₦airaland Forum

Nigeriadondie:
What are u saying? Is there anything sensible in what u wrote at all?

menwongo:
They are people from the left hand side of the country...they want all imported goods to land in their state alone

naijaking1:
We dont appreciate the import of national forests, both at scientific amd social levels. If we did, the highway wpuld have easily bypassed it.
And why Katsina Ala?

mu2sa2:
The open anti-grazing law is not only meaningless but senseless.Benue state people will soon feel the effect as fulani herdsmen leave the the state. Almost all the beef consumed in nigeria comes from fulani cows - Chase the fulani away and get your beef from....! Al-Makura is talking sense.

Nasarawa State governor, Umaru Al-Makura has declared that the anti-open grazing law is meaningless.

He said the law will not be passed or enforced in the state.

The governor while speaking to some guests at the government house in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital on Friday, said the law was meaningless because provision had to be made for the herdsmen and farmers before the law can be enforced.

“It is meaningless, it has no sense. Nasararwa is not going to implement the anti-grazing law because it is meaningless. It has no sense whatsoever but any state has self-determination to do what it likes,” he said.

Recall that the Benue State government had on Wednesday, November 1, officially effected its ban on open grazing throughout the state.

Al-Makura in response to this, on Thursday said Benue State cannot be blamed for this decision but insisted that Nasarawa State will not carry out such law.

“You cannot blame Benue because they have done it but Nasarawa will not do it because it doesn’t have a meaning.

“You have to study the situation and also provide for both the farmers and the herdsmen before you embark on it. You must have a regulatory mechanism that will ensure the compliance to this. If you don’t have that and you just go ahead to make the law, it doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

The governor said there was nothing to worry about as the relationship between herdsmen and farmers in Nasarawa state was cordial.

“The time has not reached for us to make the law because we have not seen anything to worry about.

“The relationship between the farmers and the herdsmen is okay and the problem that are arising from such problems is things that have been there for hundreds of years and it can never stop,”‎ he said.

PapaBrowne:
There are demons in human form operating against the development of certain areas of Nigeria.

The moment Ayade started talking about his deep sea port and super highway, funny environmentalists home and away started raising their ugly heads. Then it died down. Then he released a massive budget yesterday and now this article surfaces. Who are these people?

They killed ALSCON. Killed Ajaokuta.

Who are these faceless peeps always seeking to work against certain critical components of development?

We need to research it deeply.

•Residents, groups tackle state over

destruction of farmlands, non-compensation

•No community or individual will lose out, says govt

From Judex Okoro, Calabar

On assumption of office as governor of Cross River State on May 29, 2015, Professor Ben Ayade promised to execute three signature projects in the state: a 260-kilometre superhighway, the Bakassi Deep Seaport and a garment factory.

The superhighway was billed to start from the proposed deep seaport at Esighi in Bakassi Local Government Area, run through the Cross River National Park and terminate at Katsina Ala in Benue State. Experts have estimated it would cost N700 billion or about $3.5 billion.

Six months later, President Muhammadu Buhari, on October 20, 2015, performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the project.

In 2016, the state government budgeted N200 billion for the superhighway and a modest N600 million for rural roads.

However, two years after, the project seems to be bogged down by administrative bottlenecks, just as it is being rocked by protests and criticisms from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and host communities.

Investigations by Daily Sun revealed that over 14 NGOs and some environmental experts have petitioned the Presidency, through the Ministry of Environment, against the superhighway.

According to the experts, the Cross River superhighway should not be constructed because of carbon emissions and global warming.

Some individuals, including Fred Kwame, African regional head of World Wildlife Fund International, Switzerland, John Robinson, executive vice president, Wildlife Conservation, USA, Hazell Thompson of Birdlife International, UK, and Odey Onyamas have urged the federal government to halt the project.

At the public presentation of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the Cross River superhighway held at the Channels View Hotel in Calabar last year, the NGOs argued that Cross River had some of the best preserved rain forests in Nigeria, including the Cross River National Park and the Ekuri Community Forest.

