President Muhammadu Buhari |
President
Muhammadu Buhari has assured that succour is on the way for farmers negatively
impacted by the excessive rains of this year.
In a message
to Farmers’ Day 2018 held Saturday at Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa State, and
organized by Nigeria AGIP Oil Company for farmers in Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and
Imo States, the President stated:
“Two weeks
ago, the National Food Security Council met and we approved a compensation
package for all flood impacted farmers and fishermen. I want to assure all
flood affected farmers and fishermen that you will be helped.
This
government is with you in your time of need. As I speak to you now, the
modalities for this compensation programme are being finalized and very soon, we
shall start implementation.”
President
Buhari commended the theme for the Farmers’ Day, which is, Youths, Agents of
Agricultural Development in the Niger Delta, noting that farming is the bedrock
of the Nigerian economy.
“Our future
economic prosperity hinges to a large extent on how we modernize and expand our
agriculture,” he added.
Underscoring
the place of youths in developing agriculture, President Buhari said:
“Youths
account for some 62% of our population. This group, full of energy and drive,
are the catalyst that will steer Nigeria in the direction that will make us
realize our full potential.
For many
years, our God-given resources have been abandoned, under-utilized or
mismanaged. This is very apparent in the field of agriculture. In the past
three years, we aggressively pushed the agricultural agenda with special
emphasis on youth empowerment.
Across many
value chains, we are supporting meaningful projects in partnership with private
sector players. This is the only way Nigeria can feed itself in a sustainable
manner. We are working very hard to enable the youths actively participate in
this agricultural revolution, and I take this opportunity to congratulate you
all on responding positively to this call.”
The
President urged youths to stay focused, stressing that active participation is
a patriotic duty, whose success will create millions of jobs for many
generations to come.
“We cannot
afford to remain a mono-product economy, relying only on oil as our mainstay.
We cannot continue feeding ourselves with imported food when God has blessed us
with all the bountiful resources we need to feed ourselves,” he said.
Thanking
farmers across the country for their resourcefulness, President Buhari
disclosed that the country was on course towards food self-sufficiency, adding
that the importation of rice, maize, and other grains had significantly reduced.
He also
informed that the Federal Government was working to revive the River Basin
Authorities, in order to plan for lean times.
On the
excessive flooding, President Buhari waxed philosophical:
“Floods are
a natural phenomenon that man cannot control. I want to appeal to you all not
to be dispirited, but to rise to the challenges.”
He then
reiterated the pledge that compensation would be paid soon to farmers that
suffered reverses.
Source-ROOTS
No comments:
Post a Comment