farmer |
Presidential
spokesman Garba Shehu says efforts to get the nation out of its present
economic challenges is beginning to yield positive results, especially
in the area of agriculture.The presidential aide said this in a statement issued in Abuja.
According to him,
an increase in the volume of rice production and processing across the
country is already saving the country a lot of foreign exchange.
Shehu, who is the
Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, said
that Nigeria only imported 58,000 tons of rice from Thailand in 2015 as
against 1.2million tons in 2014.
He revealed that
due to the country's growing rice production occasioned by the Central
Bank of Nigeria's decision to deny foreign exchange for the importation
of rice "parboiled rice mills" in some Asian countries were shutting
down production.
According to him, this is because Nigeria, which is one of the world's largest importers of rice no longer, buys rice from them.
"Five of such mills in Thailand servicing Nigeria have stopped production due to the withdrawal of our patronage," he added.
According to him, government is watching with keen interest the growing investment in rice milling by the private sector.
He said government
would continue to encourage the Ministry of Agriculture on such efforts
through BUA Industries in Jigawa and Dangote in Kano.
He said such
encouragement would also be extended to OLAM and WACOTT in Nassarawa and
Kebbi as well as a consortium of businessmen led by a former governor
in Anambra.
The presidential
aide noted with delight that the price of a bag of fertilizer had been
reduced from over N9, 000 per bag to 5,500.
"This country has
about 32 fertilizer blending plants that have remained idle for many
years, but that about half of that number is now in production with many
of them running three shifts a day."
He said some of the
blending plants had now provided direct employment to hundreds of
workers and indirect employment opportunities to thousands of others.
Shehu said that the
Buhari administration's agricultural revolution was bringing about
other socio-economic changes in the country.
He said that a
recent survey carried out in two urban areas of Jigawa and Kiyawa showed
that jobless young men were migrating from commercial motor cycle
business known as, 'achaba', to farming.
"In Kiyawa, it takes a long wait to catch a commercial motor cycle because they are rapidly disappearing.
"The young men are
moving to the farms. These are development issues in the country that
our media should pay attention to," he added.
The presidential
spokesman frowned at the way and manner some elites had continued to
attack some government policies and programmes in spite of their
positive impacts on the life of the ordinary Nigerians.
"Because the elite
don't care for ordinary people, they are saying that government is doing
nothing but we are doing a lot for ordinary people.
"They don't want us
to talk about the 14 solar power projects that have been licensed to
boost electricity supply in the country; the Mambila power project which
will soon leave the drawing boards and the many Chinese projects
including the standard gauge railway.
"This country has more important things to talk about instead of dwelling on trivialities."
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