By Kayode Araba.
This was disclosed by the minister Sen. Abubakar Kyari and he’s State Counter part Sen. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi during an interactive session with the Senate Committee on Agriculture production Services and Rural Development held at the committee’s hearing room in Abuja.
The Ministers revealed that the commitment was geared towards providing the desired leadership direction to steer the Agriculture and Food Security sector towards the attainment of the key priorities of the President’s 8-point Agenda and also in view of the recent declaration of state of emergency on food security in Nigeria.
He further highlighted some of the challenges which contributed to the nation’s present food crisis to include insecurity and inadequate funding noting that the ministry will continue to collaborate with the Senate in line with the priorities of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President, which includes; ensuring food security, economic growth and job creation, poverty eradication and inclusiveness (youths and women, private sector) He then noted that all the programmes and initiatives shall be completely aligned to towards attaining these four Presidential priorities and shall be guided by the Implementation of the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy
However, chairman of the committee Sen. Mustapha Salihu alongside some members of the committee among whom were Sen. Tahir Munguno Abdulaziz Yaradua among others also spoke on the issue of funding based on the Maputo declaration which mandated African countries to atleast devot 10% of there annual budget for Agriculture.
The committee chairman also stressed the importance of Agriculture to Nigeria’s Economy adding that as stakeholders they can not afford to fail and will remain committed towards ensuring that the policies and legislations passed are fully implemented inorder to revive Agriculture in Nigeria.
