Illegal oil refineries damaging the envir(JlOment, says NNPC dally to the activities or the auIe.
oil maralD!n. GrouP t.1ar~ Difec. of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporntion (NNPC). Ml: Aust!l] Onl~ has
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'The !lr.;t c:haIII!Ilge whidJ I wru.\d like the House to help us with ~ the high level .. insecurI1y d oil and gas facilities. As at today our operations have been !lI'M!reIy _ by the actMties ..
called m the H0U9! d Represcnfa.. live to assist tOO oi and gas indus- these criruinaIs. We kl6e almost Ifll.,OCD bairns d oU per- day to try in a:mbating the IJBl3Ce d illegal oil bunker1J g and crude oU criminals. If )OJ. reflect back that theft whidl iscurnntlyhamperlng the total amount eM mxIe prothe smooth operati)fl of the petro- d.....t per day In Ghana, which susleum industry und awsing Wlwid tains the wIDe oountry is about I.OO..OOJ barrels, yet as a nation we environmental dan age. Oni\WO, wbost ued this yester- Jose mere than that to a1minals. ~ day while ",~c:unl1g members of Oniwon stated. The GMD pointed out that bethe House .. Rcpn " ' _ Comntitree on Peb'OIEWD Re:9oura!s ""'" the financial damage 10 the (UpstmmJ) 00 an 0 IetSight visit to natiooaI """'"'" the bigger Impli· the NNPC 1'tJy.~rs In AbtUa. reiter- cation Ues in Ul(! near permanent aied that the nation is currently l0s- environDBltal damage to the 7JJIle ing about JIl),(lX) b \l'Tels d crude where these UIegaI actMties lake p)are
Cassava farmers get N34m LPOs to boost poultry farming
The NNPO helmsman warned that if left W1Checked the envir0nmental damage wrought by the activities d the oil thieves and illegal oil refinerios ooutd make the QooniIand poUution sage_like achild'spia,)l: "These people drill into the pipeline. take what they wantand at the end .. the dol< they Just Ieaw the pipeline to gush oulltscontent into the erMronmenL 'l1le case is even WI'.Ir!ie for tboge wOO engage in ill e g a l _ They just lake crude oil into dnuns, putfire undemea1h. boil it and ....'hatever boils df it is what they ~ .. hesaid , 0ni\Ql I:lOU!d that bocause the wlume eX whatlheaimlnalsrouJd poosfuly evaporate from the mix is about 20 pel" cent to 2S percent - the
Tou. AKN"lITtMI ABWA_ _ _ _ _ _
remainlng'15 per cent is pourl!d on the bail! Door thus lnllicting IIJ.aSsive pollution 00 the environmenL
sava processors 1\"Ould tw"e dln!ct
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PUn:base Order val·
ued at N34m for the sup-
Iy IX 1.120 metric tons of cassava grits was yestertlay
issued to cassava farmers and
processors by AMOBNG Nigeria Limited. a wholly owned indige-
nous companx as part of the ben- the cassava _
Federal Government to promote the commercia1 U.9E!: of cassava grits In the Industn<
be done to use the project to na· tional advantage in view of its socfo.eronomic benefits for the
""wiry
MaltIng the presentation of
the lPOs to the beneficiaries in Ahuja yesterclaJt the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Devo>top-
ment, Dr: Akinwwnl Adesina. said the first ever coounertia1 en· gagement of the Carmen; and cas-
impact on reducing the current gluts the oountry .is experiencing
he Federal Capital Ter· ritory Adtnlnlstration
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NaIi(Jnal
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Information O!\'elopmenl Agency (NIT[ Al yesterday threatened 10 black list Informa· tion Tedlnoklgy ProI lu.:\S and Ser· vices lhat fell belllw >tuxlard and generated oxnplairr 1 fitm end
users. Dlrector General cf NITOA. made tllt! threat in AbtUa at the la.uv::hing of the Consumer Contribution/Complaints Platform fOl' 1C'f PnxIucts Pro[ Cleopa; Anga;) ~
and_ Anga;ye said tim If a product was being complained about and the manufacture of UIe produa or service ooutd not do ~ 10 bnprove on Ole produ ~ or serv1ce. N1'l'DA v.ooId m..--e orl option than to blacklist. He pnxloo: cr .service.
He. how~.'B; said llilt bladilist· tng a produa would n Jt.amo.ml to taking the produd. ou of the mar· ket as the agency had Ill) power to
flo so. adding that '-customers will be made to know that they are buy. i~ such prooucts at their own det· riment" Angaye saJd that it was in a bid to mstil standards into the ICf sec· tOI' that me Agr!rCy Instituted the option of bbckl.lstin8 bad producm and service, adding that instill· ing standard was the main aim of IaWlChing the P--'" "1leveloplng a nationwide stan· dan! computing infr3stnJcture based on hardware and software _ greatly inlpnMs the day to day functions of govern·
ment and businesses. "Current computing environ· ments are complex and therefore shanng eX re9OI..Il'CeS betv.oeen a~ - . . ( - u processor. spread.
sheets. databases. operating systems. etc.) can only be ~ If there are efficient IT standards. "OJrrent IT platfbnns have
FCTA yesterday kicked orr Utis years fanning season with the launch and distribution of 80 subsidized tractors under Its Farmers' Empowerment [nlttaUve. The adn1.lnistration added that ID more tractors are to be pl"QClU'ed lUlder the scbetnl! even as It placed the total procurement cost at N630m The initiative whlcb it said will address the perennial problem of agrlcwtura1 mechaniza· tion by dI!veloping a vibrant and sustainable tractor service dellv· ery under a Public Private Par· ticipation arrangement will also
provided a wide range of services that prevIou<;Iy <M>UId haw been impossible lndudblg video and audio streaming, video oonferenc. ing. telemooicine, e-oonm'K!ta; e-jpJI!mment and e-Jearning among
othenl. He said thai. the creation of the platform was desired to allow users d IT inf'raW'ucture to report
_Ian! products, dIscournge from patronising pirat· ed prod..,. and promote _ CXHlSW1'K!1'S
nent <i efficien1 IT products. He urged stakeholders in the IT sector as as other Nigerians to use the platform. saying that the agency has also designed an easy. hHlse portal that Is accessible from anywhere to aid complaints and oootlibutions. He saJd that the portal MMlId among other things. show black· listed products and state Ole reason why they were b1acklIsted.
"'en
grit substitute. the said """'YIblng -wi
efits ~ the current moves by the
OMEtZA AlAyt
NITDA threatens to blacklistsub-standard IT products, services
In cassava and aeate expanded 00mestlc marl<et fur the fBnnen. WhlIe commending the Cassava Growers AssocIation. the Cassava Value Chain 'I>am.~. Iry tanners and financiers .. the cassava grits projecl: for their commibnent to the realisation of government's dream of reducing _ of pouIlry farmlng through
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bout 300 participants from within and outside igeria am expected to attend this years' edition of 3J1 annual eIearonic payment system expo being organised by Intermarc Consulting Limited. a leading e--payment system- fo. cusedfirm in the oounb'J, According to the ManagingUirnctnr .. Intenna<, MrAdcyinka Adeyemi. the evmt tagged 'Card. ATMandMoblleExpo'scheduled to hold In Lagos between June 12 and 14. 2012 at Civic Centre, Lagos would attract about I em partlclpants daily gI""" the Iewl mobillzation and road show that
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countn< Adeslna. who stated that at least480,OOJ metric tons of cassava grits were required to meet ontlonaI _ disclosed that the PUultry Association of Nigeria would be offering 50 per cent " the OO5t of maize for cassava grits and al90 promised to continue to patronise the producer.!.