After a six-year negotiation process, 24 countries have adopted the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, known as LAC P10.
Carole Excell
The agreement is Latin America and the Caribbean’s first ever legally binding agreement on environmental rights, designed to protect environmental defenders, improve access to environmental information, extend public participation in environmental decision-making processes, and more. It requires governments to set new standards to achieve Principle 10, the environmental democracy principle of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.
In a reaction, Carole Excell, Acting Director, Environmental Democracy Practice, World Resources Institute (WRI) and “Member of the Public” Negotiator for LAC P10, said: “Countries and civil society groups across Latin America and the Caribbean have taken a historic stand to safeguard the backbone of environmental protection: people. Violence against environmental defenders is on the rise, and Latin America is the most dangerous region in the world for them. By adopting LAC P10, governments in the region have agreed to legally binding provisions that will help prevent and punish threats and attacks against environmental defenders.
“I cannot understate how critical it is for communities to have access to environmental information, like data on local water pollution or nearby mining concessions. LAC P10 is designed not only to protect environmental defenders, but also to make it easier for people to get information, participate in decision-making that will affect their lives and hold powerful interests to account. Hopefully LAC P10 will mean fewer natural resources exploited and communities at risk.
“The agreement could impact up to 500 million people and demonstrates global leadership from the region. LAC P10 is only the world’s second regional agreement on environmental rights, and is the first for Latin America and the Caribbean. Chile, Costa Rica and Panama have been determined, innovative drivers of the negotiations, and their continued leadership will be critical in the implementation process to come.
“LAC P10 is a major step forward, but the work has only just begun. Governments must move quickly to sign and ratify the agreement, and then ensure robust compliance and implementation once it enters into force.
“One more person dying to protect the environment is too much. It’s time for countries to defend the defenders.”
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has requested Suleiman Adamu, the Minister of Water Resources, to “explain why Nigeria’s water and sanitation infrastructure has continued to deteriorate and millions of Nigerians have to resort to drinking water from contaminated sources with deadly health consequences, despite the authorities claiming to have spent trillions of naira of budgetary allocations on the sector since the return of democracy in 1999.”
Suleiman Adamu, Minister of Water Resources
In a statement made available to EnviroNews, the organisation said: “Many toilets in public offices are out of order because of lack of water while millions of Nigerians remain desperate for water in their homes, often resorting to contaminated sources and drilling their own boreholes that can become easily mixed with sewage, with negative environmental impacts, and devastating for people’s health.”
The group therefore requested Adamu, an engineer, to “use his leadership position to provide within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter detailed information on the spending on specific water and sanitation projects and their locations carried out by the Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development for the following years: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 (1999-2016); as well as details of allocations to the 36 states of the federation.”
The organisation said: “Should Engr. Adamu fail to provide the information within 14 days, SERAP would take all appropriate legal actions to compel the government to act on this matter.”
In an open letter dated March 2, 2018, and signed by SERAP’s deputy director, Timothy Adewale, the group expressed “serious concern that millions of Nigerians do not have access to clean and potable water and adequate sanitation. There is no water to show for the huge budgetary allocations and purported spending and investment in the sector since the return of democracy in 1999. Successive governments have failed to improve affordability of water for millions of low-income Nigerians, thereby denying them access to water.”
The letter reads in part: “Contractors handling water projects are reportedly engaging in schemes like the deliberate use of substandard pipes, among others, to make profit, leading to loss of water. This dearth of water also affects sanitation. The large number of broken down water facilities across the country has hindered effective water supply to the citizens.
“Millions of Nigerians (mostly children) lie sick, bodies ravaged by cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery among other diseases. An estimated 194,000 Nigerian children under the age of 5 die annually from these preventable diseases. There is almost no state and/or local government in Nigeria without abandoned water projects or one whose construction has gone on forever, creating a veritable opening for fraud and assuring the continued suffering of many.
“The Federal Ministry of Water Resources is responsible for large water resources development projects and water allocation between states. The right to water is a human right, which places certain responsibilities upon the government including your Ministry to ensure that people can enjoy sufficient, safe, accessible and affordable water, without discrimination.
