In order to promote the rice revolution in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday opened the 32 metric tonnes per hour Lagos Rice Mill in the neighbourhoods of Imota, Ikorodu, and Lagos.
The Lagos Rice Mill, Imota, is a two-shift, 16-metric-ton per hour mill situated on 8.5 hectares of land, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
To produce 2.5 million bags of 5-kg rice each year, the project needs more than 240,000 metric tonnes of paddy each year.
Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Sen. Tokunbo Abiru, Mr. Colinious Ojelabi, Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Lagos State, and Mr. Ganiyu Solomon, Chairman of the APC Presidential Campaign Committee, Lagos, joined Buhari for a quick tour of the mill when he arrived in Imota at 5:30 p.m.
The traditional leaders Jimi Benson and Oba Gbolahan Lawal, as well as Ms. Abisola Olusanya, the commissioner for agriculture; Dr. Rotimi Fashola, the governor’s special adviser on the rice initiative; and Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the head of the NiDCOM, also travelled with the president.
The rice was unveiled, and the president saw a brief demonstration of its production and packaging.
Sanwo-Olu claimed Lagos was prepared to assist Buhari’s rice revolution while speaking at the event.
The Lagos Imota Rice Mill, in his opinion, is a component of President Muhammadu Buhari’s agricultural revolution.
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“When he first took office, he said that Nigerians must cultivate their own food and consume only that which is grown.”
“We are pleased that Lagos demonstrates this.Lagos is prepared to support the rice and food revolution in Nigeria with its 2.8 million bags of 50kg rice produced annually.
“The rice mill will result in the creation of nearly 250,000 direct and indirect jobs.” We would like to express our gratitude to the Imota community in Ikorodu. We appreciate your patience as you all waited.
The president declared that it was another first for Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.
Olusanya also spoke, stating that the mill would provide Lagos citizens with wholesome rice at a reasonable cost.
Fashola added that the mill would use the most modern, digitally automated equipment available to clean, boil, dry, sort, carry, polish, and bag rice.
Dr. Femi Oke, Chairman of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Lagos State, and South-West Zone, expressed his appreciation for the state government’s admirable initiative in his donation.
Farmers, according to Oke, would keep supplying the mill with more paddy.
The new rice mill, according to Mr. Raphael Hunsa, the chairman of the Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Rice Farmers Association, will motivate farmers to increase production in the region.
Hunsa encouraged the state government to keep equipping farmers with tools so that they can produce more paddy to feed the mill.
“As rice farmers in Lagos, we find this endeavour to be incredibly lovely and joyful. “I’m glad that Lagos is experiencing this,” he stated.
According to NAN, dignitaries who attended the event included members of the state government, traditional leaders, AFAN, the Ogbonge Women Farmers Association, the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, and secondary school students.
NAN
