 And, as still the breakfast and plus CV Africa, time for us to talk about other issues that affect the economy or has affected the economy in 2022. There are several concerns. The Chairman for Agricultural Commodity Association, President Sadiq Umar, says that the reopening of land borders has been moved by some of the front runners in the footcoming presidential election poses a threat to the nation's quest to attain self-sufficiency in rice production as well as food security. According to him, we will receive with mixed feelings the news that some of the front runners in the footcoming presidential elections have been clamoring for the reopening of the country's land borders and resumption of importation of rice and other food items that have heath or been banned by the current administration. While we do not discountenance the merit of such preposition as stakeholders in the agricultural sector and direct beneficiaries of positive impact of well-thought-out policy that led to the closure of land borders and eventually banning the importation of rice, we wish to implore proponents of both sides of the divide to consider the advantages, vies, are disadvantages of the position in the overall interests of the nation. It is a considered opinion that although candidates are required to put forth their value proposition to the electorate during campaigns in order to solicit votes, it is not in the interests of the nation for anyone to politicize agriculture as it pertains great danger to the well-being of the nation and its food security. Now several questions were also raised. One of it is that with the reopening of land borders, not encourage a massive inflow of small arms and light weapons into the country. Thus also he added that fresh on our minds is that the blow, the uncontrolled importation of textile materials had a huge impact on the textile industry and that's why you have the cackers of moribund textile industries in Kaduna and other parts of Nigeria staring us in the face and we hope that the history will not repeat itself in lifetime. He also said that no nation can boast of being sovereign if it's still dependent on other nations to feed its population. It will be recalled that President Zemohamba de Buhari and his government in 2019 shot the nation's border to protect farmers among others of all the spin some partial reopening of the borders. Not entirely. But let's have a guest now share his thoughts on the issue Nneka Adesanya, she is an entrepreneur food business owner right here in Lagos. Thank you so much for joining us. Hi, thank you so very much for having me. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you too. Merry Christmas to you too. Okay, so adding to that, I mean the first question I would, the first thing I would say is, in the real sense of it, I believe so strongly that Nigeria has a whole lot of potentials. I mean we have been blessed with so many resources, we're blessed with so many things that would help us to be self-sufficient as a nation. But I can share his concerns about, you know, if we open, if we reopen the border what's going to happen, would we be able to, would we be able to still be as self-sufficient as we expect to be? But you know, some of the pointers that I put here is, would this necessarily threaten food security as a nation, right? Because in the moment we open the borders, even before we open the borders, we have survived. Let me start with that. Before the borders have been opened partly, but I mean in the last three years we have survived as a nation with or without the borders in the real sense, if you get what I mean. So you know, I would suggest that, you know, opening the borders to specific items, right, would probably, you know, help us as a nation. But I still feel that we should not open the borders to literally everything. For instance, I run a food business and then Rice is there and Rice is still in politics, one way or the other. We can't even argue that. Rice still finds its way into the nation, you know. So I still believe that, you know, food security is premised on the access and the affordability of food to the general public. So would opening the border, would it give us more access to food? Would it, you know, would opening the border also reduce the tariffs, you know? Because one of the reasons why we have so much food inflation, one of the reasons why everything seems so high today, you go and buy Rice, it's different from the cost of what you bought last week. You go and buy Bains, it's different from, I believe it's the tariff. It's the tariff that is placed upon literally everything that is being imported. So my question would be that if the government chooses to open the borders, right, would the tariff placed on the cost of clearing goods, would it be reduced? Okay, so let's, you know, get back to it now. This argument is that if we open the food borders, I mean those who are clamoring for the reopening of the borders, I said the food borders, reopening of the borders would pose a serious threat or is a danger to, I mean, self-sufficiency and, you know, food production in terms of food security. So I'd like to ask you, as a person, do you think that that's an issue? So Eve is a yes, why? And Eve is a no, then why? Okay, so I think I would say that I don't want to sit on the fence, right? But I believe that if we, if we, like I said earlier, right, we have survived without the borders being opened, haven't we? In the last three years, we have survived without the borders being opened. Okay, that's the land borders. I also pointed, you know, I really had to think again and realize that the sea borders are open. So even if you don't open the land borders, you have the sea borders