“Nigeria has received donations running into several billions of dollars from the African Development Bank, the European Union, UNICEF, USAID, World Bank among others to implement water projects without any feasible improvement on access to water. The African Development Bank has invested over $905 million in the sector since 1971. Nigeria is currently investing over N85 billion in the water sector, yet millions of Nigerians do not have access to portable water, and have resorted to drilling of boreholes, with negative environmental impacts.
“SERAP is seriously concerned that alleged stealing or mismanagement of these large sums may be responsible for the lack of access of millions of Nigerians to clean and portable water, with its attendant consequences. Due to inadequate maintenance of water facilities, Nigerians have contacted various water-borne diseases like typhoid fever, cholera, diarrhoea, hookworm, infection and Hepatitis A; some others have died because of these diseases.
“The disclosure of the information requested will provide SERAP and the public with clarity on how funds allocated to the Ministry have been spent on specific projects, with details of locations of water and sanitation projects across the country; the possible challenges the Ministry might be facing and engender robust conversations on possible solutions to better the conditions of Nigerians and improve access to clean and portable water, especially for those living in extreme poverty.
“Considering the impacts of water on other sectors of the economy and its impact on the realisation of other human rights, the judicious spending of the money approved to the water sector will go a long way to preserve the nations underground and surface water sources and prevent the environmental disaster that may result from concurrent drilling of boreholes by several Nigerians, due to lack of access to clean and portable water.
“SERAP believes that as a matter of public interest, the citizenry is entitled to know how its wealth is being used, managed and administered in a democratic setting, as this affects the commonwealth of the society. SERAP firmly believes that the request falls within the Nigerian citizens’ right to know as guaranteed under the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to which Nigeria is a state party, and the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.
“By virtue of Section 1 (1) of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2011, SERAP is entitled as of right to request for or gain access to information, including information on the details of the expenditure and budgetary spending of the Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development for the preceeding years: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 (1999-2016).
“Also, by virtue of Section 4 (a) of the FOI Act when a person makes a request for information from a public official, institution or agency, the public official, institution or urgency to whom the application is directed is under a binding legal obligation to provide the applicant with the information requested for, except as otherwise provided by the Act, within 7 days after the application is received.
“The information being requested does not come within the purview of the types of information exempted from disclosure by the provisions of the FOI Act. The information requested for, apart from not being exempted from disclosure under the FOI Act, bothers on an issue of national interest,public welfare, public peace and concern, interest of human rights, social justice, good governance, transparency and accountability.”
The Lagos State Government has said that teething challenges being experienced by its new Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) will soon be a thing of the past.
Environment Commissioner, Babatunde Durosinmi Etti, in the company of Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Kehinde Bamgbetan, and state as well as Visionscape Sanitation Solutions officials during the facility tour
Environment Commissioner, Babatunde Durosinmi Etti, who made the assertion during a facility tour of the Epe Landfill and Eco Park on Thursday, March 1, 2018, explained that the CLI is geared towards meeting the current and future solid waste, waterwaste and sanitation demands of the state.
“The CLI is already up and running and needs just a little bit of tweaking here and there to get it right,” he said, adding that, apart from making Lagos cleaner, safer and healthier for all residents, CLI would create over 27,000 direct jobs and a further 400,000 indirect jobs, thereby “contributing to improving socio-economic status and bettering the lives of the people”.
Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Kehinde Bamgbetan, shed some light on the process of waste management, even as he called for fair media coverage of inherent issues.
Finishing touches being put on the weighing areas at the Epe Landfill and Eco Park
His words: “Waste management does not end at waste collection. Waste management is about a consortium of bodies coming together to look for a value chain. And the emphasis in this case is on recycling, which will be a noteable feature here.”
Chief Operating Officer of Visionscape Sanitation Solutions, Thomas Forgacs, disclosed that the Epe Landfill and Eco Park is being built on 880,00sq.m stretch of land, and entails the excavation, transportation and re-landfilling of existing solid waste, and construction of an ecopark.
Also operating in India, South Africa and the United Kingdom, Visionscape is an environmental utility group managing the CLI.
According to Forgacs, the first phase of the project, which is the construction of weighing areas and roadways, is almost completed. He lists other phases to include: leachate collection pond and sediment pond, engineered cell, and materials recovery facilities.
