Nigeria records 5.2% fall in cocoa production

The drive to increase cocoa yield as a result of the slump in crude oil price may have suffered a setback as the production of the cash crop has dropped,

Nigeria’s cocoa production has dropped by 5.2 per cent from 248,000 metric tonnes in the 2013/2014 planting season to 235,000 metric tonnes in the 2014/2015 season, according to information gathered from stakeholders in the cocoa value chain.

Stakeholders had expected an increase to about 350,000 metric tonnes for the 2014/2015 season following the distribution of improved seedlings by the Federal Government with a target to increase yield and make the country the largest producer of cocoa in Africa before the year 2020, and to develop a globally competitive manufacturing industry around the Nigerian cocoa bean.

Cocoa is currently the country’s leading agricultural export, while Nigeria is the world’s fourth largest producer of the commodity after Ivory Coast, Indonesia and Ghana, and third largest exporter after Ivory Coast and Ghana.

Analysts noted that cocoa prices in the international market had risen but that supply would be a major challenge for producers in the coming years due to increasing demand.

The Federal Government, during the last administration, had targeted a yearly increase that would raise production to around 700,000 metric tonnes this year and one million metric tonnes in 2020 by distributing early-maturing, high-yielding and disease-resistant beans that mature in about 18 months to farmers to replace seedlings with four to five years maturity rate.

“We have distributed more than 140 million seedlings of high-yielding cocoa varieties to recapitalise the cocoa plantations, because they are old. That will give us a yield of almost five times. By 2020, Nigeria should be certainly in the one million metric tonnes cocoa production club,” the former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, had said in 2014.

The National Vice President, Cocoa Association of Nigeria, Cross River/Akwa Ibom zone, Mr. Godwin Ukwu, said the decline in production was not unconnected with aging trees and illegal mining on cocoa farms.

He said, “The ages of the trees are going down and production is declining, and there is no support from the government in any way to rehabilitate or replant the cocoa and it is affecting production.

“There is a difference between the government trying to do something and doing what it has to do. Last year, a lot of the seedlings did not get to many farmers. The government needs to ensure that its intervention gets to the farmers through monitoring to get the seedlings to the real farmers who need them and not to political farmers.”

According to Ukwu, production also went down in other cocoa producing countries such as Ghana, where the yield dropped from the usual 900,000 to one million metric tonnes to 700,000 metric tonnes.

Ukwu said if something was not done urgently about the production, demand would be more than supply, leading to more pressure on the farmers.

A consultant and Chief Operating Officer, Centre for Cocoa Development Initiative, Mr. Robo Adhuze, said increased rainfall would help production in the current season.

“We are expecting the weather to get better; we are trying to track rainfall across the country; when it begins to rain properly, it will get better. Across board, we are having issues,” he said.

According to Adhuze, despite the fact that cocoa prices are currently soaring in the international market, hovering between $2,900 and $3,000 per metric tonne, production across board is expected to drop in the next few years.

He said, “Prices are soaring in the international market, which is normal, because we are expecting a drop in production in the next four years and consumers are looking for more with the downward production trend.

“The weather and then the demand from East Asian countries such as India and China are also not helping the situation. More people are consuming more cocoa products, but production is going down.”

According to reports, the demand for cocoa is predicted to rise by 30 per cent by 2020, but without empowering and investing in small-scale farmers, the industry will struggle to provide sufficient supply.

A report by The Guardian of the United Kingdom indicated that steady growth over the last 100 years had transformed the chocolate confectionary market into an $80bn a year global industry, but that with demand expected to exceed supply, a crisis was looming for the industry.

The report stated, “Around 3.5 million tonnes of cocoa are produced each year. But rising incomes in emerging markets like India and China, combined with anticipated economic recovery in the rich North, have led to industry forecast of 30 per cent growth in demand to more than 4.5 million tonnes by 2020. This should be good news for farmers and businesses alike.

“But complacency and disregard for the livelihoods of more than five million small-scale family farmers who grow 90 per cent of the world’s cocoa mean that the industry may simply be unable to provide sufficient supply to meet the demand.”

According to Adhuze, the Nigerian situation is compounded by economic factors such as unstable foreign exchange.

“Nigerian cocoa investors are not smiling, as they get the money, they pay more to reinvest,” he said.

The Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Mr. Segun Awolowo, said 2015 was generally not a good year for agricultural production in the country.

According to him, a drop in production will adversely affect the target to increase yield.

“We need to scale up production; the idea is to surpass Ivory Coast and Ghana. Ghana is already at 700,000 metric tonnes, and we are still hovering around 240,000 metric tonnes but the idea was to get to 500,000 metric tonnes in the next few years,” he said.

