Audu Ogbeh, minister of
agriculture, says Thailand has accused President Muhammadu Buhari’s government
of being responsible for the collapse of seven of its rice mills.
The minister made this known at a
meeting of the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) and leadership of the
Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers of Nigeria (FEPSAN) held at the council
chamber of the presidential villa, Abuja, on Friday.
The meeting was presided over by
Buhari.
Ogbeh said Thailand’s ambassador
to Nigeria made the “accusation’’ when he visited him in February.
According to the minister, the
ambassador lamented that the collapse of the rice mills has increased the unemployment
rate in his country from 1.2 percent to four percent.
“Just like two weeks ago, the
ambassador of Thailand came to my office and said to me that we have really
dealt with them,” he said.
“But I asked what did we do wrong
and he said unemployment in Thailand was one of the lowest in the world, 1.2
percent, it has gone up to four percent because seven giant rice mills have
shut down because Nigeria’s import has fallen by 95 percent on rice alone.
“So, Mr President we thank you
for the support and we thank all the agencies and those of you in the private
sector for your resilience.”
The minister, however, alerted
the nation on what he described as alarming smuggling of fake fertiliser and
rice along the western borders of the country.
He, therefore, called on the
federal government to take drastic measures to check the trend as all previous
diplomatic measures had failed to address the menace.
“But one last request Mr
President, we have to take one strong measure against our neighbour to the West.
The smuggling is really compromising our capacity on our result,” he said.
“Too much rice, too much fake
fertilizer is still coming across the borders into this country in spite of the
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) we have with them they are not listening.
“Maybe if the Federal Government
takes one tough action, they will come and renegotiate the terms because good
neighbourliness means reciprocity.
“We can’t be allowing them to
survive at our own expense and I believe that we will do something about it.”
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