Green House emerged the overall winner of De-Bright Group of Schools maiden inter-house sports competition held recently, at AUD College, Isolo, Lagos.
The champions lifted the trophy after clinching 16 gold, six silver and eight bronze medals ahead of Yellow House with 12 gold, 11 silver and eight bronze medals; and Red House with seven gold, 13 silver medals and 12 bronze.
Proprietor of the school, Oresanya Adekunle said it was not just a competition, but an event aimed at uniting the students, their parents and teachers together in another way.
“When organising competitions, it should not only be about the games, we need to consider a lot of things like uniting the people especially our wonderful students and their parents. We test ourselves against others to measure specific skills interesting to us and for the love of participating in our chosen sport,” he said.
Oresanya said the overall winning house deserved the trophy following its exceptional performance. He further appreciated the parents and sponsors for making the competition a success.
“The event went well without any form of injury and the weather was favourable and I will also like to appreciate the sponsors who have encountered the students to do well in the competition,” he said.
One of the sponsors and a parent, Ayodele Ogunmuyiwa noted that he had no regrets sponsoring the champions. He also said he sponsored Green House in memory of his late father.
“It was a very interesting competition and I enjoyed it. It is an honour to sponsor the winners and I did that in memory of my late father because he was a great man and I have no regret doing that. The children have all done well and they made us proud. Who knows, they might be representing the country tomorrow,” he said.
Another parent, Fatai Dosumu, praised the management for organising the competition.
He said: “It has been a fantastic competition so far and I can say it is a well packaged inter-house sports.”
Speaking with The Nation, the Captain of the champions, Okwudishu Michael gave kudos to the sponsors and house masters for preparing them well ahead of the competition.
Michael noted that the training they got led to their victory.
“It was great lifting the overall trophy. We were scared at a point but the training we got helped us a lot to get ahead of others. I will like to say thank you to our sponsors for boosting our moral before and during the competition because that alone was a plus to us,” he said.
To promote diversification of the economy, many states have taken to farming. Akwa Ibom is into vegetable farming, growing tomotatoes and cucumber under its Green House Initiative to boost revenue generation. Joe Iniodu writes.
If the Akwa Ibom Employment and Enterprise Scheme (AKEES ) opened the people’s eyes to the wealth around them, especially in agriculture, San Carlos, a Mexican outfit reputed for mechanised farming and operating in Calabar, Abeokuta, Enugu, Port Harcourt and Uyo, has come to deepen the persuasion that planting some hitherto imported vegetables, such as tomatoes, and cucumber is a goldmine.
These vegetables are being grown under the Green House Initiative of Governor Udom Emmanuel in pursuit of the diversification of the economy.
The Green House which is adjacent to the Ibom International Airport gate is a beauty to behold.
Each of the houses draped in transparent enclosure has a landmass of one hectare with a farming model, with promising high yield. The Akwa Ibom State Government, in partnership with the Mexican group, has allocated 10 hectares for the cultivation of these vegetables.
For now, four hectares have been deployed while the remaining six are awaiting preparation and cultivation. Of the four that have been deployed, one has been cultivated with tomatoes which are being harvested. Another is also ready for tomatoes cultivation while one is deployed for cucumber.
There is yet another which is almost ready for fresh cultivation. The production manager in charge of cultivation, Mr. Habbakuk Orhernnandec confirmed that the projection is to cultivate the 10 hectares this year.
The Green House model of cultivation is a cutting edge method with the inevitability of rich yield. It uses hydroponic system. Hydroponic method is the growing of plants in nutrient solutions with or without an inert medium as soil. Each of the Green Houses are crisscrossed with pvc hose which are buried in wrapped cellophanes that contain coconut fibre or soil. The hose convey water and the solutions to plants which roots are also buried in the cellophane sags.
The roots of the plants sprout from the wrapped cellophanes which has water to irrigate the plant and keep the condition of the place humid to combat the heat which the enclosure perennially generates.
Habbakuk said the coconut fibre is good for tomatoe as it helps in controlling the plant but pointed out that the challenge is that the fibre is imported into the country from Mexico as there is no technology to process the coconut byproduct into fibre. It is in lieu of such challenge that soil is also used.
