· *Madlion
indicts minister, others, asks minister to resign
· *Association
denies report, puts records straight
Contrary to
a news item making the rounds in the media that all the yams exported by
Nigeria recently were rejected, the Association of Nigerian Yam Farmers,
Processors and Marketers has denied the allegation, describing the reports as
sheer mischief by misguided elements just as Executive Director of Admirer
Environmental Care, Kaduna, Mr. Shedrack Madlion asked the minister, Chief Audu
Ogbeh to resign for bungling the initiative. The association reacted through
its president, Prof Simeon V. Irtowange after a meeting held at Federal
Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in Abuja.
The
association explained that it was not true that all the yams were rejected
saying that all the ones exported to United States were received at Houston,
Texas, US, cleared by the clearing agents and were safely evacuated to the
warehouse where it has been distributed into the American market.
When asked
concerning the situation in the UK market, he confirmed that the yams were
rejected because it took the commodity three months to get to the United
Kingdom instead of the normal three weeks adding that by that time the yams
were rotten and that it was not an isolated case as it had happened to Ghana
also.
In a
statement he read at the end of the meeting he said that “we consider this news
item as hand work of the detractors and mischievous people, because in the
first instance nothing of such happens. Our yams were received in Houston,
Texas, cleared by clearing agent on behalf of off takers, and the off takers
have since been distributing the yams all over the states of USA. So we don’t
know where this news came from. But we want to inform you that nothing of such
happened. Our yam remains the best globally, our yam remains competitive
globally and this association is ready to go into yam production so as to be
able to meet up with demand of Nigerian yams export. So we want Nigerians to
disregard every such information that our yam was rejected in USA. Nothing of
such ever happened. We are looking forward to the National Assembly to quickly
repeal the export prohibition Act so that we can move on in full force in
making sure that we take over yam export business which is put at 18.4 billion
dollars. If Ghana is making five billion dollars annually, then there is
nothing stopping Nigeria from making eight billion dollars from US”.
He went
further: “the AIT news actually focused on the UK. But the print and social
media said it was in the US. Even what happened in the UK is not anything out
of the ordinary because the yams took almost three months to get to the UK. So
it is natural some of them will be rotten. But it is not just with Nigerian
yams only . I was in the US, and I saw Ghana yam in containers, rotten…There is
no way you will take yams to the UK or US that you will have 100 percent
wholeness”.
Mr. Shedrack Madlion |
Earlier,
Madlion had, in a telephone interview with Foodfarmnews
indicted the minister, National Agric Quarantine Service (NAQS) and the
Nigerian Export Promotion Council saying that the incident showed that the
ministry’s legal unit does know its job; that the NEPC is sleeping and that
“technically speaking, yams are not allowed to be in transit for more than 15
days. Yams don’t go by ship, yam don’t go by containers. Yam goes in maximum
shelf live in transit is fifteen days. Anything beyond 15 days, going to 70
days from the tropic to temperate region will turn out to be a loss.
As I speak
with you, Nigeria will be looking for 14,000 pounds to dispose of the rotten
yams rejected by the authorities.”
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