Farouq made this known in her opening remark at a symposium to commemorate the 2020 International Day of the Older Persons, on Thursday in Abuja.

She said the symposium was an annual celebration of senior citizens around the world and a chance to take stock of the opportunities and challenges related to population ageing.

“The ministry serves as the national vehicle to bring about speedy humanitarian policies and provide effective coordination of national and international humanitarian interventions, and ensure strategic disaster mitigation, preparedness and response.

“The ministry also manages the formulation and implementation of fair-focused social inclusion, policies and protection programmes in Nigeria.

“In realisation of this fact, the ministry initiated various programmes and activities toward ensuring healthy ageing and overall wellbeing of the elderly.

“When approved, it will go a long way to address challenges faced by senior citizens today,” Farouq said.

According to her, not fewer than 17,000 people, aged over 60 years, have lost their lives to COVID-19 Pandemic in the African Region.

“The figure accounts for 50 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in the region,” she said.

She emphasised that it was time to recognise the significant contributions that older persons made to families, communities and societies.

“Throughout their lives, they have given their time and energy to helping others and they continue to do so.

“In return, we should do more to support their human rights and freedoms, including their right to live in dignity and security, free from want and fear,” Farouq said.

Our correspondent reports that Farouq was represented at the event by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Alhaji Bashir Alkali.

Also speaking, the Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, urged government and business owners to work towards ensuring free transportation, medication and legal services for elderly people.

He also emphasised the need for timely payment of pensions.

According to the VON boss, such will make them happy and also encourage the younger generation.

“Free transportation and medication is necessary and important for the aged. If the aged are happy, the young ones will be happier.

“Let us help the aged so that the young will not resort to self help. If the aged are not paid their pensions, the young will seek avenues to loot public treasury to take care of their old age,” Okechukwu said.

The post FG says National Policy on Ageing ready for approval appeared first on NEWSVERGE.

Mrs Mary-Beth Leonard, the U.S Ambassador to Nigeria, gave the conditions during a familiarisation visit to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, on Tuesday in Abuja.

Leonard said that the policy will be reviewed once Nigeria improves her data intelligence, such that it would be easy to investigate any immigrant wishing to visit her country and meet information sharing systems, the ban might likely be reviewed.

It would be recalled that the U.S recently announced that it is expanding its curbs on immigration to include six more countries, including Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation.

This development means that citizens from Nigeria, Eritrea, Sudan, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar will now be blocked from obtaining certain types of visas.

“I think I need to clarify something for you here, the immigrant visa ban does not affect people who are currently resident in the United States. It does not cancel the status of anyone currently in the United States.

“What Mike Pompeo, U.S Secretary of States, said was something that was meant to be temporary. And it is about problems with information sharing which are investigable, achievable and resolvable.

“We look forward to Nigeria in a very short while being able to meet those information sharing goal so that the decision can be reviewed.

“Also, students visas are not affected by the current visa ban,” according to her.

On diversification policy, Leonard said there was need for skill set of Nigerians to be effectively harnessed and internationalised, such that they would not be seen as illegal immigrants when they go abroad to work.

She added “I think for Nigeria, you have interesting story about diversification of your economy and prosperity of your economy and its people. You know Nigerians are so well known at home and abroad for their industriousness.”

She however called on the Nigerian government to capture the entrepreneurial spirit in the informal sector by bringing on board into the formal sector service to enhance employment in the country.

The minister however said that the immigrant visa ban by the U.S was impunity.

Ngige noted that Nigeria has over 70 per cent of Nigerian professionals who migrated to the U.S for the betterment of their skills.

“This includes the medical doctors, engineers, ICT, among others, who are resident in the U.S and when the U.S government gave the ban it came to us as a rude shock that their legal status would be cancelled.

“I will want to say that Nigerian professionals over there are highly qualified to have their visa status residence over there,” he said.

Ngige however called on the U.S government to assist Nigeria to build schools in the areas where child labour is an endemic in the country.

“We have done a total of 14,000 labour inspection out of which we detected about 3,900 child labour defaulters and we have empowered them economically and encouraged them to go to school or learn skills,” he added.

