DAILY TRUST
Monday, February 13, 2012
Agric minister projects Nigeria's rice consumption at 35m tonnes
Commission to delist 50,000 companies from register a,. o&ayeni R.II rJhim
18 months ~fter mcorpo!Ollion and 'Subs«juently
THE C.lrpo 'rate Affairs Commi~lon (CAC) has SOlid thaI II would o;oon deli51 50,00 I companies from ils reg' sler for their reJusal to I mvlde tbeir annU2f lelun· oYer the
C'very year. And any company thai refuses 10 me its Bnnual returns shall be
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-The o,:ommisslOn will abo rejKI or tum down
Registrar General of CAe. I·ell.. Mahmud. saId the cor Ipames have remained d"rmanl yeus after th.:) we -e registered. Mahftlud told the Economic (on ·'jdentilli.
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online mag..rine that In line wilb Section 525 of the Com!:,an a and AUied Matters Acl, Ihe commIssion has ;"Irudy Tl!moved names of Olltor 9,000 companies (rum IS regisler_ He ulld: 'Ellery com · pany ls required to file
Annual Rnurns within
deemed 10 have cea5Cd 10
u ist iI5 their namu wUI be struck offfrom the regIster
requests for due diligence from bank!! and other reguilitory bodies" He also said the- commission would soon widen Its enforcement activitie. by using llie 5C'rvKcs of md~nd~l prufcs:sionals to-reach OUI to the Linres-
ISlrmi businesses and get them registered He said: ·Our state orAces hlW: also intenslfit"d their enforcement drive through regular inspmion VllillilO
verify the status of
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bUSinesses generating in tbelr area of aCllvilics _ In addilion, the commission Is lilllsing With contract
awuding bodl" both in the public and private SKtors to further enforce the pr3ctice of confirmmg the SUlUS of comp~nles bdore contracts are aWlrde'd: Mahmud said lhe commission regrette'd that in spite of arTordability of business regislrallon, lIlany compiUlies o~r3te ilJesally Without being rq.Istered He said: loVe have observed that Inspiteoflhe establishment of offices in
all SllItes of the federation and other efforts made 10 eaK Ihe process of regis tration of businesses. some people still carry on businesses without rrg,istn&tk>n. "This has created opportunities for Unscr\l-
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pulow dements 10 use su(h unregislered businesses to defraud unsusp«tlngdti 'ZC'JU. This IS unacceptable and a tll'nd contrary to !.he Compill1ies and AIUed Mat· tm Act (CAMA). -In order to slem this ugly pn&ctke. lhe commission has madt' anange· ments in its stale offices 10 rurther slmpliry and ease the reg.tslntion of compaIlia Public enlighlenment has also b«n intensified to muate pt'Opit'on the nt'ed tu register_He further.said thaI tht' CAC has registered 0Vtt lWO million buslflt'5S names asal Dt'cember 31,2011 . lie Aid In the period. a total of896,095 companies were registt'rW; 1.917.670 business names 1l'81SIC'red; and .. 7...21 Incorporated truslees regist~
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NIGERIA'S riceronsumption is pro;ecitd 10 ~ J5 million lonnes by 2050, fium fwe million lannes currc:ntiy, rising at the rate or7 percent ywly, dllt'topopulation growth. The MinisttroC Agriculture and Rural De\odopmml. OJ Akinwunmi Adl:sina. who ga\'e th~ slaustiCS ycnmlay in Abuja at a forum of the News AgencyolNigcria, alsosaid lhal 500.000 tonnts or rice wu being importm intn the country annually He said thatconsdmtiousdToruwere being madt under the AgricuhunJ Transformation Ac1ioo plan to reduce ria' Importatklo touro by 2013a.nd ~2.1 million toonts JocaI produruonoYft'thenext 12 months. The mmlstrr S<llKi: -The country Imports today 500,000 tonnes orbrown rice Nowourplan is by201l to reduathat down to lcro; which means the 500,000 metric tonnesor rice would hi: produced by Nigma. -Bul our 5lral~ is betWttfl flOW and 2015. that NIgcna would ha~ toullyrtplaced the 2.1 million tonnesof' rice that we are CUfTftltI}' ImportIng.lie exprus.ed ~ thai past dfor15 by tile fcdenI (;(wnTIluwtlO put the loat! nee industryon a sound (oollng had not yle\d~ the desired resull5. He blwned theSitualion on till: C'XpIoitalJW! behaVlOUl'of fon:ign companies thaI got government funding 10 build nce millingpl;rnts, but inStead engaged In Lmportalion. Adeslna told NAN !.hat thc NIO billion nee intervmllon Fund was intrnded tobuikJ 1 7 ncemillswhkh~hap · pened and ne1ther did the MOU the ministry signed WIth the Slamon Croup ofThailand ach~~ the de!;Irtd Il'SUiI5. !Me fact of'the matter is lhat a Joe of these companies have been making quilt' a \0( o( monq Importing brown rice lntothiscountrrand with the lmprasion thiltOll't'flimc. they would build the ricl! mills and therd'on: process the nce
locally. ·Unrortunaldy. that has not hem happming.so tht:rountry continues 10 import a klc or lice from othI:r countnc:s. And I hayc 50lid that I will not let thai continue; as minister of agrlcultull'. my job is to put Carmen m Nigeria 10 work; hs 10 cmte jobs. its to m.iUCI! (oreign exchange DO rice import. -And to makesure whalevrt' rice ~ a~ eating In NIgm;l, is produced here; we have greal rice. we have O(ada nee we haW! Ababliki rice; we have all kInds of rice In thioS country. "So basically what am Aying is that. Nigera cannot just depend on fordgo companies to mill ill lice fOf it. NIger1an businessmen and OOstllCS5womtn and buslllCS5 mtnprr-neurs are tht' ones that have 10 grt into the business of net'. ·The government set asidl! NI0 billion as Rice Intervm· IKxl Fund and il was supposed 10 haW!completed our 17 rice
mills with thaI particular (und "Someoflh.esarne companies were: theMes that got the money but theydidn' do it; why should they?Thqan: mak· ing a kill importing rice into Nigeria; they will not inYest in the rice mUls.Adcsana SAKi that siJKt, his assumption of offICe. thltt rice miUs had bem completed. including the Ebonyi Rice Mill wi!.h the c:apadIY to process 35,000 lonnes of' lice. which would 5001\ be commissioned by Preskknl Good luck Jonathan. The minister saki the ba1mce oCN9.8 biUion of the rice fund domicIled in the Bank ollndustry would bt- ~-adver tised to attractldiOus privale sector Dpt'f'iIton to putiapale in the~nent oClheJocaJ rice mdmtry He said: -rm happy 10 Ay that since I ha~ bm1 made: minlsfer,'W'C have flOW completed th~o( those. the most Ment w~ b 80'"8 to be commissioned.soon by Mr Pn:si. dOli Is the ebony! Rice Mill -'11e Ebonyi Rice Mills capacity ls 35,000 metnc !DIllles of paddy. and the rio! is fantastIC. I ~ tast~ thIS ncr. Lt'S fanlastic rieL 'TheRi: no""y that rice from Tmiland an beat this rice, n is vuy. vuy nulnlJow IlaU 'A-dl-