Read in
The Poultry Association of Nigeria said it has created twenty million direct and indirect jobs. Photo: Radio Nigeria Archive
The Poultry Association of Nigeria wants the Federal Government to maintain its import restriction policy on frozen products and eggs.
The Association said this would prevent from total disaster the country’s poultry industry which contributes 25% to the livestock agricultural gross domestic product.
Ichie Sunday Ezeobiora, the National President of the Association, in a statement expressed the concerns in the poultry industry, and called on the government to engage the Association to make raw materials such as maize and soya available.
He explained that it would revive the already collapse farms, underscoring the strength of the industry as the most capitalised subsector in the country’s agriculture landscape.
According to Ezeobiora, the decision by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to remove forex would only return Nigeria to bad days, where the nation was turned to what he described as dumping ground for all sorts of imported poultry products.
He said if the CBN’s move stands, millions of people would be out of job, as most farmers were already finding it difficult to pay back loans collected to expand their farmlands.
The Association also appealed to the government to wade into the issue of multiple taxation on poultry production enterprises by various states’ internal revenue boards of agencies, saying that abolishing all unnecessary tax will bring enormous benefit to the industry.
Ezeobiora maintained that there should be synergy and fiscal incentive strengthening amongst the various organs and agencies of government to enhance robust planning, decision making and implementation of government actions.
He pointed out that all existing policy ambiguities creating acrimonies among government agencies and the industry operators need to be smoothened and strengthened.
Ezeobiora added that Poultry Industry remains key to government’s action on food security, and promised that as the most commercialized sector providing employment to over 20 million Nigerians, it would continue to do its best to support the government in ensuring that the country attain food sufficiency and security.
Reporting by Zacchaeus Babalola; Editing by Oluwaseyi Ajibade and Annabel Nwachukwu