₦airaland Forum

take dat: Seems you are out to malign ASUU with half truths. When did ASUU receive the N30billion? The N30billion is still a promise just like the N100billion intervention fund. The same way it was reported that government released N100billion to the universities only for the VC's to claim two months after that they are yet to receive the money. Are you not aware that government has stopped their salaries?

Messi j: i hope D rice milling is nt just to remove D husk or mill D rice without proper processing which involves parboiling and reintroducing D nutrient was lost in D rice during parboiling. They should process rice that they can export to Japan. Nt our normal backwardness. What abut tomato sufficieny to exportation? We have enough tomatoes in this country yet we import tin tomato frm china and others. Wht we need most in this country are function machineries of all stages of production in agriculture. If D barn can store tubbers, We can also start exporting tubers of yarms to countries even as far as east germany. All these country that eat suggry potato can take a better alternative in yams. It has almost D same nutrients if nt better than potato.

jmaine: Anyone who frowns at this noble development is suffering from demonic foolishment . . .

lakhadimar: Here in kogi state under the criminal administration of the pdp rogues we have not seen anything tangible from the surep nonsense. The pdp govermnet in kogi state have looted the state dry. We have suffered much from these pdp thieves. Enough is enough it is high time we kick pdp out of kogi state

gregg2: The agricultural revolution is simply amazing. Despite the devastating floods of last year that destroyed crops one expected a food crises this year but no! food remains in abundance.

take dat: Its becoming glaring that the proposed national conference has a preconceived agenda behind it. I thought the president could have waited for the report and recommendations of the advisory committee before making any pronouncement. He does not know whether the committee after all consultations would propose that the outcome of the conference be subjected to a referendum or not. This is why some of us have continued to express cautious optimism. Isn't this going to be a government doctored and midwife conference if the national assembly will still have to debate on the outcome of the conference? Are they not the same self serving law makers who have continually hampered the passage of bills which are germane to our collective interest? Instead of embarking on a wasteful jamboree and talk show in the name of a national conference whose outcome would be subjected to the whims and caprices of our present crop of lawmakers, why can't the president just conduct a transparent, free and fair elections where Nigerians can vote for their true representatives to trash out constitutional matters after 2015?

seanet01: Jonathan though did this with good intention is very wrong.
AU should have pulled out.
No matter what Jonathan says, No matter what African leaders eventually do,
Whites will always try to take advantage of we Blacks.
Pull out now.
The worst criminals in the world, George Bush and Tony Blair are still waking free,
why should the ICC be only interested in African leaders.
Withdraw now

Former Vice-President of the World Bank, Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, on Friday lauded the Federal Government’s emphasis on agricultural development in the country.

Ezekwesili told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the focus on agricultural development was doing a lot to empower farmers across the country.

She added that the current emphasis had redirected the focus of more than 60 per cent of the population into agriculture and related businesses.

``I think the emphasis that government is giving to agriculture and agribusiness is very good. I applaud them (officials) for the emphasis on agriculture, agribusiness and enhancing productivity.

``Because, frankly, already we have more than 60 per cent of our citizens in agriculture.

``So, if you want to tackle poverty, go to the sector where the people who are mostly poor are operating, and it’s in agriculture.

``So, you go to that informal sector of agriculture, you provide them with the kind of tools and the kinds of facilities, the extension services, the links to the market, the seeds and inputs, the access to credit.

``The better business environment, all of these add together to improve their productivity, and therefore, will improve their income.

``Because when you enhance the income of the farmers, what it means is that they have more money that they can spend even in offering education to their children.

``So that circle of activities is so important for taking the entire society out of poverty.

``You don’t lift people out of poverty; you give people what they need in order to lift themselves out of poverty.’’

She also urged the government at all levels to make more efforts to boost agricultural development in the country in order to reduce the rate of poverty. (NAN)

The Federal Government is to save N100bn from the concession of 33 silo complexes in 32 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, has said.

