FRANCIS S UBERU WITH AGENCV RErO 1T
rop fat'm!:'rs in Del· ta State have been
C
advised tn exercise caution and wait for the rains to set in property be· fore plantinG thE'ir crops. A fanner chairman d the All F'nrmem Assocla· lion d Nigeria I AFAN} in Ule state, Mr. Jerry Ossal, gave the adviU!' i., an inter, view with I"l'poI,-,!('S in Asa, ba o\"!:!rthe \WekHlO.l He said Uun Ita "tate. especlally arms in the North
melon. c:owpeas, tomatoes and other crops. Besides rainfall, Ossai said in availability of fert.lUsers. tractors. agro. chemicals. pesticides and improved y.u-ieties or seed· llngs \\"!:!J"e other challet18l!S faced by farmers in the state.
He said that funding hnd remained a In<Uor constraint of the farmers. disclosing that it had been difficult for them w acoess
Rglicultunli klans provided by the Federal Government. The fa nner state's Comsenatorial dlstr1ct, had pe- missioner for Agrlcu1ture, cuUar climatic condition, lamented the non·lncluskln which delayed ra ins till 0( Delta among the states oOout thE' fourth month d . where the new variety of the year. cassava would be tested Ossai said as usual. around the cowtU)l: no rain had faD.'il in thai We can say that Delta Is pru1 d the stale. adding numberoneorattheworst, therefon! that the far~ number h\'O in cassava needed to wait fur the land production in the COWlU)l: to be sufficiently Wf"! before and yet. It was not selected planting'"_ alongside Benue, 0),0. I.mo MQuite a lot af farm.. and Akwa Ibom for the test lands have been ( Ieared fur planting... the season. "ith Ute hope StaUng that cassava pro. that the rains w ill begin duction wasonearee where in ~Iarch , but up lill now. Delta hod comparalM there has been flO sign 0( advantage. he chalJeuged meaningful rniIUal t to en. the stale gQ\1!f'll!Ile(lt to able plantine to b..>g n. SUIJport fanners to enable
" In the clreum..-u.nce, ...it! really need to waH. espe. dally farmers irM:·lwd in
them to continue to 1mprove their yields and boost Its ecouom):
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Transition council assumes officewhile promising that his
AOEMU IOAKWO lDl<OJA
undreds of people · w)tnessel:t the S\Io"earin,g Into of· three councillors to
administraUon would enSUI"!:! adequate disu-lbutlon
H
of amenities ~ of tribe. reUgion or place of domJcUe. stressed that in line with the progmmmes
serveon thejust uppointed Transition Ma l\a~ernent Committee. TMC', to run the aITaJrs of Totu Local GO\o-ernment CoWICU of Nasarawa State. ):ending council elections. Transition ~1a.nagement Conuninee, 'l'MC. Chainnan, AJhaJl Umaru Bala Muhammed, who supervised the inauillration
of the party, the less·privileyed wUl be the corner stone of his administration_ He, then!fore. enjoined tile people to exercise patience whUe the admlnis· traUon maps out plans for total transrormation of the local government UDder the CPC government. Earlier in his remark, the Director of Person· nel Management., Alhajl
nce
ceremOrll! warun) against ethniclty and n!libriuus bigotry which, he deraibed. as agents of insecul ity and disunity bl the soctet)t AlJlIVl MuhanuTed ad·
vised the COUDcillor3 to see themseM!s as servants and endeavour to mitia 'e positive projects that will be of bene[lt to therr communi· ties. as 'Well as propa gale all government's policies and
programmes. The
TMC
Abdullahl~n,who
was acting Chairman or the council, appealed to the starr to cooperate with the new administration. The 00lh of office was adminisU!red by the Odef Magistrate d Toto and attracted heruIs of security agencies in area. as well as
bl!O<ls de deJ>arlments de Chairman,
the local
~
01' UMI Abbtlsw-ram PrImary School. "'ldug...t, dUng on btlre noor •• tM building w •• Nt
HflramMd~_
.btu.
by .....peeled 8oko
Businessman calls for inquiry into students' death DENNIS AGBO ENUGU
~
Abakalikl-based businessman. hler George U Mgborukwe. has called on Governor Rochas OkOf"l>cha of lmo State to insti· tute IlR inquiry Into the Lmmedlate and remote causes of the deaths ~ 18 prospective youth corps rnembeni In a road traffic accident on their way to orientation camp. Mgborukwe said this was necessary to get to root 0( the "Unfortunate Incident and find out why call up letters of the students were deiaym. He stated that reports have continued to disclose how some unscrupulous
academic and non- aca· demlc staff of unJverslUes take pleasure In frustrat· ing graduates of tertiary Institutions for selOsh reasons. addlns that. such delays for their posting usually affect the smooth planning and transporta· tion of corps members.. WhOe oomJollns with parents of the deceased students. their unlver· slty and the government of Imo State. Chief Mgbontk we noted that It was a national tragedy that young graduates should lose their lives when they are expected to contribute their quota to the trans· formation of Nlgerla. His words: As a parent of four university undergraduates, I know how
hard it Is to train them in tertiary InstituUons. It Is thel'efore painful that after spendtng much money on a young person. he or she dies due to frustrations Inherent in the system. I am therefore call1ng on Governor of lmo State to institute a panel of Inquiry to Investigate cir· cumstances of the death of these 18 prospectlve corps members"_ Mgboruk'~'t! added that after investigation, whoever Is found to be responsible sbould be made to bear the full weight of the law 10 serve as deterrent and prevent a reoccur-
...nee. He stated that since
It was clear why the stu· dents were said to have
protested 10 the school author lUes. the inquiry would help to ascertain if anybody was directly or Indirectly delaying their can up letters. tnslsttng that unless the government nnds out., prospec· tlve corps members will continue to experience undue rush thai onen leads to untimely deaths In the btd to meet up with camp deadline. " It is painful that \\.'eare losing these )'OURg leaders of tomorrow. Thereshou1d be an In depth probe to ascenaiIl the cause. especially why all of them had to board the same veh Ide. Whoever is lnvolved must be punished severelY so thai others will learn from it., he declared_
Farmers lament government's negligence AZAMsuE
I<AIlUNA
armers In Hayin Danmani tommu· nit)( suburb of Kaduna metropolis have d~ cried state government's negligence of water supply durlnalhe dry season farming which Is arrect· ing their activities. The rarmers ha\'ecalJed on the government IlRd development partners to come to lheiraJd by assistIng them with hand pump
F
machines and construction of irrigation dam in the communJty for access to wate.:
According to hLm_ MFor the past flve years., we have
been contendlng with water scarcity during dry
Chairman of the Haym
season farming. Several
Danmanllrrtgatlon farm· ers. Mallam U1yasu Yaku· bu made the appeal when officials of a non· gov· ernmental organisation. Centre for Water and Environment Development CWED held a town hall meeling as part of actlvltle5 to mark World Water Day celebration in the
organisations promised to assist, but never kept to their pledges and they include local. state and rederal governments. During campaigns. paU· tlcians keep promising to assist us with farming tools. but till now, they have not Mfllled them. We are appealing to the government to come to
state.
our aJd by constructing irrliaUon dam ror us". he appealed In his remark. the ex· ecutive director, CWED. Mr Nimrod Musa. saId the evellt was 10 identify the errective use of irri· gatlon rarmlng as a way of ensuring food secu· rity in Nigeria. He. however. said it would provide platform for in teractlons between fanners and agricultural experts to highlight challenges facing them.