Sustainable Development and Governance in Nigeria

Different nations of the world are to a greater or lesser extent faced with the same constraints and opportunities, and are called with varying degree of urgency to provide individual answers to the common challenges.

No matter the priorities of each country, areas such as education, economics and social development, health and environment still await sustainable solutions. This requires a creative application of democratic principles and practices to tackling both local and national imperatives. Quality governance, with an eye on environmental sustainability is one sure way of, not only solving a country’s priorities, but also achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Environmental sustainability is critical because without it, the achievements of the rest of the goals may be short-lived. The fact is that, economics depend, to a large extent, on environmental resources.

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola

Scared by the unsustainable lifestyle in Nigeria, the Chairman of Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), Chief Philip Asiodu warned that “Economic downturn is nothing compared with a global ecological downturn and the disasters that will come with it.” Thus, if we think this warning by the retired technocrat is alarmist or untimely, then we may have to consider the impact of climate variability on the economy of Kenya; between 1997 and 2001, its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth dropped from 4.6 per cent to 0.3 per cent. The key factor is that the downturn leads to inadequate investment in sustainable infrastructure to control floods or store water for use during draught.

The question is, as nations continue to have their fare share of environmental problems like flood, hurricanes, pollutions, droughts to name a few, what is our beloved country putting in place at the Federal, State and local government levels to prevent, or mitigate the threats to the integrity of our ecosystem? While Nigerians are yet to recover from the shock arising from last year flood disaster in Lagos and Ibadan, and a more terrifying flood which claimed over 50 lives and property worth millions of naira just hit Jos, Plateau State. If that level of flooding disaster could happen in Jos, what should we expect in flood-prone areas like Niger, Oyo, Ogun? What should we expect in flood-plagued city of Lagos.

For instance, the Gov. Babatunde Fashola administration in Lagos, is doing his best to clear drainages, but his best is not enough, for some reasons. First, the source of the flood is trans-boundary. The flood from neighboring states of Oyo and Ogun empties into it.

Secondly, there are numerous settlements occupied by the urban poor which lack drainages. Successive administrations in the state has failed to construct a comprehensive drainage system. Thirdly, as a coastal, commercial and civic city, its huge population is overburdening the few available working infrastructure. The encroachment of human settlements unto floodplain areas increases the vulnerability to flood.

If you take a trip to some of the rural communities in Anambra and Edo (North), you will see what erosion has done to the quality of life of the people. In most cases their livelihood, as subsistence farmers, are threatened. It is either the path to their farms, markets, or that of their streams has been taken over by erosion.

In virtually all the eastern states and some south-south states, the soil fertility is gone and their successive state governors have not been concerned about food production like their colleague in the North and West. Consequently, fertilizers have been scarce. It was the newly elected governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, who recently commenced the distribution of fertilizers in the state directly to farmers.

The degradation of the environment of oil producing states of the south-south is an old song, yet nothing much have changed in the livelihood of the people in spite of budgetary allocations to the region. Many of these communities are yet to have access to sanitary infrastructure and quality maternal care.

Poverty still pervades across most northern states due to desertification and lack of poverty-oriented policies. Their case is presently worsened by insecurity occasioned by the recent Boko Haram insurgence.

In no distant time, this will adversely impinge on the agricultural productivity of that region. It is sad to note that in most of these Nigerian communities, many of the breadwinners are people on less than $3 dollars a day income. How many of our state governors and local government authorities can boast of projects that are environmentally sustainable. Housing estates and market projects in state capitals are often showcased by many governors. Yet, they are offered to citizens at unsustainable prices. Some states have built schools and even some Federal government MDG schools are situated in flood plains, thereby making such projects unsustainable.

