THE NA nON lUESDA Y, JULY 10, 2012
27
ABUJA REVIEW
T
HE Agricu1tun 11 ransfonnabon J\Xend" (Jt.TA), an irutiabye of"the J!de -aI Ministry of A~ture. will shan: up the countrj's food supply all( diversify its economy. That is the posatiun (f the Minister
of
A~cu1ture
and R mtI
ment.. Dr. Altinwwunl
~elo"..
Adesina. In order 10 revive Igric and adequately exploit i ~ po1entials, the Fedend GoVernment through the Mirustry IalmChed Un with the aim
01 ~ the COUlUV ~ food 5Ulfi..
dent by )-ear 2015. For !he first time, p ,"ate organizations were given ~ • cpportuni!Y to tap into the de\'e- opnmtal agenda cllhe sector. Fann~ tre 5UppO!1ed with credit laa.liti('S II sustain their activities. 1llL'Y alo;o I/eicorned the government's policy' hf pun:hasmg and distributing fettilian directly 10
8"'--
The t..-a of poUlin] 6.nners are becoming over as sille governments
have also decidec' 10"'key info the agenda. Durina st.lk~lOlder.; meet· ing WIth comml55lXlll"S f« agncullure from the 36, stale 1,( the country. the various parbopantl ,,"ereencouraged to invest in ~ seior. The commissioners were lIf&I'CI. to explore crops thai have h'gJ\ potentials In their different 5ti1 e, Trr Instance. cocoa in the Soutln.-esl. and groundnuts in the North. AI tlus stagt'o eaI::h 01 the stales be~~oset'k Fa-eign Dir>d Investment (tUl) into the-sector A n miber of these state an Lagos. ~ g to planl rta!. Kwar;J. partnering >¥lU, (' UNVel'Slty InwlJ'iutedSiatis wh:l1 isto~ an IIgric masIer--PW11o the state.. Top among them was the ! Ie million tripamle lI~t "Igred on the establishment of an intrgJat>d lire !'arm In Tarat. Stale. II partnl rsupwith the federa.l ~t. T Ililba and the Execubve Officer (-f Dominion Rice and In~ted Farms Lmiled, Mr. CaI~~
Aside, several com ruttees were setup to mnnage 1Jnp~'lrentabon of each of tho!! YanOUS' alu"-("hains. They indude ~ .5Orghu m. (oiS..;a\-a, cocoa. maize. soybean. 01 ~tm, livestock, cotton. ~Ituw -n I .15henes. ~ durmg at IhI: signing of the tnpartite agn'8'lt'n if. A&uja.lJr
W
AS the blast m Amtnu Kano Cre ;c'!nt near KryJCtal Lomge Night Oub, Etisalat and Ilanan Plaza from II bomb or '-Of\! truction dynamites? Was 11 11m od at mstilllIlg fear and grot..nd n; nightlife III the Federal C.lpi'al Territory
{~'::J;il does 1101 mal e:
TIle pee>-
pie are nol inltm dHed and nightlife has reL.m4 d its intensity.
oAnightdu.b
- Women Iry to beilt oul food for the fvnily
Agric scheme tackles food shortage From Olugbenga Adanlkln. Abuja
Adesina said: "Our food unport bill s!aggenng. NigerLil seends over N1.3tr Imporliftg Just four basic items: wheat (N63Sb), rice (N365b), IS
50. ., (N2'7b) "'" "'" (N97b~ "Nigeria is the largest importB of nct' in the world. Yet, this nation is blessed with about 84 million hectare of iU1Ible land. of which ks than 40 per cent is curn!nUy under cuJb-
vation. With this vasl area of land, abundant labour and hardv.-orlrins
farmers. there is no reason for NIgeria 10 be a food importing nation." Recently. the R:; in an effort to differentiate political farmer.:; from genwne farmers latmehed a natlQnwide farmt'r's registration exercise. In its fir.tl balch. 4.3 million falllll.'fS were regiStered out of the targeted five million. Though, thl!' registration exercise
was polihdzed in .some states while
~ m few other states were requested to pay NI50, N200 OJ" NSOO as it varies; fOJ" the forms thai wl!t'e meanllo be free. One of the states is Delta State w~ a number of them in BayclY Stale Sl!'em nol to have known aboul 10 the regiStration I!'X.~
Subsequently, after the: completion of the reg.lStrallOn exerose, the FG commenced distribution of the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) for- the benefit of the registered farnt-
Night life after explosion By Augustine Ehlkloy. It was a different blast &om the past ones m the oty While most of the olher bomb blasts had occurred during the day and claimed many Uves WIth more
property destruction, the blast thai occurred near Kryxtal Lounge Night Club. Etisalat and Hanan Plaza on Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse U, happened in the wee hours oi1une 23. No life was lost, though five vehicles were damaged. It was also the first blast U1 the city very dose 10 a rughtdub which
was in full session and brimming with night crawlers There nave been many ilieories foUowins. the blasL Some people beii~'ed It was a bomb. Others said it was an explosion from some road construction dynamites. One of the tbeones was that a car parked on the road was wired with the bomb and timed to explode. Another claimed the bomb was Utrown &om a moving vehicle. A security man working with one 01 the eateries in the area, who was on duty 00 the night of the explosion. sajd the bomb was tied to a tree by the roadside. He said: "The bomb thai exploded was bed to thaI tree over there. I was here when it happened and I saw everything. Go and check tho, .... by youriclf." Whatever iI was, and whatever the intent, Abu/a night clubbe.rs are Just not deterrcil, Repealed visits revealed that fun-seekers have continued to troop into the ni~hl club from around II pm, With the last customer leaving around 6am the following day, One of the regular customers to the night dub, Barrister Modestus Ojini, while sreak.ing to AbuJa Review, said:" was at the KryxtaJ Lounge when the blast occu.fred. You never can tell exactly what happened_ It couldn'l have been a bomb and it should nol be connected with the Boko Haram issues. "'The blast happened outside Ktyxtal. across the road and diredly in front of Hanan Plaza, It
ers iIICrOSS the country. 1he arrangement wa5 that government would pay
50 per cent of the support scheme while the fa~ rna.ke for
ryment
the1he~ ~J:'t. the scheme
IS to cover 20 million fil1"l1\er.;; within a pE!!lod of thn>e ~ adding that it "is designed as a vila! component of
the A~n.·CUltural Transformation Agenda (ATA) and It seeks to adueve the mlCTO If'vel. rooo S«Unty lor the farmer and nationa1 secunty at the maoo level"
at
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I have continued to patronise the club from the day of the blasl I am always there with my friends. We all live by the Grace of God. People are not really scared because I have been meeting
many regular
C1JS-
tomen; here since that blast --- ~ ---
wasn't d.uectly in &ont of Kryxtal Lounge TIle explosion just blew up from the sro.und and all of a sudden everybOdy just scampered out rom the club. ""Since the hlast.1 have been c0rning around, In situations like this, many people may be scared com-ing aIOund here. Or-dinarily, I come arOund here because I have some bus..... roll..""", around ...... I come around Fiere to discuss my busmess or do some other thinS'On whether he is not scared of such blast occurring close to the night dub, he said: .. It is very scary tot?\.·erybody. ~ LSnobodr. that will hear of such a.'en! that will not be: scared. If something like tms happem. for the ftrSt and .second day you may be scared but after - Continued on Page 28