TUESDAY. JUNE 14. 2011
III
Poultry farmers bemoan ~ost of raw materials Sua" O lu fowobl
P
OULTRY farmers under the aegis of Poultry Associlllion of Nigeria on Monday in Lagos State ~id Ihlll the
industry was on the verge of imminent collapse as the prices of major law mi:llerials used to make poultry feed have continued to skyrocket.
The fa lmers said that they mighl halle to increase the prices of egg and chicken to meet up with their production cosl; but ..dded that increasing the prices might also spell doom as less people would buy their p roducts.
They appealed to Ihe Federal Government to inlervene in Ihe crisis that the industry was facing belore il was 100 late. The Zonal Chainnan of PAN, Dr. Ayoola Oduntan. who brought the poultry farmers' predicament 10 public notice,
said Ihalln the last one year, the raw mate rials had gone up to between 50 and 100 pereenl The raw materials include maize, soya bean seed. soya bean meal, and Diesel. Oduntan 5aid that the farme~ had been absorbing the increases wilhout being able to Increase the price of a crate of egg or a kilog:ramme 01 chic ken. He said. · When you consider Ihat leed makes up to 70 per cen t of the total cost o f production. il then becomes dear why the drastic increase in the prices of raw materials is 5lgnificant. Also the farmers cannot shut down operation to weather the un favourable conditions . ~ Oduntan 5aid thai the farmers galheled that Ihe rise in the prices migh t conti nue till December. adding that if it happened. the induslry might collapse and leaving abou l two million direct employees and over 20 million indirect employees in the industry jobless He said the Federal Government could help the industry by opening the nation's grain reserve lor human use and 10 poultry fllrmeTli for feeds. "There is al50 the need for the government to meet with the fanners 10 fashion out ways out of the problem. T he govemment should also reinforce th e ban on froze n chicken and temporarily remove all duly and VAT on imported corn. feed wheat and soya bean meal. We also suggest tha t the government suspend the sale o f gUlln and legumes to neighbou ring countries until the prices and conditions have stabilised." Odunti!ln said. He explained Iha l as things stood. the farmers might increase Ihe prices of egg and chicken . Currently. a crate o f egg sells for between N750 and N800. while a full chi cken sells for between Nl.OOO i!lnd N2.000. Howeve r, Ayoo[a obse rved. ·We a re not realty Interested in increasing the prices. It is nol in the inlerest of the farmers . We want more people 10 buy eggs and chicken . which will nol happen if the prices increase. Out objective now is to bring down the cost of production and we believe gove rnment could help us achieve thaI."
Tejuoso traders lobby to retailJ. Mile 12 market HE Bobolojo (Mac) of Tejuosho market. Mr. Adesina Oyegunle on Monday appealed to the Lagos State Government to retain Ihem al their temporary ~ite in Mile 12, Ket". Oyegunle told the News Agency 0/ Nigeria in Lagos that ahhough they ....'ele "!:located to Mile 12 temporarily in 2008. they had irnIested 50 much 10 make the place suili!lble lor trading. He SlIld· that some of the traders relocated from Tejuoso spent about N1.6m to 5andfiU the portion o f land they now occupied in ~1i1e12. The Baboloja said Ihal apa.rt from the huge amount committed 10 make the place accessible, the traders were complementing the increMing patronage al the Mile 12 market. This. he said. was due to its proximity to the sprowllng town o f Ikorodu ilnd its environs. "Though we ....'Yre relocated hen! temporarily 10 continue our business, we have spent II lot of money and we are ready to spend more. ~e are only appealing to the Lagos State GOV1!rnment to retain U$ here to continue with our business.~ he said. (),:egunle said that the traders had within the past three years also complemented and satisfied the market needs of residents o f Ajegunle, Ojola, O""'Ode. Ogudu and others. On security. the Babolojo told NAN that al1 the traders In Ihe market were registered and i5Sued with identity cards. ~Apa.rt from our personal anangement. we are wotking in collaboration with law enforceme nt agencies to ensure tMI the mi!lrkelis always s«ured, ~ he added. NAN reports that the Tejuosho market was razed In December 2007 and has smce been under rehabilitation.
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Sodiq.
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Why only Bankole?
