The request was made by the Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, who disclosed that APPEALS Project in the state had empowered about 8,000 farmers, especially women and youths in the last five years.

Olusanya called for an extension of the APPEALS project programme when World Bank and APPEALS project representatives who were in Lagos for the 9th Implementation Support Mission to Lagos paid her a courtesy visit on Monday.

APPEALS project is a Lagos State and World Bank-assisted project in conjunction with the federal government aimed at enhancing the agricultural productivity of small and medium-scale farmers and improving value addition along priority value chains – Poultry, Aquaculture and Rice under the Lagos APPEALS project.

Speaking during the courtesy visit, the commissioner assured World Bank and APPEALS Project National Coordinating Office representatives that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Lagos State government were ready to cooperate and do the needful for more farmers to benefit from the project if extended beyond the September 2023 deadline.

READ ALSO: Lagos is committed to agriculture, APPEALS project -Hamzat

Olusanya during the visit also presented cheques to five farmers, who are Women and Youths Empowerment Programme beneficiaries as insurance benefits over the recent loss in their poultry farm as a result of Avian influenza, which led to the death of their birds.

The five beneficiaries – Hameed Osiyemi, Yahya Mohammed, David Christiana, Moromoke Olanrewaju and Omolara Ojo, were given between N50,000 and N210,000 as insurance benefits by the First Adequate Benefits Insurance Brokers Limited.

The commissioner commended the Lagos State APPEALS project, saying that the project had made the most impact compared to previous agricultural projects and programmes.

She said: “The State Project Coordinator (Mrs Oluranti Sagoe-Oviebo) and her team members have handled the APPEALS project in the last five years. The APPEALS project team is one of the best groups of people that we actually have coordinating this project statewide and with regard to the impact the project itself has made, I will say it is second to none.

“Over 8,000 youths and women have been trained and empowered based on field visits. The Lagos State APPEALS project coordinator is always pushing us. This team goes far and wide just to ensure implementation is done well. If there is also a team that I have seen a lot of integrity in, it is this particular team.

“We attend the State Steering Committee meetings with the deputy governor and a few other stakeholders from other MDAs and generally speaking APPEALS project is one of the seamless projects that the state has been able to run.

“I want to believe that if there is a possibility, this project should actually continue in all sincerity and if you don’t want to continue it nationally, you can just continue and look at Lagos State as a special project.  I think Lagos deserves a special intervention because the team handling this project truth be told is still one of the best.

“We want to thank you (World Bank and APPEALS National Coordinating Office) for being very supportive of the Lagos State APPEALS Project, hoping that we will continue to have the support from now till the end of the project and if there is a possibility of extending it, I want to assure you that the Lagos State government under Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu is ready to cooperate.

“We are ready to serve the people. We are ready to do the needful according to the World Bank procedure and I can assure you that the impact that we all want to see is definitely what you will be assured of getting in Lagos State.”

Speaking during the courtesy visit, the Task Team Leader from World Bank, Dr Manievel Sene, commended the Lagos State Project Coordinator of APPEALS, Mrs Oluranti Sagoe-Oviebo, and her team for the job they have done so far, declaring that Lagos was among the leading states in Nigeria based on an overall overview of APPEALS project.

He said the World Bank would look at another project to scale up the achievements of the APPEALS project.

“We are on the same page on how we can look at another project to scale up the achievements of the APPEALS project. We are ready for a new project that will build on APPEALS.

“I think Lagos APPEALS is moving in the right direction. Based on the information from the team, the project enjoyed strong support from Lagos State governor and the state government, which is very encouraging. We are very satisfied with the level of implementation and achievements by the APPEALS project in Lagos,” he said.

Dr Sene commended the Lagos APPEALS collaboration with an insurance company, adding that the initiative would be scaled up and encouraged in the new project by the World Bank for farmers’ productivity.

Sagoe-Oviebo said part of the support the Lagos APPEALS project is doing is to ensure that beneficiaries are insured and that is why the project collaborated with the insurance company, noting that those who received cheques during the courtesy visit are parts of the Women and Youths Empowerment Programme beneficiaries from Epe axis of Lagos State.

The visit was part of the five-day event of the APPEALS Project 9th Implementation Support Mission of the World Bank and the Federal Government of Nigeria to Lagos State.

The main objective of the mission is to assess the project’s overall implementation status and ensure the successful completion of the project action plan developed during the 8th mission visit.

The National Project Coordinator of APPEALS Project, Mr Mohammed Jobdi, and participants from the other five Implementing States of Cross-River, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano and Kogi led by their State Project Coordinators were also present at the event.

