Shettima establishes a coordination unit to deal with food insecurity

2 months ago 62

Shettima

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has inaugurated the presidential food systems coordination unit (PFSCU) to address food insecurity in the country.

According to a statement on Friday issued by Stanley Nkwocha, senior special assistant to the president on media and communications, this initiative is part of efforts by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to tackle hunger and hardship in Nigeria.

Shettima said the presidency engaged the states, development partners, and other critical stakeholders in the ongoing efforts to address the soaring prices of commodities and general food insecurity in the country.

“This followed a presentation by the Technical Assistant to the President on Agriculture, Office of the Vice President, Marion Moon,” Shettima said.

Addressing members of the group comprising governors, ministers and representatives of development partners, the vice-president said the nation is facing a rare food security crisis and “the sooner we come to terms with the reality, the better”.

“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,” he said.

Shettima said the unit is not created to usurp the functions of the ministry of agriculture, adding that the urgency and seriousness of the matter at hand require the ideas and resources of all stakeholders.

Also, he said the green imperative programme, a government-catalysed, private sector-driven, agricultural industrialisation programme, is one of the key projects that the PFSCU must activate and implement.

The vice-president said with improved farming practices, improved seeds, and the use of fertilisers, Nigeria’s agricultural productivity could be turned around for the better.