Amaechi Dismisses Alamieyeseigha’s Call for Peace:

Rivers State Governor, Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, has dismissed the call by former Bayelsa State Governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, for Amaechi to retrace his steps, beg Jonathan and return to the PDP.

The former governor who made the call in an interview with the New Telegraph newspaper at the weekend, among other things, stated: “I think there is no problem between Amaechi and President Goodluck Jonathan. I think Amaechi should be humble enough to go to the president and say, ‘I am sorry’, because he has no place to go. A child that is not respectful will also not deserve respect from anyone. I have spoken to both of them. Jonathan has no issues. President of Nigeria is very powerful. I even told Amaechi: the first entity you cannot fight is Almighty God and the second entity is the government (President Jonathan). No matter how you interpret it, nobody can fight government (Jonathan) successfully…Rivers State will never be surrendered to the APC.”

In a sharp response, Amaechi in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, David Iyofor, dismissed the call by Alamieyeseigha.
He said the former governor was trying to stand logic on its head and was not bold enough to tell the world what he (Alamieyeseigha) told Amaechi when he came to discuss the president with him.

“Yes, its true that Amaechi does not have any personal issues with the president. And yes, when Alamieyeseigha came to the governor to discuss this issue, he said that there is not much problem between the President and Governor Amaechi but he wasn’t bold and courageous enough to say in that interview what he told the governor the problem is. He told Amaechi that he cannot understand why Mr. President cannot rein in, control or manage his wife. But for him to now go to the press to say something else is indeed most cowardly and timid of him.”

“How do one comprehend Chief Alamieyeseigha’s logic or reasons for saying Amaechi should go and beg President Jonathan and retrace his steps? Please, to where should the governor retrace his steps? Back to the PDP? The same PDP that Amaechi led Rivers people to give total support and give Mr. President over two million votes at the 2011 elections with nothing to show for it after almost four years! Instead territories and oil wells belonging to the state are being given to other States.”

“Is he saying that the governor cannot hold a contrary view, opinion from Mr. President on issues based on principles and the interests of Rivers State, because Mr. President is all powerful?

“Alamieyeseigha’s understanding of respect, disrespect and desecration of the office of the president is warped and indeed befuddling. For Alamieyeseigha, what amounts to disrespect and desecration of the office of the president is Governor Amaechi’s decision to stay with his people, fight for what is theirs in dogged stubbornness and refusal to cede any part of the state including its oil wells to Mr. President’s home state of Bayelsa!

” For him, the governor’s fight for the interest of Rivers State and its people to ensure that what is due the state is given to it by the federal government is tantamount to disrespecting and desecrating the office of the President! How preposterous!”

“Alamieyeseigha says APC will never take Rivers State! We feel sorry and pity for him. It’s so apparent that he belongs to and lives in the past and has blindly refused to see and face the reality of the present. APC has since taken over Rivers State. APC is in control in Rivers State and Rivers people are fully with their governor in APC. If deluding himself to think otherwise, would make Chief Alamieyeseigha sleep well at night, then he can continue to live in dreamland.”

“While we do not begrudge Alamieyeseigha’s political affiliation or his decision to truckle, grovel and genuflect before whoever he so pleases, we also expect and demand that he respects the right of Amaechi to choose his political party and associates; and to disagree with anyone, on principles and issues that are not in the interest of Rivers State and Rivers people.”

“Finally, We want to state categorically that Alamieyeseigha’s comments against Amaechi in that interview with the New Telegraph on Saturday is an undisguised and disgraceful sycophantic voyage that a man of his standing should never have ventured into,” Iyofor concluded.

SCANDAL: Certificate forgery rocks the Nigerian Immigration Service:

An intensive lobbying is presently going on in the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), a paramilitary agency of the Ministry of Interior, to persuade the authorities to turn a blind eye to the report of two committees, which recently verified the certificates of the NIS staff.

The NIS and Ministry of Interior had not long ago set up different panels to investigate charges of certificate and age falsification levied against some senior officers.
Comptroller General of Immigration Service (CGIS), David Shikfu Paradang, had carried out the exercise in line with the tasks handed over to him during his swearing-in by President Goodluck Jonathan on June 12, 2013.

