Economy
Digital Technology Future of Agriculture in Africa–Osinbajo
By Adedapo Adesanya
If Nigeria is to drive for change in agriculture across Africa, then it is time to look at the utilization and application of digital technology, the Vice President of the country, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, has said.
According to Mr Osinbajo, who made this statement on Wednesday at the panel discussion session of the African Green Revolution (AFGR), being held at International Conference Centre, Accra, Ghana, the application of digital technology was the way forward for the continent.
The event, which holds between September 3 – 6 focusing on the theme Grow Digital: Leveraging Digital Transformation to Drive Sustainable Food Systems in Africa” has in attendance former UK Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair; Nigeria’s Vice President; President of Ghana, Mr Nana Akufo-Addo; Prime Minister of Rwanda, Mr Edouard Ngirente; AU Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Josefa Sacko; amongst others.
During the discussions, Mr Osinbajo disclosed that there were many companies in Nigeria that see potentials in agriculture and expressed the willingness of the Nigerian government to support them by keying into the agriculture space.
According to the Vice President, one of the big advantages of technology is collaboration, which is the major future of digital technology.
“What we found is that there is far more collaboration than before and there is far more transparency; you can see practically everything and anyone who is connected one way or the other and people learn faster because of a lot of collaboration.
“People can get online; find out what this company is doing; some companies are linking investors to farmers and it is so easy to find out what they are doing by simply going to their website.
“Some of the Fintech companies are also in that space helping to make payments; helping to do transactions and a lot of them are doing well just by building the space.
“The way it is going; frankly, I can’t see how it will not completely revolutionalise agriculture because practically everywhere that digital technology has touched; it completely revolutionalised.
“And I don’t think we have a choice; what we are going to see is that digital technology will change the face of agriculture in Africa,” he said.
The vice president speaking on ways that the country would utilize digitalization and agriculture said that digital technology was getting easier to manage especially with mobile payments and mobile platforms.
He noted that in Nigeria, there was a vast number of mobile internet participation claiming the country ranked high in terms of using mobile phones despite differences in educational background.
Setting the pace, Mr Osinbajo disclosed that the Nigerian government did a lot of cash transfer payments and payments to the most vulnerable through its alleviation programmes using mobile phones.
“So, I think it is actually getting easier; one of the advantages of digital technology is that if you are a digital native as they call them, you are able to learn faster.
“We are looking at the application of digital technology not just in agriculture but in our society and economy as a whole,’’ he said.
He further added that Nigeria was modernising farming through the application of digital agriculture.
On his part, President Akufo-Addo said that Ghana had modernised significantly in agriculture in recent years and the country was developing the capacity to feed the world via agriculture.
“We are looking at how to take advantage of the markets of the world for our agriculture.
“How to penetrate the markets of the world,’’ he said.
Prime Minister Ngirente of Rwanda, however, identified that many challenges faced the potential agriculture setting noting that scarcity of fertilizer, post-harvest losses among others as confronted agriculture on the continent.
He also added that digitalisation was part of agriculture reforms ongoing in Rwanda.
“Today, everyone who wants to invest in agriculture has internet.
“We have invested heavily in managing climate and we are involving the youths in agriculture and making the sector profitable,’’ he said.
Ms Sacko, on her part, commended the East African countries for doing very well in digital agriculture and called on other countries to strive more in that regard.
The AGRF presents a premier platform for African and global leaders from both the public and private sectors to advance policies, programmes and investments as well as harnessing agriculture in ensuring food security, increasing income and promoting economic development.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated against the United States Dollar for the third straight session by 0.05 per cent or N1.36 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, January 14.
During the second trading day of the week, the exchange rate closed at N1,549.65/$1 in the official market, in contrast to Monday’s closing price of N1,548.89/$1.
The renewed pressure on the Naira occurred as analysts expected the introduction of the electronic matching FX market system, increasing foreign portfolio inflows, greater access to dollar-denominated debt, rising FX reserves, and a positive current account balance to support the domestic currency in 2025.
Investment banking firm, CardinalStone Securities Limited, said the Naira movement, which has contributed about 20.0 per cent – 30.0 per cent to inflation in the last few years, is likely to be relatively stable in 2025.
Also in the spot market, the local currency weakened against the Pound Sterling yesterday by N2.22 to trade at N1,879.64/£1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,877.42/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency lost N7.17 to quote at N1,586.05/€1 versus the N1,578.87/€1 it was traded a day earlier.
However, in the black market, the Naira appreciated against the greenback during the session by N5 to finish at N1,650/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,655/$1.
