Food security most critical part of President’s Eight-Point Agenda, says minister.

Food security most critical part of President’s Eight-Point Agenda, says minister.

The Federal Government has said food security is the most critical part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Eight-Point Agenda because of its numerous benefits.

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, stated this in his office when he addressed reporters covering the Senate yesterday in Abuja.

Abdullahi urged fellow Nigerians to plant “something” to enable the country attain food security.

The minister expressed dissatisfaction that about 50 million of the 80 million hectares of arable land in the country remained uncultivated.

According to him, in the Eight-Point Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, food security is the most critical because of multifaceted benefits derivable from it.

Abdullahi noted that food security would enable Nigerians to fight the war against corruption.

The minister stressed that “some people take to corrupt ways of life as a result of hunger, just as some others take to crime as a result of poverty, which in itself can be substantially addressed by food security”.

He added: “When you secure their stomachs, the tendency for an average Nigerian to resort to corruption or outright crime and criminality would be reduced. Nigerians need to key into the policy by planting something wherever they live.

“Government is also determined to get substantial part of the uncultivated hectares of land in the country cultivated.

“As it is presently, out of 70 to 80 million hectares of arable land in the country, only 34 million hectares are cultivated, meaning that there is more than enough uncultivated arable land for government and Nigerians to explore for farming and, by extension, ensure food security in the country.”