28
occasions
Friday, 19 August, 2016
At AGM, IMFB commissions new branch, honours customers
I
T was a glamorous event at Oje-Owode and Sepeteri in SakiEast Local Government Area of Oyo State as Ifesowapo Microfinance Bank (IMFB), Sepeteri, held its 2015 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and as well commissioned a new branch of the bank in OjeOwode, a nearby town in the council area. Speaking, the chairman, Board of Directors 1 of the bank, Alhaji Tunde Popoola, said the secret of the sustainability and the growth of the bank which has been in existence over the last 21 years was good governance and also God’s special favour. The Managing Director/ CEO of the bank, Mr Yomi Adeoti, explained that despite the current economic recession in the country, 3 IMFB still gave dividends of 70k to its shareholders and honoured some of its best customers as a way of appreciating their partnership. He called on people of the communities to partner with the bank. The event was attended by the crème de la crème in the area which include the chairman, Caretaker Committee of Saki-East Local Government, Mr Moruf Salau; the Ajoriwin of Irawo-land, Oba Musliudeen Ademola; Oloje of Oje-Owode, Oba Abdulrasheed Oyinloye; Onigbope of Igbope, Oba Matthew Atoyebi; Onitede of Tede, Oba Abdulrauf Adebimpe, among other dignitaries.
2
4
1. From right, chairman, Caretaker Committee of Saki-West Local Government, Mr Moruf Salau; chairman, Board of Directors of Ifesowapo Microfinance Bank, Alhaji Tunde Popoola; Onitede of Tede, Oba Abdulrauf Adebimpe; Ajoriwin of Irawo, Oba Musliudeen Ademola and Oloje of Oje-Owode, Oba Abdulrasheed Oyinloye at official commissioning of the bank’s branch at Oje-Owode. 2. From left, the chairman, Caretaker Committee of Saki-West Lga, Mr Moruf Salau; Alhaji Tunde Popoola and Managing Director/CEO of IMFB, Mr Yomi Adeoti. 3. From right, Alhaji Siju Lawal presenting gifts to one of the best customers of the bank for the year 2015, Chief Okegbemi Ojekalo at the 2015 annual general meeting of the bank. 4. From right, Mr Kunle Egbeleke; Professor Poju Adeleke; Alhaji Tunde Popoola; Alhaji Siju Lawal; Mr E. B Oyinlola and Dr Junaid Ogundiran at the AGM meeting.
When AfricaRice trained NASC officers on improved rice production AFRICA Rice Centre, Ibadan has trained 58 National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) officers on rice seed quality assurance and varietal recognition at Ibadan station on August 3, 2016. The training workshop was informed by the continuously record of low yield in the quality of rice production in Nigeria whcih has become worrisome among farmers and research Institute across the country. This low yield which was attributed to adulterated seeds in the market has contributed to the unprecedented low rice production experienced by farmers In its quick intervention to save the situation, the Africa Rice Centre, Ibadan, commenced an implementation of a three-year project (2015 – 2018) with an international agency, USAID to drastically eradicate adulterated rice seeds from the channels of production through training of rice seeds producers and monitoring and inspection officers. The Rice Seed Scaling project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is not a regular project but a technical assistance to add value to the urgent need for quality breeder and foundation seed – lacking in Nigeria. Over the years, the problem has been that rice seeds are recycled and adulterated leading to poor yield. Speaking at the training, the Regional Representative of Africa Rice Centre, Nigeria station, Ibadan, Dr Francis Nwilene said “It was an informed decision by the separate stakeholders in the seed sector of Nigeria and the issue is adulterated in our system; can you call Faro 45 in Ibadan as the same things with Faro 45 in Kano? The answer is no. “This is because of mixture of seeds and there are lot of adulteration, so, with this project, what we did was to go back to the basis, went back to our chambers where we have seeds stored for over 100, 60, 40 and 20 years and so, on under a control temperature of -20.” We went back to the drawing board, went back to different institutions that deals on rice, we went to the Phil-
2 1 ippines, Colombia, NCRI and all other institutions that deal on rice to collect samples of different varieties. We also took from our chamber and we took them to the field, we invited different stakeholders, seed council was involve, ICAS among others The workshop which was on the capacity building of certification officers from the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), also ensured that rice seed producers nationwide conform to quality standards. During the workshop, Dr Francis Nwilene who is the Regional Representative & Coordinator of Africa Rice Center mentioned that in order for Nigeria to attain selfsufficiency in rice production within three years, the use of quality rice seed as planting material is a factor in achieving the desired results. He commended USAID for providing support to AfricaRice to ensure that farmers only plant quality rice seeds. According to Dr Nwilene “the Centre had previously trained about thirty seed technicians from 10 seed companies in addition to about twelve youth Agripreneurs of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), this training was organised in May, 2016.
3 He added that NASC are also stakeholders in achieving the goal of the USAID-sponsored project which was the essence of organising a workshop for NASC officers. Dr Abraham Shaibu and members of his team: Mr Olumoye Oyetunji, Mr Olajide Oladejo and Mr Afeez Shittu took turns to enlighten participants on key areas of quality control and how to recognise different varieties released by the institute. In attendance was the Minister of Agriculture Audu Ogbeh represented by Mrs. C. A. Awe who is the SouthWest Regional Director of NASC. 1. The participants at the rice farm 2. The participants during the workshop 3. From left, Dr. Francis Nwilene, Regional coordinator, Africa Rice, Nigeria station; Mrs C.A. Awe, South-West Regional Director of NASC; Ademola Efuntoye, Director of National Agricultural Seed Council and a guest at the workshop.