The Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Lagos State Chapter, Mr Femi Oke, has called for the introduction of extensive irrigation for farmers to complement seasonal farming in 2018.
Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh
Oke told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday, January 3, 2018 that farmers needed government’s encouragement to exploit irrigation and other aspects of agriculture value chain to ensure self-sufficiency in food production.
“Globally, Africa is still far behind the rest of the civilised world in area of agricultural development.
“And the greatest problem causing this on the continent is corruption and Nigeria is affected by this virus.
“For us as a nation to improve our economy, government should encourage practising farmers and provide avenues for them to practice farming in a scientific and commercial way,” he said.
The chairman said that with the right incentives, peasant farmers could also go into commercial farming and even adopt mechanised farming.
He said that agriculture had the potential to boost the nation’s economy.
Oke said that the government should check indiscriminate movements by herdsmen into farmers’ farms to destroy their produce.
He said herdsmen should be encouraged to adopt cattle ranching in line with global best practices.
Oke expressed concern over the effect of frequent clashes between farmers and the herders on agricultural development and food affordability to the populace.
He said that if government provided the right inputs and agricultural activities were properly coordinated Nigerian farmers would always export surplus to other countries.
The Conservator-General, National Parks Service, Alhaji Ibrahim Goni, has urged Nigerians to imbibe the attitude of greening their surroundings so as to boost healthy living.
Alhaji Ibrahim Goni, Conservator-General of the National Parks Service
Goni, who gave the advice in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, January 3, 2018 particularly underscored the need for Nigerians to plant trees to protect their environment.
He said that the greening of the habitat would go a long way in improving the quality of air which the people inhaled.
“Introducing trees in traditional agricultural systems can allow for more efficient nutrient cycling, meaning farm output can be more substantive and reliable,’’ he said.
Besides, Goni urged the citizens to partake in agro-forestry schemes in order to mitigate the effects of climate change.
“We must tap into the potential of agro-forestry, which increases the concentration of various nutrients or enhances nutrient cycling; thereby improving overall soil quality.
“Apart from its potential to mitigate climate impact and improve soil quality, agro-forestry can offer significant economic and social impact, especially for smallholder famers,’’ he said.
The conservator-general also said that planting trees could provide additional resources like fuel from timber, fodder for animals, as well as nuts and fruits or oils which could be used as food or be sold for additional income.
“Not only can timber be used for fuel but biofuels, derived from tree sap, fruit pulps and oils like palm oil or jatropha, could also be advantageous.
“If the production of these trees is expanded, biofuels from tree by-products could still play an interesting role in reducing dependency on fossil fuels and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“We also want Nigerians to engage in recreation in the nearest park to them and maintain the culture; as this will go a long way in promoting and improving domestic tourism, better integration and peace in the country,’’ he said.
Goni congratulated Nigerians for witnessing a peaceful Christmas and for crossing over to 2018 in peace and good health, with renewed hope for a better future.
He, however, urged the citizens to reflect on their past and ask for forgiveness for their wrongdoings, while praying for Nigeria’s peace and the success of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Senator Magnus Abe, representing Rivers South-East Senatorial Zone in the National Assembly, has called on the committee on Ogoni clean up to present it’s report in three weeks.
Senator Magnus Abe
Abe made the call in a statement signed by his Spokesman, Parry Benson, and made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
He had met with leaders of the Ogoni ethnic nationality to discuss issues affecting resumption of oil exploration in the area and the ongoing clean-up exercise.
Abe said that the committee on oil exploration, headed by Professor Ben Naanen and other five representatives which included MOSOP and KAGOTE, among others, were mandated to come up with the position of the Ogonis on the issue of oil exploration.
The Senator said that the committee, made up of Ogoni representatives on the Board and Governing Council of Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), was mandated to meet with the Minister of the Environment and to update the people on the financial releases and progress on the Ogoni clean-up exercise.
“On the issue of the clean-up, the representatives of the Ogoni people who are part of the structure of HYPREP were also mandated to meet with the Minister of the Environmet.”
The committee is “to give us a clear update on the situation of the clean-up, particularly as it relates to the finances that has to do with what has been done as far as the clean-up project is concerned and that also will be reported back in three weeks.
