Business

Understanding the Principle of Organic Agriculture Practice Feature

Published

6 years ago

September 26, 2019

By Ebere Agozie

Organic agriculture is a holistic production management system which enhances agro-ecosystem health, utilizing both traditional and scientific knowledge. Organic agricultural system relies on ecosystem management rather than external agricultural inputs (IFOAM Organics International).

The IFOAM Organics International is the worldwide umbrella organisation for organic agriculture movements which represents close to 800 affiliates in 117 countries.

The European Union organic standard also included that organic agriculture practices involve the application of high animal welfare standards and a production method in line with the preference of certain consumers for products developed using natural substances and processes.

From the explanations above, one then begins to wonder, what is the difference between organic and conventional agricultural practices?

Dr Olugbenga AdeOluwa, the Country Coordinator of Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) Initiative in Nigeria said that organic agriculture `is one of the easily misconstrued aspects of agriculture’’.

He said that while the popularity of organic food and non- food products continue to increase, there are still plenty of people who don’t know what organic food and products are or how these differ from regular or conventional ones.

“There are established specific requirements that must be verified before any products can be labeled organic and must demonstrate that they protect natural resources and conserve biodiversity.

“In organic farming, the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, irradiation, sewage sludge, hormones, antibiotics and genetic engineering is strictly prohibited.

“Whereas farmers using conventional methods might spray synthetic chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth, organic farmers would, instead, apply natural fertilizers such as compost manure to feed the soil and the plants“.

AdeOluwa said that where the conventional farmer would use insecticides for pest control, the organic farmer would make use of beneficial insects, birds or traps.

“While the conventional farmer might use chemical herbicides for weed control, the organic farmer would rotate crops, use cover crops, till the dirt, engage mechanical weeding, hand-weed or mulch to manage the weeds.

“Similarly, producers of organic beef, pork, poultry and other meat products use preventative measures such as rotational grazing, a wholesome diet, clean housing, access to the outdoors and botanicals: in contrast to the conventional producers who give animals hormones to spur growth and antibiotics to prevent disease.’’

He said that sustainability of environmental resources and safety are important components of organic agriculture which are lacking in conventional agriculture practice currently taught in schools.

“There is a difference between organic agriculture and organic chemistry, therefore proper understanding of organic agriculture is needed for effective engagement of stakeholders in the value chain of agriculture, of which academic institutions are major.

“There is a need for curriculum development in Nigeria to incorporated organic agriculture into the Degree and National Diploma programmes in the country.’’

AdeOluwa, who is also a lecturer at the University of Ibadan said the curricula of Institutions must address the issue of the four principles of organic agriculture.

He said that for produce to be called organic it must have gone through and observed all the principles of organic agriculture practice.

“These include the `Principle of Health’ to sustain and enhance the health of soil, plant, animal and human as one and indivisible.

“Principle of Ecology` that is based on, and working with, living ecological systems and cycles, emulate them and help sustain them.

“The Principle of Fairness’ built upon relationships that ensure fairness with regard to the common environment and life opportunities.

“The Principle of Care which should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and wellbeing of current and future generations and the environment“.

He unequivocally maintained that organic agriculture is necessary to save the planet from the misuse of harmful chemicals and protect fragile soil ecosystems.

He is also of the opinion that a proper understanding of organic agriculture would address challenges of low yields and intensification of production.

Prof. Victor Olowe, the President, Association of Organic Agriculture Practitioners of Nigeria lent his voice to why people should practice organic farming.

He said that health risks associated with exposure to pesticides are among the main considerations when looking at the reasons for the world to go organic.

“Farmers and their families are the most affected by pesticides, so also are the people who live in communities near the points of application of toxic pesticides, where pesticide drift and water contamination are common.’’

He said that even pregnant women working in the fields unwittingly expose their unborn babies to toxic pesticides but that in organic agriculture practice, their health would be protected.

“Organic agriculture does not utilize these toxic chemicals and thus eliminates this enormous health hazard to workers, their families, and their communities.

“Organic food can feed us and keep us healthy without producing the toxic effects of chemical agriculture.

“Also, in addition to lacking the toxic residues of conventional foods, organic food is more nutritious: It is richer in nutrients, in particular, organic acids and polyphenolic compounds, which have been shown to have human health benefits as antioxidants.’’

According to Olowe, `Food security is an existing global challenge: Everyone has to have stable access to an adequate quantity of nutritious and affordable supply of food that is subject to both quantitative and qualitative requirements.

