BUSINESS
Bayelsa Govt. Seeks Heritage Bank Support on Youth Devt in Sport
The Bayelsa State Government has indicated interest in partnering Heritage Bank Plc on youth empowerment and sport development.
The Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo disclosed the interest of the State Government during a courtesy call with the Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Daniel Igali and others on the Management of the Bank, at Heritage’s Head Office in Lagos recently.
Ewhrudjakpo expressed the State Government’s readiness to collaborate with Heritage Bank to empower youths and develop sports at all levels with the intent to put measures in place to play-up their socio-economic wellbeing and for the identification and development of budding talents.
He also commended Heritage Bank for its pivotal role in enhancing youth development and supporting the entrepreneurial spirit for economic growth.
“We believe with that, there is going to be first, removing our youths from drugs dependency and we are also using them to win.
We really want to see how Heritage Bank can partner with us or support of which we have adequate publicity,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Ewhrudjakpo affirmed that Governor Douye Diri-led administration would do everything within its reach to foster a mutually beneficial partnership.
Whilst responding, the Executive Director of the Bank, Jude Monye who welcomed the delegates assured the Deputy Governor of Heritage’s readiness to support the Bayelsa Government on youth empowerment and sport development.
He noted that with the bank’s feats toward empowering young Nigerians and sport development showed the bank has strong desire towards developing and positioning youths to become world-class citizens equipped and ready to be absorbed into an increasing competitive professional skills and endeavours.
Monye further disclosed that Heritage Bank have been at the forefront of supporting good courses involving youth and sport, whilst reiterating the bank’s MD/CEO, Ifie Sekibo’s readiness to partner with Bayelsa State Government.
“On behalf of the CEO and the Board, I want to say, we will support the course of Bayelsa State as far as sports in concerned. Whether it is wrestling, athletic, football, soccer, we will be part of it,” he assured.
Adding, the ED said, “We have always supported good courses; we are a small bank and relatively new. We will support the Bayelsa State Government because we want to see the youth brought out of drug peddling and drug consumption to where their life can be useful.”
He recalled that when it concerns youth empowerment and sport development, the Bank had carved a niche in collaborating with public and private organisations, especial state governments such as Lagos, Rivers State, Ibadan amongst others to build a culture of sports together with the formal education and entrepreneurship in a bid to secure the future of the teaming population.
“As a bank, we have done something in sports known as schoolympics which was organised by the bank, partnered with the 3rd Edition of the annual Lagos Value Jet Para Table Tennis championship, Ibadan Golf Club’s 30th anniversary, 14th edition of the West African Universities Game (WAUG), partnered with Lagos State Government to back the 3rd Edition of the annual Lagos Value Jet Para Table Tennis championship, 2014 Port Harcourt Amateur Open Golf Championship, IBB Golf Tournament in Abuja to list but few,” he hinted.
According to him, “Heritage Bank believes in development. We have the tenacity to develop, and sport is a way of developing Nigerians both young and old to help foster their physical, social, and emotional wellbeing. It is a well-known fact that physical education and sports help in character and community building, delinquency reduction, community safety, economic and social development.”
Monye further noted that the drive to continue in the support of youths was to create, preserve and transfer wealth across generations.
He explained that the entrepreneur schemes of the bank in the support for business especially among the youths have always focused on dependable job-creating sectors, such as agricultural value chain (fish farming, poultry, snail farming), cottage industry, mining and solid minerals, creative industry (tourism, arts, and crafts), and Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
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BUSINESS
LAGOS SEALS PARTNERSHIP WITH NIGER FOR AGRIC COMMODITIES SUPPLIES
Lagos State Government, on Wednesday, brokered a strategic partnership with Niger State — a sub national entity with the largest agricultural farmland in the country — towards enhancing food production and security.
Governors of the two States signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Lagos for a cooperation geared towards exploring their comparative advantages in order to facilitate constant supply of agricultural commodities for the end consumers.
The agreement tagged “Produce for Lagos Initiative” is part of the efforts of the two parties to key into the Emergency Food Security Initiative declared by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to cultivate thousands of hectares of land to sustain food production and supply chain.
This arrangement is a long term strategic partnership between the two States in building competencies around their areas of strength. While Lagos is positioned as a ready organised food market for consumers, Niger has its core strength in arable land for agriculture and food production.
The signing of the agreement will be followed by massive supply of fresh farm produce to the Lagos Food Logistics hubs for storage and distribution.
Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his Niger State counterpart, Mallam Umar Mohammed Bago, signed the contract on behalf of the parties.
Sanwo-Olu said: “We have just put the pen to paper and signed the Government-to-Government agreement between Lagos and Niger states for agricultural production. Lagos, being the smallest State in terms of landmass, and Niger, being the largest State, is no coincidence that the biggest and the smallest are looking for at opportunities to citizens of our both states to be the beneficiaries of this historic partnership.”
Gov. Bago described the partnership as “a landmark” for both parties, noting that the North Central state was willing to leverage organised market in Lagos to boost economic activities in his State.
He said: “This is a landmark agreement that has been made today. Lagos is the largest consumer of agricultural resources in the country based on its population, while Niger State has the largest agricultural land. So, this Memorandum of Understanding came on the heels of exploring the strength of each state to promote food security and safety.
“Niger State is to produce agricultural commodities for Lagos State, and also process staple food items. Lagos State is to leverage the organised market and supply chain to meet consumers’ demands. This is basically the simple explanation of the Memorandum of Understanding, which is in tandem with Mr. President’s food security agenda.”
Lagos Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms. Abisola Olusanya, noted that the arrangement would help in price stability, as the MoU accommodated pre-production contracts in the value chain to enable farmers cut costs and improve output.
She said the first phase of the Food Security Systems and Central Logistics Park being built in Ketu-Ereyun, Epe would be commissioned in December to warehouse the large supplies from Niger State. In the meantime, she said the existing middle level hubs would be used as distribution points for the supplied commodities.
“This is a marriage made in heaven for our two States. This is a function of production meeting markets. Once there is an off-take market, it would catalyse the production end of the market. Then, this will lead to price stability and food availability.
“Farmers’ profit will also be guaranteed, just as consumers will be happy for timely supplies. We will also have middle men who will have regular sources of income by acting as a bridge between both ends of the market.”
Some of the agricultural commodities to be produced and shipped to Lagos markets include staple foods, rice paddies, tubers, beans, legumes, maize and grains.
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