“The Ogoni people are not against discussing the issue that has to do with that, but we are concerned that it be done in an organised peaceful and reasonable manner so that the interest of the community is properly factored in.
“The committee should meet and a report presented to everybody in three weeks,” he said.
Abe said that the committee on the clean-up exercise included two members of the board of trustees, Chief Bebe Okpabe and Dr Peter Medee; three members of the governing council, Legborsi Pygbara, Professor Ben Naanen and Professor Roselyn Konya.
He stressed that their report was being expected in three weeks.
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State said herdsmen killed over 20 persons between Monday, January 1 and Tuesday, January 2, 2018 in Guma and Logo local government areas of the state.
A armed herdsman
Ortom disclosed this while briefing journalists on Tuesday in Makurdi, the state capital, after the State Security Meeting.
He said that, out of the number, nine were Livestock Guards who were to ensure the full implementation of the Anti-Open Grazing Law.
He said that the law was not targeted at any ethnic group and wondered why the herdsmen had taken it so personal to the point of unleashing terror on the people.
The governor also lamented the unwarranted wanton destruction of lives and property by the herdsmen.
He said that, no matter the intimidation and killings by the herdsmen, the law would not be reversed or repealed.
He assured that the law must be implemented to the latter and anybody or group of persons that flouted it would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
Ortom called on the Federal Government to wade into the matter so as to avert further destruction of lives and property.
Dr Gajir Tsoho of the Surgical Department, Benue State University Teaching Hospital, said over 30 injured victims of the herdsmen attack were brought to the hospital and were receiving treatment.
Goal 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advocates for equitable access to science, technology and innovation particularly in Less Developed Countries (LDCs). In this write-up, Coordinator, Journalists for Social Development Initiative (JSDI), Etta Michael Bisong chronicles what his organisation is doing to promote this goal and ensure sustainable living
SDGs champions
What motivated the Science Café
Science & technology has become an indispensible component of modern society. Rarely can anything be achieved in today’s world without leveraging or deploying the tools of science & technology.
In Nigeria for example, we are all witnesses to the various massive breakthroughs and how new technologies have transformed human affairs. This transformation is manifest weather in finance management (online banking), education (eLearning); medicine (eHealth) and most recently in agriculture where plants are modified to mitigate ecological challenges. It is a new kind of phenomenon that has redefined human association and relationship.
Sadly, however, science & technology has continued to face public resistance despite these phenomenal milestones. We have seen lots of contradictions raised by scientists and non-scientists alike against some scientific innovations particularly in agriculture where they disagreed vehemently over the health, as well as environmental safety of these technologies.
These contradictions without managing words have in numerous ways bedeviled the rapid penetration and prevented the public from fully accessing the potentials of science & technology to enhance everyday life.
It is for this reason that the Science Café is motivated. Our objective is to create a platform to improve science literacy and help the public access the full benefits associated with modern technologies to promote the concept of decent living as enshrine in goal 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
How Café will address anomalies
Firstly, I will like to establish that most of these contradictions and arguments raised are not based on scientific evidences; they are driven by sensation while many others are caused by the insufficient public knowledge around the concept of science & technology.
Science as a method is empirical in nature; it is fact driven and explainable. It is worthy to note that science is the single but most effective of all human discoveries including religion that has being accepted based on its ability to prove, explain and even replicated globally.
For this singular reason, the responsibility of delivering mandate of the science café becomes very simple. The café is departmentalised into three components which include a science hangout, and weekly radio/TV talk show, as well as the Science Digest, a monthly publication that captures all the happenings in the science & technology sphere for the purpose of knowledge sharing and public enlightenment.
The science café will through these channels engage and create debates that promote information that are based on scientific methodology. It will serve as a hub for science communication bringing together stakeholders such as scientists, journalists, civil society groups and key industry actors to demystify the myths that have characterised science & technology and prevented it from meaningfully contributing to sustainable growth.
Partnership and sustainability mechanisms
Goal 17 of the SDGs is designed to strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise Global Partnership for sustainable development. One of the primary targets of this goal is to enhance North-South, South-South, and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation and enhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms, including through improved coordination among existing mechanisms and global technology facilitation.
