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FRlDAY,JUNE~. 2012 -.-~
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lD9JJstrY:,~~_~~~_ _~~_ _ __ Bad seeds'proliferation, impediment to food security - Agency S UCI:e5l1 Nwogu
'T"HE
the leam had raided major
National
.1 Agrirultural
Seed
Counal lias identified proliferatIOn of fake or bad setdJ io Nigeria as • militating lactor against national foo:l security and FederaJ Government's transfonnal on agenda. 5pel1cinl with our rom:spondt: ot on WMnl'5day, National Coordirultol. Seed Quality ConlrOi uutleT the agency, Mr. Adebay;) Agboola, said
themunciJ vasdetennined to step unwholesome practiceJ II)' some 5C'Cd seUers, W10 flood the markets with inferior
setds. ~'. proliferation of bad .5\' ed is actually inliibitiDg (,xxi security This bad • Id unacceptable p~ it if; p~minant among DO' people. Seed dealers sl»t\Jld stop &ellin! fake seed. because it is no longlje business LC usual. Th~ council will n(o longer tal..e it easy with them. Offenders \¥QUId be pul'isll!d Nobody will bto spared no matter haw highly pla:e:l, he said. I stated that th~ council IAoJ engaaed in M!ed rna kd surveillance to rid th! ('.(Klntry of fake seeds. anjlllso to enlighten . 1t 01' agncu llSts on t he dangers )( using inferior or potor q ,"lityseeds, Hf" slid the exercis~. which 'JCuld take the team to 1.0 the nooks and W
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they are opt:raung In line ilh the seed rules and "'lions. oJa. who is also Assista~t :>irector, Quality Contro~ liAS<:. !iBid the prDp'IJ1,rre from South "'cst. adding thai
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seed markets in lbadan, Akure, Ado Ekiti, Own. two and major cities in Kwara State, such as Dorin, Offa and Omo-Aran. He added that the. programme WII5 abo for the North Wcst, North East and North Central zones of the country. Aroording to him, all confiscated materials or seeds would be burnt at a national exercise Ilt Abuja to be supervised by
top officials of the Federal MinistryofA&ricultureand Natural Resources. -Any of them that we fOWld that is operating outside the regulation, we sanction. The punishment ranges from seizures of materials in question and conviction, in tenus of pt:~uBI offenders who we have Wilrned and they refused to change. Theseed counci1 because of the new programme which is the agricultural t.nmsformation agenda of the Cedent) government. is poised to make sure that there is zero tolerance 10 bad .teed business in the country. ~Seeds that would get to Nigerian farmers would be of top quality. This is lo ensure thai e'o-enlually. Nigerian fanners got return for all their investments because the essence: of the agncullural transformation agenda is to change a.picullurt: from what it used to be, wbkh was ordinarily projects or programmes but now to real business,- he said. He added that in(erlor or poor qualily seeds ham--' profitable and t""'~
commercial apiculture. Accurding to him. agriculture is now seen 15 no lODger a project. bul busineu that should thrive. He added that the counci1 wants to assist fanners lun-e good retum on their
agricultural investments. J.&boola saki, '"1be basis of .sua::ess of agriculture sIllru from seeds. If you have all the management expertise but you plant had 8eI!!d... you are going to get poor yield. Thai is why we said that all seeds to be tnded must be of lop quality, II is the mandate of the. council to go round the country to ensure lha.t the seed dealers do 001. do anything outside the laid down rules and
regulatioDB. He warned companies and individuaJs who deal on fake: or Inferior seeds to desist £rom such. adding that llie recent Acts pa!IM!d by the National Assembly had giYetl more powers to the. NASC to mnvict offendernnd fine them up 10 NSoo,ooo depending 011 the gravity of their offence. He mted that mnvicted offenden could also be jailed from one ymr to two ,..~
"Most of these. seed dea1ers get their materials £rom ,.seed mmpanies that are regulated by the council bUI some of these. companies outsmart our officers thai are mollitoring them. Mostofthematerials or .seed the companies brillg to the mllrkets are not actually certified by out offieen. alf they are not certified byofficers.theyaredeeme.d to be of poor quality, We have certification IlIg which
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.L-R: Manager, Property Finarlat. lBTC Mr. Tola Akinhanmi; Managing Director. Grand Towers Abq,ia Mall, Mr. Udlenno Duro; and /lnail Leosing Maoogf!J'. Broll Properly Senn'cu. Ms. Lola Sowunmi, ollhe Grand Opening Cuemony ofGrnnd TCJUIer'SAhqio Alail in Abq,ia... on Wednesday ,
Honeywell fetes lagos one-day governor H
ONEYWELJ..Superfine rood.! Limited ha5 pledged its commitment to continuing investment alld youth devdopmenL The company, acc:on:ling to a statanent iD lagos on Thu-"-y ..,I·'> this as ,', ho5t~the 20t':Lagos State One%a y Go\-ernor. u ,_ Lilian Ogbuefi. "''-''>0 n.. .... ....:. .k. winn-
Governoroflag05Stale.~ The oompany desaibed her- visit 10 the premises of Hooeywell Superline Foods limited, producers of Honc:ywellNoodlesltSnack:s and Honeywell Pasta. as part OCa ....... ' .. -..visit ............ m..... lined';p...., ...J ,.,.. 'b;"~~ leamand offlCialsofthestate
superior quality products in the Noodles and pasta categories. According to bim, Iiolleywell Supt:rfine Foods Limiled. a subsidiary of Iioneywell fo1our Mills ric and a member o( the
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roup IS ,....v .. u (or eJlce:llence in product tlUlIlufaduring and service delivery. Hesa.id, HSFl..wethefirst ooodIes manufacturer with
as as this year's '"One-Day
entourageO'"ti,-;;t'HsFL was known for manufitcturing
he. saKi. ga~ a sustained
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Nigerian top executives to grace In'Genius Youth ::":.-:'fi",;:o~!~ l!~~:~~~hi~ Pro;ect Dinner the major basic ~~U;!t~ o~;C::~lg~f ....... 'J facing the country are not problems
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~,>eo.:ted IJJto ~;I, a for ,m~~1 ~ deve&oj ment.. arpmised by 1• .GenI"'•• pm• ..,mitio....
