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Senator Saliu Mustapha, representing Kwara Central, has expressed concern over the 2025 budget‘s limited focus on agriculture compared to its emphasis on security.
During a Senate debate on Thursday, Senator Mustapha highlighted the disparity, noting that the budget allocated ₦4.9 trillion to defence, the highest among all sectors, followed by infrastructure, education, and health.
He cautioned that neglecting the agricultural sector could have serious repercussions, emphasizing that food security is just as critical as other aspects of national security.
“Lack of security has brought us to this level. There are three major areas that government will always intervene. These are health, education and agriculture.
“I hope that this budget after taking care of health
and education, we equally look inwards because you cannot secure the environment and you don’t have enough to deploy into agriculture for farmers to really do what they need to do.
I’m hoping that we will be able to look inward again to see what we can do to support agriculture; because with that we can produce what to eat and eat what we produce.
“All we need is to jack up our production, that is the most important aspect if not then whatever we are securing, we are securing it for vacuum.
“I hope that my colleagues at the end of the day when we are looking at the details of this budget will be able to do more for agriculture,” Senator Mustapha said
Godwin Obaseki, the outgoing Governor of Edo State, says there will be a problem if the incoming government of Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress, APC, prioritizes politics over security, noting that the citizens will demand a secure environment.
DAILY POST reports that Obaseki, who spoke at the last State Security Council Meeting with heads of security agencies in the state, boasted that his government is leaving the security of the State much better than he met it in 2016.
He, however, advised the incoming government against prioritizing politics over security.
DAILY POST reports that Obaseki was first elected governor of the state in 2016 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and was reelected in 2020 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
He would be completing his eight years as governor on November 12, 2024, when he would be handing over to Okpebholo.
Obaseki said, “I am leaving Edo much better, security-wise, than when I met it. My advice to the incoming administration is to take security seriously and never prioritize politics over security because there will be problems as citizens need to demand a secure environment.
“We have shown that it’s possible because we have men and women who have the capacity and training to offer security services to the State and the people of the State.
“We will continue to ensure you protect our country as nobody will fix Nigeria for us; we have to fix it ourselves. We should realize that we have no other country to call our own and no matter the frustration, we should ensure we fix the country.”
Obaseki who attributed his success to the collaboration and support received from heads of security agencies, posited that together, they have changed the narrative and the perception of security in the state.
He also attributed the development and growth in the domestic environment, as well as the interest of investors in the state to “secured environment in the state”.
He added that in the last eight years, his administration has prioritized security and invested hugely in the state’s security architecture, transforming Edo into one of Nigeria’s safest states to live in and do business.
He commended the people and the various security agencies in the state for supporting and collaborating with his government in tackling insecurity and ensuring the safety and security of people and properties in the State.
“I thank all security agencies in the state for the collaboration as their efforts have made the state secure and safe for all.
“The spirit of collaboration has helped us solve many problems in the area of security. I commend the Department of State Security (DSS) as they were open and ready to give us information always. By adopting technology, we were able to cover the state and make it safe for our people.
“Using technology, we have been able to document every incident in the state and review the same, and work together to respond to the security situation in the state.
“The civil defense corps has been a great collaborator in terms of improving security in the state and by extension the protection of federal assets in Edo State. As a state, we can tackle security challenges head-on as our collaboration has yielded positive results.
“The traffic agencies have done an amazing job in the last eight years as there have been improvements in the flow of traffic across the state”, he added.
The governor called for the participation of all stakeholders in fixing the nation, noting that “No one can fix Nigeria but us”.
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has called on exporters to meet market demands by prioritizing product quality, as part of efforts to boost the nation’s non-oil export sector.
Executive Director and Chief Executive officer NEPC made the call while presenting a paper titled, ‘Overview of Exportable products and markets’, organised by Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM) held at Gumel, Jigawa State.
Represented by Yusuf Ismail Ahmad, NEPC said the major problem that hindered the exportation of goods from Nigeria is inability to provide the market with what it demanded for.
He said Nigeria has a reservoir of untapped mineral assets with about 44 exploitable minerals in commercial quality.
According to him, “Some of the major challenges in exportation in Nigeria including, poor transportation and logistics, compliance to International standards, higher interest rates, lack of inactive incentive scheme.
“Others are lack of synergy among stakeholders in the Non-oil export financing value chain, poor understanding of Non-oil and oil export processes by commercial banks as well as lack of awareness of the various Non-oil and export financing scheme and services available.”
He said the Council is collaborating with relevant agencies and parastatals to create awareness, build capacity for agricultural practices, labelling and packaging and ensure adherence to quality and standard of exports in the global market.
Ahmad noted that the efforts helped in the increase in exportation by 6.26 percent against the figures recorded in 2023.
The Managing Director Nigerian -Export Import Bank, Mr Abba Bello said the aim of the program is to create awareness among Jigawa residents on the opportunities and potentialities available for exporting non-oil goods to other countries.
He noted that it’s unfortunate that, despite the agricultural potentials in the state, Jigawa is still counted among the major poverty stricken states in Nigeria.
He urged Jigawa citizens to take advantage of different facilities in NEXIM bank to commence exporting agricultural products such as sesame seed and hibiscus that are largely produced in the state.