Eid-el-Kabir: Buhari says FG is committed to fighting food insecurity
William Ukpe by William Ukpe July 19, 2021Reading Time: 2 mins read
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President Muhammadu Buhari in his Eid-el-Kabir message has assured Nigerians that his administration is working on improving food security and increasing local production of about 20 other commodities.
This was disclosed by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in a statement on Monday in Abuja, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
The Presidency, reflecting on current challenges facing the country said the COVID-19 pandemic had taken a heavy toll on the economies of all countries, including Nigeria, adding that floods from the current raining season have “impacting negatively on our efforts to boost local production in line with our policy to drastically reduce food importation.”
On food security, Buhari said, “No government in our recent history has invested as heavily as we are doing to promote local production of about 20 other commodities, through the provision of loans and several other forms of support to our farmers.”
The President blamed middlemen for taking advantage of the destruction caused by floods to raise food prices, undermining the FG’s fight on food security.
“As an elected president who enjoys the goodwill of the ordinary people that gave us their mandate, let me assure you that we are continuing with measures to bring relief to Nigerians, including making fertiliser available at affordable prices to our farmers.
“Taking advantage of the celebration to exploit fellow citizens through outrageous prices of food and rams is inconsistent with fine virtues of Islam.
“As practising believers, we shouldn’t seek obscene profits by making life difficult and miserable for others. We should not seek happiness at the expense of others,” he said.
He also acknowledged that insecurity has produced severe and adverse effects on agriculture because farmers are prevented from accessing their farms by bandits and terrorists.
“We have started taking delivery of fighter aircraft and other necessary military equipment and hardware to improve the capacity of our security forces to confront terrorism and banditry,” he disclosed.
