Nigeria President Bola Tinubu has declared a state of emergency on food security in the country.
This was sequel to observed food inflation across the 36 states of the Federation and Abuja.
Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communication and Strategy, Mr Dele Alake, disclosed this to newsmen Thursday after a meeting of stakeholders on agriculture and food production value-chain at the State House, Abuja.
Alake at the briefing was in the company of Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, Zacch Adedeji; Special Adviser on Industry, Trade and Investment, John Uwajumogu; Acting Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Wale Adeniyi, among others.
Giving details of the Presidential Intervention on food security, food pricing and sustainability, Alake disclosed that measures in the action plan will include an immediate release of fertilizers and grains to farmers and households to mitigate the effects of the subsidy removal.
He also said the President has approved that all matters pertaining to food and water availability and affordability, as essential livelihood items, be included within the purview of the National Security Council.
According to him: “As a hands-on- leader who follows developments across the country every day, Mr. President is not unmindful of the rising cost of food and how it affects the citizens.
“While availability is not a problem, affordability has been a major issue to many Nigerians in all parts of the country. This has led a significant drop in demand thereby undermining the viability of the entire agriculture and food value chain.
“Accordingly, in line with this administration’s position on ensuring that the most vulnerable are supported, Mr. President has declared, with immediate effect the following actions: That a state of emergency on food security be announced immediately, and
“That all matters pertaining to food & water availability and affordability, as essential livelihood items, be included within the purview of the National Security Council”.
On steps to be taken to give effect to the President’s order, Alake said a number of initiatives would be deployed in the immediate, medium and long terms, adding that goals to be achieved have been marked.
According to him, some of the steps to be taken will include all-year round farming, creation of special purpose vehicles, like the commodity board, to liberalize the food production value chain, the immediate activation of land-banks across the country, as well as putting an end to the age-long and problematic nomadic animal husbandry, replaced with government managed ranching.
He said: “We will immediately release fertilizers and grains to farmers and households to mitigate the effects of the subsidy removal.
“There must be an urgent synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure adequate irrigation of farmlands and to guarantee that food is produced all-year round. As a country, Mr. President has made it clear that we cannot be comfortable with seasonal farming. We can no longer afford to have farming down times.
“We shall create and support a National Commodity Board that will review and continuously assess food prices as well as maintain a strategic food reserve that will be used as a price stabilisation mechanism for critical grains and other food items. Through this board, government will moderate spikes and dips in food prices.
“To achieve this, we have the following stakeholders on board to support the intervention effort of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu: The National Commodity Exchange (NCX), Seed Companies, National Seed Council and Research institutes, NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, Food Processing/ Agric Processing associations, private sector holders & Prime Anchors, small holder farmers, crop associations and Fertilizer producers, blenders and suppliers associations to mention a few.
“We will engage our security architecture to protect the farms and the farmers so that farmers can return to the farmlands without fear of attacks. The Central Bank will continue to play a major role of funding the agricultural value chain. Activation of land banks. There is currently 500,000 hectares of already mapped land that will be used to increase availability of arable land for farming, which will immediately impact food output.
“Mechanization and land clearing- The government will also collaborate with mechanization companies to clear more forests & make them available for farming
“River basins- there are currently 11 rivers basins that will ensure planting of crops during the dry season with irrigation schemes that will guarantee continuous farming production all year round, to stem the seasonal glut and scarcity that we usually experience.
“We will deploy concessionary capital/funding to the sector especially towards fertilizer, processing, mechanization, seeds, chemicals, equipment, feed, labour, etc.
“The concessionary funds will ensure food is always available and affordable thereby having a direct impact on Nigeria’s Human Capital Index (HCI). This administration is focused on ensuring the HCI numbers, which currently ranks as the 3rd lowest in the world, are improved for increased productivity.
“Transportation and Storage: The cost of transporting Agricultural products has been a major challenge (due to permits, toll gates, and other associated costs). When the costs of moving farm produce is significantly impacted- it will immediately be passed to the consumers, which will affect the price of food- the government will explore other means of transportation including rail and water transport, to reduce freight costs and in turn impact the food prices.
“The government will change the way we have been doing livestock business, away from the archaic method to the modern way acceptable worldwide. We will establish ranches in collaboration with state governments and the federal government will pay for the land”.
The SA went on to disclose the targeted gains of the President’s emergency declaration on food production and distribution, among which he said will include increased job creation and food abundance and security.
According to him: “Principally, one of the major positive outcomes of these interventions will be a massive boost in employment and job creation. Indeed, agriculture already accounts for about 35.21 percent of employment in Nigeria (as at 2021), the target is to double this percentage to about 70% in the long term.
“President Bola Tinubu’s mandate to create jobs for our teeming youth population will be achieved with between 5 to 10 million more jobs created within the value chain, working with the current 500,000 hectares of arable land and the several hundreds of thousands more farmlands to be developed in the medium term.
“In closing, this administration understands that food and water are the bedrock of survival and therefore is calling on all Nigerians to partner us in ensuring the success of this strategic intervention. This administration is working assiduously to ensure that Nigerians do not struggle with their essential needs.
“President Bola Tinubu wishes to use this medium to continue to assure Nigerians that this administration will not relent in its efforts until all strategic interventions are deployed efficiently and effectively and until every household is positively impacted.
“Our president is the president of all Nigerians and the father of the nation. The renewed hope mandate remains alive and no one, absolutely no one, will be left behind.”
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
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All the grammar without security still amounts to nothing. Our local farmers had been able to feed the nation before the insecurity set in. The major challenge is insecurity. Are you going deploy security personnel to guard farms 24 hrs a day? And please do not use the opportunity to distribute genetically modified seeds to poison our people ok.