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Governor Mohammed Umar Bago of Niger State has declared that Nigeria indispensable transcend the rhetoric of nutrient information and clasp existent nutrient sovereignty, with the strategical autonomy to produce, control, and export its ain nutrient systems.
The politician who spoke astatine a seminar held astatine the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), successful Lagos, to people the 2025 World Food Day, Gov. Bago argued that contempt advancement made truthful far, the federation inactive lagged successful converting cultivation imaginable into nationalist strength.
While delivering his keynote code connected “Food Security To Food Sovereignty: How Far Has Nigeria Gone? to an assemblage of diplomats, policymakers, academics, and stakeholders, helium warned that the representation of agriculture arsenic a poverty-ridden concern indispensable beryllium discarded.
Governor Bago, fondly identifying himself arsenic “Farmer Governor”, insisted that the adjacent epoch indispensable animate youths to spot farming arsenic viable, respectable and profitable.
“When a husbandman wears torn hats and tattered clothes, it discourages generations, but you tin beryllium a husbandman and go president. You tin beryllium a husbandman and go anything,” helium declared.
He advocated nutrient sovereignty, describing it arsenic dignity based connected the quality to nutrient much than the country’s colonisation consumes and what we request for the future.
“Food sovereignty is nary longer a luxury; it is the lone pathway to a self-reliant and globally competitory Nigeria”
He emphasised that Nigeria indispensable decolonise its nutrient systems and restructure its planetary positioning, not arsenic a passive importer, but arsenic a nutrient powerhouse susceptible of asserting its volition successful planetary markets.
Reflecting connected Nigeria’s immense cultivation capacity, Governor Bago decried the nation’s continued reliance connected nutrient imports, peculiarly rice, wheat, and eggs, saying, “It is simply a shame that we import eggs into Nigeria.”
He advocated for a exemplary that sees citizens not arsenic dependents, but arsenic producers, with each household perchance owning a furniture of chickens, which serves arsenic an inclusive cultivation empowerment.
The Governor announced groundbreaking concern deals, including a $100 cardinal livestock concern with Saudi Arabia and a $2.5 cardinal agro-industrial concern with Brazil’s JBS.
However, helium commended President Bola Tinubu’s medication for empowering subnational governments to root planetary backing independently and credited Niger State’s caller cultivation renaissance.
Bago lamented Nigeria’s staggering post-harvest losses, up to 50 per cent for immoderate commodities, arsenic a captious obstruction to growth, describing them arsenic inefficiency and a monumental discarded of resources.
He canvassed for urgent concern successful logistics, storage, and processing infrastructure portion buttressing the value of the Niger-Lagos partnership, arsenic a model, with Lagos State backing nutrient accumulation successful Niger to the tune of ₦500 billion, opening with an archetypal ₦5 cardinal disbursement.
Governor Bago, portion speaking connected determination cooperation, revealed a landmark cross-border fabric accumulation woody betwixt Niger State and the Benin Republic, aimed astatine supplying Africa’s largest textile mills.
Commenting, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, Chairman of the NIIA Governing Council, lauded the Niger State Governor for his innovative agriculture thrust portion informing that nutrient sovereignty starts astatine the table.
English (US) ·