“When you see the word `organic’ on a label or a package, it means the product was grown or made according to the strict standards (without the use of toxic, persistent chemicals, GMOs, antibiotics or hormones).’’

One could at this point ask, if organic agriculture is as important to healthy food security as the organic experts say, why is organic farming not yet widely adopted?

Mr Joseph Nwana, an agriculturist has this to say:

“Because farmers are not patient enough, they want immediate effects so they resort to the application of synthetic fertilizers and added to this is the fact that it is difficult to obtain organic fertilizers.

“Also, organically grown produce does not have properly organised markets at the moment, and governments have not put in enough efforts to propagate the benefits of organic agriculture.

“Organic agriculture may have lower yields and would therefore need more land to produce the same amount of food as conventional farms.

“This will result in more widespread deforestation and biodiversity loss, thus undermining the environmental benefits of organic practices.’’

Mr Ernest Aubee, Head, Agriculture Division, ECOWAS Commission Abuja says Nigeria is one of the leading countries in West Africa that have taken the lead in efforts to mainstream organic agriculture in school curricula.

Aubee, who is also Chairman of the Regional Steering Committee, Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) Initiative in West Africa said this will help to inculcate the principles of organic agriculture in the consciousness of future generations.

“This will help see how best to mainstream organic agriculture into the school curriculum to encourage and promote its sustainability.

“What Nigeria is doing in organic agriculture will benefit, not only Nigeria as a country, but also the other ECOWAS member states.

“This is the time for us as a continent to pay closer attention to what we eat.

“We read in the media all the time stories about contaminated foods and as a result we must be careful what we eat. This is important because that is part of what should define our personality and the population of the members of ECOWAS states“.

He encouraged other ECOWAS member states to follow suit and start work immediately on how best to make sure that organic agriculture becomes an integral part of their curriculum from primary to the highest level of education.

“In attempting to do this, we must not stop at just one level, we should start from the base, from the primary to the highest level of education,” he advised.

Business

NNPCL and Corruption’s Final Throes

Published

3 days ago

August 16, 2025

Sahara Weekly

NNPCL and Corruption’s Final Throes

By Pius Olasanmi

In the twilight of the Obasanjo administration, when Nigerians were still capable of being outraged, when Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries was a buzzword that still held some mysticism to bamboozle citizens, during a conversation, a certain man said something profound. The man said, “As a businessman, if I were the owner of these refineries, knowing that they are three decades old, I would take the last money I have, hire bulldozers, raze them to the ground, and obtain loans to build new ones.”

When we pressed him further on why he would engage in such waste, he explained that repairing the refineries is the real waste. He explained that even if the TAM were honestly carried out, a thirty-year-old refinery would never compete favourably with a new one that would integrate contemporary technology. Operating at its best, such a refinery would never be comparatively more efficient. It is therefore pointless to have spent another one naira on the refineries at that point.

A few months later, I had a conversation with a then-lawmaker on an entirely different matter. I mentioned that the National Assembly has failed by not crafting legislation that would criminalise and punish public office holders who foist wrong decisions on the country. The logic: a public office holder need not steal to be punished, wrong decisions should attract penalties for an office holder who opts for the worst of all options when there are less injurious ones.

These established premises speak to the ongoing nauseating efforts at revisionism by those who wrecked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its previous iteration, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Notably, this campaign to rewrite history is traceable to Engineer Mele Kolo Kyari, the disgraced immediate past Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL and his hirelings. They have suffocated the news and the public opinion space with even more lies than they spun while in office.

The Saint Kyari campaign is anchored on convincing Nigerians that the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna Refineries were fully functional when he was booted out of office. So brazen is the campaign that one of its talking heads challenged the group chief executive officer (GCEO), Engr. Bayo Ojulari, to “inform Nigerians categorically what happened to the functioning refineries he inherited from his predecessor, Engr. Mele Kyari.” The effrontery.

We have not forgotten so soon the charade that followed the baffling claim that Nigeria has spent $2.8 billion on the repair of the refineries, while they are not churning out even a single litre of refined product among them. Saint Kyari and his goons played all manner of tricks, all of which embarrassed President Bola Tinubu, who had counted on ticking off the return to productivity of the refineries as part of his achievements, only to realise that he was deceived into celebrating phantoms. Tragic.

