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Monday, April 20, 2015

Sky Bank nurtures over 200 SMEs for growth


 NaijaAgroNet
 
More than 200 customers and business partners in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) recently attended the Southeast edition of the Skye Bank’s SME seminar at Onitsha, Anambra State, NaijaAgroNet reports.

According to a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet , this year’s edition with the theme,“Nurturing Businesses for Growth,” the bank  explained, was part of its contributions towards developing the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector of the Nigerian economy.

While delivering his remark, the bank’s Regional Director, South East I, Dr. Charles Udogu said MSME remains an important growth driver in any economy, warning key economic players in the nation’s polity not to neglect the sector NaijaAgroNet learnt.

Dr. Udogu said, “Having identified the gap in the SME sector, Skye Bank organized this seminar to bridge this gap through the Bank’s business seminar series.”

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that among those who spoke in the same vein, was Mrs. Ayo Olojede, Head, Small Business Group, Skye Bank, who disclosed that the Bank was coming up with solutions that would help to minimize the cost of doing businesses for small business owners.

Also, the Managing Director, Dilimson Holdings Limited, Mr. George Umobi, charged participants to confront challenges faced in the course of growing their businesses and charged them to seize the opportunity Skye Bank presented to them and make the best of it, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

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Taking healthcare delivery to another level through ICT

 NaijaAgroNet

The African Network for Drugs and Diagnostics Innovation (ANDI) – a pan African initiative hosted by the United Nations in Addis Ababa recently highlighted Nigerian example in containment of Ebola and emphasized the role of technology in transforming health care delivery and Ebola research and development, NaijaAgroNet reports

Executive Director of ANDI, Dr. Solomon Nwaka said that the meeting recommended that the Nigerian approach to Ebola outbreak be written and publicized broadly, as a model for future outbreaks or emergent infections.

The establishment of a properly resourced Ebola emergency operation centre by the Nigerian government under the Nigerian Center for Disease Control of the ministry of health as well as a strong coordination of efforts with functional public and private diagnostic laboratories, NaijaAgroNet gathered, was important to this success.

“Ongoing development of diagnostics and surveillance tools for Ebola in Nigeria and Uganda as well as the pioneering work of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) Abuja on the development of NIPRISAN from local traditional medicines for the management of Sickle Cell Anaemia, were examples of technologies discussed at the ANDI event, Nwaka stated.

According to information made available to NaijaAgroNet, experts agreed that the containment of Ebola is one of the most noted public health crackdowns in the largest African country and this serves as a model for the rest of the world.

NaijaAgroNet further learnt that recognizing Nigeria’s successful response to Ebola, according to the health professionals, is an indication that with same commitments and adequate preparations, the clamour for functional health and innovation system is attainable.

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Saturday, April 18, 2015

Food, nutrition security, climate change dominate FAO-EU talks




 
  Food and nutrition security, climate change and soils are among the key issues slated for discussion in the coming months between Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the European Union (EU), NaijaAgroNet learnt.

According to a press release made available to NaijaAgroNet on Thursday, this follows series of meetings involving FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and EU high-level representatives that were held on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels.

Graziano da Silva, NajaAgroNet further learnt, met EU Commissioner of Agriculture, Phil Hogan, EU Director-General for International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO), Fernando Frutuoso de Melo, and the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.

NaijaAgroNet reports that both parties highlighted the alignment between the EU initiatives and FAO's strategic objectives, and expressed satisfaction on the strategic partnership and high-level political dialogue taking place on common key challenges.

They reiterated that food and nutrition security will remain at the heart of their respective programming cycles.

FAO and the EU have also stressed the joint role they will be playing within some of the main conferences and events to take place in 2015, reports NaijaAgroNet.
 
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Friday, April 17, 2015

O’Keeffe elevated to President, Diageo Africa as Lauridsen takes over

NaijaAgroNet:


Current Managing Director/CEO Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. John O’Keeffe, has been elevated to the position of a President, Diageo Africa, reports NaijaAgroNet, just as Mr. Soren Lauridsen has been named to replace O’Keeffe as new MD/CEO.

With this, NaijaAgroNet reports that Mr. O’Keeffe has joined the Diageo Executive Committee and will be reporting to Dr. Nick Blazquez, the President Africa and Asia, recalling that Guinness Nigeria Plc, a subsidiary of Diageo Plc, whereas the new appointment of Mr. O’Keeffe will take effect from Wednesday, 1st July 2015. 

