THENAll 0 N WEDNESDAY, MAY 1_, 2012 9

W mlth Inauguration of .. 21).00) metric tonne5 ca­pacity nee factory. the

Lagos State G( yemmenl yester­day look .. bold step towards food secufl1r.

TIle JlCtory If' lmola in lkorodu Local Govemnenl Area of the SUltr is built on .!3 htctares of land and It is the fin~ of such pro;ect to be "labli5ho~ l.outh of the Saha­ra It has IO,OOC·lon stonge fadli­Iy for rice rildol)' and 4S;000-1cm capacity slorng" for firushed rice.

The govf'tnmeat opened .. J>01:II­try eblt' In Erikorodo also In the Ikonxlu axl: ..

Governor B ,batunde Fuhol. deKfibed the 1lCtory establish· ment u .. "''akl~'lp call on hood· 1wrt5, popuhrl) ~fend to as fin'll boys to Q(IItr 1M slrfoet and take to fuming.

Fashola S lid '"Time to ilccom­mod.tr the ~o~ of ~t!I in the stale Is 'wer The time for _ilIth Wltt-OUI work ill over, we ha~ provlded hi> tnme work 10f" you to get lour hands busy. gel off the strerts 'nd go 10 the faiin, _ win glVf' 'If u farm land and I will gave Yfou th .. support and if you put you IRlnd t~ it there '5

r.rospenty Ow I.lnd IS too gm'n or U5 to br hungry; our youths

must hi! re.ty t I work in the famu that Wi:! "re ae Itlng ..

The, governn reiterated hili rommitmerll to fI.'mvisoratlfls "S­ncultUTe,9vin: y It ill OO1y through such step tl.al nt! lUIllon can 5L1r­mount ib e-=ooomic challmges

"We are begi mmg to see II cleilr pllth toW"n.'1I e labllShing sustaln­IIble agncu\tu e" FllIIhola lIald, lidding tNl thel e WiIl5 need for gov­ernment It IU levelll to conllider investmenl thrlugh dl!'Vel~ment of InCrastruo: tuf ~ input, budgetary 1I1Iocabon lind (Lnding for llrm­.~

Fashola wid the estabhshment of the nee mill 1I111rled four years ago, adding tht t piaN a~ afOOI to pUsh the sli'te', ra! production 10 600 hectare. ptr IInnum

He IUged l:h ~ Fedenl Coveln­men! In nkllK lind In the Qgun/ Osun Ri\'1!f S. Sin, 10 enable the lltate increil~ ts production and

CITYBEATS

· eo .. emor f~holl t2nd riSh!), Minllll .. , of Su te for Asricuh un Ind Ru~J Oo! .. elopmenl. Alhlll 81k ... Tijlnl, (Jrd leW, OIttins the l:lpe to oJ'fl' the. rice flCtol')'. With th ..... f .... m Idt n e; lion.. Ablk ll' Dlblri·En!wl, Sen.ator Gknp Aah.af ... Ob.a of Imot ... Ob.a Alib.de 8 I k ..... Ind Comlnlnlonu for Asncul· tun Ind Coope...,,!ivel, Pri nce Gbol.ah.an L.awll._y"l .. rd.y ........ __

Lagos begins rice production to promote 8y Miriam Ndlkanwu

meet the facility'll processlOg GIII­

pldty The governor urged the Min~

tries orWorks andlnfnstructure, Energy and Commerce ilOO Indus­try, fo develop good road net­works. constant powersupply ~oo improve infrastructure Wlthin the industria] estate. ~ Mmister of State for Agri­

cu.ltu~, Mr Bukar TIjllnl, pl"lli5ed the state for the investment, which he described as Its response 10 meeting the people's aspirHhOM.

Gover:narn:t.', No 5iLId, is;U,oul no­sponding to thOR who elected you. lidding thllt the ria! factory

food security tallies with President Goodluck Jon~than's transformiltion asenda of ensunng food securny

He said~ "We have 10 start 10 p~ duce m~ ~, we c:annot contin­!.Ie to depend on importiltion from ('(>Unlnes such as Thailllnd iUld in­dia, bUI we have 10 start now to produce what we can ellL·

Lag05. he said, is among the few JI;ltes cluimpioning this COU1M'. plffiging the JUpport of the Fed~ eral Governme.,rs to improve rommeraal agriculture.

