From Ifeoma Ejiofor
The Managing Director and CEO of Rojenny Stadium and Tourists Village, Oba, Idemili South LGA of Anambra State, Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka(Ogilisi), has criticized the federal government for lifting the ban on the importation of rice, palm oil, and items.
Chief Ezeonwuka, in a statement, practically dragged the duty bearers for taking certain steps capable of impeding the growth and development of the country.
“There are certain grave mistakes the people in governance and authorities make that can completely ruin this country; why would the federal government lift the ban on importation of some items like rice and palm oil, among others? Rice and palm oil are two items whose importation is supposed to be completely restricted because Nigeria has attained near self-sufficiency in the two items.” He said.
The MD/CEO of Rojenny Stadium and Tourists Village expressed worry that with the lifting of the ban on importing the two items, unscrupulous businesses will begin to import substandard rice and palm oil into the country.
“Now that the ban has been lifted, the problem now is that China will flood Nigeria with plastic rice and trust our people they may embrace the artificial product and mistake it for foreign rice. I taught the All Progressives Congress (APC) government had achieved self-sufficiency in rice production when they displayed the Rice pyramid in Abuja during President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime.
“I closed my toothpick factory in Oba in 1980, where I employed over four hundred workers, and we were exporting toothpicks to Europe. We closed the factory because the government lifted the ban on importation of toothpicks then,” Ogilisi Igbo recalled.
He said, as a matter of fact, that lifting the ban on the importation of products that can quickly be produced in Nigeria is responsible for collapse of over ninety percent of industries and companies in the country.
“Textiles factories, flour mill factories, sugar factories, cement factories and many more which are closed because of importation of foreign products had become a significant factor rendering Nigerian youths jobless. When the past government encouraged rice producers at home, over 40% of rice mills were closed in Thailand. Someone like Coscharis, whom I brought to Anaku, invested billions of Naira in rice production.
“The federal government should know that no forward-looking nation will ever lift the ban on importation of products that can be produced locally; doing so will be tantamount to failure to protect local manufacturers, and no such country can survive.”Ogilisi insisted.