Economy

Nigeria Eyes 500,000 Hectares of Irrigated Farmland by 2030

Published

6 years ago

26/01/2020

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, has charged the top management of the ministry and its agencies to re-double their efforts towards contributing to the realisation of the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.

The Minister said one of the ways of achieving this was to key into federal government’s plan of diversifying the economy to guarantee food security and create employment opportunities for the citizens. He said the Ministry has initiated National Irrigation Development Programme which is aimed at establishing 100,000 hectares of irrigated farm land by the year 2020 and 500,000 hectares by 2030, adding that additional 1,000,000 hectares of irrigable land are to be developed by the Private Sector and state governments within the same period.

The Minister also challenged the top management of his ministry, heads of agencies and parastatals under his ministry to ensure that these targets are met, stressing his desire to accomplish some priority deliverables within 2019–2023, including to complete all priority ongoing dams and irrigation projects, finalise and implement the flood management master plan for River Niger and River Benue, aggressively implement the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Programme and achieve Open Defecation-free Nigeria by 2025, actively collaborate with private sector to create a large number of well – paying jobs for Nigerian Youths and Support the implementation of Water Management and Water Settlement Projects in the National Livestock Transportation Plan (NLTP).

Mr Adamu, who spoke at a retreat for Directors, Deputy Directors in the ministry, Executive Directors of agencies, and the Managing Directors of the River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) under his watch on Thursday, January 23, 2020 in Ibom Hotel & Golf resort Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, declared that, “It is therefore imperative that this retreat discusses and proffers feasible contributions and strategies of the Water Sector towards achieving Mr President’s desire of reducing poverty in Nigeria.”

Going down memory lane, back in 2015 when the last retreat was held to fashion out Water Resources road map 2016 -2030, the Minister said the roadmap was configured into immediate and long-term strategies for the water sector.

According to him, outcome of the 2015 retreat as approved by President Muhammadu Buhari in June 2016 sharpened and guided most of its ministry’s activities in his first tenure in office, adding that the 2015 retreat was aimed at strengthening the weakness in the delivery of the ministry’s mandate and to develop a strategy that will enable sustainable positive impact in the water sector within a short period, based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework.

The roadmap includes, among others – conclusion of Draft National Water Policy, National Irrigation and Drainage Policy and National Water Policy Bills; Organizational and Manpower Review of the Ministry towards repositioning it for enhanced service delivery; Identification of Dams with Hydro Power potential for Development; Developing and implementation of a National Irrigation Development Programme; and Developing and implementing a National Water Supply and Sanitation programme to attain the SDGs to mention but a few.

In addition, Mr Adamu stated that pursuant to the roadmap, the ministry was able to record some achievements within the available resources, such as approvals through the Federal Executive Council of National Water Resources Bill, National Water Resources Policy and National Irrigation and Drainage Policy.

He stated that pursuant to the roadmap, also two departments were restructured which are now known as Department of River Basin Operations Inspectorate, headed by a Director with water resources management background; and Department of Planning Research and Statistics, which is known as Department of Water Resources Planning and Technical Support Services (WRPTSS) which is headed by a Director with engineering background.

In addition, he said he undertook technical audit of the inherited 116 major uncompleted and abandoned projects for prioritisation and completion, where it was discovered that irrigation and drainage had 38, dams had 37, while water supply had 41 uncompleted projects.

However, the Minister said substantial resources were deployed towards their completion and commissioning, noting that so far, the ministry has completed and commissioned 13 water supply projects and nine dams which were initiated and completed, and are ready for commissioning, with many irrigation projects billed to be completed between now and 2021.

Economy

FrieslandCampina Wamco, MRS Oil Buoy NASD Exchange by 0.91%

Published

2 hours ago

04/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its gains by 0.91 per cent on Wednesday, June 3, spurred by three price gainers led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which rose by N13.90 to sell N210.41 per share versus the previous day’s N196.51 per share. MRS Oil appreciated by N10 to N190.00 per unit from N180.00 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc added 5 Kobo to sell at N3.00 per share versus N2.95 per share.

As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N23.91 billion to N2.660 trillion from N2.636 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 39.97 points to finish at 4,446.27 points, in contrast to Tuesday’s 4,406.30 points.

The NASD exchange witnessed three price losers at midweek, led by Nipco Plc, which shrank by N21.30 to close at N325.97 per unit compared with the previous session’s N347.27 per unit, Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc went down by N1.20 to quote at N24.30 per share versus the preceding session’s N25.50 per share, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc weakened to by 69 Kobo to N75.41 per unit from N76.10 per unit.

