#LagosIbadanRail was a major item on the President’s agenda when he paid a State Visit to China #PMBinChina in April 2016 - the first sub-Saharan Head of State invited to China after the Joburg FOCAC in Dec 2015. Budget Min Udoma followed up with a China visit in July 2016.
The original (unfulfilled) #LagosIbadanRail contract awarded 2012 covered only Ebute-Meta to Ibadan. It was the Buhari Admin that awarded on Nov 30, 2016 an addendum to the contract, extending it to Lagos Port complex in Apapa. Cos PMB insists all Rail should terminate in Ports.
Very early in 2017, @FinMinNigeria paid on behalf of @NigeriaGov the required Counterpart funding of 15% of project cost to the China Exim Bank. Came to about 72 billion Naira. #LagosIbadanRail
On that glorious Tue morning of March 7, 2017, @ProfOsinbajo (Acting President at the time) flagged off construction at the Railway Yard in Ebute Meta. “If there’s a project close to PMB heart, it’s this!”
3 years & 3 weeks after @ProfOsinbajo flagged off construction of #LagosIbadanRail on behalf of @MBuhari, the contractors, @CCECC8, made this delightful announcement (“A stunning victory!”), just as disruptive impact of Covid-19 began to be felt worldwide:
All things being equal, commercial operations on the #LagosIbadanRail Line will start on or before Q4 2020. One of the Line’s crown jewels will be the Station in Ebute Meta, with a capacity for 6,000 passengers at any point in time:
Been searching for National Anthem related stuff. And found this:
Competition Announcement for a National Anthem for Nigeria, published in FEDERAL NIGERIA Magazine, January 1959 edition
Closing: March 31, 1959. Prize: $280
Open to Nigerians & Non-Nigerians home & abroad.
🧵🧵
So, looks like there were 4 Competitions in all, in 1959, the year preceding Independence:
National Flag - Open to Nigerians only
National Anthem (lyrics) - Nigerians & Foreigners
National Anthem (music) - Nigerians & Foreigners
Independence Stamps
All with prizes attached.
Submissions came in for Nigeria's new (Independence) Anthem, from all over the world: USA, UK, Ghana, French Cameroons, Senegal, Algeria, Cyprus, South Africa, Belgium.
A #thread of departing Ambassadors talking about Nigerian Food (and Pepper!!!).
Let’s start with France’s Emmanuelle Blatmann (2024):
“I will be very honest with you and blunt, I will not miss the pepper soup because it’s too peppery. You people tried to kill me several times. I will be eating all sorts of things with my eyes red and crying, I have smoke coming out of my ears. I am exaggerating but honestly, why do you put so much pepper? In the North, it’s better but in the South West, my God! But I like the jollof rice, I like the moimoi and the puff-puff.”
“Nigerian food in general is spicier than food in Finland, but I do really enjoy suya, jollof rice, and pepper soup. My family has even ventured into things like giant snails and goat’s head (laughs).”
“Great food. You know everybody loves their Suya and their jollof rice. And I am a big fan of pepper soup; I really like a lot of spice so I will bring that with me.”
“Nobody ever believes me when I say I like spicy food and a bit of pepper soup. But of course, you can’t be a Nigerian and not appreciate suya and jollof rice. I can say I had fun eating amala at Amala Skye in Ibadan with our visiting pianist who came last year. It was lovely.”
Would like to share excerpts from this recent speech ON INFRASTRUCTURE from Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, delivered at a Dinner in Lagos a few days ago.
He opened it guns blazing. Hit the ground firing.
This is a thread, so, stay with me.
But lest you think the speech was primarily about gbajue presidential candidates, it wasn’t.
It was instead about the power of infrastructure, why the @MBuhari Administration focused obsessively on it, and how heartwarming it is that @officialABAT is equally prioritizing it.
BRF outlines some of the prioritizing principles behind the Buhari Infrastructure Program:
—Roads leading to and out of Airports and Seaports
—Roads leading to international borders
—Bridges (the Buhari Admin delivered new bridges across Nigeria’s two main Rivers, Niger and Benue)
I want to tell the story of how this State House / Presidential Villa logo came to be. You may have seen it on some publicity materials (State House Press Briefing banner from prev admin, etc) from the State House.
It’s a thread.
Sometime in Feb 2016, shortly after I was appointed by PMB, I thought, everyone knows what the White House looks like, why isn’t there a similar visual equivalent - a symbol - for the Aso Rock Villa, seat of the Nigerian Presidency since 1991.
Good question, eh. Then a challenge came up. The White House is a single building, that houses both the residence and the office of the US President.
Aso Rock on the other hand is a sprawling assemblage of buildings. President’s residence and office are separate buildings.
Some History:
In 1999 Obasanjo created a "Ministry for Cooperation and Integration in Africa."
Didn't last very long.
OBJ also created the Ministry of Environment, in 1999.
In 2011, GEJ created "Communication Technology" and "Trade and Investment" ("Industry" added in 2013)
PMB created the new Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development in 2019
—Added "Digital Economy" to "Communications" also in 2019
—Added "Innovation" to "Science and Technology" in 2021
—Added "Aerospace" to "Aviation" in 2023
PBAT has:
—Created a new "Ministry of Art, Culture and Creative Economy."
—Added "Ecological Management" to "Environment"
—Split "Finance" and "Budget/Planning", and renamed "Budget & National Planning" -- now "Budget & Economic Planning"
—Added "Sanitation" to "Water Resources"
Taiwo Oyedele an excellent candidate to lead this Tax work. Was Vice Chair of the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee(NTPIC) set up to implement the 2017 National Tax Policy(NTP) for Nigeria. It was that work that led to introduction of the Finance Acts 2019—2022
#Thread
The then Minister of Finance, @HMKemiAdeosun set up, Aug 2016, a National Tax Policy Review Committee (NTPRC), chaired by Prof Abiola Sanni. NTPRC produced a revised National Tax Policy for Nigeria (FEC approval Feb 2017) updating the original Tax Policy first developed in 2012.
Following the FEC approval of the revised Tax Policy 2017, @HMKemiAdeosun set up a National Tax Policy Implementation Committee (NTPIC) in April 2017. That Committee submitted its report on February 2, 2018. Its work produced drafts of 2 Executive Orders and 5 Amendment Bills.