Adesina stated this during the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between his ministry and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission on the concession of the silos.

The MoC, according to the minister in a statement, was the continuation of the process of synergy with the private sector to manage and operate silo complexes across the country.

He said, “Running and managing these huge infrastructures is extremely expensive. At the current guaranteed minimum price rate, about N100bn will be required by the ministry to stock the silo complexes.

“The government does not have the resources to manage them. We therefore want the private sector to lease the huge storage infrastructures to improve their management, efficiency and profitability.”

He noted that the silo complexes were part of the ministry’s storage infrastructure under the Strategic Grains Reserves.

Adesina said the network of the SGR silo complexes was established to provide immediate food relief in times of emergency, provide appropriate mechanism, guarantee minimum price scheme to make farmers earn remunerative prices for their produce, provide a mechanism for price stabilisation and storage capacity for excess production, and reduce post-harvest losses.

He stated that the 13 of the silo complexes with a total storage capacity of 311,000metric tons were in existence and operational before the present government came on board.

According to him, the remaining 20 complexes were completed by the present administration to bring the total to 33, with a total storage capacity of 1.3million metric tons.

Adesina said the concession would be done in a transparent manner and in partnership with the ICRC in line with the extant regulations.

The Director-General, ICRC, Mr. Aminu Dikko, said the MoC would enable due diligence and diagnostic study of the silo complexes and develop appropriate economic models for Public Private Partnership transactions.

The Director, SGR, Dr. Jide Olumeko, said the signing of the MoC would bring the capacity utilisation of the silos, which is currently less than 10 per cent, to about 100 per cent after the concession.

Olumeko said the memorandum between the ministry and the ICRC would spell out the roles and responsibilities of each party to the MoC towards the actualisation of the proposed concession exercise.

EMERGING details of what transpired at the just-concluded African Union (AU) extra-ordinary summit at the weekend in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, have revealed the role played by President Goodluck Jonathan in averting what some Nigerian diplomats now describe as a Kenyan coup against the International Criminal Court (ICC).

While the AU Assembly of Heads of States just managed to agree to requesting the United Nations Security Council to ensure that the ICC defers its cases against sitting African heads of states, diplomatic sources at the meeting revealed that Kenya had wished AU withdraw from ICC or at least threaten to do so. It was learnt that the proposal was tabled both at the ministerial and heads of states levels of the AU summit in Addis Ababa.

Already, the Kenyan Parliament has voted to have Kenya withdraw from the ICC, but sources said the Kenyan delegation, even though had called for the extra-ordinary summit, was not very certain it would get the overall support of the AU leaders on its preference to have the 34 African nations that have signed up for ICC to withdraw their memberships.

Sources said the timely intervention of President Jonathan, followed by South Africa and a few other African heads of states “saved the day,” after the Kenyan delegation led by its President had made a very emotional appeal at the summit over ICC’s trial of the country’s President and Vice President. In fact, the Ugandan President who spoke after Kenya’s President, had also said Uganda was ready to pull out of ICC once the AU so decides.

For instance, at the AU Executive Committee level where ministers met on Friday, a day before the heads of states met, the Kenyan delegation “had made a very eloquent presentation of her case with a generous dose of emotion and sentiment, concluding that the ultimate goal of the ICC case was “to effect regime change in Kenya, pure and simple.”

But the ministerial meeting could neither reach agreement on a proposal that no AU member-state should refer any matter to the ICC without first informing and seeking the advice of the AU Assembly nor was there any agreement on the threat of mass withdrawal if the UN Security Council/ICC failed to accede to the request for deferral of the Kenya cases. Even there was no agreement for a proposal for another AU summit on November 25, 2013 to review progress on the matter. Also, there was no consensus on the demand that the Kenya trial be terminated forthwith. With that stalemate at the ministerial meeting, the Assembly of Heads of States meeting held the following day without a clear direction.

