BREAKING: Adesina re-elected as AfDB President

 Akinwumi Adesina has been re-elected as the President of the African Development Bank President on Thursday. 

With this election, Adesian will spend another five years managing and supervising the affairs of the bank.

Mali coup: Buhari meets other West African leaders

President Muhammadu Buhari and other West African leaders are currently meeting over the crisis in Mali.

The extraordinary summit of the ECOWAS leaders is holding virtually.

BREAKING: Buhari, Jonathan meet amid possible coup in Mali

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday received his immediate predecessor in office, Goodluck Jonathan, at the State House, Abuja.

Jonathan is the ECOWAS Special Envoy to the Republic of Mali.

International flights: August 29 resumption not certain – Nigerian govt

Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 says the August 29 resumption of international flights is tentative.

The Coordinator, Sani Aliyu, said this on Monday, NAN reports.

BREAKING: Robert S. Trump, the US President’s Younger Brother, Dies at 71

President Donald Trump’s younger brother, Robert Trump, a businessman known for an even keel that seemed almost incompatible with the family name, died Saturday night after being hospitalized in New York, the president said in a statement. He was 71.

US orders China to close Houston consulate as tensions soar

The United States has ordered China to close its consulate in Houston in a dramatic escalation of diplomatic tensions between the feuding superpowers.

WASSCE 2020: Nigerian govt confirms meeting with WAEC over new exam dates

The federal government has confirmed that it held a meeting with officials of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) on Monday.[...]

Nigerian students won’t write 2020 WAEC – FG

 Federal Ministry of Education has said Nigerian secondary final year students will not be participating in the upcoming West African Examination Council (WAEC) examinations.

Ekiti Govt partners with CBN to empower 1,000 cassava farmers

The Ekiti Government, in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is to empower 1,000 farmers to accelerate cultivation of cassava in the state.

Speaking on Tuesday at the launching of the programme in Ado-Ekiti, Gov Kayode Fayemi, represented by the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Folorunso Olabode, said that the cassava production value chain would speed up industrial development of the state.

Fayemi released over 6,000 hectares of land to the Cassava Growers Association in the state to ensure the smooth take off of the programme.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Fayemi stated that the state government had secured N1.9billion to prepare lands across various locations in the state.

According  to the governor,  this is to encourage farming for massive employment and availability of raw materials for agro-allied industries.

“The value chain in cassava is inestimable and have over 50 products.

“Cassava has graduated from the ordinary famous garri to high-grade starch, syrup, flakes, fufu paste, cassava bread, biofuel, in fact, it has transformed into a golden crop that can transform any economy.

“This administration has been rendering helps to farmers. It has encouraged the citing of cassava mill at Ipao-Ekiti, that is producing 350 metric tonnes of cassava daily.

“Dangote and Stallone Rice Mills are doing great in rice production. The production plants have been installed.

“About 1,500 hectares of land has also been prepared across the state to boost food production, with close to N2billion to be spent on land clearing to help the farmers.

“The government has facilitated about 6,000 bags of fertiliser that would be sold to farmers at subsidised rate.

“The fact that Ekiti is one of the five pilot states showed that our efforts were being noticed at the national level,” the governor said.

Fayemi said that Ekiti played a prominent role in the formation of the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Amotekun, to ward off destruction of farmlands by marauding herders and to discourage them from abandoning the farm, out of fear.

Also speaking, the CBN Branch Controller in Ekiti, Alhaji Ganiyu Atobatele, described agriculture as the largest employer of labour in the country, saying no effort must be spared to revamp the sector and return it as the mainstay of the nation’s economy.

The CBN official stated that the discovery of oil caused a major setback for the agriculture sector in Nigeria.

“Inability to meet our agriculture local demands has affected our foreign reserves and foreign exchange, causing free fall of our currency in the international market.

“Decreased production and increasing population forced the CBN to intervene to improve on a large scale farming, to give farmers access to funds and equipment at subsidised rate, for massive production.

“The CBN is protecting the cassava value chain. The MoU signed include land utilisation, which specified five hectares per farmer, for higher production and to increase annual revenue and generate raw materials for industrial development

“The apex bank will make credit available to farmers under five-star cassava project. The target is 30 metric tonnes per hectares and all activities will be mechanised.

“About 47,406 metric tonnes of cassava was produced in 2014 with bulk of it consumed.

“But with our intervention, it can be processed further to produce other products that will help the economy through employment generation, food security and foreign exchange earnings,” he said.

In his address, the National President of the Nigeria Cassava Growers Association, Pastor Segun Adewumi, said that 25 tractors and other mechanised equipment had been mobilised to Ekiti, to begin the scheme.

Adewumi commended the CBN Governor, Dr Godwin Emefiele and the partnering bank, for keying into the dream for massive cassava production. NAN

BREAKING: WAEC Examination To Commence On August 4 – Education Minister

Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, Minister of State for Education, on Monday said the West Africa Examination Council has fixed August 4, 2020 as commencement for this year’s examination.

Nwajiuba made this known at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing on Monday.

The minister said the examination will end on September 5.

Details later...