The current paradigm shift in tapping the natural potentials in Nigeria’s agriculture will no doubt eradicate capital flight due to outflows of foreign exchange and in no distant time transform the Nigerian nation and its farmers into desirable producers and exporters of rice and other grains. With about 11 billion being spent annually on food importation, and about N 365 billion ($ 2.4 billion) accounting for rice importation alone (i.e. one fifth of yearly food importation), eventual ban of imported rice will greatly add to the food security and overall economic stability/sustainability of Nigeria. The place of Governor Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari in the whole process of the nation`s tantalizing rice revolution is absolutely ensured; most significantly with the yielding steady contribution from Zamfara`s ZACAREP.
By Igbotako Nowinta
Since the creation of Nigeria as a geographical entity on October 1, 1960, no one particular federal government, be it civilian or military has ever placed unprecedented priority on the production of local rice like the Muhammadu Buhari administration of today.
Not even, during the General Olusegun Obasanjo`s stridently advertised `Operation Feed the Nation program launched in the middle of the nineteen seventies, when he was a military dictator could boast of the kind of passionate official commitment to the need for the total ban on the importation of rice into the country.
No thanks to the current crushing and debilitating effect of the economic recession in the country, that is rubbishing and sentencing most Nigerians into the trap of hunger, tension and fear.
No thanks also, to the sixteen years of unbridled corruption, gigantic waste and planlessness, showcased by the adherents of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who in their height of political lunacy boasted that they will rule Nigeria for sixty (60) years.
Today, without mincing words the country is experiencing a terrible and merciless economic down turn; a sad situation where the prices of food stuff and other commodities are hitting the roof of hyperinflation on daily basis.
In the midst of these absolutely trying times, it is heartwarming that the Buhari administration is assiduously leaving no stone unturned, to once and for all ban the importation of rice into the country in a few years from now, by policy statements and practical monitoring geared towards self-sufficiency in the local production of rice.
The heavy reliance on rice by most Nigerians, as one of the most popular staple food in the country, gingered yours sincerely to score rice as “man of the year 2016” in my New Year analysis, in my regular column of alltimepost.com, a few weeks ago.
And without any shadow of sentiments or political coloration, no sitting state Governor in Nigeria today, has embraced the clarion call by the Buhari presidency for massive investment and self-sufficiency in rice production more passionately than Governor Abdul-Aziz Abu-Bakr Yaris of Zamfara State.
This is so because Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, who gladly inherited former Governor Ahmed Sani-initiated Zamfara Comprehensive Agricultural Revolution Program (ZACAREP), has turned Zamfara State into a true ‘Jewel’ in the North in terms of unprecedented massive production of rice and other grains.
Towards the end of last year (2016), Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo visited Zamfara and went round the state with Governor Abdulaziz Yari and he was pleased to discover that the prices of rice and other grains fell reasonably down from the unbearable scale they were before shortly when hyper inflationary trend possessed the prices of various commodities in the country.
As Chairman, Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), Alhaji Yari on October 15, 2015 made it clear after a crucial meeting with the Governor of Central Bank (Godwin Emefiele), permanent secretaries of federal ministries and Professor Osinbanjo at the Presidential Villa that: “We are hoping that in the next two years, rice importation into Nigeria will be banned. We are committed and the political will is in place.”
Stressing further Governor Abdul-Aziz Yari emphasized that: “We have the population. We have the human resources. We will not need to bring rice from outside Nigeria. We are going to ban it.”
There is no doubt that the way Zamfara State is going with its revolutionary policies in rice production, and as it is duly being complimented positively in states, such as Sokoto, Jigawa, Kano,Yobe, Kebbi, Anambra etc., the intended ban of rice importation will be realized.
If by 2018, a total ban on rice importation is achieved in Nigeria, it will save the country a lot of unnecessary hassles about obtaining foreign exchange, and by implication the price of rice will fall to the benefit of all.
Already some sitting governors have banned the cooking and eating of foreign rice in their official functions! Governor Yari`s 2016 Appropriation Budget which he presented on February 10,2016 to the State House of Assembly in the capital city of Gusau, appreciated the harsh economic situation in the country, and by implication decided to yank the state free from absolute dependence on federal allocation from Abuja.
Therefore, the 2016 Budget was targeted to effectively reintroduce the Zamfara Comprehensive Agricultural Revolution Program (ZACAREP).This scheme guarantees loans of bags and fertilizer.
ZACAREP community is predominantly farmers, where they are taught how to handle improvements in rice production. In this way Governor Yari is ensuring sufficiency in rice production and boosting food security in Zamfara State and in the federation as a whole.
Indeed, the Yari`s revolutionary blue print is the facilitation and utilization of Zamfara economic growth, poverty alleviation and job creation. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Borrowers Anchor Program that targets dry season local rice production is enabling local large-scale millers to have access to locally produced rice paddy.
This wonderful window of opportunity has led to the training of 5, 000, farmers on rice and cotton value chain. The Bakolori`s Scheme in Zamfara has an irrigation site; and irrigable lands, basic infrastructural facilities intact, and equally teaches farmers modern techniques of farming.
The Borrowers Anchor program ensures that every single farmer must have a bank account; with provision of necessary inputs seeds and fertilizer etc.
The current paradigm shift in tapping the natural potentials in Nigeria’s agriculture will no doubt eradicate capital flight due to outflows of foreign exchange and in no distant time transform the Nigerian nation and its farmers into desirable producers and exporters of rice and other grains.
With about 11 billion being spent annually on food importation, and about N 365 billion ($ 2.4 billion) accounting for rice importation alone (i.e. one fifth of yearly food importation), eventual ban of imported rice will greatly add to the food security and overall economic stability/sustainability of Nigeria.
The place of Governor Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari in the whole process of the nation`s tantalizing rice revolution is absolutely ensured; most significantly with the yielding steady contribution from Zamfara`s ZACAREP.
Truly, as a state that came into being via the military fiat of General Sani Abacha in October 1996, and going with the slogan; “farming is our pride,” Zamfara has not fared badly, most especially now that Governor Yari is on the driver seat of administrative/democratic commitment to development.
Nowinta wrote: Where We Are – A Call for Democratic Revolution in Nigeria
