Nigeria@56: Deal firmly with herdsmen for agriculture to thrive, Ozekhome tells FG

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome has urged the Federal Government to walk its talk on agriculture and the quest for self-sufficiency in food production by dealing decisively with the menace of herdsmen.

Ozekhome spoke with Sunday Sun reporter on the phone in reaction to the issues thrown up by the national broadcast by President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday to mark the 56th Independence anniversary of the country.

In his speech the president said that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Bank had been mobilized to encourage local production of rice, maize, sorghum, millet and soyabeans, noting that 2018 had been set as the target date for achieving domestic self-sufficiency in these staples.

President Buhari also said that already farmers in 13 out of 36 states were receiving credit support through the Central Bank of Nigeria under the Anchor Borrowers Programme. He added that importation of rice alone costs the country about two billion USD, which could be saved through expedited local production.

However, Ozekhome took the government to task on this saying that the laudable effort would fall flat if the key and vital obstacle constituted by the menace of herdsmen was not squarely dealt with by the government by first recognising it as a form of agro-terrorism and major security challenge in the mole of the Boko Haram.

October 2, The Sun

 

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now