These forests, they alleged, were under threat of being destroyed to make way for the superhighway. They noted that the road could be rerouted to preserve the communities as well as endangered species.

While disagreeing with the EIA presented by the state government, the groups insisted that the proposed project would jeopardise considerable investments by such multilateral funding agencies like the EU, UK DFID and the US Fish and Wildlife Service in the state.

They said an international environmental firm that studied the EIA discovered 27 major errors in the report.

The state government recently said about 90 communities, 140 homes, 50 farms and over 800 persons would be affected by the superhighway’s construction. 

Following the report, the federal government gave 23 conditions that the state must meet before commencing the project. The conditions include re-routing and realignment of the superhighway, reversal of revocation order and compensation, as well as resettlement and restoration plans for people whose properties have been destroyed from the outset of construction work.

Four months after the conditional approval was granted the state, stakeholders are complaining about compensation for affected persons and communities.

Mr. Odey Oyama, executive director, Rainforest Resource and Development Centre (RRDC), one of the leading NGOs in the state, noted that, “Part of the superhighway still falls within the gazetted boundaries of the Cross River National Park, especially at the Oban Division.”

He expressed worry that, up till date, the list of communities and persons to benefit from the compensation has not been compiled and established in compliance with the provisions of the Land Use Act, No. 6, 1978, and the Land and Allied Matters Act.

Three communities, Ikot Okpo Ene, Ikot Ndarake and Ikot Abasi Efiom, in Akpabuyo Local Government Area, lamented alleged humiliation being meted out to them by the Ayade government. They said since their homes and farmlands were destroyed, they have become beggars, exposed to untold hardship.

Leaders of the communities, including Chief Emmanuel Okon, Chief Bassey Efangha Okon and Chief Silver Effiom Duke, alleged that, besides the destruction of economic trees and the clearing of the forest, the roofs of buildings have also been pulled down by windstorms.

They said: “We are not against the superhighway. We are not against development. But we want the government to pay us compensation for our ancestral homes and our source of income.

“Since January 6, 2016, when the government destroyed our properties without consultation, we have recorded higher incidents of youth restiveness and crime due to idleness and lack of reasonable source of income. These untold hardships have quickened the steps of many to their graves,” they said.

One of the victims, Mr. Felix Okon, 62, said:  “I lost my palm plantation when they started the project and that is my only source of livelihood. I also lost my house to windstorm. I have no roof over my head anymore, all because of the superhighway. I am not against the project but they must, as a matter of urgency, do the needful, because it’s already too late.”

Another victim, Deaconess Ikwo Offiong Okon, said she and her children had become frustrated since the superhighway project commenced in 2016.

“I used to mill oil from my small plantation and, sometimes, I would sell my cassava tubers to get money. But all that is history.

“I have been a widow for 12 years now, catering for my children alone. That plantation was the only thing left for us. Now it is gone because of a road project. I can’t feed my children and I can’t send them to school,” she said.

Village head of Ikot Asi Agbor, Chief Etim Orok Ndarake, said: “We appreciate what government is trying to do, but they can’t rob Peter to pay Paul. I am a refugee in my homeland because of the superhighway project.

“I feel pained. I feel sad. Not that we don’t want our place to be opened up, but we want the government to do things in the right way. Our young people who used to be engaged because of our oil plantations have become idle. Some are destitute. It is really not acceptable. Ayade should come to our rescue now.”

However, the commissioner for lands, Dr. John Inyang, described the criticisms as unfortunate. He regretted that some people were complaining even as government was doing much to bring development to the people.

Inyang said: “There was no time we said we were not going to pay and there was no time we said we would start work without capturing the necessary data as it affects the people. But there are people now who are thinking that we have come down to the narrow space of 70 metres, thinking they might be counted out. That’s why some are making noise.

“They should be patient; nobody has been paid yet. If there are other technicalities that concern other sectors, other ministries will speak on that, but I know the governor took it up even before the Federal Ministry of Environment gave us approval. We did all that we needed to do, especially as it affects EIA,” he said.

