Nigeria’s Problem Is Largely Food Insecurity, Says Speaker Abbas

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, has charged the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly to make legislative moves towards addressing hunger and malnutrition in Nigeria.

According to him, this becomes necessary as food insecurity is the major challenge facing the country.

Specifically addressing the House Committee on Food Security and Malnutrition as well as the National Legislative Network on Nutrition and Food Security at his office in Abuja on Tuesday, Abbas said he was impressed that a template designed by the 10th House is now being adopted by the state and local governments.

The Speaker made this known when the chairman of the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, Hon. Chike Okafor, led the National Legislative Network on Nutrition and Food Security, which is made up of members of the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly to brief him on their activities.

He said: “This is a very important cause. Nigeria’s problem is largely, in a way, food insecurity and whatever we can do as parliamentarians to ease the burden on the people when it comes to hunger and malnutrition, we will be doing a very great service to this country. I urge you to please maintain the tempo. Ensure that you continue to increase the level of your activities until we get to that Promised Land.”

Abbas said it was gratifying to hear that an initiative of the House, “which came on board for the first time in the history of the parliament,” was really making such kind of impact. “I could not believe when I heard Hon. Chike Okafor speaking on the progresses recorded within one and a half years. It is simply incredible. It is simply unprecedented,” he said.

The Speaker also stated that “committee is no longer a baby of the House of Representatives; it has become the baby of Nigeria as a whole; embraced by all the 36 Speakers (of the state Houses of Assembly) who are also making efforts to see that they can take this to all the local government areas.”

He added: “I think this is one of the few things that we created in the 10th House that will forever linger in my mind for being very useful to the country. I can attribute that success and the benefits to the chairman of the committee whose passion and commitment are driving this process.”

Earlier, Hon. Okafor stated that the conversations around food security “cannot start and end in Abuja,” adding that his committee has taken the campaign against food insecurity and malnutrition to the sub-national levels.

The chairman recalled his meeting with the Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly and chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin, which led to organisation of a retreat in Owerri, Imo State, where it was resolved that committees on food security and nutrition be set up at the state parliaments and federal laws be domesticated at the state level.

Okafor also recalled that chairmen and clerks of the newly created committees had a conference in Abuja, which birthed the National Legislative Network on Nutrition and Food Security.

The lawmaker disclosed that preparations for a national summit on food security and nutrition has reached an advanced stage, with international organisations partnering the House on the event.

He also disclosed that the network was billed to meet with the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, on Wednesday.

Chairman of the National Legislative Network on Nutrition and Food Security, Hon. Michael Tolulope Ige, Majority Leader of the Ekiti State House of Assembly representing the South-West geopolitical zone in the body, thanked the Speaker “for giving us the square peg in the square hole.”

The state lawmaker noted that the network has decided to further take the campaign down to the local government area level.