Agberen To Oborevwori: Devise Measures To Regulate Prices Of Food Commodities In The Market

By Daniel Dafe

Comr.(Amb.) Derrick Oritsematosan Agberen, National Coordinator,
“No Justice, No Peace Initiative, has called on Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State to devise measures to regulate prices of food commodities in the market, saying this will ameliorate the plight of Deltans struggling due tinthe removal of subsidy

In a press statement made available to Oasis Magazine, he added: “Without mincing words, the subsidy removal has brought with it, pains, frustration and hardship to average Nigerians, including the civil servants,” saying: “Hence, It has becomes very necessary for the Delta Government, to take advantage of the economic challenges to invest in Agriculture, producing local food products to residents, selling at fixed prices, and also regulating the general prices for traders and sellers to sell to the populace in the market at specific prices.”

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He continued: “Food is of essence and basic human rights of the people, which the Government of a place, firstly, is responsible for but the Government at all levels, on the contrary has continually denied the people access to food, also failing in the area of boosting the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and all that have been achieved by past Governments in the State, only existed on papers and social media. Agriculture remains a robust alternative to crude oil. It provides opportunities for economic equity and helps people prosper around a place. It also help sustain life by providing the food we need to survive but the Delta State since 1999 has poorly given attention to Agriculture and Natural Resources but are focused on how one man could loot public funds through activities of crude oil, putting aside Agriculture.”

According to him, “considering the roles Agriculture plays, as an important role in national food industries, the Agricultural sector is where we have comparative advantage in Delta State and the number one area we have comparative advantage is cassava because all the 25 LGAs are into cassava farming, cassava processing and cassava trading. Cassava can be processed into many things, such as fufu, cassava chips, garri, cassava flour, cassava starch, etc. Delta State is seen to be blessed with very rich soil conducive for growing virtually every crop, with most of the cassava farmers producing Garri. Garri is a white or yellow granule that can be eaten directly.”

He said further: “What has stopped the Delta State Government from producing, owning Garri processing factories across different areas in the State, selling to residents at low cost? Garri is one of the staple foods in Nigeria that cuts across all tribes and almost all Deltans rely and feed on Garri for survival, on a daily basis. Garri is one of many diferent kinds of food products that can be produced from fresh cassava roots.”

Furthermore, he said: “In 2019, the Delta State Government under former Governor; Sen. Ifeanyi A. Okowa, launched “Delta Quality Garri for Export,” an initiative under his administration, which was supposed to take Deltans to commercial farming level and also bring Garri to door steps of Deltans, making it cheap and affordable in the markets but this only existed on papers and the media. It beats my imagination to see a State Government come up with such initiative for exporting Garri out of the State, while Delta residents never got a taste of it. Four processing units for the processing of the high quality Garri are in Owa-Alero, Ute-Erumu, Abavo and Orokpor but they never had any effects on the people because the motive weren’t genuine, as Garri now, sells at N2,500.00 per basket, making it difficult for the common people. Maybe it was a deliberate attempt by the previous administration to convert lands in disguise, at the aforementioned areas, in the name of Garri processing centres, as the Isoko tribe in Delta State, that are known for farming and the production of Garri; none of these centers existed in the Isoko areas.”

Speaking further, he called on the Delta State Governor to review activities of Agriculture and natural resources, by previous administrations in the State, make amendments where necessary and come out with action plans that will benefit the people.

“For any society to make meaningful progress there ought to be effective and efficiency in governance, to ensure that public funds are spent judiciously to the benefit of all and of which, the Ministry of Agriculture And Natural Resources isn’t left out.l,” he concluded.