Pet Agro Farms, an agro-based firm said it will establish a processing factory worth N150 million in Kogi State to boost vegetable oil production in the country.

The farm’s Managing Director, Ms Rehab Danladi who stated this in a chat with reporters in Abuja, said the farm, which is a private sector-driven project, will boost the production of palm and vegetable oil for exports.

Danladi noted that the farm, which will be producing palm oil, palm kernel, and soya oil, among others will also convert waste from the products to poultry feeds.

According to her, 80 per cent of the oil produced will be for export, while 20 per cent will be for the local market.

She said: “There is a need for us to engage in backward integration now. Enough is enough for import.

“We will process and export 80 per cent, while 20 per cent will be for the local market. The waste of these products from palm kernel, soya bean and others can be converted to poultry feed.

“The initiative will contribute to the country’s agricultural industry and provide employment opportunities to Nigerians. It will also ensure sustainable wealth creation through farming and training on how to embark on a wise investment.”

Push Africa, a pro-poor development non-governmental organisation (NGO), has launched its Adamawa State chapter of the campaign to tackle poverty among Nigerians.

The NGO, which is currently running a nationwide initiative, Do-One-Thing Campaign, said at the Adamawa launch in Yola yesterday that the initiative was aimed at directing the attention of politicians and policymakers to widespread poverty as political activities heighten towards next year’s general election.

The founder of Push Africa, Doris Egberamen said the Do-One-Thing Campaign is designed to advocate the Nigerian government’s efforts to reduce, by half, the number of poor people in the country by 2030.

“It is also directed at supporting similar anti-poverty initiatives by development agencies and private sector institutions,” she said.

She added that in the countdown to next year’s general election, the Do-One-Thing campaign of her organisation would be focusing the attention of politicians aspiring for offices to give priority to “the raging increase” in the number of poor people.

She said her campaign would similarly expect that the politicians would be showing the people that they have actionable plans to tackle the “pervasive and deepening poverty” in their various constituencies.

She said a component of the campaign would be the creation of platforms for Nigerians most hit by poverty to tell the stories of their harsh realities and the country’s elected and appointed leaders encouraged to take steps toward solving the problems.

‘The pro-poor organisation believes the current political season and the expected emergence of a new administration present a good opportunity for all aspiring political leaders to be more intentional about poverty reduction and make it the Number one priority and Push Africa wants to spur them in that direction,” Doris Egberamen said.

The National President of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, (PENGASSAN), Comrade Festus Osifo has emerged as the new President of the Trade Union Congress, (TUC).

Announcing the results, the returning officer, Comrade Shehu Mohammed said that a total of 728 delegates participated in the election with Osifo pulling 688 votes to defeat his opponent, Comrade Oyikan Olasanoye who had 18 votes. Twenty two votes were declared invalid.

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Osifo who assumed office as President of PENGASSAN in August 28, 2020 had previously served amongst others, as PENGASSAN Producers Forum Chairman, between 2016 to 2018.

The Edo born unionist is a first-class graduate of the University of Portsmouth. He’s also an alumnus of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI).

He holds a Master degree in Petroleum Engineering from Herriot Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

The new TUC President is a member of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN) and Society for Petroleum Engineers (SPE).

The Forum of State Chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has pledged to ensure victory for the Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima, respectively, in the 2023 elections.

The forum made the pledge when it met to congratulate Tinubu and his running mate for emerging the Presidential and vice Presidential candidates of the party.

The APC state chairmen also applauded the choice of Senator Kashim Shettima as the vice presidential candidate of the party.

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The APC Chairman of Cross River State, Alphonsus Ogar Eba, who spoke for the forum said they are united to work for the party’s candidates to ensure victory at the polls next year.

The forum called on Nigerians to focus on addressing national issues and not be distracted by religious sentiments.

Eba expressed confidence in the presidential flag-bearer of the party and his running mate, saying they understand the peculiar challenges confronting the country and they will work to surmount the problems.

As part of efforts to ensure that Nigerians, especially those in the rural areas within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have unhindered access to quality health care, education and safe drinking water, the United Towns Agency (UTA) has pledged to provide basic human needs for them.

