Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2014 — 21
Expert decries inadequacy of shelter in Nigeria
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N Uyo-based Estate Surveyor and Valuer, Mr. John Isangedighi, has decried the inadequacy of shelter in the country, saying that 17 million Nigerians had no houses to live in. Isangedighi, who expressed the concern in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Uyo, however, ruled out the possibility of all Nigerians having their own houses. He said that with the formulation and proper implementation of housing policies, 70 percent of Nigerians could own houses. Isangedighi said that it had become very difficult for most Nigerians to have decent shelter because of high cost of building, adding that government should urgently address the ugly situation. “The government has fallen short of expectation in the provision of houses for citizens in Nigeria in general and Akwa Ibom in particular. “We know that government has challenges like land administration, finances, legal and regulatory framework, but it is its responsibility to make it possible for citizens to have homes,” he said.
SEMINAR: Secretary General, Abuja MOU, Mrs. Mfon Usoro (left) and Director General of NIMASA, Mr. Ziakede Akpobolokemi, at the 5th Strategic Admiralty Seminar for Judges, in Lagos. Isangedighi said that there has been appreciable efforts by individuals to provide houses for themselves in the country. According to him, the government has not done much in terms of housing develop-
ment. “By now, I expect the Akwa Ibom State Government, for instance, to have a minimum of seven sites and service schemes within Uyo metropolis,” Isangedigi said.
The estate surveyor and valuer called on the state government to map out sites for high, medium and low density housing estates in the state capital. He also observed that mort-
Nigeria, Benin Republic strategise to address problem on vehicle imports By GODWIN ORITSE
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HE Nigeria Customs Service and its Beninoise counterpart are currently meeting to strategise on the problem of appropriate transit of imported vehicles from Republic of Benin to Nigeria. Disclosing this to newsmen at Seme weekend, Customs Area Comptroller of the Command, Mr. Willy Egbudin, said that the inappropriate transit of vehicles from across the border was beginning to affect the revenue profile of the Command. According to Egbudin, discussion is on going with our Beninoise counterpart to address the problem of appropriate transit of imported vehicles He explained that on resumption of duty, he engaged critical stakeholders for interaction, cooperation, collaboration and support necessary to achieve the Command’s goals .
He noted that the Seme border Command is basically an enforcement area, adding that the Command has a mandate to ensure legitimate trade is facilitated through the Com-
mand. His words “ Though this is basically an enforcement area, with mandate to suppress smuggling to the barest minimum, the Command is
also saddled with responsibility of revenue collection, facilitation of legitimate trade and general security of the nation”.
Dangote to revive local production of rice with N50bn By PETER EGWUATU
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angote Industries Limited has concluded plans is to invest $300 million (N50 billion) in rice production to make Nigeria , self sufficient in rice production and also stop importation of the product into the country. According to information made available to Vanguard, the President of the Group, Aliko Dangote, last week at the World Economic Forum (WEF), Davos, Switzerland said his Group’s planned investment in the agriculture sector will create additional 180,000 jobs in the economy. Explaining his Group’s foray into agriculture, Dangote said. “If I had dreamt five years ago that I would invest in Agriculture, I will write it off as bad dream or nightmare but today,
gage institutions in the country have not done much in real estate development, adding that it was their primary responsibilities to intervene in the sector. On the collapse of buildings, Isangedighi advised government to strengthen the capacity of its regulatory agencies to enable them reduce the incidents.“People with the right competence should handle building projects; the practice needs compliance with architectural designs and specifications,” Isangedighi said.
113.85
-1.35
2,786.00
-5.00
15.11
0.07
we’re investing $2.3 billion in Agriculture, $2 billion in sugar, and $300 million in rice. In Nigeria, we have one of the most 107.22 -0.36 attractive investment policies through framework that the government has put in 97.09 -0.23 place to help businesses succeed.” It is expected that the planned invest- CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL SELLING ment will effectively enable the country 154.75 155.25 155.75 become self-sufficient in food production DOLLAR as it did in cement sector. Dangote Group STERLING 257.0398 257.8703 258.7008 EURO 212.2706 212.9564 213.6423 ended cement importation with three FRANC 173.2923 173.8522 174.4121 plants located at Obajana, Gboko and YEN 1.4864 1.4912 1.496 0.3011 0.3111 0.3211 Ibese meeting domestic demand for ce- CFA 236.4395 237.2035 237.9674 ment. The Group through massive invest- WAUA RENMINBI 25.5814 25.6645 25.7476 ment in sugar cultivation as part of the RIY 41.2612 41.3945 41.5278 national sugar master plan will put Nige- KRONA 28.4399 28.5318 28.6237 ria on the world sugar map and end im239.3566 SDR 237.8198 238.588 portation of raw sugar. CBN Exchange rate as at 27/01/2014