The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Institute

  • Institute to reduce post-harvest losses

    The Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) has developed storage facilities to reduce post-harvest farm losses, the Executive Director of the institute, Dr Oluropo Williams, has said.

    He said storage was a challenge in the agricultural sector and that the institute was addressing it. He said the institute had produced affordable storage facilities and drying equipment that could work with solar, air or kerosene.

    According to him, the institute is doing this to encourage youths to go into farming to reduce the level of unemployment. He said the institute was also doing this to increase Nigerian agricultural post-harvest level.

    He said: “We found out that storage and transportation are the major challenges our farmers are facing and we have developed a number of facilities to address these.

    “We have developed ventilated lorry, solar tent, multipurpose dryer, hybrid dryer, inert atmosphere storage structure, diffuse-light structure, smoking kiln, and plastic crates.”

    He explained that the hybrid dryer worked with solar and kerosene stoves.“When there is no sun, the blue flame of the stove continues the drying and when there is sun the stove will not work, the solar will take over,” he said.

    He said there was a small size hybrid dryer that could be used by households, adding that there was the big size for industrial use.

    Williams said the diffuse light structure, which was developed in collaboration with Root Crop Research Institute, was a storage facility that could store fresh potatoes for nine months.

    He said: “It works with circulation of air and has been adopted in Plateau and in Zaria, Kaduna State.

    ”The director explained that the inert atmosphere storage structure for grains was developed to reduce and possibly eradicate chemical preservation of grains.

  • ‘Why Lagos software institute is yet to take off’

    ‘Why Lagos software institute is yet to take off’

    THE Lagos State Software Institute has not taken off because the governement is retooling the project, the state Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr Adebiyi Mabadeje, has said.

    Noting that the government is committed to using science and technology to drive the economic development of the state, he said software development is one aspect of the technological space that is capable of local value add to the state and national economy.

    “We are still on the project. The concept is there. It has a physical component, which is the building. What we want to do is do something differently. We want to be creative and build something that is futuristic. We want to use sustainable materials that are friendly to the environment. We are looking at alternative sources of power not only because power is problem but because it is envrionment-friendly. A lot has been done at the back end as to what we want to achieve (form the project),” he said.

    According to him, to make the project a success, the state is in talks with international organisations that had run similar programme successfully so that the state will tap into their experience, adding that the concept has gone beyond what it was at inception to something broader that will encapsulate an ICT park.

    “We are taliking with some international bodies that have done this before. Essentially, the scope has evolved from just being a software institute but to technology. It is better to spend more time planning than to rush and not get the right value for the project. We, hopefully, will do it this year, if only to commission the physical structure itself. We are continuing work at the back end,” the commissioner said.

     

  • Institute seeks autonomy for state revenue services

    The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has called on the 36 states to grant autonomy to their internal revenue service units.

    Reviewing the states implementation of last year’s budget, in line with their internally generated revenue (IGR), CITN Registrar/Chief Executive, Abayomi Jayeoba said it was not good enough that only five states gave such units autonomy.

    He said: “As governors get busy with their onerous task of states’ building, it is becoming imperative for them to be mindful of the economic realities and focus more on redefining internal revenue drive by improving the efficiency of revenue collection and administration in their jurisdictions.”

    Evidence, he said, abounds that autonomous revenue service for states has fared relatively better than their non-autonomous counterparts.

    He cited the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) which has been the major funding arm of the government in the past 10 years as a reference point in the state’s drive to improve its IGR.

    LIRS generates over N18 billion monthly, accounting for about 70 per cent of the state’s monthly income receipts, he said.

    Since the Federal Inland Revenue Service is autonomous, it is just a matter of time for non-autonomous states to follow suit, he said.

    He said CITN had met the states on the merits of granting autonomy to their internal revenue agencies.

    He added that unless a revenue agency is independent with powers to carry out its assignments without hindrance but in compliance with dictates of the law, government will continue to lose revenue and will be incapable of performing its socio-economic functions to her citizenry.

    Government policies in increased revenue generation can be best implemented with a state internal revenue service that is autonomous and consisting of professionally competent chartered tax practitioners, he said.

    He admonished the states to look inwards for alternative sources of funding if they are serious to diversify their economy and place little reliance on monthly allocation from Abuja.

     

  • Edo Institute workers protest salary arrears

    Members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) at the Edo State-owned Institute of Technology and Management, Usen, yesterday protested three months’ salary arrears and poor conditions of service.

    The protesters, led by ASUP Chairman, Comrade Aghahowa Andy, marched on major streets in Benin, the state capital.

    They stopped on the premises of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Edo State Council, before proceeding to the Government House.

    The workers said they embarked on the peaceful protest to inform Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the “unwholesome condition they were subjected to by the school management”.

    They urged the government to intervene and ensure that their salaries are paid.

    Aghahowa said: “In the past three months, the workers have not received their salaries and we are aware that the state government pays N21 million subvention to the school monthly without default.

    “More so, workers in that school save money in their cooperative societies, so that they will be able to pay their children’s school fees, rent and do other things. As I speak with you, the management has seized that money, about N60 million, without our consent.”

    The protesters decried the lack of adequate accommodation, casualisation of workers, non-inclusion of workers in the State Pension Scheme, promotion without benefits and non-payment of 16 months’ salary arrears on the Consolidated Polytechnic/Colleges of Education Salary Structure (CONPCASS), among others.

    They said the process of appointment into the institution was marred by favoritism and irregularities.

     

  • Institute holds c forum

    The Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) invites lawyers, political scientists, historians, politicians, philosophers, economists and sociologists to the NIALS Constitutionalists Conversation Forum.

    Date: October 18, 2012.

    Venue: Old court room, Supreme Court Complex, Three Arms Zone, FCT, Abuja.

    Time: 10 am prompt.

  • Felix Okoye memorial lecture

    Felix Okoye memorial lecture

    The Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS)
    will hold the 2012 edition of  the Dr. Felix Okoye memorial
    lecture on Tuesday, September 18, 2012.Venue is  the Ayo Ajomo Auditorium, University of Lagos.
    The lecture, with the theme, ‘Judicialism and electoral process in Nigeria: What the Supreme Court did, what the Supreme Court may do’, will be delivered by Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed.
    The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) will be the special guest of honour at the event, which will kick off by 4pm.