Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, advocated for the establishment of agricultural ventures across Nigeria to address food insecurity. He stressed the importance of embracing agriculture for self-sufficiency, noting that the Nigerian government had spent a significant N7.8 trillion on food imports over the past six years. Otti made these remarks during a capacity-building training program for the initial group of 300 candidates chosen for agricultural training at CSS Global Integrated Farm, Nassarawa State. He emphasized the vital role of agriculture not only in tackling food security challenges but also in reducing unemployment and promoting socio-economic stability.
He emphasized that Nigeria possesses vast arable land and therefore should not incur high import expenses. Otti stressed the necessity for a change in mindset and urged stakeholders to address the matter urgently. He remarked, “It’s regrettable that a nation with over 200 million citizens, endowed with extensive arable land and recognized as a major producer and cultivator of food, expends significant funds on food imports.”
“In 2021, approximately N1.9 trillion was spent on food imports, followed by N2 trillion each in 2022 and 2023. To contextualize, our budget for 2024 is estimated at around N28 trillion, initially set at 27.5 trillion and later adjusted to approximately N28 trillion. It’s important to note that such staggering figures weren’t observed between 2015 and 2019, where budget numbers ranged from 7 to 10 trillion. Spending over 11% of our total budget on food imports is deeply concerning, especially considering our abundant land resources.”
The governor highlighted that the two-week agricultural training aims to bolster local food production. He encouraged program participants to represent the state positively and capitalize on the opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills for driving agricultural advancement. Assuring comprehensive support, he pledged that the state government would cover all expenses associated with the agricultural training from start to finish.
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