14
TIfENATlON THURSOAY, APRlLll.2012
Nigeria to produce 3m tonnes of Traders urged to unite against fake products liquid steel T C
tIE Fed=tl ~f hM .nnOUllced thai the country would 1: 1' producing three million tonnes of Uquid steel annually by 2015. Ttls is to ~ thai the mincnlb and metal sector contnOOts meanh1Rfully to the traMformation .get Ii of the currmi Ildmmistnbon. The Mlruster 01 MInes and Steor:l devdopmml" MrMIJ5iIMohammed 5;ad., dbciosed this d~ the inauguraboo of the African FOundries Umited billel "iI! plant in ORijo, Ogun Stall".. The plant is ca~blC of prOducmg 500,000 tonne of billel
annually
Sada saId de!pile the r * I;'t.yed by melAl !leCtor In it"Y indmtTiamed
Stories by TotHI Agbool. KOIlOmy, the Nigman mel.1 and
m~~~2wu lore~i~
fuU ~tia1. vefopmenl a
. rly an the . . consumption of key
metallic prod\Jct$, such as iron.liteel
and aJuminwn. Hesaid the.sedor is faced wilh5e'\'en:1 challenge!! such as non -availiIIbtlity of requISite legal and regulatory h'mne work. f1Ofl-completion of fl!'t{uired i.nfrMlruclure, rlHlcU,
rails, W1Iterways. mines, limi ted ralY maleria1IiOlltC'e5, in-adequale powa supply ll1T1oog others.
Sada reidfirmed the present administnJtion's quest (Of Nigeria 10 become one of the 20 mos t Industrialised r.alions by the ~;u 2Il2O. _ He said the Feden.1 Gove:TllI\el\l would contir..,~ to partner' with deveJop~1 partners in the MCtor fe. a viable option to move the minerAl! and rr$l5«tor forward. According 10 him , ~ In view of the quest or the present administration to berome one of the tw~Uy most indUlltrlalU.ed nalioll!i by the year 2020,it has ~ome compelling to engage all stakeholders in Ihe seclor in search for. viable option to move the seelor formed ...
ONSUMERS III IheAlaba In-
By Mu•• Odol hlmokh. temationlll MlIl'kel, Lagos, panls to Ihe evil entrenched by who partic:ipaled in the rountedei.t products senshisation campaign against .. Pemt.!t me to also sound. nob! counterfert products, 'have been or waml.ng given the enoonity of lold 10 assist the government in the damage I)ioing done daily 10 the fiRht a~ircst fake products. lives of the citizens and Ihe 'the Oirector~, Consu.meT ec;onomy." Protection Council (CPC). Mrs Uy Mrs Umenylwd the got1'4'Unenl Umenyi.loId COI\5umers who gathwas commilled to lTan&fo~lng ered to mark the World Coasumer Nigeria and on( way the,b ' Rishts Day Ihat exCi!Pt Ihe ca.m.- community could .suppa e viprugn agaiMl mkell WiI.!I intensified sion wu to reduotall fonns mal;~ovemment can't do Inything. kel abuses. She. said.: "It can be seen as typiSimilarly. the chairman 01 the led bX this public enIighmunenl traders, CJU~tine Ez.eani excaJJ\~gn IlUIt the CQiJ.n01 ha5..not pressed theil:. ermlnation to currelented to painstaldngly educate tail flke p cb .. t th~ market. memberScH the A1ablliitemational ;Str~5inA ~h.ad ~rsonillJy Market TTliders MsodaUon on tht eduQrod to den WIld ne..-er lmplicafion of counlerfeilfng ~ .knew their ~ counterle.J.l COnsUIDers.'I' •• ><but after lhorw:.gh education on She said the even t whlffi wu'" srave d d"8er in'f'olved they s~ by CPC and SHARP,·an had to change. e1ectronic~trompMIywasilcon"We havelnvolm maJor staketinu.atim of efforts fo raid Lbe marholders In the amplign against hi of faltt! product. "'This is unac- fake products, have ~uc.ated".some ~Iable as ills inapProPriate for ignan.ntonesonllienatureofthdr consurnenllo use their ham ea.rned ,buaine:&56 which we considered money 10 lpurchase products that munlerfeit and today thef-e are 110 deny them value lor their money_ man);' wonderful work to show lor She I:lrew' the IttentiOn of partidthat.
