The President of Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Dr. Namaga Ngongi, was at the recently held international conference on “Young People, Farming & Food: the future of the Agrifood sector in Africa,” in Accra, Ghana.

De-marketing, that un-healthy marketing practice which caused ripples within the banking industry, has once again reared its ugly head in Nigeria’s brewing industry, a sector that contributes over 28 per cent of Manufactured Value Added (MVA) goods and provides direct employment to millions of Nigerians.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has recertified the operational performance of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (NAHCO) by renewing the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) certificate presented to it last year.

The certification signed by IATA’s Senior Vice-President of Safety, Operations and Infrastructure is valid till 2014. The last certificate which expired in January was presented at a ceremony marking the IATA Day in March 2011. IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations is the most important certification for any aviation logistics and ground handling company, and it is selectively awarded after a long but painstaking audit process.

ISAGO registration is aimed at improving safety and cutting airline costs by drastically reducing ground accidents and injuries; as well as reducing service delivery time. With the ISAGO recertification, NAHCO’s operations have once again received the pass mark of IATA on safe operations and minimum accident records. This will save airlines the trouble of frequent audits of ground operations.

ISAGO is modelled on the successful IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) programme. The ISAGO programme is an audit system conducted in a standardised and consistent manner, using internationally recognised quality auditing principles.  The process of obtaining this certificate began in 2008 when NAHCO started synchronising its Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) with IATA standards. It involved a thorough auditing of operations. This recertification is coming on the heels of the company’s multi-billion naira equipment acquisition and warehouse modernisation.

Senior Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Maritime Affairs, Mr. Leke Oyewole, says Nigeria loses over 40million metric tonnes of petroleum products yearly to oil theft, which translates to over $20billion.

Dayo Babatunde is the senior partner, Ernst and Young, a global firm that has been in operation for over 50 years and is represented in more than 140 countries. With his 23 years experience in the banking industry, he is of the opinion that cashless economy will not only help Nigeria’s economy but will ease all issues in the industry.