If the searchlight is turned to the government at the centre, the picture is that of contradictions. Too many environmental agencies, yet no action. Too many environment summits and conferences, yet little technical capacity. Too much efforts towards aforestation, yet making Kerosene unaffordable. Too much talk on power sector reforms, and advocacy for energy efficiency, yet inappropriate pricing and non-availability of power. Too much grants received, and budgetary allocations appropriated, yet no funds released to execute sustainable projects.

Good governance entails the awareness by those in power of possible ecological and sociological breakdowns, putting in place ways and means of minimizing their effects. It also entails their monitoring to ensure the adoption of Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) by private sector concerns in their domains.

Sustainable development, therefore, depends largely on the quality of governance and political will. There is a compelling need to mobilize the required political will at all levels of government. It is also necessary to mobilize all relevant stakeholders in the work.

As Borge Brend, the former Nowegian Minister of Environment aptly puts it, “Developing countries need to assign priorities, draw up strategies, invest in human resources, and implement poverty oriented policies. Good governance (That is, anti-corruption policies), democracy building, and respect for human rights are crucial to combat poverty and to make development sustainable.”

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AEO calls on government to boost job creation for youths

The African Economic Outlook has called on governments across the continent to boost jobs creation for youths.

NaijaAgroNet learnt from the outlook that the population of African youths is expected to double by 2045, giving the continent one billion workforce and making it the largest globally.

The AEO also urged the government to provide employment opportunities and ensure a political process that would allow the youths to express their views towards policy changes in order to prevent instability in the continent.

“This is an opportune time to reset the policy agenda of African governments towards an inclusive, employment-creating and sustainable growth strategy, aimed particularly at addressing the special needs of the young,” the outlook reads in part.

The current trend of education on the continent, NaijaAgroNet gathered will result to 59 per cent of 20-24 years old with secondary education by 2030 as against the present 42 per cent and by 2030 there would be 12million African youths with tertiary education.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) revealed recently that 73million jobs were created between 2000 and 2008 with 16 million targeted at populations between 15 and 24 years of age, leading to unemployment of youths in informal jobs.

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‘Africa produces 50% of global cassava’

Of all the total cassava produced globally, Africa accounted for 50 per cent followed by Asia with 30 per cent and Latin America 20 per cent.

Despite the fact that African farmers recorded the lowest output per hectare, it still took the lead as every countries in the Western, Central, Eastern as well as North-South regions of the continent produced cassava on a land mass of 12.5 million hectares to beat Asia using 3.5million hectares and Latin America with 3million hectares.

Africa land mass contributed to the volume of Cassava produced as productivity is still very low with 10tones per hectare compared to Asia and Latin America with 19 tonnes per hectare and 12 tonnes per hectare respectively.

A Cassava fact sheet by the Global Cassava Partnership of the 21st Century (GCP21) made available to NaijaAgroNet revealed that more than 250 million Sub-Saharan Africans rely on cassava as their major source of calories while over 700 million people globally rely on cassava as a staple crop.

Also, NaijaAgroNet gathered that Asia recorded the highest growth in cassava production from about 15 tonnes per hectare in 2002 to about 18 tonnes per hectare in 2008, while Africa recorded 11 tonnes per hectare in 2008, showing a growth of 3 tonnes per hectare over 8 tonnes per hectare recorded in 2004.

Thailand on the other hand recorded a sharp drop from 25 tonnes per hectare in 2004 to about 22 tonnes per hectare in 2008.

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OYES drafts 600 youths into agric programmes

The Osun state Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) has drafted over 600 of its members into the Osun Rural Enterprise and Agricultural Programme (O-REAP) as disengagement programme for members of the cadets.

Mr. Wale Adedoyin, the state Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security said the drafting of OYES cadets is in a bid to boost government’s intervention in the agricultural sector.

NaijaAgroNet learnt that Osun State government would provide soft loan as well as allocate land for beneficiaries of O-REAP Youth Academy.

The commissioner also said that the fear by members of the OYES cadets on the proposed disengagement programme led to the land allocation and soft loans.

