Agriculture
Buhari Renames UniAgric Makurdi After Joseph Sarwuan Tarka
- Nigerian Prisons sertvice Now Correctional Service
By Mathew Dadiya, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law a bill that changes the name of Nigeria Prison Service to Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), which is viewed as part of his administration’s effort at reforming the prison system in the country.
The signing of the law came two months after the expiration of the 9th National Assembly, thereby raising concerns as to the legality of the law and if the clerk of the national assembly has such right to withhold bills and transmit them to the president months after the end of an assembly.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly (Senate Matter), Senator Ita Enang said this on Wednesday, while speaking to State House Correspondents at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
According to him, this Act repeals the Prisons Acts and changes the name from Nigeria Prisons Service to Nigerian Correctional Service, otherwise known as “the Correctional Service.”
There Correctional Service is made up of two main faculties: Custodial Service and Non-custodial Service.
He explained that the Custodial Service is to take custody and control of persons legally interned in safe, secure and humane conditions; conveying remand persons to and from courts in motorized formations; identifying the existence and causes of anti-social behaviours of inmates; conducting risk and needs assessment aimed at developing appropriate correctional treatment methods for reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration.
Others include: Implementing reformation and rehabilitation programmes to enhance the reintegration of inmates back into society; initiating behavior modification in inmates through the provision of medical, psychological, spiritual and counseling services for all offenders including violent extremists; empowering inmates through the deployment of educational and vocational skills training programmes, and facilitating incentives and income generation through Custodial Centres, farms and industries; administering borstal and related institutions; Providing support to facilitate the speedy disposal of cases of persons awaiting trial, and It further provides in Section 12 (2) (c).
“that where an inmate sentenced to death has exhausted all legal procedures for appeal and a period of 10 years has elapsed without execution of the sentence, the Chief Judge may commute the sentence of death to life imprisonment. And Section 12 (8) empowers the state Controller of the Service to reject more intakes of inmates where it is apparent that the correctional centre in question is filled to capacity.
He further explained that ”the non-custodial faculty of the Correctional Service is responsible for the administration of non-custodial measures, namely: Community Service, probation, parole, restorative justice measures and such other measures as a court of competent jurisdiction may order. ”Restorative Justice measure approved in the Act include victim-offender mediation, family group conferencing, community mediation and other conciliatory measures as may be deemed necessary pre-trial, trial during imprisonment or even post- imprisonment stages.”
Also, the President signed into law Federal Universities of Agriculture (Amendment No.2) Act, 2019, changing the name of the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi in Benue State to Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi.
The House of Representatives had in 2016 passed a bill seeking the renaming of the university to J.S Tarka.
Joseph Sarwuan Tarka (1932-1980) was a Nigerian politician from Benue State and a former Minister for Transport and later Communications under the administration of Yakubu Gowon.
He was one of the founding members of the United Middle Belt Congress, a political organization dedicated to advocating autonomy for the country’s Middle Belt.
Tarka was a battle scared politician who underwent several political battles and was jailed on many occasions for his political actvisim as the main opposition leader in the Northern Region.
A colourful and skilled politician with a rare gift of oration, he was reputed for the energetic political campaigns he conducted. He was sometimes called the ‘smiling snake’ for the big smiles he had while speaking.
He was a founding figure of the defunct National Party of Nigeria(NPN) and was a presidential aspirant of the party but lost the ticket to Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Usman Shagari, who eventually got elected President in 1979.
He was then elected Senator in the second republic and became Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts until he died in 1980, while serving in the National Assembly.
Agriculture
NCP Approves Repositioning of Agriculture Bank
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has given its nod to the recommendations aimed at repositioning the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) to ensure food security for Nigerians.
Chaired by the Vice President, Sen. Kashim Shettima, the NCP approved the recommendations from the committee on BOA during its second meeting of 2024 held on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, at the Presidential Villa Abuja.
In his address at the meeting, the Vice President emphasized the importance of optimizing BOA as part of the administration’s agenda to provide food security for the nation.
He urged the committee to engage professionals with integrity to manage the process effectively.Presenting the committee’s report, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, who is also the Vice-chairman of the NCP, highlighted the decision to reposition BOA for efficiency and effectiveness. He expressed confidence that the recommendations would guide the Council in revitalizing the Bank of Agriculture and positioning it globally.
One of the Key recommendations includes upgrading the Bank’s ICT infrastructure to automate processes and ensure accountability.
Recall that in 2023, an 8-member inter-ministerial team was set up by the NCP to review the state of affairs at BOA, given its critical role in agriculture and the administration’s commitment to food security.
