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FG to restore infrastrudure da maged by flood
En .. ",n' :itllPn on poliu, mea51~ Immllni,atior
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Mlnlsl~r of liHue fOi FEderal C..apllal Temlory (fCTl, has assurtd fI/igl"riam of Itt- Fftieral G'1\oem·
men! ~commlb1'lenl to 1'e"t0l1' the Infrastructure damaged ., flood
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Saglr Saleh (f), deputy gavernor-, Bauchl Slate, With Mohammed ladan. the state's commisStOOer of police. alloo Eid-elKabtr prayers in Bauchi on Friday
'Foreign prices imposition killing cocoa business in Nigeria' BEN EGUZOZIE & MIKE ABANG, (alabar
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p"<6 b.Ing deler mined at the Euro terminal market. though the beans come from mainly African countries, cocoa business In Nigeria is being fUMer challenged, said Nana Al· phonsus, the chalnnan of Cross River ~ale branch of Cocoa AHOClation of Nige. ria (CAON). Nigeria 15 Ihe world 's fourth largest producer with output of 427,800 metric Ions. Alphonsus in an ItHerview with Business Day In Ikom. the stale's heart of cocoa and one of Nigerla's bigge5' cocoa proc..ludng regions-said the fomign cocoa price determination is exertingmuch negllth.~innuence on fannen. and could lOOn Jdllth~ business if nOlhlng WM done in the p~L "The overriding Buro pean dedsiollson the prices of cocoa from the r:ouiliry will 500n kill the buslhess If nOlhlng is done now; slaled Alphonsus, about the blggesl COCOII merchant inlloom. I-Ie laid, the Europeans determining the prices of cocoa beans mat emanate from the counU')' was dan gerous for growth and future: I1f the agrie produce since local cocoa fa.rmen Rnd merchants were left al the
merdes of the foreign cocoa cabal.. ·Prices are detennined by!he Euro terminal markeL The producer has no Innu ence httnuse he produces whal he does not consullu: and he Is compeUed 10 sell (al whatever price irnpo~ on hlm)espedallywhen!he maJ'ke1 is SRlUrntcd; he said. The cocoa assoclallon chairman also Illmenied whal he described as Cross River Slate governmenl 's huge taxation on cocoa 10 cal fanners and merchants. stating thai Ihis development was further inhibiting the cocoa business from thriving beyond me local markets. According 10 him, Ihe Fedenl Minlsuyof Agrlcullure has resolved lO chnnge the picture of world's cocoa productlon by re-claIming a lOp position with a goal of rnising OUlpUI to 1.000,000 metric Ions of cocoa beans 1:7)'2018. He said if nothing was done to addreu me foreign
price Imp051110n, It was doubtful how far Nigeria can go In Ihe new cocoa growth Slral(8)', In which eight new high yielding. fasl maluring cocoa hybrids were recently released to farmers for planting in order to transform the cocoa sector. It would be recaUed !hal !he Agriculture Ministryunder Aklnwunml Adeslna has so far distributed free 1 .6 million hybrid pods or 114 million cocoa seeds. which are resistant to black pod dlsense..lheRed!l have high bean qualify and unmatch· able navour_They were disUibuted to fannersacm,;s 15 COCOII growing states. The move is 10 csllblish newplanlations and ph3SC!d reh3bllilalion of old lowyielding ancient trees _'Ihe hybrid vnrietie.s yield five times more than the existing varieLies Bnd mlllUre In Iwo )'eat'S inslead of 4-5 years of me old \.'arietJes. The CAON boss noted thai the multiple tlUes re duce farmers' Income 50 Ihat they are not able TO increaseprodualon. ~ese lu:es have reduced our members' economic outlay and this would on the long run "ffecl the nalional economy: he said. He called on the Federal Government to provide extension services on cocoa. as these can provide suslain able employmenl 011 local cocoa farmers, and also make marginal gains.
