Business

FG To End Hunger Among 13m Nigerians

Published

13 years ago

July 5, 2013

The Nigerian Government has announced plans to expand the use of bio-fortified crops, such as pro-vitamin ‘A’ cassava and orange-flesh sweet potato to address the hunger situation being faced by some 13 million people.
Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, gave the indication on Monday in Addis Ababa at the High Level Meeting of AU Heads of State and Government on “unified approach to end hunger in Africa by 2025.
The African Union, FAO and the Lula Institute jointly convened the meeting with a theme “unified approach to end hunger in Africa by 2025”, within the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) framework.
Adesina said, “much progress is being made, we are mindful that we still have challenges of malnutrition and micro-nutrient deficiencies to tackle.
“Nigeria still has 13 million people suffering from hunger and malnutrition is still high”.
Adesina said that Nigeria had made good progress in the target set to produce an additional 3.2 million metric tonnes of rice paddy to attain self-sufficiency in rice by 2015.
“We have already unleashed a rice revolution in Nigeria and produced 1.8 million metric tonnes of rice paddy within two years.
“This is 55 per cent of the target set for 2015 as in the dry season of 2012 to 2013; we produced a record 1.1 million metric tonnes of rice.
“This created 460,000 jobs, especially for the youth. Farmers net incomes increased by an estimated 200 million dollars, creating wealth for farmers and their communities.”
According to him, Nigeria has ended the approach of taking agriculture as a development programme, saying “we treat agriculture as a business.
“We should not manage poverty with agriculture; we should create wealth through agriculture,” Adesina said.
He said in the past year, Nigeria had leveraged eight billion dollars in private sector investment commitments.
“In the past six months, we have received letters of private investment commitments worth 3.3 billion dollars.
The minister said Development Partners were supporting the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation. Agenda with more than two billion dollars in financial commitments from the World Bank, African Development Bank, DFID, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, IFAD, UNDP and USAID.
“In Nigeria, as long as any Nigerian goes to bed without food, our job is not complete.
“We will not relent until we end hunger in Nigeria. For the ‘democracy of the stomach‘ is the right of every Nigerian,” he said.
The minister said social transfer programmes, such as school feeding and conditional income transfers would be expanded.
He said the Federal Government’s save one million lives initiative programme would tackle child malnutrition through community-based management of acute malnutrition and integrated young child feeding programme.
“In 2012, over 400,000 severely malnourished under-five children were treated. We are also promoting exclusive breast feeding for infants through the age of six months.
“Nigeria welcomes the new Partnership for a Unified Approach to End Hunger.”
The minister noted that the experience of Brazil, under the leadership of former President Lula, clearly showed that where there is a will, there is a way.
We welcome the idea of the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund and are currently considering our possible role and contribution to the Fund.
The minister said government had embarked on reforms on fertiliser and seed policies to accelerate the access of millions of farmers to improved technologies.
“To better target our farmers and eliminate corruption in these sub-sectors, we developed an electronic wallet system of providing farm inputs to farmers using electronic vouchers on mobile phones.
“Nigeria is the first country in Africa to develop such a system. In 2012, we reached 1.5 million small scale farmers with the electronic wallet system. This improved food security for an additional 7.5 million persons within the farm households.”
He said Nigeria launched a national database for farmers, where 4.2 million farmers were registered last year, while 10 million farmers had so far been registered in 2013.
“We plan to provide 10 million farmers with seeds and fertilisers and assure food security for 50 million persons by 2015.’’
The meeting is being attended by some 15 AU Heads of States and Government as well as international experts on food security, non-state actors, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Women groups in the agriculture sector.

Business

Boat Mishap Kills Pastor, Wife And Church Members In Brass Water

Published

4 days ago

May 18, 2026

The Tide

A boat accident in Bayelsa state has killed a serving Pastor, Wife and other church members along Brass waterways

The sad incident happened at Odioama in Brass local government area of Bayelsa State when the Pastor, wife and members of his church were in a programme.

?Tide confirmed that the lifeless body of the Pastor’s wife has been found and deposited in a mortuary while the remains of her husband ,the Pastor is yet to be recovered

as search party are still ongoing.

Although the real cause of the boat Mishap is not yet known as at the time of this report, our Correspondent gathered that the identities of the Pastor, wife and church members were not disclosed to the public.

The mishap, Tide gathered occurred on Friday morning when the church members were on a boat transit

The Bayelsa State government and the state police command are yet to issue official statement’s on the sad accident

By: CHINEDU WOSU

Business

Rivers Workers Seek Scrapping Of Contributory Pension Scheme

Published

4 days ago

May 18, 2026

The Tide

The Rivers State Council of Nigeria Civil Service Union has called on the State Government to urgently scrap the contributory pension scheme, describing it as unfavourable to long-serving civil servants in the state.