Journalists have nothing to fear under Buhari – Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has assured that journalists practicing in the country have nothing to fear from the Nigerian government in the performance of their duties.

According to him, “Under this dispensation, we have never even contemplated stifling the freedom of the media not to talk of hounding them to death,” the Minister said in Doha on Sunday when he featured as a panelist at the ongoing 2016 Annual Congress of the International Press InstituteIPI) in the Qatari capital.

”Not a single journalist is in detention in Nigeria today. The government of the day is not a threat to the media, and it is not about to stifle press freedom or deny anyone his or her constitutionally guaranteed rights.”

A statement issued in Doha, Qatar by the Special Assistant to the Minister, Segun Adeyemi, on Monday quoteed him as declaring this at the session devoted to a debate on the implementation of the document on the ”International Declaration On The Protection of Journalists”’, which was presented at the Congress.

Mohammed said having identified lack of communication and mutual suspicion as part of the reasons for regular frictions between the government and the media in Nigeria, he had taken measures to enhance communication and also reduce suspicion between the two.

”These (measures) include strengthening the rapport between the government and the media, which I have done by meeting with the major stakeholders in the media industry, and setting up a committee between the media and the security/intelligence agencies to deepen communication and understanding,” he said.

The Minister also said while the government has ensured the protection of the premises of vulnerable media establishments when required to do so, that does not affect the independence of such organisaions.

Commenting on the role of governments which regularly targets journalists for their work, he said ”the state which ought to protect life should not be the one to snuff it out.”

Mohammed stressed the need for capacity building for media practitioners as a way of enhancing the performance of their duties, saying the local chapters of the IPI and other media organizations have a role to play in this regard.

NBC bans rapper's 'Don't stop' song

Just like 'Bobo', the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation has come down hard on Olamide's 'Don't stop'.

The Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) has bannedOlamide's 'Don't stop' song off his "Eyan Mayweather" album oweing to its  vulgar lyrics.

According to a statement by the NBC, which is the government agency in charge of broadcasting regulation, the song was banned from being played on the airwaves for its “obscenity, being indecent, vulgar languages, lewd and profane expressions like ‘Wa gba ponron’, ‘I just want to hit you now’, ‘Je kin wo be…”

The song in question has also been in the news of recent following the claims by D’banj’s producer Deevee that the rapper Olamide stole a part of the song from them.

 The NBC had some time last year  also placed a NTBB (Not to be broadcast) label ban on about 18 popular songs such asDavido’s ‘Fans Mi’, Lil Kesh’s ‘Gbese’ and Wizkid’s  ‘In my bed’amongst others.

Solidstar drops video for 'Wait' featuring Davido

The highlife singer has dropped a smooth visual for his single 'Wait' featuring Davido.

Solidstar has released a video for the song 'Wait' featuring Davido.

After whetting the appetite of his fans yesterday via Instagram with a teaser video, the Achievas Entertainment frontman drops the visuals to his 'Wait' single today.

Video was directed by Avalon Okpe.

Watch and share your thoughts.

APC lists 24 sins committed by Jonathan, Wike, PDP

The list was compiled by the Rivers APC in a bid to discourage voters from casting their votes for the PDP in the March 19, 2016, State and National Assembly rerun elections.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state has listed 24 sins committed by former President, Goodluck Jonathan, Governor Nyesom Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the state.

The list was compiled by the Rivers APC in a bid to discourage voters from casting their votes for the PDP in the March 19, 2016, State and National Assembly rerun elections.

The sins, contained in a statement released by Rivers APC Chairman, Davies Ikanya on Wednesday, March 16, are as follows:

1. President Jonathan failed to muster the courage and political will in a PDP-controlled National Assembly to see to the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in the over six years of his administration to demonstrate his hatred for the Niger Delta region knowing that communities in Rivers State will benefit from the bill.

2 The East/West Road, especially Eleme-Onne axis in Rivers State, was not only abandoned but was a nightmare to travellers and commuters.

3 Bodo-Bonny Federal Road was completely abandoned just because it is situated in Rivers State.

4. Refusal to refund to the State Government over 90 billion naira used in the dualisation of Ikwerre-Owerri Road approved by late President Yar’Adua and other Federal Roads in the State executed by the State to ease the sufferings of the people of Rivers State.

5. Wickedly stopped Train 7 at NLNG Bonny and the loss of jobs to our people and revenue to Government.

6 Non-implementation of UNEP Report on the clean-up of Ogoni land despite all the pleas by our people and the International Community – just to punish the Ogonis and Rivers State irrespective of their overwhelming support for him during the 2011 elections.

