Fidelia Okafor

The Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, had said that the goal of his administration is to develop the nation’s assets on a permanent basis.

He decried the failure of past administrations to develop the nation’s asset, reiterating his determination to address the deficit.

President Buhari made the promise recently at a meeting with the Global Chief Executive Officer of Friesland Campina, the Netherlands, Mr Roelof Joosten.

He noted that the culture of waste foisted on Nigeria was due to lack of means of preservation of agricultural products.

“Quality Matters More Than Quantity”

The President lamented a situation where cattle farmers throw away milk from their animals, because there was no means of preserving and processing the product.

“We have failed to develop our assets on a permanent basis. This, we are determined to work on,” the President promised.

He urged Friesland Campina, in its collaboration with Nigeria, to educate cattle farmers that “quality matters more than quantity,” and help them organise into cooperatives for better business.

A statement by a spokesman for the President, Mr Femi Adesina, said the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Audu Ogbe, who was also at the event, promised that herdsmen would soon be organised into ranches.

“They will be organised with special grasses and water, which would give better yield, and make the animals healthier,” he said.

He also told the meeting that special flasks, which could preserve raw milk for up to six hours, would soon be made available, enabling cattle farmers to get the product to dairies in good quality.

On his part, Mr Joosten said that Friesland Campina was a cooperative owned by 19,000 farmers, and was 145 years old.

It began business in Nigeria in 1973 as Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria.

The company wants to partner with the Federal Government to build a healthier populace through better nutrition, collaborate in the School Feeding Programme, and promote dairy development in Nigeria.

It has also been providing nutrition support for Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria’s northeast, a region ravaged by over six years of insurgency.

Also on the delegation of the Global CEO was the Managing Director of Friesland Campina WAMCO, Mr Rahul Colaco.