From the yield witnessed on that day of harvest, if all the allocated hectares are duly cropped , the tomatoes needs of the state would be reasonably met. Tomatoes have about 90 days span from nursery to when they are actually planted to fruition and harvesting. Harvesting may be carried out between two and three times a week. For one hectare , each harvest comes in tonnes giving assurance of increased revenue to the farmer and others within the value chain. Perhaps some of the advantages associated with tomatoes cultivation is its short span to maturity; its value as domestic and industrial necessity; its value as an income earning produce; its receptiveness in the market; its popularity as a produce; its well known health value and lastly, being a non-seasonal all year round produce. These factors make tomatoes cultivation an attractive engagement.
But the Production Manger, Mr Habbakuk in his interaction with yours truly submitted that while he admits that engaging in tomatoes cultivation is a goldmine, the hiccups associated with the enterprise have hurdles to scale and many rivers to cross.
Of course even without probing, it is obvious that storage and preservation are still challenges that are yet to be surmounted. Off takers and other buyers are therefore often required immediately after harvest to help in the evacuation of the produce to either final consumers or factories where paste are produced. For Mr Habbakuk, the most disheartening challenge is access to fertiliser.
According to him, only three companies import the item into Nigeria, noting that the inadequacy has given room for a shortfall in supply of these important inputs which application would increase yield and revenue.
The production manager who is in- charge of cultivation reiterated that Nigeria is too vast for only three companies to monopolise the importation of such critical items.
Habbakuk and his colleagues lauded Governor Emmanuel for conceiving of the partnership and practically taking steps towards its realisation, maintaining that the partnership between San Carlos and the state government would record significant mileage in production and engagement.
It was a regalling sight to behold as women engaged as farm hands and who were on that day harvesting sang eulogies for Governor Emmanuel whom they said had put food on their table through the initiative. They however charged him replicate the same initiative in other senatorial districts to boost the production of the vegetables and broaden the tapestry of engagement for Akwa Ibom people.
The agricultural sector has been known worldwide to be one of the largest employers of labour. Its value chain also helps in widening participation. In the case of the intending ten hectares, the Green House at full capacity utilisation would engage a huge number of Akwa Ibom people. In the interim, about 74 workers, according to the General Manager, are engaged in construction, production and operations.
Yet, they are those who are not engaged directly, but provide ancillary services that are salient to the chain. The basket makers, transporters, owners of grinding machines and market women are also part of the chain.
Nigeria has been run as a monolithic economy for decades. The clamour for diversification also started decades ago and remained mere political rhetoric till recently. The slump in the price of oil in the last three years and the attendant decline in accruable revenue has impacted adversely on the Nation’s long held habit of importation which depletes foreign exchange and puts the economy on a low tide.
The reality has compelled the review of the nation’s agricultural policy and necessitated its choice as the diversification option. Interestingly, states that have chosen this path are already reaping bountiful benefits. Nasarawa and Anambra are states that have braced to the new challenge and taken up the gauntlet of midwifing a diversification. They have stirred up some kind of agricultural revolution in their states. Akwa Ibom is unequivocally part of the revolution, but in a rather quiet and subdued tone. The people of the state must be grateful that the governor is not a spectator that is content with watching the revolution in other states.
He has made the state part of the revolution through vibrant agricultural policies, programmes and partnership. The distribution of improved seedlings of some crops, coordinated access to inputs like fertilizer, the cocoa maintenance scheme, the coconut refining plant, the various rice farms springing up in the State, the cassava processing plant, the palm oil mills, the hatchery at Mbiaya Uruan and many other initiatives are part of the concerted effort of the Udom administration to rewrite the narrative of agro business in the State.
With imported greenhouses designed to help farmers produce quality and increase yield selling for about N3 million, a young entrepreneur and Co-Founder, PS Nutraceuticals, Samson Ogbole, has found a cheaper option with low cost ones constructed with bamboo.The aim is to encourage more Nigerians with little money to be involved in profitable farming. DANIEL ESSIET reports.
Most businesses in agriculture in Nigeria use greenhouses to grow crops.
They use green houses to manipulate the growing conditions of crops to produce the optimum quality and yield.
Indeed, massive greenhouses are used to grow peppers in light conditions, enabling farmers to reduce the growing season by four weeks.
In Nigeria and parts of Africa, farmers are using greenhouses to grow most out-of-season crops during rainy season and at a time of year when they can’t be grown outdoors.
These include tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, lettuce, basil, and others which command high prices in some markets.
But not all farmers can afford it. A standard modern greenhouse costs between N2 to N3 million. It is expensive because it is constructed with materials such as polycarbonate panels, greenhouse film and corrugated plastic.
