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Tag: Audu Ogbe

  • ‘Govt. will tackle farmers/herders clashes by end of this year’

    The Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbe has revealed that the problem of farmers/herders clash will be contained by the end of this year, if all the mechanisms government is building locally are put in place.

    Ogbe made this known while delivering a lecture on Wednesday on: Technology and Agricultural Revolution: A tool for economic growth’, organised by Catholic Brothers United (CBU) of St. Agnes Catholic Church, Maryland, Lagos.

    According to the Minister, the mechanisms entails government providing enough feeds for cattle from agro waste, rice stocks, cassava leaves, maize, among others. “We are determined to bring the crisis to an end”, he said.

    Read Also: National security: How to end farmers/ herders’ clashes

    Ogbe also revealed that government is partnering with Federal universities of Agriculture, in collaboration with the National University Commission (NUC), to make their graduates employers of labour by engaging in agriculture after graduation.

    His words “We the older generations must begin to hand over power to the younger generation; I know that the demand today is the political power transfer to youths, but there is much more power in the private sector than the government; because the private sector is the driver of growth”, said Ogbe.

    On his part, the Group Managing Director of Elephant Group, Tunji Owoeye, commended the government, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers’ Committee for the reduction in the interest rate for  the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

    The CBU 19th Annual lecture according to the President Catholic Brothers United, Emmanuel Okoro was carefully chosen in consideration of the various developmental challenges currently facing the country.

    “Agriculture has been the an important sector in the Nigerian economy in the past decades and continue to be a major sector despite the oil boom as it guarantees food security, employment opportunities for the teeming population, among others”

  • Workers to stage Mass Protest in Abuja

    Workers to stage Mass Protest in Abuja

    Striking workers of the 67 research institutions spread across several Ministries in the country are set for a mass protest on the streets of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to demand the payment of about N9 billion arrears owed them by the government since 2010.

    The workers made up of members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI) and the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) have been on strike for about 11 weeks to press for the implementation of their agreement with the government.

    Speaking at a news conference in Abuja, chairman of the Joint Research and Allied Institutions Staff Union (JORAISU), and Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Peters Adeyemi said even though the government has acknowledged the legitimacy of the ongoing strike action, they have refused to take any measure aimed at addressing their demands.

    Adeyemi said that the National leadership of JORAISU has so far held thirty-three (33) meetings with the Federal Government and one with the House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, Colleges and Institutions between year 2010 and year 2018 and issued 155 days ultimatum to Government on the matter including the last issued on 30th October, 2017 for which all the Research and Allied Institutions commenced an ongoing strike action on 14th November, 2017.

    Read Also: Workers ground operations of Bristow, Caverton Helicopters

    According to him, these were all geared towards getting the Federal Government to act positively on our demands and expressed shock and disbelief that the Federal Government can remain unconcerned and be so incentive to a situation where all the Research and Allied Institutions in Nigeria  have been totally and completely grounded for about 2 months and 22 days without addressing the situation.

    According to him, this attitude of Government goes to confirm the fact that the Government does not believe in the idealogy that Nigeria can attain technological development in a few years time, adding that it further show that the government t was paying lip service to research ad technological development in the country.

    He said that the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbe has informed the unions that government will speedily address the issues in dispute and present a Memo to the Federal Executive Council on the approval of about N9 billion naira required for the payment of the 12 months’ arrears on when they held a meeting in December, 2017.

    He appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR to take a positive look at the Memo and grant the needed approval to the Memo when presented to him with a view to ending the ongoing strike in the Research and Allied Institutions.

    He disclosed that JORAISU leadership have also resolved that since the Federal Government is yet to resolve their demands, the strike should continue and that it must be total and comprehensive as no concession of any sort shall be granted to any Management and Government until the issues in dispute are resolved.

     

  • Osinbajo presides over FEC meeting

    Osinbajo presides over FEC meeting

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday presided over the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The FEC meeting which commenced at exactly 10:55 a.m. had in attendance Ministers of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Science and Technology, Mr Ogonnaya Onu.

    Others were Ministers of Trade and Investment, Mr Okechukwu Inelema; Agriculture, Audu Ogbe; Women Affairs, Jummai Alhassan and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khadija Abba-Ibrahim;

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun; and the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, among other ministers were also in attendance.

    Also in attendance were other cabinet members, including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, Chief of Staff to the President Mallam Abba Kyari, among others.

    NAN

  • Ikpeazu calls for increased allocation to federal universities of agriculture

    Ikpeazu calls for increased allocation to federal universities of agriculture

    Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia has appealled to the Federal Government to increase its allocation to federal universities of agriculture in the country.

    Ikpeazu made the call on Saturday at the eighth convocation and silver jubilee celebration of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), near Umuahia.

    He commended President Muhammadu Buhari “for refocusing on agriculture as a way of finding ourselves out of the economic duldrome in Nigeria.”

    He described the decision to revive the nation’s agricultural sector as lofty but noted that it ought to have come earlier.