Senior special assistant to the governor on media, Mr. Christian Ita, described the claims as not only absurd but ridiculously mendacious.

His words: “It is no surprise that elements who masquerade as environmentalists and conservationists are unrelenting in their desperate scheme to ensure that the project is stalled.

“It is instructive to note that since the conception of the superhighway project by Governor Ayade, some so-called civil society groups in the state, in connivance with their foreign sponsors, have done everything possible by weaving all sorts of falsehoods and propaganda to make the noble idea not to fly. This is rather unfortunate.

“It is indeed ludicrous to hear that one million people will suffer dislocation arising from the construction of the superhighway out of the state’s population of about four million. So the question is, how did the affected forest communities suddenly acquire such an exponential growth in population barely two years after the project was conceived?

“As a professor of environmental science, the governor is particular about the environment and has shown so much fidelity to issues of afforestation. And for this reason, he has insisted that, for every single tree that is felled, 10 should be planted. In the last two years, about five million trees have been planted.” 

Ita said government had since concluded enumeration of properties and economic trees to be affected by the project, with a view to paying compensation to the people. He promised that no individual or community would be left out in the compensation plan.

MasterChen:
ModsAlarm tagged him and mugun44

MasterChen:
Lalasticlala how come this thread is not on the FP yet. Until we change the title to Tont.. Nvm

“The government will provide policy guidance for the construction of JiangsuTaihu Wuxi Industrial Park and give support of energy, infrastructure and other aspects. After the completion of the project, favourable tax terms will be given.

The Osun State Government has signed an agreement worth N216 billion with a Chinese firm, Jiangsu Wuxi Taihu Cocoa Food Company Limited, on the establishment of Industrial Park in the state.

The Governor, during the agreement signing at a state dinner‎ at the Government House banquet hall in Osogbo stated that the state has agreed to allocate 200 hectares of land to facilitate the establishment of the Industrial Park in Osun.

The partnership, according to Governor Aregbesola, will support the state on six different investments which includes; cocoa bean processing, chocolate and food processing, salt processing, cassava starch processing, gold mining and power plants.

The total investment by Jiangsu Wuxi‎ Taihu Cocoa Food Company Limited on the Industrial Park is USD 600 million.

He described the multi-billion naira investment partnership as part of his administration’s efforts to raise the bar of local and foreign investment in the state.

The Governor held that the agreement would go a long way to support the economic drive of the state, particularly in the quest for industrialisation.

Reading through a copy of the agreement, Governor Aregbesola said the project will take-off by January next year as the state was ready to give all possible support to actualise the success of the proposed Industrial Park.

‎The agreement reads in part: ‎”On November 28, 2017 Jangsu WUXI TAIHU Cocoa Food Co., Ltd. held talks with the State Government of Osun, Nigeria on the investment in the establishment of Industrial Park in Osun State.

“Through full communication and negotiation, both sides reached resolutions which are summarized as follows: “the Osun Government of Nigeria agrees that Jiangsu Wuxi Taihu Cocoa Food company Limited will invest to establish the Industrial Park in Osun State who will allocate 200 hectares of land for the Industrial Park.

“The total investment by Jiangsu Wuxi‎ Taihu Cocoa Food Company Limited on the Industrial Park is USD 600 million. The first phase of the project includes six projects: Cocoa bean processing, chocolate and food processing, salt processing, cassava starch processing, gold mining and power plants.

“The construction project of Jiangsu Wuxi Tiahu Industrial Park will strictly abide by the relevant laws and regulations of the State Government of Osun and Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The government will provide policy guidance for the construction of JiangsuTaihu Wuxi Industrial Park and give support of energy, infrastructure and other aspects. After the completion of the project, favourable tax terms will be given.

