Thailand blasts Nigerian government over false claims on rice mills

By Ifreke Inyang 

 

Thailand’s ambassador to Nigeria, Wattana Kunwongse, has denied remarks made by the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, that rice mills are collapsing in the Asian country.

 

On Friday, Ogbeh claimed that Thailand said President Muhammadu Buhari’s policy on local rice sufficiency, was responsible for the collapse of seven of its mills. In a statement released on Tuesday, Kunwongse said there is no proof of the shutdown of Thailand’s major mills.

 

“The report is not only misleading but a distortion of the actual conversation between myself and the honourable minister of agriculture at the federal ministry of agriculture and rural development on 30th January 2018, which was nothing short of positivity and optimism on both sides.

 

Full story: http://dailypost.ng/2018/03/07/thailand-blasts-nigerian-government-false-claims-rice-mills/

 

-- DAILY POST 2018-03-08

This is very strange and surprising news as Nigeria always sends me very accurate emails and makes very positive claims regarding investment opportunities.

 

Thailand,Nigeria....who to believe ,that's a tough one.

regards worgeordie

32 minutes ago, webfact said:

not only misleading but a distortion

Thailand vs. Nigeria. This must be the final of the misleading and distortion world championship.

 

i sold my motorbike  (well i nearly did)to a Nigerian, lovely chap, offered my twice the price it was worth, the deal fell through when i offered to ride the bike there to deliver it,,

Nigeria..........the supplier of so many quality tourists?

5 hours ago, worgeordie said:

Thailand,Nigeria....who to believe ,that's a tough one.

regards worgeordie

I'd go for the one without black hair

Edited March 8, 20188 yr by grumbleweed

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s ambassador to Nigeria, Wattana Kunwongse, has denied remarks made by the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, that rice mills are collapsing in the Asian country.

The falsehood may be a public relations attempt by Nigeria to explain the dramatic import of rice from Thailand.

• Rice exports from Thailand to Nigeria dropped from 1.23 million metric tonnes in 2014 to 23,192mt as at November 2017 - the value of these exports dropped to 324 million Thai baht (฿) from 8.2 billion Thai bhat (฿).
• On June 23, 2015, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that it would no longer provide foreign exchange for 41 items including rice, cement and tooth picks.

https://www.thecable.ng/infographic-drastic-drop-thailands-rice-export-nigeria

 

Nigerians are blasted here for all kinds of bad behaviour but im sure there has to be some good ones. Perhaps the childish outburst from thailand and nigeria about sex tourism to thailand called for this rice mill fiasco. Just childish banter im sure.  "He said she said, im better than you" type stuff. Then again this rice mill colapse wouldnt surprise me.

12 minutes ago, bsdthai said:

Nigerians are blasted here for all kinds of bad behaviour but im sure there has to be some good ones. Perhaps the childish outburst from thailand and nigeria about sex tourism to thailand called for this rice mill fiasco. Just childish banter im sure.  "He said she said, im better than you" type stuff. Then again this rice mill colapse wouldnt surprise me.

 

Have you been to Nigeria? I wouldn't advise you reply to any emails from Nigeria or Nigerians.

 

Nigeria isn't the same country as The Gambia btw. You might want to check whose Minister of Tourism slagged off Thailand and has since being transferred.

Up next 'rice mill experts' on Nigerian work permit applications 

The kettle calling the pot black.

 

Excuse the pun. I'm not being racist, I hate racism, and anyway, black is politically correct. However,  I've never seen a black person. I was once pulled up for referring to a black person as, coloured! 

 

I'd be hard pushed to trust both nations. 

If there would have been a world championship for scams, Thailand and Nigeria would play the final.

3 hours ago, bsdthai said:

Nigerians are blasted here for all kinds of bad behaviour but im sure there has to be some good ones. Perhaps the childish outburst from thailand and nigeria about sex tourism to thailand called for this rice mill fiasco. Just childish banter im sure.  "He said she said, im better than you" type stuff. Then again this rice mill colapse wouldnt surprise me.

That was Ghana mate.

3 hours ago, Sonhia said:

The kettle calling the pot black.

 

Excuse the pun. I'm not being racist, I hate racism, and anyway, black is politically correct. However,  I've never seen a black person. I was once pulled up for referring to a black person as, coloured! 

 

I'd be hard pushed to trust both nations. 

I don't know about Black being PC, i think these days it has morphed into "Persons of Colour" must keep up to date with these imprtant labels, Old chap!

13 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand blasts Nigerian government

Thailand should be careful . what goes around comes around . for what is statistics Thailand cant challenge Nigeria as to Gambia .  Big Joke needs a  vacation coz Nigerian government is on to something . 5555

12 hours ago, Thian said:

That was Ghana mate.

Actually, it was Gambia.

West African and Caribbean countries have long had a problem with rice imports. They can grow rice, but just not so well, imported rice (from Asia or USA) tends to be better quality - and sometimes cheaper, Free trade is all very well but many African rice farmers have been put out of business by Rice imports/aid. Haiti is probably the worst example of aid/imports destroying a rice industry. Once self sufficient in rice. US rice imports in 1985 to Haiti were 7,000 tons, which grew to 220,000 tons by the year 2000 - wrecking the domestic rice industry.

 

Nigeria used to be self sufficient in food 50 years ago, but no longer. They have been importing up to 50% of their rice. When the international price rises, so does the cost of these imports - which have to be paid for in hard currency. Deciding enough was enough, Nigeria has slapped heavy import duties on rice and is boosting domestic production. Hence why imports have fallen dramatically. A lot of Nigerian agriculture is neglected and inefficient, but cheap imported rice made investment in rice growing uneconomic. The import duties have changed that, but now the exporting countries find they have surplus rice .....

36 minutes ago, rickudon said:

Deciding enough was enough, Nigeria has slapped heavy import duties on rice and is boosting domestic production. Hence why imports have fallen dramatically. A lot of Nigerian agriculture is neglected and inefficient, but cheap imported rice made investment in rice growing uneconomic. The import duties have changed that, but now the exporting countries find they have surplus rice .....

Sounds like the Nigerians are implementing a "sufficiency" system.

 

One would think that the Thai government should be pleased.