201 aUSINESS
THE GUARDlAN Wednesday, Augusl24, 2011
Farmers pledge to raise Ekiti IGR, revamp tertile firm From fAu:llm"d!r.ni. Ad!! Ekfll l Fa nners Assoclalion of AlNigeria (AFt.N). the EklU
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Governmcm o r their readi. /less ttl make lhe area the food basket of t ht! Ilation, if gh'en Ihe necessary Incen·
ti~~/\N boasted that It has th e ca]lac lty to contribute SO ~r'cent o f t he revenu es being genera ted internally In th e state, If farmers areellcouf.1ged through the provision of fa l m Inputs at s ubSidised rates. It said. members have rein· forced the production of totto n with expans e of plan. tation In Ire EkILJ, AlOImoko, Ise iwd Orun Ekitl with the intent tu revalllp thl! morl. bund Ado TextHt' Industry, adding thaI. the IIbeokuta Gynery In Ogun State used in separatin g t he knIt from the sew hOld been acquired for eas1 processi ng of tile cou o n. IIFAN at a ress conferentt add ressed }" its State Vice Chairma n, North Sena torial Dis trict, John BamisilyeOl110ra l owo,eul0ghed Governo r Fayeml over hl5 qu ick Int H vention In the crisis rocking the state c11.1plel of AFAN, saying his Interfe r ence fnsured the coutlu n of frel:', fair and credlbJ!.' election, where Sir Joseph IIklnjobl emerged the chainn.1n amo ng other executive m e mbers. HeSdldthe go\'emor'sswlft response saved thl:' body from being permanently engUlfed and destroyed by internal wrangling. Th(' ArlIN boss refuted tile widespread belief that
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struggle for muney caused the already ~solved crisis In the body,saylng the crisis stemmed as a result of Ihe step tal:en bItthe leadership to e ns u re t at things Me done right and In canso· nance with the rule of Jaw, which he said Irked so me individuals.
FCTA introduces new bills payment system From Martias Okwe, AbuJa 'T11E FmmJ Capita] TerrilOly lAuthority (fCTA) has
JaIlllChtd a new portallhat pro· vIdes CUSlOInen with an onlinl:! clooronic payment syslml for-
Generated Revenue {IGR}, all In au:ordance with Glrdlnals set out by the fCT Minister, Bala Mohammed. for plug· ging lealYge of revenues accruing to f-erA "We want to salle customers' tlme and gi~ them (onven. ien(e,as well itS ease the pro~~~g o f servic.::. by the
tamers now havc th eG!pablllty to make payments from the comfort of thei r homes.." Mohammed gld that thIs InnOVil[Jon would take away the cfO\o,;d of customers usu· ally found milling around FaA omcl:'s and payments points. "The1x:autyofthlssystern Is that it consolidates services across 14 5ecretlriat5 Depanmenu and Mendes (SOAs) of the FCTA ana In the pmcrss adds greater speed and efficiency ror the cus" tomers and helps us ket",Il real time rna of till," FCTA s revenue collectlons,w he addm. Untill1O\~ payments for the fCTA services $Uch as Wilter
and waste bills had to be done only by a phy5iCilI visit to the few payment points provided by the f<:TA The <hsonJerli· ness that came with this arr.mgement had led to customer complaints and calls for a more 1111100";I[lve way to conl'tnlently pay their bills for the rerA services. These calls we~ what led to the launch of FlGRA. The F1GRA online payment system launch is staltlOg off with four services: AGI5-lcg.ll Searrh and Land AppliGlUon, Water Boord·monthly Wilter bills. AEPS--solldfUquld water bill and OOT-registralion of business premises.
