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Tag: Audu Ogbeh

  • FG threatens to shut land borders over rice smuggling

    FG threatens to shut land borders over rice smuggling

    The Federal Government has threatened to shut some land borders if the smuggling of rice continues from neighbouring countries.

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, gave the warning on Monday while speaking to journalists in Abuja on some of the federal government’s achievements in the agriculture sector in the last two years.

    Ogbeh said the decision had become necessary to encourage local rice farmers and to enable the country achieve self sufficiency in rice production by 2018.

    He said, “We believe they are determined to sabotage the efforts that we are making to guarantee self sufficiency in rice and to save foreign exchange which we don’t have.

    “They insist on bringing in rice through the land borders, avoiding the duties and the levies we put on them and they are definitely bent on sabotaging our efforts and we are getting increasingly unhappy with them.

    “And I must say that very soon, if they persist, we will take very nasty measures against them.

    “We will like to advise our neighbours, who believe that the ECOWAS treaty means that Nigeria is a volunteer nation for economic suicide.

    “We have no such plans, destroying our own economy to make any neighbour happy.

    “The ECOWAS treaty number two  does not suggest that any country can be an avenue for smuggling foreign goods not produced in that country for dumping in his neighbours territory.

    “If they insist, I do not think that government is far away from considering permanently closing certain borders very near to us and when we do, nothing will make us change our minds on the issue, ECOWAS treaty or not.”

    NAN

     

  • Sokoto creates 27,000 jobs in agric sector, says Tambuwal

    Sokoto State Government says it has created no fewer than 27,166 jobs in the agricultural sector in the last two years.

    Gov. Aminu Tambuwal said this on Wednesday in Sokoto at the opening of a stakeholders’ sensitisation workshop on Climate Change Adaptation and Agri-business Support, organised in collaboration with the State Office of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

    “In the period under consideration, we have supported more than 33,000 people, through the promotion of improved crop production techniques, para-veterinary clinics as well as women and youth off-farm activities.

    “Similarly, we have created, through our community-based agric and rural development initiatives, 27,166 jobs via different interventions in sustainable agriculture, community infrastructure, rural enterprise development, among others,’’ he said.

    The governor said that his administration was fully committed to the development of agriculture, with a view to enhancing food security, eradicating poverty and boosting employment opportunities, especially among the youth.

    “The state government will continue to honour and fulfil all financial obligations entered into with IFAD and other donor agencies, so that the people of the state can continue to enjoy its maximum benefit,’’ Tambuwal said.

    In his goodwill message, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, represented by the North West Regional Director, Mr Adeyemi Ayoyeyi, said that the Federal Government was determined to develop the agricultural sector.

    “The Federal Government, under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, was resolute in its vision of promoting agricultural production in Nigeria.

    “The Federal Government was implementing programmes aimed at attracting the youth to agricultural practices across the value chain.

    “The ministry, in collaboration with IFAD and other partners, has developed and implemented the climate change adaptation and agri-business support programme.

    “This is to fast-track climate change mitigation and stimulate smart agriculture in the country,’’ Ogbeh said.

  •  FG launches 10-year food security, nutrition policy

    The Federal Government on Tuesday in Abuja launched a 10-year Agricultural Sector Food Security and Nutrition Strategy to combat malnutrition and food insecurity in the country.

    Launching the document, Chief Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, expressed regret over the alarmingly poor level of food safety in the country.

    Ogbeh, represented by Prof. Abubakar Hafiz, the Deputy Gov. of Kano State, said the strategy would serve as a driver toward making food safe from production, preparation and storage.

    He said the event co-hosted by the ministry and the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition was apt, adding that it will help tackle malnutrition challenges in country.

    “With this strategy, agriculture and food systems in Nigeria are being deliberately harnesses to boost nutrition.

    “It is expected that the successful implementation of the strategy will translate to a sustainable reduction of malnutrition thus, unlocking the immense potentials of generations for economic growth,’’ he said.

