Minister urges farmers, govt.
partnership in food production
Minister
of Agriculture, Adewunmi Adesina, has charged farmers to ensure that they
complement Federal Government’s efforts to boost food production in the
country.
The
minister, who was represented by Mr. Uche Nwafor, urged beneficiaries to put
the loan into productive use in order to make food available to all Nigerians,
just as he assured that by 2014, the country would be food sufficient.
Published
in The Guardian Newspaper, Monday, 30th July, 2012
Nigeria seeks
bilateral economic commission with Mexico
Nigeria has stepped up efforts towards the establishment
of a bilateral joint economic commission with Mexico.
The
commission will among other things help the country to document the trade in
animal skin with the Latin American country for its footwear and agro-allied
industries.
Published
in Leadership Newspaper, Monday, 30th July, 2012
NIG carpets govt on broadband
development
The
Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) has picked holes in the current broadband
development agenda of the Federal Government in the country. The NIG said the
Federal Government seems to be putting the cart before the horse, by neglecting
the need to first of all create an enabling environment that will ensure the
thriving of Internet activities in the country.
Speaking
through its President, Bayo Banjo, in Lagos
at the weekend, NIG stressed that the present environment was not
conducive enough to expand broadband services in the country.
Published
in The Guardian Newspaper, Tuesday, 31st July, 2012
Why Lagos
commissioned e-learning centre, by Fashola
The need to adequately
engaged youths in Lagos
and its environs for productive purposes has been identified by the Lagos State
Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, as one major reason for the
commissioning of the multi billion naira e-learning centre in the state.
Beside, the governor added
the commissioning of the centre was part of efforts to transforming the state
into an Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-driven society to
enhance and expedite its services to the people of the state.
Published
in The Guardian Newspaper, Tuesday, 31st July, 2012
Maternal & child health: Reprieve as ExxonMobil
commissions N150m PHC in Nanka Community
The 21-year wait for a
befitting maternal and child health care centre, the Nanka community, in
Orumba North Local Council of Anambra State, came to an end last week with the
official commissioning and hand over of the Ofu-Obi Comprehensive Health Centre
by Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, EEPNL, with support from
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
Prior to this landmark,
Nanka, one of the most populous communities in the state was solely dependent
on a health centre established through community effort in 1949.
Published
in Business Day Newspaper, Tuesday, 31st July, 2012
FIIRO’s preliminary results okay
cassava bread
The
health concern of cassava bread consumers, especially people prone to diabetes,
is being addressed by the Glycemic Index (GI) studies embarked upon by the
Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), Lagos.
According
to the Director General and CEO of the Institute, Dr. Gloria Elemo, the
preliminary result has been encouraging, declaring that the cassava is quite
safe.
The
Director General said with inclusion of cassava flour of lower GI than wheat
flour, the bread becomes even healthier and more so for even diabetic patients.
She said the study stems from the fact that the Institute is unwaveringly
committed to the cassava flour production and inclusion in bread, a
transformation agenda issue of the Federal Government.
Published
in Guardian Newspaper, Tuesday, 31st July, 2012
UN report finds critical gaps in
global response to AIDS
A
new report has been found that the availability of antiretroviral drugs in low
and middle income nations grew by more than 20 per cent from 2010 to 2011. The
report according also found that the epicentre of the crisis remained in Africa, where great strides have been made in domestic
funding and treatment, but where 1.2 million people died of AIDS-related causes
last year, the bulk of the 1.5 million deaths worldwide.
Following
that release of the report, experts warned that deaths from HIV/AIDS are rising
in parts of Asia and central Europe and the
global response must accelerate.
Published
in Guardian Newspaper, Wednesday, 1st August, 2012
Ondo spends N5.5bn on agriculture
Ondo State
Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko said on Thursday that his administration had spent
about N5.5bn on the development of the agricultural sector in the last three
years. Mimiko, who stated this in Akure at the 2012 Farmers-Government
Interactive Forum, added that the amount was channeled towards addressing some
of the identified problems confronting agriculture in the state.
The
problems, according to him, include lack of access to genuine agricultural
inputs, ageing farmers, inadequate machines, tractors and implements for land
preparation as well as inadequate credit facility to continue in production.
Mimiko said it was in
realisation of these problems that the administration on assumption of office
in Year 2009, set out a number of programmes and policies to combat them in
line with the Caring Heart Agenda of the government of which Agriculture is the
first.
Published in Punch Newspaper, Wednesday, 1st August, 2012
CBN plans to deploy graphic ATMs for
physically challenged persons
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on
Thursday, in Akure, announced plans to accommodate physically challenged
persons in its cashless policy drive.
Ikechukwu
Nwaoha, the bank’s Deputy Director, Consumer and Financial Protection
Department, said this in a paper he delivered at the 17th seminar for finance
correspondents and business editors. The paper was entitled, “Issues,
challenges and consumer protection in a cashless economy”.
