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Anchor borrowers scheme not designed for poultry farmers – PANLAG

The Lagos State chapter of Poultry Association of Nigeria ( PANLAG ) on Wednesday in Lagos said that the Anchor Borrowers Scheme was not designed to favour poultry farmers.

The Anchor Borrowers scheme was introduced in 2015 by the present administration through the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN ) to fund farming activities at a single digit interest rate of 9 per cent, engaging processors (serving as off-takers) in the process.

Mr Godwin Egbede, the newly elected chairman of PANLAG, told our reporters on the sidelines of the association’s election in Lagos, that the scheme would not work with poultry farmers in Lagos.

Egbede said that the association called for a meeting with the off-takers to state their reservations on the conditions of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) but no meeting point was reached.

He said: “The programme is a good one but there is a lot to be done, especially on the conditions in the MoU by the off-takers who are not ready to dare any loss.

“Farmers cannot afford to produce and bear 100 per cent of transportation losses that occur in the condition of weight loss during the period of transportation.

“The design is faulty and we told them our reservations, drafting our MoU with our lawyers and stating that they should bear some of the liabilities but they refused.

“This should be a win-win situation for all the parties, the Federal Government, CBN, the commercial banks and farmers as a whole, and if we cannot have that, then poultry farmers will not be part of it,’’ he said.

He pledged to move the association forward by supporting every member and pushing for a state poultry farm as in other states like Oyo and Ogun.

Mrs Olabisi Ayo-Hamilton, a feed miller and livestock farmer, who was elected Deputy Chairman, said that she was excited about the new executives who she believed were formidable and vibrant.

Ayo-Hamilton told NAN that she would work with the new chairman to drive productivity and accountability in the association.

“As part of the executive, I will give my all to the chairman; especially in the area of the Anchor Borrowers scheme which should be rectified quickly to enable poultry farmers access the funds.

“When we had the issue of the scheme and MoU, PANLAG as a body refused but some gullible farmers went ahead with the design and today they are not happy.

“So, we hope and pledge to work together to take the association to the next level,’’ she said.

A patron of the association simply identified as Alhaji Bello, said the anchor borrowers scheme was an issue that should be addressed as quickly as possible before the end of the present administration.

According to Bello, there is still egg and chicken glut and the issue of smuggled poultry products which meant there is work to be done by the new executives.

He said: “We need to focus on the market and educate the public on wholesome chicken and for them to stop patronising imported poultry products.

“We all have our farms, the in-built capacity is there, how well are we utilising it to full capacity?

“Opportunities abound if we can all find solution to our challenges,’’ he said.

NAN

February 21, 2018
Kaduna: Court jails man one month for breaking traffic rule

A Sharia Court in Kaduna on Wednesday sentenced 34-year-old Godwin Abu to one month in prison for wrong parking of vehicle and driving without license.

Abu, who resides at Unguwan Gimbiya, Sabo Area, was convicted after he pleaded guilty to the charge bordering on breaking road traffic rule.

The convict pleaded for leniency.

The Judge, Mallam Saad, however, gave the convict an option of N2,000 fine and warned him to always obey traffic rules.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Ibrahim Yunusa, had told the court that the police on patrol arrested Abu on Feb. 20 along Sabon-Gari Road where he parked a vehicle wrongly.

“When the policemen stopped the driver for disobeying traffic rules, they asked for his driver’s licence which he couldn’t produce,’’ he said.

Yunusa said the offence contravened Section 10 (1) of the Road Traffic Act.

NAN

February 21, 2018
Area Courts in FCT have no jurisdiction over criminal matters- Judge

An FCT High Court, Apo, on Wednesday ruled that Area Courts in the Federal Capital Territory, under the Sharia Court, have no jurisdiction on criminal matters.

Justice Bolaji Belgore, gave the ruling in a suit filed by Anugom Ifeanyi Chukwu, an Abuja-based legal practitioner, against the Grand Khadi, Sharia Court of Appeal and two others.

Belgore declared that All Area Courts in the FCT are restrained from hearing and trying criminal matters under the Penal Code and Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.

Belgore, however, declined to nullify judgments and orders made by the Area Courts on criminal proceedings since 2010.

Chukwu had approach the court for interpretation of the following.

Read Also: ‘Why Anambra hasn’t reconstituted customary courts’

“Whether by virtue of enactment of the FCT, Abuja Area Court Act 2010, the Area Courts in the FCT, have the jurisdiction to entertain and try criminal cases under the Penal Code and Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015?

“If the laws of the Federation 1990 gave the Area Courts in the FCT power to hear and try criminal cases under the Penal Code and Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015?

The legal practitioner further requested that all final judgments and orders made by the Area Courts on criminal proceedings since 2010 be declared null and void.

Mr I.G. Haruna, counsel to the defendants, had argued that the plaintiff has no right to demand for the enforcement of statutory act, but the court ruled otherwise, that the plaintiff’ has constitutional right to do so.

NAN

February 21, 2018
Edo records 521 suspected cases of Lassa fever

Dr Osamuwonyi Irowa, the Director of Disease Control, Edo, says the state has recorded 521 suspected cases of Lassa fever this month.

Irowa disclosed this at the inauguration of the Emergency Operation Centre on Lassa fever in Benin on Wednesday.

He said 124 cases have been confirmed out of the 521 suspected cases recorded in 13 local government areas of the state.

The director also said 15 deaths were recorded with 509 cases under surveillance, while 10 suspected cases had developed symptoms.

Read Also: PDP presents anti-grazing bill to Edo Assembly

Inaugurating the centre, the Deputy Gov. of the state, Mr Phillip Shaibu, said that the Lassa fever response mechanism was aimed at ensuring a coordinated control of the epidemic.

He charged the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to encourage volunteers to support their staff for effective control of the disease.

He assured that the state government was working towards building isolation centres to decongest the patient population at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital.

NAN

February 21, 2018
Pakistani Supreme Court disqualifies Nawaz Sharif from being PML-N chief

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday disqualified former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from being President of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), saying that all the decisions made by him as the party chief would also stand null and void.

A three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Nisar gave the order against the Elections Act 2017 passed by the parliament.

The parliament had paved the way for Sharif to resume his position as party chief following his disqualification from public office in 2017.

The news men reports that on Oct. 3, 2017, Sharif was re-elected as the president of the PML-N after Parliament passed a controversial bill.

Sharif, 67, had to step down as the chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) after he was disqualified as the prime minister by the Supreme Court on July 28, 2017 in the Panama Papers scandal.

Under The Representation of Peoples Act 1976, a disqualified person could not hold office of a party.

However, the legal hurdle in his way to become party chief was cleared on Monday when the National Assembly passed a controversial Election Bill 2017 that allows politicians disqualified from holding public office to head a political party.

Read Also: Pakistani student shoots principal in blasphemy law row

President Mamnoon Hussain signed the controversial Election Act 2017 into law hours after it was bulldozed through the parliament amid pandemonium on the opposition benches.

PML-N leader Dr Tariq Chaudhry submitted Sharif’s papers for party president in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) while no one other candidate from the party contested the election.

Minister of State Talal Chaudhry had told the media that Sharif will remain chief of PML-N.

“He will also become Prime Minister of the country. Sharif cannot be removed from politics through conspiracies,” he said.

Opposition parties allege that the new law was “Sharif- specific” to allow him to return to politics.

They also content that the law is against the spirit of the Constitution.

NAN

February 21, 2018
South Africa to raise VAT for first time in 25 years

South Africa will increase value added tax ( VAT ) for the first time in over two decades, the Treasury said on Wednesday.

The Finance Minister, Malusi Gigaba, said while presenting the budget plan before parliament that VAT would increase to 15 per cent from 14 per cent effective April 1.

VAT had remained unchanged since 1993.

“This is a tough, but hopeful budget,” Gigaba said.

“We decided that increasing VAT was unavoidable if we are to maintain the integrity of our public finances.”

A VAT hike ran the risk of adding a heavy financial burden on the poor, but Gigaba said poor households would be cushioned through a zero-rating of basic food items such as maize meal and beans.

The Treasury said the budget deficit was seen narrowing to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product ( GDP ) by 2020 from 4.3 per cent in the 2017/18 fiscal year.

Expert said the increase was President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government aim to cut the budget deficit and stabilise debt after years of slow economic growth.

Ramaphosa took over as leader of South Africa last week after Jacob Zuma stepped down on orders of the ruling African National Congress, bringing to an end nine years of corruption scandals and economic mismanagement.

Zuma has denied all wrongdoing.

The rand extended gains to 0.81 per cent against the dollar, government bonds firmed, while retail shares on the stock exchange due to the new three years budget outlay.

Reuters/NAN

February 21, 2018
Court remands boy in Correctional Home for theft

A senior secondary school student, who allegedly attacked and robbed a man of his Infinix phone valued at N25,000 and N50,000, on Wednesday appeared before an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court.

The accused, 17, who lives at 28, Isokoko St., Kasumu, Agege, a suburb of Lagos, is facing charges of conspiracy, assault and stealing.

The Prosecutor, Insp. Clifford Ogu told the court that the offences were committed on Feb. 12 at 14, Opeoluwa St., Iju Ishaga, Lagos.

Ogu said the complainant, Mr Jemilu Abdullahi, was outside his house receiving fresh air at 9.45 p.m. when the accused and five others at large attacked him.

“They beat him, collected his Infinix phone and the N50,000 in his pocket before they disappeared.

“The accused was arrested while others ran away,” he said.

The offences contravened Sections 171, 285 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Sections 171 and 285 provide three years in jail, while Section 411 stipulates two years for conspiracy.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Chief Magistrate Taiwo Akanni granted the accused bail of N50,000 with two sureties in like sum.

She said the accused should be remanded at Boys Correctional Centre at Yaba, Lagos, pending when he would meet his bail conditions.

The case has been adjourned until March 26.

NAN

February 21, 2018
Al-Makura re-nominates two ex-chairmen to Assembly for confirmation

Gov. Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa State hasre-nominated two ex-chairmen of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) for Keana and Keffi local Government Areas to the House of Assembly for confirmation.

Alhaji Ibrahim Balarabe-Abdullahi, Speaker of the assembly announced the names of the nominees at Wednesday’s plenary in Lafia.

Daniel Ogazi (APC-Kokona East), the Deputy Majority Leader of the Assembly read the letter from the governor regarding the re-nomination of the two ex-chairmen.

The nominees are: Mohammed Ayitogo and Ismaila Nuhu.

Balarabe-Abdullahi said the re-nomination of the IMC chairmen followed the expiration of their tenure on Jan. 27.

Read Also: Anti-grazing law: We are not at war with Benue – Al-Makura

“The nomination was to fill the vacancy created by the expiration of their tenure in order to ensure continuity in governance,” he said.

Balarabe-Abdullahi directed the clerk of the assembly to communicate the nominees accordingly to appear before the House on Wednesday, Feb. 28 for screening and possible confirmation.

He restated the commitment of the assembly toward enacting laws that would have direct bearing on the lives of the people of the state.

NAN

February 21, 2018
My wife is pregnant for her lover: divorce-seeking man tells court

Barely four years into his marriage, a Lagos businessman, Ismaila Ola, wants a customary court to dissolve the union, accusing his wife of being pregnant for another man.

Ola told the Igando Customary Court in Lagos to dissolve his marriage, citing infidelity and unrelenting determination of his wife, Aminat Ola, to kill him.

The 34-year-old man, told court that Aminat was having an affair with another man, who had now made her pregnant.

“Aminat is cheating on me and she eventually got pregnant for her lover,’’ Ismaila alleged.

He also accused Aminat of being fetish and always wanting to kill him, saying that she was in the habit of wanting to stab him during their frequent fights.

“Aminat once brought a liquid substance home and forced me to use it. After drinking and bathing with it, my life became miserable, my business crumbled to the extent that I was begging to feed.”

He said that Aminat hardly stayed at home, adding that “she goes to her parent’s house thrice a week and comes home late.

“She once brought out a knife threatening to kill herself if I stopped her from visiting her mother.”

Ola said that Aminat never cared for him, alleging also that whenever he gave her money to buy ingredients to make food, she would end up not cooking.

He begged the court to terminate the marriage forthwith because the love he once had for Aminat had completely faded.

“Please, dissolve this marriage. I have never had peace of mind since the day I married her,” Ola pleaded.

Aminat, however, denied the allegations, saying that she had never indulged in adultery.

“I am not pregnant for any man. I have never cheated on my husband since the very day I married him.”

The 24-year-old fashion maker admitted, however, that she had once threatened to kill Ola with a knife.

“I brought out a knife to defend myself when my husband brought out cutlass to machete me,” she said.

Aminat also denied being fetish as alleged by her husband.

“When I was pregnant, I attended a prayer house and I was given an oil to use. I gave some to my husband. My mother also used from the oil and nothing bad happened to any of us.”

She, however, accused Ola of infidelity, disclosing that he started dating another woman, barely two years after their marriage.

The mother of one disclosed that Ola was always accusing her of having an affair with his brother.

“Ismaila brought out a cutlass; made some incantations on it and gave it to me to swear that if I have had sex with his brother I should die within seven days which I did.”

Aminat alleged further that Ola had promised to send her to school when he wanted to marry her but that after their marriage he failed to fulfil his promise but instead enrolled her in dress making.

She begged the court not to grant her husband’s wish for the dissolution of the marriage, saying she was still in love with the man.

The President of the court, Mr Akin Akinniyi, admonished the couple to maintain peace.

He adjourned the case until March 6 for hearing.

NAN

February 21, 2018
Delta Govt. distributed fingerlings, feeds to 100 fish farmers

The Delta Government has supplied 100 fish farmers with fingerlings, feeds and cash as well as distributed tractors to 64 cooperative societies to boost agriculture in the state.

Mr Ovie Ossai, the Political Assistant on Special Duties (Media) to Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa, disclosed this to newsmen in Asaba on Wednesday.

Ossai said government also supplied 106 cooperatives Mellon Sheller while 18 other societies received outboard engines and fishing gears support packages to boost production.

“The state government also distributed improved variety of cassava cuttings, fertilisers, and cash to 475 cassava farmers.

“Also, 100 poultry farmers were supported with 200-day-old chicks each, feeds and cash to enhance production.

Read Also: Delta 2019: Hurdles before Okowa

“Fifty poultry farmers got 200 layers each, feeds and cash while 50 piggery farmers received 10 growers, feeds and cash as well.

“The state government also distributed tomatoes seedlings, agrochemicals and cash to 40 farmers,’’ Ossai said.

The governor’s aide said the state government was committed to transforming agriculture in the state.

He remarked that the Daily Independent newspaper’s “Man of the Year, 2017’’ award to Okowa was a product of good governance in Delta.

Ossai said that the state government had completed numerous projects in the health, education and agriculture sectors while many were ongoing.

NAN

February 21, 2018