Adedoyin further revealed that a sum of N476.35 million has been disbursed to 3,535 farmers under the Government Guaranteed Agricultural Loan scheme, while N45,662,965.00 was disbursed as O-REAP loan to 268 farm families across the state.

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Somalia may slide back to food insecurity – FAO warns

Irrigated crops make Somali farmers more resilient.

Head of operations at the Food and Agricultural Organization (FOA) in Somalia, Luca Alinovi has sounded a warning that the country may slide back into food crisis, if present initiative towards food security is disengaged.

“By designing and executing a build-back-better process,” Luca said affected Somalia communities had get back on their feet in months but the danger is that the initiatives should be sustained in order to ensure full recovery from drought.

The eastern Africa republic is still at the verge of drought as the situations remains critical, hence, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization affirmed that continued aid is vital.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the United Nations made a declaration last year July about the state of famine in Somalia which caused thousands of deaths and call for a massive humanitarian aid programme in a bid to preserve food security in the affected areas.

One of FAO’s latest forecasts also warns of reduced rains in the year which will lead to a below-average to poor harvest in some parts of the south which include the major sorghum-producing region, and deterioration of food security situation.

Aid strategy by the UN agency was designed to help farmers and herders to build long-term resilience to drought and other emergencies in regions plagued by recurrent droughts.

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Solar Jooce, BATNF train women solar technicians

Women at the training exercise

          In a bid to reduce unemployment among women in Nigeria, Solar Jooce and British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) have concluded the first phase of training of the some rural Oyo women on assemblage and repairs of basic solar lanterns and phone charging units.

This follows the recent signing of an agreement to train these rural women in Oyo State and sealed between the Executive Director, BATN Foundation, Mr. Gbenga Ibikunle and the chief executive officer, Solar Jooce, Mr. David Agbakoba.

Speaking on the development, Solar Jooce boss, Mr. Agbakoba noted that of the world's 1.6 billion people living without electricity, 80 per cent live in Sub Saharan Africa.

Solar Jooce, a social enterprise dedicated to improve the quality of life of rural communities in Nigeria that have little or no access to electricity, through its coordinator, Anne Agbakoba, revealed to NaijaAgroNet that the main objective of the agreement in its pilot stage was to train an initial 20 rural ladies to become solar technicians and to help them set up solar micro-business.

This, she said, has kicked-off with the training which covers four local governments in Oyo State, namely Areas in Oyo state - Itesiwaju, Kajola, Oyo West, and Iseyin. The exercise, she said, is meant to empower the ladies to light up their communities and spread the use of solar as an alternative to dangerous and expensive fossil fuelled lighting such as the kerosene lamps.

She also confirmed to NaijaAgroNet that the initiative would be moved to other states across the federation with the collaboration of British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation, an independent charitable organization incorporated in Nigeria with the vision to improve the quality of life of citizens in rural and urban in Nigeria.

Women at the training exercise 

Equally, she explained that the initiative entails a marketing and financial management training entitled ‘Growing your new solar Micro-business’ was conducted in Yoruba by Mrs. Yemi Owolabi, executive director, Finance of Standard Chartered Bank, Nigeria.

The Solar Jooce women’s empowerment initiative, NaijaAgroNet gathered, is a small step in the daunting task of providing a clean, alternative source of electricity, alleviating poverty, and providing opportunities for rural families in Nigeria.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that the training workshop is also supported by the Hertz Corporation, C & I Leasing (transport & logistics), Sesema PR, and the Bishop of Ajayi Crowther Diocese, Bishop O. O. Oduntan.

The first phases of the initiative was a massive awareness creation about the use and benefits of solar applications through the donation of combined solar lantern and phone charging unit to a community in the 36 states of the country.

Further, the second phase, NaijaAgroNet gathered is a long-term capacity building scheme which to train women in the assembling and troubleshooting solar applications in order for them to be able to start their own small solar trade with its first pilot in June 2012.