According to him, the CBN will soon introduce
graphics moderated automated teller machines (ATMs) to facilitate the
participation of physically challenged persons in e-transaction.
Source: Business Day Newspaper, Wednesday, 1st August, 2012
FG engaging Ghana on ‘trade discrimination’
against Nigerians
The Federal
Government says it is currently engaging the government of Ghana on the issue of a $300,000 fee demanded as
capital base for people wishing to do business in Ghana.
The
discrimination of Nigerian businessmen and women in Ghana has been reported
increasingly in the past weeks with the Ghanaian side largely unapologetic for
decisions made though claiming to be in tandem with free trade laws of the West
African sub-region.
Martin Uhomoibhi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, made this disclosure in Abuja
on Thursday while briefing journalists where he also noted that Ghana like Nigeria was a signatory to the
ECOWAS Protocol on free movement of goods and services within the sub-region.
Source: Business Day Newspaper, Wednesday, 1st August, 2012
FG inaugurates technical committees
to tackle investment bottlenecks
The Federal Government has inaugurated
two technical committees for the Doing Business and Competitive Committee and
Investor-Care Committee to tackle the problems militating against the ease of
doing business in Nigeria;
inflow of Foreign Direct Investment; and ultimately improve the country’s
ranking in the Global Competitiveness Index.
The Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun
Aganga, who performed the inauguration ceremony in Abuja said that the
exercise was a follow-up to the earlier inauguration of the Doing Business and
Competitiveness Committee and After-Care Committee(formerly known as Committee
on Problems of Investors), by the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation few months ago.
Source: Business Day Newspaper, Wednesday, 1st August, 2012
Nigeria loses
$1.5 billion yearly to Vitamin, Mineral Deficiencies’
Nigeria loses
$1.5billion of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) yearly to deficiencies of
vitamin and mineral in its staple food, Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has said.
He disclosed that Nigeria would
require annual investment of $188 million to scale up micronutrients in staple
foods, as most staple foods produced in the country are low in essential
micronutrients.
Source: Guardian Newspaper, Wednesday, 1st August,
2012
Unicem targets Five Million Metric
Ton Capacity
With a view to addressing
poverty and unemployment, 400 youths are undergoing training by the Borno State
government in poultry and fishery. These would be empowered with working tools
and take off grants before the end of this year.
Speaking last week during
the opening session of the initiative at Mohamet College of Agriculture, Maiduguri, Governor Kashim
Shettima said the training is in line with the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals (UN-MDGs) on food security.
Source: The Guardian, Thursday, 2nd August, 2012
Tinapa Customs’ Excesses Stir Unease,
Fears of shutdown
Management of the Nigeria Export
Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA) and Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort have
raised alarm over attempts by the Nigerian Customs to shut down Tinapa.
Contrary to the law guiding the
operations of Tinapa, which allows customers to enter the zone and buy items
below N50,000 without paying any duties, men of the Nigerian Customs, for the
past few days, have allegedly prevented persons from this privilege.
Source: The Guardian, Thursday, 2nd August, 2012
IFAD Commends Abia’s Commitment to Partnership with Agencies
Country Director, International Fund For
Agricultural Development (IFAD), Lady Atsuko Toda has lauded the commitment of
the state to its partnership with donor agencies including the achievements
recorded in its development.
In a visit to Governor Theodore Orji, who
was represented by his deputy, Colonel Emeka Ananaba (rtd), Lady Toda said her
team was in the state to assess the progress made on agricultural projects her
Agency was in partnership with the government. The stressed the need to
sustainability and enhancing working capacity of the oil mill processing plants
towards more revenue generation.
Source: The Daily sun, Friday,
3rd August, 2012
Multi-Billion Naira Farm UNDERWAY In
Rivers …AS RSG, Israel
Sign MoU
Rivers
State Government, has finally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
an Israeli-based firm, LR Group Limited for a multi-billion naira 2000-hectare
farm in Etche Local Government.
Rt.
Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has reaffirmed his administration’s determination
to make agriculture one of the main stay of the state economy and rapidly
develop an agro-based economy that would compete favourably with the oil
industry in the state.
Source: The Daily sun, Friday,
3rd August, 2012
Only six percent of industrialists
have access to funds
A
survey carried out by Nigerian Association of Chambers and Commerce, Industry,
Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has shown that only six percent of
industrialists in the country have been able to access the various
interventions funds made available by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Presenting
the survey report yesterday to stakeholders in Lagos at a one-day bi-yearly dialogue on
“Impact of Government Intervention Funds in the transformation of the Nigerian
economy” Managing Director of ENABLE, Olarewaju Olaitan, stated that the survey
was conducted throughout the six geo-political zones of the country.
Published
in The Guardian Newspaper, Monday, 30th July, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment