Exactly seven years ago, Muhammadu Buhari took the oath of office as President, promising to serve Nigeria faithfully in all spheres of national life.
He concluded the first four years, and Nigerians in a show of confidence massively renewed his term for another four years, which lapses this time next year.
The seven years milestone presents a major landmark and opportunity to review the service of President Buhari to the country, and its people. What are the highpoints in terms of legislation; what Bills have been signed into law, and what salutary impact have they made on the nation?
What are the strides in infrastructural development; roads, bridges, rail, air and sea ports, housing, and many others?
Oil and gas reforms? Digital economy? Mines and steel development? Agriculture? Education, Health, Creative Industry, Sports, and many others?
And security, yes, security, despite the current challenges.
Here’s a one-stop shop of the achievements of the Muhammadu Buhari administration at 7.
Revisionists would want to look at security challenges, which are being robustly tackled, alone. But we look at the entire gamut, and honest and fair Nigerians will admit that a lot has been done, and a lot more will still be done in the 12 months ahead.
Come along, and let’s together plumb the depths of the strides of the Buhari administration at 7. It’s service to the people, and nothing else.
Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media and Publicity)
May 28, 2022
FACTSHEET
HIGHLIGHTS OF ACHIEVEMENTS, ON THE SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BUHARI ADMINISTRATION (MAY 2022)
LEGISLATIVE REFORM: BILLS SIGNED INTO LAW BY PRESIDENT BUHARI
Under President Buhari, Nigeria has seen the most ambitious legislative programme in its history. Several landmark Bills have been passed or amended in the last seven years, including the following:
– Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2022
– Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2022, which repeals the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended, and provides a comprehensive legal and Institutional Framework for the prevention and prohibition of money laundering in Nigeria, while also conferring on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the legal status of the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering.
– Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2022, which repeals the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011 as amended in 2013, and provides for the effective implementation of international instruments on the prevention and combating of terrorism and suppression of the financing of terrorism.
– Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Bill, 2022, which makes comprehensive provisions for the seizure, confiscation, forfeiture, and management of properties derived from unlawful activity.
– Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act, 1993 (Amendment) Act, 2019, which will deliver increased revenues to the Federation.
– Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON (Amendment) Acts of 2019 and 2021.
– Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) Bill, the first legislation in Nigeria’s history focused on curbing anti-competition practices; establishing the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
– Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Establishment Act, 2018
– Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, an Executive Bill, signed into law in 2019. The Bill facilitates the identification, tracing, freezing, restraining, recovery, forfeiture and confiscation of proceeds, property, and other instrumentalities of crime, as well as the prosecution of offenders in criminal cases regardless of where in the world they might be.
– Act establishing the Police Trust Fund, which will significantly improve funding for the Nigeria Police Force (2019).
– Nigeria Police Act, 2020 – the first comprehensive reform of Police legislation since the Police Act of 1943.
– Repeal and Re-Enactment of the Companies & Allied Matters Act (CAMA), 2020 – the first comprehensive reform since 1990.
– Not Too Young to Run Bill (2018) – a Constitution Amendment Bill, to reduce the age of eligibility for running for elective office in Nigeria.
– Nigerian Correctional Services Bill, 2019 – the first comprehensive reform of prison legislation in close to five decades
– Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Offences Bill, 2019 – the first anti-piracy legislation in West Africa.
– A Bill to grant financial autonomy to States’ Houses of Assembly and States’ Judiciary (2018)
– Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020 – Finance Act 2019 and 2020
– The Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018
EXECUTIVE ORDERS
President Buhari has pioneered the use of Executive Orders by any government in Nigeria; the Buhari Administration has, since 2017, issued a number of landmark Executive Orders:
– Presidential Executive Order on Promotion of Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment (2017)
– Presidential Executive Order on Promoting Local Procurement by Government Agencies (2017)
– Presidential Executive Order on Submission of Annual Budgetary Estimates by all Statutory and non-Statutory Agencies, including Incorporated Companies wholly owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria (2017)
– Presidential Executive Order on the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (2017)
– Presidential Executive Order on Planning and Execution of Projects, Promotion of Nigerian Content in Contracts, Science, Engineering and Technology (2018)
– Presidential Executive Order (and Amendment) on the Voluntary Offshore Assets Regularization Scheme (VOARS) (2018)
– Presidential Executive Order on Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme (2019)
– Presidential Executive Order 11 on National Public Buildings Maintenance (2022)
INFRASTRUCTURE
– As with legislative reform, Nigeria is also seeing, under President Buhari’s watch, the biggest and most ambitious federal infrastructure programme since Nigeria’s Independence.
