Wattana Kunwongse, Thailand’s ambassador to Nigeria has denied telling Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh that increased rice production in Nigeria has led to collapse of seven rice mills in his country.
Ogbeh had at a meeting of the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) and the leadership of the Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers of Nigeria (FEPSAN) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja claimed that the Ambassador told him during a visit about two weeks ago that “unemployment in Thailand which was at 1.2 per cent, it has gone up to four per cent.
Ogbeh said the Thailand Ambassador told him that the increased in unemployment rate in his country was because seven giant rice mills have shut down because Nigeria’s import of rice has fallen by 95 per cent.
The Minister was trying to prove that Nigeria’s has recorded great increase in local production of rice under the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and that the country’s dependence on importation for the commodity has reduced drastically.
The Ambassador, in a letter to some media organizations yesterday described the Minister’s claims as lies.
“The report is not only misleading but a distortion of the actual conversation between myself and the honourable Minister of Agriculture at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on 30th January 2018, which was nothing short of positivity and optimism on both sides.
“During which I praised President Buhari’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), the essence of which is the endeavour to move the country to a self-sufficiency and export-oriented economy, and to that worthy cause, Thailand stands ready to work closely with the Nigerian Government in the field of technological transfer and agricultural machineries.
“At the same meeting, the honourable minister and I had reached the conclusion that I as Ambassador 0f Thailand to Nigeria will be working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and rural development to establish a platform to discuss our mutual benefits in the form of MOU on Agricultural Cooperation and by forming a bilateral Working Committee toward that end.”
The Ambassador added that the claims of Ogbeh about fall in Thailand’s rice export were also false. According to him, rather than decline, Thailand’s rice export recorded an increase in 2017.
“Thailand’s rice export to the world in 2017 (January-December 2017) reached 11.48 million tons equalising to $5.1 billion (USD), a 15.54 per cent increase compared to previous years, which is one of the highest figures on the history Thailand’s rice exportation. There is no proof of any shutdown of Thailand’s major rice mills,” he said.