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
Nigeria has broken up the OPL 245 oil block into four new assets to be operated by Eni and Shell, potentially settling the future of the field at the centre of one of the oil industry’s biggest historic corruption trials.
According to Reuters, the agreement clears the way for the development of OPL 245, one of Nigeria’s biggest deepwater reserves that has remained untapped for almost three decades amid overlapping lawsuits in multiple countries.
The final contracts are expected to be signed starting Monday, the report said, citing a source familiar with the situation.
The Nigerian government had signalled for years that it was keen to find a solution that would bring the block into production. The source wished to remain anonymous as they are not authorised to comment on government policy before an official announcement.
Located in the Niger Delta’s deepwaters, the field has languished since its initial award in 1998 to Malabu Oil and Gas, a shadowy firm controlled by Mr Dan Etete, Nigeria’s oil minister at the time. The block is estimated to hold up to 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent in reserves—enough to rival Nigeria’s entire proven reserves if fully developed.
Mr Etete controversially awarded the lucrative licence to his own company for a nominal $20 million fee, sparking immediate controversy over conflicts of interest.
The saga escalated in 2011 when Malabu sold its rights to a Shell-Eni joint venture for $1.3 billion.
Italian and Nigerian prosecutors alleged that over $1 billion of that sum was siphoned off through bribes to politicians, middlemen, and Mr Etete himself, including hefty payments to then-President Goodluck Jonathan’s associates.
The two European energy giants and some of their former and current executives, including Eni CEO, Mr Claudio Descalzi, faced trial in Italy but all were acquitted in 2021, having denied all wrongdoing.
Shell and Eni have consistently denied wrongdoing, insisting the payments complied with due diligence.
The anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has pursued parallel probes, recovering over $200 million in frozen funds, but progress stalled amid political shifts.
Operations at the Nigerian oil block have been halted for more than a decade by a series of trials and competing legal claims.
In 2023, the federal government withdrew civil claims totalling $1.1 billion against Eni, ending the long battle.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, has been increased by at least N100 per litre at the pump.
This followed the recent increase in the price of crude oil in the global market as a result of the bombardment of Iran by the United States and Israel over the weekend.
The air strikes killed the Supreme Leader of Iran, Mr Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several others.
Iran has responded by firing missiles at US facilities in some Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, and others.
Crude oil prices rose to about $80 per barrel on the market from about $70 per barrel before the Middle East crisis.
Oil marketers in Nigeria have responded to the tension and have raised the prices of petroleum products.
At most MRS Oil retail stations in Lagos, the new price notice showed an increase of about N100 per litre.
As of Monday, the price of PMS was N837 per litre, but on Tuesday morning, it had changed to N938 per litre, while at NNPC retail stations, it was N930 per litre instead of the previous N830 per litre.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange remained in the positive territory on Monday after it closed higher by 1.41 per cent at the close of business.
During the session, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) added 57.66 points to close at 4,141.53 points compared with last Friday’s 4,083.87 points, and the market capitalisation added N44.50 billion to settle at N2.477 trillion versus the preceding session’s N2.433 trillion.
Yesterday, the volume of securities went down by 60.7 per cent to 1.8 million units from 4.5 million units, the value of securities decreased by 79.3 per cent to N17.1 million from N82.5 million, and the number of deals dropped 38.6 per cent to finish at 27 deals compared to the preceding session’s 44 deals.
Closing the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis was with Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 35.1 million units exchanged for N2.1 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 6.3 million units traded for N1.1 billion, and Geo-Fluids Plc with the sale of 122.8 million units valued at N480.4 million.
On the flip side, the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was Resourcery Plc with 1.05 billion units sold for N408.7 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 122.8 million units valued at N480.4 million, and CSCS Plc with 35.1 million units worth N2.1 billion.
On the first trading day of the week, there were three price gainers and three price losers led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which lost N1.46 to quote at N110.00 per share versus the previous N111.46 per share, Afriland Properties Plc tumbled by 14 Kobo to close at N18.74 per unit versus N18.88 per unit, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) depreciated by 5 Kobo to close at 45 Kobo per share versus 50 Kobo per share.
The price gainers were led by MRS Oil Plc, which added N10.00 to trade at N210.00 per unit versus N200.00 per unit, CSCS Plc appreciated by N6.88 to N77.00 per share from N70.12 per share, and First Trust Mortgage Bank Plc gained 16 Kobo to close at N1.75 per unit versus N1.59 per unit.
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