Mr. John promises to bring an insight of his experience in marketing and general management to the Executive team. Alongside with his Nigeria role, led Diageo’s Global Innovation, Beer and Baileys categories, served as Managing Director for the Russia and Eastern Europe business and undertaken senior marketing roles across multiple European markets and Jamaica. The Managing Directors of Diageo’s 4 African markets (Nigeria, South Africa, East Africa and African Regional Markets – rest of Africa), as well the Regional Finance Director, Africa, will report to John.

Since his assumption of office as the Managing Director/CEO of Guinness Nigeria in November 2014, Mr. O’Keeffe has been engaged primarily with sustaining the recovery of the business, building a fit for purpose commercial organisation and improving employee morale and engagement. Growing and broadening our innovation portfolio has also been a key area of focus for Mr. O’Keeffe. With his managerial experience/approach, the improvement in the performance of the business has appreciated NaijaAgroNet gathered.

Mr. O’Keeffe will continue to be part of Guinness Nigeria as a Non-Executive Director and as the Diageo executive responsible for Diageo’s African business, will continue to stay involved with the 
Nigerian business.

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Thursday, April 16, 2015

CJN blasts lawyers, says too many of them are fake




 
 Justice Mahmud Mohammed, The Chief Justice of Nigeria, ‎CJN, Wednesday in Abuja blasts the legal profession over the rising number of “fake” lawyers in the country, NaijaAgroNet reports.

NaijaAgroNet further learnt that The CJN made this disclosure during the official launch of “Stamp for Lawyers”, ‎which was produced by the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, bemoaned that the prevalence of fake lawyers negatively affects the integrity of the legal profession and casts a shadow of disrepute on the judiciary as an arm of government in the country.

He insisted that one of the major challenges facing Judges today, NaijaAgroNet gathered “is how to differentiate between a “real” and “fake” legal practitioner”.

 “Of even greater concern is the fact that members of the public are often left in a quandary over who they can place their trust, property and even lives in.

“We must not forget that the credibility of the Bar has a direct impact on respect for the Rule of Law and the independence of the Courts.

”I believe that the stamp can, if properly deployed, become a hallmark of a firm’s work and a way for prospective clients to better identify their counsel- a veritable means to “Know Your Counsel,” he said.
 
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Wednesday, April 15, 2015

10.6 million Yemenis face food insecurity as conflict escalates





    
About 10.6 million Yemenis are now severely food insecure, of which 4.8 million are facing "emergency" conditions, suffering from severe lack of food access, very high and increasing malnutrition, and irreversible destruction of livelihoods, NaijaAgroNet reports.

NaijaAgroNET also gathered that escalating conflict at a crucial time in the country’s cropping season, almost 11 million people in Yemen are severely food insecure and millions more are at risk of not meeting their basic food needs, FAO said today, 15th March, 2015.

According to FAO Representative for Yemen, Salah Hajj Hassan “We are entering a crucial period for crop production in Yemen and now, more than ever, agriculture cannot be an afterthought if we want to prevent more people from becoming food insecure amidst this crisis,”

NaijaAgroNet was also reliably informed that in the organization's latest assessment, increasing conflict in nearly all major towns across the country is disrupting markets and trade, driving up local food prices and hampering agricultural production, including land preparation and planting for the 2015 maize and sorghum harvests.

More than half of Yemen’s population – some 16 million out of a total of 26 million— is in need of some form of humanitarian aid and has no access to safe water.

The latest escalation of conflicts is expected to further increase food insecurity in the poverty-stricken country. Paradoxically, some 2.5 million food producers, including farmers, pastoralists, fishermen and agricultural wage labourers, are among those identified as food insecure, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Bill on mechanised agriculture for youth empowerment on the way--Rep-elect

 NaijaAgroNet




  
 A Bill that will enable the federal government to attract unemployed youths into mechanized agriculture is being planned, NaijaAgroNet reports.

According to information gathered by NaijaAgroNet, Alhaji Abdulsamat Dasuki, member-elect of the House of Representatives (APC-Sokoto) on Sunday promised to initiate a bill that would attract unemployed youths into mechanised agriculture.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Sokoto which was monitored by NaijaAgroNet, Dasuki stated that such legislation would ensure the availability of modern farming inputs at government controlled rates across the country.

He  further disclosed that the youth would be actively engaged in the system to enable them to contribute towards the nation’s socio-economic and political growth.

Dasuki, who will be representing Tambuwal/Kebbe Federal Constituency, said that federal and state governments will be encouraged to set up colleges of agriculture to train the youth and women in mechanised farming.

