Bauchi Assembly To Prioritise Agriculture

The Bauchi State House of Assembly has said that it is committed to prioritising agriculture in order to ensure food security and eradicate poverty in the state.

The speaker of the assembly, Rt Hon Abubakar Suleiman, stated this yesterday when he received members of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Oxfam who paid him a visit to advance improvement in extension services for small-holder farmers and gender-responsive policies in agriculture on political agenda.

He described agriculture as a tool towards poverty eradication and emphasised the importance of extension services towards modern agriculture and mechanised farming.

The speaker commended CISLAC for choosing advocacy in agriculture which he said was a great step towards poverty reduction.

While assuring the centre of the continuation of usual robust and mutual cooperation of the state assembly and open door for the centre, he pledged that the legislative arm would liaise and appeal to the executive on the need to absorb some agricultural extension workers trained in Abuja.

Earlier, the director of the centre, Mr Auwal Ibrahim Musa who was represented by Muhammad Murtala, said as part of Together Against Poverty (TAP) project, the centre with support from Oxfam, was advocating the promotion of fairer and more resilient food systems that would improve the livelihood of small-scale producers in Bauchi and Gombe states.