By Suleiman Abubakar
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has given marching order to a committee within the federal executive council on further crash of food prices in the country.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi who made the disclosure on Wednesday in Abuja during his presentation at the one day capacity – building workshop for journalists covering the Senate, explained that the food prices crash will be done through safe passage of agricultural foods and commodities across various routes in the country.
The marching order on further crash of food prices and safe passage of Agricultural commodities across various routes according to the Minister, are geared towards realization of President Tinubu’s vision on food sovereignty.
He said “In addressing the high price of
Transportation of farm produce in the country , I can say it on good authority to you that the President has given a matching order with a federal executive council committee already handling it , on how we are going to promote safe passage of agricultural foods and commodities across our various routes in the country.
“We are aware, and I’m sure as media, you are also aware, there are routes through which commodities are taken before they are delivered, if you know the amount of money that is being spent, you can now understand why those commodities have to be expensive at the point of delivery.
“ So we are working very hard. We are doing quite a lot. But I’ve just given you a snippet because I’m here, and I felt we should look at that”.
On the vision of food sovereignty, Senator Abdullahi noted that the vision is within the ambit of food security and food sufficiency encompassing availability of the food, accessibility of the food, affordability, and in the right nutritional content on a sustainable basis.
He explained that other programmes like the Farmer Soil Health Scheme and Cooperative reform are being mapped out for implementation.
Other speakers at the Workshop themed : “Parliamentary Reporting : Issues , Challenges and Responsibilities “, were the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs , Senator Yemi Adaramodu , Senator Ita Solomon Enang and the Director General of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies ( NILDS) , Professor Abubakar Sulaiman .