Eatery introduces neW products
S
WEEr Sensation has
restnJc-.
tlJred its culinary appml and
prices, introduclng a new range of products 10 enh.ance customers' experience II reduced oosts. The pfOducts are Fi~h Piccala Salad and Spaghetti ShrimE whidJ. the company said, woulo be offered to cuslomem al "very pOCket-friendly prices."
Nig~ria
Akwa Thorn to revive battery industry
T
HE Akwn nx.n ~'emment is 10 resu'Jdtate the Sunshllll!'
Sattenes Industry In Ukana In Esslefl Udtm L.oraI Qn.-emrtlImt Area of the slate... The ind ustry established in the eMly 805 by the then Cross Ri ver Slate Govemnlent started haVing ~Jems befort. the 90s. Governor Godslvili AkpablO !laId its re5usilll.bon w,:>uld provide employmml for the teeming youth In
""' ......
Ak~
said '~slab!! ~ove.m
menl will do it'! hest to ~1Ve the Sun!ihme &ttenes industry,Weha ve to work hard to le'Vlve It to create
t'mpK,yment tt.- the youth".
l-Ie Restated the resOk-.! of his ad-
mlnistralion to duali5e UkanllAblllkpo-Atan R03d with a bridge 1inIang Akwa Ibom Poly~ic. IkOt 0s:urU&. to open the area to trafHc. In a rehlted development, Akpabio said !(lI11e memberiJ of the House of Assembly would 500n leave for Chinll 10 study the industnal's tOOU5tna1.!1et-up 10 as to make betic' laws 10 help tIV! sla~ in establi5tting indUlltries. AJcpOl.bio spake when political. KlIdemic and profemiona.I e1deB of Itu Stille Constituency led by th.V representative in the House of As-
5embly. Or. Ebette Ebong Okan. visited him at the Govemor'i Lndgr.
U,. . He said the trip woukl expose the lawmakers to iriduslrial dusters of ChiI1ll, Akpabio
acknowledged the to the suc-
~Iv's contnbutions
~ of ~ admmistration.
-me
HOUSE' musl lIke aedit for pil56ing a lot cl bills into IIIWS- If we bring any bill to the Hoose and II is not pa:ssed. then it is of no U!/Ie.. If the House did not solidly support the ell;ecutive. the ~I Will not have been ab~ to perform CIftIilably"'. he said.
NBC marks Water Day with 200 farmers
T
o comm~orate the United
NatiOT\5' World Wlter Day, Bottling Company
Ni~ian
(NOC) has ho5tfd 200 crop and rlSh
tarmen in sue states itCJ'OS5 Nigftia
to I !f"S"~ ~ on water- maNI.8,ement and food ladUtated by n:.--.. fmrn a . tun> and water ~ ~ Head of and CommuniaWons of Mrs. AdevMiu OIomola.said · astatement thaI,. "In alignmenl with th!s)'l5U"s theme 01 'Wlter And. SKurity' we are ~ng ~ rrom our host CQIl1mwtitfios as the 12 'Water AmbM-
Pub~AHairs
JlOI'!lInCeof waterin food produclton. "Statistics show ~ .. a correllllion between deilfth 01 waler and hun~ and diseases. Thtnfore, It becomes ~tiVf: thai we appredate the need to fJ\iI.Idmise WCIter U5Ie toensurefoo(hecurityforourteoeming population. We hOpe that as we le''';e 'here, we hue III imbibed nnewaleranservationpracticeito en5Wl! that we have waler- all year round !of' agricultural production." ~ 2009, NBC has leveraged the United Nations' Waler Day to en~~e yearly with strategic eeg.ments or Its society to .dvocale lor hfe
gd~S~~~=OO~;~du~ti;~~: ;:=~'i;~ HE ~a1 Government has unfold pl.ns to increase IOrghu production from 9.32 mJlI.ion tonres 10 13 miUlon
T
"'as
The ~fo .tion action plan """'" by ta.rgeb an . II5e of two million lonnes in the rst two yt!ars. and four mJUion es by 2015. The Sorfl:hu Trans(orm.tion VlI.lue a'uun ta ts 5(X).ooo tonnell for malting I ' 1. beverages Ind
non-.lcohoHc drinks, while l.soo tonnes would be used to (ortify foods and blended foods. Two rruI\ion tonnes is for high quality 1IOr~um Dour_
To fast track the process, there would be a rel_ of two 5or'8hum hybrids in 2012 for the 2013 farming 5eason, with increased access to farm mechanisation. UlIing tractor, mobile threshers and hnrvest-
,,,.
