We Must Consciously Put Resources, Energy To Get Enough Food For Our People – Shaibu

THE Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu has suggested that the country needs to become a productive economy, to deal with the rising forex, by exporting finished products, not just an importer of goods and services.

Shaibu, who stated this during the inspection tour of Mmobuosi Holdings ongoing construction of a multi- billion- naira foods processing plant in Onicha- Ugbo, Delta State, alongside with other prominent people, added that the country needs to also deal with the issue of insecurity and must guarantee food security for the people.

“A hungry man is an angry man. We must consciously put all our resources, time, and energy into production and getting enough food for our people.

“The first step to building a sustained supply network for locally processed food is to support farmers and make farming more attractive as a career.

“Farming is unattractive in terms of the way people perceive it in Nigeria, especially the small- scale farmers. We see farmers as hungry and poor, rather than where farmers are the richest guys. Go to Texas, farmers are the richest. Now we have to create the setting to attract the younger ones to farm, cluster these farms, deal with the issue of insecurity in Nigeria, and also get processing companies to follow.”

Leading the team on the tour, founder and former CEO of Tingo Group, Mr Dozy Mmobuosi, said the plant being constructed has been leased to Tingo Foods, through its parent company, for a period of 20 years.

He added that when completed, the factory would produce several consumer food products, including rice, cashew milk, chocolate, vegetable oil, beer, noodles, biscuits, juices, tea, and tomato paste, among others.

Also speaking, the President, All Farmers Association of Nigeria ( AFAN), Dr Farouk Mudi, who expressed gratitude to Mmobuoisi for his longstanding support for farmers, noted that the food processing facility is a project of great significance to the farmers.

“What Mmobuoisi is building here has long been a dream for the Ministry of Agriculture. Mmobuoisi is here today doing it in his home state, and we are indeed proud of it,” Mudi said.