Food shortage: Tinubu declares state of emergency, plans 500,000 hectares farmland…

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday declared a state of emergency on food security as the Federal Government stepped up efforts to tackle food inflation following the removal of fuel subsidy.

Tinubu also approved that all matters pertaining to food and water availability as well as affordability,  as essential livelihood items, be included within the purview of the National Security Council.

This is to be followed by an immediate release of fertilisers and grains to farmers and households to mitigate the effects of the subsidy removal.

Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Dele Alake, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Thursday, after consultations with key stakeholders in the agricultural sector value chain at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Alake was accompanied to the briefing by the Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, Zacheaus Adedeji; Special Adviser on Industry, Trade and Investment, John Uwajumogu; Acting Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, Wale Adeniyi; a member of the Presidential Advisory Council, Dr Dorris Anite, among others.

Clarifying the short, medium and long-term interventions, Alake said the administration intends to deploy some savings from the fuel subsidy removal into the agricultural sector, focusing on revamping the agricultural sector.

Parts of the interventions include the immediate release of fertilizers and grains to farmers and households to mitigate the effects of the subsidy removal.

At the meeting with agriculture stakeholders earlier on Thursday, the President had declared that the country could no longer afford seasonal farming.

To facilitate this through irrigation, Alake revealed that 11 of Nigeria’s 12 river basins would be put to good use to ensure the planting of crops during the dry season.

The irrigation schemes will “guarantee continuous farming production all year round to stem the seasonal glut and scarcity that we usually experience,” the president’s aide explained.

On the regulatory side, Alake disclosed that the FG would create a commodity board to monitor and control food prices.