    In his opinion, Hafiz called for the establishment of a National Food and Nutrition Commission to coordinate, collaborate and mobilise resources for the implementation of the document.

    He said that the implementation would require collaborations between the federal, states and local governments.

    Prof. Sandy Thomas, the Director of the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, said the strategy would help support policy makers in the country to make informed decisions.

    Thomas said that one in three persons in the country were malnourished, noting that the menace would rise if necessary actions were not taken.

    She suggested more investments to scale up nutrition programmes in the country.

    “Meeting the 2015 World Health Assembly target for stunting will add 29,7 billion to Nigeria’s income,’’ she said.

    Dr Philippa Momah, representing a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) known as `Scaling Up Nutrition’, called for collaborations from relevant stakeholders, private and public sectors to implement the strategy.

    The Special Adviser to Ogbeh on Food Security and Nutrition, said the strategy had eight priority areas of enhancing food value chains, diversified food production targeting women and nutrition education among others.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition was established in August 2013 at the Nutrition for Growth Summit in London.

    It was jointly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK

    It is an independent group of experts and leaders who hold or have held high office and are showing strong personal commitment to improving nutrition.

    The Panel aims to provide guidance to decision makers, particularly governments, to inform and promote agricultural and food policies and investment for improved nutrition in low and middle income countries.

     

  • Students protest against scrapping of non-agricultural courses in Michael Okpara varsity

    Students protest against scrapping of non-agricultural courses in Michael Okpara varsity

    Students of  the College of Management Sciences (COLMAS) of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike in Abia, on Thursday  protested against the Federal Government’s policy scrapping seven courses in the college.

    The affected courses are Accounting, Banking and Finance, Marketing, Economics, Entrepreneurial Studies, Industrial Relations and Business Administration.

    The students protested to the office of the Dean of the college, Prof John Ihendinihu, and called on the management of the university to initiate steps toward the restoration of the courses.

    The President, Association of Management Science Students (AMSS) of the university, Mr. Uzoma Onuoha, said that they were disturbed by the news of the scrapping of the courses.

    Onuoha said that they were worried by the development and wanted to know what the management was doing about it.

    “We appeal to you sir to ensure that something is done fast to restore the programmes.

    “We can never be violent or engage in any act that would bring shame to the university as we continue to express our dissatisfaction with the policy,” he said.

    The students carried placards, some of which read: “Restore our programme in JAMB brochure.

    “The scrapped management programmes were approved by relevant professional bodies” and “Management programmes in MOUAU have been in existence since 2003’.”

    Responding, the dean said that the college with the university management was on top of the situation and hoped to get positive response from the relevant authority.

    He urged the students to remain calm and peaceful.

    Ihendinihu said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development came up with the policy to scrap non-agriculture courses from the three universities of agriculture in Nigeria.

    The affected institutions are MOUAU, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi (FUNAM) and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB).

    He alleged that the ministry had relaxed the policy in FUNAM and FUNAAB and the affected courses restored in the current JAMB brochure for the two universities.

    He said that the decision to relax the policy in the other institutions and exclusion of MOUAU was discriminatory.

    He said the university had set up a committee with three professors from the college as members to handle the issue.

    Ihendinihu, who was flanked by heads of departments in the college, later told newsmen that the offering of management sciences did not breach the lawb that established the university.

    He said the law “provides for a tripod mandate of teaching, research and extension in agriculture and related/allied disciplines.”

    Ihendinihu said MOUAU established six colleges for core agricultural programmes and six other “complementary colleges”, which included COLMAS, to provide foundational courses in “related/allied disciplines.”

    He appealed to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, to order the immediate restoration of the scrapped COLMAS programmes in MOUAU as done for the others.

    He said that the college had 6,735 regular and 4,196 part-time students as well as 172 members of staff, whose fate was now uncertain because of the new policy.

    The dean explained that the policy would further worsen the fate of Abia indigenes seeking university admission.

    He said Abia was disadvantaged compared with other states in terms of the distribution of Federal Government-owned tertiary educational institutions as MOUAU was the only one in the state.

