By Uche Nworah, Ph.D
“It has always been my passion and desire to see our local communities thrive. I am an apostle of rural development. Our experience in Africa, in Nigeria in particular shows that the rural folks are usually not well taken care of. Most of the developmental efforts from governments and development partners focus more on the urban cities.
“As business leaders and wealth creators, we can intervene in certain strategic ways. Yes, many of us build big mansions in our villages, build rural roads and contribute to community development projects in our respective communities, but sometimes some of these projects do not solve the immediate economic needs of the rural populace whose major challenges our research showed are mainly jobs, and economic opportunities”.
“If you go into our rural communities, many of them are now deserted due to lack of economic opportunities. Those that are left behind are still there probably because they have no other place to go, or are waiting for that opportunity to move. The rate of rural urban migration in South-East Nigeria is alarming”.
“We looked at all these at Seaman Agro Industry Nigeria Ltd, and decided to do something about the situation. We are a ‘can-do’ organization and believe always that the right thing to do is to be part of the solution. We are also motivated by our commitment to making Anambra and Nigeria food sufficient, to create jobs for the rural folks and energize the local economy”.
“We are big players in mining, telecommunications, oil and gas and in some other critical sectors. We all know that Nigeria’s dependency on oil has been part of its greatest economic woes. We don’t need to be told that it’s time to diversify. Agriculture and technology are great wealth creation sectors to play in. Nigeria, and indeed Anambra state and the whole of the South-East are blessed with arable land. We have to put them to use “.
“Our model is unique in the sense that the rice that will be processed at our plant are grown and harvested at our rice fields. That way, we are controlling the quality and are guaranteed also of the supply of raw materials”.
“Seaman Agro Industry Nigeria Ltd is located at Nnobi, Idemili South local government area, Anambra state. Our plant has installed capacity of processing over 2400 bags of 50kg bags of rice daily. Through this our humble efforts, we are creating over 1,000 direct and indirect jobs. We are also excited about the other value-chain benefits when we begin operations by December 2023”.
“I love local production so we are working round the clock to make this project come on stream and on schedule. It is different from what some others do, they bring in finished products into Anambra state and re-bag and sell. Ours is end to end, we grow our rice, process, bag and market, thus guaranteeing that Seaman quality people have come to know us for. We have a big brand reputation to maintain”.
“I am excited that we are doing this. It will
help to boost further the image of Nnobi my hometown, and Anambra my home state. I urge our people to also key into the spirit and philosophy of ‘Akuluouno’. It is our responsibility to help develop our communities and states by bringing a certain percentage of our wealth and investments home”.
(uchenworah@yahoo.com)