Nigeria losing N2bn to fake seed peddlers, says govt

Airbus trains 1,000 Nigerian youths in aircraft manufacturing
Sesan / 21 hours ago

Maureen Ihua-Maduenyi

About 1,000 Nigerian youths have been trained by the Airbus Foundation in partnership with the Little Engineer and STEM METS Resources in aircraft manufacturing and assemblage.

The goal of the programme is to encourage students to understand and embrace technology and ignite a passion that could grow into a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The organisers of the training said they were interested in encouraging Nigerian youths, especially students, to embrace engineering and technology.

They also said the training was to encourage females to develop interest in the aviation industry.

The partners, at one of the trainings organised for 30 students at the Methodist Girls’ High School in Lagos on how to build and programme A380-scale model from scratch, said the trainees would also be made to understand the full take-off functionality of the aircraft.

The Executive Director, Airbus Foundation, Andrea Debbane, expressed optimism that the workshop would encourage the youth to develop a career in the aviation industry.

She said, “Having already trained more than 1,000 students in such a short time is a remarkable achievement. Investments in education and training are essential in building an educated and skilled workforce.

“The goal of the Airbus youth development programme is to support the country’s efforts in creating a sustainable pipeline of talent for Africa.”

Nigeria losing N2bn to fake seed peddlers, says govt
Sesan / 23 hours ago

Olufemi Atoyebi, Ibadan

The Federal Government has said that the country loses more than N2bn annually to the activities of fake seed producers in the agricultural sector, warning that henceforth, perpetrators of the crime, who are found guilty, will face a minimum of five years in jail.

During a tour of Ibadan seed markets, the Director-General, National Agricultural Seeds Council, Philip Ojo, who was represented by the council’s Director of Seeds Inspectorate, Mr. Adebayo Agboola, warned that the Federal Government would go all out on a raid to clean the agricultural sector of unprofessional and unhealthy practices in a bid to aid its development.

The NASC boss explained that unlicensed seed dealers had saturated the agricultural sector, denying the nation, farmers and genuine dealers huge incomes yearly.

He said, “If you are found guilty, you face a prison sentence of five years or fines ranging from N650,000 to N1m. The council wants to ensure that all these sets of people are totally eradicated so that the genuine seed dealers will have their way in the market and farmers will get quality seeds to boost their yield.

“We have confiscated fake seeds worth N1.5m in the last two months. It is important to note that the fake seeds are injurious to the farmers and their workers. The chemicals they are using to preserve the seeds are injurious to farmers and their labourers, who are working in the farms. They affect the total annual production of our farm produce.

“We are trying to diversify to agriculture. If we are targeting to produce 300,00 tonnes of maize in 2019 and farmers are being given poor quality seeds, the target will reduce to 10,000 tonnes.”

Ojo said the criteria for getting the licence to operate as a government registered seed dealer were not difficult, adding that the certification could be done in three months.

“We make the process so easy and smooth in the seed industry. The processes involved only take between two to three months to complete. Interested dealers only need to register their companies with the Corporate Affairs Commission and send application letters to the director-general of the NASC,” he added.

PMI, CISI UK sign MoU on professional management
Abdulfatai Ayobami Ibrahim / 2 hours ago

Nike Popoola

Portfolio Management Institute, Nigeria has signed an agreement with the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, United Kingdom on professional management in financial institutions.

The President of the council, PMI, Usman Suleiman, said during the signing ceremony in Lagos, “It is therefore a thing of joy for us at the PMI that we are today joining this global professional community and availing our members the opportunity of being identified with global best practice in investment and portfolio management.”

According to him, the CISI, the leading professional body for securities, investment, wealth and financial planning in the United Kingdom, was founded in 1992 by practitioners on the London Stock Exchange and formally chartered in October, 2009.

Suleiman noted that professional collaboration of this nature, if well managed and sustained, would engender immense mutually beneficial reward for the parties.

“Our institute, the Portfolio Management Institute, is putting in a lot of effort at repositioning and ensuring effective delivery of membership services and realisation of utmost professional value to members,” he said.

The Senior International Manager, CISI, Praneet Shivaprasad, made a presentation on ‘Integrity matters in financial services’.

He said that CISI certification was being used by a large percentage of the global banks and it would enhance employability abroad and in Nigeria.

While explaining that there was opportunity for affiliate membership, he said it was designed for those who might not have the CISI membership or the professional qualification but would want to access CISI membership benefits.

Shivaprasad said affiliates could access more than 100 e-learning modules and the video, TV channels and online magazine reviews.

“What we expect primarily from our members is to uphold our code of conduct. We also require our members to undertake integrity online test to help in understanding the right ways of doing things,” he said.

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