DeLaRue:


Large scale farming is easier in the North.

It is difficult to find large stretches of flat land in the SW. Our lands are punctuated by ancient gullies and valleys left behind by long-diasppeared streams and rivers. Then you have forests with large trees.

Big farm machinery don't work well in this sort of environment.

In the North you have flat lands that go on for several kilometres without obstruction.

INTEGRITYA1:
Both States and Federal Government should get more serious about the food productions in Nigeria.

Lagos State Government signed similar memorandum with Kebbi State during Buhari regime for rice production, by now we should be seeing positive effects of such projects in relation to rice availability in our Country.

We pray things work out fine but we need to be serious with what we are doing.

Eko o ni ba je.

God Bless Nigeria.

Jokerman:
So if Peter Obi didn't say something, these ones won't have done anything like this.

Mhen, Nigeria missed Peter Obi as president... It's well

richidinho:


So where is the lake rice today?

Getat

naptu2:
Some people are stuck in the past. They are still talking about LAKE Rice in this day and age.

Lagos has gone beyond LAKE Rice.

tollyboy5:

Lake rice is not the argument. What we're trying to prove is that this initiative has been for long before some people start attributing it to Peter obi idea

naptu2:
THE MEGA CITY AND THE STOMACH

Dear diary, I have told you about the mega city status of Lagos and how people like Bola Tinubu, Olusegun Obasanjo, Gbenga Daniel and Babatunde Fashola tried to create measures to tackle the challenges posed by having such a large number of people in such a small area.

Whenever we think of these measure, we often think of physical infrastructure that would counter the challenges in transportation (rail, ferry, buses, etc), healthcare (more hospitals and clinics), education (more schools and classrooms) and security (more policemen and more equipment), but we hardly think about the stomach.

Yes, the stomach! If you have so many people in such a small area, then all those stomachs must be fed. The increase in population will create the problem of too many people chasing too few food. This will lead to massive increases in the price of food. How do you solve this problem?

In the old days

I remember that, once upon a time, in the era of Governors Jakande, Aikhigbe and Rasaki, the government established farm settlements in rural parts of Lagos. These farm settlements were set up to resolve several problems at once. They provided employment, they were a source of revenue for the government, they provided training and skills acquisition and they were a source of food for Lagos (this was important especially after the food crisis of 1982 and 1983).

The government set up farm settlements in places like Ojo, Badagry, Lekki, Ibeju Lekki, Ikorodu and Epe and youths and other people were encouraged to go and work on the farms.

The modern era.

However, this idea will not solve the problem today. Lagos is one of the smallest states in Nigeria and its population has exploded beyond what the produce from the farm settlements can satisfy.

Besides, due to the population explosion, the city is rapidly expanding and those places that were rural areas in the 1980s are now part of the city. I remember when Lekki was just a large bush filled with lots of swamps and elephant grass, but now it is one of the fastest growing corridors in Africa. Ibeju Lekki will soon also join Lekki to become one of the fastest growing areas in Africa. The Ojo and Badagry areas will rapidly become urban when the Blue Line rail project and the various projects in Badagry (port, refinery, energy city) are completed. The City of Lagos has already spread to include Ikorodu. Therefore, there are not enough rural areas in which to establish farm settlements.

Governor Babatunde Fashola decided to solve this problem through a three-pronged approach.

1) He signed agreements with states like Ogun, Osun, Oyo and Kebbi so that Lagos could establish farms in these states in exchange for a fee. The produce from these farms would be brought to Lagos and sold for the benefit of Lagosians. This would provide food for the large population of the state.

2) The youths that were being trained to farm in Lagos would also work on these farms in order to get some experience.

3) He also decided that Lagos should not only be involved in producing raw food, rather it should be involved in processing food. This is the topic of this post - Lagos' efforts to process food.

Governor Fashola decided to establish a rice mill in Imota.

Imota is an area between Ikorodu and Epe, right on the border between Lagos and Ogun States. It is the site of one of the old farm settlements that I wrote about earlier.

Governor Fashola built a 20,000 metric tonnes rice mill at Imota, so that the rice that is grown in those farms that Lagos acquired outside the state can be processed at the mill and this will further provide employment for the people of Lagos. Rice is one of the most consumed foodstuff in Lagos.

Governor Fahola commissioned the project before he left office.

However, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode came and pulled down what Fashola built because he wanted to build an even bigger rice mill on the site (probably the biggest in Africa). Governor Ambode wanted to increase the capacity of the mill from 2.5 to 16 metric tonnes per hour. This obviously delayed the project and it could not be completed before Ambode left office. (The agreement between Lagos and Kebbi State led to the production of Lake Rice. Lake = LAgos and Kebbi).

Governor Sanwo-Olu was determined to complete the project and it is currently being test-run. It is most likely going to be one of the projects that President Buhari will commission when he visits Lagos in January.

The Story

Now to the meat of the matter.

There is a former Nairalander who was one of my followers when he was a member of this site. I considered him to be one of the sensible Nairalanders. However, unfortunately, something happened to him ahead of the 2015 elections. It seems like he became deeply and emotionally involved in those elections. He started posting strange things and I was wondering, "Surely he must know that those things that he is posting are not true".

Anyway, he deactivated his Nairaland account after the elections.

Someone tweeted a video of the the trial run of the Imota Rice Mill and this guy replied with, "This is not the job of the government, and the reason will become clear soon enough. Check back in a year".

Unfortunately for him, there were two problems. (1) He didn't know enough about the project to enable him make an informed criticism and (2) the person that he responded to has a lot (a very large number) of militant followers.