“The state government will set up a working group for the construction of Jiangsu Taihu Wuxi Industrial Park, which is responsible for the docking and service with China. The two sides agreed that the project would start in 2018”. ‎In his remarks, the General Manager of Jiangsu Wuxi Taihu Cocoa Food Company Limited, Mr. Liu Jianhui,‎ commended Governor Rauf Aregbesola for tapping possible opportunities to develop the state commercially.

He said the company decided to establish $600 million worth projects in the state, having understudied the economic potentials of Osun to grow foreign investments.

Liu Jiangsu assured the state of fruitful partnership that would bring change to the economic activities of the state and as well create a robust bilateral economic relation between the state and Chinese firm.

The company’s GM said the investment will generate employment opportunities for the youths, thus creating wealth and employment for the state’s citizens.

According to him, we are bringing a huge investment into the state of Osun ‎so as to complement the existing investment on cocoa processing industry and as well support the state economically, commercially and industrially.

“We have very strong confidence in the fact that ‎the partnership would in no distance time bring about dividends to both parties as the state’s potentials would be appropriately utilized”, he stressed.

Members of the State Executive Council present are the Governor of the State,

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, his Deputy, Mrs Grace Titilayo Laoye Tomori, Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Olalekan Adeoti, Chief of Staff to the Governor,  Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola and the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr Ajibola Bashiru.

Others are; Commissioner ‎for Commerce, Industries and Cooperatives, Mr. Ismaila Jayeoba Alagbada and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Forestry, Natural and Mineral Resources, Mr. Stephen Babatunde Ajilore, all representing Osun State Government.

Chinese delegation members includes; General Manager of Jiangsu Wuxi Taihu Cocoa Food Company Limited, Mr. Liu Jianhui, Assistant General Manager, Shanghai Golden Monkey Group,  Mr. Zhang Hua, Nigeria Skyrun Cocoa Industrial Products Limited, Ms. Xu Feng and Chinese delegation members.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Commissioner for Commerce, Industries and Cooperatives, Hon. Ismaila Jayeoba Alagbada lauded Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s commitment to turn Osun to a commercial hub of the southwest region.

He confirmed the progress which the previous Chinese investment had made in the cocoa processing industry located at Ede, saying “we are here to chat a new course for the development of our dear state.

By Daud olatunji

ABEOKUTA—The Ogun State Chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Comrade Titilope Adebanjo at a press conference in Abeokuta at the weekend said the union has withdrawn its support for the renewed agitation for local government autonomy in the country.

He said granting full political and financial autonomy to councils, as it concerns the funding and management of primary education would be a disaster to basic education in the country.

“As teachers, we have our fear and reservations, being haunted by the awful experience of teachers between 1990 and 1994 when Primary education came under the control of the Local Government, when the school system witnessed poor funding and total neglect which led to industrial crisis because Local Government Councils failed to accord Primary Education the priority of place it deserved.

“We submit unequivocally again that any attempt made to handover Primary Education to Local Governments amounts to consigning Primary Education to the abyss of total collapse. This is inimical to national development,” Comrade Adebanjo emphasized.

He also called to establishment of National Primary Education Commission which shall be responsible for the payment of the salaries of teachers through the commission from deductions as first line charge from the Federation account.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, on Friday, said a Forward Operation Base (FOB) would be set up in the once dreaded Falgore forest in Doguwa Local Government Area of Kano State to address security challenges in the area.

The army chief announced this when he paid a visit to troops undergoing training in the forest, which once served as safe haven for banditry, cattle rustlers and kidnappers.

https://cdn.vanguardngr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/buratai7.png
Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai looks on at the headquaters of Operation Lafiya Dole in Maiduguri, Borno State in northcentral Nigeria, on October 4, 2017.
The United Kingdom is providing expert training to the Nigerian military in helping to develop the skills necessary to tackle the terror threat of Boko Haram in North East Nigeria. Boko Haram’s Islamist insurgency began in 2009 and has killed at least 20,000 and forced more than 2.6 million from their homes. / AFP

Buratai said that the forest would henceforth serve as one of the permanent training grounds for the soldiers.