7 Lack of any visible Federal Government project in Rivers State throughout his over six years as President of Nigeria. Instructively, of all the states Dr Jonathan has visited in the course of his re-election campaign, it was only in Rivers that he could not name a single development project he initiated, not to talk of executing.

8. Ceding of oil wells belonging to Rivers to Bayelsa and Abia states to ensure that the revenue accruing to the State was reduced to nothing.

9. Abandoned construction of the Port Harcourt International Airport after completing other airports started at the same time with it. The airport has thus become an eyesore and the worst airport in the entire world. Pictures of the current state of the Airport attached explain the level of hatred Dr Jonathan has for Rivers State and her people.

10. Turning the Port Harcourt axis of Enugu-Port Harcourt Express Road into a death trap. The pictures attached of the bad state of the road explain everything.

11. Posting and encouraging the excesses of the tyrannical Police Commissioner Joseph Mbu during his inglorious days in the State.

12. Supporting the impunity of daily killing, maiming of members of Rivers APC by the Police under the watch of Dan Barure then Commissioner of Police of the State

13. Supporting every imaginable act of impunity in the State, including the plot by five State Assembly members to impeach the Speaker in a House of 31 members.

14. Seizing and grounding the planes of the State for no just cause.

15. Harassing and intimidating the then Governor of Rivers State (Rt. Hon. Amaechi) for no just cause and even supporting the splitting of the Governors Forum into two just to ensure that Governor Amaechi, who was duly elected by his colleagues, does not have an easy reign as the Chairman of the Forum.

16. Refusal to allow the then Governor of the state to construct the Federal Road that leads to the Kalabari Kingdom just to ensure that during the rainy season the Kalabaris will not have a road to their place.

17..Refusal to refund the State the money used to construct the smooth, beautiful dual carriageway from Omerelu to Port Harcourt – particularly up to the Airport Junction from Owerri in Imo State, which the Federal Government abandoned just because Rivers State people ply that road.

18. Refusal to refund the money used by Rivers State to construct the Ahoada/Elele Alimini Federal Road and the interchange (Flyover) at Obiri Ikwerre.

19. Refusal to attend to the poor state of the Onne – Port Harcourt component of the East/West Road. This is the road that services the Port Harcourt Refinery from where petroleum products are supplied to the South East and parts of the South South. That is the road that leads to the Onne Free Zone and to Okrika, the home Local Government of Dame Patience Jonathan, Nigeria’s former First Lady.

20. Turning a blind eye while his party continues to kill, bomb and disrupt APC rallies.

21. Against the spirit of equity, unity, justice and fair play, Dr Jonathan and his wife, Damee patience Jonathan imposed Chief Nyesome Wike a cancellous fellow from the Ikwerre tribe as PDP candidate and Governor of Rivers State, knowing very well that the former Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, was also of Ikwerre extraction and that with Chief Wike as Governor that the Ikwerre tribe will governed Rivers State for 16 years to the detriment of other tribes and sections of the State. This shows that Dr Jonathan and his son and unjust party do not wish Rivers State any good.

22. Former President Jonathan released all the N25 Billion that accrued from the principle of derivation from the five Soku Oil Wells that rightly belong to Rivers State kept in reserve for Rivers State and Bayelsa State were all paid to Bayelsa State his home State to prove his hatred for Rivers State

23. As a President, Dr Jonathan continued to under fund the NDDC to ensure that Rivers State and in extension the Niger Delta region is not developed, till the time he left office, over N700B owed by the Federal Government was not paid to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)

24. Refused to empower and fund the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs initiated by the Yar-Adua’s administration. The then Minister of Niger Delta once stated that the N41.7B due to the Ministry was not paid until Dr Jonathan left office to ensure that 90 percent of the projects initiated by the Ministry were not executed by the Ministry in Rivers State and other Niger Delta States

Popular Actress, Ibinabo Fiberesima Weeps As Court Sentences Her To Five Years In Jail

Nollywood actress and former president, Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN will be exploring the Supreme Court to upturn her five-year jail term in the lingering case of reckless driving, that caused the death of a Lagos state government doctor, Suraj Giwa in 2005.

Her lawyer announced the move today after she lost her appeal at the Court of Appeal in Igbosere, Lagos.

Barrister Nnaemeka Amaechina said that the judgment would be challenged at the Supreme Court adding that a Notice of Appeal has already been filed.

Ibinabo had challenged the judgement of a Lagos High Court which sentenced her to five years imprisonment for the death of Dr. Giwa.

