President, Chartered Institute of Export and Commodity Brokers of Nigeria (CIECOBON), Dr Ayobami Omotoso has said that Nigeria will feed its citizens and other African countries with the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) of the Federal Government.
Omotoso said this during the 2019 Award Presentation Ceremony held at the Institute’s Secretariat in Lagos on Thursday.
The President said that the Federal Government is readily available to assist farmers through the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme and other windows through which money was released by Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Plc.
“With the support of the government, Nigeria can now feed herself and even Africa as a whole. What we just need to do is to retrace our steps back to the farm, process the commodities and make good gains.
“The era of the white-collar job has come and gone. We need more entrepreneurs to grow our commodities for the local industries that will give employment to Nigerians and sell at international markets.
“We appreciate the effort of the present administration under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari for closing the borders which are now of more benefits and gains to Nigeria,” Omotoso said.
The Helmsman, therefore, urged members to be ready to serve to improve the standard of the institute.
Omotoso appealed to stakeholders for support to enable the institute to pay the N2.5 million loan used in renting another befitting secretariat, saying that the institute also needed 1million to furnish the secretariat.
He said that the institute honoured five founders with the meritorious award; seven with Associates; 13 people with full membership; and 28 people with Fellows.
One of the awardees, His Royal Majesty, Olupole of Ipole Iloro Ekiti, Oba Ezekiel Oladele commended the government’s effort which had yielded success in the farming business in the state.
The monarch said that the people of Ekiti had been exporting cocoa and cashew, saying that presently he had been encouraging the people to start exporting yams.
Oladele said that Ekiti State had improved in the farming of quality rice, to be available for export in future.
He commended the efforts of the management of the Institute for extending an award to him and promised to support the association with advice.
Speaking also, The Director-General, Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association, Mr Hamma Kwajaffa, who represented Mr Umar Goni-Iya-Ahmed, urged Nigerian farmers to improve on their farming to enable them to have reserve for export which he said would boost the foreign reserve of Nigeria Economy.
He called on the regulatory authorities to provide an adequate laboratory to examine the commodities in order to stop the rejection of exportable products.
One of the beneficiaries of CIECOBON’s awards, Mrs Oluwakemi Adeyiga, said she would support other members to contact as many countries as possible to find out what the farmers were doing wrong that caused constant rejection of expert commodities.
NIGERIA TRIBUNE
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