where things are coming in on a regular, on a day-to-day basis. Okay, so if, if, you know, my question or my answer to your question, if I believe was, if the open, if we open the land borders, would it be a threat to food security? My answer would be a yes and a no. I say a yes, because if we open the land borders, then that means we're going to have more importation of every other thing, right? And at the end of the day, we would probably not be as self-sufficient as we want to be as a nation. So to speak, the rice farm has catered to quite a number of needs, you know, to us as a nation. So we're able to produce more rice. It may not be, you know, our rice, our rice production may not be able to cater to so many people, but at least it's catering to, you know, a few persons, you know, around, around Nigeria. Also, like I said, it would be a yes and a no. Would it also be a threat to food security? I would say no, because I would point out again and say that we have survived without the borders being opened. And one way or the other, certain goods have come to us. We have, because of how tenacious and how dogged we are as a nation and as a people, we have been able to cope with the rise and rise and rise and rise. So if Mr. Daware, yes, I can't exactly say that it would be a threat. If he's talking about arms, you know, arms getting into the nation, everything in between, I think that, you know, well, I just think that, you know, that's not news to us. I don't think it's news to us. It has been getting into the nation one way or the other. So would it be a threat to food security? I'm big about the cost or the tariffs that are placed on clearing literally everything. If you're bringing in chicken, they're bringing in rice, they're bringing in some of these things. Get to the land border, even tomatoes, beans and everything in between. You get to the land border for as little as setting thousands of nair. I may not be able to put. No, but also, Nick, let's talk about, you know, the band Festival. We remember vividly that in 2019, there was a shutdown of our borders. And the essence of all of that is to protect, you know, the farmers, ensure that, you know, local production is protected. So we become self-sufficient. Mostly the highlight is rice. Do you think that we have, you know, within this period that the borders were short, you know, totally up until when it's partially, you know, open, do you think that we have been sufficient or the farmers have been protected enough? OK, so if you're going to talk about that, I don't think that farmers have been protected enough. I think beyond food security, we as a nation, we as a nation need to be more secure. The insecurity level in the nation right now is quite scary. Right. So I don't think that, you know, we've been as safe as as we should be as a people and as a citizen, you know, on Nigeria. So beyond food security, the insecurity in the nation itself should be a source of concern because, you know, they produce rice. They get tomatoes before tomatoes can get into Lagos. Some of the some of the truck drivers tell you what they experience or what they encounter to even get into Lagos because they are either shot on the way or there's some traffic or I mean, they're just different things to name a few. So opening the land borders, you know, I think for me, it's beyond the land borders being opened, you know, that would serve as a threat to food security. There are other issues that should be treated, you know, in terms of our security as a nation. There are also concerns because we know that Addiction had raised some of this concern as regards availability of fertilizer, which might also be a major problem, you know, for farmers and it would also affect, you know, the output. What are your thoughts on this? OK, so at the moment, I think I have a bit of statistics right now. We literally import almost everything as a nation, literally importing everything as a nation to fertilize and is imported as at 2019, Nigeria's import for 2019 was eighty eight point seventy four billion dollars. That's about a twenty seven point fifty nine increase from twenty eighteen for from from twenty seventeen. We also have the same increase of forty point forty eight percent increase from twenty seven from twenty seventeen. So it's the increase, the import rate is still high. You know, the level of our importation is still high. And, you know, so I can't exactly say that, you know, excuse me, that the opening of the borders is, you know, I can't categorically say it's a plus or a minus, but I believe that, you know, however we script, however we flip it, however we choose to flip it, you know, there are benefits on both sides, excuse me, there are benefits on both sides, whether we choose to open it or whether we choose to leave it closed. I'm just about, you know, us as a nation having easy access, you know, because what is this food security that we're speaking about? Is the availability of food in the country? Do we have enough, you know, meals or enough food produced to go around? You know, the citizens of our country to the average man around it. So adding to the top some factor lies that literally everything is important. So I don't think that, you know, the moment they open, you know, the borders, they were going to have quick access, you know, everything is going to come in like a gut shot. I don't believe that's going to happen. And when we have the conversation about, you know, food sufficiency and being able to, you know, produce what we consume, there should be several things that we should consider. We should have been able to put in place policies to encourage and support local production. Do you think that we have actually done