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FG pledges to invest in dry season farming to curb food crisis
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, has said the Federal Government is investing in dry season farming to address nutrition and food crisis in the country.
Kyari said this during the inauguration of a workshop for stakeholders in policies for food and nutrition security, on Thursday in Abuja.
The workshop is being organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in collaboration with Joint Research Centre (JRC), an agency of the European Commission.
Represented by Nuhu Kilishi, the Director, Nutrition and Food Safety, Kyari called for stakeholders’ partnership to address food insecurity in the country.
He said that within the available budget, the ministry was investing more in dry season farming by providing access to irrigation facilities, improved seeds and agro chemicals for farmers.
He said that the 11 Global Food Security Index published last year showed a Nigerian ranked 107 out of the 113 countries globally.
According to him, this suggests that about 12.9 per cent of the globally poor people are found in Nigeria as at 2022 to date.
The minister said the high level of poverty made it difficult for people to access nutritious and healthy food, and for them to perform both economically and socially.
Kyri, who blamed the situation on insecurity, climate change, herder/farmer crisis, said that measures were being put in place to address it.
“No fewer than 35 million Nigerians under 85 million are severely malnourished, 12 million stunted, three million wasted, 23.5 million anemic, then 7.7 million almost going hungry on daily basis.
“This is not good for us, and therefore we have to tighten up our belt to make sure that we are able to get out of this.
“It is making us to have a lot of issues, and it is important for us to, therefore, gather together and put our heads together to solve this,” he said.
The Director-General of the NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman said that government spending in the food and nutrition sector had increased over the years, adding that the ‘nutrition capture’ in the budgets remained a concern.
He said that with less than seven years to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set date, it was clear that Nigeria needed to do more to address its food and nutrition challenges.
Sulaiman said that there was need to close the funding gap required to enable the country to return to a steady trajectory for food and nutrition security.
“This workshop, therefore, offers an opportunity for the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and NILDS to share findings and experience with stakeholders on how best to tackle food and nutrition insecurity in Nigeria.
“I believe this will also include ways on how to curtail the external shocks that worsen Nigeria’s food and nutrition security, such as the Russia-Ukraine crisis and other concerns from the global economy,” he said.
In her remarks, Ms Lara Cockx, a scientific officer in JRC, said that the mission of the commission was to support evidence based policy-making, not only in Europe, but also in African.
She said the centre was keen to have a fruitful collaboration with NILDS, saying that the nutrition workshop was the second project implemented by the centre and NILDS.
“It is to look at these very important issues for Nigeria, and we will look forward to a very fruitful workshop and hear all your inputs to address these important issues and do research that is actually useful for the policy makers and for the different stakeholders,” she said. (NAN)
By Abubakar Yunusa
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has further reduced the ex-gantry price of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, to N835 per litre.
According to sources at the refinery, the plant dropped the price of the petrol sold to oil marketers to N835 per litre, six days after the refinery reduced it to N865 per litre.
“The refinery reduced the price of the petrol to N835 per litre,” a source told TheCable.
The reduction in Dangote petrol price followed an announcement by the federal government on April 9, that the naira-for-crude oil deal will continue after the first phase ended on March 31.
“The stakeholders reaffirmed the government’s continued commitment to the full implementation of this strategic initiative, as directed by the Federal Executive Council (FEC),” the finance ministry said.
“Thus, the Crude and Refined Product Sales in Naira initiative is not a temporary or time-bound intervention, but a key policy directive designed to support sustainable local refining, bolster energy security, and reduce reliance on foreign exchange in the domestic petroleum market.”
On April 15, Farouk Ahmed, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), said the estimated pump price of petrol in Nigeria is less than that of neighbouring countries in West Africa.
Ahmed also said Nigeria’s petrol importation reduced by 29.9 million litres in eight months due to increased contributions from local refineries.
Three suspected herdsmen have been arrested following the attacks that led to the killing of 11 persons at Otobi community in Otupko local government by suspected herdsmen.
Governor Hyacinth Alia disclosed this on Wednesday while briefing journalists at the Government House in Makurdi, the state capital.
He expressed worry over the situation and called on security agencies to track down the perpetrators.
According to Alia, National Security Advisor, Nuhu Ribadu, has promised to deploy more security assets to the State to arrest the renewed wave of attacks in the state, especially the Otukpo axis.
The governor also announced the deployment of security personnel to the affected area, with three suspected herdsmen arrested in connection with the Otobi killings.
According to the member representing Otukpo-Akpa Constituency in the Benue State House of Assembly, Kennedy Angbo, nine corpses were recovered Tuesday night, followed by one in a hard-to-reach area later that evening.
By dawn Wednesday, other corpses were found, bringing the total number of fatalities to 11.
The attack has sent shockwaves through the state, particularly because the Otobi community—home to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources Multipurpose Dam—has now come under assault twice this April.
A security guard was previously killed at the dam site just days before this latest massacre.
Earlier, the governor sent his deputy, Samuel Ode, on an assessment tour to the devastated community.
He offered condolences to the grieving families and reassured residents of the state government’s commitment to tackling the spate of violent attacks across rural areas.
Ode also made some cash donations to carter for some immediate relief while the state emergency management agency has been tasked to move in for needs assessment and provide emergency response to those in need.
The attack on Otobi is the latest in a disturbing string of assaults along the Otukpo-Ado Road, from Okpamaju to Asa One and Asa Two down to the Ebonyi State border.
At least 15 million Nigerians are at risk of flood disasters in 2025, Vice President Kashim Shettima has disclosed.
He made the disclosure at the commencement of a one-day Validation Workshop on the Anticipatory Action Framework for Nigeria held at the National Counter Terrorism Centre in the Office of the National Security Adviser Abuja on Wednesday.
The Vice President, however, said the Federal Government is taking a proactive approach as against a reactive approach to forestall the disaster.
He emphasized the need for collaboration among all the agencies of government at the states and Federal Government level to tackle floods and other disasters in the country.
Some of Maiduguri communities submerged in flood following a leak in the Alau Dam in 2024.
VP Shettima decried that Nigeria loses 5 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to floods.
However, he disclosed that President Bola Tinubu has approved the sum of N15 billion to be released for emergency responses.
The Vice President, who also condemned the recent heinous attacks in Plateau state, expressed the sympathy of President Bola Tinubu to the affected families.
He, however, advocated a non-kinetic approach to tackling the security challenges on the Plateau and North-East.
According to him, “There can never be a military solution to the crisis in Plateau, North-East.”
Last week, the Federal Government predicted heavy rains and floods in 30 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The high-flood risk states are: Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara and the Federal Capital Territory.
The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utsev, said coastal and riverine flooding would be experienced in some parts of the South-South geopolitical zone of the country due to a rise in sea level.
Among these states are Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, and Rivers while Akwa-Ibom and Edo fall under the high-flood risk states.