The Nation Newspaper

Category: Niger Delta

  • ‘Niger Delta challenges go beyond constitutional amendment’

    The Ibe-Uyadonwei of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Chief Dennis Brutus Otuaro, was orphaned at 8. That did not stop him from bagging a degree in Political Science from the Delta State University, a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Benin, another Master’s degree in Public Administration from UNIBEN and a doctorate degree in view at the UNIBEN. He spoke with reporters.

    NIGER Delta and multinationals                                                                                         

    As stakeholders, over the years, we have keenly observed and we have done our part bridging the gap between the communities and the government; bridging communication breakdown between the communities and the oil multinationals as well as the government. That was the role I played as Chief Protocol Officer; to let the youths to understand the project determination of the government had and the commitment towards development agenda of the government. But as of today, things are getting worse the attitudes of oil companies, it’s even getting worse. There are many cases of oil pollution that are deliberately blamed on host communities by the oil multinationals may be in connivance with the government and security agencies such that when a spill occurs they will categorise it as sabotage. And in some of these investigations, the communities and the stakeholders are not even involved; only the oil companies and the security agents will go and do it on their own and categorise it with any name at the end it is the community and the environment that suffers. And you know in Nigeria, how it is with the culture of settlement.

    If given the opportunity, what would you do differently?

    I would engage stakeholders and make to work vital recommendations to address relevant issues facing the Niger Delta.  The people of the Niger Delta will be engaged meaningfully, because we already have basic documentation that are on the ground in the archives that we can dust come up with a good developmental blueprint to give the short term, midterm and long term solutions; and not to be engaging stakeholders in marathon workshops and conferences That are not productive. It is time to make the youths, the women and the men of the Niger Delta productive.

    When you go to the Niger Delta states, apart from the civil service, there is nothing generating employment; even the oil companies are not in the Niger Delta. You only see them in Abuja and Lagos and when those from the Niger Delta go for employment, it is always a problem as indigenes of where the companies are located are given preferential treatment. They are even under pressure from indigenes of those areas not to appoint Niger Delta sons and daughters. There is no industry in the region. Any amount of money you give to the people, they can hardly invest it there; the money will go out. That is why we must light up the Niger Delta, now that we’re talking about electricity, connect the region to the electricity and good road networks. So when the investors are coming, they will already know there are roads and it will open up the markets and make any investment accessible. Thereon the security challenge can now be easier to deal with. It will then become easier for the government or security agents to mobilise when there are security challenges;

    Militancy in the region and Amnesty Programme

    What the past advisers of the amnesty program have succeeded in doing from the initial stage is disarmament de-mobilisation, and now training is going on in some aspects. But the amnesty package that was given as at 2009 is more than that. So anyone in charge of the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme should know that. How could these people have access to the resources in their region. It is one of the critical aspects of the amnesty programme that stakeholders and the governments still need to discuss. Under the programme, late President Yar’Adua, agreed on 10% equity stake for host communities in the petroleum sector as part of the amnesty deal. This 10% will be focused on long term development and investment for the region, so those are areas any special adviser in the amnesty and the minister for Niger Delta should be thinking when they convene for stakeholders meeting or advising the government to enable people to access their wealth. That is it and not just sending them to training and abandoning them without even determining the type of trade that is relevant in their respective localities. The NDDC has a serious role to play in even in the amnesty programme because when we’re talking about opening up the communities by road, the lighting up of the Niger Delta the Niger Delta ministry and the NDDC have a big role to play.

    Amnesty programme and reintegration of the militants

    For me, it is not effective but as for the training and other things they’re doing, they say they’re doing some things. Recently when they got some Boko Haram members reintegrated about a hundred plus of them, we already knew they’re integrating them into the Nigerian military service. If you say you’re reintegrating people, where are you reintegrating them into? You give them some starter pack for some trade that may not even be relevant to their locality.

    You’re not telling us that you’re reintegrating them means that you are resettling them from their Local communities. At the end of giving someone starter pack, the way the program is being done now, you’re sending them to go and start a business in their communities. So when you are training them for projects, do you take cognizance of the viable trade in their domains? No. There are cases of misplaced priorities in the reintegration process. But those that went to school, I know for the students after graduation maybe 60% can survive on their own. As students, they can invest even if there are no jobs as is the Nigerian situation. Out of the ten university graduates, six can survive on their own. For me, they should even focus more on the education aspect because of the level of illiteracy is very high in the Niger Delta and not only in the north as they’re saying.

    We have a high level of illiteracy. So, the Programme should focus more on education; and with respect to that they can also focus on the polytechnic and technical education aspects and not just formal university students education. Some people will be ready to go to the polytechnic for two years and garner the capacity to understand any business they may want to do.

    Balancing academics, work and family

    Work, family and academics are tasking situations, only mitigated by the love and care of my wife, who is always playing the role of a mother. I will give the credit to her on how i cope with work, academics and the struggle, after God.

    Doctorate degree

    I see the PhD as a something for self- fulfilment. After going to school, you need a PhD so that you can break new grounds in learning. Right now, I am working on research on the Challenges of Researchers Objectivity on the Niger Delta Crisis.

    From my research at the PhD level, I have realised that the people have so many challenges; some border on education while others centre on basic needs, even before oil was discovered at Oloibiri.

    The Winnick Commission Report of 1957/1958 made it clear that this area needed special attention but sadly after the country’s independence, that report was abandoned and the government of the day recommended the Niger Delta Development Basin which was an agency that was deliberately made not to work. Before the military intervention in our politics, there was derivation formula was enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution. But immediately after the military left the stage, the allocation concept was inserted into the new constitution. The concept of revenue allocation is alien; it is a criminal concept in the operating constitution of Nigeria.

    As a father, you cannot allocate what your son has. When your son is wealthy, it is his duty to maintain you, it is not you as a father taking everything that belongs to your son, then you now give him 1.5 per cent, 13 per cent or whatever percentage. It is only here in Nigeria that the constitution is taking something from the state and then allocating it. Revenue Allocation is alien to federalism. For now, 13 per cent is not even enough. The constitution says at least 13 per cent. But at the end of the day, We only need a policy will of the government to make it a policy statement or declaration about reviewing the 13 percentage and increase in the percentage as the constitution does not stop any government from increasing the percentage from 13.

    The only time we would need a constitutional amendment on the issue is if we want to remove the 13 per cent from the constitution. The only other thing that would need to be done would be a meeting with the states to garner support for a medium of collaboration and cooperation so that when they are given the money, the states would not be left to manage it alone. They should go back to the Niger Delta Development master plan that was commissioned and review it so that the whole idea of development in the Niger Delta to be an issue of cooperation and collaboration between the state and the Federal Government; and not the situation where we are seeing duplication of roles, duplication of functions and abandonment of projects. It is an unfortunate thing over the years the implementation of the 13 percentage has done little or nothing.

