On Monday, while inaugurating the National Food Security Council at the presidential villa, Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari said the country has gone through
“very turbulent” times in the past three years of his administration.
“Nigeria’s
journey in the last three years has been a very turbulent one,” he
said, adding: “The country’s need for critical job-creating sectors
which has been ignored for decades is now beginning to yield results.”
The council, which was constituted last week, is being chaired by
President Buhari himself with the Governor of Kebbi State, Senator Atiku
Bagudu as the vice chairman.
The Council comprises governors of Kebbi, Tara-ba, Plateau, Lagos,
Ebonyi and Delta states, representing the six geo-political zones of the
country, and the Chief of Defence Staff, among others. Addressing
members of the NFSC, the President said the country’s needs for
increased job creation were being addressed by his government.
Buhari
said the council would continuously assess and enhance the various
social investment and agricultural programmes put in place by
his administration to achieve their full potential.
“We shall also
develop new programmes and projects that will protect and indeed,
create more jobs in farming, fisheries, animal husbandry and forestry,”
he said.
“We will also not lose sight of the other issues that
will impact our food production ambitions such as population growth,
ubanisation, industrialisation, rural infrastructure development and
climate change.”
The president added that his administration
introduced numerous programmes that would transform the lives of
“millions of Nigerians”.
He said: “We introduced the national
social investment programmes targeting millions of Nigerians who are
living from hand to mouth. We launched agricultural programmes focusing
on import substitution, job creation and rural development thereby
bringing socio-economic transformation to the millions of citizens
living in some of the most remote rural parts of our country.“We
commenced the long-term pollution remediation projects in the Niger
Delta with the hope of restoring dignity and normalcy to the millions of
Nigerians impacted by decades of pollution in their communities.“We
intensified our participation in the Lake Chad Basin Commission with
the goal of reversing the shrinkage of the lake, which impacts the
livelihoods of over 45 million farmers, herdsmen and fishermen in the
LCBC countries.W“e issued the first ever green bond that will act
as a catalyst for investments in renewable energy and afforestation
projects. This was oversubscribed, sharing market confidence in the
country and our government.“We established the agro rangers unit
within the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to protect the
billions of naira of investments recorded in Nigeria’s agricultural
sector across the country.”Buhari said bearing in mind “the
journey is long”, it is the council’s duty to ensure that the positive
impacts of these programmes are “sustained, improved and expanded.”