The Nation Newspaper

Tag: measures

  • Weight and Measures to yield N5b yearly

    The Weights and Measures Department of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment yesterday said it has the capacity to generate N5billion from its official activities if the government provides all it needs to carry out its duties effectively.

    Its Director, Mohommed Sada Sidi, who spoke  with reporters in Abuja, said the Department, if properly equipped, is a money making ventures for the country.

    Sidi said: “In 2018 alone, the Department inspite, of all its inadequacies, generated N500million for the ministry. It is obvious that the government and the citizens do not seem to be properly informed of the importance of weights and measures.

    “This Department is very important and deserves attention by the government and the citizens. In other countries, weight and measures is detached from the government and used to generate revenue for the country.

    There should be strong regulation that anyone selling anything at all must have a way of weighing and measuring it.

    “The weight and measures recently took its position in the monitoring of crude oil export. Before now, we cannot say we have effective and accountable  measurement of oil. As we speak now, we have effective regulation of measurement of crude oil.

    “The constitution bars states from making law on Weight and Measures Act. It is only the Federal Government that can make regulations on weight and measures; states have nothing to do with this but they are stakeholders.

    “For every measurement by officers, there is what is called verification fee, it is reviewed upward or downward by the minister. This fee, if effectively calculated should take care of the needs of the Department, and should still give certain cash back to the government.”

     

  • TRACE announces safety measures for ‘ember’ months

    The Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE) has announced its  ‘ember’ months road safety campaign with four cardinal targets.

    He said the activities would include partnering with both electronic and printing media establishments, especially Ogun State Television (OGTV) for safety campaigns, public enlightenment at schools, religious homes and proper enlightenment of offenders, instead of taking punitive measures against them.

    TRACE Corps Commander/CEO, ‘Seni Ogunyemi, while speaking to The Nation, said it was a concluded idea after a series of meetings with transport stakeholders and the corps for the purpose of ensuring safety during the ember months and after in the state.

    Stressing the importance of the activities, Ogunyemi said a team in the Enlightenment Department of TRACE has been mandated to engage the society on a half-hour road safety campaign talk which is going to be a live programme on OGTV, with viewers’ reactions.

    “This, we believe, will go a long way to dissuade road users from flouting traffic laws”, Ogunyemi said.

    According to the TRACE boss, the next target of enlightenment campaign is going to be schools to catch children young as obedient citizens of the society as far as road traffic is concern.

    He said the students would be taught the danger in driving against the road traffic, as well as other rules, not forgetting the gains in obeying them, so that they can easily challenge anybody, be it their parents or drivers who drive them against the traffic laws.

    Ogunyemi said that the enlightenment team, armed with the same message, would be moving to mosques and churches to enlighten worshippers.

    The TRACE boss further said that offenders apprehended during the period of the campaign would undergo a thorough traffic counselling, adding that the programme is not meant to be punitive but corrective, all for the purpose of saving lives.

  • Expert seeks measures to curb food fraud

    The Country Manager, HarvestPlus, Dr Paul Ilona has renewed calls for collaboration to help tackle food fraud.

    PricewaterhouseCoopers, a multinational professional services  firm based in London,(PwC) estimates that food fraud costs the global food industry up to $40 billion yearly.

    In an interview, Ilona stressed the need for agencies to respond to consumer concerns about food products most susceptible to adulteration.

    Besides, he observed also that millionsof Nigerians still remain malnourished through lack of adequate micronutrients in their diet.

    He noted: “Micronutrient deficiencies are also known as ‘hidden hunger’ – a form of malnourishment that often goes unnoticed.”

    He  lamented that the high prevalence rate of micronutrient deficiencies in the country has  profoundly negative implications for child and maternal health. He however noted that opportunities do exist to combat the effects of malnutrition on public health and development through large scale fortification and bio-fortification of the staple foods.

