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From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
An elder statesman and philanthropist, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has tasked the federal and state governments to tackle the impending hunger and starvation by massively investing in agriculture, infrastructure and education.
Chief Iwuanyanwu, who is the Chairman of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo elders Council gave the advice yesterday when he was honoured by the Nigeria Association of Economists, Imo State chapter.
According to Iwuanyanwu, who was represented by his Special Assistant and National Coordinator, Iwuanyanwu Foundation, Prince Chinedu Nsofor, ‘to tackle the impending problems of hunger and starvation, the federal government and governments at all levels need to invest massively in the agricultural value chain of storage and processing. agricultural equipment, facilities/infrastructure. Government, instead of giving out agricultural credit facilities to farmers, should purchase the agricultural produce from farmers. This helps eliminate wastage of unsold farm produce and empowers the farmers financially for the next farming season.’
He stressed that ‘when the agricultural products are bought over, government stores them up in massive agricultural storage facilities across the country and equally process them for export and for other finished products. This will make Nigeria an exporter of finished food (agricultural) produce and not a consumer of foreign food products. Thus, fetching citizens with a foreign exchange helps to boost our economy. This will equally help the private sector industries access to agricultural raw materials easily for various manufacturing purposes”.
The elder statesman task the association to lobby key national and state assembly members, ministries and other relevant bodies to compel both federal and state governments to prioritise and overhaul agriculture and infrastructure to save the country from imminent danger of famine and starvation.
Iwuanyanwu appreciated the economists for finding him worthy of the honour, saying he will continue to play a vital role to move society forward.
