The Nation Newspaper

Tag: govt urged

  • Govt urged to embrace renewable energy

    Professor of Chemical Engineering and recipient of the 2018 Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) award, Adesoji Adesina, has warned that it may take 2,000 years for Nigeria to catch up with the developed world if the government does not embrace renewable energy.

    Adesina spoke while delivering the 2019 First Award Winners’ Lecture of the Nigerian National Merit Award (NNMA) – the body that identifies candidates for the NNOM (Nigeria’s highest recognition for academic achievements and innovations) at the University of Lagos yesterday. It was titled: Making the Case for Agro-Based Energy Development: A National Priority for Sustainable Economy.

    “It will take us nearly 2,000 years to get to where developed countries are; if we don’t change anything; if we just told our hands it will take us an unacceptably long time to get to where we want to be.

    “So the present renewable policy we have must change,” he said.

    The university don who teaches at the School of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia, said there was a correlation between Human Development Index (HDI) and energy production and consumption.

    He said countries that were at the same level with Nigeria some decades ago had achieved much more because they abandoned fossil fuels for renewable energy.

    He gave example of Norway, an oil producing country which depends on renewable energy to meet its electricity demands.

    To remedy the situation he called for a departure from fossil fuels  and investments in biomass refineries that would meet energy needs without destroying the environment.

    He said biomass resources in Nigeria was rich and varied could support sustainable development.

    “The circular nature of agricultural resources makes it a veritable framework for sustainable energy development because of cyclic flow of material and energy,” he said.

     

  • Govt urged to embrace single window, review port tariffs

    The Federal Government has been urged to introduce a single window platform (SWP) and review tariffs to make the ports attractive for business.

    Maritime lawyers, importers and clearing agents who spoke at the weekend in separate interviews, said the ports may witness low volume of imports early next year if the government did not act fast.

    They said the introduction of a single window platform and the review has become necessary to eliminate arbitrariness and ensure parity with other ports, particularly those of neighbouring countries.

    The Vice President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANALCA), Dr Kayode Farinto, said port tariffs were not commensurate with the services rendered by terminal operators and they make the ports uncompetitive.

    He said the terminal operators needed to emulate the Nigerian Shippers’ Council that has abolished service charges, bank charge, commission on turnover and concessionaires’ service charge to reduce the cost of doing business in the ports.

    Also, a maritime lawyer, Dr Dipo Alaka commended the Council for implementing the Inland Dry Ports (IDPs) project on Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis to bring shipping to the door of importers.

    Alaka said the Kaduna dry port will boost business activities in the area by the time the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) provides all the necessary equipment to ferry cargoes to and fro the dry port.

    He said despite the claim by the government that it has reduced its agencies at the ports, some are still posing big challenges to port operations.

    The university don stressed the need to revive and modernise the railway as a primary mode for long distance haulage of cargo and to free the Lagos ports road.

    According to him, the railway will also reduce the cost of transporting cargo in and out of the ports and create employment.

    Alaka said there was need to embrace a single window operation to eliminate human contact and the use of discretion, which has been identified as the biggest obstacle to quick cargo clearance from the port.

    He said the single window operation would not only facilitate trade, but also eliminate fraud and improve revenue generation.

  • Link ports with rail, govt urged

    The Federal Government has been urged to link the Lagos ports, six Inland Container Depots (ICDs) and Container Freight Stations (CFS) across the country by rail.

    An industrialist Mr Muyiwa Olabintan made the call in Lagos when he visited the port.

    He bemoaned a situation where importers used trucks to move their goods from the ports.

    The maritime expert told The Nation that the ICDs and CFS would be more effective if they were linked by rail.

    Olabintan, who is also the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the House of Representative in Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Area of the state, said an effective rail system would ease the movement of goods and persons from the Lagos ports to other parts of the country.

    He said the ports were connected by rail, they would help to decongest the Lagos ports, whose facilities and the adjourning roads, he said, had been overstretched.

    Olabintan said he was happy that the Federal Government was planning to build deep seaports in Badagry, urging the APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to adopt the programme if elected.

    “Aside from creating more job opportunities for Nigerians, the  linkage will increase the cargo throughput (imports and exports) of the ports and make it attractive for business.

