Video - Nigeria's increased GDP contradicts lack of improved standard of living

Economists say that currently, the reference points used for Nigeria's economic statistics are outdated and no longer useful for any proper analysis. As CCTV's Deji Badmus reports from Lagos, despite the high GDP figures some expect, there is a lot that needs to be done to improve living standards for ordinary citizens.

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Video report on growing middle in Nigeria

Nigerian minister Akinwumi Adesina wins Forbes Africa's person of the year award

Nigeria's Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, was awarded the prestigious Forbes Africa Person of the Year defeating four other prestigious nominees for this continent wide prize.

"I am truly honoured and humbled by this prestigious award but the candidates who really deserve to be here on this platform with me tonight are much worthier than us all – and these are the new cadre of young, business guru's across Africa who have discovered the hidden gem for sustainable wealth creation on our continent - Agriculture," said Adesina.
"They too should be celebrated for acting on their conviction that with dwindling oil fortunes, and with the end of the telecoms boom, the next big investment thesis has to be
the need to feed Africa's fast growing population."

Adesina who was nominated for his bold reforms in Nigeria's agriculture sector has empowered more than six million farmers across Nigeria, mostly women, to embrace
agriculture and make a living from it. A passionate defender of African farmers, Adesina is relentless in unlocking opportunities for farmers and changing Africa's narrative on
agriculture to wealth creation, away from poverty reduction.

Within two years of his taking office, Adesina turned agriculture away from being a development program into a business activity generating wealth for millions of farmers.
"I am not a billionaire or millionaire, and I don't want to be either," he said. "My satisfaction is using agricultural business and finance innovations to turn Nigerian and African farmers and agribusinesses into millionaires and billionaires. Indeed, with the likes of men like Aliko Dangote, Africa's richest man, going back to the farm too, it is no surprise that this is happening. Who wouldn't want to be a billionaire?"

His Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) ended four decades of corruption in the fertilizer sector, eliminating the middlemen and scaling up food production to nine million metric tonnes in the first year -almost half of the 2015 production target. To further enhance this process, he introduced an Electronic Wallet System which allows smallholder farmers to receive electronic vouchers for subsidized seeds and fertilizers directly on their mobile phones and enable them to pay for farm inputs from private sector agricultural input dealers.

The system has reached over 6 million farmers and enhanced food security for 30 million persons in rural farm households especially women farmers - who never got fertilizers and seeds for decades under the old government system - now having better yielding fields with subsidized farm inputs received on their mobile phones. Chairperson of Nigerian Women Farmers Association Mrs Lizzy Igbine, said of the Minister "We have never seen any Minister who works so hard to improve our lives. He has returned dignity to us as farmers".

With the success of the electronic wallet system, Nigeria has become the first country in Africa to reach farmers with subsidized farm inputs through their mobile phones. The impact is already being noticed beyond Nigeria with several African countries, Brazil, India and China now expressing interest in adopting the electronic wallet system in their agriculture sectors.

Adesina has championed African agriculture for over two decades, defending the poor and helping several African countries to develop innovative solutions for reaching millions of farmers with finance, farm inputs and supportive policies.

His reform in the agricultural sector has provided job opportunities for Nigeria's teeming youth population, creating over two million new seasonal farm and non-farm jobs, half way to meeting the 3.5million target in 2015.

In recognition of Nigeria's reforms and progress, global and domestic investors have signed over USD 4 billion of executed letters of investments to boost Nigeria's agriculture. The World Bank, African Development Bank and other global development finance institutions have put up over USD 2 billion in support of his bold initiatives.

"Adesina has totally revolutionized agriculture into a business, and banks and private investors are all moving to the agriculture sector. He has made agriculture very exciting,
turning it into Nigeria's new oil" said Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings.

Often referred to as 'Africa's leading development entrepreneur', he was appointed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon as one of the 19 global leaders, along with Bill Gates, to help the world to achieve the Millennium Goals. Bill Gates, who sits on the Eminent Persons Group that advises on Nigeria's agriculture, called Adesina's policies and reforms of agriculture "extraordinary".

Sharing his vision for a food secured continent, Adesina said he dreams of a future where Africa's vast savannas are revived with crops, where large commercial and smallholder farmers co-exist and both prosper. Where rail, road and port systems are improved. Where open international markets enable more food to move from places of surplus to places of need.Where rising incomes bring millions of farmers into Africa's emerging middle class.

"I know the roadmap toward that vision for Africa is challenging but we are already seeing progress and we now have the confidence to achieve even greater results. For agriculture was Africa's past and in agriculture - as a business - lies Africa's greater future," he added.

All Africa

Nigeria's Vincent Enyeama in spectacular form

Vincent Enyeama stayed in top form to help 10-man Lille win 1-0 away at Valenciennes on Saturday after Franck Beria was sent off.

