President Buhari’s visit to Kenya appeared an important piece of news over the past week. Pictures of the Nigerian President’s visit to the Brookside Dairy Farm in Ruiru was quite an item on Nigerian News and generated a number of conversations, mostly on the lighter note. What may be little known is that this visit was a serious one but represents the most unserious piece of business ever discussed. We are not sorry to call this a mega disaster.
For those who are unaware the Brookside Dairy Ruiru is owned by the family of President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and operated by his brother Muhoho Kenyatta. This is hardly the matter, our analysis follows:
Nigeria will start to Import Milk from Kenya
The Brookside dairy announced its plans to begin exporting Milk to Nigeria and the ECOWAS sub region in its new expansion drive. He used the opportunity to call for the elimination of trade barriers across the continent. during the visit announced the company’s plans to start exporting Milk to Nigeria.
Mr. Kenyatta said; “Having been able to considerably satisfy the East African market with our products, we are keen in casting our vision and scope wider by venturing into the West African market
“It is our hope that together we can help to realise the same dream of dairy farming with our West African brothers and sisters,” he said.
A Kenyan, Susan Moraa blogged “So Nigeria wants to import milk from Kenya…. and President Buhari had to start by visiting BROOKSIDE in Ruiru!!! #lol #economic development #economic ties.”
Kenyatta’s Brookside will obviously start exporting its dairy products to Nigeria before it launches a ‘full-scale operation’ but that remains elusive without clear plans to achieve such.
Recent history shows that the company had earlier visited Nigeria with a promise to invest in the same year about three years ago without any action.
“We are happy that the firm’s (Brookside Dairy) chairman Muhoho Kenyatta visited our country to assess the possibility of investing in dairy sector, we are certain he will establish a dairy plant in Nigeria and we believe it will play a key role in boosting our dairy industry,” said Nigerian Chamber of Commerce National President Alh Muhammad Abubakar. in 2013.
They may not be serious and we know why – It makes more sense to export to Nigeria, and because Dangote is doing it.
Guess What? Dangote is setting up a Diary Plant in Kenya
In 2014 Dangote, who is Africa’s richest businessman announced plans to establish a powder milk, dry dairy plant in Kenya to boost milk supplies in Nigeria. According to his brother, Sani Dangote the purpose is to feed export markets in Nigeria.
“Nigerians consume a lot of powder milk more than any other milk product. It is because of this that we would like to start a drying plant here to tap the ready market back at home,”
The Dangote Group is currently importing more than 4,000 tonnes of powdered milk per month for the Nigerian market from Europe. It sure does not make sense to produce in Nigeria but the Nigerian government has not asked why or looked inward. This leads us to the stoke that broke the camel’s back.
Nigerian National Dairy Company (NNDC)
President Buhari obviously does not like something about Nigeria importing Milk from Kenya. He also does not see reasons why the government should not produce milk and announced that the Nigerian Government will begin its own National Dairy Processing Company. President Buhari who noted that he was in the plant to learn and transfer to Nigeria the success of Kenya in dairy farming, said he has instructed the ‘minister of agriculture to start making plans on how to build a milk processing plant in Nigeria’ and that he would present a budget for the same in the coming financial year, 2017. Why on earth should Nigerian Government consider running a business, not to talk of a Milk processing plant.
The Kenyan government has a state owned diary known as the ‘Kenya Co-operative Creameries’ with 10 processing plants but did President Buhari care to ask why he was taken to a privately owned dairy instead? A Kenyan political commentator, Muthoka Tito tweeted; “Because i don’t see any sense in it for President Buhari to come for a STATE visit and visit BROOKSIDE Dairy while we have KCC.”
The downside is that the Milk produced from this plant may be used for the A meal a day, School feeding Scheme of the President Buhari’s Federal Government. How does this help the Economy?
Analysis by The Whistle. Please feel free to share your views.
The post EXCLUSIVE: ‘Nigerian National Dairy Company’, Buhari’s visit to Kenyan Diary was a Mega Disaster appeared first on The Whistle.
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