₦airaland Forum

Peacetalk1:
Good afternoon.please..... but first drop a number so we talk.thanks GOD bless and have a hpy and safe month.

changes1:
The inec officials registering them should be held responsible.

Isn't there a way for the system to bounce anyone below 18 yrs?
Abi the constitution now permits under aged voters that I don't know of Someone please educate me.... That's how during the 2006 census both goat, sheep, cow donkeys, camels etc were counted so as to give them more numbers... They are playing the same script again.

See them (those small kids) occupying space, hence making it difficult for adults and youths to register.

people who woke up very early by 5:30 am and stayed under the sun for days just to register will understand what I'm talking about.

Those kids self. abi do they think its homework they're submitting there? Abi them think say Na sweet and biscuits dem dey share there

The kind of rigging that will happen in 2015 will make devil look like a learner....

Winston91:
i can help you produce shoe boxes with your logo on it

contact me vai winston.ogbonda@yahoo.com, Whatsapp me via o7o63137988 or pin 7AB86DED

konjakonja:
This kind of heavy allegation against the common man without any pishure to back it up Dude picture of the diggers or go to bed. Can't you see that the 2go girl is nakeed? That's how to back up thread with picture evidence.

Metrofox:
Prove me wrong bro, I'll be glad

Metrofox:
There's no freeaking preservation bro, they only brought improved seedlings that can grow in the dry season.. No barns, no silos, no preservation of any sort...

ayukdaboss:
Uncommon transformation of boiled corn? I Don tire for wuna sef

The Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) is a federal government initiative to actualise the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA). It is also aimed at subsidising the costs of major agricultural inputs, such as fertiliser and seedlings for farmers. Adebiyi Adedapo assesses the scheme

Although it may be too early in the day to evaluate the successes or otherwise of the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) given that it has barely been implemented for two years, however, reactions from various stakeholders in the agricultural sectors are pointers to a step in the right direction.

Major players in the nation’s agric sector who attended the 40th regular meeting of the National Council on Agriculture (NCA) held recently in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital and those who were present at a public hearing on agriculture-related bills pending before the House of Representatives in Abuja, have spoken extensively on the implementation of the GES scheme, its successes and shortcomings.

Direct Redemption

The programme started in May 2012, and has so far registered about 14 million farmers throughout the federation for direct redemption of farm inputs through the e-wallet system. The ministry of agriculture and rural development disclosed that about 4 million farmers were registered in 2012, while over 10 million were registered in 2013.

Under the scheme, registered farmers receives 50 per cent subsidy on their farms inputs from the federal government with the support of the state governments.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, boasted at the public hearing to have returned dignity to the Nigerian farmers through the e-wallet system.

With this system, farmers receive SMS alerts on their mobile phones and proceed to the nearest agro-dealers to redeem the inputs with 50 per cent value of the inputs price. This, according to the minister, has put an end to the age-long queue by farmers only to secure a bag of fertiliser for a group.

He noted that high level of corruption and insincerity in the previous input distribution strategy saw a major failure in the system, adding that low level of the use of fertilisers and improved seeds reduced farmers’ productivity.

According to Adesina, less than 11 per cent of Nigerian farmers benefited from the old system while political elites diverted bulk of the inputs purchased by the federal government to neighbouring countries.

“There was a major failure in our policies; low level of fertiliser and improved seeds reduce productivity, the supply of improved seeds to farmers were woefully low; the old system was inefficient and fraudulent; there was a leaking pipeline where inputs went to political elites and outside the country, while less than 11 per cent of Nigerian farmers benefited,” he said.

Adesina also disclosed that the old system totally displaced the private sector players in the supply chain, and thereby gave room for the supply of fake inputs. “Contractors deliver 50 per cent sand and 50 per cent fertiliser, farmers were being cheated and the environment was being damaged; the system lacked actuality and transparency,” he added.

Impacts

In less than two years of its implementation, the GES scheme, according to the minister, has increased the number of farmers who benefit from the federal government largesse from 11 per cent to 60 per cent. The minister said about 1.5 million farmers benefited from the GES scheme in 2012, and the farmers were able to produce 8.1 million metric tonnes of food. i.e. a 70 per cent sharp increase from the food production level in the past.

