Connect with us

Business

BoI Tasks States On Increased Rice Production

Published

9 years ago

on

The Bank of Industry
(BoI) has urged rice producing states to boost their production to reduce the country’s N1.5 trillion food import bill.
Mr Jonathan Tobin, the Executive Director, Corporate Service, said this during a media parley organised by the bank on Saturday in Lagos.
Tobin said this while delivering a paper on “De-risking Agric Financing: A case study of NIRSAL and Kebbi Rice Programme.”
He said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was trying to reduce the food import bill of commodities that exert pressure on the nation’s foreign exchange.
Tobin said that the apex bank adopted a strategy of encouraging local production in rice, wheat, fish and oil palm which were identified as top most on the import bill.
He said, “the CBN invited the governors of the 14 rice producing states and the executive directors of commercial banks but only the governor of Kebbi State, Alhaji Atiku Bagudu, showed interest after the meeting.
“If all the governors come on board, we will be able to meet the local demands, we will not be having the issue of buying a bag of rice at N18, 000.
“We need to grow our own rice so that we can eat fresh rice in the country but the governors are not taking the bull by the horn.”
Tobin said that the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), an initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had Kebbi State as a pilot project with 78,000 farmers on the scheme.
According to him, the programme deals with farmers in cluster and trains them on current agronomical practices through extension workers.
He said that the programme through various training had been able to change the mindset of farmers from seeing themselves as subsistence farmers to business owners driven for success.
Tobin stressed that the ABP de-risked the farmers by ensuring compulsory insurance, release of funds in tranches, procurement of inputs and commencement of BVN capturing.
The Tide recalled that the ABP was designed to create an ecosystem that links farmers and processors to increase agricultural output of rice to achieve local sufficiency.
The CBN earmarked N40 billion for the project at single digit interest rate of nine per cent per annum for smallholder farmers.
The Tide learnt  that a CBN report shows wheat, sugar, milk, rice and fish accounted for N901 billion and N788 billion of food import bill in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
The import bill of rice and wheat was estimated at N428 billion and N307 billion in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Business

Kenyan Runners Dominate Berlin Marathons

Published

1 day ago

on

September 22, 2025

By

Kenya made it a clean sweep at the Berlin Marathon with Sabastian Sawe winning the men’s race and Rosemary Wanjiru triumphing in the women’s.

Sawe finished in two hours, two minutes and 16 seconds to make it three wins in his first three marathons.

The 30-year-old, who was victorious at this year’s London Marathon, set a sizzling pace as he left the field behind and ran much of the race surrounded only by his pacesetters.

Japan’s Akasaki Akira came second after a powerful latter half of the race, finishing almost four minutes behind Sawe, while Ethiopia’s Chimdessa Debele followed in third.

“I did my best and I am happy for this performance,” said Sawe.

“I am so happy for this year. I felt well but you cannot change the weather. Next year will be better.”

Sawe had Kelvin Kiptum’s 2023 world record of 2:00:35 in his sights when he reached halfway in 1:00:12, but faded towards the end.

In the women’s race, Wanjiru sped away from the lead pack after 25 kilometers before finishing in 2:21:05.

Ethiopia’s Dera Dida followed three seconds behind Wanjiru, with Azmera Gebru, also of Ethiopia, coming third in 2:21:29.

Wanjiru’s time was 12 minutes slower than compatriot Ruth Chepng’etich’s world record of 2:09:56, which she set in Chicago in 2024.

 

Continue Reading

Business

NIS Ends Decentralised Passport Production After 62 Years

Published

1 day ago

on

September 22, 2025

By

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, made the disclosure during an inspection of the Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja, last Thursday.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
According to him, the centralised production system aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for improved service delivery.
Continue Reading

Business

FG To Roll Out Digital Public Infrastructure, Data Exchange, Next Year 

Published

1 day ago

on

September 22, 2025

By

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has announced plans to roll out Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and the Nigerian Data Exchange (NGDX) platforms across key sectors of the economy, starting in early 2026.
Director of E-Government and Digital Economy at NITDA, Dr. Salisu Kaka, made the disclosure in Abuja during a stakeholder review session of the DPI and NGDX drafts at the Digital Public Infrastructure Live Event.
The forum, themed “Advancing Nigeria’s Digital Public Infrastructure through Standards, Data Exchange and e-Government Transformation,” brought together regulators, state governments, and private sector stakeholders to harmonise inputs for building inclusive, secure, and interoperable systems for governance and service delivery.
According to Kaka, Nigeria already has several foundational elements in place, including national identity systems and digital payment platforms.
What remains is the establishment of the data exchange framework, which he said would be finalised by the end of 2025.
“Before the end of this year and by next year we will be fully ready with the foundational element, and we start dropping the use cases across sectors,” Kaka explained.
He stressed that the federal government recognises the autonomy of states urging them to align with national standards.
“If the states can model and reflect what happens at the national level, then we can have a 360-degree view of the whole data exchange across the country and drive all-of-government processes,” he added.
Continue Reading

Trending