Ukraine to establish grain hubs in Africa … donates 25,000 tons to Nigeria

By Jacob Kubeka, (ABUJA) –

Despite its current travails at the hands of Russia, the Government of Ukraine has expressed its readiness to establish grain hubs in Nigeria and other African countries.

Indeed, the embattled Ukraine has announced a donation of about 25,000 tons of grains to Nigeria as part of efforts aimed at boosting bilateral ties between the two countries.

Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Mr Mykola Solskyi, announced this on Tuesday paid a courtesy visit to Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Godfrey Onyeama in Abuja.

Solskyi, who was accompanied on the visit by other officials of the Ukrainian government, said the grain from his country would arrive in Nigeria next month, adding that donation was coming courtesy of an initiative known as ‘Grains from Ukraine.’

According to the minister, not minding the on-going war with Russia, the Ukrainian food industry wanted to have closer relations with Nigeria, adding “we are very thankful to you that your country is ready to develop the relations. “

He said: “Despite all the events going on in the world our countries are ready to develop this cooperation.

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

“Development of such hubs will make it possible to bring in high quality grain 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.”

Responding, Onyeama thanked the Government of Ukraine for its support to Nigeria and other African nations even with the heavy weight of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Onyeama said: 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.”

He noted that Nigeria had a long-standing relation with Ukraine, lamenting, however, that some of the victims of the war in Ukraine were the large numbers of Nigerian students, whose studies had been disrupted by the raging war.

“You have built up real specialization 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,” said the Foreign Affairs minister.

In his remarks, Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammad Abubakar assured his Ukrainian counterpart that appropriate ports would be provided by the Nigerian government for the promised 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,” Mohammed Abubakar said.

Mr. Solskyi and members of his delegation, also visited the Embassy of Ukraine in Abuja, where he was received by the Charge d’affaires a.i, of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mr. Bohdan Soltys.