Indications have emerged on how poor management of resources contributed, partly, to the current high level of food insecurity and hunger ravaging the country, aside from the prevailing high rate of kidnapping and banditry.
It has been revealed that when the the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and partners provided $314 million facility to Nigeria for emergency food production, which would have produced four million tons, the country failed to implement the plan on time as conceived, a development that contributed immeasurably to the present food crisis residents are experiencing.
The high level of food insecurity has gulped a large chunk of the nation’s earnings as reflected in the first quarter of 2024, Nigeria’s food import bill, which hit a five-year high, at N1.5 trillion, while the country’s food import bill topped N7.8 trillion in the past 6 years alone.
The disclosure was made by President and Chairman of the Boards of Directors, African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina in the keynote lecture titled: “Building a Global Nigeria,” delivered at the 90th Birthday celebration of former Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) in Abuja over the weekend.
Dr. Adesina stated: “The current high level of food insecurity and hunger deserves decisive actions.
“In the first quarter of 2024, Nigeria’s food import bill hit a five-year high, at N1.5 trillion. Nigeria’s food import bill topped N7.8 trillion in the past 6 years alone.
“The African Development Bank Group and partners provided $314 million to Nigeria for emergency food production. This would have produced 4 million metric tons, if the plan had been implemented on time as conceived”.
The AfDB President pointed out that securing Nigeria’s food supplies requires “accelerating local food production, providing farmers with high-yielding seeds, the accessibility and affordability of fertilizers, mechanization, and the rapid expansion of irrigation, given the challenges of climate change”.
He called on the Federal Government in conjunction with States, to return to the highly successful Growth Enhancement Scheme and the electronic-wallet scheme that was put in place when he was Minister of Agriculture, to ensure food security.
According to him, both initiatives delivered high-quality seeds and fertilizers to over 15 million farmers, which made food available at relatively low costs across Nigeria.
He added that the Growth Enhancement Scheme and the E-wallet system should be protected by legislation for purposes of implementation, transparency, and accelerated impact.
Dr. Adesina highlighted that to help unleash the potential of the food and agriculture sector, the African Development Bank and its partners are investing over $814 million in the development of Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs) in eight States of the Federation.
These, he noted would help Nigeria to process and add value to its agricultural commodities and establish critically needed platforms for becoming competitive in global agricultural value chains.
He sought decisive and sustained efforts to end insecurity, especially to save vast areas of the food belt of Nigeria in the northwest, northeast and middle belt.
The AfDB boss said the deployment of digital surveillance tools, drones, artificial intelligence, and satellite imagery needs to be increasingly used to track and provide intelligence, adding that the development and deployment of farm protection guards and safe food transport corridors are worth developing.
“A more secure Nigeria will be a food secure Nigeria,” Dr. Adesina further stated.
READ ALSO: Why we rejected IPPIS — ASUU
and then