This, he said, was made possible as the Kano State Government had allocated the forest to the army.

A joint exercise tagged “WAZOBI Kungama” which begun on Nov. 17, billed to end on Nov. 25, is ongoing in the area.

The exercise is the the conclusion of training to assess the 76 Regular Regular Recruits of the Nigerian Army and other participants in tactical, command and control, as well as all manners of maneuver warfare on counter insurgency.

Other participants were drawn from Nigerian Army Schools of infantry and Artillery, as well as Nigerian Defence Academy.

Buratai said “exercise WAZOBIA Kungama is a training for Nigerian Army School of Infantry, as well as the Depot, where they put their students together on what they were taught indoors.”

He said since his appointment as chief of army staff in 2015, the army had been purposeful in its training schedules.

He added that “we have been seeing areas that have challenges and we bring troops to have a feel in real terms where they will be operating once they graduate and this terrain, vegetation and environment – Falgore forest is a very good training ground.”

He noted that the forest would both serve as training ground and provide the needed security to address banditry, kidnapping and other criminal acts common in the area.

He explained that “our presence will serve as deterrence, where our troops on training meet such criminal elements and deal with them accordingly.”

The army flushed bandits and other criminal elements from the forest through “Operation Harbin Kunama I and II ” in 2016 and early 2017.

The forest is in Tudun Wada, Doguwa and Sumaila local government areas of the state and extends its boundary line between Kano, Kaduna and Bauchi states.

It covers an area of about 1000 square kilometers.

jpphilips:
The worst thing that will happen to you, is trying to reason with nonentities on Nairaland.

mapet:
1. It will surprise you that many of these illegal miners are actually in collaboration with foreigners (Chinese, Indians etc). What that tells you very quickly is that there is a market outside the country that receives these goods.
2. Makes me wonder what previous Ministers/Govt had been doing. Diezani left this same ministry and went to petroleum. Seems they all marked time or what? We just allowed this industry to practically go undeveloped, unregulated and free for all.
3. Fayemi is doing a thankless job. Our solid minerals industry value-chain will take a long time to fully mature. It will need commitment and painstaking sieving the wheat from the chaff to get it to fully take-off.
4. I have some fears. I hope Fayemi's team understand the terrain they are taking the fight to. Illegal miner are like smugglers. They are weaponised and very dangerous. They have opened fire on NSCDCs in the past. Fayemi's team better be well equipped. Toyota vehicles are not enough. They need weaponised vehicles, choppers and drones.

The value-chain building process is another discusssion

Visionwriter:
Thats assuming the presence of the illegal miners somehow reduces the output of the legal miners. Mining is not like oil where you just puncture the pipeline. It is a stationary, long, hard digging job. If the legal miners are not already there it would be more of an expansion problem than an illegal mining issue. So it would still be more cost effective to simply, cheaply license the miners. When so much money is leaking and few companies expanding as fast it is an indicator that it is easier to do it the illegal way than to just go through government. The government always has a way of making things harder.

zenmaster:
They should buy more military equipment

Visionwriter:
Actually, they will lose a couple of billion Naira. If they stop the "illegal mining" it means nobody is actually removing the $9 billion worth of stones from the ground. We go back to zero. Plus the country would have spent N19 million per vehicle outside personnel costs just to bring us back to zero. The wiser way would have been to lower the requirements for the mining activities, register most of the miners, and collect tax from them. Then the country actually makes some money.

The minister said another effort towards reducing illegal and informal activities was the formalisation of small scale miners and artisan miners.

November 11, 2017 Nigeria’s Water Minister Suleiman Adamu announced that UNESCO is backing an international campaign to save Lake Chad from drying up. UNESCO is sponsoring an international conference in February in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, where the solution advocated by Nigeria and by the Lake Chad Basin Committee will be presented.

            Adamu said that the commission had proposed inter-basin water transfer from Congo Basin to the evaporating lake as a measure of saving it from total extinction. “This is a huge infrastructure project that will change the dynamics of the region and it is a long- term project with a lot of consensus to build on, as well as diplomatic issues having to do with different countries,” Adamu said according to PM News Nigeria media outlet.

