FG ready to engage 200,000 unemployed youths — Osinbajo

Abuja – Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says plans for the effective commencement of a number of social investment programmes of the Buhari presidency has reached advanced stages.

Osinbajo told journalists and producers at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday that the selection of the first 200,000 unemployed graduates to get jobs was now being completed.

“We expect that before the end of the month, we will engage 200,000, out of the 500,000 unemployed graduates the Buhari administration plans to hire in the N-Power jobs programme’’, he said.

According to him, the direct government jobs are meant to keep young people occupied, pay them some amount of money and also give them a device.

He said the device would also help them to learn several skills that they could develop with time.

Osinbajo added that “we expect that before the end of this month, we should have engaged 200,000 of them and we are hoping that before the end of the year we should have engaged more.”

The vice president also disclosed that the Home-Grown School Feeding programme was set to begin in several states in October.

“Definitely before the end of this month, we expect that several states would have come on stream with their Home-grown School Feeding Programmes”, he added.

“The Home-Grown School Feeding programme will energise agriculture in the states because it is what you plant that you feed the children with.

“We will be hiring caterers, cooks, et cetera in each state because it will be Federal Government-funded from Primary One to Primary Three.

“The state governments hopefully would be able to cater for the other classes.”

According to the vice president, the Home-Grown School Feeding programme is another section of the Social Investment programmes that impact directly on the lives of Nigerian children and families.

He said many states would start implementing the Home-grown School Feeding Programme before the end of October.

The VP also stated that the Micro-Credit scheme for no fewer than one million Nigerian artisans, traders, market women and others would also commence in October.

“For women across the country, we are giving loans, micro credit loans to about 1.5 million women; we are focusing on market women and artisans, loans between N60,000 and 100,000 each.

“We are working through the Bank of Industry (BOI). They are going to be giving out these loans, we‘ve already identified the banks and everybody who is involved in this.’’

The vice president reassured Nigerians that the current administration was well focused on ameliorating the plight of the citizens of the country.

He noted that the administration was feeling the pains of the citizens and was committed to assuaging them.

On the economy, Osinbajo said government was committed to developing it to enable citizens to find opportunities within the country.

“I want to assure Nigerians that the government of President Buhari is a very focused and determined government.

“We are committed to ensuring that we are able to develop the Nigerian economy in such a way that Nigerians are able to find opportunities in their own country’’, he said.

He listed the ‘Made-in-Nigeria’ project, moving away from import dependence, boosting agriculture, and encouraging manufacturing as some of the urgent actions being pursued by government.

The vice president also emphasised the Buhari administration’s zero tolerance for corruption, as corruption is “the major drain on the country’s resources.

“No one would be spared in the fight against corruption because even the close friends of the President know that they will not be spared; he will not cover for them.

“Fighting corruption is a priority,” he stressed.

On the current recession, the vice president said the fall in oil prices and pipeline vandalism were the immediate causes of the recession, as they reduced the country’s revenue drastically.

He assured that government would adequately manage the little being realised.

“We were producing up to 2.2 million barrels a day but all of a sudden, the vandalism of our terminals caused us to lose up to a million barrels a day.

“So when you lose up to 60 per cent of your revenue or even more, there must be a shock because you are really earning very little.

“We will ensure that that very little that we are earning is as well managed as possible”, he said.

Source: nigerianobservernews

FG launches e-agriculture web portal

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Tuesday launched a National e-agriculture web portal to enhance agricultural activities in the country

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, unveiled the new web portal in Abuja.

He said the new portal would help those interested in agribusiness ‎information about the country’s agricultural activities.

“The world has gone digital and most businesses are done in the Internet. And agriculture in Nigeria should not be an exception.’’

The minister said e-agriculture web portal came up as a result of the collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

“It’s a platform where everybody that wants to go into agribusiness can log into and find potentials that exist in agriculture.’’

He also inaugurated a 13-Member Steering Committee to implement work plan on how the portal will benefit agribusiness in Nigeria.

