Cassava can emerge Nigeria's mega e;xport earner, says World Bank • Are you resident in Lagos, Sango-Otta, Port Harcourt, Warri, Ibadan, Abuja, Kano or Kaduna? • Do you have a little time at home to spare? • Would you like to earn a little more income in your spare time? . • Would you like to work part-time and from the convenience of your home, with little or no hassles? Then mail your CV with a cover letter Immediately to our e-mail address below. We are an outsource- services firm and we have inspiring openings for
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'1'f:IE World Bank said that .1 Nigeria, as the largest producer of cassava, could delielop Its economy by exporting quality cassava and otrer commodities other than QII. Mr. Onno Rubl, the Wdrld Bank Country director lin Nigeria, said this when I ~e featured at the Forum of me News Agency of Nigeria~On Thursday In Abuja. "You have the most cass va In the world but appare tIy It Is not the best, tile quality may not be there so 1et' us focus on how we increase~e standard," he said. The country director id that one of the greatest p blems with the Nigerian ec nomy was Its over reliance on oil, as well as the mono-revenue and export econof\Y system. -- Nigeria Is not a m noproduct economy, It is a mono-revenue economy and a mono-export economy because in the other sectbrs there are no exports, vfry low fiscal revenues, that is where your challenge is but oil is only 17 per cent of ~ur GDP, 83 per cent is evetyt ng ~!~d. taken together*J' R; hi He added that Ni eri stood to benefit a lot In ~ev lop,ng its agriculture an the wholesale and retail ervlces sectors, Which, he actually bigger than sector. -- 011 is actually
d
largest sector of the Nigerian economy; the largest sector Is agriculture, the second largest sector Is wholesale and retail and services Is the third largest •• So what Nigeria should do Is focus on propelling these other sectors forward so that they can also export, so that you are less dependent on oil and finding ways of generating revenues for the government for legitimate investment In infrastructure, health and education," he said. Ruhl stressed the need for
Nigeria to ensure quality prOducts and also create an enabling environment for business to thrive. He described the growth of Nigeria's economy as commendable, but maintained that a lot still needed to be done for the country to achieve Vision 20: 2020. Ruhl said that the proper Implementation of the road map on rower and the removal 0 all bottlenecks and bureaucracy, especially at the ports, would ensure the ev01vement of a better economy.
~,British.travel firm sign
act on tourism
I
, HE Nlgerlah Tourism 'Development orporation (~TDC) has signed an agreement with a ~ritlsh travel \flrm, Hills Balfour, to hflp attract I\uropean tourists to /'Iigeria. NTDC said in a statement on Friday in Lagos that Its Mr. I;>irector-General, (j)\usegun Runsewe, signed Qn behalf of the corporation, while the Business lIJevelopment Director of Hills Balfour, Simon Beck, signed for the firm. The statement said that the agreement was signed on Tuesday at the ongoing F1TUR International Travel Fair in Madrid, Spain. It quoted Runsewe as saying that the corporation expected the firm to make Its expertise and experience bear on the current market, latest technological and travel trends for the benefit ofNTDC. He added that the corporation signed on the firm, because of its skills and strategic understanding of
what makes a destination successful in the highly competitive UK market. Beck promised to bring in, the firm's core value to ensure that Nigeria got the maximum exposure. - 'We have extensive experience In the development and implementation of travel and tourism marketing plans. -- We offer a comprehensive, creative and cost effective range of services that allows us to be a one-stop shop for our clients," he added. Beck said that the company was currently handling many countries' tourism boards. --The firm is assisting MalaYSia, Portugal, Mauritius and some states such as New York, North and South Carolina as well as Las Vegas in the U.S. among others," he said. The statement added that some 11,000 exhibitors from 166 countries and 7,532 journalists were attending the fair.
SON commends Dangote Cement on quality n'>NGOfE Cement's strict l.Iadherence to internationally accepted quality standard . paid off on Thursday when the Standard . Organisation of Nigeria (SON) I'resented three awards on qUality production to its plants in Obajana, Apapa and Gboko. Director-GeneraJ of SON, Dr. john Ndanusa Akanya lauded the management of Dangote Cement for taking quality seriously, noting that the company had made the country very proud With the high quality of Its cement production. . According to him: "By this achievement, Dangote Cement has thus joined the lofty class of occupational Health and Safety/qualitymanagement system certified com.. panies in Nigeria. This Is a giant stride in your pursuit of continual improvement in customer service provision and it is worthy of commendation."
For a business to maintain relevance at both national and international markets, Akanya said that good quality was the key and that Dangote Cement had started on a good note by emphasising on quality production. He said: "The NlS BS OHSAS 18001: 2007/NJS ISO 9001:2008
Occupational Health and Safety/Quality Management System approach provides a readily acceptable solution to the problems associated with safety and quality. The surest way of maintaining relevance, remaining competitive and gaining more market shar~ i~ ,_ , the global market is through . ' provision of quality products and services in a safe and conducive work environment, . . thus making the NlS BS OHSAS 18001: 2007(NlS ISO 9001:2008 standards key for competition in the global market and for achieving successful business results." President of Dangote Group, A1haji A1iko Dangote, expressed appreciation to the management of Standards Orgarusatlon of Nigeria (SON) for their full involvement in the project. He added that in the process of implementation, "...we used some of the best practices to improve on the performance level in our operations. As the leader in the Nigerian cement business, we have always given priority to quality standards to maintain the value of our products for our customers. Our cuttingedge technology gives us a competitive edge in the market"