…Rolls out new policy on domain migration for MDAs
By Sunday Odey
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N1,173,630,820,594.89 to procure maintenance materials for the Ibadan-Kano standard gauge and Port Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge rail lines.
This also includes printing contracts by the National Examination Council for the 2022 senior school certificate examination.
Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, joined by his counterpart Ministry of Education, Adamu Adamu, revealed this to newsmen after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to Amaechi, “I have an approval of the cabinet to procure rolling stocks for the operation and maintenance and rolling stocks operational maintenance equipment for the new railway projects corridors in Ibadan to Kano standard gauge and Port Harcourt to Maiduguri narrow gauge rail lines to the tune of N1,168,664,834,021 including 7.5 per cent tax.
“These rolling stocks are essentially the consumables we use to maintain the trains, coaches and locomotives. So the reason for train breakdowns discussed in the cabinet is that we may have run out of rolling stocks. So with this, we will replace all the rolling stock.”
The Minister of Education, Adamu, said Council approved N4.97bn for printing contracts ahead of the 2022 senior school certificate examinations organised by NECO.
“Today, the memo we presented from the Ministry of Education is a printing contract by NECO for the senior school certificate examination. The beneficiaries are nine contractors and the amount is N4,965,986,573.89. It will be completed in eight weeks. And it is for the printing of sensitive, non-sensitive equipment and other ancillary equipment for the examination,” he said.
On the ongoing disagreement between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Adamu expressed surprise about ASUU’s decision to embark on a one-month strike.
This is even as he ansolve the Government of any wrongdoing, saying that the failure to reach a truce with ASUU is no longer FG’s fault.
“ASUU, unfortunately, they have gone on strike, and I am looking for them because all the issues are being addressed. The last thing that happened was that our committee looked at their demands but renegotiations are going on. They submitted a draft agreement which the ministry is looking at,” he said.
Continuing, the Minister said that ASUU’s decision came abruptly amidst ongoing negotiations. He also maintained that ASUU’s draft agreement was still being considered by a committee when the union proceeded to announce the one-month strike on Monday.
“A committee is looking at it. Immediately it finishes, the Government is meant to announce what it has accepted. Then suddenly, I heard them going on strike,” he said.
On allegations from ASUU about his absence from meetings, Adamu said, “ASUU will never say that. I always call the meeting myself. The meetings I didn’t attend were those that happened when I was in hospital in Germany. We want a peaceful resolution. The Federal Government is ready to meet them on all issues they have raised, and if there are so many meetings and the gap is not closing, then I think it’s not the fault of the Government.
“There is a solution to this. The negotiations are the solution, and that is why I have said that I am surprised that ASUU has gone on strike.”
Asked if the Government will reach an agreement with ASUU before one month, the Minister said, “I can’t give you time. I am ready to reach an agreement with ASUU now, but since I’m not the only one, I can’t give you time, but certainly, we are going to reach an agreement very soon.”
Adamu also justified the disparity in the cut-off marks for common entrance examinations across various parts of the nation.
According to him, the low cut-off marks in the North are meant to comply with the requirements of the Federal Character Commission.
“I have nothing to say on that. I am not aware of any difference unless it is meant to satisfy the requirements of Federal character. I think the federal character is a principle in the nation, and it is accepted. There is probably nothing you can do about that. There would probably come a time when it would not be necessary.”
On his part, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, said Council approved the National Policy on Government Second Level Doman, mandating all government ministries, departments and agencies to migrate from generic website and email domain to the second level domain under government top-level domain.
He said: “The memo I presented is our national policy, which has been approved by the Federal Executive Council. The policy has been entitled as National Policy on the Government, Second Level Domain.
“This policy has been approved, and it focuses more on mandating federal public institutions, ministries, departments, agencies, and all government institutions to migrate from using a generic domain in their websites and their emails to our second-level domain under government top-level domain.
“For example, you will discover today; some government institutions will engage in official communications using private email yahoo.com, hotmail.com, gmail.com. Someone may retire or complete his tenure, or the tenure can be terminated, and he will go with the same email. And in that email, there are many official documents.
“So, this will not be tolerated by Government anymore. Any official communications must be using official email. And that email should not be a generic one. It must be .gov.ng. What is most important is .ng which is our national identity. There are many categories of the second-level domain; some are for the military. You will see like mil.ng. Mil is a short form of military. Ng for Nigeria.
“So there are categories of the second-level domain, while our country top-level domain, .ng, must be there in our websites, so that whoever gets access will know that this website is from Nigeria. While for email, it must reflect the official name.”
He further explained that the policy would foster national security global recognition and forestall the activities of internet fraudsters masquerading as government agencies.
“So that is why in federal public institutions, websites, emails, it is now a national policy. We must patronise our official accounts and communicate officially. When you are about to leave office, there are procedures on either how to hand over the official email or how the email can be shut down completely, and a new one can be created for the incoming government official so that Government will be able to regulate this effectively.
“So this policy has been approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria. Part of the policy also states that lack of compliance cannot be tolerated by Government,” Pantami explained.
When asked about ASUU’s recent nullification of his professorship from Federal University of Technology Owerri, the Minister simply replied, “No comments.”