Challenges

The minister observed that farmers’ apathy was a major challenge to the success of the GESS in 2012, as he said only 61 per cent of expected beneficiaries turned out to redeem their inputs. He also identified low density coverage of agro-dealers as a challenging factor. This, according to him, may not be unconnected to inadequate loan facilities for the dealers as the N60 billion NISER fund has not been accessed.

“Farmers thought it was scammers at work when they received the text messages; so many of them did not turn out to redeem their inputs,” he said.

Complaints

The GES Scheme is being heavily criticised by some farmers. A cross section of farmers at the 40th regular meeting of the National Council on Agriculture (NCA) in Abeokuta identified poor database management, late arrival of inputs to redemption centres and shortage of inputs as a major impediment to the success of the programme.

The farmers also complained that the programme did not effectively capture the interest of medium-scale commercial farmers, as inputs provided by the government were too small to make impacts on their yields.

The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) through its financial secretary, Dr. Tunde Arosayin, explained that the agro-dealers saddled with the responsibility of distributing the inputs were faced with various challenges, adding that the farmers captured in the registration exercise in 2012 could not find their names on the database for 2013.

“If we are saying that we have captured about 3 – 4 million farmers initially and those names did not reflect for this year’s farming season. I think it is a step backward. Most of the agro-dealers are facing a lot of challenges because those who are newly captured for this year, that were being given inputs were been disturbed by the old registered farmers who could not get their names on the list.

“Also, those who have five hectares, 10 hectares of farm land have been excluded by all the programmes that are on ground; even the commercial farmers have also been excluded. What will a farmer who has one hectare of land do with two bags of fertiliser, you need a minimum of six to eight bags and at the end of the production year, they are expected to go to the market with those that have taken 50 per cent subsidy on farm inputs and those who went to the parallel market,” he said.

Some of the farmers also complained about the quality of rice seedlings distributed in the year 2012.

Call for Inclusion

The farmers attributed some of the hiccups to non-inclusion of local farmers at the policy implementation stage.

“At the initial stage we were talking, unfortunately, mid-way, we don’t know what happened and AFAN was sidelined, that could be a major pointer to some of these hiccups, because if we had been involved at every stage, we would be able to highlight some of these challenges and we would be able to proffer some solution ahead of time,” they added.

Thrust of Scheme

The minister, through the Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Dr. Olukayode Oyeleye, explained that the concept of GES Scheme was to enhance the capacity of poor farmers who could not afford to buy even a bag of fertiliser and seedlings on their own. Oyeleye said the policy thrust did not capture medium-scale and large scale farmers in its conception.

He also explained that the logistic problem being encountered with the GESS database was caused by farmers who registered in groups with only one telephone number.

“One of the problems is that the system does not allow more than farmer to register with a telephone number, so in the situation that a family of group of farmers register with more than one telephone number, only one person’s data will be captured as being registered, and that explains why some names are missing on the database,” he said.

Continuity Call

The House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture unanimously lauded the GES scheme and urged the Minister to ensure continuity of the scheme without misplacing its priority.

Also, Speaker of the House, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, at the public hearing commended the Minister over the improvement in the inputs distribution system to the farmers. The Speaker, who was represented by the Deputy House Leader, Hon. Leonard Ogor, said the GESS was a major achievement of the minister in office.

“Let me use this opportunity to say that the House appreciates the level of improvement in the distribution of fertiliser to farmers, which is one good achievement of the ministry of agriculture, compared to previous distribution system,” he said.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/understanding-the-growth-enhancement-support-scheme/153425/

Ogbodavies:
all these paper investment won't create jobs for Nigerians.

podosci:
what nonsesnse talk, how can PDP summon a minister,,,,,i though it was only the national assembly and President that have that power......was it PDP that appointed him?

KiksAsso:
Honestly speaking, going by the new PTAM regime, the tax on a gross salary of N171,000 should not be more than N13,000.
You can challenge these things if you know your onion. No company operating in Nigeria should be operating outside laid down rules.
Note that most of us are local employees........

jeffizy:
I'm yet to eat a local rice.
I wonder where it is located.

darqly:
I daresay you're incorrect on this one. The portion of your income that is taxable is Basic salary. No one taxes your allowances. My firm is overly tax conscious and we even receive tax refunds for over-remittance. Do you work for FIRS by the way?

butanep:
MTN pay about 180 to 250.
Glo pay from 200 above...

Olutola88:
above 200,000. Anyone with a more precise and accurate figure can help us

Dreal1247: The fear of Jonathan is the introduction of Boko Haram.

