President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday said his job as the leader of the country could only be complete when no Nigerian went to bed hungry.

Jonathan made the submission at the opening of a two-day summit by Rockefeller Foundation with the theme, ‘Realising the potential of African Agriculture.’

He said his administration’s successes in the agricultural sector were recognised on a global scale recently when the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations gave an award to Nigeria for achieving the Millennium Development Goal on hunger by reducing the number of hungry people in the country.

“This milestone was achieved three years ahead of the 2015 target date set for the Millennium Development Goals! While we are delighted at this recognition, we know our job is only done when not one Nigerian goes to bed hungry,” the President declared.

He added that to drive the nation’s agriculture, his administration had ended the approach of agriculture as a development programme, saying the government was now treating it as a business.

While saying that private sector investments were expanding rapidly from seeds and fertiliser companies and agro-processors, Jonathan said in the last one year, over $8bn of private investment commitments had been made to the sector.

He said unless agriculture was transformed in Africa, the continent’s economies would not grow as millions of Africans depended on the sector for their livelihoods.

Jonathan said, “The transformation of agriculture in Nigeria is a centrepiece of the economic transformation agenda of my government. Nigeria is known for oil. But today, many countries around the world have found oil.

“The recent discovery of shale oil and gas means that we can no longer depend solely on oil to drive the economy. With abundant land and water resources, and an abundant vibrant labour force, Nigeria has all it takes to use agriculture as its new frontier for growth.”

The President said to reduce the nation’s dependency on rice imports as the world’s largest importer of the commodity, his administration set out to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice production by 2015.

Ambitious as this goal seems, he said his administration was on the way to achieving the target of rice-self-sufficiency.

“Dry season rice production in 2012/2013 unleashed a rice revolution across 10 states in the northern part of our country. Our farmers produced a record 1.1 million metric tonnes of paddy rice, which represents one third of the additional rice paddy we need to be self-sufficient in rice by 2015,” he said.

President, Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. Judith Rodin, commended the administration’s programmes aimed at transforming the agricultural sector.

She noted that the future of Africa depended on new innovation framework and financing strategy in transforming the agriculture sector.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said the Federal Government would train 750,000 young graduates in commercial farming scheme known as ‘Nagroprenuers.’

Adesina said, “This initiative will change the labour composition of the agriculture sector. The Federal Government will provide access to land, technical skills, business management skills and the finance for this programme.

“The programme will turn the agriculture sector into a more competitive sector.”

Source: wwww.Naijagaga..com

Mr. President, this is just rhetorics. Your policies and the so called gurus in your government will always ensure that an awfully large number of Nigerians go to bed hungry every night.

Lets Wait and and See

#4billion feeding allowance yearly to every family abi?

Nigerians, please hear your leader?

I feel Mr President means well for Nigeria...

Coming from a man who will spend #327,154,931 on refreshment and meals, spend #406, 738,969 to purchase food stuff, spend #72,510,832 on generator, whose cooking gas will be filled with #6,400,000 while #553, 056,411 will be for his honorarium and sitting allowance, I have to admit that this man is not worthy to be a leader.

Thank you Sir....
I know you will be celebrated after 2019...
The problem is not only release of fund but:
* Proper distribution of this fund
* Ignorance- If agricultural eXtension programmes can be delivered in rural areas, it will go a long way to see to your satisfaction coz fewer Nigerians will be hungry.
Thanks, once more; Mr President

~Bluetooth:


Coming from a man who will spend #327,154,931 on refreshment and meals, spend #406, 738,969 to purchase food stuff, spend #72,510,832 on generator, whose cooking gas will be filled with #6,400,000 while #553, 056,411 will be for his honorarium and sitting allowance, I have to admit that this man is not worthy to be a leader.

This amount is too much nah......
But do u know how much other leaders spent on these same stuffs?
That aside, Do you know Mr President feeds no less than 80 people per day from his kitchen?
I hope you know that the people who handled these eXpenditure are suppose to make a living out of it?

Em-my:

This is amount is too much nah......
But do u know how much other leaders spent on these same stuffs?
That aside, Do you know Mr President feeds no less than 80 people per day from his kitchen?
I hope you know that the people who handled these purchases are suppose to make a living out of it?

If they are making a living out of it by inflating the figures,it means there is corruption in Jonathan's kitchen !

Em-my:

This amount is too much nah......
But do u know how much other leaders spent on these same stuffs?
That aside, Do you know Mr President feeds no less than 80 people per day from his kitchen?
I hope you know that the people who handled these eXpenditure are suppose to make a living out of it?

YOUR PRESIDENT DOES NOT FEED ANYBODY!!! Its not his money; ITS THE MONEY OF THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE. In other countries, all the employees get paid ---even the President-- and from their pockets is how they eat whatever they desire.

Goodluck Jonathan, like all other past Nigerian leaders (with the exception of Mur'tala Mohammed and Muhammadu Buhari) is just a bloody thieving crook.

That would be the day! These crooks delibrately ensure a large number of nigerians are kept hungry and impoverished so when time comes to find willing foot soldiers to carry out their uncanny orders, it wouldn't be such a difficult task finding them.

You feed your household alone with over a billion naira in a year yet you come out here sounding all sympathetic! Double hypocrisy I must say.

Story story. Abeg make una dey talk Wetin una fit do

Mr President, you are on course and most sane Nigerians are strongly behind you. Achieving an MDG target for 2015 in 2013 is a big deal and we congratulate you for that.

If Buhari and IBB and Abacha has delivered on their promise of food, water, electricity and good health for all in the year 2000, you would have been saddled with sustaining those achievements but because these men failed, you are building from the scratch. Welldone sir!!

Talk is cheap! We want to see such talk reflect in our everyday life. By the way,Mr President,why don't you reduce your feeding expenditure annually by 70% and use that amount to feed Nigerians or create jobs? It's becos of greediness that would make it difficult for you to do that.

~Bluetooth:


If they are making a living out of it by inflating the figures,it means there is corruption in Jonathan's kitchen !

They are not really inflating the figures but getting paid for their services,
though there is corruption among them.

kingoflag:
In other countries, all the employees get paid ---even the President-- and from their pockets is how they eat whatever they desire.

Good point!
Unfortunately, This is not the case in the Nigeria system.

This is the kind of statement that puts you in trouble. You have given your critics another opportunity to nail you again.

Does that mean we should be expecting free cassava bread daily?