Imota rice mill will be ready before December ― Lagos govt

Lagos State government on Thursday disclosed that it has so far spent close to N20bn on the Imota Rice Mill, billed to be commissioned before the end of this year.

The state government also said the mill projected to be the largest in Sub-Sahara Africa, when completed, would provide not less than 250,000 jobs across the value chain.

The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Miss Bisola Olusanya, made this known during a ministerial press briefing to mark the 2nd Anniversary of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration in office.

This was just as the commissioner also revealed that her ministry, in the first quarter of 2021, raked in a total sum of N128 million as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

Olusanya explained that the partnership between Lagos and Kebbi states over the production of Lake Rice still exists, pointing out that it was the COVID-19 pandemic and flooding in the North, especially in Kebbi that affected the distribution of Lake Rice late 2020 and 2021.

The commissioner assured that Lagos was putting everything in place as it wanted to have the best mill in the world, saying the emphasis now, was on shipment of paddy from Kebbi State to Lagos for processing.

“The Imota Rice Mill is referred to as rolls royce of its kind. We want to deliver a value chain with the best processing facility. Since its commencement, 20bn naira has been spent looking at the exchange rate. The rice mill is going to be world-class.

“On Lake rice, the partnership has shifted from processing of rice to shipment of paddy. So that we can beat down prices. The partnership between states should not be tenured, the partnership should be enduring,” she said.

The commissioner, who said the state government had planned for its own brand of rice, pointed out that Kebbi rice is in the upstream of the value chain while Lagos rice is in the categories of downstream and midstream, even as she declared that Lagos had the human capacity and the market for the rice production.

Speaking on the ministry’s scorecard in the last two years, Olusanya disclosed that so far 12, 575 and 19, 207 youths and women had been trained and empowered respectively, while 18 illegal slaughter slabs were shot down, adding that the ministry gave 3,900 metric – tons feed palliative to farmers, among others.

The commissioner added that the government had resuscitated food production facilities at Songhai and Araga to increase food production, while a total of 100,000 jobs both directly and indirectly were created as a result.

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