NEWS
Food Crisis: Social Crusader Advocates Deployment of Inmates to Farms for Agricultural Revival
From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
As the country grapples with food and unemployment crises, a foremost social crusader, Mr Ukwunetu Samuel Ali, has advocated for the deployment of unused potentials of prison Inmates into the agricultural sector as a remedy for the raging national social and economic woes.
Ali gave the advice in a proposal he submitted to the Federal Government of Nigeria, titled: “Optimal Strategies for Reviving the Agricultural Sector in Nigeria via the Engagement of Inmates of the Nigeria Custodian Centers,” and a copy made available to Journalists on Friday in Lokoja.
Ukwunetu Samuel Ali is the author of the popular book, titled: “A Compendium of Biographies of Senator Oluremi Bola Tinubu, Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Other Notable Women as a Panacea to Negligence of Girl-Child Education in Nigeria.”Ali noted with mixed feelings, the abundance of human and material resources in the country that have been allowed to be wasted with its attendant consequences on the society.
According to Ali, the first primary needs of man is usually food, and this can only be achieved through farming, hence, the ability for the government to convert its human resource into agriculture, makes her a better society that would be envied.
He urged the government to optimise the energies of the inmates into agriculture for the abundance of foods across the country.
“To revive the agricultural fortune of Nigeria and to varnish acute hunger, concerted effort should be made to ensure that agricultural policies are tailored toward making farming attractive to the teeming youths across the country.
“The founding fathers of the nation made conscious efforts and produced policies that made farming the mainstay of the people. That mainstreaming Agriculture has earned tremendous growth and self-sufficiency of the country,” Ali said.
He lamented that the effort of the Government of the first Republic in creating food sufficiency, was wiped out with the lacklustre activities towards agriculture by the successive administrations.
Ali disclosed that while the first Republic economy which was based on agriculture was at par with most Asian and some European countries, but the oil boom of the 70s created armies of dependents was the major cause of present economic and starvation starring the people in the face.
He further explained that the successive administrations have tried to revive agriculture and put the country on the paths of growth again, but the challenges of corruption, free money from oil and policy inconsistencies have become the albatross that has kept the people on their knees.
He pointed out that many agricultural initiatives in Nigeria have failed since her independence due to corruption or lack of political will as well as the faulty foundation on which the government was attempting to build those policies.
The social crusader stressed the need to strengthen the foundation of agricultural policies in Nigeria as well as making Agricultural Studies a mandatory course in Nigeria’s schools ranging from primary to tertiary.
“The ministry of education and agriculture must collaborate to develop a curriculum for the country’s tertiary institutions that will allow students to study agricultural studies as a borrowed course.
“This will lay the groundwork for the government at all levels to reap a significant reward in agricultural growth in Nigeria,” he said.
Ali asserted that for the country to wiggle out the potential of mass deaths and hunger, the leadership should as a policy remove bottlenecks that were hindering the youths and investors from participating actively in the agricultural value chain.
According to him, “food security has declined in both urban and rural areas as a result of the large number of nimble, educated youths who were less conscious of farming which produces foods for societal existence and raw materials for industrial revolution.
“In spite of the government’s large budget for revitalising the country’s agricultural industry, many youths have abandoned agriculture in search of white collar jobs in urban centres, making it difficult for the government to fulfil its programmes of reviving ailing critical sectors of the economy.
“For the youths to embrace agriculture as a passion and vocation for a living and contribute to national prosperity, the government has to reset its brain box to develop a thorough agricultural reforms that enunciate policies that will motivate the agile youths both educated and uneducated to embrace agriculture as not only a source of living but also as an occupation that creates wealth and prosperity for their standard of living” He emphasised.
Ali explained that for the government to succeed in his proposed agriculture scheme, three critical ministries– Agriculture, Interior and Justice, must work in synergy to put in place a mechanism that ensures inmates in correctional centres are drawn to farming.
He added that the unemployed youths should also be motivated to take interest in agriculture as means of self-reliance and self-actualisation.
He opined that the three ministries with their core mandates should collaborate and fashion out modalities on the deployment of inmates, legal relationship in the establishment of Correctional centres, quick dispensation of cases and the provision of security of lives and property of the farm centres.
While calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give accelerated consideration to his proposal, Ali assured that the buy-in of the proposal would solve the twin challenges of hunger and insecurity facing the country.
Chief Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has urged President Bola Tinubu to reduce the price of petrol to N300 per litre ,to make things easy for Nigerians during the festive season.
George, the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland, made this plea at an interactive session with newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos.
The price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, is currently above N1,000 per litre.
According to the elder statesman,Nigerians are going through hardship, the President should give an order to reduce fuel price, specifying time frame the people will enjoy such window of relief.
He said that the federal government as well as well- meaning individuals and businesses could bear the cost of such price slash , to bring happiness to all Nigerians.
The PDP leader, who noted that December and January are special months , said that such gesture could start from the middle of December and run through January.
“I have been thinking, as a Nigerian, what can we do because the anger and the hunger are almost equal on the streets of Nigeria.
“What am I suggesting is that Mr President should sit down with his managers and give an order that from the middle of December to the end of January, the cost of petrol will be N300 per litre.
“The government can absorb the losses in the interest of the suffering people.
“If they (government) want others to contribute, let us know how much that is going to cost and ask people to donate, to bear the cost.
