RID NIGRIA OF INEQUITY AND STIR RAPID DEVELOPMENT: WE ARE SWIMMING AGAINST WALLS OF MOLASSES TO ATTAIN FOOD SECURITY : Opinion written by AFAN, President Arc. Kabir Ibrahim.

The last six years of the Buhari Administration has witnessed quite a number of interventions in Agriculture but there still exists a yawning gap in the food system!

 

 Between 2015 and this time the intervention from the CBN through the Anchor Borrower Program, AgSMES, NIRSAL, NIRSAL Microfinance Bank and several other MDAs have guzzled many billions without any very appreciable results chiefly because of improper implementation and inequity on the part of the people appointed and charged with the responsibilities of executing the various programs.

 

 Mr President has shown commitment by supporting all the programs adequately but some mistakes have been made in stakeholder involvement and buy-in as most of the programs hit the ground.  

  

 From the launch of the APP( Agriculture Promotion Policy), the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the policy should have been lock-step to ensure that the desired milestones are achieved within the set out timelines  leading to 2020 its terminal date.

 

 There are still aspects that have not been implemented and some to be harnessed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, insecurity, climate change and the publicly acclaimed non-performance of the erstwhile Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Muhammad Sabo Nanono.

 

 In the remaining time left for the Buhari Administration it is prudent to take the following proactive measures:

 

 1. Convene a roundtable of all stakeholders in the Agriculture Space before the end of the year to address the issue of the looming food crisis.

 

 2. Consolidate the APP(Agriculture Promotion Policy)  to become CAPP(Consolidated Agriculture Promotion Policy) to cover the period 2021-2024.

 

 3. Fast track the resuscitation of NFRA as directed by Mr President in his 61st Anniversary address to the nation.

 

 4. Appoint a Special Adviser on Food Security who knows what to do on the Food System.

 

 5. Declare an emergency on corruption at all levels by taking decisive and prompt action on all confirmed offenders no matter how highly placed.

 

 The Buhari Administration has only 17 months to go but this matter should be work in progress for the incoming administration which is and should be an off shoot of this  administration in fighting corruption otherwise Nigeria will become simply ungovernable.