A former education minister, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili slammed the alarming levels of poverty in Nigeria on Friday, saying that the situation is likely to get worse with the CBN’s plan to ban importation of milk.
The ex-presidential candidate paints a dire future for those trapped in poverty, if the policy to restrict milk imports in to the country is carried out, the consequences will be terrifying she warned.
” Don’t effect this Ban please. This Policy will raise the cost of living for especially the Poor in our midst and their misery will create HIGHER PROFITS for domestic producers of milk who pass on their production inefficiencies to them, she said.
” Milk has an impact on child nutrition”.
“If only citizens knew that contrary to what they think, Ban of import of things like Milk, in this case, ends up increasing Poverty. The amount of Milk available will reduce & Price will skyrocket above what other countries pay for Milk. Don’t do this and punish the Poor, please.”
“It’s our position that we can produce these in the country,” he said, while confirming the report that Nigeria will now ban importation of milk.
Speaking to Per Second News, Mr. Ian Brown, an economist said, European milk is pouring into Africa, with disastrous effects for local herders and farmers.
” Multibillion-euro dairy multinationals are exploiting rock-bottom European milk prices to expand aggressively into Nigeria and West African countries, he said.
“Over five years, they have nearly tripled their exports to the region, shipping milk powder produced by heavily subsidized European farmers to be transformed into liquid milk for the region’s booming middle class.
“People who live from milk are struggling,” said Adama Ibrahim Diallo, the president of Burkina Faso’s milk producers and mini-processors union recently.
Diallo warned that the problem is aggravating the security situation in the Sahel. “The sons of pastoralists become jihadists — not out of conviction but because there are no jobs.”
