Day: September 17, 2023

The Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Republic of Cuba on food security and agriculture advancement.

The Director of Information, Office of the Vice President, Olusola Abiola, in a statement on Sunday, said the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, signed the MoU for Nigerian Government, in Havana.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the signing of the MoU that was done on the sidelines of the ongoing G77+China Leaders’ Summit, took place at the Ministry of Agriculture of Cuba in the presence of officials from both countries.

Kyari said the Expression of ne Interest (EOI) was a historic journey to strengthen the ties between Nigeria and Cuba in the field of agriculture.

He commended the willingness of Cuban government to partner with Nigeria, noting that both countries share a common vision for their people.

The minister expressed heartfelt gratitude for the shared insights into Nigeria’s pressing food and agricultural opportunities and challenges.

He also underlined Nigeria’s demographic advantage, vast land resources, immense agricultural potential and President Bola Tinubu’s vision for food and nutrition security.

” It is in this spirit that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development evolved into the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security,” he said.

Kyari also extended a hand of partnership to his Cuban counterparts with a focus on vital areas such as bio-fortification of agricultural produce, improvement of agricultural seeds and seedlings.

He added: ” Others were agricultural mechanisation, cutting-edge technologies for increased yields, and the reduction of post-harvest losses.

” Nigeria is keenly interested in collaborating with Cuba in the domains of poultry, livestock, and fisheries.

” Key areas of cooperation include veterinary medicine, vaccine development, artificial insemination, development of pastures and ranching as essential components in curbing the challenges posed by inefficient open grazing of cattle.”

The minister listed other areas to include training, capacity building, and knowledge transfer as the cornerstone of any thriving agricultural economy.

Earlier, Cuba’s Minister of Agriculture, Ydael Brito, told the Nigerian delegation about the island nation’s agricultural prowess.

He said: “Cuba has over 500,000 hectares under cultivation and remains a global player in the export of tobacco, coffee, honey, and other commodities.”

Brito, who expressed delight at the opportunity to partner with Nigeria, stated that Cuba would provide impactful cooperation in identified areas contained in the MOU.

The host minister also highlighted Cuba’s agricultural human capital and different models of practices which have raised its productivity.

He assured that Cuba would deploy its wealth of experience to help Nigeria achieve its agriculture and food security policies.

Brito said: ” Nigeria will benefit from Cuba’s agriculture capacity in areas such as bilateral relationship encompassing agricultural productivity, sustainability, knowledge sharing and technology transfer.”

Kyari was accompanied to the ceremony by Nigeria’s Ambassador to Cuba, Ben Okoyen and other members of the Nigerian delegation.

NAN reports that the Nigerian delegation to the G77 + China Leaders’ Summit in Cuba was led by Shettima, who represented Tinubu. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) says it has developed a software to enhance transparency in revenue generation and sharing amongst the three tiers of government.

The RMAFC Chairman, Mr Mohammed Shehu, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

According to him, the software will help the commission perform one of its major functions of reviewing the revenue allocation formula for the entire federation from time to time.

“There is something called the vertical revenue allocation formula; who gets what percentage – Federal, State or Local Government (LG).

“There is also the horizontal formula; how do you share that percentage among states and LGs.

“That means you have to consider factors like population, school enrollment, land mass, hospital beds, these are some of the indices.

“Previously what we did was to request for the required information manually, and then the commission will go and do the inspection manually,” Shehu said.

He said that the commission also got data from relevant agencies like the office of the Statistician-General of the Federation and the National Boundary Commission.

“So, we now have a software through which the states and LGs will input the required data in the system. They have a pass code.

“We will collect the data that they sent; analyse it and also send our own team for verification, and then we will agree on how that horizontal formula will be,” he said.

According to the chairman, technology is the way to go now.

He said that in terms of revenue generation, the commission was trying to also build a data bank whereby it could monitor revenue generating agencies.

“The commission should be able to see in real time what comes into their system.

“We have already moved from multiple accounts to Treasury Single Account, but RMAFC also wants to have a system so that as revenue is coming in we are analysing it,” he said.

He called for the cooperation of all revenue generating agencies in the country in the commission’s effort to effectively ensure optimal deployment of government revenue.

“The Federal Government and the sub-national governments are concerned with how to make more revenue by also blocking leakages.

“Technology will save us the time of going through documents and help us cut down on a lot of leakages,” he said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Film and Publication Board (FPB) Chief Executive Officer, Dr Mashilo Boloka, has been appointed as Vice Chairperson of the Global Online Safety Regulators Network (GORSN).

Boloka’s appointment as Vice Chairperson, was made by the Global Online Safety Network during a meeting hosted by the UK’s Communications Regulator, the Office of Communications (OFCOM) in London.

His one-year term will run until 2024.

Welcoming the new leadership, outgoing Chairperson and eSafety Commissioner’s Julie Inman-Grant, said they are happy to hand over the reins to OFCOM under the capable stewardship of Gill Whitehead.

“The 2024 Vice Chair will be the incredibly energetic Mashilo Boloka, CEO of the South African Film and Publication Board. We will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder in working together to work towards creating a safer, more positive online world,” Inman-Grant said.

Boloka’s appointment follows the FPB’s acceptance as a member of the GORSN earlier in July 2023.

The network was established in November 2022 to promote online safety and share information and good practice around online regulation.

Dr Boloka said the network represents a collaborative initiative to fight the borderless online harms, pursue harmonisation to avoid fragmentation of online safety legislation and coordinated online safety measures.

“As the Film and Publication Board of South Africa, we are excited to be a member of this Network. As the only representative on the African continent, we will ensure that voice of other regulators on the continent and the other developing worlds is heard.

“We will persuade other regulators on the continent to join the Network so that they can seize the opportunities it provides, information sharing on experiences and best practices so that we can together promote a safer online environment and fight online harms wherever it exists,” Boloka said.

During the London meeting, the Network discussed the need to promote regulatory coherence and underscored the importance of collaboration on shared issues, including industry engagement and new and emerging technology.

It also agreed on creation of a technology and public education working group.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Kusile Power Station’s Unit 4 has returned to service bringing back 800 megawatts, which was taken off during the unit’s 20-day planned maintenance.

Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said this while briefing the media on the implementation of the country’s Energy Action Plan.

The unit came back online on Sunday morning, and will add 800 megawatts to the capacity available and removes 800 megawatts from the planned maintenance of Eskom.

Units 1, 2 and 3 of the power station located in Mpumalanga were put offline due to a flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) mechanism that was damaged in October last year. This affected stacks at the units. He said that these are expected to come online between October and the end of November 2023.

“We’ve been able to shed a month on the return of unit 3 and the expectation is that we should be able to return this unit by 14 October. The same is applicable for unit 1. We should be able to get it on 30 October.

On progress made on unit 2, the Minister said the team initially was of the view that the unit would return on 24 December. However, this has been revised to 30 November 2023.

The Minister reiterated that Kusile is central to addressing the load shedding question, because “we will need significant more additional generating capacity to be able to address this.”

In recent weeks the country has been experiencing various stages of load shedding including Stage 6.

In an update on Sunday afternoon, Eskom said that due to further improvements in generation capacity, Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 4 pm until 4pm on Monday.

Thereafter, Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm on Monday until 5 am on Tuesday. This will be followed by Stage 2 load shedding from 5 am until 4 pm.

“This pattern will be repeated daily until further notice,” it said.

Source: South African Government News Agency