Wednesday, July 6, 2011
DAILY TRUST
Business
Togo to host 6th ECOWAS trade fair in November B1 RDfTloke W. " hmad
vale Partnenhip." and in Une with ils tr.Kiitioo, the (air l'oilJ be open to economk opcratOJs
THE Government of Togo will in i'kMm1xr
from KlOSS the globe intending todo business with, or in~ut in. West Africa.
host t1~ 61h ECOWAS Trade f-ajr,. regional platform [or KC~in8 w~ Afrias marktt of somC' 300 minion consumers. In:ll kUCTlOilie Togolc:seGovm1mentcoofunung the hosting mandale.lhoe President of tl~ ECOWAS Comm~sion. Ambassa~ lames Victor- GbcOO, assured that the Commi1.~ \~d deploy all nC'CCS!ary mans 10 ensun:: that the: country rKOrds a huSt SUCa:M as it tlJd In 2003 II'hm it hoittd the regional falf. Consistent wi th its theme, "Strtngulening Intra-Comnnulil y Trade through Publlc-prj-
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TIle 201 1 aliOOn of the filir scdu to pr0mote l!'OOOOfTlic inttgrnlion and lrade among citizens in Mcm~ States, espedaIly industrialists. irwestOB, m:lf1Ufactwm.. commerdal opcr.HOJS;and buym.. ~It will fc:;Jlure products andscrvicesoriginalinglnthe~.induding
industrial produru.aninla! hllbndryand fish ing. m inerab, COli• • lndustry. tcxtilC$and services in various sectors.~ lnerommission SOlid l11C' tr.I.de fair will also alford participants the opportunity to take put In confnrnc~
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seminars alld workshops on various themes rebttd to theovmll thmH: of the fairand allow participants to exhibit thdr products. snvkes and m«l othtrprofr:::Wonalsv.ith tht pros:p«t or roncIuding business dCl!s that would promote trad~ and hdp imp!"O\'e tht: living $land· ardsofECOWASCommunitycitizens. 1I.icanwhile Iht commission also disclosed that a rour-daymedingoftht: RtgIonaJ Organizing Committroe (ROC) has just mded in l.ornt. Ih~ TogoitsC: capilal to fine tune llmIllgernents far the hosting wh~ ROC membtn paid a courtesy visi t on the Togolese Minister or Commeru', I'll r. Kwesl smagodji AhoolTlty-Zunu, OIl till'! sidt'lines ofthtlr
meetlJlgin Lome.. During tlle\isit, tlle head oftill'! F.COWAS delegation. Mr. Adou Koman, rciler.tted ECOWAS commitment 10 hokI a SlKces5fuI fair, ht applauded the Govmunml of Togo for accepting to host the fair and also bridal him on tl le dn~loprllenls leading 10 lht dlo1.l1gc: or ,~~
In his raponse, Ahoomey-Zunu acknowledged thechalJengcs related 10 the host ing of tile fiJir v.ithillihe time-rrame allowrd but assun:d mt.'mbers of the Commltt~ of Togo's determination to organize a successful fairtol..-ards the rra1i7.ation ohhe Community's objectiw: of economic integration.
