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Va n guard, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2011
BUSINESS/EXPORT --,~--~----~~~~~~~--~--~~~UTA to raise research quality -SANGINGA NCREAS I NG research quality, buildi ng pa rtners hips , and e nha nci.ng capacities to generate Unpact at the fann level will form t he major agenda of t he Interna tional lnstitute of Ttop ica!pAu-i culture (UTA) ' e ~ea r s ahead, according a Dr. Nteranya Sanginga, IITA's new Dlreclor . General. . The new focus is aimed a t con fronting the e merging cballenges to food secu rity and livelihoods .in tropical count ries i ncludi ng c Um a te change and the d~ radation in soils and oUier natural resources. According to h im, improving the quality of research on a continuous basis will enable the institute to retain and . maintain its position as the top ag ricultural resea rch-fo t development IR4D) o rganisation in Africa. I n its 44 'yea rs of existence. UTA led research on the control
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NEPC equips.Nigerians for AGOA, commissiOns Human Development Centre BY DANI.EL GUMM N en effort t o concentrate on expo rt o f non-o il products , the Federal Government, through th e Ni9erian Export Promotion C ounci l (NEPC), bas commissioned the NEPC Human Capital Development Centre, a train ing cent re fo r gann e nt, cre ated by the coun cil, uD der th e Af rican Growth OP-'port uI)it y Act (AGOA) iruuative and m anage d b} Mess rs Pa tience Please Nigeria Ud. Speaking at theoffidal ope n i ng c eremony, Minist er of State Trade and In'les lme nt, O r. Samuel loraer Ottom, sai d th e pa rtnership bEtween the f e deral Gove r nment and Messrs Patience Please N igeria Ltd , was a programme that would promote the nation's
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non-oil sector. He explained that the Fed eral Government had i nvi ted the Organised Private Sector {OPS} to c ollabo rate towards economic development. The minister said : HGone are the days when we Would wait for the government to execute programmes for us , The government of President GoodluckJonathan has lhrown out invitations to those who care' (or this country to come and join hand to move it forward . ~We are quit e impres$ed with the quality of the products thai is being prod uced here, we will have the opportunity to even expo rt . We keep saying that the challenge we have in this country today is unemploymen1 and one of the things that this centre will De doing is to transfer skiJ.ls to as many young people that are coming
and also creat e t h e opportunity of exporting the p rodu cts to olher cou ntries to generate re venue." nus initiative, Ortom said, Utallies our programme of creating Job s, creating opportunities for Nig eria ns and also creating wealth, " pointing out that government has already put in place seve ra l Incentives to atl1act t hose who intend to e xport Nigerian prOducts. In a keynote address by ED/ CEO, NEPC, David I. Adulugba Esg. he said that the centre was established aboul six years ego to assist Nigerian businessmen/ women to take advantage of the benefits of AGOA by meeting the r eq uis ite standarC:s fo r export of garmen ts to the US market. He said that NEPC
laments poor development of solid minerals sector HE Nigerian Expoit Promotion CouncilJNEPCl ba s lament e the slow growth in t he solid minerals sector of the Nigerian economy. The Exerutive DfrectorJ Chief Executive Officer! NEPC, Mr. Davia Adulugba.whu spoke in Abuja a t t h e Miners Forum or9,arti!;ed by the . Progress ive Mi ners Empow e rment Association (PMEA) in co llaboration with NEPC, said that given the necessary attention. the non-oil se ctor has equa l po t entia l of competing fa voura bly wilh, i[ Dol bl!tter than the oU sector.' H e recalled that the economy before now was nurtured hom the proceeds derived from the agricultUre sector and slressed Ulat the s olid mineral!; sector if
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developed, could net in more revenues for the country as was the case in many other civilised settings . Acco rd i n g to him : -N igeria ha s high potentials in so lid mine rals no doubt, yet nol much efforts have b ee n made in its exp: loration and exploitation compared to wtiat are obtainable in endowed s imilar c ount ries suc h as Cana d a, AUstralia , South Ahica and others. However, cu rre n t government effo rts in p utt i ng down t he requisite regulatory a nd e nvironmenta l in fr as tructure in line wit h M r. Presi den t's national transformation programmes are critical requirement for success wh ich shou ld be commended.The NEPC helmsman
said Ihe decision by the council to coUaborate with the private sector such as Prog res-sive Miners Empowerment Association (PMEA) to hos t the forum underscored th e importance the council attached to the need for the diversification of the national economy by a way of Public Private Partnership {PPP} . "The co uncil in its determination to s upport the mine ral secto r development created the solid. minerals unit to map out sig nificant development progr:ammes and projects [or the s olid IDmerals sector to help stop the incessant Imuggllitg of Nigerian solid minerals and earn revenue for the nation Ulrough payment of royalties and foreign exchange earning: lie 5a.id.