AmlMssadln' programme. In '2010, the company hosted Nigerian students across the! country on a!imilar programme to enli!t the students as itdvocates of waler issues in their diIkn-nt communities.. Olo,!,ola ~id the business recognised the 1Jf\~ d WCIIr1" be.caUge its IlbUity to grow is rdated 10 the! availability and 0110cal warer resoun::teS. "We tmde-stand thai by .targeting water. aa:ess ~ promoting watet" sect1!1ty, NBC IS fundameritally supporting the kingterm socI0-ec0nomic developmeJ11 01 communities and Nigerian by eII;-
quali~
nation on top of the
~rt of
fOOd importing nalions, the Minl5-
Iv of Aykulture, Or J\kinwunmi
Adesina,1w said. Por irutance, he said Nixerl.ans were s~ing NI billion ditil,. on imported rice and N 13 trilllori an-' nuiilly on other im~ basic items ~ke wl1ealJ5Ugaf and nsf\. ;\kinwunml, who spoke In Abeokuta I~ the opening sesion of the two-day Ogun Stall:' lnveslol3' Forum. hoY.'evet. did not. give deother nations on the high food era'list. im esaldthenation. whic:hCUl11:flt1y COI15Umt!!! hboul fiVf: million rnetnc
~
Imnes of rice pe;r annum. oouJd inaease the rate Of ~ to 36 million metric tomes by 2015. The. mlnbler. ~er, sa.id the Peder.l GOvernment had commenct!d meuures 10 .dd.re.g the prob"'" """ by would impo<tation 01 rice '2015.""" W1tfi... abundant
_udlon from Tarababl"'" State.""" ...'"""""" Attordlng to him,. the Tamba rice
"Pf\1iKt,to wlUch $lOrn is beinJt comfnjfie10 will lead to the procfuction of ~ per cenl of
Nf~'s
rice de-
"""'"
He also said three. rice mills. being established. in Niger, Ebonyl tonbo ... .." would '" _ " " of providing enough rice for Nigeria.
a.na
MAN decries high interest rates ~
Mlnufacturing AModa-
, 1. : n of Nigeria (MAN) in ~.
vbcaJ:t~ddS:~~~~~ of inte.r~t rates to boosl the moribund rnatlulacturing !leCtor.
M$ has spedally UJ"ged the Bank of Nigeri. (CBN) to
central
i!x~tiously intervf!ne because.
hhih interesl rate ha.5 remained one. o('the factor! militating agJ.inst the manufadurir1g sector. . Chairman of MAN River5/ Bayclsa chapter MI'5 Emilia Akpan made the appeal shortly after the
;;;:by2015 T
coundl's meeting In Port l::Iarcourt. Akp.n noted thai high interest rate •.5 ~ reason why lOts 01 <omeames with capacity 10 employ thoUYl1ds of NI~ ~ oul of business. She s tJ'es&ed that an Intrrest regimes that hoven between 20 and 22 per cent. .. against 1.5 and two per cent I;'rtvalmt in other nruntries, is not In the interest of the Ni~an economy. A.a:oiding kI her, h hi~ interest ra~ in The country is directly resp(.~sible for the poor slate of the manufacturing 5f.'Ci(Jl'.
N2b CMD secretariat for Kano HE
Centre
for Management
OeveloplT'lelt (OAD) has em-
duded plans to build a N2 bil· lion multi-purpose secretariat in
Minister of Agriculture. Dr. Akinwumi AthsirY. who unveiled the plan in Ahuja at • sta.keholde:n meeting (B1. the Sorghum Agricul. tural Transforma.tion plan over the wtoekend, said for thf! 2012 pwt. ing season, 502 tonnes of ttffified - t would be distributed to farmers in the six dUllter ala tes in the North west and Northeast few cultivation on 50,(0) hectares of land.
rent chaUengeli facing Nigerians due to the partial fuef subSidy removal in January.
tops food-,importing nations' list
H . -'oINl........ lmpi:\ttrd. malerial.'ll\as cul the
T
AddrHsing journalists at the pre5entalion of theproducts in Lagos lut week Tuesday, the outfit's Executive Director, Mr Tunji K.am!on. said Sweet Sensation decided to restructure its product and price in the IIghl of cur-
Kono.
The. lJi.n.odof'-CeneraJ. Dr KAbiru KaboUsm.I,didosed thisata wadethe D'!n~ kif 1.50 directori: drawn hom v;arious ministries and parastatab in the state. Usman said the worbh~ wu centered m knowledge ca i:aJ lot the directors In capaCity uilding that would -help in shaping their knowledge In vlllue n:-orientalion for effidenl and effective service ~ trganded by