DAILY TRUST
24 llUSINESS ..
Wednesday, June 22, 20 11
Business
Fadama III: World Bank commits $4m in FeT 8, Abubak .. r Sadiq ISoIh
He ho ....~·er informtd the permanen t secrfiuial that the World
THE World Bank says it is com mitting the sum ofS<I .185 "lillion
Dank/Feder-d Govtrnment joint mission wu to look Into some of
to f;acililale the rllnni ng of the
the progrns im plementatioll of
F...dama 111 projects In the FeT.
Fadama III projects across North
Dr. Abimbola Adubl, World Bank Nigeria team leade r of the
um ra! wne and the FCT.
F... dama III project made the d is· closed during a cou rtesy aU, \II;th histnro hom North cen tral Wnt,
to the prrmanent 5«relM}' or lhe Fer administration Dr. O lum nfemi Nalhmld In his orficC'. li e said the Wo rld Bank
upecls to see a JII\ in terms of incr~ of Fadama Uscn Groups (fUGs) as l'/tll as inaease in ;agricultural producth'C' activities in the FCT Fadama pro;ect.
According to him, the Wor ld Bank m ission. ft!deraJ govern ment. as wel l ·as the National Fadama Co-ordination office will m'iew fmplt'mentalion progress of the Fadama 111 projects hom various Slales. -Since the implementation of FadilJTla III hu startt!d (or lhe past two rears. we exp«t to see things o n ground, gi~n what the World Bank hu commitkd 10 Fadama III project in the FCI. he Aid.
The Wond Bank team leader commendt'd the fCIA for its support to the agricultural sector and appealed to the pennanent secretary to calion lhtsixata council chalnn~n to aI",'aYs pay th ei r Fadama coWl terpart fund u and when due. Earlier in his address. Director of Finance and Administration of the Agricult ural and Rural Develo pment Secretariat (ARDS) of th e FCfA, Mr. John E. Obiahu, nOled th at lhe agrie 5«retariat was awa re of tile significant role the World Bank haspl;!.yed, espedaJIy in the area of agric develop ment. According to him, the agric seclor has translated into posith'e impact of progressive growth and th~refore
development of the economy. He explaint!d that the FCf Fadama co-ordim.tlon office which was constituted in April 2009, to ove r-see the implementation o f Fadama III in the FCf has continued to show sufficie nt rt'UOns fo r the s«retariatto continue to provide the n«<led sup-
po,L Responding. Pennanent secretary in the FCTA, Dr. Nathaniel O lorunfemi, commended the Wo rld Bank team leader (or their errort tow'ar(b 5upport ing Fad ama 111 project In the FCf. He o b5t'rved that the World Bank mission 10 mau objeclh-e revitw ofFadama III project and implementation progress acro$-'
coop~~\h-e com ponent, as weU as identifying Issues that prevent smooth project running, ~'a5 in the right di rection. The permanent secretary implored the Fadama Comm un it y Associations (FCAs) and stake-holders to always coopernte and to partidpate aClivd)" towards contributing to th e implementa . tion o(Fadama I II project in the
FCf. H~ therefore mured th e World Bank that the FCIA will continue to pay its counterpart fund as and when due, adding the FCfA will also meet with the sUr area council chalnntn on the n«<l for thelll to always pa), their cou nterpart (und too.
