llll: GUARDIAN, Monday, September 11, 2011
BUSINESS 15.5
Agriculture, a veritable tool for social development F,ooll Jnk~ AIwvnu. Ahuja 'T1~E
Agliculture sulJ.seaor of I lh~ CCOIlOLLly has heen desaibed as the biggest smrrceof empkJ\'1nent il!ld a veritable tool In i:addUl& the nation's major sodal dt.'VelopnlentchaUengt':5. TIle SpecIal Adviser to the President on Social Development, Mrs. SaT<lh A. P.1ne, who stated thisdUlinga courtesy visit to the Minister of AgriCu lture and Rural Development. Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina in Abuja called on the trall5fonnJtion of Ihe scclm: i\CCOl ding to her once agl;' cullure Is tra nsformed from subsistence status its to mecha nised fa nning. even the natio ns teeming graduates wo uld be gainfully
engaged, as t h~y would be proud togobacklOl he land. She explol.inffi furth~r Ihat when the government talked of proViding employment it does not IUean that the gO\<.. ernment would provide whit~o llar jobs to everybody, bur ensure empl oy~ mem through secrorssuehas agr1cLLlture. She added Ihat ap.1rt from ensuring food suffiCiency and security, agric ultu re has a bearingin solvingsomeofthe ~odal development prot,. lelos, such as Improved wei·
fare, POI'~ny rffiuClion, mal· IlLllritioll anll c"en sl"Curity challenges facing the nation toda}! The Special N:iviser told the Mi nister that her office intends to partner with the ministry to come up wit h a srrateID' aim at targeting \Vomell and the Yout h in order 10 realize Presh..lent Goodlud: lonatha n'stransfor. ma tion a~enda. . Accordrng 10 her, sinc~ Mr. President s~lf1.cally crtated theofficeol Special N:ivi~ron Social Development, she
would collabor.ue with miniSl ries, de partments, and agencles (MDA's}aswcllas reievant stakeholders to (Quch the lives of the citizenry. In his remarks, the Minisler, Or. Adesin.a who lamemed [he neglctt of Agricuhure In the past, stated that Niger1a has nobuslncssimpoltingricefor its consumption. Oescribing Nigeria as the sec· and blggen Importer of r1ee, he disclosed that the agric SC[tor would soon be restrucrure<llo reverse Ihe trend and make Nigeria food sufficient
and business like. TILe Min istry of Agrirulrure and Nat ura1 Resources, he contended, would no longer be a dumpL ng ground for agricpolidesl har had nopT<lc, tical resu lL ~Theagricsectori5 in amess..
We hal'epotentials,bu[we are still importing rlce. \\'e are the se<ond imponer of rice in the world. Here whalwe do Is farming not a!,'liculrure. We will renrunme Ihe agric sec· Iilr til ensure fOlld suffi cieucy and cce.lte Jobs. lhe mininer said. M
The ministH, who reveakd 11011the mlnlsu),hope5tocre-a te35 million jobs in the ne.'11 (.Jur y~aJ.s, also disclosed that Lle mllllslIy targets ca~va, nce, sorghum, cO(m and COl· I)n allloLlg OIher food ,mo cuh crops that [he fede ra l ~o\'emmen t would collaborl!e with stales to Improve LPOn. !-Ie fimherri!\'eiJled thallhe r,linisuy would won come up "'Iith a $chooHeeding prD" gramme, using pilot projt'C1S t. )(~J tiV'lle some crops for the r;~d LOg.
IT finns, entrepreneurs jostle for 'Google Nigelia' By Adeyemi Adeperun NI:OIIJ.IATION .1nd Communications Technology companies a nd technology elllrepreneurs In Nigeri.1 howe been provided the opportunity to l.Io.'Come authorisi.'d resellers of Google Nlgcl1a. The BUSiness Developmelll Ma nas",r for English spea k· ing Wes t Africa, f.·lrs. Lola Mashil .1t the weekend in lagos, made this announcement. .o\ccord ing 10 coogle Nigeria, as a uthorised resellen, H eOlreprene urs will be able to ~ Il , customise and provide ttchnical suppon services for Google Apps for businesses, adding th.1t. this oPIJOrtuni t)' provided by Google NIgeria will e nsure that, yo ung IT ~ntreprene urs in Nigeria will cr~ale Ll eW streams of rev· enue for their busi nessei as well as become promoters of cloud computing in Nigeria. Masha explai ned: ~Google is looking to partner with upwanlly mobile n' campa· nEes and entrepreneurs willi a passion for tech nology and a strong imeresl in evangclising IT solutions \0 Nigerian .;;!lL.. _ . .... _ businesses. Cloud [omputingsolu t iOLls make colla hora· Direclor Gener.lI of lhe tti,erlan CiYiI Avior.liou Aulhority (NCAA), Dr. Hatold OemLiren [ri&htl; Sralion Manager, So!.tlh Ahlcan Arnays., Mls.Joy Dllyeadi, Oilli). Dir8CIOl'of Air Trar.sport Reewrion. tlCAA. tionand infomlation sharing Ms. l ~abo Sosina ImiddleJ duM,ga meetingv.ilh foreign airWr.IHl!prBSoen1aliwsin HigeIiiL Oft $CwrityissLJes 011 tlWl alrpons In Lagos, 21 tllewukend. PIIOTO: SOI..II OJEOOKUrf easy. hel~ ing people connC(:t more etfenively and work more efficielll ly. This is a unique opportunity for for· By Roseine (bra from the building and con- the numerous challe nges in business·maki ng opportunity rr ies, which has ke pI on ward looking busi nesses to IGE1UAN Association of stru n ion materials; agricul· Ihecountry. he twcellthe professionals of increasing yearly, Also, Chairman, Turkishbe a pan of the new enterHe stated: "The pu rpose of Nigeria and Turkt>v especially Olambers of Commerce, LUre, food and beverages; prise paradigm of real·time Il1dustr)( Mines aud AgriruItt1fe m~ c hines for agriculrure; the exhi bhion is to bri ng 1I0W that the lraiie relalio n· Nig<! ria 9us ine:ss Council, bUSi ness collaboration and (NACCl.'.oIJ\~said the20uTurkish milling and bak~ry; and ma nufactu re r~ o f various 5!tlp between the l\VO coun· HJkan OzeisaiJ tll3tthecouli' information sharing in the E.~pon ProductS Fair would electJics and elecrronics. products from Turkey [Q tries is boomi ng. cll is planning to organized douds," attract mol1' foreign investors Others, he said are, power Nigeria to enable them meet 111e Project DircclOr, Fai r si, different fair next year. Accord ing to her, Nigerian rF HILO the Nigeria OlanuIaaurtng, and e nergy; furn iture and wi th potential inVl'srors and Organlsau on &I SeIVices lie st.1t ed: "The official inolucnlrepreneu rs / busi nesses agricul tu re and (Qru;t:ruClion homes textiles; a uto moti ve panners. 0 PIJOnunily of Ihe Umltoo, Mr. $anni Cevik sal(1 gl lration of the exhibition will inte res ted in Rolnnerlng with ..aoc spare pans; home products exhi bition will be seIZed for thanhe exhibitors would con- bt' a t Ihl' sallie: venLle of Ihe Direcror.(;eneral of the asw- alld cosmetic a nd cle,llIing eithcr p.1rty tu make further sist or II] exh ibitors Ihat pro. eJ..hiblt ia n. The Turkish ~~rl" aret~( \,jse~t;ii~~~~~~:~ datior., ::nquines on interested pr~· duce different products of 'IInba.ss~llor to Nigeda, Mr. Ali !ohu Osemede sa!d at productS, app ~@gno~l .... (om. : ~.I Osemede dlscf!Js::d that ut:tsiL'i'" lounda[ion for fill lire qual!tyslandani. rufat Koksdl, as well as Ihe ~J~l:~~r;::;::Jt:;!fFo~I~l~~ Turkey JjJr~@g('OJs l e.(\Jm ir.dlcol[illl'esters are interest- business." He addeJ that the exhibitor D,rooor.(;elleral of NACO"IA, ing their Interesi . 16 September in LIgas, would ed in Ihe Nlger1an business He added that the pro- would Increase the level of Mr. Jo hn lsemede are eK(X'Ct· have on display produCTS environment, Irresp('Ctll'p. of gram me wo uld be a gre ... 1 lrade belween the twO coun· _ L . eJ . t·J be at the t'VenL
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Turkish products fair to attract foreign investor, says NACCIMA N
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Yobe cautions GSM finns against illegal masts, tax evasion From Njadvara MLJsa. DamalLJ'LI
'T1IE Global System for MobIl<! 1 CommuniGttion (G.~., ) IlmlS apo..T.1tingin Yobe Stal e have comravenl'{i the Envi ronmental Impact Assessmelll fEIA) Act NO.86 of 1992, by iJleg<l lly inSf.1lling their communica· tlon masts In various pans of the Slilte; 011111 e\'ilsion or corpocolte and company ta:<CS for over a decade, state Commissioncr of Environmcnt, Alhaji Ah med Wakil Sarki has stated. Sark.i disclosed these at the
wee kend in lJamaturu, at a meeting wi th representatives of the four affected GSM net· work service providers OLl l hdr alleged indiscriminate and illegal erecting of GSM masts in various paru ofYobe State. TIle affected firms induded MTN, Globacom , Alml and Etis.l 1.aL He said: "These four global communication flrms have viola[ed Ihe EIA Act of 1992 by alleged ly installing their communica· tion masls without any
approvals from the Yobc State Ministry of Enviro nment, while the taxes ,md revenues supposed lO be paid illlo gove rnme nt treasuries, we re, however, not remitted." TIle allegetl aaions of the GSM finns, according to the commissioner, are however, illegal and amounts to taxevasion, where the stale govern· ment will take legal actions against defaulti ng linus.. Sark! at the meeting threatened to destroy all illegal GSM mast/eq uipment and promised to deal wilh any service
provider found wanting In erecting unapproved illSrallalions of comm un ica tion masts. He Solid: "The fOUf affected service providers we re not paying II ,eir taxes and /lovem. m ~1II is read)' til takf' a neces. salY steps to rt'Cover all the taxes evaded which are worth millions of Naira and deal with a ny of them found nOl operati ng wi thin the ambit of lawiL'i pro\otded underElA Aas No. 86 of 1992 for Environmental Imp:an Assess ment certificate, before
such facilities are in5lalled or erecled. "MJllions of NaiT<l raxes, which you blat.1 mly refused to pay rhi" host government must be re mined, and fa ilure to do so will make the minIstry seal up your pre mis" lequipmeOls and lake both .1.( minfSlralive and legal action against such offend· ers. The Commissioner saki that his ml n.lsuywou Jd exhaust all lhe powers conferred til her by section 20 of the Nlger1an 1999 Constirution, which had M
empowered the state govern· nlt'iIl to protect and improve Oil ilS fragile environment a.=;:ams t any haza rds Ihat cr.uld endanger people's li\'es a" dpropenyin thestatl!. Responding, slIjlen;sor of GJobamm se[vice providers, Mr.Humphrey Aramode, told newsm"n that Glo is a iiiII' abiding company, \\ ntrevc: r it Ofkra(t:S, addill!, that hii company had fa · low..-d aU the due legal processes invol\'ed before put· ti LLg up their GSM masts In Yobi;S[.l[e.