!uSiness& -
MONDAV,JUNE25.201:.l
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econom~
Naira fall: eBN to meet forex dealers, banks
Kwara to export cassava chips 10 China V WARA Slate's eml1hasis .!'\.on \01lue thain m3.lla!ement in agriculture has paid ofCas Ircti Frum.,.., wuler the auspices of Shnnga F,mns Holdings, in p.1.rlnershill with AUSIn\u or Anstrnlitt. is to commence the eltJlOrtation of tasSal'it dtips to China, "ilh the first halch IJ( {I.OOO tDnnes scheduled to dep;\lt the state in the neu two ,,,;tdts.. Shonp Farms, in which Kwnrn St:lle hIlS 2S per CCllt slake, is also 10 coordinale the Muting of additionnl OI...~\'a from out grtl"l.'fS.. 111is ....'05 disclosed at ~n internctJl'C" session betv.-een Governor Abdulfalah Ahmed lind 1\ df.)eg.atiOIl or Aust.ralin. cxportt'f"; of dried cassml cbips.ledllYitsChiefFinancial Offict'r. ~tr. Sam Popilko; rt"pteliCntlth'eoflhe Minist£J' (If Agriculture, Chief JamCll Awoni)i; and Chairman, Shonga Farms Holdin.r,.s. Mr. T<JPe Dammola, at the Govemment Homie in lIonn. A stalement made n\'ailnble on Sunday b}' tlle <:lli.1 Press Stoatwry to the (;memo!, Mr. Abdulwah.1.b Dba. quot{'(j POIlilko as Sl)ing Ilk ~tHte had more thnn 11. million tonne ptt day IIf c.lss.w.1 required h)' Cllinll ready to be e..~lored. 411<' I\lnt (If lhe produre in U\<: Shollp Farms lll':CCSSitllted the ne\\ deaL 11le first batth of 6. 000 I,mnll!> 1\;11 be l'.xporlro,· he said
Spealrinll: on the!'UlU$S of thl' Sh<Jng,a Famas' initialiw.. the Minister of Agriculture.
Dr. Akmwumi ,\desioa.. said tlum.I~I"\WOIti}i. ~l{w1U:ilStaIt'
is l'l:ly strategic 10 the Fcdcrnl GoIt'ITllnent~ initi.1m'l:! on ~<J ~ K""m has the foresight \Iith the creation of Ihe Shoop fo'amts Hokling.e.
II
\'11$ not ''e)'
dear 10 man\'
flI'I'Ipleal th.,t timewhen Kwara s1arted this; tuKl probably. a lot ofN"1g.ciaI5Slw itns a waslt':tl effort. But cassa\"I\ will qlrf'h' become the foundation for thl' l'CI7IIomic del'e!opment of this sL11t: and Nigeria is waitinr.- With this initiati'""e Kv.01ra is J1Oi.<:ed to ta.kr O\'tt from Thailood as major exportcrof al$,1.,'a. ~ Rf5jJOmling, Ahmed slid the ~ation of cas&ll""il drips to China was ~"bIe bccau..~ the <;laIc gm-1!mmenl
had kept faith I\ith bert
Ad e l1lolaAla wi yc
VOUDWING
the continuous decline in the value of Ihe naira al the foreign exchnnge marKet. the Central Bank of Nigeria will nlcct wiUl fore: dealers and of
r
-Reserves down by $630m in 15 days
Deposil Money Banks 10 consider lVaysof JI!l!\"euting further depreciation of the Cllrrency. A circular issued by the CBN on SundBY stnted that the which
will hold in Lagos on 11lursday, would address recent dC\-clopllil!ll.ts in tile mnrkeL 11le circular read in l:tart, -rnis is to infonn all authorised dealers.
destination inspection and pre-shipment inspection scheme service pWliders that the foreign exchange offieers' meeting has been scheduled to hold in !..agos arront
p.1rticipantslheOIJporlunily to deliberate on the rec:cnl deveiOJlmenls in the forex
markel. Please, note that representation of banks :It Ule meeting should be by officers who are con~'eI"S3nt with international trade and treasury operations.~ In\'eSLigatiol1s by our correspondent muled that the eBN had been
selling unspecified amount of dollaB at the inter-bank market to help support the local Cllrrency Rnd 800 to
calm the markel. According
figures website.,
on lhe
10
the
hUesl
CBN nation's
external !'CSen'cs W.\'e been declining gradually since June 6 , 2012.
