Govt urged not to invest in gas for power stations e1ectridty projects under Ule In-
M ESHACK IDEHEN
dependent Power Project oPP).
residenl of the Trade Union Congress of NIgeria ('rUC), ro.k Peter Esele, has said organised labour In Ule countr}' is re lecting the plaus by the Fcderol Government to invest in gas suppl), to pow!!r plants, aildlng the plan is unac· ceptable, give~ the buge 8J1l0lClt of money claimed to have been spent in UK! :;ector by Bm"erD'
P ment.
The TUG Presldent further said the nation .ivr1ters and ci:izens "'-en:! at I:. loss as to wile.."e those huge amoUllts inves1ed m the power sector over the years went to.
III a statcrmnt made mraUatJle to journalists .over the weekend. Ese1e said instead that the government should fexus on the revitallsatiOD of most of Ule
IITA, ILRI explore more areas of collaboration S TANLEY I HEBIBO
T
wo maj:>r centres in A.I.
~t an! part of Ule ConsulCltive Group on International Agricultural Research (CClAR). the IntEr' national blStHute of Troplca1 Agriculturn alTA) and Ute In· ternational Uvcstock Research Institute (lLRIl, ",ill step up cot· laboration [n taddIng the chal-Jengewhlll'\8t!l: 80th centres intend to bUild synergies thar wouId unleash the p(MW d r.rop and Uvestock imptwe.ment1 to address pov· erty and ma.l.nU1lition.m Africa. DlscusIiio"* in thIs dIrectl<m are ongoing the OIn!Ctor· General of Dr Jimnty
rica
tLh fLRI.
TIger Brands in talks With Dangote over flo ~r mills
T
iger
rands
South Aftica's
Llm1ted, ~st
food mpan~ said it'a in talks w· Dangote Industries Limite(t regarding Ule Nigerian company's sbarehold· ing in DangoJe Flour Mllls P"".te. Dangote FiOdr shares I"O!Ie for a
fourthdal'TIger B
olli!n'l give do-
taUs OIl the oegotiaUollS in a statMlent d.tittibuted by the Jobannesburi Stock Exchanje News Service toda,)! The Jolwnllesburg·lJa.se(j company \U'g'ld
investors to exercise caution when _ In"" stock until.. further arulOUl"If:ement is madll.
According to the roc PresIdent. the move by the go\'UOment to want to spend some bUlions of naira on gas to paM!!' the power lllants is the continuous mistake of the government keep making of throwing money at challenges instead of ~ atlvely confrontIng them", While bemoaning the BOVernmenfs decision, &sele said. "'The unfortl.lllllte thing Is that
this sector is key to our economic resurgence. 'hilen we take into cognisance the fact thai Utere is no facet of the nation's economy that is not dependent on electricity for proper and efOcienloperation. If we are serio ous about development Utrough the creation of Jobs. we must start today to bring on-stream most of the electricity projects under the IPP," Esele said
Farmers want FG to stop importation of food items
M
Farmers AssocIaUon of
Arosanytn advised the FederaJ
on MOllin Abt.ija called on the Federal Govemmmt to stop the
Government to encourage hx:al
Nigeria (AYAN),
tmportation or food lOr the 500
cess of the cw-rent AgriculturaJ Transformation Agenda.
The Financial Secretary of the association, Dr TUnde Arosanyin. made the call In an lnterview with the News ABfJICY qf N'I/f'rlo (NAN), He was reacting to the Min-
Ister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwuruni Adesina's recent declaration thai 90Ille foreign investors were plaJl.nlng to lnvest in rice and cassava production 10 the counl:r)l He said If not stollped. the importation of food Items might create serious challenges COl'" Nigeria's Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA).
food _
Instead, by
low~
ering the cost. of production so thai fanners In the country could
make profll from agribusiness. .~ ton of ma.i1.e from UK and US ex Apapa port can sell fer N'lJl.(O) to N3J. on Whereas the same ton m maize In N1gerla In terms of cost of prod.ocUOI1 is about 45,!m to N50,mJ. cost d productim. "Most of us now that produce mahe , I'o"e have a ma.t1tet (ifer of N50,(XX) but we cannot sell because if we do. we will be runnIng at a loss then we may not be able to be actiw this season. "But a field mlUcr or a !ieI1» vita industry in Lagos iscomfori· able buying maize from UK or from US at N:JJ,ml or NJ5,ml because hetoowants to make profit . "Then the same field miller
and aU the brev.l!ries that are making use of malz.e or sorghwn will prefer to buy the imported maize because the price Is low. "So until they exhaust that befan! they will be able to buy the locally produced one, which is at a higher prire "So what we are saying is that guvemment must nnt stop im· portation to enoourage kxal pr0duction. Arosanyin warned that if food importation was not stOPped, foreign investors in Nigeria's ago ricultun! sector might become discournged, a situation whic:h he said. could Joolwdise the agricul· tUfl! transfonnnUon agenda. He said once the cost of food production remaIned high. it might be difficult for foreign in· vt!Stors to make profit even with the available techno~ M
Smith who is visiting his c0un-
terpart. UTA Director General. DrNteranya Sanginga In lbadan. according to an UTA statement
..........
