Delta Government on Wednesday disclosed that it recorded 22 new born babies at the various internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in the state.

Secretary to the State Government and Chairman of the Inter-ministerial Flood Management Committee, Chief Patrick Ukah disclosed this at a news conference in Asaba, said that the loss recorded by the state would have been more catastrophic if not for the proactiveness of the state government.

He said that this year’s flood is far more than what we experienced in 2021,adding that the the proactiveness of the state government has really helped in managing the flood.

He added:”We started our sensitization very early and we had stakeholders engagement with traditional rulers, community leadership, school and everybody that we needed to meet. Many people responded by moving away from the low planes but as expected some people who hold some traditional beliefs held on to their ancestral homes.

“But through our proactiveness the Ministry of Environment was directed to open up the cannals leading to the Niger River and DESOPADEC was also handy in this regard as they opened up cannals around their own operational areas.

“We were able to set up 4 camps by DESOPADEC and 8 camps by the state government and we had about 21,000 IDPS in those eight camps and over 17000 in areas where DESOPADEC set up their own IDPs camps,” he said.

He said the South and Central Senatorial Districts were most impacted by the flood but thanked God the state government was able to move the affected victims to the IDP camps.

He commended the private sector response to the flood disaster, assuring that the state government would soon publish the names of the private sector donors in a full page advertorial in the newspapers for the state to appreciate them individually.

“Now that the water has started receding and we have started planning their exit, by the grace of God we will do whatever it takes to assist them to get back to normal life irrespective of whatever they must have lossed to the flood. We thank God that we didn’t have so many deaths and we hada lot of deliveries up to 22 babies in the different camps.

“Yes we recorded some deaths and we are still compiling bt we recorded one death at Onne camp and it had nothing to do with the flood it was basically the personally illness that the person had before now. In Patani, some travellers lost their lives while travelling towards the Port Harcourt Bayelsa Road, while 4 deaths were recorded in Isoko and one in Ugbolu.

“Apart from these deaths our camps remains very active and by the grace of God we have continued to keep them very happy and we hope to continue doing so until we come to the end of camp which by the grace of God is in sight,” Ukah stated.

He said the loss associated with flood was unquantifiable adding that the state government was yet to receive any money from FG other than some relief items from NEMA.

He said the NIMET flood projection for 2023 would be bigger than that of 2022 and implored on the Federal Government to consider dredging the River Niger and Benue as well as building holding dams to cushion the effect of flooding in the country.

The federal government has said that it will need N532.7 billion to conduct a successful national census in 2023.

Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Kwarra on Wednesday in Abuja told members of the Senate Committee on National Population and Identity Management that the sum is purely a proposal for conduct of a digital 2023 census.

Kwarra disclosed this during the 2023 budget defence session of NPC with the committee.

He said, “Aside the N10 billion budgetary proposal for 2023 fiscal year earmarked for NPC , the sum of N532. 795, 604, 726billion is estimated for conduct of 2023 Census .NPC is ready to re- write the history of the census in Nigeria by making the 2023 one not only accurate , credible , reliable but acceptable to all Nigerians “.

He also explained that the proposed sum for conduct of 2023 census, covers post enumeration survey and that the exercise will be a great departure from the past in terms of keying into the issue of climate change.

According to him, an envelope of N1.05 billion was earmarked for capital expenditure, N655 million for overhead and N8.6 billion for personnel, in the 2023 budget.

For the 2023 fiscal year, the NPC boss said a total of N206.85 million was appropriated for the commission out of which N107.7 million was earmarked for capital expenditure, N615 million for overhead and N7.8 billion for personnel cost.

The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Sahabi Ya’u (APC Zamfara North), told the NPC boss to furnish the committee with details of projects executed with the 2022 appropriation line by line and those proposed for the 2023 fiscal year.

The committee further rejected moves by the NPC boss to decorate them as 2023 Census Ambassadors.

