Economy
FG Kicks Off Pilot Scheme to Boost Sustainable Agric
By Dipo Olowookere
Federal Government has commenced the African Soil Information Service (AFSIS) pilot project in order to address the lack of quality information and data on soil and agricultural landscape which would help boost sustainable agricultural productivity across the Nigerian agro-ecologies.
The project which is being funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation builds technology innovations and services to fill one of the major gaps in spatial Information in African soil that is widely acknowledged to be hampering scientific progress in agri-economic development.
It is for this reason that Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation and Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa initiated AFSIS projects in 5 countries namely Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.
Already, many international partners such as Icraf, CiAT are supporting the initiative intended to last four years.
The Project will take off in Ebonyi and Kebbi State; while the new techniques/ technologies will be used to build capacity through training of staff in Abuja, Kaduna and Ibadan over the next one week.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Bukar Hassan, during his meeting with members of the Ministerial Steering Committee on the African Soil Information Service (AFSIS) and formal launching of the AfSIS pilot project in the Ministry said he was impressed with the work AFSIS is doing to build technology innovations and services to drive the future of African Agriculture, particularly Nigeria and expressed hope that the technology would assist governments, farmers and relevant stakeholders in agriculture to pay more attention to soil development in moving the agricultural sector forward.
Represented by the Director, Plantation in the Department Of Agriculture, Mr Quadri Olalekan, he declared that, “Our farmers will no longer continue to shoot in the dark, the project is important and we will be able to maximize the duration of the project and get the best out of it.”
Earlier, the Director, Lands and Climate Change, Engr. Sunday Edibo, has explained that the AfSIS project which is being funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is aimed at “rapidly expanding the use of world class information technology and data science to ensure that Africa’s soil and landscape resources are described, understood and used effectively to increase agricultural productivity and lower the ecological footprints of agriculture as a means of raising the prosperity of Africa’s communities and nations.”
He explained further that the African Soil Information Service project (AfSIS) is in collaboration with the Nigeria Soil Information System (NiSIS) and the Ministry to update soil and landscape information for Nigeria using modern measurement and mapping techniques.
Engineer Edibo said the area of work covered so far include; fairly detailed soil and fertilizer response survey of the central maize producing area of Nigeria; training of soil and plant laboratory for NiSIS and IITA staff in spectral methods for soil prediction; compilation and updating of relevant remote sensing data for soil and landscape mapping and spectral and spatial prediction model development to generate new soil maps and landscape information products.
He stated that the team would commence the training of staff of the ministry on soil/crop standard operating procedures (SOP) and the information gathered would be used in soil maps and assist farmers in crop production, particularly in supporting the development of grasses in ranches.
Chairman of the AfSIS-NiSIS Ministerial Steering Committee and a University don in the Department of Soil Science, Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof Ishaku Amapu, in his presentation, said the AfSIS–NiSIS pilot project on Nutrient assessment of Nigeria crop lands is starting with Kebbi and Ebonyi states with 582 locations and 208 locations respectively with focus on soil development.
Professor Amapu said the pilot project would among other things provide spatially explicit observations, measurements and predictions of nutrients level and the information would be used for ranches to provide grasses needed for healthy growth of animals.
He appealed to the Federal Government to expedite action on the complete survey of the remaining part of the country.
The AfSIS Senior Adviser, World Agro Forestry Centre (ICRAF), Nairobi, Kenya, Dr Bruce Scott, remarked that presently, the Agriculture sector is not innovative and proactive for it is not using the best technology and science available; stating that, “In human sector, there has been tremendous innovation but not so in Agriculture, because we have refused to innovate in terms of leveraging on new science and technology.”
Dr Scott who promised that AfSIS would continue to be a good partner, urged the Federal Government to transform its agriculture sector to make it more productive for farmers and the people of Nigeria.
It would be recalled that the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Audu Ogbeh, who was worried by dearth of relevant soil information in Nigeria inaugurated a Ministerial Steering Committee on the African Soil Information Service (AFSIS) in the Ministry last year.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Dangote Petroleum Refinery is preparing to raise about $5 billion through an initial public offering (IPO) expected to conclude in October, in what could become the largest stock market listing in Africa’s history.
The company has already submitted an initial application to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with approval expected in the coming weeks. Once authorised, the refinery is expected to release its prospectus in September ahead of the public offer.
The primary listing will be on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, although investors across Africa are expected to participate through structured investment instruments rather than a dual listing.
The proceeds will be used to expand the capacity of the 700,000-barrels-per-day refinery in Lagos and possibly support plans to replicate the project in Kenya as Dangote seeks to deepen Africa’s energy independence.
The proposed IPO comes after the refinery benefited from increased demand for refined products during the recent Iran conflict, supplying jet fuel across Africa and into Western Europe as global shortages disrupted markets.
As per Reuters, stock exchanges in South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Ghana and Rwanda have held discussions with advisers to the transaction as interest in the offering continues to build across the continent.