He said that the introduction of mechanised agriculture NaijaAgroNet learnt, will guarantee food security and  discourage food importation.

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Monday, April 13, 2015

Police shuns cooler of rice to allow campaign poster at polling booth







 
An attempt to sneak campaign poster into one of the polling booths in Lagos was on Saturday thwarted by the police during the accreditation exercise for the Governorship and State Assembly elections, NaijaAgroNet reports.


NaijaAgroNet crew was there as the drama unfolded. It happened that a woman desperate to win votes for her candidate, made an attempt to sneak a campaign poster of one of the top contending parties’  into the polling booth at Ile Film Junction on Mosafejo Road in Ifelodun Area Council of Lagos but the policeman in charge of security there prevented her from doing so.

 It was however surprising to the onlookers when the same woman whom the police had earlier warned and educated on the security and constitutional implication of her action returned to the polling booth this time with a cooler of rice and the same campaign poster originally disallowed by the police, all these with the intention to bribe the policeman to allow her carry out her nefarious act.

The crowd was jolted when the policeman continued to shout “I don’t want, I say I don’t want”
The crowd booed and jeered at her as she left the place in shame with her cooler of rice and campaign poster.  In keeping with the peaceful election mood, no arrest was made, NaijaAgroNet reports.

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Pix: Suleiman Abba, IGP.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Climate Change: Averting groundwater depletion walk by 2030




A call for better understanding of groundwater resources is imperative for development of groundwater industry, reports REMMY NWEKE. Excerpts.

Preamble:
UNESCO DG, Irina Bokova:
As the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) alongside the World Bank, Global Environment Facility (GEF) and International Association of Hydrogeologists joint meeting kicks off this week under the aegis of 7th World Water Forum in Daegu and Gyeongbuk one thing that has reverberated lately is the need to ensure globally that actions on irreversible ground water depletion is averted.

A United States-based hydrologist with Geological Survey in Sacramento, California, Steven Phillips, had defined groundwater as “… any water that lies in aquifers beneath the land surface.” 

Although experts at the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT) with headquarters at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia, also defined groundwater as water that is located below the earth's surface. 

Ultimately, water from rain and rivers migrates through the ground and is stored in porous soils and rocks. The study of groundwater is known as hydrogeology, while issues pertaining to groundwater could affect the challenges or otherwise of climate change, depending however, on how its managed and taken seriously.

Groundwater most poorly understood aquifers:
NCGRT experts informed NaijaAgroNet that groundwater is found in vast quantities filling the spaces between grains of soil or rock; it slowly flows through aquifers; connects with rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands; feed trees and vegetation. 

They cited Australia as a very old continent, and much of its groundwater is tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years old. For example, the Great Artesian Basin in central Australia is the largest aquifer of its kind in the world, covering 22 per cent of Australia, and containing water that is more than a million years old.

Groundwater, NCGRT experts said, makes up 98 per cent of the fresh water on the planet. It currently makes up around a third of our total water consumption, although this varies from location to location. In the Northern Territory, 90 per cent of water is sourced from aquifers, while the highest concentration of groundwater use is in the Murray–Darling Basin. 

FAO's Moujahed Achouri:
Experts went onto to inform NaijaAgroNet that in spite of its importance, groundwater is poorly understood and often undervalued. This may in part derive from the nature of groundwater: a complex, hidden resource that is difficult to conceptualise. 

The area where water fills the aquifer is called the saturated zone (or saturation zone). The top of this zone is called the water table. The water table may be located only a foot below the ground’s surface or it can sit hundreds of feet down.

Global community must work against depletion:
NaijaAgroNet recalls that as prelude to the meeting, calls have come from the aforementioned organisation for action by the global community to manage the increasingly urgent depletion and degradation of limited groundwater resources.

They also proposed a set of principles governments could use for better groundwater management, including the 2030 Vision and Global Framework for Action which represents a bold step for collectively responsible action among governments and the global community to guarantee sustainable use of groundwater.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that for too long, groundwater governance has remained an area of policy neglect, resulting in its degradation and depletion. Just as global groundwater abstraction reportedly tripled over the past 50 years, as experts claimed that over a fourth of current withdrawal is non-sustainable and spread groundwater pollution has threatened humans and the environment.

Most urban aquifers, experts argued, have suffered from sanitation issues while coastal aquifers are exposed to saline water intrusion, even as industrial pollution, pesticides and fertilizers also find their ways into reservoirs.

