The government of Ukraine has expressed interest and readiness to establish a grain center in Nigeria and other African countries as it has in upfront donated about 25,000 tonnes of grains to Nigeria to boost the bilateral relation. This was made known by the Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Mr. Mykola Solskyi when he paid a courtesy call to the Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Jeofry Onyeama. Solskyi revealed that without wasting much time, the grains from Ukraine will arrive in Nigeria by February under the initiative called, ‘Grains from Ukraine’.
He disclosed that though Ukraine is in a war situation right now, it will not affect its relationship with Nigeria as the county is interested in closer ties with Nigeria while thanking Nigerian authority for the go-ahead he received.
In his statement, “Despite all the events going on in the world, our countries are ready to develop this cooperation.
“The Ukrainian government and Ukrainian president are ready to pay a lot of attention to this development. We want to have regular contact every year not only with our agriculture ministers but with other ministers as well.
“Development of such hubs will make it possible to bring in the high-quality grain into your country and it will influence prices positively.
He explained, “Ukraine intends to develop two or three hubs in Africa, and taking into consideration the capacity of your country, the grain hub in your country is priority number one. If we implement it well, it would be a practical step towards our business relations reaching a new level.”
Onyeama while sympathizing with the Ukrainians over the Russian onslaught, also thank Solskyi for the gesture saying this was coming even as the county was in a war situation.
The Nigerian Minister said, “Notwithstanding the situation in which your country finds itself, you are able to extend a hand of friendship not just to Nigeria but to other African countries. This demonstrates superhuman courage and we really admire your generosity and we thank you for this support.”
He assured that Nigeria has a long-standing relationship with Ukraine, saying a large chunk of the war victims in Ukraine were Nigerian students whose studies were disrupted.
He applauded the Ukrainian government saying, “You have built up real specialization in many disciplines and Nigerian students are the beneficiaries. We can continue to strengthen relations between our two countries and our two peoples.
He said, “We will do our best at the multilateral level to bring the war to a very quick end.”
In his remarks, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohamed Abubakar, assured the Ukrainian Minister of a port where the grains will be designated.
He told his Ukrainian counterpart, “We appreciate and commend you that despite the war you still found time to extend a gesture of friendship to Nigeria and also donated grains.
“I can assure you that the relations with Ukraine will improve.
“We have been having businesses with Ukraine, especially in the agriculture sector and I can say that over 30 percent of our agricultural businesses are with Ukraine, particularly in the area of wheat, fertilizer, and other grains. This I can assure you will continue to improve our relations,” he said.
Abubakar explained that the purpose of establishing a grain hub is to have a common center that would be used to donate grains to another African country.
He said, “We are looking at the Lagos Port and also the Onne Port in Rivers. The grain coming from Ukraine will increase the amount of grain here and the hub will eventually become a business hub with other African countries and beyond and it will help to stabilize the price.”
The Minister noted that the Ukrainians have the technological know-how that will help Nigeria in wheat production in the country stating that capacity building of our countrymen will form part of the relationship. (NAN)