Kenya alone could account for as much as $500 million of the targeted capital raise, driven largely by demand from institutional investors, including pension funds, the publication reported.
While the company is targeting a $5 billion raise, the final amount will depend on the outcome of the SEC’s review. If achieved, the offering would represent more than four per cent of the Nigerian Exchange’s current market capitalisation.
The IPO follows a $2.5 billion private placement completed last month, in which a six per cent stake in the refinery was sold, implying a valuation of about $40 billion.
That valuation, however, would place the refinery well above several listed global refining companies. Turkey’s Tupras, which operates a similar combined refining capacity across four facilities, has a market value of roughly $12 billion, while US-listed HF Sinclair, with a comparable processing capacity, is valued at around $16 billion.
Although the NGX generally requires companies on its main board to maintain a minimum free float of 20 per cent, there have been exceptions. Dangote Cement, for instance, currently has a free float of just over 12 per cent.
The publication also reported that investors outside Nigeria are likely to gain exposure through instruments such as global depositary receipts or exchange-traded products linked to the Nigerian-listed shares, rather than through a cross-listing on other African exchanges.
The founder of the 700,000-barrels-per-day capacity plant, Mr Aliko Dangote, said in April that the refinery aims to increase production capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day.
Mr Dangote is also pursuing plans to build another refinery in Lamu along Kenya’s coast in partnership with other East African governments, although it remains unclear whether part of the IPO proceeds will be allocated to that project valued at an estimated $17 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rallied by 0.89 per cent on Tuesday, August 4 amid renewed buying interest in unlisted stocks.
During the session, the market capitalisation added N24.07 billion to end at N2.739 trillion compared with Tuesday’s N2.715 trillion, while the NASD Security Index (NSI) gained 40.11 points to quote at 4,563.96 points compared with the preceding day’s 4,523.85 points.
The NASD OTC Exchange ended the trading session with two price losers and three gainers, led by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which chalked up N7.80 to close at N119.80 per unit versus the previous session’s N112.00 per unit. Afriland Properties Plc increased its value by N1.27 to N23.95 per share from N22.68 per share, and Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc expanded by N1.15 to N21.15 per unit from N20.00 per unit.
On the flip side, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc slid by N8.64 to sell at N144.00 per share compared with the previous day’s N152.64 per share, and 11 Plc dipped by 1 Kobo to end at N225.00 per unit, in contrast to Monday’s closing price of N225.01 per unit.
Tuesday’s trading data showed that the volume of securities rose by 9.0 per cent to 1.6 million units from 1.5 million units, and the number of deals climbed by 6.5 per cent to 33 deals from 31 deals, while the value of securities dropped by 26.9 per cent to N47.6 million from N65.2 million.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 76.9 million units exchanged for N5.5 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date with 3.4 billion units transacted for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.38 per cent loss was suffered by Nigerian stocks on Tuesday on the back of continued selling pressure from investors embarking on profit-taking.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited showed that the contraction was influenced by the 1.78 per cent decline recorded by the insurance sector, the 0.24 per cent slip printed by the consumer goods index, and the 0.09 per cent drop posted by the energy space, offsetting the 0.75 per cent growth achieved by the banking sector and the 0.21 per cent growth recorded by the industrial goods segment.
Investor sentiment was weak during the trading day, as the bourse ended with 13 price gainers and 40 price losers, representing a negative market breadth index.
LivingTrust Mortgage depreciated by 10.00 per cent to N3.42, Multiverse also shed 10.00 per cent to N22.95, McNichols dropped 9.92 per cent to N5.45, Thomas Wyatt dipped by 9.87 per cent to N3.56, and Eterna lost 8.57 per cent to trade at N33.00.
On the flip side, AVA Capital improved by 9.94 per cent to N9.95, Livestock Feeds expanded by 9.71 per cent to N8.65, Neimeth increased by 8.43 per cent to N9.00, AIICO gained 3.47 per cent to settle at N4.18, and Oando grew by 3.30 per cent to N36.00.
A total of 1.6 billion equities valued at N28.7 billion exchanged hands in 54,160 deals yesterday versus the 923.0 million equities worth N37.9 billion traded in 72,544 deals on Monday, indicating a 73.35 per cent surge in the trading volume, a 24.27 per cent decline in the trading value, and a 25.34 per cent slip in the number of deals.
The busiest stock was Japaul, which transacted 904.4 million units for N2.7 billion. Sterling Holdings sold 54.0 million units valued at N431.9 million, FCMB exchanged 49.5 million units worth N545.9 million, Chams traded 44.9 million units for N199.2 million, and Neimeth sold 42.4 million units worth N327.8 million.
Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) gave up 927.70 points to 244,802.83 points from 245,730.53 points, and the market capitalisation receded by N599 billion to N158.016 trillion from N158.615 trillion.