“We will be sending a lot of messages of happiness across the tribes and homes.
“Everybody in Nigeria will be happy because it will positively impact on this period of the year. It is a challenge and he (Tinubu) can do it.
“We need this in this December and January to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians, ” George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) life member, said.
Advising the President to take further measures to bring relief to the people, he said that the gesture would crash prices of essential commodities and services for the benefit of all .
He said that government’s efforts should be concentrated on reducing high inflation rate, unemployment, poverty and youth restlessness in order to create a better future for Nigerians
Speaking on the recent presidential election in Ghana, George noted that Nigeria’s electoral system needed reforms to guard against electoral frauds and manipulations.
According to him, the nation will continue to grope for development if the system fails to encourage best candidates to emerge.
Stating that election must reflect the wishes of the people and be devoid of religious and tribal sentiments, George said that Ghana election should be a wake up call for Nigeria.
“INEC performance must improve. The commission must make sure that the voice of the people is heard in elections.
“Electoral offenders should be made to face the music and sent to jail. We must be very firm about due process, credibility and transparency in elections,” he said.
Urging the President to revisit resolutions in the 2014 Constitutional Conference, George said that the current constitution was not federal in principle and practice.
“We should not deceive ourselves, the constitution is a problem. It is a military constitution, it is not democratic,” he said.
George called on the National Assembly to ensure devolution of powers and electoral reforms that would do away with manual collation of election results and mandate electronic transmission of election results from polling units.
George disagreed with political watchers saying no vacancy in presidency in 2027.
On the dwindling strength of the former ruling party, George, who noted that all organisations had its ups and downs, said that selfish interests and disregard for party rules remained PDP’s major challenge.
He said that PDP could bounce back and win presidential election if the leadership decided to elevate national interest above selfish interests and adhere to the party’s constitution.
“We will tell ourselves some serious old truth. We messed ourselves up. ” he said.
Stating, however, that the PDP was not dead, George said that lack of justice, equity, fairness and the inability to adhere to the party’s zoning and rotational principle cost the party victory in 2023.
Calling on the party’s founding fathers alive to wake up and rescue the party, George said that Nigerians were still waiting for the former ruling party to take over power and put things right. (NAN)
President Bola Tinubu, is set to perform the groundbreaking of 2,000 housing units of the Renewed Hope City in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, in the next few weeks.
Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, announced this during an official assessment visit, on Wednesday in Lagos
Dangiwa said Lagos would represent the South-west, while the president would do that of the North-West in Kano, before doing that of the four other regions.
“Arrangements is already on ground, we have gotten sites, and work has commenced for 2000 houses in the Renewed Hope City that we intend to build in Ibeju-Lekki,” he said.
Towards achieving the set goal, the minister said the visiting team also paid a courtesy visit to Gov.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu to discuss area of collaboration between the federal and state governments.He disclosed that the federal and Lagos state governments had agreed to set up a Tripartite committee and ensure all the issues of concerns between the parties were resolved amicably for the benefit of all.
Earlier, the Minister embarked on an assessment visit of deplorable Federal Government buildings and assets across Lagos state in a bid to commence rehabilitation on them in a few months.
Dangiwa said the rehabilitation was necessary as the deplorable buildings posed a challenge and security concerns to the Lagos state government. (NAN)
Gov. Hyacinth Alia on Wednesday presented the sum of N550.1bn as the 2025 appropriation bill to the Benue State House of Assembly for consideration and passage into law.
Alia told the lawmakers that out of the total budget size, N175.4 billion is for recurrent expenditure while the N374.
7 billion is for capital expenditure.The governor said that the total estimate represented a 47.
5 per cent increment over the 2024 revised and approved figure of N373 billion.He stated that the appropriation bill tagged “Budget of Human Capital Development, Food Security, and Digital Economy” was to consolidate the gains made in 2024.
Alia further explained that the proposed recurrent expenditure of N175.
4 billion was 13.55 per cent higher than the previous year.According to him, budgeted capital expenditure of N374.7 billion represents a 71.5 per cent increment on the 2024 revised capital expenditure.
“The budget breakdown indicated that the sum of N212.2 billion, representing 38.52 per cent is for administration; N196.6 billion, representing 35.68 per cent is for the economy; law and justice will take N26.6 billion, representing 4.84 per cent while social welfare will gulp N115.5 billion, representing 20.96 per cent.
“We have the vision. We have the will. And most importantly, we have the people ready to work alongside us to turn this vision into reality.
“Together, we will build a state where every citizen has the opportunity to succeed, where food is plentiful, and where the digital economy opens new frontiers of opportunity for all,” he said.
The governor said the intention of the government was to stay within the limits of its recurring revenue to build the state without accruing unnecessary debts for generations unborn.
He, however, said that since the 2025 budget was a deficit one, it proposed a borrowing plan of a conservative sum of N26bn, representing a modest 4.7 per cent of the proposed aggregate expenditure for 2025.
“This is lower than the state’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 8.2 per cent which is within the benchmark of the 25 per cent debt sustainability threshold.
“Despite these favourable debt ratios, I want to reiterate that borrowing will only be considered as a last resort and for regenerative investment purposes,” he added.
Alia stated that the problem of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) remained a challenge, adding that they have reasonably improved their living conditions.
He said the Bureau of International Cooperation and Development has elicited substantial grants from donors, totalling N85bn. (NAN)
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