Columns
Rice pyramid in Nigeria and matters arising, by Prof M. K. Othman
Rice pyramid in Nigeria and matters arising, by Prof M. K. Othman
Deep Thought with Othman
In the early part of the year, 2013, the Agricultural Complex of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria received members of the Joint House Committee on Agriculture who came for an oversight function.
During the introduction of personalities, the then Executive Director of the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Professor Balarabe Tanimu of blessed memory was introduced as professor of groundnut agronomy, and IAR, a research centre with the mandate of genetic improvement of groundnut among other agricultural commodities. During the opening remarks, the leader of the delegation, a distinguished senator enthusiastically challenged the distinguished scholar, Professor Tanimu, and the Institute to bring back the “great” Kano groundnut pyramid of the 1960s and 1970s. After eulogizing the tireless efforts of the groundnut farmers of that epoch, he pledged a sturdy House support to the Institute with enough budgetary allocation to achieve the challenge.
In his response, Prof. Tanimu appreciated the benevolent gesture of the House members for their keenness to increase the Institute’s budgetary allocation. He stressed the importance of adequate funding for agricultural research as the most viable means of decupling production, addressing production challenges, and/or enhancing crops’ nutrient content.
He assured the guests of IAR’s readiness to judiciously utilize the fund allocation for higher research outputs. He pointed out that even with the inadequate funding, IAR was able to develop new varieties of groundnut, which produced high yield and the quantum of production was much higher than what was being produced in the 1960s and 1970s. Similarly, the level of consumption was much higher due to population increase within the period (about 45 million people in 1960 and 170 million in 2013).
Nonetheless, Tanimu pointed out that reviving the groundnut pyramid was not the aim of IAR. Those pyramids served as aggregation centres for feed-stocking the Agro-industries of foreign countries. Professor Tanimu, an excellent diplomat cum academic, carefully chose his words not to hurt the feelings of the august visitors. Yet, the message was very clear; the groundnut pyramid was a symbol of colonial exploitation and underdevelopment.
Then, groundnut and other cash crops were being produced for exportation to European countries, which were processed and imported into the country at ten times the prices of the raw materials. The best way to produce agricultural commodities is to serve as raw materials to local industries whose products would be locally consumed and exported to other countries. In any case, the commodity pyramid has been one of the performance indicators for measuring agricultural productivity. The simple indicator for measuring productivity is crop output or yield per unit area of production with a unit of Kg/m2 or tons per hectare. So, what was the implication of the Abuja rice pyramid mounted some weeks ago?
Mounting a pyramid of an agricultural commodity such as rice in any part of the country cannot showcase the quantum of production of such a commodity. The associated costs of organising and transporting the commodity to the venue can be overbearing. However, the Abuja rice pyramid event, being the first of its kind, was marked with pomp and pageantry recording a huge success. Although, this success could not stand to represent a success story of boosting rice production but has uniquely packaged hopes for a better future. The presence of top government functionaries and high-profile personalities including President Buhari indicated the willingness of Nigeria’s leadership to support the country achieve food security. The commodity pyramid should not replace the annual agricultural show where innovations, ingenuity, and breakthroughs in the agricultural sector are being packaged and displayed. A few weeks after the rice pyramid event, where do we move? What are the matters arising from the Abuja event?
Fortunately, Nigeria is naturally positioned to achieve greatness in Agriculture; versatile fertile land, huge unquantifiable water resources, and virile and active human resources. In addition to these natural endowments, policies, and programs, over the years were designed to fast-track agricultural development. Theoretically, these programs and projects sound perfect but practically, their implementations have always been haphazardly done thereby retarding their successes. In the last three decades, so many funds were sunk in agriculture in the names of programs and projects without tangible impacts on the productivity of smallholder farmers who constitute ninety per cent of the farming population and contribute eighty-five per cent of national food production.