The volume of trades yesterday significantly improved by 71.5 per cent to 527,221 units from Tuesday’s 307,363 units, as the value of transactions soared by 49.9 per cent to N64.2 million from the preceding session’s N49.9 million, and the number of deals surged by 9.5 per cent to 46 deals from 42 deals.

When trading activities ended for the day, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.6 million units exchanged for N4.4 billion.

GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units sold for 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 transacted for N415.7 million.

Economy

Naira Continues Positive Run, Official Market Rate Now N1,357/$1

Published

3 hours ago

04/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The positive run of the Naira against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) continued on Wednesday, June 3, with the former chalking up N3.79 or 0.28 per cent against the latter, closing at N1,357.26, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,361.05/$1.

Similarly, the Nigerian currency gained N10.52 against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session to close at N1,822.67/£1 compared with the previous rate of N1,833.19/£1, and appreciated against the Euro by N9.56 to N1,574.83/€1 from N1,584.39/€1.

Further, at the black market, the Naira improved its value against the greenback at midweek by N5 to trade at N1,375/$1 compared with the N1,380/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and at the GTBank FX counter, it gained N6 to sell for N1,372/$1 versus N1,378/$1.

The boost came as the country’s external reserves continued to gain momentum. A look at the updated data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that foreign reserves continue to increase with two consecutive inflows in June 2026, settling at $49.876 billion as of Tuesday.

Foreign portfolio investors, exporters and non-bank corporates continue to keep the supply side strong, with the less aggressive FX interventions by the CBN at the official window in recent times helping to ease worries about capital flight.

The apex bank reported that interbank FX turnover declined to $133.731 million across 136 deals, from $169.822 million the previous day.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market remained bearish due to sell-offs triggered by geopolitical uncertainties and the US stock market rally.

Cardano (ADA) dipped by 5.5 per cent to $0.2046, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 4.8 per cent to $627.56, Solana (SOL) shrank by 3.9 per cent to $72.99, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 2.9 per cent to $1,844.53, and Bitcoin (BTC) slipped by 2.7 per cent to $65,675.87.

Further, Dogecoin (DOGE) depleted by 1.4 per cent to $0.0928, Ripple (XRP) declined by 0.7 per cent to $1.21, and TRON (TRX) lost 0.4 per cent to sell at $0.3336, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) gained 0.01 each to settle at $0.9986 and $0.9997, respectively.

Economy

Customs Street Bleeds 1.44% as Lafarge Africa Leads Losers’ Chart

Published

4 hours ago

04/06/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

Nigeria’s stock market further depleted by 1.44 per cent on Wednesday following panic sell-offs by investors, who are cutting down their exposure to local equities.

Business Post observed that profit-taking dominated Customs Street at midweek, with all the key sectors of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited closing in red.

The insurance space shed 2.76 per cent, the industrial goods index lost 1.55 per cent, the banking counter declined by 1.53 per cent, the consumer goods segment shrank by 0.28 per cent, and the energy sector weakened by 0.05 per cent.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) contracted by 3,554.05 points to 243,132.61 points from 246,686.66 points, and the market capitalisation moderated by N2.279 trillion to N155.940 trillion from N158.219 trillion.

Lafarge Africa led the losers’ chart yesterday after it gave up 9.97 per cent to trade at N307.90, Zichis lost 9.82 per cent to close at N29.20, Learn Africa depreciated by 9.80 per cent to N11.50, John Holt crashed by 9.80 per cent to N13.80, and Consolidated Hallmark dipped by 8.84 per cent to N6.19.

On the flip side, Abbey Mortgage Bank topped the gainers’ log after it grew by 9.93 per cent to N7.75, International Energy Insurance appreciated by 9.89 per cent to N6.00, Tripple G gained 9.80 per cent to sell for N4.37, Universal Insurance expanded by 8.91 per cent to N1.10, and Royal Exchange improved by 7.14 per cent to N1.50.

A total of 17 stocks gained weight yesterday, while 43 stocks lost weight, indicating a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment. This has been the mood of the market since the beginning of this week.

Market participants transacted 923.0 million shares worth N42.3 billion in 69,332 deals on Wednesday, in contrast to the 718.8 million shares valued at N29.3 billion traded in 71,683 deals on Tuesday, representing a drop in the number of deals by 3.28 per cent, and a rise in the trading volume and value by 28.41 per cent and 44.37 per cent, respectively.

Sterling Holdings led the activity chart with 264.6 million units valued at N2.1 billion, Access Holdings traded 76.7 million units worth N1.8 billion, Linkage Assurance exchanged 55.1 million units for N99.2 million, VFD Group sold 35.5 million units worth N378.8 million, and Ellah Lakes transacted 33.1 million units valued at N334.3 million.