“The steering committee is expected to come up at the end of the day with an implementation work plan on how the portal will benefit agribusiness in Nigeria.

“I believe that with the technocrats will come up with all the necessary information needed for this new project to achieve its objectives.’’

Lokpobiri explained that the e-agriculture portal would focus on dissemination of information designed to help farmers in making best decision on farming.

He said the portal would promote the emergence of specialised agricultural knowledge from targeted research to address farmer’s priorities and improve the efficiency of extension system to electronic extension services via SMS.

The Director General, NITDA, Dr Isa Ibrahim, described e-agriculture as the process of deploying, adopting and accepting ICTs into the different aspects of the Agricultural ‎Value Chain.

According to him, the national e-agriculture portal is a one-stop shop for agricultural content for all the stakeholders in the nation’s agricultural sector.

Ibrahim said the portal would provide an interactive interface for users to query datasets that are related to the agricultural sector in Nigeria.”

He said the portal will provide farming information like best pesticide and weather information to farmers.

“It will provide a platform for linking various stakeholders in the agro-allied industries and a ground for marketing, advertising agricultural products.

“It will also give a verifiable database of farmers and a platform for training of stakeholders and farmers on innovations”, he said.

Source: Daily Trust

Nigeria heading on road to recovery through agric – Ogbeh

The Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has expressed optimism that Nigeria is heading on the road to economic recovery through agriculture. Ogbeh made this know to newsmen while giving account of the 2016 budget implementation to the Senate Committee on Agriculture & Rural Development led by Chairman, Sen. Adamu Abdullahi who paid the ministry an oversight visit. 

He however lamented the untimely release of funds and the long procurement processes required by the law to implement the budget. “The budget implementation has been slowed down by the untimely release of funds and the long procurement process as required by law which is why we could not execute the wet season GES coupled with the N67billion accrued GES debt we met on ground.” 

“The N67billion GES debt we inherited alone is higher than the entire 2016 budget allocation to the Ministry of Agric. Agriculture is a time-sensitive business and late intervention in inputs to farmers is counter-productive & we are not happy.” “Having missed the wet season farming GES, we are now looking to implementing the dry season intervention once the rain stops.” “Another challenge is inadequate budget provision to execute Agric projects and the projects the Agric ministry is expected to execute.”

 “We are constructing rural roads and drilling boreholes as part of our projects. One begins to wonder what the Local Governments exist to do.” Expressing optimism and hope of a turn-around in the dwindled economy especially with the support of the private sector, he said, “The good news is that the private sector is responding to agriculture in a way we have never seen in this country; They own the major rice mills. The good news is that according to the Bureau of Statistics, Agriculture still recorded a 4% growth compared to other sectors.” 

“Upon the budget approval in May, we advertised, received and processed 7,000 bids; and made N70million which was paid into the TSA.” “No contract awarded yet due to the long procurement procedure which we can’t by pass. It’s about now that capital expediture is to begin. With the enthusiasm shown by private sector and Nigerians in general, we are confident of heading on the road to recovery through agric,” he concluded. 

Earlier, the Senate committee chairman, Sen. Adamu while addressing the ministry said, “we are here as part of our primary responsibility to check the utilization of your budgetary allocation and for good governance.” Assuring the ministry of the Senate’s response to their plight, Adamu said “We have passed a bill to shorten the procurement process from 165 days to 112 days for speedy release of funds.”

Source: Vanguard

Dangote Blames Closure of Tomato Plant On Influx of Foreign Products

The Vice President of the Dangote Group of Company, Sani Dangote has said stiff competition from about 30 industries that import tomato paste from China caused its Tomato Manufacturing plant in Kano to shut down.

He explained that despite actions taken by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop selling of forex to importers of tomato paste, the importation of the product is still far cheaper than local production, explaining that China has drop the price of the commodity by 50 percent so as to be able to meet Nigerian demand.

