6 Nigerian Tribune
, Thursday, 10 March, 2011
NEWS
Osun seeks llTA's support in agricultural development,
.B~Mf. goy candidateJmlm to su~fa&1oh fQrJtfL~ B; AHdEebOsayo Wsaheed Adewale Ajayi, Lagos HE gubernatorial candidate of the T Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP) in Lagos State, Mr Jaiye Randle, has threatened to institute a legal action against the state governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, for libelling him during a gubernatorial debate organised by Channels Television.
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Governor Fashola had said during the debate that he denied Randle access to him, because that Randle knew he, wanted to meet with him over a crinlinal case he was having in court
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Addressing the press in Lagos, the SOW gubernatorial candidate said the last had not been heard about the allegation made by Governor Fashola against him because it was a regret that a lawyer of Fashola's status could make such a grave allegation against him. "As for having a case in court, you are all journalists, you can go round the courts to find out if there is any crinlinal case pending against me. It is a matter of grave regret that a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, a lawyer, can make such a wild allegation without providing the nature of the crime may be kidnapping, rape, murder, fraud or money
verifiable." Randle explained further that. the rea~onswhy he sought the audience of the governor were itemised and it was never personal, adding that if need be, he would publish the copies of the letters written to the govemor. On allegation of building on a drainage as alleged by the governor during the debate, he said that was incorrect, saying that he got all the necessary approval from the relevant agencies before he was given Certificate of Occupancy and it was the state government that allocated the piece of land to him.
state government had acquired 1,000 hectares of land for the establishment of farm settlements, while the existing settlements would be rehabilitated with necessary infrastruclures such as roads. He said that plans were on the way to set up a big cooperative society that would take charge of the interests of the people, ineluding the farmers. The governor, who disclosed that government was interested in taking 10
Bandits cart away N.8m from bishop's house AIpho~usbAgborh, sa a HE biblical injunction of "touch not T my anointed and do my prophet no harm" was, on Monday, thrown into the wind as the Bishop Court of Asaba Diocese, Anglican Communion was attacked by robbers. The bishop, Reverend Festus Mogekwu, and his wife were held at gunpoint inside their bedroom by the bandits, who claimed to be militants from Bayelsa State. At the end of the operation, the robbers made away with the sum of N800, 000; two laptops,
handsets, a marriage ring and other valuables. Narrating his ordeal to newsmen, on Wednesday, Bishop Mogekwu said the hoodlums, numbering about four, invaded their house at about 1.00 a.m., on Monday, and flashed touchlight on them through the win-
~:~;c::i~~~gac~~ss~~~~ the bedroom after cutting the window protectors while we were asleep," He said the robbers or-
The robbers, it was learnt had earlier tied the two securi ty men with electric wire and threatened to kill them, before attacking the bishop's residence. The victim blamed the new generation churches and the political class for unchecked display of
opulence and greediness in the society, which he said were major causes of crime among the youth. The Police Public Relations Officer in Delta State, ASP Charles Muka, who confirmed the story, on Wednesday, said nobody had been arrested in connection with the incident.
per cent of the Lagos market, said government had contacted the management of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) for the leasing of 54 wagons that would be taking finished goods from Lagos to Osun and farm produce from Osun to Lagos. He explained that the aim was to create a market in Osogbo for people in Kogi State and Abuja to pick whatever they needed at the same price with that of Lagos. He added that similar farm produce market would be provided in Lagos for the buyers to buy at the same price like that of Osogbo. He disclosed the decision of the state government to establish a cooperative society where people would have access to loans to boost their trades, businesses and enterprises.
