By Muhammad Amaan
The Federal Government of Nigeria is to expand efforts toward massive food supply to feed the nation in 2024, President Bola Tinubu said on Monday in a nationwide broadcast.
He added that provision of land for the production of staple crops across the country would receive a boost in the year.
President Tinubu, in his New Year message delivered in Lagos, said that this was parts of efforts by his administration to ensure that all citizens feel the direct impact of government on their lives.
“To ensure constant food supply, security and affordability, we will step up our plan to cultivate 500,000 hectares of farmlands across the country to grow maize, rice, wheat, millet and other staple crops.
“We launched the dry season farming with 120,000 hectares of land in Jigawa State last November under our National Wheat Development Programme.
“The programme aims to enable farmers to produce sufficient certified seeds, aligning with the nation’s target of cultivating between 200,000 to 250,000 hectares of wheat under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro-pocket project.
“Federal Government will support about 150,000 to 250,000 farmers with 50 per cent input subsidy to cultivate between 200,000 to 250,000 hectares with an expected yield of 1,250,000 tonnes of wheat.
“The task of building a better nation and making sure we have a Nigerian society that cares for all her citizens is the reason I ran to become your President. It was the core of my Renewed Hope campaign message on the basis of which you voted me as President.
“Everything I have done in office, every decision I have taken and every trip I have undertaken outside the shores of our land, since I assumed office on 29 May 2023, have been done in the best interest of our country.
“In this new year, we will race against time to ensure all the fiscal and tax policies reforms we need to put in place are codified and simplified to ensure the business environment does not destroy value.
“On every foreign trip I have embarked on, my message to investors and other business people has been the same -Nigeria is ready and open for business,” he said.
Tinubu also said that the provision of steady electricity supply would receive a boost with the initiatives put in place to realise this, adding that the presidential initiative on power supply has been accelerated with his foreign engagement in Germany.
“Just this past December during COP28 in Dubai, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and I agreed and committed to a new deal to speed up the delivery of the Siemens Energy power project that will ultimately deliver reliable supply of electricity to our homes and businesses under the Presidential Power Initiative which began in 2018.
“Other power installation projects to strengthen the reliability of our transmission lines and optimise the integrity of our national grid are on-going across the country.
“My administration recognises that no meaningful economic transformation can happen without steady electricity supply.
“In 2024, we are moving a step further in our quest to restart local refining of petroleum products with Port Harcourt Refinery, and the Dangote Refinery which shall fully come on stream.”
The president called on Nigerians to support government to succeed in its laudable policies and programmes.
“The current difficulties are necessary for a better future; Nigeria will be better for it,” he said.