– The Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp) was established by President Buhari in February 2021, with initial seed Capital of N1 Trillion, provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC). InfraCorp’s goal is to “to catalyse and accelerate investment into Nigeria’s infrastructure sector by originating, structuring, executing and managing end-to-end bankable projects in that space.”
– In addition to the 1 trillion Naira equity seed capital, InfraCorp is expected to mobilise up to an additional 14 trillion Naira of debt capital. Establishment in 2020 of the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), with more than $1 Billion in funding so far.
RAIL
– 156km Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge Rail completed and commissioned, within a Nigerian-record-time of 4 years (2017 to 2021).
– 8.72km extension to Lagos-Ibadan Rail Line, to Lagos Port Complex, completed in 2021.
– 186km Abuja-Kaduna Standard Gauge Rail Line, completed and commissioned in 2016.
– 327km Itakpe-Warri Standard Gauge Rail completed and commissioned in 2020, 33 years after construction began.
– As part of this project, there was the full rehabilitation of the Railway Village, Agbor, as well as construction of a Railway Ancillary Facilities Yard, also in Agbor. In 2021 the Line commenced commercial freight haulage, transporting pipelines for the AKK Gas Pipeline project.
– Commencement of the E-Ticketing concession process for the Lagos-Ibadan and Warri-Itakpe Standard Gauge Rail Lines. The scope of the project is to Design, Finance, Build, Operate and Manage Secure Ticketing Solution systems (Hardware and Software) for the two lines.
– Completion of the E-Ticketing concession process on Abuja-Kaduna Route in 2021, which increased the monthly generated revenue from less than N200 Million to N400 Million.
– Abuja Light Rail completed in 2018.
– Construction has commenced on Kaduna-Kano Standard Gauge Rail Line, following the ground-breaking by President Buhari in July 2021.
– Ground-breaking done by President Buhari for construction of 284km Kano-Maradi Standard Gauge Rail (with branch line to Dutse), preliminary works started 2021.
– Ground-breaking done by President Buhari for complete revamp of Port Harcourt–Maiduguri Narrow Gauge Rail. Work has kicked off in 2022.
– 377 Wagons, 64 Coaches, and 21 Locomotives (including DMUs) purchased for the Standard Gauge network, between 2016 and 2021.
– Jobs, Training and Capacity Building: More than 11,000 new jobs created from the on-going rail modernization projects in the country. More than 100 qualified young Nigerians awarded full international scholarships for undergraduate/graduate courses in rail engineering and transport in China, from 2018. In addition, dozens of Nigerian Engineers have been trained as part of the railway modernization projects.
– Establishment of a new Transportation University in Daura, Katsina State, and establishment of a new Rail Wagon Assembly Plant in Kajola, Ogun State – both nearing completion of construction.
– Three thousand tons of cement are transported monthly through train freight service from Lagos to Kano.
ROADS
– Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), investing over a billion dollars in three flagship projects: Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (for completion in 2022), Second Niger Bridge (for completion in 2022), Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway (first phase for completion in 2023).
– Issued by President Buhari on January 25, 2019, Executive Order #7 of 2019, on the Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme, allows companies that are willing and able to spend their own funds on constructing critical roads, to recover their construction costs by paying reduced taxes, over a period of time, and in a transparent manner.
– So far, more than a trillion Naira has been mobilised through Executive Order 7, for road projects across all six geopolitical zones of the country, like Bodo-Bonny in Rivers and Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki-Ojota in Lagos.
– Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI), a public-private partnership program to mobilise, in its first Phase, over a Trillion Naira in private investment into the development and maintenance of 12 Roads, amounting to 1,963km in length.
– More than 600 billion Naira worth of Sukuk Bonds raised since 2017 for more than 40 critical road projects across all six geopolitical zones. Between November 25 and December 13, 2021, the Federal Government handed over to benefiting communities 941 km of completed Sukuk road projects connecting 10 states in five geo-political zones of the country.
