NCPC to Hold Joint Farmers Conference in 2018
The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), Rev Uja Tor Uja has disclosed that the Commission will be holding the maiden edition of a Joint Farmers Conference in May of 2018.
The NCPC boss made this known when he hosted the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Guy Feldman at the Commissions Corporate Headquarters in Abuja recently.
According to Him, the conference which would attract farmers from all parts of the country, would be followed by an agricultural pilgrimage of selected groups of farmers from different states to the Holy Land to explore the opportunities that abound in agriculture in Israel.
He explained, “We started working on a project, to run a joint farmers conference in Nigeria and follow it up with the farmers pilgrimage to Israel. That project became delayed because of some developments that came up but we are hoping that we should factor it in the next year 2018.
“We are hoping that we should factor it and have that conference with some Israeli agricultural technocrats in collaboration with Nigerian farmers all over the country gathering together in a three day conference and thereafter, selecting groups from each state that will go for the agricultural pilgrimage both for prayers and to also get more exposure to some of the things Israel is doing.
“I believe Nigeria can excel and dominate the world with agricultural products, we have the man-power, arable land, free water, and we have almost everything cheaply. I think the only thing we need is a partnership that can deepen our roots and make us achieve our goals”.
“We believe that with you here, my distinguished ambassador, we should achieve these goals. We want you to stand with Nigeria and NCPC to achieve the goals of building our people and exporting foods to the world and showcasing Nigeria as a true spiritual center of the world”.
While acknowledging the developments in agriculture, infrastructure and technology of Israel irrespective of the little arable land and water available to them Rev. Uja noted that,
“Israel has done so well by developing their agriculture, infrastructure and technology. We acknowledge the technology behind the infrastructure and of course the commitment to its nation. We want to learn a couple of things from Israel and work with that partnership. We want our pilgrims aside from prayers and visit to sites to have more exposure too.”
He commended the Israeli ambassador to Nigeria for the good works he has been doing since he assumed office in Nigeria hence he presented an award of excellence as the most supportive embassy in Nigeria to him on behalf of the Commission.
“We want to thank you for being such a strong ambassador and a focused diplomat for Israel. In acknowledgement of you, the ambassador and what Israel has done to improve and make pilgrimage a success, we want to honour you with this award as the most supportive embassy in Nigeria award,” he said.
Speaking, the ambassador thanked the Commission and he assured that the Israeli government would welcome any challenge and ideas on how the embassy can serve Nigeria better.
He further stated, “It’s always a great pleasure coming here and sitting with friends and brothers and I am much honored to be your brother.
“Thank you very much for these. It’s not me; it’s a lot of people at the embassy. It’s a very small dedicated embassy which is like Israel itself.
“The potential of Nigeria is huge and I wish we have a fusion of these potentials. Israel and its embassy here in Nigeria is the same, so we are welcoming any challenge; this is the Israel spirit.”
The ambassador informed that the Israeli government is going to organize Agriculture and Technology Trade Fair called “Agrictech” in May 2018 next year and will be having the Nigerian government in participation alongside other nations of the world.
“Just to give you an impression on what we are doing, in May 2018, we are going to have in Israel a very big agriculture technology trade fair called Agritech. It’s an overall and holistic approach to agriculture”. We are promoting a pavilion of Nigeria to take place in these Agrictech and we are going to focus on four things; water, energy, power and education.
“We are already in cooperation with the federal government to meet with the ministers of water, energy, power and education to create this wonderful pavilion and people from all over the world would be coming together to see what treasures they have here and challenges that we are having together and then we can reach for the sky,” he said.