Jonathan had directed Paradang to flush out bad eggs, “viruses and all forms of bad characters in the service”.
Paradang was said to have begun the in-house cleaning exercise after the President’s charge to flush out majority of the officers said to have altered their dates of birth to beat early retirement.
In fact, about 60 per cent of the staff of the NIS was discovered to be working with fake certificates.

Not only this, many of them were also found to have falsified their ages.
While the certificate verification committee set up by the CGIS was in session, many of the staff were said to have avoided the exercise by refusing to submit the format required of them because of the legal implication of swearing on oath, as they possess fake certificates.

A source close to the agency told Daily Independent that the report of the committees may not see the light of the day, as some prominent politicians are bent on killing their findings.
The NIS committee, which had Mrs. Rebecca Ayuba, an Assistant, Comptroller General of Immigration (ACI), as a member, was said to have carried out a thorough job.
Mrs. Ayuba was described as a seasoned officer with a good reputation.
Similarly, Minister for Interior, Patrick Abba Moro, inaugurated another committee early in the year to verify the academic certificates of the staff of the NIS.

A circular (Ref. No. FMOI/DPARA/0045/V.I./166 June 12, 2014) signed by K.E. Amuga (Director in-charge of Paramilitary Services Department in the Ministry) directed all the staff of the NIS to forward within two weeks a format which included their bio-data, educational qualifications(s), secondary and tertiary institutions attended with dates and NYSC discharge certificate/exemption.
The officers were also required to swear an affidavit of facts at the High Court of Justice that the information and facts contained in the format and the documents submitted to the Ministry’s Academic Certificates Verification Committee are correct.

They were also asked to attach their passport photographs, photocopies of letter(s) of promotion(s), approval for additional qualifications and evidence of payment to the sworn affidavit.
Members of the committee included K.E. Amuga (Director – Paramilitary Dept), Abdullahi S. Karshi (ACTU-Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prison Services Board) and Ime U. Nta, a Chief Superintendent of Immigration (Special Assistant to the Minister on Immigration Matters).

Though the committees were said to have concluded their assignments, the government is under pressure to dump the reports because many of the officers were said to be in possession of fake certificates.
“During the verification exercise, we discovered that the productivity, professional and competence levels of many staff on board are abysmal.
“We discovered as well that many officers in the NIS wear ranks they cannot defend. These translate to inability to deal with challenges of tackling insecurity in the country.

“It was discovered that about 60 per cent of officers are holding certificates they cannot defend, because during the scrutiny exercise, a cursory investigation showed that many officers have different dates of birth”, said a member of one of the committees who preferred anonymity.
The source alleged that many of the staff also bought forged degree certificates.
According to him, “because of too much attachment to paper qualification, people have to source for avenues to acquire such”.

According to him, a serving female Assistant Comptroller of Immigration (ACI) actually obtained her first and master’s degrees from an Italian University with a pass in one school certificate subject.
The officer with Master’s Degree in Philosophy from Pontifial Universitas Lateranensis, Rome, claimed to have attended the university between 1983 and 1985 with only one subject obtained from the West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) in 1981.
“This is a clear case of forgery. This officer who joined the NIS on October 9, 1989, obtained her WASC in 1981 with only one subject. She claimed to have proceeded to this university in Rome and obtained her first degree in 1983. Do you obtain a degree certificate in two years?
“As if that was not enough, she claimed to have obtained her second degree in the same university in 1985. She later sat for her General Certificate of Examination (GCE) in 2005 in Nigeria.
“Do you sit for GCE after obtaining two degrees from the university?” the officer queried.
To him, this is another clear case of forgery and the female officer has been in service for more than 20 years.

The source toldDaily Independent that the certificate verification exercises had exposed majority of them in this act.
Another officer who has been serving in Lagos for over 10 years also claimed to have just graduated from the University of Maiduguri.
“How did he acquire such degree when the university in question does not offer part-time degree programmes in Lagos and he did not apply for a study leave?” she queried.
“Something is wrong somewhere,” the source fumed.
She further told Daily Independent that many of the officers who were verified presented letters of notification of results and also letters of exemption from National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) from universities to defend their forged certificates.

