@oonihq/Instagram/@AuduOgbeh/TwitterIn what’s the most Bernard Manning-esque headline to be sent my way since the days of Bernard Manning, apparently people in Nigeria are ordering pizza from London and using British Airways to deliver pizza.
Audu Ogbeh, Nigeria’s Minister for Agriculture, 71, made the ‘woah there mate’ inducing revelation as he addressed the Senate Committee on Agriculture in Abuja.
Mr Ogbeh complained Nigerians are ‘using their cellphones to import pizza from London’, Metro reports.
He expressed concern over the nation’s importation of goods exceeding the exportation.
Anyone to immediately ask ‘Why London?’, I lived there for years and miss my regular trips to Franco Manca, Homeslice and ICCo as payday neared.
Mr Ogbeh said:
They buy in London, they bring it on British Airways in the morning to pick up at the airport.
It is a very annoying situation and we have to move a lot faster in cutting down some of these things.
The Nigerian administration is looking to curb the importation of goods, which they say is damaging the country.
Mr Ogbeh described the country as ‘a nation of importers’, highlighting spends of $18 million on toothpicks and $400 million on tomato paste each year.
He said:
Meanwhile, a basket of tomatoes is less than n2,000 [around £4.26]. The farmers are losing money because the processors do not have enough funds to set up factories.
Two factories have started off. I am sure by the end of next year we can comfortably tell the importers of tomato paste to stop.
The Agriculture Minister’s comments have been met with mixed reaction on Twitter.
One person wrote:
If we can hire foreign coaches and order FOREIGN PIZZA, why can’t we RENT FOREIGN LEADERS from China or Finland to build Nigeria?
If we can hire foreign coaches and order FOREIGN PIZZA, why can't we RENT FOREIGN LEADERS from China or Finland to build Nigeria?
— Nimrod (@GhenhisKhan) March 30, 2019
Another said:
Audu Ogbeh is one of the shameless elders who put Nigeria where she is. A man whose boss spent 6 months in London, and he saw nothing wrong with it. Instead, the French graduate agri minister falsely accuses Nigerians of ordering pizza from London via @British_Airways #RenosDarts
Audu Ogbeh is one of the shameless elders who put Nigeria where she is. A man whose boss spent 6 months in London, and he saw nothing wrong with it. Instead, the French graduate agri minister falsely accuses Nigerians of ordering pizza from London via @British_Airways #RenosDarts
— Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) March 30, 2019
One highlighted the impact of the delivery practice:
An example of how air travel is being abused in a way that is totally inconsistent with the need to curb global carbon emissions. Pizzas being shipped from London to Nigeria by plane… This is just wrong
An example of how air travel is being abused in a way that is totally inconsistent with the need to curb global carbon emissions. Pizzas being shipped from London to Nigeria by plane, https://t.co/UhLqRbLt8K This is just wrong
— Biodiversityloss (@BiodiversitySoS) March 30, 2019
With all these issues raised, has no one thought about what the pizza would taste like after sitting on a flight for six-and-a-half hours?
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Tim Horner is a sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated with a BA Journalism from University College Falmouth before most his colleagues were born. A previous editor of adult mags, he now enjoys bringing the tone down in the viral news sector.