A senior member of the European Parliament, Franz Obermayr MEP, has accused the Opposition All Progressive's Congress (APC) of channeling European Parliament financial aid to Boko Haram in the North East of Nigeria, and called on the European Commission to investigate alleged concerns over the party's financial and political allegiance with the terror group.

The Nigerian Times learnt exclusively that Franz Obermayr, of Austrian Freedom Party, currently the most popular political party in Austria, made the statements in a press release issued on 16 September and covered widely by the European press.

The Nigerian Times also learnt that Obermayr has been working closely with Stand for Peace, a Muslim-Jewish interfaith organisation dedicated to countering extremism and promoting social and religious cohesion. Oberamyr has also called on EU election observers to closely scrutinise the links between the APC and Boko Haram in the run up to the 2015 presidential election.

He said: “In Nigeria's case, a large proportion of the subsidies from Brussels are used in the north of the country. The federal states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in the extreme north-east of the country are precisely the areas in which Boko Haram's campaign of terror is largely tolerated by the authorities. The aforementioned sub-republics are governed by the All Progressive Congress (APC)”

In the statement made available to The Nigerian Times, Obermayr says that all further European Parliament cooperation and funding to Nigeria should be subject to the findings of a report into the close relationships between political parties and terrorist groups in the country, suggesting that all development aid should be immediately suspended if any wrong doing is exposed.

Turning to individuals in the APC, Mr Obermayr raised the US Embassy memo which states that former Vice-President and 2015 Presidential hopeful, Atiku Abubukar, received money from Al-Qaeda to “destabilise the south of the country” and the recent defection of Femi Fani-Kayode from the APC because of their “clear islamist agenda and sympathies with Boko Haram”.

Further, in a statement that highlights widespread concern ahead of the 2015 presidential elections, he said: “Even the most senior man in the APC, former Nigerian head of state and presidential candidate, Mohammadu Buhari, was quoted in the British newspaper The Guardian back in 2001 calling for sharia law to be introduced throughout Nigeria, including the Christian-dominated south.”

The announcement from Obermayr and Stand for Peace follows a similar call from Andrew Rosindell MP, of the UK parliament, for an inquiry into the relationship between members of the APC and Boko Haram.


“Unfortunately, in many cases a lot of Europe's political decision-makers are negligent when it comes to contacts and financial aid for associations and political parties which in reality act as camouflage organisations and as a result often open the doors to European institutions for radical Islamist groups,” is the criticism voiced by Austrian Freedom Party MEP Franz Obermayr, who has already called on the Commission for greater transparency on this issue in a parliamentary survey.

“In Nigeria's case, a large proportion of the subsidies from Brussels are used in the north of the country. The federal states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in the extreme north-east of the country are precisely the areas in which Boko Haram's campaign of terror is largely tolerated by the authorities. The aforementioned sub-republics are governed by the All Progressive Congress (APC), which is now also standing for the presidency in the upcoming 2015 elections”.

“The leaders of this party have repeatedly been linked with radical Islam and their terrorist groups,” warns Obermayr. Wikileaks for example published a memo from the US Embassy to the effect that the former Vice-President and APC member Atiku Abubakar received money from Al-Qaeda to destabilise the south of the country.


“And lastly even the most senior man in the APC, former Nigerian head of state and presidential candidate, Mohammadu Buhari, was quoted in the British newspaper The Guardian back in 2001 calling for sharia law to be introduced throughout Nigeria, including the Christian-dominated south,” Obermayr went on, referring to the manifestly close links between the APC and Islamist terrorism in the region.


Obermayr said : “During its history Europe too had to learn the painful lesson that a semblance of democratic legitimacy did not prevent brutal and inhuman regimes from gaining power. Against the backdrop of the upcoming elections, all evidence of links between Boko Haram and political parties in Nigeria must be carefully scrutinised, documented and then reported to the European Parliament and the general public. Future cooperation with Nigeria should depend on these reports.”

According to Obermayr, it goes without saying that development aid should also be suspended immediately if suspicions are confirmed in the above-mentioned regions.

http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/news/157621/1/european-mp-accuses-apc-of-funding-boko.html

otokx: This must be a joke, any price above 1000 is unacceptable.

beatricewebb: How does this put food on the table for the hungry masses?

egopersonified: I declare this bashing open.