The Eco Park also features a vehicle maintenance facility that includes truck bays for repair work and vehicles inspections, fueling bays, as well as wash bays for cleaning vehicles and equipment. Forgacs stated that extensive renovation work is ongoing on transfer loading stations (TLS) at Agege, Oshodi and Tapa to compliment the operations of the Epe Landfill.
His words: “The Agege TLS handles municipal solid waste in smaller loads from collection vehicles and are consolidated into larger transfer trailers and hauled to the landfill in Epe for further processing or final disposal therby reducing haulage cost, pollution, traffic congestion and collection vehicle maintenance.
“The Oshodi TLS serves as a central drop-off location for waste haulers who collect refuse, certain recyclable materials and construction/demolition of waste within the state and then loaded into transfer trailers and transported to the landfill for further processing.”
Some postgraduate students of Department of Geography, Nasarawa State University, Keffi have advocated the construction of more liquid waste treatment plants across the country to enhance environmental sustainability.
Prof Nasiru Idrisu (in blue native attire) with his students and officials of the National Space Research and Development Agency in Abuja during the excursion
The students made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at Wupa Treatment Plant on Saturday, March 3, 2018 in Abuja.
NAN reports that their visit to the plant rounded-up a three-day field trip to the FCT.
They also called on the Federal Government to fund the maintenance of water treatment plants, liquid waste treatment plants and solid waste dump sites in the country.
The students on the first day of the field trip visited Usman Dam, Bwari, the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) on the second day and Wupa Treatment Plant and Gossa Waste Dump Site on the third day.
Mr Adamu Maina, a student doing his Masters in Environmental Resources Management in the department, urged the Federal Government to build more water treatment and liquid waste treatment plants in the FCT and the country.
According to him, it is very important to have such facilities because of population growth.
He, however, said he would like do a research on how ecofriendly water mix with natural water converging in Lower Usman Dam would be properly treated and send to end users.
The student said it was very important to understand the processes of the treatment of water and liquid waste to enhance their sustainability.
“In environment, we don’t look at those things as challenge, we look at reducing the impact of environmental challenges, reducing that impact to a certain level that is acceptable.
“ If we look at the liquid waste coming from phase I, II and III of Abuja to Wupa, it goes mechanical, biological and at the end, it passes through the “DNA’’ of water .
“The process would have reduced the hazard of the liquid waste water before discharging it to the environment,’’ he said.
Similarly, Ms Patience Uche, a Post Graduate Diploma student of Environmental Resources Management in the department, appealed to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and the Federal Government to budget enough money to maintain the facilities.
Uche said that she noticed that some of the equipment at Lower Usman Dam and Wupa Treatment Plants were not maintained very well due to lack of funding, according to the officials.
Also speaking, Mr Ayeni Folusho, the Head of Quality Control Laboratory at Wupa Treatment Plant said they treat an average of 1,000 cubic meter per hour for quality, while the quantity was about 98 per cent efficient.
“The water we are treating here is a liquid waste (domestic waste water) from Abuja, we discharge it to the environment (Wupa River) after treatment because that is the concept of waste water treatment.
“Waste water must not be discharged directly to the environment, it will cause epidemic.
“The water we are discharging from the plant is ecofriendly, you can as well do certain things with the water, maybe installing hydro power plant to generate electricity,’’ he said.
Folusho, however, appealed to the authority to find solution to the erratic power supply in the plant, saying “we need dedicated line to the plant.’’
“We have been using generator for the past 11 years to function optimally in the station.’’
In his remarks, Prof. Nasiru Idris, the Head, Department of Geography in the university, said that the department had not missed a year without visiting World Class Facility since 2012.
“Wupa is the final resting place for liquid waste in Abuja, and the process is purely mechanical and it is still not operating at full capacity.
“We are here today with our Postgraduate students (PGD, MSC and PhD) and our primary aim of visiting your facility today is to compliment theories with practice.
“However, you may wish also to note that the field trip is an integral part of the Post Graduate programme (PG) and many of the PG courses have component of the practical aspect of fieldwork and its a core in geography,’’ he said.
Idris said that the students would be carrying out their own fieldwork in groups, which would enable them suggest measures to the president environmental problems.
NAN reports that the theme of the three days field trip is “Environmental Sustainability in the FCT and its Environs”.