making payment for selVires UIldo" [he JUII's I~t 111(' payment system, mown as F1CRA allows customers to see Sl.'tviCl'S they would like to According to Mr. Ali lsa make payments for OIl a Omoyajowo s peCifical. glancl."and to pay uslnJ!:anyof Mohammed, director, FCfA Iy comme nded the stale Eco nomIc rlannlng, government and fum: optlons, crethl/debit Research and Statistics and Commiss ioner for card e-waUet and designated the chairman, FIGRA Agriculture, Dr. Adio """," Implementation sub.The FCTAalso benefits under Folayall for making rarm CommIttee, ~for thl:' nrst inputs like tractors, fertills. the new system from ~nue time In the hlst(][y of our assurance and accountability, ers and other implements available to farmers at as well as Improved Inr.emalfy selVice provisioning, CUSaffordable rates recently, adding that, ~ [hls has he lped us a great deal because wc now bav(' acccss d towl enourscopelnterms ~!~roduCtlvlty and vlbranIt also dIsclosed that the re Is no more leaderslllp crisIs and factio n s within the associat ion, urging m em o bers to continue to conduct h I ~ II d t emse ves peacelU y an support the Governor Kayode Fayeml.led administration to en su re food seru. rlty In Ek.ltI and Its em'irons. Omoyajowo assured that the benents accruing into the body will no longer be concentrated solely Cn the h.1nds of the 'polltic.,1 or elite farmers' , sayi ng the peasant fanners , who proQuce over 70 per cent of the country's agricultural prod. um will be carned along. He said the body has start· ed mobiliSing the rural fanners on the need to form various cooperative groups toenablethembenefftfrom II tt I d h a 11." oans an Ot er Chaimuln 01 MAHCo Ariantl Ph:, Sena,or Ike H-ndlukwu (IriI): alll! MlnlSlI!f 0' Avillion, Princen Siena Oduah, dUrin, Ille counny vi5.iT 01 NAHCo largesse accruing IntO "r..... -,OI"$ 'th ~ _ '-M UI1, ... •. - , wee •.... AFAN. 0 ',ron ... ,IIf, HI
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lIaders want Customs to steer clear of Southeast roads rem1M:' Its officers and men from roads in the Southeast, allegln$ extortion. Pres1dent-General of SFA.. MATAS, Chief Okwudlll
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THE (OMPOSmON METER QfECKS ·QUAUTY C?F DIESEt AT POINT OF SAlE.
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o Swellent Insulation Quality • Noise Rsducflon • Easy to Install
" ·'<educes Temperature/Heat
CHECK"S~:F~O;R,~:~U'lTE'R"m)NI
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'" CHECKS FOR ADUL·rEl'A,no.1 WJTHWATER • PORTABLE DEVICE IN A BRIEFCASE
• CHECKS MASS PER VO'.UO'EI OF FUEl., SO BUYER IS NOT SHORTCHANGED
Ezenwank\vo, IlliIde the declaratJon in Onitsha, Anambra, ....11111." r«Ounting the upert· ena5 traders p.rised through while coming trom Onne Port In Rivers State. Ezenwankwosaid tlliIta resolution reached by the entJre traders on the issue in Aba, Abia Slate, had ~n forwarded to the Comptmller-General of Cusroms, AlIliIji Abdulahl Inde Dlkko. I-Ie gJd that apan from tl1e IlliIssive extortion, the~ had been multiplicity o f customs checkpolntl within the southI."o}st. ildding thilt duly deared goods from Onne Pon took nvo days to arrivl:' their destJ· nation. The cilalml<ln said that thl." devt'lopment had been affect· Ing businesses adversely In the somheast and the country at la rg~ ~Vell, we now issued ultimatum to tl1e Comptroller. ~nerill of Customs of the Federal Republic o r Nigeria to remO'o<t' all the cUSloms on the roads. As a matter of fact, we witnessed massive extortion from the tr.ldersand in Cact we are not comfonable with the development -we ".'onder why goo(h, as of six. four months ago. you can dt!M one container wi th over N2 millioll. but as I am talking tOyall no\\l; Itls N4 mil· lion for a contaIner from Ol1ne ron to this pliKt" or to Aba, Anilmbra" F,.zmwankwosald that triK.lers wanted to see practJGlI and immediate changes or both personnel as wrll as attJtude of Customs officen and men. -If th e Customs Oluthorltles remain adaJI1Jnt to th is GlUSt', they would surely face [he wrath or 'he traders in th e southeast." he said