Buhari commissions N1.2bn surveillance facility in Kaduna

President Muhammadu Buhari (middle) inaugurates the ‘Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Command Centre’ in Kaduna State yesterday.

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday commissioned the N1.2 billion surveillance and monitoring system of the Command and Control Centre of the Kaduna State aimed at tackling the security challenges in the state.

The president commended the decision of the state government to commit a significant part of its  resources to including technology in the security architecture of the country.

He said surmounting security challenges in Nigeria requires intense corporation between the federal and state governments.

He said the aerial surveillance and monitoring system included a combination of fixed wind drones and higher resolution cameras that are put in several locations across the state.

Buhari  advised the management of the surveillance system to work closely with the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria and the Ministry of Defence to safeguard civilians and military air traffic.

Governor Nasiru El-Rufai said it took the state two years to commission the aerial system at the cost of  N1.24 billion.

He appealed to the president to support the state in securing the final approval of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority for the full deployment of the system.

Daily Trust

PDP Yet To Explain The Irresponsible Expenditure Of 1999 To 2014 —Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the Peoples Democratic Party has yet to explain the “irresponsible expenditure” that took place between 1999 and 2014.

He said the main opposition party still has questions to answer on how it spent the oil money that accrued to the country within that period.

He spoke in Abuja when he received the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress on a visit to congratulate him on his re-election.

The NLC was led by the National President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba.

“PDP has not successfully explained to the country what they did with the money,” he told the NLC leadership; adding, “There were no roads, no rail, no power. They said they spent $16bn on power, but where is the power?

“The irresponsible expenditure of that period has not been explained, and Nigerians deserve an answer on that terrible mismanagement of the country.”

Punch

Buhari: PDP Should Explain What Happened To $592b Oil Wealth

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) still owes Nigerians explanation on how it expended the humongous resources that accrued to the country from oil sales between 1999 and 2014, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.

An estimate by NEITI put the total amount earned during the period at $592 billion, with nothing to show for it.

President Buhari raised the issue at a meeting with the leadership of organised labour in Abuja on Thursday.

The labour leaders came to felicitate with him on his electoral victory.

The President said his administration met a country with dilapidated infrastructure all round in 2015, and it calls to serious question what the party that was in power for 16 years did with the country’s earnings from oil, which reached a peak during the period.

“PDP has not successfully explained to the country what they did with the money,” President Buhari said.

“There were no roads, no rail, no power. They said they spent $16 billion on power, but where is the power? The irresponsible expenditure of that period has not been explained, and Nigerians deserve an answer on that terrible mismanagement of the country.”

The President thanked organized labour “for the support and patriotism you have shown during the presidential election, especially after the unexpected postponement. You and your members stepped in to support willing Nigerians to exercise their civic and patriotic rights to vote. You intervened as patriots, and not for political, religious or tribal purposes. You simply did the right thing during a difficult period for many of us.”

On what Nigerians can look forward to in the next lap of the journey, President Buhari said he would continue pushing the Change Agenda, “and remain focused on our core pillars of security, economy, and fight against corruption.”

He urged organized labour to partner with the government to make the country peaceful, prosperous, and corruption free.

In his remarks, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, lauded the President for being worker-friendly, as exemplified in the granting of bailout funds to state governments to pay backlog of salaries and pensions.

Said the NLC President:

“We all remember the special bailout and budget support you introduced to support state governments during the recession. Your directive during this intervention was that state governments must offset accumulated arrears of salaries and pension liabilities. I remember you publicly asked state governors, ‘how do you manage to sleep at night when the salaries of workers in your state are not paid?’

“For us, that was one of the finest moments we have had with any President in this country…I can stand here today and say your intervention was the difference between life and death for many workers.”

The labour leader appealed to the National Assembly to earnestly pass the National Minimum Wage Act, while also asking the President to thereafter sign it into law within the shortest possible time.

Organized labour pledged to remain “veritable partner in progress with government,” counseling the President to continue to “make the Nigerian people, especially the poor, the centre-piece of your policy initiatives and actions.”

Pmnews

NLC: Payment Of Salaries One Of Our Finest Moments With Buhari

Ayuba Wabba, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), says one of the union’s finest hours with President Muhammadu Buhari was when he released bail-out funds for states to offset arrears of salaries and pension.

Wabba said this during a congratulatory visit by the leadership of the organised labour to the president in Abuja, on Thursday.

Speaking during the visit, the labour leader assured Buhari that the workers are partners in progress with the government.

He said Buhari’s intervention was timely for many workers, noting that the president did the right thing.

“Government and labour are primarily partners in progress. The success of government is linked to its workers. And the success of workers is linked to government,” he said.

“We all remember the special bailout, Paris club refund and budget support package you introduced to support state governments during the recession.

“Your directive during this intervention was state governments must offset accumulated arrears of salaries and pension liabilities. I remember your publicly and openly asked state governors, ‘how do you manage to sleep at night when the salaries of workers in your state are not paid?

“For us, that was one of the finest moments we have had with any president in this country. Your Excellency, I can stand here today and say your intervention was the difference between life and death for many workers.

“We also commend you for paying off the pension and accumulated entitlements of disengaged staff of Nigeria airways and many other pensioners whose pension had been left to accumulate by successive governments. Despite the recession, you did the right thing.”

