The Federal Government has complained about
the country’s over-dependence on imported
products and the ridiculous amount spent to get
these products.
Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and
Rural Development, described the situation as
ridiculous that the country spends over
$18million (about N5.6 billion) annually on
importation of tooth picks.
Asked how he arrived at the figure, he said it
was from a recent Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
report, stressing that it was pathetic that Nigeria
was spending its hard earned resources on non-
essential items.
Ogbeh said: “We depended on Thailand, India
and Vietnam to feed us with rice, we depend on
other countries to feed us with tomato paste; we
depend on others even for tooth picks at the cost
of 18 million dollars per annum.
“We depend on Brazil for sugar; and we also
depend even now on other countries for pepper
and so on. We import 5million eggs per a day
from South Africa. We bring sliced potatoes from
South Africa. We spend $600 hundred million in
importing fish a year. There’s no reason why we
can’t grow our fish here.
“We bring in milk and milk products to the tune
of $1 billion dollars per annum because our
cows don’t yield enough milk. One litre per a day
and the meat you eat is as good as plastic
because the cows walk too much.
“To walk from Maidugiri to Lagos is a bit of
excessive exercise and when we spoke of special
grasses to feed the cows, we got all the abuse
in the world on the internet because those who
don’t know about the subjects got involved.”
While he said the Buhari government was making
efforts to reverse the trend, the Minister regretted
that the country lacked enough machinery for
food processing.”
“We don’t have enough rice mills even now that
rice paddy is increasing in large volumes. We are
behind schedule in our capacity to mill our rice.
We don’t have enough mills to produce enough
cassava starch for the upcoming textile industry,”
he lamented.
The Federal Government has complained about
the country’s over-dependence on imported
products and the ridiculous amount spent to get
these products.
Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and
Rural Development, described the situation as
ridiculous that the country spends over
$18million (about N5.6 billion) annually on
importation of tooth picks.
Asked how he arrived at the figure, he said it
was from a recent Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
report, stressing that it was pathetic that Nigeria
was spending its hard earned resources on non-
essential items.
Ogbeh said: “We depended on Thailand, India
and Vietnam to feed us with rice, we depend on
other countries to feed us with tomato paste; we
depend on others even for tooth picks at the cost
of 18 million dollars per annum.
“We depend on Brazil for sugar; and we also
depend even now on other countries for pepper
and so on. We import 5million eggs per a day
from South Africa. We bring sliced potatoes from
South Africa. We spend $600 hundred million in
importing fish a year. There’s no reason why we
can’t grow our fish here.
“We bring in milk and milk products to the tune
of $1 billion dollars per annum because our
cows don’t yield enough milk. One litre per a day
and the meat you eat is as good as plastic
because the cows walk too much.
“To walk from Maidugiri to Lagos is a bit of
excessive exercise and when we spoke of special
grasses to feed the cows, we got all the abuse
in the world on the internet because those who
don’t know about the subjects got involved.”
While he said the Buhari government was making
efforts to reverse the trend, the Minister regretted
that the country lacked enough machinery for
food processing.”
“We don’t have enough rice mills even now that
rice paddy is increasing in large volumes. We are
behind schedule in our capacity to mill our rice.
We don’t have enough mills to produce enough
cassava starch for the upcoming textile industry,”
he lamented.
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