Agric Minister raises hope on food as Gov. Zulum takes the opposite on palliatives

 The newly assigned Minister, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security ( MAFS), Sen. Abubakar Kyari has guaranteed Nigerians food security just as Governor Babagana Zulum of Bornu state did not align to the palliative policy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. While the new Minister was very enthusiastic about ensuring food security through a pragmatic approach as instructed by President Tinubu to revive the sector and ensure food security in Nigeria.

Kyari in the first press briefing he had with journalists at the Ministry's Headquarters yesterday in company of his state Minister, Sen. Abdullahi Sabi, and Governor of Bornu state, Prof. Babagana Zulum expressed his readiness to ensure food security as being directed with sustainability against hunger in the country. 

The Minister stressed at the many obstacles confronting the sector saying that was why President Tinubu had since declared a state of food emergency to checkmate hunger just as he has promised to give an unprecedented support to the sector. 

According to him " We all know the challenges we are facing now. Hunger is one of the big problems in this country. It is not just food, but challenges in production, flooding, pest and other issues. For me and my colleague and even the state governors, the biggest hope we have is the political will of Mr. President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu which will be driven by the hope agenda as I see that commitment and hope when he declared an emergency on food security in the country on the first day he was sworn in. He made the commitment to revive Agriculture and secure the nation's food”. 

" The target of the administration is not only to secure and feed the country but also to export food which we have the potential" 

The Permanent Secretary, MAFS, Dr. Afolabi Ernest Umakhihe welcomed the two ministers saying it was an honor having two distinguished Senators of the Federal Republic as the Ministers of Agriculture as their wealth of knowledge would tremendously help the sector. He promised the staff readiness to work as a team in achieving sustainable food security, adding that " the ministry has a crop of dedicated staff ready to commit 100% to the policies direction "

Meanwhile, the Governor of Bornu state, Babagana Zulum has advised the Federal Government to do away with its proposed plan of giving out food palliatives to Nigerians saying it would have been better to hugely invest in the sector to achieve round-the-year production of food.

 Zulum expressed happiness on the renaming of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to MAFS, pointed out that "What we are doing now providing palliatives to Nigerians will never solve our problems because they are short-term solutions"

 "We have to look for long-term solutions that will address the problems of insecurity and food insecurity. Therefore the only alternative we have is to invest in commercial agriculture, modern agriculture, irrigated agriculture, green technology, and rainy harvesting. The population is growing, while our food production is dwindling, and unless something is critically done, we might not get rid of these problems" he said.