The post Visa ban: US gives Nigeria conditions for review of policy appeared first on NEWSVERGE.

Dabiri-Erewa disclosed this to State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

She expressed optimism that the document would be considered by the council in the New Year.

The chairman said she was in the Presidential Villa to brief the president on the activities of the commission which was set up in May.

“We have dealt with a lot of issues — xenophobic attacks in South Africa and those who have returned; recently too, young Nigerians stranded in Croatia returned and we received them in the office.

“We have various engagements; we have sent the Diaspora Policy to the FEC; hopefully, it will be considered in the New Year.

“The Diaspora policy is a holistic policy that actually will guide all Diaspora engagements; it covers all aspects of Diaspora engagements.

“It will transcend virtually every ministry that has to do with Diaspora; every department and agency; already, we are working with states; 13 states have focal persons on Diaspora; there are two commissioners for Diaspora.

“Ondo State has a House Committee on Diaspora Chairman; and we hope that other states will have their focal persons because we need to also move to the sub-national governments in terms of Diaspora engagements.

“We believe that if we are able to have this policy; it will actually revolutionarise a lot of things in this country.’’

Dabiri-Erewa said that she briefed the president on the short, medium and long term goals of the commission.

She said that the president had instructed that wherever Nigerians were, their welfare should be paramount.

According to her, in line with the president’s directive, the commission is always engaging with Nigerians wherever they are to make sure no one is neglected.

“So, as we move into the New Year, we have started a process of having a Diaspora database to know exactly the number of Nigerians in Diaspora as accurately as we can.

“Hopefully, we will have a Diaspora Policy that will be ratified by FEC and then we continue our engagements.

“We have had the Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit which was very successful; we are planning the Nigeria Diaspora Trust Fund because Nigerians in Diaspora want to invest in the country and they want to contribute.

“So, Diaspora Investment Trust Fund will be coming up in the New Year and a lot of other engagements and activities; and as per the returnees from South Africa, like we said earlier, we have not abandoned and will not abandon them.’’

Dabiri-Erewa said that in January 2020, NDC would meet again with SMEDAN and other relevant agencies with a view to addressing the plight of the returnees from South Africa.

She said that the commission would also be engaging the National Assembly to look into the issue of Diaspora voting.

According to her, Nigerians in Diaspora believe they should be able to vote as they are remitting so much money to the country and contributing much to the economy.

Dabiri-Erewa said that in 2019, Diaspora remittances from Nigerians in the Diaspora amounted to 25 million dollars excluding informal remittances.

“We believe they deserve to vote.

“So, the parliament, we hope we can work with them to amend the relevant laws to make it possible for Nigerians in Diaspora to able to vote,’’ the chairman said.

She said that the commission was facing funding challenges as it got zero allocation for overhead in 2020 budget while the National Assembly gave it N300 million.

The chairman said that financial issues would not discourage the commission from carrying out its mandate as its members of staff are dedicated to work.

The post Nigeria Diaspora policy underway – Dabiri-Erewa appeared first on NEWSVERGE.

The president stated this at the closing ceremony of the Presidential Policy Dialogue Session held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday.

He said: “From the presentations, discussions and exchanges, I could clearly see the patriotism and commitment you all have for this country.

“This gives me hope that we will surely leave a better Nigeria for future generations to come.’’

On the two days Policy Retreat, the president observed that several case studies were presented on how different countries successfully addressed various issues confronting them.

“I listened carefully and attentively throughout all the presentations and the subsequent exchanges in the question and answer sessions. What was very obvious is that the journey for each country was different.

“A good example is on infrastructure development. The path adopted by Ethiopia is from my understanding, the complete opposite of Brazil.

“This is also the same when it comes to agriculture, where Brazil adopted large scale mechanised agriculture while Ethiopia took the out grower and contract farming model.

“The same can be said when you compare the oil and gas policies of Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States as shown in one of the presentations.

“Like my brother, the former Prime Minister of Ethiopia mentioned, the only right answer is the one that is tailored to your specific needs,’’ he said.

