From Magnus Eze, Abuja

Despite pressure from powerful local and international lobbyists, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has said government was still apprehensive of genetically modified organisms (GMO).
The immediate past minister of environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed, had stated at a public function in Abuja that government would not be swayed by the cacophony of views on GMO, but would instead aggregate and subject them to scientific studies.
Ogbeh also disclosed that he was officially and personally opposed to GMO, adding that people in Europe and America were suspicious of it too.
“We will try and do our best and stick to hybrids. The only problem we have is that the quality of seeds in the market is so limited. We have three universities of agriculture; Brazil has 70 and our population is almost the same,” he said.
Even though government was concerned about the limited number of quality seeds in the market, the minister maintained that Nigeria would not embrace GMO seeds.
He charged the universities of agriculture to concentrate on their mandate instead of dabbling into other fields like management, medicine and law.
Ogbeh assured the youths that he would soon convene a meeting with them to discuss : “Agriculture: The Issues, Problems and Prospects.”
Meanwhile, the Director-General of National Biotechnology Development Agency, Prof. Lucy Ogbadu, has insisted that the application of biotechnology would engender improved yield and good quality of crops and animals.
She asserted that the traditional agricultural methods would not guarantee food security for Nigeria, and indeed Africa, because of the growing population, shrinking workforce for farming and high infertility of farmlands.


NABTEB: We’ve boosted people’s confidence in NABTEB  – Registrar 

From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of the National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB), Prof. Ifeoma Isiugo-Abanihe, has attributed the wide acceptability and confidence the body enjoys to the effort and commitment of the new management of the agency to give Nigerians an alternative to the National Examination Council (NECO) and West African Examination Council (WAEC) examinations.
The confidence and credibility, according to her, was evident in the registration and impressive performance of candidates that sat for NABTEB exams in 2016.
Isiugo-Abanihe, in a telephone chat with Daily Sun disclosed that the board was consistently upgrading and strengthening its systems for effective and efficient services to candidates.
She thus encouraged candidates, particularly those doubting the credibility and acceptability of NABTEB certificate to have a change of mind, and take advantage of the opportunity to acquire some business and technical skills, which are key to making positive impact in the 21st century.
“People have fears about the credibility of the certificate in the past but that has been corrected. Candidates now have more confidence in NABTEB than before, thanks to the effort of my predecessors, which I am committed to upholding and possibly surpass,”  Isiugo-Abanihe said.


Water resources: Govt urges Nigerians to conduct regular quality check on water
From Basil Obasi, Abuja

The Federal Government has warned Nigerians who depend on boreholes as the source of drinking water to test the quality regularly to reduce its negative impact.
Deputy Director, Water Quality Control and Sanitation in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Mrs. Elizabeth Ugoh, who disclosed this in Abuja, noted that the ministry was working with the Standards Organization of Nigeria to enforce the national standard for drinking water quality toward safeguarding the quality of water supplied to the public.
According to her, six new laboratories are being constructed in the six geo-political zones by the Federal Government to improve water quality and standard in the country.
She said, “This is inadequate due to the country’s large population; our target is that each state will have one, so that all together, we will have 37 laboratories in the whole federation.
“We are calling on borehole drillers to abide by the national drilling code of practice. Families should also ensure regular check on the quality of water they take by instilling the habit of regular water treatment in their homes.
“Seventy per cent of tropical diseases are water-borne, if we provide potable water, all occurrences of water-borne diseases like typhoid, cholera, diarrhoea, and scabies will be non-existent.”

Related News


Science: Onu recommends vocational skills for ex-soldiers

From Magnus Eze, Abuja

Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has called on the military to take advantage of the facilities of technology incubation centres across the country to equip retired soldiers with additional skills that could help them start new businesses.
The minister gave the charge in a lecture he delivered at the National Defence College, Abuja, recently stating that in many countries, soldiers in retirement use the enormous experience they acquired in their service years to set up businesses, particularly in such areas as security, defence and intelligence.
These efforts help create jobs and wealth for the nation.
Onu reiterated the resolve of government to strengthen the link between research institutions and universities on the one hand and on the other also strengthen the linkage between industry and research institutes.
He noted that the organised private sector would be supported to produce and manufacture locally those goods and products that were imported in large quantities, year after year.
According to him, the ministry would achieve this through its technology transfer promotion initiative, as investors who want to manufacture goods in Nigeria and also transfer their technology to Nigerians would be encouraged with a basket of incentives by the ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government.


Aviation: Minister, airlines to meet on proposed Abuja airport closure
From Uche Usim, Abuja

Minister of State (Aviation), Hadi Sirika, would on Thursday meet local and international airlines, security personnel and other stakeholders in Abuja over plans by the Federal Government to temporarily shut the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The airport would be shut for six weeks to pave way for repair works on the damaged runway and taxiway.
The meeting follows mounting pressure on the minister to work out another repair strategy that would not entail total closure of the airport, considering its pivotal place in the country.
Top on the worry list of the carriers is the insufficient capacity of the Kaduna airport, the alternate aerodrome, to efficiently buoy the anticipated spike in airplane and passenger traffic.
There are also concerns over the safety and security of passengers shuttling between Abuja and Kaduna by road as some fear they might be caught up in the raging inter-communal clashes in some parts of Kaduna.
The forum would afford the minister the opportunity to officially inform the sector of the decision and equally brief them on efforts to ensure that the use of the Kaduna International Airport as an alternative during the closure was seamless and hitch-free.