Cassava bread: Farmers' association warns N'Assembly over delayed Bm MESHACK IOEHEH
he National Executive Council or Agbekoya Farmers ASSOCiation says if is throwing its weight behmd the decision by the Federal Government to make the inclusion of 40 per cent cassava nour compulsory in the manufacturing of nour_ In a statement made avaUable to journaHsts on Thursday, the PubllcUy Secretary of the Group, Chief Olatunji Bandele, further said the KrDUP Is warning the National Assembly members against stalling Ihe development by reruslng 10 accent 10 its but. Agbekoya said rurther thai
T
the rarmers aSSociation Is giVIng the National Assem· bly a 21-day ultimatum to reconsider the bill, or face the wrath of Agbekoya and the Nigerians. The slatement quoted the President-Ge neral or the association Worldwide, Chief Kamorudeen Okikiola, as sayi ng that cassava bread will boost food production and employment generation in the country. The group elCPlalned thai the National Agency for Food Drugs Adminlsrration and Control, (NA FDAC) has approved the inclusion of cassava In the production of bread nour In Nigeria after considering its nutrienls and health
IInplicalions, adding the Na
lional Assembly members had no right to refuse to ac-
Fayemi restates comm tment to economic developm nt
E
kiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Foyeml. has reo
stated the commitment of his administration to the
economic developmenl of the State. "Nigeria spend:. N230bn Speaking in Ado Ekltl on wheat Importation annu- while receiving the report of ally; wisdom says increase the slate's Economic Manyour strength and lessen agemeDI Team headed by your weakness; cassava Is the Deputy Governor, Mrs. our strength. We are call- Funmi Olaylnka, the govering on the National Assem- nor commended the team for bly memburs to reconsider turning in the firSt report 011 the bill for approval in the the economic activities of the interest of Nigerians and State, tailored towards makthe economy; If not, the Ag- Ing poverty history in the bekoya Farmers Associa- State despite the meagre r etion , with all its allies, wilJ sources accrue to IL champion an an tI Nationa) Assembly prOlest, a nd label cent to the bill that will make
this a law In Ihls coumry
them as enemies of prog· ress," the group added.
lio st:tessed that his adn:.h tstration was al· ready mak ng gla~t strides in key ecor~ i , sectors of Ihe slate. esq i.,Uy agricuhure. infraStrl1,C unl. human capital deve l'? ffi1nt and educa· tion, eJPfL d optimism thaI other issu, bopterlng on the adminlslp tion have be"n addressed It~ ~:repon. He assb ed thal the Executive COl>fl il would d~lIber ate exte~ ely o~ the report in order tl c~lIdate areas which th, dmlni!lraUon has m\!de fNl: es,.and al$O give adequate Itltptlon to areas wbere th are still gaps.
Kano urges rice fprrne~ 0 'embark on mass production "",......It ! tliO stale Jocal fee· AUGUsnNE MADU WEST tilIrer pll:rp bj1Ve since begun 4
pr¢Uctio~
She a.1$p_ red farmers In he Kano State Commis· the sta~e , jI1 at f+rtllizer would sJOtrer far Agriculrure, be made Uv . 'Ible to them at a Dr. Barnka Sani yester· highly subs Lsed price. I day urged Kano rice farmers to She <\iSyI at Ib, min· embark on mass production of Isuy's p ~ wIIUe "1"'anI· f9rlbelrdedlcarice this raining season foUow- ingjuniors ing Federal GoVl!rnment deci- tion anp ~ wbier she sion to ban importation of the acknowledg played ~romlnent role 1n e 1i~(X8S9 the. mingrains. The commisslQner advised istry in the last one the farmers to avallthemseh't.'S yea< The COlI mj~loner rIkribof this opportunity pointing out that the State government uled a .,tal of jt83 bags of rice is prep81;cd to give them all the and cash ~ s Iq f!n1or wqrkers support needed to enhance the in the mm c cultivation of rice by makJ.ng Darata lqj the gathering available to them the necessary that lhe r c dlSlrib~led to tbe bnpJements and fel1ihsm- re- workenr wt cultivated from L· R: Publisher, Business Hll llmarlr., Prince