     

  • Nigeria to export processed cashew nuts by 2019 – Ogbeh

    Nigeria to export processed cashew nuts by 2019 – Ogbeh

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Audu Ogbeh, on Tuesday said that the country would start processing its raw cashew nuts for export by 2019.

    Ogbeh made this known at the maiden edition of the 2017 First Bank Agric Expo in Lagos.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the expo is tagged: Reinventing Agriculture for Sustainable National Development.

    According to him, the current worth of a tonne of roasted or processed cashew nut for export is $10,000 while the raw cashew nut is sold for $1,200.

    He said it would be better to process the nuts for export instead of exporting raw cashew nuts in order to benefit from the high cost of cashew nuts.

    “So in the next two years we will no longer export raw cashew nuts, but roast the cashew nuts for export.

    “If we produce a tonne of roasted cashew it will be sold at the international price of $10,000, whereas a tone of raw cashew nuts sells for $1,200,” he said.

    Ogbeh also said that Nigeria shipped a total of $600,000 worth of raw cashew nuts to Vietnam alone in 2016.

     

  • Bird Flu: Association lauds FG’s planned payment to affected farmers

    The Poultry Association of Nigerian (PAN) has lauded the Federal Government (FG) for approving to pay compensation to farmers affected by bird flu in 2015 and 2016.

    The chairman of the association in Plateau, Mr. John Dasar, gave the commendation in an interview on Monday in Jos.

    The Acting President Yemi Osibanjo, after he had met with the national officials of PAN in February, approved the release of N1.7billion as compensation for the affected farmers.

    Similarly, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Audu Ogbeh, reiterated government’s commitment to adequately compensate farmers whose farms were affected during the 2015/2016 period.

    The minister said that the names of the affected farmers across the nation were being computed, so as to avoid omission when the payment starts.

    Dasar described the move by the government to pay the compensation as “a right step in the right direction”.

    He said that the gesture would make most farmers to bounce back to business, thereby, increasing their personal incomes and that of the government.

    “I am happy that the government is now giving us attention; we now know that it means well for the agriculture sector as it is now matching its words with actions.

    “’This gesture will go a long way to improve the individual’s income and the IGR of government, because farmers who had been out of business will now bounce back.

    “In Plateau for example, over 100 poultry farms were closed down in 2015 and 2016; and this means that a lot of farm attendants were out of job, increasing the unemployment rate in the society.

    “’So, for us in PAN, we are delighted with the way things are unfolding. Our members can now repose confidence in us their representatives as well as in the government,” said Dasar.

    The PAN boss also said that the payment would drastically reduce the fast spread of bird flu in the country.

    “This is because farmers will naturally wait on government to cull their sick birds rather than sell to desperate marketers,” he said.

     

  • ‎FG okays N701b power purchase guarantee for GenCos

    ‎FG okays N701b power purchase guarantee for GenCos

    …Power generation hits 4,000 megawatts

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N701 billion as Power Assurance Guarantee for the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET). 

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola briefed State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

    He was accompanied by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh.

    Fashola said that the facility, which will be made available by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is to guarantee the payment for the evacuation of power produced by Generating Companies (GenCos) for the national grid. 

    The amount, he said, will be drawn on monthly basis to tackle liquidity challenges faced by GenCos.

    NBET will pay GenCos in arrears of electricity generated as a deliberate step to boost their confidence and that of intending investors to the sector. 

    Part of the liquidity problem being faced by GenCos is the inability to pay their gas suppliers.

    Fashola said: “You will recall that a few weeks back we announced the approval of council for early works for the second Niger Bridge. That bridge at some time was part of a PPP initiative. You will also recall that at some time some private agreements have been signed to build the Lagos-Ibadan express way. 

    “The first memo is to brief council on the PPP status of those infrastructure projects and present options to government which was essentially that government where those PPPs are having problems, government must lead and finance the infrastructure while continuing to engage the private sector. Government remains committed to ‎having private participation in infrastructure renewal.

