By Amauche Agbo, Abakaliki.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Ebonyi State Governor on rice mill, Abel Uzodinma Nwozaka has said the state government is committed to ensuring food sufficiency in Nigeria.
He charged all rice millers across the State to rise to their responsibilities in producing enough rice to reduce hunger as the present economic crisis ravaging the country has subjected a good number of Nigerians to untold hardship.
The governor's aide who charged the millers to maintain peace and tranquillity in their various rice milling centres said no meaningful development would be achieved in the atmosphere of rancour and acrimony describing Governor Francis Nwifuru as a peace-loving leader.
He informed the rice millers that the state government has approved and directed the use of head pans containing over 100 cups for a bushel and 50 cups for half a bushel respectively to be used in measuring rice across all the milling centres in the state to ensure sanity.
The governor's aide who warned those hell-bent on defrauding innocent customers to steer clear of all the rice milling centres in the state called on the millers to continue producing quality rice that would not only make Ebonyi the best rice producing State in the South East but the Country at large.
He charged the rice millers to cultivate the habit of using customized bags in boldly written Abakaliki rice mills to sell rice to promote the Abakaliki rice milling industry.
He further directed them to go and get their head pans as a task force constituted by his office would commence enforcement by the end of next month and anybody caught using scales, unauthorized head pans or defrauding innocent customers would be arrested and treated like a common criminal to serve as a deterrent to others.
He enjoined the millers to alert him if anyone approached them for collection of any money illegally while urging them to embrace prompt payment of their internally generated revenue (IGR) to the State Government bank account for the overall development of the state.
Reacting, some of the millers including the chairman of the Igbeagu Rice Mill Owners Association in Izzi LGA, Chief Boniface Nweze and his Iboko Rice Mill counterparts, Mr Okweribe Francis, and Peter Mbam, among many others commended the State Governor, Chief Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru for the initiative, describing the development as very apt.
They promised to adhere strictly to the state government directives while commending Governor Nwifuru for appointing such vibrant and energetic youth to be in charge of the rice mill industry in the state.
