Anthony Sykes is the Director, Global Board, International Project Finance Association, (IPFA). . In this interview with Moses Nosike of Saturday Vanguard Business, he states what Nigeria stands to gain from IPFA if it develops its Public Private Parnership market, PPP; and also why Nigeria is a market that nobody can afford to ignore. Excerpts:

In a bid to promote good healthcare service among pregnant mothers, new born babies and children under five years, and also fight against those killer diseases that force the rate of mortality high, Macleans, a premium brand of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc, now partners with Lagos State Ministry of Health to ensure that necessary awareness is brought to the bearing of nursing mothers and babies and that the right type of vaccines and nutrition capable of preserving their lives are taken.

The governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has said that out of the about N200 billion earmarked to be disbursed as agricultural loans to farmers in the country, only N60b have been utilized two years after.

Below average refers to the assessment of the level of infrastructure needed to generate more revenue than we are making at present. In a nutshell we detected much decay, which needs to be addressed. I can’t imagine a revenue office having no basic equipment for revenue generation. Computerization, for instance. However, I immediately remedied that by supplying computers.

The Vice Chairman, Africa Capital and Business Support Limited (ACBS), Mr. Benjamin Aduli, has said a total of N6 billion will be injected into Integrated Microfinance Bank to bring it back to operations.

THE Executive Director/CEO of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, David Adulugba has disclosed that the Federal government’s earnings for the first quarter of this year stands at $628,427,967 million, with a projection of $2 billion for the year ended 2010.

AN indigenous geological consultancy company, West Africa Geo-Mining System Ltd and its partners in Europe are planning to fund to the tune of about $20 million for various viable mining projects in Nigeria.

Cameroonian farmers participating in the Programme National de Developpement des Racines et Tubercules (PNDRT) have more than doubled cassava yield, using improved cassava planting materials from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.

Gov. Jonah Jang on Tuesday launched sale of fertilizers in Plateau, pegging the price at N2,000 per bag.The commodity sells for between N5,500 and N6,000 in the open market.

When I took over in 2007, we took agriculture as our priority and we were doing all we can at a point as we encouraged every farmer to grow more but we discovered that the major problem was the problem of transportation of their farm produce to the market as a result of bad roads and we thought the best way to go about it was to purchase Heavy duty equipment to open the roads to facilitate their goods.”

MEMBERS of All Farmers Association of Nigeria in Delta State have been assured of state government’s financial and technical assistance in agriculture and agro production.

Dr. Simon Chukwuemeka Okolo, National President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), and member of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) bears the Association’s mind on the banking reform as its affecting the industrial sector, and other issues in the economy.

EASYDUZIT Group has said that its forthcoming Ecotic Fair will boost intra regional trade in the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc has announced 19% increase in turnover from N12.54billion to N14.95billion in its 2009 financial year.

The Federal Government has expressed disappointment over the shallow and shoddy manner at which the consultant firm handled the Baro, Lot 5 of Lower River Niger dredging project, lamenting that incoherent activities of the consultant has resulted in the extension of the completion of the project by another five months.