AIR AND SEA PORTS
– Completion of New Terminals for International Airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt
– Construction completed on New Runways for the Abuja and Enugu International Airports. The Abuja International AirportRunway was reconstructed in 2017, for the first time since the Airport was built in the early 1980s. In 2019 President Buhari approved a special fund of 10 Billion Naira for the reconstruction of the Enugu Airport Runway; it was completed and reopened in August 2020).
– Presidential approval for four International Airports as Special Economic Zones: Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
– President Buhari approved funds for the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) to build a world-class Flight Safety Laboratory (FSL) in Abuja, and train personnel to run it. Now Nigeria no longer has to send aircraft Cockpit Voice Recorders and Flight Data Recorders (“Black Box”) abroad for downloading and analysis.
– The Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) in Zaria, has undergone a transformation under President Buhari: A new Boeing 737 Full Flight Simulator has been installed in the College, as well as a fully-automated Fire and Smoke Aircraft Training Simulator. Prior to the installation of the Fire and Smoke Simulator, Nigeria was sending personnel to Cameroon for the relevant training.
– NCAT has also acquired 7 brand new Training Planes (1 multi-engine and 6 single-engine) that use Jet A1 fuel; to replace the old training planes that were expensive to maintain.
– The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) in July 2017 received the ISO 9001:2015 certification (re-certified in August 2020) for aeronautical meteorological services delivery, making Nigeria the first-ever African country to achieve this feat.
– Significant infrastructural upgrades at various Airports nationwide: Cat-3 ILS/DME (ILS = Instrument Landing System; DME = Distance Measuring Equipment) installed in Lagos and Abuja Airports in 2019 — which allows planes to land in zero visibility. Installation in progress in 3 more Airports
– Cat-2 ILS/DME installed in 10 airports around the country, another 4 in progress Doppler Omni-directional Range (DVOR) / DME installed in 8 airports o Air Traffic Control (ATC) Mobile Towers installed in Lagos and Abuja Airports. Ow Level Windshear Alert System (LLWAS) installed in more than a dozen airports (the Sosoliso Crash of 2005 and ADC Crash of 2006 were reportedly caused by the absence of that equipment).
– The procurement processes for the establishment of an Aviation Leasing Company in Nigeria, a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Centre, and the development of Aerotropolis (Airport Cities) in Lagos and Abuja are all ongoing, for completion in 2022, according to the project timelines.
– Lekki Deep Sea Port – the first new Sea Port in Nigeria in decades – now more than 90 percent completed.
– Ground-breaking done for Bonny Deep Sea Port in March 2021
– Commissioning of Kaduna Inland Dry Port in 2018.
Construction of Kano and Katsina Inland Dry Ports ongoing, for completion in 2022.
– Commissioning of the ‘Deep Blue’ Maritime Security Project, completed in 2021. The project includes 17 Special Mission Vessels, 2 Special Mission Aircraft, and 3 Helicopters.
– Launch of a new Cabotage Compliance Strategy, in 2019, by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), to enforce the implementation of the Cabotage Act.
– Introduction of Electronic Call-up system by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), to substantially address the challenges of traffic gridlock caused by the Lagos Ports, using technology.
– Designation of the Lilypond Container Terminal in Ijora, Lagos as a specialized processing and handling facility for the export of locally-made agricultural and finished goods.
– Commencement of indigenous survey and charting of Nigeria’s offshore waters, by the Nigerian Navy’s new Hydrographic Survey Vessel, NNS LANA.
– Cabinet approval for award of 30-year Concession of Onitsha River Port, under a Rehabilitate, Operate and Transfer (ROT) arrangement, February in 2022.
Development of capacity at the Eastern Ports:
– Reduction of Tariff (10% Rebate) on Harbour Dues for vessels calling at the Eastern Ports, as part of incentives to encourage vessel traffic to the Eastern Ports.
– In December 2017, Calabar Port commenced export of bulk cement to Tema Port in Ghana
– In 2019, 3 container ships berthed at Calabar Port, for the first time in eleven years
– Dredging of Warri Port (Escravos Bar—Warri Port channel) completed in 2018
– On October 30, 2019, an LPG Tanker operated by NLNG, berthed in Port Harcourt – the first time ever an LPG ship berthed in any of the Eastern Ports
– On December 8, 2019, Onne Port received JPO VOLANS (owned by Maersk), the FIRST gearless and largest container vessel (265.07 metres) to call at any Eastern Port in Nigeria.
– On August 1, 2019, Onne Port’s Brawal Terminal received MSC GRACE, its first container vessel since 2012.
