Presidency sets up committee to tackle hunger

The Presidency has inaugurated the Presidential Food Systems Coordination Unit saddled with the responsibility of finding a lasting solution to the food security crisis and the rising cost of food items in the country.

The unit which will be chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, comprises some state governors, representatives of local governments, development partners, and other critical stakeholders.

The group is to coordinate all agricultural activities in Nigeria.

According to a statement obtained from the X account of the spokesman for Vice President, Kashim Shettima, Stanley Nkwocha, after inaugurating the Presidential Food Systems Coordination Unit (PFSCU) at the behest of President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday, Shettima said Nigeria is facing a rare food security crisis that urgently requires the ideas and resources of stakeholders.

“The nation is facing a rare food security crisis and the sooner we come to terms with the reality, the better,” Shettima’s spokesman quoted his principal as saying.

“Food insecurity endangers the very basis of our democratic experiment and this is why all hands have to be on deck. We are in a food security crisis but it also provides us the opportunity to re-engineer and reposition the nation on a firmer footing”.

Some of the state governors at the meeting applaud the initiative which they described as apt in addressing the current situation in the country.

The move comes in the wake of the soaring cost of food items in Nigeria with the inflation rate now at 33.69 per cent.

Stakeholders have blamed the development on multiple issues including insecurity with armed men holding sway in some parts of the country’s food belt.

Determined to correct the narrative, President Bola Tinubu had about a year ago declared an emergency on food security.

“There must be an urgent synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure adequate irrigation of farmlands and to guarantee that food is produced all year round,” the President Tinubu was quoted as saying.

Tinubu also pledged to “engage our security architecture to protect the farms and the farmers so that farmers can return to the farmlands without fear of attacks”.