Use pepper NOT sniper to preserve food substances—Minister Ogbe

Audu Ogbe at the Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit Tuesday in Abuja

Use pepper NOT sniper to preserve food substances—Minister Ogbe 

Against the backdrop of recent report emanating from Nigeria of some food vendors who used sniper, a harmful chemical substance, to keep weevils out of their stored beans and thereby preserve the food, Nigeria’s Agriculture Minister, Audu Ogbe, has encouraged the use of pepper to preserve food instead of sniper.

Speaking at the Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit on Tuesday at the Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja, Ogbe said the use of sniper and potash to preserve food are harmful.

“Recently it was in the news that some people used sniper to preserve beans. That is wrong. Use pepper instead. A little amount of pepper in a sack of beans can keep weevils away. Some people use carbide to wash Mangoes too. Of course, the carbide will make the mangoes to look attractive but they are very harmful because they are preserved with harmful chemicals.  That is why we have set up a special unit in the Ministry to check the use of harmful chemicals in preserving food substances”, he said.

Ogbe also urged the investors who might want to invest in Nigeria to study their environment carefully before investing in order to be successful.

“When you invest, watch. Select your workers carefully. Some people will like to pinch you because they feel that you are abroad and you have a lot of dollars that cannot be exhausted. It is not good for you to come here and lose what you have spent years to save. Some of you do four jobs trying to save some money and send home. So, you have to watch and train your employees because your level of success depends on their output”, he added.

Ogbe who also regretted the volume of medical tourism of Nigerians said the government may have to consider the ‘India Option’ to discourage Medical Tourism.

“We may have to do what India did. In India, they gave lands and cheap loans to their doctors and encouraged them to come back and build hospitals in the country. Now, people are flying from different parts of the world including the United States to India for medical treatment. Before long, Nigeria will do what India did. I can’t tell you when, but we spend a lot of money traveling abroad for medical treatment”, Ogbe said.