We should organize ourselves and stimulate one another into building a product/products in its full capacity for exportation , something which would revolutionize the world and Naija like china has done for themselves. We can tap into their knowledge and see if th red winter wheat can be genetically modified to grow in Naija instead of having to pay billions for it to our detriment... I live you for today

What The Nigerian Government does not tell you

Top flour milling executives

from Nigeria visited the United

States in April 2010 to tell the story

of how a partnership between

the U.S. government and wheat

producers has helped them

build the second largest

industry in the West African

nation. U.S. Wheat Associates

(USW), using USDA’s Market

Access Program (MAP)

funding sponsored the trade visit, which includes stops in Washington, DC,

Kansas, and Texas.

Nigeria buys more U.S. hard red winter (HRW) wheat every year than any

other country and will likely be the largest U.S. wheat buyer in the world in 2009/10 (June-May). As much as 90 percent of the wheat milled in Nigeria

is imported from the United States, including hard red spring (HRS), hard

white (HW), durum, and soft red winter (SRW) wheat. Since 2001 when

USW opened a technical service office in Lagos, average annual wheat sales

to Nigeria have doubled from about 1.5 million metric tons (55 million

bushels) to almost 3 million metric tons (110 million bushels), returning

billions of dollars back to the U.S. economy

''Our industry relies on U.S. wheat because it is a very good value and we

can source every type of wheat we need all year long,” said Mr. Debo

Agbonyin, Executive Director, Corporate Services, for BUA International

Flour Mills.

“U.S. wheat has also become a basic ingredient for greater economic

opportunity in Nigeria,” said USW President Alan Tracy. “Doing business in

Nigeria can be difficult, but their milling industry supports thousands of jobs

and is still expanding its capacity. We have supported that growth by helping

these millers introduce new products like pasta, instant noodles, and cookies

into this growing market.”

U.S. wheat producer checkoff funds MAP, Foreign Market

Development (FMD) program, and other USDA programs,

provide in-country USW representation, support trade and

technical service activities, and allow USW to bring trade teams to

the United States to help buyers, technicians, and government

officials understand how to get the most value possible from U.S. wheat.

This Nigerian trade team is unique in that the millers will spend two days in

Washington, DC, meeting with U.S. officials who have jurisdiction over

federal export market development programs. They want to inform those

officials that these programs are a valuable investment.

“Whatever we have achieved, the foundation has been laid by U.S. Wheat

Associates,” said Mr. Tunde Odunayo, Chairman of Honeywell Flour Mills,

Lagos, Nigeria. “We know that USW is funded by farmers and USDA. It is

money well-spent.”

From Washington, the Team traveled to Kansas City, MO, to meet with U.S.

exporters. Stops in Manhattan, KS, and Dallas, TX, managed by the Kansas

Wheat Commission and Texas Wheat Producers Board, put the team in

touch with wheat producers and gave them a chance to get an early look at

the 2010/11 hard red winter wheat crop.

Has anyone been to Murtala Mohammed International Airport lately.... OMG better seen than talked about.

Why does our government allow things like this happen? How irresponsible can a government be? Mr Ajumogobia would definitely find it difficult selling Nigeria. It is not enough having a lawyer and Harvard trained guy as a minister of foreign affairs without the appropriate incentives. Nigeria is a hard sell.... But we can still change it.

I heard Mr Fashola had turned Lagos into a paradise. I was at Raymond Njoku, Queens Drive and a few other streets in Ikoyi and the roads were in a deplorable state. I then went to Ijegun satellite and Usher's hit came to my lips.... OMG...

I am back after a long period of silence. I had a lot of stuff to do and take care of for a year. I hope I turn a new leaf and blog regularly.

I was thinking about what would be the best thing to do regarding security in Nigeria. I talked with a couple of people in Ireland /U.K and I was very surprised when nobody accepted anything I had to say. There were a lot of cynical comments passed as well that I began to wonder how Oyibos would change what they thought about us if we were not any better about our thinking of ourselves.

The change in Naija would have to start from somewhere. It would not be enough if we just talk and do nothing about it.

Edmund Burke the Irish statesman and somewhat English gentleman is wrongly quoted to have said "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." What is important is that this statement makes sense. What exactly are we doing