A former governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has questioned the rationale behind border closure, noting that despite the action, goods from Nigeria are smuggled to other West African countries.
He also lamented the poor education in northern Nigeria, saying no state has 50% qualified teachers.
On food security, the former Niger governor urged the newly created ministry of livestock development to partner with universities of education and agriculture to educate farmers in animal production.
He said, “What is the importance of closing borders? What is the significance of that while the population of Nigeria is almost the population of other ECOWAS members? And in every market you go to in ECOWAS countries, you will discover that more than half of the products in that market are from Nigeria.
“For example, in Niger, cows are still cheaper than in Nigeria. Apart from the inflation, it has always been like that because we used to send people there on good days to get these cows either for slaughter or Sallah. Why is this so? Please, do what you have to do. Do also the education.
“The second thing I am pursuing is education. In the northern states, no state has 50% qualified teachers. Even those attending the schools now, let alone those who cannot attend school. Federal universities should be used in agriculture and education to educate people. We need education to have people who are passionate about a particular thing.”
Mira Mehta, co-founder/CEO of Tomato Jos and a guest speaker at the event, said Chinese expatriates produced 95% of the tomato paste produced in Nigeria.
She said the country imports over 30% of its food, negatively impacting production. She added that manufacturers struggle to grow food in the country due to poor infrastructure and other challenges, which cause high production costs.
“This is huge because to bring in food to fill the deficit, we have to import with dollars and considering the exchange rate, food prices will be high,“ Mehta said.
She said this has led to a situation in which Nigerians spend more on food and have little for health, education, and other needs.
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