By Ahmed Idris
The Federal Executive Council has approved the sum of N5.6 billion for the third quarter soil erosion, controlled accelerated intervention projects for six states.
Briefing State House correspondents after Wednesday’s meeting, chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari, his spokesman, Femi Adesina, said the states that would benefit from the fund were Kano, Sokoto, Ondo, Osun, Enugu and Bayelsa.
Also speaking at the briefing, Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, regretted the activities of rice smugglers which he said had been leading to a loss of $5bn annually for the country.
He said the government would however intensify efforts to curtail their activities.
The minister identified the delay by rice millers to set up mills as one of the reasons smuggling is thriving.
“That was why the President had to say during the 2018 budget presentation at the National Assembly that we will come down hard on smugglers because they are doing us a lot of damage.
“In fact, the World Bank says that they are costing us $5bn worth of loss per annum. We keep fighting, a little here and a little there. We will get there,” Ogbeh said.
He said council also approved the development of foundation seeds for maize at the Institute of Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
He said the research would cost N165m.
Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika who also attended the vriefing, said part said the council approved Bilateral Air Services Agreement with Canada.
“The Federal Executive Council today (Wednesday) approved the signing of a Bilateral Air Services Agreement with Canada as part of efforts to boost relations between both countries, including trade and commerce.
“It would be a standard agreement to facilitate the movement of people and business transactions,” he said.
