The Nation Newspaper

Tag: aims

  • Why we suspended Jonathan’s scheme – Ogbeh

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Monday explained why the Federal Government suspended the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) initiated by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

    Ogbeh said the ministry was confronted with N67 billion debt claims from input suppliers involved in the GES scheme when the current administration took over in 2015.

    The minister stated this at the Seed Connect Conference and Exhibition organised by the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) in Abuja.

    He said the ministry has commenced plans to replace the scheme with a new initiative -Agricultural Input and Mechanization Services (AIMS).

    He said: “When we assumed office we were confronted with the debt to the tune of N67 billion. We could not pay this because if we had paid we would not have been able to pay staff salaries. But AIMS would correct all the anomalies of GES and remove fraud practices.

    The minister said the GES program was cancelled due to paucity of funds.

     

     

  • Access Bank Marathon: Renowned measurer to certify route

    Access Bank Marathon: Renowned measurer to certify route

    The world-renowned marathon measurer, Norrie Williamson  has arrived in Lagos on Monday to begin the certification and calibration of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon  route.The exercise which begins on Tuesday will stretch until the end of the week.

     In a statement signed by the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon Head of Communications and Media Olukayode Thomas, he said the decision by the IAAF and AIMS to send Williamson, a former long-distance athlete, former Scottish first division rugby player underscores the importance both organizations attach to Access Bank Lagos City Marathon.

    Measurer of the course some of the biggest and the best marathon routes in the world, Williamson has also measured the course of three Olympic Marathons.

    A great runner who authored many books on running like Everyone’s Guide to Distance Running and Every Beginner’s Guide to Walking, Jogging & Running.

    His athletic feats include finishing the grueling 56-mile Comrades marathon, more than 100 ultra events, including 30 or 100 miles of longer.

    He set a record for the longest distance run on a treadmill in 24 hours (more than 161 kilometers).

    He has 20 Comrades medals and represented Great Britain, Scotland and South Africa in athletics, he did his first bungee and parachute jumps at age 59.

    Williamson ran his first marathon in March 1981 at the Savages Marathon; the following year he ran his first 100-miler as well as the first of his 10 Two Oceans ultras, all of which produced sub-4:00 and silver medals.

     Another notable achievement of Williamson was in 1983 when he returned a 2:42 in the London Marathon and then post a 2:45 the very next day in the Boston Marathon. “I had to finish London in sub-three to make my flight to New York to get to Boston!”

    In 1985 Williamson became an accredited IAAF/AIMS course measurer, in 1986 he started writing columns for the newspapers and athletics programs on television.

    General Manager Access Bank Lagos City Marathon Yussuf Alli is delighted that IAAF and AIMS has sent Williamson to do the certification and calibration of our route,

    “when high profile measurer is sent to certify and calibrate your route that means your race is highly respected. Because of our route, which not hilly, we are a potential host of IAAF World Challenge, this is a good development for Access Bank Lagos City Marathon”. Said Alli.

  • Flying Eagles coach aims for big win

    Flying Eagles coach aims for big win

    Flying Eagles coach Manu Garba has said he hopes for a convincing win over hosts Senegal in Sunday’s opening match at the 2015 AYC in Dakar.

    “We want to win convincingly because in any tournament your opening match is very crucial. It will boost your confidence. With the U-17s (2013 CAF U-17 Championship), we started very well by beating Ghana 6-1 before we went all the way to the final,” said Manu.

    “We also trounced Mexico 5-1 in our opening match at the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup and then went on to win the tournament. This is how we wish to start the competition in Senegal, even though we respect and do not underrate our opponents, who will be playing at home in front of their fans.”

    The coach added: “We want to win all our matches and by implication it means we want to be champions in Senegal and go to the World Cup in New Zealand as African champions.”

    The Flying Eagles will be one of the youngest squads at this year’s tournament after promoting as many as eight players from the U17 team who won the U17 World Cup in United Arab Emirates two years ago.