-We will do more in Lagos

when It comes to cornn'lerdal ac­tivity to make food suffICient and Improve our agncultural value cham.-

Earlier, CommiSSioner for Ag­riculh.lre Mr Gbolaluin LAWlII5IId \he, factory can proce!l5 ~ opa­ble of matdung the best qUllity rice from any part of the world

1be facility, he Sind, If ope!"ted optlm;t]ly on p~-;tdua! Mlween 350.000 md 4OO,ow bags of rice pt'r

Y'''' He !laid the target of the ~tate is 10 increase lOaII ritt production

to enhllnce food 5eCuTlly, ad2" that lhe COunlryr,"""":r d, largely on Thai and an fa is~ for ri~ which according 10 rum, Incruses the foo.J security Tlllk level

LAwai said, "Not only are these nallons 10 a r!!':lallve po51llOn of strength. we have beCome very vuinefilble 10 otherwise ildv~ weather conditions In the export­ing countries, their milcro-eco­nouuc pohoes and reguliltory p0l­Icies and procedures_ In other wordll, noodmg In Thailand should not del~ the pnet" of nee in Lagos "

L w to regulate cyclists underway, says Attorney-General Assembly gets Constitution Amendment panel

T AKING a cue from the ("ourt', \ erdict upholding the rlgl-I of commercial

mOlorgele opo·rlltors. the Lagos Stale GoI,·ernml!nt hilS sent a bill 10 R'gulate theIr lI("tivities to the 110\15(' of A5SeJnhly

The bill when passed into law will spec.r~ all as where the mo­ton:ycb5ts aka) Oo«ldn CIIn opemte. Altorney· enl r,1 find Comm15-siona (or 1usl,('I-' ~'Ir Ade Ipaye made this }.n('l vn yelt'rday lit II one-day ,,,ork,i'op for Judici .. 1 Corn-spondent:-, held at the Mm­istry of Ju~hce, Ala\lSil, Ikl!)il

Ipllye sald t I~ bill was bemg fine-tUned tty the slate ExeculJ\'e Council wher Justice stephl!n Adah of th .. FI eral High Courl ruled on tM cydJ5I5' sulL

By Adeblsl OOllnuga Ind Joseph Jlbune

abe bill ha5 now been complet~ ed and is now before the Assem­bly for consideration," he said.

lpaXe said there were misrepre­SI!fltations in Ihe reports of the rul­ing

He saId. "The court did nOI say thai Lagos r;annol ban or regulate the activities of the ohuIIr ricfers.

"Whllt the judgmmt said WIIS

that there must be a IlIw m pilia!' before this c:an hi! donI! ..

1l\e C00UJU5Sloner said thl! de­mand fOT the release of aboul S.ooo motorcycle IItlegedly .sdud by the .f:ovemment by _the okada rid· eB "mount 10 pbymg 10 the gal­lery_·

According 10 him, Ug05 cannot be held responsible for motorcy­cles seiud by security agencies like the pelia!' for IntUic offences.

He said the same traffIC rules tru.1 :rr.,Z to motorists also apply to a5 t~ arl! ilil vehicles.

lpayeaaid Cbdll riders musloiley tr-aHic rules like other road users, adding: "If an obdll rider drives across the red light, it is an offl!l1C'l". It IS an offena if they TIde llgainsl Intfnc or on the Sidewalk. among olhers "

f-Ie said the Siale would not ap­P't'"1 the judgment iIl5 -there is re­"lIy nothing to appelll IIgil105t."

Tpitye urged motorists who have any complilm15 .gllinst offKft'5 of ~ stllte Tl"llffic MiU\ilgement Au­thority (LASTMA) to file offioal

G.O.K. Ajayi, Fashanu others mediate in govt, doctors face-off

L EGAL IIID,lnlnes, Chief G.O K.. Alavi(SAN) and Mr. Ban Faihunu (SAN) i1re

among I nl~n committee set up bY the Nitit:rian Bar Associa­lion (NBAl. ll~ Stiltt', to medi­ate in the fatt.-)ff bt>tween the La­g05 St .. te go\'<!rnmenl and doc­t015.

Thl! commiltf'-'~ was mandated 10 meet with the stlte govt'rn­ment to reol\l' till! issue ihatled to the doctors lack, a statement from the Lo;eocill tion said

O ther members of the nine­man rommittee tndude: Pa Tunji Gomez; a fomu~ .. chairman 01 Oll! branch, M.r Akin Aldnbote; Mr. W. A. Gbadtho; NBA National Treasurv, Mr.. Fun.mi Oluyede;

By Adeblsl On.anuga MISS Toy.n Ballhorun and the bfilnch Chllirman, Mr. Taiwo O. Tiliwo.