Additionally, in 2016, the NCP approved collaboration between the Bureau of Public Enterprises and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, along with the Federal Ministry of Finance, to restructure and recapitalize BOA.
According to a statement by BPE Head of Public Communications, Amina Tukur Othman on Friday, the BOA, formerly known as Nigeria Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank, waa established in 1992.
It is owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), with the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) holding 60% and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) holding 40%. The Bank is supervised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS).
Agriculture
Mrs Soludo Launches Organic Garden Competition in Anambra Secondary Schools
Wife of the Anambra State Governor, Dr Nonye Soludo, on Saturday launched the organic garden competition in secondary schools in Anambra to encourage children to learn more about food and farming.
Soludo, while addressing Healthy Living Teacher Ambassadors in Awka, said the organic garden competition would help teach children the importance of food and farming and its impact on their lives.
She described organic farming as a process that involved the use of natural food sources and nutrients for farming practices without fertiliser or other chemicals.
“This competition is part of the Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo Campaign to achieve a culture of health consciousness, drive organic agriculture with emphasis on food safety and sustainable living.
“It will help our students learn valuable lessons about where their food comes from, the benefits of eating fresh and healthy foods, and how to care for the environment.
“Vegetable seeds will be distributed to schools and at the end of every term, schools with the three best gardens will be rewarded.
“Our children at a tender age will start to appreciate agriculture as an essential way of life and the need to be part of building solutions that foster healthy foods in the society,” she said.
Also speaking, Dr Afam Obidike, the state’s Commissioner for Health, said the schools garden competition would increase student’s knowledge about the nutritional value of foods.
In her remarks, Prof. Nkechi Ikediugwu, Chairperson, Post Primary Schools Service Commission, said schools in the state would offer Health Living lecture every Wednesday after break to help students learn how to be healthy and grow into healthy adults.
Reports says that the programme featured distribution of okro, carrot, pepper, tomatoes, watermelon and cucumber seeds to the school teachers to begin the process of their school gardens.(NAN)
Agriculture
Food Inflation: Agric Ministry Receives 2.15m Bags of Fertilisers from CBN
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has received 2.15 million bags of assorted fertilisers from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Reports says that the assorted fertilisers would be distributed to farmers to curb food inflation in the country as well as boost food production and food security.
Sen. Abubakar Kyari, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, who spoke at the event on Wednesday in Abuja, expressed gratitude to the President Bola Tinubu and CBN for the gesture.
Kyari assured the CBN Governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, that the inputs would be judiciously used and delivered to the intended farmers.
“Thank you very much; this is more than goodies; 2.
15 million bags of assorted fertilisers; we want to express our profound appreciation on behalf of the Nigerian farmers and President Tinubu.“Also, we appreciate you, our dear brother, the CBN governor and your team for giving us this wonderful gift.
“I want to assure you that it will be judiciously used and it will be delivered to the last man and intended farmers where they can reap the benefits of this huge gesture.
“They (farmers) can in turn cultivate and produce more that would stem the galloping food inflation that is affecting our country.’’
He said that challenges such as food prices, food cultivation, flooding and climate change among others had impacted on agricultural production in the country, adding that insecurity was on decline.
“l am happy to say that those things I mentioned are on the decline; insecurity is on the decline and we are mitigating against climate change.
“We are sensitising farmers to go into dry season agriculture.’’
Kyari said that there was need to need to boost and repair irrigation infrastructure so as to have all year round farming.
“Which (irrigation) is even more secured than that of the wet season farming,” he said.
Earlier, Cardoso expressed enthusiasm for the visit and presentation which was to address the issue of escalating cost of food in the country.
According to him, food prices are crucial components of inflation.
He said that the CBN aimed to enhance its partnership with the ministry to improve food production.
“This is precisely why we convene today to strengthen our collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture to mitigate the surge in food prices.
“The gesture is in alignment with our strategic shift towards focusing on our fundamental mandate.
“The CBN has veered away from direct quasi-fiscal interventions and transitioned towards leveraging conventional monetary policy tools for executing monetary policies effectively.
“In this light, we aim to extend our support and foster closer ties with Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) with the mandate and expertise to undertake these critical initiatives.
“Consequently, we aim to enhance our partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, bolstering your endeavours to enhance food productivity and security, ultimately curbing food inflation and fortifying our pursuit of price stability.
“In pursuit of these shared goals, we are delighted to announce the allocation of 2.15 million bags of fertilisers valued at over N100 billion which we humbly hand over to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
“This contribution from CBN aims to amplify food production capabilities and foster price stabilisation within the agricultural sector,” he said.(NAN)