Nigeria To Push For Debt Relief And Investment At Africa Food Summit With UN Support

The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General to Nigeria, Dr. Amina Mohammed, on Tuesday assured the federal government of continued support in surmounting current economic challenges. 

She said Nigeria will seize the opportunity of the Africa Food Summit scheduled to hold in Kigali, Rwanda, to push for financing and increased investments as well as ask for debt relief from its creditors.

The UN deputy secretary-general spoke at a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari in Abuja.

She said Nigeria will further seek different ways on green transitions on carbon credits as well as explore innovative financing on green bonds, and foreign direct investments from the private sector, adding that such inflows were key to revenue generation to help developing countries power systems and overcome challenges.

Mohammed said while much is expected from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, in terms of the food security policies, the “international community will make sure that we do our best to support you to meet those expectations”.

This came as Kyari, in earlier remarks, urged the UN ambassador to use her global influence to explore opportunities for Nigeria to create jobs, diversify the economy and reduce food imports.

The minister said the country must rise to the occasion and invest massively in agriculture leveraging the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs)1 and 2.

However, Mohammed said though the country may be facing difficulties at the moment, “I still believe it has more potential than the challenges and I look forward to seeing you succeed”.

She said even though overseas development assistance remained important for developing nations, the scale of financing required to make an impact was in trillions and not billions of dollars.

She said, “We need to support a financial architecture that is more willing to bring the investments to countries like Nigeria.

“This is a country that should not be compared with any other. We have a large population that alone is an asset but we have to invest in it whether in terms of education or the fact that we are seeing it as a market.  That alone can strengthen our foundations.”

Commenting on the security challenges which the country is currently grappling with, she said, “Well, I think the question of security is one that is being handled by the government. It’s not just a national issue, it’s a sub-regional issue as well.

“And they have to handle this in a manner in which we’re looking at those that are affected most. And in food security it is the smallholder farmers that have been displaced.

“What we are doing from the UN is to help that planning so that we can continue to support the displacement while we’re trying to solve the security issues in the country. It’s not easy, it will not happen overnight. There are many interests that have to be resolved as you see all over the continent.”

Nonetheless, she said, “But I think that the strategy that the government has in itself, if we can get behind it and support it with the resources that are needed, we should be able to manage the food security issue in time.

On the rising cost of commodities and how the UN could support it, Mohammed said, “Well, we continue to support the strategies both from an economic perspective but also a food production perspective. And I know that this crisis is not just what happens domestically, it’s also external -inability to recover in most of our countries in Africa from the COVID crisis, from the food security crisis of the war in Ukraine.

“So multiple crises have mounted and to find our pathway out of that is not something that will happen overnight. But I think the direction is right and as we go, we will find that there are many more hurdles but provided we’re speaking together in a federal system, from the local governments to the states, and of course the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, I think we will overcome.”

In his remarks, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, said the country must rise to the occasion and invest massively in agriculture leveraging the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs)1 and 2.

He said with a large population and growing demand for food security, Nigeria’s partnership with the United Nations had become critical to meet the attendant huge consumption demand in the immediate and long-term plan of action, adding that the ministry was totally committed to providing the desired policy direction to steer the agriculture and food security sector. 

The minister also said the mandate of the ministry was well aligned towards the attainment of the key priorities of President Bola Tinubu’s 8-point agenda.

He pointed out that the country has had along-standing history of cooperation with some of the UN Organisations across various sectors, including the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation(UNIDO), International Labour Organisation (ILO), World Food Programme (WFP), World Trade Organisation (WTO) and International Organisation for Refugees, among others with notable success stories.

He said these bodies have been working as key development partners with Nigeria since 1960, to achieve sustainable food systems pathways.    

He stressed that agriculture plays a pivotal role in the economy and food system governance which necessitated the joining of the UN Food Security (Call to Action) to affirm the shared desire for strong and prosperous partnerships as well as discuss critical issues facing the world’s agricultural development.

Kyari also pointed out that Mohammed’s visit was apt and timely to create a new paradigm shift that will further improve the agriculture sector with food systems, the UN transformation pathway and request to establish stronger partnership to strengthen the existing cooperation and make projects for new ties for sustainable development.

James Emejo

Follow us on: