Taking away the shame of rice importation #nigeria

Following President Goodluck Jonathan's approval of the
new fiscal policy on rice, Chief Executive Officer of Dangote
Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, recently announced a mega
investment of $1billion for rice production, which is
expected to boost local manufacturing and crash the market
price.
The Dangote Group has within the last 12 years translated
from been a major importer of cement to the single largest
manufacturer of the product in Nigeria. Alhaji Aliko Dangote,
the richest African worldwide, according to Forbes ranking,
promised to achieve the same feat in the production of local
rice.
Novel Initiative To this end, Dangote Group has signed a
Memorandum of Understating (MoU) involving $1 billion, an
equivalent of N165 billion, with the federal government. The
new investment initiative covers about 150 hectares of
farmland across five states of Edo, Kebbi, Jigawa, Niger and
Kwara states.
Rationale for Change Dangote, while addressing officials of
the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,
before proceeding to the Presidential Villa for the signing,
said the investment drive was meant to join hands with
government in ensuring that Nigeria attains self-sufficiency
in food production, and at the same time guaranteeing
export food to other countries. The entrepreneurship genius
who had planned a $300 million investment in the rice
sector, explained that government has created an enabling
environment, and thereby swiftly increased his investment
to $1 billion.
"Government has done its own bit by creating the enabling
environment for investors to thrive. It is not for government
to go into agriculture, but they are facilitating and giving us
the encouragement. Initially, we wanted to go very small by
investing about $300 million, now we have ended up in
about five states, this is to make sure that Nigeria exports
rice.
"Government has already done their own bit by giving all
what it takes for somebody to invest. The climate is there,
first of all, we have the best land, we have water and we
have the support from government to protect your
investment. So I see no reason why we should not partner
the government to make this a reality, unless we are not
serious," he said. Dangote added that with the new rice
policy signed by President Jonathan, only those interested
in milking the country's economy dry are canvassing
continued importation of rice.
"I think it will be very shameful for the biggest economy in
Africa that is not self sufficient in what we consume. If the
country is opened to dumping, that will be a problem, but
with the new rice policy signed by President Goodluck
Jonathan, I think it is only those who are not serious, who
are always trying to just milk the system dry that will
continue to import rice."
Re-jigging the Market Curious journalists insisted to know
how the new investment drive would crash down the price
of the commodity. It is worthy of note that Nigerians have
continued to buy cement at higher prices which observers
consider exorbitant despite the huge investment and
massive local production for over 10 years.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, had in 2002
introduced the Backward Integration Policy in 2002. Under
the policy, local manufacturers of cement, with ample
evidence of investment in manufacturing facilities, were
given import licences, which enabled them to import the
commodity, relative to their manufacturing capacity. This,
obviously, changed the cement story in terms of local
production but has not translated to any fortune for
Nigerians, since the market price of cement has continued
to increase.
Chairman of New Entrants into cement production, Mr.
David Iweta, recently canvassed the need for local
manufacturers to review their prices downwards, since
there are many variables that work in their favour, which the
importers of the commodity do not enjoy. Iweta opined that
a 50kg bag of cement should be sold less than N800, since
local manufacturers are using limestone, which are sourced
locally, as raw materials.