Buhari, however, maintained that while benchmarking Nigeria against other countries, “we must not lose sight of the laws, regulations, geography, culture, history and many other factors that makes us Nigerians.

“Some of you may remember me saying some years back that what we need are “made in Nigeria solutions for our uniquely Nigerian problems”.

He said already in agricultural sector, the country had partnered with the Kingdom of Morocco to revive dozens of abandoned fertiliser blending plants across the country.

He added that the Federal Government had also introduced the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme that provided cheap credit to small scale farmers to buy the right inputs that would lead to enhanced yields.

The Nigerian leader disclosed that his administration had successfully developed the food security programme that provided capital to large scale food processors to enable them to off-take the grains produced by these farmers.

He stated that the government introduced policies that restrict imports to support the consumption of locally produced food items.

“Through these interventions, we were able to systematically address some of the value chain issues confronting agriculture.

“This led to significant job creation in the rural economy and savings in our foreign reserves. They also led to a lowering of food prices,’’ he said.

On infrastructure, the president revealed that through the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund, his administration had invested in strategic projects across the country such as the Second Niger Bridge, Lagos Ibadan Express Way and the Abuja – Kaduna – Kano highway.

He, however, noted that in Agriculture, the government was just an enabler, as it linked the farmers to input suppliers and off-takers while providing extension services.

“In infrastructure development, we decided to build the roads ourselves for now.

“As a nation, the limited experience we have on road concessions have not been very positive. But that, he said, we will continue to explore,’’ added.

On the key proposals made by the experts at the policy retreat for the federal government to consider over the next four years, the president assured that the incoming Federal Executive Council (FEC) would deliberate and implement the relevant strategic initiatives.

It was reported that the resource experts at the policy retreat had recommended that the federal government should;

“Stimulate significant investments in the industrialisation of agriculture; Develop policies that will facilitate private sector participation in infrastructure projects;

“Introduce policies and regulatory changes that will unlock growth potentials in the petroleum sector – both upstream and downstream;

“Aggressively improve the ease of doing business by reducing bureaucracy and improving inter agency collaboration;

“Providing incentives for investors especially in agriculture and power sectors;

“Facilitate construction of mass and affordable housing to propel economic growth and reduce the massive housing deficit;

“Launch of a consumer credit scheme with the Banking Sector for citizens to have access to long term and affordable mortgages and consumer credit;

“Address our security challenges by working in collaboration with the private sector;

“Fix the power sector by addressing some of the regulatory uncertainties and operational shortcomings of the key players;

“Drive efficiency in public service delivery through realignment of the Ministries, Departments & Agencies (MDAs) and implementation of e-governance solutions.”

Buhari, who noted that most of the proposals were targeted at the federal government, however, charged state governors to do their part especially in the areas of education and health care.

According to him, education and health care are within their constitutional responsibilities.

“As you are aware, some of my Ministerial nominees are currently undergoing their screening at the National Assembly.

“God willing, the proposals from this session will be discussed and finalised with them in the coming weeks as they take on their portfolios,’’ he said.

The president reiterated the determination of his administration to implement initiatives that would lift Nigerians out of poverty through mass employment and social safety nets.

“This is achievable with the right fundamentals in place. We must all keep in mind that a successful economy is one where prosperity is felt by the majority,’’ he maintained.

Buhari thanked members of his party (APC), developmental partners, captains of industries and private sector representatives, industry experts, and all the other speakers and panel members at the retreat.

It was reported that the president later hosted the participants as well as the resource persons to a dinner at the new Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa.

The post Retreat: Our mission is to leave Nigeria a better nation, says Buhari appeared first on NEWSVERGE.

Sanwo-Olu made the announcement at an inter-denominatial thanksgiving service held to honour him and the new administration at the headquarters of the Deeper Life Bible Church in Gbagada, Lagos.

The governor decried the worsening spate of kidnapping in parts of the country.

Sanwo-Olu said the decision for a new security policy became imperative, due to prevailing insecurity challenges across the country which had forced many states to review their security policies.

“In order to finish well, we will be making pronouncement on security because there are so many issues around security within Lagos and across the country.

