The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has said that the apex bank was partnering some tertiary institutions on poultry production to improve the economy and create employment for youths in the country.
Emefiele, who spoke in Ilorin, Kwara State, at the inauguration of the University of Ilorin GGMAX Integrated Commercial Poultry Farm, noted that the CBN Tertiary Institutions Poultry Revival Scheme (TIPRS), which was a collaboration with several institutions, was targeted “at boosting poultry production, creating decent jobs, fostering innovation in the poultry sub sector.”
The CBN governor, who was represented by Edwin Nzelu , Deputy Director and Secretary to Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) of the bank, Edwin Nzelu, blamed the prevalence of smuggling of poultry products such as eggs and chicken meat on the country’s inability to meet up with its level of demand.
According to him, “the country’s demand for eggs and meat is currently outstripping its current supply by 1.2Million Metric Tonnes and 140,000 Metric Tonnes for meat and eggs respectively,” Nzelu said, stressing that the deficit had driven the smuggling of unhealthy frozen chicken into the country.
Over the years, this demand gap has driven the smuggling of unhealthy frozen chicken into the country,,” he added.
“To close this gap, the Central Bank of Nigeria has introduced various intervention schemes focused on boosting poultry production, creating decent jobs, and fostering innovation in the poultry sub sector.” he said.
He added that the multi-million Naira project would help to bridge the wide gap between the demand for poultry products and the supply caused largely by the ban on importation of poultry products.
The N600m funding, which was provided to UNILORIN through Zenith Bank at a single digit interest rate of 5 per cent, was expended on the construction of broiler and layers pen and cages, as well as procurement of over 50,000 birds, feed milling equipment, processing machinery and other ancillary poultry amenities.
In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Sulyman Abdulkareem, said that the poultry farm was expected to contribute to food security in Nigeria.
Abdulkareem said, “Construction started on the 30-hectare farm in the first week of February by the middle of May. The farm was in a state to receive, 17,000 Layers.
“Today, the farm has fully built broilers’ pens with a capacity for 5,000 birds each and another two of similar capacity, under construction, to raise the total installed capacity to 40,000 broilers; four fully built layers’ currently housing 17,000 layers though with an installed capacity 33,000; a feed mill with an installed capacity of 5tons/hour, a semi automated Broiler Processing Unit (BPU) with a capacity to produce 1,000 birds/day, and a Manure Processing Unit.”
Also speaking at the event, a monarch, the Olofa of Offa, Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi, who is also a poultry farmer, commended the initiative of the apex bank and the concerted efforts of the university that brought the project to reality.
However, former Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAB), Professor Oluwafemi Balogun, who is the external consultant for the project, advised the university to take out the project from its administration.