What this minister has said about Nigerians will make you shed tears
– Chief Audu Ogbeh has made a rather sad remark regarding the plight of Nigerians
– The minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources said Nigerians are dying of hunger
– Ogbeh said the APC-led administration is working hard to fix the situation
Chief Audu Ogbeh, the minister of agriculture and natural resources on Wednesday, July 20, admitted that there is “serious shortage of foods” in diverse parts of the country.
President Muhammadu and his minister at FEC meeting which held today, July 20. There Audu Ogbeh spoke on the plights of Nigerians raved by hunger.
The minister disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of a meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Ogbeh was joined at the briefing by the minister of women affairs, Aisha Alhassan and the special adviser to the president on media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina.
The minister said it was heartwarming that despite the food shortage, the situation in the country was still not close to that of Venezuela that can no longer feed its people.
He said the present administration was working hard to address the food shortage.
READ ALSO: Legislature in disarray, Buhari meets Dogara behind closed doors
He gave an assurance that in the next one-and-half years, Nigeria would be self-sufficient in grains like rice, beans and others.
To this end, he said the council approved the Agriculture Promotion Policy 2016-2020 tagged “The Green Alternative”.
He said the 129-page detailed document outlines the government’s policies and objectives to see agriculture as the best alternative in the administration’s quest to diversify the economy.
He said: “We are fully aware that there is a major concern in the country for food self-sufficiency in the country and that there is crisis in many families as a result of serious shortage of food.
“But we are working hard and thank God that ours has not become as bad as one South American country, which was also a major oil producing country. By that I mean Venezuela which situation is definitely a 100 times worst than ours.
“But the point is that where we believe that in a short while, maybe in another one year and half in the maximum, we should be reasonably self-sufficient in grains like rice, maize and beans.
“We may not achieve everything in wheat but we will be very close to our targets. Other things are also there in the roadmap. And that is what council endorsed this afternoon.”
In a related development, an inter-ministerial committee has been set up to work out modalities and fine tune the security of agro-investments and the investors.
The committee drawn from senior directors in the ministry of agriculture and interior was inaugurated today, July 12 by the ministers manning the ministries, Chief Audu Ogbeh and Lieutenant General Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau (rtd).
In his short speech at the ceremony, Chief Ogbeh reiterated the federal government’s efforts to diversify the economy with emphasis on agriculture.
READ ALSO: Mobilize farmers, agriculture will save us – Buhari to traditional rulers ”
“We are inviting Nigerians and foreigners alike to invest in this country’s economy, particularly the agricultural sector.
“If we are going to encourage investments in the sector, which will cut across the length and breadth of this country, we need to find a formula to protect them and their investments,” Ogbeh said.
Meanwhile, Gov Ayo Fayose has approved the donation of 100,000 hectares of land to investors, who are willing to embark on farming to improve agricultural production in Ekiti state.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Kehinde Odebunmi, stated this on Wednesday while addressing participants at the ongoing 2016 Agric. Summit, holding in Ado Ekiti.
According to The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the commissioner said the government was ready to offer incentives to individuals and corporate bodies willing to invest in farming and other farm-based commercial activities in any part of the state.
The governor had allocated another 10,000 hectares of land to members of the state chapter of Cassava Growers Association of Nigeria for ethanol production.
Odebunmi explained that the incentives were to create agribusiness and investment-friendly environment, capable of revolutionising agriculture as a big-time revenue earner in the state.
He enjoined the people of the state to embrace farming by cultivating lands in their neighbourhoods or farmsteads to plant stable food crops.
The commissioner said such efforts were capable of becoming something tangible in the long run, as the state strives to overcome its current economic problems.
“Agriculture remains the only sure way to get the country out of its economic woes,” he said.
The commissioner explained that the summit was in line with the efforts of the state government to reposition the state’s economy.
The post What this minister has said about Nigerians will make you shed tears appeared first on Nigeria News today & Breaking news | Nigerian newspapers 24/7.