Senate pushes quarantine, soil science, food bills for an act

Nigerian Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki

In a spirited heart to reposition the nation’s economic productivity and diversify from oil mono economy, the Nigerian Senate Chamber has hosted stakeholders to a public hearing on three strategic different bills in Agriculture towards effective mandates’ performance that will give the sector global best practice to checkmating produce rejection, safety from diseases, soil testing before fertilizer application and right to quality and affordable food in Nigeria.

One of the greatest challenges confronting agricultural development in Nigeria is lack of effective and efficient legislative acts which stakeholders posited must be tackled with updated laws of operation that would give a global standard practice in the country. 

The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki in the public hearing ceremony said that all efforts would be put in top gear to ensure proactive regulative acts for the development of agricultural sector stated repositioning of the nation from mono oil to real economy of production through backward integration policy of the present administration Mohammed Buhari is worthy of pursuing with an effective act.  

Dr. Saraki encouraged stakeholders to make a meaning contribution that would enhance the speedy passage of the three proposed bills for an act saying “for the past few months the 8^th senate has deliberated extensively on the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service bill, food security bill and Institute of soil science statutory bill. These three bills are encompassing under agricultural sector as all the subcommittee groups have since made impacts to strengthen their functionality and efficiency in the Nigerian agriculture as transition to economic diversification is ongoing. I am also aware along these bills that there are other bills the committee has been busy working on. I know two other bills the committee is busy with like credit guarantee and access to farmers. All these are effort by the 8^th senate to truly reposition our agricultural sector as the time cannot be better than now with the present President of the Federal Republic Nigeria that is very passionate in the reposition of the nation’s economy with agriculture” 

In his argument for the support of the three bills supposedly slated  for passage into an acts, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) Chief Audu Ogbeh pointed to the distinguished senators and other stakeholders the need to rescue millions of Nigerians from food poison through standard packaging of crops and animals produce for export and local consumption stressed that many lives are exposed to various types of terminal diseases as long as there is no act in place to properly regulate and ensure standard  for market.

Chief Audu who condemned the use of cellophane nylons for food packaging said the use of jute bag was more preferable for agricultural produce of grains and beans adding many lives have been lost to improperly washed fertilizer bags that were used to package  produce to the market places unknowingly for the customers thereby supporting the passing of the Quarantine bill into an act so as to be able to checkmate these abnormities  just as he advocated for the establishment of the Institute of soil science and food security bills.