            “We therefore need to do a lot of advocacy to make the members of the Congo Basin understand that we are not taking away their water but taking only 5% of the natural resource to keep the Lake Chad alive,” he said. “We hope that at the end of the conference in February next year, we will have an international consensus on what to do, leverage on and how to get a lot of resources and funding.”

Adamu, who was attending a UNESCO General Conference in Paris, said that they considered the inter-basin water transfer as the most suitable option, but that they would not, however, insist on it, and “allow the UNESCO experts to advise on any cheaper available alternatives, if any,” as PM News reported. Adamu told PM News that the initial study on the project costed the water transfer project at $14 billion.

            “We have a 60,000 hectares irrigation scheme under the South-Chad Irrigation scheme, which was designed to depend on intake of water from the Lake Chad to irrigate the 60,000 hectares for the production of wheat. That irrigation scheme is not working now because the water is not available. We need the water to revive that investment. All the efforts the administration had been making to boost food production and reduce food imports stands to benefit if the Lake Chad is revived,” he said.

            Adamu said that a lot of other economic activities would be revived and the general livelihood of the people in the area would improve with the revival of the lake.  The lake, on which the lives of 30 million people depend, is bordered by Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger; it has shrunk by 90%. “Clearly, the major factor of the Boko Haram insurgency is that there are lots of young people that are living in that area without any opportunity whatsoever because of the shrinking lake. Herdsmen had been forced to move southward and eastward and you can see that crises are getting increased between farmers and herdsmen,” he said.

ZorGBUooeh:
Your govt is fighting illegal miners in the pages of news paper..They should use the same seriousness ad aggressiveness they use in combating oil bunkering against illegal miners..Simple
Police,civil defence ad co won't solve the problem.

ZorGBUooeh:
They won't stop illegal mining up north but they are against oil bunkering down south.

ZorGBUooeh:
So ur comment is sensible?They should deploy the army over dia the way they did down south to stop them..No be by buying vehicle..Police wey go go dia collaborate with criminals na dem dem wan rely on.

"The Special Mines Surveillance Task Force is made up of all security agencies. The DSS,  the Police, the Civil Defence, EFCC and the National Security Adviser's Office.

ZorGBUooeh:
They won't stop illegal mining up north but they are against oil bunkering down south.

The Federal Government yesterday said in 2014 and 15, Nigeria lost about $9bn to illegal mining.

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, who addressed State House reporters after the cabinet meeting, quoted a report released by the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative.

The minister said the loss is from such illegally exported items as gold, lead, zinc, tin and coal.

He said if Nigeria could stop the spate of illegal activities by Nigerians and their foreign collaborators, the revenue from the sector would significantly improve.

He said the Federal Executive Council approved N987m for the procurement of 50 Hilux vehicles to enable the special mines taskforce to monitor and curb illegal mining activities in all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

Fayemi said each vehicle would be purchased for N19.3 million.

He stated: "The Special Mines Surveillance Task Force is made up of all security agencies. The DSS,  the Police, the Civil Defence, EFCC and the National Security Adviser's Office.

"You may be aware that over the course of last year, the police have established Mines Police and we now have a Commissioner of Police in-charge of Mines Police. We have a Commandant from the Civil Defence also exclusively deployed for mines activities.

“If we can stop the spate of illegal activities, not just by Nigerians but by Nigerians in collaboration with some foreigners, we will significantly improve the revenue that comes from that sector, increase the contributions to GDP,  increase the royalty to government and also provide more jobs for our people."

The minister said another effort towards reducing illegal and informal activities was the formalisation of small scale miners and artisan miners.

SmartchoiceNGR:
Ekiti State set the pace and trend not Benue!

Ekiti: Grazing activities must be from 7:00a.m. to 6:00p.m. local time daily.

