Baba Buhari, Mama Lauretta, take the

pyramids, please give us rice!

SOS-Sam On Saturday
By On Feb 12, 2022

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Madam Lauretta Onochie, Personal Assistant to the President on New Media, is well known
to Nigerians on the social media. She is that presidential spokesperson that is both popular
and notorious on Twitter. There, she became lord of the street for her caustic engagement
of people who don’t agree with her submissions on President Muhammadu Buhari. She was
really very active on Twitter. She had her supporters on that street and many tend to couch
themselves in the comfort of ‘they are all Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) family members.
When the app was axed in Nigeria, so many people lost touch with her; or put differently, so
many followers jettisoned her because they did not have to use the app through the VPN
circumvent. Many other people were also off the Twitter street as it was the general belief
that she too was off that street that time when her government decided to close that
avenue. However, regarding her engagements before the suspension of Twitter, it could be
said that when the carver of beautiful calabash ornaments retires from the trade, his
previous works would be there in and around the people as indestructible memory.

Since the ban on Twitter was lifted by Nigeria’s Federal Government, not so many users of
the app have been as worried, or cared about her as they were before. They have moved on
without her. Upon the return of ‘the bird app’ in the country, what may pass as Aunty
Lauretta’s most noticeable engagement of Nigerians in recent times was her video of the
monumental rice pyramids that suddenly emerged in Abuja. She is the one who, through a
video, told Nigerians and indeed the whole world that Nigeria now has enough rice to build
immense pyramids with. She rightly attributed the success recorded by Nigeria in rice
production to the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari’s and his administration’s Anchor
Borrowers Programme midwifed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

For those Nigerians to which Twitter is neither home nor street, please note that it is the
same Aunty Lauretta that was proposed to all of us as a federal commissioner of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Yes, she was the one nominated by
President Muhammadu Buhari to serve as INEC federal commissioner representing the
South-South region. Remember that she didn’t pass through the ‘eye of the needle  of the
National Assembly’. She was not approved for the position after a huge public outcry by
election stakeholders and sundry Nigerians. Also keep in mind the rather instructive caveat
that the National Assembly did not disqualify her from the INEC job for being politically
exposed as a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC). She was timidly denied the
strategic position because they found that her home state, Delta already had a commissioner
in INEC and her confirmation would negate the federal character principle.

Aunty Lauretta stimulated so much interest in the Abuja rice pyramid fanfare by what she
told the world. What she said altered the thoughts with which the people received the Abuja
rice pyramids. She understandably sang the praises of President Buhari in her video and also
whetted the appetite of millions of hungry Nigerians with the call to what she said was the
administration’s monumental shift from the poor agricultural performance of the past. She
said the rice with which the 13 pyramids were made came from the sweat of local farmers
who have the support and funding of the CBN through its Anchor Borrowers Programme
(ABP) for small holder farmers across Nigeria.
Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the CBN, said the rice on display in Abuja was the result of
about N1 trillion doled out as loans to kit up and empower nearly 4.5 million rural farmers.
The farmers had received intervention financing through the ABP. Emefiele proudly
pronounced thus: ‘The Anchor Borrowers Programme has developed an ecosystem among
all nodes of the agricultural value chain and these linkages can be better optimised through
synergy among all stakeholders. As at December 2021, we have financed 4,489,786 farmers
that cultivated 5,300,411 hectares across 21 commodities through 23 participating financial
institutions in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)’

The CBN governor explained on January 18, 2022 at the launch of the pyramids that the rice
represented aggregated paddy rice submitted by beneficiary farmers as repayment of loans
they got through the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN). Thus, the rice was
sourced from RIFAN members’ 2020 dry season and 2021 wet season farming. Emefiele was
also reported to have said that the farmers committed to loan repayment through produce
submission as part of measures to ensure the sustainability of the programme.

This submission of produce as loan repayment raised the question of where the rice goes to
after the pyramids. What was the real purpose of moving rice from Saki, Igbemo, Goronyo,
Ishiagu and from other places all over the country to Abuja to build pyramids with it? Would
there be other pyramids? The Maya and Aztec, in the height of their civilisations also built
pyramids. Theirs were eternal monuments said to have come as a show of power and as
worship of their gods. The Egyptians also built pyramids at the beginning of the Third
Century, mainly as tombs for their pharaohs and (or) monuments for ritual purposes. Some
claim that the Egyptian pyramids were built by the Israelites who lived in Egypt for centuries
as war captives. The Northern Region of the Sir Ahmadu Bello era also built pyramids. They
were those legendary groundnut pyramids which were monuments to the true enterprise
our agriculture was in the days of yore.

President Buhari at the launch of the pyramids said he was aware that the bags of paddy
would be moving straight from Abuja to the milling plants across Nigeria. He said this would
lead to the ‘release of processed rice to the markets by the rice millers,’ and that ‘the
measure will aid our efforts at reducing the price of rice in Nigeria.’ Was the president telling
us that our rice pyramids were just for photo op? What economic benefit was there in
hauling rice from the hinterland to Abuja, build pyramids with the rice and then dismantle
the pyramids soon after so as to transport the rice to the mills? Could it be that the rice,
which some said amounted to 50 Tonnes, was just for the sight-seeing pleasure of our
president?
During the 2021 Christmas season, rice sold for between N25,000 and N27,000 for a 50kg
bag. That was before the launch of the rice pyramid. If the motive of our dear Baba Buhari
was to drive down the price of rice, this has been gravely jeopardised because the
commodity has, instead increased in price. In Ibadan, rice sells for N35,000 – N37,000 now.
For the Abuja rice, who would bear the cost of haulage to and from Abuja? Won’t that be
added to the cost of the processed commodity?

Dear Baba, we have seen the pyramids. They are wonderful and beautiful. They are massive.
Thank you Baba Buhari. Sai Baba! Mama Lauretta, we have echoed the mantra. Now, please
let us have our rice.

New Thai rice varieties lined up to boost exports

  
                Thailand plans to develop 12 new commercial rice varieties by 2024 to boost rice export
competitiveness. Speaking after an award ceremony for new commercial rice varieties, Commerce Minister
Jurin Laksanawisit said the ministry set up a war room to accelerate Thai rice development and increase
exports, for both existing and new markets. Of the 12 new varieties, Mr Jurin said four are hard-texture
grains, four are soft texture, two are Thai fragrant rice and two are high-nutrition types. These varieties are in
high demand among global consumers, he said.
Author Name: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2262971/new-thai-rice-varieties-lined-up-to-boost-
exports
Date: 12-Feb-2022