The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday in
Abuja set up a ministerial committee to investigate the earth tremor which
rocked Abuja last Thursday and report its findings back to the council.
Briefing journalists at the end of the weekly FEC
meeting, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Muhammad Bello,
listed ministries which make up the committee to include: FCT, Science and
Technology, Power, Works and Housing and Steel Development.
According to him, there is no cause for concern as
preliminary investigation showed that the tremor was mild as experts said
Nigeria was not prone to earthquake disaster, emphasising that the development
cannot result in wild tremor.
"There was a movement called tremor but it was
very mild. Preliminary investigations showed that it was mild in Mpape from
where it spread to other parts of Abuja. It was very mild. There was no cause
for concern. Experts informed us that Abuja didn't fall into geological areas
that can lead to tremor. The council set up a ministerial committee consisting
of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Power, Works and Housing, Mines and
Solid Minerals and FCT to look into the situation," he said.
Furthermore, the minister said mining activities
and blasting of rocks in Mpape had so far been suspended until the conclusion
of investigation.
However, he also pointed out that preliminary
investigation into the development revealed that the tremor was not caused by
mining activities and rock blasting in Mpape.
Also briefing, the Attorney General of the
Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, said the council
deliberated on the report of Electoral Reforms Committee set up by President
Muhammadu Buhari and chaired by former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, to
examine various issues including provisions of the Constitution on Electoral
Act (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
According to him, the committee was set up to come
up with a report aimed at enhancing the electoral process, entrenching
accountability in the conduct of elections and political parties' affairs, ensuring
speedy resolution of pre-election matters and election disputes as well as imposing
stiffer penalties on electoral offenders.
According to Malami, the committee proposed the
initiation of Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal Bill 2018 and two
other bills for onward submission to the National Assembly for enactment.
He also said the committee recommended the proposal
of constitutional provisions that would enhance the electoral process, regulate
activities of political parties and guarantee the independence of Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) in a way that it cannot be subjected to
the manipulation or control of any authority.
Consequently, he said the council approved the
review and initiation of Constitution Alteration Bill 2018, Electoral Act
(Amendment) Bill 2018, Electoral Offences Commission Bill 2018 with a view to
achieving the objectives.
In his briefing, the Minister of Budget and
National Planning, Udo Udoma, said he briefed the council on the second quarter
report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that the economy grew by 1.5
percent during the quarter.
According to him, the council was particularly encouraged
by the continuous growth of the non-oil sector by 2.05 percent, adding however
that the council expressed concern on the state of crude of oil and
agriculture.
Consequently, he said efforts would be intensified
to raise oil production volume to 2 million barrels per day and simultaneously
raise the growth of agriculture to three per cent.
"The non-oil sector grew by 2.05 percent and
we are very encouraged by this. In fact, this is consistent with the Economic
Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) objectives. However, council was a bit
concerned about agriculture as well as crude oil, and so we intend to intensify
efforts in agriculture which has been affected by some of the insecurities in
some parts of the country and some of the clashes which are now being
contained.
"So, we expect agriculture to pick up again.
We expect it to go back to the 3 percent which we had been experiencing before.
Then, in terms of crude oil production, we are going to intensify work to get
oil production back to over 2 million barrels a day," Udoma said.
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