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Sally Mbanefo Canvasses Agriculture Based Economic Revolution For Nigeria

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FOUNDER, Sally Mbanefo Foundation and former Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mrs. Sally Uwechue-Mbanefo, has emphasized the need for Nigeria to go back into agriculture, saying, “we need a green revolution for Nigeria to move forward.”
Mbanefo, who described Agriculture as “going back to basics” said this in her remarks and unveiling of the Agrillonaire – Youth-Oriented Agricbusiness quarterly, at the opening ceremony of the sixth edition of Agrikexpo and NABG Conference 2017, on Monday, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
She recalled that before the oil boom, through agriculture, Nigeria was the fourth largest economy in the developing world and major exporters of cash crops, cocoa, palm oil and groundnuts, among others.
Her words: “Our soil has been raped and oil is a curse to our dear nation! We extract oil from the s-oil; but do we add value to the soil by cultivating and reviving its dignity? Our decline began with oil boom.
“Over two third of the Nigeria’s population are youth. Nigeria is known as Africa’s giant, economically and demographically with the highest population – over 170 million people. But this giant is hungry.
“We complain about devaluation and crash in oil; yet every devaluation brings opportunities. Opportunities are abound in Nigeria. Please, dear youth, do not waste these opportunities. Take responsibility for Nigeria’s greatness. Start by helping to feed the nation. Be the generation that ends poverty in the country.”
Mbanefo enjoined the government to encourage the youth, saying “48% of the labour force in Nigeria are youth (between the ages of 15 and 30); 17.53% of the Nigerian youth are not educated, while female youth are the least educated, yet the quality of the education is in question; 79% of the youth are not computer literate; while 4.3% of the youth studied Agriculture.”
While calling on the government and the private sector to create more jobs for the youth, Mbanefo noted that “Unemployment affects the country – economically, socially and politically. Job creation is key to reducing unemployment because youth suffer the most.
“Youth employment programmes need to be sustainable and have a long term action plans, taking into account, talent and vocation to build passion.”
While saying that many youth are discouraged to explore agriculture due to lack of access to land, and only a very few of them inherited land; poor mobility and proximity of the lands to the market; lack of access to technology and finance, and slow mechanization.
Mbanefo, while noting referencing a recent survey, which showed that agriculture is the largest employer of labour in Nigeria, described good access to agriculture market as key to encouraging more people, especially the youth, into farming, while encouraging farmers to diversify, saying, “seasonal crop production discourage many farmers, especially the youth. During the low season for crops, try livestock, poultry and fish farming.”
She disclosed that her NGO, Sally Mbanefo Foundation is partnering with the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG) while calling for investment in human capital. She noted that “My foundation has been working with the youth since 2007 and is ready to partner with organisations to further encourage the youth and empower them.”
Discussing the ways to encourage more participation in agriculture, especially the youth, Mbanefo said technology becomes key here, “to drive storage, processing and packaging.
While saying the growing hospitality industry, in Nigeria and other part of the world, created increased demand in agriculture, Mbanefo suggested the movement of agriculture to rural cities, and enjoined the government and the financial institutions in the country to give farmers access to micro credits with affordable interest rate.
She then encouraged the Nigerian youth to have passion, integrity, imbibe a culture of discipline, hard work, determination, perseverance and delayed gratification, to enable them succeed in life, giving the Group Chief Executive Officer of Dangote as an example.
However, the President, Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG), Alhaji Sani Dangote, earlier in his opening address described the conference as an opportunity for farmers and stakeholders in the Nigerian Agricultural industry to compare note, to propel agriculture growth in Nigeria and Africa, by encourage youth and women to get more actively involved in Agriculture.
Dangote, who described agriculture as wealth sustainable sector commended the participation of youths and private organisations in Agriculture in Nigeria.

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Reps passes resolution to investigate ₦15trn Lagos-Calabar coastal road contract

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The House of Representatives has passed a resolution to delve into the intricacies of the procurement process surrounding the award of the ₦15 trillion Lagos-Calabar coastal road contract.

The motion, spearheaded by Honourable Austin Achado on Thursday, was underscored as a matter of urgent national importance.

Citing breaches of the 2007 Procurement Act and the absence of requisite approvals from the National Assembly, the House highlighted glaring irregularities in the contract award process.

Consequently, the House has demanded that the Minister of Works, the Minister of Finance, the Attorney General, and the Minister of Justice furnish the National Assembly with copies of pertinent documents related to the contract.

This development unfolds against the backdrop of recent demolitions of buildings and structures along the designated route of the project.

Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, shed light on the financial scope of the undertaking, revealing that the construction of the Lagos-Calabar coastal road would amount to approximately ₦4 billion per kilometer.

Spanning a distance of 700 kilometers, the Lagos-Calabar coastal road is poised to establish a crucial link between Lagos and Cross River, traversing through Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom states before reaching its terminus in Cross River.

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Despite its ambitious scope, the project has not escaped scrutiny. Notable figures including Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, have criticised the endeavour, branding it a misallocation of resources by the Federal Government.

Similarly, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar labeled the project as fraudulent, although his assertions were promptly rebuffed by the Presidency.

 

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Biden Vows Arms Suspension as Israel Shells Rafah

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Demonstrators protest during a rally in support of Rafah, next to a pro-Palestinian encampment at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) in Los Angeles, California, on May 7, 2024. (Photo by Etienne LAURENT / AFP)

Israel shelled Rafah on Thursday as US President Joe Biden offered his starkest warning yet over the conduct of its war against Hamas, vowing to cut off arms transfers if an offensive into the southern Gaza city goes ahead.

