Presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives
Congress APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu has assured Nigerian farmers of massive
investments in the entire agricultural value chain if elected president next
year.
Tinubu gave the assurance on Friday when he received farmers
at his campaign office in Abuja.
While noting that investment in the nation’s agricultural
sector has been captured in his proposed road map to food security in Nigeria,
he said the country is set to become a focal point for global food security.
Tinubu who left his campaign office for an emergency engagement after a brief meeting with the farmers’ groups, was then represented by his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, to address other group of farmers who came under the umbrella of Asiwaju Farmers Forum.
He disclosed that there were already strategic plans in the
road map of his incoming administration to fortify the nation’s agricultural
sector through the adoption of intermediate partnership and enhanced
agriculture practices that would guarantee increased yields and better job
opportunities for the youths.
He said; “The incoming Tinubu’s administration will invest
massively in the entire agriculture value chain. The whole mantra is on
increase in yield”.
Tinubu expressed concern over the poor output suffered by
Nigerian farmers, resulting in huge annual loses, a situation he said was not
favourable to the country’s economy when compared to what farmers in other
parts of the world record during harvest.
According to him, there are also plans to address marketing
constraints to promote exports of agro products from Nigeria to part Europe.
“The whole mantra is on increase in yield and we cannot
achieve that without embracing or adopting intermediate and enhanced
agriculture practice
“I want to assure you on behalf of our principal, Bola Ahmed
Tinubu, that we will align with you.
“The future belongs to you. The trajectory of global food
security is in Africa and it is Nigeria that will make or mar that trajectory.
The future of Africa, I mean that of the black race, rests on the people of
this country. By 2050, Nigeria would be the third most populous nation on
earth, with a population of over 400 million people. We have the window of
transforming the anticipated demographic trajectory into demographic dividends
or it would be a demographic disaster that will consume all of us.
“We are going to work for you by God’s grace. The future
belongs to you. Go to the interior of the slums and meet with the common man,
anger is glaring in their faces.
“We need to work as a people, as a family for the good of
our people. We have a problem of poverty and inequality in Nigeria and
Nigerians have no reason to be poor because ours is one big oil and gas nation
blessed with tremendous arable land and with tremendous solid minerals buried
under the soil”, he said.
He however appealed to Nigerians to look beyond statistics
constantly reeled out by the opposition but to vote for people with proven
records.
“This is why next year’s election will be different from all
other elections. We have to emphasize on competence, capability, much more than
any other yardstick”, he stated.
Earlier in his presentation, leader of the team, Mr. Retson
Tedheke, who also doubles as the National Coordinator, Nigerian Farmers Group
and Cooperative Society (NFGCS) said the objective of his team was to
“encourage more youth involvement in agriculture”.
He said government at all levels must be willing to commit
more resources into the sector by providing better incentives for young farmers
to make agriculture more attractive to them.
Tedheke however promised to team up with his colleagues in
the sector “to mobilize thousands of youths across rural communities in the
country for the actualization of the Tinubu-Shettima presidential project.
“We have the strength, we have the energy, we have the
capacity, age is on our side and we will do just that”, he stated.
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