Nigerian Government, stakeholders move to tackle food insecurity

The Federal Government has called on the Cooperative sector to key into government’s desire to make safe, affordable and nutrition food available to all Nigerians.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Ernest Umakhihe made the call at a Cooperative stakeholders workshop on Thursday in Abuja.

The workshop was organised to mark the 2023 International Cooperative Day.

Umakhihe was represented by Mrs Fisal Lawal, Director, Special Duties, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

He said the Cooperative day is aimed to position the cooperative sector of Nigeria to sustainably drive Nigeria’s social and economic development.

He said that President Bola Tinubu recently delared State of emergency on Food Security, that required enough food production within the shortest possible to force down food prices.

” I believe the cooperative sector will also take up the challenge and join Tinubu in the fulfilling of his lofty desires,” he said.

He said the theme of the engagement ” Positioning the Cooperative Sector to Sustainably Drive the Social and Economic Development of Nigeria” was very apt.

Umakhihe said this was timely as the country is racing towards meeting the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Especially eradicating hunger and extreme hunger which is only seven years away.
He said that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated that 63 per cent of Nigerians or 133 million citizens are multi-dimensionally poor.

According to NBS also, 37.7 per cent or about 63 million citiznes are unemployed, and about 25 million citizens may face acute food insecurity in 2023.

“There is a need for all players in the Nigeria project to come together and evolve strategies and programmes to confront and overcome these challenges,” he said.

Umakhihe urged the cooperators to avoid intolerance, lack of accountability, non-conformity with the cooperative Acts, and very importantly not following their own Bye laws.

“These infractions, if allowed, will lead to disaffection and crisis within the society and which will make it impossible for cooperatives to play major part in the sustainable developments of Nigeria,” he said.

Earlier, the Director, Cooperative Department, Mr Abubakar Jibrini, said that in recent years, the cooperative sector, including workers cooperatives, have significantly contributed to creating jobs and alleviating poverty.

He said the cooperative sector has equally contributed to agricultural production, financial services rendering, including insurance, mining, housing, transportation, and oil and gas.

“The Nigerian cooperative sector which came into existence in 1935 has contributed in no small way to agricultural production. Especially cocoa and oil palm in the Southern Nigeria and groundnuts and cotton in the north. These agricultural commodities drove the economies of the Western, Eastern and Northern Nigeria before the discovery of oil in commercial quantities,” he said.

Jibrini said with the dying oil resources accruing to Nigeria, the cooperative sector is once again being called upon to re-enact their brilliant performances of the 60s and early 70s.

NAN / Foluke Ibitomi