Chairman of the union, Chukwuka Osuma, said this in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt, recently.

Osuma said the current pension structure has continued to worsen post-retirement hardship for workers.

He noted that the contributory pension scheme had failed to provide adequate retirement security for workers who had spent many years in service, especially those approaching retirement age.

According to him, civil servants who had served for more than 20 years were among the worst affected under the scheme, insisting that many retirees could no longer cope with prevailing economic realities.

He also informed that the Union has made moves to showcase their concerns, pleading with Governor Siminalayi Fubara to abolish the pension policy and introduce a more favourable arrangement for affected workers.

“The union was not opposed to pension reforms, the contributory scheme should only apply to newly employed workers or those with fewer years in service”, he said.

Osuma explained that workers who had already spent decades in the civil service ought to remain under a more secure pension structure capable of guaranteeing stability after retirement.

The labour leader further noted that inflation and the rising cost of living had continued to erode the value of retirement savings, thereby increasing the suffering of pensioners across the country.

He also appealed to the state government to consider extending the years of service in the civil service from 35 to 40 years and the retirement age from 60 to 65 years.

Osuma argued that such adjustment had become necessary in view of present-day economic realities and changing conditions in the workplace.

The unionist also reviewed that similar policies had already been adopted in some sectors and jurisdictions, expressing optimism that the State could also implement the reforms for the benefit of workers.

He however, commended Governor Fubara for approving an N85,000 minimum wage for workers in the state, noting that the amount was above the national benchmark of N70,000.

Osuma also acknowledged the government’s efforts in the area of workers’ promotions and bonuses, but insisted that pension reforms and extension of years of service remained critical to the long-term welfare and stability of civil servants in Rivers State.

By: King Onunwor

Business

FG Begins South-West Tour To Promote New Cooperative Bank

Published

1 week ago

May 13, 2026

The Tide

The Federal Government has launched the South-West zonal engagement and ministerial advocacy tour on the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria share capital mobilisation, sensitisation and cooperative sector digitalisation.

Reports say the initiative was launched through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

According to reports, the advocacy tour, organised by the ministry’s Federal Department of Cooperatives, began on Monday in Lagos.

Speaking at the event, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security and Supervising Minister of Cooperative Affairs, Dr Aliyu Abdullahi, said the initiative was part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

Abdullahi described the exercise as a strategic effort to reposition the cooperative sector as a key driver of inclusive economic growth, financial inclusion, enterprise development, food security and national prosperity.

“Today represents a defining moment in our collective determination to reposition the cooperative sector as a major driver of inclusive economic growth, financial inclusion, enterprise development, food security and national prosperity,” he said.

The minister noted the modern cooperative movement in Nigeria originated in the South-West following the 1934 Strickland Report, which led to the enactment of the Cooperative Societies Ordinance of 1935.

According to him, the decision to commence the sensitisation and share capital mobilisation tour in the region is symbolic, as it marks a return to the roots of cooperative development in the country.

Abdullahi said the advocacy tour was a direct outcome of resolutions reached at the 8th Regular Meeting of the National Council on Cooperative Affairs held in Abuja in March 2026.

He said the council approved the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme, a comprehensive framework designed to strengthen the cooperative sector and align it with the administration’s goal of building a one-trillion-dollar economy.

“The reform programme focuses on seven strategic pillars, including governance reforms, cooperative financing and the establishment of the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria, digitalisation, capacity building, value chain development, inclusion of youths, women and persons with disabilities, and strategic partnerships,” he said.

He said the establishment of the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria and the digitalisation of the cooperative sector were the two major transformational initiatives under the programme.

“The Cooperative Bank of Nigeria is aimed at rebuilding a strong cooperative financial system capable of supporting cooperators, farmers, artisans, traders, SMEs, youths, women and persons with disabilities with accessible and affordable financial services,” he said.

Abdullahi emphasised that the proposed bank would be government-enabled but not government-funded.

“Government is not establishing the bank as an owner, nor will it rely on Treasury Single Account funds.

“The role of government through the FMAFS is to provide policy support, stakeholder coordination, regulatory facilitation and an enabling environment under the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme,” he said.

Also speaking, the Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, Mrs Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, reaffirmed the state government’s commitment to cooperative sector transformation.

She described cooperatives as critical tools for promoting inclusive growth, grassroots productivity, food security, financial inclusion and community wealth creation.

Ambrose-Medebem said Lagos State would continue to support reforms and collaborate with stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of the Renewed Hope Cooperative Reform and Revamp Programme (2025–2030).

“Together, let us build a cooperative ecosystem that is modern, transparent, digitally enabled, financially inclusive and globally competitive.

“Let us build cooperatives that not only mobilise savings, but also mobilise prosperity,” she said.