    He reaffirmed HarvestPlus’ continuous support to the government’s efforts to combat food insecurity and malnutrition by providing pragmatic and sustainable solutions.

    He said the organisation is organising nutritious food fair to showcasebio fortified crops and derivative products as well as associated local processing technologies. Ilona said fair is scheduled for November 7 and 9.

    The events will take place at Landmark Events Centre, Lagos.

    He said Nigerians would be able to access bio fortified crops that will improve their nutritional status and provide farmers with competitive yields.

    Among the highlights at the fair will be awards to the best farmers, processors, marketers and advocates of the bio fortified cassava and maize.

    Also, participants will have the chance to watch special screenings of award-winning movie Yellow Cassava, which features some of Nigeria’s top movie stars in a riveting plot centered on bio fortified cassava.

    The fair, which is in its fourth edition is expected to attract over 10,000 participants from within and outside the country.

  • Experts seek measures to reduce post-harvest loss

    Stakeholders are seeking ways to reduce post-harvest losses.

    About 40 per cent of Nigeria’s agricultural production is lost yearly due to insufficient infrastructure.

    They also canvassed the execution of a roadmap to help attain the desired objectives of food security and nutrition.

    At a workshop in Lagos, organised  by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and the Postharvest Alliance for Nutrition (PLAN), the stakeholders lamented  that farmers were losing a lot after harvests to poor storage facilities, market inefficiencies and bottlenecks in the value chain, adding that it was impacting on national nutritional levels.

    Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO) Director-General Mrs. Gloria Elemo said  food and nutrition security would ensure that vital ingredients for healthy living were sustained, noting that efforts should not be spared to preserve perishable foods.

    She added that fresh fruits and vegetables produced in the North hardly got to the South due to transport challenges, stressing that public and private sectors must redress the situation.

    “In the process moving these items to its consumers about 50 per cent of these fruits and vegetables are lost due to bad packaging and poor postharvest handling.

    “The country depends so much on importation whereas we have the capability to provide food for the citizenry, so if the necessary infrastructure is put in place to totally reduce postharvest losses we would not have the problem of hunger or malnutrition in the country.”

    Mrs. Elemo said the recent Nigeria Cold Chain Summit (NCCS) in Lagos, was to review strategies to eliminate losses in food storage, calling on the private sector to join hands with government to accomplish the task.

    Senior Technical Specialist, GAIN, United States, Roberta Lauretti-Bernhard, said efforts were ongoing to respond to countries that have malnutrition as well as post-harvest challenges.

    “Postharvest loss is also nutrition loss. So a platform was drawn that is a combination of the private sector, government and institutions that have a strong objective of ending not just postharvest loss but malnutrition.

    “GAIN interest in Nigeria stems from her high malnutrition burden and also high incidence of postharvest loss in fruits and vegetables thus leading to loss of micronutrients.’’

  • Ogun steps up measures against flooding

    In the wake of the predictions by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and Nigerian Hydrological Service Agency (NIHSA), which listed Ogun among the states to experience above-normal rainfall this year, the state government has put in place measures to stem flooding.

    The state Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) Director, Mr. Sakirulah Adebakin, in a statement signed by the Head of the Media, Ministry of Environment, Mr. Goke Gbadamosi, said the government had embarked on sensitisation programmes on the need to refrain from environmentally-unfriendly dispositions, such as dumping of refuse in drainages, and building of houses on waterways.

    Adebakin said his agency was collaborating with the 20 local government areas and 37 council development areas to identify flood- prone areas  and sensitise residents on flood prevention.

    He said SEMA had scaled up sensitisation through jingles on radio and television, saying the government was also working with the Ministry of Community Development and Cooperatives to reach out to the people through Community Development Committees (CDCs) and Community Development Associations (CDAs) across the state.

    “We are very proactive in dealing with the issue of flooding. Natural disasters like flood usually do not give notice before they happen. But it can be prevented. We have shifted our attention from mere provision of relief to prevention. That is why we have embarked on massive public enlightenment as well as sensitisation to inform the citizens on ways to prevent flood,” he said.

