Pyramid of lies: How Amosun packaged sand as Mitros Rice to unsuspecting dignitaries, residents
Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State on Thursday, December 21 launched the state’s specially produced, processed and packaged rice called ‘MITROS Rice’. This is somewhat in semblance to a collaborative effort between Lagos and Kebbi State Governments ‘LAKE Rice’ initiative.
However, despite the applause that greeted the initiative, investigations by newsclickng revealed that what was presented as MITROS Rice to the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State and other dignitaries present might be a sham.
According to an impeccable source present at the venue on the day of the launching, when it became glaring that the bags of rice in the wooden pyramid couldn’t fill up, some empty sacks were then brought in and filled with sand. These are the white and unlabeled sacks in the picture displayed for dignitaries and other well-meaning residents who had thronged the venue in their numbers to witness the birth of ‘their home made rice’
At the event, the governor revealed that the rice had different varieties and they were all planted within the state by the state government. According to him, part of the rice farm was located in Sawonjo in the Ogun West Senatorial District of the state. The governor further revealed that the state government has harvested and processed a total of 110,000 bags of rice translating to 183 trucks of rice @ 600 bags per trailer.
However, the source further confided in newsclickng revealed that no rice of such magnitude was planted in any part of the state and none of the rice mills displayed during the launch were functional. He explained that the few bags of rice displayed by the governor were the ones bought from different sellers across markets in the state.
The source noted that the governor was after the second batch of the CBN agricultural loan after the first batch of N4bn had been accessed and used in planting the MITROS rice. “The governor’s inability to show the CBN governor the rice farm or video of processing of the 110,000 bags led to the construction of the pyramid with planks and rice arranged on it” the source added.
