By Hassan Taiye

President Bola Tinubu has given marching order to a committee within the federal executive council on further crash of food prices in the country said the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi

Senator Abdullahi who made the disclosure on Wednesday in Abuja during his presentation at the one day capacity – building workshop for journalists covering the Senate , explained that the food prices crash will be done through safe passage of agricultural foods and commodities across various routes in the country.

The marching order on further crash of food prices and safe passage of Agricultural commodities across various routes according to the Minister , are geared towards realization of President Tinubu’s vision on food sovereignty.

He said : ” In addressing the high price of
transportation of farm produce in the country , I can say it on good authority to you that the President has given a matching order with a federal executive council committee already handling it , on how we are going to promote safe passage of agricultural foods and commodities across our various routes in the country.

“We are aware, and I’m sure as media, you are also aware, there are routes through which commodities are taken before they are delivered, if you know the amount of money that is being spent, you can now understand why those commodities have to be expensive at the point of delivery.

” So we are working very hard. We are doing quite a lot. But I’ve just given you a snippet because I’m here, and I felt we should look at that”.

On the vision of food sovereignty, Senator Abdullahi said the vision is within the ambit of food security and food sufficiency encompassing availability of the food, accessibility of the food, affordability, and in the right nutritional content on a sustainable basis.

He added that other programmes like the Farmer Soil Health Scheme and Cooperative reform are being mapped out for implementation .

” We are having what you call the Farmer Soil Health Scheme. And that is ready for launch. We are just waiting for the date.

“Another important part I would like you to take notice of very seriously is we are promoting, or we are having what you call, we need more cooperative reform and revamped program.

“Mr. President has shown tremendous interest in the cooperative sector as a veritable tool for resource mobilization, for economic activity generation, and to improve the livelihood of members.

“And you know the principle of cooperative is clear, is democratic, yet it is also very productive. And so we are reforming this. There’s a number of things we are doing there. And I will urge you, as a press corps, to consider forming a cooperative”, he said .

Other speakers at the Workshop themed : “Parliamentary Reporting : Issues , Challenges and Responsibilities “, were the Chairman , Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs , Senator Yemi Adaramodu , Senator Ita Solomon Enang and the Director General of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies ( NILDS) , Professor Abubakar Sulaiman .