    Adebakin urged people living along river banks and flood-prone areas to relocate to safer grounds, adding that it is better to avoid flooding than seeking succour after it occurs.

    He advised residents to keep government abreast of situations, particularly flood-related cases for prompt and adequate intervention, as government remains committed to the safety of lives and property of its citizens.

  • New measures of strong leadership, stability and certainty

    Britain’s PM Theresa May stunned the British people and the world at large in our global village by calling for a most unexpected election on June 8 this year after having said earlier at a program long forgotten that she would not call for an election until 2020.

    Her announcement coming just after the power consolidation referendum won narrowly in Turkey by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the French presidential elections this weekend threw our mind back to the importance of elections in any democracy.

    Elections simply the all important democratic ritual needed to take or reclaim power or lose it totally in that simple political process of seeking power from the wishes of the voters or electorate and that really, is the essence of democracy. Theresa May has therefore thrown hat into the ring and is challenging all other political parties to accept the challenge to compete and grapple for power on June This is because she is confident the time and the mood of the British nation is ripe for her to consolidate a good majority for her party, the Conservative Party.

    She did not mince words in saying that the leadership of the major opposition Labor Party is in shambles and cannot lead Britain confidently into a post – Brexit future. However it is the language and words that she used in her new election announcement that shall command our attention today.

    In her speech at 10 Downing Street, she said Britain needed stability, certainty and strong leadership to see Brexit through and she needed a fresh mandate to provide the strong leadership to accomplish that. Which I found very brave and see as a sign that she believes her party and herself have done enough to be returned massively to power and Parliament in the June 8 elections.

    Which is also a great gamble but based on a very educated guess which I hope may not misfire as the Brexit vote did to her predecessor who had to relinquish power because of the failure of the Remain campaign on which he had based his political life and office.

    He lost both, and his successor is now making even a greater gamble based on her party’s reading of the mood of a rather moody British electorate now even edgier and more nervous after the harsh reality that Britain has indeed parted company with the EU.

    All the same I find Theresa May’s confidence of chances of renewal of power in a fresh mandate admirable and commendable. That to me is the stuff of leadership based on performance and delivery on promises made to the electorate.

    Certainly no leader or politician who has failed to live up to the expectations of the electorate will abandon the safety and security of tenure of office and power to risk such power in an election at which anything can happen. is in that light that we look today at the concepts of stability, certainty and strong leadership used by the British PM to sell her leadership and party to the British electorate in the forthcoming June 8 elections in Britain .

    We shall look at what these concepts mean nowadays and what they portend in the face of the contemporary challenges facing our world today. In short for Britain what do they mean in the context of migration, security and ultimately Brexit as well the long shadow of Donald Trump’s recent emergence as US president ?.

    In Turkey, what do they mean in the face of Turkey’s role stemming the flow of migration to Europe from the Middle East and that nation’s long application to join the EU . In Nigeria what are their import in the quest to defeat Boko Haram, fight corruption and keep the nation united and on the path of growth the face of a nagging recession ?.

    Also what do they mean for the French as they elect their president tomorrow and the polls show that Marine Pen would at least would qualify on the first ballot. Giving the jitters to Muslim French citizens that anti migration policies would take the front seat in French politics if she wins in a France that has largest Muslim population in Europe.

    Starting with ‘Britain Labor Leader Jeremy Corbyn has already taken on a quaint Trump disposition and mantle of being anti-establishment and has raised the spectre of political correctness that Trump used successfully to defeat Hillary. Corbyn has boasted he will win against the ‘rigged system ‘in favor of the rich on the simple reason that the Conservatives and the media don’t expect him to lead Labour to victory because he is not one of them.