    Political ambition

    I don’t have any political ambition for now but my mission is to serve my country anytime the opportunity comes. I always tell my friends that the greatest endeavour is service to your fatherland.

    Wish for your country

    At the moment, my only appeal is to the political class. The elections have come and gone, so it’s time for them to heal the wounds and move on, especially to our President, whom I would implore to look very deep, refocus on the security architecture of the Niger Delta and carry critical stakeholders along, especially High Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo). He should not rely on the political leaders alone; they cannot give all the needed solution.

     

     

     

  • Freedom for four inmates in Akwa Ibom

    The Prisons Officers’ Wives’ Association (PROWA) has secured the release of four inmates from Uyo  and Ikot Ekpene Prisons in Akwa Ibom State after paying stipulated fines.

    The Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), Public Relations Officer in the state, ASP Josiah Ogbajie revealed this in a statement in Uyo on Wednesday.

    Ogbajie said the fines were paid by PROWA President Hajiya Gwamma Ja’afaru.

    “Today, April 17, 2019, the President, Prisons Officers’ Wives Association and wife of the Controller-General of NPS, Hajiya Gwamma Ja’afaru, secured the release of four inmates at Uyo and Ikot Ekpene Medium Security Prisons.

    “The inmates were released with the payment of fines by the president. The association has so far released a total of 221 inmates nation-wide since the inception of Ja’afaru-led administration,” he said, adding that Ja’afaru was represented by Mrs Mary Obep, National Treasurer of the association.

    He said the PROWA Presiden urged NPS officers to support their wives to embrace various skill acquisition programmes of the association.

    He said Ja’fa’ru also solicited the support of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders in order to empower more women and inmates of prisons across the country.

     

  • Prospect of being millionaires excites Edo farmers

    When Shakespeare said in his play Macbeth that “there is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face,” it appeared to be incontrovertible. But an event at Warake, Owan East Local Government Area of Edo State was strong enough to invalidate this age-long axiom.

    When Governor Godwin Obaseki addressed farmers in the local government on his plan to make them Agriprenuers through a collateral-free loan he accessed from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on their behalf, it sounded strange to them. There was an element of disbelief on the part of the farmers.

    Issues seemed compounded when Governor Obaseki revealed to them that loans could be given to them without collateral and that the profits accruing from the farming exercise entirely belong to them.  This time, one could find the mind’s construction on the faces of the farmers. From their facial expressions, there was no way they could hide their reservations.

    It appeared so outlandish to the farmers who gathered to listen to Governor Obaseki on how he intended to make them agriprenuers. It was not something they ever fathom could happen in Nigeria that they could be given loans without collaterals and become sole owners of the entire proceeds from the ventures. To some of them, they would rather wait till harvest time when money from the proceeds of the farms would be handed to them before they would believe that the country has really changed.

    The farmers asked several probing questions in a bid to ensure that they heard right that money would soon be deposited in their various bank accounts.

    Governor Obaseki had secured N5 billion loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Anchor Borrowers’ Programme under the Commercial Agric Credit Scheme for rice and maize production.  The rice and maize would be cultivated on over 10,600 hectares of land across the three senatorial districts.

    Rice would be cultivated at Iguoriakhi, Iguomon, Illushi, Warrake and Agenebode while maize would be cultivated at Usugbenu, Sobe and Ekpoma. The target is to harvest 17,000 tons of rice and 11,000 tons of maize at the end of this year’s planting season.

    The loan was secured after the state government carried out an experiment last year with the FADAMA III additional financing programme. Despite the setback occasioned by flooding that destroyed most of the rice farms, many farmers that participated in the scheme, especially those that insured their farms, smiled to the banks.

    Represented by his Special Adviser on Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, Prince Joe Okojie during a sensitisation tour of the different farm locations, Governor Obaseki urged the farmers to carry out proper supervision of the farms for good yields.

    The farmers were taught how to access the loan and how much they stand to make at the end of harvest if things were done accordingly.

    They were also warned against selling their produce to other merchants except the off-takers that entered agreement with the state government.

    Explaining how the loan would be expended, Governor Obaseki said N2.2 billion would be used for crop production, N2.3 billion for land development and N100 million for irrigation. He said N1.2 billion would be for rice and maize cultivation.

    Obaseki said flooding disaster would be avoided by planting early before the flood comes and doing another planting after the flood has receded, adding that experts would be engaged to give technical support to the farmers while a bank has been engaged to oversee appropriate disbursement of the funds throughout the farming season until harvest.

    He said: “We have engaged a lot of agronomists. We have employed the services of Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) that is going to be our technical partner and who will bring on board a lot of agronomists that will help us.

    “We are trying to deploy best practices for the cultivation of the crops this season and hope that we get better yield than those of two years ago. We will not allow side selling. You are to sell the produce to the off-takers we have signed contract with. The CBN will come after you if you go contrary to the rules and regulations.

    “The ultimate beneficiaries are the farmers. All you have to do is to be dedicated to your farms for you to have good yields. We took about N5 billion under the Commercial Agric Credit Scheme, about N2.2 billion is for crop production, N2.3 billion for land development and about N100 million for irrigation.

    “We hope to produce millionaire farmers this year. We do not anticipate a drop in the price of rice. We hope that we are able to produce about 17,000 metric tons of rice after cultivating about 4,400 hectares of rice farms.”

    One of the beneficiaries expected to grow maize, Afadama Enotaye said: “Before now, we have been anxious about the matter, but from I have seen today, I think the government is committed to do something great which we are happy about. Since we have a dynamic SA on Agric, we pray that our patience for the past three years will pay off this time around.

    “We are very prepared to engage in serious farming. We will ensure that we didn’t disappoint the confidence that the government has reposed in us. We still find it difficult to believe it is true because we are not contributing anything.”

    Mrs Gloria Ogala at Illushi, Esan South East Local Government Area, said she participated in the scheme because of the cheap loans farmers could access from CBN’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme.

    “We find it difficult to access loans here in Illushi and the ones we get come with high interest rates. For instance, if you borrow N200, 000 at the beginning of a planting season, you pay back N400, 000 at the end. This drastically affected our profits. I am happy because the state government wants us to make a good profit from farming”, she said.

    Another farmer at Warrake, Mr. John Aregbokhia, said the programme would encourage youths to take to farming as a business, going by the profit to be made at the end of each farming season.

    He said: “We usually make about N1 million from 20 hectares of rice farm but we have been told that we can make about N4 million from the same farm land. This is really wonderful. I have no doubt that the programme will be a success because we did something similar last year and the outcome was positive.”

    Field Officer, NIRSAL, Mr. Paul Jatau, said NIRSAL is partnering with Edo State government to provide technical support and inputs for the farmers. He urged them to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the programme to scale up their operations into commercial enterprises.