that? And if not, what are the things that we should do to encourage, you know, local production and encourage farmers? OK, so I think first of all, to encourage farmers, right? I think it's important that, you know, we make security a big thing, right? So you have lots of farmers who don't even feel safe going into their farms to be able to plant or to be able to, you know, do certain things within the comfort of their state or comfort of their regions. So I believe that as a nation and our leaders have a lot of work to do for us is to provide security, right? We need to feel safe even if we're going to just farm as little as vegetables. If we're going to just plant as little as beans, if we're going to, you know, harvest rice, people need to feel safe that they can walk into their farms and they're able to, you know, harvest what is available and they're able to send it down to various states or various end users, you know, the end users and, you know, so I'm big about security for us as a people, right? Adding to that, I think that the nation can let me not say the nation, because I'm also part of the nation. I think that our leaders can also give an opportunity. You know, I think they can just, you know, provide support in every way they can possibly do, you know, to encourage farmers to keep farming, give you grants, you know, make funds available because I believe that we have these things and, you know, if we stop looking on the outside and begin to look inside and invest, you know, in the quality of what we have as a nation, then we'll become self-sufficient. But I'm looking here and based on a few researches that I have done, we spend, as of 2020, Nigeria spent 16 billion and we're on beans, like beans in partition. I have to be very sure that it wasn't coffee beans. We need to invest in ourselves. We need to look inwards as a people. We need to look inwards. We're squaring enough. We're enough. I think that's what we need to. That's the point we need to get to as a people to realize that you and I are enough to make Nigeria a great again. Well, very important points that you have actually raised as regards being self-sufficient as a country and encouraging local production, whether it be in agriculture or in other sectors. But I mean, you want to begin to ask what are the specifics? Is it just general security concerns? And apart from the aid or giving loans and what have you? But just before I let you go, this is in less than one minute. They are also issue of export. Now, usually we know that some of our products, when we get to export them, are usually rejected because they don't meet the international standard. Why have we constantly struggled with meeting up with, you know, international standards of agricultural product? Are you specific about cultural products or are you training everything? Agricultural product? Agricultural products. OK, so I think that when everybody keeps saying international standards, maybe if they probably showed us what these international standards are because I get to use lots of Nigerian produce, Nigerian products, right? Nigerian food products. And if you ask me, I feel that, you know, when leveling up, OK, it's getting better by each year. So I would, you know, ask these same people who say, you know, it probably is not up to international standards. What exactly are the standards? Can we know what the standards have? And that's why you have lots of bodies. You have napdak, you have, you know, I also get to do certain food production where I get to export, you know, oil. So we have this oil that we get to produce, which is called offada oil, ready to use. You're ready to use offada oil, right? And the same, you know, on different occasions, I've gone to napdak where they tell you, OK, this is the standard you want. This is, you know, this is how your stickers should look like. This is where your your your pictures should be. You know, and all of that, I believe that there's a template already that is that can be applicable to everyone who uses, you know, who wants to export their product. So, you know, bring it on. Show us how this symposium, how it confronts people who are in that kind of industry and tell them what is applicable. Tell them what they should be, how their product should look like. Show them what this international standard is, because this same international people still reach out to us. So, I don't think that that's the case, but we we need to move on because we don't operate in isolation really. And if you probably might not know, there are several reports I remember once upon a time, you know, in our country where tubers of yam were rejected because they are requirements. Don't forget that when countries come together, they will be protecting, you know, national their home interests. And so it's quite competitive. And so we should be able to, you know, put up product that meets certain requirement, despite, you know, the ups and downs, because you can't send product that are substandard. It's one thing to produce for the local consumption. That's for the market in Nigeria, but it's also another thing, you know, to also look at the market outside of Nigeria. And that's also another big issue. But I'm being prompted that we have to leave. And I know that you want to respond. But I'm sorry, we would definitely have another time, you know, to talk about more of these issues. Thank you so much for being part of the show. Well, Neka, a day son here has been part of our show this morning. She is actually an entrepreneur and also she owns a food business right here in Lagos State. Thank you so much. We appreciate you. We take a break. When we return, we'll be looking at the second conversation. Please stay with us.