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,ruing to tbegroup. a , WDDe.re.ventisbeing orpn,.td for the )"Outh pro~ . ..,hen: the best 10 'ted ideas proffered as minus by Nigerian )UI 10 some. ~;Ue.ot p mj confronting the nat" tXMlld be rewarded. Th ,roup said, -nle 10 best "leu to be preaenled 00 tl:f> lIight ~ be. the.
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best adjudged entries, oul of received in the just coocluded Ln Genius competition, introduced by In'Genius Youth Orpnisation as a medium
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and have a chance to win
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Spea~ al a
yearly prog.ramme thai had had one edition, AaDrding to him, the responses to it is a clear indication thai the soiution5 to some of
media briefing on the project in LDgOl5 on Wednesday. Ule Director and Project Head, QrmIuwa Opmdipe, expressed satisfaction at the level of partidpatioo 1Imon& Nigerian youths, boIll home and in tile. Diaspora, in the
farfetc:bed.aodthattheyouth are capable. of sohiog them provided they ha~ the. right environment. opportunity
and~t.
:=: ::c::: wheat inlo flour. which be !e of noodles and pasta. Besides,he said as an ISO 9001.:.2008 ce.rtifie.d
organisation, the company applied intemationa1 best prxlices in aU its operations and activities. Jaiyeola added that Ule company had collaborated with the Lagos Stale Gowemme.nt in the development of education, espe.cia1ly in the last two y<an. Also in sports, an int.e&ral part of education. Hooe.y¥l-eU Noodles has sponsored OVI::r thlllt hundred (300) inte.r~house. sporting events, catering for O\'a" two hundred thousand (200,000) students and par~l1ts from different schools K:I'OI55 the State. In science education ~opmenl. HSFL's factory doors art: alviars open to schools on industrial factory visits. &
CSR: P&G rewards Nigerian mothers
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K1", .......,"'" ~ fi.. 8 platform for expression
is seed of quality. Any seed without the tag is deemed to be fake and not &enuine. "I found out in some of the places thai I visited, thai the. council still needs to carry out more awareness. NiJe.rians find It difficult to cb.an&e (rom their old habit so we would mntinue 10 intensify efforts to make. .sure that thin&! change. The level 0( compliance: is just above ~o per oenL Those that rail short were penalised.& A&boola said.
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Same.ansofgivingback 1"\...to the society, Procter and Gamble, makers of Pampers Premium Care diapers has rewarded Ni&erian mothers byhOllting winners or its memorable moments c:onlest 10 a one. day spa treatmenl in Lagos. The firm said the gesture was to appreciate the mothers for patronising it,
noting timt the unflinching support of the mothers contributed imme.nse.ly to its growth io the.countl)', The. Brand Manager. Baby and Oral Care, P!rG, Mr. Cle.tus Onyebuaha appreciated the women for giving the right diaper tare to their babies. He said the finn decided to host the women at the. Wheat Baker
Hotel, Ikoyi. because it wanted 10 give llie winners • memorable. five star 6ptrience.. According 10 him, the. mothers were presented with photo albuJI\IIi rrom their previously held £amily photo shool 5pOnsored by themmpany, fie said. -nlis product was introduced as a
result of fresh insights by dennatologists that babies' SkiD requires e.nra special proledion in the diaper
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This is be.caus.e their skin subject to very specifIC demands, compared to the skin of older children or adults wbich is due to rrom external upoou~ irritaots.
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