Anambra Vegetable Export Story: Beyond the Trial
on Social Media
Since the Governor of Anambra State, His
Excellency, Chief Willie Obiano rendered an
impressive Account of Stewardship to Anambra
Communities in Abuja and other parts of the North
on July 22nd this year, a core of bitter opposition,
fanning the usual embers of hate, has kept the
social media abuzz with claims, alleging that a
paragraph in the governor’s Report Card is a lie.
This needless controversy was curiously sparked off
by a vacuous statement, stitched together by the
vicious opposition in Anambra State. As it turned,
the poorly worded statement soon found a perfect
outlet in Sahara Reporters, a New York-based
Nigerian-owned online portal that has earned a
reputation as a Media Undertaker, which in its
characteristic kill-and-destroy approach to
journalism splashed the story around, hawking a
below average appreciation of the governor’s actual
statement. It is needless to state that Sahara
Reporters woefully failed the test that requires
adherence to media ethics that insist on objectivity
and fairness to all parties. Naturally, uninformed
members of the public unfamiliar with the untamed
reflexes of Sahara Reporters got stuck in the
middle, clearly unprepared to believe the campaign
against a governor that has demonstrated a clear
leadership vision and a remarkable capacity for
good governance in a mere two years.
Nevertheless, it is pertinent to note that a reportage
and analysis of something as weighty as a
Governor’s Report Card demands an obligatory
fidelity to facts from any responsible media. The
overarching considerations here are accuracy,
objectivity and fairness. It is saddening that Sahara
Reporters and the madding crowd of opposition
baying for blood have clearly fallen short as usual,
in this regard.
In factual terms, the fatuous charge against Obiano
is drawn from the following paragraph in his Report
Card -
Anambra has assumed a prominent position in
Nigeria’s Agricultural map. Precisely, in January this
year, Anambra made headlines when it became the
first state in Nigeria to export vegetables (Ugu and
Onugbu) valued at $5m to Europe.
It is indeed regrettable that in spite of the economy
of words deployed to capture the core message of
the above paragraph, Sahara Reporters and its
sponsors curiously consider it a lie. Its tendentious
headline screaming “Obiano Lied about $5m
Vegetable Exports,” leaves serious hints about an
embarrassing cognitive deficit. Perhaps, goaded by
the desire to slash his rising profile, the sponsors
of Sahara Reporters showed an appalling lack of
rigour in dissecting the governor’s comment or
visualizing the big context in which it was framed.
They seemed laughably confused in choosing what
to doubt about the governor’s comment. Should
they insist that there was no export of Ugu and
Onugbu from Anambra State to Europe or that the
quantity exported was not worth $5m? They failed
woefully to realize the symbolism of Anambra’s
vegetable export to Europe; they failed to grasp the
audacity of thinking outside the box that it tells us
all. But perhaps even worse is the pathetic
reduction of this sublime statement in courage and
vision to a mere beer parlour argument over $5m.
They missed the large statement; the watermark of
hope. And we are therefore left to understand that
Obiano’s sin is for being farsighted, for daring to
shrug off mediocrity that his peers wear as a prized
robe.
I find it bemusing that, in contrast to the repeated
use of the word “investigation” in the report, Sahara
Reporters failed to do any investigation or even
thoroughly read Obiano’s comments for a more
enlightened analysis. The governor’s choice of the
words “valued at” simply indicates that the sum of
$5m is the estimated utility or merit of the Ugu and
Onugbu (not tomatoes as claimed by the report)
that Anambra has exported to Europe (not South
Africa as again claimed by the report). And by the
way, the fact is that Ugu and Onugbu were exported
to Europe over a considerable period of time with
an estimated value that is far in excess of $5m.
There are no questions about this. The entire Export
Business is done in partnership with ABX World Inc.
a logistics firm with years of experience in the
business whose team of experts can be approached
by any investigative journalist for inquiries.
So, where is the LIE that Sahara Reporters and its
sponsors are screaming about? Is it that Anambra
has no vegetable farms where Ugu and Onugbi can
be grown or that it is impossible to export
vegetables to Europe? And can anyone who has
followed the hopeful narrative of the Obiano
administration in the past two years doubt the
capacity of Anambra State to carve a new glorious
path for the people? It rankles to think that Sahara
Reporters is spearheading a campaign to destroy
one of the few ingenious efforts by a Nigerian
governor to seek an alternative stream of income
and cut down on the over-dependence on oil
revenue that has left most states in deep financial
paralysis today. In saner societies, Obiano’s vision
should attract commendation, not condemnation.
Surely, the emerging picture from this scenario is
not pleasant. Obviously, Governor Obiano’s rising
profile is the issue here, not the export of
vegetables by the state. After sweeping major
leadership prizes in the country in only two years, a
bewildered opposition is desperately looking for a
chink in his armour. Sadly, Sahara Reporters has
offered its services as an undertaker. We shall see
how it all plays out in the end.
Regardless, it must be mentioned that though the
government of Anambra State does not feel strongly
obligated to reveal its trade secrets, a lot of
evidence has been supplied to illuminate on-going
conversations on this subject matter.
Against our better judgement, we have shared the
following information with the public –
That the Anambra State Agricultural Export
Programme is anchored on the resilience and
ingenuity of the rural farmers who are scattered
across the three senatorial zones of the state
That through the Ministry of Agriculture, the state
identified the cultivation of vegetables in a
significant quantity throughout the zones and
subsequently organised vegetable farmers into
cooperatives to facilitate the distribution of vital
materials, technical and financial support amongst
them.
That the state government is in a partnership with
ABX World Inc. a Lagos-based logistics firm and
has charged it to identify viable markets for
Anambra farm produce across the world. ABX has
just entered a similar partnership with Ondo State
now
That in line with this partnership, ABX World Inc.
has identified the UK and European Markets as
viable markets for vegetables produced in Anambra
State.
That in partnership with ABX World Inc. a Special
Training was held for Anambra farmers on how to
produce 100% Organic Vegetables, the vegetable
business itself, preventing allergens, handling of
bookkeeping and operating the vegetable business.
That some experts from the Nigerian Agricultural
Quarantine Service were invited to visit all the farms
and conduct phytosanitary tests on them after which
those that passed the test were duly certified to
participate in the export business.
That the state government subsequently established
an Export Desk to coordinate all the ministries and
departments in the export chain, namely Agriculture,
Transportation, Trade & Commerce and Finance to
ensure a strict compliance to basic guidelines
That a Digital Control Centre was set up to capture
the necessary data of all farmers and document the
coordinates of all farms in the state for geo-
mapping and tracking of farm produce.
That the state government has rolled out a clear
Export Policy that would guide the export business
and create wealth for the people through a creative
deployment of the ingenuity of Ndi Anambra
That so far, vegetables are produced in commercial
quantities and off-taker activities have been
vigorously going on since the take-off of the
scheme in the six local government areas of the
state and in the 24 communities spread out as
follows -
1. Anambra West LGA - Onono, Umuikwu, Umudora,
Agwe, Oroma and Mmià ta.
2. Ayamelu LGA – Anaku, Omo, Ifite_Ogwari and
Omasi.
3. Idemili North LGA - Abatete, Orukwu, Nimo.
4. Orumba North LGA - Umuchu Ndike,Ndiowu
5. Orumba South LGA - Eziagu,Umunze, Ogbunka,
Ogboji.
6. Ogbaru LGA - Obioshimili, Osamala,Igbo Ifeanyi
Odoekpe etc.
It is very pertinent to note that the entire export
scheme has been designed in a scalable
framework. At full potential, the numbers show a
possibility of N1.6bn a month in aggregate impact
on the economy of Anambra State by way of
income to farmers, freight forwarders, freight
handlers, logistics providers and consequential
additions to the state IGR from the proceed of
sales. This targets 25 tons of lifting per day,
scalable to 50 and 100 at optimum.
Critical to the entire value chain is a conditioning
and processing centre and a galaxy of purpose-
built, temperature-controlled freight trucks criss-
crossing Anambra State. In the seven months of
this scheme, these value chain activities have been
farmed out. To lend roots to this initiative, the state
plans to host two cognate workshops in the near
future. One of them will be delivered by Global
G.A.P, the world’s leading farm assurance
programme. It will focus on identification and
certification of farmers for global sales. The second
one which will be delivered by the Nigerian
Shippers Council will focus on regulation and
logistics.
We therefore make bold to say that Sahara
Reporters and its hate-filled sponsors should have
avoided this tragic episode of misleading Nigerians
in their typical tear-down journalism if they had
acted responsibly and conducted the simplest
investigation. It is disturbing to see that rather than
play the expected investigative role, Sahara
Reporters chose the easy option of sedentary
armchair journalism and relied entirely on a pathetic
piece of propaganda hawked online by opposition
media handlers.
Nevertheless, we wish to state clearly that the Willie
Obiano administration is beholden only to the good
people of Anambra State whose mandate and
support it has risen to justify with a sterling
performance in the past two years. The Agricultural
Export Programme that has generated this
controversy is just one of the numerous initiatives
of the Obiano administration that have endeared him
to the people. There are many other value-laden
achievements that are just as impactful.
We therefore invite anyone who is in doubt about
our Export Programme to visit any of the locations
cited above and see things first hand. We also
invite all prospective investors looking for a safe
haven for their investment to come to Anambra
State. Anambra is safe, vibrant and ready for
business. With over $4.2bn investments attracted in
two years only, there must be a reason why the
investment community believes us!
We urge you to find out!
Thank you
James Eze
SSA to the Governor on Media
No comments:
Post a Comment