    That doesn’t sound like a strong and confident leader certain of victory on June 8 or his leadership of his party thereafter. But Donald Trump looked and sounded like that at the outset of his campaign. For now that leaves Britain without a credible and alternative leadership in the elections and puts Scotland which is at odds with Brexit in a quandary on dealing with Theresa May’s stance on no going back on Brexit. It also firmly places the issues of migration, integration and multiculturalism on the laps of the Conservatives to deal with as they seem fit and that is something someone like the Mayor of London, a Muslim would never find palatable.

    Such problems need to be nipped in the bud in this coming election before they bring the British political system, anchored on political stability by its ageless constitutional monarchy with the saying that -with the Queen in Buckingham Palace, every Briton sleeps well I in his bed, to its knees. After last week’s victory, Turkey’s President Erdogan appears the quintessence strong leader of modern times trying to garner political stability for his nation.

    But he has used strong arm tactics to mobilise for power in a democracy and has no succession plan or second in command, in case anything happens to him. That means that Turkey’s political stability is personal to him being alive long enough. The military in Turkey however bears him a grudge on secularity and their eroded role as guardian of Turkey’s democracy. Erdogan must perpetually watch his back as he has murdered sleep in Turkey and cannot like Macbeth, sleep again. Turkey’s history is revealing on that score.

    The Turks took over the Muslim Caliphate even from the Arabs because they are a highly militaristic people. According Gibbons‘ Fall of the Ancient Roman Empire‘ the Turks took over the Ottoman Empire because as the Caliphate leadership became military and the Turks were militaristic in nature, they dominated and took over the leadership of the Ottoman Empire and Caliphate. That is some piece of history for Erdogan to ponder on as he reconsiders Turkey’s membership of the EU and hopes to return the death sentence, which EU membership forbids.

    For now he holds the ace on the EU, especially Germany on the threat of flooding Europe with desperate migrants if Turkey’s membership resolved immediately. But Turkey is still a member of Turkey’s generals hold important positions in that military and institution. It remains to be seen how they react to their new president while they retain their positions and all important military arrangement now threatened with political contrivance.

    For now Turkey may look stable, strong but its future under Erdogan is dicey with the moody the military casting a long shadow that is quite ominous least. In the French elections of tomorrow if Far Right Marine to the next round it would mean that France will eventually of Brexit and Trump. That would be sad for a France that of Liberty, Freedom and Equality and the French Revolution which taught the world a bitter lesson that the rich should poor too far behind if they hope to survive. But then the the U-turn would be obvious.

    The first is terrorism , then then lack of integration and the growing political power French citizens and most importantly unemployment. Both socialists and communists have proffered political solutions over but those have not deterred terrorists enough to guarantee and security of French citizens. Le Pen offers a strong leadership to control influx of foreigners to make France safe Trump promised and won on the promise to make again in the last US elections.

    The signs are very much there highly egalistic France has become so security conscious that seeking refuge in a xenophobic future and a strong state and Pen , albeit a woman , may be the choice of the French solution in this 2017 presidential elections starting tomorrow. Lastly we look at Nigeria in the context of these ideas so far in other lands. Undoubtedly Nigeria has a strong leader his earlier military leadership of the nation.

    Yet the nation fast enough on the path of stability and certainty. The reason difficult to see. Our President is sick and a sick president treated and healed to move the nation forward. That is not enough to say America’s FDR- Franklin Delano Roosevelt- on wheel chair when he led the US and the Allies to win World War. Even then, FDR was president from 1933 to had better health facilities even then than Nigeria today has no duplicate and our health facilities are poor Nigerian leaders have learnt to go abroad for treatment As late Bisi Onabanjo, a former governor said on a return overseas medical treatment, life has no duplicate. So we must president to be strong enough to finish Boko Haram enough to take on the Senate especially in the daily struggle separate powers between the executive and the legislature war on corruption afloat and going.

    The recent probe of NIA are signs that the Presidency is able and willing enough the war on corruption through. We wish the president the health because it is only when he is well that we can in our beds. Like the British have always said of their again, long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Our President is sick and a sick president needs to be treated and healed to move the nation forward.