The UTA, which is a United Nations-accredited non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded in 1986, has the consultative status of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

During a chat with reporters yesterday in Abuja, the Country President of the UTA, Princess Abigail Amalaha said its first set of rural community projects would be the construction of two modern hospitals, and the rehabilitation and equipping of two primary schools in the FCT.

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She said: “My appointment as UTA President is a clarion call to action and a big challenge for Nigeria to join the Community of 110 nations to prove its mettle and that we are truly the giant of Africa by taking the lead in the humanitarian projects, human rights protection, United Nations Social Development Goals and scientific endeavours, which are the hub of UTA’s interventions in various countries around the world.

“Eminent Nigerians with a track record of Public Service and Humanitarian endeavours, some of whom are seated here with me have been appointed as Board Members of UTA in Nigeria.

“Our immediate plan now is to embark on Humanitarian Activities in vulnerable rural communities of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”

Abraham Lincoln, the sixteen (16th) President of America defines democracy as the government of the people by the people and for the people. Over half of the world’s population practice democracy as a legitimate source of governance. Democracy, like other political movement (concept) is premised on some parameters like: rule of law, free and fair elections, equity and justice. Since the beginning of the unbroken fourth republic (1999), Nigeria have had six consistent general elections. The evolution of our democracy can be seen with different levels of preparedness of the electoral umpire: Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). No democracy can strive without a requite free and fair elections. We know no human operated system is free from errors but it must be fair to all stakeholders about it outcome(s). Fortunately, Nigeria is a mixed “salad” of different ethnic, cultural and religious groups. Hence her electioneering periods (season) are always filled with tensions and uncertainties.

Hitherto, since we practice a participatory form of democracy, Nigerians of all ages above 18 troop out and vote for the candidates of their choice. INEC in its wisdom have disseminated news and information to the public through various religious and cultural avenue to reach the teaming populace. Moreover, the electoral umpire has slated and started continued voter’s education and registration thoughout the 774 Local Government in Nigeria. Like Abraham Lincoln said, “election belong to the people it is their decision if they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters”.

2023 CAMPAIGNS SHOULD BE ISSUE BASED 

As we move towards the campaign seasons and jamboree, politicians should play by the rules. We all know that politicians all over the world care about winning elections, they should do so with high decorum and decency. The political class over the years have used sentiments and diatribe as a ploy of swinging and swirling votes to themselves. 2023 campaigns should be all about that affect the ordinary over 200 million Nigerians. Unfortunately, Nigeria is sitting on a dire critical situation cutting across various sectors of the nation’s life. This campaign should definitely deal with what the next President will face: high debt profile and mounting insecurity challenges. According to the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) report, due to Nigeria’s low revenue, the country need to mobilize more revenue to able to have macro-economic stability. The report further warned that debt servicing many take all (100%) of Nigeria’s revenue by 2026. Also, it stated that Nigeria’s debt to hit 44.7% of GDP in 5years. The mounting security challenges can’t be left out as mass killings and kidnapping are going unbatted and unchecked. This can demarket the country’s foreign investment and earnings, there by weakening the value of the naira. Sustaining the various successes of Buhari’s administration in agriculture like the CBN disbursement programmes to farmers under the Anchor borrowers’ programme which hit N1.01 trillion in May 2022 to over 4.2 million small holder farmers farming 21 commodities across the country as of May 2022 is worth noting.

MY ISSUES

The Presidential campaigns should be issues-based: putting strategies on regaining the failures of the past and sustaining the success of the day. Addressing the issue of poverty and lack of trust of the citizenry on the government should be a veritable tools for presidential campaigns. In a survey of youths in 15 African countries and in which youths were asked if they though their country was headed in the wrong direction, Nigeria comes the very bottom with a whooping 95% of youth (age 18-24) as compare to 41% to 58% of youths in Ghana and Uganda respectively.

To me, campaign should be all about fighting for “true federalism” and devolution of powers to the local and state government. This will help our nascent democracy grow. To the voters, stick on issues that matter to you. Like former American President Theodore Rooseveit would say, “A vote is like a riffle: it usefulness depends upon the character of the user”. 2023 election should be more issues based. God bless the federal republic of Nigeria.

• Ademola Oladosu is a Freelance Journalist and political activist, writes from Abuja.