Benin Republic has approached Nigeria for collaboration in agriculture, to boost food production in the two countries.
Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu disclosed this to State House Correspondents on Tuesday, after he led a delegation form Beni Republic, on a visit to the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari.
Bagudu said the Benin delegation was in the country on the directives of the country’s President, Patrice Talon, who wants the successes recorded by Nigeria in rice farming replicated in his country.
According to the Kebbi State Governor, “Benin Republic’s delegation comprising their Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Water and Mining, the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria and I met with the Chief of Staff to the President.
“This is to progress discussions, which have been going on between the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria and Benin Republic in order for the two countries to work together towards replicating the successes achieved in Nigeria’s rice programme in Benin, so that together we can stop the importation of rice into West Africa in the shortest possible time.”
Partnership within the framework
The Governor described the move by both countries as a partnership within the framework of both the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) and the African Continental Free Trade Zone Agreement.
“This further exhibits our brotherly relationship, two Presidents; Muhammadu Buhari and Patrice Talon, who respect each other and have vision and believe that we can be greater together,” he said.
Also speaking, the President, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, Aminu Goronyo, explained that Benin Republic’s government is desirous of learning from the Nigerian experience in rice production.
He said: “They are here because they have seen the successes recorded in the area of rice production in Nigeria and when we visited that country, their President was so happy, he was excited.
“And he said they must come to Nigeria, partner with Nigerian rice farmers and see how Nigerian farmers can replicate the same thing in Benin Republic so that they will be able to achieve the successes this government recorded in the area of rice production.”
Asked what Nigeria can teach them, he said: “Of course, they are our sister country, we are one and the same people and I think their President is ready to accept what we have used to achieve these successes which is the government’s will because our successes are related with the political will that this government has.
“And that is exactly what they want to learn so that they will use the same approach to attain the successes they are seeing to come to us to learn more.”
Confirming the aim of their visit, Beni Republic’s Minister of Agriculture, Mr Cossi Gaston Dossouhoui, said: “As the Kebbi State Governor said, we are here to meet the Chief of Staff of the President of the Republic of Nigeria, to inform him of the ongoing work between the Government of Benin and Association of Rice Producers of Nigeria.
“This is a joint program we want to implement, to enable Nigeria and Benin become top Rice producers in the region and produce enough rice for sale, that will also permit us sell our rice both within and outside ECOWAS.”
Dossouhoui also used the occasion to request for technical support from Nigeria, to enable his country to also succeed.
“In fact Nigeria has demonstrated a big success in Rice production. Our objective is to gain some experience from Nigeria in terms of organizational, Technical and commercial plans. T
He adds that it would avail them the opportunity of having the Nigerian experiences and model in order to launch and develop Benin and Beyond.
Lateefah Ibrahim
