FG owes fertiliser suppliers N42bn, says Ogbeh

 Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, yesterday, said the Federal Government owed fertiliser suppliers about N42 billion.
Ogbeh, who made the disclosure at an interactive meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Rural Development, blamed the huge debt profile on the failure of states to meet their 25 per cent counterpart funding for fertiliser subsidy scheme.
This is just as the House has called on the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to ensure that cocoa and other products meant for export are properly processed to meet regulatory requirements and global standards.
The resolution of the House followed the adoption of a motion entitled “Need to Standardise Cocoa and other Agricultural Products Meant for Export” sponsored by Mayowa Akinfolarin.
The lawmaker noted that in the past, no agricultural commodity surpassed cocoa in terms of earnings of foreign exchange.
He regretted that for some time, cocoa processing companies have been  burdened with different challenges.
He identified the challenges cocoa farmers confront to include high cost of production, unpredictable and fluctuating prices of raw cocoa beans, lack of funds and non-standardised cocoa products.
While noting that the cocoa sub-sector still offers huge employment opportunities, directly and indirectly, the lawmaker urged that NAFDAC immediately deals with issue of standardisation in order to stop the slide in export.
“It is of concern that cocoa and other agricultural products are exported without testing, which leads to the products being returned or destroyed when they are tested abroad and found below global standard” Akinfolarin said.

China joins Nigeria to fight Boko Haram

From Ikenna Emewu, Abuja

The fight against Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria got a pep yesterday with a promise by the government of China to align with Nigeria.
Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Gu Xiaojie gave the assurance yesterday in Abuja, noting that the Chinese government is ready to partner in the fight against insurgency.
Xiaojie gave the assurance when he visited the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin in his office at the Defence headquarters, Abuja.
He expressed his government’s confidence in the Armed Forces in the fight against insurgency, most especially, at restoring peace and security to troubled areas. He also solicited stronger ties in the exchanges between the two armed forces in intelligence gathering and sharing as well as training.
The assurance was received with joy as Olonisakin expressed his appreciation to the Chinese government for the hands of fellowship extended to Nigerian military at this crucial time at ensuring that the needful is done to counter insurgency accross the nation.
In a related development, the Acting Sierra Leone High Commissioner to Nigeria, Major General Alfred Claude Nelson-Williams (rtd) paid a courtesy call on the Chief of Defence Staff where he lauded the Nigerian Armed Forces for their resilience and indomitable courage at defending the Nation, especially in bringing peace and security to not only Nigeria but to the West African Sub-region.
The High commissioner stated that the purpose of the visit was to appreciate the great role the Nigerian Armed Forces played at bringing peace to Sierra Leone during it’s civil war and the training of Sierra Leone military officers at the National defence College and Command and Staff College, Jaji.