Kehinde Akinyemi
21 September 2007
Abeokuta — The Chairman of the Ogun State Cassava Revolution Programme, Prof. Dupe Olatunbosun has raised alarm over the efforts by flour millers in the country to frustrate cassava producers and processors by giving excuses to reject the cassava flour in producing flour.
The development came, even as some of the millers have been accused of stock piling their warehouses to deceive the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), the regulatory body checking the compliance of the millers on the use of the 5% cassava flour in their production.
He also hinted that to check this anomaly, a law that would make it mandatory for millers to include the cassava flour in their production would soon be table before the National Assembly.
Olatunbosun, who addressed a press conference at the Secretariat of the Ogun State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Abeokuta on Wednesday, said that with the new fraudulent practice of the millers in the country, the efforts of the Federal government at ensuring total compliance to the use of cassava flour or tubers could be a mirage.
The Chairman remarked that with increase in the number of processors to about 300 per cent since inception, the flour millers were fingered as having been responsible for not meeting the about $400m expected to be saved under the project.
According to Olatunbosun, "the number of processors rose by about 300 per cent since inception, but the flour millers are deliberately frustrating the producers and the processors. To recapitulate,if the policy had been faithfully implemented, about $400M was expected to be saved under this single project
"Under the scheme, 300, 000 metric tones of High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) or 10,000 trailer load of HQCF or 33 trailer loads per day or 1,000mt or 165 trailers of fresh cassava tubers per day was expected to be consumed."
Olatunbosun, who is also the Chairman of the Ekiti state Policy and Strategy Committee noted further that the flour millers devised ways to frustrate the federal government policy, among which was the price for the purchase of the cassava flour, which has not been honoured by them.
"As at March 2007, almost a year later, only 5,000Mt of HQCF was supplied to flour mills by processors. Obviously, the flour millers had devised ways to frustrate the policy. A March 30, 2006 agreement fixing cassava flour price at N75,000 per ton-ex factory was not honoured.
Others gave the ridiculous excuse that the wheat being imported into the country had low protein content-consequently mixing this with local cassavas flour would rob the finished product of adequate protein content. Some of the flour miller even stock plied to deceive Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) and their fellow Nigerians."
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