New consumer Act will add 10 functions to (PC'
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By5und'yWilliams THE ongoing amel1dm~t exC'TCise of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) Act wiU confer 011 the council lOadditional ftmct.ions3imed at enhancing its gmcrnI operations, tlle Pmnanml $«ret3l")~ fftkrnl MlIlisUrofCommefCe and Industry has said Dr Abubakar K Muhammad made the remark5 yest~ d.1y in Abuja ~t the Nation;!] Young Consumers contest award presentation ceremony organized by the CPC. The miew or tlle CPC Act No 66 of 1992 started at the 6th Senate but is }'el10 be
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Farmers charged on accessing agric loans from Halima MUSil, K~na FARt.lERS iII Kana have been asked 10 make maximwn usc of agricultu~ credit sdtmle ptU\ided by lhefcdc:r.tl g<1''ttlImc:nt to boost agricuJtu~ pr0duction in the country. l11C: cill "AS made by the fanner Slalt coordinator far CX>fT1IlIt1'tia agri-
culture, AJhaji 1I.Iuhammad Bada,"'; at ;I. worbhop organized On the sources or financc for the commercial agricul-
ture dn-dopmoll project benefICiaries
held in Kana. Badawi who is now the pmnanenl
secmary, ministry of agricultu~ saki farmers in Kana \\~ not tnjo)ing the agriI:ultun" cm::Iit scheme established sino: 19nbrthe~8O\'m\meIl1
because ofillitcnq: ~8ec:llISC':our-farmendid not know how 10 go aboullhe do's nnd don'ts of the agricu1tu~ cm::Iit scheme which was provided by tlle rederal gD\'nTl-
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ment, they have bmdiucd 1m: than 10 percent since inception~ ~ saitl He said it was in vbvofit that the COfTlJ1lefCiai agric project decided to embark on aw;umess campaign to smsilizl: the fanners on how 10 access Sllch loran, "We wm want f.trmers to get ideas on how 10 souroe cn:dit and uliliu: the ''3rious mnns iU1d types of cmlit provided by tile r~ and .sIale gtJ\lnU1lef1t tlllOUgh tlleir agencies like the CBN and commerdal Banks
so that tllC'ycall maximize tile opportunity oft"ered alleasl to incnase their production.He addtd that such credits v.uuld bemade3\-ailabIeIO tile farmers iflhey \\~able tomcdcoodilionslaiddown
by the banks for accessing the loans. urging them toava1l themsdwsofthe opportunity. Baciaw'! saki he would trnnsform the agric sector in the: state in a bmdidaI \\'3y.
First Guarantee Pensions pays N8bn to retiree from Chris Agabi. Llg05 FIRST Guarantee: Plmsions Limited (FGPL) said that it has paid OUI over NS biUiml lo mired pensionm under it since ina:ption. r-CP L is a pension fund admin· istral0r incorpor3tcd in 2004. and iI's fOt"llSl'tI on capturing opportunities in the Nigerian financial services 5«lor QT3.ttd by the pmslorl reforms ael of
The Head of Matkd..ing of r-CPL Joan Mbachu Ioid our correspond~t in l.agos lfliIIt bst year, the Pension FundAcoou.nts(PFAS)lncomeroscby 60 po-a:nt from N271 .IJ mlUlon in 2009 to N'13J.6million in20lOwhik: itsdj~ tOOse,slood alaboutI61 ,06J Rffi remenl Savings Accounts (RSA) and 2.032 retired membets. -AI tllC'md of2008. funds under
management stood al N4.5 billion. grew to N25 billion ill 2009llud by the end or20 10. it had surpassed N36 billion. Cumntly, the funds are well ()",'ft" N40 billion~ shcsaid She said that with O\""er N8 billion paid out 10 retired memberl al the present, there is certainly a brighl and guaranteed future ror FGPL and its teaming lens oftll(lUsands of dlents.. Meanwhile, FGPL also bagged
lnslitut~ for Governmenl R~ and ~P Technology ""'3rd rorexcdJenl servkcs ill the financial .servfas S«Ior. The award tagged Arrican Order of Merit in Lndership in the Provision of Pensions ServIces was presented 10 Ihe company lit the African Governan«: iUKI Corpornte Leadership Award. lOll, organized by tlle Institute in Abuja.
1ht Pcnnanmt .sccrel.ary .said that the amendment bccI:me imper;all\'e owing to the fact that the existing law wasenactrd 19),earsagowhen the market. wasnotasoepc:n as
itistoday. -nlC' lal" needs to be review~ to address more effecth'ely modem market tTends likrgJobali7,.ation andtllechallengrs posed by t1-.eadvancemc:nt in information comlllunicationtechnologf.llc said Dr II, luhammad s:Ud thaI the MI\' act will gh~ ti-.e council \vider and more dearly defmed powers of Inve:stigatitln.'I, provide rortheestabUshment ofstatesoffice:s to ensure tile geognpnkal sprc;KI onts activities. Speaking. tl le Dim:~ tor General ofCPC). l rs~' Ummyi said that the National Young Consumers conk:5l is
om offshoot oftMiramsumer education progrnmnle IOrsee-
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She said that the purpose of the project is to rnise)'OI.IJlg peopIcs consciousncs:s and understanding of conSUl11C'1' issues that affect their Uvesand the sodet.y at large