    He explained that the state government secured financing for the projects, which could only be accessed by the farmers when necessary requirements have been met.

     

  • Why I set up Doorstep Dispatch Services, by Delta-born net-entrepreneur

    While most people complain about the perennial gridlock in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, Lagos and other major cities, budding entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer of Doorstep Dispatch Services, Justin Chukwuemeka Enuonye has said the traffic chaos in Nigerian cities, especially in Port Harcourt and Lagos provides an opportunity to begin a business, contribute to the economy and create employment opportunities.

    Enuonye, a native of Ogwashi-Uku in Delta State, is a graduate of Business Administration from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Cyberjaya Malaysia. Unlike his counterparts who remained after studying abroad, Enuonye’s faith in Nigeria was a motivating factor for returning home after completion of his education.

    On arrival in Nigeria, he settled in Lagos which he described as a great city full of amazing people and so many great restaurants. But sadly, as a fast and ever-growing city and population, the metropolis of Lagos and its environs have acquired an unenviable reputation for traffic congestion.

    This, he said, made it difficult for people to just drive to their favourite restaurants at any time to enjoy their favourite meals.

    He said he also noticed the number of small businesses emerging in the city that was in desperate need of a reliable delivery company to help deliver items to clients. He, however, said there are many challenges which reliable logistics companies experience in the city.

    These observations gave rise to the idea of an online food, tech and parcel delivery venture, which he hoped would revolutionise food and parcel delivery services not only in the economic hub of Lagos, but also all over Nigeria. This resulted in the establishment of Doorstep Dispatch Service.

    “I thought that I can use technology to build something that will solve that logistics problem in Lagos and Nigeria.

    “I lived and studied abroad. When I came back to Nigeria, I decided to settle down in Lagos. I noticed that there is an increase in the number of businesses, restaurants and startups but one thing remained the same and that is the traffic situation. I noticed that people usually have hard time going to their favourite restaurants at any given time of the day because of the traffic situation.

    “Secondly, a lot of these businesses keep complaining of their logistics aspect of the business; that need hasn’t been met yet. They still feel backward in their business. At that point, that is where the idea of Doorstep Dispatch Service came about,” he said.

    The Doorstep Dispatch Services founder said the idea of the business was conceived in 2016, but because the country was not well-prepared for the use of technology at that point, the idea of Doorstep Dispatch Services did not materialise.

    “We started building the mobile application in February, last year and completed it around June. We started the test run from then. It was launched officially last month,” he said.

    He further explained that Doorstep Dispatch Services was aimed at being the preferred choice for dispatches in the continent and it is their goal to have and maintain a 100 per cent customer satisfaction record at all times through prompt, safe and intact delivery of food and parcels to customers anytime, anywhere.

    In order to achieve this unique goal, Doorstep Dispatch Services developed the mobile application, which can be downloaded from Apple App Store and Google Play. It allows users to order food directly from their choice restaurants and also request for pick-up and drop-off of parcels.

    Enuonye explained that the App also has an amazing feature that allows users to track their order in real time so as to ensure the safe and timely delivery of their food or parcels.

    Already, he said Doorstep Dispatch Services has about 100 restaurants on board the mobile application ready to serve every user to their utmost satisfaction.

    On its future plans, he said: “At the moment, Door Step Dispatch Services is covering the whole of Lagos Island and hopes to extend it to the Mainland and other areas of the state in the next one month.

    “The target market or audience of Doorstep Dispatch Services is everyone who has a smart phone and has access to Internet.”

    In its bid to alleviate the unemployment situation in the country, Doorstep Dispatch Services has employed over 40 youths and hopes to employ more youths as it expands its services to other parts of the city.

  • Returning the lost glory of palm oil farming in the Niger Delta

    In a quest to change the fortunes of local palm oil farmers in the Niger Delta region, PIND Foundation has trained over 6,000 farmers and facilitated deployment of multimillion naira farming technologies to the region. South-south Regional Editor, SHOLA O’NEIL, and BASSEY ANTHONY report on the foundation’s laudable palm oil intervention.

    Nigeria’s demand for palm oil is estimated at about 1.8million tons per annum, a figure which outstrips the current local production capacity of about 970,000 tons. As result, over 800,000 or about 47percent supply deficit is bridged through importation.

    Economic experts say Nigeria is expending scarce foreign exchange of about $500m on the importation of the vital commodity that could be produced locally. The development is a stark contrast of the country’s past and fall from its past as that was number one oil palm producer in the 1960s.

    It is against this backdrop that the Foundation for Partnership Initiative for Niger Delta (PIND) is receiving rave reviews from palm oil farmers for its intervention in changing the narrative of the palm oil subsector.

    The Chevron Limited funded NGO, which has invested heavily in the training of fish, cassava and poultry farmers all over Niger Delta region, has so far trained 6,206 oil palm farmers in the region. It has facilitated the acquisition of thousands of advanced technical tools like Malaysian knives, mechanical adjustable harvesters and Small-Scale processing Equipment (SSPE) for local oil palm farmers in the Niger Delta region.

    Why the concentration on the palm oil in the crude oil-rich region? PIND Foundation’s palm oil expert, Nezah Obio-Odu, told Niger Delta Report that 50percent of the about one million (1,000,000) palm oil farmers in Nigeria operates in the nine states of the region.

    Mr. Udeme Bassey is one of the lead oil palm farmers in the region. He hails from and farms in Ibesikpo Asutan, an Ibibio area, which is famous for palm oil farming in very fertile Akwa Ibom state. Bassey boasted that PIND’s intervention has opened his eyes and his colleagues’ to the fact that “farming smart is better than having extensive hectares of farmland that yield very little.”

    “You know that this is what we have been using in those good old days. You hear of Ibibio Scholarship Union, that was being done through the proceeds of the oil palm.”

    That was a long time ago, but today as population grew, the demand for palm oil has increased, and sadly too, the lure of the ‘black gold’ (crude oil) has deflected attention from oil palm farming.

    But Bassey believes that the palm oil intervention of PIND foundation is already reversing the trend. He said the state’s oil palm farmers have benefited tremendously from the PIND initiative since 2017 when they were exposed to the foundation.

    As a result, he said rather than be overawe by the guest to have vast expanse of oil palm farmland to cultivate thousands of trees to make enough money, he would rather farm in a small, more

    Nezah Obio-Odu is PIND’s Market Development Adviser who is saddled with the Palm Oil Value Chain Project.  When our reporter met her at the PIND office in Warri, she was calm and soft spoken. But when she was asked about the oil palm programme, her face lit up and she spoke with much passion and enthusiasm.

    She said the foundation’s intervention was because it saw potentials for job creation and lifting more people in the region out of poverty.

    ”The palm oil sector is made up of over one million (1,000,000) actors, out of which more than 50percent is located in the Niger Delta. That is why PIND Foundation saw it as a sector to go into to support in the economic development.