A
RU ES Id e b , 15 , Ekphlwre Drive, o ff En erh e n Road , Waul, De lta S iale. +23480311674 : [I appears th e Economic and Rnancial Crimes Commission wants 10 gIVe N'lQI!rians the impression thai only Dimeji Bankole was COffilP! in the entire Sixth Nationa[ Assembly. which is not Just p'ossibie. So, why should the EFCC make Bankole the 5Capegoo.t? To say the least it is unfair and highly ungodly. One should therefore advise EFCC to investigllte Ihe entire Sixth National Assembly members and il wiD shock EFCC and Nigerians how coffilption has ealen deep into the
Drain pipe
Kom
Yus.suf, Yewa Es ta te. IJ o ko. O lla . Ogu n Stale, +23480742488: The 6th National Assembly performed poorty but excelled in moral and financial recl<Je:;sness. Nigeria does not need two chambers i!ll the federal Iew[ to make 1Mvs. In fact. lOB reputable people with strong pedigrees in the senate ron make good taws for Nigeria. We must not copy America blindly; the House of Representatives is a drain pipe on the C!Wnomy
nalion's soul. If coffilption is 10 be eRldicated from i!lll aspect of Ihe nlltian's $OCiety, the EFCC should spre;v;l their drag nets to COIle!' all the National rusembJy members.
A word for Jonathan N
NAENEKA Ogenyl, 42, Aglp Road, Po rt Harcourt, R1veu S Ii!l le . + 234803699 10: To fish these miscreants out, [ wish 10 suggest to Mr. President to secn>\Iy commission one Of two penons in each of the of u:ards of Ihe 774 Local Govemmenb In Nigeria because these people live among us. There is no how I wilt not know If somebody who Jives in the same viIlage/ town wilh me is one of the perpetrators of this alme against humanity.
Create more states
A
l FA Ayilnso h•• 14 . Mk hu t Or.... ny. , Eg.n, l .gos Siale. +2348053 1743: I'm pleading with PNsident Goodlu<:k Jonathan to create more stata. WI nftd Lagoon Stale In Lap Stilte lind morl! 10<:aI governments. It is clear 10 everybody that In the last voter card ~islnllion. Lagos Stille recon:Il!d the highl'5! number of volen In Nigeria.
U GWUMBA Salldl'ilo. 7 . Omlla Road . 010 BlI1Ti'Icks. u gos S tate, + 23480375840: I want to inform the Economic and Financilll Crime5 Commission that some
Well done, Suswan
KENNETH
Echla. 10, O nl va nrin StTeet, Mile 12. lagos S tate, +2348038007 1: Please let me \J5e your medfum 10 thank the Benue State Governor. Gabriel $usl...oam for a111he roods he is construding in the state. Most Importantly. he should continue the good u."Ofk he is doing toward delivering good ~ to the slate and also repair the Eke, OIaidu Ojopo '""'"
Incredible act
pRI NCE NW05\I, 19, Bashiru Adenlran Street, Adeoni Esii!lle.
Olodu. +23480338864: While N'1QI!rian5 wen! still aying about the huge SlIIaries and allowances of the federallllwmakers l.:tst year. the leadmhip 01 the House of Representatives \\.'eTlt ahead and approved an up.vard review of the already bloated S<!laries. The House nwIe up of leamed Io!Iwyers. aaDUnti!Tlis, dodors and other unprofessionaly financed"'" the - """"kaIIy increment with a 10M. This is incredible!
Ohakim is worse potitici<1ns did worse things Itwln the ex·speaker. Oimeji BlInkole. They should act fllst to get the ex·governor o f lmo Stale, Ikedl Ohakim. and other neeing former governors into their nes!, 10 accountfQl' theil" stewardship. Bankole's alleged atrocities are nothing compared to what Ohi!lkim did to Jmo. So I wandel" what the EFCC Is still waIting fOf to deal wilh such people.
Studentlawmaker O
DEWUNM I OladimeJI, 13. Sali u lawai Sheet. IgA nd o . lagos Stllte , +23 4 803 71) 9 1: Congratuli!l1ions to the new Speaker of House of Representatives, Amlnu Tambuwal, but since he is not a new comer to the House I believe thi!lt was why he was elected. It wa s reported that he was in the House between 2007 and 2011 but the report in page 7 of THE PUNCH of TUellday. Jun e 7 showed that he graduated from Stanford Business in 2008. Will he be able to cOpe with this new role since he was not a filith/ul leglsli!ltor in the first lerm'