Nigeria’s public debt stock has increased from N35.46 trillion (86.57 billion dollars) in the second quarter of 2021 to N42.84 trillion (103.31 billion dollars) in the corresponding period of 2022,according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Nigerian Domestic and Foreign Debt Report released in Abuja on Wednesday.

The agency stated that external debt stood at N13.71 trillion (33.46 billion dollars) in the second quarter of 2021 and increased to N16.61 trillion (40.06 billion dollars) in the second quarter of 2022.

It also stated that domestic debt was N21.75 trillion (53.10 billion dollars) in the second quarter of 2021, but increased to N26.23 trillion (63.24 billion dollars) in the second quarter of 2022.

“This shows that public debt (in national currency) grew by 20.81 per cent in the second quarter of 2022 from figure recorded in the second quarter of 2021,’’ it added.

In a breakdown by states, the bureau stated that Lagos State recorded the highest domestic debt of N797.30 billion in the second quarter of 2022.It was followed by Delta at N378.87 billion and Ogun at N241.78 billion.

Jigawa recorded the lowest debt at N45.13 billion, followed by Ebonyi and Kebbi at N59.11 billion and N60.41 billion, respectively.

It added that Lagos state also recorded the highest external debt stock of 1.27 billion dollars in the second quarter of 2022, followed by Kaduna State at 586.77 million dollars and Edo at 268.31 million dollars.

“The lowest external debt stock was recorded in Borno at 18.69 million dollars, followed by Taraba and Yobe at 22.28 million dollars and 23.09 million dollars, respectively,’’ the report stated.

The Sole administrator of the Ajaokuta Steel Company, Sumaila Abdul-Akaba, Wednesday said the size of the asset and quality of equipment installed in it can generate up to $6 billion should Nigeria decides to liquidate the company by selling them as scraps.

Mr. Akaba disclosed this while appearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Mines and Steel.

He said:”The steel complex is a massive infrastructure and the Russians who built it gave us the best of technology and enough spare parts to maintain it for many years”.

He said privatization of the asset is the best option to revitalize it and make it useful as government doesn’t have the resources to complete the outstanding phase for full operationalization.

“Privatization of the asset t is the best way to go if done the right way. Government doesn’t have the resources to complete it and run it as required, which is why private sector participation either through consessioning or partnership agreement would be a good development.

According to him, while the complex generates it’s own power which is sustainable, it hasn’t explored the idea of selling same to the national grid because it’s a management decision that requires board approvals.

Lawmakers had grilled the Sole Administrator as to why the company is not maximizing its electricity generation potentials, as well as other products despite posting huge wage bills on personnel, security and maintenance activities.

Mr Akaba said the amount spent on personnel for security and maintenance of equipment was justifiable,adding that before the engagement of the security personnel, equipment worth billions of naira were stolen from the facility.

He added that the amount utilized for the payment of some staff who are not in the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System was meaningful owing to the services they offer.

He said:”Anytime you look at the personnel cost, most of the question people ask is why you are keeping these personnel, Ajaokuta investment is within six billion to eight billion dollars and if you look at the amount we are spending to keep the plants, I don’t think that is too much. Aside that, one of the basic thing we should go to later, if I finish the details of this performance is the security issues. We have spent a lot of money also in security. As at today, we have over two hundred and twenty security guards that are officially not on the payroll of IPPIS”

He disclosed that the company engaged the Federal Fire Service and the Military, Department of State Services and that the company sees to their welfare.

He advocated the need for the removal of bureaucracies for the company to commence immediately.

He said:”If Ajaokuta project is initiated and completed, fund won’t be a problem but one of the problem is bureaucracy.I can assure you that if that company become fully operational today, it will pay itself and recoup money invested within 10 years.”

He maintained that Nigeria is not doing enough to utilize the Ajaokuta Steel to change the fortunes of the country.

The Chairman of the Committee, Abdullahi Ibrahim Halims emphasized that the place of steel industry in the development and industrialization plans of the industry is non existent, adding that Nigeria must be proactive to revive the mines and Steel industry.

