Ibadan Book Club unveils five strategic literary projects to boost reading culture - ITREALMS

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The Ibadan Book Club is set to host its annual Stakeholders' and Strategic Meeting on Saturday, June 27, 2026, marking a pivotal moment in the club’s mission to revitalize reading culture in the Oyo State capital, reports ITREALMS.

The session, which will commence at 12:00 noon at the Oyo State Library Board, opposite Cocoa House, Dugbe, is strictly reserved for the club’s patrons and registered members.

Data-driven recovery: WorldStage projects 4.49% GDP growth in 2026 macroeconomic forecast - ITREALMS

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The 2026 Macroeconomic Outlook released by WorldStage Limited provides a comprehensive roadmap for Nigeria’s recovery, projecting a GDP growth rate of 4.49% and a significant cooling of inflation to 12.94% by 2026, reports ITREALMS.

Reviewing the document, Lagos State’s Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotoso, highlighted the publication's broad sectoral analysis covering telecommunications, banking, capital markets, and the creative economy.

Samsung team visits NCDMB, gets assurances for oil industry projects - ITREALMS

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A team of the Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria (SHIN), led by the new Managing Director, Mr. Jin Lee, has paid a visit to the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe, reports ITREALMS.

Recieving the SHIN delegation last Friday at the Lagos liaision office, discussions were on the firm’s in-country capacities, which include heavy fabrication and FPSO integration quayside at the SHI MCI free zone, Takwa Bay Lagos.

NNPC Ltd to revive Brass, OK LNG projects - ITREALMS

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To maximise the nation’s abundant gas resources for economic development and prosperity, NNPC Ltd has begun discussions with investors towards bringing back two Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects, Brass and Olokola LNG projects, reports ITREALMS.

NNPC Ltd’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Mr. Umar Ajiya disclosed this in a press statement available to ITREALMS and signed by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd, Olufemi Soneye, on the sidelines of the ongoing 2024 Gas Technology Conference and Exhibition (Gastech), in Houston, United States, on Thursday.

Dangote projects $30bn revenue to boost Naira - ITREALMS

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The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, on Sunday stated that his company’s aim is to become the leading supplier of foreign exchange in the FX market soon, as it targets $30 billion in revenues by the year 2025.

During a tour of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals and Dangote Fertiliser Limited with media executives at the weekend, he said the plan is to attain independence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in forex sourcing, highlighting a strategic shift in revenue composition within the cement business from the current 75 percent to 15 percent in the future.

Wanted! 'Institutes to finance energy projects' says NNPC Ltd - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has called for the establishment of more local institutions in Nigeria and Africa with capacity to provide funding for energy projects to tackle energy poverty.

The call was made by the Chief Financial Officer of NNPC Ltd, Mr. Umar Ajiya, at the ongoing 23rd Nigeria Oil Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG Energy Week) in Abuja on Wednesday.

NCDMB parleys Chevron, recommits to fast-track approvals of oil industry projects - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has restated its commitment to accelerated approvals of requests and documents submitted to it by operating oil and gas companies. The goal is to ensure speedy development of oil and gas projects and contribute to increased oil production and improved national economy.

The Executive Secretary NCDMB, Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe gave the assurance on Friday at the Nigerian Content Tower, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State when he received senior officials from Chevron Nigeria Limited led by the Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Cosmas Iwueze.

NNPC woos South Korean investors for gas projects - ITREALMS

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…Felicitates Temile Devt. Coy on acquisition of LPG Carrier

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has held talks with a South Korean consortium led by Daewoo E & C on the development of gas projects in Nigeria.

The discussions which held in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday were aimed at deepening NNPC Ltd.’s drive to tap into the nation’s vast gas resources to be a supplier of clean and affordable energy to the global market.

COWA commissions projects @Onne, donates food items to widows - ITREALMS

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The Customs Officers' Wives Association (COWA) Onne Area 11 Command has commissioned a Secretariat, Canteen and unisex Salon, donates food items to widows of the Command, reports ITREALMS.

The association, ITREALMS gathered that the measure was part of efforts to improve the welfare of officers’ wives at the Port Harcourt Area 11 Customs Command, Onne Rivers State.

Gov. Umahi: Our projects, evidences of God's miracle - ITREALMS

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The Executive Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief David Umahi has described his administration's transformational projects in Ebonyi State as miracles from God, reports ITREALMS.

He made this remark while addressing members of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), during its 2022 annual conference held Thursday at the Sheraton hotels, Lagos.

NCC deploys 84 IT projects to support PwDs - ITREALMS

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has deployed 84 assistive Information Technology projects at different locations in Nigeria to support people with special needs while supporting policies that enable disadvantaged members of the society to live a more qualitative life.

"The E-Accessibility project seeks to meet the ICT needs of persons living with disabilities in Nigeria by providing ICT tools, assistive technologies, training, and Internet provision in the identified locations. Between 2012 to 2020, the NCC has deployed the E-Accessibility Projects in, at least, 84 locations nationwide."

4th edition: Eight writers to headline Read Nigeria Projects - ITREALMS

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Read Nigeria Project, a nationwide chain of reading events administered by Adwinsa Publications (Gh) Ltd and Abeokuta Book Club has set aside 13th day of August, 2022 to host eight Abeokuta-based writers, reports ITREALMS.

The eight writers include Darasimi Adeoye, Demola Ayomide Miracle, Lade Ajayi, Joseph Oluwayemi, Kolapo Mariam, Stephen Ezekiel, Esther Ogunsakin and Quadri Yahya in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State.

EKITI 2019 budget aim @completing abandoned projects - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Ekiti State Government has said that one of the major focus of the 2019 budget signed into law by the state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi on Thursday is to ensure the completion of all abandoned capital projects across the State in line with the four pillars of the administration, reports ITREALMS.

The State Commissioner of Finance and Economic, Mr Dapo Kolawole, disclosed this on Friday, during a Budget Analysis session with the media and stakeholders in Ado-Ekiti.  Kolawole said some new capital projects were also incorporated into the budget in order to promote sustainable and expansive economic development in the State.

The Finance Commissioner, citing earlier promise by Governor Fayemi on prompt payment of workers salaries and pensions, said the 2019 budget is structured in a way that spending on capital projects would not affect government’s plan for prompt payment of salaries of workers.

He also revealed that government was still owing contracts about N750 million on the newly built Governor’s Office that was commissioned with funfair in May last year by the immediate past administration. He , however said that the amount was captured in the 2019 budget, as government was not ready to owe any body regardless of who gave the contract.

Kolawole who noted that the four pillars of the administration will be the pillars of the budget stated that government has put in place implementation plans and operational approaches in order to ensure that the expected outcomes are achieved within the planned timeframe.

He added that the budget is tailored to improved the State’s IGR while closing monitoring same for the purpose of blocking all leakages of accruals.

While noting that the performance of the 2018 budget was 32% on capital expenditure, the commissioner said the 2019 budget has 56:44 recurrent capital ration in accordance with the Fiscal Sustainability Plan of the federal government as against 69:31 ration in the 2018 budget.

According to the breakdown analysis given by Kolawole, the 2019 budget whose size is #129,924,472,135.01 is to be funded from various sources including federal allocation which is expected to provide 29% of the funds, IGR and VAT, FAAC augmentation, ecological fund, World Bank’s IDEAS, external grants, State Fiscal Transparency Accountability Sustainability (SFTAS) and reimbursement on federal projects executed by the State, among others.

In line with the executive order abrogating payment of education levies, provision was made for grants to cater for schools while payment of gratuities which has not been made since2013 has also been provided for.

Four roads leading to Afao, the country home of former governor Ayodele  Fayose have been marked for rehabilitation. These roads are Iworoko-Are-Afao road, Afao-Igbemo road, Afao-Ire road and Ado-Afao road.

Contractual obligations owed by the Fayose-led government to some contractors who handled ongoing and some completed projects such as Adebayo-Ori-Apata-Nova road were also catered for in the budget while the airport project also catered for in the budget will be driven by a public-private partnership arrangement.

18 secondary health facilities across the State will be renovated, a permanent clinic will be put in place at the State secretariat to cater for workers’ health needs while a surgical festival is in the pipeline.

The shortwave station of the Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State located at Ifaki Ekiti will be resuscitated, according to the budget plan.

Perhaps as a way of forestalling a repeat of the failure of the State to make provision for its contingents at last year’s national sports festival, there is provision for the Sports Council in the 2019 budget.

Kolawole solicited the cooperation of all Ekiti indigenes in moving the State forward.

Present at the budget analysis were Secretary to the State Government, Mr Biodun Oyebanji; Director General, Office of Transformation and Service Delivery (OTSD), Prof Bolaji Aluko and the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Yinka Oyebode, who coordinated the session.

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Why we are showcasing FG projects – Lai Mohammed

ITREALMS:

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said that the present administration decided to showcase its various projects across the country in response to critics who said it has not done anything to impact positively on the citizenry since assuming office, reports ITRealms.

The Minister stated this in Oyo Town on Tuesday when he inspected the construction of the Oyo-Ogbomoso Expressway, in continuation of his tour of ongoing Federal Government projects across the country.

“The response of this administration to criticism is simply to continue to do more and more work and also to continue to showcase what we are doing. There is only one way you can get the electorate to vote for you - by delivering on your promises; by embarking on projects which touch their lives and that’s what we are doing and that’s why we are so confident that our re-election will be very easy.

''On Monday we commissioned three projects in Osogbo, aimed at controlling the decades-long flooding that has claimed lives and property in the town. Today (Tuesday), we are inspecting the ongoing construction of the Oyo-Ogbomoso Road, which is one of the roads being constructed with a part of the 100 billion Naira Sukuk Loan. As we are here, other Ministers are also inspecting and commissioning key infrastructural projects across the country,'' he said.

Alhaji Mohammed said the Oyo-Ogbomoso Expressway remains very significant because it is the link between the South-western part of the country and the North and the main carriageway for heavy-duty vehicles since the collapse of the railways.

He assured that there will no longer be a funding challenge for the execution of the Oyo-Ogbomoso road project, in view of the creative approach to funding adopted by the present administration.

“I think you must have listened to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing late last week during the inspection of some roads in the South-East when he said funding will no longer be a challenge to many of our critical roads. This is because the N199 billion Presidential Infrastructure Fund has been put in place and the critical roads like this (Oyo-Ogbomoso road) will benefit from the Fund,” the Minister said.

While briefing the Minister on the project, the Federal Controller of Works in Oyo State, Mr. Omotayo Awosanya, said the project, which was awarded in 2010, is now 58% completed due to the commitment of the present administration to deliver on the project.

“When it was initially awarded, there was no proper funding until this present regime when funding improved. We are lucky this project is benefitting from Sukuk Loan , in addition to what the budget can provide,” he said.

Mr. Awosanya said so far the sum of N26 billion had been paid to the contractor, out of the contract sum of N47 billion.

He said if the current funding template is sustained, the project - originally scheduled for completion in 2013 - will now be completed by the middle of next year.

While conducting the Minister round the Asphalt Manufacturing Plant for the project, Mr. Harel Vaknin, the Project Manager of Reynolds Construction Company (RCC), the contracting firm, said all the materials used for the project are being sourced locally.

He said over 600 people have been gainfully employed in the course of executing the project.

Ayo Midele/GEE

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CGN explodes, warns Shittu over childish projects in 2018

ITREALMS:

The Computer Guild of Nigeria (CGN) has exploded with a warning to the current Minister of Communication, Barr. Adebayo Shittu to eschew the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry with childish and puerile projects as 2018 beings, reports ITRealms.

Revealing the positon of CGN to ITRealms at the weekend in Ibadan, the National President of the Guild, Mr. Wole Adedoyin said that after the first meeting of the Guild to unveil it’s 2018 projects for the industry, the warning becomes imperative.

According to Adedoyin, who is also the national coordinator of “Information Technology Writers Association of Nigeria (ITWAN), “We prayed the Minister begins this year with laudable ICT projects. Last year was a disaster in the industry, not much was recorded. We in the sector know this compared to Mobolaji Johnson’s tenure when she was there in the same shoes.”

“We are all aware that two projects forwarded to the country’s National Executive Council (NEC) during one of their Council’s meetings which were brought forward by the Minister were shamefully rejected by them”

“We had once written to the President to reshuffle the ministry and take Barrister Shittu to where he belongs but the President refused to heed to our call,” he lamented.