An Assistant Superintendent of Immigration at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, also said: “A report is out and the CGIS is in possession of it. Most of their godfathers are pressuring the Minister of Interior and some prominent politicians across the land to dump the report because they want to cover their inadequacies.
“Interestingly, a member of one of the committees has multiple dates of birth.

“He fraudulently and criminally doctored his certificates. He has the old Grade 11 Teachers’ Certificate, but he claimed to be a second degree holder,” the source said.
Further investigations by Daily Independent revealed that Moro had flocked the NIS with officers from his Idoma extraction in Benue State.

According to sources, since 2011, the Idoma tribe have got more slots in recruitment exercises over Adamawa and Taraba states.

Another Immigration official concurred that the report of the committees might not see the light of the day because they (reports) would be ratified by the Civil Defence, Immigration, Fire and Prisons Board (CDIFPB), headed by Moro.
“The Honourable Minister is the chairman of the CDIFPB that would consider the reports. Since some of the people indicted by the committees came into the service through him, you can label the report as BID (Brought In Dead),” the officer said.

When contacted, spokesman of the NIS, Chukwuemeka Obuah, an Assistant Comptroller of Immigration (ACI), said it was true that committees were inaugurated and that a report has been submitted, but he said he could not comment on it.
Asked how the committees were able to determine fake certificates, Obuah confirmed that the NIS has the most equipped forensic laboratory in Africa that can detect frauds at any level.

Obuah said the NIS maintains a well equipped Document Fraud Laboratory which has the primary responsibility of carrying out forensic examination of suspicious travel documents and monetary instruments.
According to him, the Document Fraud Laboratory is patronised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and commercial banks whenever they have need for forensic examination of monetary instruments.
In another development, Captains of vessels that discharge premium motor spirits (PMS) at the Apapa Quay, Lagos, are alleging that NIS officials extort money from them.
They allege that the NIS officials always demand money and food from the Captains before they allow them to anchor their vessels.

They also claimed that they had brought the case before the Controller in-charge of Lagos Seaport/Marine Command, Mrs. T. Olaniyi, and that officers had been warned to discontinue with such illegal practices.
According to our source, the NIS officials now issue fake Temporary Work Permit (TWP) to Captains in an attempt to collect money from them.

“The TWP is a kind of visa issued only by the Comptroller General of Immigration Service for foreigners to install equipment of commission equipment which can not be done by Nigerians.

“It is issued through Cablegrams to such foreigners through the Operations Section of the NIS to get them entry visas.
“We now have officials who issue this fake TWP and collect money from the shipping companies when they go for clearance,” said one of the officials of a shipping company.
Instead of sending the TWP to foreigners before they come into the country, they now issue it to them on arrival in the country.

However, Deputy Director (Public Relations), Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), I. N. Nweke, said such complaints have not been brought before the NSC.
He said the shipping companies or Captains should document their claims for proper investigation.

“We hold regular meetings with the NIS. If we get such complaints, they will be addressed,” Nweke promised.

Credit: Daily independent

Buhari will run for president in 2015 –Dembo:

Former Head of State, retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari, will soon declare his intention to run for president in the 2015 election under the All Progressives Congress (APC) party chieftain and former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Alhaji Umaru Dembo has said.
He said yesterday at the inauguration of the Isah Ashiru governorship campaign team in Kaduna that Buhari will make his intention public as soon as he returns from his overseas trip.

“There have been speculations that Buhari will anoint Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State as a preferred presidential candidate because he will not contest himself, having vied for the presidency on three previous elections. But I want to dispel the rumour because General Buhari will contest the 2015 election rather than anointing another candidate”, he said.

Also speaking, the Director General of the Ashiru Campaign Organization, Ambassador Sule Buba, said more members of the PDP will join the APC in Kaduna State, adding that southern Kaduna which used to a stronghold of the PDP has now been taken over by the APC and founders of the PDP in the state have already joined the APC.

Ebola: How Rivers state Govt compromised:

Facts have emerged that Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi and the state government compromised in their handling of the Ebola virus case confirmed in Port Harcourt, the state capital last week.
Had the state government swung into action immediately the discovering of Ebola outbreak in the state, many lives would have been saved. Competent sources said that as soon as the carrier of the Ebola virus was identified by the doctor who handled his case, the state government was notified but Governor Amaechi swept it under the carpet
On Thursday last week, Governor Amaechi made a statewide broadcast to the people where he confirmed the death of one Dr. Ikechukwu Sam Enemuo on Friday, August 22, 2014 from suspected Ebola virus infection.

