FG Maps Out Strategy To X End Food Importation, Says SGF

FG has developed plans to guarantee that Nigerians will now eat food produced in Nigeria as well as other consumables

The SGF claims that FG is making every effort to take Nigeria off the list of nations that are known as foreign food dumps.

According to Akume, in order to make this a reality, FG has started interacting with and assisting local governments nationwide in improving food security through good governance.

The Federal Government has devised plans to guarantee that Nigerians will now eat food produced in Nigeria, including agricultural products.

This was said by Senator George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), during a two-day awareness-raising workshop in Abuja on Tuesday about the role of local governments in strengthening grassroots capacity to maximize the benefits of the Federal Government's food security emergency program.

Read: Niger Governor Stops Mass Purchase Of Foods

He said that this was done to further the current administration's agenda for food security.

According to the SGF, the federal government was aware of the difficulties local governments across the country were facing in relation to agricultural resources.

Akume stated: “I made bold to say that the Office of the SGF under my leadership is poised and disposed to providing the needed leadership necessary for sustainable initiatives that will cascade down to the grassroots in the overall interest of the country.

“The food security sensitisation programme is designed to create a forum for local government

“The food security sensitisation programme is designed to create a forum for local government stakeholders to interface with the drafters and implementers of the food security emergency programme put in place by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“Nigeria has no reason to import from any other nations of the world to meet its food needs.

“We have enough fertile land and able bodied men and materials to cultivate the land and grow our crops to meet our food requirements.

“As the giant of Africa, we need to get up from our slumber and grow what we eat and eat what we grow.”

The workshop's organizing partners, SEGNIP Promotions Limited, led by Mr. Kayode Adegbayo, stated in his opening remarks that the resource persons gathered for the occasion are among the brightest minds in the field and will provide the attendees with the necessary knowledge to advance the food security agenda of their current administration.

According to Adegbayo, the local X government is the foundation of agricultural resources, and the nation would be well-positioned to achieve great agricultural success and easily put an end to food importation the moment the government made the right decisions with the local governments.

Benue State is the nation's food basket, and if the farmers' problems are resolved, the state could feed a sizable portion of the population, according to Phillips Achuwa, Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Benue State.

He emphasized that the governor of the state, Rev. Hyacinth Alia, has shown a dedication to seeing to it that the state attains food sufficiency.

Achuwa said: “We have the land, the climate and the man-power. We have a governor that is willing to make Benue a better place and we will ensure we are the first state to prove to the country that we are ready to contribute to ending food insecurity in Nigeria.”