The Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Ogun State Chapter, has urged the Federal Government to urgently address the growing rate of food insecurity in Nigeria.
Chairman of the union in the state, Mr Oladunjoye Arowosegbe, who said Nigeria was still far from being completely food sufficient stated this at the sixth Waheed Kadiri Annual Lecture of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), held in Abeokuta.
In his welcome address, Arowosegbe, said the theme of the lecture “Food Security in Nigeria: Impetus for Growth and Development” was timely, noting that food security was a multi-dimensional phenomenon with economic, environmental and social aspects, adding that any system where food demand does not match with supply risked food crisis.
The Guest Speaker and Head of Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management, Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB), Abeokuta, Prof. Idris Ayinde, said despite international organisations efforts on food security, the number of undernourished people in the world had been on increase since 2014.
He said for Nigeria to develop, food security must be sustained through an increase in production activities in the industrial mining, metallurgy sub-sector, as no country could achieve socio-economic growth without the development of its agricultural sector.
While adding that food insecurity in Nigeria was currently at an alarming rate, Prof Ayinde called for governments urgent intervention, as the state of food insecurity in Nigeria was characterised by chronic and hidden hunger, extreme poverty, corruption, conflict events and unfavourable climate change.
“The precarious state of food insecurity in Nigeria is occasioned by chronic and hidden hunger, extreme poverty, corruption, conflict events and unfavourable climate change. For Nigeria to develop, food security growth must be sustained. Increase in production activities in the industrial, mining, metallurgy sub-sector, especially, if it promotes export.
“Food insecurity negatively affects human physical, social, emotional and cognitive development throughout the life course and is a major social and environmental disruptor with serious repercussions for planetary health.”
In his remarks, the former National President of the Institute, Mr Waheed Kadiri, appreciated governments readiness to put an end to food insecurity in the State and Nigeria at large.