeni, had just served him the notice of preliminary objection and their counter affidavit.
He promised to file his reply to the two sets of documents filed by Ganduje, first thing on Wednesday after the public holiday.
Justice Ekwo then adjourned until June 26 for hearing.
"On the date of hearing, the preliminary objection will be taken together with the substantive suit.
"The processes of any party that is absent from court shall be deemed as adopted," he said.
The plaintiff in the main suit, the North Central All Progressives Congress (APC) Forum, wants the court to restrain Ganduje from further parading himself as the chairman of the party.
Dangote Refinery Plans 5.3bn Litres Fuel Storage
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The President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, says it is expanding the storage capacity of his refinery by 600 million litres.
This, according to him, will enable the refinery to have a storage capacity of 5.3 billion litres.
The Dangote Petrochemical Refinery refinery currently has 4.78 billion litres of storage capacity for refined petroleum products.
Dangote spoke at the Afreximbank Annual Meetings and AfriCaribbean Trade & Investment Forum in Nassau, The Bahamas on Wednesday.
The billionaire alleged that international oil companies refused to sell crude oil to his refinery because they did not want him to succeed.
Asked to speak on whether or not his refinery would crash the pump price of petrol, which currently sells at around N700 per litre, Dangote gave no affirmative answer, but he quickly recounted how the price of diesel fell from 1,700 to N1,200 when his diesel flooded the market.
"The issue of gasoline is certainly a different issue. That one is being dealt with by the government. But let me give you an example. In the diesel, which the industries, transporters and everybody consume; when we first started, it was N1,700, and the dollar conversion was about N1,200 then. Immediately when we started, within two weeks we brought down the price to N1,000. We took it from N1,700 to N1,200 and from N1,200 to N1,700, we have given more than 60 per cent drop in price.
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