Normally, the ministerial meeting agreement would be what the heads of states would work from, but the Assembly of Heads of States opened without an agreed decision or declaration submitted for consideration by the Executive Council.

President Kenyatta reportedly delivered an equally sentimental speech, according to sources, causing a lot of emotional responses at the meeting, but no concrete or agreeable proposal on required action was directly tabled by the Kenyans, and many of the AU leaders were said to have been careful not to be caught on the wrong side.

[b]According to a source in Addis Ababa, “heads of states were reluctant to take the floor after President Kenyatta spoke. President Museveni was said to have spoken next, endorsing everything President Kenyatta said, and after lampooning the ICC “in his characteristic style”, he informed of his singular mission to withdraw Uganda’s membership of the ICC/Rome Statute if the AU Assembly would so direct.

But sources said not until President Jonathan spoke was there a clear direction regarding what role AU leaders can and cannot play in the matter.

Jonathan, who had been expected to first deliver a formal address and was surprised the meeting was more of a closed-door session at the start, struck the nail on its head when he changed the tempo of the discussion by requesting “his colleagues to set aside sentiments.”

Jonathan, according to diplomats at the meeting, told other AU leaders that “no one could love the Kenyans more than the Kenyans themselves; no one could understand the Kenyans better than the Kenyans themselves; no one could solve the problems of Kenyans better than Kenyans and no external organisation could bring reconciliation and healing to Kenyans except Kenyans.”

Sources said Jonathan’s remarks then opened a floodgate of responses from other AU leaders, starting from South Africa threading the same path as the Nigerian president. A source said “immediately after the Nigerian President’s remarks, the entire electronic board was filled with requests for the floor, led by South Africa.”[/b]

It was then that the AU leaders eventually agreed that:

• African States parties to the Rome Statute should not withdraw from it;

• a demarche for deferral should be made to the Security Council;

• the problematic Articles of the Statute viz Articles 27, 63 and 98 should be amended;

• in addition, the Assembly agreed to establish a five-member Contact Group to interface with the UN Security Council on the deferral issue;

• Kenya’s decision that President Kenyatta will not attend court on November 12 as scheduled was endorsed;

• the decision that Deputy President William Ruto will cease to appear before the court should be endorsed; and

• the entire case against the two accused persons - Kenya’s president and his deputy - should be terminated.

Expectation that AU might decide to withdraw African nations from the ICC had actually caused a stir in western capitals around the world and at the UN headquarters where ICC was birthed. Human rights groups around the world had also formed a global coalition and spoke with one voice and with the support of two African Nobel Peace Laureates - Kofi Annan and Archbishop Desmond Tutu - all concluding that such a withdrawal by any African nation would be a shame.

In fact, after the meeting concluded without such a resolution that African nations pull out of the ICC, New York-based Human Rights Watch put out a statement over the weekend virtually applauding the fact that the AU did not call for withdrawal from ICC

According to the statement issued in New York by Elise Keppler, HRW Associate International Justice Director “at this summit, states reinforced the importance of the ICC when they didn’t bite on possible withdrawal.”

Demdem:
The truth is for states not under the control of the killer party, the useless surep is controlled by agents of Jonathan as it is evidenced in lagos from ur post.
Technically, retardeen controls all surep funds.

[b]Hunger level in Nigeria has fallen in the last eight years, but has remained at an “alarming” level in Africa, a new global report released Monday, said.

The report, published by the International Food Policy Research Institute, IFPRI, showed that Nigeria’s index dropped from 16.3 in 2005 to 15 in 2013. Safe and comfortable levels are below five. Burundi has the highest at 38.

The report identifies Africa generally among other regions with a high level of hunger which, it says is alarming.

This is contained in the 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI) released by IFPRI, Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide.

The report said global hunger is decreasing as the 2013 World Global Hunger Index score has fallen by 34 per cent from the 1990 GHI score.
However, world hunger still remains serious, with 19 countries suffering from levels of hunger that are either alarming or extremely alarming, it adds.