Co-Founder, PS Nutraceuticals ,SamsonOgbole has been a prominent figure on the farming scene since he and his partner established his demo farm in Ogun State. He is a proponent of technology driven agriculture. After trying a variety of growing techniques on a smaller scale, he began commercially growing some crops,including fresh produce.
He researched the cost of constructing a standard greenhouse that would offer a more controlled environment in which to farm, but found the start-up costs prohibitive for small scale farmers.
After trials, Ogbole has found a cheap option. A greenhouse made of bamboo and other cheap and locally available materials.
Though built from local materials, Ogbole explained that he has driven down costs with a low cost greenhouse that can control temperature, humidity and soil moisture.
At N300,000,a bamboo greenhouse is much cheaper than the commercial greenhouse that costs as much as N2 million.
With bamboo and locally available and inexpensive materials, Ogbole can construct a 400-square-meter greenhouse for the production of high-value vegetables.
Vegetable varieties that can be planted in bamboo greenhouse include pumpkin, tomato, sweet pepper, and spinach.
The other advantage is that the bamboo–structured greenhouse can last up to five years or longer, giving enough time for farmers to maximise production and increase their profit.
One of his plans is to promote the bamboo greenhouse technology, making it a model for high-value vegetable production.
Apart from making a profit, Ogbole believes low cost greenhouses would create business opportunities for young people and adults going into agro business ventures.
When PIND Foundation, a Chevron Nigeria Limited-funded NGO, disclosed its plan to construct an energy-efficient centre for one of its organs in 2011, its promise to deliver a building that uses75per cent energy elicited suppressed enthusiasm and some doubts. Four years later, the centre opened in Egbokodo-Itsekiri Community in Warri. Southsouth Regional Editor SHOLA O’NEIL, who witnessed the ceremony, reports that PIND delivered on its promises.
In 2011, the Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in Niger Delta (PIND) mulled the idea of constructing the Appropriate Technology Enhanced Demonstration Centre in Egbokodo-Itsekiri Community in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State.
• Inside the house
The centre, located within the premises of PIND’s Economic Development Centre in Egbokodo-Itsekiri Warri, was conceived to pioneer a trend in constructing houses using materials that are not only sustainable, but more eco-friendly and reducing the use energy as part of effort to combat global warming.
PIND said the ATED Centre aimed to achieve an energy consumption that is less than 70 percent of existing buildings. To achieve the target, the centre married alternative technologies with shrewd architectural design that takes advantage of its location and available resources.
Four years on, the centre was opened on Wednesday, July 8, much to the delight of guests, environmentalists and members of the local and international communities. And it delivered on all the promises.
PIND’s staff who provided a guided tour of the facility after a brief opening ceremony, explained some unique feature in the construction: Instead of conventional blocks, the centre was built with hydra-form interlocking blocks, which uses laterite, an age-long building materials. Laterite needs minimal cement both in molding and erection of the walls. The use of timber along with the laterite block, double glass window panes etc. reduces heat and eliminates the need for ACs to barest minimum. The building, which has no ceiling board, featured two-layered roof that allows wind to blow in between, keeping the bottom layer cooler due to both the air flow and the protection from direct sunlight. The use of double glass window pane reduces noise, while an air system improves airflow and circulation and aids the inverter type ACs to function optimally.
One of the standout technologies in the futuristic ATED Centre however is the Bio-digester, a system that converts human and animal wastes to clean cooking gas, fuel to power its standby generator and which byproduct is manure. The contraption not only enhances the concept of waste to wealth, but also helps the environment through cleaner energy.
PIND said, “ATED is also using this new building to pilot an ATED-promoted innovation called the bio-digester. This technology turns waste into fuel that may be used in the canteen to cook, or in a back-up generator to create power, and safe fertilizer. Following testing at ATED, the technology will then be piloted in a Niger Delta community.”
The Executive Director of the Texas, US-based Niger Delta Partnership Initiatives Foundation (NDPI), Mr Denis Flemmi, performed the opening ceremony. NDPI administers PIND’s funds from Chevron Corporation’s and other partners. .
Earlier in his welcome address, PIND Executive Director, Mr Sam Daibo, explained that the choice of materials used in the building was informed by the growing concern about global warming and the need to take action to mitigate its effects, especially in the Niger Delta region.
He remarked that it was conceived to demonstrate appropriate technology in building of houses in the Niger Delta region in particular and Nigeria as a whole, adding that it took advantage of strong linkages between the development of appropriate technologies with commercial potential, and the small and medium enterprise support programs of the EDC.
Daibo explained that the initial challenge with the host communities also provided an opportunity for a peace programme and laid the foundation for a mutually benefiting relationship for PIND and its Itsekiri hosts, whose local contractors supplied most of the materials used in the construction.
• Ms Gilbert and others at the event
In her presentation, Nancy Gilbert, manager of the ATED programme, explained that it is all “appropriate technology” – that makes sense in the Niger Delta.
She noted that the region faces challenges like lack of access to clean water, which informed introduction of biosand filter, a simple, but very effective water purification technology, which is able to purify water up to 99percent. The simple filter comprises of just a bucket, small stones and sand.
“This is the kind of technology we are interested in – ways to make life better, improve incomes, and address important issues faced by the people of the Niger Delta.”
She explained that the demonstration centre project was approached with a focus on building a house that show people how they could experience new, innovative approaches that could improve quality of life in view of the global challenge of climate change.
According to her, climate change is one of the greatest problems facing the world, remarking: “Not only does the nature and extent of climate change hamper human development it also forms a major threat to human security and political stability.”
Nancy said global warming is more daunting in Africa because, along with poverty, it is considered its greatest challenge in the 21st century because they link to aggravate the existing vulnerabilities of the poor and creates new risks.
She said the Niger Delta region is particularly vulnerable to effect of climate change as it causes sea level rise, ocean surges, coastal erosion, and floods among others. She posited that the intrusion of sea-water into fresh water sources and ecosystems destroy important systems like mangrove, where fish breed and grow.
“It will also affect agriculture, fisheries and general livelihoods. If sea level rises .5 metres, 35% of the Niger Delta land mass will be lost. Of course, all of this will have significant impact on you, your families and your communities.
“Things have always been changing and nature has adapted. So why is this different? The difference is the rate of change – things are changing so quickly that the natural world doesn’t have enough time to adapt. This means we need to find ways to slow down the negative things we are doing, and give the world a chance to adjust – until we can find a way of living that works in balance with nature.
“To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we have to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions which mean find ways to use less car bon intensive energy.”
While conceding that humans cannot undo all the negative things that have been done to harm the environment and enhance global warning, she said further negative impacts can be mitigated or minimized as the case may.
“How do we improve? We do it through innovation and change. And this will bring new opportunities, new and different jobs. For example solar power is getting cheaper and cheaper. As a result investments are going up: Globally $3.7 trillion in solar investments are expected between now and 2040.
“Solar alone will account for more than a third of new power capacity worldwide And this revolution will be decentralized. The biggest solar revolution will take place on rooftops – in Paris, Los Angeles and in Warri. High electricity prices and cheap residential battery storage will make small scale rooftop solar very attractive.”
“They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And I would venture to add – an experience is worth a few thousand more! Being able to see, learn, and experience innovations, will hopefully lead to interest, knowledge, and change.”
“We hope that this building can in some small way help raise awareness of the challenges we face, and suggest solutions,” she added.
Explaining further to newsmen, Mr. Sylvester Okoh, Field Project Manager, PIND, said beyond the technologies displayed at the centre, Okoh said gains of appropriate technologies range from agriculture to health, that they have helped the method of crop harvesting and food processing, which he said has made life easier for people.
He said has PIND has a very large program on peace building and has partnered with a lot of experts who volunteered to participate in their peace building programs that has helped in reducing violence in the region.
He urged Niger Delta youths to shun violence and embrace peace at all times, saying that their lives are important, and they should be engaged in meaningful ventures that can make people to support them.
Guests, including Mr Tuoyo Omatsuli, Executive Director Project of the Niger Delta Development Commission, who was represented by Mr Alfred Mulade, commended the initiative and promised that the NDDC would continue to partner with PIND and other similar bodies towards the development of the region.
On his part, Mr. Charles Okereke, while commending the initiative and concept of the centre, remarked that the high cost of materials involved meant that the technologies displayed are still out of the reach of the common man. He urged the Federal and State governments to key into laudable programmes of ATED and provide needed supports and encouragements for the youths.
The ATED Centre has offices for ATED program staff, reference library, classroom and workshop for conduction of AT training programs, research and development room, business incubator, exhibition and training hall reception, boardroom, and plant room.
