Nigeria’s minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbeh has said that 90% of the rice we eat is locally produced. Ogbeh revealed this on Tuesday at the 2019 Annual Research Review and Planning meeting, which held at the Balarabe Tanimu Conference Hall at the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria, Kaduna.
“One very good example that we see today is the home-grown Nigerian rice. Hitherto, Nigeria has been a major and largest importer of rice from Thailand and this implies largest importer in the world.”
Statistically, Nigeria is one of the highest importer of rice globally and according to this 2018 Vanguard story, Nigeria was projected to be the second largest rice importer of rice in 2019, including China. But with the inclination to deem anything foreign or imported as ”better” or ”authentic,” and with the preference and ubiquity of imported rice, I’m puzzled by this new statement from the agriculture minister. Mind you, it is still Ogbeh who said that Nigerians import pizza from the UK, which was joke fuel for days.
Audu Ogbe and his usual lies on Nigeria’s rice production
— Abubakar Mohd Kareto (@amkareto) April 17, 2019
So who are the Nigerians eating locally produced rice? Of course, there are Nigerians who consume such, but there’s still a demand for imported rice and this makes Ogbeh’s statement questionable. What is he going to say next that we will all find ridiculous?
When Bernard Dayo isn’t writing about pop culture, he’s watching horror movies and reading comics and trying to pretend his addiction to Netflix isn’t a serious condition.
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