Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has decried the failure of dairy companies in the country to produce milk locally for their operations, warning that the situation where they resort to importation is no longer acceptable.
Saraki gave the warning on Wednesday when a delegation from Friesland Campina Group, manufacturers of WAMCO peak milk, paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.
A statement by the Special Assistant to the Senate President on Public Affairs, Mohammed Isa quoted Saraki as saying that ” this is a sector that we must ensure that we replace imported contents with local products. The dairy sector to me is not doing enough to support local production and this must change. It is going to happen and I want you to carry this message to your colleagues in the sector that it must happen.”
Saraki lamented the reduction of import duty from 10 to 5 per cent, saying the policy was in conflict with President Muhammadu Buhari’s drive for economic diversification and self-sufficiency.
Saraki decried the billions of dollars being spent on milk importation annually, adding that, Nigeria has the lowest import duty in Africa at 5 per cent and that there is no where in Africa where the duties of import is as low as it is in Nigeria.
The Senate President however praised Friesland Campina for its local content program, which has led to the annual purchase of millions of liters of milk from local farmers as part of the raw materials for their production.
Earlier, the Friesland Managing Director, Mr. Ben Langat had said his company was involved in dairy production through partnership with the federal and some state governments.
The company, Langat said had trained about 2000 farmers on cattle breeding and production of milk and assured that for every pint of milk produced there is certain percentage of Nigerian content.