You see, the government is not going to run the plant. Governor Fashola was known for despising new government parastatals and preferring to let the private sector run things (I will write more about this in my transport series), so you wouldn't expect him to create a government run mill.

The fact of the matter is that the Lagos State Government has signed an agreement with the West African Cotton Company (WACOT), which is one of the largest agro-processing companies in Nigeria, to ensure that WACOT runs the Imota Rice Mill. The former Nairalander did not know this.

He was roasted for several hours. It was almost a full day by the time I saw the tweet and they were still attacking him. He made another tweet in which he said that people were attacking him simply because he said that government shouldn't run a rice mill, but someone replied that it was the way he said it that made people attack him, while another person replied that he lied and that's why people are attacking him.

It seems like some of the people that are attacking him actually know him, because they claim that he never sees anything good in anything that government does.

He responded to a tweet that asked, "What do you fear most", with "Tinubu supporters".

I need to go and check if they've stopped attacking him.

Side story

This reminded me of another person. There is a former moderator on Nairaland who I have always assumed was a serious and sensible person. He sometimes asks me questions and I answer if I can. However, the guy has started doing something really strange and this has forced me to put him on my ignore list.

The guy began asking me questions, for example about the Imota Rice Mill, as if I am the one that is personally constructing the mill. I'm not sure if I've ever discussed the mill with him, but, the construction of the mill was delayed because Governor Ambode decided to expand it and this guy started questioning me as if I was responsible for the delay.

That's when I realised that he was not serious at all and decided to put him in my ignore list. All the information that I post is publicly available, so he should go and search for it if he really wants to know.

richidinho:
Obi is a genius, whatever he says is not taken for granted

Sanwolu be like since the president dey slag, make we take Obi's advice sharp sharp

Peter Obi as president, Every Local govt in Nigeria will be empowered to own a large farm, either in your LGA or outside even your state

JustYourself:
Barren south west states

Jokerman:
So if Peter Obi didn't say something, these ones won't have done anything like this.

Mhen, Nigeria missed Peter Obi as president... It's well

naptu2:
I think I should provide a summary before I go on.

1) Governors Jakande, Akhigbe and Rasaki established farm settlements in rural parts of Lagos.

2) Lagos' population grew beyond what the farm settlements could cater for. Besides, rural parts of Lagos were quickly being swallowed by the urban areas.

3) Governor Fashola signed agreements with other states like Ogun, Oyo, etc to establish farms there. The food will be sold in Lagos and Lagos youths will work on the farms.

4) Governor Fashola also built a rice mill.

5) Governor Ambode brought down the rice mill that Fashola built and began buidling an even bigger mill (I think it's one of the biggest in Africa).

6) He signed an agreement with Kebbi State to produce LAKE Rice in the meantime, while the mill was being built.

7) Governor Sanwo-Olu finished the rice mill. Now there's no need for LAKE Rice because rice is being milled in Lagos. Instead we have Eko Rice (see below).

oyatz:

Nothing concern Peter Obi in this matter.
LASG has been in partnership with other States in areas of Agriculture. Ex-Govs Ambode-Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) partnership led to the productions of LAKE Rice in 2013 Kebbi became unable to supply the rice paddies around 2017.

Tonididdyx:


Audio rice menwhile hunger want kee una

naptu2:


Yes, it's true, I didn't expect anything sensible, logical or factual from you and you didn't surprise or disappoint me.

naptu2:
Gboyega Akosile @gboyegaakosile

oyatz:

Nothing concern Peter Obi in this matter.
LASG has been in partnership with other States in areas of Agriculture. Ex-Govs Ambode-Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) partnership led to the productions of LAKE Rice in 2013 Kebbi became unable to supply the rice paddies around 2017.

MEGAWATCH:



And they are signing another one?

Think9ja:


Na him road?
Him go leave state road go fix Federal government road? I no know which kind advice you de give like this walahi

Judolisco:
Even if it's a federal roads, what stops him from repairing it and asking for funds from d federal government like other governors.... Una go jst dey defend nonsense... Road leading to d capital is dat bad, is it not a disgrace on you?

naptu2:
Gboyega Akosile @gboyegaakosile

Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his Niger State counterpart, Hon. Mohammed Umaru Bago today signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Produce-For-Lagos initiative.

The Produce-For-Lagos initiative is a long term strategic partnership between Niger and Lagos States, where Niger will produce food items (Paddy, Tubers, Legumes, Grains etc) and Lagos State will be the off taker.

The Farmers in Niger State will have a ready market for their produce while Lagos State citizens can be assured of availability and price stability of food items.

In the Long term, this initiative will create a ready supply of farm produce directly to the ongoing massive Lagos Food logistics in Ketu Ereyun, Epe.

Jokerman:
So if Peter Obi didn't say something, these ones won't have done anything like this.

Mhen, Nigeria missed Peter Obi as president... It's well

Think9ja:


No, it is actually a disgrace on you for wanting him to do the work of the Federal Government. Mention "other governors" that did it and got refunded in the last few years?

Una go just de put emotions for everything.

FG no de refund any state weh fix FG road again. You think government is where you'll just request for money and they give you? FG tell you say Bidda-Minna road de their next 5yrs budget? Abi because na Umar Bago, de go just carry the money give am without budgeting for it abi?


You think say na everything be PDP/APC?

De play

JustYourself:
Barren south west states

DCmonster:
This particular MOU shows clearly that Lagos and all APC politicians are dumb skulls.
They wait for Obi to speak before taking actions.
This MOU is so laughable that they jumped oyo,ogun and went all the way to Niger State.
Lmao😂😂