    “You know what we (PIND Foundation) do: we are looking for opportunities to create jobs and increase income for the vulnerable people and for low-income earners.

    “As part of the solution to the palm oil supply gap, PIND carried out a value chain analysis of the sector. PIND strategically looked at the whole value chain, and what is involved in the value chain. We have seedling, we have harvesting, we have processing and we have management of the farm.”

    The analysis revealed that farmers like Bassey still relied on, not just age-long practices handed down, but on the use of the same seedlings, that are not as productive as new versions, for cultivation.

    ”The overall problem why there was a gap (between demand and supply) is that the yield that farmers had is low because they don’t have the right knowledge and technology. That is why they don’t have the maximum yield. In a hectare of land, for example, a typical farmer is producing four tons of palm fruits, fresh fruit bunches (FFB). Meanwhile you can get up to 16-25tons in that same hectare of land if you use the right technology.”

    “So we started off with best management practices that are how can they take care of the farm better? How can they prune it better? How can they harvest it better? And how to harvest on time too, these small details are very important. How they clear their farms so that when the palm fruits starts falling down they can pick it up, because if the farms are not cleared, when the fruits starts falling down, you will not see them,” she said.

    At the time of this report on Tuesday evening, our findings showed that farmers are already adopting the BMP in Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Edo, Imo and Ondo states. In fact, it was learnt that more than 4,000 of the 6,206 trained have adapted the best practice. One of them, an AIC Alaoma in Imo state, told our reporter that he has been very busy spreading the knowledge. “As I am talking to you now, am on my way to Orlu for a demonstration,” he told our reporter on the phone.

    The benefiting farmers have also increased their proceeds by as much as 50percent, with yields-per-hectare climbing from the paltry four tons 10 and 12tons.

    Speaking to our reporter in his farm, Udeme Bassey said, “This is a one hectare farm which contains 150 stands. You cannot compare what you have on this farm, which operates the best management practice, with a farm that has not been given attention, even if it is three hectares.”

    “So the recent studies show that if we continue on the best management practices, applying the fertilizers four times in a year we can do harvesting every eight days.”

    “We harvest every two weeks. Initially we could not do that, but because of the training we have been able to have our harvest every two weeks and we see the yield, the FFB increase.”

    To further consolidate on the benefits of the BFP, farmers are now coalescing to take advantage of their training and numbers. “In Ibesikpo Asutan, we have a cooperative that is called Oil Palm Plantation Owners MPCS. It is the umbrella body of all the oil palm farmers in Akwa Ibom. We flagged off the first oil palm summit in the state and this was done to create awareness of this new development. This year too we will be doing it,” Bassey added.

    But if our findings are anything to go by, it is not only in the area of farming that opportunities have been created. Hundreds of jobs are now being created through the adoption of technologies in oil palm farming.

    PIND Foundation is helping the farmers switch to technologies that make farming much easier and less strenuous.

    Some of the advancements involved the use of technologies to ease the burden of farmers. Hitherto, climbers who were hired by farmers to harvest fruits from trees – some as high as 25 meters – would abandon them and harvest shorter ones without letting their employers know that they abandoned several trees because of height. As a result, farmers were losing up to fifty percent of their fruits, because those fruits would later fall off and are eaten by rodents.

    The solution to that problem, Nezah said, was a special sickle-shaped knife, known as the Malaysian knife. “It is used for very long trees so they can harvest. We also introduced them to the mechanical adjustable harvester, which is also used for harvesting; (now) they don’t need to climb anymore.”

    ”We don’t go directly to the farmers and give them these machines, we sort out equipment dealers, entrepreneurial-thinking equipment dealers who will be interested in doing this technologies because they are not always found here in Nigeria. So we started working with two organizations and they started bringing the adjustable harvester. Over 354 technologies have been sold in the Niger Delta through PIND’s support.”

    The foundation, working with the NIFOR trained local engineers and fabricators from farming clusters in Imo on the manufacture of SSPE, which help farmers extract more oil. This added additional 50percent to 10percent that they were able to achieve using the old system.

    However, oil palm farming goes beyond clearing of the bush and harvesting after about five years. Farmer told NDR that one of challenge, apart from finance, was getting the right type of seeds to plant.

    Niger Delta Report in an earlier investigation a couple of years ago had learnt that unless the right seedlings are distributed to farmers the country will continue to play second fiddle to more advanced international producers like those in Malaysia.

    Our recent findings showed too that most of the oil palm seedlings that distributors claim to be the high-yielding Tenera are actually Dura.

    Nezah told our reporter that PIND is working to promote the use of improved seed.  ”We have done promotional activities with Palm Elites, and they were in Nigeria last year. So we are providing the region with good seeds and we are linking farmers with producers.

    “Right now we are working with Allissee so that farmers will know what they are planting and be sure that what they are planting is true.”

    It was further gathered that the new seeds being promoted will producer quicker than those being used by the older generation of farmers, as they can start producing from three years, against seven of the past.

    Beyond helping farmers get the best seed, farm practice and harvest technologies, PIND is also ensuring that the old extraction methods, which give farmers very little reward for their hard works are also being replaced with more efficient technologies.

    Nezah noted that the foundation’s investigation revealed that when farmers harvest their bunches, they are only able to extract 10 percent.

    “We identified the better technology that could give between 15 and 18. The machines are called the small scale processing equipment, and also the high-capacity mill. These technologies are improved technologies than what they used to use. With these, the farmers now have 60 percent increase income,” she said.

    Working with NIFOR, the lead agency for oil palm in Nigeria, PIND has been train fabricators on how to produce and improve the system. Nezah said 114 of such machines have been deployed in the Niger Delta.

    Still, for farmers like Bassey, having the right technologies and the best seedlings are good, but the best for them is having access to the fund to make their dreams a reality.

    ”We do not have the fund in getting these improved seedlings called tenera and the fertilizers are on the high side. We are also calling on the Federal Government as well as the state government and the local government authorities to look into the oil palm sector,” he said.

    To address the challenge of finance, efforts are being made by PIND to link farmers to Central Bank of Nigeria Agric SME Scheme, which has a low interest rate of 5percent per annum.

    On the bright side, these interventions are already yielding dividends with over 4,100 (60%) of the 6,206 BMP trained farmers now adopt best practices to increase their yields and income.

    Similar success stories are being told in the n the area of processing, where processors and millers are gainfully employed and offering services to other processors.

  • Between Judicial Commission of enquiry and Bayelsa’s electoral crises

    Usually men and women perform various electoral functions to vote or be voted for into elective positions when the electoral umpires roll out dates and put in place laws that guide the conduct of such acts.

    While the umpires and government functionaries work hard to educate the citizens on the need for a violence free process, some individuals bent on seizing power use any means possible to make trouble and ensure they win.