The Nigerian has now gone 945 minutes without conceding a goal as Lille have not lost in 10 matches. He is closing in on the Ligue 1 record of 1,176 minutes held by Gaetan Huard during the 1992-93 season with Bordeaux.

He was voted the best player in the French top flight for the month of October.

Substitute Ronny Rodelin scored the only goal for Lille in the 47th minute.

"It wasn't easy, I think we went through every type of emotion," Lille coach Rene Girard told media.

"Ten matches in a row without conceding a goal, that's a first in my career," added Girard.

"It shows the character of this team."

Lille are in the top three behind Monaco and PSG.

Vanguard

Video - Military extends state of emergency in Northern Nigeria

Nigeria has declared a six-month extension of the state of emergency in areas where troops are fighting members of the armed group Boko Haram. Residents in those regions are furious over the extension.

French hostage Francic Collomp recounts his escape from Nigerian kidnappers

A French engineer kidnapped by Islamist militants in northern Nigeria has told the BBC how he managed to escape two weeks ago.

Francis Collomp, 63, said he had studied the daily routine of his captors, and locked one in a bathroom as he was preparing to pray.

He said he then flagged down a motorcycle taxi and asked the driver to take him to a police station.

Mr Collomp was seized by the Ansaru group while working on a power project.

He was kidnapped on 19 December last year by armed men who attacked the residence of his employer, the French wind turbine manufacturer Vergnet, in the north Nigerian state of Katsina.

Ansaru, a militant group linked to the Islamist Boko Haram movement, said it had carried out the abduction.

'I learned Hausa'
Speaking to the BBC World Service Newsday programme, Mr Collomp said his chance to escape came when he was transferred to Zaria city in Kaduna state.

"The big difference is that in this new villa there was not only myself but also a small bathroom. One of my captors was also using the same bathroom every day for his prayers. So he would come and after a while I was just taking record, taking notice of all his moves, his times, his routines. And I decided the best opportunity would be at the evening prayers. And one night he just forgot to close the door. He started washing in preparation for his prayers. I managed to grab the keys there.

"I took my bag, I locked my captor inside as he was washing. And just to cover the noise of the keys I coughed two times while I was locking him in this small bathroom. And then, because there's this other door leading to the rest of the villa and then to the terrace, I escaped that way. I went to the streets, I ran for 400, 500 metres, got to the road, and then on the road I tried to calm down and to walk slowly, not to attract attention. And finally, because I spoke a few words in Hausa, I grabbed a motor taxi. And I said 'baraawoo, baraawoo' (which) in Hausa means thief, and I asked this guy to take me to the police.

"I said to them: 'Look, I was kept by Ansaru people. They could come any time to this place and kill us all so you'd better take some steps.' And then higher commanders came. They brought in reinforcements. Then I was taken away, eventually to Kaduna. And for the first time I could sleep on a proper mattress and have a proper shower."

Mr Collomp said he was seized in a "very violent attack".

"The attackers used heavy weapons. I heard four shots of a Kalashnikov, probably the four shots that killed the policeman and my security guard. I shut down the electricity, I tried to hide. They were wearing military uniforms. For some time I thought it might have been the army. Then I realised it was not... They let me guide them out of the villa but then they took me in a car. I was sandwiched between two men and they covered my face with a big, supermarket plastic bag. And I estimate they took me for about 60km. They took me to Kano."

He said he had learned the identity of his captors when he was asked to record a video message, using a script in which the name of Ansaru was stated.

Mr Collomp was watched in turn by up to 25 men, and only allowed to go to the toilet once a day, using a plastic bucket. But he said he was not treated violently, and that the pain was more psychological than physical.

Anniversary message
"But I have to say I had a serious health problem, intestinal problems. I asked my captors to bring me medication, which they did, which of course makes me think that they wanted me to stay alive."

During his time in captivity, Mr Collomp was allowed to listen to radio services such as Radio France Internationale, which were broadcast in French and Hausa, allowing him to pick up a knowledge of the language spoken by his many of captors.

"I managed to communicate and write a few words of Hausa now and then, which was a big surprise to my captors when they realised that."

He used various methods to keep up his fitness and morale.

"I wanted to stay fit, so I used to walk inside the cell, and to run inside the cell, about 15 kilometres a day. And also I had to keep my mind afloat. And to do that, I was thinking about my engineering projects. I was working on how to improve electric batteries for electric cars."

Mr Collomp said he was left distressed by a message broadcast on Radio France Internationale by his wife on the occasion of their wedding anniversary.

He determined to escape after being told by his kidnappers that negotiations involving his possible release had failed. But, half in jest, he said that one of the other sparks that encouraged him to seek a way out was the food he had to endure during nearly a year in captivity.

"The food was so appalling in that place, because it was either rice or pasta. Sometimes they would mix the two together so it was so awful that I convinced myself I had to run away."

BBC

Related story: Video - French hostage held for almost a year escapes in Nigeria