Boroh: Rice Project, Best Initiative of Amnesty Programme

The production of the Presidential Amnesty Rice is perhaps the best initiative undertaken so far by the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig-General Paul Boroh (rtd), has said.

Boroh, who spoke when he received the first 500 bags of the Amnesty Rice in Abuja, said the Presidential Amnesty rice is coming handy this yuletide season and that the target was to commence full production in 2018, which would provide jobs for thousands of people, contribute to food self-sufficiency and security in the country, and grow the economy, as well as save some foreign exchange for the country.

In a statement issued by the Head, Media, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Owei Lakemfa, he stated that before the agriculture revolution of the Buhari administration, the country expended $2.41 billion on the importation of rice alone between January 2012 and May 2015.

Boroh noted that the Presidential Amnesty Rice, cultivated in Ogoja, Cross River State is the beginning of similar initiatives by the Amnesty Office to mass-produce rice in the Niger Delta, adding that some beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme are now cultivating rice in Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States.

According to him, locally-produced rice is tastier and more nutritious than the imported rice which is over polished.
“The Amnesty rice is also healthier for consumption as most of the imported rice are stored in warehouses for long periods before being freighted for months across oceans to our country,” he argued.

Boroh urged more people to go into rice cultivation and production, adding that “with over 180 million mouths to feed and the growing preference for rice, the country is a huge market and can accommodate many more producers.
“We can actually move from being a net importer of rice to a net exporter of rice. Weaning many Nigerians from their preference for imported rice, and the sustained promotion and consumption of local rice is a winner any day,” the presidential aide said.