TIle resen'es stood OIl $37. nbn as al June 6, but dropped 10 $37.l4bn by June 21. indicating that the
reset\'eS fell by $630m in 15 days.
Reliable sources at the \.Vholesale Dutcil
penn~a~n~'~nlry~it~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~3~~~~~~
foctllrer. Mr. and Chainllan, BlCS. Mr. Shaka Mo:uli. at tire ceremony oj leT t,.aining for Commission and Office oj the Head oJSeroice in Abuja.. on Friday.
Gas sector: Legislators seek increased indigenous participation Sta nley OplU"ll
OME
members of the House of Represe:ntalil"e$ have raised the alann O\-"er thc poor participation or indigenous Nigerinn companies in gas production. the They described situation as Unhealthy and called for a dumge in tlle st...1.tus quo becanse of tlle huge economic potential in the 1M sector. Speaking during an oversight visit by members of the 1l0USf: Committee on
devl!!oprne:nt in the country's gas infrastructure. Responding, the Director, DPR. Mr. Osten Olonmshola, saidlhec:ountryrankedeighth in th~ wodd and number one in Mrica for pIS reseM:S. AtCording to him, all natural gas discoveries are incidental to exploralion for c",de oil, and Nigeria's gas rcsen'cs endowment may be up to 600 trillion cubic feet.
G" to Ih. _rtm",1 of
O\o".."ho1. ,,;d, -0.,
S
Petroleum Resources in Lagos on Friday. il.5 Chainmm, Mr. Bussey Ewa, said Ihe Nigerian Content Act shonld be implcmented in the sector. To this end, he said the Liquefied Natural Gas Billwas curTelltly being considered in the House, but thai the 2012 budgel made no provision 10 address infrastructure in the Gas Master Plan. Ewa, hoI\-ever, said the conunillee wns committed to seeing signiflClnt
country is often described as II gas province \~itlt little oil. High proportion of naluI1II po; lII;cllmulalion is concentrated in Ihe Niger Delta and substantial discoveries have been made in the deep offsllore area. -Exploration efforts in the Benne Trough. Chad Basin andAnambmBasinsbowthat in~land basins have potenLial to add to the natioual gas resourc:evolumes.~ Hesaid it Willi possibletbat
the COUoIT)' could genemte as muth !"e\'CDDe from gas 315 oil ir it addressed environmental issues and end Oaring, dCl"e\op the domestic market, and creale new induslries out of tlle old oil industry Similar to oil, the director SlIid OPR had aspinttions to grow tllC gas resource base aggressil-ely in order 10 stimulate the growth of the \Iicler national economy. On tllt thallenl\es
raises
"'--I. fot
Delta.~
foreign exchange market, recently increased its dollar sale; 10 S400m at its hi~w1!ekly auction from $3oom.
FG to spend N2.7bn to procure seeds for farmers Mus tapha Salihu, Ju no r-pl IE Federal Gm--ernment ~ Iw budgct.ed N2.71m for the procurement and disln'bution of fret seeds for plantiug to about th"e million smaU-st:aIe fanners aauss
'I..~,...", ... I ....,.
