The Acting President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday said
Nigeria’s rice importation has dropped by over 80 per cent and that the
country would be self-sufficient by next year.
He stated this while declaring open the 16th Conference of Speakers
and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC), Africa Region in
Abuja.
Osinbajo said the success was attained s a result of the
collaboration of the two arms of government who had worked harmoniously
in the past two years.
“In the last two years, Nigeria, which is the largest producer of
rice in West Africa and the second largest importer of rice in the world
has changed that story. Our rice import bill in 2014 was N1billion a
month.
“Today, by a combination of progressive legislative appropriation to
agriculture, and providing single digit credit, under our anchor
borrowers programme for the purchase of right fertilizer quality and
other inputs and credit, many rice farmers moved from getting yields of
3.5 metric tons per hectare to 7.5 mt per hectare”, he said.
The Acting President also stressed that the media don’t see the
struggle to make things better in the nation but that they only see the
trouble between the executives and legislature.
“On a lighter note, I don’t know the experience and belief the
Presiding Officers from other nations present here have of the
relationship between the executive and the legislature as a result of
the portrayals by the press.
“Here in Nigeria what makes the news is conflict between the executive and the legislature”, he added
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