    He further spoke on the Federal Government’s directive to critical federal tertiary institutions, including MOUAU, to revert to their core mandate.

    “As Abia citizens, our desire would have been for this university to continue to train our children in different areas of academics, irrespective of their inclinations.

    “This is because we do not have any other federal institution that can fill the gap except this great institution,” the governor said.

    He further said that the global challenges of survival faced by graduates of such institutions would require the dynamics of training in all fields of human endeavour in a comprehensive curriculum, to enable them to perform better.

    He said that Nigeria should emulate other world renowned universities, established for specific disciplines but also taught courses that were ancillary to their core mandate and helped to produce all-round graduates.

    According to him, “You cannot be a proper graduate if you do not know a bit of everything.”

    Okezie commended Federal Government’s “extra attention to agriculture.”

    He, however, said that the efforts would amount to lip service, if they were not marched with proper funding of the universities of agriculture.

    He expressed the hope that agriculture would be made a serious business, capable of producing millionaires, to be able to attract Nigerian youths.

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe, restated Federal Government’s commitment to transform agriculture and make it the mainstay of the nation’s economy.

    Ogbe, represented by the Abia Director in the ministry, Mr Eziri Ebere, said that the present administration had introduced a number of programmes to resuscitate agriculture.

    Some of them, he said, included the creation of 10,000 jobs in the agricultural sector for youths in each state of the federation and Anchor Borrower for rice production.

    Also, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Francis Otunta, listed some achievements as the accreditation of 20 out of the 21 programmes in 2016, plus eight out of nine additional programmes in May/June.

    Otunta also spoke on developmental projects in the university, saying that the institution received over N2.1 billion, representing 40 per cent of the 2013/2014 NEEDS Assessment Fund, to resume work on abandoned projects.

    He said that his administration revived 25 uncompleted projects out of the 45 under the fund.

    He said that over N684 million was utilised to pay old debt to 31 contractors, to enable them to return to site.

    He said, “Work is now in progress on some projects, while some are still suffering setback due to an upward variance in costs resulting from the fall in the value of the naira.”

    On Tertiary Education Trust Fund for the university, Otunta said that three of the six projects for the 2012/2013 fund were completed but only four out of the 20 for the 2013/2014 intervention had so far been completed.

    He regretted that projects, which were hitherto funded with internally generated revenue, had suffered setback due to “too many irregularities”.

    Otunta further said that the university could not pay full salaries to its workers since the past one year due to the drastic decline in the Federal Government’s subsection.

    “The university receives subvention of N325 million instead of the much-needed N451 million

    “For this reason, therefore, it has been impossible to meet our commitment of paying full salaries.

    4,958 students graduated, including 98 First Class, 1,437 Second Class Upper, 2,111 Second Class Lower as well as 1,276 Third Class and 36 Pass.

    Highpoint of the ceremony was the conferment of a posthumous honorary Doctor of Science on the late Premier of the defunct Eastern Nigeria, Dr. Michael Okpara, and honorary Doctor of Science on the former President of Ohaneze, Prof. Joe Irukwu.

    The ceremony, which was scheduled to start by midday, started at about 1.45 pm, due to the monthly sanitation in the state.

    NAN

  • FG, Senate agree over agency to tackle cattle rustling, herders/farmers conflict

    FG, Senate agree over agency to tackle cattle rustling, herders/farmers conflict

    The senate has disagreed with the Federal Government over the Proposal to establish a national bureau charged with the identification and management of cattle, goats and sheep in parts of the country.

    The Senate said that creation of the bureau to identify and manage the animal would serve as a means to forestall cattle rustling as well as curtail conflicts between herders and farmers across the country.

    The proposal for the establishment of the bureau is contained in a Bill seeking to establish National Animal Identification and Management Bureau for the purpose of animal traceability, registration and identification.

    Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbe, vehemently opposed the proposal describing it as unnecessary.

    Ogbe who expressed his objection at a Public Hearing organized by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, argued that already, there was a department in his ministry saddled with the responsibility for which the agency was being sought.

    The minister insisted that creating the proposed agency would render the some staff of his ministry redundant and serve as a duplication of the functions of department saddled with the duty.

    Senator Abu Ibrahim, who sponsored the bill countered that it is obvious that the ministry has failed to address the content of the Bill.

    Ibrahim added that from all indications, the ministry has no clear cut direction in tackling and bringing to an end, the perennial problem of cattle rustling and farmers and herders conflict which he said has assumed a threatening dimension in recent times.

    The lawmaker who pointing out that the Ministry of Agriculture last held a conference on curbing farmers, herders clash, cattle rustling in 2009, noted that there had been lingering rustling of cattle, herders, farmers clash, to which the ministry has not taken any action to contain.

    On the importance of the Bill, Ibrahim said that if it becomes a law,, cattle could be traced, while the bureau will solve a lot of security questions in the Nigerian meat industry.

