The Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture yesterday said it is producing 8,750 tonnes of fish and 60 million eggs from its fish and poultry farms yearly.
Its Permanent Secretary, Dr Olayiwola Onasanya, gave the figures in Lagos at the launch of Feed The Future Partnering Innovation, by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Nigeria.
Onasanya, represented by Mrs Olatokunbo Emokpae, said the production was facilitated through increased public and private sector investments.
He said the ministry’s goal would enable the state to achieve food security and scale up its food self-sufficiency from the present 15 per cent to 25 per cent by 2018.
“Demand for food and other agricultural produce is enormous in Lagos State with a population of over 22 million. Most of the foods consumed by residents are sourced from outside the state.
“Efforts of the ministry have been geared in the areas of livestock, fishery, rice and vegetable production, where the state has comparative and competitive advantage,’’ he said.
Onasanya said government had implemented initiatives such as the Agricultural Estate Development to achieve consistent food production.
“We have a fish farm estate at Ikorodu with over 199 investors, and we produce 8,750 tonnes of fish per annum. We also have a poultry estate with about 108 investors, and we produce over 60 million eggs per annum. We also have the vegetation and piggery estates, too.
“These initiatives were aimed at increasing food production, job creation and sustenance of livelihoods in rural areas through a shift from subsistence farming to commercialisation,” he said.
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Lagos farms produce 60m eggs, 8,750 tonnes of fish yearly
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Father held for ‘abusing son, 8
The police yesterday arrested a man, Adeyemi Adekunle, for allegedly brutalising his eight-year-old.
Adekunle, who lives at 20, Kolawole Street, Dopemu, reportedly locked the boy up with three of his siblings in their home after causing him a fracture in both hands.
It was gathered that the boy was declared missing on Saturday by the Dopemu Police Station, but was found on Monday morning and returned to his father.
It was gathered that Adekunle’s landlord reported him and his wife to the police for maltreating their children.
The landlord, it was learnt, told the police that Adekunle had been looking for ways to send the children out since his separation with their mother.
Detectives were said to have confirmed what the landlord said, and arrested the suspect’s.
Police spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent (SP), said the matter had been transferred to Gender Office of the State Command.
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8,778 arrested with 903,624kgs of drugs in 2015
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), arrested 8,778 suspects comprising 8,143 men and 635 womenlast year, its Chairman/Chief Executive, Col. Muhammad Mustapha (rtd) said yesterday.
About 903,624.56kg of narcotic drugs were seized during the period.
The drugs arecannabis, 871,480.32kg, psychotropic substances, 30,652.93kg, ephedrine, 785.10kg, methamphetamine, 410.82kg, cocaine, 260.47kg, heroin, 30.09kg and amphetamine 4.83kg.
The agency also won 1,690 of the cases it prosecuted during the period.
At the launching of activities marking the 2016 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Lagos yesterday, Mustapha said the World Drug Day was for self-appraisal on how countries have suppressed illicit production and trade in narcotic drugs.The theme for this year’s event is Listen First.
He said: “This theme focuses on drug abuse prevention and places a responsibility on parents, guardians, opinion leaders and stakeholders to listen to the views of persons with drug abuse problems, with a view to helping them overcome drug use. Substance abuse is an equal opportunity ailment with medically certified preventive and treatment solutions. This theme is a timely caution for persons who may be provoked by the involvement of their loved ones in drug abuse into treating them harshly and unconventionally. Let’s listen to them and share in their pains as we take necessary steps in drug abuse counselling, treatment and rehabilitation.”
NDLEA also introduced what it called The Drug Anonymous Support Group for people who are trying to remain in remission from drug dependency and use but need peer support and encouragement to cope with the daily pressures of illicit drug use.
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UNICAL matriculate 8,259
No fewer than 8,259 freshers took the oath of matriculation at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) on Tuesday. The freshers were admitted out of 21,247 candidates, who applied to the university through the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE).
For the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Zana Akpagu, it was his first matriculation after his he assumed office last year. He led the body of principal officers to the ceremony, which was graced by parents and guardians of the students.
Abraham Odia Stadium, the venue, was filled to capacity. Before event started, some returning students engaged the freshers in wild celebration. They performed ‘baptism’ on some of the fresh students, who were accosted on their way to the matriculation venue.
At 10am, the procession of matriculating students and principal officers marched into the venue.
In his address, Prof Akpagu advised the freshers to work hard in order to graduate successfully. Taking a phrase from the Bible, the VC said: “Many are called but few are chosen”. He described the fresh students as the few who were luckily chosen from the large number of applicants.
Prof Akpagu said the management’s policies would be student-centred, noting his administration was ready to support the welfare of students. “The students are my priority. They are at the centre of all policies of the university management,” he said.
The VC said his administration had been waging war against lecturers’ extortion, sorting by students, indiscipline, violation of rules and procedures, rape, sexual harassment and other unethical practices. He advised the freshers to focus on their main objective in school, stressing that anyone that engaged in vices would be expelled.
Students could not conceal their joy after they took the oath. One of them, John Bassey, said: “I am grateful to God for helping to scale through the admission hurdle. It is not an easy task to pass through UTME and post-UTME. It is not by my might but by God’s mercy.” He vowed to study hard and make a first class.
At occasion included the Deputy VC for Academics, Prof Florence Obi, Registrar, Mr Moses Abang, Dean of Graduate School, Prof Emeka Okwueze and, Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof Felix Akpan, among others.
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Lagos obtains 8,000 maps for schools
From this term, Civic Education, History, Government and Geography classes will come alive in public primary and secondary schools thanks to the new Nigerian maps purchased by the Lagos State Ministry of Education to aid teaching and learning.
In addition to showing the positions of all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as well as their capital, the maps which were designed by Safari Books, also provides information about the population of each state, number of languages, and natural resources.
The Lagos State government purchased 3,500 of the maps, while West African Ventures donated an additional 4,500 copies.
Receiving the maps at the conference room of the Lagos State Ministry of Education, the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, said the dearth of maps in schools was a concern for the ministry which wanted to buy some before Safari produced the updated map.
She said the maps, which would be distributed to the 1, 007 public primary schools and 664 junior and senior secondary schools, would go a long way to help pupils understand the subjects better.
The commissioner also said it would help many Nigerians who do not know the map of the country to learn.
“Let me assure you that the maps will help the students in their subjects such as Geography, History, Civic Education and Government among others; and they will know more about the country, states of the federation, local government areas and indeed the world. In addition, the map will aid the understanding of the country by other Nigerians as well,” she said.
The Commissioner also thanked the West African Venture for the donation of the additional 4,500 copies of the instructional materials to complement the state government’s efforts in improving learning outcomes in schools.
On his part, the Executive Chairman of Safari Books Ltd, Chief Joop Berkhout, said his organisation decided to produce the maps after finding out that there were no maps in schools.
He thanked the Lagos State government for the enthusiasm that greeted the map project.