    That is the truth. It is not enough to say America’s FDR- Franklin Delano Roosevelt- was on wheel chair when he led the US and the Allies to win the Second World War. Even then, FDR was president from 1933 to 1945, the US had better health facilities even then than Nigeria today and since life has no duplicate and our health facilities are poor and dormant Nigerian leaders have learnt to go abroad for treatment for dear life ’ ’ 08022467644

  • Governors back Buhari on measures

    Governors back Buhari on measures

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic policies got the nod of the State Governors yesterday.

    The governors said they were committed to encouraging the President to “continue along the line to bring the country out of recession.”

    The support was one of the highpoints of the resolution adopted at an  extraordinary  meeting of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) in Abuja.

    The meeting came 24 hours after a Ministerial Retreat on the Economy and Budget where President Buhari  urged the ministries, departments and agencies  to begin to think outside the box with a view to fixing the national economy.

    “The challenges we face in the current recession require ‘out-of-the box’ thinking,to deploy  strategies that involve engaging meaningfully with the private sector,to raise the level of private sector investment in the economy as a whole,” Buhari said at the ministerial retreat.

    Besides   the economy,the  governors  asked the federal authorities to treat the issue of insurgency as a national emergency.

    NGF Chairman and Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari said the forum also agreed to activate the states task force on polio or the primary health care, which is to be led by the deputy governors.

    The governors similarly  expressed their determination  to pay their counterpart funding towards polio eradication.

    They plan to  engage the Minister of Health to give urgent attention to the eradication of Lassa Fever in the country.

  • Half measures

    •Despite its restructuring, NNPC is still far from the dreams of its founding fathers

    Just when Nigerians had begun to wonder when the long-speculated transformation of the national oil corporation would begin, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and helmsman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Ibe Kachikwu, instead announced new structure for the corporation last week. He announced five core new divisions comprising the upstream, downstream, refining group, gas and power, as well as the ventures’ groups – in addition to two non-core divisions – finance and services. Whereas the old structure had 15 companies, the new structure has a total of 20.

    And the rationale? The same old reasons that Nigerians are only too familiar with:  First the minister says the corporation is “quite frankly overstaffed”. Says he: “We have to create work in order to ensure that everybody who is in the system will be busy and earn money”.

    As if to suggest that a restructured NNPC holds the key to expanding opportunities, he says: “And as we began to do that (restructuring), we realised suddenly that we had adequate staff and we are not really as over-staffed as we thought initially. So, the principle of our restructuring, which was approved by the President, is that nobody loses their work.”

    The second reason according to the minister is that the corporation has become unwieldy. Again, his words: “We have so much property in Nigeria that sometimes we don’t even know where they are. In some cases, we found out that some property had been encumbered and nobody followed up on them. This was because it wasn’t a business, it was just an allocation to do an office, which didn’t happen and so it was just there.

    “Shell, for example, recently passed back to us a huge complex in Warri, which used to be their headquarters. And then, you have that and you have an entity, for example, the NPDC saying they want to build a head office.”

    There is however a third which the minister didn’t say, which is that the corporation has long lost its rationale.

    To begin with, it’s hard to fault the principle of a good days work for a matching wage adumbrated by the minister as driving the changes. In a clime where workers of publicly-owned entities have tended to behave as if the taxpayers owe them a lifelong employment even when they fall short of delivering value, it must be something of a welcome change that these workers are availed the opportunity to prove their mettle. Noteworthy is that the changes are coming without job losses as would ordinarily be the case. (The fear undoubtedly informed the prompt downing of tools by the workers on hearing of the announcement). As for the need to have a more compact NNPC; one that is more manageable and less prone to wastefulness; there is a lot to be said in favour of those.

    Of greater interest however is whether the changes align with the nation’s expectations at this time, as indeed the strategic vision of its founding as a national oil corporation.