Emeka Obasl; former Minister of Anance and ChaJrma..n of the quired for high yields.. .he!;, lnannl' (1;11 farm, adding occaskJn, Chief Anthony Ani and Speaker, Prof. Herbert Wilson, during a roundtabhl on the autonomy or She disclosed that already that the 191r rhin~ the exerCeolral Bank of Nigeria In Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO; YINKA ADEPARUSI 1000 metric tons of organic fe .... cise ..... as I~p to appreciate the tilizer has been procUli!d by the roles rl by particularly government to boost agrlculhw- the jUn\Or sian' in the progress a1 production in the State, even made. bY Uif Iml'olstry in the last as the Commissioner further oneyear. ~ K UNLE AzE~ the country over a span of nine celYer stations, 81'S, in disparate pansof thecounu-ywill undergo months. Speaking dwing the PI'OjecC an- simultaneous upgrade to fw·tber Nigeria, the country's largest telecom- nouncement In Lagos yesterdalt ensure that the negative impact unlcations rework, the Corporate Services Exlh&Uve, of the e.r:e.rcise is brought to its OMOBOLA TOLU-KusIMO with the" tcrnally generated has embarked on a massive MTN Nigeria,. Me Wale Good1~ barest mimmWD revenue. nerworlt modernisation and said the project, which had been He noted thai there might I~----_--~-_ swpp-out project to position the in ule pipeline for several months be slight Inconveniences to he National Insurance Conun:7'1I~Jler for lnsurance, network 10 Ilrovide more lnnova- oommenced ewer a month ago af- subscribers in cenaln areas. COInnllSSlon (NAI~OM) M~:~ ~ave Ihis hint at live and converged solutions to ter intensive planning. especially at night during the has achieved internalJ,y R meeting held re"Our local team working implementation of the project. generated revenue of N2.J'lbn in cenU~ customers at best·in-(:iass service quality levels. closely with our technical part- customers will generally be ush· :lOll UlI"Ough the Statutory one By Unl cation. it means the 'Mle project forms the core of netS and expertS began work in ered Into a new era of enhanced per cent levy on gross premiUlD commission would no longer the activities set for implementa- April. They lwve done much of service quality UllOn die comple- generated by insurance comp;)- depend 09 government funding for any of its projects or protion in Its plan to spend $l.3bn the backend work preparatory to tion of the project.. nl... (N2Dl.5bn) on improving and the achUll SWSllping of network AcconUng to him, sporadic NOIwlI(J1 Mirror gathered ommmes, WhOe th ,~ conunission derives upgrading various aspectS of Its components in the days ahead. " netwOrk congestion episodes that the commission recelYl!d operations this year: Goodluck said the massive brought on by unusuaJ congrega- as gram from government last the bulk of its Internnlly generThe exercise, which entails project lnvolving three tecluucal tion of suh9crlbers in a particu- year, a total of N582.7m. WJUle ated reveJ11JElS !rom the statuuperadtng and replacing key partners, Ericsson, Huawei and lar location as a result eX span - its total recurrent expenditure tory one pw'C(mt levy on gross network components with newer ZTE, wW be carried Out at night lng eY£nts, religious weolS or stood at NI.35bn, capital expen- premiwn l;enerated by insurversions for enhaooed capac- to minimise Impact on the qua]- trafIlc gridlock can be lnstantly diture took N382.6m ance contP:mies. II also generIty and much improved quality ity or service.. In addition. he said resolved remotely from MTN netHowever, the commission has ates mone) trum fines im~ of senrlce, is expected to cover the e.r:ercise will be done in c1us- work monitoring and manage- said it lntend to be self financ- on comparues for breach of laid Its extensive network across tetS, ~iuch that select base trans- mentoffice. ing from the next fiscal year down rule8 and guJddlnes.
T
IIW
raoor
Plar
MIN begins N201.5bn network modernisation
M:
NAICOM generates N2,l'rbn from levies, fines
I
T
*fUf'\ enlimt