Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has advised African governments to do more to uphold their policies, lamenting that policy somersaults are a major obstacle to achieving food security among African countries.
The former president said that the country and continent’s hunger crisis would not have been as bad if a culture of policy continuity in development and food production efforts had been maintained.
According to a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, Obasanjo spoke at the unveiling ceremony of the Okun Rice Mill in Asero, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Obasanjo said, “Part of the problem in Nigeria and Africa as a whole is the lack of continuity, which is very bad for any development at the family level, state level, national level and continental level.”
“What I find so ridiculous is that people are saying ‘for the first time’ as if Nigeria just started today, because there is no continuity in a lot of what we do. You hear, the problem is the lack of continuity.
“If we go back and see that there are people who have done the things we are talking about in the past, if we had continued, especially in the area of food production, our situation would have been It couldn’t have been worse.”
“I have always said that governments are not involved in production; their primary duty is to provide an environment in which agricultural production and other enterprises can thrive in order to achieve food security. I’ve said it.
“So what I want to say is that for us to achieve increased food production and achieve food self-sufficiency at the national level, at the state, continental level, the government must provide an enabling environment for that. , we must be ready to ensure the continuation of supportive agricultural policies to strengthen food production.”
Mr. Obasanjo commended the Chief Executive Officer of Heist Global Business Limited, Dr. Biodun Onaraja, for his courage and perseverance in investing against all odds in local rice production and increasing food self-sufficiency in the country. He praised him.
He added that the entrepreneur had done a very good job by prioritizing support to local rice farmers and encouraging them to obtain wet rice for milling.
Mr. Onaraja opened his welcome address by praising Mr. Obasanjo’s visionary leadership, especially in the area of promoting domestic food production, saying that his guidance and support over the years had been a great encouragement.
Regarding the Okun rice mill, the CEO hinted that the mill has the capacity to produce 100 tons of high quality rice daily in various packaging options from 1kg to 50kg.
He disclosed that the project aims to create employment opportunities and achieve sustainable food production in the country.
Onaraja said Okun rice would be available for purchase from mid-November and urged rice farmers to bring their water rice for processing.
The CEO thanked Governor Dapo Abiodun and other government officials for their support and cooperation in ensuring the success of the partnership with the state government.
In his remarks on the occasion, the Secretary of Agriculture and Food Security, Bolu Owotomo, said the Okun Rice project is another success story of public-private partnership (PPP) of the current administration in the state.
Owotomo, who was represented by the Ministry’s Director of Research, Planning and Statistics, Alhaji Suraj Ishola, said the state government will continue to create an enabling environment and support for farmers and agro-enterprise investors to thrive. said.
He said Governor Abiodun’s government’s efforts in strengthening food security were very encouraging, including the provision of agricultural inputs among other assistance to thousands of farmers in the state.
james sowol
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