Vice President Kashim Shettima said Tuesday that President Bola Tinubu was very passionate about reducing the cost of fertilizers for Nigerian farmers in the overall interest of achieving food security in the country.
The Vice President said this at a stakeholders’ meeting with members of Fertilizers Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
“Our goal is to serve the Nigerian people. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is very passionate about reducing the cost of fertilizers for the Nigerian public.”
He emphasized that “No strings attached, no vested interest and the President will be happy if the price of fertilizers collapses by 50 percent after this exercise,“ he said.
The Vice President said the President gives high premium to achieving the agenda of food security in the country, stressing that this necessitated the declaration of state of emergency on food security in July this year.
“We have many challenges with food security in the country, we are, however, very lucky because the President is very empathetic and very passionate about achieving food sufficiency in the country,” he said.
The Vice President said government was committed to ensuring optimum utilization of the 33,000 metric tonnes of potash donated to Nigeria by Russia’s Uralchem Group and UN Partners.
“There has to be transparency, equity and fairness in the distribution exercise for the reason that the end beneficiaries are the Nigerian farmers and their leadership is seated here,” he said.
He said the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA,) the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Associated Foreign Exchange (AFEX) have the data base and other requirements that would assist the government in reaching out to the farmers in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
In attendance at the stakeholders’ meeting were the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Ernest Umakhihe; Director General, National Emergency Management Agency, Mustapha Ahmed; President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Arc. Kabir Ibrahim; President,m of Fertilisers Producers And Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN), Sadiq Kassim; the Country Director of World Food Programme, Kucro Jawed; and the representatives of National Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and Associated Foreign Exchange (AFEX).
