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| HMA Adesina holding a bag of Nigerian Rice |
Reading
the allegation of fraud in rice import and linking it to the Honourable
Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Adesina Akinwumi, I did not blink my eye because I
would not imagined the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Adesina Akinwumi
being in charge of collection of duties or levies on food imports, specifically
Rice. The Nigerian House of Representatives was in the media recently claiming
that the Minister has no power to issue duty waivers to rice importers. The
House further stated that the Minister did allocate rice import license to some
rice millers without due process. The house lamented the bureaucracy in
government procedure and the insincerity of the importers; both of which could undermine the good government policy on rice
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| Rice Pyramid in Kano |
The
lawmakers therefore called for a complete review of the 2014-2017 fiscal policy
on rice, in order to achieve the intended goal of self sufficiency in rice
production. I regarded the news as dead on arrival and therefore discountenanced
it; my position was based on the following factors:
1. Dr.
A. Adesina is the Minister of agriculture of Nigeria and not of Thailand;
2. The
Minister is an apostle of consumption of Nigerian Food;
3. Adesina
has the greatest passion for Nigerian agriculture and he has been pursuing the
goal of self sufficiency in rice production since his first day in office;
4. A
lot of hard work had gone into local rice industry development which has
achieved great impact in terms of improved local production capacity & productivity;
reduction in rice import bill; increased local and foreign investment in rice
production and processing;
5. A
good number of locally produced, processed and branded rice are now in Nigerian
markets.
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| Nigerian Rice Brands |
6. Adesina that i know, is a man of impeccable character and has been one of the most transparent and honest public officer that i have ever come across. He is a man of contentment and who has never demonstrated any corruptive tendency. It will therefore be very difficult to find him in such messy and fraudulent practice.
Therefore, in response to the allegation, Adesina
came out tell the story to the Lawmakers to enable the public understand the
true position of things and the role of each category of stakeholders.