    Interestingly, several places in the country were hotbeds and flash points of the total disruption of the systems put in place for free and fair elections during the period starting from the Presidential and National Assembly Elections and the State Governorship and Assembly elections between February and March this year.

    Unfortunately, despite measures taken to guide the actors on the need to eschew violence and tow the part of peace, youths and adults expected to guide them accordingly have been extra busy bent on scuttling the process to enthrone their wards and loyalists or impress their principals who in some cases may not be bothered at how they go about it.

    The youths who are being used to perpetrate electoral violence by the so-called leaders have never bothered to sit back and ponder what becomes of them after the elections, what roles are being played by the children of the leaders who use them to disrupt the process for their selfish gains. The major actors have never bothered to register their children, wards and relatives to even vote or join in the acts where human lives are wasted.

    During such periods as the primaries, electioneering campaigns, voting and collation processes, their families are moved out of circulation, clothed in expensive robes and flown out of the creeks, jungles, villages to the cities and foreign lands where they have their mansions.

    Worried by the mess created and the lives wasted in Bayelsa State, Governor Seriake Dickson set up a commission of inquiry in to the violence, mayhem and breach of peace during and after the General elections which ended after the forced rerun.

    REad also: NYSC DG threatens to withdraw Bayelsa corps members

    Knowingly, it has not been the best of news coming from the Bayelsa state Judicial Commission under the chairmanship of Justice Inikade Eradiri as several alleged actors invited by the commission shunned constituted authorities empowered to find a lasting solution to the cycle of violence.

    The invitation of such prominent figures in the state like former Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva who is the leader of the All Progressives Congress APC, Honourable Israel Sunny Igoli a serving member of the state House of Assembly, the Acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Prof Nelson Brambaifa, the Minister of state for Agriculture Senator Heineken Lokpobiriand Mr. Famous Danumiegha, the candidate of the APC for the Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency, had legal backings beyond the state.

    Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court Abuja had recently granted the Nigerian Police the Orders to arrest and prosecutes Hon Sunny Goli, the lawmaker representing Brass1 Constituency in the state House of Assembly.

    More so, the oil industry players are also accused of being major players in the electoral violence even as Justice Abang also granted the prayers of the Nigerian police to arrest and prosecute one Mr. Sam Kodjo, an Oil Surveillance Contractor and others over alleged complicity in the February   23, 2019 attack and abduction of Deputy Commission of Police, Kola Okunola in the Brass area of the state.

    The oil contractors’ name kept coming up during the first week of the sitting  as prominent  people who have appeared before the commission including Chief Blessing Ipigasi Izagara who is also the candidate for the Bayelsa East Senatorial District, former Chairman of Nembe Local Government  Area Chief Kurogbofa Walter – Benewari and the Vice Chairman of Nembe Local Government Area MrAiyebainaemi,  Walter -Benewari however told the panel that APC thugs attacked people in Bassambiri and Okipri areas.

    Even as over 35 witnesses have testified so far, the security agencies are not being portrayed in positive terms as their conduct is being flayed for turning deaf ears and watching lives being wasted by thugs.

    Unfortunately though, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Agriculture, has said the Commission of Enquiry set up by the Bayelsa State Government to investigate violence during the 2019 general elections in the state is a ploy to divert attention.

    Lokpobiri also described his invitation to appear before the panel as attempt to distract people of the state from the real issue of Governor Seriake Dickson’s alleged mal-administration in the past seven years adding that the said panel was illegal and strange to the extant laws governing elections, including the Electoral Act and the Constitution.

    The Bayelsa State Chapter of the APC had distanced itself from the panel and urged its members not to appear before it.

    APC Spokesman, Doifie Buokoribo, said that the PDP government in Bayelsa had no moral rights to be a judge in an election it partook in.

    Even as several lives were lost and a serving Deputy Commissioner of Police was abducted, he maintained that the panel was unnecessary and that there was no single political violence involving the APC in Bayelsa during the last elections.

    Dickson had on February 24 alleged that the APC led by Ex-Gov Timipre Sylva and Lokpobiri had colluded with the military to unleash violence and manipulate the polls and hence the justification for setting up the panel.

    Spokesman of the 16 Brigade, Major Jonah Danjuma, promptly denied the allegations and said that troops averted violence by arresting some political thugs during the polls. But how come lives were lost and the INEC ordered a rerun.

    • Nnodim, a legal practitioner lives in Abuja.

  • Can Obaseki win the war on cultism?

    Leviticus Okon, a member of Eiye Confraternity, was on his way to kill his third victim, a member of Aiye Confraternity, when policemen accosted their vehicle along Second East Circular road in Bénin City. Other occupants in the Toyota Camry car took to their heels but Leviticus was not lucky. He was apprehended and a locally made pistol was found on him.

    Police interrogators later discovered that Leviticus was responsible for some killings in the ongoing cult war between Eiye and Aiye confraternities. Several persons have been killed in the cult war in different parts of Bénin City and environs.

    The area worst hit by the cult killing is Upper Sokponba where several persons including a police Sergeant, Monday Ehigie and Manager of the hotel owned by Osaze Odewingie, Osato Okunkpolor were killed. Upper Sokponba begins from the popular Third Junction up to Abraka in Delta State. What worsen the situation in Upper Sokponba is that cultists now robbed people of their belongings.

    Residents in Upper Sokponba now rush home before 7pm or it would be difficult for them to get tricycle also known as Keke to take them home. Notorious areas along the Upper Sokponba are Erediauwa, Aifuwa, Three House, Nomayo, Uyiosa amongst others.

    Activities of the cultists and robbers have crippled business activities in the area especially for the beer parlour operators and traders who sell petty things at night to eke a living. Mr. Ogbemudia who owns a chemist near Three House said he now closed his shop by 7:30pm instead of 9pm. Ogbemudia said business was not booming as usual.

    It is now a nightmare for Tricycle operators at Aifuwa, Three House and Avbiama Junction to stay behind till 8pm. Before the recent cult killings, the tricycle operators used to work till 11pm. They said many of them have been robbed and beaten by cultists and robbers.

    One of them who pleaded anonymity said he has been robbed four times.

    “They used to carry bottle, knives and sticks. I have been robbed four times. They would beat us and take our money away.”

    On why they did not report the security situation to the police, he said they have reported severally but the policemen sent to the area only set up road block to extort money from commercial drivers.

    Last month, suspected cultists invaded the Oba Akenzua Secondary school and stabbed two students.

    Speaking to newsmen when he was paraded, Leviticus described the war between Eiye and Aiye confraternities as a generational war that would be difficult to stop.

    Leviticus who claimed to have killed only one person said the other cultist escaped with bullet wound.

    His words, “the first person I shot did not die. The other one died. We were on our way to kill another person when we were arrested.

    “The one we killed is a bus conductor. He is a member of Aiye. The fight is generation fight. The fight does not end.”

