nl BUSINESS
mE GUARDIAN, Wednesday, September 14. 201l
Govt to increase yearly maize production to 20m tonnes 9y ~lIm
ilE Ff'd ~ ral Gove rn ment has un H~ il e d plan to raise the country's r ea rly mai ze
T
prod uction fro m the currem eigh t milll ' m lc nnes 10
20 millio n Ic nnes the next felY years.
The move Is pan of government's efforts to enhance
food sr"curity. create Jobs ;H1d [Ui h ion t he o il-ri ch .MUon fro m t he e ffects of rls ln~
food pllct's.
f. Un lster o f Ag) iculture and
Rura l Develo llment, Dr. Akin Ad :~ in a, said d uring a meet ing wit h a tea m of n),lizt: e:oo:pert . in AbuJa recen tly, Ih al th e new dro rts wou ld tran sform maize InduSlrf a nd mil ke fa nning mOn! profitab le. Maize !5 consu med by mll-
lions of Nigerians and its productivity has been stymied by lo lY a doption of improved seeds', I>oor seed qU;lllty, little o r no use of re rtlll ze rs. low inves tme nt in research fu ndin g. and poor extensio n services. In the ' 98 05, Nige ria expe rl· e llCl-d ;l sil ent mai ze revolu· tlon In t he Sava nnah region, but t he t ra ns fo rmatio n was not susta ln ~. • · We have beg un a journey of tra ns formati o n · a lour· ney to re~ngln~ r Nigerian
agriculture fo r hig h Impact a nd success. Increasing mai u p rod uctio n will e ns ure foud security, and gener;lte Income and J obs~. fl eadded. Adeslna ca lled 0 11 experts to Iranslil te resea rch and innova tions into Impa cts o n fa rme rs' fi elds. adding th.11 t he COllntry must do this a t a sca le tha t ca n reduce hunge r a nd pove rty. Acco rd ing to him, govern· m e nt has resolved 10 · rebuild [he broke n walls of
Nigeria's agric ullUre. -Our res o lve is d e.1r: Gro w Nigerian Ag ri culture. The ma ize learn, o n Sunday, submitted " blueprint on ho w to achie ve thl'! new targelS. IITA Ma ize Breeder, Or. Sam Aja la, said the focus o n maize was a step In the rig ht directio n. "' f yo u look at maize. it has t he highes t return o n investme nt comp.lfed with o ther crops. So, if we a re able to get It rl6ht ln maize, II will begreat. he said.
Th e IITA said that researchers aI med to leve r· age o n ea rHer s uccesses reco rded unde r th e 'Doubling Ma ize Project' that proved that maize yield cou ld be do ubled o n fa rm· e n ' fie lds. IITA officia l stated t ha t the new move wo uld also bfonefit from th e pl etho ra of Innovations that a re still in Inle rna tio n,l l and nOitiona l rese.1r( h c e nt ~rs wa iting to I>c! adopted by fa rmers. "Fo r Instance, hig h·yid d·
Ing a nd dlsease-rrs ist.l nl vOi rieties that u e .ld.lptOi ble to Nigeria 's va rio us OIgro ecological lOnes, .lnd d rougllt. and slTlga·res lslant varlel ies th.1! could ,Jddress o n·ru m st resses, wo uld be deployed to fa rm·
"'.
"Also r .lrly, inlermedlate, and latr-maturlng \'u iel les wi th yields up to thrice .as muc h OIS t r"ditlo nal var]eti ~s will help farm ers tack· Ie the negative effects of clima tr change", it 'ldded.
"~I
Songhai Rivers Farm devE'lops new fish feeds Ttl ESon.gh.ll Rivers Injtiati~ 1 Faml has developed 01 floatIng fish fl'ed (ur fa rmers In the counD)! The NewsAgency of Nigeria repo rts [hat Scong ha] Rh'C!rs Initiative Fann Is a pannersh ip bet\' een the Rive rs Gov~ rl1ll1enl a nd 50nghai Inte.m a lio na l cen· tre in Benin Republic. Th ~ rar m sits Oil a 3 [4hectare land ard is a bo ut 20 ti mes 1m: size cf lhe Song hai fa lm In I'ono Novo, Benin r~ publ k_
Mr God rrey Aka lonu, the fi sh m;'[ nage r at th l! fa rm, told NAN 0 11 W«J nl!sday in Bunu-Ta i In Tai l ocal Govt'nullent t"lat the fann decided find t n alternative due to tJle higt, cost of reW Imported froll'! Holland. He said [It,ll the imponed feed CO$t be[w'!en Nt.OOO to N[,200 per ki lt •. addi ng t hat local !'ish fa rmers could not a fford It · We decided to loo k Inw.lrds by U! ing lOCi'll raw ffi<l te rlills avai'able to us to de\'do p the noarlng fis h
DR! Wculi'f'll Officer. Oando I'Ic. Wale T1nubu (rnJ:ldIe); DWf ()p5.1ill Officer Oaodo I'Ic. Yomi AwobDIwn (WI); II1d Chief Human Resotm:es Olfar, AkWI AyooIa (rijhl), durine [lit pound Breakinl c.emony of Dando Marketint PIc ~ Carpoqle Head Office TermWtal2 Atlapa i'llap. PHOTO: GABRln. IUWlOtI
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fee:d.
rme fi! hlnou rfann
BanlrOHB \r. set to settle N5.8billi·on debt d·Ispute
~~n~as high protl!ln con· Br Joseph OnyafnoJoan tlement appea red when for. a rgued that Ari bisala Is no longer representing a ny of ·We !u ve bee., utilising th e U IE d ispute between Bank mer counSE'l to Bank I' UB, feed and o ur fi sh e.at mo re of PHD Pic and Zenon ~troleum Chief Ajibol" ArlbtsaJa (SAN~ [he parties In tJle suit hena them and the." a re g rowing arKl Gas Umi ted over a N5.11 who originally lnitia[ed the has no locus·scmdi to be b j~e r,~ Ile said. Akalonu billion debt, a llegedly owed suit on beha lf of the bank hearu_ 501fd the new fish feed cost the \.lank Is now O\"Cr as their brought an appUcatlol1 urg· Justice A10gba however, Nno per kilo. lawyers have Informed justia Ing the coun to stay further adjoumed tJie suit till - -Our fis h fa rmers have Kazeem Alogba of a Lagos r,rlJCftdings In the suil pendSeptl!lTlber 15 to hear applG go ne back to 1:Juslness; they Hig h Coun that lhe matter ng hearing .100 detcrmlna· tio n fo r stay of p roc~l ng have rrspondEd positively to has been settled out of court. tlon of his nolla of al)peal a nd notice of d isconti nua nce the new fi sh feed a nd we At th l! m umed heari ng of pe nding before. tJle Court of ftJedby Bankl'HK. wa nt to Impro ve o n lhe sull yesterday. No rrfson Appeat, Llgos Division. !~~cri~'~( ~:!':W~le~~~ its protein co nte nt" he Qua kef5 (SAN) a nd Mr_ In hls appcal,AriblsaJa is ask· added Babajide Koku (SAN~ lawyers illg the aplJeliate court to and Gas Umlted \Vith a ll The SOl [g ha! RJ ve rs to Bankl' UB and Zeno n r ic compel Bank PHB to P.ly his banks Ovtr a Ns..s billion debt Inlt1iltlve fa rm produces 450 respectively, info rmed the proresslonal fee before a new a lll'gedlyowtd BankrHo. tonnt'S of fi sh -a rl»: It hilS court tJlilt th ey ha~ agreed on counsd could ])e engaged by The Judge grantoo the order fish species su~ii as ~o mmon a te.nn o r settll!ment a nd that the bank to IliIndle the suit. of 111.l1't'Va Injunction followa rp, African .:a tfish, tilapla, they\vere ~adrtoadopt s.1I1"lf' But counsel to BankPHBand in~.l motio n brought by Bank o rnamen tal Iilapla and a ll .ujudgmento the court. Zenon Pic unanimo us ly P~ B's cou nsel Ajibola male dla pia.. But, a new twist which is opposet! the application (or i\rihisa!a (SAN) in respect o r ~_~,~,~••, _ _ ~reatl!nlng th;,~",, ;;::,,"."ru"lc"' 'O''·_~'.''o,....o~r-,pc';OC;'~''' ;;,,'".gs ...~,~"~d;.._ N""",,b.n."O_"_d._b_'_.
A ffia l't'\'3 ;njunedon is a n ol'der awching a de rend.lnt's propenyto defra)'a ddx.. bankf'HBhad [n llS SLiltement 01 claim averred Ulat In Its ban ker<usto mer rl!latlon· ship with Zenon, It granted credit facUities to the company between 2007 and 2008, with Zeno.n accl!l>.l!ng a t! a«ompanymgco nditlons.. it acruses Zenon of breachl11g tJ[e tenns of thl! credit facilities by not disclosing its earnings from the sale of pe tro leum products; failing to ~mi t the p~s to th l! bank: not fulfllling Its (om· mitmcnts to the bank as part of measures to liqUidate the. debt and avoiding Its obliga·
BUI [n a stateme nt of defence, Zenon, li S dl rKIo r, Femi Otedol.l and Afria n !'etroleum lAP) denied that Zenon ow~ BankPH8 N5,819,709.4J9.91. They .lUeged Ulat the suit W;tS pre.matu re as the rlg h[ of action was}~ to accrue to the clalrnanL Accord ing to the defendants. the suit was Intended to embarr.l~ and ridicule them. aOO brtng theirintegrity todlsrepute. Urgi ng the coon to dismiss the sull, the d l!fendil nts claimed that tlle proceed s of re nt fro m Zenon's ident ified properties and Intended eammgs from Its In\~ment In AI' we re )"C't to matu re when the
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SON beams searchlight on substandard steel products 'T1I E Stand<ITds .o.O'ta nlsatifl n of Nigeria (SON says il is beam ing its searc light on subst:a ndard produ cts In lh ~ steel sectorto ChK k incessant building col· lhe co untry. T [e Oi r«tor../~en e (;ll of SON. DrJose:phOd umodu, to ld d ie Ne ws Age ncy of Nige ria (NAN ) on Mo nday In La~os that th e mO" e W.lS In Iml! with SON's zero tolerance for s ubstanda rd " rod ucts.
"\'SC 111
Odumodu said that manu· fa cturers in th r steel sKtor had ~n ma nd,ued to Inscribe their compa ny's identificatio n ma rk o n their products. He also said that SON would collect va rious building materials a t constru ction sites to asarta ln their qua lJ... l);we a re taking 01 holistic approach to it a nd ens ure tllatpe:ople do'what ISu pect·
00 of them. -We are going to Lllk with the e nglneef3, architects, a n:Jsa ns, amo ng o[hl!rs to add ress the Issue,~ he told NAN.
According to him, the devel· opment Is to e nsure a product is traceable to manufact ure rs In case of construc· tlon fail ure. "lls development will obviously put companies rolling o ut subsLlndard products
Into the market for sanction
by SON
-nle steel secto r has been In t he to p mo nito ry a nd surveiJ.. lance of SON. We wa nt to instIll the habit of efficiency In the opcratorsto mo~ the economy rOlWard; he said. The SON chief said Ulat operators that had met the requirements In terms of prOduct idenUfication would lJe given ce ltiflates in Lagos o nSept.1.S.
Odumodu said that sector wo uld bl!nefl l from the value<hain In the scrap metal and ha ulage sectors whe.n th~ sector w.u eventu· aJly sa niUsed. He said thal the next line of action was to ensure tha t imported steel met tJ1C best standa rd. The SON boss expressed regrl!ts that tJle orgil nlutlon was a lways the first to be blamed when ulert" was con-
struction fa llu ~. "There are many tllings, such as o ld and q uack p ersonnel, a n be r~ponsib le for conStructiOIl rall ure. "If the male rials are of lOp quality and the necessa ry S[c ps are not fo llowed, then tJlere \vil l be a problem. "For insta nce, It Is wrong to use a oog of cement l0 .r'~ duce 60 blocks Instea of between 25 a nd 35 (oncrete blocks.· he said.