Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has advocated for the establishment of agricultural enterprises nationwide to combat food insecurity.
Highlighting the staggering expenditure of N7.8 trillion on food imports by the Nigerian government over the past six years, Otti stressed the imperative for embracing agriculture for self-sufficiency.
He made this plea during a training program for 300 candidates selected for agricultural training at CSS Global Integrated Farm, Nassarawa State. Emphasizing agriculture’s pivotal role in addressing food security, unemployment, and socioeconomic stability, Otti underscored Nigeria’s abundant arable land and urged stakeholders to prioritize this issue urgently.
He said, “It is a shame that a country of over 200 hundred million people with so much arable land, reputed as the largest producers and cultivators of food items, spends so much money importing food.
“Statistics show that in the last six years, this country has spent about N7.8 trillion to import food.
“In 2021, we spent about N1.9 trillion, 2022 & 2023 we spent about N2 trillion each year importing food, so to put it in context, our budget for 2024 is somewhere around N28 trillion; 27.5 trillion and then upgraded to about N28 trillion.
“Don’t also forget that these kind of numbers were not seen between 2015 and 2019. The budget numbers were hovering around 7-10 trillion. So when you spend over 11% of your total buffet importing food, it is a big shame, particularly when you are blessed with land.”
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