Amidst heightened situations of insecurities and acute food shortage in the country, president Bola Ahmed Tinubu rose from an emergency meeting at the State House on Thursday 15th, with all 36 state governors, the Vice-President, Kashim Shettima, the National Security Adviser, the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the DSS, and some ministers, announcing the approval of several measures to curb the situations which included a committee to immediately consider the possibility of establishment of state Police.
The federal government has at the same meeting endorsed the restraining and arming of the various forest rangers existing in several states as a measure to protect human and natural resources in our communities.
The outcomes of the emergency meeting, the president’s approval and disapprovals of currently advocated measures were posted on his verified ‘x’ handle, @officialABAT shortly after the meeting yesterday.
In the post addressed to all Nigerians, president Tinubu expressed his administration’s desire to evolve “home-grown solutions to tackle our nation’s food security challenges head-on including setting up schemes to bolster local food production and cut out all forms of rent-seeking tied to food importation.”
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On the security of lives and properties, the president stated: “My stance is unequivocal: we must move aggressively to examine the issues raised, including the potential for establishing state police.”
The president also stated his unwillingness to establish a Price Control Board or approve the importation of food.
” I will not establish a price control board, nor will I approve the importation of food. We must extricate ourselves from this predicament because importation only enables rent seekers to perpetrate fraud and mismanagement at our collective expense.” The statement read.
The president stated however that he has instructed relevant agencies in the country to check incidences such as reported in Kano of large scale hoarding of food in some warehouses.
“Following reports out of Kano and other areas about large-scale hoarding of food in some warehouses, I have instructed the National Security Adviser, the Inspector-General of Police, and the Director-General of the Department of State Services to coordinate closely to ensure that security agencies in the states inspect such warehouses and take follow-up action.”
According to the president, “We cannot allow speculators, hoarders, and rent seekers to undermine our efforts in ensuring that food is widely available to all Nigerians.”
The president pledged support for farmers to encourage them to cultivate more food for the nation. Amongst other support actions, the president hinted at “rapidly but thoughtfully implement our livestock development and management plans, including dairy farming”
President Tinubu called for confidence and trust in the CBN to manage the country’s monetary policies. He explained that the “cacophony of postulations” on the fluctuation of foreign exchange rates is adversely affecting the market.”
He stated that “not everyone can be an expert. If we have assigned someone a task, we must allow them to perform it. If they fail, then we must find a way to quickly remove them from the system.”
The commander-in- Chief of the Nigerian armed forces urged the state “governors to always prioritize the welfare and prosperity of our people in their development programs, and I assure them that the federal government will continue to work diligently to improve the nation’s revenue profile.”