The statemmt said the il5socill­lion at its meeting on Monday de­cided 10 mediille in the rUi be­tween the government Ind the medical doctors.

The committee, it Wll5 gathered, .... s illrt>ady written a leiter to both partie5 for lin emergency meeting to address the issues.

Meanwhile. the National Asao­ciillion of Resident Doctors (NARD), hilS ailed on the Nation­ill Assembly to intervene in the impassl! and prevent needless lo6s of livt'S o f innocent Nigemll1s.

Aa:ordlng 10 the group, the no-

em! ma55 uck of doctors by the slate government was unwalTlnt­ed, unexpected 01 a dl!moo-atic ad­mini5tral ion and limacked 01 ex­ecutive reckJesnesr;.

"'\'Ihi'l else can explain the mass sack o f h18hlr s1dlled proit"SSlOll­ab in one Tel swoop? Worse 5till ;s the em ployment of doctors as Ol5uIIIs, ",·hich ill ilgairut the labour Iawl of Nigeria,"'" II said.

NARD said striking doctors be­san their agi ta tion, ad/'udged le­gal by Ihe "Nl tional nd uli l rial Court. in August 2010 and by No­vember of llie same yell f the LA­gos Sta te Government signed the Igreement to implemenl the Coo­sOIidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) from January 2011

reports. assuring that they would be tn!ated.

On finanoal autonomy for H()U50 es of Assembly being considered in the ongOing Constitution IImemiment, Ipilye said the 5tilte "Iready hilS a lllw on It which 15

beiTh~ ~C~~~~:erill lind Per-manent Secretary In the mlnl.!ltry, Mr lawai Pedro (SAN), mtl!flltoo the demilOd for slate police, yy­ing lhat is OJle sure way of tack­ling imecurity.

On whether journatillis can record with elecuonicdevices dur-109 court pUJl:eedmgs, Pedro said he did not see anything wrong with thaL

"I think the ban an5e5 from the conservative lUIlun of the profes­sion. It's an:haic

-rhe court of law is regarded 115 II public p~, 50 why can't some­one rKOid the procMiin~1

"However, SinO! !here may be dislr.lction5 where you have many camen.men in court. it can be reg­ulllted." he said

He "Iso warned journalists 10 hi! wary of reporting comments law· Yer.! make in court, 115 not all a re recorded by the judge.

· 8y lilW, Ihe only authent ic record is that Soigned by the ludge He is not bouna to write I I nib­bish.

"So, if II IlIw~r makes .II state­ment that i5 polentially IibeJlow, you musl be careful in ~S it.

"Do your own InvHl lgatlon into wru.t is yid. Don', lust pub­lish because! it WII5 sa.ld. OoUig 110 will amount to irrespoo5ihle jour­nalism."

By Ollegbe Okoekl

ruE LAgos Stille House of Assembly yeslerdlly nLised Constilutlon Amendment Mem­oranda Dfilhmg Committee (CAMOC).

The committee Will collate aU me:'moranda from ihe slale and fildlitate their submission 10 the Niltional CommiUet"

Members of the committee ilte:' leader of the House, Alibayo Adeyeye. (Ouiirman); Adefunffi' ilayO Tqu05O, (Mushin I); Kabll uwal (Surulere I); Abdulbaq Balogun (Ajeromi-Uelodun II); ~ OIulade (Epe II); SanaJ Agunblildl! (lkorOdu I); Otlef Whip. Rasilq Balogun {SurulBe 11).nd J)epu_!y !..rider. Lol. Abode (Ikqa 11).

1be committee' WI.S constituled following a Notia: of Motion Moudltby Adqeye, who re­f~ hh collt'itgue5 to an adver­tlsement by the Senate, calling for ~ontnda on the planned the amendment of the 1999 Constitution. Adeyeyl! Silid the adverti!ement stated that memo­nnd" should hi! IlUbmiued wilhin SO dll}'5 to the Constitu­tion Review Committee..

He slaled the need for Lagos Slate and lIIgosians to stale umoquivocallJ, "our position on the propo5ed. Constitution .mmdment, hl.sh1ighting ~Iear· Iy, some a~as to 1M Constitu· tion that require urgent amend­me1t IS dictaled by our interne­dons with the ExeCutive, the Judiciary lind LAgosians It large_"