    At the moment, the NNPC – whether in the upstream sector where it remains a marginal player content with playing second fiddle to the oil majors, or in the downstream sector where stasis has become its second name – is only a little more than a collecting agency of the Federal Government, a by-word for corruption and inefficiency. Short of an overhaul, it faces an existential threat.

    Restructuring or not, it must be said that Nigerians neither want nor deserve a royalty-collecting NNPC as presently constituted. What they seek is a national oil corporation that can hold its own among the best in the world; one that adopts cutting edge technologies and best practices –in exploration and production; in refining, petrochemicals and ancillary services – to deliver value at each point along the value chain. To the extent that these were the goals of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) currently in limbo, Nigerians cannot wait to see these goals realised.

    Seen from such prism, the restructuring as announced, no matter how task and efficiency-driven, would then pass for interim measures. The long haul is to get the PIB passed – in one form or the other – and this without further delay. Surely, we have long passed the era of half measures.      

  • Forex speculators count losses on CBN measures

    Forex speculators count losses on CBN measures

    There are strong indications that the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilise the naira may have started yielding results.

    Feelers from two officials of the apex bank, who pleaded anonymity, indicate that the deployment of a number measures by the bank may have turned the tide in the foreign exchange (forex) market and led to losses suffered by currency hoarders and speculators.

    The CBN had accused speculators of being behind the market burble since the upper week which led to the value of the naira whcih crashed to an all-time low of N400 to the U.S dollar.

    The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, accused speculators of conniving with bureau de change (BDC) operators to undermine the efforts of the bank at propping up the naira and warned that such speculators would eventually be punished by the market.

    On Wednesday, the naira at the parallel market exchanged for about N295, a further improvement on the N305 to the dollar the day before, garnering over N100 gain on the panic by speculators struggling to cut their losses.

    Some parallel market operators said they bought from sellers at the rate of N272 and sold at N295. A good number of the sellers who had suffered huge losses confessed that they had bought at N380 hoping to sell at N400 before the sudden turn in fortunes.

    Industry analysts say a number of measures taken by the apex bank lately might have led to this improvement.

    One is the decision to publish all forex sales from the inter-bank market to make for transparency. The second said the mop-up operations of the CBN, which had reduced the excess liquidity behind the high speculation of the upper week.

  • AfDB calls for stronger anti-corruption measures in Africa

    AfDB calls for stronger anti-corruption measures in Africa

    President, African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina has called for stronger anti-corruption measures on the continent.

    He  spoke at the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire in commemoration of International Anti-Corruption Day, which had as  theme Break the corruption chain.

    He said Africa loses $148 billion to corruption yearly, adding: ‘’Just think of how many continents you could light up with that amount.”

    Adesina noted that it would cost $55 billion a year to light up and power Africa, and that this money was available given the continent’s $82 trillion in undiscovered resources. But, because of corruption, the continent still lives in darkness.

    “The cost of corruption is massive; it turns the whole continent into darkness. Because of corruption, Africa is known more for its darkness than light. It is important to understand the negative impact of corruption on the continent,” Adesina said.

    The bank’s chief pointed out that tens of millions of Africans still study without proper light, 700 million Africans are without access to clean cooking energy, and 600,000 people – 50 per cent of them women – die every year due to a lack of access to clean cooking energy. “That is an indication of government failure,” he said.

    Adesina called for strengthening of institutions to address corruption and he warned that stern measures must be taken: “If there is no consequence for bad behaviour, bad behaviour will continue on and on.”

    Whistle-blowing policies were cited as an important measure in combating corruption, while at the same time guaranteeing protection for whistle blowers.

    According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, protection of whistle-blowers from retaliation for reporting suspected corruption activities is integral to efforts to fight corruption, enhance accountability, safeguard integrity, and promote a clean business environment.

    Taking action against corruption is believed to be crucial in achieving the new Sustainable Development Goals, which aims to end poverty, the body said.