This goal advocates for the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries on favorable terms, including on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed.
It also canvasses for the full operation of the technology bank and science, technology and innovation capacity-building mechanism for least developed nations by 2017 and enhance the use of enabling technology particularly information and communications technology.
No doubt, this is an ambitious task to deliver. Diverse stakeholders must come together to help use the available resources to achieve this anticipated targets mostly as it relates to less developed countries where the technological divide in unimaginable when compared to developed nations. Today, 2017 is already history and yet there are no visible results to justify this goal as encapsulated under the 15 years development agenda.
Journalists for Social Development Initiative (JSDI) as an organisation established to promote developmental communication is aware that its mandate cannot be achieved without external support. Our partnership with Connected Development (CODE) is an expression of this belief.
Previously, we have worked with several other organisations including the embassy of Ecuador in Nigeria, as well as the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), Nigeria chapter to engage the public and train journalists on science reporting.
We are very happy and proud of CODE for their generosity to work with us. This is the kind of gesture that is required to help direct and deliver our assignment. JSDI, under this agreement, will oversee all the technical operations of the café, while CODE will serve as host and provide other necessary requirements to make sure that this noble initiative transforms from abstract to concrete.
It is important to note that they are huge challenges on this pathway, which is why we conceptualised the science café to help mitigate and provide the right environment for the proper deployment of modern technologies to excel and make the world a better place.
The Café’s projection and future expectations
The science café is expected to be officially unveiled on Thursday, January 18, 2018 in Abuja with special focus on “Science, Technology and Modern Society: Role of Communication in Promoting Sustainable Livelihood”.
Our projection is to create a hub and become a leading agency for the provision of accurate as well as reliable science based information. The primary problem responsible for the public resistance of most scientific innovations in society is caused by insufficient awareness on the principles of science & technology.
We expect to strengthen our partnership with CODE at this pilot stage while seeking for more support from other development partners.
Industry players both at the government and private sector level must understand that we now live in a global village where all human affairs are determine by technology. So, we look forward to engage and work with more development actors, in particular the media and policymakers to promote laws that provide the right atmosphere for the effective deployment of science & technology to deliver goal 17 of the SDGs.
Some prominent residents of Mbakyoondu in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State have said that the Anti-Open Grazing Prohibition Law enacted in the state will guarantee security.
Flashback: Governor Ortom signs anti-grazing bill into law as Speaker, Benue State House of Assembly, Terkimbi Ikyange, lends a hand
The residents made the observation when Mr Terver Wever, Group Head, Real Estate and Infrastructure Development of Benue Investment and Property Company, hosted them on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 as part of activities to mark the end of 2017.
According to them, the law, enacted by Gov. Samuel Ortom recently, would prevent further clashes among herdsmen and farmers.
They described the law as the best thing that had happened to the state to stem the wave of insecurity across the state.
Mrs Nancy Yeke, a councilor in the ward, expressed joy, noting that the enactment of the law was a landmark achievement of the Ortom’s administration.
Another resident, Mama Mwarga Chia, a widow, appreciated Wever’s decision to help the needy during the New Year’s celebration, asking the community members to pray for him.
In his comments, Wever highlighted some of the achievements of Ortom’s administration that had direct bearing on the people.
He said the administration had introduced unified sacks as standard of measurement for farm produce to discourage traders from exploiting farmers.
He also urged the youth in the community to acquire skills to be self-reliant and boost the state’s economy.
The high points of the occasion included cash donations, bags of rice, a cow and cloths, among other food items.
For a very long time, agriculture was the mainstay of the Nigerian economy. As a matter of fact, a lot of countries across the world depend solely on agriculture for their survival and sustenance.
Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh
The importance of agriculture in Nigeria can never be over-emphasised, as agriculture still provides livelihoods for a larger percentage of the citizens.
The determination of the ECOWAS member nations to fast-track regional development through economic integration was the raison d’être behind the decision of the heads of ECOWAS member states to enact and adopt the ECOWAS Free Movement treaty in May 1979.
The treaty aims at strengthening sub-regional economic integration via progressive freer movement of goods, capital and people, while consolidating the efforts of the member states to maintain peace, stability and security.
The ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of People and Goods ensures free mobility of the citizens of member states.
