Vice President Kashim Shettima has implored the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit (PFSCU) to walk the talk in the ongoing bid to ensure food security in Nigeria, saying Nigerians are only keen on results rather than rhetorics.
The Vice President observed, that while there have been many presidential initiatives, the challenge had always been implementation, even as he said the PFSCU is in a vantage position to catalyze the nation’s food security challenges into progress.
According to a statement by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, Senator Shettima gave the charge on Thursday during the second meeting of the PFSCU, constituted as part of efforts by the administration of President Bola Tinubu to tackle hunger and hardship in Nigeria.
The Vice President had in July this year inaugurated the PFSCU formed under the Presidential Economic Coordinating Council following a memo submitted to President Tinubu on the need to come up with a food systems council to address food insecurity in the country.
Speaking during the second meeting of the PFSCU with the states, development partners, and other critical stakeholders, VP Shettima urged the unit to move beyond rural farming to initiating urban agriculture the way it is done in countries like Cuba and other advanced nations.
He said, “We have to walk the talk. I will be in Calabar, and we will go to northern Cross River to flag off the wet season farming. Nigerians want to see what we are doing. And Hon. Minister, I want you to robustly engage the private sector. I want the Hon. Minister of Agriculture to drive the process.
“So, let’s walk the talk. This presidential initiative is a very beautiful one, but we have had a lot of presidential initiatives from time immemorial. It’s the implementation that counts, and we are in a unique position to catalyse our challenges into progress.”
Expressing hope that the PFSCU will provide food security in Nigeria, Shettima said the Unit boasts of some of the leading lights in the nation’s private sector whose experience, exposure and contacts must be harnessed to drive the process.
He also asked the PFSCU to go beyond crop production and embrace other areas of agriculture, including livestock and fishery.
“There is a need for diversity. Livestock and fishery are areas that I want you to look into, especially when it comes to the South-South and the South-East.”
The Vice President charged the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, to come up with solutions to issues of access to loans from credit guarantee schemes, pointing out that the entire agriculture sector deserves support, including the big players.
Earlier, state governors present at the meeting called for a fundamental shift in the country’s approach to food security, emphasising the need for better coordination between federal and state governments.
Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, highlighted critical gaps in the current agricultural framework, saying, “There is a very wrong perception in Nigeria about food security – it’s not just about food quantity but also quality.
“A nation will not be secure if the quality of food is not good. What we are facing now is not just about quantity but also about quality of food products,” Zulum stated.
The governor stressed the importance of fisheries and livestock sectors, calling them “a missing link” in current agricultural policies.
“There is a need for you to have a synergy with the state governments, we have a lot of capacity at the state level,” he emphasised.
Also, Cross River State Governor, Senator Bassey Otu, stated that the state is already taking decisive action to ensure food security.
“Our target is to feed the nation. Give us two more years, it’s going to be something else in Cross River,” he said.
For his part, Ekiti State governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, focused on implementation challenges, calling for immediate action.
“Agriculture is time-bound, and we need to get to the field to implement these plans immediately,” he insisted, while emphasising the importance of stakeholder engagement and state-level input in policy formation.
Furthermore, Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, advocated practical demonstration over theoretical discussion in tackling food insecurity.
“Agricultural doesn’t need so much talking shops. All it needs is practicality. When they (youths) start seeing us, the big men, in our farms, they will be more willing to join us,” Nwifuru stated.
Also speaking at the meeting, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy agreed with partners and stakeholders on the need for support from credit guarantee schemes, he stressed the need for a financing programme to assist farmers and other stakeholders.
“We should sit and fashion out a financing programme. We have the Bank of Agriculture and the Bank of Industry,” Edun noted.
For his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Senator Abubakar Kyari, highlighted the challenge of agricultural produce being smuggled out of the country, which negatively impacts the local supply, assuring that the government is actively working to address the issue.
In her presentation, the Technical Assistant to the President on Agriculture (Office of the Vice President), Marion Moon, pointed out that the PFSCU is working towards mitigating and stabilising symptoms of the food crisis in Nigeria.
She said, “We are doing that; we want to start addressing the underlying issue. Our long-term vision and plan are to strengthen Nigeria’s comparative advantage.”