Some members of the committee raised key questions on how long Nigeria will continue to play around the issue of industrialization without making serious effort on Ajaokuta Steel.

Hon Bem Mzondu alleged that there are a lot of “international conspiracy” militating against the realization of the Ajaokuta dream, which according to him stakeholders were not ready to look in that direction.

Also, during the session, the Executive Director of the National Metallurgical Development Centre Jos, Professor Linus Asuquo said the sum of N718. 3 million has been proposed for capital as seven projects have been earmarked for execution.

Professor Asuquo solicited more funds to address some shortfalls out sourcing of some services, as well as carry out its key objective of research and development.

Similarly, the Sole Administrator of the National Iron Ore Mining Company Limited, Itakpe, Mr Augustus Nkechika decried the N60 million allocation to the company for overhead expenditure.

He said the company sits on tens of thousands of acres of land does a lot of mining prospecting with a view to discovering more areas of mineral deposits for explorations.

The Nigerian Economic Summit Group(NESG) says there opportunities to usher Nigeria into an era of shared and sustainable prosperity inspite of the current economic turbulence of the country.

Mr. Asue Ighodalo Chairman, Board of Directors of NESG,stated this on Wednesday in Abuja at a media briefing in preparation for the 28th Nigerian Economic Summit(NES#28) slated for November 14-15, in Abuja

He said given the right political leadership, Nigeria can become a leading industrialising and reforming nation in Africa that focuses on building its state capacity and capabilities.

He added that: “Our country can break free from decades-long political, policy, legislative and regulatory binding constraints.We can create an enabling investment climate and business environment, underpinned by a motivated, capacitated, well-resourced, world-class civil service that drives open, transparent, high-performance governance at all levels.

“We can move Nigeria decisively towards structural and institutional reforms required to unlock local content development, sub-national economic diversification, competitiveness, and growth in the medium term. We can make moderate and incremental progress in poverty reduction and job creation, and we can make Nigeria the dominant shareholder of FDI inflows into the African continent.

He revealed that this year’s Summit is organised against the backdrop of these challenges, opportunities and critical themes.

Ighodalo said: “Nigeria’s age-long challenges are not unconnected with macroeconomic instability experienced in the country over time. The unstable macroeconomic space is reflected in high inflation, exchange rate volatility, constricted fiscal space, weak external reserves, and balance of payments problems. This, in addition to social and political instability, has proved the extent of Nigeria’s vulnerability to shocks.

“In 2021, Nigeria was ranked among the bottom half of African countries classified as less resilient to shocks by the African Development Bank (AfDB).Unfortunately, the country’s vulnerability burden is borne by the people at the bottom of the income pyramid, which could aggravate insecurity.

“2023 presents another opportunity to demonstrate a strong political will to tackle Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges. Hence, the NESG seeks to unveil the most critical challenges for urgent attention: these are unemployment surge, huge infrastructural deficit, fiscal weakness, human capital and skills gap, flawed security architecture, and corruption.”

Speaking,Prince Clem Agba, Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, said the annual Nigerian Economic Summit over the past 27 years, has become a model for public-private partnership as it provides a credible and widely recognised platform for top policymakers and corporate leaders to interact and exchange ideas on contemporary socio-economic challenges with a view to proffering solutions for policy action.

He said that the previous summits had helped to shape many of the reform policies that have underpinned Nigeria’s development aspiration and economic growth strategy.

Commenting on the theme of the 28th NES, “2023 and Beyond: Priorities for Shared Prosperity,” the minister said the theme was carefully chosen to discuss priorities for post 2023 with emphasis on the policies and strategies encapsulated in the National Development Plan(NDP).

He stated that NDP is designed to drastically bring down poverty rate to 0.6 per cent and unemployment rate to 6.3 per cent, while transiting the economy to the highest per capita GDP in the group of upper -middle income economics.