He said: "The problem is that there is still a lot of import coming. Even though Central Bank said its not giving any importer dollars to import tomato paste, other countries like China have dropped their prices by 50%, to ensure that even though there is devaluation in Naira, they will be able to sell to those who want to buy through the parallel market.

"With Nigerian government dropping duty to as low at 5%, and China dropping their price to less then 50%, it means that you can even buy dollar at N500 and import tomatoes paste and sell. And if you check the price they are selling, they are selling 70gram at almost N50 naira. By the time you multiply this value they are selling over $2300 per tonne when they are buying it less than $700.

"So the margin is huge. Unless government does something, there is no way we can pay a local farmer who has no capacity compared to Chinese farmers. A farmer here gets only about 12 tonnes per hectare; the Chinese farmer gets over a 100 tonnes supported by government and other supports".

Dangote disclosed that some companies have opened factories in Ghana, in the free zone under the disguise of ECOWAS and bring retail packs directly into the country, stating that the Federal Ministries Finance, Industry Agriculture, National Planning are aware of some of these challenges unfortunately noting is yet to be done.

He lamented that with farmers starting planting, government is yet to put in place policy that would guide the tomato value chain, maintaining that the situation does not encourage industries to embark on backward integration.

He urged President Buhari to put in place the necessary policies towards enforcing total ban of importation and ensure the companies that are into retail packaging begin to buy from local producers for them to package and sell.

He added: "The hope is that let the president take the initiative if the ministries have failed to take the initiative. If it gets to the president, am sure he won't want to see his vision diminished by some bureaucratic process.

"But it's very unfortunate because thousands of farmers will continue to suffer because of companies that are bent on importing to Nigerian market. Nigeria is a big market for any tomatoes exporter so they will do everything possible to see that tomatoes keep coming to Nigeria unless our government takes the bold step to do the right thing."

Credit: The Guardian

Food Production - How Nigeria Plans to Encourage Farmers - Osinbajo

By Bassey Udo

To encourage farmers to produce more and ensure food sufficiency for Nigeria, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said on Monday that government would implement a buy back scheme to guarantee minimum price for agricultural products.

The Vice President was speaking in Abuja during the first policy dialogue session on the economy at the 22nd Nigeria Economic Summit (NES#22), which opened on Monday on the theme: "Made in Nigeria."

The scheme, Mr. Osinbajo explained, would involve government buying up agricultural products by farmers and storing them for distribution to consumers at a time prices come down.

"During harvest when prices of products are low, farmers are not usually happy. Low prices will discourage them from engaging activities to produce more food. Now, what government wants to do is to buy up all the agricultural produce when prices are high and store them so that when prices are falling, it would be able to keep a very standard price for the farmers," the VP said.

He said at the moment, the federal government was trying to resolve with the states on who would control the silos the products would be stored.

The Vice President said the state governments insisted they wanted to control and run the silos, rather than privatizing them, pointing out that since the federal government has the farmers, they should control the silos.

"We are working with the state governments to control some of the silos. The states are going to control the whole process, but the federal government is looking for intermediate buyers to buy and store. The states want the federal government to stay away so they can work directly with the private sector," he stated.

He said disagreement has resulted in a change in the way things were going, saying although the Ministry of Agriculture was trying originally to privatize the silos, the states have insisted on taking over the process.

According to the states, it would be better for sub-nationals to handle the silos, since failure of the process at the centre would mean a complete loss, saying government believed apart from its commitment to its success, without the states, it plans for buy back would not work.

On competition for technology innovation involving about 4,000 young people in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, the vice president said government was training 65,000 young people in technology innovated businesses to create opportunities for young people.

He said by organising technology hubs in each of the six geo-political zones, apart from Lagos and Abuja, government was encouraging young people to go into technology.

"Look at animated cartoons alone, we are also training in animation", he said.