In an apparent bid to realise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a coalition of global and regional women and gender civil society organisations has set out to equip members with media skills to assist them in their advocacy programmes.
Members of the Women2030 coalition in a group photograph. Photo credit: John Baaki
The Women2030, at a media training for partners in the African region held from February 28 to March 2, 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya, took over 50 participants through different media skills such as launching social media campaigns, writing press releases, activist photography, and video editing, amongst other skills.
The Women2030, which works towards the realisation of the SDGs across different regions of the world, is a five-year partnership project funded by the Department of Development Cooperation of the European Commission.
The strategic objectives of Women2030 are to:
Build capacity of women’s and gender-focused civil society organisations on planning, monitoring and implementation of the SDGs/post 2015 agenda and the climate agreement.
Create awareness at all levels of gender-equitable best practices and progress of national post-2015 SDG plans.
Ensure more gender-responsive SDGs/post 2015 plans with participation of women and women’s organisations.
A brewing company in Rwanda is now producing energy from wastewater organic pollutants to power its boiler equipment.
Facilities at Skol Brewery, Kigali
The Skol Brewery has partnered with the Global Water Engineering (GWE) to turn wastewater organic pollutants into biogas for internal use while achieving high environmental benefits.
Rwanda has a strong need for sustainable technologies, with the World Health Organisation’s African Regional Office identifying, “Rwanda undoubtedly faces significant environmental challenges, and needs to invest significantly in adapting to current climate challenges as well as in adaptation to future climate change.”
Water shortages are also a significant problem in Rwanda, with water needs in Kigali city being only met at 50% or less especially in dry season in a city with urbanisation growth rate of more than 9% annually.
Skol Brewery Rwanda’s new installation, incorporating some of the world’s most efficient and proven GWE waste-to-energy technologies, aligns Skol Brewery with top international environmental wastewater standards and demonstrates the company is taking important action to ensure the sustainability of its operations, says GWE Chairman and CEO, Mr Jean Pierre Ombregt.
The new process at the Kigali plant involves GWE’s globally distributed anaerobic waste digestion technology proven in more than 150 waste-to-green energy plants worldwide, including dozens of breweries. The technology not only improves sustainability outcomes, but also decreases operating costs.
The anaerobic digestion technology is also integral to 415 high quality industrial wastewater and waste treatment plants in 62 countries, the benefits of which are applicable to any food and beverage, agribusiness or manufacturing operation with one or more organically loaded wastewater and waste streams.
Skol Kigali’s new continuous system – which replaces an old sequential batch reactor – highly efficiently removes organic waste material from production wastewater, converting more than 90% of the wastewater’s Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). The new wastewater treatment plant is a reliable method of turning organic waste into usable biogas.
This organic material is transformed into biogas (mainly methane) to replace the need for an equivalent amount of fossil fuel to power the plant boilers equipment, while the treated wastewater effluent leaving the plant delivers high environmental benefits through achieving discharge limits of 250mg/L COD.
The new process – now successfully in its first full year of operation – begins with pre-treatment, followed by a modern treatment line utilising GWE’s robust ANUBIX™-B system at the heart of the operation. A sludge management and dewatering unit is also used to process any excess sludge.
“The methane-rich biogas produced by the ANUBIX™ process is reused to power an existing boiler unit, replacing baseline power requirements, which is a further benefit to the brewery,” said Mr Ombregt.
“Breweries, and other food and beverage companies, are often literally flushing money down the drain in the form of wastewater. They are spending money to treat or dispose of their waste water, when they could be treating it as a resource and turning waste water into a profitable source of energy,” he said.
Because it is a continuous system, green energy can continue to be generated consistently. This base load green energy capacity represents a further major advance on the plant’s previous Sequence Batch Reactor system. The new GWE system handles wastewater inlet quantities of 920 m3 per day.
The upgraded plant has a capacity of 3220 kg/L of organic matter, or Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) load. Inlet COD concentration is 3500 mg/L and the COD effluent discharge limit is 250 mg/L, with the GWE process removing more than 92% of COD and radically improving the effluent water quality, meaning that Skol Brewery has a minimal impact on local water systems.
