Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has approved the appointment of Tayo Bamgbose-Martins as the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development.

He replaces Idris Salako, who resigned from office on Monday over his inability to check the building collapses in the state, with the most recent, of a seven-Storey building in the Lekki area of the state in which about six lives were lost.

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, told journalists on Wednesday at Alausa, Ikeja, adding that Bamgbose-Martins is coming in with a wealth of experience.

Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) said it has completed 76 projects located in Calabar, Kano, Lagos and Kwara Free Trade Zones (FTZs).

A statement on Wednesday by Martins Odeh, Head, Corporate Communications, NEPZA, explained that 28 projects were completed in Calabar FTZ, 38 in Kano FTZ, Lagos(Lekki)Special Economic Zone(SEZ) 5 and Kwara SEZ has 5 projects.

He explained that the Joint Projects Monitoring Committee that comprised officials from the Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment and NEPZA has rounded-off scheduled inspections of 112 approved projects for the Authority.

These projects, captured under the NEPZA Tender Board of 2017-2021, direct Federal Executive Council approval and the Ministerial Tender Board of Capital Projects are located at Calabar Free Trade Zone (CFTZ), Kano Free Trade Zones (KFTZ) and the newly approved Lagos and Kwara Special Economic Zones respectively.

Of the 112 ongoing projects, a total of 76 have been completed with the CFTZ accounting for 28; KFTZ 38; Lekki SEZ 5; and Ilorin SEZ 5 while others are at different levels of completion.

Some of the projects include Erosion Control Works & Rehabilitation of Collapsed Perimeter Fence at CFTZ; Construction of Emergency Exit Gates & Access Road to the Jetties at CFTZ; Re-Asphalting of the Exiting Dual Carriageway Road Network at CTFZ; Consulting Services for Masterplan & Architectural Design at Kwara SEZ; Consulting Services for Engineering & Infrastructure Design at Kwara SEZ; Quantity Surveying for Feasibility Studies at Kwara SEZ; and the Development of initial 5MW Power Plant & Electrical Reticulation within the Ilorin SEZ.

They also include the construction of roads with Associated Drainage Work at KFTZ; Construction of Four Standard Size Factory Building & Associated External Works at KFTZ; The Purchase of Property at No.38 Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos; The Re-furbishing & Furnishing of the Newly acquired NEPZA new Lagos Zonal Office among others.

Speaking at the end of the tour in Calabar, Zainab Aliyu, NEPZA’s Director of Monitoring & Compliance, expressed satisfaction with the level of projects execution across the four zones, adding that the Federal Government had always ensured value-for-money in the execution of its contracts.

Aliyu, the Authority’s Team Lead, said the approval for the projects’ inspection tours indicated government priority toward adequate provision of infrastructure in the free trade zones and Prof. Adesoji Adesugba led-management relentless commitment to the interpretation of President Muhammadu Buhari’s policy for a profitable and competitive zone scheme.

“As part of the statutory responsibility of NEPZA as provided in Section 4 of the Authority’s Act 63 of 1992 is the provision that ensures that all zones provide some of the basic infrastructure. We are also obliged to constantly monitor and evaluate both new and old infrastructure.

“The reasons for these monitoring and evaluation exercises were to ensure the right quality of materials were used and the right quality of jobs are done, just as we also checked the percentage of work done in line with the amount assigned for the project.To this end, the Managing Director, Prof. Adesoji Adesugba decided to set up this committee to access all the projects that have been earmarked from the period he assumed leadership of the Authority. The Authority has, however, decided to carry out the task jointly with our supervising Ministry, which is the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. So far, we were encouraged by the progress of executions,” she said.

The Federal Government has expressed displeasure over the lackadaisical attitude of insurance companies in the payment of death benefits of civil servants.

Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, Head of Civil Service of the Federation,expressed this displeasure in Abuja during the meeting with underwriters of the Group Life Insurance Policy for Federal Civil Servants in her Office.

She lamented that while the Federal Government is doing its best to improve the welfare of families of deceased workers through the prompt release of funds for the payment of death benefits, the underwriters and brokers are frustrating the efforts by their unserious attitude.

She lampooned the companies over their non- performance,saying it was unacceptable and should be remedied.

According to her, the meeting was necessary to bridge the gap that exists between the Underwriters and Brokers as it was unreasonable to continue doing the same thing repeatedly without achieving meaningful result.

A statement by Mohammed Ahmed, Deputy Director, Communications, in the OHCSF, quoted Yemi-Esan as saying that “If the Brokers are no longer relevant, then they should be blacklisted.”

She said that the payment of insurance claim is not rocket science, stressing that her Office performs similar function through seamless settlement of backlog of claims not covered by the present arrangement.

The Key Performance Indexes (KPIs) on settlement of claims as of September, 2022 indicate that the total number of claims reported was 776; number of claims paid was 357; total sum on claims reported, N4,201,392,384.27; number of awaiting EDVs from HoS/MDAs 101; total amount paid N1,574,709,562.12; number of awaiting DVs from Lead Underwriter 150 (2,626,682,822.15), total amount expected from EDVs N785,123,928.73, number of incomplete documentations 168 and total outstanding claims is N1,841,558,893.42.

She further stated that from the breakdown of the report, there is a clear indication of a huge gap between the number of claims reported and those paid, adding that there is the need for improvement from the insurance service providers, as there is always room for other alternatives.

Speaking on behalf of the underwriters, the Lead Underwriter and CEO of Old Mutual (Nig.) Limited, Mr. Segun Omosehin, expressed his gratitude to the Head of Service for her concern and show of outright displeasure over their low performance.

He expressed commitment to support the Head of Service by doing the needful to bridge the gap existing between the underwriters and the brokers, which he identified as the major issue responsible for the late payment of claims to families of deceased civil servants.