“We will not sit back and fold our arms. We will work with the security operatives so that in the next couple of days, we will make a very definitive pronouncement on security.

“The pronouncement will include what we need to do and how we will achieve a better secured state.

“Lagos is home to all. It is the home for the rich and the poor. We will strive to ensure that we do this within the resources that are available to us.

“We want to ensure that Lagos becomes the best place anyone can think of in terms of security.”

Sanwo-Olu thanked members of the Deeper Life Bible Church for their prayers, saying that out of the 1,460 days he had to spend in office, he had spent 19 days already remaining 1,441 and that at the end of his tenure “I will be answerable to you all.”

He promised to live by the five principles to finish well enunciated by the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, Mr Alexander Bamgbola, in his sermon.

He pleaded with everyone, including clerics to join him and to help him to finish well.

“You have a role to play. You have a responsibility, duty and obligation to render and I drive it home to all and sundry to abide by the government’s policies on waste management and driving against traffic,” the governor said.

He said that Lagosians must strive to keep the city as clean and beautiful as their homes.

“You must help me to finish well. Do not drive against traffic, you must not dispose refuse indiscriminately. We have declared zero tolerance on potholes and we are rolling out numbers you can send complaints to on bad roads to in a few days’ time,” he said.

Earlier, in his sermon entitled: ”Finishing Well’ with Bible text taken from the book of 1st Corr. 9: 24-27, Bamgbola said that for the governor to finish well in 2023, he must apply to rule by the will of God, adding that power was transient

He advised Sanwo-Olu to rule by the will of God, listing five principles he must apply to rule by the will of God to end well.

Bamgbola listed the principles to include, ruling with the fear of God, being just and running with God, humility, running deliberately to win, courageously and justly and without worldly distractions.

The post Lagos to formulate new security policy soon – Sanwo-Olu appeared first on NEWSVERGE.

The apex bank’s Director, Banking and Payments System Department, Mr Dipo Fatokun, in a circular dated April 20, 2017, said all the charges introduced in February, and meant to take effect from April 1, 2017, have been dropped.

“For further clarification, the existing policy prior to the announcement of the new policy as earlier implemented in Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Abia, Anambra, Rivers states and the FCT shall remain.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the old charges to be reverted to are as follows: Individual charges on withdrawals or lodgment limit is now three per cent.

“Corporate accounts will be charged five per cent for withdrawal or lodgment of over N3 million cash.

“Henceforth, nothing will be charged as processing fees for lodgments,” he said.

Fatokun directed banks to make all necessary refunds to customers with immediate effect.

Recall that the CBN in February announced its plan to extend the Cashless Policy to all the remaining states of the Federation by Oct. 1, 2017, to enhance the efficiency of payment systems.

This policy, which received a lot of backlash from market analysts, was to commence in phases within the country with effect from April 1, 2017.

The policy introduced charges on the cumulative cash withdrawals or deposits per customer per day, irrespective of the channels used either over-the-counter or ATM.

The charges for individuals was two per cent for withdrawals above N500,000 to N5 million, 1.5 per cent on deposits for N500,000 to N1 million, and three per cent on deposits above N1 million to N5 million.

Also, individual withdrawals above N5 million was to incur a 7.5 per cent charge.

Similarly, corporate accounts were also to incur a charge of two per cent on withdrawals ranging from N3 million to N10 million, while withdrawals of that amount would be at a five per cent charge.

Over-the-counter deposit of above N10 million to N40 million was to attract a three per cent charge and 7.5 per cent on withdrawals, while above N40 million attracts five per cent on deposits and 10 per cent on withdrawals.

However, the policy exempted Revenue-Generating Accounts of the Federal, State and Local Governments, Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government from cash deposit charge.

Also, accounts of Embassies, Diplomatic Missions, Multilateral, Aid Donor Agencies in Nigeria, Microfinance banks and Primary Mortgage Institutions were exempted from the cash deposit and withdrawal charges.

The post Cashless Policy: CBN suspends charges on large withdrawals appeared first on NEWSVERGE.