Vice President Kashim Shettima has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is very passionate about reducing the cost of fertilisers for Nigerian farmers in the overall interest of achieving food security in the country.
He said this on Tuesday at a Fertilisers Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) stakeholders’ meeting with the federal government, on the 33,000 metric tonnes of potash donated to the federal government by Russia’s Uralchem Group and UN Partners, in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to him “Our goal is to serve the Nigerian people. No strings attached, no vested interest and the president will be happy if the price of fertilisers collapses by 50 per cent after this exercise.”
The vice president, who said President Tinubu gave high premium to achieving the agenda of food security in the country, added that this accounted for the declaration of state of emergency in the food security sector by the Tinubu administration last July.
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Stressing that though “We have many challenges with food security in the country, we are however very lucky because the president is very empathetic and very passionate about achieving food sufficiency in the country.”
Speaking to stakeholders at the meeting, which included the Minister of Agriculture, Sen. Abubakar Kyari and Minister of State for Agriculture, Sen. Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, Shettima expressed the seriousness attached to the donation and distribution of the potash from Uralchem Group.
He charged stakeholders that “There has to be transparency, equity and fairness in the distribution exercise for the reason that the end beneficiaries are the Nigerian farmers and their leadership is seated here.”
On the entire exercise, Vice President Shettima disclosed further that the NEMA, World Food Programme (WFP) and AFEX, a commodity exchange firm have the database and other requirements that will assist the federal government in reaching out to the farmers in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security driving the process.
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