    “But government as a matter of strategy thinks that it can continue until financial closures, agreements and all of that are put in place when PPPs become ready and viable to help deliver. So, it was a strategy memorandum, the conclusion essentially which is that government is committed to doing short financing as much as possible and encouraging PPP as much as possible. 

    “The second memorandum is in another area of critical importance which is power‎. Part of the challenges there was addressed in the memo that was presented to council to solve some of the liquidity problems, especially as it relates to NBET. 

    “NBET as you know is the government’s own company, which is the Bulk ‎Trader Electricity who buys power from the GENCOS. The liquidity problems that have characterized the market have affected NBET’s ability to deliver on its PPP obligations through the GenCos.

    “So, going forward in order to strengthen NBET, CBN is proving a payment assurance guarantee for any energy produced by any GenCos, so that the GenCos can pay their gas suppliers when they get paid. So that the hydros can continue to operate.  

    “What we seek to achieve here is to bring some stability to the production side of the power value chain and also give confidence to investors who want to come in, who are concerned about how to recover their money….. payment assurance and also people who are planning to invest in the gas sector which is being championed by the ministry of petroleum also are saying the same thing in terms of payment for gas produced.

    “So, the approval of council was to provide this guarantee for NBET, which is a 100 percent government owned company to pay on a monthly basis it’s obligations for energy actually produced on to the grid to the GenCos that are its customers,” he said.

    He said that the government is expanding transmission capacity regularly because it wants to generate more power.

    He said “I have been here to announce to you transmission projects that have been approved by council and over the last one year plus the transmission capacity has grown to almost seven thousand from five thousand and is continuing to grow with every project.

    “So, it is not the problem of taking power, ‎it is actually a problem of getting power from generation. If you recall just about a few weeks ago you were reporting that power supply had dropped to a little over 2000. It’s back now at over 4000. Because what we were seeing on the eastern side of the Delta was that there power. We have solved the transmission problem in Ikot Ekpene largely to evacuate over a thousand. But the gas suppliers were being owed so they were not supplying gas for the power producers. 

    “As to the quantum of the guarantee, it is for two years from January this year right through to December 2018. It is capped at a maximum of N‎701 billion but it is to be drawn monthly. It is possible it may not reach that. But we are projected on the total cost that NBET will likely to pay. And that is why it is for power generated onto the grid only.

    “So, if the power generated does not meet that cost we don’t pay for it. It is paid in arrears at the end of the month not in advance. So, it is for actually what gets unto the grid. And this is part of the reforms that we have briefed you about that we were planning to undertake,” he said.

    He also said that he briefed the cabinet on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) status of the Second Niger Bridge and Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

    Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, said the FEC approved the sum of N263 million for three research institutions to produce gum Arabic seedlings for Nigerian farmers and for export.

    He said Nigeria earned as much as $43 million from export of gum Arabic last year, and that more will be earned with increased production, especially the commodity is in high demand in 17 other countries.

    Ogbeh disclosed that similar efforts are on to boost Cassava research, noting recent discovery of well-packaged ‘garri’ imported from India.

  • FG to link farmers, processors to ready export market for cassava chips

    FG to link farmers, processors to ready export market for cassava chips

    The Federal Government says it will assist cassava farmers and processors to create linkage markets to guarantee export and sale of cassava chips at the international market.

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said this at an Agribusiness Supplier Development Programme (ASDP) meeting organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ibadan on Tuesday.

    Represented by Mr Auwal Maidabino, the Director, Planning and Policy Coordination in the ministry, Ogbeh said the linkage when actualised, would secure and inject more foreign exchange into the country.

    The minister, who said that in 2012 the country secured and supplied 2.2 million tonnes of cassava chips to China, which earned it over 534 million dollars, expressed regret that the business was not sustained.

    Ogbeh said the government would continue to provide improved yielding cassava stems, disease resistant varieties, access to finance and markets to improve the country’s current market share.

