Rice millers at Abakaliki
Rice Mill Company have threatened to stop work, if the state government persists with its threat to forcefully relocate them.
The Chairman of the mill, Chief Joseph Ununu, made this known in an interview with The Tide source on Tuesday in Abakaliki.
Ununu who was reacting to the governor’s recent statement that the environmental status of the mill made the rice unhygienic, saying, “This relocation issue is distracting us; we will be forced to down tools to see whether the government will be pleased.
“We will mill and preserve enough rice that will sustain our families and gather at our office daily without doing any work.”
According to him, there has not been any reported case of ill health caused by the consumption of the rice.
”Environmental experts continually assess our surroundings and have always certified us fit for operation.
“Elechi buys our rice always; he used our rice for campaigns during his first and second tenures.
“The rice used by local government chairmen and traditional rulers to pay him homage are all from the Abakaliki Rice Mill.”
He noted that millers would readily relocate to any site, if facilities that would enable them to operate optimally were provided.
“Our machines do not operate under the sun or in the rain; so we need facilities where we will instal the machines and preserve our produce.