Export of products: US to publish manual on FDA Br SundayWi1l1ams THE Un iled SillIes Agency for ImerlHllional De\'elopment (USAI D) has said that it will soon come oul with a manual on how to undertake the US Food and D rug Ad mini5tration (FDA) to hdp create market accessibility (or Nigerian small and medium enterprises particularl y women aporters. . The USi\ ID Director, Ecunomic Growth and En\'ironment, Sharon Paultng made Ihe rem arks yes tt'rday in Abuja at the Nigeria Expanded Gru\\1h Programme (N EEP) v.o rkshop on qual ity control, food safety and suppl y chain man · agement. She said tha t a number of companies after recei\'ing technial us istance on labelling for food products, h:we adaptt'd their labels tocom ply-with US FDA requirtment. - This Imporlant slep will incruse ma rktl aeet'55 oppor tun ilies to tht' US. The hand book on -HowlO un dtrtakt FDA rt'quirtmt nl ~ due to be published soon, wiU conlribute to efforts to open Ih t US " Iarkel to more small and medium - particularly wome n · owned busin~sst'$ producing and exporting shea, honey. spices etc.she said. She said thaI many companies in Nigeria are beginning to respond to - Buyer Al~rl~ service provided by NEEI' to link Nigerian export~rs with US buytrsand wit hin the ECOWAS market. Ill' said that in March 2011, FRiJAYaports company ~~ in Lagos txpo rted its s«ond container of yams to the US \'alu ed:lt over 522. 000, adding that the com pan)' is planning to export more regul:nly, and not only )'am but smokt'd fish, crayfish and ot her elhn ic products. Speaking. the Director Proouct.s Development, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Mrs Omowunrni O.05iOO said if Nigeria an develop all its agric produce, it is capa.ble o f gtner.uing a 101 offortign exchange and jobs through value addition. - If )"ou look at th e AGOA, we have over 6. 000 products und er that scheme. If Nigeria Is
'FCT has over 93,000 farming family population' ByN.M1mam
ABUJA. the federal capitallenitory has a fanning family population of93,f192 and the fa Adminislrntion has5aid it \~ill do t'\'e rything possible to encourage and support thm. The Fer Permanent Secretary, Dr. 810dun Nathaniel Olorunfoni stated this on "Ianday, while r«civing mtInbmof the 4th Joinl World BanklFGN Supervision Mission ofFADA" tA 111 in North CmIr1ll Zone in his ornce aI Area I I. Garki District, Abuja. The Pcnn:ment Secretarywho was represented allhe occasion by tilt' Director of EcOllOmic Planning. Research & Statimc,
!sa Art Mohammed rcitl"rated thai the Fer i\dmini5lr;ltion is prO\iiling sp«iaI support fcw51l5t&inabilityand continuilyoCFADMIA I and II in the Agricuhural and Run.]1Jeo,-d . opmenl stalutory budgt' Hiit'. While strcssing thatlhe FCT Administration has fully mel its fmancial obligation tiuough the paymen t of counterpart fund uand when due, 5ince the inception oCthe projccl lO date. Dr_O lorunfeml noted that the FCI·FADAMA Coordination office e:njoys full autonomy as enshrined in the project documc:nts and the Itgal instru ments for effective: implementation and coordination. Sptaklngearlier, 1l1eTask 1'Nm lnder,
Nigeria FADA.\lA Ill. Dr. Abimbola Adubi staled that they W(Te in the zone to moni tor and see how projects ha\'t' fared under FADAMAIII . Dr. Aduhl te\'ealed that they ,,-ere also here 10 assess the standard ofwOTk done and inter.tCl with lhe bene:l1daries as the World Bank plans to increase grant to Nigeria Fadama project to 1M tune of $01.185 m illion. Wdcoming guests to the ocasion. the Director rJ Admin & FinarJ(e oflhe Agriculture and Rum ~'t'lopmeni Sectttari:l\, /'.Ir_lohn Egwu Obiahu disclOKd th;!.\lhe FCf Administrntion hu built a bt'l1l1ing office accommodation at Gwagwalada named "FADAMA House· ror the projt'ct.
BPE tasks DFls on financial sector reform
p·rOdllds; me"Ahft!'ill!.'lrUlial~£lLLs~f these
THE Director·Generai 0( the llureau of Public En terprises
5ide th e US will be a huge market (or Nigeriis aportable products. We nttd 10 look at d~\'d oping tho.se product.s to meet acceptable ln ler· The D irector of Prod ucts Aid that the semi · nar aims at enlightening the participants especiall)' o n quality because of its importance in uportable products.
Working Group on 1kI't'1opme:nt Financial tn...lirut;nn1 assiduously to med 1M Federal Gm't'fllment5 aspirations for the reform of the: sc:ctor. The National Council on
~7.$"a.~Qp,".f~~
Pri'lltisation (NCP), at its 55th Mming In September 2008, apprm"ed the constitution 0( a Sl~ ng Commiu('l! on DFIs primarily to de\'l!lop sector ·-~"~·n.lhe.com·
mercia.llzation and prtv.u izauon-
e:/;rJ~ilIrJJo ~ r¥J!J!" The Working Group. which Is chaired by the BPE is, an offshoot of the Steering Commilt('l!
headed by the Finance Ministe:r. But t.ls Onagoruwa. who according to. statement from the agency spoke: atlllt formal inuagur.ttion of the group in ~a, also Iold the members rJ ffie wUTklng group that ho!\'ing
group in thedisc:twgeofits man-
"',<
In his remarks. Dr. Vmcent
AIq:>oIalre. tht' chairman of the group "-ho is also the acting ~ in chargt' of ~tional r"ldlilie$
and
Agricultural
I<r.=rm.lb m<r'm lrObru """,job.
Itcsou;ru:s fto{F & AR) in Illt anchor their dl:\w,-m1et1t on
SIlt promised lhal lhe Bureau wi ll coopen1e with lhe
DRs as thty fonn 1M plank for tconOmic growth.