    “The seaports will be to the advantage of Nigerian importers and exporters if they receive bigger vessels, discharge more cargoes if the Badagry deep seaport is developed.

    “But another problem would be created if the government fails to link the deep seaport by rail,’’ Olabintan said.

    He claimed the non-engagement of indigenous shipowners in coastal and inland shipping, otherwise called cabotage, had rendered thousands of seafarers jobless.

    Olabintan said there was need to build the shipping industry with indigenous workers.

    He said policy makers should make adequate projections for the  the industry.

    The APC candidate said of the 4,000 seafarers in the country, only 2,500 were registered with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

    “Of the 2,500 registered, over half of them are on the streets of our major cities such as Lagos doing nothing,’’ he added.

    He said the seafarers were unemployed because the indigenous shipowners who could have accommodated them were not engaged because of the poor implementation and enforcement of Cabotage law.

    Olabintan advised NIMASA to enforce the Cabotage Act to create jobs for both the seafarers and indigenous ship owners.

  • Govt urged to embrace commodity exchange

    Director, African Region, Cassava Adding Value for Africa (C:AVA), Dr Kola Adebayo, has urged the government to embrace commodity exchange to ensure food security.

    Adebayo said a functional commodity exchange would give farmers access to real-time pricing information, improved profits and productivity.

    He said it would also reduce market segmentation and boost export quality.

    With an exchange, he said there would be stabilisation of domestic supply chains, which will support the efforts of agro-processors and exporters, diminishing concerns about once rampant contract default.

    According to him, a commodity exchange would allow farmers to have access to markets regularly , improve price discovery in the marketplace, as farmers will be able to know the prices of all commodities in different areas.

    This, he noted, would improve the transparency and efficiency of market dealings.

    He said an exchange can facilitate title transfer, market transparency, and price discovery.

    According to him, transaction costs are reduced because coordination through a centralised exchange can reduce costs associated with identifying market outlets, physically inspecting product quality, and finding buyers or sellers.

    By reducing transactions costs and enhancing the flow of information, he added that an exchange can improve returns to market agents while reducing short-term price variability.

    Adebayo said farmers could cover the price risk of the produce by entering into a contract which would lock-in the price of the farmer’s produce.

    He said the contract prices give an advance forecast of the likely prices at a future point in time..

    He said the exchange could be a useful input for the farmer in deciding the cropping pattern.

    Adebayo said the facility would also help depositors sell their commodities n when market conditions and prices were favourable.

    According to him, it would eliminate the issue of delayed payments to farmers and enable processors (millers) to focus on their milling functions while they procure grain through the exchange. It will help improve quality and grading of crops .

    He said the exchange would allow exporters to enter into commitment for delivery at a future point in time and any increase in the price of the underlying commodity in the intervening period could impact on their margins.

    For the exchange to succeed, he said there must be adequate physical infrastructure, flow of information and adequate legal and financial institutions.

  • Govt urged to tackle software piracy

    If the Federal Government fails to empower its agencies to tackle the rising software piracy, more than 60 per cent of personal computers (PCs) may be infected this year. Hackers will also continue to be a menace, the Country Manager, Microsoft Nigeria, Emmanuel Onyeje, has said, warning that hackers would not stop to patronise pirated software.

    Explaining how hackers operate, he said: “To hack a big organisation, which spends millions and millions of dollars to protect their system, they have very big computers to fortify their system and the only way you can beat their system is that you must have a big computing power behind you. But most individual hackers do not have access to the millions of dollars big organisations. So, what do they do? There are more than 1.2 billion PCs on the planet. What they do is find a way to get a section of that, t10,000, one million Pcs, take the PCs as a single unit to hack into an organisation,” he explained, adding that the hackers give the dangerous software free to unsuspecting users.

    “That is where piracy comes in. They are the one giving you the software free. They download it into your PC; they take over your PCs and use that PC to launch an attack on other people’s site,” he added, warning Nigerians to be wary of the sites they visit on the internet.

    “A lot of PCs are going to be infected. Why? People will download what should not be downloaded; they go to websites that they should not be going to install things on their PCs. What are we doing to prevent that? Use Internet Explorer to browse the web, it will tell you which site you are going to. It will tell you which dangerous site you are going; it will tell you that this site is full of malware and viruses. You should protect yourself. Buying pirated software makes your PCs to be susceptible to malware and viruses,” he warned.

