• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

Five things to know to start your day

Five Things to Know to Start Your Day

Six airports handled no passenger in 2020 – FAAN

No passenger travelled out or arrived at six airports in six Nigerian states in 2020, latest reports on air traffic movements at airports across the country have shown.

Figures on passenger traffic statistics from January to December 2020 from airports showed that no one travelled through the international airport wings in Enugu, Kaduna, Cross River, Kwara, Niger and Katsina states.

The airport wings in the outlined states include the Enugu International Airport, Kaduna International Airport, Calabar International Airport, Ilorin International Airport, Minna International Airport and Katsina International Airport.

The six international airports had recorded passenger movements in the preceding year, but this was not so in 2020 due to the harsh global economic climate occasioned by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2019, the Enugu International Airport, for instance, recorded a total passenger volume of 34,513 travellers, Kaduna International Airport posted 7,421 passengers, while only 406 travellers used the Calabar International Airport.

Also in 2019, the Ilorin International Airport witnessed the presence of 5,285 travellers, Minna International Airport recorded 6,568 passengers, while the Katsina International Airport saw a total of 6,794 passengers that year.

It was, however, observed that while no passenger used the international wings of the six airports last year, their domestic wings witnessed passenger movements in 2020. But the figures were less than what they posted in 2019, except for the domestic airport in Katsina State.

AMCON drags 3,000 defaulters to court over N5tn debt

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria is currently pursuing bad debts of about 3,000 debtors in various courts in the country.

It disclosed this on Sunday in a statement titled ‘Recovery for N5tn debt burden, AMP scheme pivotal – AMCON CEO’, after a two-day training for Asset Management Partners of AMCON in Lagos.

“The AMPs scheme of the government agency currently has about 6,000 Eligible Bank Assets at different stages of resolution and about 3,000 matters at various courts in the country,” the corporation said.

AMCON said through the AMPs, it was essential that each of the cases were properly captured as they progressed in the courts.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, AMCON, Ahmed Kuru, said five years after AMCON launched the AMP scheme, the initiative had been a major tool in the recovery efforts of the corporation and key to its success.

The statement recalled that AMCON was making efforts to recover over N5tn from obligors that had remained unwilling to repay their debt.

Senate probes NNPC’s alleged failure to remit 10-year stamp duty

The Senate has launched a large-scale probe into the alleged non-remittance of the one per cent stamp duty on contracts awarded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation from 2010 to 2020.

The Committee on Finance, which is currently probing the internally revenue generation of all the ministries, departments and agencies of government, has therefore summoned the management of the NNPC to appear before it on Tuesday.

A source in the panel, who confirmed the development to our correspondent on condition of anonymity on Sunday, said the decision was taken following the inability of the NNPC to present convincing evidence of stamp duty remittances to the federation account since 2010.

The source said the decision was actually taken at the last sitting of the finance panel when the Chairman, Senator Solomon Adeola, expressed displeasure over the development.

Adeola had told the NNPC Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya, who represented the management at the session, that the committee was not satisfied with the corporation’s submission on the one per cent stamp duty remittances.

FG to privatise 12 highways tomorrow

The Federal Government is to officially open a bid for value-added concession under the Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI) on 12 highways tomorrow.

The affected roads for privatisation consist of Benin-Asaba; Abuja-Lokoja; Kaduna-Kano; Onitsha-Owerri-Aba; Saagamu-Benin and Abuja-Keffi-Akwanga.

The rest are Lokoja-Benin; Enugu-Port Harcourt; Ilorin-Jebba; Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta; Lagos-Badagry and Kano-Shuari-Portiskum-Damaturu.

A statement by the Director, Press and Public Relations in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Boade Akinola, indicated that the exercise would be witnessed by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and relevant partners and stakeholders.

119 passengers from high-risk countries refuse isolation – Lagos

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, has raised the alarm that 119 passengers from high-risk countries have refused to be isolated after coming back into the country.

Abayomi, in a statement on Sunday appealed to the families of those who refused to be isolated to return them for testing.

He said, “Since the commencement of the new guidelines and the ban on non-Nigerians travelling from three countries (India, Brazil and Turkey) into Nigeria, Lagos State has recorded 568 in-bound passengers, who have been permitted to enter Nigeria from these three countries. We have isolated 433 passengers in our various accredited hotels and facilities; 262 are in isolation and 154 passengers have been discharged with a negative COVID-19 test. Nine have tested positive to COVID-19 and successfully isolated to prevent community transmission. Of the remaining 135 passengers, 119 have refused isolation and 16 are unaccounted for.

“The families of those that have refused to be isolated should appeal to their loved ones to return for testing and isolation.”

The Commissioner added that all passengers that had been confirmed absconders would have their passports deactivated for a minimum of one year if Nigerian; and if foreign, would have their resident permits cancelled and deported as stated by the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19.

Abayomi also disclosed the state government’s intention to partner the private sector and Federal Government in ramping up vaccination in the state.