AfDB Pledges To Support Nigeria In Tackling Food Insecurity

The President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has said that the bank will provide Nigeria with strong support to tackle its food security challenges.

He said this while he received a high-level Nigerian delegation led by Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar.

This was contained in a statement titled, ‘African Development Bank Group President, Akinwumi Adesina, assures Nigeria of bank’s strong support to achieve food security,’ issued by the bank on Tuesday.

The statement read, “Adesina said the bank’s strategic support for Nigeria’s food production would be hinged on five factors: support, scale, systemic, speed, and sustainability.”

The AfDB boss was quoted to have said, “I want to assure President Buhari that the African Development Bank will provide his government with very strong support to tackle the country’s food security challenges.

“Inflation in Nigeria is high, at 16 per cent or more. Of course, the biggest share of the consumer price index is the price of food, at almost 65 per cent. So, if we can drive down the price of food, of course, we can drive down inflation.”

The AfDB president further asked the Agriculture minister to focus on developing the right team and strategy to boost farming seasons in the country.

The minister asked for the bank’s support to recapitalise the country’s Bank of Agriculture, with both parties establishing a taskforce team to develop a plan for accelerated implementation within the next 60 days.

The minister said the purpose of the visit was to enhance food production, reduce food inflation and ensure wealth.

The minister was quoted to have said, “Our mission is to examine ways Nigeria could enhance food production, lower food prices and create wealth.