The appellate court presided over by Justice Jamilu Yammama Tukur dismissed her appeal seeking to upheld the option of fine which a lower court had given, but which was challenged by the Lagos State government.

An Igbosere Magistrates’ Court had sentenced Ibinabo to a five year imprisonment with an option of N100,000 fine for reckless driving which caused the death of Dr. Giwa, a staff of a Lagos State Hospital, in an auto accident along the Lekki-Epe expressway, Lagos in 2005.

She paid the fine and was to be left off the hook when the then Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Supo Sasore (SAN), felt unsatisfied with the judgement.

This prompted the state government to take its case to the Lagos High Court.

At the Lagos High court, Justice Deborah Oluwayemi set aside the option of fine imposed by the Magistrates’ Court.

In her judgement, Justice Oluwayemi held that the trial Magistrate exercised judicial recklessness when he gave the convict an option of fine.

She stated that the option of N100, 000 given to the convict did not serve the purpose of justice in the matter and subsequently ordered a refund of N100, 000 to Ibinabo and sentenced her to five years imprisonment for dangerous and reckless driving.

The former beauty queen then approached the appellate court to uphold the earlier option of fine by the magistrate court which she had paid but returned to her.

She had prayed her appeal will be heard on humanitarian grounds.

In a unanimous decision delivered by Justice Tukur, the court held that the trial Magistrate Court lacked the discretion to grant Ibinabo an option of fine after her conviction.

It held further that the appeal lacked merit and thereby dismissed it accordingly.

Other members of the Appeal court panel are Justice U.I. Ndukwe-Anyanwu (Mrs.) and Justice Tijani Abubakar.

Ibinabo burst into tears after the judgment was delivered.

Nigerian Senate votes down gender equality bill due to 'religious beliefs'

Nigeria has rejected a gender and equality opportunities bill because it is an attack on its relegious beliefs.

The bill looked to protect Nigerian women from the violence and provide them with the same marital rights as their male counterparts including the rights of widows to inherit their husband's property.

The bill was introduced by Senator Abiodun Olujimi but did not pass a second reading as opponents rejected it as an attack on religious beliefs and the Nigerian constitution, reports Quartz.

Overtly incorporating parts of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the bill declared that women "shall not be subjected to inhuman, humiliating or degrading treatment" and "shall have the right to an equitable share in the inheritance of the property of her husband."

It detailed how women should have the right to fully participate in political activities including the right to vote and be eligible for all publicly elected offices without any restrictions.

One Senate opponent quoted the Bible in a speech declaring his aversion.

A Muslim senator told the BBC that in Islam, women get a half of men's share in inheritance and it is unacceptable to change this.

FG To Create 3 Million Jobs In The Next Three Years – Osinbajo

The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday said that the Federal Government is planning to create about 3 million jobs in the next three years.

The 3 year job plan, he said, is expected to come from the Technology, Wholesale and Retail, Construction and Agro-allied sectors of the Nigerian economy, while 700,000 jobs, which would be private sector driven, would come from the Agro-allied sector.

According to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, it was contained in the report of an implementation of job plan titled “Strategic Framework & Implementation Plan for Job Creation & Youth Employment in Nigeria, submitted to Osinabjo by the Job creation Unit (JCU) of the Presidency and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Osinbajo who expressed excitement and hope recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had set job creation as the central focus of government policy when he instructed that policy planning must address the question of, “how many jobs would the policy create?”

Ambode re-opens Mile 12 market

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Thursday ordered the re-opening of the Mile 12 Market following the satisfactory meeting and agreement reached with all the stakeholders involved in the operation of the market.

This is contained in a statement by the state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Mile 12 Market was shut by Ambode on March 3 after a clash erupted in the area.

NAN reports that the leaders of the communities affected in the crisis agreed with the Lagos State Government on Wednesday on the need to relocate the market.

Some of the major agreements reached by consensus among the various stakeholders include relocation of the market to another suitable location and ban on the use of commercial motorcycles in the area.

They also agreed on peaceful co-existence among all the ethnic groups in the market and environs, removal of all shanties and illegal attachments within the market area, among others.

Ayorinde said that the stakeholders agreed that it was only in an atmosphere of peace that their various businesses and trades could thrive.

He assured that Lagos was home for all, and that the State Government would continue to provide the enabling environment for every investor to thrive.

Cameroon soldiers kill 20 Boko Haram fighters in Nigeria

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Cameroonian soldiers killed 20 Boko Haram fighters on Wednesday during a raid in northern Nigeria carried out by a multinational force tasked with stamping out the Islamist militants, military sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Cameroon commander General Jacob Kodji said the Islamist fighters were killed in the Nigerian town of Djibrila, which is about 10 km (six miles) from the Cameroon border.