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Food price index falls for the third consecutive month

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) Food Price Index, has declared the fall of food price index for the third consecutive month in the last six months.

FAO in its monthly assessment and analysis of prices of 55 food commodities indicated a drop of 1.8 per cent from 205 points in May, thereby dropping in three consecutive months from April 2012.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that a four-point drop in June brought the index to 201 points from a revised level of 205 points in May 2012; hence the index now stands at 15.4 per cent below its peak in February 2011.

A press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet, FAO affirmed that the average prices of all commodity groups in the index were below May levels, with oils and fats recording the largest drop.

The United Nations' agency attributed the continuous drop in food price index to the continuous economic uncertainties. That adequate food supply prospects kept the index down although growing concerns over dry weather sent prices of some crops higher toward the end of the month.

NaijaAgroNet learnt that prices of food commodities have started rising again recently as a result of adverse weather and this may affect the rebound of the food price index in July.

FAO’s new production forecast for world cereal production in 2012 stands at 2 396 million tonnes, still a record level and against the previous forecast of 2,327 million tones.

Assessment by FAO also shows an adequate supply and demand situation in 2012/13 season which is traceable to the abundant supplies of rice as well as sufficient exportable supplies of wheat and coarse grains.

But grain prices were very volatile in June due to continuing dryness and above-average temperatures in most of the major maize growing regions of the United States. Adverse weather is diminishing prospects of an improvement in the maize supply situation and FAO is monitoring the development closely.

Commenting on the June Food Price Index, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said the agency has been actively involved in studying food price volatility and identifying appropriate policy responses.

“Our analytical work is helping to deepen the understanding of the nature, causes and impacts of volatility and of what governments and other stakeholders can do about it,” da Silva asserted.

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Capacity trends in Nigeria’s agro value chain

Ordinarily, a value chain depicts a chain of activities for a firm operating in a particular industry, like agriculture.

Typically, the agriculture activities very often start with the search for seedlings, followed by the fertilizer acquisition after the clearing of farm lands, only then can the seedlings be planted.

Nowadays, there are various sets of people who specialize in various farming including clearing of lands and in the eastern Nigeria, those are known as the ‘Abakalikis.’ They are also useful during the harvest seasons, according to Madam Okwy, rice farmer at Awba-Ofemili in Anambra State.

She says, another value chain of note are those who put the seedlings on the grounds or cleared farm land for such purposes and those usually coming from neighbour towns, where either wages for farm workers are very low or lack the relevant arable lands. These set of workers go to their home towns as soon as the planting season is over, but once its harvest time, they return.

The food industry has been severally described as a complex, and a collection of diverse businesses that congregate to supply much of the food energy consumed by the world population.

Therefore, it is pertinent to state that though subsistence farmers; those known to grow for self or mere family survival could be considered outside of the scope of the modern food industry, because their original plan was not to engage in large scale farming for commercial purposes.

So, food industry  could be rightly said to involve several stages including regulation at different levels; be it local, regional, national and international rules and regulations for food production and sales, consist of food quality and food safety, and industry lobbying activities.

And to unlock the potential of agriculture to create jobs, the Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, disclosed that there is need to engage the energy, dynamism and entrepreneurship of the youth.

Adesina said that the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration no longer treats agriculture as a development programme, declaring that the goal of the government is to treat agriculture as a business and to make the nation an agriculturally industrialized economy.

To this end, he said that under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, this administration intends to add some 20 million tonnes of food to the domestic food supply with the creation of 3.5 million jobs in all the agriculture value chains before the end of year 2015.

Subsistence farming, he noted, is not viable to feed a nation, hence the importance of expanding the level of use of tractors in the country to boost the agriculture investment by small, medium and large scale farmers.

According to him, agriculture sector is the fastest in terms of employment generation, thus has the capacity to change the trend of economic growth in the country.

