It was meant to be a rehash of the famous Groundnut Pyramid of the 50s and 60s., but it instead leaves more questions than answers, ultimately making a mockery of the programme upon which it was anchored.
On Tuesday 18th January, President, Muhammadu Buhari unveiled a 1.2 million -bag paddy rice pyramid, in Abuja with fanfare.
It was an elated President Buhari that commended the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, for Initiating the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), through which the massive rice production was achieved.
According to him, from a national paddy rice production of about 4.5 tons per annum before the ABP initiative in 2015, paddy rice production rose to over 9 million tons by last year.
In his address, the CBN governor said that as of the end of December 2021, his team had financed 4.5 million farmers that cultivated 5.3 million hectares across 21 commodities through 23 participating financial institutions in the 36 states of the federation and FCT.
For those that may not be aware, the Kano Groundnut Pyramids of the past were stacked for railway terminals, destined for export through seaports. The Abuja Rice Pyramids wasn’t meant for export or milling.
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Most annoying is the fact that the price of the commodity is three times when Buhari came to power in 2015.
One cannot but ask these poignant questions. One, if there’s a surplus of rice in Nigeria as the Abuja razzmatazz tend to present to Nigerians, why does a bag cost so much? Was the rice offloaded by trailers to build the pyramid grown in Abuja? Three, could it be that the rice was grown outside Abuja but transported to the city just for showmanship? Four, who bore the cost of bringing the commodity to the city. Five, if indeed there is huge production and surplus of the commodity, shouldn’t the price have gone down by now?
Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports suggest that the rice were indeed imported from the Republic of Benin and Niger by unnamed officials just to justify huge allocation to the ABP.
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“We had some really good, quality time there,” Jeff Bezos said of travelling outside of Earth with his brother Mark. The Showmanship Called “Rice Pyramid” The Showmanship Called “Rice Pyramid” The Showmanship Called “Rice Pyramid” The Showmanship Called “Rice Pyramid”
