SPECIAL REPORT: Mining activities robbing farmers of arable land in Plateau
Plateau State is a Nigerian food basket but tin mining activities are destroying farmlands and the youth are turning away from farming. 7 min read
Chris Choji has been a farmer all his life. The 57-year-old who lives in Rakwok, Barkin-Ladi in Plateau State, produces mostly tomatoes, cabbages, pepper, maize, and potatoes. But things have changed.
“Illegal mining activities have made the environment dangerous,” he told PREMIUM TIMES. “The land is no longer fertile and our farmlands have been destroyed, thereby causing food scarcity and making the prices of food skyrocket.”
Gulfood, returns to the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) for its 26th edition this month, with industry professionals recognising its importance in reinvigorating global connections and making
Public perception about civil service
The elitism allegations on bureaucracy are not far-fetched
The writer is a public policy expert and an honorary Fellow of Consortium for Development Policy Research. He tweets @hasaankhawar
A few weeks ago, I wrote about bureaucrats’ perspective on civil service reforms and their issues relating to low compensation, excessive accountability, political interference and judicial scrutiny.
But the worldview about civil service is entirely different. The public feels that civil service is corrupt; breeds a culture of non-responsiveness, apathy, elitism and arrogance; and enjoys excessive perks in the form of official vehicles, palatial residences and unlimited allowances.
Reducing Nigeria’s massive post-harvest losses
Published 17 December 2020
ASSAILED by dependence on high-priced food imports amid scarce forex resources, rising inflation and a burgeoning population, Nigeria’s food insecurity is being aggravated by acute post-harvest losses, which the Federal Government estimates at $12 billion annually. For a country labelled as the poverty capital of the world, this adds an extremely staggering burden to Nigeria’s predicament. Achieving the government’s goal of snapping the losses in half will test the country’s broken structure to the limits.
For years, Nigeria has found it tough to feed its populace because of dwindling food produce, herdsmen attacks on smallholding farmers and the decade-old Boko Haram insurgency. According to the 2019 Global Hunger Index, Nigeria’s case is progressing from a “serious to alarming level” as it scored 29.2 per cent, placing 98 out of 107 countries assessed. It means Nigeria fares better than onl