The amount of renewable groundwater, therefore, NCGRT experts led by its director, Professor Craig Simmons stated, is unevenly distributed across regions. Some areas, especially those with low rainfall, are at risk more than others. Withdrawal intensity is highest in large parts of China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, the US, Mexico and Europe. This could result in lost freshwater reserves at a time when groundwater storage is critical for sustaining water security and adapting to climate variability.

Building industry around groundwater:
To build an industry around groundwater will amount to near perfect understanding of groundwater and obviously understanding its importance, hence there is need to define an aquifer, which is an underground geological formation which transmits and contains appreciable quantities of groundwater. 

Water in the ground travels, experts say, flow slowly through pores or fractures, depending on the type of sediment or rock material the aquifer is made of. 

Aquifers could vary prominently in the quality and quantity of water they hold and the extent of their connectivity with other aquifers or surface water bodies. 

Equally essential is to know there are two main types of aquifers, according to experts, namely the ‘unconfined’ and ‘confined'

Unconfined aquifers:
And unconfined aquifers are characterised by the absence of a low-permeability thereby confining a layer above them. Their watertables are typically close to the surface and roughly follow the changes in the land surface.

These aquifers are an important source of groundwater in Australia, for instance, because of their relative shallowness and hence ease of access. Just as in low-lying areas, groundwater from these aquifers is often released as natural springs, streams and wetlands. 

Confined aquifers:
GEF's Naoko Ishii:
Confined aquifers, thus are permeable rock units deep under the ground and overlain by less permeable layers. Replenishment occurs in areas known as recharge zones where the aquifer is unconfined and which may be a long distance from the confined portion of the aquifer. 

Experts at NCGRT explained that pressure from the recharge zones creates high water pressure in the aquifer beneath the confining layer. Sometimes the pressure is so great that, where there is a break in the confining layer, water will naturally rise and bubble to the surface without the need of a pump. This is called artesian flow. 

They said, watertable in a confined aquifer is called the piezometric surface and does not necessarily follow the land surface.

In response to the essence of groundwater, a Senior Director, World Bank Group Water Global Practice, Mr. Junaid Ahmad, noted that since time immemorial humans have sought water from the soil, “But we have moved from a village being based around a well to whole cities and industries being built around groundwater. 

“We have learned how to dig ever deeper, pump ever harder, and how to turn deserts into breadbaskets. But we have done this without considering the rate at which our groundwater is recharged, and so we should not be surprised when our wells run dry. Much as we have invested in pumps and crops, so now we must invest in groundwater governance," Ahmad said.

GEF wants urgent action on groundwater:
The chief executive officer and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility (GEF) Naoko Ishii, noted that her team and world at large, could no longer take this invisible but vital source for granted, hence urgent action is needed to ensure its long term availability.

“We look forward to joining hands with partner agencies and countries to ensure water for drinking, food, cities, energy and industrial uses is available for generations to come,” she said, declaring “Sustainable management of groundwater is key to maintaining ecosystems and adapting to climate change.” 

NaijaAgroNet reports that in response to the urgency of the situation, a product of four years of consultations with stakeholders from over 100 countries; these principles focus on legal and institutional frameworks, policies, and plans as well as information and incentive structures for sound and effective groundwater management.

No doubt, this process signals strengthened collaboration across the international community to understand the barriers to better groundwater governance and address key regional challenges.
Moujahed Achouri, Director, Land and Water Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) intimated NaijaAgroNet that collective and coordinated action is urgently needed to protect and prolong the integrity of aquifers. 

He stressed the cost of inaction could be enormous, because this vision and framework are urgent calls to decision-makers to act now with the right political decisions to help reach globally shared goals of social and economic development”.

For the UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, to make groundwater governance a reality, it is necessary to foster cooperation among countries, especially on transboundary aquifers. Pointing out that “Water directly influences our future, we must work together to manage this precious resource more sustainably."

Conclusion:
In summary, groundwater is indispensable to poverty reduction and shared prosperity, mostly looking at its accounts for over a third of municipal and industrial supply and some 40 per cent of the global irrigated area is serviced by groundwater. 

According to experts, groundwater has the potential to provide an improved source of drinking water for millions of urban and rural poor people. Yet, many poor farmers and their families depend on it to irrigate their crops and sustain their livelihoods.

The 2030 Vision and Framework for Action which provides the enabling framework and guiding principles for a coordinated action among governments and organizations should be upheld in order to achieve the goals of this vision for a definite better water and groundwater management as part of the efforts at combating climate change.


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Pix: UNESCO D-G, Irina Bokova; Chairperson, GEF, Naoko Ishii, & Moujahed Achouri, Director, Land and Water Division, FAO.