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Osinbajo: We’re working to prioritise investment in agriculture

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The Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), on the 29th of April, said Nigeria is prioritising innovation and technology investments in agriculture so as to transform the sector by attracting young people and scale up productivity.

According to a statement issued by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, Mr Laolu Akande, Osinbajo stated this in a remark he delivered virtually at the 2021 High-Level Dialogue on Feeding Africa.

The event is organised by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in partnership with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the CGIAR System Organisation with the theme “Feeding Africa: leadership to scale up successful innovations.”

Highlighting the programmes of the government to ensure agricultural transformation in Nigeria, Prof. Osinbajo listed the Economic Sustainability Plan, National Livestock Transformation Plan and  Green Imperative Project, among other initiatives.

He said: “At the heart of Nigeria’s post COVID-19 recovery plan, or what we describe as our Economic Sustainability Plan is an Agriculture for Food and Jobs Plan (AFJP) where we seek to leverage suitable technologies to build a resilient food system for Nigeria especially in the light of the economic, health and food supply chain devastations caused by the pandemic. Implementation is well underway and we have quite a few impressive results already.”

Further, the Vice President said during the COVID lockdowns, “we trained and deployed over 34,000 young graduates all over the country, covering over 8,000 local government wards in 774 local government areas. Each of these young men and women had a locally developed app on smartphones and electronic tablets to digitally register farmers and map out their farm GIS coordinates.

“So, we have registered and mapped about 6 million small-holder farmers to their farmlands and we are also currently collecting 200,000 composite soil samples from these farms to be analyzed in 22 local soil laboratories to guide local fertilizer blending”, he said.

Continuing, Osinbajo said “on the back of the farmer-farm database which we developed, we are creating a digital Agriculture Exchange Programme (AgExchange), working with the Alliance Rabobank and MasterCard in collaboration with some local FinTech companies. These FinTech companies (FarmCrowdy, Infinera, CropIT) are run by young Nigerians.

“The AgExchange will be an ecosystem or one-stop-shop for providing a range of services and products to small-holder farmers such as real-time e-subsidies, credit-connect by providing credit score of farmers on the platform and linking them to financiers, insurance services, market place services for connecting producers, aggregators and off-takers based on competitive market prices. Input suppliers, weather, pests, and disease indexing services will be provided on the exchange as well. The budget for the Agriculture for Food and Jobs Plan AFJP is $1.5billion.”

On the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), Prof Osinbajo noted that the focus is on “transiting gradually from nomadic system of cattle production to the more sedentary method of ranching. This will involve training pastoralists in new ways of producing and rearing cattle sustainably to address the challenges of resource-based violent conflicts between crop farmers and cattle herders, and the generally low milk and beef productivity of indigenous cattle breeds.”

The Vice President explained that “an indigenous technology company has developed a microchip for tracking the cattle and we are working on a pilot project with one of our development partners – the Netherlands government.”

“All the energy on the ranches will be from biogas from cattle dung and solar power. The ranch will be an integration of crops, pasture, and trees. The crops for the need of the pastoral household, the trees to fight desertification and enhance carbon sequestration rather than emission.

“Funding for this is from budgets of the Federal and State governments and bilateral support from development partners such as the Netherlands. The initial sum is in the order of 280 million USD,” he added.

Regarding the Green Imperative Project (GIP), the Vice President said that the €995 million, a 5-year project which is funded by the Import/Export Bank of Brazil (BDES) with support from Deutsche Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and others, will aim at agriculture technology transfer from Brazilian Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), Research and Training Institutes to Nigeria’s entrepreneurs, Research Institutes and businesses.

“The project involves the reactivation of dormant or partially operational privately owned agricultural equipment, assembly plants, establish 632 privately-owned primary production support service centers to sell farm mechanization services to smallholder and commercial farmers to address low productivity issues.

“Part of the plan also is the establishment of 142 privately owned agro-processing service centres which will be to address post-harvest losses, path to market and supply chain challenges, and train about 100,000 new extension agents to address farmer advisory service delivery challenges with new technology and practice adoption”, he said.

“An important feature of our strategy is encouraging our young techprenuers into agriculture and AGRO services and we are enjoying some success with the technology for our AGRO exchange, and our Central Bank is also licensing FinTech companies using mobile technology platforms.