The governor had aid as a result of the death, his administration had identified and quarantined about 100 contacts from the hotel, patients of Dr. Enemuo and patients from the hospital where the deceased was treated with different locations being decontaminated.

But investigations by Nigerian Pilot in Port Harcourt showed that the governor’s broadcast was a last minute face-saving move by his administration which did not respond immediately to the discovering of the incident. Information from well-placed sources in the state indicated that the state government compromised on the Ebola outbreak in Port Harcourt and has inadvertently put the lives of millions of residents at risk. It was learnt that the state government knew about the trip of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS diplomat to Port Harcourt as well as his health condition and treatment by the late Dr. Enemuo.

One of the close associates of the late medical doctor confided in our reporter that upon noticing that the diplomat had what looked like the Ebola virus, the late Dr. Enemuo took samples of his blood and upon confirmation, duly informed the Health Commissioner, Dr. Sampson Parker, who subsequently informed the Governor Rotimi Amaechi. But the governor instructed that the matter be kept top secret.
“Rather than take proactive measures, including informing the public, the state government kept the information under wraps until it got out of hand. It also took them one whole week to announce Enemuo’s death. A week is more than enough period for the virus to spread round the state and beyond.”

The late Dr. Enemuo, owner of Samsil Hospital in Rumuokoro treated in a hotel room, an ECOWAS diplomat who evaded surveillance in Lagos and travelled to Port Harcourt after coming in contact with the late Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American, who brought the virus to Nigeria. The diplomat, whose name remains unknown, is alleged to be Enemuo’s patient. He in turn infected the doctor, who later died.
The diplomat lodged in hotel Port Harcourt where Dr. Enemuo secretly treated and discharged him.

A week after his departure, Enemuo took ill and was rushed to Green Heart Hospital located on EVO Road, Government Reserved Area, GRA, with symptoms of fever and diarrhea. In the course of treatment, the doctors became suspicious and took blood samples for investigation. But before Enemuo died, he carried out three surgical operations in his hospital, as well as attended to several patients. His wife, new born baby and grandmother are allegedly infected.

In three days, Dr. Enemuo died. His widow, who is also a medical practitioner and who took care of him, took ill and had been quarantined in Lagos but the diplomat is alive and well.

Further investigations revealed that the ECOWAS diplomat who got Ebola from Sawyer came into Port Harcourt penultimate Monday. A source familiar with the matter told Nigerian Pilot thus: “The Rivers State government was aware that he left Lagos to Rivers State, they didn’t inform anybody.

The following day (Tuesday), his treatment by the late doctor Enemuo commenced here in Port Harcourt and Dr. Enemuo got infected. The Rivers State government at some point was aware of Enemuo’s infection before he died on Friday, 22nd August. Despite being aware of his health condition, the state government allowed his body to be taken to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, UPTH mortuary without taking the necessary precautionary measures and without informing workers and the Federal Ministry of Health. The ambulance driver who took him there was not aware that he was carrying an Ebola virus victim and the mortuary attendants were also not aware that they had an Ebola corpse with them. Dr. Enemuo, before he died, had been checked into another hospital where a doctor colleague actually came into contact with Ebola fluid from Enemuo. Dr. Enemuo was said to have at a time spat on the body of his colleague doctor. Again, a female relation of Dr. Enemuo, who is also a doctor, had been closely treating him. These two doctors were not tracked down by the Rivers State government. I even understand that another concerned doctor was able to get their phone numbers and relayed same to the relevant authorities in the Rivers State so that they can track them down but this was not done for a number of days; during that period, the female colleague of his had gone on several trips to Aba and came back. So, only today (Friday, 29thAugust), a week after the death of Dr. Enemuo did the state government actually contacted these two doctors.

“Information about the movement of the infected person was not given to the public, the hotel which the initial Ebola patient stayed and was treated; the details of the hotel (such as location) hasn’t been given to the public so people don’t even know if there are a lot of people who might have visited that hotel. Only the name of the hotel has been released to the public. There is even no evidence to show that the hotel has been shut as claimed by the state government, because there is no public information about any hotel that the government has sealed up.

