The Nigerian Minister of Agriculture
Dr Akinwunmi Adeshina recently put in motion an initiative in which 10 million
Nigerian farmers would be in line to receive a mobile phone each. It is difficult to
begin assessing this situation. There are a lot of factors to it.
Concentrating on what impact this
venture would have on the Nigerian agricultural sector. On the one hand it is a
fact that Information is absolutely critical on the other hand one is forced to
ask, what information the government is looking to disperse to Farmers. How
frequently would this information be given and why can’t it be given via any
other means. Now, giving the fact that most of these farmers are in rural areas
with little or no access to electricity, already this initiative is riddled
with holes. A lot of them are illiterate and all they care about is growing
their crops and getting them to the market. This they have done for hundreds of
years. A mobile phone wouldn't in any way make this easier for them. It would
only complicate things.
Now, Nigeria with over 110
million mobile phones in circulation has the largest number of active mobile phone users in Africa.
Despite this staggering statistic, Nigeria does not have a viable program where
the activities of mobile phone operators are monitored and the interest of the
populace protected. The result of this is that mobile operators frequently
defraud customers with dropped calls and lost credit, this they do with
absolute impunity, MTN being the worst offender. This Practice does result in Trillions
of Naira in windfall for the Mobile phone operators every year. In part this makes
up for the shortfall in the number of new customers they now sign up every year.
This seeming Agricultural project
of acquiring 10 million mobile phones for farmers on the surface does seem like
an intelligent move. Well, the fact is it is an intelligent move; it is a very
strategic business move. The question is, for whom? The answers to that
question my friends are hardly the farmers or the Nigerian Populace or even the
Ministry of Agriculture. I can only see 2 beneficiaries with regards to this
scheme, and neither of them carries a hoe.
10 million farmers swear fealty
to MTN. Promising to pay them at least N10,000 every month in buying credit and
a further N2,000 in dropped call and lost credit. That gives us a total of
about N120 Billion every month in the MTN kitty, this amounts to N1.5Trillion
a year. This is of course before the domino effect takes off and the Farmers
neighbours and friends also decide to get their own mobile phones in other not
to feel left out. An estimate of this would be that at least one person would
decide to buy a mobile phone for every five farmers who receive one. This does
equate to an extra 2 million phones and an extra N24 Billion a month. In Total
we are looking at about N1.8 Trillion a year ($12Billion) in Revenue for MTN
and friends. I wonder what impact $12 Billion would have on the Nigerian
Agricultural sector if invested wisely.
 |
| Minister of Agriculture. Dr Akinwunmi Adeshina |
On Second thoughts, given the
current security situation developing in the country, tracking decedents and
terrorist would be a little bit easier, albeit quite expensive.
So, our dear Dr Akinwunmi
Adeshina has found himself a very comfortable nice niche being a middle man for
MTN and Nigerian farmers. He gives the Farmers N60 Billion worth of Mobile
Phones and in return the Nigerian Farmers give MTN and friends N1.8 Trillion a year. Not a bad investment. Of
course, none of these huge amounts flying around would find its way to Dr
Adeshinas’ backyard. Absolutely none of it.
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