recently outsourced the management of t he centre 10 a consultant in line with thegovemment policy on Public Private Pa rtnership lPPPJ, SIlVU!g : "I am delighted to Inform you that since the cen t re was es tablished, over 350 students have graduated from it, out of which 62 per cent were women, while 12 have form e d g roups of three, four and five/ respectively to Ooat thetr own outlits a nd had since been i n operation. I believe that wlteri the centre becomes operational, it will not only enhance export competitiveness of our apparel exports, but also help in e mpoweririg our tee m i ng une mployed you ths through s kills acquisition, wealth and job creation a s well as ~verty alleviation." Th e African Growt h a nd 0ITo rtunity Act AGOA was signed into awon lay Iff, 2000 as Title I of The Uade a nd Deve lopme nt Act of 2000 . Th e Ac t offers tangible incentives for Afncan countries t o continue their efforts to open th eir economies and build free, markets .
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of cassava mealrbug {a cassava pest that generated benefits worth oetween $15.6 and $27.8 billion based on 2004 estimates. The institute has, over the years, developed several improved varieties of c owpe a, banana and pla nta.in , ci!ss-ava,""a~ean,
and maize. Th ese varieties are transforming the lives of farm ers, enha ncing wealth and guaranteeing food security especially in sub-Saharan Africa. . C urrenUy about 60% of the mai2..eg rown in West .and Central Africa comes from IITA varieties. Sanginga e mphasised the i mportance of partnership s and t he need to help build the capacity of partners. H e not e d that t he 9ro wing IDterdependence witll partners was crucial in ca rryin? out t he insti(ute s mission and vis ion o f e radicating hunger and poverty.
Drought-tolerant maize critical to increase maize production in West Africa -Study CCESS to im proved seed s by s mall-holder farmers is a p re requisite to Inc reased maize production in Wes t Africa, as cli mate change hurts yield from tradilional varie t ies , says a s tudy by r esea rche rs wo r kin g under the Drough1 Tolera nt Mai2..e for Africa P..jecIIDTMAI . • The study authored by Dr. Abdoulil.ye Tabirou et al, notes that improved maize varieties tolerant of drought are helping farmers in addressing prod uction ri sks and called for joint efforts 10 facilitat e th e i r wider dissemination across the subregion. C onsumed by m ote
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·Afr. At. O. Ibrahim, NEPC, a /th e ceremony.
than 650 million people in s ub -Saharan Alnca (SSA), maize productivity in recent years has been severely threatened by freque n1 droughts and irregular rainfall. In West and Centra l Africa, 35 per cen~ of ti1e area under malze IS a ITected by drought. The DTMA Project, a partnership led by the International Centre for Mai ze a nd Wheat Improv eme n t (CLMMYf) and lITA. is helpin9 fa r mers i n cushiorung the negative effect of droug ht by developing and disseminating maize with sigmficantly improved drought tolerance.
·Mr. Jl f. Agbogun Ibrilhim, NEPC, a/ liJe ceremon y. .