FG votes N362.9bn to tackle hardship through agriculture -Information Minister

From From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, said that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Federal Government is determined to tackle the current hardship faced by Nigeria through agriculture.

To this end, the Minister said, the Tinubu’s administration had allocated N362.94 billion to the Agricultural sector to ensure the disbursement of enough fertilizers to farmers across the 36 states, to boost agricultural yield by putting in place adequate irrigation structures that will facilitate year-round food production.

Idris Stated this in Kaduna on Thursday while speaking at the flag-off of a sensitization town hall meeting organized by his ministry for citizens of Kaduna State on the 11 Intervention areas put in place by President Tinubu in response to the economic hardship faced by the citizens.

The Minster, who was represented by the Head of the Federal Information Resource Centre, Kaduna, Malam Gwani Mohammad, said the Federal Government is committed to addressing, in concrete terms, the several recent challenges besetting Nigeria as a nation due to the removal of Fuel Subsidy by the present administration.

According to him, “Mr President is quite aware of the current hardship the good people of Nigeria are facing, especially in the area of high cost of food, which has been in geometric galloping in recent times.

“The initial challenges we could recall were cushioned by provisional wage award of N35,000 to Federal government workers for 6 months, and a cash transfer of N25,000 monthly to 15 million of the poorest and vulnerable Nigerians for 3 months. The present administration also provided Compressed Natural Gas to busses and tricycles worth N100bn to ease Transport challenges.

“The government is poised to deal with the ongoing hardship of our people that is why he has allocated 362.94 billion nairas to the Agricultural sector, disbursement of enough fertilizers to our farmers across the 36 states to boost agricultural yield, and put in place adequate irrigation structures for Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to facilitate year-round food production and has conclusive plans of taming tides between the farmers and herdsmen to a lasting solution.

“Mr. President has put in place similar policies as enlisted in the Renewed Hope 11-Point Agenda, to ensure that other sectors of the economy Nigerian are positively impacted upon, to upgrade Nigerian economic situation, change for better the lives of our citizens by the creation of business opportunities through the several Interventions initiatives, for our students, youths, traders, artisans, manufacturing industries, as listed in the Federal government Intervention programs.

“The essence of this Town Hall Meeting, therefore, is to inform the good people of Kaduna State, as in other states of the Federation, and to assure them of Federal government commitment to long-term plans that will yield the needed and lasting benefits to Nigerian, and pave way for our generations.

“Effective policy implementation requires coherence and harmonized strategies by the Federal Government and your commitment to achieve results. We therefore call on our Kaduna youths, students, farmers, artisans, market men and women associations, as well, as businessmen in Kaduna, to, utilize these Federal government special interventions, as veritable opportunities, to better your living standards, drive global investments, and help place Nigeria as number one in Africa in attaining sustainability economic growth by 2030,” he pleaded.

Speaking in the 11 Intervention areas put in place by the Federal Government, the Keynote Address Speaker, Malam Ahmed Balarabe Sa’id, pointed out that hunger and anger were diverting the attention of Nigerians, especially those of Northern extraction, from the opportunities put in place by the government.

He noted with dismay that, 43.3 percent of Nigerians in North-West live in multidimensional poverty, but majority of them have not keyed into the intervention programmes of the Federal Government like their southern counterparts, instead, they complain about palliatives share that did not get to them.

He however, stressed the need for citizens of northern extraction in particular to shun tapping for cryptocurrency and tap into the Federal Government initiatives like Consumer Credit Scheme, Students Loan, CNG Conversion initiative, Skill-Up Artisans Programme (SUPA), National Youth Talent Export Programme (NATEP), Housing Initiatives, Nano-Business Support and Micro and Small Business Loans among others.