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By Nura Mohammed, Abubakar Hassan, Minna
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu says the Nigerian government is committed to partnering with Niger State to ensure food sustainability in the country.
The President said this at the commissioning of Mechanised Agricultural Equipment and the Ultra-modern President Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport in Niger State, North Central Nigeria.
He commended Governor Umaru Bago of Niger State for procuring mechanised agricultural equipment, believing it would complement the efforts of the Nigerian Government in the Agricultural sector.
The President said, “Provide land for cattle rearing, while the Government will provide a comprehensive programme to solve the challenge of farmers-herders crises in the country.”
Commenting on the hardships faced by Nigerians, especially public workers, President Tinubu said, “I appeal to state governments that are yet to start paying wage awards to their workers to do so, as the Nigerian Government would continue to pay wage awards until the determination of a new Minimum Wage for the nation’s workforce.”
He also used the forum to announce plans by the Government to begin the payment of unemployment benefits for graduates, stressing that the Social Security Programme for the Elderly and the Vulnerable would soon commence to relieve people of hunger.
The Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, said he was motivated to embark on large-scale agricultural initiatives to curb hunger and provide employment opportunities through farming, leading to food sufficiency.
“Niger state has vast arable land that can cultivate various types of crops, which will go a long way in transforming the agricultural sector and make the state one of the major agricultural hubs of the Nation,” Governor Bago said.
On the issue of partnership, Governor Bago also said, “the state government has entered into a partnership with the Lagos State government to invest in the agricultural sector in Niger state with over one trillion Naira, which, if achieved, will boost economic and increase revenue generation of the state.”
Some of the Governors who made their separate remarks commended the efforts of the Niger State Governor in his quest for agricultural transformation agenda in line with the Nigerian government’s agriculture agenda, promising to follow suit.
Some of the agricultural equipment commissioned by President Tinubu includes over five hundred tractors, two hundred power tillers, as well as harvesters.
The President has also commissioned the remodeled Terminal of Minna International Airport, which is now renamed after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport.
The provision of modern agricultural machinery and other key interventions under the Mechanized Agricultural transformation will reposition the status of the Niger State farming sector and ensure much more farmer productivity.
Some of the farmers interviewed by VON expressed optimism that the policy by Governor Umar Muhammed will go a long way in changing the narrative of small and long traditional farming systems in the state to large-scale productivity.
As part of the state government’s agricultural revolution, the state is set to farm 10,000 hectares in each of the 25 local government areas, for which the state government would provide the farmers with all the equipment needed.