It confers on the people of the region, the right to enter and reside in the territory of any member state, provided they have valid travel documents and international health certificate.
Although the main aim of the treaty is to boost economic activities, including agriculture, concerned observers note that some citizens of member countries have been abusing this entry privilege, to the detriment of other member nations.
The member nations of ECOWAS are Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
In the case of Nigeria, some agriculturalists moan that the constant abuse of the treaty, owing to the porous nature of Nigerian borders, has contributed to some challenges facing the country’s agricultural sector.
They believe that implementation of the treaty in the region is somewhat an impediment to the realisation of the Federal Government’s plans to make agriculture the mainstay of the country’s economy.
They insist that the free movement of persons and goods within the region is a contributory factor to the rising cases of insecurity of lives and property, smuggling of agricultural produce, farmers-herdsmen crisis and transference of some animal diseases in the region.
Speaking on the impact of the treaty on agriculture, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, while analysing the achievements of the Buhari-administration in the agricultural sector, said that some ECOWAS citizens were abusing the treaty.
He said that the abuse of the treaty had promoted smuggling of agricultural products, particularly grains; thereby sabotaging the Federal Government’s plans to ensure Nigeria’s attainment of self-sufficiency in the production of rice and other produce.
“We will like to advise our neighbours who believe that the ECOWAS treaty means that Nigeria is a volunteer nation for economic suicide.
“We have no such plans; we cannot destroy our own economy to make any neighbour happy.
“The ECOWAS treaty does not suggest that any country can be an avenue of smuggling foreign goods, which are not produced in that country, for dumping in a neighbouring territory.
“If that practice persists, I do not think that government is far away from considering permanently closing certain borders very near us; and when we do, nothing will make us change our minds on the issue, ECOWAS treaty or not,’’ Ogbeh warned.
Reinforcing the minister’s viewpoint, Mr Lamina Rasheed, the National Chairman, Association of Indigenous Sea Food Stakeholders, said that Nigeria lost N9 billion revenue annually to illegal fish importation and smuggling through the land borders.
He frowned at the development, saying that it had negatively affected the business of many genuine importers and local fish farmers across the country.
Rasheed said that illegal fish importation was still ongoing through the land borders, adding that the establishment of a monitoring and prosecution task force would be helpful in efforts to curb the menace.
He appealed to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to step up efforts to curtail the activities of smugglers.
Also speaking, Alhaji Baba Ngelzarma, the National Secretary of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), said that some pastoralists who engaged in conflicts with farmers were foreigners.
Ngelzarma, who bemoaned the excesses of some foreign herdsmen, urged security agencies to increase their surveillance on foreign herdsmen coming into the country in order to monitor their activities.
“If you look at the international routes that allow the international pastoralists to enter into the country, those routes are not monitored by any security outfit in the country.
“What we discovered in Niger is that before they allow their pastoralists come into Nigeria, they have to give them permits, know where they are going to and the number of cows that they are taking out before allowing them to go.
“And if the number of their cows increases when they are coming back, they would be questioned. However, that system of check is what is absent in Nigeria,’’ he said.
Ngelzarma also called for a synergy between the governments of those states in the border areas and the neighbouring countries in efforts to curtail the excesses of some international pastoralists.
“Niger Republic usually allows all their international pastorialists to come into Nigeria around December because by December, they must have gathered their farm produce but in Nigeria, our harvest period is not the same.
“The time they release their pastoralists to come to Nigeria is the time when our farmers are still busy with their cultivation in farms.
“There is no synergy between our country and the neighbouring countries; we have to work together and if this is done, the incessant farmers-herdsmen crises will reduce significantly,’’ he said.
Nevertheless, Mr Ernest Aubee, the Head of Agriculture Division, ECOWAS Commission, Abuja, emphasised that the ECOWAS protocol did not promote illegality.
He said that the citizens of member countries, who were fond of hiding under the guise of the protocol to perpetrate evils, were criminals flouting national laws.
Aubee, nonetheless, stressed that the abuse of the treaty by some citizens of member states was totally “unacceptable’’.
“No one should trade in commodities that are going to be detrimental to any member state.
“You cannot take something that is sub-standard – something that is bad – and then move it from country A to country B, just to make money.
