President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that his administration is working hard to ensure that all Nigerians have enough food before he leaves office in 2023.
More importantly, Nigeria’s number one citizen predicted that the country would be more united, prosperous, and secure than when he took office in 2015.
WITHIN NIGERIA understands that Buhari made the declaration on Sunday while on a working visit to Nasarawa State, represented by his Chief of Staff (CoS), Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.
The CoS paid a visit to the state to inspect the level of work at the Agriculture Machinery and Equipment Development Institute (AMEDI) in the state capital, Lafia.
The president stated that his administration was committed to developing the agriculture sector to increase agriculture production and its value chain to ensure food availability in the country.
The president stated that enormous steps had been taken to increase agricultural production, as one of his administration’s top priorities was transforming the sector from subsistence to a highly sophisticated machine-driven industry.
He stated that this would result in food sufficiency, food security in the country, and agricultural product exportation.
Buhari praised the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) leadership for their dedication and progress on the project.
President has asked me to come here to inspect and see the tremendous physical development that is taking place in NASENI, particularly one of the six Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Development Institutes.
President Buhari regards agriculture as something very close to his heart because he believes that the time has come when we must produce what to eat and to eat what we produced and to ensure food sufficiency and food security.
He is very proud to be associated with this state; he is very proud of the significant development that has taken place in this state; God willing, by the time of the end of his administration, he will leave Nigeria more united, prosperous, and secured than he found it, Gambari said on behalf of the Nigerian leader.
NASENI Impact
Prof. Mohammed Haruna, Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI, stated earlier that the institute was one of six approved by the president in 2021, one per political zone, to ensure food security and apply modern tools and equipment for mechanized agriculture.
According to him, the institute will ensure food processing, food preservation, and the application of food availability and artificial intelligence for efficient and multi-crop seasons.
According to Haruna, NASENI is collaborating with partners from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Czech Republic, and Italy to equip the institute and five others in the country with cutting-edge research and manufacturing facilities, aiming for the best and highest technology in the world.
Science, technology, and innovation have always been the source of development and prosperity of all nations.
“The yardstick of measuring the willingness and readiness of Nigeria to transit from a community-based economy to a manufacturing economy is the degree to which NASENI’s role is applied to all aspects of our socio-economic endeavour, Haruna noted.
Prof. Haruna expressed gratitude to President Buhari, Gov Abdullahi, and the Emir of Lafia, Justice Sidi Bage, for their generosity, guidance, and support, leading to the success achieved in the construction of the Institute.
You will recall that foundation laying ceremony was performed in August; despite the volume of rain in September and October, we have been able to fence the 20 hectares of land, construct a gatehouse, roads, the administrative block, and the two workshops are about 90 per cent completion.
God willing, it will be ready for commissioning between January and February 2023; with this development, all that is needed for modern farming in food processing, packing, and preservation are to be locally produced by NASENI.
NASENI is among the best legacy that President Muhammadu Buhari will bequeath to the next and subsequent administration in Nigeria, he said.