...Vows to protect lives and property against militant herdsmen

By Peter Duru

MAKURDI—The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, has pledged to deploy soldiers to Benue State to assist the Police protect the lives and properties of the people against any resistance to the Open Grazing Prohibition Law by militant herdsmen.

This was revealed, yesterday, by President General of the Mdzough U Tiv, Chief Edward Ujege, while speaking on behalf of the ethic leaders at the end of their second leg advocacy visits across the country.

According to the elder statesman, the leaders had also written heads of the Police, the Department of State Services, DSS, the Navy and Air Force seeking their support for the successful implementation of the law.

Lieutenant General Buratai’s promise came on the heels of the alarm raised by the leadership of the three major ethnic groups in the state— Mdzough U Tiv, ldoma National Forum and Omi Ny’lgede— over alleged threat by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore to invade the state with herds of cattle in defiance of the newly-enacted grazing law.

According to Ujege, the ethnic leaders had also petitioned the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, over the matter.

He said: “In addition, the proactive action taken by our socio-cultural organisations has made Nasarawa State Government to take precautionary measures to hinder the herdsmen/militia from using the state as launching pad to invade Benue State.

“The delegation, through its advocacy, has been able to obtain a pledge from the Chief of Army Staff that troops will be on standby to assist the Police in case of an invasion.

“The responses to our advocacy have been very encouraging with about seven states now contemplating the passage and domestication of similar law in their states.

“We, therefore, commend Governor Samuel Ortom for setting a revolution that will change livestock breeding and animal husbandry in the country. “We appeal to all Benue indigenes to rally round the governor and give him all the support he requires to make this mission and all his other programmes successful.”

By Franklin Alli
LOCAL cement manufacturers have reduced power costs and boosted operating profits and capacity utilisation over the last nine months through investments in coal energy.

Cement

The nation’s two top cement producers, Dangote Cement Plc and Lafarge Africa Plc, in their financial results for the nine months ended September 30, 2017, attributed rise in their profit margins and capacity utilisation to the use of coal.

Dangote Cement switched to using coal at its cement plants in response to disruption to gas supplies and to lower input costs. The cement producer uses 12,000 MT/day of coal. On the other hand, Ashaka Cement, a fully-owned subsidiary of Lafarge Africa, said coal accounted for 82 percent of its power usage over the period, while work is ongoing on its 16-megawatt lignite-fired coal power plant at its factory in Gombe State.

Analysis of Dangote Cement results in the nine months under review showed that the company maintained its position in the Nigerian domestic cement market, accounting for 65 per cent of the market volume, while other African plants’ volumes went up by 7.5 per cent to  7.0 million metric tonnes per annum (mmt/a.)

Outgoing Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Cement, Onne van der Weijde, said the company’s pan-African operations were performing strongly with excellent sales growth in Cameroon, Ethiopia and Senegal, adding, “We are consolidating our success across Africa and have just inaugurated our1.5 million metric tonnes per annum  factory in Congo, the 10th country in which we have established operations. In our key operations in Nigeria, we have significantly improved our fuel mix and this has helped increase margins across the group. It is especially good for Nigeria because most of the coal we are using is mined in our own country.”

According to him, the  1.5 million metric tonnes per annum clinker grinding facility in Douala Cameroon sold approximately 938 clinker tonnes of cement, indicating an increase of 16.4 per cent on the 806 clinker tonnes sold the same period in 2016.

“Dangote Cement Ethiopia also increased sales by 16.8 per cent to nearly 1.7mmt/a  in the first nine months of 2017 representing capacity utilisation of approximately 88 per cent while the cement plant in Pout Senegal sold 1.0mmt/a of cement in the period.”

Similarly, for the 9-month period ended in September 2017, Lafarge Africa reported a four-fold increase in operating margins.

Edith Onwuchekwa, Chairman of AshakaCem, stated: “The erection of a 16 megawatts coal fired captive power plant at Ashaka is nearing completion and will significantly ensure the stability of electric power to the plant and the optimization of our energy costs at the plant.”