Source: Allafrica

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Agric Summit To Provide Solutions To Local Farmers -DG

The Director General of the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, Dipo Famakinwa, has assured farmers that the South West Agricultural Summit (SWAS) would address issues facing farmers and outline action plans that will tackle the challenges farmers are combating in the South West region of the country.
Speaking at a press conference in Ibadan recently, Famakinwa said SWAS 2016 is the first summit which is set to address sub-national issues affecting agriculture.
In a release obtained by The Tide from Agro Nigeria, the DAWN DG explained that the summit was also aimed at making farmers understand the business of agriculture which is expected to create a pathway to the economic competitiveness of the South West.
He rested that the development of the region through those involved in agriculture was non negotiable.
Corroborating the DG, the Chief Executive of Agro Nigeria, Richard-Mark Mbaram, stated that Nigeria has tremendous energy economically which is predominantly resident in the agricultural sector.
He added that SWAS 2016 is a template for other regions, noting that the strength of the country was in the regions.
The summit is designed to deliver agricultural benefits that can see many Nigerian survive the recession in a short time.
In a related development, the Lagos State Government has expressed its desire to explore the agricultural value chain potentials in the state, thus organising the Lagos Food Security summit and Exhibition.
Addressing journalists at a press conference recently, the Special Adviser to the Lagos state governor, on Food security, Mr. Sanni Okawawon, said the summit was organised with the view to institutionalising a food security framework that would guarantee sustainable food security for her growing population.
Okanlawon added that the summit is expected to provide a veritable platform for discourse on various investment opportunities in agriculture and agro-allied business in the state.
He explained that it was being organised also with the aim of stimulating private investment in the sector and ultimately optimize its vast agro-processing and agro-allied potentials.
The summit, with the theme: “Actualising Sustainable Food Security in Lagos State: A new, Comprehensive Agenda” is scheduled to hold at the Airport Hotel Ikeja from Thursday, 10 to Friday 11th November, 2016.
The summit will also feature exhibition where oganisations in agro-allied business would showcase their products and services and maximize branding mileage with international best practices.

Credit: The Tide

Obasanjo, Ogbeh, Dangote, IITA move to end hunger in Nigeria

By Gabriel Ewepu 

ABUJA- FORMER President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Vice President Dangote Group, Alhaji Sani Dangote and International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, IITA, has assiduously started working to end hunger in Nigeria by 2030. The collaboration christened, ‘Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Review 2030’ and the committee chaired by Obasanjo with sub-committees headed Ministers of Agric, Health, and others by Governors of Sokoto and Ebonyi States respectively was inaugurated held its inaugural meeting at IITA, Ibadan to marshal out strategies to achieve the lofty dream. According to the programme to the committee implementation of the programme will commence in January 2017. 

Obasanjo while explaining the essence of the committee and subcommittees expressed optimism and hope that Nigeria will soon be free from hunger. He said: “We held the first meeting in IITA Ibadan and we broke into nine subcommittees to look at different aspects of what we have to do, for instance where we are now. “There is a subcommittee on research and innovation, the need for our producers to do that, processing and marketing. We had nine subcommittees, and what we have done is that each subcommittee to submit a report and which they did, then we put the reports together in a binder. Subcommittee and leaders presented their reports and we opened the report for discussion. “The Ministers of Agriculture, Health headed a subcommittee each, the Governor of Sokoto headed a subcommittee And also the Governor of Ebonyi headed a subcommittee.

“These were people who were with us when we had inaugural meeting at IITA. What we believe we will do is to sensitise these committees’ report to see where they overlapped, where to be fine tuned and we will have a final report by the final meeting that will look at what will be the outcome. “The hope is that Nigeria will be agribusiness success.” In his remarks Dangote said, “It has been a wonderful day, very interesting issues and challenges on agric, zero hunger in Nigeria which has been discussed and solutions have been already put on the table. “I believe under the leadership of former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on this zero hunger it is a great move to be self sufficient and food security are all the issues discussed.” 

