16] BUSINESS
Agric experts push for strong seed sector in West Africa A GRiCULTURAL experts at the justconclud ed regional workshop o n Seed Policy in West Africa, urged decision·makers to support the susta inab le growth and deve lopment of the West African seed sector, particu larly fo r food security crops, such as rice, millet, sorghum, cow.peas a nd maize. The experts, therefore, stressed the need to formulate, adopt and implement coherent strategies and policies at regional and national levels, for the rapid development of viabl e seed enterprises that would increase the supply of quality seed to millions of smallhold er farm ers in West ~arti cipating
Africa. The wo rkshop was jointly organised by the Food and Agriculture Orga nization of t he United Nations (FAa) and the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) in Cotonou, Benin. It was inaugurated by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Gove rnm ent o f Benin , Mich el Sogbossi. "Strong research programmes and solid seecf systems are crucia l to g ive farmers access to better varieties and quality seeds," said Dr. Marco Wope reis, AfricaRice Deputy Director Genera l & Director for Research at the workshop, which provided a n overview of the cu rrent status of the
Strong research programmes and solid seed sys- , tems are crucial to give farmers access to better varieties and quality seeds .. ,A true partnership among all the actors will be the basis for success to develop a strong seed sector in West Africa. West African seed sector as Highlighting the im\lorwell as the challenges and tance of developing natlOnopportu ni t ies associated al seed poliCi es, Se nio r with it. Officer from Food a nd Seed entrepreneurs in t he Agricu ltural Orga nisa tion sub-region are facing many (FAa), Dr. Robert Guoi, cha ll enges because of the re m arked t hat t he see d abse nce of coh e rent seed , ' industry was relatively poliCies, poor infrastructure more developed in other and lack of access to regions of Africa t ha n in improved ' seed , campl e- Ce ntral and West Africa. mentary inputs, production "Until now only a few countec hnologies, cred its and tries in West Africa, such as training. Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra
l eone, Benin, etc., have formulated and passed a coherent seed' policy, wh ile a few othe rs are in th e process of doing so," Guoi said. Key recommendations targeted at specific stakeholder groups were made by the participants for a sustainable seed production and distr ibuti on in the subregion. The steps listed to improve fo od security include: Th e development of improved varieties and ensure their rapid delivery through effective seed syste m s; • development .of national action plans to support the sustainable development of
seed industries; • strengthen partners hips b etween the public and the private sector on seed-related issues, wit h clear delineation of their respective roles; • development of the capacity of the formal an d informal seed sectors; ! • integration of a valuechain approac h in Ithe seed poliCies; among otliers. "A tru e partnershi'r among all the actors wil be the basis for success to develop a strong seed sector in West Africa," said Dr. Rita AgbohNoames hi e, Africa'Rice scientist, who coordinated the wo r kshop in partnership with FAa.
AIM transaction volumes hits 100 million monthly CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 electronic m eans of transactions. "The qu es tion is not whether we have the infrastructure or not. What we need is to get down a nd begi n to work towards implementation of the policy. June next year has been set for the withdrawal limit a nd that m eans we still have enough time to address little infrastru ctural cha llenges that we may be facing. "When the CBN said it would raise the share capital of the banks, it appeared impracticable, but we did it and it happened. And if not because we had raised the sha re capita l of the banks, the problem we saw last yea r could have been worse. The point I am trying to make is that it is a good policy and I can tell you that there is capacity to handle the transaction, he said. The Inte rswitch boss noted , "with all the electron-
ic transactions we are doing today on Interswitch platfo rm, Interswitch has not u sed one-fifth of its capacity available. So, it is not the iss ue of capacity beca use the facility is there, we are just not u sing them." He said Nigeria's m etamorphosis into a near-cashless econ"my wou ld be a gradual process. "It is going to be a gradual elimination of cash and Interswitch is a lready starting now by encouraging the merchants to begin to ut ilise their Point of Sales terminals, some of which are not being used for now." According to him, Interswitch had put in place need ed inrrastructural support for the CBN policy before it came into being, h e sa id, adding that the huge amount of cash in the informal sector could be brought: into formal sector, as every Nigerian was ex p ected to have a bank account under the imp ending dispe nsation.
.Chief Executive Officer, Resourcery, Tani Fafunwa (leit); Managing Director, Cisco Nigeria, Richard Edet; Managing Director, Main One Cab le Company, Funke Okpeke; and Cisco Service Sales Director, Cisco Emerging Central Theatre, Serge OupuOy, at the first Regional Cisco CID Leadership Conference held in Accra, Ghana ... recently
Body seeks tax road map for Nigeria From Nkechl DnyedIka, Abuja TH the dwindling fortunes from the oil and gas sector, coupled with the need to raise fund for capital project, Nigeria would have to turn to tax revenue by putting in place a comprehensive tax road map that wou ld help it to integ ra te into the e m e rging g loba l tax order. This ad vice came from th e Society of Women in Taxation over the weekend.
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The Nationa l Chairpe rson , Justina Okoro said turning to tax revenue would make Nigeria to rely less o n oi l and gas revenue. She a lso stressed the need to develop a deliberate policy to encourage the use of tax reve nue for the development of public integration that wo uld support the growth of industry, agriculture a nd small and medium enterprises. Sp ea king at a symposi um with t he theme: " Women as
critical stakeholders in the new g loba l ta x order," rece ntfy in Abuja, Okoror sa id that the tax road map, apart fro m incorporating transpare nt a nd inclusive tax regime, wou ld increase strategies that would facilitate tlie ca reful nurturing of n ew businesses to survive a nd grow, while supporting old business. to expand into mega businesses. She observed that there was a global strategic shift towards taxation as a sus·
tainable source of revenue for national developm ent, addi ng that in Nigeria, due to long dependence on revenue from oil and gas, tax as a source of reve nue for government business have not been g iven due preeminence. Acco rding to her, at this point of national d evelop· ment, the d evelopment of tax reve nu e must be prio· tised to provide those in frastru cture a nd service that that wo uld help e ns u re enhancement and growth of commerce and industry, which are the cash cow of any tax system . , She said, "under the proposed road map, t he issu e of good tax governance must be accorded priority. We must now move from point of just collecting tax a nd handing over to government authorities for expenditure, it is now n ecessary for tax payers to foll ow their tax money whether from oil or non oil sector to be su re that tax reyenue are used for the common good of all a nd not ending up in private pockets." In his remarks, the Auditor General of the Federation, Mr. Samuel Okura stressed the need for Federal Government to copy th e example of Lagos State that has strategised its tax collection system, adding that government would need to set machinery in place to ensure that Dottie necks in the nation's tax system are addressed.
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