ITRealms recalls that Computer Guild of Nigeria is acclaimed one of the computer professional associations in Nigeria saddled with the responsibilities of enhancing the computer skills of its members and the general public; formally known as the Society for Microsoft Practitioners (SFMP or SFMOP) and National Association of Nigerian Computer Operators, Web Designers, Programmers and Hardware Technicians, established since 2004.

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NITDA warns MDAs over IT projects without clearance

ITRealms:

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has warned Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as other government establishments on the need to seek clearance from the agency before embarking on any Information Technology (IT) project, reports ITRealms.

Director General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), NITDA, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, who gave this warning in Abuja, cited Section 6 of the NITDA Act 2007, as well as Service-wide Circular from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation which makes the agency a clearing house for all IT procurement in the public sector.

He pointed out that the objectives of the clearance exercise include to ensure transparency in IT procurement by MDAs and other government establishments; alignment of IT projects/investments with MDAs and other government establishments’ mandates and functions as well as government IT shared vision and policy; and integration of IT systems and services to save costs, promote shared services, interoperability and improve efficiency.

In addition, he said, the objectives comprised that there is indigenous capacity for after-sales-service to sustain the project beyond the initial deployment; that the project promotes indigenous content and that preference is given to indigenous companies where capacity or the product or service exists; that the technology being implemented is up-to-date; and that the technology and services being procured are suitable for the country from the point of view of security and the environment, among others.

He emphasized that this will see to the realization of IT as a major driver and enabler of policies and national development plans; learning, knowledge and experience sharing on IT projects among MDAs; and the availability of accurate statistics on Federal Government’s IT assets and Investments to help government make informed IT decisions.

“The realization that government’s investments in IT over the years were not commensurate with the value derived from such investments and had also failed to evolve a digitally-enabled public service that will advance the citizens’ yearnings of digital economy made it necessary for strategic re-positioning of IT procurement in the public sector,” Pantami said.

Chuks Egbune with Doris Minimah/GEE

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2017 WSIS Prize: 345 nominated projects attract 1.1m votes

ITRealms:

A record-breaking total of 1.1 million votes were cast for the 345 nominated projects between March 30 and April 30 2017 in the online voting process that resulted in the emergence of 90 exceptional Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) initiatives in this year’s World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prize, reports ITRealms.

This is coming as the sixth edition of the WSIS Prize contest, advances to conclusion.

Voters, ITRealms gathered, selected from a list of 345 ICT success stories nominated through a comprehensive review by the WSIS Prizes Expert Group from 467 submitted projects.

ITRealms reports that over 60,000 new members of the WSIS stakeholder community voted this year, and with this, ITU is proud to announce that the WSIS Stocktaking Platform has increased to 300,000 registered stakeholders.

This, ITU said, sets a new high for the level of global multi-stakeholder engagement, and implementation of WSIS Action Lines in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

ITRealms recollects that the WSIS Prize contest is open to all stakeholders including governments, businesses, civil society, international organizations, academia and others, which comprises 18 categories directly linked to the WSIS Action Lines outlined in the Geneva Plan of Action. This year's final list of 345 nominated projects represented a wide range of stakeholders.

Further reports by ITRealms showed that African region showcased 49 projects equals to 14.1 per cent;  Americas had 45 amounting to 12.9 per cent; Arab region had 78 worth 22.4 per cent; Asia and the Pacific had 88 resulting into 25.3 per cent;

Whereas Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) had 41 - 11.8 per cent; Europe had 42 which amounts to 12.1 per cent, and five international projects had 1.4 per cent; and by sector recorded 145 from governments - 41.7 per cent; 78 from businesses saw 22.4 per cent, just as 56 were from civil societies which had 16.1 per cent; 22 from international organizations - 6.3 per cent, and 47 projects from other entities - 13.5 per cent.

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Remita: How CBN, Accountant General saved N126bn - ITREALMS

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In a recent interview with one of the national dailies, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae said one of the ways to enthrone fiscal regime in the country is to stop a regime where government agencies and parastatals are allowed to operate accounts with commercial banks.

According to him, the ideal thing is to have a situation where all funds meant for ministries, department and agencies [MDAs] are kept with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from where the MDAs will withdraw to fund their operations and projects.