“It is unacceptable for anybody to try to dump substandard foods in any ECOWAs member states.
“It is also unacceptable if you decide to violate, not just the regional laws but also the national laws of a country, when it comes to food quality and food safety issues.
“My appeal to all business people, especially those involved in the trade of agricultural commodities, is that they should respect the regulations and the protocols on free movement of peoples, goods and services.
“They should also respect other protocols dealing with the marketing products from one place to another,’’ he said.
Perceptive analysts acknowledge that no region of the world that is totally free from the incidence of trans-border wrongdoings in the agricultural sector but they insist that pragmatic efforts should be made to address the perceptible challenges facing Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
They add that the challenges that have somewhat resulted in poverty, inequality, hunger, unemployment and corruption in the country.
The analysts insist that if the Federal Government must succeed in its efforts to diversify the country’s economy through agriculture, it must initiate decisive strategies to combat all the barriers inhibiting the growth of the agricultural sector.
The price of dust mask has increased in Kano State following intense cold, harmattan dust and hazy conditions, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
Dust haze weather
A NAN correspondent who went round some markets in Kano, the state capital, on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 found that a pack of 50 dust masks that cost between N450 and N500 before the harmattan was now being sold at between N600 and N700 at wholesale price.
NAN also learnt that most of the mask sellers increased the price of the product due to the harmattan, as people were seen trooping to Igbo Road Market and Sabon Gari Market to purchase the commodity.
One of the mask hawkers at Igbo Road Market, Abubakar Sani, said both men and women buy and use the commodity.
He added that “business is moving smoothly: in a day, I sell between three and four
packs of the mask, as well as other items such as hand gloves.
“Few months ago, a piece of the mask was sold at N20 but it now cost N40.”
Another seller, Najib Mustapha, said people patronise him on daily basis and the prices vary.
Malama Fatima Isa, who was seen wearing the mask, said she used it to protect herself from dust because she had asthma.
Another person wearing the mask, Malam Isa Bala, said the weather condition was harsh and the dust was overwhelming “so I have to protect myself.”
Meanwhile, the number of hawkers of the mask had increased in the city.
A total of 21 new amphibian and reptile species as well as two new subspecies were discovered in China in 2017, according to a recent academic report.
A new amphibian species of the genus Leptolalax, commonly known as the Asian litter frog, found in Tengchong, southwest China’s Yunnan
Amphibian is a cold-blooded vertebrate animal of a class that comprises the frogs, toads, newts, salamanders, and caecilians while reptile is vertebrate animal of a class that includes snakes, lizards, crocodiles, turtles, and tortoises.
The new species and subspecies belong to 16 genuses in 10 families, four orders, the report said.
Unlike in 2016, when most newly-discovered species were from southwest China’s Yunnan Province and Tibet Autonomous Region.
The new species found in 2017 had a vast distribution, stretching more than 10 municipalities and provinces, according to Wang Kai, Author of the report and Researcher with the Kunming Institute of Zoology.
Kai said researchers also spotted a further two amphibian and reptile species that were never before seen in China.
China was home to 465 amphibians and 481 reptiles at the end of 2017, Wang said.
The Zambian Government on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 said schools in areas where there was a cholera outbreak in Lusaka, the country’s capital, would not reopen to avoid cross-contamination.
Lusaka, Zambia
Minister of Health, Chitalu Chilufya, stated this at a news conference in Lusaka.
He said schools in all the areas cited as epicentres of the waterborne disease in the city would remain closed until when the ministry had conducted a thorough assessment of the situation.
Public schools were expected to reopen on Jan. 15.
He said that the number of cholera cases had continued to increase and almost reaching 2,000 with 48 deaths recorded and that the ban on public gatherings in the city applies to even schools.
The minister said the ministry had liaised with the ministry of general education to ensure safety of pupils in all the schools.
Chilufya added that inspectors had since been dispatched to check on the conditions at the schools by sampling the water as well as sanitary conditions in the affected areas.
The government has banned public gatherings of more than five people in order to contain cholera which has continued escalating since October 2017.
On Dec. 30, President Edgar Lungu ordered soldiers to get involved in fighting the cholera outbreak.