– In March 2021, the export of 7,000 metric tonnes of cocoa through Calabar Port to the United States, for the first time in about 14 years.
– The two largest containerships to ever berth at any Nigerian port, have been in Onne, in the last 3 years: Maersk Stadelhorn, 300m long & 48m wide, on August 15, 2020, and Lady Jane on April 13, 2022. 294.5m long and 32.3m wide.
POWER
– An incremental 4,000MW+ of power generating assets will be completed during the life of the Buhari Administration, including the Zungeru Hydro, Kashimbila Hydro, Afam III Fast Power, Kudenda Kaduna Power Plant, the Okpai Phase 2 Plant, the Dangote Refinery Power Plant, and others.
– Energizing Education Programme: Taking clean and reliable energy (Solar and Gas) to Federal Universities and Teaching Hospitals across the country. Four Universities completed and commissioned already: BUK (Kano), FUNAI (Ebonyi), ATBU (Bauchi) and FUPRE (Delta); others ongoing.
– Energizing Economies Programme: Taking clean and reliable energy (Solar and Gas) to markets across the country.
Completed projects include Sabon-Gari Market in Kano, Ariaria Market in Aba, and Sura Shopping Complex in Lagos.
– Energizing Agriculture Programme, launched in May 2022, to catalyze economic development and improve rural livelihoods in Nigeria through exploring the nexus between mini-grids and agricultural productivity.
– National Mass Metering Programme: Nationwide rollout of electricity meters to all on-grid consumers, launched in August 2020. The Central Bank of Nigeria is providing 200 billion Naira for this, and so far, more than one million meters have been rolled out, in the first phase. This first phase generated more than 10,000 new jobs in meter installation and assembly.
– Solar Power Naija (SPN): Launched in April 2021 to deliver 5 million off-grid solar connections, impacting more than 20 million Nigerians, and financed through Central Bank of Nigeria loans, as well as through partnerships with NDPHC, NNPC and the NSIA. The program is expected to generate an additional N7 billion increase in tax revenues per annum and $10 million in annual import substitution.
– Under Solar Power Naija and NDPHC’s partnership, ASolar is rolling out 100,000 Solar Home Systems across the country, while the NSIA (partnering under SPN) has announced a N10 billion fund for developers, targeting more than 250,000 solar connections.
– In May 2021, the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) announced the planned deployment of solar-powered grids to 200 Primary Health Centres (PHC) and 104 Unity Schools nationwide.
– Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) is a $550 million programme being implemented by the Federal Government of Nigeria in partnership with the World Bank and African Development Bank. NEP is a combination of subsidies, direct contracts and technical assistance to support Electrification across Nigeria.
– NEP has so far deployed more than 20,000 Standalone Solar Systems (SHS), as well as Solar Hybrid Mini-grids in more than 250 locations across the country.
– The Rural Electrification Fund (REF), created by the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act of 2005, was operationalized by the Buhari Administration in 2016. Since 2016, the REF under REA has executed more than N4 billion in projects, with more than N5 billions of Off-Grid (mainly Solar) projects slated to be executed across Nigeria in 2022.
SPECIAL GRID INTERVENTIONS
– Federal Government has many key grid initiatives with more than N125.2 billion budgeted between 2015 to 2021 for TCN, and Development Finance Funding through the likes of World Bank, AFDB, AFD, JICA and others of up to $1.7 billion.
– The Central Bank of Nigeria is also funding $250 million for the rehabilitation of critical interfaces between Transmission and Distribution to increase and stabilize power delivery.
– Additionally, through the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), aka Siemens Power Program, an additional $2.0 billion or more will be invested in the Transmission Grid.: PPI is a Government-to-Government initiative involving the Governments of Nigeria and Germany, and Siemens AG of Germany, to upgrade and modernize Nigeria’s electricity grid.
– The Contract for the pre-engineering phase of the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) was signed in February 2021, following the 2020 approval for the payment of FGN’s counterpart funding for that phase, while the first set of equipment contract awards were made in December 2021, comprising 10 Mobitra Transformers and 10 Substations. In all the PPI will encompass as many as 127 individual Transmission and Distribution projects (Brownfield and Greenfield).
– There are, as of Q1 2022, 135 ongoing projects for transmission lines, substations and other associated grid infrastructure. TCN has completed 30 key Substation Projects and 12 important Transmission Lines.