    He said the International Data Corporation (IDC) has warned that

  • Govt urged to use peace missions to boost food exports

    The Federal Government can use peace missions to boost food exports, according to an agriculturist, Dr Kola Adebayo.

    Adebayo, the Project Manager, Cassava Adding Value (C:AVA), said the government should take advantage of such missions to promote food trade because of their advantage to local producers.

    Opportunities, he said, exist for Nigerian firms in the agrifood businesses to take advantage of the growing consumer base in places such as Mali by producing high quality food products.

    Adebayo said Mali and other troubled spots need more food after their crises to meet the needs of a growing population.

    Adebayo said the policy should be long-term, urging the government to link the export trade directly with producers to help both sectors.

    Exporters of agricultural and value-added products, he said, should note the World Trade Organisation’s (WT’s) agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), to avoid the rejection of their export consignments.

    SPS and food safety, he said were major factors in export and that safety measures at every stage of the food supply chain, from production to value addition need to be taken care of.

    Standards, such as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) in food safety, good manufacturing practices (GMP) and good retail practices (GRP),the don noted, need to be recognised to ensure the availability of safe food.

    According to him, standards of products, hygiene, additives and pesticide residues are some factors which affect the trade, and therefore the up gradation of the laboratory facilities to check them would help in the export of quality products.

    He said public expenditure focusing on the rural areas and risk mitigation policies are also important.

    He called on the government to infuse more money into the purchase of storage.

  • Govt urged to tackle power outages

    The Federal Government has been urged to save meat processing and cold businesses from collapse by finding a solution to continued power outage.

    Speaking with The Nation, an Animal Production specialist, Prof Abiodun Adeloye, said meat processing firms and cold room operators are losing money because of erratic power supply. As a result, they have to run ttheir generators to keep their business afloat.

    Adeloye of the Department of Animal Production, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), said locating meat processing plants in industrial sectors would save them from power outages.

    He said many companies are facing challenges in cold chain warehousing because the government has been unable to provide any solution to the electricity emergency.

    Noting the market for pre-cooked and processed foods has expanded and has the potential to expand rapidly, Adeloye expressed concern about adequate power supply.

    Improving supply, Adeloye said, would impact on the development of frozen food business and eventually value addition, reduction in post-harvest losses and price stability.

    For the industry to grow, the don said the operators need a guarantee of reliable electricity supply as well as the potential for substantial price benefits.

    Under the current dispensation, he said the operators don’t have control over the electricity at their plants and warehouses.

    He said they are unable to ensure quality by switching off the freezers at night and not providing backup generators.

    Some smaller outlets cannot afford generators for the freezers and can only afford to have generators that run a few light bulbs or fans.

    He said agricultural produce worth millions of naira have been lost to the electricity crisis, which has seen rolling power cuts — referred to locally as ‘load shedding’ — across the country over the past few months.

    He said the energy crisis has resulted in substantial losses, but the extent of the damage is difficult to determine.

    He said the energy crisis is a threat to food security,where a farmer has to invest in expensive equipment.

    Operators battle increased price of electricity and diesel.

    The major constraint the industry is facing is the rising cost of production, he said.

  • Protect waterways against illegal fishing, govt urged

    The Federal Government has been advised to protect the nation’s territorial waters from illegal fishing and develop naval capability to deal with hazardous waste dumping and piracy.

    Some members of the Fishery Society of Nigeria (FISON), gave the advice while speaking with The Nation in Apapa, Lagos.

    A member of the group, Mr Tolani Adegboyega, said the country needs to work with foreign partners to develop the capacity that could help it in tackling the crisis caused by piracy and illegal fishing.

    He said the dumping of toxic waste in the maritime domain and the increasing crimes in the coastline require commitment on the side of the Federal Government to provide capability and cooperation with foreign partners to build its maritime capability.

    Adegboyega pointed out that security experts around the Horn of Africa have developed theories over the increasing piracy cases.

    He noted that Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand had set the stage for cooperation between states, both in information exchange and mobilisation of resources.