A spokesman for Cameroon's Defence Ministry, Colonel Didier Badjeck, said 12 hostages were freed and munitions and armoured vehicles were seized during the operation.

Boko Haram wants to establish an Islamist state in northeastern Nigeria and has waged a six-year campaign of violence to that end, killing thousands of people and displacing two million others.

Boko Haram is thought to have killed around 15,000 people, according to U.S. military figures.

Attacks have spilled over Nigeria's border into neighbouring countries including Cameroon, which has been the target of a stream of suicide bombings in recent months.

Along with Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Benin, Cameroon has contributed troops to an 8,700-strong regional task force dedicated to fighting the group.

Nigeria: NNPC Restructuring a One-Man Show - PENGASSAN President

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, says it is not opposed to the on-going reforms in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. The National President of the Association, Francis Johnson, told our Business Editor, Bassey Udo, that all what its members want was an all-inclusive arrangement for all interest groups in the industry.

Excerpts

PT: The oil workers unions seem uncomfortable with the on-going restructuring of the NNPC. What are your concerns?

PENGASSAN: For the unions, there must be consistency in policy formulation and implementation by government. Again, there must be an informed consensus on all issues affecting the industry. There must be a buy-in by everyone - government, players and workers. All interest parties must be on the same page. Everyone must understand the direction the industry is heading. Where there are problems, we should join hands together to solve them

It is not too good for the country that the oil and gas industry, the mainstay of our economy, would show such inconsistency in the way policies are formulated and implemented. We seem to be going one step forward today, and two steps backward tomorrow.

If there are things the government needs to do (I believe there are many) to strengthen the industry and bring it to globally acceptable standards, we must be open and transparent about it, by laying all the cards on the table for all parties to see.

One cannot put one hand on the table and the other under the table and expect others to believe one is sincere about the process.

When the present administration came to office, PENGASSAN presented a comprehensive roadmap to Mr. President on what our members think the industry should be. The roadmap was given full exposure in most media in the country. We also submitted the document to the then Ahmed Joda-led All Progressives Congress, APC Transition Committee.

In the roadmap, PENGASSAN asked government to declare a state of emergency in the oil and gas industry. This is an industry that is grappling with a whole lot of issues, namely crude oil theft (which costs the country billions of dollars over the years), pipeline vandalism, backlog of joint venture cash calls, poor state of refineries, corruption in the importation of petroleum products and subsidy payment to marketers, abuse of Nigerian Content policy, etc.

Also, it looked at the status of the PPPRA (Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency) and Petroleum Equalization Fund, PEF, viz-a-viz the role of the NNPC in the performance of their mandates.

With the state of emergency proposal, PENGASSAN believed all Nigerians could sit down together to discuss these problems and proffer solutions. But, if government is talking about restructuring and reorganisation of the NNPC now, and the same issues are the key issues the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, set to achieve, when did that arrangement change? That is the policy inconsistency PENGASSAN is talking about.

The unions are not aware government has jettisoned these issues in the draft PIB currently before the National Assembly for approval. Yet, government has gone ahead to implement what has not yet been approved. That is clearly a setting for confusion. What is worrisome is: what happens if the National Assembly finally approves something different from what government is already implementing in NNPC?

The unions do not seem to know where the industry is going. The essence of any policy is to build a system that would stand the test of time. We must strive to build a legacy that we would all be proud to be associated with long after we have left the system.

For instance, the NNPC Retail was an idea started by the Gaius Obaseki administration in NNPC. When it was conceived, a lot of people opposed it vehemently. But, Mr. Obaseki saw it through, because he carried everybody along and drove the vision to the end. Today, we can see the benefits.

The need to work together is not only in NNPC. It is applicable in every sphere of the industry and government agencies. At every stage in the decision making process, all parties have the responsibility of letting members of their constituencies know what is going on. If as a union the leadership is not carried along in decisions that affect their interests, how would they explain to members how they would be accommodated?

Nigeria: SON Declares War On Substandard Building Materials

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has declared war on manufacturers of substandard building materials in order to curb rising trend of building collapse across the country.

The Acting Director General of the SON, Dr. Paul Angya, disclosed this in Abuja when the executive members of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) visited him.

Angya promised to partner with the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA) in a bid to fight the current wave of production and sale of substandard building material.

Angya said that the increasing rate of building collapse in the country was worrisome and called on the Institute to see themselves as partners in the development of Nigeria in terms of quality and standards.

He informed the Institute of an existing Task Force in SON, and invited them to join SON to fight and instil discipline in the build industry, particularly the Iron and Steel sector.