South Asia has the highest regional GHI score, followed by sub Saharan Africa, while Burundi, Eritrea and Comoros have the highest levels of hunger, the report states.

The report said most of the affected countries were vulnerable to the negative effects of extreme weather events, climate change, population pressure, conflicts and economic crises.

Also, traditional coping mechanisms as well as the capacity of governments were in many cases, hugely challenged, it said.

The report however, called for greater resilience-building efforts to boost food and nutrition security in the regions
.
The resilience-building, it stated, should include prevention, mitigation and the promotion of development paths that would reduce exposure to shocks from climate change among others, in the longer term.

“Adopting a resilience lens is challenging. We need to build consensus on what it means and on that basis adopt programmes and policies that bridge the relief and development sectors,” said IFPRI’s Derek Headey in the report.

The report noted that collaboration in building resilience required new and better efforts to monitor and evaluate people’s existing vulnerabilities and the impacts of resilience-building activities.[/b]

Also, Dominic MacSorley of Concern Worldwide explained that building such resilience must focus on those living in life-threatening poverty and that programmes must deliver sustainable change in a longer term.

“We must focus on those living in extreme poverty, learn the lessons of the past and be clear about what measures are needed to enable the very poorest to become more resilient in the longer term,” he said.

“Work in Kenya, Ethiopia, Niger and Chad is demonstrating how a resilience approach can deliver significant and sustainable change at community level.

“Turning this evidence into policy change is the next important step.”

The report further suggested developing a high-frequency surveillance system for the most vulnerable regions, focusing on communities as well as individual and household resilience.

In addition, it said: “resilience-building objectives should be incorporated into national and regional development strategies as something distinct from conventional growth, poverty, or development objectives.

“Pursuing this will improve food and nutrition security for the world’s most vulnerable.”

According to the report, the Index identified hunger levels and hot spots across 120 developing countries and countries in transition.

It scored countries based on three equally weighted indicators — the proportion of people who are undernourished, proportion of children under five who are underweight and the mortality rate of children under five.

ballabriggs: PH Enugu, Enugu Umuahia and Aba PH is the long stretch.

That Okupe a dead man expects one to believe his rubbish says a lot about him.

jude33084: I did it but it is the same result,.....when I called the guy that did it at their Ido office, he was even shouting on phone that I will be arrested for calling a genuine plate number invalid. I could not meet him today because of my job.


I will take a day off on Friday to visit him in his office because I will want to be arrested for finding out on FRSC website that the number plate issued to me is fake

The Director, Public Building of the FCTA, Mr Bernard Lot, who made the disclosure while speaking with newsmen in Abuja said the gate would serve as a symbol of cultural heritage for the nation’s capital.

Lot said that the gate, to be located at Kuje Junction on airport road, would replace the existing one close to the National Stadium. He said the new gate which would be designed to have the Northern, Southern and Central axis of the country, was expected to be executed through Public Private Partnership.

"The Central axis will have pedestrian bridges; the Northern axis would have conference rooms, parade ground, botanical garden, five star hotel and hospital among others. The Northern axis would also serve as a place where a new president would be given key to enter the city.

"The Southern axis of the project, to be sited close to the Centenary City, will be used for commercial activities, such as shopping, amphitheatre, among others.

The Goodluck Jonathan administration touts the re-emer-gence of train services in the country as one of its major achievements in the last two years. The rail sector in this country has indeed been in a comatose state for nearly two decades, despite talks-and failed efforts-by previous administrations of reviving the sector.

Even though the trains recently seen on the rail lines are nowhere near what things were in the past, it is nevertheless something to be hopeful that progress is now being made in the revival of this key transport sector, which would have a revolutionizing effect on the national economy and society once it is fully revived and modernised.