utt:",.....,.... u.1 The Minister of State for Agriculture. Dr. Bukar Tijjani. said this in Kano during the lannclllng of
pmctiro:-illagriculturetllfOO!U1 the slL1ring tlfbest l'alue:> I\ith experts llI:I'OSS th(' ,,"orld. ~An allernp! to neate a CODlll.lissioner hope 011 pO\-\Ter synerg)' between research Sunday Abori.sade, Akure Akinjomo told joumaIists GOI"l!f1lITIeIlI out of whieh in.~lilu!iull£, practising in Akure on Slinday that a ~fW had been delh1!l1!d fntmcl"S nnd l)QIiO' On' po.....er pbnl being constructed under the first phru;e. fonnuiato", led us in to T~on: by UII! state government to Thecornmis.'iioncrsaidthe partnering with Cornell gencrnte 35 megawatts aI completion of the sooMW University in the United Commerce and looust1)" electricity using gas turbine at IInj( tinder the second phase Mr, Omotnyo Akinjomo, has Sillies. known globally for Omotosho town woukI soon be or the Federal GoI'ernment agricultural best practices. said tlte lDO\"e by the current COIIlI)!eled.. power plant. also at in the- fonnullltion of a. fhl!"administrntion \0 induslrialise )"t'ilr .\gricultural Master PI,m thc stale will soon be mdised He said tllC mwti·million Omotosho, wuuld boo5t that ,,"ill change the face of "itll ils effmts Lo glmClltte naira plantl't1lU!d complement pow-er supply and S81-e ailing agriculture in tile st3te,~ Ihe pow~r !radnally comin& to the 835MW plant \lei", limls that relied heavily on govenl<lf :saul.. =-..,~'u__~=_-,f"ru","", c-""._ _ _ __ ~nst~ed by tile Federal electricity to OllCrate.
Ondo:
confronung the sector, he said. ~fo1ares dO"l1 prog~ is slow. There are no robust legislati\-e and commercial frameworks for gas lIS in oil. Our domestic markel for gas is underdeo."eloped. "\\'c have inadequate funding (cash-call issues). inadequate gas tr.msmission and distn'bulion infrru;tructure. as well as insecurity in the Niger
Auctioo Sy.stem lold our correspondent that there were signs that the apex bank would rely more on the fore: reserves to defend the naira ihhedec::linein the loeal currency continued. A currency dealer. who preferred not 10 be mentioned snid, -In Ihe absence of any external dollar inflow, the eBN will have to lean on the external reserves to defend the naira. We hal''I! seen signs of this recently, as the apex bank has increased its dollar supply at Ule WDAS to support tlle naira." The CBN, in a bid to reduce the pressure in tllC
supply
the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme 2012 (E~Wallet Voucher System) on Saturday. Theserdstobedislnbuted free or charge, acconiing to him, are cotton, roc:oa. cowpea, maize and rice, adding that the decision was
particular,hasg.reatpotmtial for rood production. Ihal is lo,tftytlle Pm;ident is insisting that we must prodnceandeat ourownfood, ~ Ttiianisaki. The minister also lamented that the rounlry was spending a lot of money to impart food and other
part of tllC gO\-emmcnt's strategic plan of action 10 impt"Ol"eagricultureandfood security in tllecountry. T[jjani e.'qIlaincd that the gOI"ernmcut would pl"O\ide fertiliser to fanntr$ at a .subsidised rate of SO per cent of tllC cost, in addition to tllt' provision of other agricultural iuputs. He ga\"e nn asstU"ance thal the gm-ernmcnl would also buy off tllC surplus produce from the f:tnners at tjood prices to pm'Cllt nl1\\'alT3.nled loss. ·Nigeria IlIld KauoState in
commodities, .....hen Ule money could he used to create more jobs fot the
citizens. Gm'l!lllOr Rahill KwankwllliO said h~ administrntion was wori.ing in concert with tllC Federal GOI'I!Illment 10 maxim~. the. benefits of the hug agricultural potential in state. He enjoined fanners ' tlle slate to team up an4 register under the Feder.¥ Gm"Clllmeni's agricultural scilCmes 10 enable then? benefit from the 115sistllntt.
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