TI-lEGUARDIAN, Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Benin monarcill'asl(s Danjuma on .,Olmnne-Abuja road
Anyaoku, others decry nation's woes
FlomNemma-lliiOlUYa J'liu, Benin City Benin mona rch, Dba
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solved Presidential f\dvlsory Coullcll and forlll (" r Chief of ,\mlY Staff, Lt. Gener.11 Theol,lhilus Danjlrm;!. (rtd/ '0 usro hISinnuence to previli on the Froderal Govemment and ot hers responsible to) fix the dilapidated Benin·OkenlleAbula ro~d. He st~ted t his yesterd<lY when Danjuma led rTlrombers of the bo.lrd uf the T,Y. Dilnlurna Founddtion o n a courtl'sy visit 10 the palace of the monan:h wh trro In"dluwa also called on the nOll·governmental organisortioll t') intenSify its efforu in IU ent repreneursh ip Il4!inlng for fresh gr<Iduates. "I hear that they g<\ve these proopll.' the job and they did nOl show up. what Is lhro matter? IW.1nt you to USf your position to previlll on them to do that road for us: he said. 'I
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Minister, others for Bus;'Iess Hallmark's workshop 'l"l-IE Feder~1 Ministry of .1 Youth Developm .. nt Is to partner Busi"rss ""IImnrk News p~per in the ,He<l of skil1 <lcqulsltlon fo r unemployed and undroremployed YOllths in the cOl' ntry to make (hem becom ... self-reliant. To this rond the t..!I'llsterof Yo uth Deve lopmen t. Alhajl Bolaji Abdllll ~hi ,IT' d other prominent t-Ilgerians are to grace this yea r's erltlon of llusinfss //allln"ri.: 'lcwsllaper Entrepreneur lob Creation Workshop il l Lagos.
By Yeml Dlakllan MINENT Nige rians, In· cludlng former Secrel.1ry General of the Common· wealth. Chief Emekil Anyi'loku have lamented the crises that ha \'e bedeviled the nation since Independ· ence. despite the .1vailability of huge human and natural resources. TIley spoke at the presenta· tion of a book /'rofiles in Ltad· I.'rsltip by vettran Joum.1[ist. Folu Koy! In Lagos. The book chronicles the liv~ of great me n and women who have cont ributed [Q the a dvancement of the nation In different fields of human endeavour.
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The chairman of the event. Anyaoku. i1cknowledged the grea t disappointment that any serious rcader of the book would feel. He won· dered why a country. which has produced the galilXJ of achievers desc ribed In the book.should still be In a st.1te of und ro rde velopmenL He noted that the country was filf from re.1lising iu true potenti,ll. According to him. the main reason forthlssltuation Is tha t politica l leaders hip over the yea rs had failed abysmally In nnding ways to give the country the fullbenefit of lu indlsputable human resources. He commended the author, who he noted. had begun re--
search Into the material for nadona l life must be a tricky the bookas farba ckas l4 yeal'!5 and demanding la sk.~ he ago. He furthercongratul,lted ia.id. . Ileauthoron producing such Anyaoku said furthe r. "I an Invaluable source or refer- would like to observe that in ence for anyone who Is inter- my experience of having to ested In knowing more about vIsit over 100 countries lhe leading peoplt and pro- .1roulld the world, I know o r fessions in Nigeria over the no other country where pulJ.. last tOO years. Ucations of all soru of con"I would Ilke to commend gratulations fiI[ the national Fo lu KoY! for tlle depth of his da ilies. ThislswhyFolu must researcrl and his admirable be commended for taking Judgment in sele<ling the the time to recognlst our people to include in the book. trut leaders.~ In Nigeria, where we seem to [ndustrlallst and business have esl.1bllshed a culture of guru, Chlrof Mo[adl.' Okoya. self-promotion of Individuals who was the chief Presenter by families or groups In the of the book said in his speech form of paId advertlsemenu that corruption had eaten In our newspapers, de<ldlng deep Into tlle f.1bri coflhe na' on who are true leaders In our tion,
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Govt unveils incentives for farmers, to curb rice import flt)!n T~a Dal!!land Joke
lIt'.anmu, Abuja
1GERlJ\'S poor perfonn.! nce in agriculture domi· nated talks the Minister of Agrlcultu rt and Rural Development, Dr. Aklnwunmi Ades;n<l. h<ld with the House of Representati ves and jour· nalisu In Abuj.1 yesterd.1Y. Adesina, who took President Gooclluck Jo n.1th.1n·s plan for the sector to the legIslature• ia.id the distribution of fertJllsrors h.ld been handrod over to the prh'ilte sector to ensure trilnSparency and accounta· bility. The government, hesaid, had also resolved to check the m <l~s Importation of rice by Imposing higher dutIes on foreign brands .1nd to use the accruing funds to boost [onl production, This ~rr~nge ment, he said would create 1.2 million Jobs for Nigerians. He s.11 the scheme Is ,llso
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planned to ensure no farmrr goes beyond three ki lometres to get farm Inputs ;'lIld imple-ments in any part of thecoun· ''Y. Thro minis te r txplaintd that the counITy loses 510 bit· lion(Nl6 tTlllion)yearly to the dwind ling fortunes In agrlcul· tur.11 sector, Adesi na added that Nigeria had lost iLS prime plact In the world commodity trade through the decllnro In the export of oi l jl.:llm. cocoa, groundnut and cotton, addin~ that the develop men t cosLS Nlgroria Nl.6 trillion yearly. To adlieve self·sufficiency In food production,Adesinasaid the ministry had launched an Agricu ltura[ TrJns fonn~tion Action pl<ln. targe ted ~t pro· duclngadditional20 million metTIt IOnnes offood and creating 3.5 million jobs In th ro sector over <I period or four
years. In.1 present-ulon bt fore the lolVt'r House Committee on IIgrlculture o n the efforts of thro Froderal Government 10 transfonn the sector, Adesina s~id In 1961. Nigeria was t he major West African exporter. but lamented that othe r countries, indudlng Mall and Burkina Faso haa t.1ken the position. And at a press conference to herald the World Food Day In Ahuja. Adesln~ directed contractors hand ling i11 1agrlcultural projects to complete them to avoid being trea ted as economic saboteurs. Adesin.1 declared th;'!t no fresh contracts would be wardrod until throcuTTront pro} ects wert executed. ,lddl ng that the e.-a of contractors <lbandolling their jobs was over. TIle minister said since t-Ilgerl.1 is yet to Jchleve food security. it could not <lfford agrIculture pro jects being ilbandoned beC<lUSC it would worsen the situation. Adeslna noted that strong
~h[ck~l;~~ed f~~~~~St~t~~:: keu and provided support In th ro form of improved SL'f'dllngs and frortllisrors and the ability to meet quail')' standards ill10wed N igeri~ s comprotltors to takro t he lead in the sector. He ia.id Nigerla's low ag rl cu ltur.tl yields was also due to iu [<lilure to Invest in mecha·
Mult i-Purpose Vehicles
nisrd farming and irrigation. addIng that only a fractIon of the country's arable land was Irrlg~te d .
NPA evicts SON, NAFDAC, others from ports 'T'iE Nigtrian Ports Author~ Ity (NPA) h~s asked the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Natlona[ Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NOl.f.A) and many other ~gendes operating at the ports to vacate .111 the nation's gateways. The authorl ty's Managing 01· rector, Mr. Su[elm.1n Omar, g~~ the <lgencies ~ two·week quIt notict yroste rday. saying the ~cti on w~s In li ne with the Fede ral Governmront's policy to streamline oper,ltions and facilitate trade with hro r t.-adIn~ p,lrtners. FlIlance Minister. Mrs. Ngozi OkonJo-lweala and her COUll ' tt"rpa rt from t hro Transport Minist ry. Senator Sulelm.:ln Idris had vlsitl'd the lagos
:~~c~~he ~~~ct?:,~ o}~u~~: bn of agencies at the porU to ,I.
But th(" NrA boss who d arl· fied the issue in lagos yesler· only the NpA, Nigeri,l Customs Service, Ports He,llth, Nigerian Mari time Adminis· tratlon and Silfety Agemy (NI· MASA). NigerIa rolicro (POri Pollce Command), State Securlty Scrvlces (555) and NigerIa [mmigr,ltion Service (NIS) wert allowed Into the ports d~y ia.id
The mlnistersaideven t hou~h Nlgro rla has g re,lt patronllal m <lgrkllltllre. it h~cl becom e a dump ing ground ror Imported foods.a t~nd, he w<lmed must change, The c hairm~n of the Houst Commiuroro on Agriculture. Tahir Monguno, eltpressrod re- n~t io nwid e. greu that the sector, which oncro srofVrod as an ex porter of OIumba denies faction cash and food crops and also accounted for over 60 perctnt in church of the natio n's Gross Domestic Flom Miefie hkpan, Calabar rroduct (G OP) h.1d been neglected, resulnng In hunger and 'l"l-IE Brotherhood of the povert), In thro country. .1 cronand Sti\r (BCS) h<ls de· Hesatd that small and subsls- nl rod the existence of .:Iny rK' In tht church, saying. tent farmersconstimteOVl!r 80 ~tion t here is only one Brother· pcrcemoffarm holdlngswirh hnOll.lIlefflclent and outdated im· ple ments and withou t Institu- o~mi~f to ~~~bli~~~i~n~~1 tiona[, technical al1d financial dailies (not Jhe Gua rdian ), the Media Con5ul t~ nt to the s¥h~l~~me of the World food BrOlherhood.Mr, WalterDunr Day is "Food prices from cri;;is said, "thro [lubllcation Is not to stablllty. just a h<lndiwork of mischief According to him. "Nigroria is not secure in food productio n makers and enemies of 'truth', but a sponsored drort, Mcause WI.' are dependent nn bomr oul or mi\li(t wa.'l.rod In the g[obal markro l for food sUj}ply, and any volatili ty in the d;~:~~h~;rl~ood of th~'~~~~~ market has se ri o us implica- and S t~r Is one in the entire tions fo r us." universro and the use of ' fac· The r'Ood and Agritulture Or· tion',asoustrved In the pulll!· ganisatlon (fAD) Representa· c.:ltion is ~n obvious s how of tive 1.ouise SeLShwaelO, sald the ncro. Th ro organisation govro rnm ent. privati" SectOf Ignora h;'!s ont" Universal leader. Mas· and Individuals must to~ether ter, Teacher. Sust,liner and Slgto boost food productIon in n~l ory, leader Olumba Nigtria. Olumb~ obI!.
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• c,,'1:0 Bm:ILdbH): 1500K 1170x 1l3Omm • Gut: S·fotw3rd ar d
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