    The lawmaker who stated that Nigeria has the largest population of cattle compare to other countries in Africa, lamented that “yet the business of livestock is still localized only within Nigeria because the bureau is not yet in existence.”

    He noted that the country has been denied of gross earnings, since it could not export meat to other countries for lack of meeting international standard.

    Ibrahim also lamented that Nigeria has not keyed into the Pretoria declaration two years after, hence, there was no proper recordings, identification and management of animals in Nigeria.

    He said, “In April 2015, Sub-Saharan African countries including Nigeria adopted a declaration in Pretoria, South Africa, on animal identification and recording.”

    He stoutly canvassed that animal related responsibilities be severed from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for it to function effectively.

    According to him, the bureau would effectively tackle cattle rustling and check the menace of herdsmen/farmers clashes.

    He explained that animal live stocks could easily be identified, the location, and breed known, adding that they will also be traced for purposes of disease surveillance.

    “The challenge of herdsmen and farmers clashes would have been taken care of with the propose bureau. It also means that ownerships, location, breed and other information on animal would have been available for easy tracking if there is animal disease.” he said.

    Ibrahim who regretted that the ministry is only concerned about themselves and how to preserve bureaucracy, he warned that states are now making laws against open grazing, saying that the agency and the Bill could not have come at any better time than now.

    “If cattle are rustled, the owner can be traced through the microchip that is planted in their body. Stolen cattle can equally be recovered”, he said.

    The senator said that the law is already in existence in countries like Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda and Djibouti, which he said have less cattle than Nigeria.

     

  • Benue to hold maiden youths entrepreneurship summit

    Benue to hold maiden youths entrepreneurship summit

    About 600 youths are to participate in the first Benue Youths Entrepreneurship Summit, aimed at promoting productivity, morals and patriotism among Benue youths.

    The two-day summit, billed for June 14 and June 15 in Makurdi, is to be hosted by the Eunice Spring of Life Foundation, initiated by Mrs Eunice Ortom, Wife of Benue Governor.

    The Chairman of the Organising Committee of the summit, Pastor Dave Ogbole, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Markurdi.

    He said that the 600 youths would be drawn from each of the wards in the 23 local government areas of the state.

    Ogbole said that the youths would be exposed to culturally relevant entrepreneurship of global standards that would help them to be self-reliant.

    “The summit is aimed, among others things, at creating in the Benue youth, a mindset toward productivity, patriotism and enterprise,’’ he said.

    The chairman also said that the summit would create a network of systems and institutions that would benefit the Benue youth.

    According to him, the Minister for Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbe would attend the event, which would have the theme  “Made in Benue is Possible”.

  • Minister laments herdsmen/farmers crisis

    Minister laments herdsmen/farmers crisis

    • As FG plans nutritional grasses for cows

    Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Audu Ogbe, Thursday said that the increasing spate of crisis between herdsmen and rural farmers was taking a toll on agricultural sector of the country.

    Ogbe said that as part of Federal Government effort to tackle the problem, his ministry would develop paddocks to grow grasses, develop boreholes and dams for cattle rearing across the hinterlands.

    The minister stated this during the budget defence of his ministry in the Senate.

    Ogbe said that the project would enable herdsmen to have a more organised life, where their children would have access to education and other basic needs.

    He said, “We are facing a major national problem between herdsmen and rural farmers and we have to bring the crises to an end.

    “There is too much death, violence and too much destruction, gun fire is being used by the herdsmen against rural farmers.

    “ So we will go for massive nutritional grasses across the hinterland because what the cattle want is grass and water and we have the capacity to grow the grasses they want.

    “If it can be done in Kenya and Saudi Arabia, there is no reason why we cannot do it here. So there is a sizeable provision in the budget to grass up the hinterland,’’ he said.

    The minister noted that as part of his ministry’s determination to take agriculture to the next level, it would improve on bee production, hides and skin, bush mango seed (ogbolo), life stock, cotton and groundnut among others.

    He said the ministry would also consolidate on local staples, particularly rice and wheat, which consume 11 million dollars a day in import.

    He noted his ministry would further introduce two programmes to assist young Nigerians and women.

    Ogbe said that small factories will be built in large quantities for them, rather than allowing them to go through the rigour of acquiring land, loan and equipment.

    The minister warned that Nigeria was at the risk of starving to death by the year 2050, if nothing was done to ensure an all year round farming.

    For him, the present mode of farming would not sustain the increasing population in the country.

    Ogbe stressed the need for all major stakeholders to work towards improving mechanized farming and irrigation, to ensure an all year round farming to avert the problem.

    He said, “We have written to state governments to encourage them to develop dams and canals so that  agriculture becomes an all year round activity  and it is not confined to the rainy season alone.

    “Four or five months of farm activity cannot sustain the country for 12 months besides  by 2050 Nigeria’s population will be very close to 500 million going by the current rate of growth.

    “This is just 34 years from now. If we carry on at the current rate of one crop per year and very low mechanization,  Nigeria runs a risk of starving to death.’’