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
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has defended its decision to allow Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) to invest in the parent companies of their custodians, insisting that adequate safeguards are in place to protect contributors’ funds.
The director-general of the pension regulator, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, speaking on Tuesday during the Meet the Press Briefing at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the commission’s decision to relax the investment restriction followed a comprehensive risk assessment that found minimal conflict of interest.
She explained that under PenCom’s investment regulations, PFAs are only permitted to invest pension assets in carefully selected instruments that meet stringent criteria, including profitability, strong credit ratings and proven track records.
According to her, the commission regularly reviews its investment regulations, conducts routine examinations and spot checks on PFAs to ensure strict compliance with established risk management guidelines.
“PFAs cannot just go into the stock market and buy any kind of stock. There are strict guidelines. Companies must demonstrate profitability, have a proven track record and satisfy other criteria before pension funds can invest,” she said.
Ms Oloworaran noted that each PFA also operates under the oversight of a board, an investment committee and a risk management committee, providing additional layers of governance to safeguard contributors’ funds.
She said PenCom recently issued a circular allowing PFAs to invest in the parent companies of their custodians after determining that the potential conflict of interest was negligible.
The PenCom boss explained that the parent companies involved are largely Tier-1 banks, including First Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Zenith Bank, which she described as A-rated institutions with strong financial foundations.
She said the policy was intended to widen investment opportunities for pension funds without compromising safety.
Using Stanbic IBTC as an example, Ms Oloworaran explained that if its custodian is Zenith Bank, the previous restriction prevented the pension administrator from investing in Zenith Bank shares despite the bank’s strong performance.
“We reviewed the risks and any potential conflict of interest and found the risks to be very low. That is why we opened that investment window,” she said.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Analysts at Meristem Research have predicted that the inflation rate for June 2026 in Nigeria should marginally rise to 15.95 per cent on a year-on-year basis from the 15.93 per cent reported in May 2026.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is expected to release inflation numbers for last month later today, Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
In its report sighted by Business Post, Meristem Research said it expects inflationary pressures to re-emerge across key economies in the near term, as the re-escalation of the US-Iran conflict has reignited upward pressure on global oil prices.
It disclosed that this marks a sharp reversal from most of June, when the ceasefire between the two countries helped drive oil prices lower, raising expectations of some relief on the inflation front.
With conflicts now flaring up again, oil prices are likely to increase again, and the anticipated easing in energy-driven inflation may not materialise as broadly as earlier envisaged.
“Nonetheless, some relief is likely from the food segment, where robust supply conditions across major producing regions and softening demand should continue to ease food price pressures,” it stated.
The team also explained that it projected a 15.95 per cent inflation rate because of the lingering effects of persistent food price pressures.
“However, we expect core inflation to moderate as the sharp reversal in energy prices begins to filter through to transportation, distribution, and other energy-related costs, easing underlying price pressures.
“On a month-on-month basis, the combined effect of lower petrol prices, a relatively stable Naira, and the gradual pass-through of reduced energy costs across the supply chain should exert further downward pressure on inflation.
“Based on our assessment, food inflation is expected to remain the key swing factor, as seasonal pre-harvest supply constraints are likely to offset some of the gains from lower logistics costs,” it said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and Afriland Properties Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.61 per cent on Tuesday, July 14.
CSCS Plc saw its stock value drop N9.08 to close at N82.40 per share compared with the preceding session’s N91.48 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc slid by 17 Kobo to sell at N15.00 per unit versus N15.70 per unit.
The losses recorded by the two securities pulled back the market capitalisation by N41.64 billion to N2.546 trillion from N2.587 trillion, and cracked the NASD Security Index (NSI) by 69.36 points to 4,242.31 points from 4,311.67 points.
It was observed that the exchange witnessed two price advancers during the session, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which gained N1.37 to end at N151.37 per share compared with the previous day’s N150.00 per share, and Food Concepts Plc chalked up 5 Kobo to settle at N2.50 per unit versus N2.45 per unit.
The volume of securities traded by market participants surged by 50.7 per cent to 13.7 million units from the previous 9.1 million units, while the value of securities went down by 79.7 per cent to N65.2 million from N320.4 million, and the number of deals crashed by 3.6 per cent to 27 deals from the previous session’s 28 deals.
At the close of transactions, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with the sale of 3.4 billion units for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc, which exchanged 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units transacted for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the trading day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
