This newly commissioned Imota Rice Mill will list and trade on the Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange according to the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, Lamido Yuguda.
“This is a very significant event, the size of this mill is very large, and we are expecting that by the time it is completed and starts production fully, over 250,000 jobs which is a massive addition will be created”.
“The rice is going to be sourced from local producers and that means a lot of foreign exchange that was previously being expended on importing rice from other countries will be saved’.
The SEC boss expects this to be replicated in some of the other areas, adding this will make a strong mark in the commodities system as the commission currently makes a lot of efforts with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria to create standards for Nigerian commodities so that the country can compete in the export market. He noted that Nigeria is an exporting country for food and what is seen nowadays has shown that Nigeria can really feed its citizens and still export to other countries”.
Consequently,the Commission has urged the need for more investments, especially by the private sector in the commodities trading ecosystem. Awwww q
Yuguda stated that the capital market expects to see more private sector investments like this in areas that need to support the commodities ecosystem like storage facilities and also increased investment in mechanised farming in commodities like rice, hibiscus flowers, and others that are in high demand in other parts of the world.
He said the Imota Rice Mill is a game-changing investment in Lagos state and hope more will emerge in other areas of the food chain that we are currently producing.
“This is the place that produces them as we have the climate for these commodities, if we get the necessary investments, we will be able to make our mark around the world”.
“This is a demonstration that Nigeria has what it takes in the agricultural sector to drive investment.
It would be recalled that SEC as part of its implementation of the 10-year Capital Market Master Plan, constituted a Technical Committee on the commodities Trading Ecosystem whose mandate was to identify challenges of the existing framework and develop a Roadmap for a vibrant ecosystem.
A committee comprising various stakeholders including the SON was set up to drive the implementation of the report. One of the recommendations in the report identified the development of a grading and standardisation systems in line with international best practices.
