Agriculture reliable venture for sustaining Nigeria’s economy — Gov Bago

Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, has said that agriculture is a reliable venture for sustaining the Nigerian economy.

The governor stated this in an interview shortly after the 45th Lecture of the University of Ibadan, where the Pro-Chancellor of the Abdulkadir Kure University, Minna, Prof. Mohammed Kuta Yahaya, delivered a lecture on “Decolonising Food Security for Enduring Multi-Sectoral Pathways to Poverty Mitigation in Nigeria.”

He encouraged the youths to embrace agriculture for prosperity and positive impacts on society.

Speaking on the lecture, the governor described it as a wake-up call to all Nigerians and commended Prof. Kuta Yahaya for delivering a comprehensive lecture that was timely.

In his lecture, the Professor of Agricultural Communication, Prof. Kuta Yahaya, described decolonisation as a golden key to unlocking food security, pointing out that the topic represents a transformative strategy focused on achieving sustainable poverty alleviation.

The Pro-Chancellor of AKU Minna, while explaining factors that intensified issues of poverty and insecurity across rural and urban communities in Nigeria, said the essential components of achieving food security in a decolonised context are reclaiming indigenous knowledge systems, promoting local food production, and reducing dependency on food import commodities.

He said measures to decolonise food security in Nigeria involve restructuring food systems to address historical injustices and inequalities while ensuring that all communities have access to nutritious food.

Prof. Kuta Yahaya said multi-sectoral pathways to achieve poverty mitigation and ensure food security are embedded in multi-faceted dimensions such as agro-ecological practices, land rights and access, and community-led initiatives.

Others are education capacity building, policy advocacy, diversification of food sources, social safety nets, strengthening supply chains, research and innovation, as well as collaboration across sectors.

He highlighted the remarkable efforts of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Governor of Niger State Umaru Bago, and that of Borno State, as well as some private firms in ensuring food security in the country, describing them as emerging agents of decolonisation.

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