Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has raised concerns over the fact that the federal government spent N7.8 trillion over a period of six years. He found that troubling for a country that has the potential to grow enough food to feed her people. He, however, called for a paradigm shift conscious of the fact that Nigeria has abundant arable land to grow the food and the men and women in farming.
The governor raised the concern on Thursday during a capacity building for the first batch of 300 candidates selected for agricultural training at CSS Global Integrated Farms, Nasarawa State. He did a breakdown on how the money was expended on food imports.
Governor Alex Otti of Abia state says one of the ways Nigeria can solve the problem of food security is through the mechanisation of farming and establishing such businesses across the states of the federation. Governor Otti said with this measure, Nigeria would have found a panacea to food security amid rising import cost. He said, “In 2021, we spent about N1.9 trillion. In 2022 and 2023, we spent about N2 trillion, each year, importing food. So, to put it in context, our budget for 2024 is somewhere around N28 trillion; N27.5 trillion and then upgraded to about N28 trillion.
“Don’t also forget that these kinds of numbers were not seen between 2015 and 2019. The budget numbers were hovering around 7-10 trillion Naira. So, when you spend over 11% of your total budget importing food, it is a big shame, particularly when you are blessed with land.” The governor, while emphasising the importance of agriculture for food production, job opportunities and economic development, said, “The World Bank says between 11 to 12% of our total import bill is in food. If you understand these numbers, then, you’ll know that what we are doing here (capacity training) is not a joke and you’ll take it very seriously,”
The Governor, while noting that the two weeks agricultural training is aimed at enhancing local food production, urged trainees of the programme to be good ambassadors of the State as well as leverage the opportunity and equip themselves with the knowledge and skills to spearhead agricultural transformation in the State. He reassured participants of the programme of comprehensive support, saying that the Government would cover all expenses from inception to completion of the agricultural training.
Governor Otti thanked the Founder and CEO of the CSS Global Integrated Farms, Prof. John-Kennedy Opara, for his support to the present administration. He urged Prof. Opara to consider establishing a farm in Abia State and promised swift land acquisition process, backed up with Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), delivered within 30 days.
In a presentation titled; “Agricultural Development and Food Security – The Path to Human and Capital Resources Development”, Prof. Opara, said God had destined Governor Otti to lay a solid foundation in Abia upon which his successors will build. He said that Abia of today is no longer number one only in alphabetical order but in action because of the presence of a visionary leader in the person of Governor Otti. Prof. Opara called on leaders in the country to give agriculture priority attention in the midst of biting economic hardship. He expressed the confidence that Abia State can overtake the likes of Israel in food production and export and can feed the whole of West Africa.
According to Professor Okpara, by the training of the first batch of 300 Abians in various agricultural value chains, Governor Otti is empowering the youths to be creators of wealth and employers of labour, thereby ending joblessness, hunger, criminality and poverty among the youths.
In their remarks, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Professor Monica Ironkwe and Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Dr. Cliff Agbaeze thanked God for the gift of Governor Otti, who has really shown in practical terms that he is on a mission to rebuild Abia, through life transforming programmes and policies. Prof. Ironkwe noted that the 300 beneficiaries were carefully selected from wards to be trained in various Agriculture value chains, adding that with the gesture and other proactive steps taken by Governor Otti, Abia would in the near future, feed the whole Nigeria.
