Business
FG Commits N211.5bn To Exportable Crops
A national survey report
has revealed that N211.5 billion was committed to exportable crop farming activities during the 2011/2012 survey year.
The report issued in Abuja last Monday by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), was prepared by Consultative Committee on Agricultural Export Commodities in collaboration with the agency.
It said that the other collaborative agencies were the Central Bank of Nigeria and Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The report said that of the figure, “own fund” led the list with N134.19 billion (63.44 per cent), followed by micro credit institutions with N36.86 billion (17.42 per cent).
The N134.19 billion own fund referred to personal fund committed to any of the 14 exportable crop farming activities by a holder.
Community banks’ recorded the lowest amount of N1.30 billion (0.61 per cent), according to the report.
It stated that disaggregating the own fund into states, Kaduna State recorded the highest with N9.51 billion (7.09 per cent) followed by Kano State with N9.45 billion (7.04 per cent).
Ekiti has the lowest amount of N0.61billion (0.45 per cent).
The report said that cooperative banks contributed N12.62billion (6.00 per cent), Bank of Agriculture N2.10 billion (0.96 per cent), commercial banks N1.41 billion (0.67 per cent).
The community banks contributed the lowest amount of N1.30billion (0.61 per cent).
It said that the ages between 30 and 49 years committed the highest fund to exportable crop with a percentage of 47.99.
This was followed by holders of ages 50 to 64 years with 30.99 per cent while the age group of 15 to 29 had the lowest percentage of 5.20.
“Overall, 984,235 holders reported the use of improved seedling. Kano State reported the highest number of 168,138 (18.17 per cent), followed by Katsina State with 123,006 (12.62 per cent),”
Niger State, according to the report, did not report the use of improved seed/seedling.
It stated that Lagos and Bayelsa states reported the least number of holders that used improved seed/seedling with 41 (0.01 per cent) and 250 (0.03 per cent) respectively.
“A total of 27 states and Federal Capital Territory planted cashew on a total land area of 120.17 (‘000) hectares.
”Kwara planted the largest hectares of land of 31.49 (‘000) hectares (26.20 per cent), followed by Imo with 11.86 (‘000) hectares (9.87 per cent)
”The least areas planted were recorded in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states with 0.01 (.000) hectares and 0.55 (.000) hectares respectively,’’ the report said.
”Cocoa was cultivated in 18 states on a total land area of 1,363.60 (‘000) hectares.
“Cross River cultivated the highest hectares with 327.91 hectares (24.05 per cent), followed by Ondo state with 321.97 hectares (23.61 per cent)
“The least cultivated land areas were 0.04 hectares, representing 0.003 per cent by Imo and 0.18 hectares (0.01 per cent) by Rivers State,’’ the report said.
It said the total production by the 18 states was 370.01 metric tonnes with Ondo State contributing the highest with 92.22 (‘000) metric tonnes (24.92 per cent), closely followed by Osun with 74.10 (‘000) metric tonnes (20.03 per cent).
The report said the least production was 0.01 (‘000) metric tonnes (0.003 per cent) by Imo and 0.09 (‘000) metric tonnes (0.24 per cent) by Bayelsa.
Business
Food Vendors, Others Relocate To New Site At PH Airport
The raging controversy between the Port Harcourt International Airport Management and restaurants/canteen operators and theirallies over relocation has been brought under control, as the operators have commenced relocation to their structures at the new site.
Recall that there had been serious feud over a directive by the Manager of the airport, Mr. Michael Area, for food vendors and their allies to relocate to the new site.
They insisted that the new site was too distant and hence, would negatively affect patronage from customers, with possible loss.
They further also insisted that it wouldcost them much money to put up another structure, given the economic situation in the country, since the airport management did not build any structure for them, apart from providing the empty land they have to also pay for.
The situation had led to flexing of muscles, which made the Airport Manager to order for sealing of all shops, resulting in scarcity of food, as airport users could not find a place to eat, apart from the only Genesis fast food spot available.
