Efio-Ita Nyok|26 January 2016|5:46pm
News making the rounds, as peddled by media aides of His Excellency, Governor Ben Ayade has it that Thai-African Corporation Limited, a leading producer of rice in Thailand, has arrived the state capital, Calabar, to commence the development of a Rice City in Cross River.
Mrs. Pantipa Dhanagom, the Managing Director of Thai-Africa Corporation is reported to have said that the Rice City: 'will become a training centre and a one-stop service which will also cater for out-growers in Nigeria and other African countries' according to media aide Emmanuel Ulayi.
The cite of the project reported to be located at Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Bypass is observed by Mrs. Dhanagom in the following words, 'The land is suitable and it is also the best location because it is right on the highway and similar to the one His Excellency (Governor Ben Ayade) inspected in Thailand' said Ulayi.
On his part, Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade noted that 'Cross River State wants to take the lead because it has excess land suitable for rice and we want to make sure that we bring in technology that will assist our people in making rice more productive. It is going to be a special kind of vitaminised rice that will help children grow faster with good retentive memory'. He particularly highlighted the fact that the relationship between the duo of Cross River and Thailand 'is a warm embrace…as we are going to train our people on how to use the machines. It is going to be a place where all seedlings in Africa will be coming out from'.
Nevertheless, the news about this project has generated vicious criticism notable from Ifere Paul and Richard Duke. Paul particularly highlights four features (three of which shall be my interest) about the report. Firstly, his objection comes from the perspective that there was no such a cite for locating the Rice City Project. In his words, 'First and foremost, there had not been a project site tagged Thai-Africa Rice Corporation along the GEJ Bypass. Therefore, conducting the purported Thai-Africa Rice Corporation delegation to a site along the GEJ Bypass said to be the project site as reported by Paul Ojeka is only misleading. The Thai people came on a pathfinding mission before the commencement of the project'.
'Secondly, we were made to believe that the Thai-Africa Rice Corporation will take the waste land used for Abakiliki rice in Ikom and Boki. It seems you guys have forgotten what was said in the wake of Governor Ayade escapades in Thailand', he observed again.
On the third note, Paul emphasises that 'a rice city must have adequate land to incorporate whatsoever is required in terms of access to land'. It seemed to Paul that the GEJ Bypass would not be spacious enough to meet the demands of the anticipated Rice City. Besides, the land is not as marshy as to support Thai strand of rice. According to him, 'Thailand depends on paddy lands for such endeavors. We have paddy marshlands throughout the central' senatorial district covering the six LGAs of Yakurr, Boki, Ikom, Etung, etc. There is also the challenge of citing the seedlings production in Calabar whilst the entire rice farms in CRS are in the rural areas. Ifere finally renders the entire move by the governor to be characteristically without a plan.
On the hand, Richard Duke had vented his criticism against Ayade's rice city in Premium Times (See http://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/south-south-regional/196717-n10billion-investment-expected-in-cross-river-rice-project.html) in which he was seen to ask Eval Asikong to differentiate between a Rice City and Rice Mill. In his exact words, 'Does the construction of a Rice Mill equate to a Rice City? How many Rice Mills are being built? What is the production capacity of the Rice Mill?' Again, he revealed that 'Thai Africa have been importing re-bagged Thai rice into Nigeria for some years now. Isn't there a conflict of interest in their business model? They mainly transact in bonded warehousing and distribution of imported rice into Nigeria', he quipped. He went as far drawing attention to the fact that His Excellency first talked about a Swiss company investing N10 billion in a Rice Mill and now Thai-Africa
bringing $4m to the table. He couldn't hide his profound pessimism when he finally submitted thus: 'As commendable as the intentions of this project are, it is a classic conjecture of how funds can be embezzled. With $4m from Thai Africa and N10bn from the Swiss firm…'
In my opinion, the shady areas that Ifere Paul and Richard Duke has raised maybe rationalised from the perspective of the fact that as financially gargantuan as this project may appear, it is not included in what media aides of the governor refer to as 'the 14 Points Agenda of Governor Ben Ayade for 2016'. That is to say, the shabby manner the project has been demonstrated to be suggest the governor may not have been ready for the coming of Thai-Africa Corporation. From taking the delegates of the corporation to a cite that was not originally earmarked for it, to locating the seedling production far away from the actual location of planting, and being ambiguous about which investors/how much they are investigating to again being uncertain as to what they are doing -Rice City or Rice Mill,etc suggest how unserious and ill prepared this government is for agriculture, industrialisation. All my life, I never saw a disorganised bunch of 'executives'!
Finally, I am compelled to make the point that there is a total lack of political will in accomplishing anything positive in the Ben Ayade's administration beyond prompt payment of salaries.
Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger & the Editor of Negroid Haven effioitanyok@gmail.com
