Atiku Abubakar. |
On several occasions, the Buhari
administration has bragged that their biggest achievement is reducing Nigeria’s
dependence on foreign rice. Recently, President Buhari himself made this boast
when he said to British Prime Minister, Theresa May on April 16, 2018 as
follows:
“We
have cut rice importation by about 90%, made lots of savings of foreign
exchange, and generated employment. People had rushed to the cities to get oil
money, at the expense of farming. But luckily, they are now going back to the
farms. Even professionals are going back to the land. We are making steady
progress on the road to food security.”
This
claim was also made by the minister of agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who on
May 2, 2018 said as follows:
“Unemployment
in Thailand was one of the lowest in the world, 1.2 per cent, it has gone up to
four per cent because seven giant rice mills have shut down because Nigeria’s
import has fallen by 95 per cent on rice alone”.
However,
recently released data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
World Markets and Trade Report has proven these claims by President Muhammadu
Buhari and his government to be false.
According
to the World Markets and Trade Report of the USDA, which is a public document,
Nigeria imported three million metric tonnes of rice in 2018, which is 400,000
metric tonnes more than the quantity of the product imported in 2017.
It
does not end there. The report shows that there has actually been a steep drop
in commercial rice production from its 2015 peak under the previous Peoples
Democratic Party administration.
According
to the report “Nigeria had consistently milled 3,780,000 metric tonnes annually
– a drop from 3,941,000 metric tonnes recorded in 2015.”
The
Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation therefore wishes to appeal to
President Buhari and his government to be truthful to the Nigerian public,
rather than claim progress they have not made, because no matter how far and
fast falsehood has traveled, it must eventually be overtaken by the truth.
Former
Vice President Atiku Abubakar will always be honest and transparent with the
Nigerian people as he carries all citizens along in his mission to Get Nigeria
Working Again.
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