By Frank Momoh
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security on Saturday clarified that it’s suspended internal prayer initiative was not an official policy of the Ministry to address agriculture and food security challenges in the country.
In a statement, debunking the assertion as published by online media, the Assistant Director, Information, in the Ministry, Mr. Ezeaja Ikemefuna, said the Ministry’s attention was drawn to the internal circular of the Human Resource Management Department though meant for internal consumption but published by online media.
Like other internal activities of the Ministry, the statement said: “In this regard, the ministry wishes to inform that the prayer session is an initiative of Human Resource Department to address the wellbeing of the staff just as the already existing monthly aerobic exercise and establishment of the gymnasium in the ministry are for physical fitness as the regular medical check -up of staff are for their health.
“The prayer was to address the apprehensiveness of staff over the recent untimely and successive death of management staff of the Ministry.
“The staff also deem it not out of place to pray for the country, hence the theme of the Prayer Sessions: “Divine Intervention for Protection and National Development.
“It must be emphasized that this is not an official policy by the Ministry to address agriculture and food security issues in the country.
“But in response to the yearnings of staff who are apprehensive following the death of some of their colleagues in recent times.
“It must be emphasized that this is not an official policy by the Ministry to address agriculture and food security issues in the country.”
The Minister, the statement added, has been working assiduously to ensure food and nutrition security for the country in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu Administration.
The Director, acknowledged that the Ministry has taken delivery of over a thousand tractors to support farmers and had signed the commercialization phase under the supervision of President Tinubu;
“Another of his initiatives is the Strategic Grain Reserve and Market Stabilization of prices where about 42,000 metric tonnes of grains and additional 58,200 metric tonnes of milled rice grains were distributed.
“Also, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, 2,150,000 bags of fertilizers were donated by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the Ministry to reduce food inflation.
” The president has approved the recapitalization of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) to the tune of N1.5 trillion, a historic financial intervention to scale up access to affordable finance for Nigerian Farmers.
“The Ministry launched the National Electronic Extension platform (NEEP), a digital initiative designed to improve agricultural extension services. “
Still releeing out some of it’s ongoing reform to increase food production, it explained that the Ministry initiated a revitalized cooperative sector by organizing training and workshops for stakeholders at the Federal Cooperative Colleges in the North and South.
This effort is aimed at strengthening the cooperative societies and enhancing their role in economic development, it added.
“The Ministry, in collaboration with the World Bank, earmarked $600 million to rehabilitate 200,000 kilometres of rural roads under Rural Access and agricultural marketing project (RAAMP);
“It procured and distributed free agricultural essential inputs to farmers, which include fertilizers, Agro-chemicals, seeds, and other critical inputs to enhance food production and support farmers during the planting season;
“The National Agricultural Growth Scheme Agro -Pocket (NAGS-AP) registered farmers across the country to receive essential farm inputs, and the project has provided subsidized agricultural inputs to farmers across the country.
“The Ministry is also partnering with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to improve data management for farmers’ identity verification, transparency, efficiency, and better access to more agricultural services and resources, amongst others.”
The Ministry emphasized that the prayer session is an internal initiative of staff to address the concern over sudden deaths in the Ministry and not intended to replace or downplay the remarkable effort and achievement of the Ministry and other stakeholders in achieving food security in the nation, the statement, said.