Lest we forget, 200 trucks were arranged as props in a well-directed video clip to celebrate the re-streaming of the Port Harcourt Refinery. The disappointment. Nigerians were to learn from several reports that the Port Harcourt refinery was not producing and was instead using old, stored petroleum products to load trucks. Worse still, the Kyari crew was passing off sanction-tainted Russian-sourced crude oil refined in Malta as locally refined products. More insult was piled on the assault on our collective sensibility with the lies that the Port Harcourt Refinery exported semi-finished products. Brazen.

Meanwhile, Kyari and his hirelings called those who pointed out or protested these glaring scams all manner of names. They hid behind industry technicalities and jargon to create the impression that those of us who knew Nigerians were being robbed did not understand what we were saying. The point remains that a $2.8 billion investment can potentially build a refinery with a capacity of around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Of course, the actual capacity of such a refinery will depend on various factors, including the complexity of the refinery, the technology used, and the location. That is the amount that Kyari’s regime at the NNPCL took and did not give Nigerians refined products.

Fast forward to Kyari’s sack and the appointment of Engineer Bayo Ojulari, who has demonstrated that things can indeed be done differently. Kyari’s exit was expectedly followed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) going after him and his associates. The extent of the theft is better understood against the backdrop of N80 billion being found in the bank account of one of his associates. They went on the run.

Perhaps because the EFCC was biding its time on securing international warrants for the arrests of these characters on the lam, they have become emboldened. They have decided to fight back and rewrite the story of their participation in the greatest fraud against Nigerians. Engineer Ojulari’s renewed mindset, which is entrenching a semblance of the transparency Nigerians demand, became their natural target. The demons that once roamed around the corporation came out with malevolence. They started spinning stories of corruption to tarnish the incumbent who refused to hide their crimes. The objective: bring Ojulari down. But alas, he is winning the war as it stands.

His innocence is proven, and it is glaring that those who want him out are mere charlatans who can no longer ply their corrupt wares because of the impact of the new reforms. Corruption in the NNPCL is in its final throes. The fake news being unleashed against the incumbent leadership is akin to corruption’s last kicks as reforms in the sector strangulate it and its practitioners. The reforms must take place in the NNPCL, whether the industry demons like it or not.

As a parting shot, Kyari and his associates would do well to prepare their defence. In addition to accounting for the $2.8 billion they laundered in the name of repairing the moribund refineries, they must also answer for the poor decision to fix that which is irretrievably broken. Awarding contracts for Turn Around Maintenance of 59-year-old refineries that a right-thinking person had suggested should be demolished almost twenty years ago, when they were only 30 years old, is criminal. Trying to deceive Nigerians that the fake repairs worked is treason.

Olasanmi is a public affairs analyst writing from Lagos.

Business

GRANDIS 5STAR LUXURY APARTMENT & SUITES SET TO REDEFINE LIVING IN VICTORIA ISLAND

Published

4 days ago

August 15, 2025

Sahara Weekly

GRANDIS 5STAR LUXURY APARTMENT & SUITES SET TO REDEFINE LIVING IN VICTORIA ISLAND

Set to Rise elegantly against the Lagos skyline, is the Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites. According to Adejuwon Ademola, The General Manager of the Development company, it is more than just a residential building
“it’s a lifestyle statement. Standing 17 floors high in the heart of Victoria Island, this revolutionary masterpiece of modern architecture will offer a panoramic 360° view of Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island, and Ikoyi, transforming every apartment into an exclusive penthouse experience for the world’s most discerning elite.”

Developed by Dumarco Construction Limited, a globally acclaimed company with decades of delivering complex, high-value projects in the highly regulated petroleum, oil, and gas industries, Grandis 5Star brings unmatched international safety standards, uncompromising quality, and timeless elegance into Nigeria’s luxury property market.

> “When you live in Grandis, you’re not just buying a home—you’re investing in peace of mind, world-class safety, and an effortless luxury experience that will remain pristine for decades,” says Adejuwon A. Ademola, General Manager of Dumarco Construction Limited.

The Gold Standard in Safety and Quality

Dumarco’s roots in the oil and gas sector mean the company operates to some of the strictest safety protocols in the world. Every stage—from conceptualization, design, construction, to long-term maintenance—follows internationally accepted procedures and quality assurance measures. Cutting corners is simply not in Dumarco’s vocabulary.

> “In the oil and gas industry, there’s no room for compromise. We’ve brought that same discipline and zero-tolerance for mediocrity into property development,” says Ademola. “That’s why Grandis will be one of the safest and most enduring residential developments in Nigeria.”

To ensure transparency and prevent (project complacency), Dumarco deliberately separates the developer, contractor, and consultant roles, engaging only the most competent professionals in each respective field. Dumarco’s project team includes globally recognized contractors such as Julius Berger, Cappa & D’Alberto, and Elalan, Migliore Construczione & Tecniche (MC&T) and their partners VENCO IMTIAZ CONTRACTING COMPANY (VICC) based in Dubai, UAE, Business Contracting Limited, alongside leading consultants like Morgan Omanitan & Abe, LAMBERT, and James Cubitt.

Grandis – Investments, appreciation, returns and profitability

Our selection process for the location of the project alone was pains-taking and completely thorough scientific process. Top professional companies were employed to conduct a scientific data acquisition and analytical survey of the entire Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki and Eko Atlantic before a project site is selected. Analyzing and acquiring areas developmental charts and trends, studying and gathering historical and present sale prices, rental charge and occupancy rates over a 50 year period from every individual street before the selection of the location of any of our developments especially true for the Grandis Project
He adds,

“Our clients and residents can be rest assured that the location of Grandis has been scientifically proven through all existing data to provide our clients with a 100% occupancy rate, highest developmental location, highest rental income and investment returns. ”

The Grandis Experience

Located minutes away from international corporate headquarters, embassies, and landmarks such as Eko Hotel, Radisson Blu, and the Radisson Red, Grandis offers unmatched convenience for professionals, diplomats, and high-net-worth individuals. Every residence is designed for both indulgence and efficiency, with high-grade finishes, smart-home systems, and private amenities that ensure seamless living.

From sunrise over the Atlantic to the glittering Lagos night skyline, residents will enjoy uninterrupted luxury, supported by discreet and highly trained staff, advanced security systems, and a design that prioritizes comfort and privacy.

> “We designed Grandis for people who want everything—security, elegance, convenience, and the assurance that their home will look as spectacular in 20 years as it does on day one,” Ademola notes.

A Legacy That Lasts

With its combination of visionary architecture, peerless safety, and meticulous maintenance planning, Grandis is built to remain iconic for generations. Thanks to Dumarco’s meticulous approach, the building’s service charges are expected to remain low while its value and appeal continue to appreciate over time.

In a market often marred by shortcuts and substandard practices, Mr Ademola says
Grandis stands as a beacon of what luxury living should be—safe, spectacular, and built to last.

“Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites — Where safety meets sophistication, and every detail is designed for a life well-lived.”
He added

Website -www.dumarcoltd.com
Project website – www.26idowutaylor.com
Email [email protected]
Tel / WhatsApp +234 9077777883
GM – Adejuwon A. Ademola

celebrity radar - gossips

Nationwide Talent, One Broadcaster: Tinubu Picks Pedro, Bello, Din, Mohammed to Lead NTA

Published

4 days ago

August 15, 2025

Sahara Weekly

Nationwide Talent, One Broadcaster: Tinubu Picks Pedro, Bello, Din, Mohammed to Lead NTA

Tinubu Overhauls NTA Leadership: Media Powerhouse Rotimi Pedro Takes Helm as DG

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced a major shake-up at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), appointing renowned media executive Rotimi Richard Pedro as the new Director-General in a move widely seen as a bold step toward modernising the state broadcaster.

Pedro, a Lagos native, brings nearly 30 years of expertise in broadcasting, sports rights, and marketing communications across Africa, the UK, and the Middle East. A trained entertainment and intellectual property lawyer, he also holds an MSc in Investment Management and Finance from City University Business School, London.

In 1995, Pedro founded Optima Sports Management International (OSMI), which rose to become one of Africa’s leading sports content providers—distributing premium events such as the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FIFA World Cup, and CAF competitions to audiences in over 40 countries.

His career highlights include top roles at Bloomberg Television Africa and Rapid Blue Format, as well as advisory work for FIFA, UEFA, Fremantle Media, and the African Union of Broadcasters (AUB). At the AUB, he was instrumental in securing exclusive pan-African free-to-air media rights for all CAF competitions.

Alongside Pedro’s appointment, Tinubu named Karimah Bello from Katsina State as Executive Director of Marketing, Stella Din from Plateau State as Executive Director of News, and Sophia Issa Mohammed from Adamawa State as Managing Director of NTA Enterprises Limited.

Industry insiders credit Pedro with building commercially viable broadcast platforms, driving sponsorship growth, and delivering world-class content to African audiences. His appointment marks one of the most significant leadership changes at NTA in years—signalling the government’s intent to strengthen the broadcaster’s competitiveness in a fast-evolving media landscape.