    But Governor Godwin Obaseki has vowed to tackle cultists and cult related activities in the state because of hundreds of investors willing to invest in the state.

    Governor Obaseki who noted that the investors had to be assured that the state is safe and secure for their businesses to thrive said his priority is to providing security and tracking of cultists and cult related activities.

    Obaseki spoke at an interdenominational church service to celebrate peaceful elections in the state and victory of the All Progressives Congress in the March 9, House of Assembly elections. The APC won all the 24 seats in the Edo State House of Assembly.

    He vowed to invoke the full wrath of the law on cultists adding that plans were on to set up a Special Security Squad on cultism in collaboration with the Nigerian Police.

    According to him, “I am going to go heavily on cultism. We are setting up a special squad on cultists. We must make Edo safe and make people know Edo is safe to do business.

    “I am giving full effect to the law on cultism. I will also not accept thuggery and ‘Agbero’ in this State. If we find anybody collecting revenue illegally. We will take appropriate action to deal with whoever is involved.

    “Security is now my number one priority. We have started investing in security. We have raised the Security Trust Fund and it is the sustainable ways of dealing with security. We will be knocking on your doors to support the Security Trust Fund.

    “We have a lot of economic plans. We have to convince the investors that Edo is save. The issue of cultism is going to be my next agenda. We already have a law in place against cultism. I am going to give full effect to that law. Please if you have any person or relation who is involved in cultism, tell them to desist from it.

    “In the next several months, I am going to go tough on cultism. With the new Commissioner of Police of Edo, we have set up a Special Squad on cultism, to deal with offenders and render it history in the state,” he said

    Read also: Obaseki boosts LG workers’ capacity on budget preparation

    The governor called on parents to urge their children and wards to stay away from cult-related activities as no one will be spared if caught in the act, adding that the necessary laws on cultism which were passed by the state House of Assembly will be effectively used.

    Governor Obaseki however said there was no excuse for non-performance on the part of the APC given the massive support from Edo people to the party’s candidates particularly in the state House of Assembly election.

    “Every achievement made by my administration so far has been divinely directed as God directs my everyday activity.

    “This victory throws up a lot more responsibility as the victory in the election shows the people trust our administration and we can’t afford to fail them.

    “All the 18 local government chairmanship seats in the state are occupied by members of the APC. All the newly elected 24 Edo State House of Assembly members from various parts of the state are APC members.

    “So with our party’s dominance of the political space, we have no excuse not to deliver. I want to rededicate myself and this administration, and reinforce our earlier promise to put Edo people first at all times and to make life more comfortable and better for them.”

    Edo State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Bishop Oriname Oyonnude Kure, had in his statement urged Governor Obaseki to tackle cult activities before it gets too late.

    Kure suggested the setting up of a committee to look into ways of providing lasting solution to stopping cult activities in the state.

    He stated that secondary schools in the state were becoming citadel of cultism instead of learning.

    In 2018, the Edo State House of Assembly repealed the 2004 anti-cultism law and replaced it with a new law which prescribed 21-year jail term for secret cult members and 7-year imprisonment for anyone who harbours a cultist. The Bill also prescribes that all offences under the law shall be by summary trial and empowers the police to arrest suspected cultists without a warrant.

  • 2019 Polls and the Akwa Ibom Charade

    Though the 2019, general elections may have come and gone, history would no doubt record, the exercise as a peculiar one.

    This may not be unconnected with the negatives that overshadowed the intent of the elections nationwide.

    Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had given the world assurances that the election would be free, fair and credible.

    This was aside the chest – thumping by the electoral body that it was ready for the elections as scheduled. Indeed, nobody had cause to doubt INEC in view of the fact that the nation was conducting its most expensive election in history.

    Even INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu told the world that the commission had enough funds to undertake the poll.

    Alas, the world was taken by surprise when INEC told a shocked world that it had postponed the Presidential election scheduled to hold February 16 to 23.

    Curiously, the announcement was made long after Nigerians had gone to bed with the hope of exercising their franchise the next day.

    Read also: Akwa Ibom APC seeks tribunal’s relocation to Abuja

    This was no doubt due to the fact that Nigerians had put their hope in an electoral umpire in dire need of help.

    Even President Muhammadu Buhari who had landed in his home town of Daura to vote was peeved by the development, as he assured the nation that a probe would be launched into the incident after the polls.

    Two weeks after, when the Presidential Election held, INEC’s inefficiency was again laid bare before the world.

    From Lagos to Kano, Rivers, AkwaIbom, Bauchi, Ondo and many more, it was complaints galore over different impediments arising from faulty card reader machines to poor voter’s turnout, late arrival of materials and many more.

    When the governorship election eventually held, things went from bad to worse across the states.

    On the said date, INEC ad-hoc staff staged an early morning strike to protest non- payment of their allowances among others, leading to late take off of the polls.

    In Akwa Ibom state, apathy was a major tool deployed by the people to express a vote of no confidence to protest the glaring partiality of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, (REC), Mr Mike Igini who from day one had aligned himself with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

    In fact, the All Progressives Congress (APC) had told the world that it was uncomfortable with Igini superintending over elections in the state months before.

    This was to no avail as the electoral body’s hierarchy in Abuja looked the other way despite this glaring injustice.

    Even when the APC chairman in the state, Mr. Ini Okopido raised a weighty allegation in a petition, that Igini told him point blank in a telephone conversation that this party will never win in the state, this was never investigated.

    Said he “in a recent telephone conversation with the undersigned,(Ini Okopiodo), APC state chairman, Mr Igini threatened that the APC will never win election in Akwa Ibom state no matter how big and massive our total rally is. He told me he would ensure the PDP is declared winner, no matter what happens”

    Hear him again “we have evidence that Igini has handed over uncollected permanent voters cards (PVCs) to officials of Akwa Ibom State Government House, Uyo. These uncollected PVCs are in thousands”

    In other climes, a thorough investigation of such petition would have been carried out, but mum was the word from the Mahmud Yakubu-led INEC.

    Even when other political parties under the aegis of forum all registered political parties in Akwa Ibom State through their chairman, Kingsley Akaiso, corroborated the APC Chairman’s claims, INEC refused to budge.

    Akaiso who is also the chairman, Fresh Party said “in the political process in the state, INEC has portrayed unbridled partisanship through the selection of its ad-hoc staff, some of whom are drawn from the employees of the commission, contrary to extant practices and institutions requirement.

    “Through connivance with the state government, all the ad-hoc staff of the commission is made up of loyal members and supporters of PDP.

    “In addition, the commission has acted as though it were part of the Government House, Uyo. Inspite of our representations to the head office of the commission in Abuja, nothing has been done to allay our concern that INEC office in Akwa Ibom state is not a fair umpire and cannot deliver a free, fair and transparent election because it is partisan and in bed with the ruling PDP government in the state. This anarchy must be looked into”

    With the pictures painted, it was therefore unsurprising that Akwa Ibom state recorded the least voter turnout in her recent history as only about 600,000 turned out to vote despite the fact that no fewer than two million PVCs were collected.

