15th January, 2018
Prof. Simon Irtwang, the Chairman, Technical Committee on Nigeria Yam Export Programme, says the committee needs the Federal Government’s financial support to enable it to carry out its assignment effectively.
Irtwang said this in Lagos on Monday.
According to him, the committee members have been using with their personal funds to sustain the activities o the committee.
“The committee is being run with our meagre resources and times are getting harder by the day.
“You will notice that there has not been any yam export after the launch of the programme and the trial run shipment in 2017.
“The committee has been putting strategies together to surmount the challenges encountered during the trial run yam export.
“And this entails moving from one location to another and consultations with many organisations as well,’’ he said.
Irtwang recalled that the technical committee once had a crucial meeting to attend outside its location, adding, however, that he could not attend the meeting due to the paucity of funds.
“If there is money on the ground, we would have gone for the meeting, which was important for our plans to carry out another yam export in the first quarter of this year,’’ he said.
The chairman said that the funding constraints notwithstanding, the technical committee was required to keep up with the current tempo and meet its yam export targets for 2018.
Irtwang said that the yam export initiative was being used as a test case, adding that as soon as it was perfected, it would be replicated with regard to other agriculture produce.
The committee earlier said that its target in 2018 was to export 480 tonnes of yam to UK and the U.S. every month.