10 Monday 20 August 2012
BUSINESSDAY: www.businessdayonl ine.com
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Tit bits
Man jailed 1 year for stealing blackberry A 32-YeM-old man. LamdamUI Tariah, has been lCotenc;cd to one year in priso n by a Pon Harcoun ChIef r-.lagislrate Coun
for stc:illng a blackberry handset belonglng to a medical d octor, TIle convia who appeared before Ihe coun a single COWlI charge o f steallng a Nolda BlackBerry Ilandset. valued a t N65. 000.00 at the Police Ol.nIc lD Port Harcourt. p leaded to the charge. Emmanuel Woke. the ch1ef m agistrate, after listening to th e plea of the accused and evidence provided by th e pollee prosecutor, sentenced him to one year lmprisonmelll without an option of fme.
Lagos opens special offences court
Fanl1lers lT day of joy in Epe, as govE!lrnment distributes cassava stems JOSHUA BASSE(
I
t WillS • ILO nent of Jo), for registered ClSSa\'a (It neB In 1..3805, Nigeria's economic and commerdal nerve
cenlm', wI ,c') a learn from the Federal Govanm, 'n:, backed by Lagos State, lnived the dry'la " week 10 d istribule hlghyielding cassava Slenls, in 5uppon orthe nillionn! casSilViI \,Jl ICchain programme. Rlr the over !DO cassava growers who rc· ceh'Cd the r;teml, it was the flrsl time such
agro input ,,1>Ulo1loeenended to them free of ch~
and so du! upectation was high. As earll' as ~Jl I am, they had gathered ilt the Lagos State Agricultural Training (nsotute,. Ara~ in ( I": Local Goverrunenl Area. where tru cks h. de<! with cassava stems emptied them In Ihe open rield waiting for illstribution to !he beneficiaries who were invired by the I aHos State Minislry of Agri_ cul ture and Cocp'!flIlh-es. Similar 'g~pl e, CityAle gathered, has been enemledl' o 29 other St8tes ar th e fed erntio n. {L-sgos leing the 30th) in what II was leanll is COStirf8 the Federal Government about N46') mill io n to execute. 1he stem distribu tion Is t1~ te the renewed campaign to boost QSSaVa p! 0' luetion for increased flour supply for bu:.aCl production. The Fed eral ( iovemment Is vigorously promoting fiOPf fI ent cassava !lour amlent in 1000 br~d pnd uction. But beyond pro· ducing fOI nou r extr.Ic;t. 5Weelener, starch and chips, !.be ~ vemment wlder the new lnitiati\·c i:; a1sc I X1king to Nigeria bec;om· Ing the b.rr,csl e:lponer of cassava 10 the world. The countrf currently produces aboUI 40 mlllion mcule tons per annum; a larger pan of which is C( nsumed locall)'. The high.
As early as 8.30 am, they had gathered at the Lagos State Agricultural Training Institute, Araga, in Epe Local Government Area
yielding sU': m is therefore to increase quality productivity by the benefitting f~rmers and booSI expon potential AkinwwulIl Adeshina, minl:u er of Agri. culture and Rural Development, rellresented by Odeyemi JuJious, south \\'HI regional director. l:ederal Minisl!)' of Agriculture. explained further that me Sll~m disuibu· tion programme. a pan of me Nltional Agricultural Transformatlon Age nda (ATA) was expec;ted 10 result in high qua lity cassava Dour, modified starches for indusuial uses to replace com starch imparl5, dried chips for suppon and livestock feed production as weU as meet external demand of cassava for [ndusuial use such as large ethanol produc. Uon
AccordIng 10 him, the various c:ansforma· tional plans of the mIn[stry was (0 SlOp im·
portalton Qf agricultural produce that could be produced loc;ally and thus Ave bUllons of naIra beingspelll annually on imponation of such produc;e. "Imponalion 15 a challenge 10 the economy, food sec;urilY, job crealion and nalional seomty. Therefore. dlelC Is no going baa on ensw:ing food sec;urity in me country," he said. Gbo lahan Lawai, Lagos Stale commis· sioner for AgrlcuJIWC and Coopel1l.tives, de· scribed the intervenlion as a posilive development coming at the right time. '1his occasion Is another effort of the Slate to revamp the agricuhwal sector wilb the Strategic Programme for Accelerated Agrlcultura1 Growth, (SPMG). which has the lix "INS: Incentives. Inputs. Innovation. I.nrormation, infrastructure and lnstltulions. as Its majo r thrusL The intervention will lead 10 Investment opponunilie:s thai will ensure sU5Iainable growth of agriculture and oeate more jobs in the state.:" lie noted thai with various potential of c;a.ssava, il was Ilecessary to increase the cas· sava yield beyond 12 tons per hectare tha i Ihe state p resently produces more than 25 tons per hectare, saying. "mal woul d make our production armpelitlve \vith the other producing naliON in the world." Azeez Michael. president. cassava fann · ers association In Lagos. speaking on behalf of his colleagues. said they were ready for the dlallenge. bUi pointed to the need for funding ass[stanc;c in order 10 .swpas5 expectadon. · Our major constraints are lack of fund and equip ment. we have a lot of arable land to execute th e programme, hen ce. we need govemmcm 's inlerwntloll In this regards: Michael said.
Lagos government in the effort to further Improve o n the cleanliness of Ihe state bas commissioned a spedal offence court to proseane enriroamenlaJ oUende~ The speciaJ offence coun is under the ministry of the environment in collabo~tion with ministry of justice. Commanders of th e Kick Against lndispUne (KAt) brigade will bring offenders, especially street tnders for proseculioo at Ihe mobUe court. While dedaring the coun open, Tonii Bello, commissioner for the environment. said the court would serve as a model for other zones In the state adding that Lagos was determined to focus more on law and order In th e comIng yea~
Total Lraffic diversion on Third Mainland Bridge Loday Lagos State h as annoWlc:ed there will be tQW traffic; diversion from the 1hird Mainland Bridge lOday(Monday) between the hours of Ilam and 2pm follOwing Wonnation obtained from Ejike Mgbemena. lhe federal dircctorofworks, South West Zone. Kayode Opcifa, Lagos State c;ommissloner for ttallsponarion. who made this known al the weekend. said that the to tal diversio n o r traffic on the bridge was imperative s ince the Phase 1 (lnbound Lagos Island) o f the repair works wou ld be completed by Sunday night and the conlraaor, Borinl Prono, willlmmediateiy commence the repairs of the five (5) expansion joints lDbound Owomsh old.
20% female population sexually abused It has been establis hed m at aboul 20 percent of fe male population in the world had been physically or sexua lly .abused. ·Ih.is was d.isclosed by the C h ap lai n o f Ondo Slate Gove rnm e nt 1·louse, Waleola Akinfiresoye whiJe d e live rin g a lecture at this year's edition o f w idows and orphans day organised by a n on. governmental organisauon . RhodaJoy Centre for Men:y Concerns ( RCMC). TIte cleric w h o frowned at the rale o f vio lence against wpmen and children said the statistics was given by the World Health Organisation (WHO) wllich es timated that at least one In every five females wQrld·witJe had been abu sed at som etime or Ihe other.