– Some of the critical grid interventions across the NESI include the resuscitation of the second Egbin-Ajah Transmission Line and the recently commissioned NDPHC Lafia 2X150 MVA & 2X60 /132/33/330 KV Transmission Substation (under NIPP). Other ongoing interventions include 330kV Quad Lines in Alaoji to Onitsha, Delta Power Station to Benin as well as the Kano to Katsina 330kV line (respectively).
– The $200 million Lagos/Ogun Transmission Infrastructure Project, financed by JICA. It entails the construction of about 200 km of high-voltage transmission lines and a number of high voltage substations, benefiting several communities in the two States.
– Through a special CBN intervention for TransmissionDistribution interfaces, contracts have been awarded for more than 30 Substation Rehabilitations and 1,570MVA transformer capacity upgrades, with 34 critical transformers to be installed or replaced.
– On a Policy level, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has rolled out various policies ranging from a Tariff-Capping Regulation for un-metered customers, to the Eligible Customer Regulations, to the introduction of a Service-based Tariff Regime and CBN oversight of Disco
Bank accounts (which has helped improve payment discipline by Discos).
HOUSING
– The Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, has completed or is completing housing projects in 34 States of Nigeria, under the National Housing Programme, with the support of the State Governors who provided the land. So far more than 5,000 houses are at various stages of completion, and thousands more are planned.
– The Family Homes Fund Limited (FHFL), incorporated by the Federal Government of Nigeria in September 2016, is the implementing agency for the Buhari Administration’s National Social Housing scheme.
– The Fund has now completed more than 13,000 homes across nine States, with another 20,000 commencing building works in 2022. In the process these housing developments have created more than 64,000 direct and indirect jobs.
DIGITAL ECONOMY
– Extension of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) ‘Pioneer Status’ to e-Commerce and software development companies.
– Stipulation of N145 per linear meter cap on Highway Right of Way (RoW) for fibre optic cabling, to incentivize investment in rollout.
– Launch of new national 5G policy in 2021, and successful licensing of two private companies to rollout 5G nationally. Nigeria’s 5G rollout will commence in August 2022.
– Establishment of new National Data Protection Bureau, which is expected to develop “primary legislation for data protection and privacy.”
– Launch of new “National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy”, by President Buhari in 2019.
– Drafting of the Nigeria Startup Bill (NSB), and submission of the draft Bill to the National Assembly for consideration and passage into law.
– Establishment, in 2021, of a National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR).
– Ongoing implementation, starting 2021, of the National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone Phase 2 (NICTIB-2) Project. The goal of NICTIB is to rollout a nationwide fibre infrastructure network.
– Ongoing construction of a Tier-4 Data Center in Kano, to join existing infrastructure in Abuja (Tier-3 Data Center) and Enugu (A Disaster Recovery Site). The Kano Data Center is expected to be completed in 2022.
OIL AND GAS
– President Buhari’s assent to the Petroleum Industry Act on August 16, 2021 broke a two-decades-old jinx and is setting the stage for the unprecedented transformation of Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
· Under the new Act, the NNPC has transformed into a Limited Liability Company which will be formally unveiled by the President in July 2022.
· The regulatory framework for the sector has also changed, with the establishment of (a) the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and (b) the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), which merged the hitherto-existing Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Petroleum Equalization Fund (Management) Board(PEFMB), and the Midstream and Downstream Divisions of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
– Historic Signing Ceremony, in May 2021, of the Execution of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118 Agreements between NNPC Limited and its Contractor Partners: Shell, Exxon Mobil, TOTAL and NAOC. These Agreements settled long-standing disputes that stalled development, and will unlock more than $10 billion of new deep-water investment in Nigeria.
The Buhari Administration has declared this decade the “Decade of Gas.”
– Construction ongoing on the 614km Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas Project, the largest domestic gas project in the country.
– US$45 million financing secured from the Islamic Development Bank, for the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) Study for the Nigeria–Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) project. The Agreement for the Pipeline project was signed by the two countries during President Buhari’s State Visit to Morocco in June 2018. When completed it will be the longest offshore pipeline in the world, and the second longest pipeline in the world, running across 13 countries, 11 of them in West Africa.
– Successful completion of Nigeria’s first Marginal Field Bid Round in almost 20 years, expected to raise in excess of half a billion dollars, and open up a new vista of investment in oil and gas.
