AJAGBE ADEYEMI TESLIM

SPONSORED BY: H&H

The NNPC Exploration and Production Ltd/Seplat Energy Joint Venture and the Edo State Government have signed an agreement that will see the state government allocate 6,000 hectares of land from its protected forest reserves to enable a large-scale tree planting initiative by Seplat Energy Plc.

This is in furtherance to the Seplat Tree4Life Initiative and the Edo State Government’s identification of the need to increase forest cover and carbon sequestration efforts within the region.

Seplat Energy has been selected as the partner to implement this reforestation project, which aims to plant millions of indigenous trees on the allocated land over the next five (5) years. This project represents a significant investment in environmental conservation and sustainable development for the state.

Speaking at the agreement signing ceremony, which happened in Edo State Government House, the Managing Director, Seplat West Limited, Seplat Energy, Ayodele Olatunde, said the partnership will contribute in the global efforts around mitigating the effects of climate change, whilst providing economic, social, health and other environmental benefits to the region.

“This will stir more advocacy as far as climate change is concerned and put the Edo State Government with the Seplat JV on the map as change agents. The partnership is well aligned with our Tree4Life Initiative and has the capacity to boost our economy and the environment; advance our soil health and drive carbon capture; preserve our ecosystem; enhance biodiversity; create jobs; conserve our forests; and promote physical and mental wellbeing of our people,” Olatunde said.

The Commissioner for Environment & Sustainability, Edo State, Joshua Omokhodion, said the synergy between Edo State and the Seplat JV is a huge attempt at mitigating the impacts of climate change in Nigeria. “Beyond the economics of this move, the science of it is very important to us because it is an attempt to deliberately create an ambience that will be conducive for humans and other creatures here.”

The Director, External Affairs & Social Performance, Seplat Energy, Chioma Afe, in her address, thanked the Edo State Government for partnering with the NEPL/Seplat JV on this sustainable journey of reforestation.  She said: “This will drive forward our shared goals of environmental conservation and sustainable land use.

“These 6,000 hectares of land being allocated today, we believe, will provide a major boost to efforts at increasing tree cover and also to sequester carbon in our region. We believe also that this will not only tackle climate change, but will promote the local economy as well as local wildlife. The agreement demonstrates the NEPL/Seplat JV strong commitment to supporting impactful environmental projects.

The Managing Director, NEPL, Nicolas Foucart, represented by Mr. Uzoma Ezulu, DM Operations Management Seplat, NEPL, said the partnership between the state government and NEPL/Seplat JV is a laudable response to the global warming crisis. “The world is turning around for the worst; human activities in the name of development have done more harm than good to the environment. The Tree4Life project, therefore, is a conservative effort for all of us,” he said. Teasoo Consulting Limited was also among the facilitators of the agreement signing ceremony.

AJAGBE ADEYEMI TESLIM

SPONSORED BY: H&H

The Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA), has expressed a willingness to partner the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), in creating and enhancing access to risk data and models.

During a courtesy visit on the Director General, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), and Nigeria’s permanent representative with WMO, Professor Charles Anosike, on Thursday, 2nd May, 2024, Alastair Norris and Renuka Srinivasan from the GRMA said the proposed partnership will also cover application of open source platforms and open standards designed to inform risk financing, and providing technical assistance via strategic and operational projects co-defined with key stakeholders in Nigeria.

According to Prof. Anosike, “Nimet welcomes the idea of the proposed partnership with GRMA to support our efforts and improve our forecasting and dissemination capacity”.

He further stated that the agency provides early warnings to farmers and other stakeholders by downscaling and disseminating the seasonal climate prediction (SCP). Professor Anosike also highlighted that pilot briefings and daily advisories on weather and climate conditions are other ways NiMet provides early warnings to the aviation sector.

The Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA) is a technical assistance programme funded by the German government. GRMA leverages public and private sector risk expertise to enhance capabilities in vulnerable communities to undertake risk analytics.

Falemi Ayodeji of The National Council on Climate Change, NCCC, accompanied the GRMA team during the courtesy visit. Mrs Gloria Onyegbule, Director, Department of Applied Meteorological Services (DAMS), and Mr James Ijampy, Chief Meteorologist at NiMet, were also present.

PHOTO STORY

Left to Right; Alastair Norris of The Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA), Professor Charles Anosike, Director General, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), and Nigeria’s permanent representative with WMO, Renuka Srinivasan of the GRMA, and Falemi Ayodeji of The National Council on Climate Change, NCCC, during a courtesy visit on Prof. Anosike at NiMet Headquarters in Abuja, on Thursday, 2nd May, 2024.

AJAGBE ADEYEMI TESLIM

SPONSORED BY: H&H

With over 70 million arable land enough to feed not just Nigeria but Africa, the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has said that the Agency is willing to partner with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and relevant stakeholders to tackle food insecurity in Nigeria.

The Director General made this known while receiving representatives from USAID led by Josh Woodard Senior Digital Advisor Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security, at the Agency’s Corporate Headquarters in Abuja.

The purpose of the visit was to have a rapid landscape assessment of digital agriculture in Nigeria and partner with NITDA.

Inuwa said, “One of President Tinubu’s areas of focus is boosting agriculture to achieve food security, and at NITDA we were set up to develop the National IT Policy, and IT policy is not just about developing IT but developing IT to boost productivity across all critical sectors including agriculture.”

“That is why we do a lot of initiatives in trying to see how we can build an agriculture Strategy with IT in mind and make it a more attractive business to the younger generation,” he added.

Inuwa stated that NITDA has identified six emerging technologies, that will aid in achieving food security in Nigeria. He said “We have an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy co-creation workshop going on, which started on Monday, where we are working with the ecosystem to develop a strategy on how to use AI in agriculture, health, education, and so on.

“We are working on how to use the Internet of Things, (IoT) in agriculture for crop monitoring, soil monitoring, precision irrigation, climate monitoring livestock monitoring, and so on.”

“We are working using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, (UAVs) to facilitate pest detection, water control, yield assessment, and so on.”

We are working on using Blockchain for the traceability of farm produce from farm to store, record keeping, quality assurance, and so on.”

“We are working on using Robotics to enhance productivity in agriculture in terms of automation of physical farm processing like weeding, harvesting, tractors, and many more.”

“For additive manufacturing, we are working on using it to upscale our manufacturing industry in the Agricultural sector for the production of crop and soil monitoring devices, customised equipment, and many more.”

Speaking on NITDA’s commitment to ensuring that Nigeria develops its digital offering in-country, Inuwa noted that the Nigeria Startup Portal was launched during the week with over 12,000 startups registered so far. He said they would be labelled after which they could have access to incentives.

Earlier Josh Woodard, USAID said that the meeting was to enable USAID to have first-hand information on what Nigeria is doing in digital farming to see how to enhance the integration of digital technology in agriculture.

He revealed that USAID recently launched the Global Food Security Strategy for Nigeria (2024 -2029) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

He said, “We want to work with all stakeholders to ensure food security in Nigeria.”

The meeting discussed the National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) in relation to the success stories the initiative has recorded, the expansion strategy it is adopting and call on the USAID to be part of the initiatives.