    He appealed to cassava farmers to improve cassava chips production and supply chain system to meet demands from other countries.

    “In order to facilitate the attainment of this objective, we have put institutional framework in place to promote agribusiness and investments.

    “We are working with donour agencies, financial institutions, and the organised Private Sector to build an agribusiness economy for food security, job creation and export for inclusive growth.

    “In view of the potential that abound for export trade in cassava chips, I urge you to take advantage of this to focus on cassava chips production, standardisation and training to meet with market export requirement,’’ he said.

    Dr Nelson Abila, an Agribusiness Specialist with the UNDP, said the meeting was aimed at bringing together stakeholders in the cassava value chain with a view to increasing productivity, expand profit gap and stimulate local economy along the chain.

    According to him, the meeting is also to encourage and promote more participation in the cassava value chain.

    Abila expressed concern over the dwindling market for the cassava produce at the international level.

    “ASDP is an initiative of the UNDP to make farming a business, improving the supply of agricultural products by farmers, contribute to the development of the nations’ economy,’’ he explained.

    Mr Tony Egba, a guest lecturer, said that Nigeria was the highest producer and local consumers of cassava produce across the world.

    In a lecture entitled: “The How of Cassava Chips Processing’’, Egba said that the best drying method for cassava was through sunlight.

    He advised farmers and processors to imbibe the right way for the drying and storage of the produce.

    Egba noted that low or high moisture content in cassava would introduce moles in them which would cause its rejection at the international market.

    The Country Manager of the Africa Commodities Exchange (AFEX), Mr Ayodeji Balogun, stressed the need for the provision of storage facilities to reduce post-harvest losses and close the glut gap in cassava value chain.

    Some of the farmers called on the government to provide enabling environment and policies that would encourage farmers in the country.

     

  • FEC approves measures to reduce food prices

    The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved some measures to reduce food prices in the country.

    The Council took the decision based on the interim report submitted by the food security task force set up last week  to explore how best to address the rising cost of food items across the country.

    The Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, briefed State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

    He said the committee has identified that the hike in cost of food is not caused by shortage but high cost of transportation.

    He noted that food items are generally moved across Nigeria with heavy trucks whose operations have been affected by increase in the price of diesel.

    To this end, he said the government has decided to start using railway wagons to transport food items across the country.

    He said: “We had a committee set up last week to look at the issue of hike in food prices and we submitted an interim report today. Our work is almost rounded up.

    “We identified the causes of food price increases. The good thing is that there is no real shortage of food. There is food but the prices are a bit too high and Nigerians are groaning under the pain.

    “One of the things we found out is that the cost of transportation is becoming extremely high especially because most of our transpiration is by road and diesel prices have gone up. Trucks are finding it difficult to move from place to place at old prices.

    “So we considered the following alternatives: using railway wagons along the current railway network. As we did before when we moved cattle from North West to Lagos, we brought down the cost and avoided the multiple taxation on transporters by local governments which delay movement.

    “We have decided to work with the state governments and the police to reduce delays. We are going to adapt what they have in Ivory Coast. Trucks carrying foods are given labels. In fact, in Ivory Coast, they cannot be stopped for more than 10 minutes anywhere.

    “Even if something serious has happened, the security agencies will follow them to their destinations and come back to investigate whatever has happened.”

     

  • Osinbajo meets presidential task force on food security

    Osinbajo meets presidential task force on food security

    Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday met behind closed doors with members of the presidential task force on the rising cost of food items in the country.

    The meeting, which took place at Aguda House, the official residence of the acting president, was attended by all members of the group, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the setting up of the task force as part of efforts to enhance food security in the country.

    The task force is to urgently consider measures that would ensure a steady flow of farm produce to the market and reverse recent price increases.

    It also has the responsibility of exploring strategies toward ensuring availability and affordability of food items to Nigerians.

    The group, expected to submit its interim reports on February 8, has the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh; Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and Minister of Industry, Trade and Development, Dr. Okey Enelamah, as members.

    Other members of the team are – the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige.