Author: Olanrewaju Adesina
The International Monetary Fund says the impact of the war in Ukraine is likely to sustain pressure on commodity prices, affecting oil and gas prices severely in 2022 and food prices well into 2023 in Nigeria and other countries of the world. IMF disclosed this in its “World Economic Outlook: War Sets Back the Global Recovery April 2022” report. According to the fund, inflation is expected to remain high, and far longer than it had previously forecasted. It said, “With the impact of the war in Ukraine and broadening of price pressures, inflation is expected to remain elevated for longer…
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHSCF) has approved the implementation of the Federal Public Service Entrepreneurship Programme (FPSEP), as part of measures to improve the welfare of federal public servants in the country. According to the Permanent Secretary, Social Welfare Office, OHSCF, Dr. Ngozi Onwudiwe, the programme comprises agricultural start-up scheme for serving officers and pre-retirement training/business start-up scheme for prospective retirees, which is aimed at providing opportunities for serving public servants to enjoy multiple streams of income through agriculture and its value chain while preparing prospective retirees for life after service. It would also give…
As part of measures at reducing post-harvest losses in Nigeria, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Hon. Mustapha Shehuri has solicited for the use of tricycles to ease the means of transportation for smallholder farmers across the country, saying it would aid the movement of food and agro-allied products, increase production, and generate wealth for farmers. He stated that Nigeria’s agricultural sector had huge potentials to drive the economy in line with the diversification policy of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Shehuri said, “The market is massive across the value chain and it will enable us achieve food…
The President, Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN), Peter Dama has said that the lingering insecurity across the country, which has made it impossible for some farmers to access their farms, has left millers without paddy to mill. Dama said that there were situations where after planting, farmers, who were lucky and able to access their farms, would only discover that the bandits had harvested their rice and taken them away. He observed that climatic conditions, such as drought, had affected rice production in some parts of the country. “You’ll find out that people are being chased out of their farms,…
As part of its empowerment programme, a women group in the Bunyia community of Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State, has embarked on a project of planting turmeric. The purpose is for members to pull resources together and boost their incomes as individuals and group. The women group, with about 50 members, enjoys funding from Offer of Jobs and Opportunities for Women and Children Network (OJO-WACNET). The founder of the OJO-WACNET, Dr. Tony Wemton, who is an agricultural engineer, explained that the turmeric project was a stepping stone for harnessing the potentials of women, adding that the project…
Nigeria and Ghana are to collaborate on Pod Borer Resistant (PBR) Cowpea production towards scientific bilateral collaboration for a “New Africa”. The Director-General, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, stated this when a delegation from Ghana, led by the Chairman, Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Dr. Emmanuel Marfor, and Ranking Member, Parliamentary Select Committee on MESTI, Prof. Ebenezer Terlarbi, visited the agency in Abuja. At the occasion, the DG informed the delegation that biotechnology had proven its potentials to help Nigeria overcome agricultural productivity challenges, more yield, and tackling various breeding limitations that…
The Industrial Training Fund has disclosed that if Nigerians are equipped with requisite skills, unemployment and poverty would be reduced. Speaking at the graduation of the 2021 National Industrial Skills Development Programme (ITF/ISTC), Ikeja, Lagos State, the Director-General of ITF, Mr. Joseph Ari, stated that Nigerians would be able to take advantage of the many policies of the Federal Government put in place to energise the economy and improve the standard of living of the people.Ari, who was represented by the Director, Research and Curriculum Development Department of the fund, Mr. Zaccharia Piwuna, said “I believe that if Nigerians are…
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved the establishment of a €4 million Africa Circular Economy Facility to drive integration of the circular economy into African efforts to achieve Nationally Defined Contribution (NDC) targets. The facility, a multi-donor trust fund, would operate over a period of five years and would receive an initial support of €4 million from the Government of Finland and the Nordic Development Fund. The circular economy is a model of production and consumption that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. Under…
A United Nations report has found that more than 70 per cent of Africa’s economies are at severe risk from the Russia’s war in Ukraine. The African Development Bank (AfDB) is one of several international organisations, including UN specialised agencies and development lenders that are considering a plan to boost food production in Africa and avert a heavy toll on the African continent. UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres announced the establishment of the 32-member UN Global Crisis Response Group, which he chairs. Its members are heads of the various organisations while its first brief, released in New York, found that 41…
Esther Oluwatosin Obafunsho, a young female researcher, recently led the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture’s gender and research team from the Cassava Breeding Unit to conduct fieldwork for a technographic study of cassava users’ activities through case studies in Osun and Imo states of Nigeria. Technography involves the observation, description, and study of technologies and their application within a particular ecological, social, and historical contexts. The gender-focused study was carried out to complement IITA’s efforts at developing modern and improved cassava clones that respond to end-users’ preferences.Obafunsho, who highlighted the research in a presentation entitled, “Contexts and practices: A gendered…