– Launch of National LPG Expansion Programme (including Removal of VAT from the domestic pricing of LPG)
– Financial close and signing of contract for NLNG Train 7, which will grow Nigeria’s LNG production capacity by 35% – Nigeria and Morocco in 2021 signed an agreement to develop a US$1.4 billion multipurpose industrial platform (Ammonia and Di-Ammonium Phosphate production plants) that will utilize Nigerian gas and Moroccan phosphate to produce 750,000 tons of ammonia and 1 million tons of phosphate fertilizers annually by 2025. It will be located in Ikot-Abasi, Akwa-Ibom State.
– Commissioning, in December 2020, of the new NPDC Integrated Gas Handling Facility in Edo State, the largest onshore LPG plant in the country, with a processing capacity of 100 million standard cubic feet of gas daily, producing 330 tonnes of LPG, 345 tonnes of propane and 2,600 barrels of condensate, daily.
– Establishment of a $350m Nigerian Content Intervention Fund, to finance manufacturing, contracts and assets in the oil and gas industry
– The NNPC Limited’s National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) became, in 2022, the first Government organization in West and North Africa to receive the ISO 22301:2019 Certification for Business Continuity Management from RINA.
FINANCING AND INVESTMENT:
– Afreximbank announced in January 2022 that it will assist NNPC Limited to raise $5 billion financing to support investments in Nigeria’s upstream industry, and facilitate expanded energy supply. Afrexim also disclosed plans to underwrite $1 billion of the total planned debt.
– Final Investment Decision in January 2021 on a 10,000 tonnes per day methanol plant and a 500 million standard cubic feet per day gas processing plant, being promoted by the NNPC Limited and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), in partnership with the private sector. The plant is now under construction in Odeama, Brass, Bayelsa State.
– The ANOH gas processing plant, with a processing capacity of 300 million standard cubic feet of gas, in Imo State. It is a Joint Venture between Seplat Petroleum Development Company and the Nigerian Gas Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). It also has the potential to deliver 1,200MW of power when completed.
– Comprehensive Rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery (PHRC). Sign-off Ceremony of Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) Contract held in April 2021, marking the commencement of site handover and full mobilization to site.
– Policy, Regulatory and Funding Support for the establishment of Modular Refineries across the Niger Delta. When the Administration took office in 2015 Nigeria had only one functioning Modular Refinery. Today there are no fewer than six ongoing brownfield and greenfield Modular Refinery Projects across the Niger Delta. In 2020 President Buhari commissioned the first phase of the Waltersmith Modular Refinery, in Imo State, and broke ground on Phase 2, which will add 20,000bpd processing capacity.
– The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Tuesday, December 21, 2021, handed over a symbolic cheque of N621.24 Billion for the rehabilitation of 21 critical roads (totalling 1,800km) across the country, through the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme under the Executive Order 7 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019. Note that this does not mean that NNPC has gone into the business of constructing roads; instead it is financing the construction of roads, through its tax liabilities.
– Launch of the Nigerian Upstream Cost Optimization Programme (NUCOP), to reduce operating expenses through process enhancement and industry collaboration. The overall target is to achieve a $10 or less per barrel production cost.
SOLID MINERALS
– Approval, in 2020, of a new national policy on local production of bitumen. In April 2022, the Federal Government announced the selection of PwC as Transaction Adviser for the concession process for Nigeria’s bitumen blocks. (Nigeria has one of the largest bitumen reserves in the world, mostly undeveloped).
– The Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMI) is a Buhari Administration scheme to enumerate (deploying BVN and NIN data), organize/formalize, ‘skill’, equip, and finance (by guaranteeing offtake—with fair pricing) artisanal gold miners in Nigeria.
– Construction completed on the first phase of the Segilola Gold Project, Nigeria’s first large-scale commercial gold mine, and most advanced gold exploration project (also currently the largest defined gold deposit in the country). The private sector project, built during the pandemic, began exporting gold in late 2021.
– In Kaduna, a $600 million integrated iron ore mining, processing and steel production company is being completed, in Gujeni, Kagarko LGA of the State – a wholly private sector investment.
– Licensing by the Federal Government of 3 companies to build the first set of gold refineries in Nigeria.
– In 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) added Nigerian gold to its reserves for the first time.