The major defect of these programs/projects is the lack of an agricultural extension component. Where extension component exists, there has always been incoherent roles and responsibilities because the front extension personnel belongs to the state government while the programs are mostly federal government-sponsored/supported. Today’s agriculture is driven by knowledge and the knowledge is solely facilitated by extension service delivery. In Nigeria, agricultural extension service is poorly funded and poorly manned. How do we move forward?
Agricultural extension entails knowledge transfer, utilization and feedback, market intelligence, skill acquisition and perfection, and productivity enhancement along the value chain of agricultural commodities (crops and livestock). Therefore, special treatment to agricultural extension can be made through fast-tracking the release of the National Agricultural Extension Policy. The policy was already developed and I am privileged to be part of the team that finalised the policy document. The development of the policy was a painstaking national assignment that was done over five years by agricultural experts, technocrats, and academics. Thus, the policy contains ready-made and holistic solutions to the challenges to agricultural extension service delivery.
It also considers what to be done to modernise agriculture holistically now and in the future. Fortunately, the structure of the agricultural extension system at the grassroots level, the Agricultural Development Program (ADP), developed between the 1970s and 1980s with the support of the World Bank, is still in place and robust but ineffective due to gross underfunding.
The policy has taken good care of how to source alternative and sustainable funds to support and develop an agricultural extension system in the country. If the policy becomes operational, it will automatically increase public and private investment in agriculture with special attention to extension services. This will spontaneously escalate agricultural productivity in geometric proportion. The increase in agricultural productivity will cover both crops and livestock farming with positive implications on the livelihoods of the farmers and herders.
In conclusion, instead of having commodity pyramids, efforts should be geared towards adequately funding extension services through legislation of agricultural extension policy. This will sooner than later bring the desired result of achieving food security, reducing poverty, and creating jobs for millions of Nigerians.
Columns
Companies: Season of Dividends Declaration and Payments for Her Shareholders Worth Billions of Naira
Companies: Season of Dividends Declaration and Payments for Her Shareholders Worth Billions of Naira
By: Balami Lazarus
This piece made me recall my attempt to write the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) examinations years ago that I cannot remember now. I deliberately failed to continue with no reasons to give or shift blame as an escape route, which humans many do to console themselves of their failures. I (the writer) have learned never to do that.
However, no knowledge or experience is a waste for a wiseman. Hence, this work is derived from the knowledge gotten from the handouts and books I read on capital, equity, and/or stock market investments, where patience is the guiding principle as an investor taking into consideration this formula: Money > Units (Stocks) × Time + Patience = capital appreciations/dividends.
Many Nigerians are unaware of this equity/capital market. And if they do, they lack knowledge on what to do and how to invest in this market (kasuwan hanun jari).
It will shock you to know that there are so many share certificates in the hands of the citizens, amounting to thousands of units of shares worth billions of naira put together, laying fallow, not knowing what to do with them.
For I have seen many and assisted friends and relatives on what to do. Thanks for the digitalization of the market; it has made things much easier for investors and traders, including dividend payments currently taking place.
And surprisingly, there is over $190 billion in unclaimed dividends in the coffers of the federal government under the watch of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is the regulatory body.
This large amount of money came as a result of some shareholders not knowing how to claim their dividends. While others may be due to the attitudes of procrastination.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), now officially Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, which is run as a public liability company guided by the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), with its nomenclature as (NGX), also has her stocks traded on the exchange floor at Lagos.
I will not say much on the NGX. But be informed it is the trading floor of public companies’ stocks listed with the exchange where traders and investors can buy and sell their stocks or simply shares from Mondays to Fridays (5 times) in a week from 9am to 2pm daily.
Every year most companies hold their Annual General Meeting (AGM), informing their shareholders of the progress of their companies and whether or not to declare dividends to their shareholders depending on the strength of profits after tax (PAT) to those whose names appear on the list of the company registrars before the date of declaration.
The season of dividend declarations is most times done in April through June of each year. However, companies’ dividends vary in the sum of money paid to their shareholders depending on their units’ holdings in each company as part owners.
Dividends have added monetary value to shareholders and, by extension, improved the capacity of small- and medium-scale businesses in the economy because of the large amounts of money that have been paid into their various accounts either as individuals or as business enterprises.
