Vice President Kashim Shettima has explained the reason President Bola Tinubu’s administration declared a state of emergency on agriculture.
The Vice President gave the insights while speaking at a session on “Country Perspectives: Government-led Strategies and Regional Framework” at the ongoing UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake (UNFSS+4) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The session brought together African leaders and policymakers to share experiences and strategies on strengthening national and local food systems.
Discussions focused on advancing food sovereignty through inclusive policies that promote self-sufficiency, sustainable agriculture, and equitable access to nutritious food.
He stated that any nation that was not independent in the area of food sovereignty was not a sovereign country.
Mr Shettima said, ”We met the nation in a very state of affairs. And His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, declared a state of food emergency out of genuine concern for the welfare of our people.
”This is especially in conflict-driven environments like the North-East, where Boko Haram is sowing seeds of discord and destruction.”
Mr Shettima said the federal government implemented “very bold policies” to strengthen the food system, including the setting up of the Presidential Food System Coordinating Units to coordinate activities for enhanced food delivery.
The vice president applauded the World Food Programme and other multilateral agencies for their support to Nigeria.
He stated that in displaced people’s camps, Mr Tinubu’s administration took the initiative to encourage the displaced people to produce their food.
”Our belief is that our agriculture should be market-driven, not about handouts. And the whole mantra is about increasing yield because entrepreneurial capitalism is embedded in the very psyche of the average Nigerian,“ Mr Shettima stated.
He added that the whole mantra was on increasing yield, embracing modern agricultural practices, mechanisation, improving seeds, and better agricultural practices.
”This is why we are reinforcing our extension services so that our farmers can get up-to-date data on rainfall patterns to know how to manage the climate shock that is ravaging our parts of the world,” Mr Shettima added.
Earlier, the deputy secretary-general of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, decried that over 37 million children under five who faced acute malnutrition this year were almost the entire population of Canada.
Ms Mohammed said, ”But we must ensure the courage to match with long-term solutions that can result in a resilient food system. Short-term interventions that dominate with little connection to long-term development planning are not the solutions we are seeking.
”So, we must choose transformation over dependency. We have good examples of nations embedding resilience into national strategies.
”Leaders are refusing to accept hunger as inevitable; instead, they combined global, digital, and traditional knowledge to accelerate actions towards an inclusive and resilient food system,” Ms Mohammed stated.
She said the leadership cannot succeed alone, saying, ”That must be built on a solid foundation that is rooted on adequate finance, genuine partnership and inclusion.
” We need coordination as a people and not bureaucracies. Bureaucracies are important; we need a strong public sector and public institutions but we do need to coordinate to impact people’s lives.“
Other dignitaries who spoke included the executive director, World Food Programme, Cindy McCain; Salah Jama, deputy prime minister of Somalia; and Moubarack Rounbo of the Ministry of Agricultural Production and Industrialisation, Chad, among others.