[b]The rail revitalization project, as outlined recently by Transport Minister Senator Idris Umar, is part of a 25-year programme to rehabilitate, modernize and stabilize rail transport in Nigeria. This ‘strategic vision for railway development’ includes the rehabilitation of existing narrow gauge lines, construction of standard gauge lines and linking all state capitals by rail, much like the Trunk A road system. When fully achieved, the impact that these could have on the national economy would be tremendous.

So far, there are signs of progress in this plan, though a lot still needs to be done. It is perhaps in this sector that intervention by SURE-P has been most noticeable. According to Umar, so far 90 percent of the existing 3,505kms of narrow gauge rail line in all parts of the country are at various stages of rehabilitation. As a result, the Western rail corridor of Lagos-Kano saw the kick-off of passenger and freight services in December last year while rail services are expected to kick off in the Eastern corridor of Port Harcourt-Maiduguri by year’s end.
Currently, intra-state mass transit rail services have begun in Lagos, Kaduna and Kano-Challawa routes, while inter-city passenger services operate in Lagos-Ibadan, Kaduna-Minna, Kaduna-Kafanchan and Kano-Nguru. An Offa-Kano Express Train Service is also started. Rehabilitation of Apapa port rail line has been completed while other ports are to be linked by rail. In the last two years, Nigeria’s rail carried 4 million passengers and 561,000 tonnes of cargo. This is a small figure compared to what things were decades ago; but it is an encouraging sign at least that the traffic may improve.
This country has been proposing the building of a standard gauge rail line for four decades now. The plan was actually incorporated into the Third National Development of 1975-1980 but was never done. This time, construction of the 187km Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge line is underway and is expected to be completed by the end of next year, according to the government’s projection. Construction of the 274km Lagos-Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri standard gauge line is 80% complete while Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge work was recently started as part of what the Transport Ministry said is a long-term Lagos-Kano standard gauge line. All these projects are welcome signs that there is positive movement in the rail sector for the first time in two decades.[/b]

In recent weeks, controversy has trailed the award of contracts for conducting feasibility studies for the national network of standard gauge lines. The purpose of the feasibility studies, as government officials explained, is to attract private investors under the terms of a Private Public Partnership [PPP] project. This is understandable because the costs involved and the demands of other equally important sectors. The studies will establish the technical, economic and viability models of the projects; provide proposals for alignment and connections to urban and commercial settlements and identify potential train stations and workshops all leading to submission of preliminary and final engineering designs.
The problem, as critics have alleged, is that these rail feasibility studies contracts were on the high side, even though officials have explained that they were advertised in 2011, that the bids were evaluated by SURE-P, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and Transport Ministry; the Bureau of Public Enterprises [BPP] issued ‘no objection’ certificates before the Federal Executive Council approved them. However, such controversy should not derail these all-important national projects. If there are corrections to be made, the National Assembly through its relevant committees should step in to examine them. In all cases the rail modernization programme should be pursued as a top national priority. Much of Nigeria’s future economic and social life rests on it.

Sincere 9gerian: Indeed the idiots have no shame. In the past they said the trains were useless and slow, but now the story has changed. Their god, Aregbe is paying for free ride on the same train they said was useless and dead. One of the idiots is even spamming this thread with RUBBISH from Osun Defender claiming state govt investment in the Nigerian Railways, a federal govt establishment.

shymexx: My blackness is different from yours and the evil black mind I was alluding to, defines you and your ilk.

Topic:

The first Europeans were black - that's an open secret. But blacks aren't the ancestors of the caucasians. Yes, we did mix with their ancestors, however, their ancestors migrated from a different place entirely.

ROSSIKE: Considering these are the type of threads you prefer to start: (taken from your profile)

''See This Sexy Gay Boys Shows Off Their Hot Bikini Body [pics]''
by cashkid18. 7 posts & 375 views. 12:15am On Oct 02 (Hezron Lorraine)

''In A Big Blackberry Wahala With My Girlfriend - What Do I Do?''
by cashkid18.


..it's no surprise you are far too thick to appreciate anything more intellectual.