The Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara has stressed the importance of enacting new legislation to aid the drive to modernise agriculture in the country as well as turn the sector into a major foreign exchange earner for the country in the nearest future. He said this while delivering an address at a two-day public hearing organised by the House Committee on Agricultural Colleges and Institutions on Monday in Abuja. Dogara also stressed the need to ensure bills processed by the legislature were cost-sensitive and did not increase the financial burden of the nation through the multiplication of agencies.…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
This is the third in a three-part series making the case that the development of the biotech traits for insect resistance and herbicide tolerance are the most substantial innovations in sustainable agriculture in the last three decades. In the first part, I laid out the context in which I believe they should be assessed relative to other innovations competing for the crown. In the second part, I examined the data and evidence of their overall environmental impacts. Here, I’ll make my closing argument after looking at the impacts on Argentina, China, India, Pakistan and South Africa. Despite the myth that…
Two antimaterial drugs that could compete with other relevant drugs in the treatment of material parasites have been developed by a Nigerian scientist, Professor Umar Katsayel. Katsayel of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, disclosed this Mondy in Sandmu, near Daura. He said that the drugs were developed from the roots of Cissampelous mucronat plant and the stem-bark of Plumeria rubra plant, explaining that “these are common herbs found around the vicinity.”. According to Katsayel, the drugs had been subjected to various laboratory examinations to determine their efficacy and toxicity before consumption. ”We would soon make the drugs public…
This is the first in a three-part series making the case that the development of biotech traits for insect resistance and herbicide tolerance are the most substantial innovations in sustainable agriculture in the last three decades. Here, I lay out the context in which I believe they should be assessed relative to other innovations competing for the crown. In part two, I lay out the data and evidence of their overall environmental impacts. And in part three, I’ll make my closing argument after looking at the impacts on Argentina, China, India, Pakistan and South Africa. If you haven’t watched the new…
Vice President, Power, Energy, Climate and Growth complex of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr Amadou Hott has disclosed that the bank has approved a grant of 1.5 million dollars (about N540 million) to support power project in Jigawa state, Nigeria. Disclosing this in an interview in Abidjan on Saturday, he said: “In Nigeria, there are some projects we are doing. Presently, we have approved in Jigawa state, a grant of more than 1.5 million dollars to develop a project to build two times 100 megawatts. The grant has just been approved by the board two days ago. “The idea…
At the presentation of his prize cheque in Lagos, Miracle Ikechukwu Igbokwe, the 2018 winner of the Big Brother Naija, spoke about his new status, how he plans to spend his N25 million cash prize, and his future ambition. How do you feel about the presentation of cheque and other prizes you won today? Miracle Ikechukwu Igbokwe: I feel very great. Who wouldn’t feel great? I won N45 million. The cash prize being N25m and I have a car. So, it’s actually a great privilege. I’m happy, I’m excited because this is kick-starting my main goal of becoming a billionaire.…
By Mark Lynas Underneath the busy, green exterior it doesn’t take long to discover that this is a country that faces serious environmental and agricultural challenges Every time I visit Uganda, I am struck by what a vibrant, lively country it is, and how blessed with abundant natural resources, including Lake Victoria, full of fish and surrounded by lush green vegetation. But underneath the busy, green exterior it doesn’t take long to discover that this is a country that faces serious environmental and agricultural challenges. Unfortunately, politics has got in the way of efforts to protect the nation’s fragile ecosystem…
In February and March this year, importers of solar panels suddenly discovered a new anomaly; the Nigerian Customs Services (NCS) was forcing them to pay between 5% and 10% import duty on solar panels. This was a new development contravening a federal government law that put zero percent import duties on solar panels to encourage the use of renewable energy and diversification of power sources. With an estimated population of over 180 million, Nigeria still generates a reported 7,000 megawatts of electricity and transmits about 5,222 MW of this volume. According to a Power Generation Report by the Ministry of…
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Alabama, Birmingham offered insights into why some people’s hair may turn gray in response to a serious illness or chronic stress. A new study on mice, published in the open access journal PLOS Biology discovered a connection between the genes that contribute to hair color and the genes that notify our bodies of a pathogenic infection. According to the researchers, when a body is under attack from a virus or bacteria, the innate immune system detects them and responds by producing signaling molecules called interferons. Interferons signal to other cells to take…
Plant scientists at UK’s John Innes Centre unraveled the complex chemistry of Madagascar periwinkle that opens up the potential for rapid synthesis of cancer-fighting compounds. In a study in the journal Science, the researchers led by Sarah O’Connor, identified the last missing genes in the genome of the periwinkle that are devoted to building the chemical vinblastine after 15 years of research. This valuable natural product has been used as an anti-cancer drug since it was discovered in the 1950s. Found in the leaves of Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus), it proved to be a potent inhibitor of cell division and used against…