THE NATION
¥~ers'groUp gets N5.6b loan frOlIt banks HE AgbekQ)'a FannA~sociation e rs (AFA) ha ~ )ecur ed about N5.6 bimon loan from Stanbic IBrc 2nd Keystone banks. • President of th~ association, Chid KaDl()fudeen Okikiola, di.sclosej this yesterday at the inauguration of the anocill tio,'s Abuja Chapter. He lIIIid the Jo,"-1 is to secure infrastructure needs for the farmers, such. as tnlctors, among othel'$. He said: -rhis is the rU'St time farmers ass()ciation wi th out Bny I;ov\!mment's support went to the bank to secure loan fo r fumers in Nigeria. " Th at's
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From Olugbengl Adanlkln, far mers ;JIssoda tion stood up and spoke to the banks convinci ng them that we l iso know how to do business. So, we went to Stanbic IBTC and Keystone banks and we a re able to get the N5.6b loan." He uplained th at wi th more than ISO members, the association has repositioned ilself to em bark on agribusiness worth N8 b illion in the next five years. Oki.ki o la said the g ro up has already s tarted cultiv;JItiO ll o f 65, 000 h ectares of land for caS5ava, maize, rice, yam, oi l p<!llm, cocoa and sorgh u m. H e said t he
Agbekoyl Farm Settlement will accommodate 5,000 nectares of land fo r various farm activities. " The Agbekoya Farm Seu lement will accommoda te 5,000 heclares of land for planting cassava, rice, oil pal m.. maize, 1.2 million ch.icken and 29 million Ions of rISh in the no;t p lann ing season throughout the FCT.- he added. He appea led to the Mini,s. tel" of Federal Capital Terri· tory (FCT ), Sen . Bala Mohammed, to su pport the assodation with arab le land . In his remark, the Minister advi5ed the association to further organ ise the m selves inlo to have
access 10 fa rm supports. Mohammed, who wu represented b y the FCT Coord inator of Public Privale Pa r lnership (PPP), Al haji Yahaya Hussei n . said the adminis tration is ready to s upp ort farmers ~ho e n~a ge in cassava, fl ce, maiZe, sorg hum fa rming and aquaculture. AFA FCT Co-ordina tor Moses ObiseNn, said agricul lu re h as the potential of addressin g unemploy· ment in the te rritory, s ta ting that there a re plans to par tner the Millennium Dev el op m ent Goals (MDGs) Office as part of e ffo r l) to m ee t far m e rs need in the
Fer
AUGUsr
Fed Govt, Brazil partner on infrastructure
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HE Fede ral Govern menl is strengthening
From Frllnc.a Ochlgbo,
ilS inves tment pact
and Nigeria is tha t t.hey have managed to positively e;l(p lo it tfiel r reso urces across the value chain by convttting their raw ma terials into finished goods. That is the only slntegy that any co untry, Ulcluding Nigeria, Ciln employ to move from being a poor nation to a rich. one. " Another thing is tha t in Brnil, the appetite fo r invest me n t in Africa, especially Nigeria, is very huge. They are currentl y looking fo r strategic co untries, espe-
with Brazil 10 fasl-trad the
development of infrastructure, the Minis ter o f Trade
and lnvestment.Olusegun Aganga. has said. He stat~ this this dwing • meeting with ill delegation from a major Bratilian con~Iomerale. Qt,Jeiro:t Galvao. Ul Abuja. He said some leadin g Braz ilian companies had already indicated their will· ingness to invest in the Ni· gerian economy. lie 5.1id : "'Brazil is an influ en ti a l member of the BRIe nations with a big appetite for investing in AI-
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strengthen o ur partnership with them to attract big investments into our country. especia l.l)' in those a reas wnen" we ha ve com~titive and comparative ad van-
tag,.
"When you look a t ag ric ulture, Brazil has something similar, or even bigger than what we have. The same applies to mining and oil amf gas sectors. But the diHerence between Bra:tiJ
~~~ I?:l\:;;'f.e~aie~~r ru~~ for inves hnenl, the Brazilia n Bank BNDES i) bigger than the World Bank. " Throug h thei r BNDES, they ha ve been able to chan nel resources to the ir private companies to invest interna tionall y. So, Ihe G rou p that has met w ith us today is interested in investing in infrastructure - rail , road, refineries, ai rport, amon g o th e r things. A n oth e r G roup from Brazil, is coming to Nigeria ne;l( t week to e;l(piore areas of irl\'estment, Hhe slres5ed
Conoil gets aviation fueloowsers
W
n 'l its reant acqui silion of two new wo rl d-c l ass bowsers, Conoll is sel to strengthen ilS leaders h ip position in the aviation subsecto r of the downstr eam induslry th rough excelient service delive ry to ro rei~n and local airline operators Ul Nigeria. Acco rding to the co mpany, the bowsers are meant to Significantly improve fu e ling requfreme nts of aeroplanes, on real· time basis, with a view to gUManteeing beller operations and fli gh t ta ke-o rr time to the delight o f ai r fliers. The bowsers, powered by MAN-diesel engines, come with the lateslleChnology in Jet A 1 delivery eq uipmen t, with safety and environmentally-friendly features . Nigeria ranka largesl supp lier of av iation rue l with d epo ts in the countr y, Conoit's .acq uis ition of th e bowsers has sign ificant ly increased ils bowser fl eet and th e capacity 10 service its ever-growing clientele.
According to industry experts, the bowsers are built In accordance with the latest Ene rgy Institute (EI) and the Ame rican Pe tro leum Institute's (API) standards. Conoil, a stratesic partner of Ihe Internahonal A ir Transf.0rt Associa t ion (JA TA , is determined 10 increase its market sha re of the avia tion fuel business hom 30 per cen t achieved 10151 year, 10 40 percent this year through increased SiIles volume. As part of efforts to deliver Improved fiMncial performance in line with its set business target, the company recenlrv b roke new grou nds whin it sec ured mu lti-milli o n naira conlu.cls to su pply Jel Al to Cargolux, II major player in g lobal OIrgO industry based In lU lle mburg, Singaro," Ca rgo A irline, one 0 the biggest cargo airlines in the wond, ana 5e\'en fuel vendors from the US, Europeand United Arab Emirate.
Airtel partners CNBC, IRTEL Nigeria is Forbes
A
tNtiCe~i~3 Fo';~~
to host this year's All Africa Business Leaders' Awardson August 9 at the PoTSChe CenVictoria Island, Lagos. a celebrntion
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ti~;~~d ;;;.~i;;;ig~ in their
serves
company i5 passionate about creating solid pilltforms for the celeb ra ti on of the verY best of N igerian and Alrican talents and leaders. ~ As an empio.}'er of choice, Airlel Nigeria interested in id en tifying opportunities that will discover and celebrate o;ceptional indh' idua lso We are pleased 10 partner wi th CNBC and Forbes to honour the finest corpor;JIte leaders in Nigeria and AfriOl,HSwaroop said. The award encourages individuals to strive (or s ust/lined ellcellenee and also promote their p rofiles in Nigeria, Africa and bV edens ion around the world. leaders fro m d ibilled 10 at-
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