“Normally, if government shuts down a hotel even the neighbours and people around there would know that a certain hotel in the area has been sealed up and the news would have spread, so people are still under assumption that the hotel is still operational and more people are still being put at risk by that. So, the Rivers State government is certainly not handling the situation well. The relevant information is not being given out to the public and the movement of potential Ebola carriers is not being properly monitored,” the worried source said.
As if that was not enough, the Health Commissioner on Thursday called a meeting of all medical doctors in the state in his office. In attendance were the two doctors who treated late Dr. Enemuo. Some of the doctors who attended the meeting queried why the commissioner would allow the two doctors to sit together with them knowing the implications. They expressed fears that some of them might contact the dreaded disease and subsequently pass it on to their patients in various hospitals, thereby expanding the spread of the virus.
In the same vein, the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has said that carelessness and insensitivity on the part of Governor Amaechi and Dr. Parker were responsible for the unfortunate spread of the deadly virus in the state.

The PDP in a statement issued by Jerry Needan, Special Adviser on Media to the state chairman, Prince Felix Obuah, noted that Governor Amaechi and his health commissioner’s laxity, coupled with not being proactive in putting in place necessary facilities and modalities to preventing the Ebola outbreak, was the reason for the ugly development.

Describing the situation as devastating, the PDP regretted that all efforts by the Federal Government to contain the spread of Ebola to Rivers State were rebuffed by Amaechi, including shunning a meeting convened in Abuja on the prevention of the spread of Ebola to other states, presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, which had in attendance, 35 states’ governors, except him (Amaechi).

At the meeting, modalities for containment of the spread of the virus were considered and agreed upon, and all the governors in attendance had immediately taken proactive measures in impeding the spread, the statement noted.

When Nigerian Pilot visited the UPTH mortuary at the weekend, two attendants were weeping profusely on learning that the late Enemuo had Ebola. One of them (names withheld) told Nigerian Pilot he and his colleague received the corpse when it was brought to the morgue on Friday, 22nd August, washed and dressed it for preservation. “We never knew the doctor died of Ebola. We even gave him special treatment when we heard he was a medical doctor. He was here with us for one week and as a routine, we bring out corpses everyday to check their condition. Can you see the risk we have exposed ourselves and families”, he said, weeping.
The ambulance driver who brought the corpse to the morgue (names also withheld) equally bemoaned his fate, regretting that he was kept in the dark on the identity and cause of the death of Dr. Enemuo.

Nigerian Pilot moved round major areas of Port Harcourt at the weekend to notice that the ugly incident had adversely affected nightlife in the Garden City. Popular joints and night clubs which used to attract huge patronage such as Casablanca in the GRA, Rumuola, Stadium Road, Trans-Amadi, Presidential Hotel on Aba Road, Tombia and other areas, including Diobu, were deserted. Also visibly noticed was the near absence of hordes of night sex workers who usually hung around major hotels, night clubs and recreation centres, with operators of the centres, food vendors and cabs counting their losses in terms of revenue.
50 high risk cases identified
Meanwhile, the state Ministry of Health has banned movement of corpses in an out of morgues without clearance from the ministry. This stance was made public by DR Parker yesterday when he briefed newsmen in Port Harcourt.

Parker, who explained that the ministry was doing everything within its power to track all those who had primary and secondary contacts with the late Dr Enemuo, stated that men of the state police command are expected to stop ambulances and demand for clearance from the ministry.
According to the commissioner, 50 Ebola high risk persons have been identified in the state and that three persons have been admitted at the treatment centre at Edoha. He blamed stigmatisation for the reason why contacts had refused to identify themselves.
Parker further informed that the state governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is expected to meet with church leaders and traditional ruler in the state over the menace.

“The governor will meet with church leaders tomorrow. He will meet them by 10:00am. He will in the same vein meet with all traditional rulers on Tuesday by 10:00am.

“But, 50 high risk contacts have been identified. Quickly, the reason why I said so is because a lot of the news, stigma, and all the rest, these persons are not coming up; we are still on them. In fact, we are concentrating on these names that we have found, than still going for new ones. Work is being done to get new ones, but it is more important to capture those names we have already.