Wabba urged the president to focus on developing all sectors of the economy.

He appealed to the national assembly to quickly pass the national minimum wage act while asking Buhari to sign it into law within the shortest possible time.

He also urged Buhari to inaugurate the boards of National Pension Commission (PENCOM), National Insurance Fund Trust, the Micheal Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies and National Labour Advisory Council.

According to the him, these bodies are key pillars in labour-government relations.

“The activation of the boards will surely ensure our successes to date are taken to the Next Level. Please be rest assured we are ready to do our bit,” he said.

In his response, Buhari thanked the union and said he was looking forward to “labour’s continued support and engagement.”

The cable

Shehu Sani: PDP Should Recall ALL Past Members For Buhari To Probe

Shehu Sani, senator representing Kaduna central, says he agrees that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should be held accountable for squandering the nation’s resources.

He, however, said this should involve all past and present members of the political party during its sixteen-year rule.

A good number of those in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), including governors and ministers, joined the party from the PDP.

The senator was speaking in reaction to President Muhammadu Buhari’s statement that the party still owes Nigerians explanation on how it spent the huge resources that accrued to the country from oil sales.

The president had said on Thursday : “PDP has not successfully explained to the country what they did with the money. They said they spent $16 billion on power, but where is the power? The irresponsible expenditure of that period has not been explained, and Nigerians deserve an answer on that terrible mismanagement of the country.”

Writing via his Twitter handle, Sani said everyone that was once in the PDP should be made go prepare and present a report on such expenses before the president.

He wrote: “I support the President’s demand that the PDP should explain how they squandered $592 Billion.

“I advise the opposition party to recall all its past and present members (1999 to 2015),to prepare and present to Mr President and the nation a full report of such a monumental waste.”

The cable

PRESIDENT BUHARI MOURNS DR (OLOROGUN) JOSEPH SOWHO

President Muhammadu Buhari commiserates with members of the medical profession, the Delta State government, and the Sowho family on the passage of foremost medical doctor, Olorogun Ebiuwhe Joseph Sowho aged 81.

Dr Sowho, the President says, left his footprints on the sands of time, as an accomplished professional who practised medicine for over 52 years.

After training in Germany, the deceased was medical doctor to the then Green Eagles (now Super Eagles) in the 1970s and ’80s, and also founded the well-known Ethiope Clinic Group in Lagos and Sapele, Delta State, respectively.

Dr Sowho ventured into active politics, and was elected twice as member of the House of Representatives in the Second Republic.

President Buhari says the departed deftly combined medical practice, sports, politics, and service to his people in an admirable way, and posterity would remember him as a man of many parts, who also excelled in all.

He prays that the family and all those who survive Dr Sowho would be comforted, and take solace in the fact that their patriarch lived a life worthy of emulation.

Femi Adesina

Special Adviser to the President

(Media and Publicity)

March 7, 2019

SQUANDERED WEALTH: PDP STILL HAS QUESTIONS TO ANSWER, SAYS PRESIDENT BUHARI

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) still owes Nigerians explanation on how it expended the humongous resources that accrued to the country from oil sales between 1999 and 2014, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.

Receiving the leadership of organized labour which came to felicitate with him on his electoral victory at State House, Abuja, Thursday, the President said the current administration met a country with dilapidated infrastructure all round in 2015, and it calls to serious question what the party that was in power for 16 years did with the country’s earnings from oil, which reached a peak during the period.

“PDP has not successfully explained to the country what they did with the money,” President Buhari said. “There were no roads, no rail, no power. They said they spent $16 billion on power, but where is the power? The irresponsible expenditure of that period has not been explained, and Nigerians deserve an answer on that terrible mismanagement of the country.”

The President thanked organized labour “for the support and patriotism you have shown during the presidential election, especially after the unexpected postponement. You and your members stepped in to support willing Nigerians to exercise their civic and patriotic rights to vote. You intervened as patriots, and not for political, religious or tribal purposes. You simply did the right thing during a difficult period for many of us.”

On what Nigerians can look forward to in the next lap of the journey, President Buhari said he would continue pushing the Change Agenda, “and remain focused on our core pillars of security, economy, and fight against corruption.”

He urged organized labour to partner with the government to make the country peaceful, prosperous, and corruption free.

In his remarks, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, lauded the President for being worker-friendly, as exemplified in the granting of bailout funds to state governments to pay backlog of salaries and pensions.
Said the NLC President:
“We all remember the special bailout and budget support you introduced to support state governments during the recession. Your directive during this intervention was that state governments must offset accumulated arrears of salaries and pension liabilities. I remember you publicly asked state governors, ‘how do you manage to sleep at night when the salaries of workers in your state are not paid?’

“For us, that was one of the finest moments we have had with any President in this country…I can stand here today and say your intervention was the difference between life and death for many workers.”

The labour leader appealed to the National Assembly to earnestly pass the National Minimum Wage Act, while also asking the President to thereafter sign it into law within the shortest possible time.

Organized labour pledged to remain “veritable partner in progress with government,” counseling the President to continue to “make the Nigerian people, especially the poor, the centre-piece of your policy initiatives and actions.”

Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media and Publicity)
March 7, 2019

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