– The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development has achieved:
· The total automation and decentralization of the operations of the Mining Cadastre Office (MCO)
· Revitalized the Presidential Joint Task Force on Mines Surveillance
· Enhanced the operating capacity of the National Geosciences Research Laboratories (NGRL) in Kaduna, so that samples no longer need to be sent abroad for processing
· Operationalization of the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF)
· Established, in 2018, the National Council on Mining and Mineral Resources Development, bringing the Federal and State Governments together.
· Reactivated the State Mineral Resources and Environmental Management Committees (MIREMCO)
– Ongoing development of the following Mining-related clusters in the 6 geopolitical zones of Nigeria, as part of the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development’s Covid-19 economic intervention programme:
· Gold Souk in Kano
· Kaolin-processing plant in Bauchi
· Gemstone market in Ibadan
· Lead-smelting plant in Ebonyi
· Barite-processing plant in Cross River
· Gold-smelting plant in Kogi
AGRICULTURE
– Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP): The Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria, launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 17, 2015, has disbursed more than 800 billion Naira to more than 4 million smallholder farmers of 23 different commodities (including Rice, Wheat, Maize, Cotton, Cassava, Poultry, Soybeans, 27 Groundnut, Fish), cultivating over 5 million hectares of farmland.
– Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI): Launched as a government-to-government partnership between the Nigerian and Moroccan Governments, in December 2016, the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) produced 30 million 50kg bags of NPK 20:10:10 equivalent in 2020, bringing total production since inception to over 60 million 50kg bags equivalent; and number of participating blending plants increased to 62 from the four that were operational in Nigeria at the inception of the initiative.
– Special-Agro Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Programme: A half-a-billion-dollar partnership between the FGN, AfDB Group, IsDB, and IFAD. Under the SAPZ programme, Agro-processing centres will be established across the country. The Agro-processing centres will be provided with basic infrastructure such as water, electricity and roads as well as facilities for skills training. Seven (7) States and the FCT selected for the pilot phase, due to commence in 2022: Ogun, Oyo, Imo, Cross River, Kano, Kaduna, and Kwara.
– The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) is establishing Integrated Farm Estates across Nigeria. So far, new/revived Farm Estates have been commissioned in Katsina, Yobe and Imo, and others are under development.
· President Buhari has directed NALDA to establish these Integrated Farm Estates/Settlements in each of the 109 Senatorial Districts in the country.
· NALDA was originally established in 1992, but has been dormant since around 2000, until last year when President Buhari revived it, appointed a new Executive Secretary & CEO (June 2020), and directed that the Authority be domiciled in the Presidency for direct supervision by him.
· An Integrated Farm Estate is designed to fit the particular context of its host community i.e., cultivate crops and/or livestock peculiar to the community.
· NALDA has also launched the National Young Farmers Scheme (NYFS), to engage 1,000 youths in each of the 774 LGAs, in mechanized agriculture.
· Also, under the NYFS, NALDA is sending, in the first phase, 200 young Nigerian farmers, from the 36 States, to Israel and Morocco, for training in greenhouse farming and animal husbandry. The beneficiaries will, upon completion of their training and return to Nigeria, be tasked with the training of other young people, on NALDA’s Integrated Farm Estates in their various areas.
– AGRICULTURE FOR FOOD AND JOBS PROGRAMME (AFAJ):
· Under this programme, a component of the Economic Sustainability Plan (a stimulus response to the Covid-19 pandemic), the Federal Government trained and deployed over 34,000 young graduates, across all 774 LGAs of the country. Each person was given a locally-developed app on smartphones and e-Tablet, to digitally register farmers and map out their farm GIS coordinates.
· These persons helped register and map about 6 million small-holder farmers to their farmlands. The database allowed the disbursement of cash grants to assist over a million farmers purchase fertilizers in the 2021 Wet Season.
· On the back of this small-holder farmers database, the Federal Government has rolled out a financial inclusion scheme to provide bank accounts and BVNs to these farmers.
– NATIONAL LIVESTOCK TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME (NLTP):
· The National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) is an initiative of the Nigerian Government designed to Modernise pastoral agriculture and livestock production in Nigeria, through the establishment of ranches, and to deliver a lasting solution to recurring clashes between pastoralists and crop farmers.
· By addressing the resource (land, water and pasture) constraints at the heart of the conflicts through this intervention, the Government expects to see a situation where both livestock pastoralists and crop farmers contribute amicably to the country’s agriculture sector.
