Indications have emerged that the ban on exportation of beans produce to the European Union countries, EU, imposed on Nigeria by the European Food Safety Authority, will be lifted by June this year.
The development came weekend following the visit of a EU / Dutch team to the Central Laboratory of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, in Lagos.
The team was in the country to inspect the procedures of the regulatory agency to ensure that future export of beans and other agricultural produce from Nigeria meet the standards of importing countries.
The European Food Safety Authority had in mid-2015 banned some agricultural produce which included beans from Nigeria, citing that the rejected beans were found to contain between 0.03mg per kilogramme to 4.6mg/kg of dichlorvos pesticide, when the acceptable maximum residue limit is 0.01mg/kg.
Speaking during the visit, the Acting Director General, NAFDAC, Mrs. Yetunde Oni noted that the ban has no doubt resulted in a huge economic loss to Nigeria; although she insisted that the beans which resulted in the ban were smuggled out of the country and did not pass through her agency.
“The ban was placed about a year ago due to high insecticide residue in beans but let me sound a note of caution here that the beans that were rejected never passed through NAFDAC, they were beans produce smuggled out of the country.
“The ban has brought about a huge economic loss in the sense that Nigeria has large expanse of land, we have a lot of farmers that produce beans and the beans are not able to go out.”
She reiterated that agricultural produce that passes through the agency never gets rejected because of the rigorous process it goes through before certification.
Vanguard
Monday, March 21, 2016
Friday, March 18, 2016
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Nigeria is the 6th happiest country in Africa
Nigerians have been ranked as the 103 happiest people in the world.
According to World Happiness Report, Nigerians are also the 6th happiest people in Africa.
The World Happiness Report 2016 update, which ranks 157 countries by their happiness levels, was released in Rome on Wednesday, in advance of UN World Happiness Day, March 20th.
The latest release shows that Nigeria dropped from its 78th position in the World and 2nd in Africa in the 2015 happiness ranking.
Denmark emerged the world’s happiest place, while Algeria, standing at 38 at the global level, maintains its position as the happiest place in Africa.
Mauritius is now the second happiest country in Africa, followed by Libya, Morocco and Tunisia respectively.
According to the report, eight sub-Saharan countries were among the 10 least happy places on earth to live.
The bottom 10 were; Madagascar, Tanzania, Liberia, Guinea, Rwanda, Benin, Afghanistan, Togo, Syria and Burundi.
South Africa and Ghana stood at 116 and 124 respectively on the Global happiness ranking.
Daily Post
According to World Happiness Report, Nigerians are also the 6th happiest people in Africa.
The World Happiness Report 2016 update, which ranks 157 countries by their happiness levels, was released in Rome on Wednesday, in advance of UN World Happiness Day, March 20th.
The latest release shows that Nigeria dropped from its 78th position in the World and 2nd in Africa in the 2015 happiness ranking.
Denmark emerged the world’s happiest place, while Algeria, standing at 38 at the global level, maintains its position as the happiest place in Africa.
Mauritius is now the second happiest country in Africa, followed by Libya, Morocco and Tunisia respectively.
According to the report, eight sub-Saharan countries were among the 10 least happy places on earth to live.
The bottom 10 were; Madagascar, Tanzania, Liberia, Guinea, Rwanda, Benin, Afghanistan, Togo, Syria and Burundi.
South Africa and Ghana stood at 116 and 124 respectively on the Global happiness ranking.
Daily Post
Aliko Dangote bids to acquire majority stake in Peugeot Nigeria
Nasir El-Rufai, the Governor of Nigeria’s Kaduna state, told journalists on Thursday that Dangote is a key member of a consortium that has applied to acquire the majority stake in the company which is currently owned by Nigeria’s state-backed “bad bank”, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
The consortium is made up of Aliko Dangote, Kaduna and Kebbi states, as well as the Bank of Industry (BoI).
“We have submitted bids for the car-maker with Aliko Dangote on board together with BoI, Kebbi and Kaduna State, we are confident our bid will sail through,” El-Rufai told a conference, without providing further details.
Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria Ltd. (PAN), a joint venture between the Nigerian government and the French automaker, was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Kaduna, Nigeria. The company manufactures and markets motor vehicles under the brand name Peugeot. Some of its popular models include the passenger cars 206, 306,307, 406, 607 and Partner, among others.
In the 1980s, PAN was producing 90,000 cars annually and was profitable. But before long, cheap, second-hand vehicles imported from Asia and poor manufacturing infrastructure impeded the company’s profits. The Nigerian government subsequently sold off its controlling stake in the company in 2006 to local core investors. The new investors struggled to keep PAN afloat and accumulated bad loans in the process. In 2012 AMCON acquired a controlling stake in the company and took over the company’s debt. But even AMCON has struggled with the company ever since.
