Foreign
exchange constraints and the availability of arable land in Nigeria makes the
case for improved local agricultural production in Nigeria an imperative,
rather than continued importation with its significant pressure on dwindling
foreign earnings of the country.
Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, gave this explanation earlier today while
receiving in his office a Russian delegation led by the Russian Minister of
Agriculture who is also the Co-Chair of the Nigeria-Russia Joint Commission,
Mr. Alexander Tkachev.
“The
oil prices have gone down tremendously and yet large amount of foreign exchange
is used to purchase food abroad and we have large arable land for agric. It
won’t make sense, if you don't use the land,” according to the Vice President.
Prof.
Osinbajo then invited Russian farmers to invest in Nigeria, produce and import
from here, saying “we are just 6 hours away from Europe by air. Vegetables,
flour can be exported to Europe from here, even our local market here is a
lot.”
Both
the Vice President and the delegation that included the Russian Ambassador in
Nigeria, Ambassador Nikolay Udovichenko, Russian Deputy Minister of
Agriculture, Mr. Evgeny Gromyko and officials of Russian’s firm-United Company
(Rusal) agreed that Nigeria and Russia should deepen the existing diplomatic
relationship, especially economically.
According
to Prof. Osinbajo “there is a lot of money to be made if Russian technology in
agriculture is deployed locally,” adding that there are better opportunities
for economic cooperation between both countries.
Speaking
earlier, the Russian Agriculture Minister expressed his country’s willingness
to enhance the existing trade relations with Nigeria. He observed that the
Nigeria-Russia trade volume as at the end of 2015 exceeded $300 million, but
added that there are potentials for improvement in the years ahead.
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