The Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, has disclosed that as part of his “Restoration Agenda” to boost agriculture and to reduce unemployment, the state will soon engage the services of over 10,000 workers as from next year.
Bello made the disclosure on Thursday when he commissioned a multi-million dollar Integrated Rice Processing and Milling Complex constructed by Korea International Cooperation Agency in Bida, Niger State.
He pointed out that the bumper harvest recorded this farming season was a result of deliberate policies of the All Progressives Congress-led administration aimed at repositioning agriculture as the mainstay of the economy and to ensure national food security.
According to him: “It is expected that the mill will generate over 10,000 direct and indirect jobs when it comes fully on stream and this will engage our youth and women as from next year.”
Governor Bello however called for caution with regards to the export of essential farm produce to neighbouring countries for monetary gains, saying that such ventures may expose the country to food insecurity.
Even though such exports are legitimate, the issue of patriotism and national security should not be played down.
Bello also allayed fears that all these efforts by the government would amount to nothing “if we produce so much and our people cannot get the food to buy at a reasonable price”.
The governor, while commending the government and people of Korea for financing the rice processing plant, further revealed that plans were underway between the state government and the Central Bank of Nigeria to buy off the major food items and store them in order to ensure food security.
In his words: “The development was in fulfillment of my pledge to explore all avenues to attract investors and projects to the state, especially through Public Private Partnership initiatives. The state Ministry of Agriculture will ensure the proper management of the rice mill by engaging competent hands to manage the facility.”
The Korean ambassador to Nigeria, Noh Kyu-Duk, said that the gesture was informed by Nigeria’s huge potentials, comparative advantage of cultivating rice and becoming self-sufficient.
Kyu-Duk also noted that the non-availability of high rice production capacity has been the major obstacle of achieving self-sufficiency in rice production in Nigeria.
In her remarks, the KOICA’s Country Director, Sook Hyun Park, disclosed that the project, which started in 2008, has the capacity of processing 1.5 tonnes of rice per hour, with parboiling, drying, sorting and packaging facilities and can be increased to 3.0t/h.
Speaking also, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Jonathan Vatsa, disclosed that by the time “we start mass production, we will be selling a 25kg bag of rice lower than N8,000 and that will make our price the cheapest in the country.
“The mill was constructed through a tripartite agreement, namely Niger State Government, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Republic of Korea.
“It is expected that, the mill will generate over 10,000 direct and indirect jobs, when comes fully on stream.”
The State Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Aliyu Abdullahi, also said the N1.8 billion project was delayed because of various itches in the past but that after the Federal Government gave N45 million grant, with the state also supporting with N40 million to augment for full scale commencement of the mill.