Rivers State Governor, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara is poised to rejuvenate agriculture in the state as part of his plans to boost government revenue, generate employment and support the manufacturing sector. The government has in this respect, allocated the sum of N20 billion to the sector in the 2024 budget, giving it the fourth highest sectoral allocation in the budget after governance, infrastructure and education.
In the general sectoral allocations of the budget, Governance got N162 billion; Infrastructure N128 billion, and Education N40 billion. Public Administration had N14 billion allocation while Culture and Tourism as well as Environment and Sustainable Development were allocated N8 billion each. Finance and Planning got N8 billion as Judiciary got N6 billion. Information and Communications got N2 billion; Commerce and Investments got N1.7 billion, while Social Development got N157 million allocations.
For almost a decade, agriculture had suffered serious neglect by state government, which did not only cut down on allocations to the sector, it failed to continue with the agricultural programmes of the previous administrations, except the investment it made in the Central Bank of Nigeria, which supported cassava processing industry at Afam.
In his budget presentation, Governor Fubara made it clear that he had the desire to invest in food security and agriculture. This he did with his well publicised visit to the Songhai Farms at Bunu/Ban-Ogoi in Tai local government area. The revival of the various agriculture projects abandoned in the past and the initiation of new ones will go a long way to fighting the food crisis being experienced in the state and provide employment and empowerment for millions of people in the sector. Maybe, by the time the implementation of the budget begins, a clearer picture of Governor Fubara’s vision for Rivers State through his budget would emerge.
he presented the budget, Governor Fubara had visited the abandoned Songhai Farms at Bunu/Ban- in Tai Local Government Area, where he promised to revisit all the abandoned agricultural schemes of the state government. Songhai Farms was established 13 years ago by the administration of Chibuike Amaechi as part of its agricultural revolution scheme in the state. But the farm was abandoned by the succeeding administration of Nyesom Wike. During the last visit, Governor Fubara said his administration would revolutionise agriculture in the State using the Songhai Farms as a launch pad.
Fubara said the decision to visit the farm was conceived after the last National Economic Council meeting where diversification of the economy was identified as one way to cushion the current economic hardship in Nigeria.
“In our last National Economic Council meeting, because of the present situation of our economy, which you are aware; the issue of removal of fuel subsidy and other economic bites affecting everyone, everybody was advised to diversify. The other option is agriculture and we were all advised to see what we can do to improve on food sufficiency,” the governor said. Fubara has said that revamping the Songhai Farms would serve the purpose of diversifying the economy of the State, get the people engaged meaningfully and increase food sufficiency capacity of the State.
He said, “As I leave here now, we are going to bring in all the stakeholders to discuss the way forward. What I am seeing here will require long-term planning and going back to the site to reinstate the installed facilities that have become desolate. The state government would not just do that, we will bring in people who have the strength and commitment to partnering with us to bring back this place to life. The advantages to be derived when this place comes back to life include food sufficiency and employment generation. It will also address issues of youth restiveness,” he had said.