“Using this sort of technology to not only treat wastewater and turn it into green energy, but also to power existing boilers or otherwise utilise the additional biogas is becoming increasingly common as forward-thinking companies strive to meet sustainability initiatives and minimise their negative impacts on the environment. Larger anaerobic treatment installations can even generate additional profit in perpetuity, because excess biogas or energy can be sold back to the grid.” said Mr Ombregt.
Developing countries like Rwanda are highly aware of the need for sustainability, and are increasingly implementing technologies to safeguard the environment and precious natural resources like water.
While there is still a long way to go – and this applies to everyone, globally – early adopters of environmentally harmonious technologies like Skol Brewery will pave the way for further advances in energy-efficiency that will benefit communities and the country as a whole.
The UN has called for the protection of big cats species such as lions, tigers and leopards, warning that they are fast going into extinction.
Lions
The UN spoke against the backdrop of the 2018 World Wildlife Day, celebrated every March 3, with the theme: “Big cats: predators under threat’’.
According to the UN, the big cats are under increasing threat, mostly caused by human activities.
UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, in his message, said: “This year, the spotlight falls on the world’s big cats. These charismatic creatures are universally revered for their grace and power, yet they are increasingly in danger of extinction.”
Guterres said just more than a century ago, some 100,000 wild tigers roamed Asia, while fewer than 4,000 remained today.
According to him, all the big cats are collectively under threat from habitat loss, climate change, poaching, illicit trafficking, and human-wildlife conflict.
“We are the cause of their decline, so we can also be their salvation. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include specific targets to end the poaching and illegal trafficking of protected species of wild fauna and flora.
“Ultimately, the solution to saving big cats and other threatened and endangered species is conservation policy based on sound science and the rule of law,” he noted.
Guterres pointed out that by protecting big cats we also protect the landscapes they inhabit and the life they harbour, adding “it is a gateway to protecting entire ecosystems that are crucial to our planet’s health.
“Wildlife conservation is a shared responsibility,” he said, calling on people around the world to “help raise awareness and to take personal action to help ensure the survival of the world’s big cats and all its precious and fragile biological diversity.”
In his message, Yury Fedotov, Executive Director, UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said that while “the cheetah is the world’s fastest land animal, like other big cat species, it cannot outrun the threat of extinction.”
According to Fedetov, across the world, lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars, as well as many other big cat species, are under pressure due to poaching, lost habitats and disappearing prey.
“UNODC is working to help countries criminalise wildlife poaching and trafficking as a means of protecting animals, including big cat species, and halting their tragic disappearance into history.
“Our collective roar of defiance must be aimed at the poachers, traffickers and all those who would destroy our natural heritage. We must not let them succeed,” he urged.
The Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed also lamented that “biodiversity is disappearing at a thousand times the natural rate’’, saying that the varied causes could be linked to the 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda.
“Protecting ecosystems and ensuring access to ecosystem services by poor and vulnerable groups are therefore essential to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger,” she said.
Mohammed said conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biological diversity was “an effective anti-poverty strategy,” and emphasised the need to better maintain the natural resources on which billions of people depend, especially the world’s rural poor.
“They say cats have nine lives. Our big cats are on at least number eight,” she said, observing, however, that in many cases, poverty, hunger and biodiversity loss are intrinsically connected.
Following increased calls for climate funding, Mr Ahmad Salihijo, a technical assistant to the Minister of Environment, said the ministry planned to issue N150 billion green bonds to the public.
Environment Minister of State, Ibrahim Usman Jibril
Salihijo revealed this during a panel discussion on Making Climate Finance Work for Women and Non-State Actors organised by Climate Wednesday in the just concluded social media week in Lagos.
Green bonds, also known as climate bonds, are fixed income securities issued to finance projects that have positive impact on the environment and provide solution to change.
Nigeria’s debut issuance of Green bonds was part of many efforts directed towards its Paris based NDC commitments.
He said following the success of debut issuance of N10.69 billion bonds issued in 2017, the ministry was now targeting the issuance of N150 billion green bonds in 2018.
“Everybody is excited about the idea of climate funding, everybody wants to be a part of it. Highly reputable organizations within and internationally are supporting us.
“We will use the success of our first issuance to see how we can issue more. Where we are now, seeing the success of the first issue, our target this year is N150 billion. Already we are getting more proposals and support,” he said.
