… Tailors organisation activities towards food production
A Non Governmental Organization (NGO) popularly known as Save Nigerians Future (SNF) has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to as a matter of urgency overhaul the activities of River Basins in the country by tailoring them towards massive foods production.
The NGO Specifically tasked Mr. President to direct the Minister of Water Resources, Prof. Joseph Terlumun Utsev, and his Agriculture counterpart, Abubakar Kyari to synergize to make Food production their priority in cushioning the suffering Nigerians are passing through.
In a statement signed by the Executive Director, Dr. Kawali Nasir and Secretary of SNF, Mrs. Chidima Nwachukwu made available to Newsmen in Abuja on Monday stated that “we have seen several policies of the government with good merit but lack proper implementation.
“The present administration under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has pledged that the country will experience transformation over time and that the citizenry will experience a better living standard but unfortunately the economic situation in Nigeria is not healthy at the moment as a result of continuous increase in the prices of goods and services in the country.
According to the statement “Around July, 2023 the president declare a state of emergency on food security and urged that there must be a synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources in order to guarantee that food is produced all year round.
“The policy is remarkable but action taken towards achieving such good policy is less than 20%. The River Basin Development Authorities across the country is capable of irrigating 100,000 hectares of land and more during the dry season but unfortunately the irrigation activities of river basin authorities for the year 2023/2024 is less than 10% of its potentials.
“We urged the Federal Government to intensify effort and show more interest in the implementation of its policies. Most of the river basin authorities has lost focus and the majority of the managing directors have abandoned the core mandate of organization (Irrigation Agriculture)
“And committing the Federal Government to spend more on projects not relating to food production nor irrigation. In some River Basin Authorities, we have found large earth dams with millions of cubic of water lying fallow.
It revealed that the news of malfeasance of some heads of the organization (River Basin Development Authority) is so popular in the media but the government of the day has not taking any significant step to revive the organization from the hands of the saboteurs.
“We want president to call upon the ministers of water resources and agriculture to synergize in reality and make Food production their priority.
“The positive impact of the river basin authorities to achieve the government policy cannot be overemphasized owing to the fact the river basin development authorities is controlling sizeable hectares of lands (acquired) and dams for irrigation.
The statement stressed “It is pertinent that the trend of events in the river basin development authorities be restructured and this administration should strictly focus its attention towards these organizations in order to achieve its desired goal to boost food production in Nigeria.”