Follow Us on Google
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mahmud Mohammad, yesterday, denied that Nigerians were experiencing acute food shortages under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government.
Years of insecurity in the northern part of the country have crippled farming activities leading to shortages and attendant rise in the cost of most stable foods like rice, beans, millet,corn, yam, garri, beef, poultry products, among others, across the country. The development has forced most citizens to criticise the government for failing to address the security challenges and making most stable foods available and at affordable cost.
However, the minister, who addressed journalists after the Federal Executive Council Meeting (FEC) in Abuja said there was no food crisis in the country and that what Nigerians were experiencing with high cost of some foods was a global phenomenon associated with the war between Russia and Ukraine, the effect of COVId-19 and climate change.
“Yes, I have said that time and time that currently,we do not have food shortage, there is no food shortage. High prices in some commodities, inflation, yes, is currently the same, just about everywhere around the world for different reasons. Still the after effect of COVID, where supply chains have not totally open. Climate change is an issue and the current Ukraine, Russian war, there are a number of things. Different countries are tackling it based on their own peculiarity but currently is world phenomena,” he said.
The FEC meeting was presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
It approved the setting up of a team under the direction of the finance minister to examine, repurpose, privatise or transfer ownership of unfinished and abandoned government structures across the nation.
The team will look into projects from the last five years.
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, who briefed alongside Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and Agriculture and Rural Development, Mahmud Mohammed, explained that the council approved the creation of a data base of national capital projects Information System to track abandoned and uncompleted projects across the country.
He said the system, which would be headed by the Minister of Finance, will prioritise and fund selected projects on a yearly basis while also leaving open the possibility of privatizing some of the projects, repurposing some for alternative use or completely abandoning others.
He said any decision on the identified projects will be determined by the outcome of investigations.
He also said council approved a contract for the construction of a new office block and parking lot worth over N14.8 billion for the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in Lagos.
Agba, said when completed, the office complex, which is to be located on 17b Awolowo Road, Lagos, will save the service about N4 billion that it usually pays on rented property.
Council also approved for the purchase of property at Mumbai Estate, which is on Plot 21 Cadastral Zone E 23 for the Nigeria Customs Service’s residential accommodation at the sum of N14.405 billion.
