Ata Ikiddeh Ufot Ebong
Breakfast Between Ata Ikiddeh- a USA based Lawyer and Ufot Ebong, SSA To The Gov. On Technical Matters And Due Process. Head Of AKEES
Engr. Ufot and I have been long time friends. I had written a story on my facebook wall about the Tooth pick and Pencil Factory. Someone had said, " hungry people don't use tooth picks". It attracted some sharp criticisms zeroed in on Gov Udom.
Unbeknown to me Engr. Ufot Ebong had read the comments , he extended an invitation and posted it on my wall. We spoke over the phone, we agreed to do breakfast when next I was in the State.
When finally we met, as we made our way to his house, he showed me rolling fields of tomatoes farms.
I decided to take him on the Tomato revolution.....
Me: Some people say you are leading an agricultural revolution in Akwa Ibom State?
Ufot: I am not the one leading the agricultural revolution, Governor Udom Emmanuel is leading the revolution and the people of Akwa Ibom State are the foot soldiers. I am only a messenger.
But let me tell you something at the heart of this agricultural revolution is a people about to take their rightful place in the economic map of Africa. No longer will we be ignored. This is the Dakkada anthem you all have been hearing about. We are taking our destiny in our own hands.
Me: Is this part of Dakkada?
Ufot: The word Dakkada means, "Stand Up". "Akwa Ibom Dakkada" has been the Governor's mantra. Akwa Ibom is standing up and taking her rightful place.
Are you aware Nigeria is the highest producer of Cassava in the world? Are you also aware Akwa Ibom State is the highest producer of Cassava in Nigeria but when you look at the economic map of Nigeria Akwa Ibom is not mentioned, rather Cassava is attributed to other parts of Nigeria, you will never hear them mention Akwa Ibom State. Do you know why? Because the middlemen have always taken all the credit. They come to buy from us and they sell to the world as the primary producers. Can you imagine - and this has been going on for centuries. Travel through the streets of Uyo between 3am and 4am in the morning you'll see huge trucks coming to pack our fish and crayfish to Aba. They don't even pay taxes to the government. Then we that produce the fish we travel to Aba to buy and sell to our people at cut throat prices.
Our agricultural revolution is saying this must stop. Akwa Ibom State is going to stamp her place in history. No longer will other parts of Nigeria take credit for what we produce. We will produce and sell directly to our customers and make our own profit and prosper our own people. Look at Tomatoes for example who could have imagined we could cultivate tomatoes in an industrial scale. Today we have investors from Cameroon, we have investors coming from Lagos State , we have our brothers in Rivers State wanting us to supply them with our Tomatoes. Shoprite the international shopping chain has placed orders for our Tomatoes. That is the Dakadda spirit I am talking about.
Me: We've heard you currently have 600 hectares of donated farmland waiting to be cultivated by investors. From current projections this project is looking to make over N3 billion Naira profit from Tomato cultivation in just 70 days. This level of profit from tomato cultivation alone sounds astounding!
Ufot: This sounds astounding to you but not to me because we have carried out a thorough market research. You see I came from a very controlled work environment , the oil sector. I worked for Shell for many years at the highest management level, I was handling Shell projects in countries like Malaysia. You can't embark on a project without proper research and feasibility studies and some of these studies can take months, even years. I applied the same principle here. I carried out an indepth study, which took months.
I made some startling discoveries, the people of Akwa Ibom State consume tomatoes worth N1.3 billion a month and that is using the worst case scenario. In a year our people would have consumed N15.8 billion worth of Tomatoes brought to us from the North. Can you imagine that amount of money spent on just Tomatoes alone? So the question I asked myself was, why can't our people make that kind of money? With only one hectare of land and N1,674,000 million in one's hand, somebody reading this interview can make a gross profit of N6 million in 70 days! If from planting to harvesting he or she follows all our instructions to the letter.
Me: You mean with 1,674,000 million and one hectare of land, I can make N6 million in 70 days from Tomato cultivation? How is that possible?
Ufot: Ok let me give you the gross and the net profit. N6,000,000 million is your gross. Remember you have to calculate input costs for farming and subtract these inputs from the gross. We calculated everything from the cost of the seedlings which is N1.5 million, to the cost of chemicals, farm workers wages and hiring of tractors. By the time you subtract these farming inputs from the N6,000,000 million, your net profit comes to 2.8 million, that is your take home. Now please note your 1,674,000 million stays in your hand it doesn't go to anybody. At each stage of the tomato plant cultivation process , you will be advised when and how much to spend. Which means you can actually make more because you can decide to get involved directly and cut the cost of paying farm workers.
But note this does not include the supply of water, it is assumed the farm will have a borehole or is situated close to a stream where water can be redirected to irrigate the land. Now how many businesses will give you N2.8 million in 70 days? So let's say you start planting non stop from January to December of this year. Remember 70 days is just 60 days and one week. But let us make it 3 months. Using the worst case scenario, if you had a 3 month Tomato planting cycle divided into 4 cycles, with one hectare of land throughout the year ; your net profit, your personal take home after all the input costs have been removed will be N11.2 million. Now show me an oil executive in Nigeria earning that kind of money in one year?
So that's why I am having this interview to let the people of Akwa Ibom State know the huge potential in agriculture. I am speaking to politicians, I am telling them rather than buy cars and Keke Napeps for youths they should invest in this scheme, it is cheaper and self sustaining. If anybody has 1 hectare of land with N1,674,000 million in his hand, I am inviting such a person to see me , let us talk business.
Me: What of if somebody does not have N1,674,000 million but they have land?
Ufot: We also welcome such people. We will take your land and add it to the 600 hectares we already have, in order to hand it over to interested investors. Let me make something clear here, there are two levels of investments in this project.
(1) We have the private investor who has the land and the money, and will make N6m in 70 days, and a net profit of 60%. Please again note we do not take the N1,674,000 million from the private investor, that money stays with the person.
(2) We also have the person who has land but no money. We handover such a land to an investor who plants tomatoes on it, you the land owner you sit in your house and do nothing and you make 30% of the net profit, which by my rough calculation will come to about N1.4 million in 70 days.
Me: Do you have any such investors?
Ufot: At this stage we are looking at potential investors, some banks are interested. We also have investors from the South West who have come. Some bankers from First Bank have donated 5 hectares of land to us. People are donating land everyday, I say we have 600 hectares of land to do business and to think all this happened as a result of a mistake with the number of tomato seedlings we ordered. It's unbelievable!
Me: You mean all this began as a result of a mistake with the number of tomato seedlings you ordered?
Ufot: I'll explain that but I have to tell you the story of AKEES before I get to the current agricultural revolution. In 2015 when Deacon Udom Emmanuel became Governor, he came with one clear vision to industrialise the State. Once he became Governor he set up a scheme called Akwa Ibom Enterprise and Employment Scheme ( AKEES). He appointed me his Special Assistant on Technical Matters and due process and also appointed me to facilitate AKEES. We had 4 clear mandates, namely:
(1) Reawaken the Spirit of Enterprise,
(2) Create opportunities for wealth creation
(3) Get people off the street and back to work
(4) Provide Employment
At the heart of this call , was a cry to raise a new generation of entrepreneurs from Akwa Ibom State. We don't have entrepreneurs in Akwa Ibom State. We are probably at the bottom in the whole nation! The Yorubas, Ibos and Hausas have entrepreneurs, in Akwa Ibom State it is totally absent.
Ata Ikiddeh Posted On Vera Crimes’ Blog
Ata Ikiddeh Posted on Vera Crimes' Blog
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