At a dinner held in honour of Smith on Saturday; Sanglnga said be foresaw a do!er partner· ship d the two institutes. He reiterated thai UTA alone could not solV1! all of Africa's problems, hence the need for partnership with instihltes with similar vision as LrrA. Both iruitiiutes joined forces in the past in bringing benefits to African farmers in projects such
as 'Promoting Sustalnable Aarl· culture in Domo' or PROSAB. That project. which was im· plemented in nonhern Nigeria helped.raise, incomes by 81 per. cent among partlclpatlng bouse-holds and also improved the DU, uiOOn 0( benefictarles. Sa.ngjnga said, "We need to 1'o"Odt more closely to help fann· ers get benefits. n
O LUSEGUN KOIKI
Tiger Brands spenl2.1 billion '""" (S'l1OmI buying _ In companies outside SouUt Africa in the 12 months through SePtember, including the purchase of UAG Foods PIc in Ni8erla. sub-Saharan AfrIca's most populous nation and second· largest economy; In April 2Oll, it 00q1.lired all the shares in bl9L'U..it maker" Deli Foods Nigeria Ltd. and this year promoted Thabl Segoale, the man.aglng executiVl' of lts grain division. to head Its Nigerian business. ntngote Flour climbed 4.6 peroent to 4.96 naira by the 2:30 p.m. close in I...a8QS. extcodlng Its pins over Ule past fbur da,ys to 15 pereenL Tiger 8nmds dropped 0.6 percent to 288.21 rand as of 3:55 p.rn. in Johannesburg fur 8. marl\et valued 55 billlon card.
he Managing Director of IRS Airlines, Mr. Yernl Dada has thrown his weight behind the roadmap for the country's clvU aviation In· dustry being canvassed by Ute Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stel· la Oduah. but called for discussrons on the project by all the players in the sector. Speaking to Natiorwi Mir· ror over- Ute Wl!ekend in Lqos. Dada lnslsted that nothin8 was wrong with the roadmav. but challenged the protagonists 0( the project to dlscuss with the pl.a,yers, SlU'lng that avlaHon does not operate In isolation. He said. Myou cannot say you want to develop a hub; you want aIrlines from Europe and South America to come and pick up
~I StMlo Commlll~!of Trwmport. "r. K.yodto Opefho; ~r. aKQ .d1IbItIo......... OI' Chril Ag_....t Lubes " ___ ling ....,.... Olndo "1f1<1ttng PIc. s...n ~. It 1M Oando I.ubricants _nc!, durtng 11'1. UogOil AUlDIair hekI
L-fI:
-",
T
"r.
Aviation roadmap: IRS boss calls for discussions among stakeholders fuel In Nigeria when we do not even have fuel. Our refineries are not working. So, we need to talk across sectors. We need to Hnd out what the distortions In other seeton are. "The finance sector Is In trouble. they cannot finance any equIpment Utat you as an airline would want to bu)! If you want to borrow money you wUl need to bring land from your grandfathers. Hectares of land that wUl not amount to the money you will use to buy an aln:raf\. "So as a note of caution. when we are working on a plan we need to talk outside just aviation. We are Just a service industry, providing services to
other people, but .....-e cannot exist in isolation." He also cautioned those can· vassing the Idea of mergers in the industry to be careful so as not to "forcefully" merge two weak airlines In bid to pay lip service to mergers. He said. "Col19Olidation should mean bringing strength.. we cannot take weakness and add it to .....1!akness and say people should go and merge. It doesn't make sense M need to look at what the real problems art! and oot begin to diagnose symptoms." He said Utere are problems af· fectlng alrllnes to the industr): bUtt:ressln& thai If people cannot afford to fly, there would be no a1rline lndustry to dl!icuss.