SUNDAY PUNCH OCTOBER 16, 2011
FG to ban rice, fertilizer _FEM_'_M_AK_'_ND _ E_ _ importation HE Minister and of Trade Investment, Mr. Olusegu n Aga nga, on Saturday said Ihe Federal Governmen t was se t to ba n importati on of ri ce into the country. Aganga said this at Ihe &onomi c and Development S ummit organised by the Ekit i Stati' Govi'mment in Ado Eklti. I-te said Presid en t Goodl uck J onal han had
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said that banning o f rice importat ion would stan in the next three yei'lrs beCli use Nigeria could no lo nger continue to depe nd on ol her countri es to feed its citize ns. According to him. bi'ln ning the import ati on wi ll encourage !ocal production of the commodity i'l nd will assist in developing the eco nom y
... to halt falling standard of education CHUKWUDI AKASIKE HE Federal Gove rnment has said it will put an end to Ihe faDi ng standard of educalio n in the country. The Min ister o f Stale for Education. Mr. Nyesom Wike, said with the measu res put in pl<lci' by the FG , Nige rii'lns should expect i'l sleady improvement in the na ti on's ed ucalio nal st<lnda rd. Wh ile inspecting so me second ary schools in Port Harcourt. the Rivers Stale capital. Wike said It WISS possible lor the poor standard of i'duca ti on to beco me a thing o f the past in ano ther fou r years. He said. uThe President is passiona te abou t educ.ation ISnd we are making i'ln assessment o f the situi'ltion with a vieW to tackli ng the problem facing the sec tor. ~ Edu calion is a sodal service and by the time we pul al! the measures in place. r a ssure you that wi th in the nex t fOur yei'l rs. Nigerians will notice a tur!l<lTOu nd in the educational sector. -We inlend to use the resources ' earmllrked lor education prudently and i'ffectivel~' in order to upli ft the standard o f educati on wilhin the next lour years.The minister. \\'h o inspected science laboratories al th e Federa l Go~nm e nt Girls Coll'!ge. Abulom a and Federal Governm en t College. Port I-tarco url. poinled oul th llt he de cided to pay an unexpected visit to the schools so as to have Orsthand knowledge o f thi' state of science equ ipment in Ihe schools. He reGllled tha t fun ds were provided for some o f the governme nt secondary schools to purchase science equipment and that it W<lS necessary to see the condi tion o f such fi'lc il ilies. "Whe n I came on boa rd. I was told that th e funds were given 10 some of the schools. So wha t I have decided to do is to pay thi! 5Chools a vis;! withou t le tti ng them knOl.v thllt 1 was comi ng to see th me proj,!!cts. parti cula rly the science la boratories. ul have bee n <!Ible to see those fa cilities at both sc hools. We have seen <I II
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a nd Food SeclI~fI!·. JIf~. !Vale Ad~dOJlln; a nd Dkedo~. Ol"po ,,"tr A !fh Fa nnIng EducoUonol Resource Cell lre. lu.... R e". F~. Macari"," O /o, ..,,}I. wllh s rud ",,",u of Ihe Eno spo n!fored oneY"'''' Ji" h fnnn lnf and Iralu lng f o r {wenl y ' n dlge nl )lo ull." . 'n Osun S 'ole ... a ll F~ldaJl
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their difficull ies. Even though there are challenges. they arE' not insurmoun ti'lble . We are going to ti'lclde the m. - Wike said. Senate Similarly. President. David Mark. has a ltribule d the poor stat e of the natio n's educa ti on sector to Inco nsistency and poor execulion of policies Mark made this remar k dur ing the combi ned convOCillion Ci'remony o f the Rivers S tate Un iversity of Science a nd Tec hnology on Satu rday in Por t Harcou rt. where he was conferre d with ho nol<lry Doctorate Degree in Law. Apart from inconsistency an d poor execution o f policies in th e sector. "'lark also blame d the sorry stall' of educatio n o n poor funding.
of the coun try. The mi nister a lso said pe trol chemicals \Viii be developed interna lly beCliUse the FG a lso stop im portation o f fe rtilizers. Aga nga add ed that the Ministry o f AgricultUre would encourage Nigerians and olhe r investors 10 go into agricullure. He said. "Food security is a major issue arou nd the \\IOrl d a nd Africa will feed the worl d. My ai m is to grow the econom~' us ing areas where we have compatC'ltive adva nt<lge. We w.mt to turn fa nning in to re al business. We ha ve comparative advantage in agricu lt ure. oil and gas. and solid mine ral s. ~ The minister said i'ldministl<ltion J onath an's was co mm itted to Ihe development 0 1 the eco nomy Imd IhlSI everything would be done to improve it. He said it Wi'lS regretllSb le th at Nige ri a cunentlv imported elect ri dan ~. briddlSyers. tillers a nd other art isans from Togo and olher neighbouring cou ntries but the FG wo uld wo rk to ensu re that Nigeria n you ths were impar!ed with necessary skills needed to make a living He said. "We are nol going to g~ money 10 Nige ri i'l !ls just for ski lls' acquisition bu t we will teac h them how 10 wmk ha rd and ra ise a bankable inVf!stment that Cim propel Small a nd Micromed ium i'nterprises Ea.rlier. Fayemi said the sti'lte was rE'ad \1 to give be tween five ..md 10 years ti'lX brei'lk to serious investors in the sla te
'We support gov eHIOK::;' call fo r nation a l. confere nce'
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Consensus group has backed rI.. go"Jefl101"5 on thei r ca!l for i'ln urgel\f nahonal co n ler~nce to re~ ~lIm ine the governa...::e stru clure in Nigeria This \\las co nt ained in a sta tement issui'd by the lei'lders of the group who re--ne\ued the stale o f the coun try du ri ng the co un try's 5 1st indepe nde nce an niversary. The governors. had through Govi' rn or Olusegun Mi mko a nd Governor Pe ter Obi of Ondo a nd Anambra stales rE'Speclively last Wednesday asked the presi dency to organise a nat ional co nference to agree on how Ni9"'ria should be admin iste red PNNC's spokesperson. Olawa le Oku nn iyi. said gexxl governi'l nce a nd poliHcal stability might co ntin ue to el ud e thi' coun try if the FG continued to force the existing lopsided un itllry structure on diverse people. TIle body charged
Pre.5i dent Good luck Jonath <!ln to quickly hi'ed the counsel o f the governors in thE' interest of lY!ace. harnlO'l y. slaerti!).'. security and good !joverna nce . and also to bring to an end to sustained hostilities O llunn iyi said. ~ Exce pt we agree as ., nalion . the que.;t for l1<1tlon<'l1 secm ity and democrn tic con501irl<l tion will continu e to be a pi pe d ream Nigerians 111I1 S! be encouraged to believe in their union for them to ma lle it work and defend itThe group a lso urged the National As... e mbly commi'nce the process of convening a people·drive n naUonal constitutioni'll dilllogue "'ithou! delay. "The presidency should set up an !ndependent National Co nstitutiunal Commission to dri'lft a bill to be enllcted by the Na llonal Assembly for the convocation of <In indusive national con&tit ut iona l conlli' ntion . whi ch ca n be con~ned a t regular inlervals to addTe~s n<lti onal needs. - Oku nn iyi added .