    Worse perhaps was the fact that despite wide spread cases of faulty card reader machines in the state, manual voting was the order of the day.

    This was contrary to assurances by INEC that nobody would be allowed to vote if not captured by the card reader.

    No doubt, this gave INEC in the state a window to partner with its allies in the PDP to seize the moment by using the opportunity to their advantage.

    Even after the election, there are panicky measures been employed to cover the tracks in order not to further expose the charade that played out during the elections in the state.

    Already cases of vehicles loaded with thumb printed ballot papers said to have been found in the forests came up and this must be investigated and the culprits brought to book.

    This is the least anyone would expect in view of the fact though APC was declared winner at several collation centres, with such eventually changing in favour of PDP, even as electoral officers of such places were suspended, including that of Ikot Abasi, for no just cause by Igini.

    Even in Obot Akara, home stead of former Akwa Ibom Deputy Governor Chris Ekpeyong where elections could not hold, results of a non-existent election was declared.

    Most annoying were, the vituperations of former Prelate of the Methodist Church, Nigeria, Rev. Sunday Mbang who used to stand up for  what is right and just in the past, but not unexpected in the circumstance.

    This is a sad reminder that the pulpit is no longer a place of grace as merchandise has suddenly taken over the church in these days of yore.

    However, the beauty of it all is that the APC in the state has not embraced violence in any form as a way of fighting the carefully scripted fraud in the name of election.

    That it has toed the constitutional option in its attempts to right the wrongs as provided for in our constitution is a welcome development. This, it must continue to do since whatever has been stolen from the people by the way of their mandate can still be retrieved using the instrumentality of the law.

    The APC, nay the people of Akwa Ibom State must therefore rise to the occasion by seizing the opportunity to retrieve their mandate through legal means instead of resorting to any form of violence.

    Like the famous Poet, Ngugi Wa Thiongo wrote in one of his poems “the raving clouds shall not be long. They shall not be long victorious”

    Umohinyang, social commentator and political analyst wrote in from Lagos.

  • As Cross River seeks to become open defecation free

    With Cross River State having five local government areas certified open defecation free (ODF) out of ten in the entire country, the state seems to be on the path to be the first to be declared ODF in the entire country.

    The local government areas in the state that have so far been declared so are Bekwarra, Obanliku, Yakurr, Ikom and Yala. They were certified ODF and under the Community Led Health Improvement though Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion in Nigeria (CHISHPIN) project and Rural Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion in Nigeria (RUSHPIN) programme.

    At separate ceremonies to celebrate of the attainment of the open defecation free (ODF) status by Yala and Ikom in the respective areas recently, Director General of the Cross River State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWATSSA), Sir Ita Ikpeme, said the aim was to ensure that the entire 18 local governments if the state are declared ODF.

    He said the government was committed to sanitation and hygiene and would do all it can so support them.

    Project Manager of the CHISHPIN Project, Mr Oliver Okon, said ODF means every household and institution has ended the practice of open defecation, they have constructed and use basic and improved facilities.

    He said with this the people were beginning to enjoy the benefits of living in an open defecation free environment which is characterised by improved health and wellbeing, increased socio-economic activity, reduced school absenteeism and a dignified life.

    He said CHISHPIN is a 1.6 million pound project to cover three LGAs (Biase, Ikom and Yala) in a three-year sanitation and hygiene intervention, with the aim of facilitation everyone to have access to sanitation and end open defecation thereby reducing diarrhea prevalence especially among children under five.

    He said the project, which has United Purpose as the executing agency, was funded by the United Kingdom though the UKAID Direct Impact Project.

    Minister of Water Resources, Engr Suleman Adamu, however regretted that despite the efforts put in so far, 47 million Nigerians are currently practicing open defecation, making it the country with the highest number in Africa and second in the world.

    Adamu said more than two-third of the population is without access to basic sanitation facilities.

    He said while the country has made significant progress in the provision of safe water supply in the past decade, which has contributed to the socio-economic development and poverty reduction, the same could not be said of sanitation of hygiene.

    The Minister, who was represented by Engr Emma Eze, said though there is a roadmap to eliminate open defecation in the country by 2025 which was launched in 2016, the operationalization of the roadmap has been slow.

    He said through the implementation of the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach by sub-national governments and partners, 10 local governments in the country have so far been certified ODF, out of which Cross River has five.

    Programme Manager of United Purpose, Nanpet Chuktu, expressed gratitude to all who contributed to the success and urged the communities who attained the status to also work towards sustaining it.

    The head of local government administration of both local governments expressed gratitude and promised to work hard to sustain the status.

  • PIND positions Niger Delta poultry farmers for N12.65b chicken market

    The poultry market in the Niger Delta, estimated to be over N12.65billion, is expected to grow by several billions annually for the next couple of years. Southsouth Regional Editor Shola O’Neil and Mike Odiegwu look at how hitherto disadvantaged poultry farmers and processors are being trained to benefit from the growth.

    Zigha Ayibakuro, an agro-entrepreneur from Bayelsa State, usually spends his days strutting around and watching his 4,000 chickens in his poultry at Opolo, Yenagoa. He is the proud owner of a processor plant, and apart from his birds, he relies on 40 out-growers for a steady flow of birds for his processing plant.

    Business is good, but it is also set to get better for the man popularly called Zah, and he is looking forward with hope, as he recalled with excitement a meeting with the Foundation for Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND Foundation) in 2014, and how his life has changed for the better.

    Prior to that meeting Ayibakuro’s Zah consultancy firm only had an office accommodation in Yenagoa, from where it rendered training and entrepreneurial support services to a small number of clientele.

    All that changed after he attended PIND’s Company Diagnostic Training in Warri, Delta State that year. It was one of several done by the Chevron Nigeria Limited, CNL-funded NGO to help financially disadvantaged members of the region and SME’s like Ayibakuro’s ZAH to get better deals from their economic and social endeavors.

    His relationship with PIND changed his perceptions, increased his understanding of business opportunities in the region and propelled him and others to begin massive investment in poultry and other sub-sectors.

    He started as a trainer, but rather than be contented with fees from training others to see and take advantage of opportunities that he provided on behalf of the foundation, he delved fully into poultry farming and processing, because of the massive opportunities he was exposed to by the training.

    He has acquired 6,000-chickens per hour processing facility and is currently working on its takeoff. While waiting for that venture to come on stream, he has started another 2,000 birds per day processor at Opolo, Yenagoa, using a locally fabricated machine acquired through PIND’s technical assistance.

    “PIND helped in strengthening our operational processes and at the same time started doing studies and showing us opportunities in the region that we can take advantage of. So, being a smart entrepreneur you can’t be teaching people best practice in business without investing in the opportunities.”