    Striker Taiwo Awoniyi scored four goals and provided as many assists on the way to Nigeria’s fourth U-17 World Cup triumph. He said his personal target is to score in all the matches in Senegal 2015.

    “I will always play for the team but I wish to score in every match at this tournament,” said the lanky top striker.

    Meanwhile, the Nigeria U20 team trained at the 45,000-capacity Leopold Sedar Senghor, the venue for Sunday’s match against the host country, at 4.30pm local time Friday.

    The training was for an hour. They will round up their training for the match today at the Stade Iba Mar Diop in Dakar. Time will be 8am local time.

  • Seplat aims at 50,000 bpd equity production by 2071

    Nigeria’s leading indigenous independent oil producer, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, has set its eyes on achieving daily equity production of 50,000 barrels of oil and 250 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) of gas by end of 2017.

    Seplat’s Managing Director, Austin Avuru, told The Nation that the production milestones had been their target from the beginning. He said besides the newly acquired interests in oil mining leases (OMLs) 53 and 55, the operated production stands at between 70,000 and 74,000 barrels per day (bpd) and between 120 and 275 mmscf/d by end of this first quarter. However, Seplat’s equity production is 33,000 bpd.

    With the recent acquisitions, the targets may likely be achieved before 2017, an industry stakeholder told our correspondent.

    Avuru said: “Our plans from the beginning has always been to increase not just gas or oil but continuously grow oil and gas production to a possible plateau at the end of 2017. But more importantly to a sustainable plateau, which means we must also find the reserves to underpin that plateau production and achieve a reserve production ratio of at least 20 years. In summary, we will grow oil, gas production and grow our reserves to a level that can sustain that growth in oil and gas production. It is a tripartite thing and we will focus on them, so for us these days, we no longer talk about operated production, we talk about our own equity production.

    “Today, we are on an operated production of about between 70,000 and 74, 000 barrels per day and our equity there is around 33,000 barrels per day. We hope to drive our own equity production for oil over the next three years closer 50,000 barrels per day, and drive our gas production equity to between 200 mmscf/d and 250 mmscf/d in the next three years.  Those are projections but that is where we want to be. Again, there are mitigants to all of these – oil price, cut down on capital expenditure (capex) but that is where we want to be.

    “By the end of this year’s first quarter, we would have doubled our producing capacity from 120mmscf/d to about 275mmscf/d. And our new plant is modular, so we can stick in two extra modules and add another 150mmscf within a short time and with a relatively small capex spend. What that means is that we can build it up to 375mmscf/d or 400 mmscf/d. So our target at the end of 2017, is to be able to process and deliver between 300 mmscf/d and 400 mmscf/d and they will all go into the domestic market. And by that time, our target is to see that 20-30 per cent of our bottom-line is from gas.

    Seplat just bought 40 per cent interest from OML 53 and 22.50 per cent interest from OML 55 to be able to meet their projected targets.

    On the acquisitions, Avuru said: “This transaction fits neatly with our strategy of securing, commercialising and monetising natural gas in the Niger Delta with a view to supplying the rapidly growing and evolving domestic market.  In addition to the large scale discovered, but undeveloped gas and condensate resources that are yet to be fully classified through detailed technical work, there are near term opportunities to increase and optimise oil production significantly above current levels.  We very much look forward to working with NNPC and leveraging our technical and commercial expertise as operator to realise the full potential of this high grade acreage.

    “The addition of OML 55 to our portfolio, also expands our footprint in the Niger Delta to six blocks and further cements our position as a leading indigenous independent exploration and production (E&P) in Nigeria.  OML 55 provides us with a number of attractive opportunities to boost oil and gas output, and is consistent with our strategy of prioritising those that offer near-term production growth, cash-flow and reserve replacement potential in the onshore and shallow water offshore areas of Nigeria. We are pleased to have extended our operating partnership with NNPC who we look forward to working with in our capacity as operator pursuant to the Joint Operating Model,” he added.

