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World Food Day: Our programme targets sufficient, nutritious farming-AUDA-NEPAD Boss
Joel Ajayi
Food insufficiency, unhealthy feeding and farming are about to be reversed at the grassroots across the six geo-political zones after the launching of our initiative to Strengthen smallholder farmers Capabilities, says Princess Gloria Akobundu, National Coordinator/ Chief Executive Officer, African Union Development Agency- New Partnership for Africa’s Development, AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria.
In a statement signed on Saturday in Abuja by Media Assistant to NC/CEO, AUDA-NEPAD/APRM Nigeria Abolade Ogundimu revealed Akobundu said in a message to mark the 2021 edition of the World Food Day, set aside by the United Nations every 16th of October to solicit global support against food insufficiency and ensure nutritious feeding.
The theme of 2021 edition of Food day is ““Our actions are our future. Better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life”.
According to Akobundu,AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria is passionate about President Muhammadu Buhari’s 9-point Agenda and food sufficiency is a fundamental point.
“President Buhari’s commitment to food sufficiency is being supported through one of our Flagship programmes, the ‘AUDA-NEPAD Initiative to Strengthen Smallholder Farmers Capabilities amid COVID-19 Pandemic’
“The programme aims at eliminating peasant farming in the country through technical and strategic infrastructural supports to grassroots farmers and other stakeholders across the agricultural value chain.
“The programme is a bottom to top approach that will ensure higher yield on crops, cost effective animal farming, leading to prosperous farming, food processing, packaging and smart marketing at the grassroots.
“The urban consumers in a nation of over 200 million people will definitely be happy to have affordable and nutritious foodstuffs in the market, while neighbouring countries too can get more farm products from Nigeria,” she said.
Akobundu added that food sufficiency could also help reduce restiveness in the country as some security experts had linked poverty to insurgency, kidnapping and other vices.
“Attaining sufficient and nutritious feeding status is a great achievement for any nation and President Buhari-led government is passionate about it.”Most grassroot farmers put in a lot of efforts to harvest their minimal yields but if right tecknology and skills are at their reach, farming will become more condusive and profitable.
“As the nation observes World Food Day, let us key into the farmers initiative that we are about to unveil and other various programmes, capable of promoting peace and prosperity in the country so that other great potentials of the nation can be harnessed,” she said.
Akobundu added that pilot scheme of the project would commence in 22 states across the six geo-political states of the nation after the launching.
In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, AUDA-NEPAD Nigeria came up with the programme in an inclusive manner by engaging the Nigerian Governors Forum, other state and Non-state Actors to ensure its sucess.
Akobundu is a Member, AU-APRM Taskforce on Governance Response to COVID-19 and other pandemicsGovernor Abdulrahman AbdulRasaq of Kwara became Chairman of the National Steering Committee of the programme while some governors, representatives of relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies, including funding partners are members of the Committee.
The initiative is expected to be on for 10 years across the 36 states and the FCT in order to transform Nigeria’s agricultural practice at the grassroots to global standard.
The Agency Boss said Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki, C.E.O, AUDA-NEPAD Continental is expected to meet the funding partners of the the programme on Wednesday, 20th October while the Initiative will be formally unveiled on Thursday, 21st October in Abuja.
Featured
Alake Inaugurates Nigeria-US Solid Minerals Committee, Dismisses $700bn Claim, Says No Assets Sold
Joel Ajayi
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, on Tuesday inaugurated the Nigeria-United States Committee on Strategic Cooperation in the Solid Minerals Sector in Abuja, dismissing reports that Nigeria sold $700 billion worth of solid minerals to the US.
The inauguration followed the strategic cooperation framework established between Nigeria and the United States during the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by the Head PRESS and Public Relations Department Mrs. Kania Maliki Andeyaba stated that, Alake in the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed with the US is a government-to-government platform to facilitate business-to-business engagements between American investors and Nigerian local operators, not a sale of assets.
Harping on the importance of the solid minerals sector to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic diversification agenda, he noted that the administration was committed to reducing dependence on a mono-product economy through the sustainable development of Nigeria’s vast mineral resources.
According to him, the Nigeria–US partnership as a strategic initiative to attract investment, promote technology transfer, strengthen local mineral processing and create employment opportunities.
“There is no sale of any Nigerian asset. There’s nothing exchanging hands,” Alake declared.
“We created a platform to facilitate mingling of US investment ventures with Nigeria’s local operators. It is in the public domain. We signed it in public and published it in four or five national newspapers.”
The Minister said reports claiming the US was coming to take over Nigeria’s minerals and security architecture were untrue at best and products of riotous imagination at worst.
Explaining the policy thrust, Alake said Africa has historically held the short end of the stick in global economic transactions, and Nigeria is determined to change that model.
“We have the resources, the critical elements the world needs to transit to clean energy. So we are creating a new paradigm — you bring your capital, expertise and technology, to match with our natural resources and create a win-win situation . The investor gains, Nigeria gains.’’he said.
Nigeria, he stressed, had operated a mono-cultural economy dependent on oil, while solid minerals were exploited informally — with ores taken “from pit to port” without value addition.
Alake said government has now made local processing mandatory, refusing to grant mineral titles to investors without a clear pathway to processing in Nigeria.
He said the policy led to the springing up of processing factories, including the largest lithium processing plant in West Africa commissioned recently in Nasarawa by the Vice President, and informed the formation of the African Minerals Strategy Group.
Alake noted that investor confidence has returned due to macro-economic reforms by President Bola Tinubu that guarantee security of tenure and repatriation of profits.
He charged the committee to discharge its assignment responsibly, saying its work is strategic to achieving the President’s $1 trillion economy target.
To this end, he told the Committee to ensure effective coordination, identify investment opportunities and translate the framework into measurable outcomes capable of positioning Nigeria as a competitive player in the global solid minerals industry.
In his welcome address, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Engr. Faruk Yusuf Yabo, said the inauguration translates growing bilateral engagements into a structured framework for practical cooperation and investment mobilization
Economic Officer at the US Embassy, Jonathan Baas, said President Donald Trump has prioritized three areas for US embassies — energy, artificial intelligence/super intelligence, and critical minerals.
Baas said Washington’s direction is to work with partners to secure critical supply chains while ensuring partners capture value.
“We just signed a contract today on looking into building AI data centres in Nigeria at the Nigerian Economic Summit. That’s the direction Washington wants us to go,” he said.
In his vote of thanks, CEO/Managing Director of Nigeria Solid Minerals Company, NSMC said that the committee
is expected to coordinate implementation, facilitate investment and monitor progress towards achieving the objectives of the Nigeria–US cooperation framework.
The inauguration reinforces the Federal Government’s commitment to repositioning the solid minerals sector as a key driver of economic diversification, industrial development and national prosperity under President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
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