FAAN, RATAWU strike: FG begs for Leon Usigbe, Abuja
THE Federal Government says it is making dered him and his wife to strenuous effort to avert lay down while they ran- the proposed strike by sacked the entire house, workers of the Federal adding that the money Airports Authority of carted away belonged to Nigeria (FAAN) and the church. members of the Radio and Television Workers Union (RATAWU) as it has asked for more time Smallholder producers The programme is ex- to find an amicable to their have limited access to fi- pected to enllance the ca- resolution nancial services markets pacity of participating grievances. This is coming on a and opportunities for commercial banks for susday that government value addition. tained lending to agriculannOUl:",ed the $ra.'lting "To' address rural fi- ture ru;td strengthen rural 0,£ "citiz,:ns'Mi' 'ti:(~ ~2 .rl~nce antl m~tketi~g is- \micro'financ~. instifufi6ns f6rei"gh na'tibtiaI'S. ,'J. ' " sues, the programme>yilI with 'improved gqver. , , Accotpitii{ to': ~he scale up spme of the ~uc nanceand man,,:gement •Mihrst<!t: ~f I~0rh)?tf!Jn :' '; < cessfttl a<!tiyities Imp'ie c systems.: and. CommUnICatIOns, men ted under two pilotThe marketing groups Mr Labaran Maku, who programmes - the Agri- obtaining higher rev- gav'Lthe indication while cultural Marketing Sys- enues from improved ac- :fielding questions from . House ,terns Developm.ent , cess to ma~kets and in- Stat~ Programme and the Ru- creased synergies in ,agri- correspon9.~~ts;[ ), on ~ednesday, ift Abuja, ral Financial Se.rvices cultural marketing and efforts were underway to Programme, completed in rural finance activities ensure that progress was 2009 and 2010 respec- will help improve the live- made on the demands by tively. lihoods of poor rural the workers because of ., The new programme, _people. the impact it would have co-financed by the AfriOver 500,000 vulner- on families. ca.n Development Bank able rural households, d is~~ss~ob:served ~~:: (AIDB), the Alliance for a including smallholder Green Revolution in Af- farmers, herders and ongoing on the report rica (AGRA), the Tanza- fishers, small-scale ru- from previous meeting stakehold.ers, nian government and the ral entrepreneurs, trad- with beneficiaries will support ers and artisans, grass- including the Nigeria the implementation of the roots micro finance in'- Union of Journalist (NUn and RATAWU, saying agricultural sector devel- stitutions, processing that the parties had opment strategy. The and marketing groups, agreed that once the strategy envisages a very poor rural women White Paper was issued, modernised, commercial, and rural young' highly productive and people, will benefit di- ~~:~u;sOUld be backt~~ ,from the profitable agricultural rectly implementation. He said that he was sector by.2D25. ' programme.
hoping and pleading that the ultimatum given by the workers would be she Ived, asking for patience "bearing in mind that in democracy, demands are not promptly met because there are constitutional processes that must be ....
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more time
The Minister of Aviation, Mrs Fedelia Njeze, who also answered reporters' question on the proposed strike action by FAAN workers, stated that the issue had been on ground before her appointment but assured that it was -
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IFAD signs agreement for $90.6m loan to Tanzania
~j~ PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY?
A
Because of the unprecedented landmarks/achievements of Otunba (Or.) Christopher Adebayo Alao·Akala, the Executive GovernorofOyo state since 2007 today:
$90.6 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to Tanzania ,will enllance access. to'ruraJ; financial services' and ,markets and promote private-sector d~velopment in the country, the United' Nations rural poverty agency h,as announced. The Idan agreement for the marketing infrastructure, value' addition and rural fin~nce support programme was signed on February 25 in Rome by'Tanzania's Min, ister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Mustafa Mkulo, and Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD. The loan will be extended to the country' on highly concessional terms. In Tanzania, agriculture js recognised as a significant driver for growth. However, its po, tential is yet to be exploited fully to bring about a significant reduction in rural poverty. •
laundering or whatever. He just libel me. , . "That is not the end c;>f the story, unless he is able to cite the exact natUre of thiscrimethatIwasalleged to have committed, then 'you have not heard the last of that," he said. He explained that in politics people were free to say whatever they liked but there had to be a certain level of honesty. "I mean, there must be a certain level of honesty in politics; you are free to say whatever you like about your opponent, but, at least, it should be straight and
un tate government, on T Wednesday, sought ,the suppt;>rt and assis' tance of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in agricultural development. The state governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, while speaking during a visit to the institute in Ibadan, described it as a notable research institute needed for agricultural development. He said for any government to succeed in the agricultural development, the institute was the way out. According to him, the
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• '·Ala6~AkalaWav,{AkObo-WofunLinkRoad),lbadan ,Queens,onema,OtIe-Ado,Moletedualcarriageway. CIviIServants'CarOwnershipScheme police.UuicklnterventlonVehlcles . ' Fire Fighting Equipments ' • Pri?vi~iIn o.ftractors for farmers .~,,~~~~~ng ~I!oreholes rigs in 3310cal governments (With these,~hievement so far) let uS be sincere with ourselves, the qUl!$tin is: Is there any governor(s) in the past'that has matched"the unparallel achievements of the'-MANOf DESTINy"'ChlefAdebayoAlao-Akala?
The answer is NO!
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