President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has promised the reinvigoration of the livestock value chain in Nigeria to transform the challenges to economic opportunities.
The president who performed the official flag-off of the agric mechanisation revolution for food security in Minna, Niger Stare, yesterday called for the cooperation of state governors.
He said a total reorganisation, re-orientation, and re- harnessing of the livestock sector of agriculture will be embarked upon by his government.
While calling on the state governments to provide the necessary land for agricultural development, especially livestock, he assured of the federal government’s support.
He lauded the effort of Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago for taking up the gauntlet in the area of agricultural mechanisation revolution.
The president also announced that very soon the student loan and unemployment benefits for graduates will soon take off.
In his comment, Niger State governor Mohammed Umaru Bago gave assurance of the state’s readiness to key into President Tinubu’s efforts towards ensuring food security which informed its huge investment in agriculture.
He said the state would embark on the cultivation of about one million hectares of land across the 25 local government areas to produce about 50 million metric tonnes of crops annually
On the remodelled Minna airport, Bago said the state government took responsibility for the remodeling to global standard and named it after the president to serve as an alternative to Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja.
He, however, sought the federal government’s support in completing Baro Port and establishing dry ports in the towns of Bida and Babbanna in the state.
On Minna-Bida Road, the governor said the state government had procured $20 million from Islamic Development Bank to dualise the road.
The chairman of the Governors’ Forum and Kwara State Governor Abdulraman Abdurazaq said the governors were peer reviewing areas to ensure food security as the governors of Kwara, Benue, Niger Kogi and Nasarawa had signed a memorandum of understanding with Lagos State government to ensure food security and create a future of abundance.
The governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu lauded the Niger State counterpart “for taking the audacious step towards producing what we eat, and eat what we grow.”
