Latest news with #R17.7-trillion
TimesLIVE
3 days ago
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Nigeria and Brazil sign $1bn agreement to boost agriculture
Nigeria and Brazil signed a $1bn (R17.7bn) agreement on Tuesday to boost agriculture, food security, energy and defence in the West African nation, Nigeria's Vice-President Kashim Shettima said. The two countries aim to 'deploy more than R1bn to deliver mechanised farming equipment, training and service centres across Nigeria,' Shettima said in a statement posted on X. A lot of farming in Nigeria is subsistence and land is owned by families or individuals, which makes large-scale acquisition problematic. Nigeria also imports food for its 200-million plus population. 'We are moving from subsistence to scale in agriculture, and in energy we are taking long-overdue steps to attract serious investment into gas production, refining, and renewables,' Shettima said. The agreements were signed in Abuja during a visit by Brazil's Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin to Africa's most populous nation. Shettima told his Brazilian counterpart reforms embarked on by President Bola Tinubu have helped reshape Nigeria's economy. Nigeria is targeting a $1-trillion (R17.7-trillion) economy by 2030, with reforms to agriculture, energy, education and public finance. The country has also asked banks to recapitalise to attract foreign investments.
TimesLIVE
11-06-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Trump tells soldiers Los Angeles protests are national security risk
In North Carolina, Trump and defence secretary Pete Hegseth took part in long-scheduled commemorations of the US army's 250th anniversary, watching soldiers demonstrate a special forces assault on a building and use a long-range missile launcher. It was the first in a series of celebrations of the army anniversary involving Trump ahead of a major parade in Washington on Saturday. Earlier on Tuesday in the Oval Office, Trump warned against demonstrations at the parade, telling reporters: "They're going to be met with very big force." The FBI and metropolitan police department have said there are no credible threats to the event. The week's army commemorations combine Trump's penchant for patriotic pomp and his political positioning as a law and order president. Saturday's celebrations in Washington include thousands of troops, dozens of military aircraft and coincide with Trump's 79th birthday. The army was established on June 14 1775, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence. Earlier this year, Trump restored the name Fort Bragg to the base, one of the largest in the world, despite a federal law that prohibits honouring generals who fought for the South during the Civil War. His administration said the name honours a different Bragg — private first class Roland Bragg, who served during World War 2. In 2023, the base had been renamed Fort Liberty, a change driven by racial justice protests. Trump has made the military a focus of his efforts, with his defence secretary working to purge transgender service members, top officials appointed under his Democratic predecessor and even books deemed out of step. The president's cost-cutting government reforms have largely spared the defence department's nearly $1-trillion (R17.7-trillion) annual budget. He has pledged to avoid international conflict while launching new weapons programmes and increasing the use of the military domestically, including in immigration enforcement. Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people who are in the country illegally and to lock down the US-Mexico border, setting the immigration and customs enforcement border agency a daily goal of arresting at least 3,000 migrants. Demonstrators in LA have assembled, among other places, at a government facility where immigrants are detained.