Adesina in his remarks at the Ekiti State’s Youth in Commercial Agribusiness Development Programme recently, noting that Governor Kayode Fayemi’s decision to involve the state’s youth in agriculture deserves commendation.

To raise the level of use of improved seeds, Adesina said his Ministry financed the entire seed supply for the country which amounts to N2.7 billion for the 2012 season, adding that the finance, is not from the government but the use of guarantees for banks to lend to seed companies.

Also, he affirmed that the Federal Government was able to secure financing for the supply of fertilizers for 2012, at the level of N27 billion from commercial banks using guarantees from the Ministry of Finance.

In a related development an agreement to establish and implement an agricultural development project was signed by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO).

Alhaji Muhammad Nadada Umar, SMEDAN Director-General said the agreement, tagged SMEDAN-VSO Agro-Enterprise Project, is to engage women and youths between the ages of 18 and 35 years in agrobiz.

NaijaAgroNet learnt at the signing session that the agreement combines expertise of both bodies would add tremendous value to the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and the nation’s economy.

The pilot programme, Umar revealed would be established in four states; Nasarawa, Ondo, Kaduna and Cross Rivers States. Pointing out, “Our organizations both share the same values in respect of assisting disadvantaged people. SMEDAN, as a gender-sensitive organization, with our high level of professionalism, has a lot to offer to this nation.”

It was not surprising therefore that a multi-million Naira assembly plant was being targeted, a North American company, AGCO which specializes in manufacturing of agricultural equipments, in anticipation of Nigeria’s dream to grow the sector with 300,000 within the next three years.

AGCO, DigitalSENSE News gathered, offers a full product line including tractors, combines, hay tools, sprayers, forage equipment, groundscare and implements through more than 8,500 independent dealers and distributors around the world.

DigitalSENSE News investigations also revealed that AGCO is likely to provide this number of tractors through its worldwide retail financing scheme known as Agricredit joint venture.

Experts at Investopedia says joint venture is the cooperation of two or more individuals or businesses in which each agrees to share profit, loss and control in a specific enterprise. Describing it as a good way for companies to partner without having to merge and are typically taxed as a partnership.

Affirming this development, Dr. Adesina, emphasised that AGCO is the largest manufacturer of Marcy Ferguson tractors globally and that Federal Government has advanced strategies for the establishment of assembly plants in the country following a discussion with the manufacturer in April.

“Nigeria needs at least 300,000 tractors, to enable our youth to get into agriculture as a business,” he declared, pointing out that already the Nigerian government has concluded farmers’ census, while introducing an agric-wallet and employment of 36 agriculture directors, who have been deployed nationwide at the state capitals.

As we look forward to a better youth empowerment with all these laudable government programmes, it is high-time to walk the talk, while the Universities of Agriculture across the country should take up adequate research initiatives on agricultural related products for better production at the end of every farming season.

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NEPAD warns of food shortage

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has warned of food shortage on the continent, saying Africa is the most prone to food insecurity.

NEPAD revealed to NaijaAgroNet in a press statement that Africa needs energy security in order to get out of poverty and achieve food security.

Speaking at a workshop on linking bioenergy and food security in Africa recently, the chief executive officer, NEPAD, Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki said transformation in energy generation and services is necessary to achieve food security in Africa.

Also, experts at the workshop agreed that African countries have to progressively move away from the use of fossil fuels and increase the share of renewable energy sources in their total energy mix.

Other energy highlighted by the experts include solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal; that bioenergy would play a major role in the coming decades on the continent.

Prof. Emile Van Zyl of the University of Stellenbosch said Africa has the potential to be a major player alongside Brazil in the biofuels trade if it applies modern technology as Africa produces 606 million litres of biofuels equivalent of 2 per cent of the global trade with South Africa alone accounting for more than half of the total output.

 NaijaAgroNet further gathered that the technical arm of the African Union (AU) Commission, the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency has a vision to give 35 per cent of African population access to energy in the next 20 years.

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