Investors and capital market watchers are one group in society that is better informed on this segment of the Nigerian economy. And the investing group of citizens are making millions upon millions of naira from their investments in the market.
Take Guaranty Trust Company (GTCO) Plc, owners of Guaranty Trust Bank, as an example. Having declared a dividend of 11.67kobo per share for her shareholders. And assuming you, the reader, have a shareholding of only 1 million units. #11.67k x 1m = to #11,670,000 less 10% withholding tax (WHT), you will be credited with #10,503,000 your dividend as return on investment (RoI) on 28th April 2026 payment date.
What a profitable investment/dividend payment season.
Balami, Publisher/Columnist. 08036779290
Companies: Season of Dividends Declaration and Payments for Her Shareholders Worth Billions of Naira
Columns
Jos: Living in Conflicts and Crisis for a Quarter of a Century: Where Peace Became Paranormal Stranger (2)
Jos: Living in Conflicts and Crisis for a Quarter of a Century: Where Peace Became Paranormal Stranger (2)
By: Balami Lazarus
How do we find lasting solutions to the conflicts and crises in Jos? How do we go about the general insecurity facing the nation? While the utterances of some highly placed Nigerians like Godswill Akpabio, Nuhu Ribadu, Sheik Gumi, and others are fuelling this aged monster called
insecurity and its perpetrators that is burning us to the third degree.
I have radical lasting solutions to the conflicts and crises in Jos. And the general insecurity we allowed ourselves to be webbed in it.
The lingering civil unrest in Jos has fast-forwarded the insecurity in the city. It has also intensified killings, kidnapping, banditry, and terrorism in guerrilla-style attacks, as in the case of Ungwan Rukuba, 29th March, 2026.
Reportedly, there are lots of guns in the hands of many citizens of Plateau State unlicenced. In fact, Nigerians are now leveraging the provisions of the law for self-defense.
But how far and to what extent can we defend ourselves against these bandits or terrorists that are armed with sophisticated firearms? While in Jos, they (terrorists/bandits) are taking advantage of our disunity to launch mayhem on us living in the city.
The recent attacks by unknown gunmen in the city center (Ungwan Rukuba) show the extent of how we have failed in our unity. And that allegedly no arrest has been made. Rather innocent youths of the said area were arrested and are now treated as suspects of the gruesome killings.
Now let me begin to reel out my radical solutions on these issues that have eaten deep into our bone marrows.
Indeed, the need for well-equipped and armed standing state and local government police is a necessity for state security and protection of lives and property of the citizens that will in turn propel
and enhanced our national security, because this issue has engulfed the country.
The conflicts and crises in Jos have always been generated from within by some individuals or groups of persons who lack peaceful coexistence in their DNA.
The immediate thing to do is for each and every ward to organize, train, and arm their vigilante groups with assault rifles. An example of one such group is the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) of Maiduguri in Borno state. This vigilante group is doing well in protecting the city. I commend them.
I hereby believe the application of the method aforementioned will bring back peace as a permanent resident in Jos but not as an itinerant. Because it is only in the Jos Plateau that peace is always travelling, and you hear us saying, “Peace has returned.”
The government and the people are now paying dearly for the consequences of the inactions and deliberate refusal of the recent past and present administrations—federal and state—to take decisive actions to bring an end to these compounded insecurities destroying the polity.
I am one individual who holds strong beliefs and believes in radical ways of finding solutions to problematic issues.
Using Plateau State as an example, where incessant killings are a permanent feature. Therefore, Nigerians should begin to agitate for the breakup of the country through peaceful means like a referendum or restructuring of our systems for a better Nigeria, on the one hand. It is now the right time for regions or groups to begin the process of secession as radical change for the good of the balkanization of the country, on the other.
Whereas if and when two can no longer live together in an agreed-upon and peaceful atmosphere, having exhausted reasonable avenues. What will be the next action?