“We now have three persons at the treatment centre at Edoha; a pharmacist at Samsil Hospital and the doctor who worked with Dr. Enemuo at the same hospital, and also a lady, who was at the Good Heart Hospital while Dr. Enemuo was there. However, they have not been confirmed, we are waiting for the result of the investigation. Today (Sunday) we should have them. Also, let me quickly tell you that Mrs. Enemuo is in a stable condition in Lagos.

“Anyone who had primary or secondary contact with Dr. Enemuo or the clinics and hotel, should voluntarily come out and contact us. It doesn’t mean that you are infested; all we need to do is just to observe you and if there is anything, you let us know. The chances of survival are very high. None of those that came up in Lagos had issues; most of them were cleared.

“It is important that churches don’t keep admission wards in their churches; some of them are running into churches and groups of them are laying hands on them without knowing”, he said.

Credit: Nigerian Pilot

FG Lavish N3.4bn Monthly On Ajaokuta Mill:

The federal government is wasting N3.4bn monthly on Ajaokuta Steel Mill, the chairman of the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), Alh Kola Belgore, has said. “That is what we are paying for doing nothing monthly currently at Ajaokuta.”

He lamented that despite the huge potential of Ajaokuta Steel Mill, it remained unproductive.

“There are 2,500 engines mounted and engineers and 6,000 employees, and we are paying them every month a total of N3.4bn,” he stated.

Belgore spoke in Ilorin at an award ceremony in honour of acting inspector-general of police Sulaiman Abba, AIG Ambrose Aisabor, corps marshal of the FRSC and three other alumni of the Nigeria Institute of Policy and Stategic Studies (NIPPS), Kuru, Jos.

The ceremony was organised by the immediate past president of the Association of Alumni of Institute (AANI) and chairman, LUBCON Group of Companies, Alh. Jani Ibrahim.

The AMCON chairman decried the situation of the country, saying things are virtually static.

He proudly announced that AMCON is the only corporation with over N6trillion and one kobo of the money has not missed.

He blamed the unemployment problem on closure of companies and businesses in the country.

He lamented that the country is importing fuel despite being an oil-producing country, saying it is ridiculous and the development has made Nigeria a laughing stock among the comity of nations.

He added,”The honest truth is that we are not happy and if here we say we are happy, it is because most of us are in a comfort zone of the society –we are privileged in the society. If we ask the masses of this country who are downtrodden, they would tell you they are not happy with the situation of the country.

“The country is virtually static. Things are not moving in the right direction and everybody is keeping quiet. It has nothing to do with politics, it has to do with our collective interest.

“God endowed Nigeria very well with human, material resources, yet we are seriously under-performing as a nation. We must wake up and try to do something to move us in the right direction.

“The nation is blessed with petrol and yet we are importing fuel in the country. We are importing petrol and we are the seventh largest producer in the world. What kind of ridicule is that? Yet we all kept quiet. You saw what happened when they were investigating those that said they imported fuel to the country. They did not bring anything, yet through connivance they manipulated papers and they were collecting billions as cost of importing fuel.

Nigeria Is Few Years Away From Ending Rice Importation – Adesina

At a leadership forum at the University of Oxford, England, the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, said that “Nigeria’s future and that of the rest of Africa, lies in rural development through agriculture”.

Domestic rice production for Nigeria, if effectively realised, could change the fortune of local farmers and create the much needed jobs for the nation’s teeming youth population.

It was an engaging moment on Saturday with emerging African scholars and leaders from the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship at the Said Business School in Oxford University, England.

Dr Adesina shared with the group milestones in Nigeria’s bold policies and institutional reforms aimed at transforming the agriculture sector into a revenue and job spinning sector.

He stressed the need for Africa to focus on innovative mobilisation of its land and labour capital as a means of achieving inclusive growth. He urged the future leaders to champion this cause.

Low human capacity development amidst infrastructural deficits is a shared challenge across Africa.

The scholars at the forum, looking to reshape Africa’s economic future, agreed that a rising GDP does little for actual poverty eradication.

Nigeria’s Federal Government has a target of creating millions of jobs from agriculture by 2015, four months from now.

Part of this includes changing the general perception about agriculture as an unfashionable means of livelihood to a business venture that could create more jobs for Nigerians.