Borno govt imports 500 rice mills

Maiduguri – The Borno government said on Sunday that it would import 500 rice mills from Thailand as part of efforts to boost rice production in the state.

Gov. Kashim Shettima, who disclosed this in Maiduguri while interacting with newsmen, said the mills would be distributed to farmers’ cooperative associations to improve the quality of local rice production in the state.

He said the state government had signed an agreement for the supply of the mills.

“A delegation of Borno government visited Thailand recently as part of a trip to explore areas of collaboration with different countries in their areas of specialisation.

“While in Thailand, we made orders for the supply of 500 rice mills. I believe some of the items will start arriving in the state in a very short while,’’ Shettima said.

The governor said that the government was working towards setting up mini-irrigation schemes in each of the 27 local government areas of the state.

“Borno has lots of potential in agriculture; we are trying to harness these potential by creating mini- irrigation schemes in all the local government areas.

“We are also looking at the possibilities of creating farm settlements across the state to further harness our agriculture potential,’’ he said.

Shettima explained that the objective was to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youths in the state.

“Our goal is to provide jobs for our teeming unemployed youths who are roaming the streets without anything to do.

“We are also trying to fight endemic poverty among our people which has reached an alarming level,’’ he said.

The governor also said that the government had acquired 87 mobile clinics and 30 ambulances from the U.S. to boost its healthcare delivery systems.

“These facilities are going to be distributed across the state to ensure even spread,’’ he said, adding that government was also working on plans to construct 2,500 additional housing units in Maiduguri for the increasing population.

“In a couple of days, we will begin work at the construction site of the new 2,500 housing units in Maiduguri. The idea is to provide decent accommodation to inhabitants of the city,’’ he said.

He said that construction of the houses was necessitated by the fact that more than 70 per cent of inhabitants of the city resided in substandard accommodation.

“It is shocking to note that about 70 per cent of the people living in Maiduguri are residing in sub- standard accommodation.

“We are trying to address the problem by constructing decent and affordable accommodation for the people,’’ he said. (NAN)