“Some of them have been able to give non-collateral credit using credit scoring algorithms to determine credit worthiness of farmers. This is a very important part of our whole financial inclusion project because these FinTech companies are able to reach farmers practically anywhere, rate them using their credit scoring algorithms and get credits across to them in many of the far-flung areas,” the VP explained.

Other African leaders who spoke at the event included President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo; President of Senegal, Macky Sall; President of Mali, Bah N’Daw; President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré; Prime Minister of Sudan, Dr. Abdalla Hamdok; President, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde; Prime Minister of Sudan, Dr. Abdalla Hamdok, among others.

Other speakers included President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina; Former UK Prime Minister, and Executive Chairman of the Institute for Global Change, Mr Tony Blair; President, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Gilbert F. Houngbo and the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on 2021 Food Systems Summit, Ms Agnes Kalibata, among others.

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Petrol, Diesel Prices Drop as Dangote Cuts Ex-Depot Rates

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Why Imported Fuel Landing Cost Is Cheaper Than Dangote Gantry Price — Marketer

Petrol, Diesel Prices Drop as Dangote Cuts Ex-Depot Rates

 

Motorists and businesses may get some relief from fuel costs as Dangote Petroleum Refinery announced fresh reductions in the ex-depot prices of petrol and diesel, cutting the prices by N50 and N80 per litre respectively.

Under the new pricing regime, the refinery reduced the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, from N1,215 to N1,165 per litre.

The price of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), or diesel, was also reduced from N1,650 to N1,570 per litre.

The latest adjustment represents a 4.1 per cent reduction in the price of petrol and a 4.8 per cent cut in diesel.

The refinery said in a statement issued by the Dangote Group on Wednesday that the review was aimed at improving energy affordability, expanding access to locally refined petroleum products and supporting economic activities across the country.

The company said the new prices reflected its commitment to delivering affordable and quality petroleum products while maintaining a stable supply to the Nigerian market.

“Dangote Petroleum Refinery has announced a reduction in the ex-depot prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel), reaffirming its commitment to providing affordable, high-quality petroleum products to the Nigerian market,” the statement said.

It added that the refinery would continue to leverage operational efficiencies and pass the resulting benefits to consumers whenever market conditions allowed.

The latest reduction comes less than two weeks after the refinery resumed naira-denominated petrol sales and raised its ex-depot price to N1,215 per litre following a brief shift to dollar-based transactions.

The earlier change had triggered concerns among petroleum marketers over rising downstream costs.

In July, the refinery had temporarily suspended petrol truck loading and introduced dollar-denominated sales, with petrol priced at $0.779 per litre under the new framework. It subsequently returned to naira transactions and fixed the ex-depot price at N1,215 per litre.

With the latest adjustment, the refinery has now reversed part of that increase, reducing the petrol price by N50 and diesel by N80.

However, the new figures are ex-depot prices and do not necessarily translate into an equivalent reduction in pump prices. The final price paid by motorists will depend on factors including transportation, depot charges, margins and other downstream costs.

Dangote said it remained committed to ensuring stable supplies while improving operational efficiency and supporting consumers, businesses and other stakeholders.

The refinery, which has a nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, has increasingly become a major source of locally refined petrol, diesel and other petroleum products as Nigeria seeks to reduce its dependence on imported refined fuels.

The company said its operations were contributing to Nigeria’s energy security by strengthening domestic refining capacity, reducing reliance on imports and supporting economic development.

It added that it would continue to pass on the benefits of improved operational efficiencies to consumers whenever market conditions permitted.

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High Power Bills Force BUK to Halt Electric Vehicle Charging on Campus

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High Power Bills Force BUK to Halt Electric Vehicle Charging on Campus

High Power Bills Force BUK to Halt Electric Vehicle Charging on Campus

Rising electricity costs have forced Bayero University, Kano, to ban the charging of privately owned electric motorcycles and other electric vehicles across its campuses.

The university said the growing practice of using its electricity supply to charge private electric vehicles had contributed significantly to a sharp increase in its power bills, creating an additional financial burden for the institution.

The directive, which takes immediate effect, was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by the university’s Director of Public Affairs, Lamara Garba.

According to the statement, the management has observed the “indiscriminate charging” of privately owned electric motorcycles and other electric vehicles using the university’s electricity supply.

