President Muhammadu Buhari has advised Nigerians to consume locally made produce as his administration is not ready to re-open the borders at the moment.
This was made known by the Minister of Agriculture, Mohammed Sabo Nanono who represented the President during a tour to access the level of damage done by floods to Kebbi State.
The Minister, who responded to questions from journalists at the Sir Ahmadu Bello International Airport, Birnin Kebbi, assured that the Federal Government was ready to empower farmers to enhance local production and possibly exports.
According to President Buhari, the whole country could be fed by rice produce from States such as Niger, Taraba, Jigawa and Kebbi; hence there is no need to import food that can be produced locally. In line with this, he reiterated that the Federal Government will support the people in the dry season farming and beyond.
On his part, Nanono who stated that he was sent by the President to check out the level of damage done by the flood in Kebbi State, stressed that the Federal Government will as a result of the damages done, compensate Kebbi more than other states. In addition, he urged the victims not to be despondent. This is given the fact that his Ministry is partnering with its Humanitarian counterpart for relief materials. More important is the fact that the current administration would restore the damages done.
Meanwhile, Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture stated that President Buhari’s assumption of office in 2015 prevented Nigeria from becoming a failed state after a “long stretch of rapacious and rudderless leadership.”
In a statement yesterday in Abuja, the minister maintained that Buhari assumed leadership at a time that a swathe of the country’s territory was under occupation, a period when many Nigerian towns and cities, including the capital city of Abuja, were a playground for insurgents and a moment that the nation’s wealth had been looted dry, with little or nothing to show for the nation’s huge earnings, especially in the area of infrastructure.
He contended that the country today is not a failed state, but a nation that was courageously tackling its challenges and building a solid infrastructure that will serve as the basis for socio-economic development, a nation that is unrelenting in battling insecurity and working hard to ensure greatest prosperity for the greatest number of people.
InlandTown! 2020
