News
University Don urges FG to standardise price control for agriculture to thrive.
THE Acting Vice Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Professor Anthony Elujoba has declared that for the present administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari to achieve its target in diversifying the economy through agriculture, there is an urgent need to standardise price control due to the threat that local market pose to entrepreneurs in the sector.
He made the declaration on Tuesday at the 2017 Annual In-House Review Exercise of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training Moor Plantation, Ibadan.
Our checks revealed that the yearly review is done in order to appraise the institute’s challenges, achievements and prospects.
The University Don, Elujoba who was represented by the Provost, Post Graduate College OAU, Professor David Alebiowu disclosed that farmers are taking a lot of risks in marketing their products due to wobbly prices, averring that stabilization of the market system will help to boost agriculture in Nigeria.
He stressed, “Government must also standardise price control because local market volatility is the biggest threat to entrepreneurs in agriculture. The farmers are taking a lot of risks in marketing their products due to unstable prices.
“Stabilization of the market system till boost agriculture in Nigeria”.
“The greatest challenge is how to reposition agriculture as the sector still has the potentials to transform the economy. In order to overcome the challenges and improve agricultural productivity, improves implements and tools must be deployed to agricultural production, modern irrigation techniques, soil, crop and animal improvement programme must be energised.
“The system must also ensure better storage, processing and transportation methods”, Elujoba added.
Speaking further, he maintained that mono-economy needs to give way to the production development of various sectors of the economy, assuring that the agricultural sector if well developed will enhance provision of food and raw materials, jobs creation, reduce poverty for the Nigerian teeming population.
The Vice Chancellor charged, “in the face of the present challenges, it is expected that research institutes develop technologies that are demand- driven and adapt information and communication technologies (ICT) tools to effectively disseminate information for efficient decision making process by our farmers”.
In his own remarks, the Executive Director of IAR&T, Professor James Adediran disclosed that no fewer than 4,000 farmers have benefited from the institute’s training programs during the period under review.
He hinted that the motive of the training for the farmers, intending farmers, members of Non -Governmental Organisations, women and unemployed youths was to reduce poverty, reduce unemployment and create jobs.
“During the year under review, some achievements apart from areas of research have been recorded in areas of infrastructure and human resources developments.
“Over 4,000 farmers, intending farmers, non – governmental organization, women and unemployed youths benefited from training programmes conducted by the institute. The objective was to carry out training that will lead to poverty reduction, job and wealth creation. The farmers in turn were mandated and empowered to train other farmers in their various locations”, he submitted.
Speaking further, in the area of staff development, Adediran posited, ” this year, few of our scientists and technical staff could attend both international and local conferences where they presented their research findings. However, over 150 staff were promoted, with emergence of three additional professors in the institute.
He, also advocated that research institutes, extension agents, input suppliers and farmers must work together in order to achieve the set – goals for agricultural development in the country. “Research institutes, must continue to embark on demand driven and market oriented projects that will solve problems of farmers and industries”.
“The state governments must therefore revive the Agricultural Development Programmes which serve as bridge between the research institutes and the local farmers”.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery has made headlines by announcing a further reduction in the price of diesel, dropping it from ₦1200 to ₦1000 naira per litre.
The refinery’s decision comes on the heels of its recent supply at a significantly reduced price of ₦1200 per litre, which was introduced three weeks ago, signifying a remarkable 30 per cent decrease from the previous market price of approximately ₦1600 per litre.
This substantial reduction in diesel prices at Dangote Petroleum Refinery is expected to reiterate positively throughout various sectors of the economy, potentially serving as a catalyst in alleviating the persistently high inflation rate in the country.
In a statement last week, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest individual and the owner of the refinery, expressed his optimism regarding the potential impact of the price reduction on inflation in Nigeria.
“I believe that we are on the right track. I believe Nigerians have been patient, and I also believe that a lot of goodies will now come through. There’s quite a lot of improvement because if you look at it, one of the major issues that we’ve had was the naira devaluation that has gone very aggressively up to about ₦1900,” he remarked.
As anticipation builds around the implications of this move by Dangote Petroleum Refinery, stakeholders and consumers alike remain hopeful for the positive effects it could bring to the Nigerian economy in the coming months.
More than 50,000 Russian military personnel have died during the Ukraine conflict, the BBC reported Wednesday, citing its own reporters, independent media group Mediazona and volunteers.
They found that more than 27,300 Russian soldiers died during the second year of the war, a 25-percent increase on the first year.
BBC Russian, Mediazona and volunteers have been counting deaths since February 2022, using open-source information from official reports and the media, as well as using satellite images of Russian cemeteries to estimate the number of new graves.
The figure of more than 50,000 is eight times higher than the official toll acknowledged by Moscow in September 2022. It does not include deaths of militia in Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine said in February that it had lost 31,000 soldiers, but that figure is also likely to be significantly lower than the true toll.
Russian losses spiked in January 2023 as it launched a large-scale offensive in Donetsk and again months later last year during the battle for the city of Bakhmut.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” at dawn on February 24, 2022, which has since turned into a bloody and attritional war, isolating Russia from the Western world.
Responding to the report, the Kremlin said it did not disclose any information on military deaths and casualties, which falls under the remit of the defence ministry.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added official secrets laws and those covering what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine meant it was “absolutely understandable” that the ministry did not release the figures.
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has disclosed that 95 million Nigerians need to enroll for the National Identification Number (NIN) to meet its target of 200 million enrollments by 2025.
Kayode Adegoke, Head of Corporate Communications at NIMC, emphasised the importance of this enrollment during an interview on X over the weekend.
He stated, “For NIMC to meet the 200 million target by 2025, 95 million Nigerians need to register for the NIN.”
Adegoke revealed that over 105 million NINs have been issued to Nigerians and legal residents so far.
He assured Nigerians of the commission’s commitment, saying, “We want to assure Nigerians that within the next one or two years, we will reach our target of enrolling all Nigerians.”
“The NIN serves as a unique identifier for each citizen and has become increasingly important for various government initiatives aimed at improving security, governance, and service delivery.”
Adegoke highlighted the efforts to streamline the modification and enrollment processes under the leadership of Abisoye Coker, the director-general of NIMC. He announced the development of a self-service platform, allowing Nigerians to make necessary modifications such as changing names, dates of birth, email addresses, and phone numbers from anywhere, using different devices.
Emphasising the convenience of the self-service modification portal, Adegoke encouraged Nigerians to utilize this innovative solution.
He noted the evolution of the process, citing the past requirement for applicants to visit NIMC offices for data corrections.
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