NEWS
Tuesday 06 November 2012
BUSINESSDAY: www.businessdayonl ine.com
FG to import 100 large-scale rice mills lans art' under way 10 Import 1001.rse· scale mills to boosl rice production in the country, AkInwunml Adeslna. Minister of Agri culture and Rural Development. Aid on Monday. Adcslna said this In Abula al the NatIonal Agrlcollural Commodity Chain Development seminar org:mised by the lIorin-based
P
AgTkuhun!llllnd Rural Man-
agemen! Trnlnlng Institute {ARMTI}. I Ie reller-lied the r-ederal Government', delerminll lion to meet lis target of making thet;ounlry self· !RIffideniln rice production by20J5.
"Tht'!u! rice mills. nOI
owned by guvNnmenl, owned by II prtvalC~ SKlar,
wou ld put In place the capadtyof 2_1 million Ions. -That means Ihlll the rice value chain In Nigeria will fo r the firsi lime In o w nations' history, ma ke us to have full Ind ustrial capadty, be Internation ally competi. tift a n d can expon 10 the resl of West Africa: Accordi ng to the mIDis:ler. 13 new rice mllb with the 10101 capaciry of240,000 tons, all owned by Ihe pr! vate seclor, haft been erealed In the hl$l 12 months.. In his remarks. Ihe 6 ecutive director of ARMTI, Samuel Molayan, said thai the Imtitute had embarked 00 a $lOOyon. the prevalJing sltu3110n In seJected agrlculturul commodity value chains. l ie stressed thai the aim was to provide. through find-
inp. -a veritable launching. Ihrough COSI reduction, sion will produce a harvest lions Ihal would follow , point for a knowledge-based h igher qua lity of products. that wou ld fonn a solid base would go to en!ure that ta ke-off o r the commodity mo re sodal responsibility on which to leverage the efrom were harnessed and value chaIn development In and n~waysofcoo\'tUnat achievemenl of the prog- channelled appropriately 10 ing activities In agriculture: ress and succt'SS ~ desiR!, yield a common goal Nigeria: The two-day programme Acco rding to hi m. t h e Molaya n al'iOl8ld heWll! through Ihe value chain value c h ai n d eveJopment optim lmc Ih al the outcome developm~n t process under attracted more Ihan 200 Invoh-es pa rtn ersblp. rela - of the programme would the Agrlcuhural Tnmsfor- partidpants. Induding Fadam. and IFAD project tionship. truSI. commitment yield t he d esired results, madon Agenda (ATA)~ lie noted thai the pre- coordinators from the 36 and g~rnance. to en5Ure especially In Ihe progress Ihe 5uslaln abllity o f agri- ciftheAIA. sentation o f these findings Slates of Ihe federation as ") know that the out - as wt:1I as Inputs ~ollected , well as other stakeholders In business. "These could be achieved come o f Ihls two.day sel dlscusslons. and delibe.ra- the agriculture 5t'CIor_ ~_ _ _ _ __ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ 1
Electricity workers urge presidency to demand for Sunmonu's report ... allege plan to subvert it JOSHUA BASSEY
W
rkcrs in the power~are
demandinglhal the pre.idf"ncy ask for the repon of the l iassan C;unmonu's Comminee which ntgotiated agreeable terms between the Federal Government and Power Holding Company of Nlge. ria's (PI ICN) WIlrkrn. lhl5 \$ with resprct to the workers' entitlements and rights as tllI:y allege plllJ\5 by q!rnt' penom In the MinbTry of Power (0 sub\'ert the report and hide It from the presidwcy. The workers under the aegis ofSmlor Slilfr AModadon of EJectridty aod Allied Companies (SSAf.AC) ied by its preskienl, Bcde Opam. said on Monday Ihal one monlh afler the commiTtee finished negollallon and submiTted the reporl, VIce President Namadi Samba. who Is the chairman of the N:llional Coundl on PrivaI/sation (NCr) and the Sec· retary 10 the Gm'e'Tllmenl or the Federation (SGF). Anyim PlusAnylm, a~ yt'! to see tile repm1.
Atxordingtolhem. "Some powerful peBOn5 in themin ~ lstTyom bJocldng the chances of peacerul resolUlion of laoourUslie!lnthescctoreven when President Goodluck Jonathan b desirous or se! tHng the: wo rkers' IlabUitles.· Opor:t, at an Inu'T:tClive session with newsmen In La~ gas. said It was surprising thaI power minlstryoffM:ial§ "''ere pre\'enling the presidency from seemg the repon even as the Federal Government
itself set up the committee In
the first place. According to him. the prf!'<ldency should ~ more Inclined to the Implf!mentaIKm ortiN! recommendntlo"f of Sunmonu ~Ina-II b committed to put the Interesl of the~alJol,"Cany~1
inlen'St. ihelillempt toshieki the R!port from the presidency': OparaSllklmaybeconnected withSunmonu'srecommen_ dation Ihat gratuhy should be paid In Dccordance lVith the e.xtafll I' IICN Conditions or Service. lhe repon, he said runher. ill cOfllrary to the views o f govt'rnment which upheld Ihal workers are entitled 10 pension and gratuity up to June 30, 200-1 bul thereafter the proo.isions pf Pensions l1eform Act 2004 would apply. lie warned th:It Iheoogojog pm-atlsalion by the govemmenlwiii be Im;uncJusive should government fall 10 Implement the recommen· dations o f the repon "Gove:rnmenl sel up a negotlotlo n leam led by Ihe chief negollator In me person of I' usan Sumnonu who was acclaimed a renowned lAbour leader in order to have credibiUry In Ihe ruolutlon o r the indulltrial dl5pUte In the power sectOt. The negoll ntkm lallied fo r 14 months Dnd Ihedtlef negotiator recom mended thAI gratoiry be paid acanding 10 the condition ofse:rvice which Is not againSI the Pemion Refonn Act 2004. Why is It thot the secrelary to me government of Ihe federalion and the pre5lden l ls blocked from seeing the repo n 5ubmln cd bySunmollu.-
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