Nigeria approves the concession of 20 silos

Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council (FEC)
has approved the concessioning of 20 out of its 33 silos to private
sector operators at the cost of US$19.6 million.

 

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, revealed the decision that was taken at
the meeting of FEC on Wednesday presided over by President Muhammadu
Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

 

He said the Silos built at different parts of the country were being concessioned for 10 years.

 

The minister said a memo to the Council,
seeking to concession the Silos which have been built in different parts
of the country over the past 10 years was approved.

 

“A total of 33 Silos exist with a
capacity of 1,360,000 metric tons of grains and they are spread almost
evenly through the geo-political zones of the country.

 

“In 2014 government decided to privatise
or concession some of these Silos so that the private sector can help,
use them for a fee to the Federal Government.

 

“The process was carried out by World
Bank, the concession committee of the government, NGOs, the private
sector and the Ministry of Agriculture. It has taken this long to arrive
at this because the processes are very slow, we
wanted absolute accountability,’’ he said.

 

According to him, six of the 33 Silos will be retained by the Federal Government.

 

“We are keeping six of the silos which is
according to international standard, we keep five per cent of all the
grains we harvest every year, the rest will go to private sector groups.

 

“Those who bided and have shown capacity
have been the ones allocated the Silos, those who are unable to manage
them will have the concession revoked.

 

“The Federal Government remains the owner of the silos and at the end of 10 years 
it can either renew, revoke or takeover the Silos and operate them ourselves,’’ he explained.

 

“We have requests for grains from
different parts of the world, soya beans, sesame, sorghum and millet. We
also have massive rice production going on and the likes of Dangote and
Coscharis going into rice production now need these
silos.

 

“So concessioning it to them means they
will organise local groups to produce grains for them to dry properly
and store and market when the need arises or even export.’’

 

The minister expressed the hope that the
private sector operators had the capacity to operate and maintain the
silos successfully.

 

The Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji
Suleiman Adamu, also spoke on the flood disaster in some parts of
Nigeria, and explained that the Federal Government had put measures in
place to address the situations.

 

According to him, the water level has risen to 11.19 , but has not reached the 12.4 level that led to flooding in 2012.

 

“The water level has not reached the
point as it was in 2012, and we are happy that the water level in
Cameroon has not reached the level that will make them open their dam.’’

 

Adamu, however, appealed to the communities within the flood plains to relocate from those areas.