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In Abuja whllp "mwerlng qvestiun~ from joumaJisu when she led. dclrglldon of Fe,. deria> to paySnllah hom ~ to the prl5idem and \oR prt"rident. "As far as the flood Is cooclI!: rned, the president has givm Iris last word 01. it and he has been going llooul the
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flood affected areas.
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"The pre5iden' Is doing he can 10 put the InfrMtruaun- that was dam aged bad: into plnce and 10 make .sure that farmer.; have everyUungthey need in 1enn5
mark dl~ Eid·el· Kahlr li t otilid thllt IIllo",lng children Ie> pllrtkfpllit in Immunlo;ation wa~ part of d· fons 10 reduce child mortal Iry and prew'fli p4:"rmllnent deformuy 1llf' royal falhf"1 o;ald two cases of measle\ outbreak wererrcorded In th('~ateand called IOrcauOOoary meast/mi
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South East economic summit to focus on agric development
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REGIS ANUKWUOJI. fnugu
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2012 Easl Economic Summltscheduled to hold at .. Nlke lilke Re sort. Enugu from No~m be,- 7 10 9 will focus on rellloring Ihe glory of ag· rinllure Inlhe South East_ According to Ihe Cen· mil Planning Commlnee (CPe) of Ihe summit, the theme of thl' year's sum· mit Is 'Harnessing Ihe Agricullunl AI Industrial Potenliliis of Ihe South East: The commlnee said this is a slrau~gy for the rapid transformalion of the economy oflhe region Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Chris Obiefuna, chllirman, CPC, said, ·Th~ 2012 summit will focus exclusively on agrkulture and induslry The essence is to clearly outline Ihe key issues, policy challenges as well as Implementation, coor· dlnatlon and networking gapsthol Impede effective growth of agriculture ;md Industry In Ihe region": He said Ihat the sum mit was predicated on the fact that the people of the South East are very Indusuious and have potential lor a solid Igrlculturll bue Ihal could suppon the food security drive of Ihe J;ederal Government. Following Ihe thruJlI of the s(lm ~il, the commit-
lee urged governments of Ihe 7.one 10 build on the agricultural and indus · trial potentials available by ellamlning the IS'lues and Challenges and outlining mea~t1re~ Ihllt witl positively faSI Ira ck the agricultural and Industrial developmenl of Ihe region for economic growth and employment general ion According to Obiduna, the summil wtll consist of a Iwo · day technical workshop session that will be Ihe backbone for Ih~ Ihird day of summit. The two days (Novemher 7 and 8) will largely consist of technical papen, br~akout sessions and panel dlscusslons aimed at articulating the issues in agricultural lind Industrial growth of the South East. This will Involve experu and hands-on practilioners from rhe public IInr! prlvale secton en gaging on~ another 10 dlscliSs lead pApers and
technical presenll'ltlons by Internalfonally renowned speakers and scholars on the theme . The discus sions will distil from these papers Ihe Implemenlablt progrsmmes which will be presented 10 the governOTS of Ihe South East stales and other summit stakeholders on the third and final day of the summit. A session on the third day will be deVOIed 10 soul searching disc ussions on Ihe political future of the people and governments of the SOUlh ElISt ;tone Over 100 experts, pro · resslona[~ and hands -nn praclhloni:rs will (ealufl~ In Ihe lechnical sessions while Ihe SOlllh East poIItlcal elite including Ihe governors, membtn or the Nallonal Assembly and State !louses of Assembly or Ih~ five stales. Abia, Anambra. Ebon),!. Enugu and Im o, will fealUre in Ihe activilies marking th~ grand finale o{thesummit on FridllY, November 9 Mor~ than 1,000 high net worth Ndlgbo from all walks of life wllhin Nlgerlll and In Dlaspora including the governors attended the firsl summit where governors from the rone adopted the summit plltform as an annual evenl 10 pool ideas and resources for the stralegic development of the zone as a contiguous bloc.