Israel has defied international objections by sending in tanks and conducting “targeted raids” in the border city, which it says is home to Hamas’s last remaining battalions — but is also crowded with displaced Palestinian civilians.

AFP journalists reported heavy shelling in Rafah early Thursday, and the Israeli military later said it was also striking “Hamas positions” further north in the centre of the Gaza Strip.

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Biden warned he would stop US weapons supplies to Israel if it pushed ahead with its long-threatened Rafah ground offensive.

“If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used… to deal with the cities,” Biden said. “We’re not gonna supply the weapons and the artillery shells that have been used.”

On Tuesday, Israel forces seized Rafah’s border crossing into Egypt, which has served the main entry point for aid into besieged Gaza.

The White House condemned the interruption to humanitarian deliveries at the time, and the secretary of defence later confirmed Washington had paused, for the time being, a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel after it failed to address concerns over its Rafah ground incursion.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs,” Biden said in his interview. “It’s just wrong.”

He insisted, however, that the United States was “not walking away from Israel’s security”.

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The United States, along with Egypt and Cairo, has been heavily involved in talks currently under way in Cairo aimed at brokering a ceasefire in the seven-month war.

– ‘Extreme fear’ –

The Israeli military said Wednesday it was reopening another major aid crossing into Gaza, Kerem Shalom, as well as the Erez crossing.

But the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said the Kerem Shalom crossing — which Israel shut after a rocket attack killed four soldiers on Sunday — remained closed.

Late Wednesday, the army said a soldier was lightly wounded when Kerem Shalom was again targeted by rockets.

The heavy shelling in Rafah overnight into Thursday followed a day of what the Israeli military said were “targeted raids on the Gazan side of Rafah crossing”, in the city’s east.

An army statement later on Wednesday said that Hamas naval commander Mohammed Ahmed Ali was killed in an air strike “in the past day”. Hamas did not immediately comment.

Civilian life in Rafah, meanwhile, “has completely ceased”, said displaced Gazan Marwan al-Masri, 35, noting “the streets are empty” in the western part of the city.

“We are living in Rafah in extreme fear and endless anxiety,” said Muhanad Ahmad Qishta, 29.

“Places the Israeli army claims to be safe are also being bombed,” he told AFP.

– ‘Catastrophic’ health situation –

An emergency doctor working in Rafah and nearby Khan Yunis said that with humanitarian access compromised, the health situation was “catastrophic”.

“The smell of sewage is rife everywhere,” said the doctor, James Smith. “It’s been getting worse over the course of the last couple of days.”

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World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that hospitals in southern Gaza had only “three days of fuel left” because of the border closures.

“Without fuel all humanitarian operations will stop.”

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel in response vowed to crush Hamas and launched a military offensive that has killed at least 34,844 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Militants also took about 250 hostages. Israel estimates 128 of them remain in Gaza, including 36 who officials say are dead.

– Truce talks –

Talks involving Qatari, US and Hamas delegations aimed at cementing a long-stalled ceasefire deal were ongoing Wednesday in Cairo, said Al-Qahera News, which is linked to Egyptian intelligence.

It noted that there were “points of contention” during the discussions, but also reported some “convergence” without elaborating.

A senior Hamas official said the latest round of negotiations would be “decisive”.

Hamas “insists on the rightful demands of its people”, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly about the negotiations.

In Jerusalem, CIA director Bill Burns met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the “possibility of Israel pausing the operation in Rafah in exchange for hostage releases”, an Israeli official said, also on condition of anonymity.

The Hamas official had previously warned the Cairo talks would be Israel’s “last chance” to free the hostages still in militants’ hands.

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Mediator Qatar also appealed “for urgent international action to prevent Rafah from being invaded and a crime of genocide being committed”.

Palestinian analyst Mkhaimar Abusada said Israel’s seizure of the Rafah crossing could be an attempt to create new facts on the ground, or a bid to “sabotage the truce talks”.

Israel’s seizure of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing came after Hamas said it had accepted a truce proposal — one Israel said was “far” from what its own negotiators had previously agreed to.

Netanyahu has described the Rafah operation as “a very important step” in denying Hamas “a passage that was essential for establishing its reign of terror”.

 

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CBN orders banks to suspend deposit charges

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed deposit money banks and financial institutions to suspend processing fees on deposits until September 30, 2024.

In a circular dated May 6, 2024, the apex bank ordered financial institutions to suspend processing charges imposed on cash deposits above N500,000 for individuals and N3,000,000 for corporates.

This directive, signed by the CBN’s Acting Director of Banking Supervision, Adetona Adedeji, aims to alleviate financial burdens on depositors.

The recent directive follows previous instructions from the CBN, which mandated deposit money banks to impose a 0.5% cybersecurity levy on transactions, a move that has stirred public outcry.

The circular stated, “Please refer to our letter dated December 11, 2023, referenced BSD/DIR/PUB/LAB/016/023 on the above subject, suspending processing charges imposed on cash deposits above N500,000 for individuals and N3,000,000 for corporates as contained in the ‘Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial Institutions and Non-Bank Financial Institutions’ issued on December 20, 2019.”

It continued, “The Central Bank of Nigeria hereby extends the suspension of the processing fees of 2% and 3% previously charged on all cash deposits above these thresholds until September 30, 2024. Consequently, all financial institutions regulated by the CBN should continue to accept all cash deposits from the public without any charges until September 30, 2024.”

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