The Director General, IITA, Nteraya Saginga, emphasised on right policies to achieve a zero hunger Nigeria dream. “Just to refer to the situation in the country today the Minister of Agriculture said the country is importing what it supposed to produce here. “This meeting is really trying to make sure with the right policies that we can support agriculture in the next 20 years. This committee here will be self-engaging advisory committee for implementation of policies. “The sustainable development goals of the UN for the world, and one of these goals is to help countries where is nobody sleeps without eating. 

The intention here is in Nigeria in 10 or 20 years nobody sleeps without eating”, he stated. Meanwhile, the coordinator of the programme, Deputy Director General, IITA, Keton Dashiel, in his submission envisioned impact the programme will make in Nigeria. “Nigeria will end hunger in 2030 with the commit I see now. The government is trying to create the enabling environment and the private sector will be the driver the implementation. “In terms of provision of input, fertilizer, marketing, processing, exportation of the goods, and so it is a combination of the government and private sector, civil societies, primary, secondary schools, universities, all will be involved”, he said.


Credit: The Vanguard

Kogi to establish six farm settlements

The Kogi State government has concluded plans to establish six farm settlements in its three senatorial districts.

Special Adviser to Governor Yahaya Bello on Local Government Affairs, Mr. Abubakar Ohere, spoke yesterday while addressing administrators of the 21 local governments on the government’s New Agenda.

Ohere said farmers in the settlements would be encouraged to embark on mechanised farming, and provided with extension services to ensure food sufficiency.

“The proposed farm settlements are being initiated in response to the government’s desire to use agriculture to create jobs and wealth for youths.

“Farmers will be trained on how to handle simple farming tools and the tools will be fabricated locally to save money and sold to farmers at subsidised rates.”

Credit: The Nation

Nigeria: Govt to Float New Agric-Focused Bank

By Michael Eboh and Gabriel Ewepu

The Federal Government, Thursday, stated that it is planning an agriculture-focused financial institution that would be owned by both the Federal Government, farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector.

This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Audu Ogbeh, when the Governor of Kebbi State, Mr. Atiku Bagudu and officials of the Nigerian Agribusiness Group, NABG, paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja.

According to Ogbeh, though the Federal Government is also considering revamping and recapitalizing the Bank of Agriculture, the new bank would cater to the financing needs of farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector at very low interest rates.

Ogbeh lamented commercial banks' lack of commitment to financing agriculture, noting that the 25 per cent to 35 per cent interest rate charged by the banks was not suitable for agricultural financing.

He said, "We are looking at a new bank where stakeholders in the agricultural sector would be shareholders along with the Federal Government. Farmers and other stakeholders would be involved in policy formulation concerning the bank and would also determine the interest rate to be charged.

"The bank would not be profit-oriented, but would concentrate on meeting the financing needs of the country's agricultural sector."

He commended NABG for its commitment towards the development of the agricultural sector, adding that agriculture would continually be private sector-driven, while the Federal Government would provide the necessary incentives to grow the sector.

Also speaking, Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, advocated increased financing for the agricultural sector, while he stated that a minimum of N1 trillion of the total pension funds can be invested in the sector.

He said, "I have been calling for increased funding. For example, pension funds have over N5 trillion worth of assets and it would be a good choice for them to lend to agriculture. If they invest N1 trillion in agriculture, it would be a win-win situation, we will have more food, workers and everyone can buy food cheaper and they would have better return on their investment."Also speaking, Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Heineken Lokpobiri, stated that the Ministry would partner with entrepreneurs, making them aware that agriculture is purely business with potentials for high return on investment and no more a vocation.

He lamented the huge post-harvest losses, put at about $9.8 billion annually, stating that these losses should be a source of concern for everyone in the sector.

He also lambasted commercial banks for not showing commitment to the development of the agriculture, while he added that the Federal Government is working towards removing all bottlenecks to the growth and development of the agricultural sector.

Source: Vanguard