     

  • Chinese firm aims high

    Chinese firm aims high

    As GAC Motor’s new flagship model, the GS5 Super carries with it the strategic mission of making an impact in the SUV market.

    The GS5 Super was launched at the Oriental Sports Centre in Shanghai of China penultimate week.

    At the launch conference, GAC Motor Director and General Manager, Song Wu was upbeat about the future of the SUV.

    GAC Motor is the first auto company to make official market launch at the Crown on the Sea, a popular name of Oriental Sports Centre, announcing to the world that China now owns a world-class auto brand.

    Wu gave an in-depth explanation of the positioning and mission of the GS5 Super and its meaning to the GAC Motor brand.

    He pointed out that Chinese President Xi Jinping recently called upon China’s literature and art circles to truly address the issue of ‘who should be served’, which is also of great guidance value for the auto industry. To him, a clear stance must be taken to build a world-class auto brand.

    GAC Motor is sticking to the philosophy of “Make Cars for the Family” rather than blindly pursuing  economic returns from the market or become a slave of the market.

    Right from its founding, the firm showed great courage and wisdom of “daring to be the first under heaven” in directly entering the medium- and high-end market to compete with joint venture brands, winning high praise from the industry.

    The GS5 Super was developed on a European high-performance platform. In terms of driving fun and five-star safety, it carries forward the perfect DNA of the GAC Motor family. As for power assembly technology, the GS5 Super is the first to offer the golden power combination of a 1.8T engine and 7-speed G-DCT automated manual transmission, known as T+7speed. This gives GAC MOTOR a solid foundation to win over joint venture brands in terms of core technology.

    “The GS5 Super is the work of our latest R&D efforts. Technologically advanced, it will directly compete with some joint venture brands. We believe that GAC Motor will keep abreast with and even overtake joint venture brands,” Wu said.

    As the only Chinese auto brand with a firm footing in the medium- and high-end market, the firm faces competitions from Japanese and Korean auto brands. In the first three quarters of 2014, it sold 75,000 cars, up by 41 per cent year-on-year, far overtaking what joint venture brands have achieved.

    “In a matter of only several years, we have established GAC Motor’s GPS production mode. If we copied the Honda or Toyota model word by word, there would be no GAC Motor today,” he said.

    Meanwhile, GAC MOTOR has established strategic partnerships with the world’s TOP 10 auto suppliers including BOSCH, Continental and TRW. The world-class supporting parts fully ensure the R&D level and product quality of GAC Motor. The GS5 Super is precisely a masterpiece work of GAC Motor’s forward development based on its global R&D network.

    With the GAC Motor model, Wu is confidence of the future of the company’s products. “GAC Motor is changing itself and is making breakthroughs. We have created top-quality products in complete  accordance with the latest international standards. But, we will not stop here. Rather, we will continue to go ahead,” Wu stated.

  • Dike aims for victory

    Dike aims for victory

    Falconets fringe Courtney Dike, has said she is confident the team will put up a good performance during the FIFA U-20 women’s World Cup Canada 2014.

    The forward from Oklahoma State University, USA, said this on the backdrop of the team’s training tour in Canada. She noted that with the caliber of players in the camp Nigeria will excel at the mundial.

    “The team’s training is excellent, there is team work and everyone is working towards a good outing for the team at the World Cup”, Dike said.

    The 19-year-old Accounting student further stated that she is looking forward to playing for Nigeria and expects the experience to be fruitful hoping that the Falconets win the World Cup in her first outing for Nigeria.

    She praised her team mates for making her feel at home.

    “My team mates have showed me love since my arrival. Training had been hard from the beginning, but as it progresses, it’s a bit easier. I have played with other teams and I must confess wearing my country’s colour is amazing. I promised to  use my experience from abroad and combine it with what I am getting here to contribute positively to the success of the team in the world stage. I want us to win  and with the calibre of players I am sure we will make it”.

    Courtney Dike started playing football in her fifth grade 10 years ago. Since then she has played in schools tournament and presently plys her trade for OKC FC football in the united States of America.