And here we are. What are we going to do? Tell me sincerely and truthfully.
Balami, Publisher/Columnist 08036779290
Jos: Living in Conflicts and Crisis for a Quarter of a Century: Where Peace Became Paranormal Stranger (2)
Columns
Jos: Living in Conflicts and Crisis for a Quarter of a Century; Where Peace Became a Paranormal Stranger (1)
Jos: Living in Conflicts and Crisis for a Quarter of a Century; Where Peace Became a Paranormal Stranger (1)
By: Balami Lazarus
Imagine a child born in Jos 25 years ago is today an adult by all standards, probably married with a child. And certainly the young man has passed through tense moments, conflicts, and crises that came with hatred, destruction, and killings among the citizens of the state where the lives of the young and the old were not spared.
Looking back with nostalgia when my peers and I were young secondary students in Plato College Sharam, peace was a permanent resident, residing in quietness and recollection when Jos was a melting point of coexistence among the inhabitants in both public and social life. What happened to the question tag?
The Jos conflicts/crisis has suffocated the metropolitan environment over time and space, pollinated by suspicion of ethno-religious and extremist teachings of ideologies in cells carried out by some elements that have created hatred and fear among the people.
Of late, this crisis has turned into terrorist and bandit attacks, claiming more lives than before. And for some residents, including this writer, it is no longer strange nor an item of public discussion in the affairs of some citizens. Because it has been with the people as a paranormal mystery for a quarter of a century (25 years).
However, the loss of lives is the most disturbing central theme in this crisis and/or attacks. Political and economic progress are stagnated; businesses are backstage affairs conducted with fear in a helter-skelter fashion in exchange for goods and services.
The hatchlings of these bloody conflicts and crises have manifested in no-go areas with devastating effects on the intra-micro commercial/corporate business transactions. Rebellion subjects, enemies of peace, have long polarized the city of Jos into ethno-religious and political divides.
The year 2001 was the beginning of Jos’s crisis that has become cyclical these several seasons within the Jos and Bukuru metropolises.
The attitudes of the affected and concerned citizens have illuminated the depths of their feelings, revealing a kaleidoscope of doubts as Nigerians. The Ungwan Rukuba killing spree and the decades of unrest in Jos have raised motions for the identity and reconstruction of the Nigerian state.
To be continued.
Balami, Publisher/Columnist. 08036779290
Jos: Living in Conflicts and Crisis for a Quarter of a Century; Where Peace Became a Paranormal Stranger (1)
Alex Birbir’s Plateau False Narrative Collapses Under the Weight of Facts
Zulum Appoints Prof. Bukar Usman as Pioneer Chairman of Zakkat, Waqf Commission, Names New Secondary Education Board Member
Zulum elated by Tinubu’s approval of 3 federal institutions for Borno in 3 years
Roger Federer’s Shock as DNA Results Reveal Myla and Charlene Are Not His Biological Children
THE PLIGHT OF FARIDA
FAILED COUP IN BURKINA FASO: HOW TRAORÉ NARROWLY ESCAPED ASSASSINATION PLOT AMID FOREIGN INTERFERENCE CLAIMS
-
News2 years agoRoger Federer’s Shock as DNA Results Reveal Myla and Charlene Are Not His Biological Children
-
Opinions4 years ago
THE PLIGHT OF FARIDA
-
News1 year agoFAILED COUP IN BURKINA FASO: HOW TRAORÉ NARROWLY ESCAPED ASSASSINATION PLOT AMID FOREIGN INTERFERENCE CLAIMS
-
News2 years agoEYN: Rev. Billi, Distortion of History, and The Living Tamarind Tree
-
Opinions4 years agoPOLICE CHARGE ROOMS, A MINTING PRESS
-
ACADEMICS2 years agoA History of Biu” (2015) and The Lingering Bura-Pabir Question (1)
-
Columns2 years agoArmy University Biu: There is certain interest, but certainly not from Borno.
-
Opinions2 years agoTinubu,Shettima: The epidemic of economic, insecurity in Nigeria