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Ronaldo, 34, has won the renowned France Football magazine trophy for the world’s best player five times – as many as Messi – but is eager for more as he moves into the twilight of his career.

“Messi’s in the history of football,” Ronaldo told broadcaster Piers Morgan in an interview with Britain’s ITV on Tuesday.

“But I think I have to have six or seven or eight to be above him,” he said, referring to the Ballon d’Or awards.

“I’d love it, I think I deserve it.”

The Portugal captain said he was no friend of the Argentine, but credited his rival for helping push him further in his own career.

“My relationship with him is, we are not friends, but we have shared this stage for 15 years,” Ronaldo said.

“I know that he has pushed me to be a better player and I have pushed him to be a better player as well.”

Ronaldo, who also played for Manchester United and Real Madrid, has five UEFA Champions League winners’ medals, and led Portugal to victory at the 2016 UEFA European Championship and 2019 UEFA Nations League tournaments.

“I don’t follow the records, the records follow me. I’m addicted to the success, and I don’t think it’s something bad, I think it’s good,” Ronaldo said.

“It motivates me. If you’re not motivated, it’s better to stop,” he added.

Source:  Reuters/NAN

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The traditional worshippers of Olosha Oba and Oro Cult were said to have invaded the mosque on Saturday and attempted to kill the Imam, Alhaji Abdul Waliy Abdul Azeez Abata, who however escaped.

The invaders were said to have pelted him and members of his congregation with stones as they took to their heels.

They were said to have later damaged equipment worth millions of naira in the mosque.

Condemning the actions of the traditional worshippers, MURIC in a statement issued by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, said the attack was unacceptable.

The statement reads in part:  “We are confounded by this invasion. Places of worship should be held sacred. This attack is audacious, provocative and barbaric. It is impunity on the highest pedestal. We denounce it in the strongest terms and we demand justice. The culprits must be fished out and dealt with according to the laws of the land.

“Not only that, Umar Bin Khattab Mosque must be repaired, all vandalized equipment must be replaced and the hospital bills of all injured Muslims must be fully paid or refunded. We want the perpetrators arraigned in court. Somebody must be held accountable for this if Ogun State Government (OGSG) truly desires peaceful coexistence.

“This is about the third time within one year that Muslims are targeted for attacks in Ogun State alone. Masquerade worshippers publicly removed the hijab from a Muslim woman’s head and beat her up in Abeokuta just two months ago, on 18th June, 2019 to be precise (http://freepress.com.ng/2019/06/19/masquerade-brutalizes-sister-on-niqab-in-ogun-state/). What is happening in Ogun State? Who declared Muslims persona non grata? Why must Muslims become endangered species in a state where they are in a comfortable majority?

“On 16th September, 2016, Oro worshippers truncated the Id al-Kabir prayers in twenty communities of Ipokia Local Government. The attackers ensured that no Salah prayer was held anywhere in the local government, including Ifoyintedo, Atan-ota, Ita-ege, Iledu, Imule, Iropo, Akopin, Madoga, Ilagbe, Kajola, Osooro, Asipa, Ikorodu/Bola, Idologun, Araromi, Idomogun, Igbo-Atan, Oke – Iwo, Ajelende and Akinde Elepo-Temu/ Kusika (https://thenationonlineng.net/eid-el-kabir-three-arrested-oro-worshippers-attack-muslims-christians-ogun/).”

MURIC blamed the police for failing to protect Muslims and their properties in Ogun State.

“Ogun State Police Command has not impressed us. Somebody somewhere has been condoning criminality. The police should have known from experience that Oro worshippers often attack mosques whenever they declare their illegal curfews.

“So what happened to intelligence gathering? What is the state command’s Central Intelligence Department (CID) doing? What happened to police pre-emptive action? Isn’t the police expected to be proactive? We are curious to know how many arrests have been made in the mosque invasion case. We insist that the culprits must be prosecuted. That is the only way to stop Muslims in the state from taking the law into their own hands. Justice must not be delayed.

“The police must also take such actions that will make a repetition too costly for traditionalists. We are tired of being sitting ducks for criminally minded religious fanatics. Mosques must be protected by the police anytime illegal curfews are declared.

“Curfews are the prerogative of state governors and chairmen of local government councils. Declaration of curfews by Oro cultists is therefore illegal, illegitimate, unlawful and unconstitutional. The leaders of the Oro cult must therefore be invited and cautioned by the police to desist from declaring illegal curfews.

“MURIC calls the attention of the Inspector General of Police (IG) to the nonchalant attitude of his officers to the criminal activities of Oro worshippers and other traditionalists in the South West. Enough is enough.”

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