Minister wants states to target export of agric produce

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Musa Bello, has challenged the 36 state governments of the federation to develop their agricultural potential for export so as to earn the country the needed foreign exchange.

The minister said the initiative would also go a long way in generating the needed employment for a large percentage of the populace.
Bello, while exchanging views with a delegation of government and people of Akwa Ibom State led by the Special Assistant to the Governor on Grassroots Mobilization, Mr Emmanuel Inyang, in his office, expressed the willingness of the FCT Administration to collaborate with any state that was willing to venture into agricultural production for export in the overall interest of the country.

The minister observed that states of the federation had peculiar agricultural produce that could be developed for export.
According to him, the FCT Administration was particularly interested in boosting the production of coconut as well as pumpkin for export to Europe and other continents.

He said, “A lot of the Ugu that is being sold in London and Europe to the diaspora and even in the West African sub region is actually being shipped from Ghana

“Nothing prevents us from organising ourselves properly through the women groups of your state and other states for the purpose of really growing this vegetable nicely and shipping it every morning to London.”