    “PIND has invested in poultry study, understanding the opportunities in poultry value chain in the Niger Delta – where the market is and where the opportunities are. So, what some of us are simply doing is leveraging the study to maximize the opportunities.”

    Chidi Precious Agbunno is PIND Foundation’s Market Development Manager. Before assuming his new position, he was in charge of business linkages and poultry intervention, and has ample expertise in the foundation’s work with poultry farmers across the region.

    Speaking exclusively with Niger Delta Report, he said PIND started work in the sector under its business linkages programme, with initial focus on supporting local community suppliers to American oil giant, Chevron Nigeria Limited.

    “We did some assessments in Chevron to look at their supply chain, to identify areas where local community enterprises can participate more. We looked at construction, we looked at catering and food processing, we looked at marine services and in all these we saw opportunities in catering because we found that Chevron was buying a lot of food items.

    “They were buying over $7million worth of chicken annually – between 2012 and 2013, when we did the assessment. We found huge opportunities to increase the participation of local community contractors (LCCs), and by extension, we also support older farmers who can as well benefit in that huge market, not just in Chevron but in other oil and gas companies,” he said.

    Apart from the over $7m (or N2.52bn), spent by Chevron on chicken, the analysis showed that Shell Nigeria, AGIP and other oil firms were also spending heavily on poultry meat and products.

    “By the time we put all these together we thought that the market for processed chicken in the Niger Delta was worth about $35millions in a year, and that is a huge market. We did further value chain analysis to understand how the local industries are tapping into that market.”

    Sadly, the study showed that the local industry’s benefit from the huge subsector was very small, as poultry products supplied for these operations were sourced from outside the region.

    “Most of the processed chicken was coming in from the Southwest because the Niger Delta region, Warri and environs in particular do not have chicken processing capabilities.

    “We also found that it is not just chicken, even eggs, there was huge demands for eggs by the catering companies, hotels and fast food outlets in the region. Demand was huge and the local production capacity was quite low and we don’t have chicken processing plants to meet that demand.”

    The studies, he said, showed that egg producers were not as productive as those in the Southwest, resulting in eggs being more expensive in the delta states than other parts of the country.

    “We tried to find out why that was the case. We found that our farmers are not as competitive as southwestern farmers and so local egg distributors go to Southwestern states and even North Central  (Kwara) to buy large quantity, as much 1,000 – 4,000 crates per week to supply catering companies and the local markets.”

    It was against this backdrop of huge gap in demand and supply that PIND started training of entrepreneurs to process poultry meat and farmers to produce birds and eggs more efficiently. But first, they worked with local SMEs to see opportunities in chicken processing and to set up processors. While at the same time also working farmers on best practices to produce quality birds in cheaper and more profitable ways.

    One of the earlier beneficiaries was Ayibakuro. His 6,000-bird per hour capacity processing set-up was sited in Yenagoa, with the aid of PIND. The facility would soon come on stream. In Ondo state, PIND supported Prince Blessing Omogbemi’s 50,000-bird per month Perfect Works processor, and in Delta state, it worked with Toju’s Wenedel Integrated Farm. The latter was able to attracted funding of N16million for the project.

    Apart from the fund and technical supports, Ayibakuro explained that the studies carried out by PIND Foundation were invaluable for him and others. “If as a private businessman you want to carry out such studies, you spend nothing less than N20million to do analysis and travel. But PIND had taken the pains and the cost to do the studies.”

    “It is because we are relating with PIND that is why we have that kind of vision because we now understand that the market is scalable. As long as they are giving birth to people, everybody eats chicken. There is no cultural barrier to eating chicken. There is always a market for chicken,” he added.

    But it was not bread and butter all through, according Chidi Agbunno, because there would be no chicken to process if there are no farmers to produce the chicken, just as there would be no incentives for farmer to increase their output if there are no processors with capacity to take more.

    To create a steady supply stream, PIND focused on eliminating hurdles facing local poultry farmers’ quest to increase their productivity and competitiveness. To this end, technical and business trainings were provided for an initial 120 farmers drawn from five states.

    “We looked at farmers generally, how can we improve their capacity and productivity, and we found that the best way is to reduce the mortality rate. We found that farmers sometimes were experiencing up to 50 percent mortality; some were getting 100 percent mortality, which is a total loss. Even mortality rate that is above 20percent is still very high.”

    To achieve this, specialist agro-service and master service providers such as Dr. Shanon Ohaka, Dr. Fish Israel, and Ayodeji Badejo were engaged to train would-be trainers and farmers on best practices. The target was to reduce mortality rate to about 10percent through best poultry practices: best feeding practices, vaccination and ensuring that the right drugs are available and administered at the right stage.

    “We were working with vet input companies to be able to do that and also helping with assessing the market as well to enable them sell their birds, because by the time they reduce mortality, they will have access to more birds,” Agbunno said.

    Master Service Providers (MSPs) working with PIND also helped to identify local poultry consultants to reach the farmers and train them on good poultry practices and also to identify and work with input companies. There were also efforts to help farmers to source for funds to start or scale up operations.

    As in other sectors where PIND has intervened, there was no cash gift; but instead, interested partners were sourced to provide services that are paid for by farmers.

    ”We brought in Nigeria Content Board to help farmers with inputs, day-old chicks and feeds for 500 birds each, some vaccines, and heating support. The service providers also trained these 120 farmers; there were business trainings and also technical training and then they were prepared.”

    “These 120 farmers have actually finished their first circle, they have grown 500 birds each (60,000 total) and they have supplied to chicken processing plants and the plant is also supplying processed chicken now to fast foods in the Niger Delta.”

    Agbunno disclosed that over 1,200 farmers have been trained under the Poultry Linkage Programme of PIND, revealing that the target was to reach 6,000 before the project winds down.

    Commending the training, Ayibakuro said poultry processing and farming could help build peace in the region, stressing that incident of kidnapping, violence and criminalities would greatly reduce when youths are exposed to such trainings.

    “I can’t regret my partnership with PIND. We are busy expanding and going beyond poultry to invest in fish production, cassava, and palm oil. We realize through PIND that the opportunities are endless because people must eat in the region. The day we start feeding ourselves as Niger Delta people, kidnapping, restiveness and other forms of criminality will stop.”

    “Like I have always said working with PIND over the years for me is a goal. PIND doesn’t give anybody money. It doesn’t share money to people. What PIND does for you is to help you reduce the bottlenecks when it comes to scoping of opportunities in the Niger Delta.

    “PIND is making the investment process easy by telling people that there is money in poultry. Beyond helping reducing the stress in understanding the opportunities, they also help you in building capacity. It is not just in poultry, PIND does it in every sector. PIND also organise capacity building sections, training on best practice, methodology, documentation and planning.”