TheCable

The government of Ukraine has expressed readiness to establish grain hubs in Nigeria and other African countries.

The country also donated about 25,000 tonnes of grains to Nigeria to boost bilateral ties.

Mykola Solskyi, Ukrainian minister of agrarian policy and food, spoke on Tuesday in Abuja when he led a delegation to meet Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs.

Solskyi said the grains from Ukraine would arrive in Nigeria in February under the initiative called ‘Grains from Ukraine’.

He said despite the war with Russia, the Ukrainian food industry wants closer relations with Nigeria.

“We are very thankful to you that your country is ready to develop the relations. Despite all the events going on in the world, our countries are ready to develop this cooperation,” he said.

“The Ukrainian government and Ukrainian president are ready to pay a lot of attention to this development. We want to have regular contact every year not only with our agriculture ministers but with other ministers as well.

“Development of such hubs will make it possible to bring in high-quality grains into your country and it will influence prices positively.

“Ukraine intends to develop two or three hubs in Africa and taking into consideration the capacity of your country, the grain hub in your country is priority number one.  If we implement it well,  it would be a practical step towards our business relations reaching a new level.”

Onyeama, who empathised with Ukraine over its ongoing war with Russia, also lauded it for the grain donation, pointing out that the gesture is coming even when the country is still at war.

“Notwithstanding the situation in which your country finds itself, you are able to extend a hand of friendship not just to Nigeria but to other African countries. This demonstrates superhuman courage and we really admire your generosity and we thank you for this support,” Onyeama said.

“You have built up real specialisation in many disciplines and Nigerian students are the beneficiaries. We can continue to strengthen relations between our two countries and our two peoples.

“We will do our best at the multilateral level to bring the war to a very quick end.”

Also speaking during the meeting, Mohammad Abubakar, minister of agriculture and rural development, said Nigeria was ready to provide the appropriate ports for the grain hub.

“We appreciate and commend you that despite the war you still found time to extend a gesture of friendship to Nigeria and also donated grains,” Abubakar said.

“I can assure you that the relations with Ukraine will improve.

“We have been having businesses with Ukraine, especially in the agriculture sector and I can say that over 30 per cent of our agricultural businesses are with Ukraine, particularly in the area of wheat, fertilizer, and other grains. This I can assure you will continue to improve our relations.”

He said the hubs would be useful in emergency situations and could also be used to donate grains to other countries.

‘LAGOS, ONNE PORTS UNDER CONSIDERATION’

“We are looking at the Lagos Port and also the Onne Port in Rivers,” he added.

“The grains coming from Ukraine will increase the amount of grains here and the hub will eventually become a business hub with other African countries and beyond and it will help to stabilise the price.”