In the cryptocurrency market, the bulls took charge of reports that US President-elect Donald Trump is preparing first-day executive orders that will benefit the crypto industry. The advance continued today, supported by softer-than-expected US Producer Price Index (PPI) readings for December.
Mr Trump’s expected crypto policies and broader economic plans have brought back positive sentiment among traders — bumping up crypto prices.
Ripple (XRP) added 12.1 per cent to its value to close at $2.84, Cardano jumped by 6.8 per cent to trade at $1.02, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 5.0 per cent to $0.3589, Litecoin (LTC) grew by 3.2 per cent to $101.80, Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 2.2 per cent to $96,866.89, Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 1.5 per cent to $699.45, Solana (SOL) also gained 1.5 per cent to end at $188.57, and Ethereum (ETH) improved by 1.3 per cent to $3,219.28, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude oil went down on Tuesday after a projection showed steady demand in the world’s largest oil producer, the United States, for 2025, Brent futures declining by $1.09 or 1.35 per cent to settle at $79.92 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude losing $1.32 or 1.67 per cent to finish at $77.50 a barrel.
On Tuesday, the US Energy Information Administration said the country’s oil demand would remain steady at 20.5 million barrels per day in 2025 and 2026, with domestic oil output rising to 13.55 million barrels per day, an increase from the agency’s previous forecast of 13.52 million barrels per day for this year.
Also, the oil market shrank a few days after prices gained following new US sanctions on Russian oil exports to India and China.
On Monday, prices jumped 2 per cent after the US Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas as well as 183 vessels that transport oil as part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of tankers.
Analysts say this move could have a significant price impact on Russian oil supplies from the fresh sanctions, however, their effect on the physical market could be less pronounced than what the affected volumes might suggest.
ING analysts estimated the new sanctions had the potential to erase the entire 700,000 barrels per day surplus they had forecast for this year, but said the real impact could be lower.
Uncertainty about demand from China, the world’s largest oil importer, could impact tighter supply this year.
China’s crude oil imports fell in 2024 for the first time in two decades outside of the COVID-19 pandemic, official data showed on Monday.
Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the US fell by 2.6 million barrels for the week ending January 10.
For the week prior, the API reported a draw of 4.022 million barrels in US crude oil inventories amid build season, while product inventories saw a hefty build.
In 2024, crude oil inventories dropped by more than 12 million barrels, according to the API’s inventory data. In the first few weeks of 2025, crude inventories have shed more than 6.6 million barrels.
Official data from the US EIA will be due later on Wednesday, confirming the actual level of stockpiles.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited came under heavy selling pressure on Tuesday, going down by 1.66 per cent as investors embarked on profit-taking after most stocks on the trading platform gained in the past few trading sessions.
It was observed that the industrial goods sector was the most affected yesterday as it went down by 4.99 per cent due to the decline suffered by Dangote Cement and others.
The insurance continued its downward trend during the day as it lost 2.80 per cent, the consumer goods counter fell by 0.27 per cent, and the banking index shed 0.10 per cent, while the energy sector appreciated by 0.29 per cent.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) deflated by 1,745.16 points to settle at 103,622.09 points compared with the previous trading day’s 105,367.25 points and the market capitalisation moderated by N1.1 trillion to finish at N63.188 trillion versus Monday’s N64.252 trillion.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment remained weak on Tuesday after the bourse ended with 41 depreciating equities and 23 appreciating equities, representing a negative market breadth index.
Honeywell Flour lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N9.54, Dangote Cement declined by 9.98 per cent to N431.00, Julius Berger crashed by 9.98 per cent to N139.80, Sovereign Trust Insurance decreased by 9.68 per cent to N1.12, and Prestige Assurance tumbled by 9.30 per cent to N1.17.
On the flip side, Northern Nigerian Flour Mills appreciated by 10.00 per cent to N45.10, Livestock Feeds grew by 9.91 per cent to N6.10, Academy Press expanded by 9.90 per cent to N3.22, University Press increased by 9.82 per cent to N4.81, and Neimeth gained 9.76 per cent to quote at N3.15.
During the session, market participants bought and sold 503.3 million shares valued at N12.6 billion in 12,900 deals compared with the 505.8 million shares worth N8.1 billion traded in 14,259 deals a day earlier, indicating a rise in the trading value by 55.56 per cent and a drop in the trading volume and number of deals by 0.49 per cent and 9.53 per cent, respectively.
The most active stock for the session was GTCO with 54.4 million units worth N3.2 billion, Nigerian Breweries transacted 32.2 million units for N1.0 billion, Universal Insurance traded 30.8 million units valued at N22.6 million, AIICO Insurance exchanged 26.6 million units worth N47.2 million, and Chams transacted 20.0 million units valued at N40.9 million.
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