It said the development was no longer sustainable at a time when the institution was seeking to manage its resources prudently.

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“The Management of Bayero University, Kano has observed with concern the indiscriminate charging of privately owned electric motorcycles and other electric vehicles using the University’s electricity supply across its campuses.

“This practice has contributed significantly to the sharp increase in the University’s electricity bills, thereby placing an enormous financial burden on the institution,” the statement said.

The university consequently directed all staff, students, commercial motorcycle operators and other users of electric motorcycles to stop charging their vehicles with the institution’s electricity.

It warned that anyone who violated the directive would face disciplinary action in accordance with the university’s rules and regulations.

“Management expects full compliance with this directive. Any person found violating this ban will be liable to appropriate disciplinary action,” the statement added.

To enforce the ban, the university directed provosts, deans, directors, heads of departments and heads of units to monitor compliance in their respective areas and report any violations to the appropriate authorities.

It also announced that a monitoring team would conduct regular patrols across the campuses to ensure strict adherence to the directive.

The institution urged all affected persons to cooperate with the measure, saying it was part of broader efforts to reduce energy costs and promote the prudent use of university resources.

 

High Power Bills Force BUK to Halt Electric Vehicle Charging on Campus

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Zenith Bank confirms cyberattack, says customers’ contact information was accessed

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Zenith Bank confirms cyberattack, says customers’ contact information was accessed

Zenith Bank confirms cyberattack, says customers’ contact information was accessed

Zenith Bank has confirmed that hackers gained unauthorised access to limited customer information, including email addresses and phone numbers, following a cyberattack linked to a broader global attack affecting organisations across different sectors.

The bank disclosed the incident in an email sent to customers on Tuesday, assuring them that its banking services and digital channels remain secure and fully operational.

According to the lender, the breach involved only limited customer information, while its core banking infrastructure and digital platforms were not affected.

Zenith Bank said it activated its incident response procedures and other cybersecurity measures immediately after the unauthorised access was discovered.

The bank added that investigations were ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident, determine its full impact and strengthen measures designed to prevent further security breaches.

“Hackers accessed limited customer information, including email addresses and phone numbers, during a cyberattack that forms part of a broader global attack on organisations across different sectors,” the bank said.

Although Zenith Bank did not disclose the number of customers affected or identify the individuals or group responsible for the attack, it maintained that its banking services remained secure.

The bank also did not indicate whether sensitive financial information, such as account balances, transaction records, passwords, PINs or banking credentials, was accessed.

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The development has raised concerns about possible phishing attacks, fraudulent text messages and deceptive phone calls, as cybercriminals may attempt to use customers’ contact information to impersonate the bank or obtain confidential banking details.

Zenith Bank urged customers to remain alert and exercise caution when receiving unexpected emails, text messages or phone calls claiming to originate from the bank.

The lender warned customers not to disclose their passwords, Personal Identification Numbers, One-Time Passwords or other security credentials to anyone.

Customers were also advised to avoid clicking suspicious links, downloading unfamiliar attachments or responding to unsolicited requests for banking information.

The bank said customers should independently verify suspicious communications through its official channels before taking any action.

Zenith Bank has previously warned customers about fraudulent messages and impersonation attempts, stressing that customers should rely only on verified communication channels when seeking banking support. (Zenith Bank Gambia)

The latest Zenith Bank cyberattack has renewed concerns about the growing threat of cybercrime in Nigeria’s financial sector, particularly as more customers depend on mobile banking applications, internet banking and other digital financial services.

In August 2024, Guaranty Trust Bank, now operating under GTCO, reported attempts to compromise its website domain. The bank said at the time that customers’ data had not been affected and that its banking operations remained secure.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has also warned Nigerians about fraudulent emails, online messages and other communications falsely presented as official notices from financial institutions and regulatory agencies.

Such messages may contain suspicious links or requests for personal information intended to deceive recipients and gain unauthorised access to their accounts.

Zenith Bank said it remained committed to protecting customers’ information and thanked customers for their continued trust while investigations into the security incident continue.

As of the time of filing this report, the bank had not disclosed the number of customers affected, the source of the cyberattack or whether any financial information was compromised.

Zenith Bank confirms cyberattack, says customers’ contact information was accessed

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