Also present at the unveiling was the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
Describing it as a great vision and a bold step in the right direction for the economic growth of Nigeria, the company expressed hope that the rice milling sector will be more efficient and produce quality rice for the citizens of Nigeria.
The President said that his food security agenda would drive down prices of food items in the country.
A statement by Chidi Okoroafor, founder of the company, reads, “The one million bags of rice pyramid by President Muhammadu Buhari is a great vision and a bold step in the right direction for the economic growth of Nigeria. The programme will help create jobs and at the same time reduce the high cost of food. It will be a welcome development if it can be extended to other crops and be done in a commercial and exportable level.”
Also commenting on the initiative, Habila Malgwi, co-founder of the company said, “We believe that this initiative will also help the rice milling sector to be more efficient and produce quality rice for the citizens.
“Nigeria has no business importing rice. Instead, we should be exporters of rice. With the capacity of rice our local farmer’s farm/produce, we can feed not only Nigerians but many around the world and this will bring about additional revenue agriculture contributes to the nation’s economy.”
According to Emefiele, from a national paddy rice production of about 4.5 tons per annum before the ABP initiative in 2015, paddy rice production rose to over 9 million tons by last year.
