The Senate Committee on Trade and Investment has implored  the Federal Government to give out the Eleme-Onne Road in Rivers State to a private investor for reconstruction and management.

Speaking at the Oil and Gas Free Zone in Onne during an oversight visit, Senator Francis Fadahunsi, chairman of the committee, expressed concern over the deplorable state of the road, and said the lone access road to the oil and gas industrial hub in the Eleme-Onne axis of Rivers State needs to be urgently saved from total disrepair in order to prevent adverse impact on industries located in the area that could lead to a massive loss of jobs and revenue to government.

The Eleme-Onne Road is part of the East-West Road network and serves as the only access to the Port Harcourt Refineries at Eleme; the Onne Port Complex; the nation’s flagship Oil and Gas Free Zone at Onne; the Indorama-Eleme Petrochemicals Company, which is the nation’s leading fertilizer producer and exporter; as well as the Notore Industries Limited, another fertilizer producer and promoter of the Notore Industrial City (a free zone).

The committee commended progress at the free zone after a tour of facilities at the special economic hub and presentations by the free zone regulator, the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA), as well as free zond operators which included Intels Nigeria Limited and FMCEquip, makers of equipment for deep sea oil drilling. Senator Fadahunsi described Onne Free Zone as a successful initiative in public-private sector project and explained that the committee was conducting the oversight visit in effort to work with OGFZA and other stakeholders in the zone to generate more jobs for Nigerians.

OGFZA presented progress report in infrastructure development, increase in investments and export value, as well as human capital development to the committee. Following the presentation, Mr Umana Okon Umana, managing director of OGFZA, re-echoed  the call on the Federal Government to concession the Eleme-Onne section of the East-West Road. FMCEquip, operator in the free zone, in its presentation, reported 96 per cent compliance in local content laws and regulations, and paid tribute to OGFZA for being “very supportive;” Intels on its part briefed the committee on its billions of dollar investments in infrastructure in the free zone and community support in Rivers State, Cross River and Delta states.

The Senate has revealed how officials of Accountant General of Federation made Nigeria to loose $274.2m on external loan.

The chairman of Senate Committee on Public Accounts,Senator Matthew Urhoghide,announced this in a report submitted to the upper chamber recently.

In its resolution,the Senate ihad asked the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris to identify the officers responsible and sanctioned them for mismanagement of public fund in accordance with Rule 3115 of the Financial Regulations and for gross misconduct .

The Rule 3115 of the Financial Regulations reads, “an accounting officer who is queried for his failure to manage or spend public funds, effectively or who spends public money without due regard to economy contrary to FR 415 and fails to reply to the query, shall  be removed from the schedule and be disciplined in accordance with the Public Service Rules.”

The query to Accountant General of Federation from Auditor General of Federation titled: “Inconsistent Exchange Loss Difference on External Loans,” reads, “during the examination of Note 51 and Appendix to Note 52, it was observed that there was a total exchange loss difference of $278.2 million (N54.1bn) reported by the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation in the document provided but this could not be found in the DMO document.

“Also, the criteria for arriving at the exchange loss difference of $274.2 million ( N54.1bn) was not disclosed.

“The Accountant General of the Federation in his response maintained that the closing balance is as provided by DMO while the exchange difference of $274.2 million (N54.1bn) was as a result of multiple currencies that were involved and single exchange rate.

“The Account-General of the Federation is required to provide the source (s) of the exchange loss difference of $274.2 million (N54.1 billion ) with documentary evidence.

“Provide the calculations showing  how these figures were arrived at and the reasons for the exchange loss for each of the figures should be explained .

“Disclose the source of Exchange difference in a note.”

The Senate, in its resolution after the presentation by Senator Urhoghide, upheld the recommendation of the Committee for officials involved to be sanctioned.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)  has announced additional 206 new COVID-19 cases in the country as total infections from the virus rise to 169,884 as of July 20, 2021.

The agency said the new infections indicated an increase from the 146 cases announced a day earlier.

It  noted that there was no COVID-19 related death on Tuesday while the country’s total fatality stood at 2,128.

The agency disclosed that 23 people who had recovered from the disease were discharged from isolation centres across the country.

It disclosed  that till date, 164,733 recoveries were recorded nationwide in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

It said  that the nation’s active cases stood at 2,286.

The NCDC added that the 206 were reported in 10 states: Lagos – 132; Akwa Ibom – 56; Ekiti – 5; Delta – 3; Rivers – 2; Enugu – 2; Jigawa – 2; Katsina – 2; Gombe – 1 and the FCT – 1.

The public health agency noted that “today’s report includes zero cases from Plateau, Sokoto, Kano, Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Nasarawa and Kaduna States.”

The NCDC noted that there were, however, more than 3,301 cases that were still active in the country.

The agency said the country had also tested more than 2.4 million samples for the virus out of the country’s roughly 200 million population.

The NCDC added that a multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre, activated at Level 2, had continued to coordinate the national response activities.