lIS - Vanguard, mURSDAY,. JULY 2 1,2011
Trawler owners groan under huge o"erhead costs wners A.uocilltioD (NITOA) bas appealed 10 the Federlll Government to lIave th e lIector from imminent coll a pse du e to buge overhead costs, lnduding big h cost of diesel. Mr J oseph Overo, President of NITOA, $aid in Lagos th at th e productivity of itll members had nosedive<! as a re sult of blgh cost of di esel used in op3ilting th e trawlOf1l:. O vero said that 85 per cenl 01 the sector operations depended !ole1r on diesel, lidding thai the opetBtoTS were incwrlng buye over head
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Though , Nigeria's fi s h products ue among th e best In the world the price of our exported products has remained static In the international mlllket. lhis ill because we are unable to dictale price due 10 the cheap production cost ocrll!Siolled by granl'l, aids and subsidies obtained by Olll competitOlS from their vBriou, governments
which put Ih em a l 1m advanlage," he said Overo als o said thaI it ba d been dif(icult 10 pass the increase in COlit of production to local consumerâ&#x20AC;˘ . The trBw\er operator explained th a t most fi shing companies had bee n laying off wo[keB as alesult of "long and painful vessel idling time al their vari ous
jetties~ .
H e Raid operators in th e sector had written iettenl to Presl den l Goodluck Jonathan and various ministries for solutions to the problems. Overo noted that some countries that had similar problems took mellSUles 10 cushion tb e negalive dfeds by giving subsidies 10 o p e rato rs of their
ft shingneet. "We are appeAling to the government to emulate such countries, This good gesture, if applied in Nigeria, is bound to bring imm e nse ben efi ts , including creation of n ew jobs and increa5ed domes tic fisb production lor food s ecurity. He s aid government's support would lead to en
increB s e in fOfe lgn eltChBnge earnings through export, saJeguard of m sting investments in fish e ries and encourage new local and Foreign Direct Investme nts to the subsector, he said. Overo note d th a t NITOA contribute d largely to the loca..! fi s h production lind generBled employment (or more than SOO,OOO M
=". "This Is so because it Is
only In tbefisbinginduslly thet d ie!el ale n e accounts 10I 85 p e l cent o f th e production cost," he said. Aec~nling to him, each ..... ene) consume! an Iwerage of 60 tonnes of diesel dsil}' ~i that is N 10 million per 45-day fishing trip. He !u93es1ed thai the Feder al Gove rnment s h o u l d oppr ove direct a.Ilacl.tion 01 diesel from the m l jor marli:elen to the operators. "We are ap p ealing to (JOVeroment to also i u bsidi:re die sel. H the lume ls enjoy fertiliser subsidy, then the fishing sector s hould b ave Il.D incen tive to enable the sector to thrive," he said. "The s u pply of this prcduct to the industrial fishing CpeI"atolW requires g overument Intervention iUJd s upport, if al l the fishing COffiprulie5 would not fold up , be said,
Pix f rom left AIr. Kola OIouan, S~c"f!la" G~n~nI4 Logo! ond Dutn¡CI Society of ICAN; Chitf Patrick Alflljnbi, ntwly ifutollt d Chairman ; Ilk DaJo Babalanit, Imm~dirtle pillt Chairmon and /ltr Raila OIUItl/alVon, TrttfSIlnr allh~ Annual Gtnernl ilfe~ring of Logo! and DUrricl SOC:;~ly o.f In$inutlle of ChaTten:d A.uOlurJanIJ of Nigma and Inslallation 6f tie'" Chairman 'fdd in lAgos or:tr the wetkerrd. Photo b, IAmMi 8amjdd~
FG to empower women farmers - Minister T
Federal
Adesi.nasll1dgoo.~s
Gu.....emmeatis set to
h e
dedslco 10 boost women farmers' Involvement in agricu1twe was pfemised on the fact that the sector remained the mainstay of the n ation's economy. He said government bad a lot 01 incentives for women under the agricultural programme to make them farm with ease and enbance thcir productivity. Th e mlnI.ster a.dded that guvernment would Invest in in1rutnlchu:e In rurAl l\re1lS througb the creation o ( "remunerative economic opportunities," (o r more women to enga.ge in agricultwe. He proIDised that govenunent ...."1Iuld elso look loto the problems of larmen generally with a view to ensuring t bat they
emPO""/fef wvrnen f/!.TID.e rs as PaJ t 0( its new startegy to facilitate the development 01 the emicultural SectOL Dr Akin;f\l.IU!li AdHina. the new lYlinl s ter of Agrlodture, ' ''ho made the e.nnouncem~t on in Abuja in all tnte"ie'" witb newsme n sborely after assumlng office, said the me l!S Ule bl!d become imperalive, becavR: \oromco ~~ lor 80 per cent of tb e (:ot'.n ~ 's l'ilbour force.. He ob s erved tbl!.e Illthauo h women prodl'(:ed more than 55 per (:cnt cl th'! food crops in tbe ~tJy, they leck!!d sufticient i!.ccess to fi!.lUl I.mple!Dents ttl boost their productivity.
h a d mOle access to hum Inputs, such as .ee ds and fertiliser . Adeslna .aid ellorts would be IntensiJi ed to Bccelerate the p a c e of I.mproveme nt in dom estic produ ction of crops and processing to ensure loed security. He said government WIlJI worried about post barvest losses, stresslng those Nigeriall farmers could not continue to s el.l with tears, but must r eap the dividends of fanning . "\Vewill produce storage faciliti es, revamp the sector and accele r ate f a rm ers' activitie. In a cleu and vi&ible manner that will impact tbeir lives Bnd r C!'ltore the n a tion', lost glory in agriculture."
Ex-ICAN chief urges CBN to abide by BOFIA A former lCAN official .t-\.has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (C BN) to douse the controversy l urrounding the so called Is lamic banking by res tri c ting itsell to Ihe ten e ts and spirit ollhe Banking And O ther Financial Ins titutions Act (BOFlA). Mr Abayoml Ogunjlml, former chairman of ICAN, Amuwo district, lold the Ne"WlI Agency of Nigeria (NAN) onThesdaythatthe a ppeal had become imperallve because tbe issue had polarised Ihe nation. Ogunjiml said that the wlOng Inlerpretation of the Acl was the rellSOn behind the uproar which had greeted the initiative floated by the CBN . "C BN n eed s to d eemphrudse the reUgiou5
O!ntrlll Blink building. Abufil connotation In Islamic banking and maintain the non- ln t ere.1 banking system~ contained In the Ac t, Ogunjimi said that NlgerlB neede d the benefits of non-Interes t be.nldng to cushion the eUects of high interest ra le on businesses . ':As a
business man, an inleresl Iree ' acllity would be considered as a me.lDS 01 funding ," h e sBid, !!Iud cBll ed fOf a shift in the scheduled date 01 Implemeolliidon to enable th e CBN mobili se Bnd sensilise Nigerians to dIe Idea.