In January AMCON announced it was looking to sell its stake in the company and invited bids from investors. AMCON currently owns a 79.3% interest in PAN.
Forbes
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Nigerian Sports Commision to be dissolved
The Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, has confirmed that the Nigerian Sports Commission (NSC), formed in 1971 as think-tank for the growth of sports in Nigeria was henceforth dissolved or simply merged with the Ministry of Sports.
The major gap in the dissolution of boards or committees in Nigeria is that it is sometimes done because of political or sectional interests and not to enhance the efficiency of the body.
In the beginning, the NSC was formed to “develop Sports Sector to a World Class Level, while “providing improvement in the quality of life for the entire citizenry”.
If we grade the establishment based on the above founding target, then by all means and purposes, the agency should be scrapped!
Mr. Dalung said, “Sports is a veritable tool for national development, it is a determinant in foreign policy and a determinant in tourism therefore should be properly harnessed to project the country in good light”.
From the above statement, it must mean that the NSC was not performing the task for which it was set up.
Sadiq Abdullahi, a former Davis Cup player for Nigeria, said Mr. Dalung had finally done what should have been done years before. “For me, this is a welcome decision that is long overdue. It is a decision that may well put Nigeria back on the right path to glory.
“Dalung seems to suggest that he has found the political will, courage and determination to finally do what is right for sports.
“The nation has experienced failure in sports for the last 30 years and the time has come uproot and begin afresh.”
“In order for ten people to have an amazing prowess, you have to have one hundred practicing intensely and one thousand just participating in the sport culture,” Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games said.
“In order to sell millions of T-shirts and basketball shoes, you have to have tens of millions of people playing sports and attributing to it a positive image,” could be added by today’s sporting good industry,” added Professor Jean-Loup Chappelet of the IDHEAP Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration.
What has happened in Nigeria is that we have not been able to get ‘one thousand just participating in the sport’ from which we would be able to pick a credible 10.
The NSC failed to provide the environment to have these ‘1000’ participate in competition against themselves thereby limiting the pool from which likely elite athletes could be discovered and groomed.
With the dissolution, the sports ministry must “be structured and organized to meet global best practices and best standards,” Mr. Abdullahi added.
“The organizational structure must be consistent with the private organizational structure if a business model is intended.
“To restore hope and confidence, the ministry would have to modify its institutional structure and operational processes in order to prevent corruption and fraud.
“This is consistent with global best practices in accountability, transparency and ethical governance.”
A word surely should be enough for those who want to give sports a lift in Nigeria.
Premium Times
The major gap in the dissolution of boards or committees in Nigeria is that it is sometimes done because of political or sectional interests and not to enhance the efficiency of the body.
In the beginning, the NSC was formed to “develop Sports Sector to a World Class Level, while “providing improvement in the quality of life for the entire citizenry”.
If we grade the establishment based on the above founding target, then by all means and purposes, the agency should be scrapped!
Mr. Dalung said, “Sports is a veritable tool for national development, it is a determinant in foreign policy and a determinant in tourism therefore should be properly harnessed to project the country in good light”.
From the above statement, it must mean that the NSC was not performing the task for which it was set up.
Sadiq Abdullahi, a former Davis Cup player for Nigeria, said Mr. Dalung had finally done what should have been done years before. “For me, this is a welcome decision that is long overdue. It is a decision that may well put Nigeria back on the right path to glory.
“Dalung seems to suggest that he has found the political will, courage and determination to finally do what is right for sports.
“The nation has experienced failure in sports for the last 30 years and the time has come uproot and begin afresh.”
“In order for ten people to have an amazing prowess, you have to have one hundred practicing intensely and one thousand just participating in the sport culture,” Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games said.
“In order to sell millions of T-shirts and basketball shoes, you have to have tens of millions of people playing sports and attributing to it a positive image,” could be added by today’s sporting good industry,” added Professor Jean-Loup Chappelet of the IDHEAP Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration.
What has happened in Nigeria is that we have not been able to get ‘one thousand just participating in the sport’ from which we would be able to pick a credible 10.
The NSC failed to provide the environment to have these ‘1000’ participate in competition against themselves thereby limiting the pool from which likely elite athletes could be discovered and groomed.
With the dissolution, the sports ministry must “be structured and organized to meet global best practices and best standards,” Mr. Abdullahi added.
“The organizational structure must be consistent with the private organizational structure if a business model is intended.
“To restore hope and confidence, the ministry would have to modify its institutional structure and operational processes in order to prevent corruption and fraud.
“This is consistent with global best practices in accountability, transparency and ethical governance.”
A word surely should be enough for those who want to give sports a lift in Nigeria.
Premium Times
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