The technical adviser revealed that proceeds from the green bonds are channeled towards three major projects.
“We came up with guidelines for the green bonds, where we categorize the use of proceeds. We were able to advice other MDAs on how to place these bonds.
“As at today, green bonds have issued N10.6 billion over three projects.
“The first project is the Energising Education Project registered with the Federal Ministry of Power under the Rural Electrification Agency, the second project is the Rural Electrification Municipal Project also under the Federal Ministry of Power and the third project is the Afforestation Project which is registered under the Federal Ministry of Environment,” he said.
Salihijo said the success of the green bonds in Nigeria resulted in a positive assessment by the international Climate Bond Initiatives, where the country is rated as the only country in Africa with such certification.
“ We were able to get an assessment by the Climate Bond Initiatives. This is a very rare achievement for the country, we are the only ones in Africa that has that certification from the Climate Bond Initiatives.
“To get the certification we had to go through a rigorous processes where all our projects were studied carefully,” he said.
The Plateau State Government says measures must be taken to protect endangered species in the country.
Jos Wildlife Park
Mr John Doy, the Acting General Manager, Plateau State Tourist Corporation, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday, March 3, 2018 in Jos, the state capital.
Doy, who spoke on the occasion of World Wildlife Day, listed the endangered species to include animals like vultures, eagles, snakes and rats, among others.
The acting general manager said that their existence was being threatened by hunting, low reproduction, disease outbreak, habitat loss and climate change resulting in a decrease in their population.
He said that efforts to conserve these species required the input of security agencies and members of the community to prevent trans-border trading for economic gains.
According to him, merchants trade these animals to neighboring countries contributing to the fear of the animals going into extinction.
He said the 2018 theme with the title “Big Cats, Predators under Threat’’ further reiterated the state government’s commitment to increase the species of animals at the Jos Wildlife Park.
NAN reports that the United Nations set aside March 3, annually to celebrate World Wildlife Day, with focus the variety of animals and plants.
It is also celebrated to raise awareness on the benefits conservation provides to mankind
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, says Thailand has accused Nigeria of being responsible for the collapse of its seven rice mills following the drastic fall in rice importation from the country.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh
The minister made this known at a meeting of the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) and leadership of the Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers of Nigeria (FEPSAN) held at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday, March 2, 2018.
The meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Ogbeh said Thailand’s Ambassador to Nigeria made the “accusation’’ when he visited him in February.
According to the minister, the ambassador lamented that the collapse of the rice mills has increased the unemployment rate in his country from 1.2 per cent to 4 per cent.
“Just like two weeks ago, the Ambassador of Thailand came to my office and said to me that we have really dealt with them.
“But I asked what did we do wrong and he said unemployment in Thailand was one of the lowest in the world, 1.2 per cent, it has gone up to four per cent because seven giant rice mills have shut down because Nigeria’s import has fallen by 95 per cent on rice alone.
“So, Mr President we thank you for the support and we thank all the agencies and those of you in the private sector for your resilience.’’
The minister, however, alerted the nation on what he described as alarming smuggling of fake fertiliser and rice along the western borders of the country.
He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to take drastic measures to check the trend as all previous diplomatic measures had failed to address the menace.
“But one last request Mr President, we have to take one strong measure against our neighbour to the West. The smuggling is really compromising our capacity on our result.
“Too much rice, too much fake fertiliser is still coming across the borders into this country in spite of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) we have with them they are not listening.
“Maybe if the Federal Government take one tough action, they will come and renegotiate the terms because good neighbourliness means reciprocity.
“We can’t be allowing them to survive at our own expense and I believe that we will do something about it.’’
Ogbeh appealed to FEPSAN to adjust their blending formula using little more micro nutrients for some crops like cocoa, cashew, plantain, banana and others that would soon be revived by his ministry.
The minister noted that the agricultural sector had created millions of jobs for Nigerians in the last two years.
He said: “People may say what they like about jobs. Recently I heard that we lost four million jobs. Nobody has calculated the millions and millions of jobs created on the farms.
“So, this programme as it grows can only make us stronger.
“As soon as more dams and lakes are put in place, you begin to sell fertilizer all year round and not wait for the rainy season alone.’’