As at last Friday, The Tide observed that most of the food vendors had transferred their structures to the new place, and had started doing business there already.
Meanwhile, customers have started settling down at the new location as they were seen patronising shops for foods and drinks, in spite of the distance.
Few of the remaining structures at the old site, The Tide further gathered, will also be removed as quickly as possible, and the owners are making efforts to get funds for the job to be done.
One of them, Mrs Aka Love explained that she was going to relocate to the new place before the end of March.
Currently, business activities at the old site have come to null, as the place which was usually a beehive of food, drinks and relaxation, has completely winded down.
By: Corlins Walter
Business
MOWCA Strengthens Maritime Crime Prevention
Secretary General of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Dr. Paul Adalikwu, has stepped up interaction with the United States Government to lift restrictions placed on some member countries allegedly implicated in illicit shipping activities.
Adalikwu, who led a delegation from the MOWCA Secretariat to the US Embassy in Abidjan for a first leg of the strategic consultation aimed at promoting seamless participation of MOWCA countries in international trade within the global maritime space, reiterated the organisation’s commitment to the best ethical and lawful maritime practices.
Addressing the U.S Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire, H.E Mrs Jessica Davis Ba, the MOWCA SG stated the organisation’s interest in promoting the International Ship and Port facility Security (ISPS) code which aims at enhancing security of vessels and their ports of call.
He expressed the commitment of MOWCA in promoting environmentally friendly, safe and cost effective shipping without any encumbrance that may limit the economic potential of member countries.
Dr Adalikwu recalled that at the instance of the U.S. Department of State invitation, MOWCA participated in the 2023 Registry Information Sharing Compact (RISC) Conference in Larnaca, Cyprus, on February 28–March 1, 2023, and a virtual meeting held on June 6 2023, with Mrs Jennifer Chalmers, Officer in change of Counterproliferation Initiative.
He recalled The U.S. DOS willingness to support MOWCA’s effort for preventive maritime security through the establishment of the Center for Information and Communication (CINFOCOM) with the aim to ensure a maritime situational awareness domain within MOWCA’s member states’ waters.
He added that MOWCA under his watch is committed to training and retraining of maritime practitioners and experts to enhance the human capital capabilities of member states.
The CINFOCOM will help prevent transnational crimes committed at sea like sanctions evasion by North Korea and other state actors, who exploit poor enforcement due diligence by ship open registries to circumvent United Nations and U.S. trade restrictions.
By: Nkpemenyie Mcdominic, Lagos
Business
Nigeria’s Public Debt Hits N97.3trn – DMO
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has hinted that Nigeria’s public debt increased by 10.7 per cent from N87.87 trillion in the third quarter of last year, to N97.34 trillion as at December 31, 2023.
DMO, in an update data released last Friday, said the increase in the debt stock was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the Federal Government to part finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
The office noted that the N97.3 trillion public debt comprises of domestic debt of N59.12 trillion and external debt of N38.22 trillion. The sum of $3.5 billion was used to service external debt during the review period.
“Nigeria’s Public Debt Stock as at December 31, 2023 was N97.34trillion or $108.229 billion. This amount comprises the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the 36 States Governments, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“There was an increase of N9.43 trillion over the comparative figure for September, 2023, which was largely due to new domestic borrowing by the FGN to part finance the deficit in the 2024 Appropriation Act and disbursements by multilateral and bilateral lenders.
“At N59.12 trillion, total domestic debt accounted for 61 percent of the total public debt stock, while external debt at N38.22 trillion accounted for the balance of 39 percent.
“Consistent with the debt management strategy, Nigeria’s external debt stock was skewed in favour of loans from multilateral (49.77 percent) and bilateral lenders (14.02 percent) or total of 63.79 percent which are mostly concessional and semi-concessional.
“Whilst the DMO continues to employ best practice in public debt management, the recent and on-going efforts of the fiscal authorities to shore up revenue will support debt sustainability”, DMO stated.
By: Corlins Walter
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