Some rice millers in Gombe State have said the Federal Government’s investment in rice cultivation through the Central Bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme was creating job opportunities for youths in the state.
The millers stated this in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Gombe.
They stated that many youths in the state, who were idle had now secured jobs at the several rice milling factories at the industrial layout in Nassarawo community in Gombe State.
Alhaji Musa Arab, a rice miller, said shortage of paddy rice was a major setback to establishing milling factories in the past.
“Since the Anchor Borrowers Programme commenced, we are now getting almost all-year-round supply,” he said.
He said he started his mill with less than ten workers, but had to increase the number of workers at his rice mill, adding that this was due to the effort of the federal government.
Arab stated that job creation was not the job of the government alone: “once government creates the enabling environment as it has done in the agriculture sector, investments and employment will come from the private sector.”
He said Gombe State was able to contribute 140, 144 metric tonnes of rice to the pyramid showcased in Abuja, which was the highest in the country.
According to him, the one million bags of rice at the Abuja rice pyramid, when pushed to different rice millers across the country will further create jobs for the youth and help in crashing the price of the commodity.
He added that through the Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), a special project under the state coordinator, Alhaji Abubakar Bello, Gombe State had done well especially in boosting dry season rice cultivation.
Mohammed Abubakar, another rice miller, said the intervention of the federal government in the agriculture sector was creating jobs for youths and reducing unemployment.
Abubakar said: “we started this mill in the middle of 2017 with less than 30 youths, but now we have more than 120 youths in direct labour and if we add the indirect, you can imagine.”
He said his company was able to take over 120 youths out of the streets.
“We have 120 medium rice millers and more than 200 small rice millers registered in Gombe State.
“With these, you can imagine the number of youths that have been taken off the streets.
“All these we attribute to the efforts of federal and Gombe State governments and we thank them for their efforts,” Abubakar said.
NAN reports that other rice millers who shared similar views and commended the federal government, however, stated that their major challenge was power.
They appealed to the federal government to dedicate a special line to them from the DadinKowa Hydro Dam when inaugurated.
They also appealed to the federal government to help check the illegal smuggling of rice into the country so that “we can have the market for Nigerian rice millers to compete.” (NAN)
